Hearing Qin Bai's question, Shopkeeper Zhang smiled, so he began to introduce the situation in detail:

First of all, a misunderstanding was explained. There was only one official currency in the Ming Dynasty - copper coins. Precious metals such as gold and silver were only used as equivalent exchanges for large transactions, and they did play the role of currency in a certain aspect, but they were by no means official currencies explicitly recognized by the imperial court.

In fact, the situation has been similar in all dynasties. The reason is very simple, the ancient Chinese court has been issuing copper coins, right? Has anyone ever heard of the issuance of gold and silver coins? It's because gold and silver are not recognized.

But...... But!

However, silver has been widely circulated among the people, and even the imperial court has used silver as a unit of valuation for taxes and expenses, so the whole society has actually tacitly acquiesced - silver is one of the circulating currencies.

Of course, one is officially recognized, and the other is just acquiescence, and it is obvious that the imperial court will not set the official exchange rate at all, nor will it set the official exchange rate. As a result, they basically go with the market, and the exchange rate varies greatly from place to place.

For example, in Jiangnan, one tael of silver can be exchanged for seven or eight hundred copper coins; In the capital, one tael of silver can basically be exchanged for 1,300 or 400 Wen. And along the canal, basically the further north, the higher the exchange rate. Jingjiazhuang basically refers to the Linqing price, and one tael of silver can basically be exchanged for 1,100 copper coins.

Why is the difference so big? The main Jiangnan maritime trade was developed, and a large amount of silver poured in from overseas, resulting in a low price of silver among the people. Some people may still wonder, is no one aware of this price difference? Can you earn nearly double when you change hands?

The answer is yes, but not much, the main reason is that the profit is too low and the risk is too great. It's easy to understand that with so much cash, it's not safe to carry around. Even if you don't encounter bandits, when you cross the canal tax customs, you will be caught by each of the soldiers who inspect it, so you can't stand it?

And the margins are low...... It's really low profits. In this era, the merchants who ran the north and south of the canal often needed to pay three or four times the price difference, otherwise it would be difficult to cope with the extortion and tax collection along the way. So the spread is nearly doubled? That's a really low number.

Specific to the Hong Leong Money Shop, the current price is 1:1080, and one tael of silver is exchanged for 1080 copper coins. If you want to exchange copper coins for silver, then add 50 Wenshui coins, and it becomes an exchange rate of 1130:1. Don't look at the handling fee in the middle, it doesn't seem to be high, if the monthly total amount is amazing, Hong Leong Money Shop makes a lot of money.

In the end, while the conversation was strong, Shopkeeper Zhang popularized a new knowledge by the way - in fact, there was another official currency in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the Daming treasure banknote as a paper banknote.

Seeing that Qin Bai was very interested, Shopkeeper Zhang asked the guy to bring a few Daming treasure banknotes. Because the imperial court did not have precious metals as the principal of the treasury at all, and because of the indiscriminate printing and issuance, the Ming treasure banknotes had long been withdrawn from circulation due to inflation. What is particularly ridiculous is that when paying taxes, local governments also do not recognize this Ming treasure banknote. You say that even the imperial court doesn't believe in this banknote, how can the people believe it?

But if you really say that it's not worth a penny, it's not likely. For example, the Daming treasure banknote with a consistent face value, Hong Leong Money Shop is willing to take out more than 30 yuan to recycle.

And where do those Daming treasure banknotes come from? Basically, when the imperial court distributes official salaries and military salaries, it matches a part, generally in the proportion of two or three percent. Nominally, it has been paid in full. In reality, the officials didn't care, and the Ming Dynasty officials never relied on that little money to support their families. As for those Qiu Ba? Isn't there still a part of it in cash? It's almost enough to keep you starving.

Another big head is the palace purchase. Let a certain eunuch go shopping with a few thousand taels of silver and tens of thousands of Daming treasure banknotes. In other words, if you have a background, you will pay cash, and if you have no background, you will pay Ming Bao banknotes, which is equivalent to Ming robbery. However, the circulating Daming treasure banknotes have another role. Those big money houses in the capital were willing to recycle at a price of about 50 wen per yuan, and then buy back in disguise through the household department of the imperial court, so another underground industry was formed.

After hearing this, Qin Bai couldn't help but laugh dumbly, he didn't expect that the currency value of the Ming Dynasty would be so chaotic. If you really meet someone who is familiar with modern finance and is bold, the most important thing is that you are lucky enough to meet bird poop when you walk, and you may be able to publish this book "I am a big financier through the Ming Dynasty".

Realizing that they had already chatted, Shopkeeper Zhang picked up the teacup: "Second Master Bai, seeing that you are interested, you can take these treasure bills to play with." Oh, there is also a pound of tea here, although it is last year's aged tea, but it is also the best in Jiangnan. Just a heart, please don't shirk. ”

……

The feeling of the shopkeeper can only be said to be courteous, but he doesn't despise himself, it should be said that he ignores it, and he belongs to that standard businessman.

When I returned to my second square, I saw that the two shops were moving. The shopkeeper Zhou quickly led his convoy away, and just casually arched his hand to Qin Bai, which was regarded as a greeting. And the shopkeeper Sun, accompanied by Cheng Niang, waited in place to say goodbye to Qin Bai.

With an unnatural smile, Shopkeeper Sun bowed down and made a big salute: "Second Master Bai, it's really a small business, I really don't dare to get involved in the masters." Please forgive me for the offense. There are still more than 100 catties of jujubes left in the store, and they can't be taken away below. I will give it to you Second Master Bai as an atonement. ”

"It's okay, it's okay." Qin Bai was still smiling.

"Then don't bother. Second Master Bai, Mother Cheng, say goodbye! If he meets in the future, he will be allowed to drink wine under his hem to make amends. ”

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

When the shopkeeper Sun left, Cheng Niang laughed out loud: "Second Brother Bai, you don't blame Lao Sun." He is also embarrassed, which is different from the situation of Lao Zhou, who is in the grocery store. ”

Then, Cheng Niang briefly introduced the two people. The shopkeeper Sun himself is the proprietor. And his dried fruit shop mainly sells jujubes. The consumption of jujube in Shandong is very high, and even a few are put on many pasta. But even so, after all, it is a low-cost and low-profit commodity, so the profit of the store is not very large, and it happened that this time he simply gave up the store and concentrated on selling dried fruits.

And that Zhou shopkeeper has a little kinship with the Zhou family in Jingjiazhuang. However, the owner of his grocery store is not the Zhou family, but an ally of the Zhou family, and the Ni family of the wife of the Zhou shopkeeper. Anyway, no matter which one it is, it's not something that Qin Bai can offend now. Therefore, Shopkeeper Zhou didn't care about Qin Bai's reaction at all, and it was easy to find a new store in Jingjiazhuang. On the contrary, the shopkeeper Sun did not dare to offend too much.