Chastity Layman

  Chapter 377 Since ancient times, princes have not sent soldiers

  In the Hall of Liangyi.

Qin Lang was sweating a little, because he really felt the light of the sword. Maybe Li Shimin didn't mean it today, but if he really obeyed the holy order today, the East Palace built its own armed forces, and had six thousand elite soldiers in Chang'an City, it would take less than two years. Li Shimin will definitely regret it, these thousands of Donggong soldiers, I'm afraid they will become a thorn in the emperor's flesh, making him restless day and night, like a light on his back.

   "Your Majesty, I think that the only major affairs of the country are the priests and the soldiers. The army must be controlled by the court. The emperor is the only supreme ruler of the army. Now the East Palace has ten ranks. In fact, I always feel that it does not conform to the system."

"The minister requests that the six rates of the East Palace be assigned to the Southern Yamen, and be under the command of the Ministry of War. Niuwei, the three guards and five mansions in the east palace were assigned to the left and right Habayashi armies."

  This state must be expressed.

   Otherwise, if the emperor backs out one day, Qin Lang will bear the brunt of it.

  Qin Lang asked directly and thoroughly to give up the military power of the Eastern Palace.

  Li Shimin was stunned.

"Aren't you a little too radical? I just want the East Palace to be a complete small imperial court, so that Chengqian can learn and exercise the ability to manage government earlier, and in the future it will be easier to supervise the regent of the country when I am not in Beijing... ·”

   "Your Majesty, it is right for Your Majesty to exercise the heart of His Royal Highness, but this method is not advisable."

Qin Lang didn't say to beware of the prince, he said that the prince will grow up or something, but the meaning has already hinted that Cheng Qian will always grow up, father and son may have conflicts in the future, if too much power is given to Cheng Qian, even if Cheng Qian Filial piety, but the ministers of the Eastern Palace will have other ideas.

  The handle of the knife cannot be handed over to others, but can only be held in your own hands.

"Your Majesty, I think Chang'an's soldiers and horses are well organized now. There are more than 37,000 soldiers from the Sixth Army of the Northern Yamen in Chang'an City, and 36,000 people from the Twelve Guards of the Southern Yamen outside the city. Internal and external, mutual supervision, this is already extremely perfect, why add new troops?"

   "Adding 6,000 Imperial Guards in the Eastern Palace will cost a lot of military expenditure a year, and the danger of insecurity will increase even more. Please don't put His Majesty the Crown Prince in such danger!"

  The emperor stroked his beard.

   There was silence for a while.

   "It seems that my thinking is simple, so I take it back."

  Li Shimin thought about it carefully, and found that this matter was really simple for himself. It is easy to give military power today, but it is inconvenient to take it back in the future.

  Six thousand Donggong soldiers will indeed add a lot of unnecessary troubles for nothing.

   "There is no need to cancel the Ten Commandments of the Eastern Palace, the Three Guards and the Five Mansions."

   "Your Majesty, since ancient times the crown prince has never been a soldier!" Qin Lang reminded.

  This sentence is very interesting.

  The crown prince is the prince of the country, why doesn't he send soldiers?

   If you can’t, you must not.

As the crown prince, the prince is the first person under the emperor. Although the prince is the elder of the emperor, the prince is often the biggest threat to the emperor. Therefore, the emperor can set up a small east palace for the prince, but generally he will never give the prince the actual command of the army. Power is to worry that the prince will have the ability to seize power after he has military power.

  For the Tang Dynasty, the change of Xuanwumen was a lesson learned from the past. Although it was not Prince Jiancheng who seized power in the end but King Shimin of Qin, the difference is not too big.

  This is the terrible thing about power. Father and son may not have family affection. There must be a limit so that the emperor and prince can maintain balance. Once this limit is broken, the relationship between father and son will be in danger.

  The emperor finally decided to keep the ten guards of the East Palace.

