"In the history of money, silver served as the standard currency earlier than gold. But when it comes to acting as a monetary commodity, gold is far superior to silver. With the development of the economy of the Western powers, the silver standard first transitioned to the double gold and silver standard, and was replaced by the gold standard a hundred years ago. Twenty years ago, with the improvement of labor productivity in the silver mining and casting industry, the value of silver continued to decrease, and the price of gold and silver fluctuated greatly, which affected the development of the economy. There are two types of the silver standard, the silver standard and the silver coin standard, and I am now coexisting with these two standards, using both silver bullion and circulating silver dollars! Obviously, the silver standard is no longer suitable, and we must immediately carry out currency reform."

Xiao Zhenlei listened to Chen Huizu's narration while looking at Wen Jiàn, and asked, "What about the gold standard?" ”

Chen Huizu said: "The gold standard is a monetary system with gold as the standard currency. Under the gold standard, the value of each unit of currency was equal to a certain weight of gold (i.e., the gold content of the currency), and when different countries used the gold standard, the exchange rate between countries was determined by the ratio of the gold content of their respective currencies - gold parity. The gold standard is now largely used in all countries. Use gold to stipulate the value of the currency issued, each currency unit has a legal gold content, the currency of each country forms a certain price relationship according to the weight of the gold it contains, gold coins can be freely minted, anyone can freely hand over the gold bricks to the national mint to mint gold coins according to the legal gold content, or = gold coins to the mint to exchange the equivalent gold bricks, gold coins are unlimited legal compensation currency, with the right to unlimited means of payment. The currency reserves of various countries are gold, and gold is also used in international settlements. Gold can be freely exported or lost when there is a deficit in international trade. Can be paid in gold! ”

Xiao Zhenlei asked: "So that China's next currency system will also implement the gold standard system?" ”

Chen Huizu shook his head and said, "I don't agree with the implementation of the gold standard!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei was surprised: "Why? ”

Chen Huizu explained: "I have calculated that by the end of last year, the five countries of Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Russia accounted for two-thirds of the world's gold stock, and the vast majority of gold was owned by a few powerful countries, which weakened the foundation of other countries' monetary systems. If China also implements the gold standard, there will not be enough gold as a margin, and once the people are maliciously bewitched by some people to come to the bank to run on the bank, it will deal a huge blow to the credit of the national bank. By the end of last year, about 60% of the world's currency was concentrated in central banks in gold. Countries often use paper money to circulate in the market, which affects the credit of the currency, and some countries in order to prepare for war, government spending has increased sharply, and a large number of bank bills have been issued, so it is more and more difficult to exchange bank bills for gold, which destroys the principle of free exchange of huàn.

And if an economic crisis breaks out and the export of goods decreases, capital will definitely flee the country. As a result of the massive outflow of gold, countries will inevitably restrict the flow of gold, and gold cannot be freely transferred between countries, as some of the necessary conditions for maintaining the gold standard are gradually being destroyed. The stability of the international gold standard system is no longer guaranteed. If China implements the gold standard now, it will suffer a great loss, and its own foundation will not be solid. If other countries abandon the gold standard, then our country will have to change it. Rather than this, it is better not to implement the gold standard! ”

Xiao Zhenlei really doesn't understand finance. Don't say you don't understand, but he feels a headache when he sees those financial terms, and he sees that Chen Huizu doesn't agree with the gold standard, so he frowned and said: "The gold standard is not good, do we still have to implement the silver standard?" ”

"Of course not!" Chen Huizu said: "Now basically only our country is the silver standard, the disadvantages of this silver standard are getting bigger and bigger, it must be abolished immediately, and the gold standard at this stage, it has also begun to appear great drawbacks, I have been thinking about this problem for the past two years, if our country carries out currency reform, what kind of currency system to implement, think about it, I think of a way, I personally think it is feasible, that is, to use national credit as collateral, the implementation of credit currency system, can also be called the free standard, To replace the circulation of metal money with paper money, the state must have special legislation, so that paper money does not need to be issued with metal money as a preparation, if the use of credit currency, then paper money will give the government a condition to regulate the quantity of replenishment and affect economic activities!

The biggest problem with using paper money as currency is that it can be printed indiscriminately, and it is easy to be counterfeited, because counterfeiting and indiscriminate printing will cause inflation and reduce the credibility of paper money, so there must be strict regulatory measures, and counterfeiting of paper money must be severely cracked down.

