Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 462 Paper Money and Immigration (6K)

The tent was filled with a strong smell of alcohol.

There were bottles of wine and some leftovers on the table.

Everyone kept raising their glasses and clinking them, and the atmosphere in the air was quite depressing.

"What the hell is going on?"

"The enemy just started the night attack and they collapsed on their own. The Burmese soldiers are really fucking useless!"

"That's right, the Burmese's actions are really confusing. If they had held out a little longer outside Yangon, we might still be fighting the enemy outside Yangon. Why would we come here to drink alone?"

"..."

A group of people were talking about it, and Yan Yuanzhou also had an unpleasant look on his face.

But he did not openly mock the Burmese general’s decision;

"Alright, alright, stop talking!"

"After all, we are now in the Burmese army. To put it bluntly, we are living under someone else's roof. We should know what to say and what not to say."

After Yan Yuanzhou finished speaking, a Tang army soldier still spoke with some dissatisfaction and indignation.

"That's what I said!"

"I still don't believe it. Can Tun Min Tun really do anything to us?"

"We are Tang people after all. The Burmese have no right to blame us!"

This Tang army soldier's words were somewhat arrogant.

But it is also true.

If Tun Min Tun really wanted to do something to them, it would become a diplomatic dispute.

Even if they are wrong, the Tang Dynasty will definitely stand up for them, even if it is just for the sake of their own face!
Just like other powerful countries in the world at the same time, the Tang Dynasty was actually very protective of its own people.

If Tang people commit crimes, we in the Tang Dynasty can handle them ourselves, but others absolutely cannot.

Upon hearing this, Yan Yuanzhou's face darkened and he couldn't help but slam the table.

"You're not done with your horse, are you?"

"You don't even listen to me?"

As the leader of their team, Yan Yuanzhou still has some prestige.

As soon as these words were spoken, the Tang army soldiers, who had just shown an expression of rebellion and indignation, instantly became obedient.

He continued drinking without saying a word.

One cup after another, it seems that the wine can dispel the depression in the heart.

But at this moment, a shout was heard outside the tent.

"Won!"

"We won!"

"Rangoon has been recaptured..."

Yan Yuanzhou listened to the faint shouting outside the tent, subconsciously put down his wine glass and walked out.

When the tent curtain was opened, one could see that there was a commotion everywhere in the Burmese army camp.

The entire Burmese military camp outside Bago was plunged into a wave of carnival.

Yan Yuanzhou grabbed a Burmese army officer who was walking towards them and asked.

"Brother, what's going on?"

"What happened? Why is everyone so excited?"

Upon hearing this, the Burmese army officer said immediately.

"I was just coming to tell you guys the news!"

"This is the news from Yangon. The Tang army has launched an attack. The British were defeated in Yangon and have surrendered."

“Rangoon has been recaptured.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Yuanzhou couldn't help but smile.

Behind him, the Tang army soldiers couldn't help but cheer.

“Hahahaha, we win, we win!”

"The Tang Dynasty is victorious!"

"In front of my Great Tang Heavenly Soldiers, the Western Barbarians are truly vulnerable!"

"..."

The entire camp was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

In the central army camp, Tun Min Tun also received news of the great victory in Yangon.

An involuntary smile appeared on his face.

"Haha, Yangon has been recovered, Lower Burma has been recovered, and there is hope for the revival of our Konbaung Dynasty!"

Although the recovery of Lower Burma this time was done with the help of the Tang Dynasty.

But, don’t worry about whether you borrowed help or not, just ask whether you recovered it or not?
Now that it’s recovered, isn’t that enough?

As for other things, it doesn’t matter!
However, just when Tun Min Tun was feeling proud, a group of soldiers walked in from outside the tent.

Judging from what these people were wearing, Tun Min Tun knew that they should have come from the royal capital.

Looking at the group of aggressive royal capital soldiers appearing in front of him, Tun Mintun frowned subconsciously.

"What do you want to do?"

"Who let you in?"

As Tun Min Tun finished speaking, the leading officer took out a token from his arms, showed it, and then spoke.

"General, we are here on the orders of the King to come to Pegu and bring you back to Mandalay."

