Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 191 The people are miserable
Shen Bin did not go to the Hubu Yamen, but went to Shen Jie's home. After all, he, a civilian who used his connections to inquire about the official affairs of the DPRK and China, still needed to take some time off.

Speaking of this brother's official position, it was because when the Shen family donated money to His Majesty to build the city, His Majesty gave him a reward. In addition to Shen Jie, his father Shen Rong also served in the Ministry of Household Affairs.

When Shen Jie returned home from his shift, Shen Bin finally met his cousin.

"I've met my brother!" Shen Bin clasped his hands respectfully.

When Shen Jie saw him, a trace of imperceptible displeasure flashed in her eyes, and then she nodded with a smile and said, "It's the second brother. Why did you think of coming to my place today?"

Shen Bin was anxious and said directly: "I heard that the value of treasure notes has begun to depreciate significantly in recent days. Does brother know about this?"

Shen Jie was slightly startled when he heard this, and then he sighed with a sad look on his face: "Hey, don't mention it. We managed to stabilize the banknote dumping issue some time ago, but for some reason recently, there have been a lot of banknote dumping incidents."

Shen Bin said hurriedly: "I asked someone to inquire about this matter. I heard that it was the Prince Consort Li of the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce who sent someone to do it. It was their chamber of commerce that took a large amount of faint banknotes to replace them with new ones, and this happened. .”

"Oh, really?"

Shen Jie glanced at him lightly and said softly: "I know a little bit about this, but the banknotes they brought are indeed the faint banknotes that meet the requirements, so we have to change them."

Of course he knew the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce. It was a business that Huangdian was involved in, and the president in charge was the current consort Li Wei. After Li Wei was demoted, Shen Bin took the opportunity to develop and grow, and he even helped out.

It's just that one moment and the other, now Li Weiguan has been reinstated and has become the prince-in-law of the court. This is something that he, a small official, cannot afford to offend.

Li Wei's reputation was not good, and he had offended all the civil and military officials in the court, but his status was still as stable as an old dog. Not only did he not fall out of favor, he became a direct relative of the emperor.

Those noble and high-ranking officials might still have the courage to fight with him, but Shen Jie, a junior official from the fifth rank, would not dare to get involved easily.

It is the traditional style of their Shen family to protect themselves wisely.

When Shen Bin heard what he said, his heart suddenly pounded and he frowned.

It can be seen that this brother does not want to get involved in this matter.

In fact, he could understand Shen Jie's attitude. Even he himself would not have wanted to fight with the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce if he had not reached this point.

After thinking about it, Shen Bin gave up on the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce and asked Baocha directly:
"Brother, what's going on with Baochao now? Can the court be stable?"

Shen Jie hesitated for a moment. Although the treasure banknote matter was an official matter of the court, it was not impossible to reveal a little bit about it. After all, they were cousins, so they still had to show some kindness.

"I'm afraid it won't work anymore. Since the opening of the overseas transportation warehouse, there are not many new banknotes left in the inventory of the household department. If we continue to switch like this, I'm afraid it will bottom out."

Shen sighed and said helplessly.

In fact, not only Shen Bin is anxious about this matter, but the officials of their Ministry of Revenue are also very anxious, especially the current Minister Xu Hui. If they cannot secure the treasure, it will be difficult for them to deal with His Majesty.

After hearing this, Shen Bin sighed in his heart. It seemed that his 50 yuan was really going to be wasted!But if this is true, then why are the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce taking these actions now?Aren't they afraid that the precious money in their hands will eventually turn into a pile of waste paper?
"Why don't you stop it early? After all, the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce is a business involving the royal family. It was just that before. Now that Prince Consort Li is back in power, you'd better not fight with him."

Shen Jie couldn't help but persuade him. After all, Shen Bin was from the Shen family, so he should give some advice if he could.

Many people in the court who made trouble for Li Wei, including the Minister, fell down. They were either demoted or killed. Even the Marquis Lan Yu didn't take any advantage in front of him. He was kicked in the balls and received a slap in the face. .

"Brother, don't worry, I understand." Shen Bin replied softly.

After a moment of silence, Shen Bin remembered his guess and couldn't help but ask: "Brother, tell me, is it possible that this treasure banknote will come back again?"

"Haha." Shen Jie smiled and said: "You have been in business for most of your life, so you should also understand this thing. It is just a piece of waste paper, printed on it to plunder the property of us ordinary people. How do you think he got promoted back?" ? Do you want His Majesty to exchange it with real money and silver, or do we, the common people, contribute more property to support the value of this piece of waste paper?"

Shen Bin nodded in agreement after hearing this, but what puzzled him was why would the prince-in-law do such a thing that was harmful to others and himself?
When the two brothers sentenced Bao Chao to death, Li Wei was also thinking about how to save the Ming Bao Chao at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters in the end.

