Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"Can the Ming Dynasty use silver as currency now?"

Zhu Di, who was in the secret room next door, turned to Zhu Gaochi beside him and asked.

"Absolutely impossible!" Zhu Gaochi said categorically: "Even if the entire Song Dynasty treasury, which has always been famous for its wealth, is emptied, it will not be enough! Let alone the current Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Di held his chair and sighed: "Moving the capital, revising the canon, and marching to the north don't require money. If there is no extra money, I don't know how many years it will take to complete these things."

He looked at his father's rarely shown worried look, and couldn't help comforting him in an angry and funny way.

"Father, you don't have to worry too much. The world is in war, and people's livelihood is naturally in decline. But as long as we work hard, we can accumulate enough wealth to do one thing in a few years. Things have to come one by one! "

Zhu Gaochi continued: "After all, Mr. Jiang had the idea before, and we have all collected the money to start the voyage to the West. Once the first voyage to the West is over, the country's financial situation will be greatly eased."

"Time waits for me."

Zhu Di sighed and shook his head: "If it were before, I might have been prepared to take it slow. But now, I extremely hope that Mr. Jiang can conjure money for me."

"Govern the Tang and Song Dynasties, and reach the Han and Tang Dynasties far away!"

"Mr. Jiang's words have become my lifelong goal. I can only work hard to develop the national power of the Ming Dynasty to far surpass that of the Tang and Song Dynasties. Only when I go underground can I tell your grandpa with confidence."

——I should sit on this throne! "

After a pause, he continued: "Besides, I always feel that this matter is not simple, and perhaps it is not impossible to achieve."

"What do you mean, father?"

Hearing the sense of expectation in Zhu Di's tone when he spoke, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but curiously asked.

Zhu Di spit out slowly: "Mr. Jiang will always find a way."

Inside the wall, Jiang Xinghuo explained seriously.

"Silver monetization, as the name suggests, is to make silver the main currency of the Ming Dynasty."

"This involves some definitions, such as what currency is and what is the essence of currency. These prerequisite contents of "Chinese Monetary History" will not be discussed."

Zhu Gaoxu asked curiously: "Mr. Jiang, why don't you tell me something?"

"Don't talk about it." Jiang Xinghuo doesn't like to talk nonsense, ""Chinese Monetary History" is a complete course. It makes no sense to single out some concepts. Now I will only talk about the monetization of silver, that is, the reasons and history of monetization of silver. ,trend."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't seem to want to elaborate too much on these, he just briefly talked about them.

Li Jinglong was keenly aware that Jiang Xinghuo's focus was not on these theories.

But some important information.

“Looking at the reasons, silver has its significant advantages as a currency, namely, it is corrosion-resistant and easy to preserve, and its texture is easy to cut and cast. It is less than copper but more than gold. Broken silver can be used as small-value currency, and silver ingots can be used for large-value transactions. "

"Historically, the vast Mongol Empire has always used silver as the standard of value (standard rather than currency). This also means that in trade with Western countries, silver is the most suitable for 'cross-border international trade' Because both West Asia and Western Europe recognize silver but not copper coins."

"Looking at the trend, whether it is the devaluation of treasure banknotes within the Ming Dynasty or the private minting of copper coins, or the inflow of external silver and sea trade transactions, it will lead to a large amount of relatively stable silver entering the Ming Dynasty and becoming the main currency of the Ming Dynasty in the future."

Finally, Jiang Xinghuo said with certainty: "In short, the monetization of silver in the Ming Dynasty must be an inevitable trend of historical development."

Li Jinglong was Zhu Di's arranger. He knew that Zhu Di might be listening next door at this moment, so he cheered up and played his role and asked seriously.

"Mr. Jiang said that the depreciation of the Ming Dynasty's current 'baochao-copper coin' system will make relatively stable silver become the main currency of the Ming Dynasty in the future."

"Private copper coins are minted privately. The quality of the copper coins circulating on the market is uneven, which makes the price of copper depreciate. I can understand this. But what about the treasure banknotes? Isn't this thing just a piece of paper? How can it depreciate?"

"It's really rare that you can think of this. You are worthy of being my student!" Jiang Xinghuo nodded slightly.

Jiang Xinghuo paused for a moment before continuing: "First of all, let's talk about whether the treasure note is a piece of paper."

"My answer is." Jiang Xinghuo said seriously, "It is not a piece of paper, it represents the national strength and credibility of Ming Dynasty."

"Why does it represent the national power of the Ming Dynasty? Because in other words, the total amount of the Ming Dynasty's treasure banknotes is the total value of the Ming Dynasty's manufacturing power, which is also the total number of valuable items created by the Ming Dynasty."

"Why does it represent the credibility of Ming Dynasty? Because the people bought it because they believed that the paper could be used as the money written on it."

"The uncontrolled issuance of treasure banknotes means that there is more money and fewer items on the market. People need to spend more money than before to buy the same items, and the treasure banknotes will naturally depreciate in value."

"Indiscriminate issuance of treasure banknotes is a way to obtain a large amount of wealth without any effort. The money comes in too fast and too easily. The court will become addicted!"

"And all these wealth acquisitions are made from the people using the tool of treasure banknotes. They are the flesh and blood of the people!"

"So the excessive issuance of treasure money is actually sucking the blood of the people at the expense of damaging the credibility of Ming Dynasty!"

The secret room next door.

"So, what the old monk said after he went crazy that day, that we are all blood-sucking insects, is it really true?" After a long silence, Zhu Di asked with difficulty.

Zhu Gaochi said tremblingly: "Father, you can't say that. The court is temporarily in difficulty. It's just a matter of printing more treasure money to relieve the emergency. It will definitely be restrained in the future."

Zhu Di just remained silent.

Zhu Di has never been as worried about gains and losses in his life as he is today, and even his usual killing and decisive demeanor has been thrown away.

The root cause of worrying about gains and losses is that Zhu Di is very clear that Ming Dynasty is now facing a profound internal crisis.

The vassal kings from various places, the remnants of Jianwen, the old heroes of Hongwu, and various forces are all eyeing the dragon chair under their own butts that is not yet warm. Everyone wants to overthrow this rebellious minister and thief and replace him.

In order to strengthen his rule, Zhu Di needed a lot of money.

But what Zhu Di didn't think about, or didn't want to think about, was that the Ming Dynasty's financial situation was seriously overdrawn, and it was impossible to spend so much real money.

That's why Zhu Di focused on treasure banknotes, trying to use this faster method to increase Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue.

Only a few months after he ascended the throne, Zhu Di had already continuously activated the "Yongle brand conventional power money printing machine" to create money out of thin air for the court's expenses.

Seeing his elder brother walking on thin ice, Zhu Di sighed and asked.

"Chier, you are unwilling to rub my face and tell the truth. Do you remember what Mr. Jiang said?"

Zhu Gaochi was stunned and asked: "Which sentence?"

"——All free things have a price tag secretly marked by fate."

Zhu Di's worry about gains and losses was that he got money to strengthen his rule and stabilize his throne. So what did he lose?

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Zhu Di seemed to see people in ragged clothes, with sallow faces and skinny faces, asking for debts from him, holding up treasure bills that had turned into pieces of waste paper in their hands. They were surrounding him ferociously like evil ghosts, roaring silently.

"The banknote law needs to be changed, and we really can't issue it indiscriminately."

Zhu Di put his hands on his sleeves and said in a daze: "I have already lost the hearts of the world's scholars. I can't lose the hearts of the people again. Otherwise, wouldn't I really become a one-man thieves who rule with arrogant soldiers and powerful generals?"