Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 499
Xu Youzhen complained after hearing the words: "You haven't shown up recently. I was originally a minister in charge of water conservancy, but as a result, I also took care of the daily affairs of the Ministry of Industry. I am so busy that I can hardly touch the ground. This crime It’s really a big deal.”

It turns out that Zhou Chen has been obsessed with minting coins and the construction of the outer city recently. He spends most of his time in the outer city and does not easily return to the Ministry of Industry.In this way, he can feel at ease and avoid getting involved in those bad things in the court.

But Xu Youzhen would be exhausted if he did this, and Zhou Chen replied embarrassedly: "Yuanyu, you are still young, you need to do more work.

I'm 72 years old, and after another two or three years of working, I'll see the outer city built and the minting of coins on the right track, and I'll retire and go home to feed my great-grandchildren. "

Xu Youzhen walked to the table, picked up Zhou Chen's silver coins and copper coins and looked at them carefully: "The Ministry of Industry has minted seven kinds of coins in total. Will there be other styles in the future?"

Hearing this, Zhou Chen took out two gold coins from his sleeve and handed them to Xu Youzhen: "Now there are five kinds of copper coins: Xiaoping coins, two coins, three coins, five coins, and ten coins.

There are two kinds of silver coins, and the small silver round is a silver coin.

The big silver yuan is worth one tael of silver, which is worth ten small silver yuan, which is worth a thousand Xiaoping coins.

There are also these two gold coins, the big gold circle is a tael of gold, and the small gold circle is a coin of gold.However, the pattern of gold coins is more complicated and fine, and the cost of casting is higher. This is a sample coin just produced by the Ministry of Industry and has not yet been officially issued. "

Xu Youzhen nodded: "When will this be fully circulated in Daming?"

Zhou Chen said with a smile: "When will it be fully circulated in Daming, I don't know. But these Jingtai Tongbao have already been circulated in the capital.

I can assure you that it will take two years sooner or three years later, the streets and alleys of the capital are full of Jingtai Tongbao.All the daily transactions of the people in the capital will use Jingtai Tongbao instead. "

Xu Youzhen couldn't believe it: "It's so fast?"

Zhou Chen showed off proudly: "Do you know how many Jingtai Tongbao our Ministry of Industry has cast? Do you know how many more will be cast this year?"

As the saying goes, riches and honor do not return to their hometowns, like walking in brocade clothes at night.Having minted so much money, Zhou Chen feels uncomfortable if he doesn't show off.

Xu Youzhen tentatively asked: "Have you cast 100 million taels?"

Zhou Chen shook his head: "The copper coins minted alone are worth more than 600 million taels of silver. I have minted more than 200 million taels of silver coins.

In the remaining five months of this year, we will still mint 500 million taels of silver coins. "

Xu Youzhen was taken aback: "Impossible, where did you get so much money?"

Zhou Chen said with a smile: "When the emperor went to the western suburbs to build the Qi Palace, he allocated a total of 30 taels of gold and 400 million taels of silver to the Ministry of Industry, and then our Ministry of Industry collected 30 taels of silver as casting costs.

The rest was minted into copper coins of equivalent value for the Qi Wang Mansion, and then during the construction process of the Qi Wang Mansion, all the Jingtai Tong Bao worth several million taels of silver was spent.Prince Qi's Mansion was very kind, and also presented a Qi State Avenue connecting the capital and the western suburbs as a gift.

These Jingtai Tongbao flowed into the pockets of the people in the capital through the form of material money and wages.

The Ministry of Households exchanged the treasure that the Holy Majesty robbed from the Yexian tribe into silver, and allocated 100 million taels to the Ministry of Industry, plus the 400 million taels received from the Qi Palace, a total of 500 million taels.

We have already minted 200 million taels of silver coins, leaving 300 million taels of silver and 30 taels of gold lying in the silver treasury of the Ministry of Industry.

In addition, in order to build the outer city of Beijing, our Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households also raised 200 million taels to cast Jingtai Tongbao. "

Xu Youzhen took a deep breath: "That is to say, if the copper coins and silver coins are counted together, there are Jingtai Tongbao worth 800 million taels of silver in circulation in the capital city."

Zhou Chen nodded: "Just now Princess Qi allocated another 300 million taels of cash to the Ministry of Industry and entrusted us to cast Jingtai Tongbao."

Xu Youzhen was even more surprised: "Why is the Qi Palace so rich?"

Zhou Chen shook his head helplessly: "We were tricked by the Holy Majesty, and the important ministers and the Holy Majesty reached a consensus at the beginning: the civil servants, military generals, nobles, and foreign relatives ransacked their homes and returned them to the imperial court.

The proceeds of feudal kings, eunuchs, Jinyiwei, monks, and Taoists who ransacked their homes belonged to the inner court.

In this mutiny, the eunuchs in the inner court were completely copied.Don't look down on eunuchs, they are much richer than civil and military officials and noble relatives.

