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The front of Huitong Bank was crowded with people, almost all of whom were bringing treasure notes to exchange for silver.
People were afraid that they would not be able to exchange their silver, so they pushed and scrambled for it. The scene was extremely chaotic, with noisy shouting and cursing filling the ears.
The Wucheng Bingmasi, which had just been established, sent hundreds of soldiers to maintain order and prevent chaos.
As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one will be afraid of ropes for ten years. Zhu Hongwu, an emperor born in a peasant family, had little knowledge of economics and made the reputation of paper copying very bad.
People's fear of paper money is deeply rooted in their hearts, and it is impossible to force a change with a decree.
Qin Mu believed that there were many servants of officials in the court who crowded in front of the bank to exchange money.
The Qin Dynasty paid salaries at the end of each month, which was yesterday. The salaries of officials mainly consisted of three items: rice, silk and cloth, and cash.
For example, if an official's salary is ten taels of silver, then two taels of it may be converted into rice, two taels may be converted into cloth, and the remaining six taels may be distributed in cash.
As for the cash portion of the October salary, this time it was all distributed in the form of treasure notes.
The Ministry of Revenue's Papermaking Bureau printed two million strings of Daqin treasure notes, which were mainly spent through the payment of officials' salaries and the purchase of military supplies.
In just one day, the squeeze was so severe. Qin Mu didn't believe that the people squeezed included servants of officials at all levels.
In other words, even many officials had no confidence in the Qin Treasure Notes.
The merchants that Qin Mu visited had no choice but to accept Baochao. Yingtian Prefecture had posted sample notes and banknote regulations at various city gates long ago, one of which was that anyone who refused to accept Baochao would be fined twice as much as the original penalty, or even sentenced to imprisonment, if found guilty.
The merchants were afraid, and since Huitong Bank could exchange the notes for silver at a one-to-one ratio, they had no choice but to accept the notes.
But judging from the fact that those merchants immediately sent people to the bank to exchange the treasure notes for silver after receiving them, they were obviously still worried that the bank had no silver to exchange, or would suddenly change its policy and not accept the exchange.
Qin Mu had been prepared for this kind of bank run. So he issued two million coins and asked the Ministry of Revenue to prepare four million taels of silver to deal with the bank run.
The reason for preparing so much cash is that the same note may be used for bank runs many times during the circulation of the note.
After learning that Xu Yingjie was personally in charge of the bank, Qin Mu took Gu Hanyan into the bank through the back door and let her take a rest.
Xu Yingjie hurried over to greet them, and the two sat down in the flower hall next to the storehouse. Without waiting for Qin Mu to ask, Xu Yingjie said, "Please rest assured, King Qin, there are only more than 800,000 coins in circulation at present. We have 4 million taels of silver to deal with bank runs. There will be no trouble."
"But the newly spent notes immediately return to the bank, which is not a good idea."
"Don't worry, King Qin. I can't come back so quickly. I have asked the bank to make corresponding regulations. Each person can only exchange a maximum of five strings of banknotes at a time. If you withdraw more than five strings, you must also exchange half of the banknotes."
Qin Mu frowned and said, "This can slow down the speed at which the banknotes return to the bank, but won't it increase the panic of the people?"
"No. King Qin, please think about it. Aren't they panicking enough now? No matter what you do, once the treasure notes are in hand, they will definitely exchange them for silver.
The court did not mean that it would not exchange the notes, but it just delayed the exchange speed to allow more circulation of the notes in the market. I believe that as long as the bank does not stop exchanging the notes, as long as there is hope, after the initial panic, everyone will get used to the circulation of the notes, and things will be easy.
I have set a rule that each person can only exchange five strings of coins at a time. This will not have any impact on ordinary people, but is only to prevent the rich from exchanging large amounts. "
Qin Mu thought about it and it made sense. In terms of panic, the people are already panicking enough now, and there is no need to worry about them panicking even more.
The only way to eliminate their panic is to keep exchanging them and make them believe in the credibility of the Qin Treasure Notes by using the method of "a journey of a thousand miles tests a horse's strength and time reveals a person's true character".
Ordinary people have low incomes, so the five-guan exchange limit is not a big problem for them. Over time, they will no longer refuse to accept the treasure notes.
Well, it seems that I have to keep calm first. Qin Mu smiled faintly and said, "Today is a day for all officials to rest, but Xu Qing has to sit here in person. Thank you for your hard work, Xu Qing."
