However, whether it was Emperor Xianfeng or the officials who asked for the issuance of silver bills and treasure banknotes, they did not have modern financial knowledge, let alone the idea of reforming the backward monetary system of the Qing Dynasty. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info They are abusing their executive power to issue large coins, silver bills, and treasure notes that they are not ready to cash at all, just to meet the financial expenses that they cannot afford to bear. Needless to say, the consequence of such an unlimited short issuance of unguaranteed banknotes is inevitably hyperinflation, which is no different from the direct plundering of the people. The consequences of the indiscriminate issuance of currency were immediately apparent, and Emperor Xianfeng was not unaware, but he pretended not to see it. In order to save the financial crisis, he insisted on going his own way. The household department uses silver to pay for financial expenses in the form of bills, banknotes, and large money, such as soldiers' salaries, often the silver and bills are halved, which actually reduces expenses by half; Another example is the river worker, who actually has two votes of silver, which actually reduces expenses by eighty. From 1853 to the death of Emperor Xianfeng in 1861, the central government of the Qing Dynasty issued more than 60 million taels of large coins, silver bills, treasure banknotes, and Beijing money bills, accounting for 70 percent of the total treasury revenue during this period.

"The first silver dollar, the emperor, the concubines don't know the cost of minting coins, they want a degree, calculate the cost, and can't use iron to mint, because iron is not worth much now, and the more expensive the coin, the more delicate it is, and it must be worth more money!"

"What do you mean by the money?" The Emperor asked, confused.

"I just want people to believe that he is valuable, Your Majesty," Xingzhen held up the red gold ruby bracelet she was wearing on her wrist, "Whoever knows at a glance that this bracelet on the concubine's wrist is worth ten thousand gold, but if it is replaced with copper, then everyone knows that it is not worth so much money." ”

"That is, to make silver dollars have to have silver."

"Exactly, the amount of silver is not low, enough to buy something of this price, but not too valuable, and if it is too valuable, it will not be able to circulate in the market if it is melted by merchants. And then after doing this, I will look at the right time and issue official tickets. ”

The emperor nodded, and Xingzhen continued: "The concubine saw that Lei Yixuan, the servant of the Criminal Department who was ordered to help with the military affairs of the Jiangbei camp in Yangzhou last year, was raising salaries in Jiangnan, but it was good to have a donation, I don't know if the emperor still has an impression?" ”

"Yes. At that time, I wrote and said: "Since the disturbance of the Guangdong rebellion, the need for a huge amount of money, it is inevitable to borrow the people's resources, and after the ministers of the army and the governors of the provinces directly under the government, they have asked for the establishment of bureaus and donations. All have been allowed...... It is said that the handling of the Lixiahe area is effective, and the situation in the rest of the states and counties is not far away...... 'What, you have taken a fancy to this donation?' In Emperor Xianfeng's heart, there was no difference between the donation and the donation of the provinces at that time. And use the phrase "I want to get back not very far" to admit Lei Yiyi's previous and subsequent behaviors. As for Lei's suggestion, Emperor Xianfeng ordered the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Nanhe to discuss the local situation, and if the matter was feasible, it could also be handled according to Lei's method. This is the first time that Emperor Xianfeng has expressed his stance on the matter of Li Jin.

The original centigold is still a variant of donation, which is called centidon. The first line area is northern Jiangsu, and the founder is Lei Yixuan. In 1853, Lang Lei, a servant of the Criminal Department, was ordered to assist in the military affairs of the Jiangbei Battalion in Yangzhou, and his main task was to raise salaries. This is an extremely difficult and laborious errand. But one of his staff members, Qian Jiang. At that time, a legendary figure came up with an idea to Lei's family: to send officers and soldiers to various land and water stations to set up checkpoints, and forcibly distribute donations to the goods that passed through according to their value (this was actually a commodity transit tax, which was also called "Xingli" at that time); In addition, each merchant who opened a store and sold goods was forced to pay a fee according to the amount of sales (this was actually a commercial tax, which was also called "sitting cent" at the time). Like other donors, the giver of the donation can also receive a photo of the name of the donation, but there is no longer a voluntary color.

In October of the fourth year of Xianfeng, Lei Yiyan first set up an agency in Lixiahe to send subsidies to the towns of Fairy Temple, Shao Bo, Yiling, and Zhangwanggou near Yangzhou City. For every stone of rice, donate 50 wen. Lei Yiyan had the idea of giving it a try at the beginning, but he thought that in half a year, he would collect a total of 20,000 strings. In April of the following year. He reported to Emperor Xianfeng (first cut and then played): This method does not disturb the people, nor does it burden the merchants, and for several months, the merchants and the people have nothing to do. He also saw the long-term stability of this method, saying: "And the water flows for a long time, and the source is inexhaustible." It is really beneficial for military quartermasters. As a result, Lei Yixuan declared that he would implement this law in all the prefectures and counties of Lixiahe, and on the other hand, he proposed that the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Nanhe should "donate the regulations according to the proposed regulations and persuade them to do so" in their respective areas of blockade.

