My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 219 Add the amount of silver coins

The emperor's rewards for the Wang and Queen's relatives finally came down.

There was no knighthood, just a position of Jinyiwei with a salary.

This result can be said to have shocked everyone in the Ministry of Etiquette.

"Your Majesty doesn't agree because our offer is too high?"

Holding the drafted edict in his hand, Li Ke Bao Qianzhen looked at Shangshu Sun Ruyou in confusion.

"That's what it looks like now."

Having already read the emperor's imperial approval, Sun Ruyou was stroking his beard at the moment, feeling that the sun was rising from the west.

When did the emperor of the Ming Dynasty show such disregard for family ties?

During his lifetime, Wanli showed great kindness to Concubine Zheng's family. Concubine Zheng's brother Zheng Guotai was given the military position of Zhengyipin Zuodudu.

This is the highest position in the history of the Ming Dynasty that a relative without martial arts has received.

"I wrote all the imperial edicts in Feng Zeng's cursive script. How could I not know that?"

Watching Bao Qianzhen leave, Sun Ruyou touched his beard and thought about why the emperor treated his mother's family so harshly.

As if to prevent the other party from discovering that he had such an disrespectful opinion of the emperor.

"Is that so?"

"Never take His Majesty's words to heart."

The emperor was not a stingy man.

The emperor does not intend to reuse his relative, on the contrary, he plans to cut off his tentacles that extend into the Wuxun Group!

"The ancients said that if virtue is not matched, there will be disaster."

This can be seen from the fact that the emperor took out the internal funds and used millions of silver to clear the accounts of the foreign court.

What? A relative with martial arts skills?

Taking the memorial from Bao Qianzhen's hand, Sun Ruyou said with emotion.

In addition, the emperor sent all the noble disciples to the Wulue Courtyard, which was rebuilt from the Yamen of the Chinese Army Governor's Office opposite the Liubu Yamen, for training.

They were all the losers in the officialdom. Bao Qianzhen naturally saw the look in Sun Ruyou's eyes that looked wrong on her.

"No, I'm talking about Zhang Wenda being escorted back home by the Jinyi Guards."

For example, the father of Wanli's wife, Queen Wang, was granted the title of Yongnian Bo.

As for the gifts given to the queen's family, they were mostly earls.

"It's a good thing that he leaves now."

"His Majesty has repeatedly issued edicts to the Imperial Procuratorate, but those officials are just talking about it."

After seeing each other's eyes, the two quickly looked away.

As he said that, Sun Ruyou glanced at Bao Qianzhen. This guy was also a public speaker.

Putting down the memorial in his hand, Bao Qianzhen rolled his eyes, looked at the other party and asked.

Sun Ruyou also gave Sun Ruyou a roll of his eyes, and Bao Qianzhen responded in detail.

But for being so stingy with the Wang family, there must be something wrong behind it.

"Has Sun Shangshu heard about Zhang Wenda?"

"Oh, that's about it."

Hearing this, Sun Ruyou couldn't help but roll his eyes at the other party.

Looking at each other, this word appeared in Bao Qianzhen and Sun Ruyou's minds at the same time.

"There is no problem with this edict, I will leave."

If Sun Ruyou's conjecture were known to Zhu Youxiao, who was inspecting the Baoquan Bureau with Yuan Shizhen, the Minister of Household Affairs, Zhengqing Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Duzhi, and Xu Guangqi, the Minister of Industry, he would definitely say, "Sun Qing understands me."

In other words, they were given a salary from the imperial court and nothing else.

As for his own uncle, he was not given a title, but was given a casual position as a royal guard with a salary.

A few days ago, when Xiong Tingbi wiped out the two white flags of Jiannu, someone submitted a letter proposing to confer a title on Xiong Tingbi, but the emperor directly rejected those petitions.

Guo Mingzhen, the younger brother of Guangzong's wife, Queen Guo, was not allowed to usurp the title of his other father, Bo Pingbo.

That man's name was Xu Da, who was the Duke of Wei during his lifetime and the King of Zhongshan after his death.

After pondering for a while, Bao Qianzhen bowed, turned and left.

Being stingy with the Guo family, one can prevaricate it by saying that Queen Guo is just a legitimate mother, not a blood relative.

But now, the emperor is acting very "stingy".

"Mean and unkind."

Suddenly there was a guess in his mind, and Sun Ruyou was so shocked that he couldn't help but break a beard.

After adjusting his sleeves, Sun Ruyou said.

The queen's family was given a count, which was a common practice in the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, Zhu Youxiao didn't know.

Walking in the workshop of Baoquan Bureau, hearing the sound of money being thrown in their ears, everyone in the group had smiles on their faces.

Each of these bangs means that the court can get one more cent, and even three cents of silver can be used, which can greatly alleviate the current lack of money in the court.

"Your Majesty, many princes, princes, and gentry from all over the country have sent letters to the Ministry of Finance asking if a separate stall can be opened for them to exchange silver coins."

After glancing at the emperor who was stretching his head to look at the craftsmen who were cutting silver bars into silver cakes with milling machines, Yuan Shizhen suddenly asked.

