Guo Yunhou listened carefully to the emperor's proposal, and after thinking for a long time, he finally admitted that in the current situation, it seems that only this method has the most possibility of realization.

After reading the information handed over to him by the emperor, Guo Yunhou naturally knew clearly that the price revolution that the emperor said to him was not a lie and threat. The opening of new shipping routes in small European countries led to a large amount of gold and silver, which eventually led to a sharp rise in domestic prices.

And now the Ming Dynasty has just completed an adjustment of the price of gold to silver, and this adjustment will inevitably make a large amount of silver that has been stored appear on the market, which is similar to the process of the sudden inflow of large quantities of gold and silver into European countries.

If the Ming Dynasty has been in good weather all these years, the damage caused by the rise in prices to the Ming society may not be so strong. However, in recent years, various parts of the north have been affected by disasters, so that the economy and people's livelihood in the north have become very withered. Grain, cloth and other materials from the north need to be imported from the south.

The weather in the north this year seems to be better than in previous years, but even if this year is a good year, the north is not self-sufficient in food and cloth. The only commodities in which the North has an advantage are steel, coal, and cotton, as well as cotton, leather, glass, and chemicals, which are developing rapidly.

However, these industries are mainly concentrated in Beizhili, Shandong, and Shanxi, and the hardest-hit Shaanxi region and the more barren Ganlong region basically have no products to export.

Even at the current price, the daily needs of the imperial court for the people in the north can only be said to barely meet the needs of most people. If the current prices are doubled, it is clear that the situation in which the northern provinces have barely stabilized will be broken.

If such a bad situation really occurs, Guo Yunhou, who is the head of the household department, will naturally be responsible for this. Even if he doesn't want to be responsible, the courtiers who are helpless against the civil unrest will put this responsibility on his head.

After weighing the pros and cons, Guo Yunhou finally said to Chongzhen: "The minister agrees with His Majesty's opinion, and the minister also believes that it is still very necessary to implement the rationing system in kind.

However, Your Majesty, even if it is only to collect and store grain, coal, cotton, and cotton cloth, I am afraid that relying on the financial resources of the household department alone will be insufficient, after all, this is not a system that can be completed in a year and a half.

Moreover, after the implementation of the in-kind ration system, the price of the materials distributed to the people through the rationing system will inevitably be much lower than the market price. The officials who are in charge of the rations may not be able to forget their righteousness, and when the court spends a lot of silver, the benefits fall into the pockets of the officials, and the people attribute their resentment to the court, which is what the ministers are most worried about. ”

Regarding Guo Yunhou's question, Zhu Youzhen seemed to be prepared and said: "What Mr. said is right, if it is not properly managed, it is indeed possible that the situation you said will occur after the implementation of the rationing system."

Therefore, after Han Yiliang finished handling the case of Lianghuai Yan, I would let him lead the Independent Commission Against Corruption to supervise the implementation of the rationing system in kind. In addition, with regard to the organization and implementation of the rationing system, I also intend to set up a special department in charge of the household department, and no one other than you, the cabinet, and me shall be responsible for this department.

The implementation of the rationing system will inevitably require a lot of resources and manpower, in addition to selecting people from the central ministries and local officials, I hope that you can select as many students as possible from the universities in the two capitals to form this department, and all the rules and regulations can be discussed and formulated by yourself.

The purpose of the rationing system was primarily to stabilize the social situation. Judging from today's Ming Dynasty, inflation has a greater impact on the lives of the people in the north, because the people in the south are more developed in the commodity economy, a certain degree of inflation will not only not hit the economy of the south, but is conducive to promoting the growth of local handicraft manufacturing.

Therefore, in order to reduce the amount of money required for the implementation of the rationing system as much as possible, and to implement the rationing system faster. What I mean is that we will first implement the rationing system in the north, with the Qinling-Huai River as the dividing line, and the rationing system will be implemented first in the north of this line, and the rationing system will not be promoted in the south of this line for the time being.

When implementing the rationing system, there should be the following principles: first ensure the supply of materials in the cities, and then extend to the countryside; first ensure the supply of goods for the army, officials, and workers, and then take care of the rest of the burghers; The supply of materials for women and children should be ensured first, and then the supply of young and strong labor should be considered.

Once the rationing system has been decided, no one is allowed to interfere with the implementation of the rationing system, except that I and the Cabinet have the right to make adjustments and the Cabinet has the right to react. If there is a violator, they will be deprived of the status of the clan, relatives, officials, and gentry first, and then they will be questioned and punished.

As for the funds needed to implement the rationing system, I thought that we could set up a leveling fund of between 10 million and 15 million yuan from the profits of the three major banks' gold appreciation, which would be used to collect and store grain, oil, flour, sugar, cotton, cotton and other essential goods.

In order to ensure that the household department can have priority in purchasing these materials, I intend to grant the household department the right to requisition grain and cotton in the northern region. In the Qinling-Huai River north of the Qinling-Huai River, no merchant is allowed to buy wheat, rice, and cotton in the area without the approval of the Ministry of Households, and anyone who violates this order can confiscate the goods and impose penalties. ”

When Chongzhen spoke, Guo Yunhou was still nodding his head again and again, but after the emperor finished speaking, Guo Yunhou couldn't speak for a long time, and he hesitated for a long time before asking the emperor: "Let the three major banks take the money out to operate this leveling fund, although some people may not be happy, but even if Your Majesty does not come forward, the minister is confident that he will still be able to convince that group of businessmen."