"General, please cooperate and don't make things difficult for us!"

When Tun Min Tun heard this, his heart skipped a beat and he had a bad feeling.

"You...what do you mean?"

The leading officer said calmly.

"Someone needs to be held accountable for the defeat in Yangon..."

Due to the behavior of the Burmese transport captain, the Tang army suffered a small loss at the gates of Yangon.

Fang Haiyang couldn't swallow this.

But it is not necessary to take out anger on the prisoners of war because of this.

On the battlefield, each side serves its own master, so it is natural for them to fight each other.

If you want to retaliate against your enemy, you can certainly do so on the battlefield.

As long as you don't accept the enemy's surrender, it doesn't matter even if you kill all the enemies.

Well, this is an act of war, and it's perfectly normal.

But if we accept the surrender and then kill the prisoners, that would be too embarrassing.

Accepting surrender means that you are mentally prepared to let the matter go.

If you turn against them and kill the prisoners of war afterwards, that would be hooliganism.

If they were facing a small country, they would just act like gangsters. Before joining the Tang army, Fang Haiyang was a pirate leader.

He doesn't care about his face!

But who could blame them for capturing British prisoners of war this time?

Fang Haiyang still has some concerns about Britain, a global power!
If that's the case, then we can only vent our anger on the Burmese.

Who the hell asked you to be the transport captain!

If you hadn't been the transport captain, how could the Tang army have suffered such heavy casualties in Yangon? !

Fang Haiyang became angrier and angrier, so he reported the matter to the court.

The Tang Dynasty was also unambiguous and immediately sent a telegram demanding an explanation from Myanmar.

After receiving the call for accountability from the Tang Dynasty, the King of Burma was stunned on the spot.

Can this matter be traced back to me?

But there was no other way. Facing the accountability of the Tang Dynasty, he could only give the Tang Dynasty an explanation as much as possible to avoid dissatisfaction from the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Tun Min Tun, who was responsible for commanding the battle in Yangon and then led to the defeat of the Burmese army in Yangon and served as the transport captain, became the scapegoat.

When Tun Min Tun heard this, the expression on his face suddenly became dejected.

He leaned back in his chair, his expression filled with despair.

He knew that he was finished this time!
Upon seeing this, the officer in charge immediately waved his hand and ordered his men to go up and subdue Tun Min Tun, and then escort him out of the military tent.

Arriving at the door of the military tent and lifting the curtain to go out, the sunlight was blinding. Tun Min Tun squinted his eyes subconsciously, and saw Mangchai standing beside him.

Upon seeing this, the Burmese army officer responsible for arresting Tun Min Tun stepped forward and spoke.

"General Mangchai, the next military affairs will be handed over to you."

"I hope you can reorganize your troops as soon as possible, and then lead them south to Yangon to take over the defense of Yangon."

"By the way, His Majesty the King has specifically instructed that the Tang Dynasty will station troops in Yangon."

"Our army must remember not to clash with the Tang garrison. In all matters, we should give in if possible."

King Mindon knew that the reason he was able to recover Burma was entirely thanks to the help of the Tang Dynasty.

Once the Tang Dynasty withdrew its troops from Myanmar and the British army launched a counterattack, it would only take a moment for them to lose Myanmar.

The gap between the Burmese Army and the British Army is really too big!

The Battle of Rangoon is the best example.

The Burmese army, which had the advantage in weapons and manpower, was actually killed by the British army stationed in Yangon. It was simply outrageous!

Therefore, in order to preserve Lower Burma, King Mindon is trying every possible way to please the Tang Dynasty.

It would also allow the Tang Dynasty to help them defend Lower Burma!
In order to please the Tang Dynasty, King Mindon believed that letting the Burmese army suffer a little loss was nothing.

Upon hearing this, Mangchai nodded immediately.

"Please tell the king that I have guessed it!"

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

……

Zhejiang, Wenzhou Port!

A gust of wind blew.

The air was filled with a strong smell of the sea.

A fishing boat slowly approached the port. On the deck, the fishermen's faces, tanned by the sun, were filled with heartfelt smiles.

It can be seen that this trip to sea was fruitful.

