I want to be a grandson

Chapter 509
"Wang Zhong, find me all the minting records related to Ming Dynasty!"

Back in Jinshen Hall, Zhu Yunxi was ready to solve the problem of Ming currency.

After a while, Wang Zhong brought in a pile of memorials and files, and placed them on the table with extreme care, "My lord, it's all here..."

Zhu Yunxi waved him back, didn't say anything, and concentrated on looking at the records.

In fact, Daming's financial system has always been a huge loophole, and there was no perfect system from the beginning to the end.

Even the monetary system has been seeing-saw, and there has been no proper solution for a long time. I don’t know how much national and financial resources have been leaked!
Before Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he also used gold, silver and copper coins to issue "Dazhong Tongbao" in Nanjing, with four hundred Wen as one consistent, forty Wen as one tael, and four Wen as one coin.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, "Hongwu Tongbao" was officially issued, and a total of five denominations of coins were minted, namely: Xiaoping, folded in two, folded in three, folded in five, and folded in ten.Behind each copper coin, there will be a corresponding face value.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when Hongwu Tongbao was casting, it was clearly stipulated that it could not be mixed with other metals, only copper could be used, and a pound of copper could only cast 160 copper coins, and all copper coins had to be made by Yingtianfu.

These regulations are very important. As the main currency, copper coins must play an important role in maintaining the stable operation of the Ming Dynasty's economy.

Since the economy is to be stabilized, it is necessary to ensure the stability of the currency value, and there must be no major fluctuations.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang regulated the size, face value, and texture of money. This was to ensure the stability of the currency value, and the regulation of the place of origin was mainly to monopolize the right to mint currency, thereby cracking down on private piracy, or to maintain financial stability.

But it is a pity, because the Ming Dynasty also faced the problem of shortage of coinage materials, and during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the original copper mines gradually declined, which was also a big reason.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang still stayed in the thinking of old farmers and was unwilling to spend a lot of effort to mine copper mines. This caused the government of the Ming Dynasty to fail to produce a sufficient amount of currency for use every year, which seriously restricted the development of the commercial economy.

After all, as businessmen, few like to tally and barter, and few like to pile up their homes with goods.

Similarly, due to the lack of copper coins, it is extremely inconvenient for the common people to use. Everyone understands the disadvantages and inconvenience of bartering.

Zhu Yunxi got up and went to the hanging Kanyu map. On this map, the distribution of copper, iron and other minerals in Ming Dynasty was marked...

It took Zhu Yunxi two days to fully understand these records, memorials, and maps, and he also had a basic understanding of Ming's currency situation.

Waking up early in the morning, Zhu Yunxi punched, danced with the sword for a while, and after sweating,

After taking a comfortable hot bath, all the boredom and turbidity were swept away, and I was really refreshed and comfortable.

"Wang Zhong, tell the courtiers that today's court meeting in the Hall of Martial Heroes!"

Zhu Yunxi, who was changing clothes under the maid's service, glanced at Wang Zhong and ordered.

"Yes, the servant obeys!"

It's not common to discuss matters in the Hall of Valor.

I usually stay in the Wenhua Palace, or come directly to the Jinshen Palace, what happened today?
Not only Wang Zhong, but even the courtiers would not be a little surprised when they heard it. The Hall of Martial Heroes usually discusses matters there when it is related to military expeditions.

But they didn't think too much, and went to the Hall of Martial Arts as instructed.

This time, there are ministers from various ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple, and the Minister of General Affairs.

Although this court meeting is not big, it is bigger than usual with just a few confidantes.

After all, if you listen to both, you will be bright, and if you believe partly, you will be dark.

"Your Majesty, please see Your Majesty, Your Majesty is blessed!"

"I bow! All loves are flat! Give me a seat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty..."

When the courtiers returned to their positions according to their shifts, they only looked up and found that Zhu Yunxi was not wearing a crown suit, but a regular suit.

In fact, it's nothing, but the regular clothes are very close-fitting and compact, with the golden dragon on them, it feels a bit strong...

Majestic and extremely spiritual.

After dealing with a few small matters, the court discussion came to today's topic.

Qin Kui, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, got up and said: "I would like to report to your majesty, your majesty ascended the throne and the royal pole, and the whole world celebrates together. It is reasonable to mint Xuanwu new money, so that the subjects and people of the world can enjoy the emperor's grace!"

Zhu Yunxi said: "About the casting of Xuanwu's new money, Qin Butang has submitted a memorial to me before, and the household department has also submitted it. Since all the lovers are here today, it is a good time to discuss this matter."

