A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 267: Rewarding a Coin-casting Furnace
Li Yi rode into Chang'an from the West Jinguang Gate.

The purple robe and jade belt, as well as the goldfish bag on the gold and jade belt are the best passes, not to mention that this young minister is also guarded by the Yulin Army.

The Zuo Wuhou soldier guarding the gate stood up straight and saluted.

After he left, passersby at the city gate couldn't help but talk about it, "Who is this?"

A Wu Hou laughed and said, "You are not from Chang'an, are you?"

"Just came from Lingzhou."

"No wonder you don't know this guy. He is quite remarkable. Last summer, he was still a Taoist priest, but now he is the founding duke of Qianshui County and Shang Zhuguo of the imperial court. He is appointed as the prince's left guard and coin minter, and is granted the title of Yinqing Guanglu Dafu. Have you seen that goldfish bag? He is only sixteen years old!" Wu Hou's tone was full of envy.

He was already twenty-six years old, but was still just a soldier in the Zuo Wuhou's army, while the other person, who was ten years younger than him, had already made great progress.

"Is it really that serious?"

"Of course not! If I were to tell you about this man's deeds in detail, it would take three days and three nights to finish. He even recently led his troops to Sizhuyuan to wipe out tens of thousands of bandits."

Li Yi is now accustomed to people's envious gazes.
Ye Zhaobai walked quickly on Chang'an Avenue, looking very proud.

In front of the palace,

Li Yi stopped and dismounted.

He took off his belt, picked up the gold and silver bag, and took out his goldfish talisman.

Qian Jiulong, the General of the Central Army in front of the palace gate, smiled and waved at him without even looking at the official title and name written on the fish token.

Li Yi was also a frequent visitor to the palace, so he was very familiar with the place and there was no need to go through all that trouble.

"Someone presented a sample of money,"

Qian Jiulong nodded and said, "Please."

Li Yi left all the daggers and swords he carried with him in front of the palace and followed the gate guards into the palace.

In front of the Taiji Palace, a eunuch's shrill voice rang out: "Summon Li Yi to the audience!"

Li Yi took off his shoes outside the hall and walked into the hall.

"Your Majesty, I, Li Yi, have been ordered to supervise the minting of new coins. I present to you an ivory sample. I beg Your Majesty to review it!"

Li Yuan looked up from the pile of memorials on the desk with a tired face. State affairs were complicated and the situation was weary. Jin Xiaomo, the Jinzi Guanglu doctor, led troops to pacify the border counties, but was ambushed and captured by Liang Shidu. Jin Xiaomo cursed Liang Shidu and killed him. Faced with this report, Li Yuan could only approve and posthumously confer the title of Duke of Wuchang County on Jin Xiaomo, with the posthumous title of Zhong.

Zhu Can, who had been wreaking havoc in Shannan, was defeated and surrendered. Although Li Yuan wanted to kill him, he hesitated and finally forbeared it. He approved the title of King of Chu for Zhu Can and allowed him to appoint officials and act as he saw fit.

Ren Gui of Guzhou submitted another memorial, and Wang Shichong sent troops to attack Guzhou again. The former Duke Shi Wanbao went to fight and was defeated. Guzhou requested reinforcements from the court.

There was also good news. Xu Shao, an old classmate from childhood in Anlu, was the magistrate of Yiling County in the previous dynasty. He surrendered with Qian'an, Wuling and Liyang counties. Li Yuan happily approved the request and granted him the title of Duke of Anlu County and Governor of Xizhou.

Zhang Xiaomin, a general under Liu Hongji, led a hundred elite soldiers to attack Sishui City, broke into the outer city, and sank Wang Shichong's 150 grain transport ships into the water.

If you don’t run a household, you don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are; if you don’t become an emperor, you don’t know how hard it is to be an emperor.

Li Yuan hasn't played the pipa for a long time.

"Come forward," Li Yuan beckoned Li Yi, "You've made the sample money so quickly?"

Li Yi presented the ivory-like coins.
The eunuch took it and presented it to the emperor. Li Yuan took it and looked at it carefully. The sample coin was carved from ivory and had a milky warmth all over. The four characters "Kaiyuan Tongbao" were engraved on the front of the coin with two knives. The writing was very charming.

The emperor fell in love with this ivory-like coin at first sight.

