I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

"Lending money from common people's merchants, what is the etiquette?"

"I'm afraid that the people will not easily trust the court and dare not borrow it."

"It's really not possible to make donations or create new money."

Everyone was not very optimistic about Hong Chengchou's proposal. Some people felt that the court would lose face by borrowing money from the common people, and some people felt that the common people would not lend it.

Their worries are not unreasonable. The credibility of the imperial court in this era is relatively poor. The people have lent money to the imperial court, and they are always worried about whether the imperial court will pay it back.

Even if the court doesn't pay it back, they can't take the court.

Others want to implement the method of donating rates, which is actually tax collection in disguise. And casting new money is actually equivalent to printing currency. Of course, the new money cast is not cast in the normal way, and a small amount of copper is used mixed with some other worthless metals to cast new money.

In this way, more money can be cast with less copper, and a penny can be cast into two coins, three coins or even more. Many dynasties have done this kind of thing.

If the ancient court wanted to make money, it basically collected taxes, cast money and other methods.

In Wu Changqing's view, these are all bad methods. Tax increases will increase the burden on the people, the consumption power of the people will decline, and it will not be able to stimulate the economy. And minting money can easily lead to inflation, making new money worthless.

A small amount may still have a little effect on promoting the economy, but a large amount will lead to a devaluation of the currency, which is a fatal blow to the economy.

This can refer to Zimbabwe in later generations. One hundred trillion banknotes are flying all over the sky, but one cannot buy a single piece of bread. In the Ming Dynasty, you can also refer to the Daming treasure banknotes.

Daming treasure banknotes are a kind of banknotes issued in the Ming Dynasty. Because of their low cost, money comes quickly. A group of officials who don't understand economic laws will print them desperately when they see short-term benefits, leading to the flood of treasured banknotes, which eventually depreciate to the point of worthless, the people do not recognize it, and the market does not recognize it.

In the end, it also led to the most bizarre phenomenon. The people worked for the court, and the court paid their wages with treasure money. The common people can't buy things in the market when they get the treasured banknotes.

Ordinary people encounter this kind of thing, I am afraid that there will be 10,000 alpacas rushing past in their hearts.

Wu Changqing is not an economics expert, but he also knows a basic principle that the amount of money should be linked to the total amount of social wealth.

With less money, deflation is not a big problem.

But if the amount of money is too large, causing inflation, the impact on society is devastating.

Because of the backward statistical methods, Wu Changqing does not know whether it is currently in deflation or inflation, so he does not dare to cast new money indiscriminately.

Even if you want to cast money, the copper content of copper coins must be sufficient, and the silver content of silver ingots must be sufficient, so that it will not have much impact on society.

"There is no need to argue, just use the method of borrowing money from the common people. I named it national debt, which is the debt owed by the state to the common people. In the early stage, try to target the borrowers to merchants and officials, as well as wealthy people from other places. You can give Higher interest, 50% interest a year, to attract others to borrow money.”

Wu Changqing interrupted their argument, he didn't have much time for them to argue right or wrong.

Moreover, Wu Changqing doesn't think that they can argue right and wrong if they continue to argue like this, it is better to tell them the right way directly, and then let them learn and understand the benefits of national debt in practice.

The interest of 50% a year, this interest will probably kill those investors with laughter in future generations.

In later generations, 99.99% of companies have less than 50% of their annual profits, and even more than 20% of companies are very few.

Generally speaking, an enterprise with an annual profit of 15% is considered a high-quality enterprise.

Fifty percent of the interest, I am afraid no one will believe it in future generations, and will think this is a liar.

However, in this era, 50% of the interest is also considered high, but it is not outrageous. Some private loan usury, the interest is higher than this.

Moreover, the current economic prosperity in Jiangnan and other places, with money invested in business, a year's profit can easily exceed 50%. Therefore, at present, 50% interest is really not high.

Wu Changqing dared to offer this kind of interest because he was confident that he could afford it.

At present, a five-jin hoe costs about four hundred cents a piece, and a five-jin good knife costs about two taels of silver.

Iron is very valuable, but stainless steel is even more expensive.

At present, the cost of making a pound of iron in Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant is only about 20 cents. The direct sale of iron is three times the profit, and a little processing is four or five times the profit.

In the face of such considerable profits, 50% of the loan interest is naturally not worth mentioning.

And all of this is due to technology and large-scale production.

That is to say, the iron-making cost of Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant will be so low. In other places, the cost of making a pound of iron for others is at least fifty cents.

Wu Changqing said something, and the others stopped arguing immediately.

In this regime, Wu Changqing is a true man of his word and has great power.

The former Emperor Chongzhen had his ministers to obstruct anything he wanted to do.

Not at Wu Changqing's place. After all, everyone is smart and knows that Wu Changqing is not a waste like Chongzhen. If you want to challenge Wu Changqing's authority, you will undoubtedly cut yourself off and find your own way of death.

Another very important point is that everyone also believes in Wu Changqing's leadership.

At least, all previous major decisions have proved Wu Changqing's correctness without exception.

In fact, many officials also have a vague idea, that is, they feel that Wu Changqing is destined to go, otherwise how can everything be right.

Of course, they couldn't imagine that Wu Changqing had insight and knowledge far beyond this era, and they couldn't guess that Wu Changqing had a system.

Wu Changqing supported Hong Chengchou's suggestion. What everyone thought was not whether Wu Changqing's decision was correct, but what it meant.

Does this mean that Hong Chengchou is going to be reused?

Does this mean that Wu Changqing will continue to suppress the forces of the Donglin Party?

Does this mean that Wu Changqing is still supporting some "orphaned officials"?

And so on and so on, a high-ranking person coughs, and the people below can't help but think, let alone decide such a major decision.

There are so many things to think about.

Unfortunately, they are destined to be unable to guess this time, because Wu Changqing is very different from other traditional rulers.

He adopted Hong Chengchou's suggestion just because Hong Chengchou's suggestion was the best, that's all.

However, because of the many differences between his actions and the traditional superiors, he gave many of his subordinates an unpredictable feeling.

In the eyes of many officials, Wu Changqing is actually a person with a deep sense of government.