Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 751 0746 [Not enough treasure money]

Xiao Chu walked around the cabinet and then went to the East Palace to ask for an audience.

Ju Ming received him warmly and personally made tea for the old man.

After chatting for a while, Xiao Chu asked: "There are only two benefits of handing over banknotes. One is that it is easy to carry and can facilitate trade. The other is that you can get baht by using paper instead of gold. The prince issued treasure banknotes in Sichuan. What is its fundamental purpose?”

Ju Ming said: "Both."

Xiao Chu asked again: "After a year's rest, the national treasury had a surplus, and now gold and silver mines have been discovered in Japan. Is the Ming court really short of money?"

"There is no shortage for the time being." Ju Ming said.

Xiao Chu said: "The imperial court is not short of money, so issuing treasure banknotes in Sichuan is for currency trade."

Zhu Ming nodded: "Of course. Sichuan merchants store a large amount of silk and treat it as money. Only a few people use commercial paper to trade, and large-scale transactions in Sichuan are still based on silk. The prosperous place in central Sichuan, because Due to the constraints of money, its business has always been hindered from other provinces. I heard people say that there are even merchants who use high-quality black tea as money."

Xiao Chu was afraid of arousing the prince's rebellious mentality, so he carefully said: "If it is for currency, treasure banknotes should be issued in Sichuan."

……

Hmm... No, there seems to be some rumors recently that the emperor plans to accept layman Yi'an as his concubine.

Ming Dynasty standard copper coins, with denominations of one, two and five cents.

Da Ming Bao Chao: specially used for large transactions. The denominations are 200 Guan, 100 Guan and 50 Guan.

Therefore, the monetary system of the Ming and New Dynasties was anchored by officially issued copper coins.

The psychological behavior of today's Manchu officials is actually very simple: the emperor is very kind, the prince is also heroic, and he doesn't do anything ridiculous. As long as it doesn't seriously affect the overall situation at hand, let's just follow the father and son and regard it as a good life to support two living ancestors.

The more expensive the gold price, the more chaotic the world will be.

By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of gold once soared to 32 guan!
If you want to know which period in ancient times was stable and prosperous, you can actually look at the price of gold.

The gold and silver coins of the Ming Dynasty were only fixed at 2,000 yuan, and the specific purchasing power fluctuated with the price of gold and silver.

Ju Ming said: "I have thought about this approach and discussed it with my father repeatedly. It is indeed the safest way."

Ju Ming smiled and nodded: "What you said is absolutely true. I should think twice before I act."

Hehe, there are risks for wealthy households to collect silver coins!

In fact, this is what the father and son plan to do. From now on, the complete monetary system of Ming Dynasty will be as follows——

As the world became peaceful, the price of gold quickly dropped to 10, 8, and 5 guans.

Once the price of silver continues to fall, in order to preserve the value of property, wealthy households will inevitably take out their hoards of silver coins to circulate and exchange them for Ming Dynasty standard copper coins for storage.

"Please speak." Ju Ming said.

The Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes are directly anchored to standard copper coins.

Even Shuyi, Zhaorong, Xiurong and other concubines and nobles were too lazy to seal them. If it were another emperor, even if he was not a womanizer, he would definitely seal a lot of them to show his majesty.

Unfortunately, after the meeting, only Xiao Chu came to give advice.

Of course, the main reason is that the father and son are very self-disciplined, and most of the decisions they make are in line with "benevolent governance."

In the next few years, as Japan continues to import silver, the price of silver will inevitably decline slowly. And copper coins will pour into Sichuan, Korea and Japan in large quantities, and the purchasing power of copper coins will continue to rise.

Gold in troubled times is no lie.

Xiao Chu began to get to the point: "The advantages of treasure banknotes are currency and wealth accumulation. The disadvantage of treasure banknotes is that they are issued indiscriminately. Is there a way to get the benefits and eliminate the disadvantages? Once it is done, , not only Sichuan can issue treasure banknotes, but also all provinces across the country can issue treasure banknotes!"

Silver Dollar: Used for daily transactions. The denomination is the same as the gold dollar.

After the price ratio of silver and copper stabilizes, wealthy households will be more inclined to collect silver coins.

The rest of the cabinet ministers seemed to have been fooled by the father and son. As long as it is not something particularly outrageous, once the emperor and the prince make a decision, no ministers will object in the past year or two.

Gold and silver coins such as one cent and two cents have a large amount of impurities added to ensure the size and appearance of the currency.

Xiao Chu straightened his back and said: "Only large-denomination banknotes of one hundred and fifty guans are issued, which are specially used for merchant transactions. As for small transactions and daily transactions, silver coins and copper coins are still used as currency. In this way, the imperial court Since they have the benefit of issuing banknotes, merchants also have the convenience of currency, but it has no impact on the common people."

For example, when the Northern Song Dynasty was founded, every tael of gold was worth 20 guan.

Copper coins: used for daily transactions. The denominations are five cents, two cents, and one cent.

