Speaking of this, the bronze is also the credit of the Navy's Fuchuan Fleet that has just set sail in Qingzhou, since Sima Shu inspected the Wanqingzhou Shipyard, the shipyard has entered the fast lane of development. By the end of 300, the first trading fleet consisting of three 200-material Fu ships set off from Weihaiwei Harbor for Samhan and Wa Kingdom in Korea.

After more than two months of careful sea trials, the three ships finally returned safely. Not only did they bring back detailed hydrological and geographical conditions along the way, but they also exchanged the ship's tea, silk, weaving and other commodities for boatloads of copper and silver mines. Later, greatly encouraged by the navy, several more voyages were organized, and each time a large number of copper and silver mines were successfully brought back.

At the beginning, Zhu Zheng, who was in charge of the Qingzhou Military Port, was very worried that Sima Shu would accuse them of not doing their jobs, so the navy had been careful to hide the news from the imperial court. It wasn't until Qingzhou Thorn Shi Shanjian discovered a clue that the leaders of the military and political sides in Qingzhou urgently reported the news!

At this time, Deng Chong had just persuaded Sima Shu to give up his plan to make a fortune by issuing currency, and Sima Shu was worried about the shortage of copper mines for issuing currency, but who knew that the red copper sent by Qingzhou made Sima Shu overjoyed. Not only did he not issue an order to bid for the navy, but he greatly praised the other party and demanded that Qingzhou must increase support for overseas trade!

As for the navy, in addition to ensuring daily military training, Sima Shu asked them to immediately organize a group of ships specializing in overseas trade, and put them under the responsibility of the newly established Naval Trade Bureau.

"Since this news has just come, I haven't had time to communicate with you, I hope that the ministers don't have any mustard in their hearts!" Listened to Sima Shu's explanation. Zhang Bin and the others showed a sudden smile on their heads.

The lack of high-quality copper coinage has been a major problem in China. Now with such a supply of copper raw materials, there will be no more "copper shortage" or "money shortage". Everyone understood that this would mean that the country would be able to maintain both the minting industry and a stable copper coinage. These are the prerequisites for ensuring economic and social stability and military defense.

But at this moment, Wang Yan, who was sitting in the third place on the left hand, frowned and said, "But Your Majesty, since we need copper ore so much, why should we transport back the silver ore and replace it all with copper ore?" Wang Yan has a certain reason in saying this, due to the lack of silver mines in China, silver is rarely used as currency, and is basically used as decoration.

Wang Yan's words attracted everyone's discussion again. Yes, since silver is not a necessity for the time being, it seems that there is no need for the imperial court to store silver mines on a large scale. Among the people, although there were wealthy families who melted silver into ingots and stored it, few people came to trade gold and silver. Unless there are some large transactions or transactions with countries in the Western Regions, some silver bars will be used.

"Huh. Here's the answer. As he spoke, Sima Shu stretched out his palm, only to see several silver coins lying in Sima Shu's palm. Distributing the rest to several cabinet ministers, Sima Shu picked up one of them with a smile and introduced: "This is the silver dollar that Qian Zhuang just minted from the silver mine of the Japanese Kingdom!" ”

"This is a silver Hongwu Tongbao that was uniformly cast by Qianzhuang. Weigh seven dollars and two cents. Silver eighty-eight, copper one or two. After consultation with the money bank and the household department, I decided to abolish the original 'silver two system' based on weight. Establishment of the 'Silver Law'. Silver is used as the material to cast silver Hongwu Tongbao. Take a Hongwu Tongbao as a 'circle' as the unit of measurement. The taxes, revenues, salaries, and salaries of the imperial court were all calculated on this Hongwu Tongbao silver coin. ”

"From now on, silver on the market can only be circulated in the form of silver coins of this specification, and the original weight of silver bars will no longer be used: it will be 'abolished and replaced by two yuan', and silver coins will be used as the standard currency. Copper coins are auxiliary coins. The exchange rate set by the imperial court was to exchange one silver dollar for 100 large coins; Exchange for 1,000 coins. ”

The ministers below listened to Sima Shu's introduction while carefully observing this silver Hongwu Tongbao. There is no square hole in the silver coin, and there is "Hongwu Tongbao" engraved on the upper obverse, "One Yuan" in the middle, and a line of "Kuping Seven Coins and Two Cents" below. On the back, it is engraved with the words "made in the country", the dragon motif and the year of issue.

At this moment, Pei Wei, who was listening to the side, took the lead in asking: "Your Majesty, is it feasible to issue the silver taels in the form of copper coins?" There is no precedent for this in our dynasty or even in the previous dynasty. ”

"Hehe, that's the second question I'm going to make, because no one has experience issuing silver coins, and I'm always short of silver mines. Therefore, under the premise that there is not enough silver bar reserves, I am not going to issue silver dollars for the time being, and this time I will only take out some samples for everyone to enjoy. This time, only copper coins were issued, on the one hand, to accumulate experience in issuing currency for the imperial court, and on the other hand, to provide sufficient time for the imperial court to accumulate silver bar reserves! ”

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"Your Majesty, the imperial court will issue currency this time, so will the money bank be responsible for all the issuance of currency in the future? Which department will be under the jurisdiction of this bank? "It is not unreasonable for Du Xi to ask this question, as the secretary of the household department, of course he hopes that a 'power' department like Qian Zhuang will be handed over to the management of the household department.

