Sima Shu, who was far away in Chang'an, did not know that the military might of the Han people had once again prompted the migration of a grassland people, but this time the Qian people did not move westward, but moved south on a large scale. At this time, he was worrying about other things, and recently he suddenly thought of a very serious problem, so he had to discuss it with Zhang Bin and other ministers immediately.

Although it was already dark, Sima Shu still asked Shoufu Zhang Bin to come to the audience. Sure enough, just as he expected, the chamberlain who had gone to announce the decree came back and told him that Lord Shousuke was still handling government affairs, but had not yet returned home to rest.

"Your Majesty came to the minister so late, but what's the urgency?" After receiving His Majesty's summons, Zhang Bin hurriedly rushed to the imperial study, and after seeing Sima Shu, he hurriedly asked.

"Mengsun, there is something very important, so I want to discuss it with you." Sima Shu motioned for Zhang Bin to sit down as he spoke, and asked the waiter to bring in some tea.

"This time, according to the report of the children of the clan, their business association has discovered a large gold mine in the overseas Americas, and it is a natural gold mine, the gold reserves are very rich, and the mining is very convenient, and the gold can even be scooped out directly from the river."

Zhang Bin was very excited when he heard this, and he asked a little puzzled, "Your Majesty, this should be a good thing?!" After all, gold is the hard currency of trade now, and more gold has many benefits for the empire. How? Does anyone want to covet this gold mine? ”

Zhang Bin is very reasonable to have such worries, although the empire has long started to prevent corruption in the system, but the problem of corruption has always existed in the empire, and no less than 100 officials above the fifth grade are investigated and punished every year. Especially in recent years. With the development of the economy, all kinds of problems began to increase.

"No, no, it's not a corruption issue. It's about the amount of gold, although at the moment for the Empire, more gold is also more beneficial. However, if there is too much gold, it will not be beneficial," Sima Shu sighed and said, "With the large inflow of gold, silver and other precious metals, the empire's gold and silver will depreciate sooner or later. And based on the current rate of inflow of gold and silver, maybe thirty or fifty years from now. The silver and gold of the empire will begin to depreciate on a large scale. ”

"Once that happens. It will have a direct impact on the lives of the people of the Empire. With the depreciation of gold and silver, the wealth in the hands of the people actually shrank, and one of the main reasons for the depreciation of gold and silver was the flow of gold and silver into the empire, resulting in the circulation of gold and silver in the market seriously exceeding the actual demand. ”

Speaking of which. Sima Shu took a sip of tea. And then he said. "In recent years, gold and silver have been flowing into the empire in large quantities. Sooner or later, the gold and silver of the empire will become worthless at all. This would be a huge catastrophe, and could even bring down the empire's economy and bring ruin to the empire. ”

This is by no means Sima Shu is alarmist, 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 supported 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.

"Your Majesty, the Cabinet is already considering a solution to this issue. In fact, this issue was raised as early as the tenth year of Hongwu, but at that time, when we were planning to issue silver dollars, no one paid attention to it. In the past two years, with the issuance of silver dollars and gold coins, no one has mentioned it. Hearing Sima Shu's worry, Zhang Bin's expression immediately became serious.

"Oh? Is it? Did you come up with a solution? Sima Shu was overjoyed when he heard this, he knew that the Chinese people were the best people in the world, and as long as someone opened a window for them, they would often open a door themselves.

"Your Majesty still remembers Deng Chong, the first director of the Royal Money House? It was this loophole that he discovered, and he had previously mentioned solving it by issuing banknotes. Now this matter is being studied by Deng Chong, together with the current director of Qian Zhuang and a large number of economic experts. After all, the issuance of paper money is a matter directly related to the interests of the people, and it cannot be sloppy or rushed, and it can only be implemented when the conditions are fully ripe. Zhang Bin said.

"Issuing banknotes?" Sima Shu was silent, of course he knew the benefits of issuing banknotes. But without effective oversight, the issuance of paper money would be a disaster for the Empire. Especially in a feudal centralized country like China, the risk of issuing paper money will be higher.

"Then what does Your Majesty mean ......" Zhang Bin was also a little puzzled, after all, looking at the emperor's appearance, through the issuance of paper money, it is not the best way to solve the problem.

