Chang Shen bowed happily and explained in a friendly manner: "Dear bosses! This time, Mr. Gao asked the shop to identify the fineness of Australian silver coins. He really appreciated the shop's past reputation! Since the shop's ancestors distinguished it more than fifty years ago, After passing the French Cross Silver Cakes, this kind of work has not been done on the ground in Guangfu for almost a month."
Most of the people here have businesses that have been passed down from generation to generation. Some of them were young boys who followed their elders in the family when they were distinguishing cross silver cakes. They still have some impressions of this. When they heard Shen Gongbao talk about ancient times, they were also impressed. He nodded slightly, recalling the glorious past.
However, it was really inappropriate for a junior to talk about the past a century ago in front of a group of uncles. After pointing out his own "authority", "Shen Gongbao" stopped talking, suddenly pointed his finger, and there was a "swish" sound. , bringing everyone's attention together again.
"Looking at the quality, boy, I'm a little unsure. After all, this is a blind fire. It only relies on two Australian oil lamps, which is still not as good as the sun in the sky. And although the oil lamps are bright, the fire color is still a little yellow. If this is a gold Looking at it, I can only ask you to come back tomorrow."
Leave some room for speech, this is the virtue in the business of selling money and selling gold. Everyone was too lazy to say anything, just waiting for what "Shen Gongbao" would say next.
"However, this Treasury silver is also called snowflake silver, which means that its color is pure white like snow. If the fineness is low, it will never be as white as snow. From a small perspective, just looking at the fineness, the fineness of this Australian silver coin is only slightly inferior. There is a little bit of grained silver in the storehouse, but when you look at it after melting it, it's different." After saying this, shopkeeper Xiao Shen looked at shopkeeper Lao Shen. Shopkeeper Shen just stroked his beard, closed his eyes and nodded slightly, without saying a word. Xiao Shen felt reassured.
"It's amazing that the amount of silver in Guanding Treasury is 90%. This Australian's silver, in my opinion, is worth 875." Shopkeeper Xiao Shen enjoyed the attention of everyone before he walked down slowly. Come to a conclusion.
The businessmen sitting together immediately started a commotion.
The businessmen gathered in Jufenghao are all the leading businessmen in Guangzhou, and many of them are directors of the Federation of Industry and Commerce or heads of various industry guilds. Basically he is a leader in this industry and has great influence. It also plays a pivotal role in the newly established Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Today Liu Xiang held a special meeting of the Federation of Industry and Commerce in the city government. The content was that the Senate was about to issue new coins in Guangdong, and Guangzhou Special City was the first. Therefore, a meeting was specially held to "instruct" the heads of various industries to cooperate with each other to ensure the smooth circulation of coins.
Businessmen are all sophisticated, and when they hear this as an "edict", they know that it is an order that leaves no room for negotiation. In other words, in the past three months, Australians have been busy playing and playing in Guangzhou as a back-up, but the real finale is here.
Although there was no systematic financial theory in ancient China, since Sang Hongyang in the Han Dynasty, many businessmen were self-taught in this field. Because of course many people went bankrupt due to the imperial court’s monetary policy, and there were also many people who made huge profits from it. The Australians have established a circulation voucher system in Hainan, and businessmen are somewhat aware of it - many people have already been exposed to this kind of "Australian" banknotes because of their trade with Lingao.
Now that Australians have arrived in Guangzhou, businessmen are somewhat mentally prepared for the introduction of new currency in Guangzhou. To be honest, businessmen are not very resistant to currency notes, because this kind of banknotes circulate well on Hainan Island, and the Australian government also accepts it - compared with "I am only allowed to use it as money, you are not allowed to use it as money." This is very conscientious for the Ming Dynasty treasure money.
However, the negative impression left by the Ming Dynasty banknotes on businessmen was so profound that the businessmen murmured in their hearts when they thought that Australians might have full circulation of banknotes. Many people have secretly hid the best-quality silver ingots in their hands to prepare for the Australians to do the same trick as the Ming Dynasty: forcing merchants and people to exchange silver into banknotes.
However, there was no mention of converting silver into paper currency at the meeting. The new currency was still silver, but it became a silver dollar.
Merchants have long seen silver coins. When the Franji people came to Guangdong for trade decades ago, these shiny round silver cakes were unloaded from the ship. Later, the red-haired people also brought silver coins. This kind of silver is very popular among merchants because of its good quality. However, merchants rarely use it directly. They either cut it into pieces and weigh it for use, or they simply cast it into silver ingots.
Although businessmen who have been overseas say that in many places overseas, this kind of round silver is directly circulated and used, but no one did this in the Ming Dynasty: the fineness of the silver cannot be determined by the letter, but the fineness of the silver obtained in the early years is not It was full, and later more came. Many silver cakes were of different sizes, and the quality and weight were also different. In the end, it was better to cut them into pieces and weigh them before using them to make people feel at ease.
