Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 225 Currency Reform, Cen Wenben's Fear
Li Yuanji looked at the copper coins in his hand again and again. The more he looked, the more delighted he became. In order to give this big gift to Li Er, he had prepared for a long time.

"How many copper coins have been minted so far?"

Liu San smiled when he heard what Li Yuanji said.

"Your Majesty, please follow me. Your Majesty will know once you see me."

Seeing Liu San start to act mysterious, Li Yuanji immediately became interested and smiled.

"Jingren, Liu San has learned this trick now. Let's go and take a look together."

Cen Wenben also laughed immediately: "Your Majesty, Liu San has read a lot of books in his spare time. For this reason, he often consulted Kong Yingda, but he was often lectured by Kong Yingda."

Li Yuanji immediately looked at Liu San curiously. Liu San turned around, scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly.

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Your Majesty. I was thinking that the drawings and techniques you gave me were quite profound. If I learn some knowledge, I might be able to have a deeper understanding of the techniques and do better.

I often trouble Minister Kong, but fortunately, he does not look down on a rough man like me. He will patiently teach me when he has time. It’s just that I am dull and often irritate Minister Kong.”

Li Yuanji was really happy. Whether it was the Ironware Inspectorate, the Firearms Inspectorate, or the Navigation Bureau, the people he arranged to be in charge were all craftsmen and had not received any training.

Li Yuanji had no choice. Thinking that everyone has their own expertise, he didn't care about this and continued to let them be the ones in charge. Now that Liu San actually took the initiative to start learning, how could Li Yuanji not be happy.

The techniques he has exchanged for now need to be passed on to the next generation by those who have mastered them thoroughly. While passing these techniques on, it is also for the purpose of understanding whether someone will be able to make another breakthrough based on the current foundation.

For this purpose, he specially set up an industrial college. In the industrial college, students had to learn some basic knowledge at first and then study the professional technical skills.

The teaching of these technical skills depends entirely on people like Liu San. Now that Liu San is able to take the initiative to learn, he will be able to better teach these technical skills to the next generation in the future. Li Yuanji is happy to see this happen.

After hearing this, Li Yuanji immediately praised Liu San: "Not bad, study hard. Kong Yingda is really good at learning, let alone other things. I will send you some books later, study hard.

Even in the Ironware Bureau, technical skills are the most important, but knowledge is equally important. If other people want to learn, you can organize them, which is a good thing. "

Liu San smiled foolishly when he heard this. He didn't dare to tell anyone about this for fear that people would say he was not doing his job properly. After all, Li Yuanji gave him such an important task as the Ironware Supervisory Office, but he went off to learn knowledge. He also felt that he was not doing his job properly.

Now with Li Yuanji's affirmation, Liu San felt even happier.

Soon, Liu San brought Li Yuanji to a warehouse, and then Liu San opened the door of the warehouse himself. When Li Yuanji approached and took a look, he was immediately shocked.

Li Yuanji looked into the warehouse, which was filled with densely packed copper coins. These were not just piled up like a mountain; they had already piled up into a mountain.

Li Yuanji immediately looked at Liu San and spoke in a hurried voice.

“How much money is there now?”

Liu San returned to Li Yuanji and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, this storehouse has 100,000 strings of money, and there are exactly ten such storehouses, all of which are full, and each storehouse is storing 100,000 strings of money.

In addition, ten warehouses have been built. The first warehouse is half full. I have sent people to start casting copper coins day and night. More warehouses like this will be built later. "

One copper coin is equal to one penny, and one string of coins is equal to one thousand pennies. One string of coins weighs about six pounds and four ounces, which is close to six and a half pounds.

Because of the weight limit on money, traveling merchants today will see many boxes filled with copper coins.

The amount of money a person can carry is really limited. A string of coins weighs this much. How much can a person carry?

Li Yuanji now used silver to replace copper coins, which in disguise reduced the transportation burden for businessmen. After all, one tael of silver was equivalent to one guan of money, which was more convenient to carry.

Li Yuanji looked at the copper coins in the treasury with a smile on his face. One treasury contained 100,000 strings of coins, and ten treasuries contained a million strings of coins. These were all minted by the Ironware Supervisory Commissioner. The copper coins obtained through trade were not included.

Li Yuanji then looked at Cen Wenben.

