Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Since various universities were established in the capital, it has become a place where students gather.

In particular, the booming newspaper and printing industries have allowed the capital's influence on public opinion to continue to expand throughout the country.

Anyone who aspires to become famous throughout the world will come to the capital.

The joint examination in the second year of Chongzhen attracted many people to participate. Gu Gao, the nephew of Gu Xiancheng, Chen Zhenhui, the son of Chen Yuting, Mao Xiang, the son of Mao Qizong, Wu Weiye, a disciple of Zhang Pu, and Wu Yingji, who had failed the provincial examinations many times, all came to Beijing to take the exam.

The first choice for these people was Imperial College, followed by normal schools, medical schools and other universities.

After Liu Zongzhou became the Imperial Academy's chief academic officer, the Imperial Academy became even more attractive, and many people wanted to become Liu Zongzhou's disciples and participate in the reconstruction of rituals and music.

However, like the Imperial College students, the admission was mainly based on the grace of the imperial examination officials. The number of places for this admission was only 100. It was much more difficult than the Juren exam, and there were countless talented people competing.

It was under such circumstances that Mao Xiang came to the capital. He also had a more well-known name - Mao Pijiang.

Mao Pijiang's father, Mao Qizon, was a Jinshi in the first year of Chongzhen. Because he was proficient in Buddhism, he was selected to work in the Taichang Temple.

Mao Qizong, knowing that the capital had become the center of the world, sent Mao Pijiang to the capital to study in the university.

After Mao Pijiang came to the capital, he felt everything was new to him.

Not to mention the hot air balloons that were already commonplace among the people of the capital, the artists reading newspapers, telling stories, singing songs, and performing in the teahouse all seemed quite novel to him.

He was particularly amazed by the silver coins that some people used as rewards. He had never expected that people in the capital would be so generous and that the silver coins were so beautifully crafted.

Mao Qizong looked at his son's curious expression and explained to him in a low voice:
"This is the silver coin circulated in the capital. The largest denomination is one yuan, which can be exchanged for one tael and one qian to one tael and two qian of silver."

"The smallest denomination is one dime, which can be exchanged for about one hundred coins."

"The reward that person gave just now was a dime."

Among the silver coins set by Zhu Youjian, there were originally coins of fractions, but the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were not skilled enough in making silver coins. The labor cost of making silver coins that were only half the weight of a coin was too high, and it was easy to lose money.

Because it contains too much copper, it is not considered silver by people, so the current minimum denomination is one dime, which weighs about one coin and can be exchanged for about one hundred copper coins.

In order to fill the gap, ten-cent coins were still minted and the minting profits were good.

Mao Qizon didn't know all this, but he knew that his current salary was directly in silver dollars.

As a third-class Jinshi, his starting official position was the seventh rank, with an annual salary of 84 dan, which was originally a little more than 25 taels of silver.

Now the court has increased the salary, directly distributing silver dollars at half the number of shi, and paying monthly salaries to middle and low-level officials. He can receive three yuan and fifty cents of silver coins every month, and an annual salary of 42 yuan.

This was obviously not enough to spend in the capital, so when Mao Pijiang came to Beijing, he asked his son to bring some silver and money with him.

After taking a break for tea, Mao Qizong paid the bill with silver coins and instructed his son:

"You can't live without silver coins in the capital. Nowadays, merchants prefer to accept silver coins instead of loose change."

"All banks and silver shops have also set up exchange points at various gates in the capital to exchange for silver coins."

"But they all charge a handling fee. If you want to exchange for free, you have to go to Shuntian Bank."

"Or you can melt the silver into 925 standard silver and sell it at the metal exchange."

This is also the most commonly used way for money houses and silver shops to exchange silver coins after receiving loose silver.

Shuntian Bank completely relies on the silver content, and the reason for free exchange is to promote silver coins. The Metal Exchange only accepts pure silver and 925 standard silver to facilitate bulk transactions.

When Mao Qizong wrote the letter, he had asked his son to melt the silver he brought into 925 standard silver, so he chose to sell it at the metal exchange.

It is possible to sell it at a higher price here, which is more cost-effective than direct exchange.

The Metal Exchange is located near the Baoyuan Bureau and next to Prince Consort Ran’s Yiyuan. Its original name was the Precious Metals Exchange. It only traded three metals: gold, silver and copper, to facilitate currency exchange.

But later some people felt that the metal exchange was convenient and the quality of the traded goods was guaranteed, so they chose to trade metals such as steel, lead, zinc, and tin here.

So the word "precious" was removed and the name was changed to Metal Exchange.

Today it has become one of the largest material trading places in the capital, and even has a cargo yard in Tongzhou to facilitate the transshipment of goods.

In order to broaden his son's horizons, Mao Qizon took the 1,200 taels of silver he and his servants brought with him and went to the metal exchange.

When Mao Pijiang arrived at the exchange, he felt that it was crowded with people shouting prices at any time. The prices were often one thousand or ten thousand taels, which made him tremble with fear.

Mao Qizong was not surprised by this, and even knew that one thousand taels was the starting price for the transaction. The metal exchange would not accept any amount lower than this and would not open an account for them.

He found out all this from the Taichang Temple, so he asked his son to bring at least one thousand taels no matter what.

He took the silver to the counter, and the clerk at the counter knew that Mao Qizong was not an ordinary person at a glance. After carefully checking the quality of the silver, he weighed it and said:

"It is 925% standard silver and can be exchanged in the market."

"But the quantity is still a little short, thirteen ounces and three cents short."

Mao Pijiang was about to argue when he heard this, but Mao Qizong stopped him and took out more than ten taels of silver, finally making up the total of one thousand taels.

When opening the account, the clerk saw his status as a Jinshi and became more serious. He helped Mao Qizon with the formalities and told him that he could sell it soon.

After Mao Qizong thanked the waiter, he took his son to learn more. Mao Pijiang said indignantly:
"I clearly brought a thousand taels, but he said there was a shortfall of more than ten taels."

"This is clearly an attempt to embezzle our money."

Looking at his son's appearance, Mao Qizong shook his head and said:

"The Metal Exchange is so famous, how could it be possible that it would specifically target my son and me?"

"Your scale back home is not standard, so it's less than a dozen taels."

"The standard liang set by the imperial court now is 37.5 grams, which is slightly larger than the previous liang."

"So you brought one thousand taels of silver, but you are short of ten taels here."

After carefully explaining the metric system to his son, Mao Qizon told him to adapt to it.

Nowadays, many businesses in Beijing have adopted both the two methods. It is necessary to understand the conversion relationship and adapt to the prices in Beijing.

Mao Pijiang then realized that many aspects of the capital had changed from those of other places. No wonder his father forced him to come to the capital, even if he had to take the provincial examination next year.

If he didn't come to Beijing again, he would become a bumpkin in the countryside and wouldn't even be able to understand the prices of things.

If you don't understand the prices of goods, how can you answer the questions related to mathematics?
Mao Qizong took great pains to bring his son to the Metal Exchange as soon as he arrived in Beijing. (End of this chapter)