In addition to the use of paper money, but also to make auxiliary currency auxiliary main currency circulation in the market, that is, the small amount of money below the unit of the standard currency to assist the circulation of large denomination currency, for daily sporadic transactions or change, it is characterized by small denomination, frequent circulation, fast wear, so more use copper, nickel and its alloys and other base metals casting, but also to manufacture some paper coins. If a coinage is made of metal, its actual value is lower than its face value. Auxiliary coins are only limited in legal compensation, but can be freely exchanged with the main currency. Auxiliary coins cannot be minted freely, only allowed to be minted by the state, and its minting income is an important source of national revenue! ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded again and again, the free standard proposed by Chen Huizu was the paper money standard that all countries in the world began to adopt after World War II, and the gold standard had been completely destroyed in the two wars. Although the paper money standard also has problems of one kind or another, it has been used in the 21st century, and it has not changed in all countries.

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and asked, "Then how to operate?" ”

Chen Huizu said: "I want to abolish the two yuan first, before China's monetary unit has been in two as a unit, now to change this unit to change into yuan, and then issue banknotes, the main circulation of paper money face value of one yuan, five yuan, ten yuan, twenty yuan, fifty yuan and one hundred yuan, these are the main currency, auxiliary currency has one cent, five cents, one dime, five jiao. One corner is equal to ten, and one yuan is equal to ten corners! After the paper money is officially issued and circulated, the public can use the gold and silver in their hands to exchange for the banknote, and complete the exchange between the banknote and the metal currency within three months, and prohibit the circulation of gold and silver as currency in the market after three months! ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a moment and made a decision: "Okay, this matter will be decided like this, you can hand over the position of Minister of Finance for the time being, first temporarily serve as the director of the Preparatory Committee of the National Bank, try your best to set up the team of the National Bank, and make a decision on the issue of personnel appointment after the team of the bank is set up, and when the National Bank is established, the Ministry of Finance will immediately issue a decree on the abolition of the two yuan reforms, and the State Bank will immediately rectify the financial industry throughout the country, complete the process of transforming into a modern bank, and complete the rectification work within three months. After the banking industry is rectified, the currency reform will be carried out, and the currency reform will be completed by the end of next year at the latest, and new currencies will be issued to the market to completely replace the various currencies currently in circulation! ”

Chen Huizu promised: "Then who will preside over the work of the Ministry of Finance?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei asked rhetorically: "Who do you think is always appropriate to take over as Minister of Finance?" ”

Chen Huizu is not easy to answer this question, he is relatively young, if it is really inappropriate to let him recommend a successor, if the recommended person is too young, I am afraid that he will not be able to do the work of the Ministry of Finance, and it will be difficult to explain in front of Xiao Zhenlei in the future. He thought for a while and said: "I think there are four people who are more suitable at present, the first is Vice Minister Wu Tingfang, the second is Chen Jintao, the general manager of Zhenhua Bank, and the third is Zhong? Wu Dingchang, president of the Bank of China, and Li Jingchu, the first general manager of the Bank of Communications, are the fourth. ”

After Chen Huizu left, Xiao Zhenlei brought Song Shijie over, and the two discussed the establishment of the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and exchanged views on the successor of the Minister of Finance, the chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and other leading members of the team.

Xiao Zhenlei was just preparing to set up a banking regulatory commission at the beginning, but then he thought that the stock and securities market is also very chaotic, there are no regulatory agencies and regulatory measures at all, and many people use the stock exchange to make money without being supervised by the law, even if they donate and leave, they will not be held legally responsible, which is not good, so he thought about it and set up the securities regulatory commission together.

After the two discussed, the prime minister of the cabinet first found the candidate who had been decided, and after Song Shijie finished talking with the other party, Xiao Zhenlei talked to them separately, Xiao Zhenlei made an affirmation, and then Song Shijie nominated Xiao Zhenlei for approval, after all, the heads of these three institutions are cabinet members, and the new China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission are ministerial-level units directly under the cabinet, and the level is the same as that of other cabinet ministries, and it must be approved by Xiao Zhenlei.

The result of Xiao Zhenlei's discussion with Song Shijie was that Wu Tingfang took over the post of Minister of Finance, and Chen Huizu will resign as Minister of Finance and has been specially responsible for preparing for the establishment of the National Bank.

The post of chairman of the upcoming China Banking Regulatory Commission will be held by Chen Jintao, and responsible for the formation of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Chen Jintao is a government student studying in the United States, specializing in political economics, and later obtained a doctorate in philosophy, returned to China in 1906, served as the director of the budget of the Daqing Bank, the director of the Budget Division, the director of the Bureau of Statistics, the director of the Printing and Minting Bureau, the chairman of the Currency Reform Committee and the senior minister of the Yuan, etc., after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he was hired as the deputy general manager of Zhenhua Bank, When Chen Huizu took over the post of general manager of Zhenhua Bank after becoming the minister of finance, the ability to serve as the chairman of the CBRC was sufficient.

The post of chairman of the Securities Regulatory Commission was held by Wu Dingchang, and he was also responsible for the formation of the Securities Regulatory Commission, but Li Jingchu was too deeply involved with the old forces of the Qing court, and Xiao Zhenlei did not use his idea. (To be continued......) R1292