On a sunny day, Wang Fu, two cousins and two brothers-in-law drove two carriages and came to Liangxiang.

The good town in autumn is very lively, the road that has just been leveled at the beginning of the year is full of people, the winter wheat has been planted, the hoe is put down, and everyone now has some free time. Even if you plan to go to pick up some jobs in the winter to earn some cash, you are not in a hurry for these two days at this time.

This is more and more the case in Liangxiang City, crowded with people, as if the entire Liangxiang County has come to visit the county seat. The doors of the shops on both sides of the road are open, and the shops are crowded with customers looking at the goods. The guys in the shop kept their mouths open, bargaining with this one for a while, bargaining with those guys, and greeting new customers.

Even outside the shop, there are many small stalls along the street, most of which are people from the countryside who bring their own products to sell, some sell eggs, some sell chickens and ducks, some sell chickens, ducklings, and dogs and lambs. There are also radishes, vegetables, fish, and even many pickles, small benches, bamboo chairs, and reed mats.

In the past, this good town was not so lively, but in the past two years, it has become more and more lively day by day.

But now Wang Fu has no time to wander around this street, they pull a rented carriage and have to rush to the brick and tile factory in Liangxiang to pull bricks and tiles.

The brickyard was outside the city, and after they had walked a short distance through the county seat, they saw piles of bricks under a hill.

There are a lot of bricks and tiles in the brick and tile factory, and there are many craftsmen and workers, and there are piles of bricks and tiles everywhere, red bricks and green tiles, which are not pleasant to look at.

There are many horse-drawn carts in the brickyard, and it seems that they are all here to pull bricks and buy tiles. After finding a manager of the brick factory, Wang Fu learned that although there are many bricks and tiles here, they all already have owners.

Wang Fu was anxious when he heard this.

"There are so many bricks, how can you say that there is no stock?"

"Oh, brother, I really didn't coax you. Have you ever seen someone who deliberately pushes their business out. It's that there are a lot of people buying bricks and tiles this year, and I didn't expect it. As soon as the autumn harvest is over, the people who come to buy bricks and tiles will come in, you also want thousands, he also wants thousands, our brick factory originally did not have much inventory, but it was all booked out at once. The steward said a little embarrassed.

"Brother, you must give it to me, you see that my car has been pulled, and the craftsmen and helpers at home have been invited. I'm just waiting to pull the bricks and tiles back, but without bricks and tiles, I can't build this house. Wang Fu said anxiously.

"Oh, there's really no way, everyone else came first, and they paid the deposit."

"Do me a favor, big brother, I'll give cash, and I'll give cash."

The steward looked embarrassed, and Wang Fu hurriedly took out a bag of big front doors. This pack of cigarettes was bought for façade, and he was going to send one, but now he had to reluctantly stuff a pack to the steward.

The steward excused himself and accepted the cigarette.

"So be it. I'll go talk to our factory owner and see if I can help you arrange a thousand bricks and tiles first. ”

Wang Fu's cousin said, "A thousand bricks are not enough, at least more than 5,000." ”

"You're going to build a few rooms. Are they all bricks? The steward asked.

Wang Fu nodded, "I plan to build three brick houses." "At this time, the brick house is still quite magnificent. Since he wants to build it, of course Wang Fu wants to build it better. The three main houses must be brick houses, and then the yard firewood house or something, it doesn't matter, the wooden house and earthen house are fine.

"Actually, I don't think it is necessary to use so many bricks for three rooms, it will be more cost-effective to use bricks for multiple walls and wood for interior walls. If this is the case, three thousand red bricks are enough for three main houses, and we now have two hundred bricks for one silver dollar, and only fifteen silver dollars for three thousand bricks. With the addition of tile money, a total of thirty dollars is enough. ”

Wang Fu and the others were taken aback by the price.

This brick costs five cents, a big steamed bun only sells for five cents, and an egg only sells for eight cents, and now a brick costs five cents. Buying a brick is equivalent to buying a big steamed bun

"Brother, your price is too outrageous, the house built by the Wang Yuanwai family in our village three years ago, at that time a brick was only two cents, and you have more than doubled."

