Dominate the Country

[The chapter name of the previous chapter was wrong, so I won’t change it. It’s too troublesome, so please forgive me. 】

Autumn, the second year of Chen Han Chengtian's reign. Shanghai and Guangzhou, the two most influential foreign trade cities on China's eastern coast, have a large-scale construction site launched at the same time in the central and prosperous areas of the two cities. These are the only two stock exchanges and corresponding supporting facilities in China.

The two stock exchanges will not only become landmark buildings in their respective cities in the coming days, but also become a financial and commercial center in their respective cities. In the area with the Stock Exchange Square as the center, the Stock Exchange faces south and faces north, and other locations include shops, teahouses, restaurants, hotels, etc.

The first wave of Chinese official missions brought by Huang Song to the West have returned to China. They are in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, London in the UK, Paris in France, and Venice and *** on the Mediterranean coast. Although The latter has long since declined. After an overview of the development history and trajectory of the European banking and financial industry over two hundred years, China's stock exchange was born based on the standard borrowing principle.

In the far west, since the Amsterdam Stock Exchange was established in the Netherlands in 1609 AD, large-scale and wide-scale financial transactions in Europe have a history of 160 years, and the development of the system has become relatively formal and mature! At least with Chen Ming's vision and economic knowledge, he couldn't see any problem with this.

Even in England, where the Bank of England's influence shrouded the entire Kingdom of Great Britain, the London Stock Exchange was officially established in 1773 AD at the New Jonathan's Coffee House. Although the Bank of England is now established, it still controls the issuance and sale of government bonds and bank stocks.

Throughout the 18th century, the Bank of England issued a large number of government bonds and stocks for Britain's war needs. Even if their stock exchange was not in the city, stock trading was actually very active and the trading form was gradually improved. On this basis, the establishment of the London Stock Exchange was completely natural.

After the establishment of this specialized stock exchange venue, decentralized securities trading is concentrated on the exchange, and the government stipulates securities trading regulations. The benefits are obvious. Whether it is the Netherlands, London or Paris, the most valuable securities on the stock exchange market are almost all national debt, foreign government bonds, mining, canal stocks, etc.

"Our government is currently dredging rivers on a large scale, developing land transportation lines, as well as mining mines, cultivating water conservancy and other major facilities. The use of stocks can easily raise private construction funds. As for the repayment ability, in terms of waterways and land transportation, the imperial court Is it possible to use taxes from rivers and official roads to share profits? Moreover, we are currently facing the handicraft industry represented by the textile industry. , is also developing very rapidly. In order to expand production and strengthen competition, textile mills in many places have changed their family businesses into joint-stock companies and are planning to issue their own stocks and expand costs. This provides a good opportunity for the establishment of stock exchanges. The local economic foundation..." Huang Song would not say that there are many people who would rather prevent the pace of development than take out their shares.

Huang Song, who came back from Europe, faced various inquiries from the cabinet and spoke eloquently and eloquently.

Chen Ming originally planned to build only one exchange in Shanghai. This was due to the old concepts in his mind. In fact, even though Shanghai has developed rapidly for several years, it is still inferior to Guangzhou. Fame takes time to brew, and economic volume also takes time to create. For the West, the city of Guangzhou has been engraved in their memories for hundreds of years, while Shanghai has only just emerged.

To be fair, Chen Ming is not sure how the Pearl River Delta will develop in the future. This economic zone, which in his original time and space surpassed Tokyo, Japan, and became the world's largest urban agglomeration in terms of population and area, has now been lost. Their most precious asset - foreign trade privileges.

You don't care whether this privilege is what they like. Anyway, the "opened treaty port" will no longer overlap with Guangzhou, and the colony will no longer be printed on Hong Kong's head. Without Hong Kong, would there still be Shenzhen? Now that area has an ancient name, Xin'an.

Later, Hong Kong, the world's eleventh largest trading and economic system, the third largest gold market, the sixth largest foreign exchange market, and the fifteenth largest banking center, is now a military base of the Chinese Navy. It was established in the spring of the second year of Chengtian. The ground was broken.

Although Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor was called one of the world's three major natural harbors in a previous life, which is not without bragging, as a natural harbor, it is absolutely sufficient as a military base for the Navy.

Chen Ming really can't say what the future development of the Pearl River Delta, which has embarked on a different path, will be like. But given Guangzhou's current business status, Chen Ming really shouldn't forget it.

The power of the Guangzhou business group is a very strong economic force. When the headquarters of Commercial Bank moved to Shanghai, Guangzhou was very dissatisfied.

The only advantage Shanghai has over Guangzhou is the banking industry. Among China's major banks, Commercial Bank is headquartered in Shanghai, Zhongyuan Bank is headquartered in Lushan, and Jiangnan Bank, as well as the newly established central bank, are all headquartered in Nanjing, which is obviously far away from Shanghai. closer. Shanghai is obviously closer to China's banking center than Guangzhou. However, it was obviously insufficient to only establish an exchange in Shanghai, so Guangzhou was added to the construction plan.

