Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Chapter 130 The treasure notes must be changed! (Subscribe!)
If it’s a small matter, accept it; if it’s a big matter, leave.

This is also the traditional skill of the Zhu family. The Book of the Later Han also said, "If you are beaten hard, you should run away; if you are beaten lightly, you should accept it." This is also a kind of filial piety.

Old Zhu held a sword in his hand, not looking like a man who was almost seventy. "Just stand there! If you can't tell me what's going on today, I'll have to punish you!"

"The treasure notes shouldn't be used this way. I've wanted to change it for a long time!" Zhu Yunhuan turned his head to look, and walked on. "If the court doesn't restrict and guide it, the treasure notes will be no different from waste paper sooner or later!"

Old Zhu was really stunned, and then he really got angry, "Waste paper? You are such an alarmist bastard, how can our treasure notes be waste paper?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was an extremely confident person, and he believed that the policies he formulated were the best. As long as his descendants followed his instructions, he would be able to manage the country well. Zhu Yuanzhang had no doubt about this.

But now, his own grandson said that the treasure notes would become waste paper. How could Old Zhu tolerate this!

"The people prefer to use this treasure note at a discount, isn't that a sign?" Zhu Yunhuan ran with great speed, saying loudly, "Grandfather, if we ban the use of copper coins now, we are really competing with the people for profit!"

In the eighth year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty issued the "Ming Tongxing Baochao" with denominations ranging from 100 wen to one guan, a total of six types. One guan was equal to 1,000 wen copper coins or one tael of silver, and four guan were equal to one tael of gold.

There are six denominations ranging from 100 wen to one guan. One guan is equal to 1,000 wen of copper coins or one liang of silver, and four guan are equal to one liang of gold.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, the printing and issuance of treasure notes was always centralized in the central government, a level of unity never seen in previous dynasties. Moreover, only the initial version was issued, which was also unprecedented in history.

However, the devaluation of Baochao has already occurred and will become more and more serious in the future.

Zhu had thought of ways before, such as the "reversal of banknotes", setting up banknote warehouses in various places to collect and exchange rotten banknotes. All banknotes with denominations and legible characters could continue to be used, and the price for those who bought goods with old banknotes was not allowed to be raised. However, in reality, the government only accepted new banknotes for tax collection, while the public reduced the price for old banknotes or refused to use them.

The most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty "only spent but did not take in", only investing but not taking back or investing more and taking back less, which would inevitably cause the depreciation of the treasure notes.

Paper money was issued to pay military salaries, while supplies and gold and silver were collected from the people; when collecting rent and taxes, only a small amount of new banknotes were collected or no banknotes were collected at all.

Therefore, by the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the treasure notes had become waste paper and no one used them. The royal family was in a miserable situation. Many of their supplies were directly given in the treasure notes, so that many royal family members with lower titles only received a small amount of rice and other food, and most of them were useless treasure notes.

"Competing with the people for profit?" Old Zhu became even angrier and suddenly shouted to the guards, "Don't let him run towards Fengxian Palace!"

Zhu Yunhuan, who was running in front, turned around immediately. He had originally thought that he would be fine if he ran to Fengxian Palace, but now he was blocked. So he ran towards the East Palace. It was impossible for him to almost cross the west and east!
Even if he is the crown prince, he is not allowed to run around in the palace.

The guards and eunuchs could only follow quickly, the emperor chased behind with a sword in hand, and the crown prince fled in front without any style.

This scene is somewhat strange, yet also familiar.

In the past few years, the prince had angered the emperor many times and was chased by the emperor with a sword. But the prince would only run a few steps and the emperor would basically stop chasing him. But now that he has gone out of the Wuying Palace, His Majesty doesn't seem to be ready to give up.

The guards and eunuchs were all very smart. These were not things they could get involved in, so they just had to follow along. Otherwise, they would be the ones to suffer.

Old Zhu suddenly shouted, "Take a break."

Zhu Yunhuan, who was at the front, stopped and panted, "Grandfather, I really thought about it. Otherwise, why did I ask Yu Xin to go over a few days ago and find a head of the Ministry of Revenue to be the Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace? It's nothing more than that the treasure notes are not easy to use now, and there is already a trend of exploiting the people."

Old Zhu leaned on his sword and asked, "How can you exploit the people?"

"How many treasure notes did the court issue?" Zhu Yunhuan asked directly, "Yu Xin doesn't know, and Xia Yuanji doesn't know either. If I don't ask, how can grandfather know?"

Old Zhu was also stunned for a moment. The Baochao had been issued for nearly twenty years, but he really had no idea how much had been issued.

Seeing that Old Zhu was thinking, Zhu Yunhuan continued, "Grandfather, when the court ran out of money, it printed banknotes and invested them in the people. What was collected was copper coins and rice cloth. What did the people get?"

Old Zhu immediately said, "They have the treasure notes in their hands, isn't that the same?"

"How come it's the same?" Zhu Yunhuan said immediately, "The court stipulates that one guan is equal to one thousand copper coins or one tael of silver, but now one guan is at most seven or eight hundred wen. The court still gets one thousand wen back, and the people lose two hundred wen. If this continues, how can it be tolerated? Aren't the people giving all their money to the court in vain?"

Old Zhu was shocked. He was a smart man and didn't think about some things. But when Zhu Yunhuan said this, he felt a little scared.

But Lao Zhu immediately said, "This is only the case in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangnan. Other places are not like this!"

