Yuan Ang saw that the crown prince Liu Che was faintly dissatisfied with him in his words, and he was also quite helpless in his heart. Although it is the duty of the Imperial History Office to supervise the hundred officials, the prime minister, as the head of the hundred officials, is also responsible for appointing officials at all levels. In the face of such serious collusion between officials and businessmen in Nanyang and surrounding counties, Yuan Ang was indeed derelict in his duties.

Especially when the emperor and the crown prince proposed to strongly crack down on the wealthy businessmen and magnates in Nanyang County, Yuan Ang did not attach too much importance to it, and was even unwilling to use the power of the government to assist the royal industrial group's sea salt dumping plan, believing that it would inevitably be suspected of competing with the people for profit. Now it seems that Nanyang businessmen have such huge political and economic resources, and they have hidden forces that affect the livelihood of the people in a place.

In fact, there are big differences in the political views of Yuan Ang and Liu Che, which were not obvious at the beginning of Liu Che's entry into the Central Government Bureau, but as time went by, the differences between the two on many government affairs gradually appeared.

Especially for the Han merchants, Yuan Ang insisted on adopting an attitude of inaction under the premise of valuing agriculture and suppressing businessmen, that is, trying his best to suppress the political status of the merchants, but allowing them to frantically accumulate wealth and pursue profits; Liu Che, on the other hand, sought to eliminate political bias on the premise of cracking down on collusion between officials and businessmen and preventing the businessmen from controlling the lifeblood of the regional economy.

If you insist on making a comparison, Yuan An's political views are the most mainstream Huang Lao faction above the court since the founding of the Han Dynasty, which is neither conservative nor radical, and handles government affairs in a stable manner; Liu Che's political views are closer to those of Jia Yi and Chao Cuo at the beginning, and they are enterprising reformists, but they are very deeply hidden, trying not to hit them, and they will kill them if they hit them.

The two have different focuses, and the means they adopt are naturally very different. Emperor Jing belonged to a pragmatist leader who only looked at the results and did not look at the process, and often turned a blind eye to the differences between Yuan Ang and Liu Che, and judged success or failure in everything by actual results. Now in the matter of Nanyang, Yuan Ang has to admit that he was too negligent and negligent, which made the situation a little out of control. Today, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince dares to show his dissatisfaction in person, and I am afraid that there is still the instruction of His Majesty the Emperor behind it.

As a veteran of the Three Dynasties, Yuan Ang can be said to have grown up watching Emperor Jing. He knew that this emperor, who was generous on the surface, was actually extremely gloomy in his heart, and could even be described as stubborn. Obviously, His Majesty is extremely angry with what happened in Nanyang County now, and the crown prince Liu Che has a slight attitude of asking the teacher to ask for guilt, but instead shows kindness to Yuan An. If Emperor Jing endured it without any expression, it meant that he was completely disappointed in Yuan An, and the consequences were unimaginable.

Yuan Ang pondered for a long time, figured out the joints, and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat behind his back. Although his surname is Gengzhi, he has been an official for many years, and he is very knowledgeable about current affairs, so he hurriedly bowed down and said: "Regarding the affairs of Nanyang County, there is indeed a crime of negligence. It's just that there are still a lot of puzzles about this matter, and I hope that His Royal Highness will give advice. ”

Liu Che's frowning brows relaxed slightly, he also knew that Yuan Ang had never paid attention to the affairs of merchants in various places, and he lacked intelligence sources, so it was understandable that he did not know the specific situation of Nanyang County now.

In fact, Liu Che said with the meaning of accountability, and he didn't really want to embarrass Yuan Ang and embarrass him. Instead, I hope to give Yuan Ang a little beating, so that he can pay more attention to the economic field in the future, instead of just focusing on cumbersome government affairs. As a prime minister, it is extremely irresponsible to have no economic vision, and from this point of view, Yuan Ang is much worse than Jia Yi and Chao Cuo.

Liu Che explained with a somewhat gloomy face: "Well, according to the news that King Gu received it, the Nanyang Kong clan made a move and borrowed a lot of money from the salt merchants in Nanyang County, and the copper coins were piled up. Even though Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu, ordered the salt merchants under the Royal Industrial Group to only accept copper coins and no longer accept gold when trading, he still could not dispel the crazy idea of Nanyang salt merchants hoarding sea salt and raising the price of salt. ”

"Nanyang Kong's Clan?!" Everyone present was stunned for a moment, and then all showed their original expressions.

Obviously, the Nanyang Kong clan is not unfamiliar even to these top elites of the Han Dynasty, and it can even be said to be familiar.

In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, a group of industrialists and merchants from all over the country were forcibly immigrated to Nanyang County by Qin II, including the Kong family, whose ancestral home was Kaifeng County, Henan County. Nanyang Kong was proficient in the art of drum casting, and was able to produce blast equipment and molds that were more advanced than other smelting workshops of the same era, which were used to blow up the fire, smelt metals, and mint coins or utensils.

According to later generations, the handicraft workshops engaged in metal smelting were not easy to make a profit due to their limited output. However, in the early Han Dynasty, there was a very special political atmosphere, which led to the merchants engaged in metal smelting to become a group of people who were rich and rivaled the country, that is, "free coinage".

Free coinage means that the state has given up the monopoly on currency minting, and only stipulates the form of money, and private individuals can freely mint money according to the regulations. In the early period of the Western Han Dynasty, the people were allowed to mint money freely, and the princes and kingdoms could also mint money on their own, especially when Emperor Wen was "in addition to the theft of money", local private coinage was legally recognized, and private coinage appeared more often.

