Ji Tang

In the Taiji Hall, Li Shimin and Prince Li Chengqian were looking at each other in disbelief. However, Wei Wang Li Tai and Wu Wang Li Ke, who were standing behind their eldest grandson, were a little reserved.

It's no wonder that the two of them were obviously doing well in the academy, but they were called back urgently for no reason. Based on their understanding of their father, emperor and mother, there was a high probability that nothing good would happen.

"Okay, I've called you back. If you have anything to say, ask me immediately! Changsun rolled his eyes and said angrily.

"Cough cough!"

Li Shimin covered his mouth and coughed a few times, but kept winking at Li Chengqian. The meaning is self-evident, that is, you ask first.

Li Chengqian cursed in his heart, but who made him his son?
"Third brother, fourth brother, why haven't you returned to the palace recently?"

I wanted to ask him directly, but after all, he is his brother. If he asks about things impatiently after not seeing each other for a long time, wouldn't he look very unbrotherly?

"Brother, just tell me if you have anything to do. We'll look at you like this!"

The two looked at each other, and finally Li Tai spoke.

Perhaps because he no longer had the obsession to fight for the throne, Li Tai has become more transparent and free-spirited in these years. Even Mr. Baishan praised him!

Li Chengqian was stunned after hearing this, and finally had no choice but to tell the story about the merchants exchanging copper coins for shipping out of the Tang Dynasty.
But after they finished speaking, the hall became eerily quiet. Li Tai and Li Ke looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other's eyes, and said almost at the same time: "That's it?"

slap~
After one of them slapped him, Changsun said with a dark face: "When I ask you something, just speak honestly. Who are you talking to?"

The eldest grandson turned a blind eye to the two people's grievances. As an elder brother, Li Ke could only say: "According to eldest brother, this matter has been going on for a long time?"

Li Shimin nodded and said: "Chengqian told me that day and went to check it out. This matter may have occurred in the Han Dynasty. It has started to appear since the opening of the Silk Road, but it is not that serious yet, but as time goes by In the former Sui Dynasty, the number of merchants in the Western Regions gradually increased, and the situation became increasingly uncontrollable. According to estimates, about 100 million copper coins were shipped to the Western Regions every year. The excuse they gave was that the West also traded copper coins."

"Fart!" Li Tai yelled.

Li Shimin's face suddenly turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He stared at the fat son and walked around his body, wondering if his hands wouldn't hurt from beating him with so much meat?
"Uh, father, please calm down. I didn't say anything about you. I meant those businessmen farting!"

Li Chengqian was the eldest brother after all. He quickly gave his father a look and said to Li Tai: "What should I say? Can't they talk?"

"It must be fake!"

"Didn't you read the books that Brother Song got from the Western Regions?" Li Tai looked at his father and eldest brother suspiciously.

"Ahem, let's talk about the matter at hand first, don't talk about anything else." Li Chengqian's face turned dark instantly. Was he being looked down upon?As a prince, he can't finish reading the memorials every day, so how can he have time to read anything else?
"Oh!"

Li Tai realized that he had said something silly, chuckled, and then said seriously: "Actually, it is described in those books that the Roman Empire has a long history. Although it was divided into the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, it was the largest country in the far west. Because its territory covers a vast area, a sea is enclosed within it, which is called the Mediterranean, meaning a sea surrounded by land. With convenient water conservancy, their commerce is extremely developed."

"As the largest power, the Roman Empire had countless vassal states, but they all respected the Eastern Roman Empire as the orthodoxy, so they all used the coins of the Roman Empire."

"Not only that, even in today's world, countries such as Persia are using currencies issued by the Roman Empire."

"In order to facilitate commercial transactions, they have three types of coins, namely copper coins, silver coins and gold coins, and the exchange ratio between them is one to ten."

"In the early years when merchants from the Western Regions came to the Central Plains, they discovered this unknown loophole and used the exchange ratio to obtain a large amount of benefits. Therefore, this matter is not surprising."

"Bastard!"

Before Li Tai finished speaking, Li Shimin became angry. What's not surprising?The Tang Dynasty worked hard to mint new coins every year, but now it's not surprising in the eyes of this bastard?
"Father calm down!"

Looking at the fierce brothers, Li Chengqian was also angry. Although you have ignored the affairs of the court, you can't turn a deaf ear to what is happening outside the window. This has become a further worry for the Tang Dynasty. No wonder the father is so angry!
"Qingque, don't you know that the Tang Dynasty is short of copper?" Li Chengqian said quietly.

The two brothers were stunned, and Li Tai said in disbelief: "How is it possible? The Tang Dynasty is vast and rich in resources."

