Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 471: Chapter 437: Food, Money Bank, Courting Death_2

Yang Zhenshan dismissed the idea of issuing debt notes again.

If the purchasers of the debt notes were all merchants, he could default on them when the time came, but many officials and soldiers in Chongshan Town had bought a large number of the debt notes.

If he were unable to repay the debt notes when the time came, the soldiers would become estranged and lose loyalty to him; he could not take this risk.

However, while issuing debt notes was not an option, he could still borrow money.

To be precise, he could accept deposits!

Chongshan Bank!

When Yang Zhenshan left the Finance Department, he was already planning to expand Chongshan Bank.

The time was a bit tight, but he should be able to attract a considerable amount of deposits.

Yang Zhenshan had decided to bring the concept of banks from his previous life to this world.

Depositing money would be free of management fees, and there would even be interest; this was an advantage, and with it, he should be able to attract numerous deposits.

Deposit terms could be categorized as demand deposits, three months, six months, and one year.

Demand deposits would not earn any interest, akin to issuing silver notes.

Take, for example, Datong Bank of the Zhang family in Liao’an, depositing one hundred taels of silver required a management fee of one tael, which is one percent.

But for silver notes, for every one hundred taels, the bank would charge a three-tael fee, due to the fact that silver notes involve exchanges in different locations.

However, the circulation of silver notes was geographically restricted. For instance, Datong Bank’s silver notes could only circulate in Liaodong, as there were no Datong Bank branches outside of Liaodong.

The Zhang family from Liao’an also had their own remittance business, specifically handling drafts in prosperous areas such as Capital City, Jiangnan, and others, where the Zhang family had remittance offices.

However, Chongshan Bank definitely could not engage in the remittance business; first, because it was too troublesome, and second, doing remittance business took time, which was precisely what Yang Zhenshan lacked the most at the moment.

Therefore, Yang Zhenshan only planned for Chongshan Bank to engage in two types of business: accepting deposits and issuing silver notes.

Actually, what he intended to do with these two types of business was not much different from issuing debt notes; it’s just that debt notes had longer terms and higher interest, while deposits and silver notes had a range of terms, even no term limits, and very low interest rates.

Yang Zhenshan was not a financial professional and his understanding of banking services was superficial.

What he sought to achieve was not the development of financial services in this world, but rather to ”make use of others’ funds”—to spend depositors’ money on buying food for refugees and settling them.

There was a certain risk involved, such as the possibility of a bank run, but Yang Zhenshan felt it was a risk he could handle.

Having made up his mind, Yang Zhenshan immediately began to prepare.

Attracting deposits didn’t require much preparation, but issuing silver notes required some groundwork.

Silver notes had to be supported by a bank, ensuring that people could exchange the notes for silver at designated places.

Yang Zhenshan planned to have Chongshan Bank’s silver notes circulate throughout the entirety of Chongshan Town, which meant ensuring that several major cities in Chongshan Town had branches of Chongshan Bank.

For this purpose, he directly set up a dedicated Finance Department within the General Mansion, namely the Banking Department, appointing one Director, two Vice Directors, and several Deputies.

Zhao Dong, the civil servant who was originally responsible for Chongshan Bank within the town’s walls, was promoted to Director and took charge of the banking affairs.

Li Hai was drawn from the Finance Department to serve as Vice Director, responsible for the supervision of the banking operations.

Wang Xie was transferred from the Personal Guard Camp to serve as Vice Director. He would select a thousand elite soldiers from the Five Camps to form the Guard Camp of the Bank.

The main duty of the Guard Camp was to escort Silver Coin and combat crimes against the Bank.

In addition, a group of civil servants was summoned from various departments to act as Deputies in the Banking Department; these Deputies would be Shopkeepers for Chongshan Bank in different cities in the future.

For several busy days, Yang Zhenshan was occupied with establishing the framework of the Bank.

On the fourteenth of the first month.

The Six Assistant Generals gathered at Chongshan Pass.

In addition to the Six Assistant Generals, Yang Zhenshan also invited governor Pang Tang, Capital Commander Ning Qinghe, governor Song Ying, Inspector General Zhang Cong, and garrison eunuch Zhang Mingzhong to the General Mansion.

In the main hall of the General Mansion, after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Yang Zhenshan cleared his throat and said, ”Let’s get down to business!”

The hall instantly fell silent, and everyone’s expression grew serious.

Even though Yang Zhenshan had not informed them of the specifics of today’s discussion, the circumstances encapsulated the importance of the meeting..

This time, Yang Zhenshan had summoned all the high-ranking officials of Chongshan Town, including garrison eunuch Zhang Mingzhong, making it clear that this was not for some trivial matter.

Yang Zhenshan too wore a solemn expression and began to speak: ”Today I have called my colleagues here to assign several tasks for you all to undertake!”

