Chapter 571

Hao Ren’s policy proposal, beyond addressing how to borrow the one billion taels of silver, focused on an equally crucial point: how that money would be spent, and under what authority. Since the silver was borrowed from the people of Great Xia, it could not be left entirely to the management of a "private" entity like the Train Chamber of Commerce. It just so happened that the Empress was eager to dismantle the Train Chamber of Commerce, but Hao Ren chose to do the opposite: instead of splitting, he expanded. In the first phase, the Train Chamber of Commerce would issue 40 million taels of new stock. This entire issuance would be purchased by the Central Bank of Great Xia, effectively giving the state a fifty-percent stake in the Train Chamber of Commerce. The resulting profits would be paid annually into the national treasury. Simultaneously, the Central Bank would fund this purchase by issuing 40 million taels in special treasury bonds, ensuring that, at the very least, half of the Train Chamber of Commerce's earnings belonged to the state, with the remaining half divided among bureaucrats, nobles, and the participating public.