Daming Military Empire

Chapter 442 Trading and Currency

The lectures on the first day touched the representatives of the four European countries a lot, especially those who do not understand Chinese. Most of them started to find someone to learn Chinese from that afternoon. They all felt that what Huang Daozhou said was right. In this era of great navigation , If you refuse to communicate with other countries, you are looking for death!

The next day, I continued to give lectures. The representatives of the diplomatic corps from all over the world were very active that day, because they could see from the books handed out. What I want to talk about today is what everyone is most interested in: money.

Today's lecture is about Luo Yangxing, the head of Daimyo Nikko Bank. His appearance is very special. Not only did he appear on the stage, but he also pushed a delicate car half the height of a person.

By the way, why is he pushing a small cart?Wouldn't it be pushing a cart of money?
What he pushed was really a cartload of money. The money would have to be pushed with a cart. It must be a lot of money, right?

There is indeed a lot of money on the trolley, but this more refers to the variety, not the quantity.

After he took the stage, he just said a simple opening remark: "Hi everyone, today I will talk about transactions and currencies."

Then, he struggled to take out a big cloth bag from the bottom of the trolley, and introduced: "Currency is a certificate or contract used for transactions. What I hold in my hand is the most primitive currency, a bag of grain." !"

What he said seems to be a bit different from what was written in the book, but now that he doesn't understand Chinese, he is not as confused as he was yesterday, because he basically knows who knows Chinese around him, and if he doesn't understand, he can ask, and soon everyone Everyone knows what Luo Yangxing is talking about. A bag of food is money?Almost everyone couldn't help chuckling.

Luo Yangxing struggled to put the bag on the top of the trolley, and said helplessly, "Don't laugh, everyone. I have consulted many ancient books. Thousands of years ago, that is, the earliest period with historical records, the standard currency for transactions was grain. "

It gradually quieted down below. There were no history lessons at the moment, and historians who were not responsible for recording history would not study history specifically. Few people here really knew the history thousands of years ago.

Of course, even if they want to study the history of thousands of years ago, they can’t study it. Their country doesn’t seem to have a history of thousands of years. The standard currency of the country is food.

Seeing that the people below were no longer smirking, Luo Yangxing continued to introduce: "Actually, it is not surprising that grain is used as a trading currency, because at that time people mainly considered the problem of having a full stomach, and at that time they did not have the ability to refine grains." To produce gold and silver, even if it can be smelted, gold and silver are just more beautiful stones. If you exchange stones with them, it’s no wonder they don’t throw stones at you.”

The people below began to chuckle again, but this time it was an understanding smile. At this time, Luo Yangxing took out a gold ingot and a silver ingot from the trolley, held them up and said: "Then why did gold and silver become the standard instead of food later on?" What about currency?"

He began to talk about the history of currency evolution for nearly an hour, which seemed to be a history lesson that had nothing to do with the talks. Is he doing useless work?
Of course not, at least, he let the representatives of various countries below understand that currencies are also constantly evolving.

At the end of the intermission, the important point came. Teams of Jinyiwei came in with cartloads of money. This time it was real money: Chongzheng Tongbao and Dragon Coins of the Ming Dynasty.

After these Jin Yiwei distributed Chongzheng Tongbao and Dragon Coins to the desktops of the representatives of various countries, Luo Yangxing appeared again and began to talk about the trend of currency development.

Regarding this issue, Zhu Cijiong talked with him when Dragon Coin was first released a few years ago. After several years of practice, he now speaks clearly and logically.

However, the representatives of most European countries really couldn't accept the fact that paper was used as money for a while. Seeing the expressions of the representatives of the vassal states holding dragon coins, they really didn't understand. Is the currency really the same as what Luo Yangxing said, has it become the standard currency in Daming?

Don't believe it, it's okay, there is no class in the afternoon, Luo Yangxing specially prepared hundreds of carriages for them, and asked them to take the distributed dragon coins and go to the street to try it out!

Naturally, Shivira firmly believed in the fact that dragon coins could be used as money, and now he approached the Duke of Useda again and acted as a free tour guide for him.

And our Duke of Useda is holding on to the dragon coins in a daze. Luo Yangxing is generous. To the leaders of the diplomatic missions of various countries, ten of each kind of dragon coins are issued, that is to say, the dragon coins that Useda is holding But a dragon coin worth nearly 2000 taels of silver!
2000 taels of silver, how many things can you buy with just this handful of paper?

He believed more in the three Chongzheng Tongbao in his pocket. The problem was that Luo Yangxing was stingy in this regard. He only issued one gold coin, silver coin and copper coin each. In his words, these things were too troublesome to carry. , absolutely unnecessary!

The relationship between Shivela and Useda is very good now. Seeing Useda standing there in a daze, this guy stepped forward and grabbed his arm, and pulled him towards a carriage.

Uceda came back to his senses now, and he asked curiously: "Why are you dragging me, are we really using these papers to buy things?"

Shivela laughed and said: "In the Ming Empire, this is money, why can't you buy things? Let's go, I'll take you to have a good shopping."

After that, he directly pulled Useda into the carriage, and said to the driver, "Go to the Big Four on East Chang'an Avenue."

The coachman heard the words, without saying a word, as soon as he pulled the reins, he hit the horse and left.

Uceda was shocked: "Hey, Shivela, we didn't bring guards!"

Shi Weila laughed and said: "No, there is no place safer than the capital of the Ming Empire, and it would be troublesome to bring guards with you!"

Uceda asked puzzled, "Why?"

Shivela smiled mysteriously: "Because there are many secret agents of Jinyiwei on the street, they will notify the imperial guards to deal with you when they find you ostentatiously passing through the city with your guards blocking traffic!"

Uceda half-believingly asked: "Really?"

Shi Weila patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't worry about safety, just feel at ease and feel the prosperity of the capital of the Ming Empire."

Without the guard Uceda, I always feel a little empty in my heart. However, the capital of the Ming Empire is really prosperous. There are people everywhere on both sides of the street, and there are scary cars and sedans in the middle of the street. There are various shops and restaurants. The streets are full, and it is impossible to see such a bustling scene in Europe.

Of course, it was impossible for such a scene to appear in the capital of the Ming Dynasty in history. At that time, the Ming Dynasty was already on the verge of collapse, the center of the world was slowly shifting from the east to the west, and the prosperity was just yesterday.

However, since Zhu Cijiong succeeded to the throne, the Ming Dynasty has been thriving and has surpassed any dynasty in history. No matter the economy, military or technology, the Ming Dynasty is far ahead of the countries in the current world. The center of the world is still the Ming Dynasty!

(End of this chapter)