The steward smiled, "Brother, three years ago it was the same as it is today." Three years ago, you couldn't make a lot of money a year from farming, right? Now it's different, not to mention those who are officials and officials, all of them have increased their salaries. Let's just say that we are ordinary farmers, and that is also a big increase in income. Look at the outside, these brothers who came to pull bricks are all like you, with a good harvest in the fields, and they have saved some money in their hands, and they are all thinking about building a few new houses and marrying their sons. Now we are here, we are too busy at all, and as soon as the bricks are burned, they are immediately ordered. If a few are too expensive, then we can only say sorry, now this brick and tile is still at this price, and maybe in a few days, it may have to rise. In fact, we can't help it, everything is rising now, the wages of the master who burns the bricks have already doubled several times, and the labor of the workers, as well as the charcoal we burn, everything has gone up, and even our taxes have risen. ”

"Brother-in-law, can we still buy it?"

Wang Fu was very entangled, of course he hoped to be able to build three houses into brick houses, but the price was really expensive, the bricks and tiles alone cost thirty silver dollars, not counting other wood, wages, food and other expenses.

In this way, the cost of these three brick houses is a bit overrun.

Wang Fu thought for a while, and finally gritted his teeth, "Buy!" ”

"Big brother, let's buy it, can you arrange bricks and tiles for us, according to what you said, the bricks and tiles are thirty silver dollars."

"There may not be so much stock for a while, why don't you pull a batch back first, and wait for the rest first?"

Wang Fu looked at those people waiting in line for bricks and tiles, where are they willing to wait, what if the house is half repaired and there are no bricks and tiles by then.

"I will give the silver, and I will pay the silver immediately, and I will pay a lot."

The steward was very happy to see that Wang Fu was so happy and willing to pay the full amount in cash. The bricks and tiles of his brick and tile factory are indeed very popular now, and many people come to buy them, but there are also many people who pay part of the money first, and then owe a part, and make an appointment to pay it off within a year. If Wang Fu pays it all at once, of course, it is the best.

The steward took the idea and gave them all the bricks and tiles they needed.

After buying bricks and tiles, they had to buy lime, stone, wood, tung oil, etc., but after going around in Liangxiang, Wang Fu and his family found that these things generally rose a lot more than the materials they bought in the houses built by Wang Yuan's foreign family a few years ago, and some even increased by two or three times.

If it weren't for the two brothers-in-law and two cousins who expressed their willingness to support Wang Fu with some money, Wang Fu would have the intention of retreating.

But as soon as I saw the hot market, it is not that the prices of various goods have risen sharply. Instead, there are more people grabbing goods, and you can see people queuing everywhere.

If Wang Fu hadn't ruthlessly proposed a one-time cash payment, I am afraid that he would not be able to buy it.

When he went back with the bricks, Wang Fu also bought some meat in the county.

He found that the price of meat had also risen, and now the price of meat was actually five cents of silver a catty, and Wang Fu cut four catties of meat and asked for two dimes of silver. When he paid, Wang Fu felt very painful. He had already thought that he would kill his own pig and save money to buy such expensive meat.

But it's so much more expensive. There were still so many people crowded in front of the butcher's meat stall.

In the butcher's words, after the harvest this autumn, all kinds of prices have risen sharply, and everyone has some money in their hands, but the interest on bank deposits has fallen so much, everyone is afraid that prices will continue to rise, and they are afraid that the money in their hands is worthless, and they are more and more anxious to buy more things.

Build a house, buy cloth, buy wood, and make furniture. Marry a daughter-in-law for a son, buy a dowry for a daughter, in short, this city is now close to the south of Jingyuan. Everyone is rushing to buy things, and they are all in a hurry to spend money.

At night, Wang Fu and his wife Zhang were lying in bed, and the two had insomnia again.

I was excited about insomnia because I suddenly had a huge sum of 100 silver dollars at home. At this time, they suddenly found that the 100 silver dollars were not as valuable as they imagined.

The three brick houses that their family wants to build are initially calculated. A room costs at least thirty-six dollars, and three rooms cost one hundred and eight dollars, not counting wages. The money of several craftsmen and their apprentices and helpers is estimated to be thirty or forty yuan, and now the prices have risen sharply, and the craftsmen have also put forward wage requirements, which have risen a lot more than two years earlier.

