My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 126: What is Currency (those in the comment area are talking about money, read this chapter carefully)

Some lamented that they had chosen the right person when they used Bi Ziyan. Zhu Youxiao looked at everyone in the hall and told an allusion.

"At the end of the Later Han Dynasty, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty sold his official position and won the title. Cui Lie paid 500 million to obtain the position of Situ. However, Cui Lie's reputation declined. He thought about it for a long time and asked his son Cui Jun, "I live as the third Duke, what is going on with you?"

"Cui Junyan said, Your Excellency rarely has a distinguished title. He has served as a minister in the past. Those who comment on it do not say that he should not be regarded as the Three Dukes. But now that he has ascended the throne, the world is disappointed."

"Cui Lie asked why."

"Cui Jun replied that the commentators thought it smelled like copper."

"Since then, the word "copper smell" has been inseparable from money."

"A grain of rice is worn and eaten, a penny is cut and replenished, but the mouth is ignorant of the gods. Looking at children is like swallows carrying mud, and loving money is like a blood fly. I save gold and silver in the dark night, and make cakes to satisfy hunger."

Indicating Liu Shimin to add tea to himself, Zhu Youxiao continued.

"Everyone despises money, but secretly, they wish that all the wealth in the world is theirs."

"But how many people can understand what money represents?"

"I read ancient books and found that the Yue people once used shells as money, and the Chu people used cloth as money. Since Qin unified the world, cars and books have been in the same track, and Qin coins have been used all over the world. Liu Bang killed the White Snake and rebelled, establishing Liu Han and Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu took over the money-making handles from all over the world, and the imperial court unified the casting of five-baht coins. This was the beginning of the copper coin system."

Zhu Youxiao said, took out a silver ingot, put it on the table, and asked everyone.

"This ingot of silver is five taels of gold and silver. It can be used to buy five stones of grain in the market, which is enough for one person to eat for a year."

"You guys think, why can he buy five shi of grain? In other words, why can silver be used as money?"

"This..."

Listening to the emperor's words, everyone in the hall fell into deep thought.

Money is money, why else?

"Because every Ming Dynasty citizen recognizes it."

After thinking for a while, Bi Ziyan tried to speak out.

"good."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded, very satisfied with Bi Ziyan's understanding.

"What is the value of silver? It cannot be eaten and cannot be worn. Apart from being used as jewelry, it has no other practical uses."

"It's not like copper, which can be used to make tools, unlike grain, which can be eaten, and unlike cloth, which can be worn."

"It's too soft to make weapons and too few tools, but it's such a small thing that actually has little practical effect. It can be turned into money and recognized by people all over the world."

"This is because, in addition to its actual use value, silver also has value as currency, or as a trading tool."

"Guan Zi said that if the currency is heavy, the people will benefit, and if the currency is light, they will never use it. It means that if the exchange value of money is high, the people will pursue profit and try their best to get it. But the value of money is low. If he is killed, the people will abandon him and not want to use him."

"Everyone, do you understand?"

"..."

Listening to the emperor's words, everyone looked at each other.

Boss, what are you talking about here? I don’t understand.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Zhu Youxiao sighed helplessly and continued.

"Do you still remember my Ming Dynasty treasure banknote?"

"I remember."

This time, everyone nodded. They had never seen or heard of that thing.

The Ming Dynasty Baochao is a pain point of Ming Dynasty economics that everyone knows about.

"In the fourth year of Zhengtong's reign, we issued an edict to provide officials and military officials in Nanjing and abroad with a salary of rice and a monthly ration for soldiers. Due to insufficient grain reserves, the provisions were reduced and replaced with banknotes."

"In the 13th year of Orthodoxy, new banknotes have always been worth less than ten yuan, and old banknotes are only one or two yuan! Even if they are accumulated in stores, they will not care about the past."

"Why is this?" Another question came up. This time Zhu Youxiao looked at Yuan Shizhen and said.

