Chapter 1037: Successfully Acquired

The idea of leveraging six times the amount of capital wouldn't be an issue if the initial investment was small. However, considering the presence of the major families at the assembly—Chenliu's Wei family, Hedong's Wei family, and three families from Jiangdong—this changes things. While the Jiangdong families are formidable, the two Wei families have been financial titans, competing with the Zhen family for over a hundred years.

A contribution of 2 billion coins is entirely feasible for them, and with the leverage of six times that amount, we’re looking at 12 billion coins. Such a sum would be enough to tempt even the most powerful empire into crime. The entire empire’s yearly tax revenue amounted to only 30 billion coins. If committing a crime could yield 12 billion coins, it wouldn’t be beyond the empire to act without ethics and commit such crimes.

When money reaches such an overwhelming amount, especially when it's in the form of tangible heavy currency, it's inevitable that it will tempt criminal behavior.

As everyone instinctively glanced at Wei Ji and Wei Zi, Wei Zi's face showed clear displeasure. "Lord Chen, you're underestimating us too much. If that's the case, Brother Bo Yu and I will be the first to approve this proposal."

Wei Zi wasn't a fool. With Mount Tai having abolished oppressive taxes, removed tolls, and cleared up bureaucratic hurdles, Wei Zi had previously conducted business there and participated in the initial stages of the bank's establishment. He fully understood the massive benefits a bank could bring to commerce.

In truth, both Wei Zi and Wei Ji had considered establishing their own bank. The problem was that a bank is meaningless unless it gains widespread approval from many prominent families. Furthermore, the two Wei families alone couldn't afford to establish something as grand as a bank.

Every time they watched Mi Zhu or the Zhang family handle transactions in the billions, shifting money in amounts as high as one or two billion coins, Wei Zi and Wei Ji felt that a bank, while convenient, was far beyond the means of one or two families. It was something that only a state or a true genius could manage successfully.

Chen Xi raised his head to look at Wei Zi, then shifted his gaze to Wei Ji. Although he didn’t say anything, his intentions were clear.

Wei Ji, who had been sitting quietly with his eyes closed, slowly opened them and looked at Chen Xi. "Lord Chen, there’s no need to speculate about the relationship between our two families. Zixu has the authority to make decisions. Our two families have always advanced and retreated together. We will contribute 1 billion coins, but we insist that the bank in Chang’an must retain at least 1.5 billion coins."

"I understand your concerns about potential withdrawal of funds. However, during the same period, the funds you can withdraw across the country’s banks cannot exceed three times the amount deposited," Chen Xi nodded and replied.

Chen Xi knew full well that this was just an idea. Before unifying the country, he didn’t have the resources to monitor things so closely, and both the Wei and Mi families had businesses spread across the map. Who could ensure that the amount withdrawn at any one time would remain within limits?

It was a joke—there was no digital system to keep track of transactions in real time. Chen Xi was simply making things up because he knew that the total amount of issued notes was fixed. Once the notes gained widespread recognition, they would no longer be tied to the heavy currency.

In essence, once people got used to using the notes and realized they had purchasing power, very few would actually return to exchange them for coins. And as long as they continued using the notes, even if they overused them, the total circulation would not exceed the amount issued.

Chen Xi's only concern was whether someone would notice this flaw within five or six years. But even if they did, it wouldn’t matter much. With the expansion of commerce, the funds originally contributed by various families to their joint banks would eventually get mixed up, and in the end, the notes held by the joint banks would belong to families across the country.

"Agreed," Wei Ji said simply. With just one word, the matter was resolved, and Wei Zi also gave his approval, as he had promised earlier.

The Zhen family and the Mi family had no objections, naturally approving the plan as well. With the five great merchant families in agreement, only the Wu family remained. Soon, all the families passed the motion, and Chen Xi had successfully secured the funds needed to build up Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and eventually Youzhou—without spending a penny of his own.

"These families are essentially contributing the equivalent of the Han Empire’s entire annual tax revenue. Once the merchants add their portion, even though many of these families already have merchants, there are plenty of independent merchants as well. These people are truly wealthy!" Chen Xi licked his lips in anticipation. With the wealth controlled by these families—who hold over 80% of the country's assets—it was truly an enormous amount of money.

"Since everyone has approved this proposal, there’s nothing more to discuss. To prevent any issues with the banks in the future, we’ll first inject some security deposits. Zhongkang, Anguo, bring the items in," Chen Xi commanded with a businesslike and detached demeanor, clapping his hands.

Xu Chu and Wu Anguo each carried several large copper ingots into the room. After several trips, they had piled the ingots in the center of the hall. It wasn’t that they couldn’t carry more at once, but the copper ingots were individual pieces, and carrying too many at once would have been unwieldy.

"These are copper ingots worth 2 billion coins, part of the security deposit. I plan to inject a total of 20 billion in copper," Chen Xi said, completely fabricating the numbers. Whether these copper ingots were really worth 2 billion coins was impossible to verify at that moment, but judging by their size and weight, it seemed plausible.

"Of course, as you may know, these are the copper ingots I will use to mint five-zhu coins. To ensure the money supply is secure, I’ll need each family that has previously minted coins to contribute a team of craftsmen," Chen Xi said with the mindset of squeezing out every last bit of potential. Sure enough, 90% of the families present agreed to send a team of craftsmen. Some families, however, mentioned that while they had minted coins in the past, they had never minted five-zhu coins.

Chen Xi didn’t care about the specifics. He was simply using this as an excuse to gather craftsmen from the families. With hundreds of families each contributing a team, this added up to over ten thousand craftsmen, a significant workforce.

"Now, one more matter. I need to stabilize the price of salt. I require that salt be sold at 100 coins per shi throughout the Han territory. Regardless of the location, this price must be maintained. Your management reaches down to the village level, so I need you to stabilize the price of salt in every village," Chen Xi said slowly. Only during classical military regimes like the Qin and Han dynasties, or after the founding of the People's Republic of China, could such a level of control be achieved.

Strictly speaking, after the Han dynasty, and all the way up to the Qing dynasty, local governance essentially stopped at the county level. Everything below the county level was managed by clans through self-governance, with local ethics guiding the process. However, during the Qin and Han dynasties, due to their militaristic nature, even the villages were under the state’s control.

Coupled with the influence of the noble families, the Han dynasty actually had two systems that managed down to the village level. Although the families' system also relied on clan-based self-governance, it was still under state control, which made it significantly different from later periods.

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