Top Scholar

Chapter 570 Dead Silver

"Quickly show me, how can there be so much money?" Zhu Houzhao stopped eating, took the confiscated ledger from Su Lu, and stared at it closely.

In just over half a day, it was impossible to have a particularly detailed account. There was only a preliminary summary table, which listed the property status of fifty-six temples in four categories: gold, silver, bronze, and jade.

Of course, Su Lu knew that Zhu Houzhao was too lazy to look at it carefully, so he summarized everything on the first page of the general ledger.

Zhu Houzhao pointed to the numbers on the ledger, counting them line by line, his eyes growing brighter with each count: "Two million taels of gold alone?"

“Yes, the current gold-silver ratio is one to six, so it is equivalent to twelve million taels of silver,” Su Lu replied.

"These bald monks have hidden so much real gold?" Zhu Houzhao exclaimed in shock. "They could buy the entire Forbidden City."

“That’s normal,” Su Lu explained. “Gold is the foremost of the seven treasures of Buddhism. It is indestructible and symbolizes the eternal and everlasting nature of Buddhism, with its light shining in all directions. Therefore, gold has always been revered in Buddhist statues and ornaments. A single three-foot-tall pure gold Shakyamuni Buddha statue weighs over a hundred kilograms and is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. These five or six temples mostly existed during the Jin and Yuan dynasties and have never suffered from war. Which one doesn’t have ten or eight gold Buddha statues to guard its temple?”

"But only 30% of the gold was used in the casting. The senior monks really love gold. Everything from Buddha crowns and necklaces to sutra scrolls and boxes, banners and bells, incense burners and candlesticks—if they could afford it, they'd use gold. Even their alms bowls are made of purple-gold!" Su Lu laughed.
"If you can't get pure gold, you can use gilding. Over a hundred or two hundred years, the entire Buddhist temple will be resplendent in gold. Can you achieve the same effect with just half a bit of gold? Besides, the monks themselves like gold. The senior monks with a little power all have piles of gold hairpins, gold bracelets, gold rings, and gold necklaces..."

"They don't have any hair, so what do they need gold hairpins for?" Zhu Houzhao asked, puzzled.

“They don’t have any, but their lovers do,” Su Lu laughed. “According to the preliminary report from the personnel review team, 20% of the monks marry and have children outside the temple, 40% have regular lovers, and 60% have been to those kinds of places… If the monks’ desires weren’t so strong, they would definitely have accumulated more gold, because women prefer gold.”

"Damn it, what have these monks become? Can't they be left alone?!" Zhu Houzhao suddenly felt that he was doing something very sacred.

Then, incredulously, he asked, "How come their proportion is so high?"

"The sages said it long ago: 'When people are well-fed and warm, they think of lustful desires.'" Zhang Yong said indignantly, "If you eat your fill all day and do nothing, aren't you just thinking about those things?"

"Damn it, why not issue an imperial decree that anyone who wants to become a monk must first be castrated!" Zhu Houzhao said.

“That’s good. Now we eunuchs will have another way out if we can’t become eunuchs.” Zhang Yongshen agreed.

"Don't even think about it, they've already patched it up." Scholar Su shook his head and said, "Buddhist monastic rules clearly stipulate that a bhikkhu cannot ordain a eunuch to receive full ordination; he can only receive the bodhisattva vows and lay vows..."

"Tch, what a rarity!" Zhang Yong scoffed.

~~
When Zhu Houzhao saw the words "two million six hundred thousand taels" in the column for pearls and jade, he clicked his tongue in amazement and said, "There are quite a few jewels here."

"After all, of the seven treasures of Buddhism, apart from gold and silver, they are all gemstones. Buddhist statues and ritual implements require the inlay of numerous jewels, such as rubies, cat's-eye stones, agate, amber, giant clam shells, coral..." Su Lu nodded, somewhat bewildered.
“These gems are all exceptional and priceless, but they are too difficult to liquidate. Therefore, I always have the pawnbroker appraise them at the lowest possible market value.”

"Hmm, so gold and silver are better. Gold and silver are money by nature." Zhu Houzhao continued to look at the silver column, his eyes widening again.

"The biggest portion of the fourteen million taels is here!"

"Moreover, Buddhist artifacts and jewelry are only a small part; the vast majority are cash items such as silver ingots and silver gourds," Su Lu said. "In addition, there are a large amount of Buddhist debts and loans held in the money shops and banks opened by various temples. We haven't had time to count this yet."

"They keep saying there's a shortage of silver in the market and a shortage of money in the national treasury, but it turns out these bald monks have hidden it all away." Zhu Houzhao was speechless with frustration. "Are they some kind of mythical creatures? Hiding so much silver and not spending it, are they crazy?!"

"On the contrary, that makes perfect sense," Su Lu said. "I've long heard that only 20% of the silver in the world is actually in circulation. One-tenth is used to make various silverwares, and the remaining 70% is hoarded by the wealthy, essentially permanently withdrawing from circulation and becoming dead silver..."

"Can silver die?" Zhu Houzhao asked, puzzled.

“Hiding silver away for ten, eight, or even several hundred years without using it means that the silver stored away is dead to the world. That’s how the silver shortage in the Ming Dynasty came about,” Su Lu said.

"Why would they be so foolish?" Zhu Houzhao asked curiously. "What's the point of saving money if you have it but don't spend it?"

