Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Just as Feng Quan was planning how to make a contribution, Liu Lishun was receiving officials including Liu Zongzhou and Bi Ziyan who came from the capital in the newly completed auditorium in Zhuolu District.

They were ordered to come to witness the vote on the salt industry reform plan. Bi Ziyan was entrusted with a new mission and brought a new proposal:

"At the beginning of the year, Your Majesty proposed to mint silver coins and issue silver dollar certificates."

"Today, the number of silver coins issued has exceeded three million. Merchants and civilians in Beijing are happy to use silver coins for transactions. Some people even proposed issuing cent coins and cent coins to completely replace copper coins."

"But you all know how much one cent of silver weighs. It's hard to make it into a silver coin."

"Your Majesty means that the cents and cents should be completely paper money, and can be exchanged for silver dollars at the bank."

"So it's called a redemption voucher, and it has the same value as a silver coin."

This matter has been circulated in the official circles, because there is a rumor that:

After issuing the silver dollar notes, the emperor would pay the actual salaries to the officials in the capital. The banknotes of the officials in the capital would be changed from treasure notes to silver dollar notes.

Compared with the worthless Baochao, regardless of whether the silver dollar certificate can be exchanged for silver dollars at an equivalent value, it is more valuable than Baochao.

Therefore, officials in the capital were eagerly looking forward to the issuance of silver dollar notes.

There is such a strong call from the public to issue fen and li coins, and they have their reasons for pushing for it.

Although Liu Lishun worked in Zhuolu District, his main job was in the Hanlin Academy, and he was an official sent by the imperial court to the local area for training.

Because Zhuolu District is very close to the capital, he would return to the Hanlin Academy to report on his work every month, and he had heard about this rumor.

In this regard, he was both happy and a little worried:
"After the silver dollar notes are issued, will the public accept them?"

"Don't be like Baochao, which gets worse every year."

The Ming Dynasty's treasure notes were valuable initially, but unfortunately due to the court's excessive issuance, their value declined year by year.

The people voted with their feet, forcing the court to issue copper coins.

However, the Ming Dynasty minted very few copper coins, and it was inconvenient to use copper coins when the transaction volume was large. This made the silver flowing in from overseas the mainstream currency, and the treasure notes were completely like waste paper.

Liu Zongzhou and others also had this concern, to which Bi Ziyan responded:

"Your Majesty, in light of this lesson, has the inner court, the outer court and the parliament jointly establish a gold and silver reserve committee. Silver dollar certificates will be issued in equal amounts according to the gold and silver reserves."

"At present, the reserves deposited by various banks and money houses in the Gold Reserve Association amount to 920,000 silver dollars."

"These are all struck into silver coins, enough to issue silver dollar certificates worth 920,000 yuan."

"In terms of the exchange of silver dollar certificates and silver coins, all banks and money houses have also guaranteed to accept the exchange of silver dollar certificates and have formulated interbank lending methods."

"When the exchange rate does not exceed 100 yuan at a time, the silver dollar certificate can be exchanged for silver coins at any bank or money exchange at any time."

"For amounts over 100 yuan, as long as you make an appointment in advance, you can exchange them in three days at the longest."

"The Ministry of Revenue has guaranteed this and will use the deposited silver to maintain the value of the silver dollar certificate if necessary."

Bi Ziyan said this point with absolute certainty, but no one present had any confidence in the credit of the Ministry of Revenue.

If the Ministry of Revenue issued the silver dollar notes alone, they would never accept it. But with the Emperor's inner court and the Congress above the parliament, they had some trust in the Gold Reserve Committee that issued the silver dollar notes.

Especially for Liu Zongzhou, the Congress Financial Committee has three seats on the Gold Reserve Committee, which means that Congress will not be a decoration in the future and will have a great say in the issuance of silver dollar notes.

Liu Lishun also welcomed the expansion of the power of the National Assembly, but his experience in local governance over the past year made him think more and asked:
"Silver Yuan Certificates are paper money, and their value is very low compared to the silver coins themselves. What if someone forges them?"

