I'll steal Gao Qiu's life and lead the Song Dynasty to prosperity.

Chapter 114 Song Dynasty Currency Hegemony

After being refuted by Zhao Mingcheng, the Xia envoy returned to the post station and soon packed his belongings, embarking on his journey home with nothing to show for it.

However, the controversy did not subside.

Shortly after the court session ended in the Zichen Hall, Zhao Mingcheng was organizing the day's court proceedings in the Secretariat.

Suddenly, a eunuch from Baoci Palace came to deliver a message.

"The Empress Dowager summoned Zhao Mingcheng, the Imperial Attendant, to go to Baoci Palace immediately to meet her."

What was bound to happen has finally happened.

Zhao Mingcheng understood, calmly put down his pen, straightened his official robe, and followed the eunuch.

Inside Baoci Palace, Empress Dowager Xiang was not in the main hall, but in a warm pavilion.

She appeared calm and indifferent today, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Your subject Zhao Mingcheng greets Your Majesty the Empress Dowager. May Your Majesty live a thousand years." Zhao Mingcheng bowed with his hands clasped.

"Zhao Mingcheng." The Empress Dowager's voice rang out, revealing neither joy nor anger, but carrying an air of authority. "You were quite imposing in the Zichen Palace today."

"Your subject dares not."

"Dare not?" Empress Dowager Xiang snorted coldly.

"I see how dare you! The Emperor has granted you permission to speak frankly," yet you truly disregard everyone else, spouting nonsense and using harsh language, almost resorting to insults, in front of the envoys of both countries! You completely disregard the dignity of the court, diplomatic etiquette, and the dignity of Chancellor Han and other senior officials!"

The Empress Dowager's tone grew increasingly harsh as she spoke, clearly indicating that she was genuinely angry.

"Do you know that your words, though seemingly satisfying, could completely push the Xia Kingdom into confrontation, reignite border conflicts, and reignite the flames of war! How many soldiers and civilians will bleed and lose their lives because of your momentary pleasure in speaking?!"

You are young and impetuous, and have achieved some military merit, yet you are so unrestrained and arrogant! If this continues, will there be any order or decorum left in the court?!

This reprimand was extremely severe.

If it were an ordinary young official, he would probably be terrified out of his wits and kowtow repeatedly.

But Zhao Mingcheng maintained a respectful posture and replied in a calm tone.

"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager's reprimand is correct. I behaved improperly before the palace today, and my words were indeed somewhat harsh, offending the ministers. I also failed to fully grasp the profound meaning of Your Majesty's 'quiet' intention. I know my fault and am willing to accept Your Majesty's punishment."

Zhao Mingcheng readily admitted his mistake. If the Empress Dowager thought he was wrong, then he was wrong. He didn't argue and just went along with whatever the Empress Dowager said.

In fact, he knew exactly what was going on.

The Empress Dowager's reprimand of him was certainly due to her dissatisfaction with his "fierce words".

But the deeper reason was actually to maintain her authority and dignity as a regent.

At the same time, he tried to appease the emotions of Han Zhongyan and other senior officials of the old party, and also gave a warning to this young close minister who was "restless" because of the emperor's favor.

Empress Dowager Xiang was conservative in her thinking and valued stability and internal balance. She found it difficult to agree with Zhao Mingcheng's ambitious and even "domineering" style of doing things.

No matter what Empress Dowager Xiang thought, Zhao Mingcheng wouldn't care.

Zhao Mingcheng knew that his foundation was not Empress Dowager Xiang, but Zhao Ji.

As long as Zhao Ji trusts him and needs him, the Empress Dowager's reprimands will only be "reprimands" and will not shake the foundation.

When Empress Dowager Xiang saw that Zhao Mingcheng's attitude was "respectful" and his admission of wrongdoing was "quick," she seemed to feel a little better.

But seeing Zhao Mingcheng's calm and unmoved expression, as if he hadn't listened at all, I felt somewhat powerless.

She knew this young man was no ordinary person; he was capable, courageous, and deeply trusted by the emperor. He couldn't be intimidated or changed by a few reprimands.

In the end, she just waved wearily.

"That's enough. Since you know you're wrong, you need to be more careful in your words and actions in the future, think more about the overall situation of the court, and stop acting on your personal feelings. You may leave now."

"Your Majesty, I respectfully obey your decree and take my leave."

Zhao Mingcheng bowed again and left Baoci Palace.

The news that Zhao Mingcheng had been reprimanded by Empress Dowager Xiang quickly reached Zhao Ji's ears.

Zhao Ji's first reaction was one of guilt and indignation.

