Top Scholar

Chapter 587 Old Silver Coin

The charcoal fire was burning brightly in the small conference room.

Su Man nodded and picked up where Xia Bangmo left off, saying, "Shunyu is right. These gold and silver coins all flowed in through trade with Southeast Asia."

As he spoke, he began to introduce them to everyone one by one.

"This coin is called Western Gold, and it is said to be the most widely circulated and most exquisite gold coin in the West. The obverse is engraved with the portrait of a Western lord, and the reverse is decorated with exotic holy images. The patterns are fine and clear. It weighs about one mace and one fen, and its purity is extremely high, almost pure gold."

Su Man put down the Ducat and picked up a silver coin with an emblem: "Look at this one, it's a Portuguese silver coin, called a cross coin. This is currently the most common Western silver coin smuggled into the Ming Dynasty via Southeast Asia. It's 93% pure and weighs about 4.5 qian. The design features an emblem on the front and a cross pattern on the back, hence the name. There are also Western characters of unknown meaning."

Su Man had never dealt with Western coins before, so it was quite impressive that he could investigate so thoroughly in such a short time. But his brother was a huge voyage of maritime exploration… Su Lu then picked up an identical silver coin and added:
"The obverse features the coat of arms of the Portuguese royal family; Portugal is known as the 'Flangji' among maritime merchants. The inscription around the coin reads 'By the grace of God, Manuel, King of Portugal.' This is the title of the current King of Portugal, Manuel I, indicating that this silver coin is legal tender officially minted by Portugal."

He then flipped the coin over and pointed to the text around the cross: “Look at the back, this line means ‘With this mark you will be victorious.’ It’s a Catholic slogan, and the cross is their symbol.”

"Hey, isn't this the symbol of Nestorianism?" Zhu Zihe, as expected of someone from a prominent family, was indeed knowledgeable.

"Indeed, after the extinction of Nestorianism, Catholicism never gave up its obsession with resuming missionary work in the Ming Dynasty. It was with their support that Portugal formed an expeditionary fleet, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, reached India, conquered Malacca, and ran rampant in Southeast Asia, almost monopolizing trade between Southeast Asia and the West."

"..." Everyone was stunned. There was nothing that the top scholar didn't know. He truly deserved to be called a born literary star.

"Then you should explain," Su Man said, stepping down and offering her the opportunity. "I don't know all these details."

“Brother already knows enough.” Su Lu smiled and didn’t refuse. He then picked up another silver coin with even more intricate designs and continued his explanation:

"And this one is a Spanish real silver coin. Although the number imported was far less than that of Portuguese silver coins, it is of superior quality and exquisite craftsmanship. It contains about 90% silver and weighs 7.2 mace. The obverse features a bust of the King of Spain, and the reverse features the royal coat of arms. The decorations are finely polished and difficult to imitate."

“Because this badge has two pillars on the left and right, merchants in the Ming Dynasty called it ‘Double Pillar Coin’,” Su Man added.

"This naming is really incredibly simple..." Everyone couldn't help but chuckle.

Su Lu continued, "The casting quality of the double-column coin is much better than that of the Portuguese cross coin. The reason why it was not widely circulated is because of the existence of the Papal Meridian. Our area is within the Portuguese sphere of influence."

"What the hell?" Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief. "They've included our Great Ming Dynasty in their territory?"

"Is this arrogance?" Lu Ying chuckled.

“That’s not true at all.” Su Lu slowly shook his head and said, “We stopped our journey to the West, and that world became theirs.”

As he spoke, he drew a simplified world map freehand and asked everyone, "Have you heard of the 'Guangzhou Maritime Route'?"

Everyone shook their heads; even Xia Bangmo didn't know.

“Alright, I’ll give you a crash course later.” Su Lu then said, “Simply put, it’s a maritime trade route that passes through Southeast Asia and the West, leading to Europe. It’s also the most profitable trade route in the world. Our porcelain, silk, and spices from Southeast Asia are transported to Europe via this route, instantly increasing their value a hundredfold!”

“This trade route has two most important nodes: Malacca and Constantinople.” Su Lu pointed to the strategic point between Eurasia and said in a deep voice, “Since the rise of the Ottoman Empire and its conquest of Constantinople, European merchants have been unable to obtain a steady stream of profits through this trade route.”

"But Europeans recognized long ago that the Earth is round, so the two westernmost countries of Europe—Spain and Portugal—initiated the Age of Exploration in search of new sea routes!" Su Lu said in a deep voice.
"They really did discover boundless new continents and endless treasures, with new discoveries almost every year. To avoid conflict, they asked the Pope to delineate spheres of influence, with one exploring eastward and the other westward."

He paused, then said with certainty, "But no matter whether you go east or west, you'll eventually arrive at our doorstep—because the earth is round!"

Everyone listened in stunned silence, as if they were hearing something completely foreign. Even though they were used to Su Lu's occasional outrageous remarks, they still found it difficult to accept his shocking and unconventional statement...

In particular, he actually said the Earth is round? Do we live on a sphere? That's utterly absurd and ridiculous!

