My life skills in Daming Liver

Su Ze did not enter Songjiang City directly, but came to the Public Bond Trading Center on the edge of the Huangpu River.

The director of this public debt center is named Pang Xinyue, who is a Jinshi of Guanzheng in the same class as Tang Xianzu.

Pang Xinyue was watching the government at the Ministry of Household Affairs, but was suddenly kicked to Shanghai by Shangguan to prepare a railway bond trading center.

The Railway Bond Trading Center, as its name suggests, is the place where railway bonds are issued.

The bonds of Susong Railway are bearer bonds, that is, bonds that can be circulated in the market. Small-amount public bonds can naturally be bought and sold directly privately. However, when encountering large-amount public bond transactions, for the sake of anti-counterfeiting, it is necessary to Such an official witness of the public debt center.

Pang Xinyue soon discovered that railway bonds are more than just a piece of paper.

With the large-scale publicity of the Su-Song Railway, the opening of the Xuzhou Railway, and the trial operation of the Su-Song Railway, it has been proved that the railway project is definitely a project that can make money back.

At this time, some shrewd businessmen suddenly discovered business opportunities.

Railway bonds have an interest rate of 3% a year, and the interest is settled twice a year. Anyone who holds railway bonds can go to the bond trading center to settle the interest at the designated time.

These savvy businessmen suddenly discovered that railroad bonds could be bought and sold directly.

For example, after buying a railway bond worth 10,000 taels, some businessmen who need cash can go to the bond trading center to sell the bonds. After three years, the 10,000 taels of silver can eventually be recovered at an interest rate of 3% a year. A public bond of ten thousand nine hundred denarii.

These merchants sold the ten thousand taels of public bonds at a price of 10,500 taels, which was equivalent to a direct profit of 500 taels of silver.

And those who bought the public bonds, as long as they hold it until it matures for three years, can also get 10,900 taels of silver and a profit of 400 taels of silver.

You can get hundreds of taels of silver by doing nothing.

And as long as you hold public bonds, you can get stable interest.

The Railroad Bond Trading Center was soon bustling with activity.

In fact, a profit of 3% a year is not high at all.

The southeastern government has issued laws that stipulate that the interest rate for private loans cannot exceed 15%. However, under the increasingly strong financial demand, private loan sharks still emerge in endlessly.

In the past, the rich people in the southeast would have looked down upon the interest rate of 3% a year.

However, since the insurance fraud case of Yuan Wencai in Suzhou Prefecture occurred, wealthy people throughout the southeast have also begun to be careful.

As the pace of economic development begins to slow down, there are more and more bad debts in private lending.

This is also normal. In fact, private lending has high interest rates, which has been a tradition since ancient times, even in the East and the West.

The reason is that borrowing in this era is basically a credit loan without collateral. Even in modern society, if it is an unsecured credit loan, the interest rate is scary high.

Not to mention that in an era without any credit system, debt collection was a "craft" that required "self-reliance".

In this era, both in the East and the West, loan sharking was unethical and even illegal in some areas.

For example, a certain sect clearly believes that usury is an act that violates the will of God and firmly opposes all usury.

Christianity also has this understanding. For example, in Lorenzo's hometown of Venice, an upright Christian should not lend money and collect interest.

However, commercial society always has financial needs. Even in Central Asia, where usury is clearly prohibited in the doctrine, nobles and businessmen also have the need to borrow money.

The Jews began to engage in this business and became creditors of many merchants, nobles, and even the king.

For example, Lorenzo's cheap father-in-law, the Jewish businessman Grandet, was such a loan shark.

As a people engaged in the profession of loan sharks, the reputation of the Jews has been bad since the Middle Ages, which is why there was a wave of anti-Semitism in the two wars.

But this matter must be viewed dialectically. For example, in Lorenzo's hometown of Venice, Jews were prohibited from engaging in all commercial activities except usury.

Jews were not allowed to own land, own factories, engage in any commercial activities, and were even prohibited from owning houses in many places.

In this case, the Jews could only choose the usury industry, which was generally prohibited by other sects, thus making people of other races and religions hate them even more.

Returning to the East, traditional Confucian ethics also condemns usury, and the government's granting of low-interest loans is considered benevolent government.

At this moment, whether in the East or the West, there is no such concept of deposit interest.

In other words, the public bonds of the Su-Song Railway may be the first public bonds in the world issued by the government and with agreed interest rates.

Big businessmen found it profitable to speculate on government bonds, making a lot of money just by changing hands.

Small merchants, on the other hand, found public debt to be a very convenient currency for transactions.

Yes, trade currencies.

Compared with silver dollars, a public bond worth one thousand taels of silver is just a piece of paper.

