Knowledge about Jiaozi has been taught in junior high school history.
But for the people of the Song Dynasty, this thing was still a bit unfamiliar, and they still didn't even pay enough attention to it.
Because it was only circulated in Sichuan Prefecture, the entire Song Dynasty bank system was not born because of the emergence of paper money.
Many people don’t know how important banks are.
In fact, without banks, the productivity and production system of the entire world would be far behind.
Although the financial industry is hated by the world, its existence has indeed helped the country's stable development.
Including Wang Anshi’s Qingmiao method, it is also essentially a loan in the financial market.
Therefore, if Jiaozi can be used rationally and allow it to bear a certain value in the monetary system, then the poor financial situation of the Song Dynasty will definitely be solved.
“Why can Jiaozi alleviate the problem of empty national treasury?”
Yan Shu asked.
Zhao Jun turned his head and glanced at Yan Shu strangely. Although he was covered with gauze and could not see his eyes clearly, Yan Shu seemed to be able to detect the strange expression on the other side.
This made Yan Shu feel a little uncomfortable. He was afraid that this might be something that everyone in the future would know, and asking this made him appear a little ignorant.
Fortunately, Zhao Jun did not become suspicious, but said: "Uncle Lari, our village still mainly uses banknotes, and digital payment should not be popular yet."
"yes."
Naturally, Yan Shu didn't know what digital payment was, so he could only echo Zhao Jun's words vaguely.
Zhao Jun said: "Then let me ask you a question. A family in the village earned tens of thousands of yuan when they went out to work. Is it safe for him to keep the money at home, or is it safe to deposit it in a rural credit cooperative?"
What is a rural credit cooperative?
Yan Shu was stunned.
But he quickly realized that Zhao Jun had a reason for asking, and immediately said: "It must be the Rural Credit Cooperative."
"Yes."
Zhao Jun nodded: "Although there have been many problems in credit unions in recent years, they cannot erase the help and contributions of so many rural credit unions across the country to countless farmers over the years."
“What does this have to do with rural credit cooperatives?”
Yan Shu asked again.
Zhao Jun continued: "Ask Uncle Lari another question, which one do you choose, 10,000 yuan banknotes or 10,000 yuan worth of copper coins?"
"Paper money."
Yan Shu answered without hesitation.
Although he didn't understand the meaning of rural credit cooperatives and banknotes that Zhao Jun mentioned, he knew that the correct answer must be something he didn't know.
Otherwise, what is the meaning of Zhao Jun's question?
It has to be said that Lu Yijian made the right choice to find Yan Shu. He has quick thinking and quick reactions. For ordinary people, he would have been involved in the gang long ago, and Zhao Jun would know that he had traveled to the Song Dynasty.
"Yes, although the value of the copper coin is 10,000 yuan, it cannot be spent. Secondly, even if it can be spent, it is very inconvenient to carry, which is far inferior to paper money."
Zhao Jun said: "Currency has been an upgrading process since ancient times. From the shell currency in ancient times, to the Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, iron and bronze were used as raw materials for knife coins, shovel coins, etc., and then the Han Dynasty began to formally cast copper coins. They The functions are practical, scarce and circulated.”
"In ancient times, shells were only found at the seaside and were scarce inland. Moreover, shells were very beautiful and became the jewelry decoration of ancient tribesmen, so they could become a measure of value. Later, during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze and iron were scarce metals, and they could also be used in Popular circulation.”
"After the Warring States Period, when there were more iron tools, their value was not as good as copper, so copper coins became the currency in circulation in ancient my country. Silk, silk, gold and silver, and even grain could become currency because of their practicality and scarcity."
"So we can see that the significance of currency is that it has a certain value in itself, so that it can assume the function of currency and conduct market transactions."
"The Jiaozi that appeared in Sichuan during the Song Dynasty became the first paper currency in the world."
"There are so many benefits of paper money, such as being easy to store and carry, low in manufacturing costs, avoiding wear and tear of metal currency during circulation, etc. But why were paper money not completely popular until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when feudal society was extremely high?"
"There is only one reason, and that is that it is not practical and scarce. No matter how much is written on its face value, banknotes are essentially a piece of paper. It can undertake the function of transaction, and the country has given it value, and Not owning the equivalent value of the goods.”
"In ancient times, if you wanted to issue banknotes, the country needed to store gold, silver, and copper coins equivalent to the banknotes, so that when the banknotes were exchanged, the people could exchange them for enough coins. But once excessive issuance was issued, the people would not be able to exchange for the full amount of coins, and the country The credit system will collapse, resulting in rapid devaluation of banknotes and skyrocketing prices."
"So after the emergence of Jiaozi in the Song Dynasty, during the Huizong period of the Song Dynasty, as the war was corrupted, the court issued Jiaozi widely, which caused the serious devaluation of Jiaozi and inflation. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the policy of treasure banknotes and also issued them in large quantities, resulting in Nationwide inflation has made people miserable."
"In the final analysis, Jiaozi is actually just a kind of credit currency. It is guaranteed by the credibility of the country to make it circulated. No matter how much gold, silver, copper and other metal currencies are, it can also be used to make jewelry and decorations. It will reduce its practicality and circulation value. If there are too many banknotes, it will make you feel uncomfortable wiping your butt."
"Furthermore, the rule of ancient feudal society was unstable and the small-scale peasant economy was fragile. If there was any natural or man-made disaster, the government's credibility might go bankrupt. If too much credit currency was printed, it would have no credit."
Zhao Jun thought of Zimbabwe. It was already the 21st century. This strange country was still able to print hundreds of millions of zeros on its credit currency, causing a direct collapse of the currency trading market. To buy a roll of toilet paper, You have to get a car to carry the banknotes.