”The first matter is food storage!”

”We must store as much grain as possible, no matter the cost!”

”By the name of General Mansion, I have decided to purchase three million dan of grain before August!”

Yang Zhenshan said with a firm voice.

Upon hearing this, everyone showed a shocked expression.

”Three million dan? Marquis, are you joking?” Pang Tang couldn’t help but blurt out.

”No, I am not joking about this matter!” Yang Zhenshan replied.

Pang Tang stared at him, involuntarily taking a deep breath.

”Three million dan, that would cost seventy to eighty million taels of silver, maybe even more!”

The others also looked at Yang Zhenshan with astonished eyes.

”I know, but we must do this!” Yang Zhenshan said.

”Why?”

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes lowered slightly as he spoke, ”I have a premonition that this year, there will be severe droughts in Liao Yuan and Ping Yuan provinces, likely resulting in no harvest!”

He couldn’t fully explain his ability to sense the heavens, but he decided to forcefully explain a bit.

Predicting the weather and climatic changes is not impossible.

Both Qintianjian at court and old farmers in the fields can predict weather and changes in climate.

However, their predictions can’t reach one hundred percent accuracy and are prone to significant deviation.

”This~~” Naturally, Pang Tang couldn’t believe Yang Zhenshan’s premonition, but he didn’t know how to refute it at the moment; he couldn’t just accuse him of talking nonsense!

Yang Zhenshan spoke indifferently, ”I have farmed in the countryside for more than twenty years and have some experience in predicting changes in the weather. Based on my experience from previous years, I observed that there is a high likelihood of drought this year.”

”Mr. Pang, perhaps you haven’t noticed, but this winter, the snow was much less than last year. Last year there were heavy snowfalls, with the longest lasting six days and the snow reaching a depth of one foot and three inches, but the heaviest snowfall at Chongshan Pass this year lasted only a day and a night, with less than four inches of accumulation!”

He couldn’t clearly explain his ability to sense the heavens, but he could use his experience and observations to lend credibility to his words.

And he wasn’t lying—this year’s snowfall at Chongshan Pass was indeed much less than last year.

”According to the information I’ve gathered, the Northern lands are still experiencing heavy snowfall this year, with Black Cloud Mountain and Fuzhou City receiving several heavy snows!”

”But in Liao Yuan and Ping Yuan provinces, there have been only a few light snows this year, even less than Chongshan Pass!”

”All of this indicates that this year’s snow and rainfall will be reduced, and a severe drought is inevitable!”

Yang Zhenshan said with absolute certainty.

Pang Tang’s face grew grimmer, beginning to believe Yang Zhenshan’s words.

”Marquis Jing’an, some words should not be spoken carelessly!” Zhang Mingzhong suddenly stood up and spoke.

Yang Zhenshan was taken aback, ”What do you mean, Mr. Zhang?”

Zhang Mingzhong’s expression was serious as he stared at Yang Zhenshan, ”Marquis Jing’an, the new Emperor has just ascended the throne, and you speak of a great drought. Are you suggesting that the new Emperor lacks virtue?”

Yang Zhenshan’s face changed, and Pang Tang’s expression also instantly darkened, with the atmosphere in the hall becoming extremely oppressive in an instant.

Yang Zhenshan had overlooked one thing—the court and the people’s view of natural disasters.

Whenever there was a great calamity or anomaly, many would blame it on the court and the Emperor, believing that it reflected the Emperor’s flawed policies and lack of virtue, with Heaven sending down calamities as a warning to the world.

The country would suffer losses due to straying from the path of virtue, and Heaven would first bring disasters as a reprimand; not recognizing the need for self-reflection, more omens would be sent as warnings; continuing without change, and damage and defeat would eventually follow.

Therefore, after a natural disaster, many would submit petitions to directly admonish the Emperor to ”correct virtue to dispel disasters” and issue edicts confessing guilt to seek Heaven’s forgiveness.

Emperor Yanping had just ascended the throne, and this year was still Yanping’s first reign year. If a drought were to break out, it’s impossible to know what kind of turmoil it would cause.

Droughts often come hand in hand with locust plagues.

If both drought and locust plagues erupted, it would essentially be as though all negative effects were stacked, labeling Emperor Yanping as lacking virtue.

And now, with the drought yet to emerge, Yang Zhenshan’s prophecy was akin to cursing Emperor Yanping.

Zhang Mingzhong, having served before the Emperor, was naturally most sensitive to such matters.

Hearing Yang Zhenshan speak this way, his first instinct was that Yang Zhenshan was courting disaster.

Indeed, this was courting disaster!

If the words of Yang Zhenshan today were to spread and reach Emperor Yanping’s ears, it was unknown how much the Emperor would come to detest him. And if it reached the ears of the officials at court, those Imperial Censors and scholars would verbally denounce and attack him.