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Chapter 1: Benefit in the Hereafter

Zhao Bing was naturally happy when the Northern Expedition won consecutive victories, but what made him most pleased was the change in attitudes from several important officials today. Of course, this was not because he liked to listen to flattery, but because he was recognized for his "innovation".

You should know that since his establishment, Zhao Bing has been taught by several masters not to lose his ambitions, but to learn the learning of saints and the ways of kings and domineering people. He hates him deeply intrigues with skills. He has to do some inventions with secrets, as if he is a thief, and even has to use the name of others.

When Zhao Bing ascended the throne, he had been criticizing his "unequal thoughts" and there were more court officials, and he kept saying goodbye to him over the years. But under all kinds of pressure and criticism, he paid for his own money to reform military equipment supervisors and craftsmen to establish a new national defense production system.

The Song Dynasty also achieved victory after victory with the weapons produced by military weapons, saved the country and completed the battle to restore the country. This seemed to be just the establishment of a system, but in fact, Zhao Bing understood that it was just a driving force. In addition to promoting military reform, it also involved changes in the finance, trade, production and education systems, and even administrative systems.

Military production involves smelting, machining and production, while subdivision is even more complicated, ranging from buttons on military uniforms to giant ships across the ocean. This allowed Zhao Bing to establish a more advanced industrial system in the current era through this, and the technology in it was turned to civilian use, affecting the private handicraft industry and promoting the development of the entire country's industry.

Modern people know that industry is the driving force for the development of many industries, so the exchange of trade and the cultivation of agricultural and technical talents that provide raw materials for the industry have promoted the innovation of the education system. The development and improvement of the various systems will inevitably touch the interests of conservative forces, thereby causing controversy and even social turmoil. The difficulties can be imagined.

For example, lending involves the interests of countless people and the changes in the old system. The resistance encountered can be imagined. lending is a propellant to promote social development, but it was not an easy task for the ancients.

In modern times, when we watch police and gangsters and suspense films, we often see the plot of "kidnapping hostages". Fierce and violent gangsters catch fearful and powerless women and children, and use this to threaten the police to achieve the attempt to "barter". In such a scene, we generally call the threatened person "hostage", but why is the hostage called "hostage"?

In fact, the concept of hostages appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. "Zuo Zhuan·The Third Year of Yin Gong" records the exchange of hostages between Duke Zhuang of Zheng and King Ping of Zhou. From this point of view, hostages were established based on exchange. The word "principle" in "hostage" itself has transactions and the meaning of mortgage. Referring to the explanation of "Shuowen Jiezi", "principle" means "combining things with things".

It can be inferred that "quality" is obviously related to the commodity economy in ancient China. For example, the buying and selling contract in the Western Zhou Dynasty was called "quality agent", while the management contract was called "petitioner". If we want to make a deal with the ancients, the first step is to find apetrator.

"People-scrupulous" is actually a profession. They are equivalent to modern market managers, responsible for handling the official transactions of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The so-called "large markets use quality, small markets use agents". In addition to small items, the business of pledge people also includes large-scale transactions such as cattle, horses, land and houses. The contract for buying and selling is called "quality agents", and the loan contract is called "Fu Bie".

The Western Zhou government established the "Quanfu" organization, which is specifically "in charge of the market for taxation, constraining and not selling the market, and the goods are stuck in the civilian use", that is, it is responsible for controlling national tax revenue, purchasing unsold materials on the market, and receiving loans and interest, providing a relatively safe official way for those who need it.

Generally speaking, the loan forms of the Western Zhou regime were divided into "credit" and "loan": "credit" was mainly aimed at sacrifices and was punished, and only required to be returned on time and not counted interest; while "loan" was specifically aimed at labor producers, and interest was calculated. In fact, in order to stabilize the people's sentiment and consolidate the regime, the Western Zhou Dynasty often issued interest-free loans to the people, which was equivalent to a kind of relief and help, and interest-bearing loans were relatively small.

However, if we want to borrow interest-bearing loans, how can we calculate interest? The primary consideration of interest calculation in Western Zhou Dynasty is the distance of the region. If we live in a city, the state will pay one-twentieth of the tax, and live in a remote suburbs, it will pay one-twentieth of the tax. According to the distance, the annual interest rate ranges from 10% to 20%. In modern times, the annual interest rate exceeds 20% is usury.

If the ancients unfortunately lived in the remote suburbs of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it would be equivalent to borrowing usury from the Zhou emperor. However, 20% of the annual interest rate in ancient China was just the beginning.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the emergence of metal currencies, ancient usury also entered the people. The turmoil, famine and the levy of rulers of various countries defeated the unresisting civilians. The demand for borrowing was high, and wealthy businessmen and bureaucrats who had a large amount of wealth became the main lenders. Lending mainly consists of two forms: currency and grain. The interest rate of grain lending is "a hundred and ten", and some areas are as high as 100% interest rates.

