Carrying AK into Ming Dynasty

Chapter 935 Legal Currency
"Issuing new currency!" Liu Hongjian said firmly.

"To be precise, it is to issue a legal paper currency, just like the treasure banknotes issued in the Taizu period!" Seeing that Zhu Cihong's face was a little puzzled, Liu Hongjian explained again.

"This won't work, Brother Liu! Although the Emperor Taizu was very talented, but... But it turned out that issuing treasure banknotes was a wrong decision. According to historical records, the people and shops at that time were ruined. "

Zhu Cihong obviously knew about the issuance of precious banknotes during the Hongwu period, but it really took courage to slander the ancestors, and Zhu Cihong's voice became quieter when he said it.

"This banknote is not that banknote, so it's not the same!" Liu Hongjian knew that Zhu Cihong would not understand.

In fact, it is no wonder that Comrade Zhu Chongba's currency issuance was considered a whim back then, because it was inconvenient for private merchants to trade large amounts.

Private transactions are not like those shown in TV dramas, where you pay for a few hundred taels of silver from your body. In the Ming Dynasty, a catty was 16 taels. According to later generations, one tael is about forty grams, and 500 taels is forty grams. catty.

Who would carry dozens of kilograms of stuff on their body every day?

There are quite a few banks in the private sector that issue bills, that is, banknotes, but the reputation of the banks is uneven and the market is chaotic, so under the leadership of Comrade Zhu Chongba, the Daming Banknotes came into being.

This is the only paper money issued in the 300 years of the Ming Dynasty. Comrade Zhu Chongba’s starting point is excellent, but limited to the lack of economic knowledge, the old Zhu’s family is completely different from what inflation is. He keeps printing paper money, even for officials. Salaries are also issued in banknotes.

As a result, to buy a bucket of rice later, it was necessary to pull a carload of Daming banknotes. After the credit collapse, the Daming banknotes fell into a slump, and became the only magic weapon for the Zhu family emperors to reward civil servants and generals with meritorious service.

Since then, people and officials, including the emperor, have always believed that banknotes cannot be made, because making them is deceiving people, and later became a ban.

But Liu Hongjian is a person who has experienced it after all. Although he did not major in economics in college, he still understands the basic financial knowledge. Coupled with what he learned from that economics, it is enough to cause great disturbances in the seventeenth century.

In Liu Hongjian's view, the issuance of banknotes in Ming Dynasty was the general trend and imperative.

There are several reasons. First, it is inconvenient to carry whether it is gold, silver or copper coins. Second, the quality of silver ingots cast in various places is uneven, and there are many fake ingots doped with lead and other metals.

The counterfeiting of copper coins has become even more rampant. Since the middle of Ming Dynasty, many sea merchants have shipped copper mines from Nanyang or Dongying, and then privately cast fake copper coins. In order to obtain huge profits, profiteers mixed other metals in copper coins, resulting in poor quality of copper coins circulated among the people. very big.

For the official copper coins minted by the imperial court, one thousand liberal arts were exchanged for one tael of silver, while privately minted copper coins often needed [-] Wen or even higher to exchange one tael of silver.

Although the copper coins minted by the imperial court themselves are genuine, you would never have imagined that the genuine copper coins were actually a loss for the imperial court, and the cost of copper coins was extremely high due to the fact that they were all handmade.

The value of copper coins produced by a skilled moneymaker in a day is not enough for the moneymaker's wages and raw material costs.

Those who make money lose money, who will believe this?But this situation has existed for hundreds of years.

Not to mention the weight of a thousand copper coins. The shopkeepers who collect money in shops are generally experts. They can judge the quality by looking at the quality of copper coins.

The second is that it is inconvenient to use. Not all people have silver ingots in their homes, and copper coins and broken silver are more circulated among the people.

For example, if you take a whole piece of ten taels of silver and go to a store to buy something worth seven taels and need change, the shopkeeper will first check the quality of the silver, and use a special small scale to weigh it to see if it is exactly ten taels.

Then you must use steel scissors to divide the silver into two to determine whether it is pure silver, and then start the tedious dividing process. First, look for broken silver in the drawer. If there is no broken silver, cut it into pieces again. After cutting, it is weighed, and if it is not enough, it will be cut again. At the end of the last one or ten taels of silver, it will become a large pile of broken silver.

Or you can also choose to use copper coins for change. Three taels of silver are three or four thousand copper coins.

Regardless of whether it is a gold ingot or a silver ingot, when it is used for the first time, it will be pinched off for anti-counterfeiting, and then it will be cut and cut continuously in the process of circulation. The cumbersome process will not be tolerated by future generations. .

Liu Hongjian has also been suffering from it all these years. The reason why he has not cared about it is that he has not had the energy to fight in various places, and secondly, everyone from the imperial court to the people hates paper money.

Well now, Comrade Xiao Zhu has dismissed all the high-ranking Beijing officials at once, leaving only the chief assistant commander of the cabinet who is still Liu Hongjian's best friend, which means that the biggest obstacle is gone.

As for the common people, based on Liu Hongjian's current voice and his methods, there is no big problem. After all, Liu Hongjian is benefiting the common people, not harming them.

If so, Liu Hongjian started the layout more than a year ago, but it was done secretly through the Xishan Merchant Cooperation. Now the production process of the new currency has been perfected, and everything is ready, and the only thing that needs to be done is Dongfeng.

According to Liu Hongjian's plan, Ming Dynasty will issue new currency. The new currency is composed of banknotes and coins, from top to bottom.

Coins are divided into one or two, five coins, one coin, ten coins, and one coin. Banknotes and coins are divided into five grades each, and copper coins are abolished.

The most fundamental reason for the circulation of copper coins is the lack of silver in the Ming Dynasty. Copper itself does not have the property of a general equivalent, but now the Ming Dynasty has no shortage of silver at all.

Liu Hongjian took a long while to explain, and Zhu Cihong nodded in shock, but whether he really understood it is unknown, but he must have understood the abolition of copper coins.

"Why do you have to abolish copper coins? What is the general equivalent?" Zhu Cihong looked serious, like a studious student, and even saw Liu Hongjian's mouth dry, and poured him a cup of tea himself.

"Of course copper coins will be abolished. How can anyone who makes money still lose money? Are you losing money?
As for this general equivalent, in a broad sense, it is a commodity that is separated from commodities and can serve as the unified value expression material of all other commodities.

have you understood? " Liu Hongjian asked.

"No...no." Zhu Cihong said embarrassedly, but he really didn't understand.

"To put it simply, gold and silver are general equivalents. Although they are also a kind of commodity, they can buy anything else through gold and silver.

But currency is not, um... Let’s put it this way, gold and silver are naturally not currency, but currency is naturally gold and silver. In other words, although banknotes are legal tender, they are not general equivalents. It doesn't have to be paper money, paper money is just a kind of credit currency that facilitates private transactions.

So you should understand, right? "Liu Hongjian explained again.

Zhu Cihong: ....

……

PS: Ahem, don’t think too much nonsense, mainly for Xiao Zhu’s popularization, and by the way, check whether you have returned your high school knowledge to the teacher.

　Thanks to the book friend for the 500 taels for drinking Bingkuole, and the 100 taels for the book friend who was drunk and looked at the axe.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)