The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The real inflation in the Song Dynasty was after the government began to issue paper money, that is, after the establishment of the official paper money issuing agency "Yizhou Jiaoziwu", the fixed denomination of Jiaozi was stipulated, and iron coins were used as reserves for Jiaozi.

Before the issuance of Jiaozi, a corresponding amount of iron coins must be prepared as reserves, and the reserve currency can be exchanged by the people at any time.

At the same time, the Song Dynasty government also formulated a corresponding currency system, stipulating that the use period of Jiaozi is two or three years. After the period is over, the old Jiaozi will be taken back by the government and new Jiaozi will be issued immediately.

This regulation is to prevent excessive wear and tear of Jiaozi and counterfeiting of fake Jiaozi by the people. Secondly, a fixed amount of Jiaozi has a relative amount of iron coins reserves, which can prevent the problem of Jiaozi's dishonesty.

It should be said that the rules for issuing Jiaozi in the Song Dynasty were very clear. If everything is done according to the rules, the subsequent phenomenon of cheap money will naturally not occur.

(Due to cache reasons, please visit 69 Book Bar → 69𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒙.𝒏𝒆𝒕 website directly through the browser to watch the fastest chapter update)

Unfortunately, history did not go this way.

When the military expenditure of the Song Dynasty increased dramatically, the court issued a large number of Jiaozi to solve the problem, and hyperinflation broke out.

Printing a large number of Jiaozi is just like the Ming Dynasty constantly absorbing silver from overseas at this time.

When the amount of silver exceeds the circulation demand of the people, it will also cause inflation.

Inflation benefits the rich and loses the common people.

Zhang Juzheng naturally understands Wei Guangde's meaning, but what he cares most about now is the gold issue.

Of course, gold and silver are the most popular among the people.

For wealthy families, who doesn't have a large number of gold products and gold jewelry, and for the poor, it is very good to have a piece of silver jewelry.

Because the Ming Dynasty is now in a net inflow of international trade, the international settlement currency is naturally based on the requirements of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty recognizes silver, so silver is the international currency.

But according to Wei Guangde's words, once the Ming Dynasty lacks gold, the gold will be exchanged by the barbarians at a low price. When the Ming Dynasty needs gold, will the barbarians bring gold to trade again?

Wei Guangde has already said that now they bring silver, but what if they raise the gold price in the future and increase the exchange rate of gold and silver from 1:7 to 1:20, or even more?

Gold and silver are recognized by the people.

Although the Ming court did not recognize the monetary attributes of gold and silver, the court had issued some decrees before, and silver was already circulated among the people.

Even a few days ago, he was still thinking about converting taxes into silver and reducing the collection of physical objects when implementing the "One Whip Law" throughout the country.

However, Zhang Juzheng was still happy about the large amount of silver flowing in after the opening of Yuegang, thinking that it could solve the tension of silver circulation among the people, but he did not expect that it seemed to be a good thing now, but it would cause a situation like the Song Dynasty over time.

This forced him to think deeply about the pros and cons.

You know, the Ming Dynasty is still constrained by the currency problem, which has not been effectively solved.

Now the good coins minted by the government are mostly taken away privately by local tyrants to make inferior coins, and the circulation of private coins has serious hidden dangers.

In fact, this is also a problem that existed at the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing the old things of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang chose to give up minting coins after realizing that the copper materials of the Ming Dynasty were insufficient and the cost of coinage was high. Instead, he chose to issue treasure notes and prohibit the circulation of gold and silver among the people.

The treasure notes did play some roles, but a series of measures taken by Zhu Yuanzhang later also made the treasure notes of the Ming Dynasty follow the old path of paper money in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Not only did it not bring convenience to the people, but it became a means for the government to plunder the wealth of the people.

The treasure notes collapsed completely, and the people used gold, silver and copper coins as the main means of transaction again.

Wei Guangde had long been considering improving the currency system of the Ming Dynasty. With the precedent of the treasure notes, this matter is of course a long way to go.

Earlier, Wei Guangde was still thinking about whether to use the large amount of silver pouring in from overseas as the main currency. Therefore, he foresaw that there would be less gold and more silver in the future of the Ming Dynasty, and let the family reserve more gold instead of silver as a countermeasure.

But today, after he saw that the Japanese gold at a ratio of 1:10 was bought up by the barbarians, he realized that the gold price in Western countries might be higher than this ratio.

The future international currency reserves mainly consist of some highly circulated national currencies and gold, but no country has ever stored silver.

Although it seems that the United States on the other side of the strait once used silver as a currency reserve, it was for a short time, mainly because of the lobbying of silver mine owners.

At that time, the price of silver had been hovering for a long time, which caused the interests of these mine owners to suffer.