  However, the six commanding forces of the Eastern Palace were changed to commanding three mansions, each with eight hundred subordinate mansions. In this way, the total command was only more than 10,000 points, and these military mansions under the six commanding ranks of the Eastern Palace were all deployed outside Guanzhong.

  And the soldiers under the command of the six guards, Donggong has no right to directly mobilize, it must be transferred by the Ministry of War, Zhengshitang, and soldier talismans.

  The left and right gate rate and the left and right internal rate, without commanding troops, are only responsible for guarding the palace gate and guarding the prince.

  The only soldiers left by the emperor for the East Palace were the soldiers of the three guards and five mansions in the East Palace. These were all served by the children of meritorious and high-ranking officials, the same as the internal guards of the Twelve Guards.

  Eastern Palace with three guards and five mansions was changed to three mansions and three mansions, that is, each mansion of Prince Xun Yi had a thousand people in each mansion, but it was divided into five divisions. In fact, there are six hundred people in the three guards at the same time.

   This is the only Prince's pro-army retained in the East Palace, and the number of guards who are guarded by the gate and guarded by the left and right are very small.

   "The three guards in the East Palace are under the command of the Prince Zuowei."

   "Huailiang, you are very loyal, and I trust you very much, so now the three guards of the East Palace are entrusted to you to lead."

   From six thousand to six hundred.

Moreover, these three guards are all the children of senior officials, which means that these people will not easily follow the prince. Inheritance, who wants to take risks.

"Your Majesty, how can a subject hold multiple positions? I have no skills at all!" Qin Lang shook his head and refused. , there are three to three thousand people in the inner government, but in fact the outer government can't control it, only the inner government, but because of the rotation, it actually only manages to six hundred.

   Even if there are 600 people, you have to worry about what the emperor will think someday, after all, you hold the only fighting force in the Eastern Palace.

  It's a pity that Li Shimin refused.

"Leave it to you, I don't worry! You are above the military, you have unique insights, and if you have time, you should also take the prince to practice more with these high-ranking and high-ranking officials' children. You can't let them fall into the honor of your father and brother. "

   "Sanlang, I recently checked the account books of the East Palace and found that the East Palace is very rich now!" The emperor suddenly changed the subject and talked about money.

  Qin Lang feels that Li Shimin is greedy for money now, more greedy than him.

The East Palace does have a little money now, mainly due to the booming income brought by Guardian Bank, Guardian Auction House, Jixian Bookstore, Chongxian Printing Bookstore, etc., and the participation of Fengzhou Company Construction Company and other projects has also made Donggong a lot of money now. accounted for.

  Although there are thousands of people in the Eastern Palace, the expenses of the Eastern Palace and the salaries of the officials are fully supported, which is more than enough. After all, apart from other things, the East Palace now has neither concubines, concubines, nor troops to support. Chengqian is only ten years old, so how much expenses can he have.

   Earning more and using less, the money will naturally increase.

  Of course, a lot of money earned by the East Palace has been put to practical use. For example, the Nine Classics of Justice, which is presided over, has now completed more than half of it.

Especially through Donggong Chongxian Publishing House and Jixian Bookstore, the nine classics of righteousness, which must be read by scholars, are extremely cheap, with an average page of only one penny, and if you are short of money, you can also rent them directly in the reading room of Jixian Bookstore , or borrow from the Chongxian Library.

"Your Majesty, although the treasury is still full, the money still needs to be planned and budgeted to save some money. Sometimes you have to think about timelessness. When you think about Wude, the court is in trouble. Although the heroes have titles but no Shiyi, although officials have jobs but no salaries, these days are still like yesterday."

   Li Shimin smiled awkwardly.

  In the past two years, Qin Lang, a financial expert, has opened up a way for him to make money, which really made Li Shimin a little swollen. Now that Qin Lang reminds him, he can't help but wake up.

   "I heard that the East Palace newly opened the Guardian Bank, minted gold and silver coins, and even traded them in Lingnan and Saibei, causing a large amount of gold and silver to flow out of the Tang Dynasty? Is there such a thing?" Li Shimin asked seriously.

