Behind me is the earth

Chapter 487 485. Money shortage

"Does Shi Shu have any candidates for the position of Governor of Wuzhou Province?"

The lunch was very sumptuous, including Ren's favorite fried snow rabbit, which was stir-fried with red chili peppers, giving it a refreshing texture and a spicy and spicy taste.

"Wuzhou Province is very important to Qi State. I prefer Lu Yingying to take the position. What do you think of your highness?"

Liu Shu couldn't guess what Ren Pingsheng was thinking now. However, he had no selfish motives for recommending Lu Yingying, but he was open-minded and natural in his heart.

But Ren Pingsheng shook his head, looked up at Liu Shu and said, "I plan to let you serve as the governor of Wuzhou."

"I?"

Liu Shu was shocked.

The position of Governor of Wuzhou Province is certainly prestigious and important, but the position of Minister of Civil Affairs is in charge of the assessment, promotion and transfer of officials across the country, which is even more prestigious!

If the Minister of Civil Affairs is replaced by the Governor of Wuzhou Province, even though they are both at the ministerial level, it will be a loss in terms of authority.

He couldn't help but wonder if he had done something wrong and was displeased by His Highness.

"Don't think too much."

Ren Pingsheng knew what Liu Shu was thinking. He picked up a piece of rabbit meat and put it into the rice bowl: "I plan to form the center of the cabinet. You can think of it as the cabinet of the old scene, but the powers and responsibilities are not the same. The cabinet coordinates eleven The Ministry of Finance and Qixing Bank involve the national economy and people's livelihood, and have high professional weight.

Among them, the first and second assistants of the cabinet must have local administrative experience. You have been in charge of personnel since you started in the Civil Affairs Department of Qingcheng Town. Although you have grown rapidly along the way, you have never had the experience of being responsible for comprehensive work.

If you serve as the chief minister of the cabinet right from the beginning, you may feel panicked when faced with various tasks across the country, which is not conducive to the stable and orderly development of Qi.

Go ahead and practice, learn more, summarize more, and master the qualities and abilities for all-round work. "

When Ren Pingsheng said this, Liu Shu understood.

This is His Highness’ intention to promote himself!

"Then I will listen to His Highness. I will go wherever Your Highness tells me to go."

Liu Shu smiled happily.

After all, he came from a village, and Liu Shu's character was clear to Ren Pingsheng. He is also very clean in the court. Although he is in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he has never formed cliques or nepotism. He has never been involved in corruption or bribery. He has always been fair in evaluating officials and has a good reputation in the officialdom.

It's not just him, Liu Qiang, Liu Wen and others who came from Liujiacun now basically don't have private gatherings, and they never share political resources.

This was one of the reasons why Ren Pingsheng could tolerate them sitting in the top positions in the court.

Ren Pingsheng sometimes thought that this might be a good teaching from the old village head of Liujia Village.

"How is the old village chief's health lately?"

Ren Pingsheng suddenly asked.

"He is in good health and even his lameness has been cured. A few years ago, Liu Qiang sent people back to bring the old village chief to live in Kyoto.

But the old village chief didn't want to leave the village he had guarded for most of his life, so he didn't make the trip. "

Liu Shu said.

“There is no shortage of anything over there in Qingcheng Town, and the medical conditions are also very good. It would be great if the old village chief is willing to retire in the village.

The old village chief is a restless person. Even though he is older, he still does some things well. "

Ren Pingsheng said.

As he said this, he thought of Lao Ren and the others again.

They are about to retire. After they wipe out the barbarians in the north, unify the country and claim the throne as emperor, the country will be settled. At that time, the two elders will be brought over to see what their sons have done. I don’t know what they are at that time. Feel.

A meal where both guest and host enjoy themselves.

After Liu Shu left, Ren Pingsheng called Lu Yingying to talk again.

After the conversation, he ordered the Shuge Secretariat to draw up an order to summon Wu Jinyan to Beijing.

Next, Liu Shu took office as the governor of Wuzhou Province, Lu Yingying took charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Wu Jinyan, who was then the prefect of Fengqi County, completed an official career jump and was promoted to Minister of Civil Affairs.

This series of transfers and changes were completed before the end of the first month. It did not cause any turmoil in the officialdom of Qi State, but became a topic of conversation for many people after dinner.

The jasper is as high as a tree, with thousands of green silk ribbons hanging down. I don't know who cut out the thin leaves. The spring breeze in February is like scissors.

As the time enters February, the spring breeze from the south first blows across the land. People have recovered from the tight days last year when they could not buy anything with money. A large number of industrial products have returned to the private market.

