The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Even if the matter of conferring a royal title on Duke Cheng Guo Zhu Xizhong is finalized, I will send a note to the Ministry of Rites and ask them to report the matter.

Zhang Juzheng, under the guise of the palace, asked Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang to choose silence on this matter, and then he spoke.

Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang both lowered their heads. Although they felt it was inappropriate to pursue a dead man, they knew they could not object.

At this point, the matter has been settled in the cabinet.

In the Ciqing Palace, Feng Baogang finished analyzing the results of the foreign court meeting and talked about the granting of the title to Duke Cheng Guo Zhu Xizhong. What he emphasized was that the cabinet believed that Zhu Xizhong had contributed to the rescue of Emperor Jiajing when he was on patrol in the south. .

In fact, strictly speaking, it was not Zhu Xizhong who really rescued him, but the long-dead Lu Bing. It was Lu Bing who snatched Emperor Jiajing out of the sea of ​​fire.

However, Zhu Xizhong has been protecting the emperor since then, and can barely be considered as a guardian.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Xizhong was Duke Cheng after all, so this credit was recorded for a long time as Zhu Xizhong and Lu Bing jointly rescued the emperor.

Especially after Lu Bing's death, no one would mention the detailed process. Thirty years have passed, and it is difficult to find anyone who was present at the time.

Since Feng Bao dared to harvest money from the Duke's Mansion, he had naturally carefully considered the matter.

Speaking of Zhu Xizhong's pursuit of the title of king, except for the rescue effort in the 18th year of Jiajing, it seems that he can't find any other greater credit.

"There is no greater merit than rescuing the driver." Naturally, the contribution of rescuing the driver is the most important, and everything else has to be put aside.

Because even as a king, he still has to bear the responsibility of the person who rescued him, so he naturally has to pay more attention to him, so his rescue effort is particularly extraordinary.

Among the hundreds of scholars in ancient China, Confucian culture undoubtedly occupies the most important position, so today we all refer to the famous ancient intellectuals as Confucian scholars.

In the two thousand years of feudal social rule, Confucian culture has always played a very important role. Although it has experienced ups and downs during this period, it was finally promoted to the most noble position during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. This is the "deposed Among hundreds of schools of thought, Confucianism is the only one respected."

In the following thousand years, no matter how the dynasties changed, feudal rulers vigorously promoted Confucius' "benevolence", and Confucianism became the cornerstone for feudal kings to consolidate their rule. Confucianism was the so-called orthodox thought in feudal society.

Although in Confucianism, the merit of rescuing someone is actually nothing. Although the king seems to be the tallest and largest, there is an "existence" that is above the king, and this existence is the "Sheji".

"She" originally refers to the God of Earth, and "Ji" originally refers to the God of Grain, but She Ji together is used to refer to the country, or it can be expressed as the country passed down from the ancestors.

Since ancient times, "the state" has been more valuable than the king, so the contribution to saving the state should naturally be greater than the contribution to saving the king.

But it's still the same thing, favor. Saving the emperor is a huge debt of favor, and the emperor has to pay it back.

"Since the cabinet has this intention, let's give Duke Cheng a title."

Empress Dowager Chen has always chosen to trust the cabinet on these matters. Since Feng Bao said so, there is no truth to it.

In fact, she only vaguely remembered that there seemed to be such a saying that Zhu Xizhong and Lu Bing saved Emperor Jiajing, and since then they have continued to be favored by the Holy Family.

"What my sister is saying is that since the late Duke Cheng Guo was instrumental in rescuing him, it is not a big deal to pursue him as a king."

Queen Mother Li also nodded and said.

In the Ming Dynasty, as long as people with different surnames were not granted the title of king alive, it was not a big deal in the eyes of the people in the harem, and there was no explicit prohibition in the ancestral system.

To put it bluntly, everything depends on the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang. As long as they comply with the rules, it will be fine.

On the cabinet side, after Zhang Juzheng had made his decision and was about to end the cabinet meeting, Lu Tiaoyang suddenly said: "Your Excellency, Mr. First Assistant, Mr. Second Assistant, I saw a document handed over by the magistrate of Haicheng County, Fujian Province today. Official documents.

The article mentioned that barbarian ships came from the South China Sea, carrying a large amount of silver and overseas products to trade our Ming Dynasty goods. Since the port goods had been sold out, they purchased another batch of gold and left. "

"Huh? Exchanging silver for gold is considered a transaction, so what's wrong with it?"

Zhang Juzheng asked.

"We have always banned the circulation of gold and silver before the Ming Dynasty. Although it was allowed to use both money and money during the Longqing period, gold trading was not allowed after all. When Haicheng County learned about this matter, it didn't know how to make a decision, so it reported it to the Ministry of Household Affairs."

Lu Tiaoyang opened his mouth to explain.

After hearing this, Wei Guangde also understood what Haicheng County Magistrate was worried about, but at this time, he thought more about the chaotic Ming Dynasty Money Law.

Although China has a long history of using silver, in the Western Han Dynasty and before, silver was not a currency in circulation, but was mostly used in handicrafts and jewelry.

