"Who suffers? Naturally, it's the people at the lowest level. They have no savings and no gold or silver. If there is a shortage of salt today, take a chicken to sell it. If there is a shortage of cloth tomorrow, take a sheep to exchange it."
"If the treasure banknotes once depreciated, they sold a chicken in exchange for the treasure banknotes and turned around to buy salt. They could have bought two kilograms of salt, but they could only buy half a kilogram. They could have bought two pieces of cloth. Now, they can only buy two kilograms of salt. They could only buy one piece. They couldn't even buy a pound of salt or a piece of cloth. They could only buy one tael of salt and a foot of cloth. Even in the end, they were holding a lot of treasure money in their hands, but they didn't even have a needle. You can’t even buy it.”
"Everything must be gained and lost, and what is gained must be consumed. Treasure money can obtain countless materials, but there is no consumption. I'm afraid your Majesty has always been wondering?"
"The reason why treasure banknotes can be exchanged for countless supplies is because of the love and trust of the people towards Your Majesty. Your Majesty has fought through many battles since he started the army. He wiped out the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and gave the people of the world a bright future. The people have unparalleled trust in Your Majesty. Your Majesty It is said that a consistent treasure banknote is worth a consistent value, so that it can be recognized by the people. Since ancient times, those who win the hearts of the people win the world, what is the people's support, the people's support is the national destiny, and the treasure banknotes consume the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty."
After Han Du finished speaking, he knelt on the ground and bowed.
On the one hand, Lao Zhu and Zhu Biao felt as if the sun had cleared the clouds. Han Du's explanation gave them a sense of enlightenment, but on the other hand, it also frightened them. Is issuing treasure banknotes a waste of national fortune?
Although they didn't want to admit it, they couldn't find any reason to refute Han Du.
National destiny, every emperor regards it as forbidden, even taboo. The Mingjun will not say anything. Even if he is a Foolish Lord, no matter how foolish he is, he will not want the country's fortune to suffer. He even wishes that the country's fortune will increase every day.
Zhu Biao has been extremely smart and knowledgeable since he was a child, but at this moment he couldn't find a word to refute Han Du.
The silence in the main hall could be heard.
Han Du fell to the ground, waiting for Lao Zhu's verdict.
The eunuch on the side was so frightened that he didn't even dare to swallow his saliva. His eyes were staring at the area in front of his shoes, as if there was a great attraction there. He even wanted to plug his ears, wishing he had never heard Han Du's words.
Lao Zhu was sitting on the dragon chair, expressionless and silent, but his face was gloomy like an approaching storm, which made people feel extremely scary.
Zhu Biao also had a very deep expression on his face, and after a long time he said in a solemn voice: "Father, why don't we suspend the issuance of treasure notes first..."
Although Zhu Biao was the prince, and even though he was inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people, he did not dare to continue doing things that would harm the fate of the country, such as issuing treasure notes, so he advised Lao Zhu.
The scene described by Han Du was so terrifying that Zhu Biao seemed to see a torrent of treasure money appearing out of thin air, starting from the capital and flooding in all directions until it submerged the entire world.
Lao Zhu's expression was still gloomy, without any change, and asked Zhu Biao: "What about the Northern Expedition? What about Meng Yuan? Are we going to give up the Northern Expedition and miss this opportunity to give Meng Yuan a chance to take a breather? Sit back and watch Meng Yuan grow stronger, and then The iron cavalry goes south again and plunges the whole world into dire straits?" Zhu Biao did not dare to directly abolish the treasure banknotes, but tactfully proposed to suspend the issuance.
Faced with Lao Zhu's questioning, Zhu Biao was speechless. He had no choice. If he had the best of both worlds, he wouldn't have advised his father like that just now. It was precisely because he had no other choice that he had to make the choice of "the lesser of two powers."
When Han Du heard that Zhu Biao was going to suspend the issuance of treasure notes, his heart skipped a beat. "What does Zhu Biao mean? Do you want to give up the treasure money completely? No, I haven't finished speaking yet."
"It seems that what I just said was a little too forceful, and it scared Zhu Biao and Lao Zhu," Han Du thought to himself, "We have to give out treasure notes."
Historically, although the treasure banknotes issued by the Ming Dynasty later suffered large-scale devaluation and were even abandoned by the people for a time, social transactions once again returned to the path of gold and silver as currency, but no one can deny that when the treasure banknotes were used as currency, It has indeed greatly facilitated social transactions and greatly promoted the prosperity of the commodity economy.
If Lao Zhu gave up issuing treasure notes because of his call just now, then he would probably be scolded miserably by people in the future. I am sure that every time I mention the earliest origin of banknotes - treasure banknotes, I will be regarded as the negative background. This will simply make myself infamous for thousands of years. What's more, they might even take themselves out of the grave and whip their corpses, leaving them with no peace of mind even after death.
Thinking of this, Han Du's face instantly turned ugly, and he no longer cared about etiquette. He got up from the ground and said to Zhu Biao: "Your Highness, the treasure banknotes must not be discarded."
Lao Zhu's eyes suddenly lit up. What did he say? To untie the bell, one must tie the bell. Since Han Du discovered the shortcomings of Bao Chao, maybe he actually has a solution?
