First Minister of Ming Dynasty

The Bretton Woods system of the Yuan Dynasty collapsed.

Since then, Yuan Ting has let himself go. Since about 1276, Yuan Ting has issued treasure banknotes frantically. In some places, hundreds of banknotes cannot buy a bucket of millet.

The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to meet the needs of profligacy, issued 300 million ingots of treasure banknotes every year, and even produced large new banknotes to replace the old treasure banknotes, and also learned the tricks of gold round coupons.

These things happened during the reign of Kublai Khan.

It is ironic to say that the founding lord of the Great Yuan Dynasty, under his rule, the Great Yuan Dynasty has already shown a state of subjugation, and it can be compared with the Western Jin Dynasty.

Needless to say what happened next, the Yuan court frantically issued treasure banknotes, issuing them in different ways, and the people resisted, so they switched to gold, silver and copper transactions, and the Yuan court did not allow metal transactions. Anyone who dares to use treasure banknotes will be beheaded .

But the value of the banknote kept depreciating. In this way, if there was too much water, add noodles, and if there was too much noodles, add water, until the Yellow River burst... Tuotuo was in charge, and to control the Yellow River, he had to spend money, but the treasury was empty.

Tuotuo advocated changing banknotes and reissuing new banknotes. The value of the new banknotes is twice that of the old ones.

But in the middle of the operation, the new banknotes and the old banknotes are the same, the only difference is that there is a stamp on the back of the new banknotes... Such a nonsense method is naturally impossible to maintain.

Some masters simply forged a stamp, collected old banknotes and stamped it themselves, doubled the profit, and within a few days, they could be listed on the market and soared.

Counterfeit money is everywhere, the banknote law collapsed, and in just a few years, prices soared [-] times, and then there was a rebellion by the Red Turban Army, and the Great Yuan Dynasty was at the end of its rope...

After a little review of the history of Yuan Dynasty banknotes, you can find that there are countless bridges that seem to be familiar, such as the Bretton Woods system, Mark Chaofa, the reform of gold coupons, hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, and even the collapse of the Portuguese escudo... There are a hundred ways to collapse a whole banknote.

Sure enough, there is nothing new in history, it's just people in different clothes retelling the same story over and over again.

Listen to Timur finish these things first, especially the part about Tuotuo changing money. He tried his best to repay his brother, but in the end, he also had to sigh.

"The power of the people is weak, the change of money is too urgent, the officials are too evil, and the law of money is too bad... In this way, the people are at the end of their lives, and they can't turn back!"

Hearing Yexian's complaints like weeping, people like Song Lian shook their heads, or we should stop messing around with money, this thing is really harmful!

On the contrary, Gong Bo was more knowledgeable than before. He said: "Precious banknotes are intended for the circulation of goods and goods, for the benefit of the country and the people... just don't distribute them indiscriminately. Now the superiors occupy the rich and prosperous places in the south of the Yangtze River, and the merchants are prosperous. It has existed since ancient times." If you don’t issue precious banknotes and don’t encourage commerce, I’m afraid it will be bad for Zhu’s army.”

At this time, Jia Lu suddenly said, "The old man also got the news that Zhang Shicheng has issued copper coins. If we can't find a way to deal with it, he will send people to our territory to purchase supplies in large quantities. I'm afraid it will cause a lot of trouble!"

The copper coin made by Zhang Shicheng is called Tianyou Tongbao. This thing is still a famous coin in later generations. It was sold at an auction house for a sky-high price of 410 million.

Speaking of the present, Zhang Shicheng, a private salt dealer, has been in business all year round, playing with money. He is still very reliable in issuing copper coins, and he is quite popular with the people.

Song Lian hesitated: "Since Zhang Shicheng can issue copper coins, why can't we follow suit?"

Jia Lu smiled, "Zhang Shicheng occupies the land of Huaidong, where there are many salt merchants. He already has a lot of reserves of gold, silver and copper coins. In addition, he has a large amount of table salt. As long as the collection of gold and silver is required, he can save a lot of silver coins every year. , Issuing copper is not a problem."

At this time, Liu Bowen suddenly said in a low voice: "So, Zhang Shicheng is actually relying on Huaiyan?"

Jia Lu nodded, "That's right, he does rely on Huaiyan, but we don't!"

After discussing for a while, everyone basically reached a consensus. Currency is something that must be done. If not, Zhang Shicheng and others will take advantage of it, which is also not conducive to economic and trade development.

But if one is not good, the banknotes will collapse, and the consequences will be disastrous.

Moreover, under Zhu Yuanzhang's rule, the lack of sufficient gold and silver reserves is always unreliable.