After the Eastern Han Dynasty, silver could occasionally be seen on the market as payment currency. This was due to the scarcity of gold and silver, which restricted precious metals such as gold and silver from becoming circulating currencies.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, China actually implemented a single currency, which was made money, such as knife coins, five baht coins, etc. Only official money was legal tender.

In the Tang Dynasty, money and silk began to be used together, and coins such as "Kaiyuan Tongbao" were used. Silk fabrics such as "绫" and "绡" were used in large transactions.

The currency of the two Song Dynasties also followed the Tang Dynasty system and implemented the parallel standard system of money and silk. It was also based on making money. In the middle and later periods, paper money was added, namely Jiaozi, Huizi and Guanzi, but the settlement unit was still "Guan".

Although a small amount of copper coins were minted in the Yuan Dynasty after that, currency circulation soon became dominated by banknotes. Its banknote method went through three stages: Zhongtong banknotes, Zhiyuan banknotes, and Zhizheng banknotes.

The paper money of the Song Dynasty became very popular in the Yuan Dynasty, which was beyond the imagination of the Song Dynasty people. The imperial court began to issue Zhongtong banknotes and forced them to be used throughout the country.

In the Yuan Dynasty, paper money was the only legal currency. The use of gold, silver, and copper coins was prohibited. Anyone who refused to use paper money was punished by death.

However, banknotes use silver as the reserve currency. The so-called "silver-money power" means that banknotes can nominally be exchanged for silver or even gold and silk. This means that banknotes are still anchored to physical objects, which limits the issuance of banknotes.

At the same time, the imperial court rewarded not paper money, but gold and silver and other items, making people unable to have enough confidence in paper money.

The banknotes issued in the late Yuan Dynasty quickly changed from using silver as a reserve at the beginning to directly deciding the amount of issuance by the court. At this point, the banknotes quickly fell into depreciation and entered a period of hyperinflation, and the credit of banknotes was lost.

Zhu Yuanzhang chose to print Ming treasure banknotes. In fact, he just inherited the paper currency from the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty also adopted the policy of the Yuan Dynasty from the beginning, prohibiting the circulation of gold, silver and copper coins, and only using treasure banknotes.

However, due to the dramatic depreciation of banknotes in the Song and Yuan dynasties, while the Ming Dynasty's banknotes were in circulation, silver always had a place among the people. It was not until a few decades later that the imperial court had to relax restrictions on the use of silver, and "both the government and the public used silver." .

When the orthodox Emperor Yingzong was on the throne, the court implemented a system of silver exchange for taxes and services, allowing those who did not serve in the service to pay silver instead, and the gold flower silver system, which also opened the prelude to the silvering of the Ming Dynasty's finances.

The original meaning of Jinhuayin is fine silver with gold flowers, also known as Zhese Yin or Jingku Zheyin. It is the silver collected from taxes and grains in the Ming Dynasty. It was mainly used for rewards from the emperor and for the monthly salary of military attachés.

In the early Ming Dynasty, taxes were mainly collected in kind, and only gold and silver were collected from mining and smelting taxes. Gold and silver were collected from summer taxes and autumn grains, but only occasionally in Shaanxi and Zhejiang. They were all included in Nanjing's salary for military officials, and the expenses of various parties were also taken from it.

After Yongle moved the capital, officials from the capital had to go to Nanjing with their salary slips to receive their salary rice, which was a long and expensive journey. They often bartered the rice for goods, buying it at a high price and selling it at a low price. Sometimes the salary slip was seven or eight dan, but only one tael of silver was exchanged for the people and officials. All are disadvantageous.

In the first year of Zhengtong, Zhou Quan, the deputy censor of the capital, suggested that the taxes and grains be collected in cloth and silk and silver to be used as salary in the southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Huguang, and Jiangxi areas. Zhao Xin, the governor of Jiangxi, and Huang Fu, the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, also successively requested .

The Ming Dynasty then decided to levy a summer tax of more than 4 million shi in exchange for silver from southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi.

Each stone of rice and wheat is converted into two cents and five cents of silver. A total of more than 1,012,700 taels of silver are paid to the inner transport warehouse in Beijing. More than 250,000 taels are divided into the inner transport warehouse every quarter, which is called gold. Flower silver.

During the reign of Xuande, Zhou Chen, the governor of the south of the Yangtze River, asked the officials to check the amount of government land and the top-grade household tax grains to be converted into gold flowers and silver, and four shi per taels of rice would be used as salary in the capital.

Later, this system was implemented by other Chief Secretaries across the country as a permanent example.

By this time, although the imperial court still officially prohibited the circulation of silver, because it had already used silver as a medium to collect taxes and levies, it had actually acquiesced in the currency attribute of silver.

After Xuande, treasure money was almost not used in private transactions. During the Hongzhi and Zhengde dynasties, money was accumulated in Taicang many times for official salaries, with the rate of ten cents, one silver and nine.

It can also be seen from this that the Ming court had actually used silver as currency by this time.

By the Jiajing period, the use of silver had penetrated into all aspects of social life. Finally, in the eighth year of the Jiajing period, the imperial court began to "use silver for taxes and official salaries." In the northern defense of Mongolia, "all additional troops were paid with silver." ".

