However, the money shortage of this dynasty is intensified every year due to the large outflow of money. But even in this situation, Fu Yuanshan still insisted on minting money because the right to mint money was in the hands of the imperial court. The imperial court had plans for how much money would be minted each year. Even if 50% of the money minted every year is smuggled overseas, 50% will still remain in this dynasty. This is better than having all financial resources, and the most critical source of money, in the hands of merchants, or to put it bluntly, in the hands of that bastard from Wuwei Bank.
Although Wuwei Bank is now under the control of the Ministry of Revenue, in fact, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zhongshu Province, and the Sixth Ministry all know that the Ministry of Revenue has no involvement in the affairs of Wuwei Bank. It has always been under the personal control of the emperor. The owner behind Wuwei Bank has never shown up, and no one knows who he is. In Fu Yuanshan's view, the current Wuwei Bank just changed its owner. From the original Guilin County Prince's Palace, it was transferred to a rather mysterious person who no one had ever seen except the current emperor.
But no matter who their new master is, he is not reliable as long as he is not in the hands of the court. Fu Yuanshan insisted on minting money and refused to use silver as a substitute. It is planned that even if all sources of silver and gold are completely cut off. As long as money production continues and cloth can continue to be produced, nothing major will happen in the world. The worst that can be done is to restore the rules of past dynasties, and make money and add cloth to it, and it can be used as currency. This leaves the court some room for maneuver.
Moreover, Fu Yuanshan also tended that the court could not control private matters. But when the court purchases horses or other supplies, it should still focus on making money. In order to prevent the imperial court from being kidnapped by those businessmen, using gold and silver as bargaining chips. At the same time, the public is encouraged to continue to use money making. Because of this, Fu Yuanshan is also worried that if the army is expanded too eagerly, it will not only put pressure on annual revenue. It will also cause a severe money shortage among the people, and the money-making gap will become even larger, and even cause some unnecessary turmoil.
Even if banknotes are valuable, even if they can replace making money, they are based on the making of money circulated among the people. The denomination of each bank note is calculated based on coinage. For example, the largest denomination bank note issued by Wuwei Bank is one hundred guan. The smallest denomination is now consistent. Compared with the banknotes of Wuwei Bank, ordinary people are still more confident about making money. But now, whether the court is buying horses, bartering silk, cloth, or even iron pots, it requires a lot of money.
Fu Yuanshan was worried, but Huang Qiong just waved her hand, indicating that he didn't need to worry. At the same time, in response to Fu Yuanshan's report, the amount of money minted was increased and the circulation of banknotes in Wuwei Bank was restricted. The proposal to require the people of the world to pay taxes only by making money instead of accepting in kind, in order to speed up the return of copper coins and ensure the imperial court's need for military expansion, was directly rejected. Fu Yuanshan couldn't understand for a moment why this owner would rather risk large-scale promotion and risk losing Wuwei Bank's worthless banknotes instead of increasing the amount of money minted.
Does he really not understand that it is too dangerous to put money in the hands of others, or those businessmen? If that group of businessmen stopped paying real money and silver to the imperial court, I am afraid that the imperial court's current monetary policy would completely collapse immediately. At that time, all the wealth in the world will be completely wiped out and flow into the hands of those businessmen? Fu Yuanshan has never believed in this kind of hidden danger. This wise and demonic master will definitely not know the consequences of doing so. But he remained silent.
The reason why Fu Yuanshan remains cautious or even unsupportive of military expansion is because of this concern. As the Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province, he knows very well the extent of the current shortage of private money. But now in the treasury, the same real money has almost replaced money making. But the people's demand for gold and silver is far less than their need for making money. Nowadays, most of the money minted by Daqi has been dumped overseas by those profiteers. As a result, the Ministry of Household Affairs can only issue salaries to officials in Wuwei Bank banknotes.
Nowadays, there are only four major camps and the Xijing camp for officials and sergeants in the world. The army on the roadside mainly distributes money. The salaries of everyone else, including most of the guards, were paid in silver notes to Wuwei Bank. But what people everywhere regard most is making money. Even those private individuals secretly mint fake money. Nowadays, whether it is buying war horses, casting armor, or even making bows and arrows, the imperial court cannot come up with enough money to make money. But it's really unrealistic to buy it with those gold and silver.
However, in the face of Huang Qiong's persistence and Yu Mingyuan's persuasion, Fu Yuanshan still had reserved support. It was promised that the Ministry of Household Affairs would allocate money and silk every year to support this military expansion. But Fu Yuanshan also made it clear that he also asked Huang Qiong to carefully consider minting more copper coins, severely cracking down on merchants who smuggled copper coins, and limiting the number of silver notes issued by Wuwei Bank. Even Fu Yuanshan understands that the banknotes of Wuwei Bank are actually out of control now. But Fu Yuanshan still wanted to control the scale and quantity of banknotes issued by Wuwei Bank.
Especially now that Wuwei Bank is ostensibly controlled by the imperial court, but actually controlled by that bastard, Fu Yuanshan is even more wary of Wuwei Bank. Of course, Huang Qiong didn't say much about Fu Yuanshan being a bit conservative. However, after several days of stalemate, Fu Yuanshan finally spoke up, which made Huang Qiong and Yu Mingyuan breathe a sigh of relief. The reason why Huang Qiong wasted a few days trying to convince Fu Yuanshan was because Huang Qiong knew that Fu Yuanshan acted with all his heart in mind.
