"National debt?" Tong Mu looked at Sun Tu in surprise: "You mean we borrow money from the private sector in the name of the court? Can this be done? Are those wealthy private merchants really willing to lend us money like this?"
When Sun Tu proposed the national debt measure of raising money and food from the private sector in the name of the country, Tong Mu really couldn't keep up with the other party's rhythm. In addition to being puzzled, there was also a hint of uneasiness. Is this really reliable
Sun Tu, on the other hand, looked confident: "What can't be done? Those wealthy merchants among the people have a lot of spare money, which has no other use than occupying space at home. Now they borrow it. The imperial court will use it for the Northern Expedition, and then return it to them with interest after the Northern Expedition is victorious. For them, it is a sure-profit deal. They are all smart people, don't they understand the benefits?"
Tong Mu was silent, and there was some truth in what Sun Tu said. The Song Dynasty was indeed very rich now, but all this wealth was hidden among the people. The court was somewhat stretched due to various reasons, so this method could really solve the current urgent need. And based on the current comparison between the national and military strength of the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom, anyone with some brains will definitely know that the Song Dynasty will win a big victory, so if you spend money at this time, you don't have to worry about losing everything after defeat. And once the Song Dynasty wins, the large land in the Liao Kingdom alone will be worth a lot of money, and the various wealthy people in the country will really be a good deal with huge profits.
But he still had some worries in his heart, and after pondering, he said, "Isn't it a bit outrageous to discuss business with the people in the name of the imperial court? Where will the dignity of the imperial court, His Majesty, and you be put?" Ruo Ruo? If they really do this, I'm afraid those businessmen who bought the national debt will be able to regard themselves as the creditors of the imperial court. This is hard to say.
Sun Tu laughed after hearing this. Tong Mu was still a scholar after all, and sometimes he valued face more than benefits. This is also the case in this matter. In his eyes, reputation seems to be more important than the large amount of money and food he received. But he didn't want to think about it. If the country's security couldn't be guaranteed, what was the use of those false names
After all, he is a good brother who has worked with Sun Tu for many years and has a similar mind. He only smiled and Tong Mu understood it and said with a smile: "It seems that you don't take your reputation too seriously. In that case, I There’s nothing to worry about anymore, I’ll just do as you say. The only thing I’m worried about now is that the people don’t believe in the imperial court and what if they don’t use their money for national debt? After all, they’ve never seen anything like this before, so they inevitably have doubts. ah."
"This is easy to handle. We just need to set a few examples first. Aren't there a lot of wealthy families in Beijing? Send someone to talk to them and let them take the lead in buying national debt. The court will also reduce or reduce their taxes. I think they will definitely not refuse taxes. And as long as someone takes the lead, others will naturally follow. By then, maybe not only those wealthy merchants will pay for it, but even ordinary people will rush to do it. ." As Sun Tu said, he thought of the treasury bill craze at a certain period in later generations, and the scene where investors rushed to buy stocks when large companies went public in the early days, pushing up the stock prices one by one. Now he is doing the same thing. .
"People also contribute money to buy national bonds? How much is this worth?" Tong Mu asked disdainfully.
"you
Don't look down on them. Maybe a single ordinary person is far from being able to compare with the spare money in the hands of wealthy businessmen. But when this number becomes common people in the world, even if it is only ten people, one in a hundred people is willing to spend money. , the amount of money they can provide is not comparable to that of those merchants. "Sun Tu said, waving his hands and saying: "Okay, we will talk about these details later. Let's arrange things now. I will raise enough money and food to transport to the north within this year, and wait until next spring, just in time to send troops. "
Originally, Sun Tu planned to launch the Northern Expedition this autumn and winter, but due to the pressure on money and food, and the need for cooperation from Xixia, he could only postpone the expedition and wait until the spring of next year to send troops.
Seeing that he had made up his mind, Tong Mu said no more, nodded in agreement, and left in a hurry.
In the next few days, a rumor began to spread in Tokyo on a small scale that the imperial court would borrow money from the private sector to raise food and supplies for the Northern Expedition. While some people were still doubting whether this was true or not, and discussing whether it was a fraud, a new theory soon began to spread—the two families of Zhang Ju and Xu Bin, now well-known wealthy businessmen in Tokyo. At the same time, he actually spent 100,000 yuan to buy the so-called national debt.
These two people are very famous both in the business world and among the people. This rumor alone has attracted the attention and inquiries of many people. Many people who had business dealings with these two families, or had some friendship with them, either came to ask directly, or made indirect inquiries to find out whether things were true or false.
