While the grandparents and grandchildren were still on their way, something happened at Jiangnan Bank...
~~
Xuzhou City, located on the Grand Canal, is located at the throat of the north and south of the Ming Dynasty. It is both the "key to the north" and the "gateway to the south" and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.
This thousand-year-old city is said to be the earliest capital of the Yellow Emperor and has always been one of the important cities in China. In this dynasty, the Grand Canal flows through this place, which is a thoroughfare for several provinces. Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue also set up a granary here and set up a special department to manage it. This brought another wave of prosperity to Xuzhou.
There was an endless stream of ships traveling north and south on the canal, with hundreds of ships of all sizes docked at the canal wharf outside the South Gate every day. Goods from merchants and travelers from the north and south passed through the canal and were transferred to the inland areas, which naturally brought about a prosperous business.
Although the density of buildings, prosperity of shops, abundance of goods and number of ships on Nanmen Street cannot compare with Huai'an and Yangzhou, it is still one of the most prosperous places in northern China.
Therefore, various money houses set up branches here. There are more than twenty money houses and pawn shops of all sizes on the entire Nanmen Street.
Among them are the former leader Huizhou's 'Wanyuanhao', the invincible 'Hengtongji' on the canal, the time-honored Shanxi 'Xinlong', and the 'Tianhuidang' backed by the royal family.
However, the most popular guy on the whole street nowadays is not the old four kings, but the supernova like a little sun - Jiangnan Bank!
Jiangnan Bank, which was transformed from the humble Wuji Money House, has launched three major profit-sharing measures since its opening last year:
1. Depositing money with them is free!
2. Fixed deposits pay interest, the longer the deposit period, the higher the interest!
3. The handling fee for cross-regional remittances is only 0.5%, which is only one-tenth of the industry practice!
Once these three tricks were introduced, there was no need for any promotion at all, and businessmen who came to deposit money and open accounts flocked to the Xuzhou branch of Jiangnan Bank.
Although Jiangnan Bank never announced the total amount of deposits, its peers knew that they had been completely crushed...
Because in just half a year, except for Hengtongji and Wanyuanhao, the total deposits of all banks had dropped by two-thirds. The exchange business, which was regarded as lifeblood, also shrank to only one-third.
If the situation does not improve by the end of the year, many money houses and pawn shops will have to close down.
~~
Even without the government's forced implementation and the support of the Single Whip Law, the silver notes issued by Jiangnan Bank were circulated in Xuzhou City within just half a year.
This thing is really useful! Not only is it as easy to carry as a ticket, but it also supports small transactions. Another important point is that the two parties do not need to go to a bank to transfer the money, they can count the money directly at the dock or store, and the money and goods can be paid.
The party who receives the silver certificate can go to the Jiangnan Bank branch on Nanmen Street at any time to exchange it for real silver, without losing a penny!
At first, merchants insisted on going to the bank regularly to exchange silver certificates for silver.
But silver certificates were too convenient. And although exchanging silver certificates for silver was free, exchanging silver for silver certificates required a half-fire consumption fee. So driven by both inertia and cost, more and more merchants chose to keep silver certificates.
This greatly alleviated the people's concerns about silver coupons...Nowadays, in Xuzhou, not only large-scale transactions, but also daily consumption, show signs of the use of silver coupons.
Ordinary people could only get access to small-denomination silver certificates. When they saw that the bosses and shopkeepers did not exchange the large bills for silver, they naturally became even more lazy to exchange them.
As a result, more and more silver coupons were circulated in the market, which prompted more people to start using silver coupons, thus realizing the "virtuous cycle and spiral upward" that Mr. Zhao expected!
Other banks saw this and were anxious. As people who had been working as bankers for their whole lives, who didn't know what it would mean to the entire industry if the Jiangnan Group's silver certificates became a recognized currency?
That means they can only use their own hard-earned money to exchange for the paper printed by others!
If you don't change it, you will just have to wait for death...
This evil has already spread to their Jiangnan sub-colon. Fortunately, without the endorsement of the Jiangbei government, the credibility of the silver coupons in Xuzhou is still a little bit damaged. But if decisive action is not taken, it is only a matter of time before the tragedy of those sub-colonies in Jiangnan is staged here.
Of course, they can also follow suit and issue their own bearer banknotes, which is also a way out.
But it’s not that they don’t want to follow up, but can they just follow along?
They all knew that this kind of bearer banknote was convenient, but if the anti-counterfeiting was not done well, whoever issued it would be doomed!
Although the traditional banknotes had basic anti-counterfeiting features, the effect was limited. The printing industry in the Ming Dynasty was very prosperous, and relying solely on traditional anti-counterfeiting printing, it would take only a few minutes to print out fake banknotes that were more realistic than real banknotes.
Therefore, what they can rely on are the seals left by customers in the money houses and the secret codes agreed upon by both parties to prevent forgery.
But that is a registered bill of exchange and cannot be used on bearer silver bills.
Only banks like Jiangnan Bank, which are completely different from others in terms of paper, printing methods, and ink used, and whose printed silver notes are clearly different from all the printed materials of the Ming Dynasty, are qualified to issue bearer silver notes...
