high official

Chapter 626
In fact, Xia Yuanji's words are not alarmist at all. As the household secretary who has managed the Ming Dynasty's finances for more than ten years, Xia Yuanji understands very well that the cultural and martial arts of the Yongle Dynasty, which lasted through the ages, were based on overdrafting the country's power—to put it bluntly, it was abuse Send treasure notes!

China is a country that lacks precious metals. The issuance of banknotes by the imperial court is not new in history. The earliest tokens - white buckskin coins - appeared from the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, banknotes became an important part of the national monetary system.But before this dynasty, the rulers of all dynasties paid great attention to the credit of banknotes - because they were using national credit as a guarantee to make the people accept banknotes instead of gold, silver and copper coins. Turned into nothing, its resentment is enough to overturn the river and overturn the entire country.

Therefore, the rulers of all dynasties did not know that the excessive issuance of banknotes can easily seize the people's wealth and enrich the country's use, but they all knew that the bankruptcy of banknote credit was tantamount to the bankruptcy of national credit, and even led to the subjugation of the country.So when there is no way out, you will never drink poison to quench your thirst... Even the despised Meng Yuan didn't abandon the reserve fund system until the end of the regime was approaching, and began to issue papers indiscriminately. Banknotes, trying to exhaust the people's wealth, and carry out the final madness.But the result is that even the northern people who originally supported them, especially the Semu people, also regard them as enemies.Zhu Yuanzhang's Northern Expedition went very smoothly...

After the Yuan Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, it was supposed to absorb the lessons of the previous dynasty and treat the issuance of banknotes more cautiously. However, Zhu Yuanzhang, the ruler of the Ming Dynasty, did not listen to the persuasion of the insightful people in the court, and banned the use of gold and silver trade by the people. The Daming Banknotes issued were designated as the only current currency.Moreover, there is no issuance limit, no issuance reserve, and it cannot be cashed into gold and silver. This has laid a serious hidden danger for the financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty!

At the beginning of the issuance of the treasure banknotes, the prestige of Emperor Hongwu and the credit of the Ming Dynasty were at the highest peak because of the expulsion of the Tartars and the restoration of China, so the value of the treasure banknotes was still stable, and the people even recognized this banknote.However, another drawback of the banknote law of the Ming Dynasty - the inverted banknote method, triggered the first inflation ten years after the issuance of treasure banknotes.

At first, because the previously issued currency appeared to be damaged and dizzy one after another, in the ninth year of Hongwu, the imperial court established the law of reversing banknotes, and set up banks and warehouses in various places to exchange dilapidated banknotes.But four years later, the limit for exchanging dilapidated banknotes was stipulated, and all denominations and recognizable characters can continue to be used.It basically makes it impossible for the people to trade in the old for the new.

Although the imperial court stipulates that the people are not allowed to reject the old banknotes or discount the old banknotes, in fact, the government collects taxes and only collects new banknotes, while the people use or even refuse to use the old banknotes at a reduced price, which forms the price difference between the new and old banknotes. , causing currency depreciation and damaging the credit of the imperial court.

By the end of Hongwu, the brand-new banknotes could only be exchanged for 250 renminbi, and in Jiangxi, Fujian and other places, they could only be exchanged for about 20 renminbi. In 20 years, the currency depreciated by [-]%, which made the common people fear the precious banknotes like a tiger.It’s just that Chinese people are more afraid of Zhu Yuanzhang, who kills people like hemp, so they can only bear it silently... But Zhu Yuanzhang still cherishes the credit of the court and is sympathetic to the people. Under the shameless banknote method, it is already a miracle that [-]% of the face value can be left in [-] years.

In the Yongle Dynasty, the Emperor Yongle, who was determined to be an emperor through the ages, and proved that he was the best heir to the Ming Dynasty, began to shake the past and the present, conquering Mongolia, conquering Annan, building canals, repairing grand ceremonies, sailing to the West, and envoys to the Western Regions , building the city of Beijing, cultivating the Grand View of Martial Arts in Wudang Mountain... Any one of these things is enough for an emperor to honor his life, but Zhu Di has achieved the ultimate in all of them in just over ten years, making the Ming Dynasty's martial arts and martial arts unprecedented. Han Tang, unmatched!

But behind these great achievements is the rapid depletion of the national power and wealth of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, within a few years, Zhu Di spent all the rich family wealth left by his father, and there was not a single copper plate left in the treasury. The great project of the Yongle Dynasty They are still vigorous and non-stop.Of course, this is not an incredible miracle, but it is supported by an extremely shameless and evil government - that is, the excessive issuance of precious money!
The issuance of treasure banknotes by the Yongle court implemented a rogue policy of only going out but not entering. All payments that the court should pay, such as the distribution of official salaries and military salaries, the purchase of materials, and the hiring of civilians, were all paid with treasure banknotes.However, when the imperial court collects taxes, it is only willing to accept physical objects or copper coins, and only accepts a small amount of new banknotes, or does not accept precious banknotes at all.This is simply robbing the wealth of the common people!The result can be imagined-the wealth of the people of Ming Dynasty was plundered, and the treasures have been reduced to waste paper!