In order to prevent counterfeiting, this time the railway bonds used the latest printing technology and special paper, and also used special anti-counterfeiting ink prepared by Eunuch Hu.

Although Southeast now has station banks in various ports, which can carry out remote storage.

But there are also many transactions that take place away from the dock, and many transactions also require in-person currency transactions.

As the market scale expanded, the amount of transactions became larger and larger, and some small businessmen also required transactions of hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver.

These merchants discovered that railroad bonds were a more convenient currency than silver.

Arguably even a more popular currency.

Because railway bonds bear interest, you can still get a sum of interest if you are not in a hurry to liquidate them.

All this made Pang Xinyue of the entire public bond trading center discover that public bonds are a very useful thing.

Because of the public debt issue, Pang Xinyue wrote to the Ministry of Household Affairs and even the cabinet many times, requesting the Southeast government to issue more public bonds.

However, the Southeast Cabinet, including the Southeast Cabinet, was very cautious about the issuance of public bonds, and Pang Xinyue's suggestions were all sent to Su Ze.

Su Ze marveled at how many talents there were, and how quickly someone realized the benefits of bond trading and banknotes.

In fact, the so-called railway bonds are another form of banknotes.

Credit currencies issued with national credibility can actually be called banknotes.

The Public Bond Center on the Huangpu River in Shanghai may be the first stock exchange in the world!

On the historical timeline before Suze traveled through time, the world's first stock exchange was the stock exchange established in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in the early seventeenth century. This exchange traded stocks and government bonds.

Today, the world's number one exchange belongs to the southeastern exchange, but now there is only one tradable commodity in this exchange: railway bonds.

Su Ze thought again and again, and although he did not approve the new public bond project, he also ordered that the word "railway" be removed from the "Railway Public Bond Trading Center" and changed to "Public Bond Trading Center."

After all, Pang Xinyue was also the top scorer in the Jinshi examination, so he naturally understood what Su Ze meant.

Today Su Ze visited the Public Bond Trading Center. Pang Xinyue paid great attention to him and led his entourage to welcome him at the Public Bond Center.

Seeing Pang Xinyue who was already prepared, Su Ze smiled deliberately and said:

"I came to the Public Debt Center on a whim. How could Pang Jinshi be prepared?"

Pang Xinyue said immediately: "The Governor did not come here on a whim. My subordinates knew that the Governor would definitely come."

Su Ze laughed. This first batch of Jinshi was really a treasure for him. He actually found so many talents.

After the visit, Su Ze was very satisfied with Pang Xinyue's work.

At this time, Pang Xinyue finally couldn't bear it anymore.

Since its establishment, the Public Bond Center has only had railway bonds. There are many big businessmen in the entire Susong and Songfu Prefectures, and even in Hangzhou and Fuzhou, waiting for Southeast to issue new public bonds.

Pang Xinyue also proposed the issuance of new bonds many times, but the Governor's Office and the cabinet were non-committal.

Now in front of Su Ze, Pang Xinyue asked directly:

"Grand Governor, now all walks of life in the southeast hope to issue new public bonds, do you think?"

Su Ze smiled and said:

"I know you are in a hurry, but the public debt center needs to change its name."

"change name?"

Pang Xinyue looked at Su Ze doubtfully.

Su Ze said: "It will be changed to a securities center, and the next issue will not be public bonds."

Not public debt?

All the officials in the public debt center, including Pang Xinyue, were stunned.

Su Ze said: "The cabinet decided to issue a stock in the Securities Center."

stock?

Notes on shares?

Shares are no longer a rare thing in the Southeast.

The cost of setting up a workshop today is huge, and sometimes many people need to invest together.

The business model of splitting the ownership of a workshop into shares with different proportions is not difficult to understand. Signing a contract to cooperate in doing business has appeared since the beginning of business.

After the advent of stamp duty, shares with contracts recognized by the government can also be transferred after paying stamp duty.

This kind of business behavior is already very common in Songjiang Prefecture, and Pang Xinyue doesn't find it difficult to understand.

Are stocks traded on the stock exchange?

Will anyone buy this?

Su Ze said: "The cabinet decided to establish an East China Sea trading company to be responsible for North Korean trade."

"The Navy Department invested in five decommissioned warships, and the Army Department invested in a batch of obsolete munitions."

"Sixty percent of Donghai Trading Company's shares are in the cabinet, and the remaining 40% are issued in the securities center and can be traded freely."

"Shareholders who purchase shares do not participate in the company's operations, but can receive dividends based on the company's remaining profits at the end of the year in proportion to the shares they hold."

Su Ze looked at Pang Xinyue and said, "It depends on you whether you can sell the stock."