Out of the door of the household department, the guards Yang Feng and Chen Xing whispered: "Your Highness is here to discuss the reform of the treasure money in the household department today, right?" ”

Chen Xing glanced at Yun Xi and said, "Yes, what's wrong?" ”

Yang Feng said: "This salt and iron are also things that everyone needs, why not bind the treasure money with salt and iron, aren't salt and iron also needed by everyone?" ”

Chen Xing said: "Then how do I know? ”

At this time, Yun Xi, who was walking in front, heard them talking, turned around and asked, "Chen Xing, what are you two talking about?" ”

Yang Feng replied first: "Yes, the minister asked why he didn't tie the treasure money and salt and iron together, don't everyone need salt and iron?" ”

Yun Xi said: "Salt is not good, now the implementation of the open law, in order to encourage merchants to transport grain to the border pass, all salt will be handed over to the merchants who transport grain to the border pass for sale, this is a matter of border food security, Your Majesty will not agree to tie the treasure money and salt together." Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info "Yun Xi still has something to say. Compared with grain, salt is easy to preserve, and the size is small, and the seasonal change in price is not as large as that of grain (it can be said that the price of salt does not change due to seasonal changes), and it is also a rigid demand, and the general public is likely to exchange a large number of treasure notes, so that the purpose of allowing citizens to hold treasure money will not be achieved.

"As for iron, not either." Yun Xi just said such a sentence about iron, and then stopped. Although the others were curious, they didn't dare to ask, and could only have doubts in their hearts.

The reason why iron can not be used as the benchmark of the standard system is partly the same as salt, and the most important thing is that the iron production is too small and the amount of treasure banknotes is too much, the average price of one stone of iron in the Ming Dynasty is 1.5 taels of silver, and it may be lower in the early Ming Dynasty. The annual output of iron in the later period of Hongwu is about 20,000 tons, or about 170,000 stones, so that only more than one million treasure banknotes can be exchanged for a year's output, and at this time the stock of treasure banknotes is more than 30 million yuan, coupled with the great demand for private iron, the country also needs a large amount of iron, the stock of iron is very small, it is impossible to suppress the depreciation of treasure banknotes, and it is estimated that it will be gone just when it is put into the market; And if the supply is limited, whether it is iron or salt, it will inevitably become only available to those who have access to it, and ordinary people or ordinary merchants will not hold treasure money when they know that they cannot be exchanged. Comparatively speaking, the reserves of grain are relatively large, and the ability to withstand shocks is greater.

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Lao Zhu was in the palace at this time. Yun Xi walked to the door of the temple and walked in directly. Lao Zhu saw Yun Xi come in, and asked kindly, "Why did Yun Xi come back now?" ”

Yun Xi also replied with a smile: "Isn't there anything to ask grandpa for attention." Then he said in a serious tone about the amount of food needed.

After Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Yun Xi's words, his face immediately became serious. He said: "It is estimated that 1.8 million stone of grain will be needed in ten days, and it is not expected that the number of people who will exchange it will decrease after that. How many banknotes have been issued in the country now? ”

"Grandpa Huanghuang, according to the statistics of the Treasure Money Lifting Division of the Ministry of Households, a total of at least 30 million yuan."

Lao Zhu said: "The tax I will collect next year will be about 24 million stones, of which about 12 million stones will be grain, and 1.8 million stones will be consumed in ten days. ”

Yun Hee also felt troubled, but as a person with memories of later generations, he knew that paper money was the trend of the times, and the profits of paper money were unimaginable, so he would never give up. Moreover, if you don't work hard to restore the credibility of the treasure banknote now, it will be more difficult for him to succeed to the throne in a few years, and the price will be even greater.

Yun Xi thought for a moment and said to Lao Zhu: "As long as the treasure money is stabilized, the country is equivalent to obtaining a fortune out of thin air." ”

Lao Zhu interrupted him: "Yunxi, although I don't read much, I also understand the huge benefits of the treasure bank, but what needs to be solved now is to ensure that the country's granary will not be hollowed out." ”

Yun Xi said: "Now the country's grain stock is about 10 million stones, and the autumn grain will start to be collected immediately, and the tax grain will be about 4 million stones. It will take about 5.5 million stone to support the harvest of next year's summer grain, and about 7 million stone of grain will not be able to be moved in order to prepare for war and other unexpected events. ”

Lao Zhu listened to his calculations and made no mistakes, nodded and did not speak.

