"In other words, the value of the treasure banknotes at this time has been reduced by half. Sinners call this situation depreciation. The value of the treasure banknotes is only half of its previous value. That is to say, the usual treasure banknotes are actually only worth five hundred coins. However, the imperial court continued to issue treasure banknotes on the basis that it has always been consistent. The main ways for the imperial court to issue treasure banknotes are officials' salaries, the purchase of court supplies, the purchase of military grain and grass, and the issuance of military pay and pensions, etc."
"What's the problem with this? I don't care how much the treasure is worth, as long as I give it to them, how dare they object?" Although Lao Zhu's tone was light, the domineering power revealed in his words was overwhelming. Like a giant standing tall on the sky and the earth, he can easily overlook everything.
"Your Majesty is so powerful that he says what he says is what he says, and they will naturally not object. But Your Majesty, after all, the treasure banknotes issued are used to purchase goods. In the end, they have to fall into the purchase of various items, such as food, Cloth, etc. Since His Majesty distributes it to them in a way that a treasure banknote is worth a certain amount of wealth, they will only trade with farmers and workers in a way that a treasure banknote is worth the same amount of goods. This is not a problem for them. What is the loss? But this is an endless plunder of the people, because the people cannot exchange for anything of the same value with the treasure banknotes. They can only exchange for 500 coins. This is equivalent to the fact that in this transaction, the people Half of the wealth has been taken away invisibly.”
Is issuing treasure banknotes robbing people of their wealth? Zhu Biao was shocked when he heard this. He opened his mouth in the shape of "O" and looked at Han Du, speechless.
Han Du did not stop and spoke out the dangers of treasure banknotes while the iron was hot: "What's more serious is that treasure banknotes circulate from top to bottom. This circulation process cannot go from top to bottom in an instant, but there will be A long period of time. Officials and businessmen are all upstream in this process. They will notice the depreciation of the treasure banknotes at the first time. If they continue to keep the treasure banknotes, their wealth will inevitably decrease. In order to avoid this If the situation changes, they will definitely try their best to recover their losses, tighten the use of gold and silver in their hands, and exchange all their treasures for things."
Having said this, Han Du smiled at the eunuch and said, "My father-in-law, a silver coin is worth five hundred coins now, right? Come on, there are twenty coins here. Give me the ten taels of silver in your hand. Come on, come on. ,come on......"
As Han Du said, he directly put all his treasure money into the eunuch's hand, and then dug out the silver from the eunuch's hand.
The eunuch was completely at a loss when faced with Han Du's banditry. Although he didn't understand why Han Du did this, he always felt that it was not a good thing for him, and desperately wanted to hold on to the money in his hand.
However, Han Du came prepared. The eunuch was no match for him, so he took out the last piece of silver from the eunuch's hand. Han Du happily blew on the last piece of silver and put it in his hand happily.
The eunuch held all the treasures in his hands without even half a piece of silver. He looked at Lao Zhu with a cry and said: "Your Majesty, this, this, this..."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was livid, he slapped his hand on the imperial desk, stood up suddenly, and shouted angrily: "They dare!"
The eunuch's legs were so frightened that he almost dropped the treasure banknote in his hand to the ground. When he realized that the emperor was not talking about him, but was glaring at Han Du angrily, he felt certain in his heart. At the same time, he thought about it a little and figured out something. .
When Han Du asked him to represent farmers and workers, he didn't know if Han Du meant it. At that time, he had a knot in his heart, feeling that Han Du disrespected him.
Now it seems that Han Du did it intentionally to avoid the emperor's anger. If Han Du had asked him to represent Shi and Shang at that time, he really didn't know how to face the emperor's anger now. Even if it was not his fault, at least it would create a gap between the emperor and him.
And if an emperor develops an estrangement from the eunuch around him, what will happen to this eunuch?
The eunuch suddenly trembled when he thought of this, and cast a grateful look at Han Du. Mr. Han is a good man.
Han Du didn't notice the friendly gaze of the eunuch. If he knew that the first good guy card in his life came from an old eunuch, he would probably be so angry that he wouldn't be able to eat for a few days.
Facing Lao Zhu's anger, Han Du spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, after all, they have not done anything illegal. They only need to exchange the treasure money for rice and grain as soon as they get it. No matter what happened to the treasure money, depreciation, they can avoid losses to the greatest extent.”
"What does depreciation mean?" Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask.
"Back to Your Highness, depreciation means that the value of treasure banknotes is getting less and less."
Zhu Biao suddenly asked, and after receiving Han Du's answer, he fell into silence with his head bowed, probably thinking about the treasure.
Although Lao Zhu was furious, after hearing Han Du's words, his momentum suddenly dropped. He thought: "What Han Du said is right. Even if I issue an edict, it will be of no use. After all, the treasure notes are given to the officials with their salaries. How can I force them not to exchange things with the people? This is not possible. Are you being a hooligan?"