"Since there are safe methods, why take risks? Your Highness also said that the court is not short of money, so don't lose money because of small things." Xiao Chu advised, "A hundred years from now, there may be monarchs and ministers who want to spend money indiscriminately." Note, but this matter should not have started with the founder of the country. Taizu Taizong is the ancestor of a dynasty. The ancestors did it first, and those who came after will follow suit, and they can be plausible and unobstructed!"

I talked so much in the imperial meeting before, just out of habit to lift the roof and then achieve the small goal of opening the windows.

The latest official pricing is: 1 tael of gold is equal to 10 silver, which is equal to 16 copper coins.

Ju Ming smiled and said: "Mr. Xiao, just talk about the second half. You can skip the compliments in the front."

By then, the value of one tael of silver may shrink to several hundred copper coins (this situation was standard in the prosperous times of ancient times. If there is no import of foreign silver, it usually only occurs during the heyday of the dynasty).

Xiao Chu talked for a while, then stood up and left.

Look at how simple this emperor is. There is a queen, a royal concubine, a concubine, and a total of three women in the harem.

Gold dollars: mostly used for rewards and collections, but can also be used for transactions. The denominations are one tael, five qian, two qian, and one qian.

Otherwise, even the founder of the country will have staunch ministers who will speak out to him.

The reason why the units of gold and silver coins are "liang" and "qian" is because the price of gold and silver has been fluctuating.

Copper coins from the past can still be used, but their use value must be judged based on their quality.

Hanzhong.

Li Rui, the chief officer of the Hanzhong Branch of the Baoquan Bureau, took out a few banknotes and handed them over: "Prefect, please take a look."

The prefect of Hanzhong was called Huang Shuao. He was a cousin of Huang Tingjian.

After getting the Ming Dynasty treasure note, Huang Shuao's first reaction was disgust.

Not to mention ordinary people, even officials felt disgusted when they saw this thing.

Li Rui explained: "Only three million banknotes will be issued this year, all with denominations of one hundred banknotes, totaling 30,000 banknotes. Please look at the top of the front, that is the serial number of this batch of banknotes."

Huang Shuao put on his reading glasses and took a closer look. He saw the following words printed in red ink: Gengxu 020001. "The numbers on each picture are different?" Huang Shuao felt a little surprised.

Li Rui said: "Each one is different. The seal is in the form of a wheel. There is one chapter for the heavenly stems and the earthly branches, and another chapter for the numbers. The two chapters are in the hands of the two adjutants of the Baoquan Bureau. They must dial the stems, branches and numbers before they can be stamped together. stamp. In addition, other banknote printing stamps are also in the hands of several officials. This can not only prevent counterfeiting, but also prevent Baoquan Bureau officials from secretly printing more."

Huang Shuao nodded and said, "That's very good."

Li Rui added: "Please ask the prefect to look at the hidden flowers."

Huang Shuao walked to the door, looked at the watermark in the sky, took off his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes: "The portrait of an emperor with a crown?"

Li Rui explained: "That is the current Holy Emperor. Anyone who dares to forge this banknote is tantamount to treason!"

Huang Shuao quickly placed a stack of treasure notes on the table, then bowed and bowed. Then he looked at it carefully: "The four-color printing is more fancy and beautiful than the Jiaozi of the former Song Dynasty. There are also a few more seals, which is enough to scare people. Alas, I am afraid that the imperial court will issue them indiscriminately."

Li Rui explained again: "There are three denominations of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes: 200 guan, 100 guan, and 50 guan. They are only used by Sichuan and Hanzhong merchants for transactions."

"It's better if we don't involve the common people." Huang Shuao nodded and said.

Li Rui said: "I have just arrived here and am not very familiar with Hanzhong. I would also like to ask the old gentleman to come forward and invite wealthy businessmen from various counties in Hanzhong to meet me."

There are really many wealthy businessmen in Hanzhong, after all, this is the land of Longxing.

Many gentry and merchants participated in the post-disaster reconstruction work in some areas through the emerging bureaucrats who went out from Hanzhong.

It was Ju Ming who first developed Xiangyang and Nanyang. A large number of soldiers and civilians moved here, and many refugees from the south were resettled. At that time, supplies were extremely scarce, and many had to be shipped from Hanzhong. Hanzhong merchants took the opportunity to make a fortune.

Then came the reconstruction of the Gyeonggi region, and Hanzhong merchants also made a lot of money.

A month later, hundreds of wealthy businessmen from various counties in Hanzhong were summoned by the prefect Huang Shuao in confusion.

Some well-informed people have actually guessed what happened.

"Meet the prefect!"

Huang Shuao appeared in the second hall of the government office, and the merchants all stood up and bowed.

"No need to be formal," Huang Shuao said with a smile on his face, "Let me introduce to you, these are the chief officers of Baoquan Bureau in Hanzhong..."

All the merchants hurriedly bowed again.

After some polite greetings, Li Rui began to explain the policy, and asked the merchants to circulate the banknotes. Finally, he said: "This year, three million banknotes were printed and issued in Hanzhong, Chengdu, and Yuzhou. The limit in Hanzhong is one million banknotes. , Chengdu’s quota is 1.3 million guan, and Yuzhou’s quota is 700,000 guan.”

