Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 464 One Baht
In the first imperial examination, there were repeated examples of people awakening to exclusive strategies. Bai Tu understood that this was no accident, but that being on the imperial examination list really had a guiding effect on awakening strategies!

It's not surprising - the awakening of strategy is influenced by one's own talents and the official position he holds.

Since "official position" has an impact on strategy, it is not surprising that the ceremonial imperial examination will have a similar effect...

For this reason, Bai Tu specially studied this matter with Yu Ji, Chu Ji and other important Cheng Ji Yi Ji.

Yu Ji suggested to Bai Tu that during the next imperial examination, a stronger "sense of ritual" can be created, which may have a stronger guiding effect. Maybe the top three scholars will be able to awaken the corresponding exclusive strategies on the spot. !

In this way, it can not only enhance the strength of Chu State, but also increase the appeal of the imperial examination.

After Liu Ye obtained permission from the Ministry of Rites for sea-going trade, while waiting for a reply from Wei, he also began to negotiate the price with the Ministry of Household.

Liu Ye, who had dealt with Chu State more than once or twice, was already familiar with the process and understood the routines involved.

For example, when discussing with the Ministry of Rites, the discussion is more about the nature of the permission of "allowing certain commodities to be traded", while when discussing with the Ministry of Household, it is a pure dispute of "interests"!
As long as the price is high enough, you can definitely buy it...

But this time there is something different, because when discussing with the Ministry of Rites, the chief bookkeeper of the Ministry of Households was present, so the transaction permission itself stipulated that Wei Guo could buy a house for at least "3000 million yuan". A main ship currently in service in the Chu Navy.

3000 million coins does not refer to Han five baht coins, but Chu coins...

In fact, in the past six months, many princes have discovered that Chu State is promoting currency transactions, and this currency is "Chu Coin".

For a long time, because of the decline of the commodity economy in the Later Han Dynasty, and in every troubled time, the princes would routinely mint bad coins privately, so "barter" was the mainstream of large-scale transactions.

At this time, there was no question of whether there was any collateral for the coinage. The metal used for the coinage, that is, "copper", was used as the backbone of the currency's value.

However, in history, during the Three Kingdoms period, Wei, Shu, and Wu competed in casting coins, and often "made hundreds of dollars" or "ten thousand dollars" - that is, directly cast the characters "hundred, thousand, and ten thousand" on copper coins, which stipulated that this One piece can be used as thousands of pieces...

Of course, imposing regulations is useless. In fact, when it comes to the private sector, the value of these millions of dollars will plummet, leaving behind a broken currency trading system.

However, for the commodity economy to truly recover, the monetary system must be re-established, so Bai Tu began to mint Chu coins, and gradually only recognized Chu coins in transactions!
And how do other princes obtain Chu coins?
Naturally, Chu State also levies all types of horses, mineral deposits, etc. with clearly marked prices in Chu coins.

In addition, there is a constant cost of one hundred dollars and one stone to purchase rice, wheat and other grains - Chu State's grain reserves mainly rely on official and semi-official large farms, and private purchases are just to prevent grain prices from plummeting. For example, this year due to grain prices If prices rise, the imperial court will not purchase much additional grain.

The princes from all over the Chu coin have verified that it is also a copper coin, and it is of high quality. In terms of weight, although it is less than five baht, it is still more than four baht... It can be called a conscience coin.

Of course, Chu State's external statement is that one Chu coin belongs to "one baht coin".

In history, after experiencing the chaos of coins by the princes, the "five baht coin" was once considered a symbol of orthodoxy - that is, the coins minted were as heavy as "five baht" - "baht" is also a unit of weight.

If you are willing to mint five baht coins, you will be considered a responsible force.

According to the Chinese system, 16 taels is one catty, and 24 baht is one tael...

One pound in the Han Dynasty was about half a pound in later generations, and five baht was just over 3 grams.

Bai Tu was full of sense of ritual, but had enough of the anti-human mixed system behind it. From the beginning of the establishment of Chu State, he began to re-standardize weights and measures.

Chu Jin and Han Jin have not changed much, except that the standard weights have been recast in each county, which can be regarded as accurate again, equivalent to half a catty or 250 grams in later generations.

After that, ten liang and one jin, ten baht and one liang, that is, one plant is equivalent to 2.5 grams. At the same time, the smallest Chu coin is also based on one baht, which can be regarded as forcing the "Chu baht" and "decimal system" to the people. concept.

They even specially minted "big money" worth one to ten, not to save copper, because the materials used for big money are also ten times that of one tael and small money...

As for anti-counterfeiting... it mainly relies on adding trace amounts of other metals in casting, and the cost of counterfeiting copper coins is very high - it doesn't make much sense to use copper of the same weight to cast counterfeit Chu coins. After all, copper itself is also a precious metal.

In addition, if counterfeit coins are found in the country, they will be punished immediately, and if foreign counterfeit coins are found, the transaction level of the princes will be directly reduced. There is no need to worry too much about counterfeit coins.

In addition, Chu State still recognized the mainstream idea of ​​one gold and ten thousand coins - one pound of gold can be used as ten thousand coins.

But only real gold is recognized, not brass... In fact, in the Han Dynasty, the so-called "brass" was called "gold" only when it was awarded as a reward, which sounded better. In addition, when copper coins were used as money, It will be called "gold".

In fact, the ratio of one pound of gold to one hundred pounds of copper coins existed in the Qin Dynasty. This also refers to real gold. People in the Han Dynasty were able to distinguish gold from brass...