His behavior has always been to deal with the situation rather than the person, and he has never had any selfish motives. Huang Qiong has always been proud of having such a prime minister. This is also the reason why Huang Qiong is willing to spend more words to convince Fu Yuanshan. However, convincing Fu Yuanshan was not easy. After a few days, Huang Qiong felt a little exhausted both physically and mentally. But after finally convincing Fu Yuanshan, Huang Qiong couldn't help but sigh in her heart when she looked at Fu Yuanshan who was also exhausted. Fu Yuanshan has a strong sense of the overall situation. He is not only skilled in government affairs, but he also never engages in cliques.
His vision is far-sighted enough, and he deserves to be called the first prime minister since the founding of this dynasty. But when it comes to financial management, especially in finance, both my vision and ability are still slightly lacking. Compared with Lu Duan in this aspect, he is still far behind. Of course, this is related to the limitations of people in this era. After all, this is an epoch-making thing. The imperial court uniformly issued banknotes with legal status, gradually replacing the traditional copper coins that have been circulated for thousands of years. Not everyone can do this in the shortest time. accepted within time.
But now, no matter how much money is cast, it is not enough. Moreover, it is impossible for the imperial court to mint money indefinitely. Although Huang Qiong also knew that Fu Yuanshan's worries were not exaggerated, and it was also his responsibility as the prime minister. It can even be said that to a certain extent, it highlights his foresight as Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province. If he really said nothing on this matter, then he, the prime minister, would be derelict in his duties. Therefore, in this matter, Huang Qiong not only cannot blame Fu Yuanshan for being short-sighted, but also gives him some encouragement.
However, when thinking of Fu Yuanshan's stubbornness, Huang Qiong couldn't help but get headaches. He only saw that the people were short of money. Although the court said that gold and silver were currently being used instead of making money, it was obvious that gold and silver were not practical for ordinary people. You can't buy a pound of eggs, or a bundle of firewood for a piece of silver. People who sell eggs or firewood are also required to prepare a small scale for weighing silver and scissors for cutting silver. Therefore, for ordinary people, copper coins are still very important.
However, the amount of copper coins circulating in this area is generally not large. After all, in today's rural areas, bartering is still the main method. I'm afraid that the money they pay in food and grain is where most rural people spend the most money every year. And with the development of commerce now so prosperous, you can't carry a few sacks to make money for large transactions. It has become an inevitable trend to find an alternative currency to replace the bulky copper coins. Since this dynasty was short of gold and silver, it was naturally impossible to mint large quantities of gold and silver coins to replace copper coins.
For the sake of the credibility of the court, we cannot imitate the rogue behavior of some dynasties and cast iron coins worth ten or a hundred to defraud the people of their wealth. Although Huang Qiong was the first to stop the use of banknotes in certain areas, he even issued an edict to cancel the use of banknotes. But it's not because he objects, but because those shoddy Jiaozi are too easy to fake. Moreover, his experience more than a thousand years later also told him that issuing banknotes rashly without reserves would only end up making the people complain, and the banknotes would be worthless.
Therefore, after the gold and silver accumulated through foreign trade reached a certain level, Huang Qiong instructed Wuwei Bank to issue silver notes to partially replace copper coins. In order to increase the difficulty of counterfeiting, gold and silver foil were specially mixed with the paper when making these banknotes. In order to research this kind of paper, Huang Qiong invested hundreds of thousands of dollars. He also ordered the world that the banknotes of Wuwei Bank were the only banknotes in the world that could replace money making and were recognized by the imperial court. In order to promote this kind of banknotes, which are called banknotes but are actually banknotes, they were first used as official salaries.
Although the imperial edict stated that these banknotes could only be cashed after one year, Wuwei Bank paid a certain amount of interest based on the age. Moreover, Huang Qiong ordered that there should be a certain limit on the number of such banknotes printed each year. Generally speaking, it cannot exceed the total number of gold and silver deposited by the treasury in Wuwei Bank. This kind of banknote is completely different from the original banknote used by Wuwei Bank as a proof of deposit. After the emergence of this kind of banknotes that actually became banknotes, the original Wuwei Bank banknotes used as proof of money deposits were all renamed passbooks.
And in fact, as banknotes, only Wuwei Bank can print them. The rest, whether they are government-run or private banks, are not allowed to be printed. Once anyone is found who dares to print banknotes privately, he will be punished by death regardless of the master or slave. The combination of several methods, coupled with the original reputation of Wuwei Bank and the banknotes it originally issued, were almost equivalent to the basis for the court to recognize the existence of currency, and finally allowed the circulation of banknotes that could replace money and cloth. , credibility is basically equal to copper coins.
In Huang Qiong's view, as long as the court and Wuwei Bank maintain a sufficient exchange rate, this kind of banknotes will continue to circulate. Because this kind of banknote is so difficult to counterfeit, unless hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are used to replace it, the same banknote cannot be made at all. Moreover, the issuance of this kind of banknotes is guaranteed by the national gold and silver reserves of the Ministry of Accounts, and the number issued each year is limited. The most important thing is that you can take these banknotes and exchange them for gold and silver at Wuwei Bank, or you can pay gold and silver to exchange for such banknotes.
In this way, Wuwei Bank has the backing, and Wuwei Bank has the household department as the backing. This kind of bank note has high credibility because it is easy to carry and has basically replaced the original money making in large transactions. Cloth in lieu of currency. Used together with copper coins as currency.
