Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1620
In the last book "Currency", Shao Shude talked about very conceptual things - and he only planned to write conceptual things.

He still couldn't understand that many businessmen already had a vague understanding of these concepts in their actual business operations, and even had their own unique understandings. Why didn't they publish a book?
In fact, not only in business, but in many other aspects.

Since no one is doing it, he will do it.

Merchants may understand currency, but officials do not necessarily understand it.For officials, there is no need for advanced theories, it is enough to understand conceptual things, so as not to be ridiculous and make decisions that slap their heads.

After the completion of this book and before the writing of "The Population Trap", Shao Shude wanted to write another introductory book on currency, commerce, and credit, but based on the above reason, he gave up.

In today's world, there is no ability to fully use metal currency, and the stock is not enough.

At the end of the twelfth lunar month, when the book "Currency" was completely finished, and the four books "Commerce", "Land Rent", "Taxation", and "Population" were just beginning, Du Xiao, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, brought several assistants Officials arrived early - he succeeded his elder brother Du Guangyi as household secretary at the beginning of this year. His elder brother's heart rash became more and more serious and he had to go home to recuperate.

That night, he received a handwritten copy of "Currency", so he read it through the night.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Shao Shude summoned the officials of the household department in the Penglai hall.

"Have you finished the book?" Shao Shude asked bluntly.

"It's over." Du Xiao replied.

In fact, not only he finished reading it, but several servants, doctors, and Yuanwai Lang also copied a copy by hand and went back to read it.

"How about it?"

"Your Majesty doesn't want to abolish silk and promote money?"

Shao Shude laughed as soon as he heard it, and asked, "Does I look so stupid?"

Du Xiao was speechless.

He knew that the sage had always had a special liking for silver dollars, and he derived such things as silver dollar bills.

Of course, Du Guangyi supported some of the saint's policies——

Thirty years ago, in order to alleviate the money shortage, the saint vigorously promoted the mode of centralized transaction and bookkeeping currency, which greatly reduced the demand for metal currency among the people.

Thirty years later, businessmen have gradually become familiar with and recognized this model, because it is really very convenient for business transactions.

Over the past 30 years, this habit and cognition have been continuously strengthened, so that now the credit of silver bills has been greatly increased, and they can be traded directly.

But—it can only go so far.

The actions of the sage have greatly alleviated the money shortage, benefited the people of the world, and benefited the merchants.But if you want to say that it is unreliable to directly use silver dollars as currency, Du Xiao disagrees.

Fortunately, the saint is also very sober.

"I know that silver dollar bills are not currency, but a certificate of credit, and there is no essential difference from the flying tickets issued by the Jinzuoyuan in the towns of the former Tang Dynasty." Shao Shude said: "In the next few decades or even more than a hundred years, silver dollar bills will It will always be circulated in a very small range, and the vast majority of people in the world will not be able to see its true content, or even hear about it.”

"Then—why did His Majesty write this book?" Du Xiao asked curiously.

The content of the book is very plain, and even the language habits are very awkward, making it difficult to read.And it seems that so many new words have been coined that it is confusing.

"I'm getting old..." Shao Shude only said one thing.

Du Xiao felt sorry, wanted to say something, but felt that it was inappropriate.

"So I want to leave something behind. Even if it's not suitable now, when the conditions are ripe in the future, maybe someone will remember this book." Shao Shude continued.

In fact, as he said, if you work hard now and lay a good foundation, maybe 100 years later, metal currency can gradually squeeze the very unusable cloth and grain out of the market, making them slowly become history.

This is why Shao Shude wrote "Currency".Popularize various concepts and principles in the field of metal currency, and educate officials.

Do not overestimate the knowledge of officials.

Officials from the history of reading scriptures know almost nothing about economics, and it is easy to make all kinds of riots. It's not that they deliberately messed up or messed up on purpose, they really don't understand.

"Don't say those frustrating words." Shao Shude smiled, and said again: "I wrote a way to make money in the book. Maybe 100 years later, after a certain prime minister reads the book completely, he will be able to grasp its essence and add value to the court. income."

"French currency and seigniorage?" Du Xiao asked.

"It's exactly this thing." Shao Shude said: "Don't underestimate it. If you operate it properly, the income of the imperial court will increase greatly, and many troubles can be solved. With more money, many troubles will disappear."

Shao Shude always felt that the Ming Dynasty wasted its unique conditions.

The massive inflow of silver from Japan—the amount of silver provided by the sailing ship trade in Manila is actually not much, after all, there are only 1-2 ships every two years—makes the Ming Dynasty the first dynasty in Chinese history that can truly implement metal currency. , but they waste...

The Ming Dynasty had only silver and no currency.

First of all, there are no coins of various denominations minted at the national level - Shao Shude called them "legal currency" in the book "Currency".

This is the root of all chaos.

Because there is no legal currency, the folks mess around by themselves, cutting silver at will, such as silver beans, silver dimes, and the like, flooding everywhere.

Compared with the West at the same time, even a small city-state will mint its own legal currency.Currency exchange offices can be seen everywhere. When foreign merchant ships come, the first thing they do is exchange local silver coins.The currency exchange office conducts random inspections, uses chemical methods to test the silver content of silver coins, and then gives an exchange rate.

In the Ming Dynasty, Amsterdam already had exchange rates for more than a dozen major silver coins, which were announced regularly.

For example, because of the war, the French were financially strained, so they minted a large number of low-quality French currency "livres" with less silver content. After the news spread, the exchange rate of livres in the Amsterdam market immediately plummeted.

In the field of finance and finance, the mid-Ming Dynasty and Western countries are far from being on the same level.