Qin Kui's proposal to mint copper coins was also within his scope of responsibility, because the Baoyuan Bureau, which closed its doors to mint coins, was under the Ministry of Industry.

Qin Kui took the lead in saying: "Your Majesty, colleagues, according to ancient records, the earliest year money is the "Han Xing Qian" cast by Han Li Shou of the Sixteen Kingdoms. The "Taihe Five Baht" of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, etc...

The system of year title money began in the Song Dynasty. During the nearly 300 years from Northern Song Taizong to Southern Song Dynasty Duzong, year title money continued continuously.

After the Song Dynasty, all the money minted in the past dynasties are year-name money, such as Zhiyuan Tongbao in the Yuan Dynasty, and Hongwu Tongbao in our Ming Dynasty..."

Qin Kui was looking for a historical basis for casting the year title money.

Because the system of year name money was established in the Northern Song Dynasty, and not every emperor issued his own year name money at that time,

Moreover, the Northern Song Dynasty perished in the middle, and Jinling, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, was in a safe place. Before that, the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty ruled the Central Plains, and there were many disturbances.

The Ming Dynasty has only been established for 29 years. Before that, there was only one emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, and there was only one kind of "Hongwu Tongbao" for the coin of the year.
Therefore, if Zhu Yunxi wants to cast his own reign money, he still needs to have a well-founded basis, so that he can convince the public.

Fu Youwen, the minister of the household department, said: "Your Majesty, since the issuance of Daming banknotes in the eighth year of Hongwu, there have been six denominations of banknotes: [-], [-], [-], [-], [-] and Yiguan. A penny of copper is worth a thousand pennies,

In the 22nd year of Hongwu, five additional small-denomination banknotes, including ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty, were issued to facilitate the circulation of treasure banknotes. "

"However, for the common people, naturally they still need small amounts of copper coins to buy things, trade conversions,
Therefore, copper coins are absolutely indispensable, and I believe that it is imperative to issue new Xuanwu coins, and there is still a need to increase the number, so it is necessary to issue more coins..."

It is the trend of the times for the imperial court to mint new "Xuanwu" coins, and it is almost a certainty. Needless to say, no courtier will object.

The key is how much to issue!

If you want to do a "face project" and send a few million texts, it is equivalent to only a few 10 taels of silver, which is not enough for civilian use.

Fu Youwen didn't dare to say more about the Daming banknotes.

The key is that there are too many places for Baochao to complain about!

The most fundamental difference between the treasure banknote system in the Ming Dynasty and the Jiaozi system in the Song Dynasty is that there is no reserve for treasure banknotes.

At the beginning of the establishment of Jiaozi, the court of the Song Dynasty made careful preparations and used a sufficient amount of business as a reserve fund to provide credibility support for Jiaozi.

People can exchange gold and silver with Jiaozi, so Jiaozi in the Song Dynasty are a bit like today's banknotes, and they are very strong.

However, the treasure banknotes of the Ming Dynasty had no reserve funds from the beginning, and no precious metals such as gold and silver as support!

So fundamentally speaking, the Ming Dynasty's precious banknotes are nothing more than a piece of paper, which is enforced by the power of the Ming court, and many times the government refuses to accept it!

I can give you money, but you have to pay me in kind!

So, Daming Treasure Banknote is a bit of a hooligan...

It's not bad to say it!
Yu Xin also said: "What Mr. Fu said is very true. Nowadays, among the common people, they often barter and lack copper coins in their hands, which makes life and shopping very inconvenient.

The people’s thirst for the past is hard to satisfy, so until now, some copper coins from the Tang and Song Dynasties are still in circulation..."

As he spoke, he took out a few copper coins, spread them out in his hands, and said, "Dear colleagues, here are three copper coins from the Tang Dynasty, two copper coins from the Song Dynasty, and one Zhiyuan Tongbao from the Yuan Dynasty.

These were received by my family members in the past, because I am an official of the Ming Dynasty, I felt that it was inappropriate to use the copper coins from the previous dynasty, so I kept them..."

Yu Xin put himself out, so as not to cause the impeachment of the sixth division.

At the same time, everyone agrees with what he said. After all, no one is a land god, nor is he a human fireworks.

When the family buys things and conducts transactions, they will more or less encounter them, but using coins from the previous dynasty is not a big deal, and they have long been used to it.

This has happened many times in history.

Until the Tang Dynasty, people were still used to using the five baht coins issued by the Han Dynasty.

Later, with the emergence of a glorious and prosperous Tang Dynasty, the culture and economy flourished, and they had their own Tang Dynasty copper coins.