"Yuan Aiqing changed my Ming Salt Law and divided it into old and new principles. What do you think?"

"Back to Your Majesty, my lord, my lord."

After thinking for a while, Yuan Shizhen felt that his thoughts were numb, and he seemed to have some enlightenment, but he just couldn't express it.

"After hearing your Majesty's words and recalling what I saw in Lianghuai, I have some humble opinions and I don't know whether they are right or wrong. I hope your Majesty will forgive me for speaking out."

"But it doesn't matter."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"Today, instead of discussing politics, I and the ministers are sitting down to talk about Taoism. We can talk freely."

Hearing this, Yuan Shizhen bowed and saluted. After collecting his thoughts, he continued.

"I think the value of the treasure banknotes has been lost due to over-issuance."

As soon as Yuan Shizhen opened his mouth, he was very bold. He mentioned all the emperors and officials of the Ming Dynasty.

"In our dynasties, due to wars, large-scale construction, or disasters, the national funds were insufficient. In order to receive more salt taxes, we chose to pay more salt."

"However, the amount of salt produced in salt farms in various places is limited every year. The salt import cannot extract salt in the salt farm, which makes the salt import worthless. Naturally, salt merchants will no longer want to pay money to Kaizhong, and the salt tax will naturally be not enough."

"And once the salt tax is reduced, the court will choose to issue more salt."

"The cycle goes on and on. The more salt is produced, the less salt can be extracted from the salt field. This salt policy will be corrupted and the salt will be worthless."

"I was in Lianghuai and divided the old and new guidelines so that although Yan Yin could not lift salt immediately, he could make up for it in the future, and only households holding old salt Yin were allowed to sell salt. This Yan Yin also had another value.”

"The principles of salt and treasure banknotes are the same, and treasure banknotes are my money from the Ming Dynasty, so I understand the value of silver."

"Since Zhang Juzheng's reform, the color has been converted into silver, which can be used to pay taxes, and the silver has naturally become money."

"good."

Zhu Youxiao was very satisfied with this person who reformed the salt policy and provided the Ming Dynasty with a salt tax of 100 million taels of silver a year.

"The reason why Ming Dynasty's treasure banknotes became obsolete is because they were issued excessively, indiscriminately, and the court refused to accept them, which caused them to lose their value as money."

Zhu Youxiao said, pointing in the direction of the capital in the north.

"The Ming Dynasty Chaoguan started in the fourth year of Xuande (1429). At that time, the banknote laws were unavailable, and merchants and residents were not taxed on goods. Therefore, the imperial court ordered that tax booths be set up in the gathering places of merchants in Beijing Province, and all orders were paid."

"This move is, firstly, to increase the imperial court's annual income, and secondly, to save precious money."

"Sure enough, in the following years, the price of treasure banknotes rebounded, and people were willing to use them again."

"Merchants can use treasure banknotes to pay taxes, and people can use treasure banknotes to shop, then the value of these treasure banknotes will be restored."

"But in the next few years, the treasure banknotes were issued excessively and their value decreased. Naturally, the people began to disown them again, and eventually they were useless."

"Similarly, the court used silver to collect taxes, which gave silver its value as currency. Naturally, it became money."

"Your Majesty is smart, and I respect you."

After hearing the emperor explain clearly why silver can become money, Bi Ziyan and Yuan Shizhen immediately took the lead in worshiping him.

The reason why silver can become money is because the court uses it to collect taxes and gives it value.

Everyone took notes and wrote down the emperor's description of the value of the treasure banknotes, and their own feelings, and they all said the same thing in their hearts.

What kind of monster is this?

You can see the small things and know the big things.

From the emperor's understanding of money, everyone can feel that the emperor's way of thinking about things is really different from those of them who read Confucian classics.

When Sun Chengzong taught Zhu Changluo in the East Palace, and also taught Zhu Youxiao how to read, what book did he give to the emperor as an enlightenment textbook?

(End of this chapter)