Chen Jingke shook his head and said, "I checked all the information I could find, but I didn't find any clues."
Zhu Yuanzhang was very disappointed, but he felt it was normal.
If Chen Jingke could even do this, he would be a bit too evil.
"We will send people to look through the classics, hoping to find relevant records."
Chen Jingke quickly reminded: "Actually, it doesn't matter even if we can't find records. Today's people are no worse than the ancients, so why rely on the ancients for everything."
"Find someone who understands money and calculations to summarize it. I believe it won't be long before Ming Dynasty can summarize his own calculation method."
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but nodded: "This is reasonable, so let's make two preparations. It would be best if we can find records. If we can't find them, we will do our own research."
This basically means that he accepted the previous suggestion.
Chen Jingke was very happy and decided to give it another try:
"I believe that I have unique insights into arithmetic and am willing to dedicate this knowledge to Your Majesty."
Zhu Yuanzhang was numb to his erudition and was not surprised. He just said:
"Okay, just write down your arithmetic knowledge and present it to us."
"yes."
"Did you find anything else about the coins?"
"There's some left."
Chen Jingke talked about some more key points, but they were all supplements to Cai Cai's key points and did not put forward any core points.
But Zhu Yuanzhang still listened attentively, and these supplementary views made him understand money more clearly.
I already have a direction for reform in my mind.
It wasn't until Chen Jingke said that he had finished speaking that he praised: "Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading. You are good."
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty."
"If you have any ideas in the future, just come to me and the prince directly. There is no need to beat around the bush. We are not people who cannot listen to advice."
Chen Jingke thought to himself, is it true? How about we talk about the vassal king's problem.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I understand."
Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "Counting the last time, you have helped us solve three major problems. Such a great contribution deserves a heavy reward."
"What do you want? As long as it's not too much, we can grant it to you."
Chen Jingke said seriously: "Your Majesty allows a white boy to serve as your grandson's companion. It is already a great favor. How dare I ask for a reward?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with his attitude: "We are people who distinguish rewards and punishments. If we have merit, we should be rewarded. There is no need to refuse."
"This..." Chen Jingke was in a dilemma. For a moment, he really couldn't think of what he wanted.
At this time, Zhu Biao said: "You are still too young. It is not a good thing for you to be given too heavy a reward now."
"Since you can't think of what you want at the moment, why not wait a few years and give the reward together?"
Chen Jingke breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you for your love and care, Your Highness. I am willing."
Zhu Yuanzhang was also very satisfied with the result and said: "Okay, then it's decided."
In fact, he is not willing to reward Chen Jingke now.
First of all, as Zhu Biao said, he was too young and the reward was too easy to be hated by others.
Secondly, if you are in a high position now, you will not be able to control the future.
However, as an emperor, his subordinates have made meritorious deeds over and over again, and he cannot do without any expression, so he asked the question just now.
Now this result is the best.
After that, he asked some questions about coins, and Chen Jingke answered them one by one.
It gave him a more thorough understanding of coins and a clearer idea of how to innovate.
"There are indeed loopholes in Ming Dynasty's treasure banknotes. Do you have any ideas on how to fix them?"
Chen Jingke shook his head and said: "I have thought about it, but the methods I thought of all have drawbacks, and implementing them rashly may cause unpredictable consequences."
Zhu Yuanzhang was very surprised. Before, he would give a good solution after a long speech.
This time he said no.
But thinking about the seriousness of this matter, it feels normal.
This matter is of great concern, and if one mistake is made, countless people will suffer.
I'm afraid it's not that Chen Jingke has no solution, but that his own solution is not safe enough.
Thinking of this, I am even more satisfied with Chen Jingke.
This guy is pretty good, he is low-key when he should be low-key, arrogant when he should be arrogant, and never radical when it comes to big things.
It is indeed a good seedling.
"Tell us your method. Even if it doesn't work, it can be used as a reference."
Chen Jingke then said: "What I thought at first was to build warehouses across the country following the method of the Shu Han Dynasty, and allow people to exchange treasure banknotes for supplies."
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, Shu Han only has one state and can build warehouses everywhere."
"We will unify the vast territory of tomorrow and build so many warehouses, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive and wasteful for people and money."
Another point is that Baochao has lost its credibility.
Once this strategy is implemented, it will inevitably cause a run on the people.
Rebuilding credibility takes time, and sufficient resources must be prepared during this period.
If there is a situation where the supplies cannot be exchanged, even if it is only temporary, everything will be lost.
But where did Ming Dynasty come from so many supplies?
Even if they could barely scrape together enough, the court would go bankrupt if so many supplies were piled up in warehouses without being used.
So this method is absolutely not possible.
Chen Jingke said: "Your Majesty is wise, I only thought of this later."
"Then I thought again, either to open banks all over the world and allow people to exchange precious banknotes for copper coins."
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head again. Although he didn't say anything, his meaning was obvious.
This method is not as good as the first one.
Although it is troublesome to raise supplies, you can still get it together by tightening your belt.
But with so many copper coins, the court was really powerless.
"Later, I thought of exchanging tea, salt and other materials for the treasures in the hands of the people..."
Chen Jingke mentioned several methods one after another, all of which had big loopholes.
However, these methods still brought great inspiration to Zhu Yuanzhang.
"It's pretty good that you can think of so many ways."
"Although there are loopholes and cannot be implemented alone, there are some methods that can be used as auxiliary means."
Chen Jingke said modestly: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
At this time, Zhu Biao, who had been thinking, suddenly said: "Dad, I have thought of a way."
Zhu Yuanzhang said happily: "Oh, what can I do quickly?"
Zhu Biao said: "This is a composite approach that requires a multi-pronged approach."
"First, set a time limit to allow salt merchants to buy salt directly from the salt field with treasure money."
"Salt merchants will inevitably purchase large amounts of treasure banknotes from the private sector. This will reduce the number of treasure banknotes held by the private sector and reduce the losses of the people."
"In order not to affect the Salt Law, this period cannot be too long."
The Salt Law of the Ming Dynasty stipulates that salt farms are state-owned, and salt merchants who want to buy salt must use salt.
There is only one way to obtain salt, which is to transport military supplies to the border.
Now there is a way for them to buy salt directly from the salt fields. Those salt merchants will definitely take the initiative to buy the treasure banknotes.
But doing so will affect the delivery of border materials.
However, it's not a big problem if it's just for the short term.
You can stockpile supplies in advance, or recruit civilians to transport them, and you can always tide over the difficulties.
So Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Yes, what else?"