It's just that the price of gold in the Han Dynasty was actually very low, and it could only be exchanged for copper coins that were a hundred times heavier.

In addition, the State of Chu also recognized the not very mainstream "three silvers for one gold", which was a mainstream exchange ratio that lasted for a long time in the Han Dynasty. Three pounds of silver can be exchanged for one pound of gold.

It can be said that Bai Tu is paving the way for silver coin trading - the reserves of copper as a trading metal will sooner or later be insufficient, but with Danzhou, silver coins can be used with confidence and boldness!

After mining, "three baht silver coins" can be used as straight hundred coins, and three taels of small coins can be used as units of ten thousand coins.

As long as Danzhou's silver mining channels are "locked", there is no need to worry about inflation - Danzhou's silver reserves can crush other silver mines for a long time.

As for banknotes, Bai Tu plans to wait until silver coins are popularized before transitioning to "silver notes", which is enough to persist until a more reliable monetary system is established.

Naturally, the other princes were not unaware of Chu's actions in promoting "Chu coins", but they had different reactions.

The Han Dynasty nominally prohibited the circulation of Chu coins in the Central Plains, Guanzhong, and Xiliang. If it was not impossible, Liu Xie even wanted to collect Chu coins and melt them into Han five-baht coins to demonstrate his authority... Unfortunately, he had no money.

I can only find someone to write an article, criticizing the state of Chu for changing the 16-tael and 24-baht system, and the reasons behind it that violate ethics, laws of nature, etc...

However, the so-called prohibition means that there will be no Chu coins circulating in the capital area. In fact, Yonghou, Zhaihou, Saihou and Zhenghou will not specifically prevent the circulation of Chu coins in their respective territories.

Only Qi Hou Liu Bei resolutely prohibited the circulation of Chu coins in Xuzhou and Qingzhou areas outside Donglai.

Because Donglai County has two ports of Chu State and is a major trading county, it can tolerate Chu coins as a currency in circulation to a certain extent.

Wei State prohibits the circulation of Chu coins among the people, and turns a blind eye to the large-scale transactions of wealthy and powerful families. However, it will never use Chu coins when dealing with local wealthy families. At the same time, it also wants to promote Wei coins. , It is a pity that Wei State does not have the foundation of Chu State, its own goods cannot be exported everywhere, and Wei money cannot open up the situation, and can only promote circulation among Wei people.

Liu Zhang responded by "pretending to be dead" and "not seeing".

As for the Gongsun clan and Hanzhong Tianshi Dao, because of the previous agreement to purchase Chu armor and build Han weir, Chu coins are used throughout the territory...

But no matter what, as the currency of the Chu State, all the major princes basically understood its value, especially Liu Ye, as Dahonglu, who was able to weigh the significance of "3000 million coins".

First of all, the Wei State did not have the habit of hoarding Chu coins, and it was impossible to exchange its own resources for Chu coins and pile them in the warehouse. Therefore, if it wanted to collect 3000 million Chu coins, it would definitely have to be exchanged for goods worth 3000 million Chu coins.

All in all, that's...a lot of money!
But compared to the value of the "latest" main ship, 3000 million dollars is completely acceptable.

Of course, Liu Ye knew from the moment the negotiation was successful that Chu must have newer shipbuilding technology.

It's just that Liu Ye still foolishly thinks that as long as he has "samples" back and Ma Jun's ability, he can catch up with Chu's progress.

However, when Liu Ye was negotiating with the Ministry of Household Affairs, he finally understood what shamelessness meant...

The price of the main ship is 3000 million yuan?

That's right, Da Chu kept his word. He said 3000 million, just 3000 million, but... it's a bundled sale. You have to buy five main ships at one time, as well as other supporting ships, and even the second ship launched three years ago. Generation ship!
The total price is [-] million.

When Liu Ye accused the Ministry of Revenue of breaking the contract, Bu Zhi said that the final right of interpretation belonged to the State of Chu, and the price of 3000 million a ship had not changed.

When Liu Ye angrily stated that he would refuse the Chu State to garrison Tuyin Port, the Department of Revenue also performed mediocrely - that is the matter of the Ministry of Rites. Don't expect us to give up the performance of the Department of Revenue in order to protect the Ministry of Rites!

Liu Ye could feel that their attitude was true to a large extent, and it was also in line with the characteristics of the six tribes of Chu.

The reason why Bai Tu divided the foreign transaction negotiations into two parts, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Household, was to extract maximum benefits. If the competition between the two departments really affected the major events of Chu State, Diange would come forward.

Diange did not come forward, which means that the Chu State and the King of Chu do not think it is important...

At this time, Liu Ye also remembered what Bai Tu had said to him before, and understood that Chu State was telling him that he knew that Wei State was imitating sea ships, so don't even think about buying Chu State's technology for the price of one ship!
In the end, Liu Ye returned to the chair of the Ministry of Revenue and gradually lowered the price to 6000 million. And it was not a price reduction, but... Chu State agreed to sell fewer ships to Liu Ye, and the unit price actually increased.

But what Wei wanted was a sample, so he pinched his nose and accepted it!

As for the transaction period, Chu State only said that the transaction would be completed within one year - because the main ship was still in Danzhou.

Liu Ye is not in a hurry. It will not take him a month or two to raise 6000 million...

　Changchangdong: Updated more than 6000 words, what a hard-working author!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)