The Ministry of Revenue has been working hard to improve the silver dollar voucher over the past year, and has cooperated with Lu Xiang's Printing Research Institute to test all the previous techniques for printing banknotes.

The silver dollar notes that are currently being trial-produced use special ink and paper, and the printing method was also developed by the Wensi Academy and has never been passed on to outsiders.

Bi Ziyan took out a trial 10-cent note, which was a 10-cent silver dollar note, and showed it to Liu Lishun and others:
"Look at this kind of banknotes. Can anyone forge it?"

(The 10-cent/10-cent national currency note of the Farmers' Bank of China. The silver dollar note in the book probably looks like this, but the printing is not as exquisite as this one. The issuing agency is the "Ming Gold and Silver Reserve Committee")
Liu Lishun and others looked at the beautifully printed and special-colored banknotes and felt that they had never seen anything like it before. This made them even worry about the cost of printing. Would it be a loss to print Libi?

Bi Ziyan smiled and shook his head, without explaining the technical details. He pointed to the bottom of the banknote and said to Liu Lishun and others:

"This note is only exchangeable until the end of the fifth year of Chongzhen. After the expiration date, it is prohibited from circulation and must be exchanged at a special bank for a fee."

"Do you think anyone can imitate it in these three years?"

"After three years, the printing house will have developed new technology. In the future, the anti-counterfeiting of banknotes will become stronger and stronger, so that counterfeit banknotes can be seen at a glance."

"And once someone is caught counterfeiting banknotes, they will be executed just like they would counterfeit treasure notes."

The "Great Ming Code" has very severe punishment for counterfeiting treasure notes, salt permits, and tea permits, with only one word: beheading.

On the contrary, he could still keep his life by privately minting copper coins and counterfeiting silver.

Even if criminals counterfeit silver coins, the risk is less than counterfeiting silver dollar certificates.

In order to prevent counterfeit currency and maintain financial order, the Financial Reserves Association also allocated funds to the Jinyiwei Jingqingsi Qianfa Hall at the suggestion of the inner court staff. A portion of the banknotes issued each year would be allocated to the Qianfa Hall to combat counterfeit currency manufacturing, illegal fundraising, and illegal opening of financial institutions.

It can be said that over the past year, the Ming court has been ready to issue silver dollar notes, and is just waiting for the relevant bills to be passed so that the silver dollar notes can be issued.

For the sake of safety, only cents and cents were issued this time, with the highest denomination being 10 cents, which could be exchanged for 10 cents. This was to meet the needs of merchants and citizens, and to limit the matter to small transactions when problems arose.

Liu Zongzhou and others listened to Bi Ziyan's introduction and gradually realized that the court's issuance of silver yuan notes was not a snap decision, but a complete set of methods.

However, Liu Lishun, the mayor of Zhuolu District, still asked the most crucial point:
"When the government collects taxes, do they accept silver dollar coupons?"

"If someone uses silver dollar certificates to pay taxes, how should the value be calculated?"

Bi Ziyan said without hesitation:
"Silver Yuan Certificates are silver coins, and should be treated the same as silver coins!"

"If any government official dares to refuse to accept it, he will be brought directly to justice."

The silver dollar certificate management regulations formulated by the Ministry of Revenue in accordance with the emperor's instructions were explained to everyone one by one.

It clearly stipulates the circulation and protection methods of silver dollar certificates, and is intended to be used as a trial bill after being passed by Congress.

Upon hearing that this would allow Congress and Parliament to vote again, Liu Zongzhou, Liu Lishun and others no longer had any objections.

What they were thinking in their hearts was actually the same as the emperor's, that is, even if there were problems with the issuance of fen and li coins, it would not lead to major chaos.

In particular, copper coins were still allowed to circulate, and any problems with fen coins and li coins could be exchanged for silver dollars and copper coins.