Yun Xi continued: "The most important thing to stabilize the value of the treasure money is to give the people confidence in how much grain they will not exchange for it. The cities can be further reduced, excluding Jinan and Kaifeng, and the remaining eight cities, and then reducing the number of reserved grain exchange ports to five, so that the grain needed for the first ten days will be reduced to 720,000 stones. ”

"In addition, after sufficient preparations are made in various places, the exchange will start together, and a large amount of grain will be piled up in the open air at the place where the grain is exchanged, so as to give confidence to the people."

At the same time, the brocade guards and others walked among the people to spread rumors, saying that the imperial court had countless grains, enough to exchange. It can also be said that it is possible for the imperial court to restore the value of the treasure money in the future, and now it will be a loss to exchange the treasure money. and so on, in order to confuse the people. ”

These methods are all rotten things that will be played by later generations, and the common people understand them. But although the current people are not stupid, they have too little knowledge and don't understand these things, so they can still bluff the people.

Lao Zhu is also an ancient person, and he has never seen such a method. However, the method of spreading rumors during the rebellion was similar, Lao Zhu thought about it for a while, and then understood the truth, and suddenly had a higher evaluation of Yun Xi's IQ. But Lao Zhu was very cautious, thought about it for a while, and still vetoed Yun Xi's method, "Your method is still risky and can't be used." ”

Yun Xi is still unwilling to give up: "Grandpa Huang, all the Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties issued banknotes, and they also ensured the stability of banknotes in the stage of national stability, and they will not fail." ”

Lao Zhu still shook his head and said: "The success of the previous dynasty does not mean that this dynasty must be suitable. ”

Yoon-hee had only one last option. He knelt on the ground and said, "Grandpa Huang, please trust me this time." If I fail, I'm willing to leave politics at bay. "This is to put pressure on his own future, including the position of the emperor's grandson.

Lao Zhu felt his determination from Yun Xi's words, but Lao Zhu would not allow him to press this. Even if Yun Xi fails this time, it doesn't mean that he can't do it, Lao Zhu will not give up easily for the person he has already identified.

He said: "Then I will give you a grain limit of two million stones, and after a month, as long as you can make the exchange amount of grain less than five hundred stone a day in a city, you will be considered successful." At the beginning, there are not many cities, just Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, these cities are easy to contact nearby; And in the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, the people's homes have enough food, and there will not be much demand for exchange. ”

After a pause, Lao Zhu said again: "Don't make such a promise at every turn in the future, life is so long, anything can happen." Even if you fail this time, Grandpa won't blame you. ”

Yun Xi listened to these words full of concern and love from the elders for the younger generations, and was immediately moved. People are not plants and trees, who can be ruthless. Yun Xi, who was full of feelings, suddenly had red circles in his eyes: "Grandpa......"

Lao Zhu patted his hand and said: "You are the heir I have chosen, and the whole country will be yours in the future, whether you succeed or fail this time, it will be a valuable experience for you, and it will be beneficial for you to govern the country in the future." ”

Yun Xi wiped the corners of his eyes and said, "Then I'll go down and prepare." Today is September 20th, and I'm trying to start at the beginning of October. ”

Lao Zhu nodded and said, "Yes, then you can go down and prepare." ”

Yun Xi bowed and wanted to retreat. Before he turned around and went out, Lao Zhu advised: "As a superior, you can control the overall situation, and other things can be handed over to your subordinates, you only need to be responsible for supervising the final result, and you don't have to do everything yourself; In addition, I have already instructed the military department to return to the military department about the excerpt of the 'military academy', and this is also up to you, so you should also pay attention to it, this matter is also very important. If there is anything you don't understand, or can't deal with, you can ask Shang Shu, Shilang and others; If you are not sure about the big picture, you can always ask me. ”

Yun Xi listened to the instructions, and saw that Lao Zhu had nothing else to say, so he turned around and went out.