Therefore, the silver that was once ignored was used as a supplement to the gold reserve by them, and they successfully lobbied the government to include it in the reserve.

This incident also directly led to the collapse of China's silver standard system in the 1930s, and the country could only start to issue legal tender, opening up a chaotic currency era.

At that time, in old China, not only copper coins were still in circulation, but silver dollars, legal tender, gold yuan coupons, etc. were all in a mess.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde naturally realized that silver could be used as a circulating currency, but the main reserve of the court could not be silver, and it must also be gold.

However, the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming court only has a few hundred taels of gold in reserve, which is obviously not enough.

Moreover, considering that Zhang Juzheng had previously discussed in the cabinet the implementation of the One Whip Law across the country, the silver standard must be determined to implement the One Whip Law, which would facilitate unified tax collection at the local level.

It seems that the Ming Dynasty currency reform that I have considered can be put on the agenda.

Now that Zhang Juzheng brought the ball to him, of course he had to catch it.

Immediately, Wei Guangde took out something from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Juzheng.

"Brother, let's take a look."

"What is this?"

Zhang Juzheng took it easily, turned it over and over in his hand for a long time, and then said: 'Is this made of silver? ’

What Zhang Juzheng was holding was the Spanish silver dollar that Wei Guangde had received from his family earlier, but he didn't understand it because it was very different from the silver coins of later generations in his impression.

It is better to say that it is a silver pimple or a silver cake. It is only close to a circle. There is no monetary unit or portrait on the front and back, but a cross pattern on the front and back of double columns.

I heard that there is a silver coin with a more complicated pattern, but Wei Guangde doesn't have it in his hands. He only heard it mentioned by his servants.

"This is the silver coin brought by the Yi people. It was cast by the country where the Yi people live. It has clear weight and silver fineness standards."

Wei Guangde said.

In fact, he took it for granted, because in his opinion, the silver coins should have been minted by a European country, and the highest probability was Spain.

But he didn't know that the silver coin in his hand was indeed made according to the order of the King of Spain. It was a struck coin. The silver block was irregular in shape, but of appropriate weight and fineness. It was generally called cobmoney in Europe and the United States, or cob for short. ).

This is the Spanish Benyang, forged on the orders of Philip II.

At this time, Spain occupied a large area of ​​land in the Americas and discovered silver mines for large-scale mining. This was done to facilitate transportation and measurement.

This type of COB is generally divided into two categories, one is the one with the Spanish coat of arms on the front and a cross on the back, and the other is the one with double columns on the front and a cross on the back.

"Vulgar."

Zhang Juzheng weighed the silver coins in his hand and commented.

Wei Guangde was speechless, but that was not the point, so he just went and said it to Zhang Juzheng. He was not wrong anyway.

"Brother, the cabinet meeting previously discussed the implementation of a whip law in all provinces of the Ming Dynasty to collect silver as taxes."

Hearing this, Zhang Juzheng nodded.

"But now in our Ming Dynasty, most of the silver circulating among the people is broken silver. After the government weighs and collects taxes, it has to be cast into silver ingots and escorted to Beijing."

Having said this, Wei Guangde took out a copper coin. This was Longqing Tongbao, a Xiaoping coin minted in the fourth year of Longqing.

Of course, this money was made of high-quality copper and was used as a reward from the palace. Now Wei Guangde showed it to Zhang Juzheng. He thought Zhang Juzheng should guess his intention.

Sure enough, Zhang Juzheng immediately guessed Wei Guangde's intention when he saw the copper coins in Wei Guangde's hand and the Yiren silver coins in his own hand.

"You want to make money?"

Wei Guangde nodded and said: "Brother Uncle once said that silver would be the main method of tax collection for the court. In fact, this is also the case now.

But at that time, I and Brother Qing once said that the government collected copper coins and broken silver to offset taxes, and also cast silver ingots and handed them over to the Ministry of Household Affairs. However, the fire consumption was levied from the private sector.

This amount can be large or small, all at the whim of the official. "

Zhang Juzheng nodded. Contrary to what ordinary people thought, the Ming Dynasty's cabinet would hold a lot of meetings and discussions before issuing decrees, instead of making decisions on their heads.

In film and television works, there is a discussion between ministers and the emperor. It is impossible for a minister to make a suggestion and the whole room applauds, and then immediately issue an order to do it.

The officials would discuss it, and if there was no problem, they would report to the emperor for approval.

It can be said that what was handed over to the emperor was a mature and implementable decree.

Therefore, before the cabinet actually implemented the One Whip Law across the country, it considered many issues, and Huo Xiao was one of them.

"My Ming Dynasty has rules for making money, and I think the money made by the Yi people seems to be similar to that of our dynasty.

Since the Yi people can make money from silver, we, the Ming Dynasty, can naturally do it too.

