Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 607 Treasury Bills
After talking clearly with Li Ke and Li Tai, Gao Ming announced his decision in front of all civil and military officials early the next morning when he went to court.

"Everyone already knows about the former emperor, so I won't go around and say it straight. I want to avenge the former emperor's enmity, both public and private. I'm going to Luoyang now. Starting today, The military and state affairs will be temporarily handed over to the cabinet, and Li Tai and Li Ke will supervise the country on their behalf until I return from the expedition, that's all."

After speaking, without waiting for the civil and military officials to agree, Gao Ming got up and left the court, and then went to the Datang Military Industry Department outside the city.

Liu Tao, the person in charge of the Military Industry Department, received a report from the people below, knowing that Gao Ming had arrived, and hurried out to greet him.

"Wei Chen has met His Royal Highness, and I have already prepared what you asked for, Your Highness!"

"Oh?" Hearing this, Gao Ming was overjoyed, "I'll just wait for your words, lead the way ahead!"

"promise!"

Seeing Gao Ming's happy face, Liu Tao quickly agreed, and then led him into the inner courtyard of the Ministry of Military Industry, and handed a piece of paper the size of a palm to Gao Ming.

"Your Highness, please look, this is what you want!"

Looking at the piece of paper he handed over, Gao Ming took it over and looked at it, his eyes lit up immediately.

I saw the city of Chang'an was printed on the back of this piece of paper, Gao Ming was printed in the middle of the front, wearing armor and riding on a war horse, and the words "Treasury Bonds Yiguan" were printed on the top.

It turned out that this piece of paper was nothing but the treasury bill that Gao Ming asked Liu Tao to make!
The only disadvantage is that the paper quality is not good enough, and the colors on it are not bright enough, it looks like ghost money printed by merchants with big brains in later generations.

Of course, as far as this era is concerned, it is not bad to be able to reach such a level, so after seeing the treasury bond completed by Liu Tao, Gao Ming immediately nodded.

"Well, it's good to be able to do this, but the follow-up process still needs to be improved. How about this, as the first version of treasury bills like this, 1000 million bills will be printed and handed over to the Ministry of Households for issuance, and the second edition of 4000 million bills will be mainly made of bamboo. Materials, cotton and linen as auxiliary materials to make."

"Yes, I'll do it right away!"

Now Liu Tao has figured out Gao Ming's temper. He knows that the prince he is loyal to is a pragmatic person, as long as he does his job well, too much courtesy will make the other party dislike it.

So at this time, after he finished speaking, he saluted Gao Ming, and then hurried towards the workshop.

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming also nodded in satisfaction, then left the Datang Military Industry Department directly, took his own guards, and rode towards Luoyang.

Chang'an is not close to Luoyang, and even riding a horse on the official road with the best road conditions would take about ten days, so Gao Ming set off early with three thousand guards headed by Hegan Chengji.

When Gao Ming and others rushed to Luoyang starry night, Liu Tao also worked overtime to start producing treasury bills, and then handed over the printed 1000 million treasury bills to the Ministry of Households, and began to issue them in Chang'an.

Regarding the "IOU" printed by Gao Ming, all civil and military officials in the court, including Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Changsun Wuji, all maintained a skeptical attitude.

However, considering that Gao Ming seized a large amount of spoils from Goryeo in the past, and now that the national treasury is full, they all paid for some, but the total amount did not exceed one thousand guan.

In their view, even officials like them can only buy one thousand coins, and ordinary people can't afford it. Therefore, it is estimated that 1000% of the [-] million treasury bonds printed by Gao Ming will be reduced to waste paper.

But they soon realized that they were wrong, because they underestimated Gao Ming's reputation and influence among the people!
On the day when the treasury bills were issued, the people of Chang'an took a large amount of copper coins and silver to exchange for the treasury bills with Gao Ming's portrait printed on them as if they had picked up a big deal.

Less than a week after the issuance of treasury bills, the 1000 million treasury bills were snapped up by the common people and wealthy businessmen in Chang'an. Even the second edition, which was just issued, was redeemed for less than half within a week.

When the businessmen from Jinzhou arrived in Chang'an, the remaining 3000 million second-version treasury bills were all exchanged.

A total of 5000 million copper coins and silver were put into the treasury, making the treasury of the Tang Dynasty more abundant than ever, even surpassing the period when Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty was in power!

What surprised most civil and military officials was that not long after, businessmen began to use treasury bills to conduct large transactions.

With merchants taking the lead, the common people also began to use treasury bills to start transactions, such as buying and selling fields and cattle. Compared with heavy copper coins, they were more willing to use treasury bills and a small amount of copper coins for trading.

And they also gave the treasury bill a nice name, called "Prince Money".

For such a situation, while many ministers were shocked, they also began to get busy.

After discussions with the cabinet of Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Changsun Wuji, and with the approval of the two princes Li Ke and Li Tai, two decrees on treasury bills were issued from the court.

The first decree is of course to affirm the effectiveness of treasury bills, and promises that after one year, anyone who holds treasury bills can take the treasury bills to the local county government and exchange them for copper coins or silver taels with interest.

And the second decree is punishment. Anyone who forges treasury bills, regardless of the number, will be punished as the crime of deceiving the emperor and treason, implicating the nine clans. Anyone who reports can get all the property of the person who was killed, and those who make false accusations will sit back!
There is no doubt that this is a very overbearing regulation, but it is undeniable that it is very effective in this era when the country's supervision is weak.

Sure enough, with these two decrees issued by the imperial court, while eliminating the danger of being counterfeited, treasury bills have once again increased their credit rating among the people by a large margin.

But these clever people don't know, because at this time he has brought his personal guards to Luoyang's Tiance Mansion.

Tiance Mansion is an important place where Li Shimin stepped onto the stage of history, and has a very special status in the Tang Dynasty, while Gao Ming was personally appointed by Li Shimin as Tiance Admiral, so he came here to appoint a general.

Shortly after Gao Ming arrived at Tiance Mansion, Ashnadur and Hou Junji arrived, and they brought back 20 troops from Wa Kingdom and Liaodong Peninsula respectively. The army and 20 civilians arrived, and millions of troops gathered in Luoyang.

Looking at the crowds of people moving under the city wall, Gao Ming stood on the head of Luoyang City in military uniform, letting the blood-red cloak behind him be rattled by the wind, he took a deep breath, and then shouted loudly.

"Yibi Shekui and Ashinahelu are thieves with undead hearts, ignoring the grace of heaven and boldly plotting rebellion. This crime committed by Tang Tianwei is not enough to not die. I will call you today, just to get thieves. I don't want prisoners in this battle. Anyone who kills one Turk will receive a consistent reward, and anyone who kills ten people will be rewarded with an acre of Yongye Field in addition to the reward, with no limit!"

Speaking of this, Gao Ming stepped on the gap in the tower, then "shua" pulled out the Tang knife from his waist, and roared to the sky.

"The lonely smoke in the desert is vast, and millions of iron hooves rush to Xichuan. When Wang Shi pacified the Western Regions, tens of thousands of people cast Beijing Guan, come out!"

"promise!"

　Sorry for making everyone wait for too long, I will continue to update from today, although it may be slower, but I will finish writing as planned

　　
　
(End of this chapter)