In this way, the three brick houses of their family have been built, and a yard will be built at that time, and a kitchen, a firewood house, a pigsty and a cowshed will be built, and this will add up to at least 150 yuan. At that time, if you want to marry a daughter-in-law for your son, you have to buy a ceremony and so on.

"The head of the family, today I heard that the Chunsheng family in the neighboring village told his son about a family, and the other party asked for a bride price of 80 yuan!"

"Oh my God, eighty dollars, why don't they grab it." Wang Fu snorted angrily.

Zhang Shen also sighed, "Why is this silver dollar suddenly so worthless?" ”

Wang Fu thought for a while before he said, "We have made more money now, and everyone has money in their hands, so this selling thing will naturally become angry." It's like saying that a family of women asks for hundreds of families, and the woman's family is naturally demanding. ”

Zhang said, "We have one son but two daughters, so we won't lose anyway." ”

When Wang Fu heard this, he couldn't help laughing.

In the early years, poor families had no money and could not give a bride price, so they would often adopt the method of exchanging relatives. Two families with sons and daughters swapped relatives with each other, and each married his daughter to the other's son, so that everyone saved the bride price and bride price.

There are also some families who prepare early, and when their son is only a few years old, they immediately raise a baby girl as a child daughter-in-law, and prepare a daughter-in-law for their son early.

"In fact, compared to before, our life is still much better, at least we don't have to worry about food and drink, and now we can build a house. Although it is a little more expensive, we have only saved more than two years of money. Build three new houses, you don't even have to really owe money, and your three children can earn money every month. ”

"However, the bride price is still frighteningly high, eighty yuan, which is almost enough to build two brick houses, and if you build a stone and tile house, three rooms are enough. You said that these families are true, their family has no sons, and where they marry their daughters, they are simply selling their daughters. Zhang said very unhappily.

"We have two daughters in our family, how much dowry do you plan to receive then?" Wang Fu asked with a smile.

"The two girls are still young, one is only fourteen, the other is only fifteen, no matter what, it will take another two years, it is better to get married later, and it is not too late to stay seventeen or eighteen." Zhang's Road. Now the two daughters work in a textile factory, with a salary of four yuan a month, and even overtime pay if they work overtime, they also have food and accommodation in the factory, and even a set of clothes every season. The two daughters are also honest, and they know how to give them to the family when they are paid.

Four yuan a month, a full year, you can still get thirteen monthly salaries, there are more than fifty yuan, and the two girls can earn a hundred yuan a year. If you marry two years later, you can earn 200 yuan for your family.

The money that his daughter earns for the family. Wouldn't it be better to take it than to ask for a high bride price?

It's a pity that this silver dollar is not as valuable as before, otherwise, fifty silver dollars a year is quite more than 20 taels of silver, and a strong laborer like Wang Fu may not have saved so much money for ten years in the past.

Wang Fu couldn't sleep, sat up, took out his small money box from the kang kitchen, and took out two silver dollars.

He took it in his hand and looked at it carefully, the two silver dollars were shining, and there was a side portrait of the emperor on the front. It's nice to have such a beautiful silver dollar, but now it's not as valuable as it used to be.

In the pre-Ming Dynasty, silver was worth a lot at that time, and what was not worth was copper money. But that's also because most of the copper coins at that time were privately minted fake money and inferior money, the quality was very poor, there was no copper, thin and white, and some could even be directly pinched in half. At that time, no one liked this kind of money. But the silver is still very valuable.

Especially when it comes to taxation every year, everyone goes to exchange silver to pay taxes, and at that time the silver is always one or two layers more expensive than usual. At that time, the silver was not as good as the silver dollar now.

It's today's copper dollar. It is also very well cast like the silver dollar, a round copper plate, and there are tooth patterns on it, and there are words and patterns on both sides.

"Why is this dollar worthless?" Wang Fu was puzzled.

Capital. In the Forbidden City.

This increasingly severe price rise turmoil has also given the imperial court's financial secretary a headache.

The Imperial Court received large quantities of gold and silver, as well as copper bullion, from Japan, to the factories under the Mint of the Imperial Bank. After obtaining sufficient raw materials, they worked overtime day and night with all their might, minted a large number of silver and copper dollars, and even minted a lot of commemorative gold coins of higher value.