As an important part of the monetary reform in the early Western Han Dynasty, free coinage was implemented twice: once in the period of Gaozu Liu Bang, and then abolished; The other began in the fifth year of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and has continued to this day.

It can be said that the Nanyang Kong family, who is proficient in the art of drum casting, did not open a smelting workshop, but a bank that could issue currency at will in later generations, and was a money printing machine that constantly spit out currency.

Liu Che saw that everyone's faces were abrupt, obviously thinking that it was a matter of course, and his heart became more and more irritable, and he snorted coldly: "Now all kinds of currencies in my Han Dynasty are miscellaneous, which seriously affects the treasury income and the people's livelihood, and also causes chaos in currency value and prices. ”

As soon as Liu Che said this, everyone was shocked. As the prince of the empire and the future son of heaven, Liu Che expressed a clear inclination for such a sensitive topic, which may really cause His Majesty the Emperor and the imperial court to re-examine the policies related to free coinage.

Before Yuan Ang could speak, the great farmer Ling Cao Luan couldn't help but get up and salute: "Your Highness forgives the sin, although the lower officials also feel that free coinage is very harmful, but it is also a helpless move. ”

"Oh?" Liu Che was not dissatisfied with Cao Luan's objections, but said humbly: "What does Cao Gong have to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it. ”

Cao Luan straightened out his thoughts a little and said slowly: "Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the reason why the private coinage has been relaxed twice is that 'Qin money is difficult to use' is the main reason. My Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system of half a tael, which required a large amount of red gold (red copper), and the seigniorage tax was also very low. At first, even the workshops of the Shaofu Zhuzhu coinage supervisors could not guarantee that the value of the coins minted would be higher than the cost. Moreover, the production of government-run money supervision is limited, and now the Han is thriving, all industries are prosperous, and the demand for copper coins in the market is extremely huge. If there is no free coinage, I am afraid that the value of copper coins will skyrocket and prices will fall wildly! ”

Not only Liu Che, but even everyone present had to admit that Cao Luan was reasonable.

In fact, as an important part of the reform of the monetary system in the early Western Han Dynasty, free coinage caused widespread controversy among the government and the opposition at that time as soon as it was introduced. These controversies mainly focused on whether the political axe should monopolize the coinage power, and the criticism of the free coinage policy by Jia Shan, Jia Yi and Chao Cuo was even more deafening. However, free coinage did help to increase the amount of currency in circulation, and to a certain extent, indirectly promoted the economic development of the early Han Dynasty.

Liu Che pondered for a moment, shook his head helplessly, and said: "Cao Gong's concerns are not unreasonable, but time has passed, and the Han at this time is no longer the Han under the rule of the first emperor. The first emperor can be said to be 'equally unacceptable', and the surname of the coinage did not regress to the state of weighing, indicating that the coinage merchants at that time still had some conscience and did not add too many impurities to the red gold. However, most of today's half-tael coins are extremely poor in fineness, and the red gold content is extremely low, resulting in the people still needing to weigh the coins when they trade. The income of unscrupulous businessmen in minting money is much higher than that of the well-behaved Shaofu Zhuqian minting money! ”

"What Your Highness said is extremely true, according to the news below, there are even some unscrupulous merchants who obtain copper coins minted by Shaofu from various counties in Gyeonggi, and add impurities after going back to re-smelt, and one baht of red money can even be turned into more than ten baht of inferior money, and the income is afraid to be several times!" Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu, has now devoted himself to the business of the royal industrial group, and as a wealthy businessman who "abides by the law", he is naturally extremely dissatisfied with those businessmen who disrupt the economic order, and immediately echoed his words.

Cao Luan's face was sad, but he couldn't refute it, after all, Liu Che and Liu Fei were reasonable. Moreover, Cao Luan, as a great peasant order, also hated these unscrupulous merchants, but in order to ensure the economic development of the counties, he would still strongly oppose the abolition of the decree of free minting money until there was a perfect alternative strategy.

Liu Che saw Cao Luan's hesitant and hesitant face, and it was not easy to convince Cao Luan in his heart, so he waved his hand and said, "This matter is not urgent, and it is not something that can be decided in a hurry." I need to discuss it with my father later, but I will think about it again. I just inform you in advance that the smelting process of Shaofu has been greatly improved, and if the supply of red gold is sufficient, it can completely supply the needs of the 'normal' market circulation in all counties and counties across the country. ”

Liu Che deliberately added an accent to the word "normal", and all the people present were human spirits, so they naturally knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was stimulated by the matter of Nanyang Shangjia, and now he had not really proposed to cancel the coinage right, so he began to consider the various obstacles that he would encounter in the future, and he was afraid that the forces that intended to secretly restrain him would be even more unsurvivable.

"King Gu and the imperial brother came today, in fact, they were under the secret order of their father, and discussed with you how to deal with the affairs of Nanyang County. The old man was also entrusted by his father's secret letter to invite you to come in the name of a banquet. In order to try not to make some people defensive, they are so careful. Liu Che slowly glanced at everyone, and said lightly: "Everyone, remember, don't leak the edict read by King Gu later, otherwise it will ......."

Everyone was shocked in their hearts, if they only had to deal with Nanyang businessmen, they didn't need to be so hidden. Thinking of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's previous indignation at the collusion between officials and businessmen, I feel more and more that something big is about to happen. There was a dead silence in the entire hall, and the top magnates of the Han Dynasty all looked at Liu Che, waiting for him to announce His Majesty's decision. (To be continued.) )