"This is what the new coin looks like. Is it bigger than the Kaihuang Wuzhu coin?"

"Your Majesty, the new coin has a diameter of eight fen, and ten coins weigh one liang. It is made of 68% copper, 22% tin, and 10% lead. Each thousand coins weighs six jin and four liang. It is larger, heavier, and more exquisite than the Kaihuang five-zhu coin."

Li Yuan nodded. "It's two pounds and two ounces heavier than the Sui Dynasty's five-zhu thousand coins, nearly 30% heavier. At 68 copper, how can we still profit from minting coins? You know, we have a lot of work to do right now, the country isn't unified yet, and the imperial treasury is empty. We can't afford to lose money minting coins."

"Your Majesty, after research, I and the head coin minter have come up with the idea of using the mother coin casting method instead of the original mold casting method. By customizing large crucibles, we can speed up the coin casting process and reduce costs. The fire consumption alone can be reduced from 19% to 11%, a reduction of 8%.

In addition, by using the method of labor-for-relief and recruiting refugees from Nanshan to mint coins, labor costs can be reduced, and a 15% profit from minting coins can be guaranteed.

Even if copper is sufficient, the daily minting rate can be increased to 500 strings of coins."

"Why is there the word Kaiyuan Tongbao instead of Wuzhu?" Li Yuan asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, this coin is the first one minted after the establishment of the new Tang Dynasty. The word Kaiyuan symbolizes the opening of a new era. The Taoist classic "Taishang Laojun Kaitian Jing" says that the ancient creation experienced many disasters, and there are five disaster names: Longhan, Chiming, Shanghuang, Kaihuang, and Yankang.
The "Duren Jing" talks about how the gods save people from disasters. The Taoist scriptures originate from the Three Origins, namely the Hundong Taiwu Yuan, the Chihun Taiwu Yuan, and the Mingji Xuantong Yuan.

The two words Kaiyuan together mean the beginning of a new era, while the two words Tongbao refer to the various sutras in the Taoist canon, where "Dong" means "through" and "Zhen" means "treasure."

Li Yi was spouting nonsense with a serious expression. He had no idea why, historically, Li Yuan officially minted coins in the fourth year of his Wude reign, using the characters Kaiyuan Tongbao. This led many later generations to believe these coins were Li Longji's reign titles, after all, Li Longji had used the reign titles Kaiyuan and Tianbao before. "Kaiyuan, the beginning of a new era, the beginning of a catastrophe, Tongbao, the true essence," Li Yuan repeated several times. "Excellent, very good."

Although Wuzhu coins have been popular since the Han Dynasty, after listening to Li Yi's explanation, Li Yuan felt that using Kaiyuan Tongbao and Tongbao coins could better demonstrate the new atmosphere of the new dynasty.

"I was worried that you would make a ten-cent coin for the sake of profit, but I didn't expect you to find a better way to make coins. Okay, follow this coin pattern, carve the ancestral coin carefully, and make the mother coin as soon as possible.
I hope to see the finished Kaiyuan Tongbao coins at the beginning of next month!"

Holding the ivory-like money, Li Yuan liked it more and more the more he looked at it.

At the beginning, the five-zhu coin was as heavy as the text, so it was five-zhu. But later it became very chaotic. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used three-zhu coins, and later abolished the three-zhu coins and used half-liang coins.
After that, the Wuzhu coin was put into use again, but since the Eastern Han Dynasty, although the "Wuzhu" was written on the coins, they were actually worth less than Wuzhu.

The Kaiyuan Tongbao coin weighed only a little over two zhu.

"The diameter of a coin is eight fen, and it weighs two zhu and four si. Ten coins weigh one liang, and each wen weighs one qian."

Li Yi created a new unit of measurement: a copper coin weighing one qian was equal to one-tenth of a liang.

In future market transactions, copper coins can also be used as a tool to test weight. Ten coins are one liang, eighty coins are half a jin, and one hundred and sixty coins are exactly one jin.

Li Yuan smiled happily and said, "If you can complete the coinage task of 20,000 strings of cash by the end of March and make a profit of 3,000 strings of cash, I will give you a coin-making furnace and allow you to start minting coins."

The eunuchs in the hall lowered their heads, but they were all extremely shocked.

He actually gave his ministers a coin-casting furnace and allowed them to mint their own coins.

