Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1757 Meng Xian
There are more than 40 classifications of the prefectural and county treasury inspection accounts listed by the special search team of the Planning Institute alone.If we add the checks of the private property of bureaucrats and subordinate staff, the number of categories will be as many as several hundred columns.Just browsing through it once is enough to hurt Liu Xiang.

Hainan was originally a poor country, a place where officials and privates were exiled, "far from the evil military state".The circulation of metal money is small, and commodity economic activities are lagging behind.Therefore, after the counties took over, they were actually directly incorporated into Lingao's circulation coupon industrial economic system.As one of the most affluent places in southern China, Guangzhou Mansion has rich collections, complicated systems, and incompatibility with the modern government and industrialized economic model, which really made the elders who came to Guangzhou uncomfortable.

"The most troublesome thing for me now is how to pay the cadres." Liu Xiang complained a lot, and finally turned to the main topic - it has been more than half a month since they landed, and they are currently using up all the sporadic administrative expenses. It is a variety of materials for "financial return": food in the warehouse for food, cloth in stock for making clothes, confiscated furniture for office furniture... In short, as long as you can find things in the stock, you will not go out to buy.It is really necessary to go to the market to buy things and only use a small amount of broken silver and copper coins.

Before the new currency is issued, any matter involving money must be cautious.He knows that the Senate attaches great importance to the issuance of new coins-he has received a notice from the general office that a number of financial veterans have recently come to Guangzhou for "business".What kind of business can the senior financial officials come to Guangzhou to do?It's not for the release of this Aoyang!
When Liu Xiang was exhausted and stopped to drink water, Meng Xian said unhurriedly: "The counting and accounting of Ku Yin and miscellaneous silver have been done almost, and they will soon be shipped to Hong Kong to mint coins." Factory—Cheng Xiang has already said that all the new coins produced by this batch of silver will be placed in a special financial account, and the name of the account is called the Guangdong Special Fee Account. This money is earmarked for special use, and it is all used to support the entire province of Guangdong. Financial expenses. As for the copper coins, they can only be recycled as industrial resources—naturally, the Planning Institute can't give you any compensation..."

Liu Xiang nodded: "I know that. Where is the Planning Institute? That's where the meat from the legs of mosquitoes has to be scraped out."

Meng Xian smiled, and then said: "As for other things, the Planning Institute also communicated with us, and the unanimous opinion is to sell them on the spot. The funds obtained in exchange are placed in the special account, mainly for use in Guangzhou. Of course, As the most economically developed city in Guangdong, the Guangzhou municipal government still needs to take care of other small cities in the province."

Liu Xiang quickly expressed his opinion: "I fully support this." He added, "It's just that it's sold on the spot. It's best to let the planning institute handle it. There are too many rags in it. According to the account books, it is still gold and silver, and it is garbage when it is taken out. A considerable part of it needs to be written off and scrapped, and our city government may not be able to explain it clearly in the future if we do it ourselves."

"Naturally, when the time comes, our financial department will also participate. The three parties will participate together. The specific work will be handled by the city government. After all, you are the land master, and all merchants in Guangzhou have to listen to you." Meng Xian held up the phone in front of him. Venetian carved glass, took a sip of the "Xue Ziliang" brand of mixed fruit brandy specially provided by the elders, "You don't have to worry about paying the salaries of the cadres. This happens to be a great time for the issuance of new coins. Just take this opportunity to promote the money go out."

"What I'm most worried about now is the credit of banknotes." Liu Xiang finally expressed his worries, "Guangzhou is a pure silver area. We issue new coins now. In theory, banknotes and silver dollars are shared and circulated at equal value. I am worried that ordinary people will not trust banknotes, and there will be a run on silver dollars.”

Guangzhou is the place where silver is used most frequently in southern China, and the circulation of silver is huge. Due to the shortage of copper coins, merchants even privately mint silver beans as auxiliary currency.Thanks to the wonderful monetary policy of the Ming Dynasty, paper money has a very bad reputation.Even the grain circulation coupons that are widely circulated in Hainan are rarely circulated in the Guangzhou market, and are basically only circulated in a limited manner among "Kun merchants". Guo Yi and Meng Xian tried several times to expand the scope of use of circulation coupons in Guangzhou, but The businessmen and common people in Guangzhou did not buy it.

"The Ministry of Finance allocated 100 million banknotes, but there are only 20 silver coins. I can't keep the 20 silver coins. I don't know how fast the silver coins will be returned. But I know that ordinary people will not trust banknotes at the beginning. , as soon as you get it, you will exchange it into silver dollars or buy physical objects. We said that the exchange is universal, what if there is not enough silver dollars in stock? This is a great blow to the credit of paper money!"

Meng Xian put down his glass and said, "Old Liu, your worries are justified. Currency system reform is a very difficult matter. Our finance and economics departments have specific financial measures to deal with your concerns. There are plans for the economy. However, it is impossible to use paper money to replace silver as a currency just relying on market financial operations.”