In short, without mastering scientific printing technology, it is impossible to produce bearer banknotes!
They also thought about bribing the clerks of Jiangnan Bank to find out how the silver notes were printed.
But after spending a lot of money, they only found out that Jiangnan Bank did not know how to print.
All the silver certificates were secretly printed by Jiangnan Group on Xishan Island...
The island was heavily guarded, outsiders were not allowed to enter, and all money printing craftsmen were not allowed to leave the island.
This level of confidentiality was something that even the factory guards, who represented the highest level of espionage in the world at that time, could not penetrate, let alone those who ran money houses.
So they could only stare blankly.
~~
When people are helpless and desperate, they always hope that a savior will come.
The owners of small money houses regarded Hengtongji as their savior.
The Wanyuanhao is backed by Yangzhou salt merchants, who have close ties with the Jiangnan Group and are unreliable.
'Xinlong' belongs to Lao Xier. They are reliable, and sows can climb trees.
As for Tianhui Pawnshop, Li Wei and his son have already made it into a mess. It can hardly protect itself and cannot be relied upon at all.
So at times like this, Hengtongji is the only one we can rely on.
Besides, Xuzhou is the territory of the Caoyun Yamen, and Hengtongji has the stronger backing than anyone else here. If they don’t step forward, who will?
The bosses of various money houses and pawnshops sat in Hengtongji almost every day, begging their manager Song to come forward and teach the Jiangnan Bank a lesson for the ruthless bank.
Hengtongji had always been very friendly, but they just agreed but did nothing. Song Xiaoming had been waiting for them for two months before finally arriving.
"Manager Song, you're finally here!" When the bosses of Xuzhou money houses and pawnshops finally saw Manager Song wearing a black turban, a silk gown, and satin shoes in the luxurious living room on the upper floor of Hengtongji, they all burst into tears.
"If you don't come again, we'll all go to Huai'an Prefecture and hang ourselves."
"Hahaha, is it that serious?" Song Xiaoming calmly asked everyone to sit down and said with a smile, "Come, sit down and talk slowly."
"Our Qianyuan Pawnshop hasn't opened for exchange this month yet. What do you think, boss? Is the situation serious?" said a fat man with trembling cheeks.
"That's serious enough. It's already halfway through the month." Song Xiaoming said with sympathy.
"Yeah, our Runfeng isn't much better. We begged and pleaded, but we only managed to get a few deals, which weren't even enough to pay our wages."
"Yes, we are in such a pity, Big Boss." Everyone cried out, "If you don't show up, someone will really die!"
Song Xiaoming listened patiently to everyone's complaints, then he took a sip of tea and said, "To be honest, we at Hengtongji are not having a good time either. The canal transportation has been suspended for three months, and our business has almost dried up. We are relying entirely on our old capital."
"We don't ask for help from Manager Song." The bosses were all sensible people, and they quickly expressed their opinions: "On the contrary, we are willing to contribute money and effort together. We only hope that Manager Song can teach the Jiangnan Bank a lesson, let them respect Neng Hengtong, and leave us a way out!"
"Is that so..." Song Xiaoming held the teacup and pretended to think.
You could hear a pin drop in the living room. The bosses held their breath, waiting for the decision of Manager Song.
After a while, the shopkeeper Song suddenly smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, everyone. Although Jiangnan Bank is so arrogant, in my opinion, they are just a paper tiger that will burst with a single poke!"
"Really?" The shopkeepers looked at the big shopkeeper Song in disbelief, wondering where he got the confidence to say such a thing?
"The reason why you are afraid of it is because you don't understand it, let alone comprehend it." Song Xiaoming stood up and said in a calm and confident tone:
"As long as you understand it and comprehend it, you will know that what I said is true!"
"Yes, yes, we are ignorant, please enlighten us, Master." Everyone hurriedly accepted the advice with an open mind.
Song Xiaoming nodded. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time and was too busy to keep it a secret. He just said:
"Fundamentally, Jiangnan Bank is different from our money house. We opened a money house to make money, so we must control expenses and ensure profits. Otherwise, what business is there for?"
"Of course." Everyone said as if it was a matter of course: "Who would open a bank if not to make money?"
"Mr. Zhao didn't open Jiangnan Bank to make money." The head clerk Song said shockingly, "It was to raise money!"
"Raising money?" The bosses were confused. This was beyond their understanding.
"That's right. In fact, Jiangnan Bank is just a tool for his Jiangnan Group to absorb funds!" Song Xiaoming said firmly: "The reason why they have expanded their business so much is that they rely on deposits in Jiangnan Bank! This is why they pay interest on deposits and almost waive exchange fees. Everything is to deceive people into depositing their money!"
"But what happens after people deposit their money in Jiangnan Bank? It will be used for other purposes in the blink of an eye!" Manager Song glanced at everyone and said sinisterly: "Now you understand why I call them paper tigers, right?!"
p.s. The third update is also a major revision. It’s already this late, but at least it’s finished. I’ll take a day off on Saturday and continue writing on Sunday.