Shi Bufan and Tang Jian returned to Chang'an with this trade agreement with the Turks, and then prepared for Emperor Li Shimin to approve and seal it, which could be officially reached, and the Turks also withdrew their troops. Such a result is actually much better than the shame of Weishui in the original history, at least the Tang Dynasty did not use the wealth of the treasury in exchange for the Turkic retreat, and it would not be so humiliating. However, as soon as this result was achieved, Shi Bufan buried countless small knives in the trade between the two countries. When the time comes, you can always go to the top of your hand to loot these Turks. The wealth that the Turks earned from the Tang Dynasty was not the same, and there was a way to make them spit it out with interest. These guys, who play economics and finance with the times, are simply not qualified. Shi Bufan can play these ancients to death casually, let alone those Turkic people whose economics are simply like idiots? If Shi Bufan really wants to, he can even let these Turks take off their pants.

At that time, Bufan and Li Shimin explained that the trade of dairy products was used to contain the Turks, so that the Turks would not dare to use force to invade the Tang Dynasty in the future, which made Li Shimin's eyes wide, because this method completely swept away the threat of the nomads. You must know that the nomads have always been a huge threat to the Central Plains, but Shi Bufan used this economic and political means to completely disintegrate the courage of the nomads to war, and it was already very difficult for the Turks to start a war in the future.

"Your Majesty, this means of using trade, in fact, we have given the Turks a way. It seems that we have given them a choice, but sometimes there are too many choices, which is not necessarily a good thing! Having more choices often means that they have a harder time making choices. Sometimes, no choice is the easiest choice to succeed! I have given them more choices, one is to obtain supplies through war, and the other is to trade, so that I give them more and easier choices, and they will inevitably be forced to choose the simplest and most advantageous choice. In this way, the possibility of the nomads starting a war is much smaller. Shi Bufan said.

Li Shimin thought for a while, and finally said: "Yes, sometimes, there are too many choices, but people can't make up their minds." That's why I need Duke to help me! ”

Among Li Shimin's two important ministers, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, who are known as Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, are actually good at planning and decision-making. Fang Xuanling is good at planning, but he is the one who provides choices, and Du Ruhui is the one who is good at choice. The more options you have, the more you can't make up your mind. In terms of management, it is actually shown that the more choices you have, the more you will end up with bad things. It's like many brands of the same product are put on the same shelf, and there are too many choices, which often means that customers will choose to "escape" and simply not buy it. If you just put a few and the customer doesn't have a choice, then they will let them buy it instead.

The same is true of governance, where there is too much power to choose, which is not conducive to choice. Shi Bufan actually didn't do anything else, he just gave the Turks one more choice, the original Turks such a nomadic people could only obtain enough materials through war and looting, especially they had to choose force to solve the problem under the extreme disadvantage of trade. However, Shi Bufan seemed to give them a choice to sell dairy products on the surface, but this was enough to make them undecided. If there is no choice, they will not hesitate to go to war, but with the choice, with the possibility of obtaining material materials through peaceful means, they will eventually become more and more hesitant, and once they hesitate, their courage to go to war will also decrease. This is for the whole people, and the vast majority of the people are like this, and with the opportunity to exchange peace for material wealth, few people will take the initiative to violently seize it.

On the surface, it seems that Shi Bufan gave the Turks an opportunity to create wealth and make the Turks richer. However, the price is that the force of the Turks was abolished by Shi Bufan, and the aggressiveness of the Turks was abolished by Shi Bufan using this economic means, and their aggressiveness in the future was greatly reduced.

"Your Majesty, but this is not absolute, and you can control the Turks. The so-called iron striking must be its own, if our own strength is not strong, then the Turks will also take this opportunity to rob us. We can't expect robbers to have mercy on us, if we are not strong enough, then in the end it will be like a child holding gold through the city, and in the end it will definitely be robbed. No matter how much the lion says he is fat, it doesn't matter. A pig can boast that he is fat, but that is going to be a disaster. So if you want to be completely safe, you still have to be strong yourself, I can only make the Turks dare not go to war easily, but if we are really weak enough to be easily defeated, then the Turks will not give up this opportunity, and will not give up this opportunity to increase our wealth. Shi Bufan said.

Li Shimin nodded, obviously knowing this truth. The most reliable thing in this world is still your own strength, and never hope for the mercy of the enemy. Counting on the mercy of the enemy, that is the greatest stupidity. Obviously, no king, especially one who comes from troubled times, would not easily leave his fate to someone else. Even if this person is his father, it will not be an exception. It is a very uncomfortable feeling to be in charge of one's fate, and most people do not want it.

However, Li Shimin looked at the treaty and found the practice of using silver as the settlement currency in it, and immediately frowned.

"What does this silver mean as settlement?" Li Shimin asked.

Shi Bufan replied: "I'm worried that the copper coins are too heavy, so it's just convenient for them." ”

Li Shimin smiled wickedly and said, "Are you really planning to do this?" I see, you harbor evil intentions here, right? Would you be so kind to think for them? ”

"Your Majesty, am I such a sinister person?" Shi Bufan asked rhetorically.

