Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1162 Coins
Daming, a side hall of the Qianqing Palace.

The Ming Emperor Zhu Shenzhu was concentrating on looking at some coins in his hand, and sitting below him were the Crown Prince Zhu Minlan, the Minister of the Imperial Household Xu Xiancheng, the Prime Minister of the Zongli Yamen Zhang Xijun, the Chief Assistant Hong Chengchou, the Second Assistant Wang Jinwu, the Cabinet Ministers Qian Qianyi and Yang Sichang, the Minister of Works Wang Mingxuan, and Kang Youfu of the Imperial Household Department.

Soon after Zhu Shenzhui returned to Beijing from Mongolia, the cabinet was reorganized. According to the time calculation, the term of the previous cabinet had also expired. Except for the second assistant Wang Jinwu and Qian Qianyi who was previously added to the cabinet, the rest of the cabinet elders left their posts at the end of their terms. The cabinet was reorganized, and Zhang Zhifa and others left the cabinet for other arrangements. Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang entered the cabinet, and Hong Chengchou directly served as the first assistant.

Zhu Shenzui had some considerations for making this arrangement. Although Qian Qianyi entered the cabinet first, and he entered the cabinet as the Minister of Rites, and Qian Qianyi was also quite famous, it stands to reason that he was fully qualified to be the Prime Minister.

However, Zhu Shenzhu knew Qian Qianyi too well. Although Qian Qianyi was famous in the literary world, his actual ability to govern was not strong. Moreover, Qian Qianyi was once a leader of the Donglin Party. Although the Donglin Party and other parties had long been in name only after Zhu Shenzhu's repeated attacks, who could guarantee that the Donglin Party would not revive again? Even if Qian Qianyi had already surrendered to the emperor, as long as his banner was there, someone might use Qian Qianyi's name to make the Donglin Party reappear one day, and Zhu Shenzhu had to guard against this.

Zhu Shenzhu considered several things when letting Qian Qianyi join the cabinet. One was that Qian Qianyi was a man of sense. When dealing with the Donglin Party before, Qian Qianyi showed his position and attitude, which also contributed to the subsequent collapse of the Donglin Party.

The second is Qian Qianyi's reputation in the literary world. No matter what, as a leader in the literary world, Qian Qianyi is still very famous among literati. Putting him into the cabinet can appease literati and students under the current circumstances, set a benchmark to show the emperor's magnanimity.

As for the third point, although Qian Qianyi did not have strong political ability, he was not without strengths. This kind of person would be good if used well. Moreover, Qian Qianyi was a smart man. He knew very well that without the support of the emperor, he would have no chance of entering the cabinet. With him in the cabinet, Zhu Shenzhui could better control the cabinet through him.

In addition, the entry of Yang Sichang, the Minister of Revenue, into the cabinet was unstoppable. As a famous minister, Yang Sichang should have been in the cabinet long ago. However, during the Chongzhen period, for various reasons, Yang Sichang never entered the cabinet, which was a pity.

After the cabinet adjustment, it was a foregone conclusion that Yang Sichang would enter the cabinet this time, both in terms of political achievements and abilities. However, although Yang Sichang was capable, he was not so easy to control. Since Yang Sichang entered the cabinet, Qian Qianyi should have entered the cabinet even more. You must know that the two of them have never gotten along. In order to prevent Yang Sichang from entering the cabinet, Qian Qianyi used dishonorable means, which resulted in Yang Sichang losing the opportunity to enter the cabinet. Qian Qianyi also did not benefit because his private means were exposed, which angered Emperor Chongzhen. He directly lost the opportunity to enter the cabinet and was subsequently sent to Nanjing to take up an office. It can be said that both sides suffered.

Putting Qian Qianyi and Yang Sichang in the cabinet was to check and balance each other. In Zhu Shenzhu's view, the cabinet must not be monolithic. If the cabinet has only one voice, then the power of the cabinet will be too great and even threaten the imperial power.

Qian Qianyi and Yang Sichang already had conflicts, and having both of them enter the cabinet at the same time would allow both sides to be restrained, which would be much safer for Zhu Shenzhui.

In addition, Zhu Shenzhu originally planned to re-employ the old minister Zhou Yanru, and let Zhou Yanru replace Zhang Zhifa as the chief minister. However, Zhou Yanru refused to join the cabinet on the grounds of his old age. Although he had a long history and had good relationships with Qian Qianyi, Yang Sichang and others, Zhou Yanru also knew that it was not easy to be the chief minister of the cabinet, and he was indeed a little old now. He was nearly sixty years old and had served as the chief minister before. He had some concerns about joining the cabinet again. After he strongly refused, Zhu Shenzhu considered it again and again and decided to transfer the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Hong Chengchou, back to the capital to serve as the chief minister.

Zhu Shenzhui's main purpose in sending Hong Chengchou to Fujian and serving as the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang and stationed in Fuzhou was to get rid of Zheng Zhilong's group. But now, Zheng Zhilong's group has been quickly eliminated by Hong Chengchou. The Zheng's group, which was once so powerful, has been wiped out. Zheng Zhilong and some important figures of the Zheng family have either been brought to the capital to hold idle positions or left Fujian in subsequent transfers to other places.

Now the Zheng Group has been replaced by the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Navy. With the continuous decline of Zheng's power and the departure of personnel, the imperial court has completely taken control of this fleet (navy). In addition, after continuous reorganization, adjustment and splitting in recent years, the Nanyang Navy has become the imperial court's army and has nothing to do with Zheng anymore.