"Jingren, how many copper coins are there in the treasury now?"

Li Yuanji looked expectant, as this was related to his upcoming action against the Tang Dynasty. If the number was not enough, the time would be further postponed.

Cen Wenben said without hesitation, "Your Majesty, the treasuries of all prefectures have been counted, and there are now 5.6 million copper coins."

Li Yuanji was shocked when he heard this. Five million six hundred thousand strings of cash plus the one million strings of cash here, that would be six million six hundred thousand strings of cash. This amount of money would not be much if it were placed during the most prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty.

But at this time, if all the taxes of the Tang Dynasty were converted into money, then this amount of money would be equivalent to almost two years of taxes of the Tang Dynasty today.

Li Yuanji thought for a moment and quickly made a decision, then looked at Liu San.

"In the coming period, the scale of coinage will be expanded again. The expanded coinage facilities should not be used to mint copper coins. I will give you a pattern and specific instructions later. Then you can do it according to what I give you."

Li Yuanji gave Liu San some instructions and returned to the palace with Cen Wenben.

"Jingren, your main focus from now on is to do what I am going to say next. First of all, make arrangements as soon as possible. All prefectures will start using silver and stop using copper coins in the future."

Li Yuanji had previously arranged to use silver only for trade. Within his fiefdom, a mixture of copper coins and silver was still used. He did not force every place to use silver.

Cen Wenben was not surprised after hearing this. He and Li Yuanji had already discussed the use of silver, and now he just confirmed this matter.

But even so, Cen Wenben still frowned. "Your Majesty, changing the currency is related to the foundation of the country, so we should be cautious. If all prefectures implement it at the same time, the pressure will be very great, and the exchange of silver and copper coins in many places has not been arranged yet.

I suggest that this policy can now be implemented first in Leizhou, Guangzhou, Nanzhou, Liuzhou and Jiaozhou prefectures. These five prefectures are the fastest growing and are the bases of the king. The king's prestige is unparalleled and they are also the most fully prepared.

Giving priority to the five prefectures can ensure that the currency is completely silverized. At the same time, the problems that arise when changing currency in the five prefectures will be dealt with by the officials below, which will give them more experience and guarantees when implementing it in other prefectures.

After the five prefectures have completed the silverization of their currency, they can then start doing it in Liuzhou, Lüzhou, and Songzhou. While the replacement is being carried out in these three prefectures, the exchange points in the prefectures that have not yet started will be strengthened. At the same time, news can be passed on so that the people in each prefecture can be prepared.

When the three prefectures are almost completed, we can replace Yuezhou Prefecture, Zhenzhou Prefecture, Xizhou Prefecture, Taizhou Prefecture, Wuzhou Prefecture, Yunzhou Prefecture, Quanzhou Prefecture, and Xifu Prefecture. If we replace them all at once, the area is too large and it will be too difficult to complete all at once, and it will be very easy to cause chaos. "

Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben with a look of satisfaction. He also agreed with what Cen Wenben said.

"Jingren is right. Let's do as you say. I have only one request, which is that the currency must be replaced in all places. From now on, copper coins will no longer be used as a transaction currency in my fiefdom. Silver must be used.

Jingren, you must negotiate and decide on this matter with the various prefectures as soon as possible. The exchange of silver must be implemented in every city, and the people must not suffer any loss. At the same time, you must set up an inspection team to secretly inspect all the prefectures that are implementing it.

If you discover a problem and local officials fail to deal with it in a timely manner and the prefectures do not take it seriously, you must intervene immediately.

Anyone who dares to be careless about this currency exchange, or who takes advantage of the opportunity to make money, will be severely punished, especially those who take the opportunity to make money. If one person is found, kill him. If ten people are found, behead ten. If a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand people are found, they will all beheaded!

Anyone involved must not be let off, no matter who is implicated, they must be severely punished, without the slightest mercy!"

This currency change was part of his preparation for taking action against the Tang Dynasty, and it was also for the sake of greater convenience for the people. Compared with copper coins, silver is easier to carry, and he did not want this to be used by others to make money.

Just as Cen Wenben said, this matter concerns the foundation of the country, and even more so his prestige in his fiefdom. If someone did this, the people would probably hate not only those officials, but also him, Li Yuanji, who would be implicated and hated together.

