The Great Han Dynasty: From Feng Lang Juxu to the Eternal Emperor

Chapter 360 Liu Datou

In Weiyang Palace, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Weining explained the matter of cotton promotion, and he was still fully responsible.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is becoming more and more relaxed now, and Weining has been able to share a lot of pressure for him.

After bidding farewell to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Weining was invited by Lu Chongguo to go to the Ministry of Industry.

The samples of Han five baht coins have been produced. Lu Chongguo gave Weining two coins, one was a copper plate and the other was a silver coin.

Compared with Qin banliang, the production of Han five baht is more standard and exquisite. The most impressive one is the silver coin with the portrait of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty.

Weining was very satisfied with the minting of new coins and headed towards Weiyang Palace with the new coins.

The Six Ministries were holding a small court meeting with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After Wei Ning and Lu Chongguo arrived, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty smiled and waved to Weining and said, "Come here."

The six departments all looked at Wei Ning with respect.

Apparently, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had just informed six departments about the new plant cotton.

Liububutang cannot possibly not know how much economic value this cotton will bring to the Han Dynasty in the future. This is not only a matter of economic value, but also changes the people's dressing habits, which is more conducive to the survival of the people in winter and is a real livelihood issue. Big plan.

The most shocked among them was naturally Zhang Qian, the minister of Honglu Temple.

When the Wusun Kingdom brought cotton vegetation, he naively thought that His Highness the Crown Prince liked to plant flowers and plants. Zhang Qian's reputation as an envoy to the Western Regions was so great that he had not achieved such extraordinary achievements after staying in the Western Regions for more than ten years.

How could he know that this cotton would have such a great effect? ​​If he had known it, he would have taken the initiative to plant it. If nothing else, the title could at least be moved upwards.

The Liubu Budang did not have these thoughts. They simply believed that cotton was a great weapon for the country!

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty smiled and said to Weining: "As for the planting of vegetation and the teaching of mulberry farming, you will take the lead and Sang Hongyang will implement it."

Sang Hongyang was completely in Weining's favor, and he hurriedly clasped his fists to show his loyalty to Weining.

Wei Ning smiled and signaled to Sang Hongyang not to be so polite, and then got back to business and showed the new currency to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

There was not much change from the Qin banliang to the Han five baht, except that the style was more exquisite. However, when Wei Ning took out the silver coin, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was immediately attracted to the silver coin and asked hurriedly: "What is this?"

Wei Ning said: "Liu Datou...uh."

"It's silver coins."

The six departments were a little surprised. Isn't currency always made of copper coins? How can you still use silver to make money? Isn't this a waste of money?

Moreover, using silver to create currency will inevitably cause the price of silver to rise! Money is a scarce resource, so isn’t this a loss worth the gain?

Lu Chongguo explained to everyone in a pretentious manner: "Everyone, what is currency? Currency is just a manifestation of the court's credit. Copper can be used as money, why not silver? In ancient times, shells could also be used as currency!"

These words made everyone stunned. Lu Chongguo looked triumphant and thought that His Highness the Crown Prince is really powerful. A casual word can cause such a big shock in the court. He saw the surprised expressions on the faces of the other five ministries and then knew what was going on. Feeling suddenly enlightened, Lu Chongguo felt extremely happy.

It seems that I still need to learn more from His Highness in the future. His Highness's casual words can shock this group of people to this point, and they all look at me with a little more respect!

Sang Hongyang asked Lu Chongguodao: "If silver is used to make currency, will the price of silver rise?"

Nowadays, silver is also of high value. The exchange ratio between copper coins and silver in Dahan is one to two thousand. If silver is made into currency, the price of silver will inevitably rise, and the exchange ratio with copper coins will be out of balance.

The main reason is that silver was relatively scarce in the Han Dynasty, and there were still very few silver mines developed in the Han Dynasty.

Sang Hongyang was a prudent minister after all. He confused Lu Chongguo with just one sentence. His Highness the Crown Prince did not teach him how to answer this matter. He looked at Wei Ning awkwardly.

At this moment, Liububutang suddenly realized that what Lu Chongguo said just now was taught by the prince.

Sang Hongyang also set his sights on Weining.

Wei Ning smiled and said: "Master Sang, what you said is wrong, the price will only increase the price of the silver coins themselves, not the silver."

"From silver to currency, there is also a casting process. And look at the quality of the silver coins. Are the people capable of casting them?"

Only then did Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty notice the front of the silver coin, which actually had his own portrait on it.

He couldn't help but said in shock: "How can this... have my avatar?"

Hearing that there was a portrait of the Emperor on it, Zhao Zhou immediately became nervous. He said to Wei Ning: "Your Highness the Crown Prince! This is not allowed!"

"If everyone knows the emperor's face, it will be detrimental to the emperor's safety!"

Weining: "..."

What do you call this? My father is in charge of Zhongque every day. How many times can he sneak out?

And the portrait on it is so abstract, who can recognize him?

Weining paused and then said to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "Money has been an equivalent thing that has been passed down through the ages since ancient times. For example, the money of the Qin Dynasty is still collected by people."

"Then the money of the Han Dynasty should be like this. In this way, after your portrait is put up, it will be famous through the ages and let future generations know more about you!"

"If the silver coins flow to other countries, this may not be a reflection of the might of my great Han Dynasty, and a reflection of your majesty, Father."

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty smiled broadly, obviously deeply moved by Wei Ning's words.

He shouted: "Okay! This silver coin is very pleasing to my eyes!"

You don't look pleasing to the eye. Aren't you just enjoying your success? You have set a precedent for what Qin Shihuang did not do. From now on, if this money is passed down, your popularity will not be greater than that of Qin Shihuang. Anyone who uses Han Dynasty silver coins will not know that the portrait engraved on the money is you, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. ?

"What's the exchange ratio between silver coins and copper coins?" Weining then asked.

Wei Ning said to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "According to the exchange ratio, it should be about one to one thousand."

This kind of silver coin is relatively light in weight and is intended to be convenient for medium-sized transactions.

If the people carried a thousand five-baht copper plates, it would be too heavy. No one could carry such a heavy copper coin. Silver coins just replaced this disadvantage.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty smacked his lips and said: "Yes, it was indeed difficult to use a drop of money in the past, or the money was too heavy."

"Silver coins just make up for this shortcoming. Not bad, excellent, excellent!"

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty smiled happily and asked the three provinces and six ministries: "If you have any other opinions, please tell them."

You are so excited, even if we have any objections, we don’t dare to spoil the fun!

Moreover, this silver coin does not have any drawbacks. The only problem now is the difficulty in promoting the new currency. There is naturally no problem with the currency itself. As Lu Chongguo said, currency is just a manifestation of the country's credit.

(End of this chapter)