In emergency situations such as wars and famines, loans were mostly high and doubled, and until the Han Dynasty, when politics was relatively stable, the problem of usury was never alleviated. In the Han Dynasty, there was even a group of merchants specializing in usury, the "Zi Qian Family". Obviously, under the above situation, lending became an important means for wealthy businessmen, landlords and other people to accumulate social wealth. On the contrary, ordinary people who were unable to repay usury often ended up being displaced and their families were destroyed.

In order to change this situation, there were regulations in the Qin law that people could repay their debts through mortgage or service. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Northern Wei also began to issue regulations prohibiting profit collection and overprice. China's earliest mortgage agency, the Purchase Database, also emerged with the prevalence of Buddhism. The Purchase Database, through mortgage, loans, and interest collection, delayed the economic pressure of the common people.

Compared with private usury, it is obvious that the authority and stability of the quality deposit provide borrowers with higher security guarantees, but it is not applicable to various dynasties.

The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were the time of ancient China's religious pandemic, especially the Northern Wei Dynasty, which was popular in Buddhism. Since Emperor Xiaowen, a wave of temple building has set off. With the increase of temples, the religious power of temples gradually developed. Until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the support of the ruling group, the temple quickly developed its own unique economic system - the temple landlord manor, referred to as "the temple village".

In ancient China, the Tang Dynasty was a relatively prosperous and prosperous society. Its commodity economy had basically separated from the early natural economy and entered a stage of vigorous development. Temples with independent economic systems became the main lenders. Compared with the war years, this system was indeed a relatively good choice for lending, but its lending interest rate was still usury compared to modern society.

In addition, there were some protection systems for lending risks in the Tang Dynasty, which protected the rights and interests of creditors or debtors, and were compensated when breach of contract. In addition, there were discounts on service life, restrictions on seizing family capital, etc. The mortgage system also began to emerge, using the debtor's real estate and movable property as collateral, and even using human pledge as a guarantee for the loan contract.

After entering the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi implemented a series of political measures to change the poverty and weakness since the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the purpose of "financial management" and "reorganization of the army". Therefore, the official lending institutions of the Song Dynasty, the Archives and the Municipal E-Friends, were established. These lending institutions seem to be more standardized than other dynasties, but life will not always make you easily get what you want.

Although it is an official platform, 30% of the interest calculation is even almost catching up with the private quality database. What is terrible is that there is a huge loophole - the "extra expenses" of the official. Take the Municipal Yiwu as an example. The wholesale and retail income of the Municipal Yiwu is actually not managed by the state's financial management, but is dominated by the Municipal Yiwu officials. The official's character has become the most critical link between large merchants and retail merchants.

The reality of the Northern Song Dynasty was that most officials used the capital of the market to "buy goods" from merchants and then "sell them" to retailers. Therefore, in this process, all the credit loan principal and interest that should have been borne by the market to small and medium-sized retailers, while the profit difference earned by buying and selling is allowed to be filled with the price of the profits.

The Mongols established a minority regime and brought usury devil, Otu Qian. The evil of Otu loans is that their annual interest rate is often as high as 100%. Except for the interest rate that reaches multiple times, the lender's arbitrary nature is that it has too high arbitrage, and a large amount of private lending also has serious compound interest calculation problems, that is, the interest is included in the principal and then recalculates interest, which is called "lamb interest".

This made Zhao Bing feel that some modern lending platforms were learned from the Mongols. After they were really involved, they would end up with the destruction of their families. After this Northern Expedition entered the Mongol Yuan ruling area, the most popular one was not the "equal land" but the exemption of Otu money.

Historically, as long as the usury exists, it proves that civilians are unable to escape the economic difficulties under the feudal system. No matter how strict the control is, if lending institutions are improved, and if interest rates are low, civilians will always be trapped in suffering and cannot escape.

In order to eliminate the slightest trauma and develop the private economy, Zhao Bing did not restore official lending institutions. Instead, he used his already established insurance offices and inns across the country, including institutions of large and small state governments, to give them certain financial functions to carry out loan business, and provided capital with the inner warehouse, and the leader and management of the inner court's general department.

In fact, in the eyes of the people, the court and the royal family are one, so there is no need to worry about credibility. However, the interest rate of the loan provided by Zhao Bing is very low, with an annual interest rate of only 5%, and the loans to farmers and handicrafts are still low. In this way, even ordinary farmers can borrow money to buy seeds, farm tools, and buy livestock through loans, and merchants can also alleviate the risk of financial shortage through loans.
Chapter completed!
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