However, there was only one thing that the minister was worried about, and the household department set up this department to implement the rationing system, and obtained the right to requisition staple grain and cotton in the northern provinces, but in this way, this department bypassed the local government and the local gentry, and directly contacted the local people.

This right to requisition staple grains and cotton was bound to the detriment of the landlords of the local magnate and gentry, for it undoubtedly required them to sell their property at a low price. The implementation of rationing would also discourage the commercial interests of the local merchants and gentry, as it would deprive them of commercial opportunities to engage in food trafficking.

The minister was worried that after the promulgation of the ration system and the requisition system, would it arouse the opposition of the gentry and landlords in the north? ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said: "Sir's worries do exist, but I have thought about it repeatedly, and what we want now is to face the peasant rebellion in various parts of the north; Or is it to face the opposition of the gentry and landlords everywhere.

As the saying goes: the lesser of two evils. To suppress the peasants who revolted, the imperial court had to contribute money and efforts, not to mention, but also to bear the burden of the local economy destroyed by these rioting peasants; If we were to suppress the gentry and landlords who were dissatisfied with the imperial court, we could at least use their land and distribute it to the local peasants in order to win the support of the local people.

Therefore, what the household department needs to consider is not to let these gentry and landlords join forces against the imperial court, so that we can control the situation in the north. Therefore, I intend to bring the gentry councils of the counties into the system of rationing in the local system, so that the gentry councils of the various places will receive a part of the benefits, and thus break up their union.

Of course, the North Zhili area is the most important barrier base in the Shenjing, and the people in this area should get more preferential treatment. The most important thing now is that this newly formed department needs a suitable leader, who does he think is a good fit? ”

Regarding the emperor's truth, Guo Yunhou could only smile bitterly. Although this newly formed department wielded great power, it was bound to be hated by the northern gentry, and those who sat in this position probably did not end well.

However, the promotion of the rationing system did not cross the Qinling-Huaihe line, but minimized the resistance in a short period of time. The southern gentry and landlords may complain about the rationing system in the north, but they still have the market in the south, so they will not go to extremes.

And the gentry and landlords in the north, Shaanxi and other places because of the continuous disasters, not to mention the local people, even the local gentry are also a little unsustainable. These gentry may now be more worried about whether the local security will threaten the survival of their families than their own property.

The gentry in Shanxi and Henan had just been suppressed by the imperial court once, and now they seem to be very honest. Most of the gentry in the Northern Zhili region maintained good relations with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, the only people who had the courage to rebel against the policies of the imperial court were probably the gentry of Shandong.

But even with the strength of the Shandong gentry, it is not something that any official can resist. Perhaps these gentry will probably succumb to the emperor's high pressure, but they will inevitably take revenge on the officials who led the department afterwards, just as they did against Zhang Juzheng.

When Guo Yunhou was thinking about it, he suddenly thought of a brilliant idea, he immediately calmed down, and said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the minister has thought of a suitable candidate. It is better to let Yin Bi Ziyan, the governor of Shuntianfu, be in charge of this new department, this person is capable of doing things, and quite economically talented, let him be in charge of the implementation of the rationing system, and there should be no problems. ”

Chongzhen thought for a while and said, "Will Bi Jing will?" He has governed Shuntian Mansion for the past two years, and he has done a good job. Well, go talk to him and see what he thinks..."

Guo Yunhou talked with Chongzhen for more than an hour before he came out of the emperor's duty room. When he entered just now, he could be said to be in a relaxed mood, but after meeting the emperor, his steps were obviously a lot heavier.

And Zhu Youzhen, who saw off Guo Yunhou in the room, was not much lighter. The success of stopping the Houjin army's attempt to make a detour to invade the Gyeonggi region once made him think that the next step would be easy.

But the comfortable days were not long in coming, and the risk of inflation in the Ming economy, which was on the silver standard due to the push up on the price of gold, hit him.

In the current market, one or two official minted Taicang silver can be exchanged for 14 standard Ming silver dollars, or 145 yuan banknotes. Even if the fineness of the privately minted silver is better than that of Taicang silver, it can only be exchanged for 135 Daming silver dollars, or 14 yuan banknotes. If the silver tael is of poor fineness, it is necessary to add a variety of catchments.

But even so, people began to get used to going to the bank to exchange them for silver dollars and banknotes, and then to trade or pay taxes. Because the current government tax standard is based on silver dollars and paper money, if silver and copper coins are used to pay taxes, they also have to pay additional subsidies for fire consumption, which is really not cost-effective.

Especially after the price of silver fell, the price of silver was calculated almost once a day, but the pricing of silver dollars and banknotes remained unchanged. As a result, silver, which was originally less in circulation, suddenly became popular.

When the price information transmitted from bank outlets in various places reached Chongzhen's hands, he was more sensitive than his contemporaries, and he immediately realized the risk of inflation. This made Chongzhen have to find Guo Yunhou to come out and negotiate a countermeasure.

Guo Yunhou's performance never exceeded Chongzhen's estimates, so he had to throw out the rationing system, hoping to curb the rate of inflation by planned means, so that Daming would have the opportunity to adjust the structure of the economy.

Now the dice is thrown out, but I don't know if the result is as he imagined, Zhu Youzhen thought with his chin in a fist.