"Defu stood up for me today, rebuked the Xia envoy, and demonstrated the power of our nation, yet he has to suffer the Empress Dowager's wrath instead—"

Emperor Huizong felt very guilty.

"Liang Shicheng!" Zhao Ji called out.

"This servant is here."

"Go and tell Defu that I will be at the football field in the inner garden this afternoon. Tell him to come over and stretch his muscles with me!" Zhao Ji thought for a moment and then added.

"Call Gao Qiu along too! And find a few more guards who are good at playing ball!"

"Yes, this servant will take care of it right away."

In the afternoon, on the football field in the inner gardens of the palace, which is reserved for the entertainment of the royal family.

Emperor Huizong had changed into a neat, narrow-sleeved Hu-style robe, while Gao Qiu, accompanied by several agile guards and eunuchs, was warming up on the field.

Zhao Mingcheng also came as summoned, and he too changed into civilian clothes.

Upon seeing Zhao Mingcheng, Zhao Ji smiled and waved.

"Defu, come quick! Today's heated debates in court have taken a toll on our energy. Let's play a couple of games to relax!"

"I obey your decree."

Zhao Mingcheng smiled and agreed, then stretched his limbs and joined in.

Zhao Ji got so into the game that he completely forgot his imperial dignity and started shouting and yelling. Gao Qiu's skills were the most flashy and exquisite. He dribbled past people, which made Zhao Ji cheer repeatedly.

Zhao Mingcheng plays with composure and practicality, and is good at running and seizing opportunities.

Sweat poured down, laughter echoed, and this scene seemed to transport us back to the carefree days when Zhao Ji, Zhao Mingcheng, Gao Qiu, and others played freely in the Prince Duan's former residence.

After kicking for about half an hour, everyone was drenched in sweat.

Emperor Huizong and Emperor Mingcheng went off the field to rest first. They sat on the brocade stools by the field, drinking the tea served by the eunuchs, and watching the high-ranking officials continue to run on the field.

Zhao Ji wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, looked at the field, and spoke casually.

"Defu, the Empress Dowager summoned you today—perhaps she said something unpleasant? I've heard about it, but don't take it to heart. The Empress Dowager—she's getting old and prefers stability in all things. Your words and actions in court today were entirely in accordance with my wishes; you did an excellent job!"

Zhao Mingcheng answered with a smile while wiping his sweat.

"Your Majesty is too kind. The Empress Dowager's teachings are wise and insightful, reminding us to consider the overall situation and prioritize stability in our actions. Your Majesty's teachings will be kept in mind."

"My words are entirely at Your Majesty's discretion. If Your Majesty deems them good, then they are good; if Your Majesty finds them inappropriate, then I will correct them."

Zhao Mingcheng's words were watertight, both giving face to the Empress Dowager and indicating that he would only listen to the Emperor, while attributing all credit and decision-making power to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji was extremely pleased to hear this.

The slight annoyance he felt from the Empress Dowager's reprimand of Zhao Mingcheng vanished, and he smiled.

"You always have such a silver tongue, but I know in my heart that we must not show weakness towards the Xia Kingdom. However—"

Zhao Ji frowned slightly and said, "After this incident, the Xia people will surely harbor resentment, and the border will likely never be truly peaceful. Although I am not afraid of fighting, I am unwilling to easily start a large-scale war. Defu, do you have a long-term plan?"

Now, let's get to the main point.

Zhao Mingcheng pondered for a moment, then cupped his hands in greeting.

"Your Majesty, as the art of war says, the best strategy is to subdue the enemy without fighting. If you can weaken the enemy, trap the enemy, or even subdue the enemy without fighting, that is the best choice."

"To subdue the enemy without fighting? Alas—how easy is that?" Zhao Ji shook his head and said.

"Does Your Majesty still remember the essay 'Strategy for Defending Against the Summer' that I wrote while I was at the Imperial Academy?"

"The Strategy for Controlling the Xia Dynasty?" Zhao Ji blinked, trying to recall. "I seem to recall something about it—it seems to mention something about controlling the Xia Dynasty through economic means? I skimmed through it later and found it somewhat novel, but I didn't delve into it. How is it related to the long-term strategy you just mentioned?"

"Exactly."

Zhao Mingcheng nodded, organized his thoughts, and decided to use the simplest metaphor.

"Your Majesty, governing a country is like playing chess. War is a battle fought in the open, which is certainly exhilarating, but also very costly. In my policy essay, I proposed another path: to use the most powerful thing of our Great Song Dynasty to slowly devour the Liao and Xia kingdoms."

"Oh? The most powerful thing in my Great Song Dynasty? Is it—armor? Supplies? Or—?" Zhao Ji was very curious.