"My lords, we have already talked so much... I would like to ask you guys why gold and silver should be used as reserves for the issuance of treasure banknotes, and why is it okay for Yuan Ting to use raw silk at first?"

Liu Bowen immediately said: "Precious banknotes are just a piece of colorful paper. Trading paper for things is nothing but a white wolf. It must be endorsed by gold and silver! Only in this way can the common people accept it. As for raw silk, it is the same principle! "

"No!"

Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "It seems correct to say that a banknote is a piece of paper, so there must be gold and silver as a reserve, but land deeds, house deeds, aren't they just a piece of paper? Why are they valuable?"

"This..." No matter how smart Liu Bowen was, he had never learned the finances of the later generations. When asked by Zhang Ximeng, he could only reluctantly say: "The land deed represents the land, and the house deed represents the house. They are different treasures after all."

"No! In fact, you can regard the treasure banknote as a contract, but this contract is very special. It is not signed with a specific person, but with everyone. According to the agreement, take this contract, You can go to the market to exchange for commodities of corresponding value...so this contract does not need gold and silver, but you can buy things."

The big guy couldn't help but took a deep breath, thinking about Zhang Ximeng's words carefully, at this moment Sun Yan said suddenly, "What Zhang Xiang meant is that gold and silver cannot be eaten or drunk, and holding gold and silver is of no practical use?"

Zhang Ximeng smiled, "It's half right, but there's another half...that is, we don't know how many things are on the market, and we don't know how many treasures we want. If we issue them at will, we can't. We have to anchor the treasures in Above gold and silver, at least there is a basis, and it will not be messed up."

Currency is the weakness of these traditional scholars, and it is not so easy for them to figure out the key.

Zhang Ximeng said straightforwardly: "Actually, we can put aside gold and silver... As long as we figure out how much food, how many commodities, and how much money we need for daily transactions in the territory, we can issue Huaxia treasure banknotes internally for the convenience of the people. As long as With this piece of paper, you can buy food and pay taxes, but in fact, there is no difference between paper and gold and silver."

"And gold and silver are only needed for settlement with outside transactions, just to make up for the price difference."

"In the final analysis, the issuance of treasure banknotes is not a test of how much gold and silver we have, but a test of our understanding of the rule and our ability to govern!"

Chapter 2 The Thief Appears

How many transactions there are, how many currencies are issued.

As long as the corresponding goods can be exchanged, there will be no problem of over-issuance of currency.

In fact, there are problems in issuing paper money purely based on the gold and silver in stock, and it is a problem that many people ignore.Because commercial transactions objectively require a certain amount of currency, the more developed the business, the more currency is needed.

In the past dynasties of China, after the peace of the world, it will not be long before the price of food plummets sharply. For example, in the early Tang Dynasty, there were several thousand coins for a bucket of rice. by hundreds of times.

Regarding this situation, most people still hold a positive attitude, believing that the prosperous times are prosperous, the people are prosperous, the price of rice is low, and people's livelihood is good.

In fact, with a little common sense in economics, you will find that this is problematic.

A bucket of rice worth several thousand renminbi is not enough, but the price of grain hurts the peasants, and the consequences are even more dire.

Because in general, although the common people don't use much currency, they always need some currency to pay exorbitant taxes and celebrate weddings and funerals.

The price of food plummeted, farmers could not exchange enough currency, and they had to borrow money when they encountered money-consuming things. Some people had to sell their land and go bankrupt if they failed to pay usury... Therefore, looking at the first few decades of the past dynasties, There is such a rule, firstly because the war has just ended, a lot of waste is waiting to be done, and the price of goods is extremely high.

Then, within a few years, due to the recovery of production, the price of food plummeted, and the imperial court entered a prosperous age.Then under the prosperous times, there were crises, the income of ordinary people decreased, bankruptcies increased, and mergers became more and more serious. Decades later, there will be crises and adjustments are urgently needed, and voices for reform will come and go.

From the Han Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties, it basically came like this.

The reason for this situation is naturally very complicated, but it is also related to the insufficient supply of precious metals... The price of rice has plummeted, and from another perspective, the price of money has skyrocketed.

Why is money worth more?

Because of the lack of gold, silver and copper.

To put it more bluntly, if the banknotes are simply bound to gold, silver and copper, and there is not enough precious metal reserves, so many banknotes will not be issued... The result is that banknotes are still expensive and food is cheap, and the people suffer.

So to put it bluntly, behind banknotes is by no means a pure currency reserve, but a commodity production capacity backed by national credit.

There are two elements here, one is national credit, and the other is the production capacity of commodities.