Although Lao Zhu often acted like a hooligan in the court, after all, he was targeting individual officials. If he really had to face all the officials in the court, Lao Zhu himself would be frightened.
And this is only a part of the treasure banknotes issued. In fact, most of the treasure banknotes were used to prepare for the Northern Expedition. It has only been fourteen years since the first year of Hongwu, and the Ming Dynasty has already made three expeditions to the north. During each Northern Expedition, the Ming Dynasty had to dispatch more than 100,000 troops, recruit hundreds of thousands of civilians, and countless other supplies such as grain and grass, requiring a large amount of money to support them.
Where does this money come from?
During the first northern expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, the national treasury was still slightly full at that time. Lao Zhu captured a lot in the process of pacifying the world, but no matter how much he captured, he could not withstand the consumption of the war.
Moreover, Lao Zhu also cared about the people. In the first year of Hongwu, he issued a decree to exempt land reclamation from taxes for three years. In addition to the Jiangnan area, land in other places also received various degrees of tax exemptions.
As a result, although the wealth of the people has increased sharply, the people's lives are getting better year by year. But Lao Zhu's money bag has become a river without a source and a tree without roots. The taxes collected every year are not even enough to pay salaries to officials, and the national treasury is getting emptier year by year.
In the fifth year of Hongwu, after the second northern expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, the national treasury was so empty that mice could starve to death. It was not until the eighth year of Hongwu's reign that the issue of treasure banknotes began to change, and only then was there enough energy left to support last year's Northern Expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.
Although last year's Northern Expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty was a success and a lot of seizures were made, if you count it with your fingers, it was a loss in terms of material consumption, pensions, and rewards.
Originally, Lao Zhu didn't mind if he lost a little, because he had the wealth accumulated from issuing treasure notes. As long as we can completely eliminate Meng Yuan, a serious enemy, and get a stable north, it will be worthwhile.
But now Han Du told him that the wealth he accumulated by issuing treasure notes was plundering people's wealth.
Every northern expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty consumed the wealth of the people.
Lao Zhu himself is a commoner. He has seen how miserable the life of too many people at the bottom is, and he has even experienced a lot of it himself.
It is precisely because of this that Lao Zhu reduced taxes more than once after he became emperor. He just wanted to make the lives of ordinary people better and easier.
But the treasure he thought he had found as a way to get rich turned out to be a plunder of the people, even more so than the tax exemptions he had reduced. This made Lao Zhu's heart feel like a knife.
On the one hand, Meng Yuan, who was making it difficult for him to sleep and eat, was eyeing the north. Is it okay not to conquer Meng Yuan? No, Meng Yuan must die.
But war requires money. Without the support of treasure money, what would he use to go to the Northern Expedition?
But issuing treasure banknotes is plundering people's wealth. Wouldn't it make the people who are already hungry and cold even worse?
Lao Zhu, who had been decisive in killing all his life, also hesitated. Faced with such a dilemma, he didn't know how to choose.
Staring at Han Du fiercely, he now regretted summoning Han Du. He really wished he hadn't summoned Han Du today and hadn't heard his words.
Lao Zhu couldn't help but grab the inkstone on the imperial desk with one hand. The veins were exposed, as if he wanted to crush the inkstone. Even if red cinnabar stained his fingers, he didn't notice it at all.
Lao Zhu really wanted to hit Han Du on the head with the inkstone in his hand, but he knew that he couldn't hide his behind the scenes. If killing Han Du would solve the problem, then Lao Zhu would definitely not hesitate. But unfortunately, killing Han Du was useless, and the problem was still not solved at all. These problems are real and are not caused by Han Du.
"How could this happen? If so, wouldn't it be..." Zhu Biao turned his head and looked at Lao Zhu with a horrified expression.
Zhu Biao has been helping Lao Zhu to manage government affairs for a long time, and he knows exactly where the treasure money is. Zhu Biao even knew how much treasure money was distributed every year, how much went to official salaries, and how much military supplies were purchased. He knew everything clearly.
It was precisely because he knew that what Han Du said would definitely come true. As soon as the treasure banknotes begin to depreciate, officials will definitely use them as soon as possible. Since the purchase of military supplies is a national matter, those who purchase military supplies will only purchase supplies according to the face value of the treasure banknotes.
In this case, it is the common people who suffer no matter what.
Han Du smiled inwardly when he saw Lao Zhu and the prince changing their expressions. Are you scared by this? Then let me add more fire to you.
"Your Majesty, once the treasure banknotes begin to depreciate, the distributed treasure banknotes will form a cycle, a vicious circle. People with spare money and savings will desperately hold on to the gold and silver in their hands, and waste more treasures The banknotes are used in transactions. In this way, from the first banknote issued to the present, all the banknotes will be flooded throughout the people in a very short period of time, which will rapidly promote the depreciation of the banknotes. .”
