After Zhu Bai and Fang Mingqian's fleet departed, Yun Xi began to implement another of his reforms, the first reform of the currency after stabilizing the value of the treasure banknote.

"Qi Qing, I have decided that tomorrow on the ninth day of the third month of the first month of the official decree, this year's spring and autumn two levies are still not limited to the amount of silver money collected, and from next year's spring levy, the people are prohibited from using the copper coins issued in the Mengyuan period to pay taxes; And unify the style of copper coins, cast Daming Tongbao, only allow Hongwu Tongbao and Daming Tongbao to circulate in the people. "After the eighth day of the first month of March, Yun Xi called Qi Tai to the Qianqing Palace and instructed him.

In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Yunxi, who had just become the emperor's grandson, used grain as collateral to stabilize the value of the treasure banknote and maintain the credibility of the Ming banknote, so that it did not become waste paper as in history.

Although Yunxi has carried out many reforms so far, preserving the credibility of the treasure money is still one of the most important reforms in his opinion.

Economically, the invention of paper money, which began in the Song Dynasty, made the transaction of goods no longer dependent on precious metals such as gold, silver and copper, so that places lacking precious metals could also avoid the inefficiency of barter, and promote the development of commerce and industry: it is not accidental that the earliest unofficial paper money in China and even the world was born in Sichuan.

From the ruler's point of view, even if the state carefully maintains the credibility of paper money and does not over-issue it, it can still gain wealth by issuing paper money without paying any price.

However, it is important to note here that as long as the paper money does not depreciate, although the state gains a part of the social wealth at almost no cost, the people do not actually lose. In the process, the state creates wealth, or awakens dormant wealth, rather than plundering it. Only the depreciation of paper money is the plundering of wealth.

However, at that time, Yoon-hee's reform to preserve the credibility of the treasure banknote did not fully achieve his goal. Because grain was used as collateral at that time, and the price of grain was not only difficult to carry but also changed throughout the year, this not only made some people reluctant to use treasure money, but the value of treasure money would change and be unstable throughout the year.

The best practice is to use gold and silver as collateral, so that not only can the value of the treasure money be stabilized, but the convenience of exchange for gold and silver will make most merchants willing to use the treasure banknote.

But at that time, Yunxi had no choice. At that time, too many treasure banknotes were issued, and the value continued to decrease, so people were reluctant to hold them, and once gold and silver were used as collateral, the small amount of gold and silver in the treasury would be immediately depleted, and finally the value of treasure banknotes was still completely collapsed.

But now Yun Xi has a lot of gold in his hands, and when Zhu Bai returns from the American continent, he will definitely bring back countless gold and silver - California was developed because of the gold rush, and Mexico is also the world's largest silver producer in later generations.

And by this time, the credibility of the treasure banknotes had been initially restored, and even if it was changed to gold and silver, there would be no large-scale exchange. So Yun Hee felt that the time was ripe for monetary reform.

However, Yun Xi did not immediately change the collateral of the treasure money to gold and silver, but decided to take three steps, the first step now, and the last step when Zhu Bai returned from the Americas with a large amount of gold and silver.

"Yes, Your Majesty." After listening to Yun Xi's words, Qi Tai agreed.

Qi Tai noticed early on that since Yun Xi succeeded to the throne, he had not minted Jianye Tongbao. Qi Tai has been thinking about why Yun Xi is like this, and today this mystery has finally been solved, it turns out that His Majesty wants to unify the style of the Ming copper coin.

If it weren't for the ban on Hongwu Tongbao, His Majesty would probably ban Hongwu Tongbao together. Zitai thought.

In addition, gold and silver ingots were prohibited from circulating among the people. However, sometimes it is really inconvenient to use copper coins, and the people of Fanguo may not be willing to accept treasure money, so the people need a certain amount of gold and silver. ”

"So I asked the royal superintendent of the palace to mint gold and silver coins," Yun Xi took out two coin-shaped things from his sleeve, and Qi Tai continued, "Circulate among the people." ”

Gold and silver coins were created along with pencils. When Yun Xi instructed the eunuch of the imperial prison to study the pencil, he somehow thought of gold and silver coins, and asked the imperial eunuch to study the minting of gold and silver coins, and said his request. It took some time for the royal superintendent to struck gold and silver coins that met the requirements of the permit.

Qi Tai took the two coins from Yun Xi's hand, shook them, and said to Yun Xi: "Your Majesty, are these gold and silver coins one or two?" ”

"No, it's eight cents and two cents, but it's used as one or two." Yun Xi said.

"Eight coins and two cents are used as one or two, I am afraid that the people will not be willing, and they will still be used as eight coins and two cents." Qi Tai Dao.

"Haha, Qi Qing just hasn't used silver to buy anything." Yun Xi smiled and said, "I have learned more about it with many people before, and this nine-dollar coin can be used as one or two without hindrance. ”

"Most of the folk silver is mixed with many other things, not pure silver, every time you use silver, you have to check the fineness, weighing, very complicated, so only a big deal will use silver, and most people use copper coins and treasure money."

"But the gold and silver coins minted by the royal superintendent are different, this is something that has been minted, and the front and back are printed with patterns, so that even if the people want to mix something in it, it is impossible, and the people do not have to weigh it and check the color to accept it, it is much more convenient, even if the amount is less, the people will be willing to ask for it."

"And Qi Qing, have you noticed the edges with the pattern? This is also very important, these patterns are very shallow, and they will not be visible if they are slightly damaged, so that people who use gold and silver coins want to grind a little gold dust and silver powder from gold and silver coins, because when using gold and silver coins, it is easy to find that the pattern is not there, and other people will know that this is not a complete gold and silver coin, so they will not use it according to one or two. ”

It turns out that there are so many ways in this small gold and silver coin. Zitai thought to himself.

In fact, there is more to the Tao than that. There is no problem with the gold coins minted by Yunxi, and they are indeed made of pure gold of eight coins and two cents; But the silver coin is actually the same alloy as the historical Yuan Datou, silver nine tin one. In this way, in addition to the difference of one dollar and eight points, you can also get some additional benefits.

Yun Xi said to him again: "Gold and silver coins, the main silver coins, gold coins are not used by the people for the time being. The circulation of silver coins in the private sector was handed over to the household department, and it flowed into the private sector just like the Tongbao in the past. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." The previous unified copper coin style was just that, and Qi Tai actually felt that the king of a country pondered the style of gold and silver coins a little unprofessionally. In his opinion, what the emperor should do is to govern the country well, and it does not matter whether there are gold and silver coins or not, and what their style is. However, he didn't dare to disobey Yun Xi's words, so he had to agree.

Yun Xi could actually guess Qi Tai's thoughts, but he couldn't help it. Not only in China, but also in Western countries at this time did not realize how important financial and monetary policies were to the country, and the two teeth that first received a large amount of gold and silver from the Americas had no idea of issuing paper money, and the earliest paper money in the West was issued by England, where capitalism had been established.

Even if Yun Xi removes Qi Tai's position as the head of the household department now, he can't find someone who suits his heart to take over, so he can only let him continue to stay.

Yun Xi told him a few more things to tell him to step down.

After that, he was about to think about doing something else, when the reply of the Li father and son came to the capital, which made him have to stop his thoughts.