"Thank you, Fourth Brother. How did you get out of this voyage?"

At the dock, the administrator in charge of berthing ships asked.

Upon hearing this, the captain Xie Laosi smiled and bowed.

"Thanks to your good words, we have a good harvest this time."

"The cargo hold is basically full."

As he spoke, Xie Laosi directed the fishing boat to dock, and then began to unload and count the cargo.

After the goods were counted, a short shopkeeper named Jin, who had a big pot belly, came forward to take over the goods from Xie Laosi.

"Five thousand kilograms of knife fish, three thousand kilograms of salmon, eight hundred kilograms of large yellow croaker, five hundred kilograms of lobster, and two three hundred kilograms of tuna..."

"The total is 327 silver dollars. I won't count the 27 silver dollars. How about 300 silver dollars?"

Shopkeeper Jin spoke.

Upon hearing this, the captain Xie Laosi immediately smiled and said.

"Okay, okay, no problem!"

"Old Four thanks Shopkeeper Jin for taking care of our business!"

Although Shopkeeper Jin bargained for a very high price, Xie Laosi had no objection to it.

The boss behind Shopkeeper Jin runs a seafood processing factory, and Shopkeeper Jin is responsible for purchasing raw materials for the factory at the dock.

To put it bluntly, he was doing bulk purchasing!

And it is a long-term and sustainable bulk purchase.

When facing such high-quality customers, it is acceptable to make slight concessions on price.

Selling the goods to Shopkeeper Jin saved him a lot of trouble.

In any case, it is better than going to customers one by one and taking the risk of the catch rotting and spoiling.

You know, it’s summer now!

The catch won’t keep long on the boat!
If it is not sold in time, it will easily rot and deteriorate!

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Jin also smiled.

He is in purchasing. He can cut the price down a little here, but when he receives the goods, he still has to pay the original price.

There is a lot of profit in this back and forth.

He was naturally happy to hear that Xie Laosi agreed.

As he was talking, Shopkeeper Jin smiled and called upon Xie Laosi and him to go and get the money.

Three hundred silver dollars, this is not a small number.

Shopkeeper Jin couldn't possibly carry it with him. The two of them walked together and soon arrived at the branch of the Tang Royal Bank on the dock.

Shopkeeper Jin is preparing to withdraw money to pay for the goods.

The two of them sat in a tea room, facing each other.

On the table in front of the two men were three stacks of banknotes.

The denomination of these banknotes is all one silver dollar.

One stack is one hundred bills, and three stacks are three hundred yuan.

The main reason why banknotes are no longer in larger denominations is that there is no need for it.

These days, silver dollars are still very valuable.

Ordinary people could earn at most two or three silver dollars a month, or even less.

In this case, it is unnecessary and inconvenient to circulate banknotes with larger denominations.

To repeat, the reason why Li Yi wants to issue paper money is mainly to increase the money supply and thereby promote economic development.

In this case, if Li Yi wants to achieve his goal, he must ensure that there is sufficient circulation of banknotes.

Therefore, the denomination of banknotes cannot be too large.

Instead, the currency denominations that people can use in their daily lives should be the main focus.

Therefore, the largest denomination of paper money issued by the Tang Dynasty this time was one yuan.

The price is equivalent to one silver dollar!
Below one yuan, there are different denominations such as 50 cents, 20 cents, 10 cents, 5 cents, and 1 cent.

Among them, 0.5 cents is 0.2 silver dollars, 1 cents is 0.1 silver dollars, 0.05 cents is 0.01 silver dollars, cents is silver dollars, and cent is silver dollars.

These are the denominations we see in daily life!

In this way, the circulation of banknotes can be guaranteed, which can better stimulate economic development.

Xie Laosi looked at the several stacks of banknotes in front of him and asked with a slightly conflicted expression.

"Manager Jin, don't you have any silver dollars?"

“Why are they all paper money?”

Since the Song Dynasty, there have been Jiaozi in the Northern Song Dynasty, Huizi in the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhongtongchao in the Yuan Dynasty, Baochao in the Ming Dynasty...

Paper money has been issued in every generation!
And then, these banknotes are more deceptive than the other.