Most importantly, eunuchs were generally on good terms with monks.A large number of monks and even the entire temple were involved in this mutiny.In addition, much of the eunuch's wealth was entrusted to monks.

According to the previous agreement, all the properties of these eunuchs and monks belonged to the Holy Majesty.

So this time the house was confiscated, the wealth in the hands of the Holy One was unimaginable. Three million taels is just an appetizer.In the future, at least tens of millions of taels will be handed over to the Ministry of Industry for casting.

Our Ministry of Industry has already earned a lot of money just by collecting the coinage fees from the Qi Palace. "

Xu Youzhen was speechless after hearing the words: "Old Shangshu, you are too powerful, how dare you charge the minting fee from the Holy One?"

Zhou Chen asked innocently: "What if you don't accept it? Don't so many craftsmen in our Ministry of Industry want to eat? Does the copper in our Ministry of Industry fall from the sky? It's all copper mines under the Ministry of Industry. It is mined and smelted. Aren't these all costs? There is no one who mints coins for nothing.

Moreover, the Holy One also approved a business for the Ministry of Industry to mint silver coins for other dignitaries and rich families.

For example, if your family has 1 taels of cash, you can send it to the Ministry of Industry. I will charge 300 taels of coinage, and the rest will be exchanged for Jingtai Tongbao of the same value for you.

But this is not mandatory, you can change it if you want to, and pull it down if you don’t want to change it. "

Xu Youzhen nodded: "Wait a minute, let me take a look, the Holy Majesty's plan is this:
The first step is to cast Jingtai Tongbao and abolish the Daming banknotes that rob folk wealth.

The second step is to copy the eunuchs and monks who sucked the blood of the people and get a lot of wealth.

In the third step, the Holy One used this wealth to restart Western trade.Once Western trade is started again, 500 million taels of silver can flow into the hands of the imperial court every year.

The fourth step, with the extra income of four to five million taels per year, the imperial court can greatly reduce or exempt domestic commercial taxes. First, it will reduce the burden on the people and increase their savings; second, it will allow cheap goods to circulate throughout the country.Once the commodities are in circulation, Jingtai Tongbao will naturally begin to circulate throughout the country. "

Zhou Chen added: "Not only that, I guess, when the fourth step is successful, the Holy Majesty will even completely lift the sea ban, and even the business tax for overseas trade will not be collected.

Originally, I thought that the powerful and wealthy businessmen in the south would definitely oppose voyages to the West, but if the seas are banned and taxes are not collected, they will not be too happy, so why would they object?

In that way, there would be no need for smuggling at sea, and there would be no need for tampering with Japanese pirates, and the south would really be at peace.

The voyages to the West in Taizong's era were paid by the imperial court, and the profits from overseas trade belonged to domestic funds.In this way, Zheng He continued his voyages to the West seven times.

Now it's completely reversed. The cost of restarting the voyages is mostly paid by the Holy One himself, but all the income from overseas trade belongs to the imperial court.

Once the income of the imperial court rose sharply, the Holy Majesty gave another substantial increase in the salaries of all the officials.At that time, there may not be many people who oppose the voyage. "

Xu Youzhen nodded: "Back then, Emperor Taizong relied on the Northern Expedition to the Yuan Dynasty, the Southern Expedition to the Jiaozhi, and the expansion of territory in all directions to establish a huge prestige, in order to forcibly maintain Zheng He's voyages to the West.

If the Holy Majesty can expand the territory, he can also rely on his great prestige to maintain Western trade.

It's too far away to say anything else, and we'll see if we can beat Annan down quickly. "

Zhou Chen nodded: "It's not bad for Wang Ao to let him govern the place, but it's nothing to let him lead the army. Liaodong was made into such a ghost by him.

Now that he has become the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, if he is really asked to attack Annan, wouldn't that be detrimental to the country?

It seems that the Holy Majesty will replace him soon, but the court ministers are dying, retreating, old and sick, there are not many available people, and it is not known who the Holy Majesty will send. "

Xu Youzhen smiled and said, "I will take the initiative to ask the Holy Majesty for a job. Mr. Zhou, please quickly recommend another Minister of the Ministry of Industry to share the common affairs."

"Ah? Yuanyu, are you going to lead the army to fight?"

"Naturally, it is a matter of being loyal to the emperor. In just two years, I have been promoted from a sixth-rank imperial servant lecturer to a second-rank minister of the Ministry of Industry under the great love of my sage.

Such a kindness of knowledge and encounter, how can a minister not repay it?

I want to make meritorious deeds, assist the Holy One to be the Mingjun and the Holy Lord, and I myself can also be a Zhongxing Mingchen, and my name will go down in history and will last forever. "

Zhou Chen praised after hearing the words: "It's good to be young. You young people have opportunities. Take advantage of them. I went to the cabinet to write the memorial, handed over the gold coin samples, and then continued to mint coins."

Xu Youzhen smiled and said, "Then I will also go to the cabinet to write the memorial."

(End of this chapter)