In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there were not enough raw materials to make copper coins, and there were not enough gold and silver storage.

So the Ming court continued with a new currency.

Zhu Yuanzhang began to issue Ming treasure banknotes on the basis of the banknotes made in the Yuan Dynasty, and in the seventh year of Hongwu, he set up the treasure banknote lifting department, and began to print and distribute treasure banknotes in the eighth year of Hongwu.

The issuance and management of the Daming treasure banknotes are in charge of the treasure banknote lifting department, and a bank has been set up to be responsible for the exchange of treasure banknotes and gold and silver.

At the same time, in order to cooperate with the implementation of treasure banknotes, Zhu Yuanzhang also promulgated laws and regulations prohibiting gold and silver from circulating in the market as currency, and forcing the people to exchange the gold and silver in their hands for treasure banknotes.

However, in the third year of Xuande, due to the excessive stock of the treasure banknote market and the depreciation was too large, Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered to stop the issuance of treasure banknotes, and since then, the Ming Dynasty has never issued treasure banknotes.

However, it was only a matter of stopping the issuance, and the imperial court did not prohibit the circulation of treasure banknotes.

However, by the time the Wanli Emperor ascended the throne, the treasure banknote had seriously hindered the development of the Ming economy, so it was ordered to be abolished.

Until the death of Emperor Chongzhen, the treasure banknote never appeared on the stage of the Ming Dynasty again, and was completely reduced to a historical currency.

In fact, it is not difficult to see from the rise and fall of treasure banknotes that the Ming court mainly lacked reserves.

The imperial court issued currency, and in order for the currency to be strong, two methods were generally used.

One is the imperial court credit guarantee.

The second is linked to precious metals such as silver and gold.

Obviously, treasure banknotes belong to the first type.

The Ming court did not reserve enough funds for the issuance of currency, and relied entirely on the credit of the imperial court to guarantee it.

Of course, it does not mean that the imperial court's credit guarantee is not good.

However, there is another premise, that is, the formulation of scientific economic policies can effectively regulate and control macroeconomic control.

In this way, it is possible to ensure that the currency does not depreciate.

Looking at the rise and fall of treasure money, it is not difficult to see that the Ming court did not have such ability.

For example, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the gold and silver in the hands of the people were forced to exchange for treasure money, but the treasure money was not provided for gold and silver, which was very predatory.

In the long run, the credit of the imperial court will be greatly reduced, and it will not be able to guarantee the value of the treasure banknotes.

In addition, in order to fight, the two emperors Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di printed and distributed treasure banknotes at will, resulting in a large number of treasure banknotes on the market, so they depreciated.

Under this trend, it is no wonder that treasure money is not abandoned.

Of course, these are only two of them, and the large amount of silver that flowed into the Ming Dynasty from Spain, Japan and other places accelerated the elimination of treasure banknotes.

In addition, the anti-counterfeiting of treasure banknotes is also not done well.

In the Wanli period, many people took risks and made huge profits by making counterfeit banknotes.

Yu Xin, as the head of the household department in the early Ming Dynasty, can see the essence of the treasure banknote, in fact, it is already very far-sighted.

This made Zhu Yunwen very pleased.

After thinking about it, he explained: "The establishment of the credit of the imperial court can rely not only on gold and silver, but also on the treasure money itself!" ”

As he spoke, he raised his usual treasure money in his hand; "A treasure banknote like this, simple to manufacture, and rough, doesn't look very valuable, of course, it can't be fully trusted by the people!"

"Once the people can't fully trust the treasure money, they will be afraid that their money will become less or even nothing, so they will think about exchanging silver money."

"Then what does the imperial court need to do?"

"Naturally, the treasure money is made exquisitely, and it looks like it is worth a lot of money, and even the consistent treasure banknote is far more valuable than the consistent!"

"In that case, who else does not trust the treasure money and exchange it for money?"

"But Your Majesty ....."

Hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, Yu Xin couldn't help but interrupt: "How to calculate the cost of making exquisite treasure banknotes?" You can't always make a consistent treasure banknote and use the material of the double treasure banknote, right? ”

"Don't worry, listen to me!"

Zhu Yunwen naturally wouldn't do that kind of stupid thing, so he raised his hand to stop Yu Xin's anxiety.

But I heard him say: "The production of exquisite treasure banknotes does not necessarily require expensive materials, in fact, as long as the papermaking process is improved, and I can guarantee that the cost of improving papermaking will definitely not be too high, in addition, anti-counterfeiting signs, patterns, seals, I will redesign!" ”

Zhu Yunwen didn't say anything nonsense about this, in fact, the papermaking process of the Ming Dynasty only began to improve in the middle and late stages.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was not even a process of adding lime.

Zhu Yunwen was a science tyrant in his last life, and such a simple chemical treatment method must be clear.

Seeing that Zhu Yunwen was full of confidence, Yu Xin asked without giving up: "What if someone still wants to exchange treasure money?" ”

"Then change it!"

Zhu Yunwen said with a little amusement: "A thousand people have a thousand ideas, you can't change the remaining nine hundred and ninety-nine just because of one person's thoughts!" ”

"Besides, the issuance of treasure banknotes originally requires reserves, what are the reserves used for? Isn't it just for exchange? ”

"It's naturally no problem to exchange treasure money for reserves, but the imperial court doesn't have much reserves at all!" Yu Xin said with a bitter face: "Otherwise, why would the minister cry with His Majesty ..... poor?"

"Also, how much reserve money does the imperial court need to prepare for issuing treasure money?"

"This...."

Zhu Yunwen thought for a while and said, "If you issue 20 million yuan, you can prepare one-fifth!" ”

"A fifth?"

"Uh.... That's two percent! ”

"What!?"

Yu Xin was shocked: "Your Majesty only prepares four million silver!?" ”

"How?"

Zhu Yunwen was stunned: "Too much? ”

"More than that!? How is this enough, Your Majesty! Yu Xin was so angry with Zhu Yun that he almost vomited blood, and his chest couldn't help but rise and fall.

According to his estimates, at least half of the reserves must be prepared, and it is best to have seventy or eighty percent of the treasure money issued.

But he never expected that Zhu Yunwen would only prepare two percent.

"Your Majesty——!"

"Don't get excited, don't get excited!"

Zhu Yunwen saw that Yu Xin was about to kneel down in pain again, and hurriedly supported him, and said: "Yu Aiqing rest assured, I will never pit myself, prepare two percent of the idea, and with the mining of the new mine, Daming will have more gold and silver, even if two percent is not enough, the follow-up will be made up!" ”

"I don't believe that there are people who are full of food and can exchange a lot of gold and silver!"

"But ....."

Yu Xin squirmed his mouth, still unrelenting; "What if someone is just full and holding on?"

"Then I will kill him!"

Zhu Yunwen said with a straight face: "He is tired of crooked!" ”

"Uh...."

Although Zhu Yunwen said cruel things with a straight face, Yu Xin didn't feel the slightest murderous aura from him, so he said stubbornly: "Your Majesty, don't blame the ministers for talking too much, the ministers also want to prevent trouble before it happens....."

In fact, he was very interested in what Zhu Yunwen said, and he was afraid that something would go wrong and finally blame him.

After all, the household department is in charge of the world's finances, and if something goes wrong, he must be the head of the household department to take the blame.

At the beginning, his predecessor, the former Hubu Shangshu, was unjustly killed for helping Zhu Yuanzhang take the blame.

But Zhu Yunwen didn't seem to be joking with him at all, and reiterated again: "If someone is full of food and support, I will definitely kill and never tolerate such traitors!" ”

"Huh?"

Yu Xin was stunned, and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the minister hasn't eaten yet!" ”