back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 367 Teaching Economic Theory
Fortunately, in this era, unlike the Ming and Qing Dynasties, women were supposed to leave the door and stay at home all day long.If you go out and don't walk with your head down, others will point and point at your back.

In the territory of Dashun, except for the ladies from the scholarly family who would be raised in deep boudoirs, the girls from poor families had to work to help make ends meet.Although some people say gossip behind their backs, but under the pressure of survival, who cares about gossip?So even for a beautiful woman like Zhou Zhiruo, if she walks on the streets of Chang'an City, at most she will only attract the attention of passers-by, no one will say anything, it's commonplace.

Just when Lu Chengqi was feeling emotional, Zhou Zhiruo asked again: "Then what is this monetary policy?"

Lu Chengqi was asked again. In ancient times, there was no interest rate, but private usury did exist, but the imperial court let go of such a big money-making project as lending to the people.When Xu Chongguang was the secretary of the household department, he kept crying about being poor, saying that there was no money left in the treasury, and a copper coin would be broken in half to spend.In fact, it is not that Dashun's economy is not good, but that the tax policy based on agricultural tax restricts the revenue of the treasury.Even if salt, iron, wine, and tea are sold, they still cannot make ends meet.Until Lu Chengqi proposed to levy business tax, it not only protected the interests of businessmen, avoided other exorbitant taxes, but also directly filled the treasury and encouraged business development, killing three birds with one stone.

In monetary policy, besides interest rates and credit, there is also foreign exchange, which is also not available in this era.In the economic circle radiated by Dashun, the copper coin of Dashun is the strongest currency, and its status is equivalent to the dollar of later generations.In addition, Dashun's foreign trade has always been in a trade surplus, and the foreign exchange policy seems to have no use.

Apart from these three aspects, how to explain to Zhou Zhiruo what monetary policy is?Lu Chengqi was in a hurry, and his brains turned sharply.Suddenly, an inspiration flashed, and finally found a topic that Zhou Zhiruo could understand: "Zi Tong, you should know that there is a shortage of money in Dashun Jingzhao Mansion and other places?"

Zhou Zhiruo nodded. She has been in Huangzhuang for so long, so she naturally knows what is going on with the money shortage: "Your Majesty, isn't this money shortage solved by His Majesty's silver coins, gold coins, and the Royal Bank?"

Lu Chengqi smiled wryly and said: "There is no such thing as a once-and-for-all thing in this world. How did the money shortage come about? It is because the price of copper coins is depreciating more and more, and officials and gentry don't want to use them. Zitong also knows that if it is fully exchanged for the usual copper coins, it will be enough There are thousands of coins. But now there are eight hundred coins, which is fine. This is the surface value of copper coins, which is far less than the actual value. This is because when the economy is developing more and more, there are more and more commodities. With the advancement of coin casting technology, it is reasonable that copper coins are worthless. However, Dashun’s copper coins are far greater than the domestic value in Liao, Korea and Japan. In Jingzhaofu, a copper coin may not be able to buy a piece of meat. Baozi. But in the neighboring countries, a copper coin in Dashun can buy much more goods than in Dashun. These officials and gentry would rather go to Japan to use copper coins than use them in Dashun. Money shortage..."

It turned out that Zhou Zhiruo knew everything about how the money shortage came about.Now after hearing Lu Chengqi's explanation, it suddenly dawned on him: "Then His Majesty exchanged the higher-value silver coins to the officials and gentry at a loss, just to replace the copper coins in the officials' and gentry's treasury?"

Lu Chengqi was no stranger to Zhou Zhiruo's economic talent, nodded and said, "Yes, it seems that I have suffered a disadvantage, but it is not. There is a lot of silver in the treasury, and the silver coins are not all made of silver. Switching to copper coins with a large circulation is still a profit. In this way, the value of copper coins will rise a lot, and the value of silver coins will be slightly reduced because of the large number of silver coins entering the market. Generally speaking, the currency is maintained at a benchmark amount Inside, it is worthwhile to stabilize the money shortage. Monetary policy, as it is said, is like this. When money is scarce, we will increase the minting of silver coins to increase the value of copper coins; when there are more copper coins on the market, we will reduce silver coins. The inflow of goods makes prices stable in a range. As I said earlier, there is no one-and-done thing, and the economy is always fluctuating. Coupled with the profit-seeking of businessmen, the economic development will definitely not be very healthy. Therefore, the monetary policy, The imperial court’s regulation of the economy is very necessary.”

Zhou Zhiruo remained silent, lowering her head to digest this knowledge.Seeing her appearance like this, Lu Chengqi didn't bother her, and let Zhou Zhiruo digest this knowledge quietly.

After a long time, Zhou Zhiruo suddenly asked: "Your Majesty, even if we know this truth, other ministers don't know, what should we do? What if..." Zhou Zhiruo stopped at this point.In ancient times it was taboo to talk about things after death, Zhou Zhiruo knew that her words were inappropriate, so she quickly stopped talking.

Lu Chengqi said with a smile: "In Dashun, there are still such things as books. After I have cleared my mind, I will compile a "Das Kapital" and publish it all over the world, so that businessmen all over the world can be vigilant, and ministers can understand What I did. By the way, the Royal Bank has branches in almost every prefecture, and my plan for the next stage will be implemented soon."

Zhou Zhiruo asked: "What's your majesty's plan? No, concubines shouldn't talk about political affairs, please punish me."

"How can I be willing to punish my little Zhiruo? Haha, this plan is related to the Royal Bank. It's okay for Zitong to know about it. I have a feeling that the excessive private usury has caused many farmers to be sick and look down on the doctor. Some lands have been lost. Land annexation is the root cause of a dynasty’s downfall. If I want to put an end to land annexation, I must first provide low-interest loans to give the people all over the world time to recuperate. Low-interest loans, the Royal Bank is the last It couldn't be more suitable. It's just that this plan can only be implemented in conjunction with the household registration system of the Ministry of Household Affairs, so the preparation time is longer."

Zhou Zhiruo immediately reacted: "If Your Majesty's plan can be implemented smoothly, the people of the world will definitely be grateful for His Majesty's grace. By then, the treasury will not be out of money..."

Lu Chengqi smiled wryly and said, "How can it be so simple? Corruption is the easiest to breed when money and silver are involved. If the supervision is not strict, the moth raised by the Royal Bank is more serious than the corruption of the Ministry of Accounts."

After all, Zhou Zhiruo was born in a family of officials. This reason is very simple, and she can understand it.Lu Chengqi was excited and continued: "In my idea, the Royal Bank is the leader and is in charge of minting coins. In addition to minting coins, it also runs deposit and withdrawal business, um, it's like those banks that use money to attract money. There are also lending business, investment business, etc. If my idea can be implemented, the Royal Bank will be the most profitable, after all, money makes money..."

These words exceeded Zhou Zhiruo's comprehension. After persistently questioning, she finally understood what deposit and withdrawal business and investment business were.Understanding the meaning, Zhou Zhiruo took a deep breath: "Your Majesty, are you going to collect all the money in the world?"

(End of this chapter)