First of all, all old banknotes must be replaced. This is a must.

In fact, the current circulation standards stipulated in the Ming Dynasty's banknote law are still very loose. Even if the treasure banknotes are old, as long as the damage is not serious, they can still be used according to the current regulations.

However, according to this circulation standard, in the end the authenticity of this kind of old banknotes can only be distinguished by the characters. And just these few characters, not to mention the common people, the court itself cannot tell the difference.In this case, if the old banknotes in your hand are judged to be counterfeit, it will be over. According to the Ming Dynasty Law, using counterfeit banknotes is also a serious crime!

This results in people not daring to use old banknotes if they really have them, and they are even hesitant to use slightly older banknotes.

To solve this problem, the law must first be revised. At least there should be no penalty or a light penalty for unintentional use of counterfeit banknotes. In addition, the old banknotes should be replaced with new banknotes printed by him that are multi-proof and wear-resistant.Since the issuance of Ming Dynasty banknotes in the eighth year of Hongwu's reign, several million banknotes have been printed almost every year. Over the past five or six years, it is estimated that there will be more than 3000 million banknotes.

According to Li Wei's estimation, if he goes all out to print money, he should have no problem printing 1000 million banknotes a year, so that he can replace them all in about three years.

While exchanging new banknotes, prices must be lowered to maintain the value of the banknotes.

Li Wei reorganized his thinking. Among them, the most critical thing was to convince Zhu Yuanzhang to support his new banknotes and issuance method, otherwise everything would be empty talk.

But he thought there should be no problem. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't tolerate the treasure becoming a piece of waste paper.

After sorting things out, Li Wei gave Laifu a few more instructions, asking him to keep an eye on the market and report to him in time, before he got up and left the Chamber of Commerce.

While walking on the road, Li Wei saw a group of people crowded at the door of a rice shop, and walked forward curiously.

"Don't be crowded, don't be crowded. Those who pay with treasure coins should stay in the back row. Our store will give priority to collecting copper coins!"

The shopkeeper shouted loudly.

"Goodbye, shopkeeper, I'm willing to give you a discount!"

"Yes, shopkeeper, I'll just treat this as two hundred cents, give it to me first!"

"..."

Many people crowded in front of the store, waving their money, hoping to exchange the paper money in their hands for real food as soon as possible.

However, the shopkeeper was very unhappy with these treasure notes. Even if these people were willing to discount them, he was unwilling to accept them.

Li Wei glanced casually and frowned involuntarily.

As time went by, the price of the treasure banknotes became lower and lower. He just opened the door and gave it a gentle push, and the treasure banknotes fell all the way down as if they were disappearing.

Due to the depreciation of the treasure banknotes, not only the common people were eager to buy the treasure banknotes into valuable physical objects, but also various shops began to stock up on goods. For a while, the common people in the capital were in a bleak mood.

Now looking at the shopkeeper's intentions, he is not willing to accept the regular banknotes as two hundred cents.

Li Wei had thought about this phenomenon before, but even without him, it would have happened sooner or later. And now that he saw this situation, he was more determined to hold the treasure in his hands. As the saying goes, long-term pain It's better to just take the pain short term. After he completes his idea, the treasure banknote becomes a stable and reliable currency, so that this phenomenon can be truly avoided from happening again.

A few days later, as the number of new banknotes stored in the account bank's inventory bottomed out, the exchange of new banknotes came to a complete standstill. The value of the treasure banknotes immediately exceeded the level of [-] yuan and plummeted.

Xu Hui from the Household Department paced back and forth in the lobby of the government office. The officials from the Household Department, big and small, stood in front of him with their heads lowered and did not dare to say a word.

When it comes to who is most anxious about the depreciation of treasure banknotes, he, the Minister of Household Affairs, is one of the first, if not the first.

The printing of treasure banknotes is under the control of their household department. Now that this situation occurs, the responsibility lies with their household department. If he fails to handle it well, His Majesty will blame him, and he, the minister, will no longer have to do it.

"You are talking! Now that things are like this, how do you want me to explain to His Majesty?"

Xu Hui yelled at these officials angrily, but no one dared to answer at this time.

"Jiang Xuedong, when will the banknote bureau come up with new banknotes?"

Xu Hui directly named him.

Jiang Xuedong's body trembled slightly. It would be fine if others didn't speak. He, the officer in charge, would definitely not be able to escape.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Xuedong whispered: "Master Shangshu, the Banknote Bureau is already stepping up printing."

"Hurry up? When will you hurry up? Can you give me enough treasure money tomorrow?"

"Uh this..."

Jiang Xuedong was silent for a moment. The Banknote Bureau is actually still printing new banknotes, but it can't keep up with the speed of people running on them.

　I’ll update it first. I’ll try to update it early tomorrow.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)