After leaving Linggu Temple, the emperor wanted to go shopping in Nanjing, which caused Wang Yuan, Zhang Yong, Jiang Bin and others a headache.

Linggu Temple can still clear the scene, but you arrange tens of thousands of extras on the streets of Nanjing?

Wang Yuan didn't dare to bring his wife and children, so Ling'er and Wang Ce lived in the official residence, and he and Yuan Da held knives and served with them. In case of encountering bandits, or Ning Wang Yu's party, he will immediately draw a knife and slash people to escort him.

But Zhu Houzhao was not worried and went straight to the most prosperous Sanshan Street.

This place belonged to the royal street in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and developed into the most prosperous commercial street in the country in the Ming Dynasty. The stalls are set up under the corridors on both sides of the street, which can shelter from the wind and rain, and are called "official corridors", and this kind of stalls are subject to taxation. If they do not operate under the corridor, they can be regarded as illegal stalls, and they are often driven away by the "chengguan" (Wucheng Terracotta Division).

Zhu Houzhao seems to see everything, and the goods here are much richer than those in Beijing. He walked to a stall, picked up a folding fan, opened it and tasted it: "The fan work is good, but the painting is too bad." ”

Seeing that Zhu Houzhao was followed by seven or eight people, the stall owner flattered: "This son's eyesight is really good, and it is indeed difficult for the folding fan painter to enter the eyes of the Fang family." The boss said and took out another folding fan, "Childe, this fan is blank, you can paint according to your own heart." ”

Zhu Houzhao was quite satisfied, nodded and said, "I will buy a few and take them to let Tang Yin paint." ”

The stall owner was very happy, and asked, "Childe is Tang Jieyuan's friend?" ”

Zhu Houzhao smiled: "You also know Tang Yin?" ”

The stall owner said, "How can you not know? I haven't seen Tang Xie Yuan in the past few years, but I often met him a few years ago, he lived in Nanjing for a long time. ”

When Zhu Houzhao was chatting with the boss, Wang Yuan also got a folding fan.

Nanjing was the center of folding fan production in the Ming Dynasty, and "Jinling folding fan" was famous all over the world. This random roadside stall, the folding fan sold in Beijing, can also be listed as a good product.

After strolling around the street for a while, I saw that it was already noon.

Zhu Houzhao walked directly into a restaurant and asked, "Xiao'er, do you have Jinling roast duck here?" ”

The shopkeeper smiled: "Childe is really good at laughing, how can you not make roast duck when you open a restaurant in Nanjing?" ”

Jinling roast duck and Jinling roast goose belonged to Nanjing's famous dishes in the early Ming Dynasty.

After Zhu Di moved the capital, the dishes also spread to Beijing, so there was "Beijing Roast Duck".

However, during the Zhengde period, "Peking duck" was still a palace dish, and it was still decades before the opening of the first roast duck restaurant in Beijing. The Peking duck restaurant, which has not yet opened, is called "Cheap Fang", and the four characters "Jinling Roast Duck" are specially marked on the signboard.

Zhu Houzhao has eaten "Peking Roast Duck" since he was a child, and knows that "Jinling Roast Duck" is an authentic product, so he naturally wants to come and try it.

The guy quickly brought a few plates of roast duck, which had been thinly sliced, and had not yet been provided with a dipping sauce, just a layer of marinade.

Wang Yuan picked up a piece and tasted it, crispy and refreshing, fat but not greasy, full of juice, which was very different from the Peking duck of later generations. To be honest, this thing is more in line with Wang Yuan's taste, because he doesn't like to eat sweet noodle sauce.

Sweet is heresy, salty is the right way!

Zhu Houzhao said: "It's not far from the taste at home, but it's still more delicious authentic Jinling roast duck." ”

Wang Yuan was eating roast duck while playing with the copper coins in his hand. These are all good money, and in order to accompany the emperor to buy things, they are specially exchanged for silver in the bank.

In the history of the Ming Dynasty, there are three kinds of copper coins with the best quality, including gold back money, fire paint money and edge money, and all of them have been treated with anti-counterfeiting. The surface of the gold-backed coin is coated with copper powder, which is as bright as a gold coin; The surface of the fire paint money is smoked into black lacquer; The edge of the coin is on the edge of the copper coin, with a special pattern.

These three copper coins are all exquisitely crafted and full of materials.