Why does this happen?
Unprofessional people, doing unprofessional things, will have this kind of result.

Therefore, it is very necessary to literate officials and let them establish elementary financial knowledge.

"Your Majesty, is there a way to get a lot of silver now?" Du Xiao asked suddenly.

"There is no way." Shao Shude pointed at him with a smile, and said, "There are more than a hundred silver mines in the country, but only thirty or forty of them are stable producers of silver, and only a few of them are large-scale producers of silver. And what about the surrounding areas? Small ones Regardless of the source of silver, let’s talk about the big one. There is only one in Japan. And they discovered the silver mine only a few years ago, and the level is also very poor. ,well!"

"There are rumors in Luoyang that there is a big silver mine on the Tocharian side, I don't know..."

"It's not a rumor, it's true. That place is called the Panjshir Valley." Shao Shude said, "Maybe it's not much smaller than Japan's Yinshan Mountain. Of course, this is just a guess. I haven't been there, so I don't know."

"Can that..."

"Haha!" Shao Shude said with a big laugh, "During the Western Expedition, you kept persuading me. What's the matter? Are you in a hurry now?"

Du Xiao was a little embarrassed.

"It's actually useless." Shao Shude sighed suddenly, and said, "Silver needs to be accumulated. Even if the Panjshir Valley and Japan's silver mountains are all owned by me, what's the use? There is no continuous inflow and accumulation of silver for hundreds of years. Is it enough? I am old and can't wait for that day."

In fact, Shao Shude's requirements for Daxia's economic officials are very low.

If one day, the precious metals flowing into Daxia are enough to enter the Silver Age, the imperial court will start to mint legal currency (silver coins).

Don't fucking use gold and silver bullion anymore.

Gold and silver bullion is not currency, but legal currency is. This concept must be clarified.

He believes that as long as this concept is understood, officials will have the urge to mint legal currency, because seigniorage can be collected.

After the introduction of legal currency, in order to collect seigniorage, the imperial court will strictly prohibit the private minting of currency and crack down on the phenomenon of using gold and silver bullion transactions. This has happened in Western history.

And merchants who have accumulated a large amount of legal currency will not choose to melt it down, because it will cause losses-assuming that one yuan of legal currency can be exchanged for one tael of silver officially, but in fact, the weight of one yuan of legal currency is often less than one tael Level, and it also contains 10-20% of base metals, which is the source of seigniorage.

The Ming Dynasty didn't even collect seigniorage, so they didn't know what to say.

The book "Currency" not only popularized the concept, but also pointed out an important source of revenue (seigniorage) for the imperial court to future generations.

Shao Shude believed that no one would be so stupid as not to promote fiat currency... right?

"Are you still opposed to my tossing around in the Western Regions?" After sighing, Shao Shude, who was just a little depressed, suddenly remembered the white butt that Queen Gao of Bohai stretched out on his own initiative, and the way Little Pepper Cai Bangshi grinned at him , cheered up, I am not old yet, I can still play with women, so I changed my tone and said: "The Western Regions are very important to Daxia, and we must never give them up. Do you realize it now?"

Du Xiao was silent for a moment, got up and saluted, and said: "Your Majesty, I have little knowledge, and now I know I was wrong."

Shao Shude looked at him for a long time, and praised: "Du Qing has the world in mind, and he is really a good minister."

What he said meant something.

In fact, is it important for officials and scholars to have metal currency?It's actually not that important.

Self-sufficiency, oppressing the common people like oppressing serfs can also maintain their high quality of life.After all, what people ultimately consume is real goods, and currency is just a medium of exchange.

From the standpoint of literati and bureaucrats, any drastic changes in society will not please them.

True, change has the potential to do them good, but it can also do harm.

As a person with vested interests, with a big family and a big business, stability is the most important thing, and he naturally hates all kinds of risks.

In their view, it is best for society to go on like this until the end of time, because its trajectory is completely predictable, and they can still maintain their wealth. In British society in the 18th century, there were many traditional aristocrats who were down and out. In order to maintain a so-called decent life, It can be seen that he had to borrow money from merchants.

It was very difficult for Du Xiaoneng to speak from the standpoint of the court and the world, so Shao Shude called him a "good minister".

But Du Xiao can only represent himself, not others.

Will other officials and scholar-bureaucrats hold the same position as him?not necessarily.

Therefore, Shao Shude wanted to wake them up from their delusions.

What kind of ostrich are you pretending to be? Can't you see the 300-year cycle of chaos?Think you bury your head in the sand and all this won't happen?What a joke!
Don't lie to yourself.

The life of men farming and women weaving will not last forever, and conflicts will break out one day.

Shao Shude doesn't think he can reverse this trend either, but he believes that when the Great Xia Dynasty perishes, he can leave more things to the world, so it is not in vain for him to come to this world—as he once said, I pay for my licentious pleasures.

The dynasty is the dynasty, the world is the world, and Shao Shude still clearly distinguishes it.

The book "Population" is specially prepared for those traditional scholar-bureaucrats.

Next, he will give priority to writing this book and try to finish it before the Chinese New Year.There are tens of thousands of words in the area, but the essence of the cycle of governance and chaos is exhausted.

Don't you all care about family inheritance?

Don't we all think about future generations?
After reading this book, can you still sit still?
If you can't sit still, do you want to find a way?

Now that Daxia has just established a country, the conflicts have been greatly eased, and you can all enjoy wealth, but what about future generations?Although it may not be possible to completely resolve this contradiction, it is good to let it procrastinate, why don't you hurry up and work?
(End of this chapter)