Lu Baiting, the governor of the central government, and Shi Chong, the head of the household department, calculated and came to the conclusion that these eleven schools would spend 800,000 taels of silver in the imperial court every year, and he said with a blue face: "Money is a big problem, money is a big problem, how can there be so much silver in the empire, this year is special, the imperial court has silver, but in previous years, how could there be so much silver?" You can't just think about the present and not think about the future. ”

Bian Wen and other central governors nodded one after another, if it weren't for the confiscation of a large amount of land and silver, if it weren't for the rebellion of King Jin, the imperial court would still not be able to open the pot this year, and even have to borrow money to get by. Everyone is an official of the imperial court, and they are not the king of the mountain, they are addicted to alcohol to death, and they take 800,000 taels of silver every year to spend on education, not to mention that everyone does not understand, even there is no precedent in history.

Zhang Xiaowu said: "There is no problem, regarding the lack of money, I have made a four-step plan." The first step is to encourage merchants to trade, in fact, since the beginning of the year, we have liberalized the trading rights of merchants, and gradually abolished the centigold to increase the flow of goods. The second step is to encourage domestic and foreign trade, for example, our Shenghan Empire has always been dominated by agriculture, and the countries of the northern part of the country are mainly animal husbandry, if we exchange our salt, tea, porcelain and silk for their livestock, does it mean that we will have more livestock to increase cultivation and have more meat to enrich the people's table? ”

Shi Yong reminded: "But if someone sells iron armor, crossbows and bows to other countries, and they use these weapons and armor to fight us, isn't this helping thieves grow?" ”

Lu Baiting said: "It is reasonable, it is reasonable. ”

Zhang Xiaowu laughed: "No, you are wrong, we trade the luxury goods of the Holy Han Empire for their low-grade goods, in fact, we let them indulge in the enjoyment we provide, and then consume their fighting spirit. Think about it, why are they beating us? ”

"Why?"

"That's because they envy the prosperity of our saints, their poetry, their writings, their music, and their envy of all the good luxuries." Zhang Xiaowu said, "But if we give them luxury goods through trade, and get medicinal herbs, animals, gold, silver, jewelry, timber, ore, and everything from them, so that they can be brilliant for a short time, why not do it?" ”

Xiang Rui asked, "What is the third step plan of Lord Shaobao?" ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "Establish a national bank. ”

"National Bank?" Everyone was amazed at what this thing was, and everyone didn't understand what a national bank was.

Zhang Xiaowu said: "Now the household only has the right to mint money and the right to issue currency, but our currency is gold, silver and copper, but my Shenghan Empire lacks gold, silver and copper mines, so that the world's largest empire that all countries come to worship, gold and silver currency needs to be imported from foreign countries." Do you remember the Battle of the Birch River? Why did Emperor Taiqian go on an expedition to Beiyi, it was because Beiyi discovered a huge silver mine, and for the sake of the silver mine, Emperor Taiqian did not care about the exhaustion of the national strength and worked the expedition, and the result was defeated again and again. ”

Bian Wen and the others smiled bitterly, indeed, there are only a few gold, silver and copper mines in the Holy Han Empire, and the Holy Han Empire has launched many times in history for silver and copper mines.

Zhang Xiaowu threw out a copy of the "National Bank Plan of the Holy Han Empire" and passed it to everyone, and then continued: "This is the plan for the National Bank of China that I wrote, we have been using gold, silver and copper coins as currency, but the monetary value of gold, silver and copper coins is changing at any time, for example, in the twenty-eighth year of Taiqian, one hundred copper coins and one tael of silver, in the twenty-ninth year of Taiqian, it became one hundred and twenty copper coins for one tael of silver, and in the year of Dade, it was only two hundred copper coins for one or two silver, and this year, the price of copper coins finally rose, and became a hundred and fifty copper coins and a tael of silver. Some merchants desperately exchange silver in good years, and exchange their morale for copper coins in disaster years, and they only need to take advantage of the difference in currency to earn tens of millions of dollars in just a few years. Ladies and gentlemen, if the imperial court has any money, everyone must answer that there is no money, but if you ask the Holy Han Empire if there is any money, everyone will definitely say that there is money. But in whose hands is that much money? From the house of the eighty-seven traitors, we know that they are now hiding their gold and silver in their homes. And more money was hidden by large households, which made gold and silver more expensive, and the price of grain was lower, and the people could not afford to support themselves for a year. The Jiangnan Rebellion, where is the chaos? The chaos is that the food is cheap and the money is expensive. ”

"But there have been national money banks in history." Xiang Rui said, "During the reign of Emperor Wen, because the silver from foreign countries entering the empire first flowed into the hands of various silver banks, Emperor Wen ordered the construction of a national bank, requiring foreign gold and silver to be deposited in the national silver village first. However, this move brought great harm, and at that time, the person in charge of the silver village and all his subordinates, seeing Dabi's gold and silver, became greedy for ink, and even misappropriated the silver for other purposes. Emperor Wen was furious and beheaded hundreds of officials, but to no avail, and was finally forced to cancel the state bank. ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "The purpose of the existence of the Imperial National Bank is twofold, the first is to store gold and silver in the national treasury as reserves, and the second is to issue currency and regulate the national economy. In other words, the Imperial National Bank will be an important method of stabilizing the country, and for a long time to come, it will be irreplaceable, and even more than eight functions. ”

Everyone wondered: "Issuing currency? Isn't it still gold and silver? ”

"No!" Zhang Xiaowu said, "Ten years, I plan to use ten years to replace gold and silver currency with paper money, and in the future, in the Holy Han Empire, paper money will be used to replace gold and silver, establish the Han Yuan system, and recommend the Han Yuan as a national reserve currency to all countries in the world, so as to control the world's economy." ”

Crowd @0@???

In this feudal and backward society, no one understands what Zhang Xiaowu means, but everyone is a person who stands at the top, and after Zhang Xiaowu carefully explained and interpreted the meaning of the currency war, everyone still accepted his suggestion. It's just that everyone is not optimistic about the existence of paper money, and many of the shortcomings brought by paper money are cited.

Zhang Xiaowu said: "Any reform will definitely have dedication and harm, but if the advantages of this reform outweigh the disadvantages, then reform is necessary." In the future, the Imperial National Bank will have six major functions: first, the National Bank can regulate the empire's economy through currency issuance; Second, the National Bank can provide loans to businessmen and local governments to support development; third, to regulate the flow of national currency through the national bank, and to supervise some big profiteers; Fourth, concentrate the reserve fund to do national affairs; Fifth, strengthen the stability of domestic and foreign trade, and use the country's reputation as a guarantee; Sixth, reduce the loss of gold and silver, and also reduce the wear and tear of the people in currency transactions; Seventh, economic supervision of officials and nobles through banks; Eighth, to consolidate the position of the Shenghan Empire in the international arena through the issuance of currency by the National Bank. ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have made up my mind that I must establish the National Bank of the Holy Han Empire, which is the central bank and the economic foundation of the empire." Zhang Xiaowu couldn't refute, "And ten years later, the Holy Han Empire will use paper money for trading, and there must be no objection!" ”