Chapter 560 559 "Banknote Law"
Early the next morning, Wei Guangde arranged for his servants to deliver letters to Nanjing and Jiujiang, and then hurried to Prince Yu's mansion, waiting for the approval of the return of the memorial from Xiyuan.
As expected, while waiting, Li Fang hurried into the house and handed the note copied from the cabinet to Prince Yu.
Prince Yu took a look and said expressionlessly: "Father ordered Lin Run to arrest Yan Shifan and Luo Wenlong immediately and bring them to Beijing for questioning."
Hearing that it was a questioning, although there was the word "arrest", Yin Shizan, Zhang Juzheng and others couldn't help but twitch their mouths.
Since it was a questioning, it would naturally become an interrogation if the answer was not satisfactory, and it would become a new case, but if Emperor Jiajing was satisfied, it seemed that it would not be a big deal.
It can be seen that when Wei Guangde started talking about Yan Shifan's high-profile words and deeds in Jiangxi yesterday, he might not have deliberately induced the censors to impeach him.
Going directly back to the capital, Yan Shifan would not dare to do it without a decree.
But with this decree, he can return to the capital openly.
"It seems that Yan Donglou's move was really intentional."
Yin Shizeng finally spoke, breaking the silence in the room.
Yan Shifan is very powerful and difficult to deal with. This is the consensus of everyone in the room, otherwise Yan Song would not have been able to steal the position of the cabinet's prime minister at the age of eighty.
"I went to see the teacher last night, and the teacher also regretted a little. He forgot that Yan Shifan was exiled to Guangdong. This matter should be sent to the Guangdong Censorate to arrest him."
Zhang Juzheng also said.
"Shandai, after Yan Shifan is taken to the capital, you should go to the Ministry of Justice more diligently, and be sure to see his confession first, and never leave him a chance."
Prince Yu spoke at this time and said to Wei Guangde, who had been silent all the time.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Wei Guangde answered very straightforwardly. There was no way for Yan Shifan to survive in his plan, so he naturally would not ignore this matter.
Moreover, according to Wei Guangde's vague impression, Yan Shifan's entry into the capital this time should end in death, but it is unknown how Xu Jie and Gao Gong handled the matter at that time and what charges were imposed on him.
At this point, there seems to be no better way except to take it one step at a time as Wei Guangde said at the beginning.
Even if he wants to fabricate charges, he can only lean towards the charges in Lin Run's memorial.
He will definitely not be able to escape from exile without authorization, but he will definitely use Yan Song's old age as an excuse, which may not be so important to Emperor Jiajing.
As for slandering the court, raising death warriors, and gathering people to rebel, after all, the incident happened in Jiangxi, and at this time, it depends on what evidence Lin Run can bring back.
Even if they want to make a move, it is too late.
"What else do you have in your hand?"
At this time, Prince Yu saw that Li Fang still had a note in his hand, so he asked.
What can be sent with this note must be something that the cabinet thinks is more important.
But in the past few days, apart from the turmoil caused by Lin Run's impeachment memorial, there seems to be nothing else.
"This is the decree of His Majesty to suspend the minting of coins by Baoyuan Bureau."
Li Fang hurriedly answered, and at the same time raised his hands and handed the note in his hand to Prince Yu.
"Suspend coin minting?"
Hearing Li Fang's words, several people in the room turned their attention to the note, and were very curious about why Emperor Jiajing issued such an order.
Coin minting, naturally refers to the minting of copper coins.
However, there is a big difference between the copper coins minted by the Ming Dynasty and other dynasties in the past, that is, the minted copper coins are not for circulation, but for court rewards.
Although, these new coins are actually used for circulation.
The root cause of this contradiction is that there is no copper coin in the "Money Law" formulated by the Ming Dynasty since the Zhu Yuanzhang period. The Ming Dynasty has always implemented the "Banknote Law".
Although some people in later generations called the system of copper coins in the Ming Dynasty "money law" and the system of treasure notes "banknote law", this was in an era when paper money was the main currency in later generations, and coins did not withdraw from the market for various reasons.
However, what was not clear in the Ming Dynasty was that the issue of the issuance and recovery of treasure notes, and the relationship between treasure notes and coins, often changed with the changes in the market. The court's intervention in the middle and late stages was out of balance, resulting in the entire Ming Dynasty's money law being in a state of chaos.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ordered the creation of the Ming Baochao, the effect of the Ming court in solving the domestic financial pressure was obvious, but the circulation of treasure notes among the people was often not smooth.
The Ming court has also been committed to making positive adjustments and management on the issue of banknote law, but ultimately failed to escape the fate of treasure note depreciation and inflation.
In fact, the issuance of the Ming Baochao was not a whim of Zhu Yuanzhang, but a system inherited from the Yuan Dynasty.
my country is the first country in the world to invent and use paper money. As early as the Tang Dynasty, "flying money" with the nature of modern bills of exchange appeared.