"I'm wondering, should we take control of gold and silver mining?" Sima Shu glanced at Zhang Bin, "After all, too much gold and silver is a good thing in the eyes of many people. But too much gold and silver is not of any benefit. And through the issuance of paper money, the most is to control the value of gold and silver. But this is unlikely to fundamentally change the attractiveness of gold and silver, and if too much gold and silver flow in at once, it will be a huge disaster for the empire's economic system. ”

Zhang Bin pondered and did not rush to speak. After a while, he said, "It is not easy to control the mining of gold and silver. Even if the imperial court came forward and nationalized the gold and silver mines. This does not prevent others from finding and developing new mineral deposits. Moreover, with the promulgation of new policies, in order to encourage emigration. These deposits will be privately owned, and it is clear that the Empire cannot go back on its word, after all, many people have ventured overseas for the gold and silver. ”

Sima Shu smiled bitterly when he heard this, and he had the feeling of lifting a stone to hit his own feet. Zhang Bin's words are reasonable, in order to encourage more people to go out of China and go to a wider world, and at the same time to encourage the development of the newly conquered land, it is 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 the empire.

"Moreover, the minister believes that if we can establish a sound monetary system, and then set up a special purchasing agency, and the imperial court, or the royal bank of the Great Jin Dynasty, will come forward to directly purchase gold and silver, the problem will not be very serious." Zhang Bin hesitated for a moment and continued, "Whether it is the desert in the north or the land of the Americas, it will take several years to mine the precious metals there, and even if you start now, it will take at least five years." ”

"Within five years, the empire's economy will inevitably develop on a large scale, and at that time, more money will be needed in the country, and the new inflow of gold and silver is the basis of paper money, and without gold and silver as a guarantee, paper money will have no meaning. Of course, mining these precious metals is a kind of profiteering, which can also encourage more people to develop the resources of those places, drive immigration, and also drive the population growth of the country, and at the same time, can also change the domestic economic structure, which should be of great benefit to us. ”

Sima Shu glanced at Zhang Bin in surprise, it seems that over the years, Zhang Bin has also been working hard to absorb economic knowledge. After all, in this day and age, it would be a big joke if the First Minister of the Imperial Cabinet did not understand economics.

"What does Aiqing mean that we should continue to encourage gold mining?"

Zhang Bin nodded affirmatively: "As long as we establish a perfect paper money system, and forcibly promote paper money, and prohibit metal currency from circulating in the market, then gold and silver will only have their value as precious metals at most, and cannot pose much threat to the empire's currency and economic system." And as long as we control gold and silver, then we can control the trade of the whole world, and the benefits to the empire are obvious. ”

Sima Shu pondered for a long time, he didn't expect that things would develop to this point and turn around the issue of paper money. He had always feared that his descendants would issue paper money on a large scale for various reasons, leading to the collapse of the empire's economy. But now that he was suddenly relieved, he also realized that many of his worries were unnecessary. As long as there is a well-established monetary system, and there is a strict and strong regulatory body, coupled with the independence of the issuing monetary institutions, the issuance of paper money is only good for the imperial court, and there is no harm

"Your Majesty, it is imperative that we establish a new monetary system, gradually withdraw metal money from the circulating market, let paper money replace metal money, and make paper money equal to metal money, so as to ensure the value of paper money. Of course, in order to maintain the paper money system, we should all reserve gold and silver in the form of the state, so as to establish the credibility of paper money and make the people accept it."

After Sima Shu and the two discussed some details, he handed over the specific matters to the cabinet to arrange, and then Zhang Bin left the imperial study. After this conversation, Sima Shu is no longer worried, after all, who doesn't love gold, as long as it can be used in the right place and play an appropriate role, of course, the more gold, the better

Soon the imperial newspapers began to create an atmosphere of public opinion for the issuance of banknotes, and soon most people knew that the issuance of currency was the number one event in the Jin Empire at the moment, and it also became the number one news.

It can be said that paper money is directly related to the future of the empire, especially when the development of imperial capital is extremely rapid, the issuance of paper money has become the only way to consolidate the capital economy and help the development of the capital economy.

PS: Thank you for the big monthly pass support! (To be continued......)