Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

The current round of skyrocketing rice prices will naturally bear the brunt of the common people who cannot afford to eat, but silver, as the currency recognized by the people, is also a victim.

It would be fine if silver had other competitors, but now it is facing competition in selling tickets.

Due to the continued rise in rice prices, the purchasing power of silver has been relatively reduced, causing silver to depreciate in disguise.

Don't underestimate this change. Ordinary people are very sensitive to the currency in their hands. This change is enough to make many people stay away from silver.

On the other hand, this round of cloth tickets has always been closely related to the hard currency cotton, and now it can also be linked to milled rice in disguise, which is enough to kill silver as a currency.

No matter how scarce silver is, if it cannot be used to exchange for the food that everyone needs, or if the food that is exchanged becomes less and less, it is just a pile of useless metal.

Although cloth tickets are a relatively new thing, they can not only be directly exchanged for the cotton cloth that everyone needs, but also can be exchanged for the food they need, which will definitely become the new currency that everyone is thinking about.

Looking at the history of China, the biggest mistake was actually the implementation of the silver standard in every dynasty.

Although the value of silver was once twice that of gold, and the current exchange rate of silver is still as high as four to one, this was only the beginning of silver's crazy depreciation.

From the changes in the value of silver and gold in later generations, we can know the huge difference between the two.

Not to mention that the price difference between gold and silver can be nearly a hundred times different. Countries have banned the outflow of their own gold and instead allow the free circulation of silver. The importance of the two to the country is self-evident.

Although silver was once close to natural currency properties, history has proven that silver is not a natural currency, and perhaps it should not be the official currency after the Age of Discovery. The reason is that overseas reserves are too amazing.

In addition to Japan, which has a large number of high-quality silver mines exposed on the surface, there is so much silver in the Americas that it cannot be hauled away by train. The production in the last quarter of the 19th century alone was equivalent to the global silver production for hundreds of years.

Now the Ming Dynasty's silver tax revenue is only about a few million taels, but in the next dynasty, the compensation after defeat was actually hundreds of millions of taels.

The silver of the subsequent dynasties was measured in hundreds of millions. It was not that the economy of the latter dynasty became stronger, but that a large amount of overseas silver poured in and plundered China's social wealth round after round.

The reason is that it was the rulers of the past dynasties who put silver on the throne, which ultimately led Japan and Western powers to use China's materials to strengthen themselves.

The "New Currency Regulations" will be a major measure, and the main goal is to eradicate the silver standard, thereby preventing China from embarking on the wrong path again.

"Haha...fortunately I have a cloth ticket!"

"Let's go to the Royal Bank to exchange it together!"

"Gah...my cloth ticket has indeed been exchanged for polished rice!"

…

With the promulgation of the "New Currency Regulations of Hongzhi", people who had cloth tickets first went to the Royal Bank to exchange them, and then used the rice tickets to exchange for polished rice at the Royal Rice Store.

Not only did the cloth tickets not depreciate, but they could easily obtain polished rice from the Royal Rice Company. This result led to a great increase in the people's trust in the cloth tickets.

"The money in our hands is really becoming worthless!"

“Not only is it worthless, it’s hard to buy rice even if you have money now!”

"No matter what, we must stock up on some cloth tickets in case of emergency!"

…

People who had been unable to buy polished rice due to the shortage of rice shops had been complaining for a long time. Now that they saw that they could get polished rice by exchanging cloth tickets for rice tickets, they all sighed with emotion.

People in this era don't know so much economic knowledge. Now they realize that silver is no longer so invincible, and cloth tickets tied to physical objects are even more attractive.

Just like this, under the leadership of the Hongzhi Dynasty, some deep-rooted perceptions were subtly changing, and the silver standard was being challenged by the imperial court.

Although Zhu Youtang is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he does not intend to directly stand in opposition to the whole society, not to mention that the court also needs to use overseas mines and silver to enrich its finances.

In the "New Hongzhi Currency Regulations", a blockbuster regulation was also thrown out: the imperial court was about to launch Hongzhi silver dollars and banknotes of different denominations, and no longer advocated private transactions in silver.

This regulation provides additional explanation: "The face value of Hongzhi silver coins is one tael, two taels, five taels and ten taels. In addition, silver coins of two taels, fifty taels and one hundred taels are trialled in the capital. This silver dollar and banknotes have been minted since From now on, you can go to the Royal Bank to redeem the same amount of pure silver in two years, and our people can use it to store it in the kiln!"