The "Jiaozi" and "Huizi" of the Song Dynasty were already relatively mature paper money. The Jin Dynasty inherited the Song system and continued to use paper money and developed it.
In the Yuan Dynasty, it was further improved on the basis of the Song and Jin Dynasties, and a pure paper money system was implemented. Gold, silver and copper coins were not allowed to circulate.
Although both the Song and Jin Dynasties issued paper money, they were used together with copper coins as legal tender. In the late Jin Dynasty, paper money was issued indiscriminately to solve financial difficulties, causing the depreciation of paper money and loss of credit.
For paper money to replace metal as a means of circulation, sufficient reserves must be available.
The paper money established by the Yuan Dynasty avoided the phenomenon of excessive issuance of paper money in terms of system. In the early Yuan Dynasty, the reserve fund for the implementation of paper money was sufficient. In order to receive new banknotes, local governments had to pay gold and silver as the basis first, and the cash in the country was concentrated in the national treasury to stabilize people's hearts.
In addition, the political situation of the country with the power to enforce the implementation of paper money was relatively stable, which also made the implementation of paper money possible.
During this period, the paper money of the Yuan Dynasty also experienced a period of chaos. The reason was that all gold and silver were shipped to the national treasury, resulting in gold and silver that could not be exchanged for paper money in various places, which actually became empty money without capital.
The Yuan Dynasty government immediately rectified the banknote law and stopped shipping silver from the treasury, and the banknote value returned to stability.
However, since the seventh year of Dade, the banknotes have depreciated again. After Wuzong ascended the throne, he abused rewards, spent a lot of money, and arbitrarily used banknotes, which made the banknote value fall further. The subsequent policies failed to stabilize the banknote value again.
After the peasant uprisings broke out in various places at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the surge in military expenditures made it impossible to control the banknote value. In the end, the paper money system of the Yuan Dynasty collapsed completely along with the regime.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who personally experienced the chaos of the banknote system at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, was well aware of the pain and disaster that the drawbacks of the banknote system at the end of the Yuan Dynasty brought to the people.
Therefore, in terms of the design content of the Ming Baochao system, he made a creation different from that of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, that is, he did not set up a reserve system, but forcibly promoted it with the authority of the government. This is a monetary system that is highly dependent on the government's strong political power and imperial power.
In fact, the Ming Baochao and the current monetary system are highly similar, with national credit as a guarantee.
In order to promote the Ming Baochao among the people, the Ming court clearly stipulated that the use of gold and silver transactions by the people was prohibited, otherwise they would be punished by the government.
The people could take gold and silver to the government to exchange for Baochao, but they could not use Baochao to exchange gold and silver with the government.
In terms of taxation, both money and banknotes were collected, and Baochao accounted for seven-tenths of the proportion.
The one-way exchange system between Baochao and precious metal currencies reflects the policy characteristics of the Ming government's mandatory control of the national circulation currency system, and it can plunder wealth from the people for the use of the court.
After the issuance of Baochao, the different usage status of the government and the people was the key reason for the numerous drawbacks and serious depreciation of Baochao in the later period.
Relying on the powerful and unified government power in its hands, the court ignored the market circulation rules and blindly printed paper money only to solve the court's own needs.
Although it played a key role in military expenditures, salaries and rewards of the bureaucratic group, the defects of the Baochao's own design system made it difficult for Baochao to circulate among the people.
From the end of Hongwu to the beginning of Zhengtong, Baochao has been depreciating, and it has almost become waste paper since the Zhengtong period.
Although the inner court still prints Baochao to offset the salaries and rewards of officials, it is almost seldom circulated among the people, and the only ones are only to offset the annual taxes.
This may be the reason why the Ming Dynasty Baochao was still issued until the end of the Ming Dynasty, because local officials could make huge profits from it.
That is, when collecting taxes, they were collected in kind and in cash, and when they were handed over, they were offset by the Ming Baochao. The price difference between the two was huge, and the profit was far greater than the subsequent fire consumption.
It can only be said that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were really good at making money.
In Wei Guangde's view, the failure of the Ming Baochao, in addition to the depreciation factor caused by the wanton issuance, the exchange between Baochao and gold and silver was also a very important link, and a very important way to ensure the value of Baochao.
Let me ask, a considerable part of the banknotes issued by various sovereign states in later generations did not establish a deposit system, but the currency at that time could still guarantee the value of the currency. Why is this?
The exchange rate of currencies in later generations has been changing, but except in extreme cases, the currencies of various countries are still relatively stable.
The Ming Baochao system has problems, and it is definitely not possible to continue it, but Wei Guangde thinks that with reference to the monetary policy of later generations, there is still a chance to introduce a new Baochao system of the Ming Dynasty after appropriate modifications.
Under this new system, the previously issued Baochao will definitely not be recognized, but this is too complicated, and he has not thought it through completely, but he has such a concept.
