big song poppi

Chapter 647 0644 [Counterfeit Money]

Before following the two Cheng brothers, Yang Shi was already a world-famous talent.

Yang Shi was from Huayin, Hongnong.

My ancestral home is Hongnong, and my surname is Yang. Is there any need to say anything about my ancestors?

Aristocratic families are aristocratic families. Huang Chao only cut off the branches, but did not completely cut off the roots. Even if they have declined and decayed in the past few hundred years, as long as the family knowledge is still there, the family still has hope of revival.

Yang Shi, leaning on a cane and supported by his grandson, walked tremblingly up to the platform.

Looking at his shaky body, the spectators in the square were really worried for him.

He is now over 80 years old. He fell ill two years ago and was already waiting to die in Fujian. He had even chosen a grave.

Who would have thought that when the news of the grand ceremony came out, the old man seemed to have a last burst of energy and dragged his sick body to rush to the capital from afar.

When Xu Cun, Liu Mianzhi and other disciples in Beijing heard the news, they were all shocked.

Fortunately, the old man managed to make it to Tokyo.

This short journey almost exhausted all of Yang Shi's strength, and he sat under the canopy gasping for breath.

The Huagai is the emperor's ceremonial guard. Han Zhen specially bestowed the Huagai to show his importance to the grand ceremony.

This move was very effective and immediately won the favor of great scholars and countless literati.

After a beating, you have to give him a sweet reward.

The foundation of Han Zhen's country was to share the world with the clerks, which was tantamount to digging up the roots of the scholar-officials.

Although I dare not say it openly, how can I not feel resentment in my heart?

So, it's time to sweeten the pot.

The grand ceremony, including the bestowal of a canopy, is the sweetness.

Compared with Yang Shi, Chao Chongzhi, who was discussing Taoism with him today, was not as famous.

Chao Chongzhi was fifty-three this year, but when he saw Yang Shi, he greeted him as a disciple: "I am a humble student, greeting Mr. Guishan."

"Uncle, you don't have to do this."

Yang Shi was not arrogant, and waved his hand and said: "Wen Zhonggong (Ouyang Xiu) once said: There is no order of learning, and the one who is more accomplished is the teacher. I have read your book "On Achievements", and every word is really a pearl. With your knowledge, you are enough to establish a school. Today, at this grand ceremony, you and I are discussing the doctrines of equals."

Chao Chongzhi is not as famous as Yang Shi. In fact, the scholars in Shandong, Jianghuai and even Liangzhe highly respected him.

The Chao family is a prominent family in Jeju with a long history of academic learning. During its heyday, five brothers including Chao Chongzhi all passed the imperial examination and became Jinshi in the same year.

This was even more shocking than the fact that the two brothers Su Shi and Su Che both passed the imperial examination at the same time, and it caused a great sensation at the time.

With a family background in traditional Chinese culture, Chao Chongzhi successively became a disciple of Chen Shidao, Lin Shi and others, integrating the strengths of various schools.

Chao Chongzhi chuckled and said, "In this case, I will be reckless for once."

"please!"

Yang Shi gestured with his hand.

Upon seeing this, the people who were listening in the square looked startled and pricked up their ears.

The two great scholars discussed the Dao, and they didn't want to miss a single word.

Chao Chongzhi was obviously prepared, and he said, "Now the people are freed to power, and the salt and iron industries are abolished to support the tyrants, so that their greed can be satisfied. Many evil people gather together, and private parties form cliques. Then the strong will be out of control, and the traitors will also form. What do you think, Mr. Guishan?"

Wow!
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire square erupted in an uproar.

Even Yang Shi was slightly stunned, looking surprised.

I really didn’t expect that Chao Chong’s first move would be such a powerful one, "Salt and Iron Discussions"!
The Salt and Iron Discussion has always been a hidden pain in the hearts of Confucian scholars. Although Yang Xiong, Sima Guang and other great Confucian scholars have refuted Sang Hongyang's three questions for thousands of years, they have always avoided the question and failed to give a substantive answer to these three questions. Today, Chao Chongzhi, as a member of the Confucian school, used Sang Hongyang's three questions to embarrass Yang Shi, which made many scholars present dissatisfied and angry.