"It's money," Zhao Mingcheng said, then explained further when he saw Zhao Ji's confusion.

"Or rather, it is paper money that can represent money, and only our Great Song Dynasty can decide its terms."

"Paper money? Could it be Jiaozi?" Zhao Ji was even more puzzled. "Didn't our dynasty already have Jiaozi? It mainly circulated in Shu, and I heard it had many drawbacks. How could it be used to subdue the Liao and Xia kingdoms?"

"Your Majesty, it is clear that the paper money issued by the court today is indeed riddled with problems and can only circulate in certain areas, making it unsuitable for general use."

Zhao Mingcheng first acknowledged the current situation, then changed the subject.

"The Song Dynasty paper money I envision is not the modern Jiaozi, but a completely new kind of paper money." The key lies not in the paper itself, but in the power it represents, and—how it is used.

Zhao Mingcheng picked up a fruit from the stone table next to him and then picked up a fallen leaf.

"Your Majesty, please look. Suppose this fruit is the tea, cloth, and ironware that Liao and Xia urgently need. Without these, they will suffer and their army will be weak. This leaf is the Song banknote that we are about to issue."

"The first step is to set rules for them."

Zhao Mingcheng put the fruit aside and picked up the fallen leaves.

"For example, our dynasty can announce at an appropriate time that from a certain date, if the Liao and Xia kingdoms want to buy tea, ironware, grain, cloth, and other necessities for survival from our Great Song Dynasty, we will only accept our paper money."

"If Liao and Xia want to buy things from our dynasty, they must first obtain our paper money. Why? Because these things are only produced by our dynasty, so they have no choice but to buy them, and therefore they have to find a way to get our paper money first."

Zhao Ji listened thoughtfully and nodded slightly.

"The second step is to entice them into extravagance and deplete their resources."

Zhao Mingcheng picked up another small snack from the stone table, representing a luxury item.

"Once they get used to buying necessities with our paper money, we can then offer them even better things, such as silk from Jiangnan, exquisite porcelain, fine wines and rare objects from various regions, books and paintings—"

These items were sold exclusively to nobles and wealthy merchants of Liao and Xia. People naturally have a competitive spirit, and other nobles in Xia and Liao would naturally want them too.

If you want it, first exchange real goods for paper money. The fine horses, cattle and sheep, the best furs, even gold and silver, pastures and forests of Liaoxia can all be exchanged for our paper money, and then use the exchanged paper money to buy our luxury goods.

Over time, the material resources of the Liao and Xia dynasties will flow into our dynasty in a steady stream, and what they will return in return, besides luxury goods, is a pile of paper money.

Zhao Ji's eyes gradually brightened; he seemed to have caught something.

"Is this... exchanging paper for their goods? Emptying their coffers?"

"Your Majesty is wise."

Zhao Mingcheng praised.

"That's exactly right. Once the cattle, sheep, horses, and other resources of Liao and Xia have been sold off, the nobles have become accustomed to extravagance, but the speed of actual production cannot keep up. At this point, the third step comes—lending money."

Zhao Mingcheng added.

"Our dynasty can use the pretext of benevolence and righteousness to lend them large amounts of paper money under the guise of aid, trade, and even advance payment of the annual tax (of course, in our own paper money)."

They're short of cash to buy things, so they'd certainly be willing to lend. But lending money requires collateral. What collateral? Their remaining valuable assets, like the operating rights to a salt lake, taxes from a pasture, the future output of cattle, sheep, and horses, the produce of a mine, or even—some less important border customs duties. In this way, their income for the next ten or even decades is already in our hands.

Zhao Ji listened intently, leaning forward slightly.

"Wouldn't that mean they're trapped?"

Although Zhao Ji acted frivolously, he was intelligent enough to glean the meaning of "trapping" from this situation.

"It's a trap."

Zhao Mingcheng's tone turned somber.

"The final step is the harvest. The amount of paper money, the price level, when to tighten and when to loosen the monetary policy are all under the control of our dynasty."

When we tightened monetary policy, there was less paper money in circulation, and they immediately felt a cash shortage. They couldn't repay their debts, so what could they do? They could only use the salt ponds, mines, and tax revenues that they had pledged to us to pay off their debts.

When we relax and print large amounts of paper money, it seems like we have more money, but the prices of goods in our country also rise accordingly. The paper money in their hands can buy less, and their wealth is being plundered invisibly.

After several rounds of this, the most profitable industries, the most important sources of tax revenue, and even control of some land within Liaoxia may unknowingly fall into the hands of our Great Song.

At that time, the entire Liao and Xia kingdoms, from nobles to commoners, will be busy working for the paper money of our Great Song Dynasty. Their economic lifeline will be in our hands; their life or death will be determined by a single thought of our dynasty.

