Wei Shuo, who was far away in Jicheng, didn't know that a great change was brewing in the distant Chang'an City, and he was preparing for the upcoming maritime trade boom. He knew very well that with the opening of the sea connection with Rome, the sea trade would usher in a great development, but there were too many problems to deal with before that.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I brought you here just after the New Year, and there is an important matter that needs to be discussed with you."

Wei Shuo motioned for Pei Wei, Mo Han, Gao Zhan, and Wen Qiao to sit down, and asked the emperor who was standing on the side to serve tea to a few people.

"According to the report of Zhang Daren, the head of the ocean-going trading fleet, the Laoshan Trading Company has discovered a huge gold mine in Nanyang, and it is a natural gold mine, the gold reserves are very rich, and the mining is also very convenient, and the gold can even be directly mined from the nearby river."

Everyone present was very excited when they heard this, and Pei Wei asked a little puzzled, "Lord, this should be a good thing?!" After all, gold is a hard currency for trade, and Liaodong began to reserve gold and silver as early as the second year of Jianxing. Now that I have this gold mine, I will greatly speed up the gold reserves, but I don't think the lord is very happy? Could it be that someone is greedy for this gold mine? ”

Although Liaodong has long been systematically preventing corruption, the problem of corruption has always existed, and no less than dozens of officials are investigated and punished every year. In recent years, as Liaodong has gradually become richer, all kinds of problems have begun to increase. Therefore, it is not surprising that Pei Wei has such worries.

"No, no, no, it's not a problem of corruption, it's a problem of gold and silver reserves!"

"With the mining of gold mines, there will be more and more gold reserves in Liaodong in the future, although for Liaodong at the moment, more gold will also have more benefits. However, if there is too much gold, if it cannot be turned into currency in time and put into circulation, once it causes the depreciation of gold, it will be completely disadvantageous! ”

Wei Shuo sighed and said, "With the inflow of gold, silver and other precious metals, the value of gold and silver in Liaodong will depreciate sooner or later. And according to the current rate of inflow of gold and silver, perhaps in 30 or 50 years, Liaodong silver and gold will begin to depreciate on a large scale. ”

"Once this happens, it will have a direct impact on people's lives. With the depreciation of gold and silver, the wealth in the hands of the people has actually shrunk, and one of the main reasons for the depreciation of gold and silver is the inflow of a large amount of gold and silver, resulting in the circulation of gold and silver in the market seriously exceeding the actual demand. ”

Speaking of this, Wei Shuo took a sip of tea and continued: "When gold and silver become worthless, it will be a huge disaster for Liaodong, and it may even drag down the economic development and bring disaster to Liaodong. ”

This is by no means Wei Shuo's alarmism, in the previous world, the Spanish Empire, which was once prosperous, was because of a large amount of gold and silver mined from the Americas, and as a result, a large inflow of silver and gold finally killed the country.

Everyone knows that gold and silver are good things, and the Chinese people have a preference for hoarding silver and gold. However, if there is too much gold and silver, it will be harmful. Just like people, foods with high nutritional value are necessary and can improve life, but too much of it will cause indigestion and even illness as a result, leading to the end of the body.

"Although it is still far from the depreciation of gold and silver, we must have a sense of distress in life and work, Mencius said well: 'Born in sorrow, die in peace!' Therefore, how to prevent the depreciation of gold and silver will be an important problem facing Liaodong in the future. If you have any suggestions, you might as well come and hear them. ”

"My lord, since the depreciation caused by the large inflow of gold and silver, it is better to directly control the mining of gold and silver?"

Wei Shuo was silent when he heard this, and did not hurry to speak, and after a long while, he said: "It is not easy to control the mining of gold and silver. Even if the government intervenes and nationalizes the gold and silver mines, it will not prevent others from finding and developing new mineral deposits. ”

And in order to attract people to venture overseas, Liaodong issued a new policy that clearly stipulated that all new mineral deposits found would be privately owned. Obviously, Liaodong could not go back on its word, after all, many people took the risk overseas because of the gold and silver. ”

"Therefore, controlling gold and silver mining will not work!"

