Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Among several cabinet ministers, the first one to stand up against banknotes was Zhong Shidao, a military attaché turned civil servant.

Zhong Shidao was so excited that he even stood up and slapped the table: "Whether it is Jiaozi or Qianyin, all paper money in the world is a disaster for the country and the people. Paper is neither gold nor jade, it can be made from bamboo and wood. Once it overflows, disaster will Infinite. After several generations of management by a large family, and the life savings of a small person, many people have lost it. The Western Army of the former Song Dynasty was ruined by Jiaozi Qianyin!"

The ministers looked at each other, and those who supported the issuance of banknotes were hard to answer, while those who opposed the issuance of banknotes nodded repeatedly.

Everything Shidao said is true, and he has personally experienced the pain of his skin.

At the beginning of Song Huizong's accession to the throne, Jiaozi was already ruined.

However, Zhao Ji and Cai Jing, the monarchs and ministers, even issued iron coins in Shaanxi and Huainan. The Sichuan Money Making Supervisor was too busy with the business, and even asked the Zhejiang Money Making Supervisor to help make iron coins. How could they not keep an eye on paper money?

In the first year of Chongning, Cai Jing forced the issuance of Jiaozi in Shaanxi through the Tea Horse Company.

Because Jiaozi's credit collapsed in Sichuan, Cai Jing didn't dare to play too big at first. In the first year, only three million strings of banknotes were issued, and one million strings of copper coins were used as reserves.

After initially gaining credit in Shaanxi, Jiaozi was issued in the newly recovered Hehuang the next year.

The border troops who were sent to guard Hehuang had all their salaries turned into banknotes. Because there were too many banknotes issued in some places and there was a serious shortage of supplies in Hehuang, the soldiers were hungry even though they had banknotes, which led to most of the Hehuang border troops fleeing the following year.

In the third year, Cai Jing issued Jiaozi again in Henan.

In the fourth year, in addition to Zhejiang, Guangxi, Hunan and Fujian, even Jiangnan and Jiangxi also issued Jiaozi. The reason why Fujian is not released is purely because that is Cai Jing’s hometown.

At this point, the credit of Jiaozi issued by Cai Jing completely collapsed.

But still did not stop, Cai Jing changed Jiaozi to Qian Yin. Change a name, change an issuing agency, and continue his crazy journey of printing money.

Within a few years, Cai Jing issued 24.3 million banknotes just to spend Shaanxi's military expenses.

In the area of ​​Lanzhou and Hehuang, all the border troops received was waste paper. They drafted troops for garrison every year, and soldiers fled every month.

This made the whole country angry and resentful, and Jiaozi and Qianyin could not be circulated. Song Huizong and Cai Jingcai were finally forced to stop.

Zhai Ruwen continued what Zhong Shidao said: "It has been less than twenty years since Cai Jing stopped issuing banknotes. The soldiers and civilians across the country have long been frightened, especially the soldiers and merchants. As soon as they heard about Jiaozi and Qian Yinliang, When writing the poem, the first thing that comes to mind is to escape from disaster. The Ming Dynasty is not short of money and food, and the national treasury is increasingly in surplus. Why does it issue money to arouse the world's doubts? "

Even Chen Dong said: "Back then, Cai Jing also wanted to issue banknotes in Zhejiang and Zhejiang. Merchants reacted violently and went on strike, which even affected gang transportation and water transportation. For the sake of the safety of water transportation, Cai Jing released two Zhejiang and one horse. The country has established trust in the people with its benevolent government. Although the paper money is being distributed today, it has its benefits, but it is a small loss and a big loss, which is absolutely undesirable!"

Zhang Boring then said: "Even if banknotes are to be issued, they cannot be used as military pay to the soldiers. If you are not careful, the soldiers may mutiny."

One minister after another spoke, and most of them were opposed.

Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming, father and son, looked at each other and smiled bitterly. It was all the fault of Zhao Ji and Cai Jing. The excessive issuance of banknotes had a psychological shadow on the government, businessmen, military and civilians across the country.

