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

After the previous little interlude, the officials who queued up to exchange banknotes later became much more honest.

It was already one quarter of the hour into Weishi (1:15 PM), and the 300,000 strings of newly printed Da Ming Treasure Notes that the Treasure Note Department had printed in the past few days were completely exchanged.

So He Yong, the head of the capital branch, had no choice but to walk out of the accounting room and politely apologize to the Ming officials who were still in line.

"My lords, I'm sorry, today's Da Ming Treasure Notes have been completely exchanged."

"Lords who want to exchange Da Ming Treasure Notes, please come early tomorrow."

After speaking, He Yong turned and returned to the capital branch.

In front of the capital branch, the officials of the Ming Dynasty who had not exchanged for the new Da Ming Treasure Notes had a moment of blankness in their minds.

After reacting, everyone was dumbfounded.

"This… this… the new Da Ming Treasure Notes have been exchanged? Then what do we do?"

"His Majesty does not allow us to use silver, and the new Da Ming Treasure Notes have been exchanged. Doesn't that mean that those of us who haven't exchanged for banknotes can't even use money?"

"I haven't exchanged for banknotes yet? I haven't exchanged for banknotes yet!"

"What can I do? I still have a large family to spend money on. Without Da Ming Treasure Notes, how can I spend money?!"

"…"

The officials who had not exchanged for the new Da Ming Treasure Notes were anxiously pacing back and forth.

In the end, they turned their attention to those officials who had already exchanged for the new Da Ming Treasure Notes.

"Young Minister Feng, I remember you exchanged for a lot of Da Ming Treasure Notes, right? Look, can I exchange some banknotes with you for silver?"

"Don't worry, I won't let you exchange for nothing. I am willing to pay more silver to exchange for your generosity."

"I will pay 350 taels of silver to exchange for 300 strings of banknotes, what do you think?"

Feng Zheng, the Shaoqing (Vice Minister) of the Honglu Temple, was a little embarrassed. He had just exchanged for more than 1,300 strings of banknotes when he was suddenly stopped by his colleague.

Exchanging 300 strings of banknotes for 350 taels of silver would be a great deal at other times.

But now the situation is special. These officials cannot use silver, they can only exchange it for Da Ming Treasure Notes.

In this way, he would suffer a loss, but that person was also a colleague…

Feng Zheng hesitated for a while, but still agreed: "Alright."

So the two of them made a transaction of exchanging silver for banknotes on the street.

This move enlightened the other officials who had not exchanged for the new Da Ming Treasure Notes, and they followed suit.

"Young Minister Feng, I am also willing to use 350 taels of silver to exchange for 300 strings of banknotes!"

"Young Minister Feng, I am willing to pay 400 taels of silver to exchange for 300 strings of banknotes, please exchange with me, Young Minister Feng!"

"Young Minister Feng, I will pay 450 taels of silver to exchange for 300 strings of banknotes!"

"…"

Feng Zheng was taken aback and quickly covered his sleeves.

"Not much, not much, I don't have much left."

"I'm sorry, everyone, I really can't exchange anymore, please exchange with other people."

After speaking, Feng Zheng quickly got into the carriage and urged his servant to drive home quickly.

After Feng Zheng left, the officials who had not exchanged for banknotes turned their attention to the other officials who had successfully exchanged for banknotes.

"Secretary Shao, would you be willing to exchange 100 strings of banknotes with me? I am willing to pay 130 taels of silver!"

"Censor Cheng, how about I exchange 200 strings of banknotes with you for 300 taels of silver?"

"Commander Wang, 600 taels of silver to exchange for 300 strings of banknotes, is that okay?"

"…"

The officials' bids were getting higher and higher, and more and more outrageous.

At its peak, one string of banknotes with a face value of one 'guan' could be exchanged for two taels and five 'qian' of silver.

Such a crazy exchange rate made the people who had been watching the excitement on the side click their tongues.

At the same time, they also began to realize that this newly issued Da Ming Treasure Note was completely different from the Da Ming Treasure Notes issued in the past.

The officials discussed the matter of exchanging silver for banknotes outside the capital branch for a long time.

Many transactions were made, but even more were not.

It was not until dusk that those officials who had not exchanged for the new Da Ming Treasure Notes reluctantly dispersed.

When the night was deep, thousands of West Depot secret agents poured into the capital branch, surrounding it tightly.

Subsequently, the gate of the capital branch opened.

One cart after another, loaded with silver, drove into the palace under the **** of the West Depot secret agents.

This convoy consisted of fifteen carts, each cart carrying 20,000 taels of silver.

In one day, 300,000 taels of silver entered the imperial treasury!

When Zhu You樘 learned of this news, although he was prepared, he could not help but feel a burst of anger in his heart.

"Are you saying that less than two hundred officials exchanged 300,000 strings of Da Ming Treasure Notes?"

"Each person exchanged an average of 1,700 taels of silver?!"

"And many officials have not exchanged for treasure notes, and began to ask for banknotes at high prices outside the capital branch?"

"The highest price has reached two taels and five 'qian' of silver for one string of Da Ming Treasure Notes?!"

Zhu You樘 slammed the dragon table angrily, revealing a murderous aura all over his body.

"It seems that I still haven't killed enough!"

Wang Zhi stood respectfully in front of Zhu You樘, without saying a word.

However, since Zhu You樘 had said before that he would not care about how much Da Ming Treasure Notes they exchanged, he would not blame them for this.

If Zhu You樘 really killed all the corrupt officials.

Then if all the officials of the Ming Dynasty were killed, there would definitely be wrongful convictions.

But if one was killed every other one, then there would be a large number of fish that slipped through the net.

The corruption of Ming Dynasty officials was a systemic corruption.

From top to bottom, from inside to outside, from the central government to the local government…

There was no place that was not corrupt.

To solve the problem of corruption among Ming Dynasty officials, it must be done gradually, and it must not be rushed.

Zhu You樘's goal now is to raise silver as soon as possible, and now it seems to be relatively successful.

Of course, he can't spend all of this silver.

According to the 20% bank reserve ratio set by Zhu You樘.

He can probably use 240,000 taels of these 300,000 taels of silver.

So much silver is already very good.

And there are still a large number of officials who have not exchanged for Da Ming Treasure Notes.

In the future, the capital branch will continue to transport silver to his internal treasury.

Thinking of this, even Zhu You樘 couldn't help but feel a little excited.

Considering that there are still many officials who have not exchanged for Da Ming Treasure Notes, and the Treasure Note Department can only print a maximum of 50,000 strings a day, Zhu You樘 also set a rule.

"Wang Zhi, pass on the order, in the next period of time, each person can only exchange a maximum of 500 strings of banknotes per day."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wang Zhi nodded to receive the order and quickly left.

…

The next day.

Before dawn, the outside of the capital branch was already lined up in a long queue.

The officials who had not exchanged for the new Da Ming Treasure Notes yesterday, learned their lesson and came to the gate of the capital branch early to queue up.

It's just that today is different from yesterday. In addition to the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

There were also a few scattered people from the capital who were mixed in the queue to exchange banknotes.

This made the officials in the queue dissatisfied and ashamed to associate with these people.

But the West Depot secret agents around them were staring at them like tigers and wolves.

This made them dare not attack and could only hold their dissatisfaction in their hearts.