With silver coins, there is no need to talk about fire consumption, which can be regarded as good governance to reduce the burden on the people.

To this end, the imperial court could also set the weight and fineness of copper coins, stipulate that silver coins should be minted and copper coins should be exchanged, and this should be announced to the world.

Folks mostly use privately minted money. If they are willing to mint it privately, they can mint it privately. When the time comes, they can exchange it for money according to weight and fineness.

However, before promoting this matter, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Industry must participate in discussions to determine the specifications of silver and copper money. To avoid the old events of the Song Dynasty, the difference between large money and small money must also be considered.

For example, this silver coin can be used to make two kinds of money: one tael and one qian. "

Wei Guangde's natural first step in reforming the Ming Dynasty currency was to determine the currency style.

However, Zhang Juzheng didn't quite understand how this had anything to do with the previous foreign purchases of gold.

When Zhang Juzheng frowned, Wei Guangde continued: "One tael of silver coins can contain 80% silver. In this way, the court can make 20% profit for every one tael of silver coins minted, and at least 10% profit after factoring in the minting cost.

In the Ming Dynasty, only money made by the Ming Dynasty was allowed to be circulated. Such coins must be exchanged for money made by the Ming Dynasty, and an additional 10% minting fee will be charged based on the silver content. "

Obviously, this is aimed at importing silver from overseas.

When doing business with Daming, I will earn 10% of your money first.

Anyway, Ming Dynasty's products are not worried about sales, and some overseas businessmen come to buy them.

Earning 10% of the silver is equivalent to reducing the purchasing power of the Yi people by 10%, which can effectively reduce the outflow of gold from the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, the court will also make a net profit of 20% of the silver, which will alleviate the court's financial difficulties.

"Well, I think it's feasible."

After Zhang Juzheng figured out the difference, he immediately nodded in approval.

Liu Shouyou didn't expect that Wei Guangde would come up with such an idea. It had to be said that it was a good idea and the court could benefit from it.

"At the same time, the court also needs to establish sufficient gold reserves, which can no longer be the case now."

Wei Guangde said immediately.

"Shaloan, it's not like you don't know the current situation in the court. Where can I exchange silver for gold as a reserve?"

Zhang Juzheng said with a helpless smile.

"have."

However, Wei Guangde said immediately.

"Um?"

Zhang Juzheng was slightly surprised, but he soon roughly guessed what Wei Guangde was thinking.

"Brother uncle should have thought of it, haha

Having said this, I think my uncle has also realized the possible changes in gold and silver prices, so the tens of millions of taels of silver stored in Changying Treasury cannot be kept, and it will be a loss to the court. "

Wei Guangde continued.

"With a large inflow of silver, its value will inevitably decrease significantly. You plan to exchange the silver stored in Changying Treasury for gold. I also support it. There should be no objection from the DPRK and China."

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beard and smiled.

It doesn’t really matter whether you reserve gold or silver, as long as you have reserves.

Wei Guangde nodded when he heard this. As long as both of them support it, it can be regarded as having been recognized by the palace at this time.

"It is not easy to make a big deal about this matter, but to operate it secretly in private to avoid causing panic in the court and the people."

Wei Guangde continued, "At that time, Jinyiwei will have to closely monitor the people, firstly to avoid leaks of information, and secondly to prevent anyone from taking advantage of this to make ill-gotten gains."

"yes."

Liu Shouyou agreed from the side.

"With Chang Ying's treasury of tens of millions of taels of silver, the imperial court should be able to reserve two million taels of gold, but this is not enough.

From now on, when Chang Yingku collects horse-priced silver, it will be converted into gold by the local government and deposited in the treasury. This will also allow the local gold price to rise earlier, so as to avoid being taken advantage of by the barbarians.

The silver in Chang Ying's treasury was the raw material used by the imperial court to make the first batch of Ming Dynasty silver treasures. The imperial court should have made a profit of one million taels from this matter, and this profit would also be used to build the imperial court's gold reserves.

In this way, gold circulating in the market can be collected into the national treasury.

As for wealthy private households collecting gold, let them do it.

This gold can't be leaked out, so the court doesn't need to worry about anything. "

Wei Guangde said.

Anyway, what Wei Guangde is thinking about now is how to increase the exchange price of domestic gold and silver and bring up the price of gold.

Anyway, most of the old Wei family's silver has been converted into gold. In this incident, the loss will not be huge, but there will be a profit.

Absorbing the gold in private circulation and preventing the outflow of gold is more effective than issuing a strict ban.

The more the court prohibits some things, the more people commit them because they are profitable.

In this case, it is better for the court to take away the benefits directly.

"Jin Yiwei will intervene in the entire exchange to find out the situation of gold circulating in the market to prevent them from concealing it."

Wei Guangde said again.