Not all literati in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were ignorant of economics. Heavyweight officials like Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang had very original thinking and vision. They were not rotten Confucians who were obsessed with studying.
They may not have seen clearly what Xiao Letian's banknote plan was at the beginning, but after so many years, even fools know Xiao Letian's conspiracy.
"What are banknotes? Do you think I am a three-year-old child? It seems to you that these are banknotes that can be exchanged for silver one-to-one, but do you dare to deny that Xiao Letian did not add sand to them?"
"Your Fan family controls Chinese banks, and you have the right to issue banknotes. Touch your heart and ask, have you printed more banknotes?"
"Don't try to hide it from my eyes. What's the difference between this thing and the Jiaozi and Baoqian in history? They are all leftovers from the ancestors!"
China is the first country in human history to use paper money. Jiaozi has been circulating in the commercial field since the Song Dynasty, and later the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty also did this kind of thing.
This kind of government-issued currency is completely different from the silver notes circulating in the Qing Dynasty. To put it bluntly, silver notes are silver deposit certificates. You can exchange them for silver at any time at the bank.
However, Jiaozi and Baochao are completely legal tender issued under the government’s administrative orders!
However, the legal currency of ancient people was used to make money from the very beginning. The imperial court often issued excessive amounts of banknotes, causing severe inflation in the market.
But what is interesting is that at that time, paper money and physical currency were circulating at the same time. The issuance of more paper money only caused the credit collapse of paper money, and inflation was concentrated on paper money.
On the contrary, the purchasing power of copper coins and silver is increasing day by day. This strong contrast allowed ancient scholars who did not understand the principles of economics to understand some basic knowledge of inflation and deflation.
Of course, there were no professional terms such as inflation and deflation in that era. People could only say that money was getting richer, or that money was worth more!
The banknotes issued by Xiao Letian, now called Nanqiao, and the Beipiao issued by the Qing court jointly supported the monetary order of the Qing Dynasty. This kind of banknotes evolved from military tickets, and learned lessons from history from the beginning.
"Xiao Letian is a chicken thief, he is so smart! He seems to really understand foreign ink. He doesn't do anything like Jiao Zi and Bao Chao. This shows that he is very smart!"
"First, he promised that banknotes can be exchanged for silver dollars at any time, which dispelled the people's most basic concerns!"
"Second, he actually thought of using taxes to back paper currency and allowing taxes to be paid with paper money. This is also genius!"
"Third, the banknotes he issued did not exceed the denomination of ten yuan. Most of the banknotes were in denominations of one yuan, two yuan, and five yuan. It is precisely because of the small denomination that the people at the bottom dared to try it!"
"These three axes are very powerful, and they have successfully opened up Nanpiao's market credibility! But at the beginning you were trustworthy, and then you started to let it go!"
"Wars cost money. When the cannon goes off, there are thousands of taels of gold. Xiao Letian wants to buy battleships and build foreign guns. He will start to compete with the European powers..."
"What a great spirit! I admire him, I admire him so much, but I also know that Xiao Letian is not a god, and he can't conjure gold and silver treasures!"
"We still have to plunder the people! How many war bonds has he issued in the past few years? Tens of millions of taels, right?"
"How many more banknotes did you print? To be honest, compared with the silver stored in your national treasury, it's more than doubled, right?"
"At this time, you are relying on news of successive victories to keep market confidence from collapsing!"
"If there really is a defeat... haha, I'm afraid there will be a run on it! When you don't have so much money to exchange for southern tickets with the people, it will be a scene where the sky collapses and the earth collapses!"
Zuo Zongtang raised his head and drank a glass of wine. "Xiao Letian still wants to make up for the military expenditure gap of 35 million taels for me? Are you really treating me like a child?"
Fan Jin and others looked a little embarrassed, "The commander is indeed wise, I don't dare to play tricks on him. I won't hide it from you if I say that banknotes are mixed with water. Of course there will be a little, but it is definitely not as serious as you said... "
"Hahaha..." Zuo Zongtang laughed wildly, "It's not that serious? Are you still unwilling to tell the truth? I know how you are going to refute me. Doesn't it mean that the bank run has not appeared yet? Doesn't it mean that prices in Jiangnan are still very stable? ?"
"But I can expose your deceptive tricks. Why are there no bank runs in Jiangnan right now? Why are people still using Nanjing tickets?"
"That's because Xiao Letian was so clever that he actually mobilized the worthless rice from Nanyang to go north to suppress the price of food in the south of the Yangtze River!"
"Hey... what a genius!" Although Zuo Zongtang attacked Xiao Letian's monetary policy in words, he still admired it in his heart.
"Only talents can use the power of the entire world for my own use, and Xiao Letazhen has this talent!"
"Since ancient times, China's food prices have been stable, which means that society is stable. As long as the money in hand can buy food, everything will be at ease, and the people will praise the prosperous times!"
"You transport rice from Nanyang three times a year to Jiangnan and the capital by shiploads. All the grains dumped at low prices cannot be sold at a high price!"
"But food prices have stabilized, what about other goods? Raw silk, tea, porcelain, silk, medicinal materials, wood... You can't lower the prices of these bulk commodities, right?"
"In the past three years or so, the price of raw silk has increased by one and a half times, the price of tea has doubled, and other commodities have more than doubled... The business bosses in Jiangnan are all miserable!"
"Take tea, for example. Just because the cost has increased, how much European business has India's black tea taken away?"
"Now even foreign businessmen in Shanghai are complaining that the price of our goods has increased too much!"
"Why did the price increase? Is it really because our output has decreased? Are you lying... After the long-haired eradication, Jiangnan's economy has been in a recovery period, and the output of various goods has increased!"
"But the price still skyrockets like this, so there is only one explanation. The water release quota in Nanpiao you did is definitely more than doubled!"
"The economy of your Chinese nation has been stretched so tight that it is about to break! Are you still talking to me about 35 million taels of military spending? What conspiracy does Xiao Letian have? You'd better explain it to me. Got it!"
"I, Zuo Zongtang, don't rub sand in my eyes!"
Fan Jin's face turned pale after what he said. He was shocked and said to himself, "What a smart man. He mentioned the biggest flaw in our Chinese economy in just one sentence!"
"This guy is really difficult to deal with. The mission of the head of state is really difficult!"
But no matter how difficult it is, it must be done. Before going out, a military order is issued in front of Fan Yan. If he fails to complete the task, he will be directly sent to the frontier and not allowed to go home.
Grit your teeth and give it a try!