Lao Zhu directly passed Zhu Biao and asked Han Du impatiently: "Do you have any idea?"
"I have a way." Han Du affirmed.
Lao Zhu was overjoyed and said, "Come quickly."
Zhu Biao also looked at Han Du in surprise, not expecting that he actually had a way. In Zhu Biao's view, this treasure note is simply a knot that cannot be untied. If you issue treasure banknotes, it will consume the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty; if you don't issue treasure banknotes, you will not be able to conquer the Mongolian Yuan in the north. Once the Mongolian Yuan can take a breather and expand, it will send its troops south, and the entire Ming Dynasty will be in turmoil again.
Unexpectedly, Han Du had a way to untie this knot, so Zhu Standard listened carefully.
"Your Majesty, the reason why the treasure banknote consumes the national fortune is just because it is just a piece of paper and has no actual value, or its own value is too different from its face value. If we make it have the same value as the face value , wouldn’t this not consume the country’s destiny?”
"What should I do?" Lao Zhu asked eagerly, with joy on his face. It seemed that Han Du was right.
"Bundle the treasure banknotes with gold and silver. For example, we bundle the consistent treasure banknotes with one tael of silver, so that the consistent treasure banknotes can be exchanged for one tael of silver at any time, so that the value of the treasure banknotes will not depreciate, and the value of the treasure banknotes will not depreciate. It will not consume the country's fortune." Han Du took out a consistent treasure note from the eunuch's hand, and then took out a tael of silver, indicating with both hands that the two could be continuously exchanged.
This is actually what reserves mean. To issue banknotes, there must be reserves equivalent to the amount of banknotes issued, and at least there must be actual items linked to the banknotes.
Banknotes without reserves are called Zimba Webb.
If the Ming Dynasty's treasure banknotes continue to be issued indiscriminately as they are now, in less than a hundred years, even Zimbabwe Webb will be inferior.
The smile on Lao Zhu's face suddenly froze, and he seemed to grab an inkstone and hit Han Du on the forehead. Because after Han Du gave him great hope, he immediately gave him great disappointment. Han Du's method is indeed feasible, but it is unrealistic for Lao Zhu.
Why? Because Lao Zhu has no money. Didn't Lao Zhu give out treasure notes just because he ran out of money? If he had money, what kind of treasure money would he need to hand out? Wouldn’t it be nice to use silver directly? What kind of money do you give out when you take off your pants and fart?
Zhu Biao even smiled bitterly and shook his head at Han Du, saying: "Although your method is feasible, you don't know something. The imperial court simply does not have enough gold and silver to ensure that the consistent treasure banknotes are worth one or two silver."
"Don't worry, Your Highness, just listen to me." Han Du was filled with the pleasure of crushing Lao Zhu and his son in terms of knowledge at this time. He was so excited that he didn't even call himself the word "sinner" and said directly, "I ".
At this time, Lao Zhu and his son were completely attracted to Han Du, who would care about the details of his self-proclaimed appearance.
Han Jie deliberately coughed twice and continued: "First of all, we have to understand that the reason why treasure banknotes can be accepted and used by the people has nothing to do with whether it represents national destiny or real money. Relationship."
Zhu Biao's eyes widened as soon as Han Du opened his mouth, "Why doesn't it matter? Didn't you say it yourself? The banknote itself has no value at all. The reason why it can reflect its value is that it relies on the national destiny or real money behind it. .”
It was Lao Zhu who was much more steady and advised Zhu Biao calmly and calmly, "Don't be anxious, let him continue talking."
"Yes, Your Majesty. In fact, there is nothing wrong with His Highness the Crown Prince's view. That is because he sees it from the perspective of the court. But what if we look at it from the perspective of the common people? As long as the common people believe that a consistent treasure banknote can be of uncompromising value One tael of silver, then this treasure banknote can be freely traded in the world. When Your Majesty issued the treasure banknote, the treasure banknote could circulate smoothly and freely without any drawbacks. In fact, it was because the people believed it. I call this the credit system. What the court needs to do is to establish a credit system for Baochao. As long as this credit system is established and maintained, Baochao will be able to flourish without any obstacles. Of course, the fastest and best way to establish a credit system is to use Baochao and Bound together with hooks of gold and silver.”
"After talking for a long time, I still need silver. Let me tell you clearly, I don't have that much silver to tie up with the treasure banknotes now. And if one million taels of silver can only issue one million banknotes, then I have Why go to all the trouble of handing out treasure notes, it’s better to just use silver.”
"Your Majesty, forgive me. It's the sinner who didn't explain clearly. The sinner will give your Majesty another example, and your Majesty will know the benefits of issuing treasure notes."
After speaking, Han Du pulled the eunuch out.
But at this time, the eunuch was no longer frightened as before, and smiled at Han Du's mercy. Although he had not been with the emperor for long, he could tell that the emperor had completely calmed down and lost all his initial anger. In this case, Han Du used him as an example to the emperor. At worst, the emperor would remember his hard work. If he was lucky, he might be able to make some achievements in front of the emperor.
