After Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, he slowly walked back to the dragon chair and sat down, and everyone shouted long live again, secretly glad that the money lent to the imperial court could finally be recovered. It's a pity that their smiles haven't dispersed yet, and Zhu Youxiao is about to throw a bombshell, that is, currency reform.

In Chinese history, the earliest currency was the natural seashell, and later began to use bronze and other metals, Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries after the implementation of the "book with the text, the car with the track" of the great unification policy, the use of round square hole copper coins in the country. With the development of mining and smelting technology, more and more gold and silver were circulated in the market, and in the Song Dynasty, due to the high prosperity of commerce, there was once a convenient portable banknote. During the Ming Dynasty, foreign trade flourished, and in order to make money on the wealth that the Spanish and Portuguese stole from the Americas, the imperial court uniformly used large amounts of currency such as silver ingots and ingots, and basically established a monetary system of the silver standard.

Since Zhu Youxiao's accession to the throne, the Ming Dynasty began to vigorously expand its navy to protect overseas interests, and over the years it has continuously squeezed the territory of European colonizers, conquering Japan, Annam, and Sumatra, and has a stable surrounding environment to develop trade. Due to the increase in surplus year by year, the silver in the Central Plains began to show signs of depreciation, coupled with the heavy currency is not conducive to large-scale circulation, the traditional silver ingots, silver weight and there are errors, each commodity transaction needs to be weighed, purity inspection, etc., has hindered the development of commerce.

Against this background, Zhu Youxiao decided to adapt to the times, follow the example of Mr. Zhang Zhidong and the Europeans to develop a coinage machine, establish a mint, and issue silver and gold coins of different denominations in the name of the state, so as to solve the contradiction between commercial development and the simplicity of currency.

After the people below quieted down and returned to their original positions to stand, Zhu Youxiao said solemnly

"Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has maintained business contacts with merchants from Europe, Persia and Tianfang, and a large amount of gold and silver has poured into the territory every year, which is a good thing, but it is inevitable that there will be happy troubles. In recent years, some lawbreakers have secretly mined gold, silver and copper ore and refined it themselves, resulting in a surplus of currency circulating in the market, which not only caused domestic prices to soar, but also affected the development of foreign trade. Flash Dance

I remember that at the beginning of my ascension to the throne, the price of two stones of rice was one tael of silver, but now I can only buy one stone and six hundreds, and in the long run, I am afraid that we will only be poor with silver. In order to solve this problem, the Criminal Department and the Criminal Prosecution Department in various localities are sparing no effort to crack down on illegal coinage, but there are always a few gangsters who are not afraid of death under the huge profits, and there are even officials as their protective umbrella.

These tigers and flies will be fought together, but at the same time I have decided to adjust the style of the country's currency and use new technology to mint silver coins uniformly, so as to put an end to imitation and protect those who abide by the law. ”

As mentioned above, the relationship between the monarchy and the power of the ministers of the Ming generation is, in the final analysis, it is a struggle for interests, and whoever holds the money bag tightly has the right to speak, and the supporters will flock to it. Zhu Youxiao proposed to mint a new type of currency without warning, and pointed the finger at those lawbreakers below, but none of the ministers of the DPRK and China were fuel-efficient lamps, and they understood at that time that this was a trick to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle. The pot exploded in the Imperial Palace, and everyone was as angry as if their ancestral graves had been dug up.

There were a few unknown people who planned to take the opportunity to stand up for the ministers and make enough political capital for themselves, but when they looked up, they saw that the emperor was carefully wiping the Tai'a long sword in his hand with oil-coated paper, which was definitely not a good signal. This sixteen-year-old young son of heaven, when he first debuted, he easily settled a large Donglin party, personally conquered Liaodong and southern Xinjiang, unified the Mongolian steppe, conquered Japan and Annam, and established an unprecedented huge empire. What scared them even more was that this emperor never cared about personal gains and losses, and it was estimated that there was only one patch on the dragon robe, and he took out a penny to implement the new policy every year when the internal affairs government received millions of taels of silver. Under his inspiration, the atmosphere of the government and the opposition changed greatly, and both the bureaucrats and gentry and the tenant farmers and merchants reaped great benefits from this reform, and they all followed the emperor's lead, and their worship of him was close to fanaticism. 35xs

Although Zhu Youxiao's policy is unpredictable every time, the result afterwards is that everyone is happy, and after a long time, people are not willing to ask why, as long as the policy comes from the celebrant supervisor, it will be well implemented. But now is different from the past, if we want to hold the world's money bags in the hands of the central government, the feudal officials and famous families in various places will come out to oppose it, and there will be bloodshed if it is not done well.

At this time, Jiang Dejing, who guarded the Strait of Malacca, had been transferred to the cabinet, and nominally hung the title of Zuo Shilang in the household department, but in fact, he absorbed a group of German craftsmen, which made Zhu Youxiao decide to mint silver dollars. He saw that the people below had their own ghosts, and the emperor sharpened his knife, knowing that it would not be good for anyone to make a big fuss, maybe the first unlucky one would be himself, so he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down and said

"The saint is far-sighted, and he sees the fire like a fire, and he breaks through the hidden crisis in the Ming Dynasty commerce and trade with one word. If the imperial court uniformly minted new gold coins, silver dollars, copper coins and large bills, it would not only be able to prevent the flood of silver and the practice of illegal mining, but also facilitate the trading of buying and selling, which is indeed a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people. It's just that the efficiency of the coinage mold is too low, and it can't meet the domestic demand for money in a few years, in addition to this, the imperial court has to set up banks in various state capitals to facilitate people to exchange, remit money, and borrow, and I am afraid that it will take at least five years to mature. ”

Jiang Dejing was originally a low-ranking local official, and was transferred to the Military Aircraft Department by Zhu Youxiao very early to be responsible for the preparation of the new army and the rectification of the Four Guards Battalion. Seeing that he was a smash hit, the people around him were bustling. Fortunately, after he tasted the scenery of becoming famous and known to the world, he did not forget the pain of being poor in the downtown and no one asked, and after returning to Beijing, he spoke and did things without leakage, and he was very low-key, which won the favor of Zhu Youxiao.

