On the one hand, usury capital, because of its high interest rates, will inevitably have an impact and destructive effect on small producers, and on the other hand, it should also be noted that many small farmers and small craftsmen realize their reproduction through borrowing to a certain extent. During the period of Zhezong, in the spring and summer in western Zhejiang, almost every family "borrowed money to make interest in the field". For example, the lantern producers in Jingshi also rely on loans to purchase means of production for production. Therefore, usury capital also has a certain positive significance for social reproduction.

In general, finance is a double-edged sword, especially the innovative development of the credit industry and the financial industry is undoubtedly a great progress over the past generations, which reflects the high prosperity of China's commodity money economy, but it has also had a certain negative impact. Taking paper money as an example, the emergence of paper money meets the needs of social development and makes people's economic life more convenient. However, the issuance of banknotes must follow objective economic laws. The indiscriminate issuance of paper money by the imperial court led to a sharp depreciation of paper money, caused serious inflation, led to the collapse of the internal economic order, and intensified social contradictions. The above is the personal summary of the old minister, and I hope the emperor will correct him! After speaking, he bowed his head and bowed his hand!

For Da Song, a super company, how to make money is the first priority, and successive chairmen have taken making money as the highest career goal and company vision. Therefore, it has also cultivated and nurtured general managers like Wang Anshi, Su Zhe, Cai Jing, etc., who are experts in collecting money, and Wang Anshi, the leader of the reform faction, said: Political affairs are so financial management, and financial management is the so-called righteousness. In other words, to engage in business is to make money, which is a moral and justifiable thing. Su Zhe, a member of the old party, also said: The rich are the life of the country, and the foundation of everything. The reason why a country exists or dies, and why things succeed or fail, is always due to this. Su Zhe said more directly, money is the fate of the country, the imperial court needs money to do everything, the survival and bankruptcy of the company, and any policy implemented by the imperial court is inseparable from the support of money, so the first decision to engage in government affairs is how to make money.

Thinking of this, I said to the ministers in the palace: The imperial court is a business, how to make money is the first priority, if we don't have money, what do we do to strengthen the army, what do we do for social welfare, and what do we take to eat? Therefore, the usury, taxation, and flying money business that Taishi Cai just mentioned are all means of making money, and there is nothing wrong with that. The imperial court should be like a greedy businessman, and should actively mediate the market and share profits with the merchants.

In an instant, many ministers in the palace were petrified, what happened to the emperor today? I still have a fever when I am evil, and I actually said it so openly and marketably at the meeting of many ministers of the Inner Dynasty, and it is basically like two people who are polite before. For a while, everyone looked at each other, and even Cai Jing was confused, what kind of medicine was sold in the emperor's gourd? For Wang Di and the three of them, the emperor who has always been high up is like this? It's completely different from the noble image I imagined before. Just when many ministers were confused, Zhang Bangchang, the ruling and Shangshu Zuocheng, stood up at this time and said: Your Majesty, this, the Great Song Dynasty is a big country, there are endless goods, and the anti-jealousy of the big businessmen divides their benefits, and it is better to make useless and accumulate into rotten soil, what is it!

I looked at Zhang Bangchang with contempt and replied: Zhang Aiqing, how many questions do I ask you? As soon as these words came out, even Zhang Bangchang, who had always been strange, was blindfolded, so he saluted again and again and said: Please ask the emperor to ask. I then asked: If I stop sending Zhang Aiqing for a year, will your mansion still be able to eat and clothe every day? If I let Zhang Aiqing live in a low-rent house of nine square meters every day, how would Zhang Aiqing feel? If Zhang Aiqing is asked to walk to work every day, is Zhang Aiqing willing? Zhang Bangchang's body trembled instantly, in the era of the supremacy of imperial power, the emperor's words were holy decrees, and the frightened Zhang Bangchang hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed, and he did not forget to read in his mouth: Please be angry with the emperor, please be angry with the emperor.

In order to change the concept of the ministers and further enhance the intensity of business, he had to take Zhang Bangchang to open the knife, and then glared at Zhang Bangchang angrily and said: Zhang Aiqing also knows that if there is no money, there is no way to overcome the food, housing and transportation of an important minister of the imperial court, so I may ask, how can the people of Beijing live, how should the poor peasants in the countryside live, if the imperial court cannot give the people good living conditions and a good social welfare system guarantee, then we are the sinners of history, and the so-called no treachery and no business, Money is a thing to live and live, and instead of putting it in the hands of selfish traders, why can't the imperial court control the money, so as to further improve people's livelihood, develop the military, and strengthen the country and ensure peace? Zhang Aiqing's pattern is so small, he despises the interests of businessmen, ignores the country and the people, in order to punish his mistakes, Zhang Aiqing is specially ordered to walk for a month to be on duty, and he can't be late and leave early, if he is picked up by car and horse halfway, he will be exiled for 3,000 miles.

Suddenly the hall was silent, everyone was shocked, but now it is simply a surprise against the sky, this kind of punishment of the minister can be said to be unprecedented and unprecedented, let a minister not come to work, isn't this going to life, what is wrong with the emperor today, all of them do not play cards according to the routine of the court. But for the punishment just now, I also have lingering palpitations, and I can't be humiliated if I can kill him, this is even worse than death, this kind of punishment is really murderous and punishable. Everyone looked at each other and blinked slightly.