Li Shimin snorted coldly: "You are insidious, not human!" If you want to say who is the best at managing money in my Datang, I can be sure that you are the best at managing money. You're going to do this useless work, and I know you're going to be preparing for this, what the hell are you going to do with this silver? ”

"......" Shi Bufan was speechless, but Shi Bufan finally said honestly: "Your Majesty, the minister does have the idea of a minister." In fact, if you use a large amount of copper coins to settle, it is very unfavorable to my Datang. First of all, my Datang uses copper coins as a transaction, not silver. Silver and gold, although valuable, are not currencies. My Datang has always used copper coins to trade, and copper coins are commonly used by ordinary people, but my Central Plains has not been a country that produces a lot of copper since ancient times, so copper coins are often insufficient. This is why many imperial courts have adopted the copper coins of 'dang five', 'dang ten' and even 'dang hundred'. The products of the Turks, such as dairy cheese, war horses, etc., are light weight and can be very valuable goods. When the time comes, it will inevitably cost a lot of copper money to buy. At that time, a large amount of copper coins flowed into the Turks, but the Turks rarely spent them, so there would be a shortage of copper coins in my Datang. Once there is a large outflow of copper coins, it will cause deflation. Well, that is, there is not enough copper money, which causes the value of copper money to rise excessively, which is not conducive to people's livelihood. ”

Shi Bufan planned to use silver as the settlement currency, in fact, he also hoped to avoid the outflow of copper coins from the Tang Dynasty, which was to avoid deflation. Many people may have heard of inflation and hated it. However, there is another word, called deflation, that is, the currency cannot match the goods and so on in the market, which causes an abnormal rise in the value of the currency and an unhealthy increase in the purchasing power of money.

Some people may think that the increase in the purchasing power of money is a good thing, but this is not the case. When the purchasing power of money rises excessively during deflation, people's desire to use money to shop is greatly reduced, because they all think that they can buy more things after keeping money. But when the whole society thinks so, no one buys the products of the factory, causing the factory to fall into trouble and close down. However, no one buys the peasants' grain and various harvests, and it is the peasants who lose it when they rot in the ground. And so much more, deflation is not necessarily a good thing, but it is also a big harm in the morning.

On the other hand, from the perspective of economics, which has been studied for many times, a slight inflation, as long as it is well controlled, is conducive to economic development. However, ancient China was not an era of inflation, but an era of economic history that was not studied by the ordinary people found that ancient China was generally an era of more serious deflation. Many dynasties found that the money was not enough, and the copper coins could not keep up with the material needs.

Therefore, some imperial courts found deflation, and actually used "dang five", "dang ten" and so on as a large copper coin, that is, larger than the general copper coin, at most the weight of two copper coins, but used as five or ten copper coins. Shi Bufan really doesn't know economics for this kind of guy. Isn't it a fool to use inflation to solve deflation? Therefore, in ancient China, sometimes it was deflation, or severe inflation, which was completely two extremes.

"If we let a large amount of copper coins in Datang flow out to the Turks, and our Datang's copper coins are not enough, it will naturally make the people's surplus grain and various materials unable to trade, and it will inevitably rot in the ground. Therefore, the minister used this silver as the settlement currency, which was also to avoid the outflow of copper coins. The use of silver as the settlement currency, that is, as taking some luxury goods to the Turks, did not have any impact on the livelihood of ordinary people. And when the Turks came to our Datang and traded silver, they would first exchange it for copper coins, and then exchange copper coins for our materials again, so that in fact, the copper coins were still left in our Datang territory, or in our Datang territory. It's just that such a transfer of silver has not caused any currency outflow, and the people will not cause this copper money to be insufficient. Shi Bufan said.

Li Shimin also immediately drew inferences from one case and said: "What you mean is that if a large amount of copper coins flow out, and my Datang does not have enough copper coins as a medium of exchange, then the people will instead collect the copper coins and are unwilling to spend money on them." Then their surplus grain will not be sold, it will gradually become moldy and deteriorated, and eventually the people will lose. In this way, the surplus grain cannot be sold, and it cannot be exchanged for what you need, which will cause other products to be unsold, and then you will not be able to survive. Even, in the end, the imperial court collected taxes with grain, and the imperial court could not sell these grains to those who needed them in exchange for copper coins, but caused the imperial court to suffer? ”

"Yes, so there are too few copper coins, and on the surface, prices are low, but it has caused deflation, which is not a good thing!" Shi Bufan explained.

Li Shimin also nodded and said, "It seems that Shixiao Shulang still taught me a lesson, this little copper coin actually has so much knowledge." If it is an ordinary person, when they see the low price, they will think that it is a good thing and think that the people are happy. But it seems that there are many doorways here, and the price is low, but if there is no market, then in the end it is all empty talk. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, supplies and copper coins, and most importantly, in circulation. If it can't be circulated, then everything is mostly empty. So many officials and nobles in all dynasties put the copper coins into the treasury, and even the copper coins in the treasury during the Liu and Han dynasties were rusted, and this situation was not really a good thing. I don't know what happened back then, but I only knew how the people were doing back then. However, I think that it is important for the court to save money, but it will spend money and spend it well, which is far more important than saving money. Governing the country is nothing more than spending money, spending money where it should be spent, not causing too much waste, so that the same money can get a greater effect, this is the most important thing. Otherwise, it's just saving money for the sake of saving money, which is actually the same as not having money. The value of money lies in the spending, if it is not spent, then the money is still money, and it cannot be eaten, clothed, or born. It's a pity that there aren't many people who can spend money, and too many people can at least rent to save money, but they won't spend money. I, on the other hand, will both save money and spend money. Shi Bufan popularized the knowledge of economics to Li Shimin, and did not forget to boast about it.

However, Li Shimin asked again: "Didn't you say that you can exploit the Turks?" When the time comes, how will the Turks pay to raise troops for me, and how will they pay for me to send troops to fight against them? I'm looking forward to it, looking forward to how you're going to get the Turks to pay me to raise troops and crusade against them. You say, what are you going to do? How can this be done to loot the Turks, and make the Turks have to be looted? ”

Shi Bufan smiled and said, "Your Majesty, what the minister has to do is to start with the exchange ratio of silver and copper coins, so that you can exploit the Turks well." ”