"Your Highness, now that rice is more expensive than silver, it's better to say less."
Zhao Shu shook his head and smiled bitterly.
Theoretically, they were importing grain to pay salaries to officials, and they suffered a huge loss.
Speaking of salary, we have to mention the salary system of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, liked to imitate the Han and Tang Dynasties. The Han Dynasty was too far away, while the Tang Dynasty was closer, so the salary and salary formulation also imitated the Tang Dynasty.
Take the seventh-rank magistrate as an example. In the Tang Dynasty, the annual salary was only 70 dan, while in the Ming Dynasty, it was 90 dan.
The rest of the grades are basically higher than those of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang often wondered whether he had given too much?
But obviously, this is his self-absorption.
Just like the establishment of later generations, whoever looks at the little money thinks about the treatment!
In addition to being exempted from corvee service and taxes, Ming Dynasty officials had all other Tang Dynasty benefits cancelled.
For example, the Qipin County Magistrate in the Tang Dynasty, in addition to lumi, also had a salary of 25 taels of silver, 300 acres of professional land (official land, only enjoying the harvest), and a servant subsidy of about 20 taels.
In other words, the welfare subsidies in the Tang Dynasty were three times those in the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, with an annual salary of ninety dan, for a county magistrate, he can live well and his family will not have to worry about food and drink.
However, everyone has to socialize. If socializing, staff, appearances, etc. are added, it will be stretched.
The most deceptive thing is that for this small amount of salary, the court still uses treasure money, pepper, etc. to make up for it. Without corruption, it is impossible to survive.
Well, it’s okay to maintain integrity with a high salary, right?
Song and Qing, these two dynasties, profound interpretation, do not underestimate the greed of bureaucrats.
Human desires are all layered on top of each other.
High salaries to support incorruptible officials have instead fostered a large group of corrupt officials.
Therefore, salary cannot be high or low, otherwise it is easy to go to extremes.
"Then just give me some silver!"
Zhu Yixi thought about it again and again and said in a deep voice.
Since the Longqing switch, the Ming Dynasty completely lifted the maritime ban. South American gold, silver, and Japanese silver have continued to pour into China, with an influx of nearly 200 million taels in half a century.
Politically, a whip law was implemented and taxes were paid in silver.
For ordinary people, it is inflation and the value of silver has plummeted.
In the early and middle Ming Dynasties, one tael of silver was worth about 1,500 copper coins, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was worth 1:500.
Even four hundred coins can be redeemed for one tael of silver.
This is also why the Ming court no longer collects taxes in silver. The price of silver is really too low. The court was already poor, but as a result, the more money it collected, the poorer it became.
At that time, the price of silver was expensive inland but low along the coast.
In a sense, the tax burden in the south of the Yangtze River is low, while the tax burden in the inland is high, resulting in regional imbalance.
"The fineness of the silver is different, I'm afraid it's inconvenient."
Zhao Shu started from reality and said: "Forging official silver in this way will cause even more losses."
Loss, also called fire loss, silver has different qualities and is re-refined, so it must be re-refined and turned into official silver, and there must be losses.
Therefore, in order to pay taxes, the officials then levied an additional tax called Huohua on top of the regular tax to make up for the vacancy.
Then, the fire consumption turned into corruption.
In the Qing Dynasty, Huohuo was returned to the public, which actually meant that these miscellaneous taxes were nationalized and re-rewarded to officials, which was called Yanglianjin.
"Of course I know!"
Zhu Yixi said confidently: "So, we must reform and put an end to the waste."
Zhao Shu was confused and looked at the handsome face of King Hanyang, feeling like he was looking at a fool.
For decades, the court officials and other officials have not been able to solve the problem. Can you solve it?
Regarding Zhao Shu's questioning look, Zhu Yixi said frankly:
"Mr. Zhao, have you seen the Franji people's silver coins?"
"No!" Zhao Shu shook his head and asked curiously: "Don't Franji people not use copper coins?"
Zhu Yixi smiled: "People use silver to make money."
After a moment of discussion, or in other words, King Hanyang decided to forge silver coins.
Copper coins are made by the state. In the current situation of copper shortage, private forging of copper coins is likely to result in losses and is also illegal.
But silver coins are different. This is not money made by the state.
What's more important is that the gross profit is also high, making a profit without losing money.
So, Mr. Wang and Mr. Wang, who had not appeared for a long time, appeared again:
"Your Highness wants to get silver coins?"
As the earliest religious scholar-official in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Xi was naturally familiar with silver coins.
However, what he couldn't believe was that Daming actually did this.
After all, copper coins have been popular since ancient times, and the value of silver coins is still too great.
"The Franji people can do it, why can't we?"
Zhu Yixi said firmly: "Nowadays, the fineness of silver is different, and there is no standard. If you are not careful, you can collect the wrong money. For the court, taxation is also quite cumbersome."
"And by making silver coins, wouldn't it be a little more convenient for merchants to do business?"
Hearing this, Wang Xi nodded, this is the truth.
For private large-scale goods transactions, you need to bring a weight, and finally you have to take a bite to confirm the authenticity. It is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish.
One tael of silver naturally has different values due to its different fineness, so it is common to suffer losses.
"Silver coins are easy to make."
Wang Xi stroked his silver-white beard and asked: "The pressing mold can be cooled with water, but I don't know how much silver content it should have?"
"Ninety percent!" Zhu Yixi insisted: "Ninety percent silver, one percent copper, and with a little tin added, it can be made into silver coins."
"The pattern on the edge should be more careful, and no matter how beautiful the mold carving is, no one will have any objection to its value of one tael of silver."
Why did Yuan Datou become popular for decades? That is, it is willing to use silver, and the silver content is basically more than 85%, so it is genuine.
The price difference of silver coins is 10% of the cost of replacing silver with copper. In other words, for every silver coin issued, the net profit is 9%.
The biggest cost is manpower.
"Since the value of silver coins is too great, auxiliary coins - silver cents can be issued again."
Zhu Yixi thought over and over again, and in view of the liquidity, it was imperative to make some silver coins with smaller amounts.
For example, each silver coin is one tael, which is thirty-eight grams. The silver cent is five grams, which is three grams of silver. Add some copper, lead, tin, etc., and the silver content is no more than 60%.
Coupled with the huge liquidity, its profits are greater than silver coins.
Therefore, in Zhu Yixi's currency plan, one silver coin is equal to one tael of silver, ten silver cents is equal to one silver coin, and copper coins circulate in parallel, forming a perfect financial chain.
Wang Xi thought for a while and nodded in agreement: "I will use the Franji people's method to forge it. It will definitely be exquisite. However, your Highness's method is quite competitive with the people."
"We have to fight!"
Zhu Yixi sighed and said with a helpless smile: "The front is a wolf and the back is a tiger. It is extremely difficult to raise an army, Huguang is in ruins, and I am unwilling to raise taxes, so I have no choice but to do this."
When Wang Xi heard this, he was stunned for a moment and then said: "I only know some craftsmanship, but I feel that only His Highness can handle the important task of reviving the Ming Dynasty."
"Why?"
"Because His Highness, like Taizu, both have a love for the people."