National credit is easy to understand, so what is the commodity production capacity?It is to have enough commodities, otherwise, even if your currency is universal and your credit is unparalleled, but your industry is hollowed out, and you start nuclear-powered money printing machines, inflation will definitely occur, and it will continue to increase. more serious.

Zhang Ximeng explained his thoughts to these people, and everyone was refreshed. Although they didn't immediately throw themselves into the ground, they all admired him.

But Song Lian asked curiously: "Mr. Zhang, how much business do the folks want? How do we know this?"

Sun Yan thought for a while, and then took the initiative to say: "Actually, it's not difficult. We can count how much land tax we collect. According to the land tax, we know how much grain the people have. The common people have to sell the grain before they can buy what they need. Commodities. As much as the common people buy, the workshop will make as much... There may be a gap in the middle, but it is not impossible to estimate. Fortunately, the average farmland is now average, and no one can evade taxes. It is not difficult to estimate. If it is placed in the Yuan Dynasty, only I'm afraid it's going to be the opposite, it's very bad."

When Sun Yan said this, he even looked at Yexian Timur, and felt a little sympathetic to him.It's also a matter of playing with banknotes, and Tuotuo's change of banknotes cannot be said to be completely wrong, but it's a pity that his luck is too bad.Yuan Ting is rotten from top to bottom, good things will fail, and bad things will fail even more. In summary, no matter whether you know the king or sleep the king, no one is the same, and it is hard to return.

Zhang Ximeng nodded slightly. He didn't expect that his secretary was really talented. It seemed that their family was just playing around with business. It was normal to have some experience.

"That's right, we can estimate the general trading volume of the private sector. But there is one more thing we need to be careful about, and that is the destruction of the outside world!"

Jia Lu asked curiously, "Are you talking about Zhang Shicheng?"

Zhang Ximeng said: "At present we mainly produce grain. Although silk and cotton cloth are produced, the quantity is not as high as that of Zhang Shicheng. The other is salt! If Zhang Shicheng uses salt to buy grain in large quantities, causing a shortage of grain, or accumulating a large amount of precious money to exchange for gold and silver, Price fluctuations will affect the stability of our banknotes."

According to Zhang Ximeng's analysis, if he was a general in the army, he would probably shout and kill Zhang Jiusi.

But obviously they are all literati here, so their thinking is naturally different.

Liu Bowen said: "Nowadays a lot of waste is waiting to be done. It is enough for the common people to wear coarse clothes. Silk and cotton cloth, which can be used in the army, can be found. But the most troublesome thing is salt! Daily necessities, rice, oil and salt are indispensable. It is people's livelihood materials, if Zhang Shicheng holds it in his hands, it will be very bad for us."

Song Lian said: "There are only three places where salt is produced in the world. The sea salt in the southeast, the pool salt in the northwest, and the well salt in Bashu. We don't want to occupy either of them. What should we do?"

Liu Bowen smiled, "Brother Jing Lian, why did you forget Fang Guozhen?"

"Fang Guozhen?"

"That's right! He is now at war with Zhang Shicheng, and the consumption is definitely not small. A while ago, he sent his son over, and the superior was talking about salt with him... If we think of a way, get more salt from Fang Guozhen, Zhang Shicheng They can’t choke us. Maybe they can resell the salt and make a fortune!” Liu Bowen is obviously much more flexible than Song Lian, and it’s not without reason, after all, Liu Bowen himself pulled together a team of bravery in his hometown.

In order to maintain it, all kinds of ways to make money have been thought of.

Liu Bowen, for example, knew very well that some Anhui merchants would go to the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to purchase salt, which would be transported to the mainland to make a lot of money.

After brainstorming with the big guys, the whole situation became clear.

Zhang Ximeng made a conclusion, "We must issue treasure banknotes, and the basis of this treasure banknote is food-based commodities. In order to ensure the stability of the treasure banknote currency system, we need to figure out the amount of private trade. Yan took the lead to calculate... When necessary, he should ask Li Xianggong for help and ask for the inventory of the household department."

Sun Yan quickly agreed, "I understand the humble job."

"There is the second item. Salt is a necessity for people's livelihood, and it is what we lack. We should reach an agreement with Fang Guozhen to hoard as much salt as possible... We must adopt the method of official sales, hold the salt in our own hands, and ensure that the salt The price of salt is sufficient, and the price of salt is stable. If the grain and salt are maintained, the banknotes will not change much!" Zhang Ximeng said to Liu Bowen, "I am afraid that Mr. Bowen will come forward for this matter."

Liu Bowen was stunned, "Master Zhang, I, I have a grudge against the Fang family and his son. They want to arrest my whole family. I'll go talk to him. When the enemy meets, I'm afraid..."

"What are you afraid of!"