Yang Shi fell silent, frowning in thought.

In fact, even though the Salt and Iron Conference lasted for half a year and Sang Hongyang debated with the Confucian scholars for half a year, there were actually only three core issues.

First, the operation of the country requires huge financial expenditures, and agricultural taxes alone are not enough. If these systems are not implemented, where will the money come from?
Second, what should we do if we encounter emergencies such as war or famine and the treasury is empty?
Third, if the central government does not have an overwhelming advantage over the local governments in finance and other aspects, what should we do if the local governments expand their power and start a rebellion?
If we summarize these three sentences, we can condense them into one sentence.

Can a country be prosperous only when its people are strong, or can a country be prosperous only when its people are strong?
This seemingly simple problem has troubled future generations for two thousand years. Successive dynasties have been looking for a solution, but none of them could find it, and all of them perished because of it.

The prosperous Tang Dynasty took the path of enriching the people and keeping the wealth among the people, which led to a weak trunk and strong branches, and eventually it was destroyed by the rebellion of the feudal lords.

The Zhao Song Dynasty pursued the path of becoming a strong country, using the whole country's strength to support one city. It seemed that it was destroyed by foreign enemies, but in fact it was destroyed by a popular uprising.

Because even if there was no invasion by the Jin Kingdom, the Zhao Song Dynasty would eventually collapse amid waves of peasant uprisings.

……

In the Chuigong Hall, Han Zhen sat behind the imperial desk, looking at the blue money in his hand with great interest.

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Originally, he planned to attend the grand ceremony today, but his plan was disrupted by a memorial.

There are counterfeit bills in Qingqian!
Qingqian is the foundation of the country, and Han Zhen cannot help but pay attention to it.

Fortunately, the counterfeit money was discovered in time. The local government, bank, and secret service worked together, and it only took three days from the discovery of the counterfeit money to the arrest of the mastermind.

The reason why it was so easy and so fast was that the three parties cooperated sincerely on the one hand, but more importantly, the other party did not hide anything at all.

Looking at the counterfeit money in his hand, Han Zhen couldn't help but marvel at it.

The counterfeit feature of Qingqian is that it can use ink that changes into three colors under different lighting conditions. However, this counterfeit banknote also uses color-changing ink.

Moreover, compared with the blue money issued by the bank, the quality of this counterfeit banknote is even better, as the paper used is Chengxintang paper.

Just shake it gently with your hand and it will make a crisp rustling sound.

At the same time, the blue money issued by the bank is printed in batches. Today's printing technology is far inferior to that of later generations, and defects such as blurred patterns are inevitable. However, the patterns on this counterfeit banknote are extremely clear and exquisite.

Han Zhen ordered: "Liu Chang, take out a green coin."

"Your Majesty, Qingqian."

Liu Chang immediately took out a blue bill of one hundred strings of cash from his sleeve pocket and presented it to him.

After taking the green money and comparing it with the counterfeit bill, the real green money actually looked like the counterfeit bill.

"interesting."

Han Zhen smiled slightly, handed the green money back to Liu Chang, and asked, "Are you sure that the mastermind and the person who made the counterfeit money is Su Jiazi?"

"It's true."

Xiao Chong nodded solemnly and said, "It is indeed Su He, the grandson of Su Song and the son of Su Xi. The counterfeit banknotes he made total 13,021 strings of cash, all of which are here. The tools used to make counterfeit banknotes are temporarily stored in the Dali Temple."

It is obvious that this guy made counterfeit money not for profit at all.

First of all, there is the golden signboard of Su Song.

The descendants of the old Su family are not so poor as to risk the extermination of their entire clan by making counterfeit money.

Secondly, who the hell makes counterfeit money and makes small denominations like twenty strings of coins and one string of coins.

Now that we have the technology, wouldn’t it be great to mass-produce large-denomination counterfeit banknotes?

(End of this chapter)