The silver dollars brought out by the Australians were completely different from those brought by the French and red-haired people. Although the size and weight are almost the same, the exquisiteness is very "Australian" - as exquisite as the "Australian goods" they sell. As soon as everyone got it in their hands, they couldn't help but play with it for a long time.
Not only is the color silvery and shiny, the almost perfect circle, and the pattern so fine that every detail makes everyone who gets it feel that this is not money, but an exquisite handicraft. Compared with any kind of silver coins or silver ingots they had seen before, it was completely different.
However, no matter how beautiful the money is, you still have to check its quality. Businessmen gathered in Jufenghao just to see the fineness of the Australian silver dollar.
"The quality is so good, but what's the weight?" Gao Ju asked.
"Each coin is worth six cents, seven cents and six cents." Shopkeeper Xiao Shen said, "Every coin is like this, no difference."
"It's Australian money, so it's not surprising." Someone laughed, "What about half a dollar and twenty cents?"
"The fineness of these two small silver coins is very different," shopkeeper Xiao Shen said, "the color is 60%."
There was a slight commotion among the businessmen present. As soon as he said this, several shopkeepers and bosses who attended the meeting couldn't bear it anymore and started biting each other's ears, making the scene noisy for a while. Obviously, the quality of the three silver coins that the Australians are planning to issue is not very good. Except for the one-yuan coins, the fineness of the other two coins was lower than they estimated. From the appearance alone, the quality of the three silver coins seems to be almost the same.
Boss Zhu snorted and said: "This Australian has only been in the city for a few days, and his gathering skills are really good!"
Reducing the fineness is a traditional gathering technique in coinage. This is the case with the various Chongzhen Tongbao that are flooding the market now. Not to mention all kinds of private coins and miscellaneous money.
"You can't say that." Shopkeeper Ding of the grain store said, "If Australians want to gather money, why bother minting silver coins? Just take out the circulation certificates and use them - if you don't collect, behead them, wouldn't it be easy? "
Shopkeeper Ding’s food business benefited from the Australian ban on the dental business, so his words were inevitably biased. But this makes sense. When Australians issue silver coins, no matter what the fineness is, they are still silver. As for the difference in fineness and color, the fineness of the various pieces of silver they receive every day is even more varied. Just looking at the color and weighing it takes a lot of effort every day.
Mr. Gao remained silent while they were discussing the quality. At this time, he asked slowly: "Old Shen! Are the samples that everyone gave you the same quality and weight?"
The merchants who attended this meeting each received a set of "sample coins." It was three silver coins from one of the set of sample coins that were brought to Shopkeeper Shen to sell the gold.
Shopkeeper Shen nodded: "To tell you, Mr. Gao, this money is really incredible. I have been studying business in this shop with my grandfather and father since I was a child. I have passed through a lot of gold, silver and copper coins. I have never seen them so neatly arranged. Money. Put it on the scale and it will be accurate."
Everyone is a veteran in the shopping mall, so they naturally know the benefits of the coins being of uniform fineness and weight.
"What's the point of having uniform quality and weight?" Boss Zhu spoke again, "As soon as the coins come to the market, people will naturally cut the edges and grind them. Just look at the copper coins on the market. Which one is not like this? We will still have to look at it when the time comes. The color can only be used after it has been measured."
Shopkeeper Shen said: "This is different - after all, copper coins are just small coins. If you polish off a few points, they will be worth very little, and no one will compete with you. This silver dollar is more than six cents. If you polish off a few points, how can people accept it? ? This Australian silver dollar is no better than a cross silver dollar. Just say that the toothed convex edge and the double-sided pattern will leave traces as long as they are rubbed off a little. Who would accept it?"
Everyone started arguing about this again, and the scene was like new water boiling for a while.
Gao Ju suddenly said: "I'm afraid what Shopkeeper Shen said is right."
As the most influential wealthy businessman in Guangzhou City, he silenced the scene with just one word.
"I think the introduction of new coins by the Australians is non-negotiable and is a matter of certainty," Gao said. "We don't even have to say whether the silver coins are good or bad and whether they can be circulated in the market. The money must be used and circulated. Only when you get up can you succeed."
"Mr. Gao, what do you mean..." The person who asked the question was the head of the Dung Bank, whose surname was Mi. His temperament was really opportunistic. Guangzhou Prefecture had a very bad reputation, but he had no choice but to dominate the Dung Bank, a big killer. Don't give face to anyone if you dare to face him.
In fact, the General Chamber of Commerce and Industry did not call him during this meeting, but he was well-informed and heard about the matter, so he insisted on "getting involved" in this private meeting.
"What I mean is that the Australians are now the emperors of Guangzhou. If they want you to be round, you must be round. If they want you to be square, you must be square. Fortunately, the exchange plan given this time is also very considerate. Let's It's not a loss if you take out some of the money and convert it into silver coins. The most important thing is not to ruin the face of the Australians."
Everyone understands his words. In order to fight for tooth stickers, Ya Xing attacked the Chaoshan Guild Hall. It has ruined the face of Australians, and now every family has been ruined and their family is ruined - this is a lesson learned from the past. (To be continued.)