The common people were afraid of being cheated, so they were quite skeptical about the paper money issued by the Tang Dynasty court.

I am afraid that the banknotes will become waste paper as soon as they get into my hands.

Therefore, Xie Laosi didn't want to accept banknotes.

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Jin raised his eyebrows and said.

"What happened to the paper money?"

"This is issued by the Emperor himself, requiring it to be circulated throughout the country. Could it be that you, Xie Laosi, are going to disobey his order?"

With just one sentence, Xie Laosi was blocked back.

The reason is simple. These days, the weight of an imperial edict is no less than that of a heavenly law. After two hundred years of rule by the Qing Dynasty, the people are full of awe for the imperial power.

Even if everyone was dissatisfied with what the emperor wanted to implement, no one dared to openly oppose it.

Well, especially the founding emperor!
Xie Laosi's face turned pale and blue. Seeing this, Shopkeeper Jin at the side began to explain and complain.

"Old Four, don't have that expression."

"There's nothing I can do!"

"The amount of new silver coins minted by the imperial court each year is limited. Every time the bank issues silver coins, everyone has to scramble to get them."

"I was unlucky this year. I didn't get any."

"So, I can only pay you with paper money!"

"Of course, if you want silver ingots, that's fine too..."

Upon hearing this, Xie Laosi waved his hands hurriedly.

"No, no, no, the silver ingot is not necessary."

"Silver ingots are not as good as paper money!"

"At least, this paper money can be used to pay taxes, but if the silver ingots are used to pay taxes, they will have to pay a fire fee, which is even worse!"

"When I have time later and the bank has silver dollars, I will come back to exchange them. Anyway, paper money can be exchanged for silver dollars..."

This is different from the Ming Dynasty when the emperor used banknotes as a tool to make money and as toilet paper.

Li Yi is really prepared to manage paper money carefully.

In order to do this, he specifically stipulated that paper money could be used to pay taxes without discounts.

In addition, it was stipulated that paper money could be exchanged for silver dollars, one dollar for one dollar, at a fair price.

And all of this is to maintain currency stability!
This will ensure that the Tang Dynasty's paper currency can be issued for a longer period of time.

Also, even though the Tang Dynasty has issued paper money, the monetary system it implements is still the gold and silver standard.

The paper money and silver dollars of the Tang Dynasty can be exchanged at the same value!

Therefore, this step taken by Li Yi is actually not particularly big.

He planned to first make the people of the Tang Dynasty familiar with the existence of paper money.

Once everyone gets used to this, we will abolish the gold and silver standard and adopt credit currency.

Or, establish a petroleum Tangyuan system belonging to the Tang Dynasty!

Of course, there is no rush for these!
There's no rush!
It has to be implemented step by step and slowly.

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Jin said with a smile.

"Actually, there's no need to change it."

"The banknotes can be spent anyway, right?"

Thanks to Li Yi's prestige as the founding emperor, since he issued an edict requiring paper money to be circulated throughout the world, no one in the world dared to refuse to accept it.

In addition, the bank can bind silver dollars and paper money and exchange them at the same value, so the value of paper money is relatively stable.

You can spend it, and the Canadian dollar is stable.

Therefore, the paper currency of the Tang Dynasty can still be used normally.

Upon hearing this, Xie Laosi smiled bitterly.

"What Shopkeeper Jin said is correct."

"But holding this paper money in your hand is not as safe as holding real gold and silver in your hand."

"I am afraid that this paper currency will become another treasure note in the future."

"That's really a rip-off!"

Although the Ming Dynasty has been gone for more than two hundred years and Baochao has long been abolished, the Chinese people still like to record history.

Therefore, everyone knows how deceptive Baochao is.

To say that I still feel scared is no exaggeration!
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Jin's mouth twitched, but he still spoke.

"Don't worry, Old Four. I don't think that's the case."

"Our emperor attaches great importance to industry and commerce, and he should not do such a thing that undermines his foundation..."

However, when saying this, Shopkeeper Jin felt a little guilty.

Looking at this scene, Xie Laosi's face twitched and he wanted to curse.

……

After parting with Manager Jin, Xie Laosi returned to the dock.