However, at this time, Li Fang's words about suspending coinage became interesting. Could it be that the inner court would stop giving rewards? It was the end of the year and it was almost time to receive the annual rewards.
Whether it was Yin Shizhan, Zhang Juzheng, or Wei Guangde, they were all very worried that Emperor Jiajing would go crazy this year and change all the annual rewards to Ming Baochao. I'm afraid that the officials in the entire capital would go on strike collectively.
However, it was different from what they thought. After Prince Yu took the note and read it carefully, his brows gradually relaxed from the initial frown. Obviously, things did not develop in the direction he thought.
"You can take a look too."
As he spoke, Prince Yu handed the note to Yin Shizhan.
After reading it, Yin Shizhan quickly handed it to Wei Guangde.
Wei Guangde looked down and said, "The Ministry of Works is ordered to strictly follow the previous order to investigate and deal with the situation.
The coins minted by Baoyuan Bureau are embezzled by craftsmen and servants, which have reduced the workmanship and made the coins inferior and unusable. You should send them to the judicial department one by one to be severely punished, and investigate the officials in charge of management.
The Ministry of Finance will stop minting coins in the future. The Ministry of Revenue will send 10 million coins collected from Nanjing, Yunnan and the Taxation Department to the Ministry every year, and transfer them to the Ministry of Key Treasury for reward."
After reading the content of the note, Wei Guangde breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that he was dissatisfied with the fact that Baoyuan Bureau minted too many bad coins.
In fact, in the past few years, all the civil and military officials in Beijing have noticed that the annual gifts received from the Siyue Treasury are of poor quality and unusable. They are not only light and thin, but can even be broken with a little force. How can such coins be used? They are not as good as those private coins on the market.
After handing the note to Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde could only laugh.
Emperor Jiajing should have never been to the market, so he didn't know that there were almost no good coins in circulation in the capital, not to mention other prefectures.
Those good coins in circulation would be thrown into the furnace to be refined into inferior coins after being taken away by others. After all, the Ming Dynasty was indeed short of copper.
The root cause of all this was Emperor Jiajing's intervention in the currency value.
The exchange rate of copper coins to silver changed many times during the Jiajing period. In the third year of Jiajing, the imperial edict ordered that the coins made by the Hongwu and other dynasties and the good coins cast by the old dynasties would be used in parallel, and every seventy coins would be converted into one coin of silver. Privately cast and counterfeit coins were prohibited from circulation.
In the 18th year of Jiajing, it was stipulated that no matter whether it was made coins or old coins of past dynasties, good copper coins of 70 wen would be converted into 1 qian of silver, and inferior copper coins of 140 wen would be converted into 1 qian of silver.
In the 32nd year of Jiajing, it was stipulated that only Jiajing Tongbao coins were allowed to be converted into 7 wen of silver, and other made coins such as Hongwu and miscellaneous coins of previous dynasties were allowed to be converted into 1 fen of silver.
In the 33rd year of Jiajing, it was stipulated that Jiajing Tongbao coins were allowed to be converted into 7 wen of silver, and the best made coins such as Hongwu and miscellaneous coins of previous dynasties were also converted into 7 wen of silver. The rest were converted into 1 fen of silver according to the quality of the coins. Soon after, it was decreed that Jiajing Tongbao coins were allowed to be converted into 7 wen of silver, Hongwu coins were allowed to be converted into 10 wen of silver, and coins of previous dynasties were allowed to be converted into 30 wen of silver.
The root cause of the proliferation of private coins among the people was actually because the conversion rate between Jiajing Tongbao coins and ancient coins of past dynasties was too high, and the people competed to privately cast these coins to make profits.
Although the government has issued strict orders to prohibit private minting many times, the private minting activities of the people have not been effectively curbed. Now, it is even used in the streets of the capital, and all of them are privately minted.
"It is light, thin and small, and can be broken by touch. Although the characters are preserved, the dots and strokes are indistinguishable. Instead of copper, lead and iron are used. They are not cast, but cut and cut. They are rough and good, and they are called coins. Every three hundred coins are worth one silver coin. Those who make them are not afraid, and those who use them are not suspicious, and the made coins and old coins are blocked."
This is a true portrayal of the copper coins circulating on the market in Beijing during this period.
Wei Guangde still remembers that his family participated in the activity of exchanging iron cannons for copper cannons, and all the copper materials obtained were used to cast "Jiajing Tongbao".
Last time, he received a letter from home saying that all the guards in Jiangnan are doing this now, and they are not afraid even if they are discovered in the future, and the law will not punish everyone.
Wei Guangde naturally didn't care how many people in the Ministry of Works would lose their heads in this incident, but although his family made a profit from it, it also strengthened his plan to rebuild the money system in the future.
The "banknote system" designed by Zhu Yuanzhang should not be buried like this, and should not be misunderstood by future generations. The lack of a reserve system is not the fundamental reason for the failure of treasure notes.