I even brought tens of billions of Zimbabwean dollars to buy paper in the morning, and after walking for just a few minutes, the price of a roll of paper changed from 10 billion to 20 billion, which is considered a weird thing among weird things.
"Um."
Yan Shu, Lu Yijian and others looked at each other and nodded slightly.
In fact, they all know about Jiaozi, because this kind of thing was born in the Zhenzong Dynasty, when sixteen government and businessmen from Chengdu Prefecture jointly printed vouchers on Chu bark paper.
However, in the early stage, it was a private deposit certificate and was not officially issued. If the "Jiaozi shop" responsible for keeping the coins went bankrupt, it would become useless because it could not be redeemed.
Therefore, in the first year of Renzong's Tiansheng reign, the imperial court set up Yizhou Jiaozi Affairs in Chengdu, with one or two officials from the Beijing Dynasty serving as supervisors to preside over the issuance of Jiaozi, and "set up a paper-making courtyard to eliminate the evils of forgery" and strictly enforce The printing process is the earliest banknote officially issued by the government in my country - "Guanjiaozi".
But what does this thing have to do with expanding the national treasury?
I heard Zhao Jun continue to say: "I say so much because I want to tell everyone that the currency system is responsible for the circulation of goods transactions. The Song Dynasty's commerce was very developed, and a market suitable for the circulation of banknotes appeared. If Jiaozi can be greatly improved, By using it, the problem of empty national treasury can be solved.”
"What is the solution?"
Yan Shu asked.
Zhao Jun smiled and said: "That's not easy. First, investigate the major commercial cities in the Song Dynasty and set up Jiaozi offices there to attract big businessmen to deposit their money in government-run Jiaozi shops. With the government's endorsement, merchants don't have to I am worried that the private escort shop will go bankrupt and will not be able to pay."
"These big businessmen travel north and south to buy and sell goods. Compared with carrying large amounts of copper coins, gold and silver, it is definitely more convenient to carry handover banknotes. The government-opened banks will definitely attract a large number of businessmen to save money."
"The Song Dynasty was able to absorb countless coins in a short period of time, and those merchants would not immediately run on them in a short period of time, so these coins could be misappropriated from the Song Dynasty's national treasury and used to fill the shortfall in the national treasury for a short period of time, and then fill it up later. Just go up there.”
"As long as the merchants can deposit as much money as they want, they can issue as many jiaozi as they want, or the jiaozi issued should not exceed the total value of the goods circulating on the market or several times the stored coins. The handicraft industry in the Song Dynasty was developed and the economic circulation was relatively fast, so it was only given to big merchants. If we don’t give Jiaozi to ordinary people, it should not cause inflation.”
"And I remember that when Jiaozipu deposited money in the Song Dynasty, the bank did not give interest to depositors, but the depositors spent money to go to the bank to save money. Jiaozipu was not only profitable, but even the big businessmen wanted to thank the Song Dynasty court for helping them solve the problem between the North and the South. It can be said that it solves the problem of inconvenient transactions."
After the conversation ended, the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty could not calm down for a long time, quietly digesting the content of the information.
This is actually the essence of a bank.
It needs to circulate currency to promote the circulation of the entire economy and social resources.
Therefore, even banks in the new era absorb the idle money of depositors through interest, and then lend it out to companies, businessmen, and individuals, indirectly promoting the development of society.
Although the productivity of the Song Dynasty was relatively backward, during the feudal period, both productivity and economic construction had reached their peak.
Therefore, the emergence of banks will not have much negative effects. After all, banks have already appeared in the Song Dynasty, which greatly promoted economic development. Until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, banks were extensions of Jiaozipu in the Song Dynasty.
It’s just that the emperor of the Song Dynasty was stupid and failed to make good use of Jiaozi Pu. Later, due to the large-scale printing and distribution of Jiaozi, an inflation occurred. Since then, the issuance of Jiaozi has been completely stopped and this opportunity has been given up.
Otherwise, if used properly, Jiaozipu, the world's earliest bank system, can be used to temporarily solve the problem of empty national treasury, and even allow the country to better control the money bag and grasp the lifeline of the economy.
"What, what's the problem?"
Zhao Jun saw that after he finished speaking, there was total silence and no one responded, which made him very embarrassed.
Could it be that he was speaking too superficially?
That’s not right either.
The people in Nini Village should not have high academic qualifications. Even if I speak superficially, they should not be able to understand.
Even if they like history, do they still understand the financial system?
It doesn't make sense.
So there is only one possibility.
What he said was too profound and they couldn't understand.
"no problem."
Yan Shu hurriedly responded, and then praised: "Teacher Zhao is really a talented person in the history department. We were all dumbfounded. If you were born in the Song Dynasty, you would definitely be the number one scholar! Neither Lu Yijian nor Fan Zhongyan can compare to you."
"That is required."
Zhao Jun heard that the village head, branch secretary and the villagers were stunned by him, and said proudly: "If I travel through the past and return to the Song Dynasty, people like Lu Yijian, Fan Zhongyan, etc. are all a bunch of shameless people, even me. He doesn’t have even a fraction of his ability. And Su Shi, I will definitely give him a beating and make him write lyrics every day to disgust me.”
Fan Zhongyan had a dark look on his face.
Lu Yijian clenched his fists, blew his beard and glared at Zhao Jun.
That little bastard started scolding me.
Wang Zeng, Wang and others covered their mouths and snickered. Although Zhao Jun mentioned these people, he did not mention their names after all.
Zhao Zhen smiled even more.
In the past, he was the only one who was scolded, but now he finally had someone to share his burden with, which made him feel happy.
