Liu Xiang listened very carefully. It should be said that the Ministry of Finance and Finance's plan was very detailed, well-organized, all-round, and highly executable. It was not a blind directive based on pure theory - this was originally what he was most worried about.
After listening to the introduction of the plan, Liu Xiang coughed and said: "I think the plan of the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of China is feasible. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to implement this plan."
Issuing new currency requires a huge network to provide support, and their "relevant departments" in Guangzhou are not enough. Except for the police agency, which is beginning to take shape, the rest is basically blank.
There are several necessary institutions and enterprises in the plan. Only Delong Bank started its layout half a year ago and added new branches, which roughly covers the urban area, various customs and commercial streets in major suburban market towns. The others either have no shelves at all or
The scale is too small to be effective at all. It has to be built and enriched one by one. The gap in personnel is also not small.
"...My idea is that the women's cooperative, which is now owned by the state-controlled Wanyou, should come to Guangzhou to open a branch as soon as possible. The location can be chosen, and there should be as many outlets as possible to attract citizens to use the new currency." Zheng Shangjie said, "
Shop assistants can be recruited in Guangzhou, and just send some of the business backbone to serve as leaders."
Zhang Yikun also quickly said: "We have enough space. The big world is mainly to attract commercial enterprises from the Senate. Not only these enterprises, I think the commercial port can also open some new commercial enterprises. For example, the catering industry. Increase the channels for currency withdrawals.
."
Lin Baiguang said: "Is Dachang, like Delong, setting up some points in the urban area and nearby larger commercial towns? Its current importance is the same as Delong. These points can be wholesale or retail, as
A bellwether for rice prices.”
Chen Ce made a few notes in his notebook: "This requires coordination, but I don't think it's a big problem."
Liu Xiang said: "Actually, there is another thing that I am worried about, which is our auxiliary coins. There is no metal currency in auxiliary coins - are ordinary people willing to exchange copper coins for banknotes? For ordinary people, they rarely use silver dollars.
, what is in great demand is small-value payment methods. Nowadays, the smallest denomination silver coin costs almost 2 silver coins - which is a bit big."
Chen Ce smiled slightly: "Old Liu, do you know about money raising?"
"Not sure, chips?"
"This is a kind of token. It is issued by the merchants themselves and is made of bamboo. Its properties are the same as banknotes. It is a kind of credit currency. It was once very popular in Jiangnan in the middle and late Qing Dynasty." Chen Ce said, "You know why
Will something like this happen?"
"Because of lack of small money?"
"Because the market was flooded with bad coins at that time," Chen Ce said. "It was exactly the same as the situation in the Ming Dynasty today. Merchants and people suffered greatly. But small payments were indispensable. So this kind of material appeared.
A worthless token. Its credit is maintained by the issuing store itself. It can also be circulated in a town, and some can even be circulated in more than a dozen towns."
"Are you saying that ordinary people will accept our small coins because there is too much bad money?"
"Yes, it's not just that." Chen Ce glanced at Meng Xian, "The financial report Xiao Meng gave us mentioned many times that there is a serious shortage of small-denomination coins in Guangzhou and even Guangdong as a whole."
"Yes," Meng Xian said, "many merchants mint silver beans privately as auxiliary coins."
The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty that did not pay much attention to coinage. Copper coins of all dynasties were mixed on the market. After the collapse of the banknote method, in order to solve the problem of insufficient currency, merchants were allowed to privately mint copper coins. The quality was extremely poor. Some of the copper coins that flowed out to Southeast Asia were regarded as "lead" by Europeans.
"Piece". In order to solve financial difficulties, the Chongzhen Dynasty minted a large number of coins in various places. The copper coins were both excessive and inferior. The currency values of small-amount auxiliary coins on the market were extremely confusing.
"...So we think it is feasible to use banknotes for small-denomination auxiliary currencies." Chen Ce said.
This rhetoric did not completely convince Liu Xiang, but he could not come up with a better solution.
In order to further reduce the outflow of silver and copper coins in the current administrative expenses, the meeting decided that before the new currency is issued, all cadres going north will be subject to a supply system and no cash will be issued; for newly recruited and retained personnel locally, only discounted rice and cloth will be issued. No payment will be made.
Silver and copper coins. Except for necessary project settlement and on-site transfer of materials, the use of silver and copper coins for payment is strictly prohibited.
Liu Xiang said: "Before issuing new currency, another task we have is to stabilize food prices."
According to the daily price report on the market by the Comprehensive Management Office, the average rice price in Guangzhou is about one, two or three yuan per stone - a yuan higher than before they entered the city. This is obviously a "panic increase" because
The current situation is turbulent, and citizens are rushing to buy rice and store it, causing the price to rise. However, more than half a month has passed and the market is calm. In theory, it should fall back. However, rice prices are still rising steadily. This shows that grain merchants are not optimistic
The subsequent supply of rice. However, this is still within the normal range: rice prices tend to go up at this time of year. Grain prices will not fall until after the summer harvest, when local and foreign grains come on the market.