"The Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes are different from the Jiaozi and Qianyin of the previous dynasty. The minimum denomination is fifty guan, which will not be used by ordinary people. It is only to facilitate trade by merchants from Bashu and Han."

"There was no war last year, and there will be no war this year. The national treasury is already full of money and food, and there will be no indiscriminate issuance of banknotes to exploit the people's power. It will not happen now, and it will not happen in the future. Even if it is defaced and damaged, as long as the key words can still be recognized, as long as the banknotes are There are still 70% to 80% of the money left, and you can cash it out at Baoquan Bureau at any time."

"Of course, in addition to trade, you can also use treasure money to pay taxes. If any yamen dares to refuse to accept it, come to me and file a complaint. I guarantee that he will be dismissed from office immediately!"

"There is no requirement today. You can subscribe on the spot, or you can consider it again."

A wealthy businessman asked: "I am transporting goods to Shaanxi. Can I use my treasure banknotes to pay taxes in Shaanxi?"

Li Rui said: "Yes, it is accepted throughout the country. No matter where the government office is, they are not allowed to refuse to accept Bao banknotes. Although Bao banknotes are not used for transactions in other provinces, when government offices across the country receive Bao banknotes, they can turn them over to the court as taxes."

Seeing that many wealthy businessmen still had doubts, Li Rui added: "As you know, the imperial court collects taxes in Sichuan and Hanzhong, and some iron money must be melted every year to collect taxes. We plan to spend decades to slowly replace the iron money with Copper coins?"

"I've heard about it." The merchants nodded.

Li Rui said with a smile: "How much iron money there is in Sichuan and Hanzhong, I think you can't count it. The court is determined to exchange the iron money, which means losing hundreds of millions of money in vain. With so much money, the court can throw it away like dirt. How could they use Ming Dynasty treasure money to exploit money from merchants like you at the expense of damaging the reputation of the imperial court?"

This statement makes sense and is very convincing.

Sichuan was the land of Longxing, and Hanzhong was the core. Merchants still trusted the Ming Dynasty.

The first batch of war bonds issued by Zhu Guoxiang were fully cashed last year, and there was no default.

Some gentry whose families had plenty of money and food, but who were not well versed in business affairs, took the initiative to inquire when new bonds would be issued. They actually wanted to lend money to the court and earn the low interest safely.

"My Lu family subscribes for 50,000 yuan of treasure notes!"

An old man in his sixties stood up. It was Lu Yuanwai, the richest man in Xixiang County. He laughed and said: "The official family and the prince, before they became officials in the former Song Dynasty, I had business dealings with Daming Village. You two I can trust the saints. Thanks to the two saints in the past few years, the Lu family's business has expanded from Xixiang to Hanzhong, and from Hanzhong to Jinghu and Huainan. Now, it's time to repay the two saints!"

Lu Heng, the twelfth son of the Lu family, had already quietly come to follow Zhu Guoxiang before he captured Hanzhong, and he was properly classified as a hero of Conglong.

"The Min family subscribes for 10,000 yuan!"

The Yuandang Papermaking Workshop founded by Zhu Guoxiang was sold to the Min family and used as military expenses to resist the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers.

The Min family has made a lot of money selling paper over the years, and now they are also very powerful in book printing.

"My Sun family subscribes for 20,000 yuan!"

At this moment, an old man stood up: "I am a relative of the emperor, and the Zheng family subscribes for 100,000 yuan!"

Li Rui looked stupidly at the group of merchants in front of him. He thought it would be difficult to sell the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, but the situation seemed a bit unexpected.

One million banknotes is obviously not enough for the merchants to share!

National and personal credibility come into play at this time.

Before Zhu Guoxiang rebelled, he had an excellent reputation in Hanzhong. The various policies after the war were never reneged on, and the issuance and cashing of bonds made the people trust the court.

In less than twenty minutes, Hanzhong's Baobao quota was fully subscribed.

The wealthy Hanzhong businessmen who really don't have enough points want this thing, mainly to pay taxes when doing business abroad. Whether they use silk to pay taxes or directly extract goods for tax deduction, transportation costs will increase for them.

If Ming Dynasty treasure money can pay taxes across the country, wealthy businessmen will be profitable!

"Can Li Juzheng apply to the imperial court to print another 200,000 guan of treasure notes to Hanzhong? There are still more than ten of us who have not bought them." Suddenly a merchant asked.

"what?"

Li Rui was immediately dumbfounded.

Even Huang Shuao was dumbfounded. When he was a local official in the Song Dynasty, he witnessed merchants collaborating in a collective strike to oppose Cai Jing's issuance of money.

How did the same thing become so popular in the Ming Dynasty?
It's very simple. The government itself does not recognize the banknotes issued by Cai Jing and cannot be used to pay taxes at all.

Watching the merchants leave, Huang Shuao said with emotion: "The new dynasty has a new atmosphere. Merchants are as cunning as they are, but they trust the court so much. With the people's hearts like this, how can we not lead to a prosperous age?"

(End of this chapter)