Anyway, after Feng Zhixian read this passage, hundreds of questions suddenly popped into his head, but he didn't know where to start.
Theoretically, the retained silver and surplus silver in the county treasury belong to the county's finances. As long as it complies with the old rules and regulations and there is no corruption or shortfall, the county magistrate can use it as he likes, such as building schools and water conservancy projects.
But Qin Dewei said in this paragraph that he took out two thousand taels of silver and put it into a private bank. This was really an unprecedented act, which surprised Feng Zhixian.
If it were something that was generally understandable, Magistrate Feng wouldn't even ask, he would just get it straight. But this one is getting more and more confusing. "I want to find out first, what's the meaning of it?"
Qin Dewei first explained: "Our Yuanfeng Bank's business has now reached a bottleneck period. We must either have peers to provide credit guarantees or have enough principal to support the business."
"So you went to Qian Ye's Office to make trouble? Have you brought the scholarly atmosphere into business?" Feng Zhixian couldn't help but complain after hearing this.
"Those are two different things! Originally, I didn't like Qianye Office!" Qin Dewei defended, and then continued: "My idea is to publicly sell the bank's shares, and reserve 10,000 shares, with a price of one tael per share!
"
Feng Zhixian was about to complain again about who would buy it, but suddenly he realized that he had just seen the proposal of the county government treasury to invest 2,000 taels of silver in the bank.
"Yes, the county government uses the retained treasury silver to buy shares. On the one hand, it can support the bank's business with real gold and silver. On the other hand, it also publicly provides credit endorsement.
Didn't I say before that the essence of this money industry is credit, and for public offerings of shares, the most important thing is whether others have confidence in the shares and dare to pay for them.
If the government takes the lead, it will certainly increase confidence."
Feng Zhixian was able to pass the Jinshi examination, and he was certainly not stupid. He immediately realized the problem: "If the government buys shares, it will encourage local people to follow suit and invest in shares.
Then you return the government money in full, then privately divide the people's money, and then take away the money and flee to other places incognito, wouldn't you have harmed the people?"
Qin Dewei has nothing to defend against this risk. He can only say: "There are always similar risks in this industry, so we must be absolutely trustworthy to complete the operation together.
Anyway, I can definitely trust you, Master Feng. I wonder if you can trust me, Master Feng?"
Feng Zhixian smiled and said: "Of course I can trust you. You have ambitions and bottom lines, and you can't do anything like cheating and fleeing."
Qin Dewei accepted Magistrate Feng's praise calmly and asked, "Does Mr. Feng have any doubts about the matter itself?"
"I do still have something unclear." Mr. Feng asked because he didn't understand. Anyway, there were too many times when he didn't understand in front of this little staff member, so he got used to asking and asking.
"Now among the bank shares, Madam Gu has 30 shares, you have 10 shares, and you said that I have 30 shares. And then you want to sell 10,000 shares to the public, so the total of us people only has 70 shares.
Isn’t ten thousand too low in comparison?”
Qin Dewei said confidently: "According to the design below, shares and shares are different.
The shares we hold are owner shares, which can be called private shares. Only those who own private shares can be considered owners and can participate in operations. Moreover, private shares cannot be bought and sold at will. If they are sold, other owners can acquire them first.
As for the 10,000 shares sold publicly this time, they are called public shares and can be bought and sold in the market at will. People who own public shares are only allowed to pay dividends, but they cannot participate in the operation and cannot be called owners.
This design is to ensure that the bank's operations are still in our hands and will not be cannibalized by outsiders.
As for the value of the two types of shares, one private share locked is equal to 200 public shares, and the specific price will be determined by the market.
In addition, I haven’t thought clearly about whether public shares and private shares can be exchanged, and how to exchange them. I’ll talk about it later.”
Qin Dewei devised these routines, which were completely unheard of by people in the Great Ming Dynasty. Magistrate Feng thought about it and was too lazy to think about it further.
The main reason is that he has silently calculated that according to Qin Dewei's design, the thirty private shares he secretly holds are equivalent to six thousand public shares.
If one public share is really worth one tael of silver, wouldn't it mean that you would get a huge asset of 6,000 taels of silver for free?