"Of course, in the future, the imperial court's currency issuance will be the responsibility of the Dajin Imperial Bank, and they will take over the heavy responsibility of currency issuance, and this is their only responsibility. As for the management of the money village, the daily work will be handed over to Deng to them, of course, the money village is also an institution of the imperial court, and it is also directly managed by the cabinet at critical moments! Sima Shu explained with a smile.

Hearing what the emperor said, Zhang Bin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, at first he was really worried that the emperor would assign the money to the management of the household department, although this would not weaken his position as the first assistant, but it would greatly strengthen the power of the second assistant and the household department. Now Sima Shu is doing this, which is equivalent to handing over the royal money to him to be responsible.

Half a month later, after careful preparations, the Dajin Royal Money Village finally opened!

In order to show favor to the emperor, many families who got the news in advance took out the high-quality five-baht coins stored at home and prepared to exchange them at the royal bank. And some ordinary people, out of trust in Sima Shu, have found out all the bad and good coins in their hands, and are ready to exchange them at the bank!

"Hurry up for me, if it's too late, the village will be closed!"

The big butler of the Wang Yan family urged more than two dozen men with carts, and shouted anxiously. The car was full of copper coins that the Wang family was ready to exchange for new coins, which were 20,000 yuan, weighing tens of thousands of catties!

Since Wang Yan was a cabinet minister and had personally seen the quality of Hongwu Tongbao, after the cabinet meeting, he asked his subordinates to prepare the old money for exchange. As soon as he received the news of the opening of the bank, Wang Yan called the housekeeper at home to hurry over!

In addition to the Wang family, other families such as the Yang family and the Pei family have also set an example to everyone, and under the leadership of the family, a wave of exchanging new coins has instantly formed in Luoyang City!

After Steward Wang led people to transport the money to Qianzhuang with great effort, the front of Qianzhuang has been surrounded by three layers inside and three layers outside, and there are crowds of people, fortunately, Luoyang Mansion sent five hundred soldiers to maintain order, otherwise the scene would have to be chaotic!

Finally, it was the turn of the Wang family, and Steward Wang watched a cart of old copper coins be transported to the inside of the money village for weighing, and then replaced by a cart of yellow, orange and orange new coins and shipped out, and his mouth was happy. The ordinary people watching on the side immediately put their hearts in their stomachs when they saw the style of the new coin, and judging from the appearance alone, the texture of the new coin is not low!

Retail investors and ordinary people who were still a little hesitant took out the old money and bad money that had been prepared a long time ago and poured into the money counter of the money bank to go through the exchange procedures.

Deng Chong, the director of the money bank, finally relieved himself when he saw this scene, and the reason why the new currency was accepted by everyone so quickly was because of the exemplary role played by the important ministers of the court and the big families; On the other hand, it is the good reputation accumulated by Sima Shu since he came to power, and the common people of the world have great confidence in Sima Shu, and these people are convinced that the 'prince' who loves the people like a son will never harm them!

If Sima Shu knew these inside stories, he would definitely be afraid! Fortunately, he followed Deng Chong's advice to improve the quality of the coinage, otherwise I really don't know what would have happened. Even if the final currency issuance is successful, I am afraid that it will not achieve the current influence!

The office of the Royal Money House was crowded with people, and the professionally trained clerks were busy and sweating, but everyone had excitement on their faces. As the Lord in charge said just now, after this busy period, everyone has a reward of consistent money. All the clerks seemed to exert their strength to feed, gritting their teeth and busily. It is the hard work of these clerks that keeps customers from waiting for a long time.

In just half a day, the royal money bank exchanged hundreds of thousands of yuan in Luoyang City, and in Xincheng, Chang'an and the locations of the county guards, there were no less than tens of thousands of new coins exchanged.

Thinking that in the future, Deng Chong would be in charge of the currency issuing agency of the Great Jin Dynasty, Deng Chong couldn't help but feel proud. Although this deal with the emperor made them give up the Deng family to run the industry for hundreds of years, he did not regret it. Because Deng Chong knew that Sima Shu was not an ordinary person, from his strong suppression of the wealthy family, it could be seen that the other party had great ambitions, and it was by no means comparable to the previous rulers!

Deng Chong had no doubt that as long as the Deng family dared to say a word, what was waiting for the Deng family would be full of beheading! After many contacts with the emperor, Deng Chong was also impressed by Sima Shu's talent and bearing!

In particular, the royal money bank responsible for the currency issuance system proposed by Sima Shu made Deng Chong very satisfied. The management of coinage in previous dynasties was quite chaotic, and all kinds of people wanted to profit from it. And Sima Shu's hand completely standardized the imperial court coinage.

The money bank has the direct leadership and management of the cabinet, and the triple supervision of the Inspectorate, the General Procuratorate and the Audit Office, plus its internal supervision body, which is enough to ensure that all kinds of loopholes are eliminated.

After the news of Qian Zhuang's victory in the first battle came, the court cheered!

A month later, the Hongwu Tongbao issued by the imperial court spread to the Jiangdong area, and the people of Jiangdong quickly accepted this high-quality new coin, and exchanged their private money for Hongwu Tongbao. At the beginning, Sima Rui also banned the circulation of new currency in Jiangdong, but later he saw that the ban was repeated, and he wanted to squeeze Hongwu Tongbao through bad currency, who knew that it would make Jiangdong's bad currency private money lose its original market!

After receiving this news, Sima Shu was also relieved, so that he could finally free up his energy to deal with other things! (To be continued......)