Under such circumstances, Hong Chengchou's position as Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang was a good one to retire after his success, and his position was originally a temporary one. After solving the problems of Fujian and Zheng, there was no need to set up this position of Governor-General, so taking advantage of the cabinet adjustment to transfer Hong Chengchou back to the capital and let him join the cabinet as the chief minister was an excellent choice, both as a reward for Hong Chengchou's contributions over the years and for the political balance of the court.

Hong Chengchou lived up to expectations. He soon took office as the chief minister of the cabinet after entering Beijing. After he became the chief minister of the cabinet, he handled the affairs of the cabinet in an orderly manner, and he also had enough skills to suppress Qian Qianyi and Yang Sichang and others below. In addition, he had a good relationship with Wang Jinwu. Although he was the chief minister, he knew the particularity of Wang Jinwu, the second assistant. The cabinet had a smooth transition in his hands, which made Zhu Shenzhu very satisfied. Looking at the coins in his hand, Zhu Shenzhu was very focused. These coins were minted by the Ming Dynasty. In fact, they began to be minted as early as Zhu Shenzhu ascended the throne. According to convention, minting coins was a very important thing after the new emperor ascended the throne. Minting new coins according to his reign not only confirmed the legitimacy of the new emperor's rule, but also announced to the world that the emperor had changed, telling the people of the Ming Dynasty that it was no longer the Chongzhen year, but the Yongming year, and the current emperor was the Yongming emperor.

In recent years, the common coin Yongming Tongbao has gradually replaced the previous Chongzhen Tongbao, and the concept of Yongming Tongbao has gradually become popular. In addition, the paper money issued by the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty has completely replaced the previous Ming Baochao in recent years, and the current paper money is anchored and guaranteed by the Ming Dynasty's finances, so its currency value is extremely strong and it is much more convenient to use.

This was the result of Zhu Shenzhui's hard work over the years. Moreover, with the continuous improvement of the national finances, the rapid development of domestic and foreign trade, and the recovery of people's livelihood in various regions, the Ming Dynasty has climbed out of the previous quagmire, regained its vitality, and even showed the atmosphere of revival.

But even so, the use of paper money cannot completely replace copper coins and gold and silver currencies. Although it can play a certain role in bulk product transactions and some currency exchanges, it is impossible to completely replace the original currency with paper money under the current circumstances.

It should be noted that even in the early and middle 20th century, countries around the world were unable to do this, and paper money and a large number of subsidiary coins, including gold and silver coins, still existed at the same time. It was not until the 21st century that, with the continuous development of science and technology and the rapid progress of electronic information, primitive currencies gradually withdrew from the stage, but in some cases they are still rarely used, which is inevitable.

Therefore, in the face of such a practical situation, Zhu Shenzhui considered and decided to continue to promote paper money while also continuing to mint original currencies. Among them, copper coins were more convenient to mint, after all, copper coins were issued in all dynasties. The Ming Dynasty also had its own minting bureaus, Baoquan Bureau and Baoyuan Bureau. One of these two agencies belonged to the Ministry of Industry and the other to the Ministry of Revenue. Both were official minting agencies of the Ming Dynasty, responsible for currency minting.

Just like Yongming Tong Bao, it was minted by the Baoquan Bureau and the Baoyuan Bureau. However, more than a year ago, for the convenience of management, Zhu Shenzhui decided to merge the two bureaus into one and changed it to the Ming Royal Mint. This Mint was no longer under the jurisdiction of a single Ministry of Works or Ministry of Revenue, but was set up by four departments, namely the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Revenue, Imperial Household Department and the Zongli Yamen, with one supervisor and three deputy supervisors. The Ming Royal Bank then intervened to be responsible for specific affairs and supervise them to determine its special status.

The current Ming Dynasty Royal Mint not only continues to undertake the casting of Yongming Tongbao, but also begins to try to cast gold and silver coins. The gold and silver coins in front of Zhu Shenzhui are the newly minted coins. Compared with the Ming Tongbao coins that were minted in the original way, these new coins use the latest pressing technology of the Ministry of Industry. They are no longer the previous round coins with square holes, but the same round overall coins as Western currencies.

These new coins have different denominations and sizes. There are seven types of silver coins, namely 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents and 1 dollar.

The silver coin uses the latest pressing technology, which makes it more exquisite than the ordinary Ming Tong Bao. The front side has the words "Ming Silver Coin" and the currency value. On the back is an exquisite pattern. The patterns of different values ​​are also different, all of which use various floral patterns. In particular, the outer edge of the silver coin is specially pressed with a gear-shaped edge. This process is mainly to prevent someone from scraping off the outer circle with tools when using the silver coin and making a profit in this way.

In the later use process, once the gears on the edge are found to be scratched, the use value of this currency cannot be calculated according to the face value, and it can be completely rejected in subsequent exchanges and uses, or even reported to the police directly to investigate and hold the other party accountable for the crime of destroying the currency.

Silver coins of different face values ​​are divided into different sizes and weights according to the actual amount of silver. For example, a one-cent silver coin weighs one cent of silver, a two-cent coin weighs two cents, a five-cent coin weighs five cents, and so on. One yuan is equal to one tael of silver, but pure silver is not used in actual casting. Instead, alloys are used. The proportion of pure silver is maintained at 90%, and the remaining 10% is copper and other metals to enhance the hardness of the currency and avoid wear and tear during use.

As for gold coins, there are only two types, one is 50 cents and the other is one dollar. Like silver coins, they are made of alloy, with gold accounting for 90% and the remaining 10% being silver-copper alloy. Since the value of gold coins is ten times that of silver coins, there is no need to divide them as carefully as silver coins. The use of these two gold coins can basically meet the needs.

(End of this chapter)