At the beginning, in order to encourage more people to go out of China and go to a broader world, and at the same time to encourage the development of the newly conquered land, it was inevitable to open up the mining rights of gold and silver mines, but now it seems that this will inevitably harm the fundamental interests of Liaodong.

"I wonder what the lord suggests?"

Although everyone here is extremely intelligent, they are all traditional scholars and doctors, and they don't know much about economic affairs, even if Mo Han is also ignorant and half-understood.

"I think that if the money bank comes forward to buy gold and silver directly, and then mint it into silver dollars and gold coins and put them into circulation, a sound monetary system will be established. In addition, with the help of the opportunity of trade with the Roman Empire, the Liaodong currency was pushed to the status of the world currency in one fell swoop, which was the fundamental solution to the problem. ”

"In the next five years, the economy of Liaodong will inevitably develop on a large scale, and more money will be needed, and the new inflow of gold and silver money is the basis for economic prosperity. At the same time, the issuance of gold and silver currency can also change the economic structure of Liaodong, which should be of great benefit to us. ”

"Does the lord mean that Liaodong should not only not control the amount of gold and silver mining, but should also continue to encourage mining?"

Wei Shuo nodded affirmatively: "That's right! As long as we establish a sound monetary system and achieve the status of a world currency, no amount of gold and silver will flow into Liaodong to pose a threat to the economic system of Liaodong. And as long as you control gold and silver, then you can control the world's trade, and the benefits to Liaodong are obvious. ”

"As you all know, last year Liaodong and Rome signed a trade cooperation agreement, not surprisingly, from this year will usher in high development opportunities for maritime trade, the future of bulk trade between countries will occupy the mainstream."

"With the rise of bulk trade, currency is inevitable, and gold and silver, as precious metals, will definitely be the preferred currency in trading. However, at present, the currency prevailing in Liaodong is five baht coins, and five baht coins will definitely be rejected by the Romans as copper coins. On the contrary, Roman currency had a very complete system, including gold, silver and copper. ”

"I fear that in the future, in the future, the Roman currency will take advantage of the opportunity to become the world currency, so that the Romans can make a lot of money just by issuing currency."

Wei Shuo was well aware of the benefits of issuing gold coins and silver dollars, and he had been plotting to issue silver dollars for several years, and the establishment of a sound monetary system with a strict and strong regulatory system was only good for Liaodong, not harmful.

"At present, the top priority in Liaodong is to establish a new monetary system, gradually reduce the dependence on the five-baht coin, and let gold and silver replace part of the role of the five-baht coin, so as to stabilize the currency."

One of the most important technical issues in the issuance of currency in ancient times was how to prevent counterfeiting, and of course, in modern times, anti-counterfeiting technology is still very important. For this issue, Wei Shuo attaches great importance to it.

At the meeting, Wei Shuo solemnly reminded several confidants and subordinates, "There is another thing that must be paid attention to in the issuance of silver dollars, that is, to prevent others from forgery. On this point, we have to start from two aspects, one is the relevant legislative work, which has been specifically taken care of by the pastoral government. Any act of counterfeiting banknotes is a felony, and the heinous crime can even be equated with complicity in the crime. ”

"On the other hand, it is necessary to improve the minting technology of silver dollars and gold coins, and popularize the identification methods of silver dollars and gold coins, so that ordinary people can distinguish the authenticity."

"This matter will be left to Shirong to handle, and it must be handled properly!"

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but think of Yuan Datou, which was issued by the Republic of China, which can be said to be a very successful model. After Wei Shuo discussed some details with the four confidants, he handed over the specific matters to Mo Han to arrange, and then the issuance of silver and gold coins became the number one major event in Liaodong at present.

It can be said that gold coins and silver dollars are directly related to the future of Liaodong, especially when the economic development of Liaodong is extremely rapid, and the issuance of silver dollars and gold coins has become the best way to consolidate and stimulate economic development at present. (To be continued.) )