It is useless to explain more now, because all the ministers understand very well. They know the advantages and disadvantages of banknotes, and they also know that as long as they do not issue them indiscriminately, it will be fine.

The question is, once the opening is opened, who can guarantee that it will not be spam in the future?

Moreover, the bankruptcy of banknote credit has been less than 20 years ago, and the people have not yet come out of the shadow. Even if banknotes are forcibly issued, it will be difficult to ensure their normal circulation.

The most important thing in the circulation of banknotes is credit!

When Jiaozi was first issued in the Song Dynasty, it was really popular among the people because it was difficult to copy and easy to carry. A hundred-guan banknote can be exchanged for more than a hundred thousand-guan, and its actual use value even exceeds its face value.

Qian Chen actually opposed issuing banknotes, but Prince Zhu communicated with him privately and had to speak out at this time.

He took out a prepared sample banknote and began to introduce the Ming Dynasty banknotes:

"This money is not named after Jiaozi or Qianyin, but is called Da Ming Bao Chao."

"The anti-counterfeiting of the treasure banknotes follows the Jiaozi method and is printed on ten-color paper. On the back of the treasure banknotes, the sun and moon patterns are printed with clear patterns. On the front of the treasure banknotes, the denomination and mountains and rivers are printed with clear patterns."

"As for the dark pattern, it is printed with the head of the Holy Emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

"In the early Song Dynasty, Jiaozi mostly used red and black overprinting. Officials asked craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to create a four-color overprinting method. All Ming Dynasty banknotes were changed to four-color overprinting."

“There are also anti-counterfeiting signs such as monograms.”

"Each Ming Dynasty treasure banknote must be stamped with the special banknote seals of the Cabinet, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Industry, and the Supervisory Yuan. Every time an additional treasure banknote is issued, it must be jointly discussed and approved by the emperor, the Cabinet, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Industry, and the Supervisory Yuan."

"Anyone who forges treasure banknotes, privately seals the portrait of the Holy Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, or forges the official seals of the Cabinet, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Works, and the Supervisory Office. They will be punished for treason!"

"The imperial court plans to set up the Baoquan Bureau, which will be responsible for printing treasure banknotes. The second official of the Baoquan Bureau will be selected by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Works, and the Supervisory Yuan, and will be discussed by the cabinet and submitted to His Majesty for approval."

"For every one hundred guan of treasure banknotes issued, there must be 25 guan of gold, silver, or copper coins as reserve funds."

"Treasure banknotes can be used for paying taxes, and the government cannot refuse them. Even if they are damaged, as long as the handwriting can be read, and as long as there is more than 70% of the banknotes left, the government cannot refuse them."

"Damaged or depreciated banknotes can be returned to the Baoquan Bureau for new banknotes."

This sample banknote was handed over by Qian Chen and circulated among the cabinet ministers.

The paper used is ten-color paper, which originated from the water-grained paper of Sichuan in the Tang Dynasty.

This thing can make watermark patterns, with two types of watermarks: bright flowers and dark flowers.

Dark flowers must be seen through light, while bright flowers have a raised grainy feel. Is it similar to the soft girl coin in your hand?

Don’t underestimate the anti-counterfeiting technology of ancient banknotes!

There are also monograms and other anti-counterfeiting marks, which were all used on Ming Dynasty banknotes, and the overprinting was changed from two colors to four colors (green, yellow, red and black).

The cost of this kind of treasure banknote is not small, and the skills are very high. It is not possible for ordinary people to imitate it.

Ju Ming added: "After the issuance of Ming Dynasty banknotes, paper mills across the country that can produce ten-color paper must report to the local government. How many sheets are made each month, to whom they are sold, and how to dispose of the scraps? Everything needs to be recorded in detail with the government! If you don't follow the rules, you will be fined at the least, and at the worst... hum."

The ministers looked confused. Didn't everyone object just now?

Why did he suddenly throw out a sample banknote and talk about how to deal with counterfeit banknotes?

