Chapter 310 The Future Development of Banks and Newspapers

After summoning the envoys from various places, Li Chengqian summoned the head of the newspaper and the head of the bank.

Inquire about the operation and development of the newspaper and the bank.

The head of the newspaper is Yu Bo, a distant relative of Yu Zhining, and the head of the bank is Li Kai, a relative of the Li Tang clan.

"Your Majesty!" Arriving at the Liangyi Hall, the two saluted to Li Chengqian.

"No need to be polite! Give me a seat!" Li Chengqian said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The two thanked him and sat down on the side.

"The main reason I summoned you here this time is to ask about the current development of the newspaper and the bank?"

"Yu Bo, you go first, I want to hear about the situation of the newspaper in the past year." Li Chengqian asked.

"Yes!" Yu Bo said, "In the 23rd year of Zhenguan, newspapers were published in all places that could be reached by fast horses within one day, and in states that could be reached by pigeons."

"In places farther away, weekly, monthly, semi-annual, and even annual publications were promoted. According to statistics, the internal profit of the newspaper in the past year was seven-thirtieth of the annual property tax of the Tang Dynasty." "

This is the income and expenditure account book of the 23rd year of Zhenguan. Please take a look, Your Majesty." Yu Bo finished speaking and presented the prepared account book to Li Chengqian.

This is already the greatest achievement that the newspaper can achieve. After all, in the ancient times when information transmission relied on walking and communication basically relied on shouting, it was already very good to be able to achieve this level!

Li Chengqian did not take it and said, "I will not look at the account book. The newspaper has entered a bottleneck now. We cannot limit ourselves to the existing methods and must diversify."

"Yes!" Yu Bo replied. He understood all this, but he had no idea how to do it.

The editors-in-chief and editors who were still in the newspaper gathered together to discuss. They already had a vague idea of ​​the future development direction. I believe that it will not take long before there will be a clear direction.

As for how to do it specifically, he still needs to go back and hold a meeting to study it. What the newspaper needs to do next is to improve its performance by a few percentage points.

After asking about the newspaper, Li Chengqian asked about the bank. "Li Kai, you are in charge of the bank. How much profit did it make in the past year? What are the items?"

"Your Majesty! The total profit of the bank last year was six twentieth of the annual property tax of the Tang Dynasty. Currently, there are only two items: savings and loans." Li Kai said.

"These are far from enough. Starting this year, in addition to loans and savings, we must also promote financial products to earn more money." Li Chengqian said.

If the bank wants to develop better, in addition to loans and savings, financial products are also a good way to make money.

"Yes!" Li Kai bowed and said, "Your Majesty! Please explain to me how to make this so-called financial product."

Before this, Li Kai didn't even know what a bank was, let alone what financial products were. He had never heard of them.

"To put it simply, it is a product that allows customers to freely subscribe to after they deposit money into the bank. Anyone who purchases this financial product will receive a higher interest rate than depositing money within a specified period of time."

"This is equivalent to a bank borrowing money from the world. You can think of it as a way for banks to lend money to the world." Li Chengqian said. He

was worried that they didn't understand, so he used this method to explain it to him, so that he should understand what financial products are.

Although this explanation is wrong, it is the only way to explain it clearly to them.

Li Kai was stunned. Now the bank collects money from customers through deposits, lends the money out, and charges interest on a monthly basis. This is the current banking business model.

But if you lend money to everyone who comes to the bank to deposit money, how should the interest be calculated? It will definitely not work if it is too low, and it will be too high and you will not be able to pay it back. The interest collected from the loans alone may not be enough.

If someone takes the opportunity to make trouble, the entire banking system may collapse. Your Majesty must be aware of this harmful and useless practice.

But why do you still do this? Could it be that the treasury is empty and urgently needs money, so you have to do this to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?

Li Kai could only think so in his heart.

"Your Majesty! The interest collected from the money lent to everyone by the bank alone is probably not enough. I am also worried that someone will take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble..." Li Kai said with courage.

"Who told you that this money is to make profits by lending it to others." Li Chengqian understood what Li Kai meant.

Isn't it? Li Kai was really confused. What else could it be.

"Buying and selling transactions." Li Chengqian continued.

"Trade?" Li Kai asked in confusion.

"Yes, it's trade. Our Tang Dynasty will organize a huge caravan and trade with foreign countries through the Silk Road in the Western Regions and the Maritime Silk Road by water."

"The money borrowed from people all over the world will be used for this. In addition to doing business abroad, the caravan can also do business domestically."

"We can open inns, sell luxury goods, perfumes and other things to make a lot of wealth. This money is the money people subscribe to wealth management products."

"As for the interest! Naturally, it will be higher than the interest on deposits in a bank account and lower than the interest on loans. At the same time, it cannot be superimposed with the interests of savings." Li Chengqian explained.

This is what later generations call fund-raising. Through fund-raising, we can effectively control the financial market, operate and supervise according to law, absorb the idle and surplus funds of society and individuals, ensure the dynamic circulation of the financial system, and maintain the national economic development.

After hearing this, Li Kai suddenly realized that this was a good idea. The bank had a lot of goods pledged by borrowers, but they were unable to repay the loans.

He originally planned to tell the emperor about this and see how to deal with it. With trade, these things can be sold.

This is like making money out of nothing. The goods in the bank can be traded through caravans to make profits, and can also be used to buy so-called financial products from others, and can also get enough funds to operate trade.

The Tang Empire can expand and strengthen its trade without spending a penny. What else can this be but making money out of nothing?

This is simply a good thing that kills two birds with one stone. Naturally, Li Kai did not object and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty is wise."

"The bank should have a lot of goods accumulated. Selling these goods will make a lot of money." Li Chengqian said.

"Your Majesty is right. The bank has now accumulated a large amount of gold, silver, jade, as well as some goods, fields and houses," said Li Kai.

"Take out these gold, silver, jade and houses and sell them, or even auction them, but these fields are forbidden to be sold and must be owned by the empire." Li Chengqian said. Other things can be bought and sold, but land cannot be bought and sold.