During the period of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, large-scale coin reform measures were implemented, and the five baht coins were abolished by law. At this time, the five baht coins of the Han Dynasty were slowly replaced, but the common people still kept their own five baht coins.

After the Song Dynasty, some emperors did not restrict the old coins of the Tang Dynasty, which made the copper coins of the Tang Dynasty mostly used in the Song Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, a considerable part of the copper coins used by the common people were copper coins handed down from the Tang and Song dynasties. The five baht coins gradually withdrew from the stage, and some were recycled and recast.

Because in the simple concept of the common people, as long as the quality of the coin is not to be damaged and the weight is heavy, it will be recognized by them and will continue to be used as money.

Minister of the Ministry of War Ru Yu said: "Your Majesty, since new coins are to be issued, the coins of the former dynasty that are currently in circulation among the people, whether they are Tang and Song coins or five baht coins, should be taken back and recast.
Only by realizing the unification of currency in this way can it really bring convenience to the people. Otherwise, there are many kinds of standard money with different weights and denominations, which is very inconvenient to use. "

Qi Tai, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, nodded and said: "What Qin Butang said is that there are too many copper coins, and it is difficult to trade them. If they can be taken back and remade, and issued in a unified manner, it will definitely benefit Daming. "

Zhu Yunxie nodded and asked, "Qinbutang, various copper coins contain different amounts of copper and tin, and some even contain iron. Can your Baoyuan Bureau of the Ministry of Industry recast these bad coins?"

Qin Kui said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, Baoyuan Bureau can undertake the casting of new money and recycling of old money, but it's just a matter of sending more people and working harder..."

"Ah."

Regarding Qin Kui's behavior of complaining and asking for credit, Zhu Yunxi didn't pay attention to it, and directly ordered: "In this case, according to the proposal of love, prepare to mint new money, and take back the old money and remake it."

"Yes, I obey!"

Tie Xuan said: "Your Majesty, among the Daming banknotes issued today, some of the banknotes are worn out because there is no time to recycle them for new ones.
So I discounted the face value a bit, but the discount is not much, only [-]%..."

"That's why I feel that the common people should be replaced with new banknotes. As for whether it is necessary to print more, after the replacement, it depends on whether Daming has enough money, and it will not be too late to discuss..."

Zhu Yunxi took it over and said: "There was a banknote exchange method before the imperial court, but many people didn't know it, which led to the still using the old banknotes.

Well, since the banknotes are worn out, they should be replaced. Qin Butang, you, the Ministry of Industry, should also pay attention to this matter. If there are worn-out banknotes, they should be replaced in time... "

"Yes, I obey..."

Zhu Yunxi glanced at Tie Xuan and breathed a sigh of relief.

Tie Xuan is worthy of being a roundworm in his stomach, he knows what he is thinking, and he will save face for himself.

The Daming Treasure Banknotes have been severely discounted. Although they haven't reached the point where they are worth as much as paper towels, they are only [-]% left!

That is to say, the face value of one hundred, the actual value is only eighty, and people will only use it as eighty.

In fact, this is a painful thing for people who originally held precious money in their hands. The assets in the family have directly shrunk by [-]%...

Of course, the biggest problem with the shrinkage of treasure banknotes is not that they are worn out, but that they are overissued in the Ming Dynasty.

As long as the currency is strong, whether it is new or old, the value is the same.

However, the excessive issuance by the imperial court is the important reason for the depreciation of Daming banknotes.

The treasure banknotes of the Ming Dynasty had no credit foundation, and in the early Ming Dynasty, in order to meet the huge consumption of the country, the imperial court continued to issue more treasure banknotes, so that the circulation of treasure banknotes far exceeded the needs of the people and the market, which caused the rapid decline of treasure banknotes. depreciate.

When Jiaozi was issued in the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that one circle would be issued every two years, and after one circle, new banknotes would be exchanged for old banknotes.However, the actual circulation time of Yijiejiaozi in the Song Dynasty was three years.

The Ming Dynasty also had a banknote exchange method to recycle damaged old banknotes that have not been cleared for a long time. The old banknotes are also called "faint banknotes". Of course, this part of the old banknotes will be destroyed and cannot be circulated.

However, the banknote exchange system in the Ming Dynasty was not strict, resulting in faint banknotes still being circulated in the market for a long time, while new banknotes were issued continuously, and old banknotes were not recycled.
As a result, there are more and more precious banknotes in the market, which eventually leads to further aggravation of inflation and skyrocketing prices. The precious banknotes are reduced to waste paper step by step.

And Tie Xuan's proposal to replace old banknotes and not issue new banknotes for the time being can alleviate inflation and help stabilize the value of precious banknotes.

(End of this chapter)