Thinking of this, Feng Zhixian was a little excited. He didn't expect that he would have the opportunity to get rich without taking bribes and bending the law! As long as he uses his legal power reasonably!
At least in the Ming Dynasty, there were no legal provisions regarding stock listings.
Of course Feng Zhixian is also very sober. The premise of all this is that the market recognizes the value of Yuanfeng Bank's public shares and others are willing to spend a tael of silver to subscribe for the public shares.
If the public shares are worthless and cannot be sold at a high price, then even if the 30 private shares in your hand are equivalent to 6,000 public shares, they are just a mirror image.
So Feng Zhixian finally had the deepest understanding of Qin Dewei's proposal, which is why the county government is required to spend 2,000 silver to subscribe for 2,000 public shares? To put it bluntly, it is really just for others to see!
Qin Dewei also paused and continued to output, waiting for Feng Zhixian to digest what he just said.
Unlike Feng Zhixian, who was calculating the gains and losses of interests and legality, Qin Dewei looked at this matter from the top of the entire historical trend.
Anyone who knows a little bit about financial history knows that whether in Europe or East Asia, private banks in ancient times will eventually be eliminated by history, and even tyrannical banks such as Shanxi Bank cannot withstand the waves of history.
In Europe, after ancient private banks set off a bankruptcy frenzy, they were replaced by modern city banks and public banks, and the government began to intervene in bank operations.
At present, the so-called forty-eight Jinling money industry peers, no matter what they do, are similar to ancient European private banks in that they are self-employed individuals operating in a closed manner, so Qin Dewei does not like them very much.
Qin Dewei's idea of issuing public stocks to raise funds while introducing government funds and policy support is to try something different and see whether the modern banking model works.
He is not sure whether he can succeed in the end, but for such an interesting thing, why not give it a try if you have the chance?
The process of issuing public shares, in fact, to put it bluntly, it must be a very nasty process to trick people from the Ming Dynasty into subscribing for new shares.
I am confident that my life of two hundred years will be like crossing three thousand miles of water. Since I have traveled through time, I have to do something new and leave my mark on this time and space, otherwise wouldn’t it be in vain?
Just as he was thinking about it, he heard Feng Zhixian make up his mind and say: "It can be done!"
Then he added: "Although I can only use the county treasury's own reserve money, I can make my own decision, but there is no precedent for this matter, and I still need to report the details to my superiors at the same time for reference."
Qin Dewei nodded and said: "It should be."
Then Magistrate Feng stopped talking, leaving Qin Dewei puzzled, "Master Feng, what are you doing with your eyes open?"
Feng Zhixian said confidently: "Whenever you want to do something in the government, you must first show a high-sounding official reason. Isn't this what you are best at?
What exactly should you say? Why don't you explain it in detail? You can't tell your boss that the county government went to war just to help Yuanfenghao make money, right?"
Qin Dewei pointed at the document he submitted, "Isn't it all written on it? Master Feng, did you only read the last paragraph?"
Magistrate Feng looked down and saw that at the front of the document, he wrote clearly and clearly: "In recent years, demands from all parties in Nandu have become more numerous, and county government expenditures have doubled. In order to better supply the needs of the imperial capital, and to share the worries and difficulties of the imperial court, the county government has We will plan another way to increase the income. Nowadays, it is also seen that the county treasury reserves are often idle. It may be a good idea to put it to the people to make good use of it and make profits."
When Feng Zhixian saw this, he suddenly raised his head and said, "Is it possible to compete for fame and fortune?"
Qin Dewei explained: "What do you mean by competing for profits with the people? The government does not directly operate anything, it just borrows money from the people's livelihood! There will be more to this later, Mr. Feng, please read on!"
Feng Zhixian continued to read and read: "Secondly, it may support local people's livelihood. Jinling's population is growing, and there are many idle people. It is sincerely good governance to release official silver to lead local people to establish careers."
At the end, Feng Zhixian saw another paragraph: "The official bank is most guarded against losses and the most afraid of risks. Mr. Feng can make it clear to his superiors that if there is a deficit in the official bank after one year, I will make up for it by myself to block the long-term loss." Everyone."