The prosperous times in history often appear after the troubled times, and they are basically at the beginning of the establishment of the dynasty, and the prosperity or rule of Zhongxing is not a prosperous era.

In fact, the gold content of many prosperous times is very low, which is just a manifestation of the post-war economic recovery and the rise of national strength.

The so-called prosperous era was basically based on the population decline of the previous dynasty and the redistribution of land in the current dynasty, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it was built on the basis of the blood and tears of the common people.

As the saying goes, the people suffer, and the people die!!

At present, the Ming Dynasty under the governance of Emperor Tianwu, although it has not been in power for a long time, is much stronger than some fake prosperous times, whether it is the prosperity of the country, or the cultural and martial arts, it has reached a certain level.

Because, the Tianwu Dynasty is currently the only regime in history that uses most of the revenue from the treasury to promote the development of the country and promote the development of the country, and uses money to promote economic recovery!

The current Ming Dynasty has a prosperous economy, developed science and technology, active thinking, and prosperous culture at home, and a strong military, prosperous trade, and great influence abroad!

Through a series of new tax policies such as agricultural tax, sea trade tariff, and shop tax, the annual income of the Ming treasury is as high as hundreds of millions of taels of silver, and the annual tax revenue is increasing more and more.

So much tax has led to an increase in the need for silver, and now the total amount of silver in the world is only more than one billion taels, and the total amount of silver in the Ming Dynasty is almost 400 million taels.

If it weren't for the Ministry of Finance's expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, which collected taxes and circulated silver at the same time, and vigorously developed local infrastructure, the Ming Dynasty would have experienced severe deflation, leading to higher unemployment and economic recession.

The current amount of silver in circulation is gradually insufficient to support the increasingly prosperous economy of the Ming Dynasty, and the policy of currency reform and the implementation of paper money has begun to be put on the agenda nervously.

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cihong summoned all the officials of the Ministry of Finance in Beijing who were above the seventh grade, as well as Wu Cheng, the general manager of the Royal Group, and Zhang Dabiao, the president of the Merchants Association, to discuss a series of issues concerning the reform of the currency system.

Now there are two major banks in Daming, one is the Daming Central Bank supported by the imperial court and initiated by the Merchants Federation, and the other is the Mingshang Bank under the Royal Group.

The Central Bank of Daming is responsible for issuing Tianwu Tongbao and grain stamps, and the Mingshang Bank is responsible for issuing silver stamps.

Through the development of these years, these two banks have a high reputation among the people of Daming.

Zhu Cihong prepared to issue new currency by the central bank of Daming, and the two banks circulated it on behalf of the two banks to slowly collect the old currency.

At present, there is not enough silver in the Ming market, and the currency in circulation is also messy, there are Tianwu Tongbao, as well as Chongzhen Tongbao, and even Wanli Tongbao.

The important thing is that these currencies are not of the same weight, and private money occupies too much of the market!

In the Hongwu Dynasty at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang in order to implement the treasure money policy, the control of copper coins was extremely strict, and the minting of copper coins was stopped three times and twice, resulting in rampant private minting.

In the Wanli Dynasty, due to the anti-Japanese aid to the DPRK, the imperial court handed over the department of coinage from the Baoyuan Bureau to the Ministry of Households, and later the Ministry of Industry also got the approval of the coinage, vigorously set up a coinage furnace, and frantically minted money.

The government minted money, the people also minted, and all parts of the country followed suit, private money was overflowing, and light and inferior money was mixed with official money, and a large number of official furnaces were closed!

Private money, from the initial slight to commonplace, and then from the central economic prosperity of the first-line city, spread to the bottom of the urban and rural markets, and then gradually spread to the whole country, to the development of the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty has caused a great hindrance.

In order to rectify the private minting and unify the coins, the officials of the imperial court took a variety of measures, including severe punishment, the promulgation of legal provisions, and the control of the materials used to make counterfeit coins.

However, the effect of these measures is negligible or even useless, and the problem of private money circulation has not been improved at all.

During the period of the Apocalypse and Chongzhen, the private money of the people was even more overflowing, and there was indiscriminate money everywhere, and in order to make profits, the private money became more and more inferior.

Chongzhen not only left Zhu Cihong a mess militarily, but also a mess economically.

When Chongzhen first ascended the throne, he made great plans and burned a fire economically.

The second department of household workers entered Chongzhen's new money-style Chongzhen Tongbao, and Emperor Chongzhen ordered each penny to weigh one penny and three points, so that the treasure color was wonderful, and there was no need to publish the word household work.

What a good policy to benefit the people, the coins in the first year of Chongzhen were well-minted, and it can be said that they are very conscientious.

However, at that time, there were continuous wars in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court's finances were almost collapsed, and this policy offended a large number of interest groups, and it was not long before this kind of high-quality coins could not be maintained, and private money was flooded again.

From high-ranking officials and gentry to the common people, many people who are hungry for profit have participated in the road of private minting copper coins and made profits from it.

There are too many copper coins minted privately, and they are mixed with real copper coins, and the imperial court cannot deal with these private coins from the hands of the people for a while, let alone prohibit the circulation of private money.

Later, the Chongzhen Baotong circulating in the market, its version is complex, the categories are numerous, there are more than 100 kinds, especially the complexity of the back, which is rare in the history of Chinese currency.

Among them, there is a kind of small flat money with the figure of the galloping horse on the back, the diameter is small and light, commonly known as "running horse Chongzhen", in recent years, folklore has cleverly linked this money with Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang.

Li Zicheng is known as the king of Chuang, there are horses in the door of the word "Chuang", and "Running Horse Chongzhen" indicates that "a horse enters, and there is a horse under the door" Those who destroy Chongzhen will be Li Zicheng.

The Chongzhen Dynasty was the most complicated period of Ming Dynasty coins, and it was also the most complicated period in the history of ancient Chinese currency!

It is so complicated and chaotic that even Zhu Cihong has not dared to rectify the chaotic private money market, the economy is the foundation of the country, and if it collapses, it will not be far from the destruction of the country.

Now is the time to solve this situation, not only to mint a large number of new coins to supplement the market and alleviate deflation, but also to find a way to eliminate the mixed good and bad private money in the market.

In order to solve this situation, Cheng Guoxiang, a scholar of the Ministry of Finance, studied for several years, went deep into the market many times, communicated with the people, and finally summed up several solutions.

Cheng Guoxiang stood up from his seat tremblingly, and said: "Your Majesty, private transactions are mixed with privately minted copper coins, so the money law does not work, and the minister suggests starting from the quality, the new coin material is sufficient, and the private money is fundamentally curbed!" ”

Cheng Guoxiang's suggestion is to draw salary from the bottom of the kettle, as long as Tianwu Tongbao is in good condition, high in copper, and sufficient in weight, who will use light and thin private money?

Huang Zongxi, who had just been transferred to the right chamberlain of the household department, also said: "The words of the ministers attached to the old cabinet are supplemented by criminal laws, and over time, the momentum of private money will naturally be curbed. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded slightly, this is indeed a good method, that is, it is to spend more money than before, but the most important thing that Daming lacks now is money!

For the long-term stability of the country and the prosperity and stability of the market, the money that should be spent still has to be spent.

The core of solving the problem is execution, and the methods of officials in the past dynasties to curb private money were good, but in the end, the execution was poor, which led to failure.

Regarding the execution of Daming's current officialdom, Zhu Cihong still has some confidence.

Next year will be the third time that the Tianwu Dynasty has opened a branch to take scholars, and he will not be an official for the time being.