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao did not look back, his attention was still on the milling and turning.

"What do you think?"

"I thought I could agree to them."

The Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty was also in charge of the affairs of the clan mansion.

And Zongzheng of Ming Dynasty was actually the emperor of Ming Dynasty.

As for Zong Zheng of the Zongren Mansion, the only thing left was to issue ultimatums to the heirs of the vassals in various places.

Seeing the emperor's interest in this milling machine, Yuan Shizhen didn't say much.

The casting process of this silver coin was proposed by the emperor.

It is not surprising that the emperor is interested in such technical things.

What's more, I heard that the emperor likes to do wood work very much?

"Master Yuan."

Before Yuan Shizhen finished speaking, Zhao Han, who was standing behind him, had already spoken.

"Please spare our Baoquan Bureau, the production can't be increased, it really can't be increased."

At this time, Zhao Han no longer cared about whether speaking like this would violate taboos or whether he might lose his official title.

The two dark bags under his eyes already explained his current state.

The entire Baoquan Bureau works in six shifts, working seven times a day and 24 hours a day to produce.

Hugh?

Where did Xiu Mu come from? For the emperor's economic policy and for the people of Ming Dynasty to no longer suffer from unclear currency, it can only be the people of Baoquan Bureau.

However, the good news is that the salary is sufficient.

"The silver from North Zhili and South Zhili, the imperial court's national funds, His Majesty's internal funds, and the silver from everywhere are waiting to be minted."

As he said this, Yuan Shizhen couldn't help but glance at Bi Ziyan from Duzhisi, and continued.

"After Mr. Yuan proposed to redeem the silver coins for Nanzhili Gaohuo, in order to make up the amount of the silver coins, we withheld half of the silver coins that should have been redeemed for His Majesty's internal funds."

"Cough cough."

Hearing that Zhao Han distributed the amount of silver coins from the emperor's internal funds to the outer court, Yuan Shizhen's old face became a little embarrassed. He coughed and looked away.

After listening to the words of several people, Zhu Youxiao showed a smile on his face, waved his hand, turned around and said.

"At present, although Baoquan Bureau's output can continue to expand, the amount of expansion is limited. How to distribute the silver coins produced every day is determined."

"Things should be prioritized, and national affairs come first."

"Give more silver coins to Southern Zhili, more national money, and more to Northern Zhili. This is a state matter."

"But opening a special channel for them to exchange silver coins is not a state matter, but a private matter."

State affairs were of top priority, and the silver coins minted by Baoquan Bureau were divided into four main bodies: internal money, northern Zhili, southern Zhili, and national money.

Most of the money from national funds is used for official salaries and government expenditures of the court. The internal funds mainly include the salary of the New Army and the daily expenses and maintenance of the Forbidden City.

In addition, the emperor proposed the issue of minting coins. The emperor took away 50% of the output, and the outer court could not say anything.

However, the emperor was worried about state affairs, so he allocated a large amount of internal funds to the foreign court.

Now, these honorable ministers, relatives, and many princes want to exchange the silver in their hands into silver coins faster, what can they pay?

Just because you have a foreign relative on your head, you want to ignore the affairs of the Ming Dynasty?

If someone with such a good reputation like Chongzhen might actually agree.

But the emperor in front of him was as smart as a monkey, how could that be possible?

"Why should I give it to them?"

After hearing the emperor's words, Yuan Shizhen immediately felt that there was something interesting about this matter, and immediately said with a smile.

"Everything in this world, whether it's buying or selling, has its own destiny."

"Since they want to get this silver coin in advance, of course they have to pay a price."

As he said this, Yuan Shizhen flexed his fingers and told everyone.

"In addition to the already determined share of the silver coins exchanged every month, His Majesty can also give them an amount of 500,000 silver coins from the internal funds.

"These 500,000 silver coins are divided into ten parts, each part is 50,000 pieces, and the lowest price is 60,000 taels of gold and silver."

"Then, let them compete openly based on this basic price. Whoever gives more fire consumption will be given the silver coins."

"..."

As Yuan Shizhen's words fell, everyone in the hall suddenly fell silent and looked at Yuan Shizhen as if they were watching a ghost.

Zhu Youxiao felt a sense of surprise when he heard this auction method for later generations.

Yuan Shizhen is really a loser.

After looking at Yuan Shizhen carefully for a while, Zhu Youxiao spoke out.

"I asked people to mint silver coins, and some people already accused me of competing with the people for profit."

"Yuan Aiqing knows that as soon as this plan comes out, Aiqing will be despised by the nobles and gentry in the world."

The matter of minting coins was done by Zhu Youxiao using his imperial power.

A silver coin is worth eight nine cents of silver, one cent of copper and tin, and one tael of combined silver.

The extra money is one cent, that is, eleven cents is the fire cost.

Initially, four cents were used for the raw materials and wages of the Baoquan Bureau, two cents were the national funds managed by the branch office, and five cents were the emperor's internal funds.

However, in order to earn more from the national treasury, Bi Ziyan put aside his old face and took an extra penny from the emperor's internal treasury.