China's third private bank is about to be established. Nanling Bank in Guangdong and Guangxi naturally wants to have more than one stock exchange in Guangzhou, because Nanling Bank is located in Guangzhou.

…

Time flies by. In a blink of an eye, it is the first day of June in the third year of Chengtian.

A very special day has arrived on the bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. The stock exchange, which has been built and decorated for more than half a year, is finally going to be unveiled. The entire business community in Shanghai is shaking, with banners flying, gongs and drums roaring, golden lions dancing wildly, and firecrackers ringing. Shanghai Mayor Xiao Lou personally appeared and invited bigwigs from above. The specifications of the unveiling ceremony are not ordinary.

And from today, this stock exchange has also become a landmark building in Shanghai. Although it is not tall and only has three floors, Shanghai has already arranged one or two four- or five-story buildings at this time. But it is useless.

Imperial buildings and landmarks are the business cards and symbols of a city. They represent not only the building itself, but also a lifestyle and an experience of new ideas. The reason why the lifestyle of a region or a city can be called a symbol is not only because of the building itself, but also because of the combined efforts of the environment, culture, educational atmosphere and other aspects. They jointly created a regional classic.

In Shanghai and Guangdong, there is nothing more suitable than the stock exchange.

As the stock exchange carefully built by Chen Han, the decoration and appearance here are absolutely beautiful. The glass windows that shine in the eyes, the walls with light yellow granite patches, the yellow and green glazed tile eaves on the top, the three-foot-high granite base below, and the twelve five-foot-high circular columns on the front. Compared with the traditional brick and wood houses around, it is really much more majestic. There is also a spacious square in front of the building, with a beautiful fountain in the center. This was designed and supervised by Jiang Youren [missionary], the designer and construction director of the artificial fountain of the Old Summer Palace. Jiang Youren, who was beaten to the labor camp and ate sand for several years, cried when he walked out of the labor camp. Even in Shanghai, a coastal city with extensive exchanges with the West and influenced by the West, such a large fountain landscape is the first of its kind. Since the construction of this fountain landscape, the entire stock exchange has become a topic of conversation and a place of attention for countless people after dinner.

Invisibly, it has given the future stock exchange a national advertisement.

So today, the grand and high-profile unveiling ceremony attracted countless people to come and watch. What makes the people interesting is that the people who came to the unveiling ceremony include not only the officials with power, the wealthy gentry, but also the foreigners with red hair and blue eyes, and even Han Teng, the third in command of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, came to congratulate in person.

The square is still filled with the sound of gongs and drums, but the whispers of the people below are no less than the sound of gongs and drums. Although there have been many new things in the past two years, these people are still very concerned about the stock exchange. Because it concerns their vital interests. After the Chinese New Year this year, the price of land bonds in the Northeast has been rising continuously, and now it is close to the 60 mark. But this is definitely not the final price! Everyone firmly believes in this view.

Sixty banknotes are equivalent to six silver dollars, four taels of silver. If this price was used to buy land in the Northeast ten years ago, 99% of the people in the country would think that the price was too high. But what about now? The benefits of soybeans are obvious. In the past two years, all large and medium-sized farms in the Northeast have planted soybeans? This benefit makes people excited. The bean dregs left over from oil extraction are not only fine materials that livestock love to eat, but can also be used to fertilize farmland. Since last year, the price of bean dregs has been rising continuously, because merchants from sugarcane plantations in the south have gone to the Northeast to purchase bean dregs cakes.

Sugarcane is very fertile.

Newspapers of all sizes have paid attention to this matter and have analyzed it. A recognized conclusion is that the stock exchange is the most direct reason for the recent acceleration of the price of land bonds.

Because once the stock exchange is officially operational, the price of land bonds will be more transparent, and at the same time, it will also strike out many small-cost buyers. Because the prices they offer are not attractive to the people who hold land bonds. This is a "world" of capital. After the big fish enter the market, even if the small fish are not eaten, they will be squeezed out of their living space by the big fish.

This is just like banks and money houses. Now banks are no longer mysterious in the eyes of ordinary people, although there are still many honest civilians who prefer to seal their money in jars and bury it in their backyards, regardless of whether the money is made of copper, silver, or paper. Because they believe that it is much more reliable to give money to the "land god" for safekeeping than to the government and private individuals. As for private banks, in the impression of some ordinary people, they are even more equivalent to the past money houses, silver houses, pawnshops, and usury, and the image is a "profiteer". But more and more people choose banks because banks offer better interest rates, because banks are endorsed by the national court, so that more and more money houses and silver houses are going bankrupt and closing down.

Whether it is the old Shanxi silver house or the local Jiangnan brand. Under the mighty torrent, all are like this. In the financial industry, competition is really very cruel.