From the consistent new banknotes in the last years of Hongwu, which can be worth four hundred yuan, to now, the consistent new banknotes can only be worth twenty or thirty Wen, and the old banknotes are even worthless. In just over ten years, the value of Daming treasure banknotes has depreciated by two Ten times, the wealth represented by those precious banknotes will naturally disappear... In fact, although the imperial court has repeatedly issued orders not to trade with gold and silver in order to maintain the status of precious banknotes, merchants would rather take the risk of going to jail than use gold and silver. trade.Among the ordinary people, they would rather adopt primitive barter than use precious money that is too hard to wipe their ass... As for the enforcers and defenders of laws and regulations, Ming officials have long only recognized gold and silver. Don't recognize the treasure.

The day when the Daming banknotes will be completely abandoned by the common people is really not far away... As the household secretary of the Ming Dynasty, Xia Yuanji is naturally worried about this. , On the one hand, revise the inverted banknote method, and increase the recovery of dilapidated banknotes.At the same time, we will try our best to implement the "household banknote salt law" and "door stall course law", so that people can buy salt with treasure banknotes, and merchants can use banknotes to pay for door stall courses.Forcing merchants and ordinary people to use banknotes barely prevented the cliff-like decline in the value of the banknotes.

Unexpectedly, the emperor would want to distribute precious banknotes indiscriminately again, Xia Yuanji knew that if this time the banknotes were issued excessively, the value of Daming's precious banknotes that had just recovered would be completely destroyed.More importantly, the credit of the imperial court will be completely bankrupt. This will not only make the Daming Banknotes completely abandoned by the people of the country, but also cause a series of serious consequences, which are simply unimaginable...

'Even if you risk your life, you must stop the emperor! Xia Yuanji has always been very obedient to the emperor, and has basically responded to his requests for many years, but Zhu Di really broke through his bottom line this time, making Xia Shangshu, who has always regarded obedience as a loyal emperor, no longer able to back down!

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Hearing the emperor's scolding, Xia Yuanji hurriedly knelt down on his knees, but he still had the courage to say: "Your Majesty clearly learned that this minister is by no means alarmist. The evil result of years of unrestrained money issuance is that the Ming's treasures are almost worthless. It has almost withdrawn from the daily transactions of officials, merchants and common people, and no one will regard it as a hoard of wealth!" He ignored the emperor's increasingly dark face, and then poured out the words he had held back for many years: "The emperor is the son of Yao and Shun. Your Majesty, I often teach my ministers to cherish the common people. The ministers think that forcibly paying them precious money that the officials and the common people are unwilling to accept in exchange for the fruits of their labor is tantamount to robbery with open flames! There is a lot of resentment, and the most urgent task is to relieve this emotion, rather than continue to intensify the conflict. Your Majesty, please stop issuing new banknotes for ten years, and only allow old banknotes to be exchanged for new banknotes, then the value of Daming treasure banknotes will definitely rebound!"

It should be said that Xia Yuanji's performance was full of heart and soul, and all the ministers nodded secretly, but Zhu Di was very unhappy.For one thing, Xia Yuanji said that he robbed the people, which made Zhu Di, who regarded himself as a wise king, feel so embarrassed.Secondly, Xia Yuanji actually asked him not to issue money for ten years, wouldn't that mean austerity for ten years?I'm over 50, how can I have so much time to wait?

This is Xia Yuanji, if it were another minister, Zhu Di would have had a fit.But Xia Yuanji was irreplaceable, Daming's finances were worth ten cups and seven caps, and it was impossible to do without him.Zhu Di could only swallow his anger and said: "The Qing family said that the treasure is worthless, is it exaggerating?"

"Your words are indeed exaggerated." Xia Yuanji said: "In the capital, the new banknotes are always worth eighteen Wen. Banknotes can be worth eleven Wen copper coins. If it is an old banknote, it can only be worth two or three Wen, one or two Wen, or even not spent at all..."

"That's still worthless!" Zhu Di couldn't hold back his face anymore, his obsessive-compulsive disorder because he wanted to prove that he was a perfect emperor broke out again.He swept his eyes across the ministers and asked loudly, "Is this really the case?"

All the ministers lowered their heads one after another, no one dared to accept this, but their performance undoubtedly proved that what Xia Yuanji said was true...

"How could this be?" Zhu Di slumped down on the dragon chair, muttering a few words to himself.All the ministers in the Golden Palace held their breath, not daring to take a breath, for fear that they would become the emperor's punching bag.

Fortunately, after only a few breaths, Zhu Di adjusted his mood, regained his composure, and asked coldly, "Who gave them such audacity to despise me so much?"

"Reporting to the emperor, there are many reasons." Xia Yuanji explained responsibly: "But generally speaking, because the treasure banknotes have depreciated by almost fifty times in the past 40 years, no one will use treasure banknotes anymore. "

"What do you use if you don't use treasure notes?" Zhu Di said in a muffled voice.

"Little people barter, merchants trade gold and silver..." Xia Yuanji said.

"Gold and silver?" Zhu Di said with his eyes widened, "My ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty forbids the circulation of gold and silver in the market, but those cunning businessmen ignore the laws of the country and continue to circulate gold and silver! This is the reason for the depreciation of the Ming Dynasty's banknotes!" Glaring at Xia Yuanji fiercely, he said, "You put the cart before the horse, and your heart can be punished!"

"I dare not..." Although he had already made up his mind to tell the truth to the emperor even if he offended Tian Yan, Xia Yuanji was still in a cold sweat when he heard Zhu Di's comment.

(End of this chapter)