Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 303 The Finance Minister takes action
The economic account is very complicated, especially at the court level. Any small oversight is likely to cause large losses.

Especially in the early days of the Wanli Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng implemented a whip law to seek reforms, which made silver a official tax. People's national taxes must be uniformly converted into silver in advance. The financial system underwent a fundamental change and objectively established the "silver standard" system of the Ming Dynasty's finance. .

The law is a good law.

However, the Ming Dynasty was not a country that produced a lot of silver. Silver, as the standard currency, was only used for paying taxes, bulk sales, and Sino-foreign trade. Daily currency circulation was still dominated by copper coins, which did not solve the supply and demand problem of gold, silver, and copper. This has never been the case. In a sense, it is equivalent to putting the financial lifeline in the hands of others.

With the death of Zhang Juzheng, the vigorous reform plan was rejected at the political level, which led to more serious problems. The Ming Dynasty's financial system was confused. Some policies were continued, and some policies were overturned. The economy is in chaos.

What is even more troublesome is that the internal economic order of the Ming Dynasty was in chaos, and the external environment began to deteriorate. A severe trade crisis broke out in Europe, maritime trade in Central Asia shrank, and Spain, the Netherlands, and Japan successively restricted trade. This series of external changes led to the inflow of money into the Ming Dynasty. of silver is gradually reduced.

This time point gradually emerged and became an established fact from the special period of the late Wanli Dynasty, Taichang Dynasty, and Tianqi Dynasty.

This also quietly intensified the economic crisis of the Ming Dynasty.

During this period, the shortage of silver in the Ming Dynasty caused worsening inflation. At the same time, the reduction in the circulation of standard currency led to deflation. This seemingly contradictory relationship actually occurred under the Ming Dynasty.

"This concept of hoarding cannot be reversed. Even if large-scale construction is carried out in Northern Zhili, it will not be easy to gradually build the Ming Dynasty's financial system."

Xiyuan.

After reading the secret memorial submitted by Wang Sheng, Zhu Youxiao felt very heavy. He was thinking about the path that Ming Dynasty would take in the future and how to go on smoothly.

Why is it said that the Ming Dynasty that Zhu Youxiao took over was a mess? The root cause lies in the Ming Dynasty's concept of civil servants governing the country. It is an inherent thinking under the small-scale peasant economy. They consider more about the Ming Dynasty than what is happening outside the Ming Dynasty. Factors are never considered.

The more important point is that behind the Ming Dynasty civil servants, they often represent the interests of the so-called gentry and scholar-bureaucrats, and there are also other groups mixed in among them.

For example, nobles, powerful people, vassals, maritime merchants, merchants...

Zhu Youxiao, who knew all this, still admired Zhang Juzheng. Although the definition and implementation of a whipping method had its unique limitations, he dared to stand on the opposite side of so many people and touch many restricted areas, even if he was Many people scolded him and was rejected by many people, but Zhang Juzheng still dared to be the first in the world.

This spirit is admirable.

Even Zhu Youxiao was thinking that without Zhang Juzheng's whipping method, perhaps in the early days of the Wanli Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would have faced a catastrophe, and Guo Zuo might have been overthrown.

This is by no means alarmist.

However, with the death of Zhang Juzheng, the whip law was rejected at the political level. Although it calmed the emotions of many people, it also increased the burden on the underlying groups.

One of the specific manifestations is fire consumption!
"Your Majesty, what's the matter?"

Not far away, Zhu Yujian was standing, looking at Zhu Youxiao's back with worry in his brows, "Why did your Majesty just stand there when he received a secret memorandum?"

"I don't know."

Zhu Youjian beside him shook his head and said: "I only know that the secret memorial was submitted by my uncle Wang Sheng, but I don't know what it involves specifically."

Zhu Yujian looked puzzled after hearing this.

And right now.

The eunuch Wang Tiqian, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, ran hurriedly from a distance. The sound of footsteps attracted their attention. At that time, Wang Tiqian walked quickly with his head lowered.