Bicycle production at the First Steel Plant resumed and a branch factory was built in Guangnan Province. The production speed was further accelerated. A large number of finished bicycles and tricycles flooded into the market. Bicycles that were previously hard to find suddenly became abundant. got up.

In the past, canneries, garment factories, etc., which invested heavily in order to supply military supplies, have continued to expand their production capacity. Not only can they supply the army, but now canned goods and ready-made garments have also begun to flow into the market in large quantities, and there is even room for export to Yao, Lu, and Yue. Wait, and go further away through the round island.

Apart from these, the textile industry, food processing industry, daily chemical industry, steel industry, automobile manufacturing industry, machinery manufacturing industry, electric power industry, chemical industry, shipbuilding industry, and aircraft manufacturing industry all continued to expand their production capacity during last year's war. , as the war has now subsided, the excess production capacity has begun to be transferred to the civilian field.

This year is bound to be a period of explosive development for all walks of life.

As a result, some economic problems gradually emerged.

During this period, Du Huimin, the president of Qixing Bank, was having a headache.

Originally, when it was learned that Lu Yingying was about to be transferred to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there was a rumor that the king intended for him to take over as the Minister of Civil Affairs.

But while waiting with secret joy, the Ministry of Civil Affairs was picked off by the prefect of Fengqi County.

Regarding this, Du Huimin couldn't say anything wrong. Because Fengqi County is close to Changguo County, it has become a test field for many policies, such as the police system, Wang Quanxia Village, etc. After successful experiments in Fengqi County, they were then promoted nationwide.

It can be seen from this that the prefect of Fengqi County is under great pressure and powerful. When someone gets promoted, few officials in the DPRK and China feel dissatisfied.

However, the data recently reported from Qiguo Development Bank gave Du Huisen a headache.

Because the bank is starting to run out of money!

Because the state of Qi is based on the silver standard, currency is printed in proportion to the amount of gold and silver stored in the underground vault of Qixing Bank.

Since the beginning of the year, Qiguo Development Bank has continued to lend to foreign countries in order to complete its tasks.

With the boom in private investment, the amount of money loaned out has also been increasing.

There is already a shortage of everything in this land, and coupled with the shortage of goods due to the impact of last year's war, the demand for all kinds of materials in the entire private market is extremely strong today.

This also makes businessmen smell the smell of money more and more.

These are not problems at all. The money in the hands of ordinary people is usually exchanged for depositing silver coins in bank branches.

But the problem lies in the large amount of external borrowing, which causes a shortage of money. There is already a money shortage in the market.

If the current situation is allowed to develop, can Qixing Bank continue to print money? If money is not printed, how should people respond when they come to the bank to withdraw money? What are the consequences of printing money?

For Du Huimin, these are some practical issues before us.

Du Huimin did not dare to cover up this issue, and this was not a problem that he, as the governor of the central bank, could solve on his own. He first visited the Ministry of Finance and Taxation building, and then went to the palace to ask for an audience.

Finally, I met the King and Minister of Finance and Taxation Qin Wan in Yuanhe Hall.

"The problem is still money."

After listening to Du Huimin's words, Ren Pingsheng felt that the problem lay with the reserve bank.

When he was working in the Development and Reform Department, he had used his free time to read some macroeconomic books, but he could not compare with economists with a professional background.

Economics and finance is inherently a very complex issue, and it is usually a systemic issue that affects the whole body.

In his view, facing the current money shortage problem, one is to adjust monetary policy to increase the money supply.

Or increase silver reserves to increase the supply of circulating currency.

Adjusting monetary policy is relatively risky and requires many adjustments. Before Qi's finance has been fully developed and a group of people have been cultivated who can truly understand the financial knowledge brought back from the earth in practice, it is not advisable to proceed rashly.

Therefore, the large silver mine that has been discovered in Bowan is immediately on the agenda.

After Du Huimin left, Ren Pingsheng began to think about who should be responsible for recruiting the great pirate Zhai Yun.

"Master, how is Master Zheng?"

Xiaowan suggested.

During this time, she went to Quang Nam Province as the Minister of Finance and Taxation. We inspected the situation of the local industrial park under construction in Xiangshan. Secretly, he personally went to Yuandao and set up an intelligence station there.

"Master Zheng? I forgot about him."

Ren Pingsheng tapped his fingers on the imperial case.

Mr. Zheng is now named Marquis of Jinghai and has the rank of rear admiral.

Nowadays, although Qi State has a system of meritorious service for dukes, marquises, uncles, sons, and men, it is just like a fictitious one, and no real awards have been given.