At this time, Cai Jing reacted, although the emperor's words were rude, but the reason was still there, but he changed the way of expression, and his purpose was still the same, he was worried that many of his economic policies would be liquidated by the new emperor, and now he found that the new emperor had the same strong desire to make money as himself, although he was forced to realize economic restructuring before, in order to meet the old man's demand for money, and now it is different, this new emperor is a businessman in his bones, how to make money for the court, Compared with his own mistakes, this is the old man's confidant.

Thinking of this, he followed my appetite and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister continues to report on the situation of the mining industry. In order to fully understand the economic operation of the Great Song Dynasty, I nodded and motioned for Cai Jing to continue, and Cai Jing continued after getting my approval: The imperial court has always had a strong interest in minerals, after all, the copper, silver, and gold mines dug up are very attractive wealth. In order to discover more mineral seedlings and develop more mineral deposits, the imperial court set up "Zhuxiao Pit Metallurgy" of the "inspection officer" (professional and technical personnel who explore minerals), and also encouraged the people to actively prospect and report minerals, and gave rich rewards to those who found mineral deposits. When mineral deposits are found on private property, the ownership of the minerals belongs to the owner, but the government has to "take a certain percentage of the official market". If the owner lacks the manpower and financial resources to develop the mineral deposits, it can be transferred to others for a fee.

For the pit and metallurgy of government-owned mines, after Xining, the "28 points" system was mostly implemented, that is, private individuals were allowed to buy the development rights of mines, and the government levied 20% of the minerals obtained, and the mine owners got 80%, and the "28 points" system was undoubtedly a system that could stimulate the enthusiasm of the people in mining. As a result, countless adventurers have devoted themselves to the "treasure hunting journey" of prospecting and mining with the dream of making a fortune. The people often say: Rule, where the benefits are, there is a place for the seedlings, do not wait for persuasion and people seek their own way. All the pit households are wandering in all directions, and there is no responsibility for the money. Why can you buy a mine without a Quartet with capital? Because the imperial court has a policy: if the government lacks manpower to develop, it is allowed to hire and recruit manual mining, or call people to mine, and it should be used in a line and even lamp oil, and it is allowed to call for guarantees to borrow official money to be deputy, wait for the treasure to be collected, return it to the official first, and make the rest of the profits. If the pit households who buy the mine do not have the capital, they can borrow start-up funds from the government, including mining supplies such as lamp oil, and return the government's capital when the mineral products are smelted. The imperial court even took the risk of borrowing money to open a mine: if the mining could not be completed and there were no seedlings, or if there were any, the official money it borrowed and the removal should not be more than three times. If the mining fails, the pit owner does not have to repay the loan; It's just that after three mining failures, you lose your eligibility for loans.

Under the encouragement of the active prospecting policy of the imperial court, countless ore veins have been explored and developed, thus forming a supervision pit, which has lost tens of thousands, the county in the southeast, the mountains are high and rarely chiseled, the soil is deep and rarely digged, the people who are derelict in their duties, and the traitors who have slipped through the net cooperate day and night, and they are not worried about falling into the heavy spring, and they are not worried about being trapped. The ore is surging, and the flame of the furnace charcoal is not extinguished. A mud and a sand, contempt for profit.

Thanks to the imperial court's policy of developing pit metallurgy, coal (coal) was mined on a large scale and used in iron smelting, and the country's iron output reached an unprecedented peak. reached a staggering annual output of 150,000 tons (in 1640 England and Wales produced 30,000 tons of iron. At the beginning of the 18th century, the total iron production of the whole of Europe was 145,000 to 180,000 tons. ）。 With the development of mining, it directly led to a surge in the number of coins, from 70,000 guan at the beginning of the dynasty, to 28 million guan, that is, 28 billion pieces.

What needs to be emphasized here is that according to the Song people's concept of money, copper coins themselves are wealth, and the more money is minted, the more full the treasury will be, and the richer the country will be. Early mercantilists in Western Europe held a similar view, arguing that "money is wealth, and wealth is money." Of course, this concept does not conform to the common sense of economics, but the continuous development of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty undoubtedly required more and more money in circulation, and as long as there was no serious inflation, the amount of money was indeed the embodiment of the amount of national wealth and the scale of the economy.

After all, I also recognized the idea that this kind of coin is richer, so I said to the minister: mining is the basis of coins, but also an important raw material for the development of military equipment, the imperial court should not only increase exploration efforts in the future, but also encourage more people to participate in the development, especially the mining of coal (coal), which can not only provide fuel for firing, but also provide security for residents to survive the winter, and vigorously advocate mining. Specifically, on how to increase the amount of mining, you Aiqing go back and think about a way, if you have a good suggestion or opinion, it will be adopted, and it will be effective after implementation, and I will be rewarded! Everyone is no wonder how much I attach importance to making money, who let himself be such an emperor who loves money as his life, they have no choice but to accept their fate, but as soon as they heard that the emperor has a reward, they all saluted and answered. For promotion and getting rich, it is something that no official can resist.