He called together the fishermen and men on his boat and began to distribute the money to everyone.

"Zhou Cheng, Zhao Liang, Sun Erniu... five silver dollars each for each of you."

"Zhang Shun, Li Qiang, Mao Erdan... the rest of you, three silver dollars each."

"..."

After paying the fishermen their wages, Xie Laosi began to give instructions.

"Everyone gather at the dock on the first day of next month, and we'll go out to sea again."

"Do you understand?"

When everyone heard this, they all agreed at once.

"Don't worry, boss!"

"We promise!"

"Hey, let's go home and hug my wife to take a nap..."

"..."

The crowd dispersed instantly.

Xie Laosi laughed and scolded a few times, but didn't take it seriously.

Afterwards, he immediately took his son Xie Haisheng to hire people to repair and maintain the fishing boat.

After doing all this, Xie Laosi prepared to go home with his son.

When passing by a familiar tavern at the dock, Xie Haisheng grabbed Xie Laosi's arm and spoke.

"Dad, let's get some wine before we go home!"

"I was craving for it when I was on the boat. Now that I'm off the boat, I should be able to drink it, right?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Laosi's mouth began to secrete saliva unconsciously.

Smacking his lips, Xie Laosi nodded.

"Let's go get some wine!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he took his son and walked towards the tavern.

As soon as I entered the tavern, I saw the tavern owner sitting at the door with a sad face, looking a little depressed.

Xie Laosi greeted them.

"Old Ma, get me a jar of wine!"

"I want the strongest wine you have!"

Upon hearing this, the tavern owner stood up from his chair without saying a word, walked to the wine jar, and started pouring wine for Xie Lao Si.

Soon, the jar of wine was full.

"Chenghui, one hundred big bucks!"

Xie Laosi took a deep breath of the aroma of wine in the air and then said.

"Haha, good wine, good wine!"

"It has to be the wine from your place, Old Ma. Wine from other places won't do!"

As he spoke, he took out a one-yuan bill from his pocket and handed it to Lao Ma.

Lao Ma took the banknote, took a look at the denomination, and after confirming that it was real, he began to give change to Xie Laosi.

However, during this process, he still remained silent.

Seeing that Lao Ma remained silent, Xie Laosi also felt something was wrong and couldn't help but ask.

"Old Ma, what's wrong with you?"

"You look a little depressed! By the way, where is your son?"

When the tavern owner Lao Ma heard this, it was as if a wound in his heart was touched, and he immediately said with a sad face.

"My...my son is going to be immigrated..."

"Old Ma, Old Ma, I am afraid that I will be childless. What hope is there for me in this life?"

While crying, Lao Ma couldn't help but pound the counter in front of him.

Upon hearing this, Xie Laosi asked with some confusion.

"what happened?"

"Don't the imperial court's immigrants first relocate those who have no land or little land? Your Ma family shouldn't be in that situation, right?"

Old Ma wiped his tears with his sleeves and spoke with sobs.

"A few days ago, a group of thugs came to my tavern to cause trouble and wanted to collect protection money."

"Old Ma, I thought that spending money would ward off disaster, so I gave the money, but those young scoundrels pushed the issue and tried to take advantage of my daughter."

"My kid couldn't stand it anymore, so he started fighting with the gang of thugs."

"The incident became a big deal, so the government came and took away the gang of thugs and my son and put them in jail."

"Afterwards, I wanted to spend money to smooth things over and get my son out."

"Unexpectedly, the government officials said that it was useless to spend money because I had been included in the list of immigrants to Southeast Asia and would be leaving by ship in a few days."

"Nanyang... Nanyang is such a poor and remote place. My son has been spoiled since he was young. How could he survive if he went there?"

"I, Old Ma, am going to be childless. I, Old Ma, feel so sorry for my ancestors!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Laosi asked in some surprise.

"Is it because those young bastards have backgrounds and are deliberately seeking revenge?"

"If it doesn't work, let's go to the government office and file a complaint..."

Upon hearing this, Old Ma shook his head and said.

"It has nothing to do with those young bastards. As far as I know, those young bastards have also been included in the immigration list and will be thrown into Southeast Asia..."

(End of this chapter)