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Upon hearing this, Wen Tiren and the other three people couldn't help but be very surprised and looked at each other with doubts in their eyes.

You know, everyone knows that if the imperial court can issue banknotes, then there is no need to worry about the problem of not being able to collect taxes. If you have no money, you can issue it. If you have no money, you can issue it. How convenient!

For this reason, when the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes encountered problems during the Hongwu period, the monarchs and ministers worked together to think of a solution, even at the expense of making the world clear, and issued many regulations. issued.

Such a difficult thing has become a very simple thing for the young Emperor Chongzhen? Is this possible!

To be honest, Wen Tiren, Bi Ziyan and the other three people didn't believe it at all. However, when they saw the emperor's demeanor, which was full of confidence, they couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Hu Guang had already considered the issuance of banknotes. He happened to have an understanding of the history of currency and knew what the problem was, so he had already prepared. Now that he is ready to implement it, he must first get the support of the chief minister and the minister of household affairs.

The reaction of the three natives in front of him was also within Hu Guang's expectation. This was the limitation of the times and had nothing to do with whether they were smart or not.

When he thought of this, he said: "Compared with gold, silver, copper and other physical coins, treasure banknotes are more convenient and practical. I don't need to say it anymore, right?"

Seeing the three ministers nodding, he continued: "But why were the Ming Dynasty banknotes not welcomed by the people and had to stop printing them, just because too many were printed?"

Of course not, Bi Ziyan immediately replied in his heart. As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he must know more about the finances of the Ming Dynasty than others.

When the Ming Dynasty's treasure banknotes encountered a depreciation crisis, the court thought of various methods, including reducing the issuance and even reducing the court's expenditure on treasure banknotes, but they were all in vain.

Hu Guang continued without waiting for anyone to answer: "No, the most fundamental reason is that the Ming Dynasty Baobao is a kind of credit currency, which relies on the credibility of the court. Once there is a hint of distrust, even if it is just a rumor spread , then this credit will be destroyed, thus affecting the value of the treasure, and this process is irreversible."

I heard the emperor talking eloquently, but what he said seemed a little unclear, and I didn't understand some words very well. In this way, the emperor's words gave the three of them an unfathomable feeling. For a moment, no one asked questions, they were all listening and thinking attentively.

Hu Guang didn't use a way of speaking that they could understand immediately. One reason was that he didn't want to be so tired and asked him to adapt to them. The other reason was that he did it deliberately, that is, he wanted you to understand a little bit, so that he could appear to be competent. .

Just listen to him continue: "Now that the reason has been found, it is easy to solve. At this time, there is enough silver in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the newly issued banknotes adopt the silver standard, which can solve the problem of the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes in the past. problem."

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were not many gold and silver reserves in the country. Later, for hundreds of years, the Ming Dynasty had always had a trade surplus with foreign countries. As a result, most of the silver obtained by various countries in the world flowed into the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, there was the basis of silver as currency, and Zhang Juzheng's whipping method during the Wanli period established silver as the official currency.

It is precisely under the premise of these two that the people of Ming Dynasty have sufficient understanding of silver. If the silver standard were adopted, there would be no difficulties. Before changing, even if the silver standard was adopted from the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it would sooner or later encounter great difficulties.

When the three ministers heard this, one of them, Bi Ziyan, couldn't bear it any longer and asked first, "Your Majesty, I am so stupid. I don't know what the silver standard means?"

Hearing this, the other two people couldn't help but nodded. Listening to what the emperor said, the key was the silver standard, but they couldn't understand the meaning of the silver standard, which further attracted their attention.

After hearing this, Hu Guang smiled slightly and said: "The so-called silver standard system means that the court will print and issue as many silver tael banknotes as there are silver taels. After the banknotes are issued, the court allows the people to exchange the banknotes for physical silver taels. In this way, it can be easily This is a good way to solve the problem of possible depreciation of banknotes, because the imperial court has guaranteed the value of banknotes!"

After a pause, he saw the three ministers thinking, and then sighed: "Actually, this is not a real banknote, it is just a bank note. Oh, there is no bank yet, it is just a voucher. But this is also There is no rush, we can only take it step by step.”

After he finished speaking, the three courtiers below came to their senses. When it comes to money matters, Bi Ziyan is the first to speak. He frowned and said, "What your Majesty said can indeed prevent the devaluation of this paper currency, but now the court has no money!"

Thinking of this, he felt something was wrong, so he immediately corrected him: "The household department only has 620,000 taels!"

This is the income from the seizure of Cao Yubian, the former censor of Zuodu, especially the Yongchang bank account. At this time, Bi Ziyan already understood why the emperor had previously requested that no one could use this money. It turned out that it was intended to be used here.

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's only 620,000 taels, it won't help!" Xu Guangqi is the most sensitive to numbers among the three, and he immediately followed up with a frown.

Wen Tiren has now confirmed that the emperor is still the same emperor, and there is no possibility of being possessed by Taizu before. Judging from the way the emperor did things before, he must have his reasons. Thinking like this, he didn't speak this time.

Hu Guang didn't take it seriously after hearing this, and immediately smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, there will definitely be money. Now we only need to take the first step, and then we will print and distribute the money when there is money."

The inspection of Shanxi merchants was a major factor in the success of the banknote issuance. Because in his estimation, most of the first batch of banknotes printed out are likely to be exchanged immediately. Eventually, these banknotes will be returned to the court, and the Ministry of Revenue will have very little money left.

But with this good start and seeing that the court did not break its promise and could indeed use banknotes to exchange for silver coins, people's confidence in using banknotes will greatly increase, which will effectively guarantee the value of banknotes.

After the inspection of Shanxi merchants was completed and tens of millions of taels of silver were added to the imperial treasury, even if there were still people who could exchange the silver taels back, they would never be able to finish the exchange. With such a huge buffer, the implementation of banknotes will be much easier.

Bi Ziyan naturally didn't know about the Shanxi merchants, but he didn't think that far ahead. He thought that in this case, if the emperor wanted to issue banknotes, he would just use banknotes. At most, it would be just a try. After all, using gold and silver is really troublesome.

Thinking like this, his mind turned to other aspects, and he asked curiously: "Your Majesty, what do these things on this banknote mean?"

I had something to do in the afternoon, and I didn’t know when I would go home, so I woke up early and paid off the six chapters I owed as planned. There is motivation only when there is pressure, it is true!