Water Margin people

Chapter 1407 Coins

"Excuse me for making a fool of myself!"

Wu Song scratched his head embarrassedly. Everything else was fine, but taking care of the children was a real headache for him. He would rather go fight a few more tigers.

"If you don't understand, go and ask for help. Lin Chong can't do it, and this guy doesn't understand either, but my sister-in-law does, and there's also the Xu family's wife, who are all very good at raising children. If you're embarrassed to go, just let Jinlian go!"

Sun Lei watched Wu Song come up with ideas. When it came to taking care of the child Hua Chan and the others asked the ladies of the Lin and Xu families for advice.

"Jinlian is so shameless..."

Wu Song helped Pan Jinlian to explain.

"She is thick-skinned. You should be thicker-skinned. You can take Jinlian to visit other people and have a drink with Lin Chong and Xu Ning when you have nothing to do!"

Sun Lei helped Wu Song come up with ideas again.

"Haha, by the way, don't forget to bring Master Lu with you when you drink!"

Sun Lei suddenly laughed again. Since he couldn't solve Lu Zhishen's single problem, he would let him join a big family. If that didn't work, he would let the younger generations follow him to cultivate their character.

"Of course, I will host a banquet at home some other day to entertain you and all the brothers!"

Wu Song said with a smile.

The three of them toasted each other and soon it was dark.

Wu Xuan was tired from playing and fell asleep in Wu Song's arms. Wu Song also stood up and said goodbye with an apologetic look.

"I've gone back to the temple too! I haven't finished today's homework yet!"

After having a good meal and a good drink, Lu Zhishen also spoke up. He still lived in his own small temple and he didn't want a mansion.

"You're all leaving now? You didn't even bother to settle the bill!"

Sun Lei watched the two men leave and spoke helplessly. He gave the store owner a piece of silver at first, but Lu Zhishen and Wu Song were both big drinkers. They drank several jars of wine and several pots of meat. After paying for the chairs, there was not much left of the silver.

"Shopkeeper, how much silver?"

Sun Lei looked at the shopkeeper and asked.

"Sir, you have already given me two taels of silver. This chair plus the wine and meat cost a total of four taels of silver! Just give me another two taels of silver!"

The shop owner rubbed his hands and said with a smile that this table of customers were big customers, and the three of them ate the amount of four or five tables.

Sun Lei reached into his pocket, but instead of feeling any irregular silver nuggets, he felt a few coins.

"Do you recognize this one?"

Sun Lei took out two silver coins and held them on his fingertips and asked.

"Silver coins! I recognize them! These are the latest silver coins issued by His Majesty. They are all fine silver coins, and each one is worth one tael of silver!"

When the shopkeeper saw the shining silver coins, his face was filled with joy.

"How many people use silver coins now?"

Sun Lei didn't rush to give the money, but asked with a smile.

"Well...to be honest, not much!"

The shop owner shook his head.

"Not many? Didn't the imperial court already start to promote gold, silver and copper coins a long time ago? Liangshan City should have exchanged quite a few!"

Sun Lei asked with a frown. He had already issued an order to promote the new currency before he led the army in person.

"Sir, you are a son of a wealthy family, right? To you, these are just coins, but to ordinary people, these are heirlooms! Everyone will treasure them, and I will keep them even if I get them. I will use small change of silver and copper coins first."

The owner explained.

"What's the reason? It's not money. You can't have children if you keep it!"

Sun Lei couldn't understand this kind of thinking. Was it the same as the way people in later generations like to collect new coins with consecutive numbers and give priority to old coins?

"Sir, the coins issued by our Qi State are so beautiful and of high quality. If you keep them, they will be your treasure."

"You don't know, we don't like silver and copper coins either. The purity of the coins varies, and the difference is at most 10%. If the customer pays the bill, we as businessmen can't say anything about the purity."

The shop owner said frankly that compared to silver bars of various colors, they prefer new coins of uniform fineness.

"If you like it, why not use it? If you like these coins, others will like them too!"

Sun Lei looked at the shop owner and said.

"This... everyone wants to have good things in their hands. It's not so bad in Liangshan City, where there are always coins in circulation. In other places, these coins are priceless. They are like treasures, and many people pay a higher price to buy them. Now some people are reselling coins from Liangshan City to other places." The owner whispered.

“Is there still this business?”

Sun Lei smiled, put two silver coins on the table, then stood up and left.

"Come out!"

Sun Lei clapped his hands.

"elder brother!"

Shi Qian walked into the store with his men, smiling. He had been following Sun Lei. Although Sun Lei did not need guards, they still had to follow him.

"Let's go to the Ministry of Revenue!"

Sun Lei nodded and led his men back to Liangshan.

Household Department.

Jiang Jing was drinking tea and looking through the accounts.

"Your Majesty is here!"

Following a shout from the guard at the door, Jiang Jing and a group of officials from the Ministry of Revenue quickly stood up, straightened their official uniforms, and prepared to welcome the emperor.

"Greetings to Your Majesty!"

Jiang Jing took the lead, and all the officials bowed in salute.

"No gifts!"

Sun Lei simply waved his hand.

"I came here today for this!"

Sun Lei took out three coins, a gold coin, a silver coin and a copper coin.

Jiang Jing immediately gave a look to the officer next to him, and the officer immediately went to get the account book.

"The circulation of this coin doesn't seem to be going smoothly!"

Sun Lei said, Liangshan City is under the feet of the emperor, and the new currency cannot circulate smoothly, let alone other places.

"Your Majesty, our mineral resources are insufficient. I have asked various places to open money houses to collect gold, silver and copper in exchange for new coins. However, I am still a little worried. If these coins are still collected and cannot be fully circulated, the whole country will face serious problems."

Jiang Jing spoke.

“Liquidity crisis?”

Sun Lei immediately thought of a term from later generations: society needs sufficient liquidity. If there is not enough money, serious problems will arise in society.

"Don't worry, a large amount of copper ore will be shipped back this month, and the silver ore will be here soon!"

Sun Lei looked at Jiang Jing and said.

"Your Majesty, this is the news sent back by Li Ying. In addition, the incident involving the merchants in Shanxi has also caused those merchants to behave in an unusual manner!"

Jiang Jing took out a memorial from the account book and handed it to Sun Lei. This was what he was going to present tomorrow.

"Want to arm wrestle with me?"

Sun Lei burst out laughing after reading the memorial. Most of the merchants had some shady transactions. After the Shanxi merchants were liquidated, many people were afraid of having to go out of the way, so they began to secretly communicate with each other and prepare to force the State of Qi from a commercial perspective.

"These people are overestimating their own capabilities, but I am worried that the sudden business war will affect innocent people! The horror of this business war is no less than any war!"

Jiang Jing spoke.

"Then start with this coin!"

Sun Lei pointed to the three coins on the table. Business wars cannot be separated from money, and those businessmen only rely on the wealth accumulated in their families.

"I know!"

Jiang Jing understood what Sun Lei meant. Using the game of currency could suppress the scale of the business war, and even if there were consequences, the losses could be kept to a minimum.

"Li Jun should be back in a few days!"

Sun Lei said with a smile.