Zhao Ji was completely stunned; his worldview had been completely shattered today.

Zhao Mingcheng concluded.

"Your Majesty, this is what I mean by the Song Dynasty's hegemonic currency." On the surface, we are neighbors with Liao and Xia, engaging in trade and benefiting each other, but in reality, we are throwing an economic noose around our necks; ostensibly for monetary exchange, it is actually a weapon to destroy our nation.

To implement this strategy, our country must first ensure that it has the capability of military deterrence, which is a prerequisite for them not to resist.

Under this premise, if this strategy succeeds, our dynasty might be able to subdue the Liao and Xia without losing a single soldier—this is subduing the enemy without fighting.

What Zhao Mingcheng expounded is essentially the core concept and operational method of the "dollar hegemony" of later generations.

He cleverly grafted and transformed the dollar hegemony to suit the economic and social context of the Northern Song Dynasty, packaging it as the strategic concept of "Song Dynasty currency hegemony".

Its core lies in leveraging the Song Dynasty's strong real economy (production of necessities and luxury goods) and trade advantages to establish a monopoly on credit currency through a series of combined measures including economic dependence, capital export, debt control, financial manipulation, and military deterrence.

Only then can the opponent be dismantled from an economic standpoint, achieving strategic goals that are difficult to achieve politically and militarily.

This theory was groundbreaking and unprecedented for Emperor Huizong of Zhao at that time, and even for the entire era.

Emperor Huizong sat there blankly, remaining silent for a long time.

He was not a fool; on the contrary, he was extremely intelligent. Zhao Mingcheng's vivid metaphors of fruit, leaves, and snacks stripped away the obscure exterior of the complex financial strategy, pointing directly to its core. It made him feel as if he had seen an unprecedented, bizarre, and tempting path to national strength.

Can you slowly "buy" a country with money, with paper money?

This idea is so bold, so novel, and so incredibly exciting!

"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"

Emperor Huizong slapped his thigh suddenly, his face flushed with excitement.

"Defu, how did you come up with such a brilliant idea? Using paper money as a weapon, you can silently drain the enemy's coffers!"

But Zhao Ji immediately frowned.

"But—this method sounds ingenious, but it must be extremely difficult to implement, right? As you just said, our dynasty's paper money is already riddled with problems and lacks credibility. How can we expect the Xia and Liao people to accept this paper money? How can we guarantee that they will absolutely have to buy our Song dynasty's goods? Furthermore, how much should be printed, and when should the printing be lenient and lenient? How can we control this? It sounds easy, but I'm afraid—"

Zhao Mingcheng was somewhat relieved to see that Zhao Ji could immediately think of the difficulties in implementation, which showed that Zhao Ji had truly listened.

Zhao Mingcheng nodded.

"Your Majesty's concerns are very valid. This policy is a vital national asset, and its implementation requires careful planning and coordination from all sides."

The fundamental reason lies in the fact that our Great Song Dynasty has a strong military, exquisite goods, and a military force that can deter enemies and products that are attractive enough to support this strategy.

This involves currency issuance, reserve requirements, goods monopoly, border control, intelligence cooperation, and even infiltration and subversion within enemy territory—each link is interconnected and indispensable, and cannot be accomplished overnight.

Seeing that Zhao Ji was getting a headache from listening, Zhao Mingcheng stopped him at the right time and laughed.

"Your Majesty, this matter is a long and complex affair. During our casual conversation over football today, I only touched upon it briefly. The specifics of how to proceed require careful consideration and analysis. Right now, stabilizing the borders and addressing domestic issues are our most pressing concerns."

Zhao Ji knew that such an important matter could not be decided in a short time, so he nodded.

"Yes, let's discuss this carefully! Defu, keep this in mind, and find an opportunity later to submit a memorial and discuss it with me in detail."

.

After speaking, Zhao Ji was in a good mood. He stood up, stretched his limbs, and shouted to Gao Qiu on the field.

"Gao Qiu! Pass the ball to me! I want to play another half with Defu!"

Gao Qiu cupped his hands in understanding, and then used his left foot to deliver a brilliant long pass towards them.

Zhao Mingcheng was in the best position to receive the ball.

He immediately adjusted his posture and distance, and as the ball was about to fall, he leaned back and easily caught the long pass with his chest.

Zhao Ji's eyes lit up.

"Wow? Defu, your skills have improved!"

"Your Majesty, football is my specialty, and I have never neglected it."

"Very well! Since you've put it that way, I'll bestow upon you a few brilliant techniques later!"

The emperor and his minister chatted and laughed as they walked back towards the stadium.

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