The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Throughout the summer of the third year of Qianyuan, the eyes of the government and the public seemed to be focused on the two matters of "railway" and "shares".

Ordinary people watch the excitement.

Rich people with enough wealth are considering whether to buy some railway transportation shares, or in other words, through what channels to buy them.

Liu Sheng is not surprised by the hot sale of railway transportation shares.

After all, the benefits of railway transportation are there. As long as those wealthy people have a little understanding of it, they will choose to buy shares.

Although railway transportation shares are sold for a thousand taels per share, it is nothing to the truly wealthy.

Now that we know the benefits of railway transportation, it is normal to buy a few or even dozens of shares.

Liu Sheng didn't think there was anything wrong with selling his shares to these wealthy people.

Although these people will be able to make money through railway transportation shares in the future, the Da'ei imperial court will definitely make more.

Even if enough funds are raised through the sale of railway transportation shares, the Da'ei imperial court can overhaul the railway without spending a penny, but in the future it will occupy a certain share in it and obtain part of the fiscal revenue through railway transportation.

In addition, China Railway Transport Co., Ltd. is not a gold medal free from death.

Even if these rich people become richer, in the future, if they violate Dawei's laws or hinder the development of the country, their homes will be confiscated, exiled or even executed.

As for allowing ordinary people to benefit from railway transportation shares - when things such as share sales and stocks mature in the future, we can naturally consider analyzing railway transportation shares so that ordinary people can also afford railway transportation stocks.

But Liu Sheng estimated that it would be many years later.

Because he knew very little about modern economic matters, he was deeply impressed by the financial crisis.

Therefore, when making decisions in this regard, you will naturally be more cautious.

Moreover, what he wanted to build was a modern empire, which was different from the systems of other countries in later generations, so he should be more cautious in economic construction.

It is better to develop slowly in finance than to fall into a big pit.

However, when it comes to economy and finance, for Dayei, another thing is urgent.

That is coinage.

This summer, a considerable part of Liu Sheng's attention was actually focused on this matter...
Secret Bureau.

The guards and bodyguards were stationed ten steps, one post, five steps, and one sentry post, and they were heavily guarded.

In a workshop of the bureau, Liu Sheng was inspecting.

"Your Majesty, please see, this is the money-making machine and prototype we developed."

The Secretary of the Secret Manufacturing Bureau pointed to a set of machines and introduced them to Liu Sheng.

"Mother models are divided into three categories: money mother model, silver coin mother model, and copper coin mother model."

"According to His Majesty's instructions, there is only one way to use money as a reward, so the same is true for my mother."

"As for the silver coin mother model, there are three types, which can be used to mint one dollar, five cents and one cent silver coins respectively."

"There are only two types of copper coin mother models, which can be used to cast ten-cent and one-cent copper coins respectively."

"This is a sample coin cast from mother mold. Your Majesty, please check it."

After the elevating officer finished speaking, subordinate officials brought several trays.

After being inspected by the guards, he was sent to Liu Sheng.

The most eye-catching one is naturally the tray containing gold coins.

Liu Sheng took one out and looked at it.

Just as the promotion officer said, this gold coin was used as a reward, so it was designed and cast extremely beautifully.

The diameter is approximately 3.3 cm and the thickness is approximately 3.3 mm.

Although it is only 70% more real gold, the color is more beautiful than real gold.

It also feels quite substantial.

On the front is the character "崋", and on the reverse is a complex and mysterious pattern centered on a dragon. If you look closely, you will find the words "a certain day of a certain month of a certain year" on it.

Liu Sheng knew that this date was only the date when the mother's money was made, not the child's money.

After looking at the gold coins, Liu Sheng quickly put them down.

Compared with gold coins, he paid more attention to the casting of silver coins and copper coins.

Because gold coins are only used for rewards and are not coins in the circulation market, even if they are slightly flawed, they will not have much impact.

Silver coins and copper coins were indeed important props he used to build Da'ei's coin system, and there could not be any mistakes or omissions.

The Secret Manufacturing Bureau obviously paid great attention to it, and all three kinds of silver coins were minted quite delicately.

As for the copper coins, although the characters and patterns are simpler, they only give people a sense of simplicity rather than being crudely made.

Regardless of whether it is a silver coin or a copper coin, the edges have anti-wear tooth patterns, and the patterns inside also have a certain anti-counterfeiting function.

However, Liu Sheng was used to seeing the creations of later generations. Although the sample money made by the Secret Manufacturing Bureau was exquisite, it did not surprise him too much.

Thinking of the hard work of the officials and craftsmen, Liu Sheng nodded after reading it and said, "Not bad."

Then the workshop was asked to start the coin minting machine on site to demonstrate the coin minting process.

Liu Sheng wanted to really understand the production capacity of a coin minting machine.

Because according to his understanding, one of the important reasons why the minting rights of the former Ming Dynasty were eroded by local governments and the private sector was the lack of production capacity of minting institutions.

At the beginning, the minting power was distributed from the central government to the localities, such as setting up mints in each administrative department, or setting up mints at the location of copper mines, etc.

The Mint is far away from the center and without supervision, corruption will inevitably breed.

On the one hand, they embezzled national property, and on the other hand, they reduced the quality of coinage.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, official governance was corrupted and the ability to control local areas was further weakened. There were bold and powerful people among the people who minted coins privately to seek profits.

Private coins tended to be of poorer quality than imperial coins and therefore were more profitable.

In addition, the quality of the local coins produced by the imperial court was getting worse and worse, and in the end it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity of the coins.

As a result, there are more and more private coins on the market, and their quality is getting worse and worse, forming a vicious cycle.

Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty reached the Chongzhen Dynasty, the use of copper coins as currency almost collapsed, further aggravating the disaster for the common people.

For example, one tael of silver is worth one copper coin.

The normal exchange ratio in the past Ming Dynasty has always been 650 copper coins.

However, low-quality private coins often require more than a thousand coins to be considered consistent, and some even require more than 1,500 coins.

Ordinary people have no power and power. If they exchange silver for copper coins, they may only get six to seven hundred low-quality copper coins.

Conversely, when copper coins need to be exchanged for silver to pay taxes, it may be necessary to take out more than a thousand copper coins to exchange for one tael of silver.

This entry and exit almost halve the money of common people!

However, after Zhang Juzheng's reforms in the Qing Dynasty, the one-whip law was implemented, and many places stipulated that taxes should only be paid in money.

From this we can see how much harm the common people suffered from the corruption of copper coins.

In the last few years of the Ming Dynasty, many places only recognized gold and silver, but not copper coins.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Da'ei also suffered from the corruption of copper coins, so it could only follow the customs of the late Ming Dynasty. Those who could settle in silver would settle in silver, and they did not have a high degree of recognition of copper coins.

However, as the world became more peaceful and the economy prospered, private small-amount transactions became more frequent. The monetary system established solely with silver obviously became a major obstacle to the development of economic and trade.

At this time, it was necessary for Damei to introduce new legal copper coins to replace the old coins.

Moreover, whenever a new dynasty is established, it has always been a rule to mint new money.

Liu Sheng simply asked the Secret Mining Bureau to develop a more sophisticated and high-capacity coin minting machine.

And by the way, gold and silver coins were also produced. (End of chapter)