Compared with the new Chinese five-cent coin, the diameter of the gold-backed coin is more than twice that of the five-cent coin, and the thickness is just about twice that of the five-cent coin. Isn't it a little different from the copper coin you remember?

However, none of these three good money have yet to come out. Only the coinage of Nanjing Baoquan Bureau, which is somewhat similar to the gold back money, is called "gold back" by the people, and only circulates in the jurisdiction of Nanzhili.

"What is Erlang staring at the copper coin?" Zhu Houzhao asked suddenly.

Wang Yuan replied with a smile: "It is the first time that the minister has made such good money, and Nanjing's coinage is more exquisite than Beijing's. ”

Zhu Houzhao was not interested in this, and only said: "No matter how good the copper money is, there is no gold or silver to use." ”

Wang Yuan shook his head and said, "The people of Shengdou rely on copper coins for use. ”

Zhu Houzhao said: "But the inner government and the household department collect customs duties, only silver, and how inconvenient it is to transport copper coins to the capital." ”

Not only was the customs duties escorted into Beijing, but all of them had to be exchanged for silver, that is, the official grain had to be exchanged for silver. This kind of exchange, which contains the mystery of "fire consumption", has become a means for countless officials to make money.

Zhang Yong suddenly said: "Childe, the inner government and the household department also want to make copper coins, but the full collection of silver is not enough to supply." ”

"Really?" Zhu Houzhao asked confusedly. Fat Cat Literature Network

Zhang Yong said with a smile: "In the third year of Zhengde, the copper coins of the key treasury and the carrier treasury were not enough, and it was the old slave who suggested that the treasury and the treasury of the government should be sent to solve the problem of military salaries and salaries of the year." ”

Such a big event, Zhu Houzhao had no impression.

The key treasury was in the hands of the eunuchs, and the food and salary of the soldiers in Beijing were allocated from the treasury, and the financial resources came from the local customs duties and the Ministry of Industry to mint money - if there was a war, as a wartime need, the household department would pay for it. For example, Wang Yuan's military training was paid by the household department, and after Liu Liu Liu and Liu Qi were exterminated, the eunuchs were paid.

The transport depot is in charge of the household department, and the civil and military officials are paid by the transport depot, and the financial resources also come from the local banknotes and the Ministry of Industry to mint money.

Before the Hongzhi Dynasty, customs duties were collected in both money and money, and military salaries were mainly based on grain. Emperor Hongzhi carried out reforms in this regard, and the tariff escort into Beijing must be given silver, and the Ming treasure banknotes were completely abandoned, and the central government even stopped collecting copper coins.

At the same time, the imperial court began to mint money, and issued Hongwu, Yongle, and Xuande three dynasties to accumulate money, so that the local tax collection was at least half of the old money (minted by the previous dynasty) and half of the money (minted by the Ming Dynasty), and the old money that did not make money was worth one. Why is money scarce? Because for a long time, the Ming Dynasty officials did not mint copper coins, and ordered the people to use treasure money.

The original intention of these reforms was good.

The central government only collects money because it is too troublesome to escort copper coins into Beijing. The reason for letting the local place store copper coins is to completely abolish the treasure money and facilitate the daily life of the common people.

But by the time Zhu Houzhao became emperor, it was only a little more than ten years before this reform encountered an embarrassing situation.

Because the central government only collects money, but pays officials and soldiers, and uses a large number of copper coins, the copper coins of the inner government and the household department are not enough.

What to do?

The inner government and the household department can only exchange copper money in the people, and it is inevitable to fill their pockets and exchange a large amount of inferior private money. When it was distributed to officials and soldiers, private money was used to distribute it at the value of the currency, resulting in the official receiving less than one-third of the real salary.

Of course, the officials were not happy, especially the Shimizu Yamen, who was paid to live. They don't have much money in the first place, and they can't eat enough to eat when they receive bad money!

Everyone refused to accept inferior copper coins, and the matter was very troublesome. The yamen, who was in charge of paying wages, spread his hands and said, "There is not enough copper money in the treasury, and I have no choice." ”

At that time, it was Zhang Yong who came out to settle the situation and embezzled the money accumulated by the Inner Mansion Heavenly Treasury to the Si Key Treasury to pay food and salaries to the Beijing soldiers. He also used the money of the chief treasury to the transport treasury to distribute money to the officials. Zhang Yong also suggested that in the future, the central government should collect tariffs and approve them at 700 wen (money) for one tael of silver, and that the exchange ratio of copper and silver should not be changed at will, and that it would be forbidden for the people to privately mint copper coins.