The exact population figures of the entire Guangzhou urban area have not yet been released, but according to existing figures and estimates, the permanent population of Guangzhou City, Panyu, and Nanhai County is about 300,000. Even based on the standard of 14 kilograms per person per month
The monthly consumption exceeds 4,000 tons. This is an astonishing number.
Liu Xiang doesn't know the situation of private grain storage in Guangzhou, but one thing all the elders know: Guangdong is a traditionally grain-deficient area, and even in good years in the late Ming Dynasty, the harvest was only enough to last half a year. Although Huguang, Jiangxi Province was the main grain-producing area in the Ming Dynasty,
.However, due to Wuling's obstruction, it cannot effectively supply Guangdong. Bulk grain is basically supplied by Guangxi. Therefore, the grain stock in the city will not be very large. At present, grain transportation from Guangxi has been interrupted, and the grain supply of Guangzhou, a huge consumer city, is completely
fell to the new government.
Now it is March again, a time when rural areas are experiencing drought, and there is insufficient food to supply the cities. In the past, the traditional foreign food trade was interrupted, and the seized food was very limited. If food prices cannot be effectively stabilized, let alone the issuance of new currency, let's start with
The "rice riots" will disgrace the Senate in Guangzhou!
But panic has quietly arisen. Some rice store owners who have business dealings with Dachang are already worried about the arrival of rice from other places this year - rice from Guangxi obviously cannot be counted on, and in Guangdong, only Lei, Lian, and Gaosanfu are bulk grains
Origin, supply shortage in the second half of the year is already a certainty.
At the meeting, it was decided that after the ban on rice shops, Dachang would serve as the general grain wholesaler in Guangzhou and wholesale grains to various rice shops at "guided prices". The market would first be stabilized.
"The Planning Institute has promised to transport 5,000 tons of brown rice this month and 20,000 tons next month. These grains are exclusively for Guangzhou. The goal is to ensure that Guangzhou has four to five months of reserves." Chen Ce said.
Liu Xiang was surprised: "The Planning Institute has so much food in its hands?"
He remembered that food has always been a relatively tight "controlled material" for the Senate. After all, based on their agricultural production capacity, supporting a large industrial population, administrative staff, military police and students is already a huge burden. If there is no food imports
, it is simply impossible for the Senate to support such a high proportion of the non-agricultural population.
Although there was no unified purchasing and marketing system under the Senate, grain was always the first-level controlled material.
"Of course." Chen Ce said, "I can also tell you the truth. This is the result of the full coordination of the Government Affairs Council. Starting from this month, the staple food in all public cafeterias in Hainan Island, Taiwan, Jeju and other places will be changed to dried rice noodles.
At the same time, the Planning Institute has also increased the quota for rice imports - so we can only succeed in Guangzhou and cannot fail."
The elders present at the meeting all realized the weight of their burdens from these words. Dried rice noodles are mixed with 25% dried potato powder; and if more rice is imported, the import of other raw materials will inevitably decrease. This is equivalent to a sacrifice.
public interests to support this currency reform in Guangdong.
Liu Xiang said solemnly: "This is using the power of the whole country to support us."
"That's right, it's good if you can realize it." Chen Ce himself said in a serious tone, "Now we have just regained Guangzhou, people's hearts are unstable, and we have to carry out currency reform. This is a good opportunity for speculators and profiteers to make trouble. Things will not be smooth sailing.
.”
…
Dachang Guangzhou Branch originally only had a facade outside Dongguan, Guangzhou, close to the Pearl River waterway. The facade was not big and not conspicuous, but the warehouse yard and dock behind it were surprisingly large. Every summer and autumn, the place was crowded with people.
The pier at the back door is also full of ships transporting grain.
Dachang is almost not involved in the rice and grain trade in Guangzhou. It neither buys nor sells. It only accepts grain sent from four townships and eight towns. Sometimes it also accepts cash and various local products and groceries. The received goods are directly loaded onto the ship and shipped.
Went to Hong Kong.
March was originally the most deserted time in Dachang, but now the pier was full of boats. The water lines of the barges hauled from Hong Kong Island by small steamers were very low, and they were tightly covered with reed mats.
The porters worked day and night to carry straw bags into the warehouse - needless to say, they were filled with rice.
Not far from Dachang, the dedicated pier of Big World is also full of barges from Hong Kong Island. Steam cranes make a popping sound, hoisting goods onto iron wheels and sending them to the warehouse one by one.
District to go.
Lin Baiguang watched this scene from the observation deck at the highest point of the Great World. Since the liberation of Guangzhou, the number of tugboats from Hong Kong has increased several times. A large amount of grain, cloth, salt and groceries were transported from Hong Kong Island to the Great World. Originally,
The empty warehouse has now been mostly filled. The follow-up is still coming. (To be continued.)