In this regard, the two did not hide anything. They bluntly stated that they had indeed bought the national debt and produced a certificate. When those relatives and friends saw the flimsy piece of government bonds in their hands, their eyes were a little straightened - that was a hundred thousand pounds of money. Even if it was exchanged for gold and silver treasures, there would be dozens of boxes. Now it has become like this It’s just a small piece of paper. Isn’t the contrast too strong
But the answer of the two people was even more amazing: "Don't underestimate this small piece of paper, its value is far more than one hundred thousand guan. To hide it from you, the imperial court has promised us that we will continue to work together after the victory of the Northern Expedition. We will return something worth 120,000 guan to us with interest."
"Twenty percent profit?" This made everyone's eyes light up. If it is really a sure thing, 20% profit is already a big benefit.
"With the imperial court as a guarantee, do you think there will still be falsehoods? Or do you think that the Song Dynasty will not be able to win the Liao Kingdom, which is at the end of its rope? Anyway, I absolutely believe that the imperial court can do what it says. This is comparable to ordinary transactions. It’s much more practical. Think about it, if you keep this large amount of money at home, you have to worry about it being stolen someday, and if you use it for business, you have to worry about whether you will lose it. The only way is Buying a house and land, but Tokyo is already overcrowded. Even if I have money, it is difficult to buy a house and land that I like, so this is the most worry-free. In less than a year, I can get 20,000 yuan for free, and the court is so The 20% tax on the property under my name is reduced, and together, it is more than enough to earn 50,000 yuan."
After such detailed calculations, other wealthy businessmen and wealthy people were immediately interested, and then some people began to ask them how to buy national debt. As Sun Tu said, there are many people in the world who have spare money, and they are worried that they cannot make money generate money.
Well, now that a great opportunity is in front of us, we naturally have to fight for it.
"It's easy to say. The Ministry of Revenue will officially sell treasury bonds in the near future. If you are interested, you can go there to inquire and purchase."
The power of role models is indeed infinite, especially when these two role models are the leading wealthy businessmen in the capital, their influence is even more astonishing. On October 3rd, when the Ministry of Revenue officially posted a notice announcing the sale of government bonds, in just half a day, no fewer than dozens of people came to the Yamen to inquire or purchase.
Then within a few days, more than 300,000 yuan entered the national treasury. Nowadays, most of the buyers are from merchants, and they are also interested in the additional clauses that can reduce or reduce taxes. Since their peers have bought it, if they don’t buy it themselves, the price will be higher and less competitive because they will suffer from tax losses. You will suffer a big loss.
And these businessmen often have a lot of money on hand, and they can buy tens of thousands of national bonds at a time. Such a large number really shocked Sun Tu. They lamented repeatedly that the Song Dynasty was rich but only kept its wealth from the people. Now it seems that this is indeed true.
After the matter was further publicized and attracted more people's attention, an even more surprising thing happened. Even ordinary people had the courage to come to the Ministry of Household Affairs to inquire about the price of national debt, and they also wanted to buy some.
In this regard, the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs who had received Tong Mu's care for a long time naturally did not put on official airs as before. They explained the people's questions carefully and mentioned that they could also buy small treasury bonds with only five copper coins.
Five Guan Qian may not be a small figure in other states and counties, but it can be obtained by the people in the capital. So, someone immediately took copper coins and bought such a national bond. Then, the matter spread completely. In the following days, the number of people coming to the Ministry of Revenue increased rapidly. There were nearly 10,000 people in the capital of one million who came specifically to buy national bonds. Tobe has become something like Toshiichi or Shoukokuji Temple...
Naturally, many officials were dissatisfied with this. They believed that such an approach was too damaging to the dignity of the court and ruined the reputation of the Ministry of Revenue. Some people came forward one after another to impeach such ridiculous actions.
However, after such bullets were sent to the Yintai Department, they were like a mud cow sinking into the sea, without even a splash of water. Later, when the news came out, everyone knew that Taiwei Sun was behind all this. As a result, no one dared to make any accusations about this matter. We must know that the bodies of Li Gang, Song Jiang and others are still cold. Who dares to hit the gun again but go against Sun Tu
In the capital city alone, the imperial court received more than two million guan of money at once, and when this initiative began to be implemented in the various state capitals below, this number skyrocketed.
By the time the winter months entered, the money had been quickly converted into food baggage and transported in batches straight to the north. As a result, the war machine of the Northern Expedition finally started rumbling, and now we only have to wait for this winter to pass before using troops against the Liao Kingdom. And Sun Tu also won the admiration of Tong Mu and others with this genius creativity. He actually only used a mere month or two to solve the problem of lack of money and food that had been troubled by the court for a long time. It was solved, and it was done without hurting the people!
This is to make the people rich and the country strong!