The Senate originally had an idea to use "silver reserve certificates" as purchase certificates for industrial products. To purchase goods produced by the Senate, new currency must be used. However, people in the financial sector believed that this was of little significance because the industrial products produced by the Senate products are still not large enough in terms of coverage of the population and scope of use.
The opinion of the Finance Ministry is that the Senate must control the channels for the three basic consumer goods of Guangzhou residents: "rice", "salt" and "cloth" to ensure that these three necessities can be purchased at any time with new currency.
As long as paper money can buy daily necessities, whether it can be exchanged for silver dollars is no longer critical. Otherwise, even if we can ensure that every dollar of silver savings certificates on the market has a silver dollar as a reserve in the bank, it will be of no use.
When the RMB was able to gain a foothold in the chaotic currency market, in addition to relying on administrative power to force the silver dollar to exit the market, the key was that the government could control the supply channels of "two white and one black" (rice, cotton yarn and coal), thereby maintaining the basic credit of banknotes.
The situation faced by the Ministry of Finance and Economics is different from that in 1949, but the abolition of the two yuan and the exchange of banknotes are still a major event that shakes up the financial market. To ensure that the new currency can be accepted and circulated, no amount of financial theory can be enough. The basic principle: make money "valuable".
Gold and silver are not naturally "valuable". They also suffer huge depreciation in places where gold and silver are abundant and commodities are scarce. There is a living example in China in the 17th century: the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty gained an astronomical amount of wealth relative to its land area and population through many raids and plunders. However, the huge amount of gold and silver treasure poured into this small piece of cold and barren land brought only vicious evil. inflation. As a result of the Ming Dynasty's trade embargo, the Manchus could only conduct almost compulsory trade with the equally barren and hostile North Korea, and the goods they obtained from Shanxi merchants were even a drop in the bucket.
The original report written by Huang Hua, who was sent to Shengjing for trade, was full of words such as "everything is so expensive" and "commodities are scarce". The lives of middle- and lower-level officials were difficult, and some officials were even convicted of being forced to sell the things given by the emperor. things happen. The Manchu Qing Dynasty kept asking the Senate to bring food, and the price was even as high as forty taels of silver per stone.
"So how many silver coins to prepare is not the key issue. Although our new currency is no longer rice-based, the value of the currency still needs to be backed by these basic commodities." Chen Ce added this sentence after explaining the new currency issuance plan. Conclusion.
Liu Xiang said: "I'm not questioning the policies of the Ministry of Finance. But...but the people have no good impressions of banknotes at all. We now use banknotes to pay wages and buy things. I'm afraid, I'm afraid...it's not that easy, and the market acceptance is not good. Gao, we can't engage in forced trade. There has to be a step-by-step process."
Chen Ce said: "That's natural. Otherwise, why would the Ministry of Finance allocate an additional 200,000 yuan of silver coins to you? It's just to reduce circulation resistance."
Liu Xiang thought to himself that this was obviously the loot captured in Guangzhou! The Planning Institute rummaged through the official treasury of the Guangdong Chief Secretaries of one government and two counties, and obtained more than 200,000 taels of silver and handed it over to the national treasury. Isn’t it justifiable to allocate 200,000 taels to Guangzhou now? Even if there is a problem of color loss, you have still lost a lot!
But he had no say in what to do with the loot. I had no choice but to make a sincere letter of thanks: "I want your support. I will definitely not have less money to confiscate the houses here. I just ask the Ministry of Finance and Economics to consider our special nature as a new currency pilot zone."
Chen Ce said: "Don't worry. The new currency system is not only a matter for Guangzhou, but also a matter related to the great cause of the entire Senate."
Now that the Ministry of Finance and Economics has set the tone, Liu Xiang can only "resolutely implement it." Tonight's meeting is actually to arrange work according to the issuance plan of the Ministry of Finance and Economics.
Zheng Shangjie said: "I have a question. If the new currency still needs to be backed by rice, don't we have to stipulate how much rice can be bought with one silver dollar?" Zheng Shangjie hesitated, "It is tantamount to a rice standard in disguise."
"No, Director Zheng, your concept is not a rice standard, but a price limit policy." Chen Ce said, "The prices of rice, salt, and cloth in the market are determined by the market. Increases or decreases within a certain range are allowed. What we need to do is adjust prices through market means and maintain price stability."
Zheng Shangjie suddenly realized how much work this matter would entail, and she exclaimed: "In this case, wouldn't we have to control all the rice and cloth stores in the city, or would we be preparing to open large-scale state-owned stores?"
"No, it's not that exaggerated." Zhang Yikun said, "We just need to control the wholesale channels."
Lin Baiguang nodded: "Yes, Guangzhou actually relies on external supplies for daily necessities. Controlling external wholesale channels means controlling the market."
Chen Ce asked: "Is this easy to handle?"
Lin Baiguang smiled slightly and said: "Anything that involves vested interest groups is difficult to handle. The good thing is that we are a new regime and an outsider, so there are no inextricable ties of interest."
