Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 519 Adjustments to Liaodong
The Zhang brothers can represent a part of the people. In fact, the public's attitude towards the new currency is not friendly. The Ming Dynasty experienced a paper currency boom, and after that failure, the Ming Dynasty's financial credibility was seriously affected.

If the banknotes had been stabilized after being issued, the subsequent issuance of new currencies would not be so difficult now.

It took almost a year from the beginning of the release to the official release in early April.

In early April, paper money from the Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty officially began to be issued among the public and flowed into money houses.

At the same time, the imperial court announced that gold and silver would be restricted as the mainstream currency in circulation, and all would be replaced by the new Hongzhi banknotes.

The imperial court also stipulated the exchange rate between paper money and gold and silver. The money stored in money houses would be exchanged for paper money according to the ratio and redistributed to the people.

Even if the people were unwilling, they could no longer do so because they had previously deposited a large amount of their money in money shops, which now had to exchange it for paper money.

All these policies are closely linked to each other, leaving the people with no time to complain.

The government offices in the two capitals and thirteen provinces have already notified all prefectures, counties, and villages that the country is now implementing a new currency policy and will use the new Hongzhi currency as the main currency in circulation.

The Ming Dynasty is now changing with each passing day, and the speed of development has become so fast that people can’t keep up with the pace.

Early in the morning of April, Emperor Hongzhi took Li Dongyang, Qin Hong, Zhang Mao, Mou Bin and others out of the palace for inspection. The issuance of new currency was of vital importance to the Ming Dynasty, and Emperor Hongzhi wanted to personally see the currency circulation situation.

The morning market in Shuntian Prefecture has already begun, and vegetable farmers and vendors have started shouting early. These small-scale transactions still use copper coins and Tongbao.

Emperor Hongzhi was strolling in the market when he happened to see Chen Ce and Zhu Houzhao who were also strolling.

"Emperor..." Chen Ce looked around and knew that Emperor Hongzhi was on a private visit in disguise, so he did not salute.

Emperor Hongzhi took the initiative to ask: "Chun Jian, what are you doing?"

Chen Ce said: "Let me take a look at the circulation of the new currency."

Everyone nodded in understanding. Outside a rice shop, people were seen using the new Hongzhi currency to settle payments. Two hundred-cent notes and one fifty-cent note were all handed to the shopkeeper.

After the customer left, Chen Ce walked in with his hands behind his back, bought some rice, and then handed the banknote to the customer, smiling and saying, "Shopkeeper, is this banknote convenient to use?"

The shopkeeper also smiled and said, "Yes, it is convenient to use, but it is very worrying. Who knows when these banknotes will become worthless like those during the Hongwu Emperor's reign?"

"But there is no other way. The state has issued a policy that prohibits the use of gold and silver as circulation. If you are caught, you will be fined."

"I hope these banknotes won't depreciate after one or two years of use. It's safer to save some gold and silver early on."

After coming out of the shop, Emperor Hongzhi frowned slightly. It was obvious that the people of the Ming Dynasty were still skeptical about the country's credibility.

Chen Ce said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Since the devaluation of Hongwu paper money, it is normal for the people of the Ming Dynasty to be skeptical of the court and currency."

"The country's credibility has collapsed once before. It will take time to rebuild it. This also requires the joint efforts of the emperor and his ministers. Don't worry. After a period of time, I believe the people will gradually accept it."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, and Chen Ce continued to say to Qin Hong: "Sir Qin, your Ministry of Revenue has a long way to go. You can't just issue notes as you did during the Hongwu period, when the notes were devalued. You must control the amount. According to the calculation formula I gave you, the annual issuance volume must be kept within a reasonable range."

Chen Ce had told Qin Hong about these things before, and he believed that Qin Hong and his Ministry of Revenue team could do a good job.

Li Dongyang and Zhang Mao listened quietly and said nothing, but they could not hide their shock. Chen Ce had already planned everything with the Ministry of Revenue, from the issuance of treasure notes to the future control of the value of treasure notes, and even controlled the annual issuance volume within a certain range.

To be honest, even the Prime Minister of the Cabinet does not understand these economic laws. What else can they say except admiration?

After following Emperor Hongzhi for a while, we found that more and more people in Shuntian Prefecture were using the new banknotes. At present, the entire market is still relatively stable, and the currency will not cause too much fluctuation and impact in a short period of time.

After the economic system of the Ming Dynasty was completely changed by Chen Ce, Chen Ce proposed to Emperor Hongzhi and the Ministry of Revenue that the new banknotes should be used as the settlement currency in future trade settlements with overseas countries.

Each country has its own currency. Some countries use gold, silver, shells, jewelry, etc. It doesn't matter. Currency is just a concept. According to the economic situation of the other country, it is reasonable to exchange it with the Hongzhi new banknotes...

Qin Hong asked Chen Ce: "How should we measure the value between the other party's currency and our Ming currency?"

"This is very simple. The other country has gold and silver. We can convert it into Ming treasure notes according to the exchange rate between gold and silver and their own currency."

"In short, when the two countries settle trade in the future, they must sign the settlement documents in advance."

"When the Ministry of Revenue makes every settlement, it also needs to convert the exchange rate between Ming Dynasty and other countries, and publicize the exchange rate between each bank in Ming Dynasty."

Emperor Hongzhi asked curiously, "Why do you need to make it public like this?"

Chen Ce said: "In addition to the country and the other party doing trade, private merchants will also do the same. Publicizing the exchange rate will prevent Ming merchants from suffering losses and make it easier for Ming merchants to judge the value of each other's currencies."

As the Ming Dynasty gradually moved from an agricultural country to a commercial country, the court needed to pay more and more attention to macro-control of commerce and could no longer have the previous idea of ​​a small peasant economy.

Logically speaking, when Chen Ce was conversing with Qin Hong and Emperor Hongzhi, Li Dongyang, Zhang Mao and Zhu Houzhao could not get a word in.

Li Dongyang couldn't help but sigh that he, as the prime minister of the cabinet, was a little out of date. If he didn't learn new knowledge and continued to stick to the old ways, he would probably be eliminated by the times soon.

We must keep pace with the times.

"You can go and inspect it again." After Emperor Hongzhi said this to Li Dongyang, Qin Hong and others, he took Zhu Houzhao and Chen Ce to Chengqingfang Street.

"emperor."

Chen Ce said, "There is another policy that I think can be tried out."

Emperor Hongzhi asked, "What?"

Chen Ce was silent for a moment before he spoke: "Regarding the policy of opening up the settlement of ethnic minorities in the inland of Ming Dynasty."

"Ok?"

Chen Ce said: "The wild Jurchens of Liaodong have no fixed place to live. They gather in groups in Liaodong and are always harmful to the Ming Dynasty. We might as well disperse them and migrate them to the inland of the Ming Dynasty, let them live in the inland of the Ming Dynasty, allow them to take the imperial examinations, receive education, and enjoy the benefits of the Ming Dynasty."

"In this way, in a few years, the aggressiveness of these Jurchens will be tamed by the Four Books and Five Classics!"

(End of this chapter)