The reason why Zhu Cixiang asked these military attaches to work as contractors was to improve efficiency and avoid corruption, at least to control corruption within an acceptable range.
Secondly, they were interested in their organizational and management abilities. After all, there were not many people in ancient times who were literate and able to manage things.
In addition to the wooden models produced by the Ministry of Engineering, there were also a large number of drawings. Zhu Cixiang sent each of them a drawing of the part to be built, and also asked the construction supervisor and everyone to sign a contract. Everyone hurriedly
He left the palace and began to make preparations.
No matter how unwilling they were, no one dared to say no, and they were all ready to conscientiously complete the tasks assigned by His Majesty.
Similarly, almost everyone was reluctant to take out their own money, so they all went to the bank to prepare for a loan.
Not a single business has been completed yet. Princess Kunxing, who was worried about how to open the business, was very happy. After hearing the news, she went to the head office in person.
Although the bank's interest rate is much lower than that of loan sharks outside.
But obviously once the royal family is involved, it is not a matter of interest, but that no one wants to have anything to do with the royal family in terms of money.
Especially today, people like to raid people's homes at every turn.
In this case, no one would be willing to borrow money from the bank, let alone setting the interest rate low, even if it is a discount.
This was a huge blow to Princess Kunxing, who was eager to make money for her royal brother.
At this moment, I saw hundreds of loan officers outside the head office. Although they knew what was going on, their enthusiasm was still very high.
"See Your Highness the Princess."
"Well, no gifts at all!"
"Are you here for a loan? How much do you want to borrow? How long will the loan last?"
Princess Kunxing waved her hands and looked at them as if she were seeing mountains of gold and silver.
"Back to Princess, I plan to borrow a thousand taels for one month."
"Your Highness Princess, I also plan to borrow five hundred taels..."
"Well, it's easy to say. You are all wealthy people. Let alone one thousand taels, even ten thousand taels are fine. Let me introduce the interest rate to you first!"
Princess Kunxing was obviously very interested, and she completely took on the role of the bank's manager. After speaking, she introduced: "Royal Bank's loans are divided into short-term and long-term. The short-term is to be repaid within one month, and the interest is every
One hundred taels of silver, one penny per day, is only three taels per month. If it is not repaid for more than one month, it will be calculated as long-term.
The long-term is one year, and the interest is 5 taels per one hundred taels per month. The interest is paid monthly and can be repaid in advance. If it is not repaid after one year, the interest will remain unchanged, but the interest will be compounded..."
After hearing this, everyone nodded, thinking it was quite fair. The interest rate of one hundred taels of silver, three taels per month, without compounding interest, was indeed very difficult to borrow outside.
"How about it? Is the Royal Bank fair?"
"Yes, yes, the princess's Royal Bank really benefits all people in the world."
Everyone hurriedly boasted.
Then they signed the loan contract one after another, deducted one month's interest in advance, and then left with the bank's special cloth bag for holding banknotes and ingots.
Since the treasure notes have not yet been fully circulated and recognized, only 30% of the treasure notes and 70% of the ingots were given.
"Just do the math, how much did you earn in total?"
After everyone left, Princess Kunxing couldn't wait to urge them, with an excited look on her face.
All the shopkeepers were also looking forward to it. After a crackling calculation, an old palace maid reported: "Back to the princess, a total of 150,000 taels were lent, and the interest earned was 4,500 taels."
"good!"
"Brother Huang has a way. He has made so much money right now. Counting the loans from other branches, I'm afraid it's twenty to thirty thousand taels."
When she heard that she had made four to five thousand taels, Princess Kunxing clenched her fists excitedly and was full of confidence again.
But after the excitement, he sighed again: "Oh! It's a pity that it's just this once. It would be great if so many people come to borrow money every day."
"Princess, how about we lower the interest rate a little more?"
"Our interest rates are already very low. The problem is not the interest rate, but that everyone is worried about borrowing money from our bank." Princess Kunxing waved her hand.
All the shopkeepers also understood this and were helpless in doing anything about it.
"There is no rush when it comes to lending. As the saying goes, one can tell one's power over time, and people's hearts will be revealed over time. As time goes by, people who are short of money will gradually come to the bank to borrow money. The current task is to open branches as soon as possible and cultivate more qualified people."
Many shopkeepers came out."
Princess Kunxing said this, but after tasting the sweetness, she called her two younger brothers over as soon as she returned to the palace and forced each of them to borrow a long-term loan of one thousand taels of silver.
As a result, they couldn't stop it, and the concubines, eunuchs in charge, and maids in the palace were all forced to borrow tens to hundreds of taels.
After hearing this, Queen Zhou and Chongzhen, who was lying in bed, supported their daughter and each borrowed ten thousand taels.
When word spread that thousands of military attachés had borrowed a total of more than one million taels of silver from banks, the dignitaries and businessmen in the capital were stunned.
Everyone couldn't help but sigh, it was indeed a bank opened by the royal family. How can ordinary banks compare to this courage and skill?
With the military attaches taking the lead, in the following days, many people who were in urgent need of money also went to banks to borrow money, and the military attaches also began to recruit people to build brick kilns.
Zhu Cixiang also gave each of the hundreds of thousands of military households working outside the city two taels of silver notes to go home and prepare for the New Year and come back next year.
After hundreds of thousands of military households had treasure money, they immediately rushed to the royal stores in the city and began to buy some cloth, cotton and the like.
For a time, the outer city was overcrowded.
The reason why these military households are being paid now is because Zhu Cihong had previously asked the Red Lady to purchase a large amount of cotton cloth and needlework in the south, which had just arrived three days ago.
The military households finally finished their shopping in early December and returned to their respective camps, and it was finally snowing heavily in the capital. It only snowed in December, which was already very late.
Regarding such abnormal weather, Zhu Cixiang could only guess that the Little Ice Age was about to end.
The New Year's Eve of the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign arrived as scheduled. Although the people in the northern provinces still did not have enough to eat or wear warm clothes, they could at least enjoy a peaceful festival together as a family. They no longer had to worry about it, and at least they could have a bite of hot food and spirits.
Food.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Cixi also officially changed his reign name to Shenwu, which ended the seventeen years of war and people's dire poverty in Chongzhen. The Ming Dynasty ushered in the first year of Shenwu.
The reign title Shenwu was given by Zhu Cixiang himself, not because he was bragging, but because he believed that he was destined to become a god-like emperor.
His civil and military skills are destined to surpass those of previous emperors.
It's not that his ability and strategy are really better than those of the founding emperors of the past dynasties. It's that his knowledge and thinking have long surpassed this era.