back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 65 A sudden whim (recommended for collection)

Hearing the ministers arguing like a vegetable market and citing scriptures, Lu Chengqi turned a deaf ear to them.The ancients had almost zero knowledge of economics. They only knew about minting coins and re-minting coins, but they never thought about the real reason.Lu Chengqi didn't count on them either, he was just thinking hard, hoping to remember the knowledge of economics he learned in college, and see if he could find a way out of it.

The solution he was looking for was something that could be done once and for all, not a stupid solution that only cured the symptoms but not the root cause.He suddenly felt urgently that people should study economics, otherwise, if this continues, economics that no one understands, no matter how prosperous the business is, will be wiped out after the business bubble is burst.

Even if Lu Chengqi has the ability to determine the economic structure, if there are no talents with a deep understanding of economics to control the economic trend, there will be no Lu Chengqi in the future, and the Dashun Dynasty will still collapse.

A good economic situation is essential for a country to develop normally.If you want the economy to run normally, you must have the corresponding talents to regulate the economy.When the economy is overheated, it should be warmed up gradually; when the economy is too cold, it is necessary to know how to stimulate the market and promote consumption.

For a moment, Lu Chengqi thought far ahead.But when he was arguing with all the officials in the hall, he recovered from the quarrel, and said lightly: "There are not enough copper coins, what is the main reason?"

The momentum of the quarrel among the officials was suppressed, and no one dared to answer this question.Lu Chengqi then said to Lin Zhenzhong, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, "Lin Qing, can you tell me what is the main reason for this money shortage?"

Lin Zhenzhong came out with his wat in his hand, and said in a low voice, "Maybe it's because there are too few coins and the money is not enough..."

Lu Chengqi sighed: "You all know the reason, but you dare not say it. I also know that each of your households has a large number of copper coins, but you don't take them out. It's because the copper coins are cast into bronze wares and sold abroad. In exchange for more merchandise. Am I right?"

All the officials were silent, many of them did this, because the salaries given to them by the imperial court were all in exchange for money, which was always a thousand dollars.In order to obtain greater benefits, they will send copper coins to the hands of those who go to sea in exchange for more commodities.However, there is not enough money in foreign countries, and the copper coins of the Dashun Dynasty are extremely popular in foreign countries.But the strange thing is that their country also hoards Dashun's copper coins, but instead uses iron coins and tin coins.This is bad money driving out good money.What's more, the copper coins are melted and cast into insufficient copper coins, which can also be used as sufficient money.A sufficient amount of copper coins is not worth enough for this currency.Of course, this is only done abroad. In the Dashun Dynasty, there is only a dead end to privately mint copper coins.

Lin Zhenzhong knew that he couldn't hide all this from Lu Chengqi, so he immediately confessed: "I am guilty!"

Lu Chengqi waved his hand and said, "I don't blame you, the depreciation of copper coins is understandable for you to do so. But I am worried that if it goes on for a long time, our Dashun's currency system will collapse! In view of this, do you have any countermeasures?"

All the officials looked at each other in blank dismay, they all knew that Lu Chengqi had great ambitions, but unexpectedly he wanted to solve the problem of money shortage.They don't have a deep understanding of economics, so how can they come up with effective methods?

Lu Chengqi suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of the gold standard system.This is a palliative method, and the real solution lies in the issuance of credit currency.After all, no matter what kind of metal currency, its growth rate is far lower than the growth rate of commodities. Over time, it cannot meet the ever-expanding commodity circulation needs.In addition, China is not a big gold producing country. Although gold is precious, its quantity is scarce.In this way, it must be replaced by silver.In this case, it is copper, silver, and gold three-level currency.

After issuing more advanced currencies, it is necessary to establish a financial system to prepare for credit currencies.The safest way is to open a bank in the name of the imperial court.The role of this bank is to issue currency, similar to the central bank of later generations.By the way, do some money saving business and loan business.Anyway, after the bank is opened, it must make money.

Lu Chengqi talked about his own thoughts, but of course he didn't talk about the credit currency later. After all, the ancients couldn't accept a piece of paper as money in circulation.Although the earliest banknotes appeared in China, they were called Jiaozi.But the price of the last Yiguanjiaozi is not as good as a few copper coins, which shows that banknotes are not trusted and depreciate unimaginably fast.

All the officials quietly thought about the rationality of this system. After all, Lin Zhenzhong was the Minister of the Ministry of Households. He was the first to agree: "I think it is possible. Our dynasty also uses silver and gold as auxiliary currency, and now they are accepted as currency. Among them, it may alleviate the money shortage."

All the officials naturally disagreed. After the money shortage eased, the copper coins in their homes would be considered waste money. At that time, the copper coins might drop to a lower value, and the exchange of [-] Wen was always possible.But they didn't dare to object. After all, this method was thought up by the little emperor, and they expressed their "worries" in a "tactful" way.

Lu Chengqi also knew their concerns. The consequences of the explosive growth of commodities must be the depreciation of the currency.When in a buyer's market, commodity prices will not be high.As a result, the circulation of money is hindered, causing inflation and further depreciating the currency.Currency depreciation is equivalent to the rise of commodities with the same price.A certain degree of inflation will stimulate the economy; but excessive inflation is a disaster.Lu Chengqi doubts that the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty was actually caused by a huge inflation.

Regardless of the objections, Lu Chengqi said firmly: "If there is no better way, then follow my way. According to the usual price of money exchanged for silver in the market, silver coins and gold coins are minted to assist the circulation of copper coins. At the same time, we must establish A royal bank collects gold and silver, and then issues copper coins based on the amount of gold and silver. You can’t issue money indiscriminately like before. This will not only solve the money shortage, but also make the copper coins worthless. Lin Qing, you are the secretary of the household department , I will leave this job to you. You have to do it with your heart, pay attention to summarizing the laws of currency, and find out the reason.”

After Lu Chengqi made a final decision, the officials knew that objections would be useless, so they had to exchange the copper coins for silver as soon as possible after returning home to reduce some losses.

On the second day, "Dashun Minbao" also recorded this news, and even pointed out that the current emperor is worried about money shortage, and specially minted silver coins and gold coins to assist the issuance of copper coins.The intention is to weaken the status of copper coins as the main currency and enhance the currency status of gold and silver.If copper coins are not used, they may be worth less in the future.Even if you take it abroad, because the exchange ratio of copper and silver has changed, you may not necessarily be able to buy more things than at home.

As soon as this report came out, the rich and noble who hoarded copper coins were about to cry.There is not much silver in Dashun, but there is a lot in Japan. They are afraid that they will not even be able to get back half of their family property, so they rush to use their copper coins abroad.More wealthy people sold copper coins abroad, but because of the trade surplus, these copper coins soon returned to Dashun Kingdom.To Lu Chengqi's surprise, he exchanged a lot of silver while trading with Japan.All because silver is worthless in Japan, but copper coins are very valuable.In this way, it is not afraid that there will be no silver to use. Japan is a big silver-producing country. As long as it is in this kind of trade situation, Dashun will make money.

(End of this chapter)