But when he saw his eldest brother's expression didn't look like he was faking it, he immediately knew it was true.Now he was dumbfounded and murmured: "The Tang Dynasty is short of copper, but those merchants keep transporting the copper from the Tang Dynasty back to the Western Regions."

Li Ke on the side had understood at this time, and the Jishou stepped forward and said: "Father, you called us to find a way to prevent or delay this situation?"

"Not bad!" Li Shimin stopped pretending. Faced with the headache that everyone in the Tang Dynasty faced, he could only put down his face first.After all, they are all my sons. I am not ashamed to ask my sons!
But Li Ke's subsequent deterioration made him discouraged again.

"Father, this matter is a normal business practice. Although it has harmed the Tang Dynasty, legally speaking, they have not violated any laws. Not only did they not import Tang Dynasty's gold and silver to the Central Plains, this is Indisputable fact!"

"Once the Tang Dynasty banned the exchange of gold for copper coins, it would inevitably bring the fragile commercial transactions to a stagnation. Although gold is not a legal transaction currency of the imperial court, it is undeniable that it greatly reduced a large amount of money in the transaction process. With time, as long as you bring a small box of gold, you can complete a large transaction that requires several large boxes of copper coins."

"This not only reduces transportation costs, but also greatly reduces safety issues, and it also preserves value better."

"The imperial court can prohibit merchants from the Western Regions, but can it also prohibit the people of the Tang Dynasty from exchanging money? If it is not prohibited, the people of the Tang Dynasty will inevitably take risks and engage in such transactions. Can the imperial court prohibit it? If it prohibits the people of the Tang Dynasty, then I dare to say that , next year’s business tax rate will be reduced by at least [-]% or more.”

Li Shiqing stood up suddenly and said in disbelief: "How is this possible?"

"Father! What the third brother said is true!" At this time, Li Tai also reacted and stepped forward: "This is only a superficial influence. Once it is banned, merchants in the Western Regions will feel that they have no way to make money, and their copper coins The price is higher than the value of Datang, which prevents them from transporting copper coins from the Western Regions to Datang."

"In this way, the copper coins they exchange for future transactions can only be used within the Tang Dynasty. When they return to the Western Regions, they will either bring large quantities of goods with them, or they can only bring back gold."

"And that creates another problem!"

He looked at the crowd and said, "Does the Tang Dynasty have so much gold?"

That's right, there are very few gold mines in Datang, and they are not yet rich mines. Mining is extremely difficult. There is only a small amount every year, which is a drop in the bucket for large transactions.

Once Datang was unable to redeem a large amount of gold, Datang's credibility would plummet.
Li Shimin sat slumped on the dragon chair and held his forehead in distress. He thought he could solve the problem by killing a few people, but now he found that there was no solution at all. Killing people might be scary, but it also caused heavy losses to the Tang Dynasty. It can be said that it was Killing eight hundred enemies and having three thousand descendants is like killing chickens to keep warm!
"Is there no other way?" Li Ke shook his head and said that there was nothing he could do!
Just when everyone was disappointed, Li Tai rolled his eyes, touched his chin and said: "It's not that there is no way, but..."

"What? Do you have a way? Why don't you tell me quickly? Are you going to kill my father?"

Li Shimin was overjoyed when he heard this. His little fat boy was still reliable.

Li Tai mysteriously whispered something in Li Shimin's ear, but Li Shimin's face became darker and darker, and finally he slapped his fat son hard on the forehead.

"Is this your idea? Issuing notes with face value in the name of the imperial court? And then exchanging a piece of paper for gold in other people's hands? Do you think others are fools? Is this your idea?"

But it sounds unintentional, but it sounds intentional.

Li Ke's eyes lit up and he said loudly: "Yeah, why didn't I think of it? This method is completely feasible!"

Li Shimin: "."

The eldest grandson: "."

Li Chengqian: "."

When everyone was staring at him, Li Ke also panicked, but Li Tai was snickering from the side!
"No, why are you looking at me like this? Don't believe me? If you don't believe me, ask Brother Song, their family has been using it for a long time. Our royal family is also using it!"

But as he was talking, he realized something was wrong. He thought of something and said weakly: "You don't know, do you?"

Looking at his father, emperor and mother with incomprehensible expressions, Li Ke wanted to die now. What the hell is this!
"What kind of bills do you think the royal family also uses?" Changsun asked unnaturally.

You must know that the royal family's property is managed by herself, so she doesn't know about such a big thing?This made her face a little confused.

"Chen Shou, go and call the steward who manages the money. I want to ask if he has made the decision on such a big matter. Does he still have His Majesty and me in his eyes?"

Chen Shou was sweating profusely and quickly ran out as promised. You must know that you are the manager who was recommended by him. If something goes wrong, he won't be able to walk around.