But then everyone thought about it again. Su Lu had spoken fluently and meticulously about the few Western silver coins without hesitation, and it was clear he wasn't making it up. Moreover, based on their understanding of Su Lu, he was never one to boast or exaggerate, so even if the story seemed bizarre, there must be a reason. And most importantly, even if the leader was really exaggerating, would you dare to call him out on it?
So no one questioned it; their eyes were filled with bewilderment, layer upon layer…

Seeing everyone's expressions, Su Lu couldn't help but feel secretly embarrassed; they had gone off-topic again...

"Ahem, I'll talk to you about the problems of Earth in detail another time." He quickly coughed and got back to the main topic:

"Let's just talk about money and not go off-topic."

"Ah, yes, yes, yes." Everyone nodded quickly, as if they were the ones who had gone off-topic.

Getting back to the main point, Su Lu pointed to the remaining coins on the table and said, "There are Ottoman silver coins here, as well as Western silver coins imitated by Southeast Asian merchants. The styles are mixed and the fineness varies. If we want to learn from them, we only need to look at the three core coins from before. We don't need to pay attention to these miscellaneous coins."

Su Man then put all the other silver coins back into the box, keeping only Ducat, Cruzado, and Rial.

Su Lu picked up the three gold and silver coins and said to everyone in a deep voice, "And did you know that when our merchants receive these Western coins, they not only do not melt them down and recast them, but they can also use them directly as currency in Jiangnan? Moreover, in transactions, they all have different degrees of premium, making them more valuable than gold and silver of the same purity."

“That’s right.” Su Man nodded and added, “Hongzhi is right. Currently, all three types of gold and silver coins have a premium on the market. The Franco-Portuguese cross coin has a premium of 0.5% to 10% above its original purity. The other two types have even higher premiums because of their good purity, exquisite design, and rarity!”

"Why is that?" Everyone looked puzzled, and some were even annoyed. "They're just some Western currencies, why are they worth more than the silver of our Great Ming?"

“There are two reasons,” Su Lu said with a smile, picking up the Spanish double-column coin and handing it to everyone. “First, this kind of coin has a beautiful design and regular patterns, making it easier to carry and use than silver ingots. Second, it’s convenient and worry-free… These kinds of coins, especially the double-column and Western gold coins, have exquisite casting techniques, are difficult to imitate, and have guaranteed purity, so they have the highest premium.”

He then said seriously, "In the end, the value of something is never determined by its quality, but by the value that everyone generally agrees it is worth—as long as everyone thinks it is worth that price, then it is truly worth that price."

"I see, isn't this just a famous courtesan from Jiangnan?" Zhu Zihe slapped his thigh and said, "They're all the same kind of woman, but everyone thinks the ladies of Qinhuai River are more valuable than the girls of Fenzi Hutong, so she is more valuable!"

"Zihe, what are you saying?" Su Man coughed, feeling embarrassed as the brother-in-law.

“I’ve never been to a place like that; I only heard about it from them,” Zhu Zihe chuckled. “Don’t go off-topic.”

"You know that too!" Su Lu glared at Zhu Zihe, then said, "Since foreign silver coins can command a premium due to their exquisite craftsmanship and convenience, why can't we also mint exquisite silver coins? The craftsmen of our Great Ming Dynasty are no less skilled than those of any other country!"

"Yes, as long as we can also mint exquisitely designed, high-purity, and counterfeit-resistant silver coins, we can also win public recognition and reap the premium!" Su Man nodded emphatically.

"This is a huge profit!"

“Yes, this is called seigniorage.” Su Lu nodded and said, “Of course, we don’t mint coins for this purpose, but to revitalize our credit, facilitate trade, and prepare for future banknotes.”

After saying that, he smiled at everyone and said, "Let's discuss the design of the Zhengde gold coin and the Zhengde silver coin using these three Western coins as examples."

"Very well." The students then began to enthusiastically share their opinions on the two types of coins.

However, their room for maneuver was actually limited, because when Su Lu reported to the emperor before, he had already described the general appearance of the item—the front had the emperor's portrait, and the back had the denomination.

At this moment, Xia Bangmo asked somewhat hesitantly, "Senior Brother, why did you propose back then to cast His Majesty's face on the silver coins? Is it appropriate to use the Emperor's face as a design?"

"There are three advantages to casting the Emperor's image on silver coins. First, it demonstrates the Emperor's majesty and subtly enhances the loyalty of the people to the Emperor. Second, with the Emperor's image on the silver coins, anyone who dares to counterfeit or melt them down is committing a heinous crime, and we can justifiably punish them with death, or even implicate their entire clan. In this way, it becomes a serious crime on par with rebellion, which can greatly reduce the number of cases of counterfeiting and melting down silver coins and preserve the value of our silver coins."

Finally, he laughed and said, "Thirdly, and most importantly, this will please the Emperor. So printing anything else is not as good as printing this!"

P.S. Posted first, edited later. Alright, the five-month-long streak of three updates has come to a successful end. Even I, the monk, couldn't hold on any longer; it's almost dawn. It's too late, I'll elaborate tomorrow…

(End of this chapter)