There are more and more problems with the imperial court's silver receipts and payments, and silver is getting closer and closer to legal tender. The fundamental reason is that the banknote law has been completely corrupted.

The Chenghua and Hongzhi periods were an important transition period for the Ming Dynasty's finances. Different from the occasional insufficient fiscal expenditures in the early Ming Dynasty, during this period, the imperial finances began to experience continuous expenditure crises.

However, during this period, the imperial court could still make up for its financial shortfall by printing treasure banknotes when its expenditures were insufficient.

By the Jiajing Dynasty, treasure money could not be spent at all, and only copper coins and silver accepted by the people could be used.

But as for the treasure banknotes used to pay military salaries, due to the collapse of the treasure banknotes, the officers and soldiers had no money to pay. Therefore, some officers and soldiers in border towns considered the cost of travel, and there were some who could not pay the banknotes for four to five years, or for 89 years, or even for life.

But in any case, during this period, treasure banknotes could still be used to supplement the finances. However, Emperor Jiajing was a relatively pragmatic emperor. He knew that continuing to pay treasure banknotes to the subordinates might affect the stability of the imperial power, so he followed public opinion and began to choose silver payment and reduce the issuance of treasure banknotes.

And this also became the fundamental reason for the huge deficit of the Jiajing Dynasty, even if the old inventory was exhausted, it was not enough.

Thinking of this, it is naturally a major matter that Wei Guangde has been considering for a long time. He is not confident that he can handle this matter well, and perhaps he can only place his hopes on the person above.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but glance at Zhang Juzheng, who was in the position of chief assistant.

He wanted to open his mouth, but he saw his assistant minister Lu Tiaoyang out of the corner of his eye. Wei Guangde finally decided to wait and discuss the matter with Zhang Juzheng privately.

And this is what Wei Guangde has been considering, the complete abolition of the "Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes".

At this time, the Ming Dynasty Baobao was still nominally the currency officially recognized by the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it had long been abandoned by the people and existed only as a financial collection medium and ceremonial currency.

However, although it was abandoned by the people, when the imperial court and local officials made annual financial reports, treasure banknotes were still regarded as an important part. Even the silver used for taxation eight years after Jiajing was only a part, related to salt tax, Commercial tax discounted banknotes and customs banknotes still have a certain proportion of treasure banknotes that account for revenue and expenditure.

In Wei Guangde's view, this was really a huge loss of the imperial court's fiscal revenue.

If local governments could be completely prohibited from accepting treasure banknotes when collecting taxes and all use silver coins instead, the government's government revenue would be able to increase by hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

However, most of these policies were formulated during the Chengzu and Xuanzong periods in order to save the treasure banknotes. After printing and issuing a large number of treasure banknotes, an appropriate amount of the treasure banknotes were recycled to stabilize the value of the treasure banknotes.

These policies have become so-called "ancestral systems" and are difficult to change.

At least, Wei Guangde doesn't think he has the ability to change.

It's not that the reason is insufficient. In fact, when Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the policy of treasure banknotes, he never thought of recycling these papers.

Since Taizu did not have this plan, then the subsequent policies were against the ancestral system, and it is logical to abolish them now.

Converting all the treasure banknotes that the Ministry of Accounts still collects every year into cashier money can naturally increase fiscal revenue and provide real money.

So, after Lu Tiaoyang stood up to say goodbye, Wei Guangde made an excuse to stay.

"Shandai, what else do you want?"

When Zhang Juzheng asked this question, he was actually worried. He was also worried that Wei Guangde would discover his conspiracy with Feng Bao.

Once the matter is brought to Ciqing Palace, they will not be able to live with it.

However, after Wei Guangde expressed his thoughts, Zhang Juzheng breathed a sigh of relief, as long as their plan was not discovered.

"Since the Xuande Dynasty stopped printing treasure banknotes, the number of treasure banknotes recycled by the imperial court every year is still small. Is it necessary to completely discard them?"

Zhang Juzheng didn't think Wei Guangde's idea was of much benefit. Even if it could add a little money to the court, it would be equivalent to removing the last fig leaf of the Ming Dynasty's treasures.

He didn't want to touch the mess left by Taizu.

"Brother, the current predicament of the imperial court cannot be solved overnight. There is no other way but to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

I have also read Brother Shu's article "There is a Way to Make Money", which says, "This is the way to make money." ’

Unfortunately, the imperial court spent too much money and could not make a balance at all, so it had to find ways to collect all the money receivable.

From the perspective of Shandai, this tax deduction can be completely given up.

When Taizu discovered the treasure banknotes, it was mainly because of the shortage of copper materials in the Ming Dynasty. The printing of treasure banknotes facilitated the circulation among the people. As for what happened after that, that is a story for another day.

Although copper is still in short supply today, what He Qing said just now made my eyes light up. Now that overseas silver is pouring in, and the court is making money, it seems that it can be made from silver. "

The silver money Wei Guangde mentioned was not the silver circulating in the Ming Dynasty and the money made at this time, but he planned to make silver coins directly in the Ming Dynasty. (End of chapter)