It is reasonable to say that with so much real money and silver invested, the gold and silver reserves of the imperial court are more sufficient, and the currency of the Han Dynasty should be stronger, so why is there a situation where prices are soaring now?

Finance Secretary Lu Weizhang didn't know what he had done wrong, and he couldn't stabilize the current rise in goods and continue to rise, so he could only enter the palace to meet the emperor and ask the emperor for his guilt.

"Too much money chasing too few goods, there will be inflation, which will lead to higher prices and currency depreciation, and this is a seller's market." Liu Jun was very calm about the panic of the national abbot Lu Weizhang.

"In fact, there is no need to panic too much about the current state, the current price increase is quite normal, and it can even be said that today's inflation of this level is actually beneficial to the imperial court."

Lu Weizhang is very confused, this is normal, can it still be beneficial?

"You have to first understand why and why prices are rising today. Only by finding the root cause can you solve the problem. As it stands, the inflation we have today mainly comes from two aspects. The first is the increase in national income. ”

"In the past two years, from court officials to military officers, their salaries have been continuously improved, and even a large number of teachers, as well as those craftsmen and workers in the commercial field, their salaries have also increased significantly. Everyone's salary has increased, even several times, and everyone has more money in their hands, which has increased consumer demand. Second, the salaries of craftsmen and workers have increased, which means that the cost of goods is also rising, especially the industrial and commercial tax system of the imperial court, so that industry and commerce can not evade taxes, and these taxes, in fact, merchants will eventually pass on to consumers. ”

"On the one hand, everyone has money in their hands and their purchasing power rises, but on the other hand, the cost of commodities rises, especially when the demand is greater than the supply of commodities, at this time, it becomes a seller's market, prices will inevitably rise, and the purchasing power of money will inevitably fall, which is wages driving inflation."

Lu Weizhang didn't think about it at all, or he didn't think about it so thoroughly. But now in the emperor's words, he instantly grasped this delicate relationship.

The increase in salary, it turns out that there is such a chain relationship. Whether it is the salaries of officials, soldiers, or teachers, or the salaries of craftsmen and workers, their salaries are not conjured up out of thin air. Officials, soldiers, teachers, etc., are paid by the state treasury, which comes from the state treasury, and the state treasury comes from taxes.

A large part of the tax is also attached to the cost of production, and ultimately to the price of goods.

And the rise in the wages of those laborers in the production process also makes the cost of goods rise, leading to higher prices. In addition, after everyone's wages are generally raised, everyone has money in their hands, and their purchasing power rises again, so demand exceeds supply, a seller's market is formed, prices rise, the purchasing power of money falls, and inflation occurs.

"There is another reason for the current inflation, and that is that in addition to wage-driven inflation, there is also partly profit-driven inflation. In order to seek greater profits, those merchants will also deliberately increase the price of products, especially those monopoly industries. There are also some industries, through guilds and chambers of commerce, that have joined forces to raise prices to increase profits, which ultimately drives up prices and leads to inflation. ”

"Of course, there is also a very important factor that has also led to inflation, that is, our current immigration, construction and other imperial court policies, so that the domestic demand has greatly increased, all kinds of military, transportation, infrastructure, minerals, metallurgy and other industries have expanded comprehensively, processing and manufacturing industry has led to an increase in the demand for raw materials, huge domestic demand, excessive growth, resulting in the supply of goods, and eventually inflation."

Liu Jun is not worried about the current situation, as long as it is not structural inflation, and imported inflation, then this kind of inflation that needs to be pulled up is not a bad thing. In a short period of time, it may cause a little chaos, but it can't be a big mess.

In recent years, the imperial court has successively lowered the benchmark interest rate on deposits and loans, in order to provide a better financing environment for industry and commerce, and at the same time, it has a large amount of gold and silver reserves, and even if the imperial court's currency depreciates, it will not depreciate much, let alone uncontrollable credit bankruptcy.

"Now you know how to solve this problem, right?" Liu Jun asked.

Lu Weizhang nodded, "Since the supply of goods is insufficient, then find a way to try to increase the supply." ”

"That's it, the pulse is correct, now you just need to take the medicine according to the prescription." (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for the tip I love my sister and my brother, thank you!