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"What? I stopped redeeming it! ”

"Why don't you change it for us? That's not going to work! We don't want these banknotes! ”

"That's right! Using this worthless waste paper as gold, silver and copper coins is not a disguised scraping of our money? ”

"I've heard others say that there has been no gold and silver in the treasury of the imperial court for a long time, and all the money has been used up in the war, and now the treasury and granaries are so empty that they can starve to death of rats!"

Immediately there was a lot of discussion.

Seeing that the crowd was excited, the official who maintained order at the gate of the Ministry of Finance suddenly shouted: "What nonsense are you talking about? Beware of your one of the sins. Who said I wouldn't change it for you? Look at what the big cannibal is holding in his arms? Isn't it just a gold bar that was just exchanged? ”

The officials pointed at Mubashaf, and everyone saw a large pile of gold bars in his bosom.

Mubashaf also just learned that he had become the last lucky person to successfully exchange gold and silver today. Compared with these people who set up tents outside the door and prepared to stay up late to wait in line, he was also overjoyed, and his original annoyed mood disappeared without a trace. Seeing others looking at the gold bars in his hands, showing envious expressions, he also felt a little self-conscious.

So, he opened his mind generously and let people look at the gold bars in his arms. Anyway, it is only a few steps from here to the post house where he lives, and on this street, the officials are all one post and five steps and one sentry, so they don't have to worry about someone robbing them at all, and they are safe.

"But we've been queuing all day, can't we redeem it right away? I'm in a hurry to order tomorrow! ”

"That's it. I have to go to the farmer tomorrow to buy cotton to spin into cotton yarn, what can I do if I can't exchange it? ”

"Yes! My old mother is seriously ill and is anxious to wait for money to go to the doctor for treatment! If you can't exchange it for my mother, it's dangerous! ”

The people who didn't make it all shouted loudly, and they were all so anxious that their faces were red.

At this time, the door of the Ministry of Finance opened again, and out came a middle-aged official of seventeen or eighteen years old. Everyone immediately recognized that this person was Yan Zhi, the head of the Coin Exchange Department of the Ministry of Finance.

So, everyone immediately rushed up, anxiously demanding that he continue to open the exchange.

Yan Zhi was blank at this time, and said loudly: "Everyone's reaction just now, this official can hear it clearly!" Now the imperial court issues paper money, and the use value is the same as the equivalent amount of gold and silver. Whoever dares to refuse to accept banknotes will be severely punished. Nowadays, I go to school, see a doctor in a medical center, pick up medicine in a pharmacy, eat in a restaurant, pay taxes, buy a house, buy a land...... You can pay with banknotes. Unless you go to Li Tang's territory, who dares to refuse to accept it? ”

Speaking of this, he pointed to the door of the exchange point again and said: "Our exchange point has been busy from morning to night today, and we have never refused anyone's exchange request!" It is impossible for any store or yamen in the world to be open without rest, so why should our Ministry of Finance make an exception? ”

After saying that, Yan Zhi raised his head and put on an official posture and said: "This official will put the words here first!" Whoever dares to refuse to accept banknotes, the Ministry of Finance will not be soft, and will resolutely deal with it and will not tolerate it! You are willing to honestly queue up for exchange and listen to your convenience, but if someone wants to take the opportunity to make trouble, put forward some unreasonable demands. We also happened to check whether he had evaded taxes and whether he had fornicated with Li Tang! ”

His soft and hard, half-declarative and half-threatening words came out, which made everyone immediately dumbfounded. After all, everyone is a businessman, and what businessman has not evaded taxes? If the tax department really investigates with peace of mind, how can it not find out the problem? As for fornicating with Li Tang, this is even more of a crime to be added, and there is no word for it. As long as his own business sells to Li Tang's territory, or someone from Li Tang's jurisdiction comes to buy something, he can add this crime to his head. Besides, even if the officials can't find out anything, just guarding and checking the accounts in their own shop every day will make their own business unable to do it.

So, the crowd suddenly whispered. After calming down, many people thought that although the Ministry of Finance was indeed slow to exchange gold and silver, it had not stopped since the imperial court officially announced the start of paper money today. Anyone who entered the door to exchange money also went in with a large stack of banknotes and came out with a pile of gold, silver and copper coins. This is real gold and silver coins, not counterfeit property. No matter how anxious everyone is, it is useless, it is impossible to force the Ministry of Finance to exchange gold and silver all night. Even if it's a pawnshop, you can't stay open for business for 12 hours without resting!

Yan Zhi saw that these people had a look on their faces, and immediately hit the railway while it was hot: "Everyone, please rest assured." As long as our Great Zhou Dynasty still exists, whether it is normal times or the New Year, we will exchange gold and silver tomorrow! And there is no limit to the amount, you can redeem it casually! Today is the first day of the banknote implementation, and our Ministry of Finance is short of manpower, so we are a little busy. After a while, the issuance and listing of banknotes will be straightened out, and all exchange windows will be fully opened. You won't have to wait in line for so long, staring at the exchange point. To tell you the truth, what we have in the treasury of the Great Zhou Dynasty is gold and silver, which can be called a sea of gold and silver. As far as you are concerned, the little note you hold in your hand is just a drop in the bucket! ”

With that, Yan Zhi turned around and walked into the gate of the Ministry of Finance, and then closed the door with a "bang".