In May of the fifth year of Xianfeng, after Lei Yiyan received the edict, he set up a branch in Taizhou and paid salaries with great fanfare. The scope of centigold has expanded from rice to all kinds of grain, poultry, livestock, oil, salt, tea, sugar, alkali, cotton, silk, cloth, clothing, wine, lacquer, paper, medicinal herbs, pots and bowls, and all kinds of groceries. In addition, the silver number and money bank are also divided according to their turnover. The governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Nanhe also began to set up card draws in the second half of the year.

"It is difficult for the imperial court to collect commercial taxes, which is also helpless, if the local government opens a checkpoint, collects the donations of past business travel, and gives some supplies to the locality, we can also relax the military expenses, however, everything must have rules, yesterday Shengbao was in Anhui, which said, 'Can you ask the ministers of the army to be ordered to be ordered to be sent to the ministers of all walks of life, together with the governors of the neighboring provinces of this province, together with the local officials and fair gentry directors, and follow the instructions of Lei Yixuan and the Taizhou Public Bureau, and carefully prepare. The official is the supervisor and the businessman is the manager, and there is no risk of leakage without the hands of the officials. The provinces that use troops will be relieved at the same time, and other provinces will also temporarily store the treasury to meet the needs of various military salaries. However, he made several good suggestions: first, the commanders should be the main commanders, and the magistrates should only meet together; the second is to handle it with a fair gentleman; The third is to use the military supply as the name, and solve it with the conscription. ”

"Your Majesty, this is actually a commercial tax, but there is no name for commercial tax." At the time of the great financial crisis of the Xianfeng Dynasty, many officials also discussed levying business taxes. In the third year of Xianfeng, the Ministry of Household Affairs was also approved to formulate specific measures, which were to be tried in Beijing and then extended to the whole country. However, after hearing the news, the merchants in Beijing responded with closure, and the market was depressed, and the people were inconvenienced, so they had to cancel it in the end.

"If it's a commercial tax, it can't be in the hands of the local government, and then my orders won't be able to leave the Old Summer Palace!" The Emperor was horrified.

"It's okay, Your Majesty, now we have to destroy the rebellion, if the world is peaceful by then, the business travelers will also make trouble, so let's treat the headache first."

Under the Qing and Ming dynasties, two-thirds of the country's revenue came from the land. The ancestral system, which never adds endowment, has made it lose its expansiveness. In addition, although there are taxes on salt, tea, mines, customs, wine, pawns, deeds, and teeth, except for the salt tax, the amount of other tax items is very small. This backward tax system has made the state finances dependent on agriculture. The land, which had a limited output, was being exploited more and more due to the increase in the various items of the government (most of which was full of medium content, and the central government had little financial support), and the peasants and even the landlords could not afford it. However, the lucrative business has been in a state of light or even no tax for a long time. This irrational phenomenon has produced two serious consequences: First, the state has made very little profit in commerce, and in order to ensure its fiscal revenue, it has always adopted a policy of emphasizing agriculture over business, and the traditional economic thinking of agrarianism has always been dominant, and commerce has been severely attacked if it has not been supported by the state. Second, the profit-making merchants became the targets of looting by officials at all levels, and most of the bad rules and apportionments were taken from the merchants, and some merchants also befriended the government to seek super-economic advantages, such as the merchants in Guangzhou and the salt merchants in Yangzhou, which made it impossible to establish a normal commercial order for a long time. Compared with the achievements of the Song Dynasty in terms of urban economy and industrial and commercial prosperity, the industry and commerce of the Ming and Qing dynasties failed to reach the level they should have.

"Therefore, the concubine feels that the money cannot be reduced, and it is very good to mint silver coins, make donations, and set up gold, and the concubines have a subplan for carving insects, which can be combined with the three, with the least damage and the greatest effect."

"Empress, you said," Emperor Xianfeng is now convinced by Xingzhen, and after a few days of such a batch, he has become proficient in government affairs, and he mentioned the Zhu pen, "I will remember it for you." ”

"Donors, within a province do not need to donate a centi, out of the province to pay a centi; Centigold donors are allowed to be delivered in silver coins, so as to increase the circulation of silver coins; The minter of silver coins and the donors of the case are in the hands of the center, and the authority does not move downward. Xingzhen offered a longan tea to Xianfeng, "What does the emperor think?" ”

"After I look at it, you can just look at it," Emperor Xianfeng said half-jokingly and half-seriously, and before Xingzhen could reply, Yang Qingxi stumbled in outside, and Emperor Xianfeng looked at Yang Qingxi in a hurry in annoyance, "Bastard, didn't you see me talking to the queen!" ”

"Long live forgiveness! The military planes outside have arrived, saying that it is the Yellow River, and the Yellow River has burst! Yang Qingxi shouted loudly.

With a crisp sound, the bowl in the emperor's hand fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces, and longan tea was sprinkled all over the ground. (To be continued.) )