That is why private bank licenses are so valuable.

The imperial court will not stop taking over the Outer Northeast. In the past two years, many farms have settled in the Northeast, including major military and civilian joint-stock companies. However, for many farms, the operators get more use rights than ownership. For these large and medium-sized companies with a certain amount of funds, the most in line with their interests is of course to completely take over the land. But many ordinary people just hold on to the ownership, because land bonds are always rising in price, not falling.

There are also many businessmen who are in urgent need of funds to expand the scale of their industries. These people are very concerned about the stock exchange.

Although the first batch of companies that passed the review of the Banking Regulatory Commission and are eligible for listing in Shanghai and Guangzhou only have 70 companies, this is a "road".

Many people already know the "pricing" of land bonds. The Banking Regulatory Commission gives 60 banknotes per acre of land. And no one knows how high this price will be after today. Because no one knows how crazy the "buyer" will be.

But there is another real example, Beihai Company. The latter released 12% of the shares, divided into 120,000 shares, each priced at 12 yuan, and endorsed by Zhongyuan Bank. That is to say, if this price stabilizes, the market value of Beihai Company will become a full 12 million banknotes, 1.2 million silver dollars. And what was the registered capital of Beihai Company three years ago? 150,000 silver dollars.

Although Beihai Company has become famous in the past two years, the "actual capital" of Beihai Company is there, whether it is a whaling fleet, an oil refinery, a cannery, a meat factory, a fur company, or the company's account funds, the total assets are only 5 or 6 million banknotes. But now that this stock is "blown up", it really wants to blow up.

Although there are not many examples like Beihai Company, the stock prices of most companies are still based on the average price of the stock price of the Securities Regulatory Commission, and at most they are 10% or 20% higher.

These real examples are also the biggest reason why countless large, medium and small businessmen are keen on the stock exchange. Moreover, the term "financial speculation" is not new now. Newspapers have reported a lot of financial matters. The history of Europe's financial development over the past 100 years has been frequently reported in the newspapers since Huang Song and his team returned to Nanjing.

Like the UK's "South China Sea Bubble Crisis" and the Netherlands' "Tulip Effect", these unconventional investment crazes caused stock price surges and plunges, as well as the subsequent chaos, and the causes and consequences were fully published. The harm of financial speculation and the madness of the stock market have long been seen by countless people. Although when they themselves fall into it, whether they can resist the temptation is another matter.

Jiangnan business tycoons gathered together, and government officials at all levels were everywhere. Robert, holding a bottle of wine, congratulated Pan Zhenen and said, "Mr. Pan, congratulations on becoming the director of the China Securities Regulatory Commission." Because of Robert's own good connections in the Chinese government, he is now the British Consul General in China.

The formal diplomatic relations between China and Europe were also finalized in May last year, and the diplomatic level is of course ambassadorial. Many of the Gao Yanming delegation that set off to Europe this time are future staff members of various embassies in Europe.

If it weren't for the Europeans who first extended an olive branch to China, the two sides would have handed over ambassadorial diplomatic relations. Chen Ming's sending of envoys to other countries might indeed attract criticism from both the government and the public. This is somewhat different from the traditional Chinese diplomatic concept.

Robert smiled amiably.

The gunshots in Lexington two years ago completely frustrated the British plan, and the British, who shifted their attention to North America, dared not touch China's red line again at this time. The alliance between Britain and France in the Far East also quickly collapsed with the arrival of Franklin, who was 70 years old, in France last year.

The French have not yet made a complete decision, and the British still have an absolute advantage in the situation on the North American continent. The Battle of Saratoga, which was a turning point in the North American War of Independence, has not yet broken out. However, every European can see that the French are still resentful of the shame of the Seven Years' War. After Franklin arrived in France, he was welcomed by all walks of life in France, and many private donations were delivered to him, and then turned into various military supplies urgently needed by the Continental Army.

Everything is just a matter of opportunity!

If the iron fist of the Kingdom of Great Britain could hit the vital points of the Continental Army, the French aid to the United States might only exist in the "civilian" world. And if the Continental Army could bear the iron fist of the British and hit the British hard in return, the French, who were absolutely motivated, might really go out personally.

Under such conditions, trade between the British and China became an unshakable link. This was related to a large amount of fiscal revenue for the British government, and there must be no mistakes. So John Bull quickly abandoned the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma.

Pan Zhenen and Robert were old friends. This time he half-left the Industrial and Commercial Bureau and became the director of the Securities and Futures Commission, which was a milestone decision for him. Whether he could go further in his lifetime depends on how this step is taken.

"This is a correct and wise decision. In such a large economy as China, the stock exchange will inevitably become an indispensable part of it." Robert raised his glass to Pan Zhenen.

"I borrow your good words. I think so too." Pan Zhenen laughed.