Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Chapter 42: What's Faster Than Reform? Robbing People!

Xu Pu opened the memorial and read it together with Liu Jian.

Due to limited space, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian could only stand behind, straining their eyes to see.

Originally, Xu Pu, Liu Jian, and the other two thought that this so-called currency reform was just another way for Zhu You樘 to plunder wealth from the people using the Great Ming Treasure Notes.

As for the content, it should be similar to the Great Ming Treasure Notes issued during the Hongwu and Yongle years.

But unexpectedly, the specific regulations on the Great Ming Treasure Notes written by Zhu You樘 in this memorial were actually very different from the previously issued Great Ming Treasure Notes.

Some new words, such as central bank, bank reserve, regular recycling, and anti-counterfeiting banknotes, although seemingly inexplicable at first glance, were actually very ingenious upon careful consideration.

In fact, the currency reform envisioned by Zhu You樘 was not to change it into paper money in the popular sense of later generations, but similar to the Hong Kong dollar.

In reality, the Hong Kong dollar is not a legal currency, but an exchange certificate linked to the US dollar.

Each Hong Kong dollar is printed with the words "Payable on demand."

This means that this Hong Kong dollar is just an exchange certificate that can be exchanged for US dollars and does not have the effect of legal currency.

Hong Kong stipulates that when issuing any amount of Hong Kong dollars, issuing banks must submit US dollars to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority at an exchange rate of 7.80 Hong Kong dollars to 1 US dollar, which will be recorded in the Exchange Fund account, and banknotes can only be printed after receiving a debt certificate.

That is to say, for every 7.8 Hong Kong dollars on the market, 1 US dollar must be deposited in the bank.

And Hong Kong dollars can be freely exchanged for US dollars at a fixed exchange rate.

According to Zhu You樘's idea, a central bank should first be established in the Forbidden City, and branches should be established in the two capitals and thirteen provinces.

The central bank will print banknotes, and for every string of Great Ming Treasure Notes issued to the market, one tael of silver must be deposited in the bank.

Each Great Ming Treasure Note is linked to silver and copper coins corresponding to its face value.

Moreover, every bank in the Ming Dynasty, after receiving the corresponding Great Ming Treasure Notes, will unconditionally pay the silver and money corresponding to the Great Ming Treasure Notes.

In this way, the new Great Ming Treasure Notes actually become a silver and money exchange certificate.

The new Great Ming Treasure Notes are anchored to silver, and the two are deeply bound!

In this way, the two biggest problems facing the Great Ming Treasure Notes are solved.

The first problem is the rapid devaluation of the Great Ming Treasure Notes.

Now with bank reserves, the Great Ming Treasure Notes are strongly bound to silver and money, and there will never be a collapse-style devaluation again.

The second problem is the distrust of the Great Ming Treasure Notes by the people.

Previously, the imperial court was only allowed to exchange the people's money and food for treasure notes, but the people could not exchange treasure notes for money and food from the imperial court.

Now, as long as the people take the Great Ming Treasure Notes to the bank, they can unconditionally exchange them for the corresponding silver and money.

With the two major problems solved, the rest is to improve and solve the problems that will be encountered in the actual implementation.

After Xu Pu and Liu Jian finished reading the memorial, they stroked their beards silently, thinking deeply.

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian whispered to each other while reading, with some excitement on their faces.

Zhu You樘 waited for a while before asking, "What do you think, gentlemen?"

Xu Pu pondered for a while and cautiously opened his mouth: "Your Majesty's idea is generally feasible."

"It's just that there are still many problems that are difficult to solve in the actual implementation process."

"The biggest difficulty is how to make the people willingly and actively use the new Great Ming Treasure Notes."

"How should the new Great Ming Treasure Notes be designed?"

"And how should the original Great Ming Treasure Notes be handled?"

Zhu You樘 had already thought about these issues.

"The original Great Ming Treasure Notes will all be recovered at one-thousandth of their face value and then destroyed centrally."

"The new Great Ming Treasure Notes will be inscribed with the words 'Hongzhi' to distinguish them from the previous Hongwu Treasure Notes, and will be called Hongzhi Treasure Notes."

"As for how to get the people to use them, it's simple. In the future, the salaries issued to officials by the Ming Dynasty will all be converted into Great Ming Treasure Notes."

"Ming officials and their families are not allowed to use silver and money, and can only use Great Ming Treasure Notes, violators will be beheaded!"

At the end of the speech, the dagger was revealed!

The four Grand Secretaries present only felt a darkness in front of them, and the sky was about to fall!

Their bodies, which had not stood up for long, knelt down again with a thud.

"Your Majesty, you must not! Your Majesty!"

"Please think twice, Your Majesty! Reform still needs to be cautious and must not be so rash!"

"Your Majesty, absolutely not! Absolutely not!"

"..."

Zhu You樘 looked at the four people at his feet and sneered, "Oh? What's impossible?"

"This..."

Xu Pu racked his brains, thinking about how to reply.

Liu Jian was calm and composed: "Your Majesty, the new Great Ming Treasure Notes have not yet been recognized by the people."

"If officials are rashly prohibited from using silver and money, I am afraid that officials will not be able to spend it and will not even be able to buy back food."

"That's easy." Zhu You樘 said calmly: "All the imperial shops in the capital accept Great Ming Treasure Notes."

"This policy will be piloted in the capital first, and then promoted to the whole country after it matures."

Liu Jian and Xu Pu looked at each other, at a loss.

At this point, they finally reacted.

Zhu You樘 really didn't think about plundering the people's wealth, what he was plundering was all the wealth of these Ming officials.

The silver taels they had painstakingly embezzled were going to be plundered back by Zhu You樘's simple policy.

When it comes to ruthlessness, Zhu You樘 is the ruthless one!

With this move, I am afraid that the officials of the entire Ming Dynasty will be so anxious that they will jump up and down.

"Then it's settled. I will open a Great Ming Bank branch in the capital in a few days. The officials in the capital can take silver to exchange for new Great Ming Treasure Notes."

"I don't care how much silver you want to exchange."

"But if I find any officials and their families in the capital using silver and money, don't blame me for not warning you in advance."

"The officials who were trampled to pieces by ten thousand horses outside the city today are still vivid in my mind."

"Finally, give me a landing plan within three days."

Seeing that there was no hope of stopping it, Liu Jian tried to make a final effort: "Your Majesty, then the主管 officials of the banks at all levels..."

Zhu You樘 glared at Liu Jian: "All will be served by eunuchs, civil officials are not allowed to take office in the bank!"

"Also, the Treasure Note Lifting Department will no longer be managed by the Ministry of Revenue, but will be incorporated into the Inner Palace Treasure Note Department, and will be uniformly managed by the Treasure Note Department!"

After Zhu You樘 finished speaking, he did not stay in Wenyuan Pavilion any longer and returned to Qianqing Palace.

On the way back, Zhu You樘's mood slowly improved when he thought of the devastated expressions of the four Grand Secretaries.

Reform, of course, must be reformed.

But reform takes time, how can robbing hundreds of officials bring money faster?

If this regulation is implemented, if the officials in the capital still want to use money, they must use silver to go to the capital branch to exchange for new Great Ming Treasure Notes.

Zhu You樘 can raise a large amount of silver without any effort.

As for how to slowly over-issue currency in the future, so that the new Great Ming Treasure Notes are orderly, controllable, and slowly devalued, and slowly harvest the wealth of the world, that is all a matter for later.

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