His expression became very serious: "The establishment of a legal currency system must be implemented with the help of administrative power. It is necessary to use knives and guns. In the final analysis, the circulation of modern currency depends on the government's credit—in other words, the government's violence. .What we are doing now is actually a placebo, just to reduce the resistance to the issuance of banknotes. We want to be trustworthy, but we can’t fool ourselves into it.”

Liu Xiang didn't expect him to speak so blatantly, he said with difficulty: "So..."

"How much money can ordinary people have?" Meng Xian smiled. "I have been in Guangzhou for many years. Most of the people under the Ming Dynasty can only be considered food and clothing. The lack of food and shelter is the best reflection of their economic ability. A big The senior shopkeepers in the shop earn only one or two taels of silver per month. That’s all, they are considered relatively wealthy among the citizens. The so-called exchange pressure is mainly concentrated on the merchants and landlords and gentry who hold a large amount of silver. You put them Once it’s done, the next thing will be easy to handle.”

"What about specific measures?" Liu Xiang asked.

"The implementation plan hasn't been finalized yet. But Chen Ce will come to Guangzhou soon, and he will bring a complete set of implementation plans. To go into details, the tax department will definitely be used—although it is not too easy to interfere with your administrative work. Appropriate, but the tax department had better be sound as soon as possible."

"I have indeed considered this. After all, taxation is the normal source of fiscal revenue. We cannot always rely on house raids and appropriations."

"We must distribute the wealth from house raids, and when to distribute it is up to you. But taxation is an imminent matter," Meng Xian said, "The issues involved in agricultural taxation are more complicated. I think we can start with commercial taxation first. You enter After the city, all kinds of bad regulations were cancelled, and the merchants only paid the regular tax—this tax amount is simply ridiculous. We have to adjust the tax rate quickly and introduce new taxes, otherwise they are used to low taxes, and it will not be so harmonious if they are implemented in the future. "

Zeng Juan got up very late today - he helped the family make scented wax last night, so he didn't go to bed until four o'clock.Since the Kun people entered the city, the business of incense candles, which had been lukewarm, has suddenly improved. In this turbulent world, the sense of instability caused by the ever-changing king flag at the top of the city has made many people beg for the blessings of gods and Buddhas, and rush to buy incense candles. When you go to pray to the gods and worship the Buddha, you must also burn incense and pray in front of the ancestors' spiritual tablets in the ancestral hall, asking the ancestors to bless their children and grandchildren.

Thanks to the Kunren's entry into the city, Zeng Juan's family was able to pay back some of the debts owed to the spice shop and oil wax shop. When Zeng Juan went to pick up the goods, the boss's face looked better.Zeng Juan had wanted a new hat for a long time, and his mother agreed to buy it.

But the dark clouds surrounding Zeng Juan's house did not dissipate.Also because of the Kun people's entry into the city, the owner of the spice shop said that the foreign ships are not coming now, the supply of spices is tight, and the prices of all the spices they use will increase.

Knowing that this is just an excuse, but a small workshop like Zeng Juan's has no bargaining power at all.

Zeng Juan's father calculated from inside to outside, and the profit brought by the business improvement this month will be fully included in the next month's purchases.So Zeng Juan's new hat had to be postponed again.

"Little craftsmen like us really can't turn over for the rest of our lives." Zeng Juan walked down the simple wooden ladder from upstairs, and saw his father who went to bed later than himself last night, dipping candles by the stove—— The skinned rushes are dipped into the melted oil and wax solution over and over again until they reach the appropriate thickness and length.

This work is not only tiring, but also you can only wear a single coat even in winter, and you don’t need to go to the pot in summer, as long as you get close to that corner, you will feel an unbearable heat wave.Dad barely managed to work by soaking his feet in cold water.

In addition to the heat, there is also the stench of grease. The wax used to make candles is mostly the waste oil of cattle and sheep. Even Zeng Juan, who was born here, could not bear the stench emitted when boiling.

Looking at his busy back and the candles he made beside him, he must have been working for a long time—I really don’t know how my parents survived.

Zeng Juan had an older sister who was married to the owner of a small teahouse in Qianjie.The business of the teahouse was good, and Zeng Juan's sister had some money, so she paid for Zeng Juan's education.So Zeng Juan did not suffer too much when he was young.However, my sister died of dystocia last year, and my brother-in-law soon got married, so the money for my studies was naturally gone.Zeng Juan knew that his parents were gnashing their teeth to help him study, and wanted to turn over his schoolbag so that he could live a decent and comfortable life, not to mention being famous.

Now that Kunren came, the door of sociology was closed. In fact, even if the door was not closed to study hard every day, what's the point of practicing and passing on Qihe?He has long known that Australians do not conduct imperial examinations.

What's more, Zeng Juan also knew that even if the Australians didn't come, it would be as difficult as heaven to pass the exam with Shi Wen who was criticized by the teacher!

(End of this chapter)