But for just these 11 points of fire, I don’t know how many people are ruthlessly trying to seize profits from the emperor and the "people", and calling the emperor a king who has subjugated his country.

Now that Yuan Shizhen has played this trick, can his reputation be better?

"Today, the national situation is difficult. Since these people want to hold silver coins faster and earlier, they must pay the price."

Hearing the emperor say that the world's wealthy gentry scolded him, Yuan Shizhen immediately raised his hands and said.

"When I was in Lianghuai, it was common for wealthy gentry to own thousands of acres of fertile land and store hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. But the common people had no place to stand on and only had the money to survive."

"For the sake of state affairs, I am not afraid."

"This is a sincere gentleman."

After hearing Yuan Shizhen's words, Zhu Youxiao pointed at the other party and said to the people around him.

"Your Majesty is so complimentary that I cannot bear it."

Hearing this, Yuan Shizhen immediately blushed, and he also had selfish motives.

Some of his "old friends" in Huaihe and Lianghuai couldn't rob those nobles when exchanging silver in South Zhili.

After hearing that he was the one who brought up the issue of silver exchange in Nanzhili, he immediately sent people to his door.

Silver coins are much more convenient to use than silver taels, but this quantity is too small.

Moreover, there is still the imperial court's regulations on rewarding reports.

Once this policy comes out, their methods of stirring up civil unrest will no longer be used.

There are so many gangsters down there staring at them, waiting for the time to come and report them.

They couldn't help but be in a hurry.

"Let me think about this again."

After thinking for a while, Zhu Youxiao shook his head and did not immediately agree to Yuan Shizhen's proposal.

Seeing the emperor's hesitation, Yuan Shizhen said nothing.

When doing things, pay attention to the heat.

Since the emperor is already thinking about this, there is no need to pursue it.

Otherwise, the emperor would suspect that his motives were impure.

Xu Guangqi's eyes flashed when he saw that the emperor and Yuan Shizhen had decided to increase the fire consumption and pay an extra amount.

The Xu family, where Xu Guangqi was born, was a wealthy family in Songjiang.

As for Songjiang, later generations had another name, called Shanghai.

Xu Guangqi himself engaged in agricultural experiments and wrote books in Songjiang. The place where he was buried after his death was called Xujiahui.

As a Western school, the Xu family certainly had a hand in maritime trade.

The huge interests in sea trade meant that the Xu family could not bear a four-point high fire cost.

Moreover, Xu Guangqi also discovered a loophole in the quota increase proposed by Yuan Shizhen just now.

The fire consumption in South Zhili is 40%, and the fire consumption in North Zhili is 10%.

If the newly added quota was in the capital, someone would transport the silver from South Zhili to North Zhili to redeem it, then transport it back to South Zhili and exchange the silver with others privately.

Even if you add in the fuel consumption caused by competition. . .

After a while of silent calculation in his mind, Xu Guangqi came to the conclusion that the benefits were at least 15%.

Thinking of this, Xu Guangqi took a deep look at Yuan Shizhen.

They are all old foxes, what are you doing here to play with?

However, Xu Guangqi did not intend to reveal the purpose behind Yuan Shizhen at this time.

There is no need for that. The extra fire consumption of South Zhili silver coins is only caused by the current shortage of silver coins in the market.

When the number increases later, the fire consumption will naturally come down, and this way of making profits will be gone.

"Your Majesty, I saw a lot of things in Shijingshan a few days ago and feel that this grade is a good thing."

Following the emperor, Xu Guangqi looked at the silversmith who was matching silver in the hall with a smile and said to the emperor.

"It not only allows the court to obtain highly skilled craftsmen, but also allows the craftsmen to benefit and survive."

"I visited Baoquan Bureau again today. I heard that there is a shortage of silversmiths. I have a suggestion that I would like to make to Your Majesty."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Guangqi unexpectedly.

"tell me the story."

"I suggest that you can build a craftsman's school and recruit some unemployed people to learn the craftsmanship."

A school for craftsmen?

Upon hearing Xu Guangqi, everyone present looked at Xu Guangqi.

Not to mention that craftsmen are almost always passed down from father to son. It is passed down from son to daughter, and the idea of ​​​​preserving the old broomstick is reluctant to pass it on to others.

Just the simple definition of society as scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, all performing their own duties, makes many people unwilling to become craftsmen.

Noticing the gazes of the people around him, Xu Guangqi explained aloud.

"In the past, even if many people learned to become carpenters, bricklayers, and blacksmiths, they did not dare to publicize it for fear of becoming a craftsman. But recently, His Majesty had ordered the Shuntian Prefecture to abolish the craftsman registration, and many people no longer had any worries. "

"An ancient saying goes that if a worker wants to make his tools perfect, he must first sharpen his tools."

"Both food, clothing, housing and transportation are all inseparable from the equipment made by craftsmen."

"These instruments are related to how many farm tools, weapons and cloth the Ming Dynasty can produce every year."

“If the tools are not good, the quantity and quality of production will also be affected.”

"Therefore, I feel that establishing a craftsmanship school and cultivating craftsmen will be beneficial to the court."

(End of this chapter)