Liu Ruoyu, Han Zanzhou and others accompanying the driver all showed doubts when they saw Wang Tiqian running towards him. Liu Ruoyu subconsciously looked at the emperor. "Your Majesty, the cabinet is quarreling."

Zhu Youxiao, who had heard the noise a long time ago, slowly turned around and saw Wang Tiqian coming over. His breathing was a little rapid, and he raised his hands to bow.

"Why?"

Zhu Youxiao said calmly.

"Report it to your Majesty."

Wang Tiqian said truthfully: "This is the memorial proposed by Mr. Bi Ge. He wants to imitate the issuance of bonds by the Shaofu. Using Guantian in the north of Zhili as an anchor, he wants to issue a batch of bonds through the Ministry of Household Affairs, with a share of 800 million taels. However, this proposal was opposed by Second Assistant Qian Qianyi, Qun Assistant Sun Ruyou, He Zongyan, Shen, Shi Jikai and others..."

Is Bi Ziyan trying to imitate the cat and the tiger?

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he was thinking secretly. He issued bonds through the Shaofu to attract private hot money and hoarded silver, and then through construction projects, develop in the territory of Beizhili. Intensive handicraft manufacturing has attracted a large number of bankrupt groups.

The gradual implementation of this strategic plan will inevitably change the situation in the north of the Ming Dynasty, and there will even be a siphon effect. All resources will be directed towards Beizhili, which may affect the civil order in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places. However, in order to seek change , this must be done.

Because another root cause of whether the intensive handicraft manufacturing industry in Beizhili can be effectively implemented also involves the ability to cultivate a group of people who are out of work.

And these unemployed groups will carry another plan.

That is, the mission of currency reform.

Currency reform is by no means something that can be implemented just by talking about it. Even if the coinage technology can be perfected, there are not many people willing to accept it. Then the new types of money will not have currency attributes. Without this With special attributes, why can the court levy seigniorage?
According to Zhu Youxiao's overall concept, when Beizhili develops to a certain scale, the implementation of the new currency system will be promoted in an orderly manner. The following groups will be those who have left work, as well as the new troops stationed in various places in Beizhili. In addition to the co-organizers, As long as this step can be effectively implemented by the Shaofu and the Huahui Bank, they will be able to gradually expand their influence in the future, and then gradually tighten their minting power, completely changing the chaotic currency system model of excessive issuance and random minting!
"Send someone to investigate and report to me in time."

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao said with a serious expression.

"The slaves obey the order."

Wang Tiqian immediately bowed and responded.

Under such a situation, Bi Ziyan wanted to follow up on the bonds. Even if Zhu Youxiao trusted Bi Ziyan and had no doubts about his ability, he still had to understand what he needed to know.

You must know that what Zhu Youxiao is doing is to create a prosperous industrial and commercial gathering area outside the southeastern provinces, and to open up maritime trade and shipping.

From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a large amount of silver has been flowing in. Even if there is a sea ban, this phenomenon is carried out secretly. This has led to the economic development of the southeastern provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and even the emergence of capitalism. However, A sprout is a sprout after all. If you want to change the fate of the Ming Dynasty, you must find another way.

A monetary system.

A food security.

It is what Zhu Youxiao has to spend his energy to solve. After all, there are too many things that revolve around these two things. If there is any omission during this period, the first one to react will be the barren northwest. area!
The Jianlu rebellion in Liaodong could not threaten Zuo of the Ming Dynasty!

Because the taxes levied by the Ming Dynasty needed to be paid with silver, and at the same time, the Ming Dynasty was in the Little Ice Age, which led to frequent disasters under its rule, especially in the northwest region, where the overall grain production was the most severely reduced. Once a spark appears, it will definitely explode. Massive peasant uprising.

Seeking change while maintaining stability is what Zhu Youxiao has been doing, cutting the knife inward instead of pointing it at the bottom group!
"Bi Qing, Bi Qing, what do you want to do?" Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao muttered to himself with a slight frown, "Don't do anything too drastic. The Ming Dynasty can't stand it now." This kind of tossing, if you want to change, you have to make changes based on the situation."

(End of this chapter)