They didn't know that this was actually a suggestion in Li Yi's letter to the emperor requesting the minting of new coins.

In view of the rampant private coinage and the circulation of counterfeit coins, which seriously affected the economy and people's livelihood, hindered trade transactions, and even affected the court's tax revenue, he suggested that the new currency be introduced as soon as possible.

While minting new coins, we also crack down on counterfeit coins.

However, Li Yi did not propose a one-size-fits-all approach. It was impossible that once new money was issued, all old money would be banned from circulation. There was already a shortage of money in the market, and even less good money. Merchants could only use silk and cloth, and the people even had to barter.
If the old money is banned, there will be big trouble.

So we have to take it slow. Li Yi thinks that the court can't increase the amount of new coins it mints now, so it's better to learn from the experience of previous dynasties in minting coins and allow private minting to start.

The imperial court granted coin-minting qualifications to some people, awarded them mother coins, and strictly enforced the standards for coin minting. They minted coins, which were supervised and circulated by the imperial court.

Such regulated and open private coinage is definitely more pragmatic than a simple ban.

It can also increase the amount of coinage and improve the problem of money shortage.

The imperial court first relaxed the rule of private minting to a limited extent, focusing on cracking down on counterfeit coins and prohibiting their circulation. Counterfeit coins had to be recycled, and goose-eye coins, iron coins, white coins, etc. were not allowed to circulate in the market and had to be recycled and recast.

We must gradually let good money suppress bad money.

Of course, this is a long-term battle that requires a multi-pronged approach.

He also made some suggestions, such as transactions above ten strings of cash must use silk cloth, while transactions below ten strings of cash can only use copper coins.

Secondly, it is forbidden to accumulate large amounts of copper coins. The amount of copper coins that can be stored is limited according to the rank of the official. The private storage of cash shall not exceed 5,000 strings of cash. Any excess cash must be disposed of within one or two years and exchanged for silk, cloth, grain, gold, silver and other items.

In addition, the melting of copper coins must be prohibited, and the private casting of copperware must be prohibited. The grade and quantity of copperware used must be limited, and the price of copperware must be restricted. For example, the price of copperware must not exceed 160 coins per kilogram. In this way, it would be unprofitable to destroy coins and cast objects.

The mining of copper, lead, tin, etc. should also be encouraged, and the use of copper to make Buddhist statues and ritual instruments should be prohibited.

Li Yi's memorial contained a lot of content, including many suggestions on how to mint new coins, solve the money shortage, crack down on private minting and counterfeit coins, unify the currency, and even regain the right to mint coins and gain the benefits of minting coins.

Li Yuan and the prime ministers all agreed after reading it, but they felt it would be difficult to implement.

One of them is to try private minting.

Private minting was somewhat relaxed, but it had to be brought under supervision, and even private minters had to hand over a portion of their profits to the court, or pay a minting tax. For example, if private minting could make a 15% profit, then 5% or 10% of it would be handed over to the court.

The imperial court gives you the right to mint coins, and you have to share the profits with the imperial court, so both parties benefit.

Anyway, as things stand now, money will always be in short supply, so there is no need to worry about overcapacity.

If you follow the rules, mint qualified coins, and hand over a portion of the profits, you can conduct your business openly. However, if you secretly mint coins and don't pay the profits to the court, it is considered private minting and will be severely punished. At the very least, your property will be confiscated and your head will be beheaded. If you also mint counterfeit coins, your crime will be even more serious, with your property confiscated and your head beheaded, and your wife and children will also be offended.

If a mint can produce 3,000 to 5,000 coins a year, and keep a profit of 5 or 10 percent, it can make a net profit of several hundred coins a year. If it can produce 10,000 coins a year, it can also make a profit of thousands of coins a year.

It can be said that this is really like getting a cash cow.

Even if he could mint 3,000 coins a year, if Li Yi got a coin-minting furnace, he would have at least several hundred coins a year, enough to buy several small houses in Chang'an.

"You haven't been home for a few days, right? Go home and get a good night's rest first, and then return to Yishou Palace tomorrow." Li Yuan showed great concern for this capable young minister. "I'll have the eunuchs convey orders to the Deer Garden to send a deer home for you. Mix fresh deer blood with some wine, it's a great tonic!"

(End of this chapter)