This motion was added to the meeting as an ad hoc agenda item.

The members of parliament who attended the parliament had never expected that in addition to the salt industry reform, they would also be involved in such a major event.

Their attitudes towards the so-called silver dollar coupons were very different:

"The folded banknotes have been changed to folded silver yuan notes. Then, aren't silver yuan notes treasure notes?"

"Why don't you mint copper coins instead of letting us use treasure notes?"

The attitude of the Ming Dynasty is that the treasure notes are all despised. Even wiping one's butt would be too hard, and no one wants to receive them.

When these people thought that the imperial court was going to issue new notes, they wanted to oppose it.

Thinking of the word "opposition", these congressmen felt a little uneasy.

Because this is different from the policy of Zhuolu District, it was the court that asked them to vote in parliament. As a commoner, can I really oppose the court?

So some members of parliament suddenly fell silent.

However, those retired officials who were designated as members of parliament by the court did not have any psychological burden about this.

Not to mention opposing the court's decision, some of them even dared to spit in front of the emperor.

Even though their membership was designated by the imperial court, they had no psychological burden in opposing it.

But they would not object to the silver dollar coupons, because the court intended to give retired officials silver dollar coupons as pensions.

This made them look forward to it:
"The emperor still remembers us meritorious officials."

"If the silver dollar notes were really as valuable as silver coins, we would have salaries in the future."

"I hope the people in the Ministry of Revenue will not turn the silver dollar notes into treasure notes."

At present, the issuance of silver yuan notes is not large enough, so only 10% of the pension is given to retired officials who stay in the capital according to their ranks. However, if more silver yuan notes are issued in the future, this policy may be implemented in Shuntian Prefecture, Northern Zhili, and even all over the Ming Dynasty.

The lives of these officials after retirement will also be guaranteed, which makes them believe from the bottom of their hearts that the current emperor is a wise ruler.

They were worried that the officials of the Ministry of Revenue would fail to implement this policy properly and the silver dollar notes would become treasure notes in the future.

Another retired official looked at the details of the silver dollar issuance and said:
"Silver Yuan Notes can be used to pay taxes, which is better than Baochao."

"And it was not issued by the Ministry of Revenue, but by the Gold Reserve Committee formed by the Inner Court, the Outer Court, and the National Congress."

"Even if those pests in the Ministry of Revenue wanted to do something bad, they don't have the ability to do so."

As former officials, they generally distrusted officials in the Ministry of Revenue.

The degree of trust in the inner court is higher, because even if the eunuchs are corrupt, there will always be an explanation when the case is brought to the emperor. Especially since the current emperor has eradicated the eunuch party, he will never tolerate eunuchs ruining their reputation.

But the reason they trust the FSB is that Congress holds three of the nine seats on the FSB.

In the future, they may serve on the Congressional Finance Committee and serve as representatives to the Financial Reserve Board.

This made them feel that the Gold Reserve was trustworthy and that issuing silver yuan notes by it could prevent the officials of the Ministry of Revenue from acting recklessly.

After these people's explanations, many congressmen began to have some trust in the Financial Reserve Board, in which Congress could participate.

Especially those members of parliament who did not dare to oppose the court's policies voted in favor with peace of mind.

Both the salt industry reform and the issuance of silver yuan certificates were approved by the Zhuolu District Council.

However, compared with the more than 90% approval rate for salt industry reform and replacing Liao salary with salt tax, the approval rate for issuing silver dollar notes was just barely over half.

And the name of the silver dollar exchange certificate is also clearly defined as the silver coin exchange certificate, which can be used to exchange for silver coins of various denominations and can be exchanged on an equal basis.

It further stipulates that what is currently issued is subsidiary currency, officially called subsidiary currency notes.

The word "silver yuan" is not allowed to be used, as it should not be confused with the currently used "one yuan silver coin".

The face values ​​of subsidiary coins were also set at 1 cent, 5 cents, 1 cent, 5 cents, and 10 cents.