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes are only issued in Sichuan and Hanzhong for the time being. Sichuan's business is prosperous, but the market is full of iron money, and large transactions are all done with silk. What era is this? Now is the Ming Dynasty New Year In the North Dynasty, merchants were still using silk as money. What was the difference between it and barter? No matter how valuable silk was, it was still in kind, and the transportation cost was extremely high. Local transactions were okay, but if it was shipped to other places for transactions, merchants would be in trouble. inconvenient."

Qian Chen took out another investigation report, which was sent by Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming to investigate.

Qian Chen said: "In fact, after the situation stabilized in Sichuan Province and Hanzhong Prefecture, wealthy merchants have returned to using commercial bills. They are often long-term, trustworthy, wealthy businessmen from two places who print their own commercial bills. Private transactions."

"For example, I am a wealthy businessman in Chengdu, and I have a trustworthy wealthy businessman in Hanzhong. The two of us issue business notes to each other, stamp them with private seals and signatures, and record them in the account books. Then we can exchange them for physical objects in different places. This is the same as treasure notes. What's the difference?"

"Your Majesty and the Crown Prince wish to issue three million Guanbao banknotes this year to set up branches of the Baoquan Bureau in Chengdu, Hanzhong and Yuzhou."

"First let the local wealthy merchants use iron money or physical objects to buy the treasure banknotes. In the first few years of the issuance of the treasure banknotes, ordinary people were not involved, and they were only used as commercial notes among merchants."

"Moreover, if merchants want to cash out, they can immediately go to Baoquan Bureau and exchange the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes for iron coins. For the time being, they can only exchange for iron coins. In the future, they can also exchange for silver coins and copper coins."

"When the treasure banknotes gain credibility among merchants, they will gradually be issued in smaller denominations so that ordinary people can also use them for daily transactions."

After listening to it, all the ministers thought about it carefully and found that they could not find any flaw.

As for Baoquan Bureau, it is a bit nondescript.

It is also under the leadership of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Industry, and the Supervisory Office, and has the functions of printing and issuing banknotes. A bit like a central bank.

The branch office of Baoquan Bureau has the function of freely exchanging banknotes and metal coins. It's a bit like a commercial bank.

However, it does not have storage and lending functions for the time being.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "If the ministers have no objection, then it is settled."

Many ministers hesitated to speak, but in the end they did not object again.

The emperor and the prince had produced sample banknotes and formulated a series of rules. This was obviously something that had been planned for a long time.

The four-color overprinting technology alone probably took several years of research and development by the Ministry of Industry.

Is it useful for ministers to object now?

Not only is it useless, it will also make the emperor and his ministers unhappy.

Ju Ming said: "In the first year, three million guan banknotes will be issued, and in the second year, another 5 million guan banknotes will be issued. If the merchants are willing to accept it, they can also issue more as appropriate. But no matter how much is issued, there must be sufficient reserves. If there is no reserve, Do not issue indiscriminately. You must be cautious in this matter. The collapse of banknotes in the former Song Dynasty should be taken as a warning."

"yes!"

The ministers promised, but it was actually quite unpleasant.

The court's bottom line is always no bottom line.

The ratio of reserves to banknotes is currently set at 1:4. In the future, financial stress may become 1:5, or even shamelessly 1:100.

Taizu and Taizong abided by the rules, and so did the founding ministers.

But what about one hundred or two hundred years from now?

As we get to the middle and later stages of the dynasty, there is no bottom line. If there is a financial problem, who will take care of it?

No matter how bad ten coins, tin coins, or iron coins are, they are still metal currencies and can be used barely. Only paper money really becomes waste paper if it is printed too much.

Zhai Ruwen left the imperial city and sighed: "Banknotes appear again. How will we deal with them after a hundred years?"

But Zhong Shidao said: "How can we manage it in a hundred years? As long as we don't give it to soldiers now."

Xiao Chu said: "A hundred years from now, if the Ming Dynasty cannot make ends meet, the court will probably issue paper money. Whether it is issued now or not, it actually doesn't matter much. You can't stop eating because of choking."

The ministers had different thoughts, but most of them were worried.