This is indeed hard to understand for an emperor whose treasury had only eight hundred taels of silver a few months ago.

“First, the gap between the rich and the poor is too large, and their spending speed can not keep up with their wealth accumulation speed.” Su Lu explained, “Second, the problems caused by the Ming Dynasty’s paper money have led to its devaluation. From its initial face value of one tael of silver to one tael of silver, it is now worthless. It has depreciated by more than a thousand times. The rich will naturally choose to hoard gold and silver and spend paper money as much as possible first.”

"This led to a silver shortage, which in turn caused the price of silver to rise continuously. As the price of silver rose, the wealthy were even more motivated to hoard silver, thus creating a vicious cycle." He paused, then continued:
"Of course, there are more complex reasons, such as a lack of investment channels and pessimistic expectations for the future, which can lead to this behavior... In short, when in doubt, hoard silver first." Zhu Houzhao and Zhang Yong listened intently. What they admired most about Su Lu was that he could always see the complexities of the world clearly and explain the reasons to them in a clear and concise way.

However, while Su Lu always manages to convince people, he always ends up with some shocking and unconventional viewpoints.

"But the most important issue is actually taxation—high-ranking officials and wealthy people have a lot of money but don't pay taxes, so of course they can't spend it all and have to save it. We should levy a property tax on the rich, like in the Song Dynasty, and make them bear the bulk of the tax burden. Let's see if they still save money then."

"Cough cough..." This is what Eunuch Zhang is most worried about regarding his nephew Su. This kid is usually mature and steady, but he is radical at heart. He is really afraid that he will become the Su Yang or Su Anshi of the Ming Dynasty.

“Scholar Su, have we gone off-topic?” Zhang Yong reminded Su Lu, “We were talking about the temple’s silver, how did we get onto the topic of rich people?”

He is the deputy commander in charge of reorganizing the monastic community, so he can speak more privately today.

“We’re on topic, Father-in-law.” Su Lu said softly, “According to our investigation, at least one-third of the 14 million taels of silver and 1.4 million strings of copper coins are deposits held by wealthy families.”

"Deposit silver?" Zhang Yong and Zhu Houzhao asked in unison.

"Yes, this must be reported to the Emperor." Su Lu nodded and said, "According to preliminary statistics, this sum of money is about five million taels. In name, it is the incense money that those princes and nobles gave to the temple, but in reality, it is what they deposited with the temple. Firstly, it is to guard against any eventuality, and secondly, they can also lend money to the temple and earn some interest."

"I see..." Zhu Houzhao nodded, blinking his big eyes as he asked Su Lu, "So what?"

"Now we need Your Majesty to determine the nature of these five million taels of silver," Su Lu said solemnly. "Is it considered a debt owed to the temple or stolen money?"

"Is there any difference?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

“There’s a big difference!” Su Lu replied, “Debts are obligations that must be repaid to those princes and nobles. As for stolen silver, of course it will be confiscated as well.”

He then explained further, "As I just mentioned, this money is nominally incense money, so it wouldn't be wrong to treat it as embezzled funds from the temple. But in this world, things are often not decided by reason, but by human relationships."

"You mean those imperial relatives will plead with me to get the money back?" Zhu Houzhao understood.

"Yes." Su Lu nodded and said, "We should be subjects sharing the Emperor's burdens, but no matter how we handle the accounts, those noble dukes and princesses can refuse to acknowledge them and will still eventually come back to the Emperor. So the Emperor must make the final decision on this matter."

"I want to hear your opinion now." Zhu Houzhao threw the question back to Secretary Su, thinking it might as well use it.

"In my humble opinion, either way is fine. If we treat it as embezzled funds, we can earn an extra five million taels. If we treat it as debt, we can use it to control those imperial relatives, not only keeping them quiet now but also making them obedient in the future. It all depends on His Majesty's choice," Su Lu said.

“But the Chinese people are sick; they are not worried about poverty but about inequality. If it is classified as embezzled funds, then it is all embezzled funds; if it is classified as debt, then it is all debt. There is no distinction between them.”

"..." Zhu Houzhao pondered for a long time after hearing this, then suddenly laughed and scolded, "You Secretary Su, you're always trying to play games with me."

"Ah, where?" Zhang Yong asked, puzzled. "Didn't Scholar Su mean that the Emperor can decide whatever he wants?"

"Bullshit." Zhu Houzhao sneered, "What did he say before he said it was all possible?"

"He said we should do what the Song Dynasty did and make the rich pay more taxes!" the emperor raised his voice. "He has repeatedly emphasized to me that the problem with the country is that we can't collect taxes from the rich!"

"And they even have the audacity to say things like 'the gentry's money will be returned in full, while the commoners' money will be split 30/70.' Giving up what's plentiful and taking what's lacking—how foolish!!"... He stood up angrily, walked over to Su Lu, and sized him up.

"So if I were to return these five million taels to them, wouldn't that be the utter foolishness you speak of?!"

"Your Majesty misunderstands. I absolutely did not mean that." Su Lu hurriedly shook his head and said, "I have said too much, and there may be things that are inappropriate. If Your Majesty does not like what you say, just treat it as a fart. It is really up to you, whatever you choose is fine."

"Stop being so sarcastic!" Zhu Houzhao punched him in the chest, speaking slowly and deliberately.

"I said I would listen to you, so you can decide how to handle these assets!"

(End of this chapter)