Although Zhang Yong was greedy, he still had a good level of governance, and his suggestions were unanimously approved by the civilian officials.

At least the civil and military officials in the capital can receive a full amount of money, and they all have to thank Zhang Yong. Now a system has been formed, and the monthly salaries of the Beijing officials are all transported into Beijing by the local government treasury to transport copper coins into Beijing for distribution.

At this moment, Zhang Yong explained, and Zhu Houzhao finally understood. He didn't care about the financial issues, but asked: "The officials have the local government secretary to use the money to supply, but what about the food and salary of the soldiers in the Beijing camp?" Is there enough copper coins in the Treasury? ”

Of course it's not enough, but who's going to care?

The soldiers of the Xiguanting (the border army of the capital) are not bad, but the Dongguanting (Jingying) is generally in arrears. When the key treasury paid no copper coins, he directly deducted the silver, and the generals took the silver to eat the empty salary, and then bought some food and distributed it to the soldiers.

Jiang Bin said with a smile: "Although the copper coins in the key treasury are not enough, they can be used to buy grain and distribute them with silver, so the prince doesn't have to worry." ”

"That's fine." Zhu Houzhao was very concerned about the soldiers of the Beijing camp.

Wang Yuan didn't bother to debunk it, because it was useless to debunk it, as long as the emperor didn't keep an eye on it, this kind of thing would happen all the time.

Wang Yuan only cared about the country's finances and said: "Childe, although Steward Zhang prohibits the private minting of copper coins, the copper coins on the market are not enough after all. You might as well cast 'Zhengde Tongbao', one to alleviate the copper coin gap, and the other to show the mighty imperial grace. The minting of money requires the use of sufficient materials, which is distinguished from private money. ”

The Zhengde Dynasty has not minted copper coins, and the "Zhengde Tongbao" collected by later generations is either a modern fake or an ancient private money.

Zhu Houzhao didn't care about alleviating the copper coin gap, he was only interested in showing the emperor's grace, and immediately said: "Then cast Zhengde Tongbao!" ”

Wang Yuan had already prepared and suggested: "Copper produced in Yunnan can be minted in Guizhou." Hangzhou opened, foreign copper is cheap, can be transported to Nanjing Baoquan Bureau to mint money. In other places, no money shall be minted, and old money from all over the country should be exchanged, and new money from Nanjing and Yunnan should be exchanged. ”

All local political secretaries have the power to mint money.

For example, the copper coins minted in Guangdong are called "green coins" by the people, just because too much tin is added to the coins.

There is no way to ban the bad money minted by the officials in various places. Fortunately, today's Beijing officials have to send copper coins into Beijing by the local political secretary, and if the regulations can only be given to Zhengde Tongbao, the local political secretary must exchange some of them, which can be regarded as speeding up the nationwide circulation of new money.

As for minting large coins, increasing central tax revenue?

Well, Zhu Yuanzhang also thinks so, the copper coins in the early Ming Dynasty have the value of five wen, ten wen, fifty wen, and one hundred wen. As a result, private money is overflowing, and it is more beautifully cast than official money, and that thing is a hundredfold profiteering!

Ming officials also wanted to rectify the currency, so in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, exquisite gold-backed money, fire paint money and Rongbian money appeared. But it is too exquisite, the materials are too sufficient, and the money has to be minted, and the official cut corners in the end. Moreover, bad money drives out good money, fine official money is collected by rich people, and bad money is circulated in the market.

Wang Yuan received a letter from the capital two days ago, saying that the steam engine had been successfully improved, and that it would be possible to use steam to press coins in the future. This thing can make coins on a large scale, and the cost is low, and the rich can collect it casually, and you can collect as much as you want, and in the end, no one will collect it.

As long as the quantity is large and the amount is full, the bad money will not drive out the good money, and the market will automatically eliminate the bad money.

Wang Yuan asked the emperor for an errand: "Son, I want to take care of the matter of minting money with the household department." ”

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: "Then you will supervise the Nanjing Baoquan Bureau, and ask everyone to write the four words 'Zhengde Tongbao'." ”