Seeing that the strategists didn't seem to approve of the plan to mint coins privately, Zhang Fan couldn't help frowning slightly. In fact, coinage was not his whim, even if there was no "Dong's five baht" mess, he planned to put the coinage on the agenda.

Why? Because minting is very profitable. The reason why the minting and issuance of money has been monopolized by the central government since ancient times is, of course, because of making money!

Why does minting make money?

This brings us to a concept peculiar to economics – seigniorage.

Seigniorage, also known as seigniorage spread. The American Heritage Dictionary further explains it as the proceeds or profits made by minting coins. Its original meaning was the difference between the embedded value of the precious metal used and the face value of the coin.

Back in the days of physical money, where shells (such as the Chinese Yin Shang shells) were used as currency, seigniorage did not exist. Because things like shells are not something that people can make at will, they have to be obtained through the exchange of goods.

By the middle and late stages of the metal currency age, the right to mint money was vested in the rulers of various countries. Rulers gradually discovered that even if the real value of money itself was lower than its face value, it could be circulated in the market at face value.

As a result, in order to make short-term profits from coinage, rulers began to reduce the precious metal content and fineness of their currencies, and issued them at a higher value, the so-called "coin trimming". At this point, seigniorage actually evolved into income from the difference between the face value of the currency and its actual value. The greater this difference, the more seigniorage.

For example, in ancient times, copper coins were the main currency, although the main raw material was copper, some other metals were added during the minting process. A copper coin with 88% copper content and a copper coin with 90% copper may seem to be not much different, and the face value is a penny when used, but if you mint millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions...... Then the casting cost is very different.

Of course, seigniorage is not unlimited, as the amount of money minted is limited by the amount of precious metal produced. Moreover, when the face value of the currency deviates significantly from its actual value, and the number of coins minted is excessive, it will also cause the currency to depreciate, thus forcing the mint to increase the real value of the currency.

For the ancient regime when the government was not financially abundant, the seigniorage tax has extraordinary significance, because it is an important source of government revenue in addition to taxes, and it is estimated that this is why it is not a tax levied by the state through power, but it is called "seigniorage".

Therefore, this coinage is definitely a small investment, long-term stable income and zero risk to buy *** from the earlier what worked hard to open up business routes - strong is not a star and a half, Zhang Fan is determined not to give up easily-

However, Zhang Fan is not the kind of dictatorial monarch who is rigid and self-serving, and he still has to be cautious about the exhortation of "left arm and right arm", and it is not good to accidentally cause estrangement.

The discussion naturally ended without a hitch, Zhang Fan dismissed everyone, leaving Zhang Zhao alone to find out, and after knocking on the side to understand the concerns of several strategists, the stone in Zhang Fan's heart finally landed:

Hey, so they're worried about this!

Zhang Fan knew that they were too worried, because the intelligence showed that Yuan Shu had begun to secretly prepare for the enthronement, and it was estimated that it would not be long before Yuan Shu's classmates would be the first to raise the anti-flag and publicly proclaim themselves emperor, which was also verified by history......

As long as there is the first one, the latecomers will not be so dazzling. After all, Zhang Fan is just planning to issue private currency, and it is not conspicuous compared to the various transgressions of the rest of the princes, it is estimated that there will be a war of words at most, and at most fifty steps and a hundred steps!

Unable to wait any longer, Zhang Fan still decided to start preparing for the minting of coins immediately, after all, this coinage is a delicate work, not to say that it will be minted, and it will take at least half a year to train craftsmen, collect and store materials, and build factories. Besides, it's a big deal to mint a batch and store it first, and then release it to the public when the time is right......

The stakes are too high to be handled by a man who is old and savvy, after all, this is the future finance minister and central bank governor. After careful consideration and careful selection, Zhang Fan decided to appoint Pei Xunyu to be solely responsible for this matter.

Zhang Fan summoned Xun Yu to discuss the matter, and said warmly: "Wen Ruo, I plan to entrust this matter to you, what do you think?" ”

A group of sailors complained:

"It's you!"

"Huh! Does this give a sense of aptitude? ”

“+1S……”

“compiled-and-published-by-imperial-order……”

"Ahem...... You will be renewed, you know! ”

"I found that young people like to call their girlfriends female tickets, which feels very cute and fashionable, but when I look at them together, I find out the real connotation......"

"Brother, steady."

……

Xun Yu was overjoyed, although he knew that this job was not easy to do, he was naturally willing.

It turned out that since he joined Zhang Fan's command, although Zhang Fan treated him with great respect and did not treat him poorly, but because Zhang Fan himself had a lot of talents, and there were hundreds of millions of sailors who gave him advice, he has not had any good opportunities to give full play to his talents, and mainly did some bureaucratic work step by step......

And he himself is a typical internal affairs talent, but Zhang Fan already has a top internal affairs master Zhang Zhao under his subordinates, but Zhang Zhao entered the village earlier than him, and he manages government affairs in an orderly manner and has a good reputation. Under the premise that Zhang Zhao did not make a fatal mistake, he had no possibility of replacing him at all. So Xun Yu could only keep giving him a hand, and he had no chance to get ahead at all......

However, how could Xun Yu, who has a splendid belly, be willing to give people a lifetime and go on like this, so he secretly decided: he must decisively seize this olive branch and show his strengths to prove his worth thoroughly. Immediately replied:

"Lord, please rest assured that it will be handed over to your subordinates."

"Okay, I believe that with your ability, it will not be a problem to handle this matter well-", Zhang Fan continued with a slight bow:

"I plan to set up a new official office to be in charge of coinage and issuance, replacing the three officials of Shanglin, called - coinage division, rank is more than a thousand stones. Then the first coinage order - it's you. ”

Shanglin Sanguan was an official who presided over the minting of coins in the Han Dynasty, that is, Zhong Guan, skill, and copper Sanguan.

Xun Yu pressed his excitement and got up to thank him: "Thank you, lord." ”

Zhang Fan took out his whip and pointed to several places in Huiji County and said: "These places are the locations of the large-scale copper mines that have been proven, and I plan to set up money supervisors in these places to entrust craftsmen to dig mines and drum up money for smelting. All personnel should be arranged by you, and I can transfer you to whoever you like, but you must ensure that the money is foolproof, can you do it? ”

Xun Yu solemnly promised: "No, my subordinates will never give up." ”

"Well, the soldier is fast, you can go back and prepare!"

Zhang Fan handed him the information on the table and instructed:

"By the way, this is the detailed statement I have put together, you go back and take a closer look, and if you don't understand anything, come and ask me immediately."

"No, my subordinates will retire." Xun Yu put away the information and left happily......

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