  Qin Lang nodded without vetoing it.

"Your Majesty, when the imperial court introduced the new currency policy, it only took back the right of the people to privately mint copper coins, but did not prohibit the private minting of gold and silver. The Guardian Bank in the Eastern Palace did mint gold and silver coins and used them to trade in Lingnan and Saibei. It is also because the barbarians and sea merchants who came from the west of the Lingnan Zhugang prefer to use gold and silver."

In fact, Datang's foreign trade has now changed from the negative revenue in the past to smooth revenue, which means that Datang's foreign trade exports far exceed imports, and there are only so many things in the hands of the barbarians, but Datang more goodies.

   There is no way, relying on barter, now the Hu people can no longer produce so many things, so the Hu people who were in deficit began to use gold and silver to purchase goods from Datang.

  Because Lingnan is far away from the Central Plains, it was inconvenient to transport copper coins and silks there. In addition, the Central Plains lacked money in the past. For the Lingnan area that could not be actually controlled, the policy of not paying much money to Lingnan was actually adopted.

  Lingnan has no money to use, but there are many gold and silver mines locally, so Lingnan people began mining and metallurgy, trading gold and silver, and trading spices and other goods.

With such a habit of using gold and silver, the gold and silver brought by barbarians and sea merchants are of course also accepted. After all, gold and silver, no matter what country’s currency, is determined first and then weighed and valued to calculate the money. There is also an exchange rate issue, but this is a business opportunity for merchants.

  To be precise, in fact, gold is expensive in Datang, silver is cheap, and the price of copper coins is also high. The ratio of gold and silver in Datang is about 1:5, and silver and copper is 1:5 to 1:8, less than 1:2.

  In Western countries such as Persia and Rome, the gold-silver ratio can often reach one to thirteen or fifteen.

  So some Hu merchants like to exchange for gold after trading in Lingnan, transport it back to the West, then exchange the gold for silver, and then transport the silver to exchange for gold.

  Originally, the trade between the East and the West was all about selling goods, but now there have been a group of treasure ships specializing in selling gold and silver.

  They are the most primitive international financiers, but they also make a lot of money.

  Li Shimin believes that these barbarians should be banned, because this may lead to the loss of Datang gold.

  But Qin Lang felt that prohibition was not a good strategy, and even thought that Datang could actually make money in this.

  First of all, it is naturally a trade surplus, which can make the foreign trade industry stronger and also drive the rise of many industrial and commercial industries that have a difference in foreign trade.

  Actually, the silver brought in by those Hu merchants was mainly silver ingots, and Qin Lang launched the Guardian Bank and began to mint silver coins.

  These silver coins are not weighed silver coins, but denomination silver coins with Donggong credit. A silver coin with a price of one tael actually contains only eighty-nine silver coins and ten tin coins.

  The silver coins of Donggong Jiade Bank are exquisitely minted, with patterns embossed on both sides, and the outer circle has tooth patterns to prevent scratching, so as long as the silver coins have no obvious scraping loss, they are directly calculated according to the face value.

  The cost of casting this kind of silver coin is lower than that of copper coin, but the Guardian Bank actually collected a large amount of seigniorage through the coinage.

One or two denominations of silver dollars do not actually use one dollar in materials. The cost of materials and labor are all added together. For each silver coin minted, Guardian Bank can still earn about 5%, which is equivalent to collecting 5% seigniorage. .

  The more silver the Hu merchants brought in, the more silver coins Qin Lang could mint, and then circulated to the market, especially to the Hu merchants and the nomadic Hu people in Saibei.

  For every silver coin minted and circulated, the Guardian Bank earns five percent.

  The same is true for gold coins. They are not calculated by weighing pure gold or silver. They are all calculated according to the face value, but the actual silver content is lower than the face value. The difference between them actually becomes the seigniorage of the Guardian Bank.