Zhang Ximeng interrupted Liu Bowen suddenly, and said with a sneer: "Now we are powerful, Fang Guozhen is small, and our wife is mediocre. He and Zhang Shicheng are facing each other! We are not going to ask him for alms of salt, but to give him a way to survive! Mr. Bowen, You will have more time dealing with outsiders in the future, so you can't be too gentlemanly!"

Liu Bowen took a deep breath, and the expression in his eyes gradually revealed... Timur who was in the distance also trembled, I guessed right, this person has a knife in his heart!

Let him deal with Fang Guozhen, isn't that a good time to revenge and complain!

Zhang Ximeng is really dark enough. In the future, such lively events will be indispensable. It is really worth looking forward to!

After arranging these two people, there is actually one big thing left, and that is the currency itself, which must have sufficient anti-counterfeiting means.

After all, everything they talk about is based on the authenticity and effectiveness of currency. If some great master emerges and prints millions of banknotes that are difficult to distinguish between authentic and fake, and once they are released on the market, they will be completely out of business. .

But this kind of thing is not discussed with them, and a professional must be hired.

This kid Lu Zhou recruited printing and painting masters from Yangzhou, Yingtian, and Xuancheng. The big guys got together and studied the characteristics of Jiaozi and treasure banknotes, and then reviewed the materials to summarize the anti-counterfeiting methods.

For example, the choice of paper ink, such as printing technology, such as special markings, and numbering banknotes, etc... basically everything that can be thought of.

In this way, they produced the first batch of banknotes and sent them to Zhang Ximeng.

Zhang Ximeng took a brief look, and then asked a question that hit the soul, "That...can you still draw it?"

Lu Zhou was startled, rolled his eyes several times, and puffed up his cheeks and said, "I can draw it, but I can't draw it anymore."

"why?"

"Because it takes three days to draw a picture of consistent money, I can help identify counterfeit money now, and I can earn more!" Lu Zhou said in a muffled voice.

Zhang Ximeng laughed suddenly, "Okay... So, there is still a possibility of fraud?"

"Well! There will be people who are better than me!"

Zhang Ximeng deeply agrees: "It's pretty good to be able to do this. No matter what time it is, it's impossible to completely eradicate counterfeit money, unless the big guys stop using paper money...Since the cost of counterfeiting is very high, I will arrange people to supervise In every market, identify counterfeit banknotes in time, find problems, and punish them severely!"

Lu Zhou deeply agreed.

Today, all preparations for the issuance of banknotes have been completed.

Next is the official launch.

Who can be lucky enough to own the first Huaxia treasure banknote?

Is it the honorable Wu Guogong Zhu Yuanzhang?Or which lucky business people?

Obviously, the answer is Zhang Ximeng.

He came to the original grain bank early, took out an ingot of gold ingot, deposited it solemnly, and exchanged it for 160 six-pass Huaxia treasure banknotes.

But right after Zhang Ximeng left, this ingot of gold ingot immediately attracted the covetousness of countless people!

Where did official Zhang Daqing get the gold ingot?

Isn't this what the thief stayed behind?

It's true!

It is said that this ingot of gold ingot is very interesting... The golden Buddha was originally snatched by Fang Guozhen, and it is said that it was dedicated to Emperor Dadu Yuan.As a result, it was stolen and melted into ingots.

Then the thief made a bet with others and came to Jinling to steal a senior official of the Zhu family army. He entered Zhang Xiang's house, but the house was completely empty, and he didn't steal anything, but left an ingot.

This is not an ordinary ingot, it is an ironclad proof of Zhang Xiang's innocence!

What's interesting is that Zhang Xiang issued the banknotes, and then deposited this ingot ingot, which became the witness of Huaxia's banknotes... How much meaning is given to the little gold ingots!

This thing can be regarded as a family heirloom!

Maybe it can also ward off evil spirits, protect the peace of the house, and high-ranking officials will emerge in large numbers, shining on the lintel... Soon, a large group of wealthy businessmen and rich people in Jinling all ran to the grain bank, even if they paid ten times or a hundred times the price Got the gold ingot!

Seeing that a lively auction was about to start, a person suddenly walked out from the crowd.

"Hmph! You dirty hands deserve to touch Zhang Xiang's ingot! I tell you, no one can take it away! It's mine!"

"You? What are you? How much money can you pay? Why should it belong to you?" A few wealthy businessmen are crazily exporting to this unattractive person. We want to invite you back. How can the things that protect the house be cheap for you? Dreaming!

This person was unhurried, "I said it's mine, it's mine, and none of you can take it away! Because this ingot is stolen! And I..." He pointed to his nose and said with a smile: "That's right. The thief who entered Zhang Xiang's mansion!"