According to the original history, China could not "change two to Yuan" until the Republic of China.

But by that time, China's wealth had already been robbed, and the entire society was in trouble. Although China has the awareness to establish its own currency, it has become a meal on the plate.

Zhu Youtang is now advancing the move to "change two to yuan", which will not only effectively prevent overseas silver from looting China's social wealth, but also slowly build a new currency system belonging to China.

Nothing can be accomplished overnight. It is unrealistic to build a credit currency system. How can people be fooled again and again?

Zhu Youtang knew that he should put the Chinese people first, and could not forcefully replace the social wealth created by the people's hard work with a blank piece of paper. Otherwise, this move would be no different from that of Japan and Western powers, so he gave the same silver dollar this time. Give it the effect of being linked to the real thing.

That is, if you have silver coins or banknotes from the fourth year of Hongzhi, you can exchange them for the same amount of silver ingots at the Royal Bank in the sixth year of Hongzhi. In this way, there is no problem of just drawing a cake.

The formation of a monetary system cannot rely solely on the power of the dynasty, but must provide certain physical guarantees. Only in this way can such a monetary system be recognized by the whole people.

If the plan goes well, the silver mines in Japan and the Americas will be owned by the Ming Dynasty, and these silver mines can help the Ming Dynasty easily buy the social wealth of the entire China.

Zhu Youtang knew that reasoning alone would not work. Only by transporting a steady stream of silver back to China could the people of China truly understand the pain points of silver.

Although he is not prepared to completely ban private silver transactions, Zhu Youtang has his own absolute territory, and he also issued a regulation: "In the future, miscellaneous taxes at all levels of yamen shall not levy broken silver or silver ingots from the people, but shall be based on the regulations of the court." Mainly copper coins and silver dollars are issued. Copper coins are the official currency of the imperial court. From now on, silver coins should not be valued over copper. One thousand coins should be exchanged for one tael of silver coins, and the old coins should be sent back to the capital for recasting!"

It can also be seen from the rice price turmoil in Beijing that the key to currency lies in circulation.

Since the Ming Dynasty has made up its mind to suppress the silver tael trade, it cannot just rely on slogans, but must take practical actions to control the circulation properties of silver taels.

First, the official attitude is to discourage silver tael transactions, then the silver dollar is introduced to replace the silver tael, and then it does not accept silver for tax purposes, and then uses overseas silver to plunder social wealth. In the future, the people will definitely give up the unreliable official currency of silver tael.

In fact, there is a very clever trick here. As the value of silver continues to rise, the value of copper coins continues to fall, causing the copper coins that can be exchanged for one tael of silver to rise from one thousand to two thousand coins.

But now the authorities have intervened, forcing one tael of silver to be equal to one thousand copper coins.

This move is not only conducive to the promotion of silver coins, but also corrects the status of copper coins in disguise, and can also allow more wealth to stay in the hands of people who hold large amounts of copper coins.

Each of the three axes in the "New Regulations on Hongzhi Currency" falls on the key points of the silver standard, eradicating one of China's biggest stubborn diseases.

The capital city in August is destined not to be peaceful.

With the promulgation of the "New Hongzhi Currency Regulations", the price of rice in Beijing has finally declined, and the rhetoric of increasing the price of rice tenfold will become empty talk.

"There are cloth tickets, but they can't be four cents!"

"I can give you eight coins and sell me three!"

"I can give you one or two, sell me two!"

…

Although cloth tickets can be exchanged for rice tickets, not everyone has cloth tickets.

In order to solve their own food crisis, some people had to buy cloth tickets from holders at high prices, but some holders of cloth tickets took the opportunity to raise their prices.

In fact, it cannot be said that they are taking advantage of the situation. After all, compared with the ten-fold increase in rice prices, the price of cloth tickets has increased by two or three times, which is a very good price.

"I don't want your silver! Let's just lend this cloth ticket to you! When the price of rice comes down in the future, or your fields produce food next year, or you have cloth tickets or rice tickets in your hand, then I will Just give me the rice back, how about that?" Liu Ying looked very generous and honest to the neighbors who came forward to buy cloth tickets.

She was originally a female weaver. She first joined the Royal Cloth Company and became a glorious female weaver. Now she has a large number of cloth stamps in her hands.

It's just that she doesn't like to take advantage of others, or she's not overly enthusiastic about money, so she made this relatively reasonable request.

