The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 358

"It's very simple. The simplest and most effective way to deal with money shops is through currency exchange. We should unite, deposit all the silver in the Royal Bank, and then arrange for people to exchange it in various places."

One of the men, who was in his fifties, said.

"That's right, universal exchange. Once the royal bank loses its credibility in the hearts of the people, it will naturally be unable to operate."

Others echoed.

It wasn't just the Shanxi merchants; merchants from Jiangnan also discussed and decided to use this method to try and bankrupt the royal bank.

As the current vice president of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce and the de facto ruler, Chu Huizu could not find a reason to oppose the businessmen's actions. He could only write a secret letter to ask Zhou Chu for his opinion, and the answer he finally received made Chu Huizu breathe a sigh of relief.

Soon, royal banks opened their doors across the Ming Dynasty.

Royal Bank is completely different from other banks; not only do they not charge you money for deposits, but they also give you interest.

The news caused an uproar among the people. They had never encountered such a good thing before. Moreover, since it was called the Royal Bank and had the backing of local officials, the people naturally felt at ease and took out their money to deposit in the bank.

Much of the money that was originally held by other banks was withdrawn and deposited into the Royal Bank.

The royal money shops had not yet faced a currency crisis, but the money shops opened by Shanxi merchants and Jiangnan merchants were the first to face a currency crisis.

Despite their best efforts, they managed to exchange all the money from the people.

Merchants from Shanxi joined forces to deposit hundreds of millions of taels of silver into the Royal Bank, and then began to arrange for people to exchange the silver at Royal Banks throughout the Ming Dynasty.

The opening of the Royal Bank in Tongzhou Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, greatly excited the people. Wealthy individuals took out their money or exchanged it from other banks and deposited it into the Royal Bank. For a time, countless people lined up at the Royal Bank to deposit money.

The more people lined up, the more confidence they gained. People tend to follow the crowd. Seeing so many people queuing up to deposit money at the Royal Bank, those who had some reservations about the Royal Bank went home and took out their hoarded silver coins, ready to deposit them at the Royal Bank to earn interest.

Zhang Wensan was the person arranged by the Shanxi merchants to exchange silver in Tongzhou. He carried a silver note with a value of 20 million taels of silver and bypassed the queue to go directly to the counter.

"Shopkeeper, exchange for silver, twenty million taels!"

Zhang Wensan slammed a thick stack of banknotes on the counter and said.

The people who were queuing to deposit money were instantly intimidated by Zhang Wensan's imposing manner. When they heard that he actually wanted to exchange 20 million taels of silver, they were all stunned. It was the first time they had ever heard of such a large figure for silver.

They should have reprimanded Zhang Wen for cutting in line, but surprisingly, no one spoke up.

The shopkeeper at the counter examined the silver note Zhang Wensan handed over, and after confirming that it was correct, looked at Zhang Wensan.

"You can exchange it anywhere, but you'll have to wait in line."

After saying this, the shopkeeper pushed the silver note back to Zhang Wensan.

Zhang Wensan was taken aback when he heard this. He had thought that he wouldn't need to queue up for such a large amount of money, but he quickly realized that the money exchange probably didn't have that much silver, and this was just the manager's way of stalling for time.

"Manager, I'm exchanging 20 million taels of silver. Why should I wait in line? Does your bank not have 20 million taels of silver in it? Or is it that your bank only accepts deposits but not withdrawals? Is it impossible to exchange silver if I want to?"

Zhang Wensan questioned.

He didn't mention the issue of cutting in line at all, but his two sentences brought out the doubts in the minds of the people queuing behind him to deposit money.

"That's right, manager. Your money exchange offers interest, but it's not like the money deposited can only go in and can't be withdrawn, is it?"

One of Zhang Wensan's men stirred up trouble in the crowd.