Mr. Zheng's Marquis of Jinghai was the only one in the scorpion category, and in the eyes of outsiders, he enjoyed all the honors.

However, Master Zheng has never been appointed to any actual position.

Once upon a time, when the Dongyang Fleet was first built, Bai Hu suggested that Major Zheng be appointed as the fleet commander.

But it was ultimately rejected by Ren Pingsheng.

Because at that time, Zhang Shan and Peiqi of the Dongyang ship were both subordinates of Master Zheng.

Including the officers of the Qi Navy, many of them came from the disciples of Master Zheng.

Ren could no longer allow him to serve in the navy, fearing that the navy would become monolithic and an independent kingdom that could not be penetrated by needles or sprayed with water.

It can be said that the military ranks of Marquis Jinghai and Rear Admiral are a kind of compensation for him.

"Master Zheng's identity is just right. How is his relationship with Zhai Yun?"

Ren Pingsheng asked thoughtfully.

Xiaowan said: "They have a good relationship. Zhai Yun once invited Mr. Zheng to dinner in Bowan. The two parties have also cooperated in business before."

"Um."

Ren Pingsheng nodded.

"We sent people to the island before, and also attracted several important figures in the pirate group, Zhai Yun. It is said that Zhai Yun is very obsessed with becoming an official. He has also sent people to Nanyang to seek an official position before.

Later, after Emperor Jing learned of his identity, not only did he not reward him, he also beheaded the envoys he sent.

Unable to get what he asked for, he sent his eldest son to Jian'an Province, where he was fostered in a powerful family incognito, hoping to train his eldest son to participate in the imperial examination and become an official. "

Xiaowan recounted the news that the Night Cat Organization had found out.

After hearing this, Ren Pingsheng couldn't help but smile and said: "It seems that it is not difficult to win over this Zhai Yun. There should be no need to use force to suppress him."

"should be."

Xiaowan also smiled.

"The Dongyang Fleet is still performing missions in the North Sea, so let's send the Qingcheng Fleet to perform the mission."

Since the beginning of this year, Dongyang Shipyard has continued to increase production capacity, and the Yuntai Fleet and Qingcheng Fleet have been launched one after another.

Today, the Qingcheng Fleet, including the flagship Qingcheng, already has five armored ships, and its defense and firepower are slightly stronger than those of the Dongyang Fleet.

Ren Pingsheng thought for a while and then said: "Drawing up the decree, Major Officer Zheng will be appointed as the deputy commander of the Navy Headquarters to assist Bai Hu in leading all matters of the Navy."

Today, the situation is different from the past.

The current navy is different from when it was first established. Bai Hu has firmly grasped the navy in his hands. By letting Master Zheng serve as deputy commander, there is no need to worry that he will seize power. On the contrary, with the continuous expansion of naval power, the addition of Master Zheng can also balance the naval power and make it easier to be controlled by the royal power.

"Send Major Zheng to lead the Qingcheng fleet to Bowan as soon as possible to recruit Zhai Yun. Let the Ministry of Industry prepare manpower to develop the Bowan silver mine."

Ren Pingsheng and Xiaowan arranged the next work on Bowan and the Big Silver Mine.

After Xiaowan wrote it down, she personally went to Zhongshu Pavilion and conveyed the decree to the secretariat, who were responsible for writing the article and delivering the decree.

After she returned to Yuanhe Hall, she saw that the young master was still reading official documents and approving memorials. So I stayed by his side and watched the memorial with him.

"How is the situation on Round Island?"

Ren Pingsheng asked.

"The side of Round Island is more prosperous than I thought. Just in the west of Round Island, there are permanent bases from 35 countries, with a permanent population of more than 300,000. The city of Faroe in the west has a population of It reached 70,000 people.

If you include the floating population, the number will triple.

However, the forces in this place are complicated. There are also indigenous Yun people and some Han people on the island. The total number of these people is more than 800,000. There are many conflicts between the two sides, and they often initiate battles with each other.

Now, after our battle with the Yao Kingdom, the Yilan Kingdom and other Western Luo State countries, the status of the Han people on the island has improved a bit..."

Xiaowan explained some of her experiences on Yuandao.

“By the way, this time I heard a piece of news that was spreading a lot on Round Island, but I don’t know whether it’s true or not.

It is said that there is a fleet, and some little people were found on an overseas island. They are only the size of a human finger, and they are as intelligent as humans. They have also built cities on the islands, and they even have similar characteristics to us humans. civilization, language and writing. "