Everyone listened to what he said, and knew that this matter had long been considered and matured, and today it was just a notice, and whoever came forward to oppose it would not be able to get along with the emperor. In recent years, the imperial court has been constantly reshuffling, and finally formed a situation of absolute rule by the monarchy, with the cabinet, the military aircraft department, and the celebrant supervisor separating powers, checking and balancing each other, and all rulings are in the hands of the emperor alone. Whoever dares to openly disagree with the emperor now is undoubtedly asking for his own death.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhu Youxiao also thought about Jiang Dejing's suggestion in his heart, and in order to implement a new monetary system, he must first understand the needs of the market. According to the principles of modern economics, the amount of money required in circulation is equal to the average price of commodities multiplied by the quantity of commodities divided by the velocity of money circulation. At present, the handicraft industry in Daming is developing rapidly, and the technological revolution brought about by steam power can be expected, and the future of Chinese manufacturing will inevitably be sold all over the world. Just cutting off the local financial resources at once will inevitably provoke their joint resistance, which will not only affect the promotion of the new currency, but also shake the ruling power of the central government. For this reason, Zhu Youxiao decided to try out a part of the new currency first, and circulate it with the current currency, and time will remove all resistance for him.

At this time, the silence in the Imperial Palace was terrifying, like the silence before the storm. As a leading figure in the transition between the East and the West, Xu Guangqi has not only translated a large number of Western works over the years, but also absorbed many European elites for the Royal Academy of Social Sciences. Seeing that the emperor was sitting on it without saying a word, he knew that this matter should not be rushed, so he hurriedly stepped forward and said

"Holy Lord, Lord Jiang's suggestion is very sound, and the old minister agrees with him. At present, the technical and human resources required to build a mint have been satisfied, but it will take three to five years to mint new coins on a large scale, and some technical details need to be perfected to prevent piracy. ”

Zhu Youxiao understood that Xu Guangqi meant to wait for the steam press to be put into use, motioned for him to step aside, turned his head and asked Wei Zhongxian

"How's the progress of the money bank you set up in Jiangnan?"

When Wei Zhongxian went to the south of the Yangtze River to rectify the salt road, Zhu Youxiao ordered him to set up a money bank at the same time to facilitate the exchange of silver and silver. This person is not only a good hand at making money, but also a top-notch person in managing his family. After several years of operation, the money banks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have gradually replaced those private banks and become the pioneers of the world.

Hearing the emperor's inquiry, he hurriedly whispered in his ear

"Long live the lord, at present, the main state capitals of the original two capitals and thirteen provinces have money in the palace, and many wealthy businessmen are attracted by the credibility of the imperial court, competing for access and loans, with a daily turnover of nearly one million taels and a gross profit of 20,000 taels. After the new currency is put on the market, the slaves will carry out a issuance ceremony and secretly organize a group of merchants who work for the palace to exchange it, so as to attract more people. ”

Zhu Youxiao was very satisfied with Wei Zhongxian's reply, and secretly rejoiced that this was the richest man who had been delayed by "nine thousand years old". Under his raising, the types of new coins have been basically determined, and they will be replaced by treasure banknotes, silver taels, and copper coins according to yuan, jiao, and cent. One gold dollar is equivalent to one tael of gold, one silver dollar is equivalent to one tael of silver, and one copper horn is equivalent to one hundred copper. That is to say, one gold dollar is equal to ten silver dollars, equal to one thousand copper horns, and equal to one hundred thousand copper dollars. In addition, in order to meet the demand for large amounts of currency, gold bars and gold bricks were added.

As for the piracy problem that Xu Guangqi is worried about, first, it is necessary to raise the technical threshold and try to complete all the tattoo cases at one time; the second is to do a good job in propaganda work, organize manpower to go to the countryside to publicize, popularize identification skills; The third is to issue special monetary regulations to severely punish those lawbreakers who manufacture and sell counterfeit goods.

After Zhu Youxiao closed his eyes and figured out the idea of the new coin, he opened his mouth to break the silence in the hall and said

"First of all, we need to understand that the use of the new currency will benefit the entire nation and the country, including all of you.

Secondly, the new currency should not only circulate in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but also be successively promoted to all vassal countries and trading countries.

Finally, I would like to tell a story of my own experience. A few years ago, I met an old woman who sold eggs in the bazaar, and she saved less than half a basket for more than a month, and it is estimated that she will not be able to sell it for a few dollars. But such a kind and hard-working old man, there are still fake silver pits made of lead and tin for her. After the old woman went home, she knew that she had been deceived, and thought that she had been so humiliated when she was over the age of six, so she swallowed the ingot of fake silver and committed suicide in a fit of anger. ”