At this time, the four people in the hall looked at each other, not knowing what to say.After much fiddling with it, it turned out that there was already a solution, but in the end, the emperor and empress didn't even know about it.

Li Shimin and Changsun's expressions were frighteningly dark at this time. At the very least, this was the fault of the subordinates, but at the most serious level, it was the crime of deceiving the emperor.

"What started the bill you mentioned? Who initiated it? How long has it been going on? Tell me the truth. If you hide anything, I will beat you to death!"

The two of them were shaking like chaff, and they were complaining secretly in their hearts. If they had known that coming back would be bad, they would have beaten them to death before anything happened, if their father knew about it.
"Say!" Li Shimin said angrily.

"Tell me, can't we just say it?"

Helpless, the two of them pushed me and I pushed you. In the end, Li Ke could only stand up and said: "This matter actually started around the 15th year of Zhenguan. It was initially initiated by Ji's Shuzhong steward. Because the Shuzhong road It’s difficult to do, and there are many bandits along the way, so if you’re not careful, you may lose both people and money.”

"So in order to facilitate the transaction, the steward of the Ji family reported to the Ming Dynasty that they used the reputation of the Duke of Nai and some industries in Chang'an as guarantee to create a paper bill that was extremely difficult to imitate and counterfeit. Not only did it have independent code words and The digital number is also stamped with the private seal of the head of the Ji family. Even if someone loses it accidentally, there is still no way to get the money without code words and some anti-counterfeiting measures."

"Only when the code words are consistent and all other anti-counterfeiting methods are correct, can the money be obtained."

He glanced at his father, the emperor and his mother who listened carefully to what he said, and continued: "Because our family also has properties in Shu, and my sons and ministers were still in Shu at that time, so in order to gain the trust of businessmen, Brother Song also specially Go and write to your minister and ask him to come forward as your guarantor."

"Because this kind of bill first appeared, and because the transaction is extremely convenient, for example, a merchant from Chang'an purchased a hundred guan of goods in Shuzhong, but because he didn't have enough money, he used a note worth a hundred guan as collateral, and the merchant from Shuzhong could Exchange it for one hundred copper coins at the Jiaozi shop opened by Ji in the middle of Shu!"

"Oh, Jiaozi is the name of the bill. Because it is convenient for transactions and was the first to be used in Shu, the people in Shu call it Jiaozi!"

Li Shimin understood something at this time and said: "In other words, if I go to Luoyang to buy something worth [-] guan, I don't need to bring [-] guan in cash with me, but only bring with me money worth [-] guan. With money, you can trade normally? And a businessman from Luoyang can take [-] guan of jiaozi and exchange it for [-] guan of copper coins at Ji's Jiaozi shop in Luoyang?"

"Yes or no?"

"Father is wise!" Li Ke immediately slapped him with a horse!
The eldest grandson slapped his face angrily and said, "Speak nicely!"

Li Ke smiled and said helplessly: "That's how it is. Ziyi and Erchen specifically said that at the beginning, they only exchanged money with each other in Shuzhong and Chang'an. Ziyi showed an extremely cautious attitude until the operation After a few years, no major problems arose, and Jiaozi shops were opened in Luoyang, Chang'an, Shuzhong, Hebei, the Western Regions, Jiangdong, and Xiangyang in several major cities. Because a large amount of cash was needed, Erchen, Qingque, Many nobles and some aristocratic families.”

He glanced at his mother and said cautiously: "Also, the royal family has members in Jiaozipu. It is jointly opened by everyone, and the profits are divided into dividends every year according to the proportion of investment!"

"What? There are also dividends? Are there still fees?"

At this time, Li Tai rolled his eyes and said: "Of course, we save their money for them. Even if it is hit by a disaster or stolen, we will still have to pay for it, including the guards who protect Jiaozipu, the stewards and workers who manage it. Doesn’t it cost money? These are all costs, so charging them a little storage fee isn’t too much, right?”

Li Shimin nodded, if this is the case, it is indeed not too much!
"Then how much did you get in dividends last year?" Li Shimin asked curiously.

At this time, both Li Ke and Li Tai shut up. Now Li Shimin was even more curious?Is it because there are too few and I’m embarrassed to say it?

"I'm asking you a question. Why are you hesitating? Say it quickly!" Changsun said angrily.

Li Tai and Li Ke looked at each other and stretched out their fingers at the same time. Li Ke had one finger, but Li Tai had two fingers.Li Tai was stunned immediately and quickly broke off a finger.

"Ten thousand guan, just 300 guan!" he emphasized, returning [-] taels of silver to the place.

Li Ke covered his face and wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl in. He used to think that this younger brother was quite smart, but why is he getting more and more stupid now? (End of chapter)