Among them, the ten-cent subsidiary coin is clearly marked as equal to one dime and can be exchanged for a one-cent silver coin.

Ten 10-cent coins, or other coins totaling 100 cents or 1,000 cents, can be exchanged for one silver dollar.

The 2 cents and 2 fen were removed, just like the 20 cents silver coin was not very popular. This denomination is not commonly used in life, and some legislators suggested that it be abolished to reduce the currency that people need to recognize.

After all, there were still many illiterate people in the Ming Dynasty, and having more uncommon two-character characters would just add trouble to them.

There were also members of parliament who were retired officials who bluntly questioned Bi Ziyan in parliament, asking him whether he had the confidence to guarantee the face value of the subsidiary currency notes and produce enough silver coins to meet the exchange.

This made Bi Ziyan look very unhappy, but at the same time he was also glad that the subsidiary notes were issued by the Gold Reserve, which brought Congress into the picture.

If the Financial Reserve had not given three seats to Congress, this vote would have most likely failed.

That would be unprecedented for Parliament.

The Ministry of Revenue might also become a laughing stock and lose its dignity in the court.

Zhang Pu and others were both happy and disappointed when they learned of the result.

The good news is that Parliament has once again played a role, but the bad news is that the role it played was not big enough.

If the Ministry of Revenue's proposal is really rejected, it will further establish the authority of the parliament.

Liu Lishun, who presided over the parliament, also thought of this.

As speaker, he hoped that the parliament could play a greater role. But as the mayor of Zhuolu District, he instinctively felt uneasy about this situation.

In the past, whatever the government said was the final word. He made the proposal at the Zhuolu District Council in order to get the councillors to cooperate and help him implement the policy.

Now I realize that the parliament also has the power to veto my proposals. It's just that my policies were in line with the needs of Zhuolu District before, and the parliamentarians were very supportive.

This made him deeply feel that the local power structure would undergo a great change after the establishment of the parliament, which might contain dramatic changes that he could not imagine.

After the meeting, Bi Ziyan and other officials from the Ministry of Revenue left with gloomy faces. Liu Lishun lamented to Liu Zongzhou:
"I almost offended the Grand Tutor this time, and the proposal for the subsidiary currency notes almost didn't pass."

“I wonder what the Congress thinks about this?”

The Zhuolu District Council is, after all, just a local council. It only performs some of the duties of the National Assembly due to the current special circumstances and represents local public opinion.

The other part of the Congress's responsibilities was handled by the Congress Preparatory Office, which was jointly reviewed and decided by Liu Zongzhou, the director, Fang Zhuangli and other advisors, and representatives from various prefectures in Northern Zhili.

It is now more like a government agency, and the people inside it will not easily oppose the court's policies. Liu Zongzhou said:

"The court wants to provide pensions to retired officials, and the ministers at all levels will not object to this."

"On the contrary, there are more debates about salt industry reform."

"Your Majesty's intention is to make the salt industry reform and the issuance of subsidiary currency notes into laws and implement them according to the law in the future."

"There will be many more times when Congress and the Ministry of Revenue will have to deal with each other in the future!"

Many people have seen that the emperor established the parliament for the purpose of making money.

Currently, the issues that have been voted on by the Zhuolu District Council and the National Assembly include property tax, salt industry reform, and the issuance of subsidiary currency notes, all of which are related to the Ministry of Revenue.

It’s just that compared with the previous practice of Emperor Wanli forcibly collecting mining taxes, it has now become public opinion.

Some people in the court secretly criticized this and believed that the current emperor was worthy of being the grandson of Emperor Wanli.

More people agree that the purpose of the current emperor's wealth accumulation is not to squander, but to meet the needs of state affairs.

In addition, with the constraints of Congress and Parliament, their property will be protected as long as it is legal.

This makes many people more supportive of Congress.

They all don't want another Wanli Emperor to appear in the Ming Dynasty and send eunuchs to collect taxes at will. (End of this chapter)