Of course, after four were gone, four more had to be added. Emperor Chongzhen personally went to the inner study hall again, and selected four of the chamberlains who were about to graduate through interviews, and asked Lan Tianbao and the four of them to take them with them. .
This matter later became a routine. The only difference is that there are more or less chamberlains selected, and the selection time is not fixed.
Generally speaking, the eunuchs around the emperor were the eunuchs who were allocated by the emperor to serve him since childhood when he was a prince or prince. When the prince becomes emperor, they will inevitably replace the old eunuchs of the previous dynasty and control the core power of the inner court. This approach can also be said to be nepotism, but it is also necessary for the first emperor, otherwise, there is no way to rest assured.
But this approach also has a disadvantage, that is, when the eunuchs around you gain power, they may not be able to do what they should do. After the emperor has stabilized his power and has been in power for a period of time, he will know what kind of capable subordinates he needs. He will select moldable servants and train them according to his own wishes. He will replace the old blood with new blood, even if it only threatens the old eunuchs and dare not Taking some slack is also a very good way.
The chamberlains in the inner study hall have not been polluted by the officialdom of the inner court, or are the least polluted, and are a good source of talent training. In this way, as long as a chamberlain from the inner study hall is selected, it will be equivalent to serving the emperor all the time. When the emperor is satisfied in the future, he will be reused. It can be said that the chamberlain's road to leaping over the dragon gate is complete. Therefore, it was privately called the "Palace Examination" in the palace.
After Emperor Chongzhen finished this matter, he went out of the palace incognito to observe the sentiments of the people.
At this time, the matter of repaying food has been pushed forward again, and people in the streets and alleys are talking about this matter. After all, it affects almost every household, so it is naturally the focus of discussion.
Emperor Chongzhen was sitting in a corner of the lobby of a teahouse, drinking tea quietly and listening to the discussions among the people in the capital, feeling very happy in his heart.
"I really didn't expect that the emperor would make such a strong promise. Everyone said there was no need to pay it back, but the emperor still insisted on paying it back!"
"What's unexpected about this? You don't even know what the emperor is. He's just a man of gold and gold. How can he be a child's play?"
"You can't say that!" One person took up the topic, glanced around like a thief, and said in a lower voice: "That's not what the emperor used to be!"
"Yes, the food repayment will be based on bank interest. The emperor will have to pay a lot more for the food."
"Yes, there is nothing to say about the emperor doing this. He truly takes us people seriously. He is truly a uniquely good emperor!"
"..."
Listening to these compliments, Emperor Chongzhen felt very happy. The plainclothes factory guards who were secretly guarding the surroundings were also very happy. Everything was going on happily and the atmosphere was very harmonious!
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen heard that they began to digress.
"..."
"Borrowing food this time means that we are depositing food in the bank, which is much better than keeping it at home. It's just a pity that banks don't accept food now. Otherwise, I would put the food stored at home , put them all in the bank!"
"That's not the case! If this is really the case, who is stupid? Why don't we just deposit the food in the bank? Anyway, as long as the emperor is in power, it is impossible to lose our food, and we can earn more interest on the food. What a beautiful thing! "
"Actually, even if there is no interest, as long as it can be exchanged for banknotes, it is actually a good deal!"
"Yes, yes, when you say so, it is true that today's banknotes are getting more and more expensive!"
"..."
Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was a little surprised. I have always paid attention to military and national affairs, leading troops in wars abroad. Why is this banknote so expensive?
So, he asked the fat man who had just spoken: "Friend, why are these banknotes getting more and more expensive?"
After hearing the question, all the people in the lobby looked at him. Seeing Emperor Chongzhen's extraordinary temperament, they felt a little strange. Such a person should not be in the lobby, but go to the private room on the second floor, right?
However, they did not recognize Emperor Chongzhen, so that was all they thought. It's just that they were unconsciously more willing to answer Emperor Chongzhen's questions.
The fat man smiled and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "This brother seems to have just come to the capital. Otherwise, you wouldn't be ignorant."
Having said this, he paused and pointed in the direction of the shopkeeper, and then said: "This bank has been open for so many years, and the credibility of this bank note cannot be said. At any time, as long as you take this bank note to the bank, It must be able to be exchanged for physical silver. Moreover, when the court holds auctions, the silver must be deposited in the bank. Naturally, everyone can trust it. In daily transactions, as long as the amount is larger, banknotes will be used. Come and trade, it’s convenient, very convenient!”
Emperor Chongzhen nodded, feeling satisfied in his heart. The establishment of banknote credibility seems to have been successful.