Now that he is vigorously developing the economy, he cannot tolerate the fact that some people still want to take the money. The attitude he expressed is zero tolerance. Once discovered, he will investigate and punish them. They must be severely punished, and those who deserve to be beheaded will be beheaded.

At this critical juncture, he doesn't care about the population. Those black sheep and parasites must be cleaned out. Only in this way can he develop better.

Cen Wenben felt relieved when listening to Li Yuanji's murderous words. To do such things, the attitude from top to bottom must be firm, and there must be the courage to chop off the hands and heads of anyone who dares to raise a hand. Once the attitude is not firm, it will be difficult to push it forward.

Now that Li Yuanji was so determined and gave him such great support, and had considered all aspects very comprehensively, Cen Wenben also agreed with great enthusiasm.

"Please rest assured, my king. I will definitely fulfill my mission!"

If the currency reform fails, it will become a negative example for the world. However, if it succeeds, it will surely be remembered by future generations. As a drafter and participant of such a major event that involves people all over the world and has far-reaching impacts, Cen Wenben is also proud of it.

Now, after several months of preparation, the silver reserves in the treasuries of various prefectures are sufficient to complete the currency replacement.

What Cen Wenben didn't know was that there was a huge silver mine in Iwami, Japan, waiting for them to develop.

Li Yuanji was also thinking a lot in his mind. Silver as currency? This was just a transition. What he needed was to collect wealth from all over the world. He wanted to gradually make the world's currency mainly based on the currency he used. The currency he formulated here would affect the Tang Dynasty and overseas countries.

Li Yuanji nodded with satisfaction, and then asked Cen Wenben again.

"What is the current silver reserve in the Tang Dynasty?"

This is the issue that Li Yuanji is very concerned about now, as it is related to his next actions.

He knew that Li Er was also stockpiling silver, but he didn't know how big the move was. Now that the trade relations between the Tang Dynasty and him were getting closer and closer, Li Er could no longer stop it.

Even if Li Er wanted to cut off the trade between the Tang Dynasty and him, the noble families and merchants in the Tang Dynasty would not agree. No one would be willing to miss such an opportunity to make money. No matter where the goods taken from him were sold, they would be exchanged for money.

In addition, many raw materials within the Tang Dynasty are needed by him, and the trade between them will only become more and more prosperous, especially since he has set the silverization of trade, Li Er will inevitably be affected.

Cen Wenben thought for a moment, frowned and said: "The Tang Dynasty does have silver reserves, but the exact amount cannot be verified. The confidentiality is too strict and our people cannot access it.

However, one thing is certain, the circulation of silver in the Tang Dynasty is now quite large. The imperial court must be aware of this situation. In order to cope with this situation, the imperial court will have to reserve a lot of silver.

In the future, I am afraid that silver and copper coins will coexist as the two currencies in the Tang Dynasty.

Or the court could introduce policies to weaken the influence of silver and strengthen copper coins as currency.”

Li Yuanji frowned and pondered. According to Cen Wenben's estimation, Li Er had stored about one million taels of silver. Originally, the Tang Dynasty did not value silver, and the imperial treasury was mostly copper coins. Now it was not so easy for Li Er to store silver.

It is not easy to purchase from the market, because all the major families and merchants are purchasing silver to use for trade with them.

As for mining silver mines, they are not open-pit mines, which are difficult to mine and do not bring in much profit. There are also not many open-pit silver mines. Moreover, due to the previous lack of attention paid to silver mines, some silver mines are even in the hands of aristocratic families.

After thinking for a while, Li Yuanji spoke decisively.

"Jingren, go collect all the copper coins from various prefectures. Together with the copper coins minted by the Ironware Bureau, there are nearly 7 million coins. Then, take all this copper coins to the Tang Dynasty for consumption and purchases!"

Li Yuanji's mouth corners were upturned. Although he was smiling, he looked extremely cold and his eyes were full of amusement.

However, after hearing this, Cen Wenben was stunned for a moment and looked at Li Yuanji with wide eyes. He was wondering whether he had heard it wrong or Li Yuanji had said it wrong.

Cen Wenben was full of disbelief. At this moment, he was full of fear. In his eyes, Li Yuanji's words, his first reaction was that Li Yuanji was going to give money to the Tang Dynasty! To help the Tang Dynasty overcome the current difficulties!
(End of this chapter)