"Your Majesty, in fact, minting gold and silver coins and circulating them into the hands of the barbarians is equivalent to collecting seigniorage from these barbarians. If our quantity is large, the barbarians will start using our gold and silver coins or even copper coins. Then we actually dominate their currency minting rights, not only can collect their seigniorage, but even control their economy.”

  Li Shimin is dubious, and he still doesn't know much about the power of currency.

   "Your Majesty, may I ask you, this gold, silver and copper, can you eat it when you are hungry and wear it when you are cold?"

   "Although they can't eat or wear, they can be exchanged for food and clothing." Li Shimin replied.

"Of course this is the case under normal circumstances. For example, when I traded with the Turks in the Tang Dynasty, the Turks exchanged a large number of real objects such as their cows, horses, fur slaves, etc. for our gold, silver and copper coins for the convenience of trading and storage. But one day, we If we go to war with them and we seal off the border, stop the border market, and prohibit trade, will your majesty say that the gold, silver and copper in the hands of these Turks will be hungry and cannot be eaten or worn?"

   Li Shimin was shocked, how could it be like this?

Qin Lang smiled, the matter is of course not that simple, but it is roughly such a thing, just like the current gold, silver and copper coins are of relatively good quality, so the seigniorage is not high, but as long as the coins of the Tang Dynasty are of better quality, it will be more convenient for trade transactions , After a long time, no one wants to exchange things for things every time.

  Currency settlement must be the final result, and Datang, who holds the right to mint coins, can not only enjoy more seigniorage, but can even adjust the content and fineness of coins, or issue banknotes directly one day.

  This means that the currency is over-issued, which is actually equivalent to currency devaluation and money grabbing.

   Once the grassland becomes Datang's currency area, they are involuntarily forced to link with Datang's currency, and in fact they will be led by the nose by Datang.

   "But the Central Plains has always had a money shortage, and I don't have enough money to use it. If the money flows out, wouldn't it make the money shortage worse?" Li Shimin was also relatively smart, and immediately thought of a key trouble, the money shortage problem.

  Why are money and silk both used, and even silk is used as currency? It is because of the shortage of copper coins.

  Even if the cost of minting coins is now reduced and the minting money is profitable, only hundreds of thousands of coins can be minted a year.

"Your Majesty, it is necessary to cast gold and silver coins. A silver coin can be worth several thousand copper coins, and a gold coin is worth more than ten thousand copper coins. As long as more gold and silver are absorbed through foreign trade, and then cast into currency circulation, then you can It can greatly alleviate the shortage of currency, what's more, we can also issue bank notes and silver notes through banks and banks, and issue bank notes and bank notes, which can solve many problems of insufficient circulation."

Qin Lang didn't tell Li Shimin that bank notes and bank notes can be overissued, even if the principal of 10,000 guan is 100% cashed, but there is a process of cashing in circulation, so theoretically you can use For this ten thousand guan money, 12,000 or even 20,000 or even 50,000 guan bank notes will be issued.

  Theoretically speaking, as long as the principal is larger, the overpayment rate can be higher. This is actually the same as the bank lending money from depositors, because it is impossible for others to withdraw money at the same time.

  Copper coins will become the need for loose change, while gold and silver coins and silver bills will become the need for truly large-value transactions.

"Huailiang, please sort out these things carefully. I will take a good look back. The Kaiyuan Bank and the Royal Bank can also set up a bank. They can also cast gold and silver coins. If there is a good thing, you can't always think about the East Palace and yourself. One, you have to consider it for the imperial court."

Although Li Shimin didn't quite understand it, he also knew that according to what Qin Lang said, this is a profitable thing, and there are even a lot of profits. How could the court not intervene in such a good thing, and how could the Royal Neifang miss it? ?

  Qin Lang had expected it a long time ago, and he didn't think about blocking the imperial court or Neifang from the outside.

   "The minister will organize it into a watch when he turns back, and present it to His Majesty."

  (end of this chapter)