"Really, thank you so much!" People who originally planned to come to buy tickets immediately expressed their gratitude when they heard that Liu Ying was willing to lend them.

In fact, Liu Ying is not the only one. Simplicity and kindness have long been integrated into the bones of some people, but they all lend out the cloth tickets they hold.

Borrowing rice is actually a common thing for many people.

When people living in this era encounter difficulties, neighbors often help each other, and only then can everyone get through the difficulties safely.

The current behavior of borrowing tickets is not fundamentally different from borrowing rice.

Since the imperial court built the capital into the world's number one cotton weaving center, people in the capital now have no shortage of cloth tickets, so cloth tickets are not a scarce resource.

It's just that these enthusiastic actions of the people in the capital have made it difficult for many rice stores to deal with them.

Mr. Qian is the owner of Aihua Rice Store. Unlike other shopkeepers who sold out of rice early, because his wife learned the news in advance, his rice warehouse is still full of polished rice.

Seeing that the price of rice was already 170 cents yesterday, I had already made up my mind to sell it at the price of 180 cents, and try to sell out at the price of 200 cents.

Although I bought part of the rice at a high price, I could only sell it successfully. That was a profit that I couldn't make even after ten years of hard work. I really have to thank Tianshi and the Marquis of Xiangcheng this time.

Mr. Qian did not dine at home today, but went to the most upscale Four Seasons Restaurant in Rizhongfang. After lunch, he led a few servants towards his Aihua Rice Shop.

Because his teeth were not straight and he just had a big fish, he was picking the meat stuffed in the minced meat with a toothpick.

Although Mr. Qian worked as a cashier, he would go to the rice store every day to check the account books, and he couldn't hide his smile on his fat face. Nowadays, there is plenty of fish and meat every day, and the price of rice is the same every day. This is simply a life like a fairy.

"Boss, you're finally here!" Shopkeeper Sun saw Mr. Qian's appearance and immediately greeted him.

When Officer Qian saw that there was no one at the door, he smiled even brighter and said: "Haha... I got up late! I got up late! Where is the money?"

"What money... oops?" Shopkeeper Sun suddenly asked in confusion.

Officer Qian slapped Shopkeeper Sun in the face angrily, but said with a straight face: "Nonsense, money for selling rice! I told you yesterday that it would sell for 170 cents per catty today. You won't hide it secretly, right?"

"Boss, we haven't sold a pound of rice so far today!" Shopkeeper Sun covered his face in pain and looked very aggrieved.

Only then did Mr. Qian notice that the rice at the door of the rice store was still intact, and he suddenly asked in confusion: "What's going on? Yesterday they beat their heads to pieces just to buy rice. Why is there no one left today?"

"Now not only can cloth tickets be exchanged for rice tickets at the Royal Rice Store, I heard that copper coins can buy rice, but each person is limited to three kilograms. Now everyone has gone to the Royal Rice Store!" Shopkeeper Sun heard this. , and immediately reported the report with a sad face.

Officer Qian turned his head to look in the direction of the Royal Rice Store and suddenly felt the world spinning.

Yesterday there was a crowd of people in front of the store, but just one day later, it was now empty.

"Don't panic, we will definitely have enough rice!"

"As long as you have rice coupons in your hands, our rice bank guarantees to honor them!"

"I heard that the rice warehouse of the Royal Rice Store has millions of stones. Why don't we grab some yarn?"

…

Yesterday there was still panic about rice, but today everything seems to have disappeared, and many people have returned to normal life. As the Royal Rice Bank released a large amount of polished rice, the tension in the capital was relieved, and the people naturally calmed down.

In fact, everyone is not necessarily short of rice. Except for those bankrupt families who don’t have enough food to eat, whose family doesn’t have some rice in the rice jar?

As for the rice supply in the capital, there is no need to be overly nervous. Although food from the south cannot be shipped for the time being, and the harvest this autumn will be poor, the canal's suspension cannot be permanent after all.

Once the canal is unblocked, there will be no food shortage in the capital. What's more, Northeast Prefecture is undergoing large-scale development. It is said that the first batch of rice will be shipped to the capital this year, and it will be even more unlikely that the capital will be short of rice.

Just like this, rice, which was originally exceeding 200 cents per catty, fell in response. Even if it was cut in half, no people would buy it anymore.

It was not just the rice shops in the capital that were harmed this time, but Yong, the initiator of the whole thing. The powerful people headed by the Marquis of Xiangyang were hit hard again. (End of chapter)