The Rise of the Song People of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 789 International Economy
Li Jun wanted to exchange prisoners of war, so another verbal war started, but Lu Heng didn't care how much these prisoners of war could be exchanged for, but thought of another important thing. will enter an international era.

This diplomatic game set off a wake-up call for Lu Heng. Lu Heng clearly remembered that because of the seclusion of the country in the late Qing Dynasty, not only did they take away a large amount of silver from China, but even ordinary radishes and potatoes were sold at ginseng prices. Here The point is not prices but massive outflows of precious metals.

This is a kind of game in the financial system. Simply changing an example, there will be "exchanges" between Siam and Song Dynasty now, and businessmen will see the business opportunities in it. Lu Heng believes that a group of Siamese businessmen will come here soon Sell ​​their jewelry!
For example, if the Siamese envoys offered a price of one stone for one thousand prisoners of war, and if Lu Heng's offer was equivalent to one stone for 2000 million yuan.

For example, one mu of fertile land costs 1.2 renminbi. If you don’t have an image of what is now good rice, it will only cost 18 renminbi for high-quality millet that weighs about 400 catties in later generations.

Now that the Song Dynasty lacks 'money', what it actually lacks is standard precious metals, that is, copper, silver, and gold. This is why Lu Heng is thinking about attacking the Japanese archipelago, as well as the gold mine of Nong Zhigao.

But this commodity is rare and expensive, and a stone can take away countless precious metals in the country, but this thing is not a very rare item in their country, which will cause a large amount of precious metals to flow out.

Perhaps the ancients did not know the influence of such a financial war, but Lu Heng knew that before the economic system was perfected, the standard stability of precious metals was the lifeblood of a country.

When a country's "money" is tense, it will inevitably cause turmoil. The consequences of a country without "money" are self-evident, and it is also a blow to the financial system of the Great Song Dynasty that has gradually recovered.

In this way, Lu Heng convened the cabinet, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Bank and others to discuss, including Ding Wei, Xun Chen, Lu Yu, Liu Ba, Shen Kuo and other economically minded ministers to discuss together.

Although the economics of this era is still in a hazy stage, no one will understand such vivid examples, so it is natural to pay attention to this issue. The "foreign object economic law" gradually emerged in the discussions among everyone.

In this explanation to my confused friends, the focus is on the outflow of 'precious metals' rather than the outflow of 'money'. Unlike the virtual economic system of later generations, it was a real economic system in ancient times.

In later generations, whether it is soft sister currency, US dollar, Thai baht, Hong Kong dollar, etc., it is actually paper and has no value. Simply put, it is the 'money' exchanged and recognized by the local government's consumption power and the international economy.

This 'money' is fictitious, so there must be a standard guarantee, and later generations will use 'gold' as a guarantee, so the gold reserve is the real economic strength of a country.

But the ancient "money" is not, but the outflow of real "precious metals". The outflow of [-] literal figures and the outflow of [-] gold are two completely different concepts.

Because the total amount of "precious metals" is there, the country will lose as much precious metals as the Song Dynasty lacks, and the domestic "money" will collapse and the economy will collapse and cause turmoil.

Let’s not talk about the open source of precious metals here. For example, finding gold mines can also partially solve the problem.

Some people want to ask, then stop foreign trade?
No, not only foreign trade but also foreign trade should be advocated, but according to the above theory, let precious metals from other countries flow into the Song Dynasty instead of flowing out of the Song Dynasty.

In fact, goods can go abroad, but it is enough to cut off precious metals that cannot go abroad, and the policy can be used to allow merchants who go out to exchange items.

Another example is the exchange of bank note savings in the Song Dynasty. Although the local area does not recognize it, it can be turned into circulating money when you return to the Song Dynasty.

For international businessmen, they will choose these two options. After they come to Dasong for an "expedition" and sell their goods, they can exchange them for Dasong's special products and then sell them back to their home countries to make a profit.

If you return to Dasong in the short term, you can also save money in Dasong to reduce the risk on the road.

Externally, at least at present, Song Dynasty receives foreign exchange from various countries, such as copper coins, silver coins, gold coins, etc., to make up for the shortage of precious metals in the country.

In this way, the 'Border Tax Law', 'International Trade Law', 'International Trade Tax Rate Law' and so on were born one after another.

The most important of these is the 'Border Tax Law'. If a large amount of precious metals, that is, money (except bank notes) are directly shipped out of the country, heavy taxes will be charged, but part of the commercial tax will be reduced or exempted if the goods are exported!

In this way, the shrewd businessman himself chooses the pros and cons.

Another issue is the pricing of foreign goods. It is necessary to completely eliminate the occurrence of things like exchanging a stone for ten thousand hectares of fertile land, or a piece of potato for ginseng.

But this goes back to the original point. To solve this problem, we can only broaden our horizons, otherwise the law is that things are rare and expensive. Letting Chinese people broaden their horizons is a major advantage of the age of navigation.

At the same time, Lu Heng set the 'pricing method' to set the highest price for all fresh items based on animals, plants, metals, handicrafts, etc.

However, this price is limited and variable. If any businessman dares to sell higher than the 'maximum price', once the sale is discovered, the seller's goods will be confiscated, and the buyer will be fined the amount equivalent to the maximum price of the goods.

When Lu Heng was discussing the international economic system of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Defang was fighting with Su Xiancheng to kill the price.

The Iraqi-born Song Mission went south from Jiaozhi County, Jiaozhou, entered the border of Rinan County, and arrived in Dali.

When Yiji revealed his identity as an envoy of the Great Song Dynasty, and used the battle between the Great Song Dynasty and the Northern Marshal Guan Sheng of Siam as a stepping stone, he was warmly received by the Dali Kingdom along the way.

Unlike Zhao Defang who was blocked at the border, Yiji arrived all the way to Sangxiang, the capital of Dali. Yiji found that Buddhism prevailed here as Yu Ji said.

The Buddhist temple behind the imperial palace in front of you is even more majestic than the imperial palace, and there are endless streams of monks from various monasteries along the way.

Yiji also saw a lot of Han monks. Obviously, they arrived here from Jiaozhou during the chaos of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but it is not known whether they really have the heart of Buddha to avoid disasters and wars.

Soon Yiji saw Duan Heyu, the younger brother of the Dali King, and along the way Yiji had heard that the two brothers of the King of Dali were extraordinary.

Duan Siping, the leader of the country, has high martial arts skills, excellent commanding ability, and charisma that inspires everyone's loyalty.

The younger brother Duan Heyu is both civil and military, gentle and elegant, well-read poetry and books, and very good at internal affairs and strategy.

One of the two brothers is responsible for expanding the territory of foreign wars, and the other is in charge of stabilizing the rear, supervising the country and governing the country, complementing each other.

Both of them are talented people, one civil and one military, if they are in other places such as the Central Plains and grasslands, disputes will arise sooner or later.

But Dali is a very special place. The prevalence of Buddhism made the two brothers obsessed with Buddhism. Duan Siping often said that he would become a monk in Wuwei Temple when the world's disputes were over, making Duan He the emperor.

(End of this chapter)