"money!"
The First Emperor sat in the carriage and listened to Zhao Si's talk.
"Qin Banliang is very valuable, but if you put Qin Banliang in the basement, Qin Banliang will be worthless." Zhao Si spread his hands and said.
"Now the country's copper is no longer enough, and we must find a way." Zhao Si said seriously.
"Then tell me what Zhao Zhonglang can do?" Li Si said with a smile.
In fact, Li Si had already anticipated the Qin Dynasty's money shortage. The cultivation of money was an eternal truth of survival for nobles. Li Si could be a left prime minister, so naturally he would not be unaware of this kind of thing.
But Li Si didn't have any good ideas.
There are really not many ways to solve the money shortage.
The realistic conditions are there. With the current mining technology, there are only a few copper mines that can be mined in Daqin.
A clever woman can't make a living without rice, unless she finds a way to loot the money from the cellars of the nobles.
To be ruthless is just to find an excuse to raid homes, while to be peaceful is to encourage business activities and allow money to re-enter the market circulation.
Maybe there is another way to cut corners when Da Qin mints money in the future?
For example, half a tael actually only contains a quarter of the ingredients?
Li Si thought about this problem. This could indeed bring huge cash flow to Daqin in a short period of time. However, Li Si also knew that there were serious hidden dangers in doing so, so he had no choice but to give up.
But don't worry, the magical Zhao Zhonglang will always have his way.
"It's nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure..." Zhao Si thought for a moment and picked up a glass of buttermilk.
"Nowadays, Great Qin's control over business is too strict, resulting in an extreme lack of private commercial activities. With a lack of commercial activities, there will naturally be less goods. Without goods, money will naturally not be able to circulate. Therefore, it is necessary to appropriately relax some business restrictions. But there is a premise: commerce must not infringe upon the country’s foundation of farming and war, and the measure of this needs to be grasped by Prime Minister Li.”
"Trying to find ways to get Qin Banliang hidden in the cellar by the nobles and let him participate in commercial activities. No matter what method is used, this is to reduce expenditures. But obviously, just reducing expenditures is not enough. Your Majesty wants to bring Qin Banliang to the cellar." Banliang is used for the world, but in fact, the number of Qinbanliang issued by Da Qin is far from enough for the world, and the currency is still too small. This is because there are too few copper mines that can be mined, but they are also responsible for manufacturing armor. arms……"
"Therefore, we must reduce expenditure while also increasing revenue. In the past, gold and silver were scarce and could not bear the properties of currency, making it difficult to participate in market circulation. However, the two major gold and silver mines in Fuso have been put into operation. In a short period of time, gold and silver will continue to flow into Daqin. , corresponding currencies can be minted appropriately according to the value of gold, silver and copper, and a more complete monetary system can be established."
"This is a solution." Li Si nodded.
More than a year has passed since the two mines were mined in Fuso. In addition to the ships that initially stayed in Fuso, some new ships have been built and put into use in Penglai and other places.
Fuso transported gold and silver minerals from there, and then brought some laborers from the central plains to mine, forming a virtuous cycle.
Now Daqin has accumulated countless high-quality gold and silver, and Fusang, the cash cow, is still producing milk continuously. If this rate is maintained, Daqin's gold and silver reserves will reach a considerable level in the future. It would not be a bad thing to use high-quality precious metals to create currency and improve Da Qin's monetary system.
If you don't have enough money, just build more. Typical prescribing the right medicine can relieve temporary emergencies.
Anyway, the scarcity attribute of gold and silver is here. Even in modern times, it is very valuable. After all, gold can only be produced by supernova explosions. Unlike diamonds, which can be rubbed by hand, the gold reserves of the entire earth are here. It's there, it won't change much.
Gold and silver, this stuff will never go bad.
At least it won't be a waste until humans can rub it with their hands.
The two gold and silver mines in Fuso are very large, but they are very large for the ancient social environment. They are large, but they will not turn gold and silver into a dirty thing, let alone cause too much impact on prices. A big impact is even less likely to trigger an economic crisis.
If the nobles like to hoard money, just do so. Anyway, for now, there is no need to worry about the two gold and silver mines in Fuso being hollowed out. With the current mining conditions, Iwami Ginzan and Sado Kaneshima can still be mined for at least a few hundred years. ,
Once the garrison is gone and the cast is gone, it's done. It's not a big problem.
"What else?" The First Emperor knocked on the table and looked at Zhao Si. He was already used to Zhao Si's way of speaking. This boy was used to putting the most important things at the end, but now it was obvious that this boy had not finished speaking. Finished.
“No matter how much gold and silver money there is, it cannot solve the lack of underlying currency.”
Assume that the copper coin has a face value of one yuan, the silver coin has a face value of ten yuan, and the gold coin has a face value of one hundred yuan.
Theoretically speaking, the issuance of additional currencies with face values of ten yuan and one hundred yuan can only alleviate the currency shortage, but the problem of insufficient face value of one yuan at the bottom of the currency has not been solved.
There is too little loose money, which is not a good thing for market communication. Things like unifying the currency will eventually fall on Qin Banliang.
"Currently, copper mines have too many uses. If the existing copper mines are used to mint money, this situation can be greatly alleviated." Zhao Si said.
"Copper is used to make money, so how can soldiers and armor survive?" Li Si shook his head.
"Use iron!" Zhao Si said firmly.
"Iron?" Li Si frowned and looked at Zhao Si. How could Li Si not know about iron?
"Zhao Zhonglang has never seen iron weapons?"
"Of course I have seen it before, and I also know what Li Xiang is worried about."
"Existing iron tools are far inferior to bronze ones. The current iron tools can only be used for farming. They are far inferior when used as armor weapons. Not to mention armor weapons, even large ritual vessels are rarely used. "Zhao Si thought for a moment.
"The bronze wares of the Qin Dynasty are the best in the world, but we should not rest on our laurels because of this. In the past, everyone did not have enough gold, and the world's copper mines were enough. However, today, the copper mines are seriously insufficient, and it is difficult to continue to issue additional currency. In the future Will it be unsustainable for our armor and weapons?" Zhao Si asked seriously.
"Although copperware is good, but now that there is a crisis, we should not rest on our laurels, but should try other things to replace bronzeware. I think ironware has such potential." Zhao Sidao.
"Iron is too brittle..." Li Si shook his head.
"Copper was too soft at the beginning. Could it be that the swords and weapons of the Qin Dynasty were so sharp hundreds of years ago?"
"Can you make iron tools that are comparable to bronze?" Li Si asked again.
"No!" Zhao Si shook his head seriously.
"But I know I can get it out!"
The First Emperor frowned thoughtfully.
Industrial upgrading is no small matter, especially when Zhao Si has not yet come up with cross-generational technology and has to directly explore everything from scratch.
But Zhao Si said it must be possible.
It's much easier when you know it's the right way forward.
The next step is nothing more than investing money in people and using the work of the world.
The problem is that this is just Zhao Si's family opinion...
I am afraid that a lot of money, manpower and material resources will be wasted, but in the end it will be a mirror image.
So here comes the question...
Can Zhao Si be trusted?
If you think about it carefully, in fact, if iron can replace copper, the performance does not even need to be completely comparable, even if it is worse than bronze, it is acceptable.
After all, iron ore reserves are much richer than copper ore reserves.
(There is no rush for paper money, I will mention it later. There are many reasons why I don’t get it.)
(End of chapter)
