Zhu Yuanzhang did not completely reject many things from the Yuan Dynasty. Even the ancestral hall of Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, was allowed to stay in Peiping and was not demolished.
The political system in the early days of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to etiquette-related contents, mostly inherited the official system from the Yuan Dynasty, such as the six volumes of Zhongshu and the provincial structure.
However, the Ming Dynasty did not directly inherit the Yuan Dynasty's banknote law. Instead, it chose silver and copper as the currency transaction method. The court minted copper coins several times, allowing a large number of Hongwu Tongbao to enter the folk.
But the problem is that every time Hongwu Tongbao is minted, it cannot satisfy the people's demand for copper coins. Tens of millions of copper coins enter the people, only making a few splashes, but not much movement.
Although the case of privately minting copper coins in Jurong was just selfish and was caused by the Guo family's profit-making, the root cause is the copper coin shortage among the people in the Ming Dynasty, especially the copper coin shortage of Hongwu Tongbao, which was the reason why old money flooded the bottom and private minting was chaotic. source.
Liu Ji looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and knew when he saw him staring at the heavy box that the money would probably appear in Ming Dynasty.
Liu Ji expressed his understanding of this point.
There was little copper in the Ming Dynasty. Over the years, except for the Northern Expedition and Zhongdu, the imperial court rarely requisitioned large-scale civilian labor. Even in the mines, there were not many craftsmen recruited.
Just now, Lao Zhu planned to change the iron armor into leather armor in order to save people's manpower. As you can imagine in the copper mine, the number of people must be limited.
The government cast Hongwu Tongbao several times and consumed so much copper that sometimes they had to ask the people to hand over the copper items at home. Even if it was a copper basin, you had to send it to the government. I don’t know if this thing can be melted. Mint a lot of copper coins?
There is not enough copper, so it is difficult to dig out and obtain.
Making paper always takes less effort and manpower than making copper coins, right?
Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Ji to return to his residence, while he returned to the palace and ordered people to call Yan Xizhe and Ma Gui, the ministers of the Ministry of Revenue.
Yan Xizhe and Ma Gui hurriedly entered the palace.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not beat around the bush and said straightforwardly: "Today I am incognito among the people and found that it is very inconvenient for merchants to carry a large amount of copper coins. The merchants said that it is more convenient to use banknotes during the Yuan Dynasty. Do you think it is feasible to use banknotes?"
Yan Xizhe and Ma Gui looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that this was the problem.
During this period, Lao Zhu was in a bad mood. I heard that a chamberlain was carried out because of poor service. As for whether he was already dead or almost dead when he was carried out, it doesn't matter. He was buried in the end anyway.
During this period, no one dared to disobey Zhu Yuanzhang, for fear that if he could not say a word, his wife and concubines would be widowed.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang's mood was relatively stable, Yan Xizhe replied cautiously: "Your Majesty, the banknote method has a long history. It appeared as early as the Northern Song Dynasty. It was not owned by the Yuan Dynasty, but was created by the Han people."
"Oh, is it so?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was very interested.
Ma Gui glanced at Yan Xizhe, this guy also knew how to use "Han" to attract Lao Zhu's attention. Although many things of the Ming Dynasty were inherited from the Yuan Dynasty, Lao Zhu always used the slogan of "restoring China". Either he was in line with his ancestors in the Han Dynasty, or he was in line with the Song Dynasty. Naturally, he also wanted to expand in other aspects.
Yan Xizhe explained seriously: "Your Majesty, I read through the classics and found that during the Northern Song Dynasty, a kind of banknote called Jiaozi appeared in Sichuan..."
Zhu Yuanzhang picked up his tea bowl and listened carefully.
"At that time, Sichuan was dominated by iron coins. Iron coins were heavy, but the price was low. Ten iron coins could be worth one copper coin. At that time, it took two copper coins to buy a piece of cloth, which converted to 20,000 iron coins. And these copper coins, It weighs five hundred kilograms, so merchants can only use cars to pull it or carry it on boats. It is very heavy, not only hindering the journey, but also troublesome to take care of. In addition, Shu Han's roads are difficult to travel, and they are even more eager to travel lightly."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.
Iron money is so heavy. It takes five hundred kilograms to carry two pieces of money. How can we do business? Carrying things all day long is tiring. If you want to buy something worth more than five guan, don't you have to bring thousands of kilograms of iron money over?
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's brows tightening, Yan Xizhe said quickly: "Later, some businessmen thought of a workaround, using Jiaozi instead of copper coins. Jiaozi can be exchanged for iron coins, and iron coins can be exchanged for jiaozi. Later, more businessmen joined in. It facilitates many transactions..."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked, "What happened next?"
Yan Xizhe raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead: "Later in the Southern Song Dynasty, banknotes were widely used in the local area, but there were many different names. The roads in the southeast were called Huizi, the two Huaihe Rivers were called Huaijiao, and the two lakes were called Huhui , Jiaozi in Sichuan and Shu was also changed to Sichuan Yin. Although the names are different, they can be exchanged for silver and copper with banknotes."
"After the Yuan Dynasty, the Zhongtong Yuanbao banknotes were mainly issued. Whether it was private transactions or court taxes, all Zhongtong banknotes were used. In the twenty-fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the Zhongtong Yuanbao banknotes were issued. It was in parallel with Zhongtong Chao. Later, in the tenth year of Zhizheng..."
Zhu Yuanzhang knocked on the table and interrupted Yan Xizhe: "In the tenth year of Zhizheng, the Zhizheng Yuanbao banknotes were issued. The people called them the New Central Banknotes. This happened more than 20 years ago, and I still have some impressions. So, using paper to make money is beneficial to people and businesses?"
Yan Xizhe nodded solemnly: "Your Majesty, banknotes are indeed convenient."