"Lord Yan has said so, it seems that there is really so much gold and silver? That being the case, then why are we in a hurry to set up a tent here and queue up to redeem it? Anyway, the yamen of the Ministry of Finance is here, and they can't run away! The domestic businessman thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to go home with the banknotes.

Most of these people in line are businessmen who have close contacts with the imperial court, and they are all found for the court's usual use and military procurement. So, they also received the banknotes on the first day. Because of the very close relationship with the Zhou Dynasty, they still believed in Yan Zhi's words, and decided to wait for the exchange window to open before coming. In the past few years of living under the rule of Yu Ming, they felt that the newly established Great Zhou court still believed in it.

Of course, foreign merchants such as Dashi, Tubo, Annam, and Japan do not think so. They don't have any deep feelings for the Zhou Dynasty, and they are not interested in Yuming's personal reputation.

Many people secretly thought in their hearts: "What mountains of gold and silver seas, I am afraid that most of them are some kind of delaying tactics made by Yan Zhi, for fear that there will be many people who exchange them, and the gold and silver in the treasury will be exchanged." We are not businessmen in the Central Plains, maybe after this business, we will return to China in the future to settle down, and it is not necessary to say that we will not come again. Even if you want to do business again, you can only feel at ease if you have real money in your hands......"

It's just that seeing that the queue is so long, and the old man at the exchange window is slow, if you go home to sleep now and come to line up early tomorrow morning, I'm afraid you won't be able to exchange gold and silver for a whole day.

Therefore, their performance is completely different from that of the Central Plains merchants, and they all plan to honestly lay on the ground and live in tents here. Fortunately, early tomorrow morning, the exchange office of the Ministry of Finance will be open to exchange gold and silver.

Looking at the big food merchants, who were also wearing white turbans and robes, and shrunk their heads in the cold wind, Mubashaf could only feel a special mood. It seems that it was really his piety that moved Allah and made him the lucky last merchant to exchange for gold and silver. These colleagues who shrug their heads in the cold wind will obediently set up tents and stay up all night!

And at this moment, in the finance minister's office upstairs in the exchange hall, Yu Ming and the eldest grandson Wujian opened the curtains and looked at the merchants who were laying out tents on the ground, and they all sighed in their hearts. It is indeed difficult to establish the commercial credit of paper money in such a short time! Especially since people in this era never used paper money. In their eyes, paper money is just a pile of notes, and no matter how you look at it, it is not as useful as real money.

Moreover, the Ministry of Finance deliberately delayed the exchange time, so that those merchants who did not succeed in exchanging gold and silver were afraid that they would already be scolding in their stomachs, right?

"Innocent, it seems that we need to strengthen the application range of paper money. Otherwise, these merchants who had business dealings with the imperial court used paper money when settling with the imperial court, and the use of paper money was narrow. It is necessary to speed up the issuance and scope of use, and force the whole society to use paper money. Yu Ming held the slender hand of the eldest grandson and said with a firm face.

The eldest grandson Wujian nodded slightly, she naturally knew that Yuming was going to activate the second set of emergency plans.

……

Although the Zhou Dynasty's use of banknotes was only temporarily put into trial operation in Luoyang, it had already spread to the eight places under its jurisdiction, including Liaodong, Hedong, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Jianghuai, and Jiangnan, and countless officials, businessmen, and people were anxiously concerned about the changes in the situation.

After the day, all the officials of the imperial court in Luoyang, whether they were central or local, whether they were a major member or an errand servant and land security officer who did not enter the stream. And all the merchants who need to settle accounts with the government, the money they get is no longer gold, silver and copper coins, but colorful Great Zhou Dynasty banknotes. This makes the hearts of people who buy banknotes hang.

After all, the hard currency of real money has become this so-called banknote that seems to be just a thin strip, which is not cost-effective no matter how you look at it.

Fortunately, the promotion of paper money in the Zhou Dynasty began with officials and merchants who had business dealings with the imperial court and military, and the former did not dare to raise objections for the time being in order to protect their official positions within the imperial court system. The latter, because of the close connection between business and the government, did not dare to refuse to accept paper money even if they were dissatisfied.

Moreover, although the exchange point of the Ministry of Finance is slow, it is always willing to exchange gold and silver, and it has not completely closed the door. If they have to ask for gold and silver, they only need to wait in line for a few more days, and they can always exchange it. They also didn't want the Great Zhou court to fall into a financial crisis and lose the war with Li Tang, so that they, the merchants of the Zhou Dynasty who had funded Yuming, would inevitably be settled by Li Tang in the future.

Therefore, businessmen feel that it is difficult to make a decision in their hearts.

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