"All the money issued to the military households is in the form of banknotes. How can other places be any better?" Zhu Yunhuan said directly, "I asked the Jinyiwei to check. Many people are unwilling to use banknotes. If the government hadn't forced them to do so, who would be willing to use banknotes? If this isn't exploitation, what is this?"

Old Zhu straightened up and walked slowly forward with his sword in hand.

Zhu Yunhuan reacted quickly. When he saw Old Zhu move, he also slowly walked forward, but his steps became faster and faster.

"Stop!" Seeing Zhu Yunhuan jogging, Old Zhu yelled, "We are exploiting the people, how dare you have such an idea!" Zhu Yunhuan turned his head to look at Old Zhu, and did not run too fast, "I didn't say that grandfather exploited the people, I just said that grandfather didn't think of these things, and the people below deliberately concealed it. Now that I know, of course I have to bring it up."

Old Zhu said angrily, "Even if you are capable, our method is useless, only your method is useful!"

Fortunately, Zhu Yunhuan has always been diligent in exercising, otherwise he really can't outrun Old Zhu. After all, he has the foundation of wandering around and conquering the world, so even though he is over 60, Old Zhu can still keep up.

However, Zhu Yunhuan did not dare to run too fast, mainly because he was worried that he would get out of breath.

Zhu Yunhuan, who was running away in front, turned around and shouted, "Grandfather, let's talk about it after you calm down, okay?"

Seeing that they were about to reach the Eastern Palace, Old Zhu would not give up. If he didn't teach this lawless grandson a lesson today and find a reason for him, he would not cause trouble in other matters later.

Yunhu is a good kid, he has his own ideas and opinions, he will definitely be a good emperor in the future. But this kid is too opinionated and bold. If he doesn't get some things done today, Zhu is worried that the kid will contradict him on other things.

Let’s get things done today!

It’s no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang was playing tricks on Zhu Yunhuan. It’s really that this grandson is a good-for-nothing and sometimes just doesn’t listen.

Originally, I still needed to find a reason, but now, I really don't need any reason, because Zhu is very angry now. In the eyes of his grandson, he, the Hongwu Emperor, is a tyrant who competes with the people for profit and exploits the people?

It would be better to take the opportunity to vent your anger and let everyone know about this matter. Only in this way can some things go smoothly in the future, so that some people will not be bold enough to disobey.

Seeing that he had run to the front of the East Palace and the plum blossom forest in front of the East Palace, Zhu Yunhuan became anxious, "Grandfather, are you going to chop me down again?"

Old Zhu, who had been jogging all the way, was out of breath, but he immediately quickened his pace without saying a word. Only in this way could his grandson have no way to retreat!
Seeing that Old Zhu seemed to be really angry, Zhu Yunhuan also became anxious and immediately ran away.

When Zhu Yunhuan ran back to the East Palace like a gust of wind, the atmosphere was extremely weird.

Not to mention Princess Anqing, Princess Ningguo and others, Zhu Yourong and Zhu Youling seemed to have gotten used to it. After all, Zhu Yunhuan had behaved like a dandy when he was a child, so everyone was used to it and had become immune to it.

Even Chang Lan was only a little surprised. Her little grandson seemed to have grown a lot in the past two or three years. His reputation in the past was indeed not that good.

However, the wives of the nobles have only heard about the Crown Prince's sudden rise to power and his deep scheming in the past two years, but have hardly seen him.

Now seeing that the Crown Prince was not only sweating profusely, but also had disheveled hair and looked extremely embarrassed.

The next moment, Zhu Yunhuan continued to run, and Old Zhu, holding a sword, chased after him in anger!
This frightened the timid women in the family and they all knelt down.

"Stop!" Old Zhu pointed at Zhu Yunhuan and said, "Don't scare people!"

With no way to retreat, Zhu Yunhuan could only stop, but he still stared at Old Zhu. It was not until Old Zhu threw the sword aside that Zhu Yunhuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Old Zhu cursed as he walked away, "You're even more capable than your father, running all the way back!"

Zhu Yunxun stood there stupidly without saying anything. Old Zhu walked up to him, raised his foot and gently kicked Zhu Yunxun, "Come inside and talk!"

The others were still dumbfounded and terrified, but Zhu Yunhuan was just dragged by Old Zhu. He was originally planning to go to the study, but Old Zhu pushed open the door of the palace nearby and then closed it.

Zhu Yunhuan said in a gentle voice, "Grandfather, we really can't be arbitrary about the treasure notes."

Old Zhu suddenly slammed the table and shouted, "In the future, you will be the emperor, and everything will naturally obey you! Now I am the emperor, and you have to listen to me!"

Zhu Yunxun lowered his voice, "People outside might be listening, there might be gossipers out there, it would be bad if it gets out!"

This is exactly what Old Zhu wanted, and he said even louder, "You are the grandson of the crown prince, the future emperor, and the ancestor of our Ming Dynasty! Even the emperor can take away your love, so why are you fussing about this! We are not blood relatives, so why are you fussing about this!"

Zhu Yunhuan's face changed drastically, "Grandfather!"

Old Zhu rushed out and looked at the silent women, "Which one is Xu Miaojin?"

Xu Miaojin immediately stepped forward and knelt down politely, "Your Highness, I am your servant Xu Miaojin. I pay my respects to your Majesty!"

Old Zhu nodded in satisfaction and said, "When the mourning period for the crown prince is over, you two can get married immediately! For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, you should be the crown prince's consort, so that the country can be stable!"

Zhu Yunhuan was in mixed feelings and had to quickly see what Xu Miaojin looked like!

(End of this chapter)