The interest groups mentioned by Lin Baiguang. It's about dental work.
Guangzhou is not self-sufficient in food and needs rice imported from outside. But trade in the Ming Dynasty was not free trade. Foreign merchants were not able to sell the goods they brought in freely in the city, and had to sell them through dental merchants who held toothpaste. The tooth shops originally played the role of intermediaries, but by issuing dental cards, the government allowed them to monopolize trade in certain industries.
Because Ya Xing is a ground tiger. And with the "exclusive monopoly rights" granted by the government, it is natural to exploit the merchants to the best of their ability. Yahang has no capital and does not need capital. The tooth merchants forced the merchants to provide goods to tooth shops on credit, and the tooth shops then sold them wholesale. During operation, merchants often fail to receive payment or are in arrears for a long time. Even if you can pay on time, you will often get a big discount. The Guangzhou thirteen-line system, which the British hated deeply and forced the Qing government to abolish after the Opium War, was actually a kind of tooth-line system.
The rice grain trade in Guangzhou is monopolized by Yahang. Lin Baiguang is very clear about this.
"How long does it take to get rid of the dental row?"
"It won't take long." Lin Baiguang smiled, "I think it's on Mayor Liu's desk. Their posts have been coming for a long time."
"I'm waiting for the Ministry of Justice to send me judges to set up a temporary court." Liu Xiang said, "Military courts are always organized. Firstly, it is irregular. Secondly, many people look at it with jealousy. I have prepared a lot of high-sounding hats. , we can’t afford to wear it.”
Zheng Shangjie knew that murderous intent was evident in these words of conversation and laughter. The bosses of the tooth shop, which had monopolized Guangzhou's trade for hundreds of years, were ruined in an instant!
She still remembered that a few days ago, the boss of Youya shop used his personal maid - no, as a personal secretary, to offer her generous gifts and humbly ask him to meet "Master Liu". He also hinted that he would "do his best to serve both public and private", and the meaning is self-evident. Unexpectedly, people here are already talking and laughing and preparing to "kill the pig"!
She suddenly felt a little scared. Although these men were different in height, short, fat and thin, they were essentially similar to her husband. They turned out to be ordinary citizens. But now their conversation is still that kind of plain words, but there is an insidious and cruel smell in it. Even their smiles looked hideously ferocious.
"Let's summarize it." Chen Ce said, "In order to let the new currency circulate, we need police..."
"We have this, and we can start working in large numbers soon," Liu Xiang said.
"Inland Revenue Department."
"We have to wait for someone from the State Administration of Taxation to come. I don't know who it is yet."
"Why the tax bureau?" Zheng Shangjie asked. She has lived in the United States for many years, and she can't help but shudder when she hears about the tax bureau.
Liu Xiang explained: "The credibility of currency is largely reflected in whether the country recognizes its value. Taxation is the best reflection. Even if you issue bamboo and wood chips, as long as you acknowledge the tax when collecting taxes, the people will recognize it. Value. The Ming Dynasty’s treasure banknotes were ruined because the emperor’s wishful thinking was too good: when he spent it, he treated it as real gold and silver, and when collecting taxes, he only regarded it as waste paper – only a few banknotes in the country recognized it as money.”
"Courthouse."
"Get there soon."
"The delivery of rice, salt and cloth."
Liu Xiang said: "Our other business channels in Guangzhou are all high-end luxury goods. Although Zichengji also wholesales daily industrial products, it does not touch rice or salt. Instead, it distributes cloth. Runshitang sells medicine. It’s not considered a necessity of life.”
"The salt matter is a bit complicated," Lin Baiguang said. "This is the business of the Monopoly Bureau."
"The problem of salt is not big. The Monopoly Bureau only needs to set up a wholesale stall to basically solve it. As for grain, we need a special grain warehouse to serve as the general wholesale of grain in Guangzhou." Zheng Shangjie said, "You can call Dachang Guangzhou Branch. Do."
In the past, Dachang established a branch in Guangzhou not for grain trade. In essence, it is a vest used by the tax authorities in Guangzhou to collect the "reasonable burden" of the Pearl River Delta. Most of the collected grain was shipped to Hainan and Taiwan. Seldom sold locally. However, because of this history, no matter the brand, warehousing or personnel are ready, it is not difficult to directly transform into a grain wholesale enterprise.
"The role of the local tax bureau in Dachang can be abolished. There is no need for this layer of vest now. The taxation functions and personnel are divested to the tax bureau. Dachang will be converted into a state-owned commercial enterprise in the future. In addition to Dachang, people from Shanhai Road and Hainan Road can also be called in to open stores. ." Zheng Shangjie wants to do something big, and has long been planning to expand the power of his subordinates. "Wanyou distributes groceries from the north and south. It distributes a lot of miscellaneous things, and it can be used as a channel for withdrawing currency."
Chen Ce said: "That's almost it. Let me talk about the specific issuance measures."
He took out a page from his briefcase and explained it point by point. (To be continued.)