According to the newly formulated rest and holiday system of the Qin State, officials took a five-day holiday. On this day, most officials took a holiday, and only a small number of officials from some important departments were left on duty, and they would take a compensatory day off later.
Xu Yingjie quickly expressed his opinion: "The King of Qin has shown great kindness, how can I not repay him with all my heart and soul?"
"Okay, I won't bother you anymore." Qin Mu drank a cup of hot tea and left through the back door.
After taking Gu Hanyan to the sedan chair, Li Shi went to the front of the sedan chair and asked, "Prince Qin, are you going home?"
"No, let's go to Xiyuan." Today is a holiday, and Qin Mu decided to take Gu Hanyan for a walk to cultivate their relationship.
Walking along the river, on the clear Qinhuai River, there are painted boats swaying, tourists riding on boats, and boats coming and going. People on both sides of the river are enjoying the scenery, strolling in shops, or discussing art, reciting poems and playing music, feeling very comfortable.
When we arrived at Nanshi Tower, we found a shop with a sign that read "Sanjiang Silver Shop". It was also crowded with people. The people in front of the counter were holding Qin treasure notes in their hands and scrambling to stuff them in. There was a lot of shouting and it seemed that they were also exchanging the treasure notes for silver.
Qin Mu was very surprised. Could there be someone who had such confidence in the Great Qin Treasure Notes that he actually started a business of exchanging Treasure Notes for silver like Huitong Bank did
He stopped the sedan chair and squeezed closer with Niu Wanshan and the others. They heard people shouting:
"Change it for me."
"I'll go first, I'll go first"
"Mine, mine, fifty strings of cash, give it to me now."
“… ... ... .”
A shop assistant outside the gate was loudly encouraging, "You all must have heard of the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes, so I won't say much. If you trust the treasure notes in your hands, you can keep them and use them slowly. No one can rob you of them. If you want to exchange them for silver, you have to hurry up.
If you have a lot of Baochao in your hands, you can also go to Huitong Bank and wait in line for ten days or half a month. Huitong Bank stipulates that one person can only exchange five Guan at a time;
I tell you, this is the only place in the world that is open to exchange banknotes. There are no other branches. The silver in our store is limited, and it is first come first served. If you want to exchange silver, hurry up. If you miss this opportunity, I am afraid you will regret it!"
Qin Mu felt a little strange after listening to this. The words said by the man who looked like a clerk were somewhat contradictory. First, he vaguely mentioned the Ming treasure notes issued by Hongwu, and then he encouraged people to rush into the store to exchange them for silver. Isn't this normal
When Qin Mu found out the exchange rate of the Sanjiang Silver Shop's treasure notes to silver, he understood why the merchants exchanged silver for treasure notes. It turned out that they did not exchange one string of treasure notes for one silver note, but nine coins of silver for one string of treasure notes.
The clerk at the door became more and more outspoken in his incitement, making people feel that the treasure notes would become waste paper tomorrow. The people had no confidence in the treasure notes in the first place, and after his alarmist remarks, they would rush to exchange them even if one string of treasure notes could only be exchanged for nine cents of silver.
Li Shi said angrily, "King Qin, these people deliberately spread rumors and created panic in order to make huge profits. King Qin, I will bring people to copy it right away."
Qin Mu waved his hand and said, "Who are you? Do you need to care about this matter? This king is surprised. Who has such confidence in the Great Qin Treasure Banknotes?"
Li Shi thought so too. Anyone who dared to make a profit from this must have great confidence in the Qin treasure notes. Others were eager to get rid of the treasure notes as soon as possible, but he dared to buy a large amount of treasure notes. This was very abnormal.
"Go, ask Ye Bushou to carefully investigate the details of this Sanjiang Silver Shop."
"Yes, King Qin."
Qin Mu did not touch the silver shop immediately because he felt that there might be a lot of trouble here. Anyone who dared to take advantage of this loophole to make huge profits must be no simple person.
The first person Qin Mu thought of was Xu Yingjie, but then he rejected it. Xu Yingjie was a smart man. He was willing to donate two million some time ago, so he should not have any bad ideas about the treasure notes.
It is true that people die for money and birds die for food. Who is this person
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ps: My ranking on the monthly ticket list has dropped very quickly. I haven't received a single vote today. I hope I won't run naked again. To be honest, every time I run naked, it affects my mood. I can't type a single word. Brothers who have monthly tickets, please support me.
Although I have been asking for monthly tickets frequently recently, some people may be disgusted, but this is actually because I still care about my own achievements and want to continue writing. Therefore, I can only ask for support from all my brothers. Please give me monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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