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Ma Gui.
Ma Gui agreed with Yan Xizhe's view and said: "Paper money is good for business. If business increases, business taxes will increase, which is also a good thing for the court. However, paper money should not be issued indiscriminately. Excessive use will cause it to decline easily."
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that neither Yan Xizhe nor Ma Gui had any objections, so he nodded and said: "In order to cast Tongbao over the years, it has often happened that people have been harshly criticized for producing copper. In addition to the hard work of casting, there are still unscrupulous people among the people who steal copper coins, and merchants divert trade. Money is heavy and has a long way to go, which is quite inconvenient. In order to reduce the pain of drum casting and establish merchants who are far away, we should set up a treasure banknote promotion department under Zhongshu to prepare for the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes. Your Ministry of Revenue will discuss with Prime Minister Hu."
Yan Xizhe and Ma Gui took orders.
The news of the establishment of the Baochao Raising Department soon reached Zhu Biao's ears. Zhu Biao casually mentioned it in his letter to Gu Zhengchen and sent it out.
Gu Zhengchen returned to the county government office from Jurong College. When he was having dinner with Zhang Xiwan, Zhang Pei stood outside the door and announced: "Sir, there is a letter from Jinling."
Zhang Xiwan motioned to Gu Zhengchen to sit down, went out, took the letter, and put it on the desk.
"I'll read the letter after dinner."
Zhang Xiwan saw Gu Zhengchen wanted to get up and said.
Gu Zhengchen smiled helplessly, picked up the chopsticks, and gave Zhang Xiwan some fish: "You should eat more. You have been busy all day and I haven't seen you eat a bowl, so eat more fish."
There was a sweet smile on Zhang Xiwan's lips: "You are not afraid. You have to eat fish every few days. If it is spread, I don't know how it will be arranged."
"Haha, how can I arrange it? My husband is living a happy life in Jurong with plenty of food and fish. I guess he must have been greedy for a lot of money."
Gu Zhengchen said with a smile.
Zhang Xiwan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, we have to be careful. The censor hasn't left yet. I saw him outside the tailor's courtyard yesterday."
Gu Zhengchen disagreed: "We like to eat fish. Both the prince and your majesty know that there is nothing to be careful about when eating fish. Our family has a lot of salary. We can't use this to talk things over, but we can't get on the stage. As for that Han Yushi, let him walk around. Bar."
Zhang Xiwan ate happily.
The Gu family is not considered rich now, but they are not poor at all. Gu Zhengchen holds many positions and has a lot of salary, especially the salary for a man in Quanzhou County, which is four hundred dan per year, fifteen or six taels of silver a month, and the commander of the guards. Qian Shi, this is a fourth-grade salary, which can be discounted by more than 10 taels a month. Just these two salaries are enough to provide good food and drink for the Gu family.
After all, Gu's mother and Gu Qingqing both have their own affairs, and Gu Qingqing is also a moneymaker, so the family doesn't need much expenses.
Eating fish is not considered a luxury. Let’s just say that any man who works in a craftsman’s yard doesn’t bring some fish or pork home with him. Even if he gives up half a day’s wages or a day’s wages to buy some meat to reward his family, he still doesn’t have it. questionable.
Han Yike was not such a low-level person, and would eat some meat to impeach Gu Zhengchen. After all, the title was there, and the one who could not afford to eat fish and meat was not Gu Zhengchen, but the emperor.
Gu Zhengchen was a little bit surprised. Han Yike went back to Jinling when he had nothing to do. Why was he still walking around in Jurong? The investigation didn't take so long.
After the meal, Xiaohe came over to clean up.
Gu Zhengchen walked to the desk and sat down, opened the letter, and said to Zhang Xiwan who was making tea: "The prince's letter is probably another move by the court."
Zhang Xiwan smiled: "Husband, you need to write more letters to say hello to the Crown Prince and Crown Princess."
Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly and read Zhu Biao's letter carefully. When he saw the news that the imperial court had set up a treasure bank collection department, he couldn't help but froze for a moment and his face became solemn.
"What's wrong?"
Zhang Xiwan came over with a tea bowl. Seeing Gu Zhengchen so serious, she couldn't help but ask.
Gu Zhengchen frowned and said: "The imperial court has set up a treasure banknote promotion department, and the imperial court will launch the treasure banknote in half a year."
"Treasure money?"
Zhang Xiwan frowned, a little worried: "Issuing treasure banknotes was a common thing in the Yuan Dynasty. But my husband should also know that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, treasure banknotes were already waste paper, and most of the transactions between people and merchants were gold, silver and copper. , or even barter.”
Of course Gu Zhengchen knew.
The Yuan Dynasty can be said to be the first dynasty to fully implement pure paper money. In the early days, paper money was linked to gold and silver. In other words, paper money could be exchanged for gold and silver at any time, or gold and silver could be deposited and exchanged for treasure banknotes.
Later, the circulation of gold, silver, and copper was simply banned, and treasure banknotes were required to be used. This is not a problem. The problem is that in the middle and late Yuan Dynasty, there were too many places that needed to spend money, especially a group of bald donkeys. Not only the women of the princes and nobles, but also the temples were built, and the projects often cost millions of coins. If you can't get the money for a while, you can only print...
The money printing press was turned on and money was produced.
The problem is that in the future, when the beautiful country prints money, it will rob the whole world. People’s money is linked to the world’s assets, and the pool is big enough. But in the Yuan Dynasty, the money printing press was turned on and piles of money were piled into small ponds. As a result, treasure banknotes flooded and devalued to the point of being ignored.
Gu Zhengchen knew that Lao Zhu also had the same virtue. He wanted to print money when he had no money. He didn't need to wait for Zhu Laosi to come to power, he could use up the treasure money himself...