"There were a lot of transactions, and everyone liked to use the banknotes. Naturally, the banknotes became in short supply." Another person, who seemed to be a merchant, also joined in the fun and explained, "In the end, the banknotes were a bit insufficient. Okay, for the sake of convenience, everyone accepted that it’s okay if the price of the banknote is a little higher than the price on the face of the ticket!”
When the fat man heard this, he quickly grabbed the topic and continued: "As time goes by, this banknote has become more and more expensive, and now it is almost unaffordable."
Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyiwei who had been accompanying the emperor, felt a little uneasy when he saw that the emperor was so concerned about this matter. However, as the commander of the Jinyiwei, he did not pay attention to these people's livelihood and did not report the news in time. Of course, at the same time, he couldn't figure it out. He looked at Emperor Chongzhen and saw that he didn't seem to mind, so he asked the fat man: "How could this happen? If you don't have any banknotes, just take the money to the bank to exchange it." , as long as you have money, you will not be short of banknotes. How come these banknotes are becoming more and more scarce and expensive?"
Regarding Li Ruolian's question, Emperor Chongzhen came from a later generation and naturally knew more about economics than them. As soon as the two tea guests talked about it, he probably knew it.
Sure enough, I heard the fat man reply to Li Ruolian: "This brother doesn't know something. Doing business is mainly about convenience and speed. Compared with physical silver, you don't have to worry about the quality of silver notes, and you don't have to carry a scale with you all day long. Around me, I still have to worry about whether there is something wrong with the scale, whether the scale is too large or too small. Anyway, if you use physical silver to do business, sometimes there will be a lot of disputes. However, with banknotes, there is no such problem at all. ! Therefore, when the amount is small, it may not be obvious, but once the transaction amount is large, no matter who it is, everyone is willing to use banknotes to make transactions. "
After a pause, he didn't even drink a sip of tea, as if he was afraid of being overtaken by others and not having a chance to show off, so he immediately continued: "In this case, the original five hundred taels of business, if you are willing to use In the silver note transaction, the offer was only four hundred and ninety-nine taels, and I accepted it. Later, the silver note became very popular, and now it has reached four hundred and ninety-nine taels, and everyone will recognize it. Do you think this bank note is the right one? Is it getting more expensive?”
After hearing this, Li Ruolian finally understood, but he was a little disapproving of this situation.
However, Emperor Chongzhen did not see it that way. Because he knew it very well. Today's banknotes and silver have a one-to-one exchange relationship. Then the amount of silver notes circulating in the market will definitely be limited. The explanation given by this fat man is actually just a small microcosm.
From an overall economic perspective, banknotes, that is, silver, are becoming more and more expensive. This is inevitable, and it does not necessarily mean that banknotes are more popular. Instead, the Ming Dynasty's economy subsided as the wars subsided, and it introduced many policies to benefit the people, and its productivity increased a lot compared to the early years of Chongzhen. In addition, I have a lot of money every year to buy food and other things. As a result, there were more and more supplies in the Ming Dynasty, but the silver (bank notes) used to trade supplies became less and less. As a result, the silver (bank notes) naturally became more and more expensive.
This is a situation that must have existed since Zhang Juzheng implemented a whipping method that used silver as currency. When the amount of money in the country does not match the total economic volume, it will inevitably affect the economy and people's lives. According to the conclusions drawn by later generations, moderate inflation is a healthy model.
There is less money and more goods, which leads to deflation. The original late Ming Dynasty was affected by this, and it can be regarded as one of the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
It is probably impossible for people in this era to know this truth. It can even be said that at this time, among all the people in the world, only he knows how powerful this is.
It was also for this reason that he founded the Ming Bank and used banknotes to build credibility. Now the credibility of the imperial court, well, and his own credibility should be about the same. After the food is repaid this time, the bank notes can be officially transformed into currency functions. In other words, it was no longer one-to-one with physical silver, but the collateral related to the court, and later the credibility of the court were used to issue banknotes. Only in this way can we not be constrained by domestic money mismatching productivity.
Of course, transactions of small denominations are not worth printing silver notes (paper money), so it is better to use copper coins. However, the copper coins on the market had to be recycled and new coins printed by the imperial court, and private printing by the private sector was strictly prohibited.
Thinking like this, Emperor Chongzhen remembered this matter again. When we return to the palace, we must make arrangements for this matter.
There was something on his mind, so he didn't want to stay any longer. He signaled to Li Ruolian to let him pay the bill, and the emperor stood up and left first.
As soon as Emperor Chongzhen left, many seemingly unrelated tea patrons around him paid their bills and left, which immediately aroused the surprise of many people in the lobby.
