Chapter 949 1038 Travel

Wei Guangde suggested making the Ming silver treasure and stipulated the regulations of the Ming copper coins. At the same time, he also wanted to form a system for the circulation of the Ming coins, prohibiting the use of privately minted coins and ingots by the people.

"Brother, in fact, the gold collected by the court does not have to be stored in the form of ingots. It can also be made into Ming gold treasures in the way of making coins, and the court will also increase its profits by more than 10%.

However, the exchange price of gold and silver is uncertain, so gold can be temporarily excluded from the list of coins, and only used as a cellar for the court and the palace, or as a reward."

Wei Guangde continued.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a long time, and then worriedly said: "Shandai, I understand what you mean.

Indeed, doing so can reset the currency system of the Ming Dynasty and rectify the illegal private minting of coins by local gentry.

You can make the Ming silver treasure, and force it through the government. I am afraid there will be great resistance from below."

When Zhang Juzheng first heard Wei Guangde's suggestion, he was excited, but when he thought about it carefully, there were many problems.

It's not that the idea is bad, but in the actual promotion process, there will be great resistance from local and private sectors.

Local opposition is because the creation of coins will seriously affect the income of the government.

You should know that the finances of the Ming Dynasty court are self-financed by local governments at all levels, and are not allocated by the court.

This leads to the fact that in addition to paying taxes to the court every year, local governments also have to levy miscellaneous taxes to maintain the operation of the government.

In addition to the salaries of high-ranking officials, the salaries of other government officials are all expenditure items of miscellaneous taxes.

After the summary of revenue and expenditure for a year, if there is a deficit, miscellaneous taxes will often be levied in the next year to fill the hole. If there is a surplus, it will fall into the pockets of officials under various pretexts.

This is the financial system of the Ming Dynasty.

Initially designed in this way, under the working attitude of officials who are dedicated to their duties and honest and dedicated to the public, it can minimize the burden on the people.

The government designs miscellaneous taxes according to the approximate annual expenditure and distributes them to fields or people.

When a local government encounters a large project that needs to be operated, the government will call on gentry and village elders to raise funds together to carry out good deeds such as paving roads and building bridges.

If it encounters projects such as water conservancy projects, the government will use corvée labor to carry out the work, and the funds will also be raised.

However, when the moral bottom line of Ming officials continued to decline, the huge loophole of miscellaneous taxes became a means for officials to make money.

It became inevitable to find ways to expand the government budget and increase the levy of miscellaneous taxes.

Three years as a prefect, 100,000 silver coins, this is a true portrayal of officials making money in this era.

The fire consumption of taxes, in fact, has existed for a long time, and it did not appear after the one-whip law.

After all, no local government would take millions of copper coins to pay taxes to the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing, and they were all exchanged into silver according to the system.

Among them, the quality of silver is a place where officials can manipulate.

100,000 taels of silver can be high or low in quality.

Although the court has a system for this, you can still get a lot of money by skirting the rules.

The court stipulates that the silver must be 80% silver, so give a bribe to the warehouse ambassador, and 70% silver will be allowed to enter the warehouse.

If it is 10,000 taels of tax silver, you can earn a few hundred taels of silver from this item, and establish a good relationship with the warehouse ambassador, why not do it.

Zhang Juzheng certainly knows the tricks of the people below, but he is also helpless.

The law does not punish everyone, everyone is like this, even his confidants and disciples are the same, how to punish them.

He can only turn a blind eye, as long as he does not do too much, the court will not impose punishment, and people are the birth of unspoken rules.

Wei Guangde proposed to make money, not only to break the folk payment habits, but also to destroy some unspoken rules in the officialdom.

They can no longer make profits from it.

You know, privately minting money is a serious crime.

The warehouse ambassador can say that he made a mistake and was deceived by someone who mixed the fake with the real, but the authenticity of the money is not a matter of making a mistake.

The officials who paid taxes were also charged with the same crime, which could easily lead to a case of confiscation of property and extermination of the whole family.

Because in the folk, ingots and broken silver have always been used as payment methods.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng was deeply worried about Wei Guangde's suggestion that the Ming Dynasty's coins be the only circulating currency. The local government and the people would find it difficult to accept it.

"Hehe."

Wei Guangde actually understood Zhang Juzheng's concerns, but he felt that he could not stop doing this.

"Uncle, you should know what the silver in circulation in my Ming Dynasty is like now. How does it compare to the silver yuan in your hand?"

Wei Guangde just chuckled and said, "I think my Ming Dynasty is the upper country, and all nations come to pay tribute. But when foreign envoys buy and sell goods in the Ming Dynasty market, they see only broken silver that has been bitten by teeth. What would they think?"

Wei Guangde's words were not nonsense.

In ancient China, coins were generally made of copper coins, and gold and silver coins were rare. They were generally made in the palace and used as rewards. The people used broken silver.

In later times, the gold and silver items we see in gold shops are all glittering and dazzling.

But whether in the Ming Dynasty or the previous dynasty, or in the Qing Dynasty, except for the ingots collected by wealthy families, most of them are black.

Gold ingots are better. No matter how you refine silver ingots, they will turn into a black mass after a long time because they will oxidize.

Moreover, ingots are only made to look good when stored in cellars, and there are few opportunities to actually use them.

The purchasing power of gold and silver was amazing in ancient times. There were few opportunities to use ingots directly. Even if there were, they could not be used up, so they had to use special scissors to cut off a part.

Many ingots that have been passed down to later generations have pits and bumps on the edges, which means that a part was cut off to pay the bill.

Gold, due to its color characteristics, is more recognizable, but the appearance of silver may surprise people.

In later film and television dramas, the silver of the ancients was bright and shiny, and it was valuable at first glance, but it was just a prop, it was fake.

In reality, the silver circulated in the Ming Dynasty was dirty and black, with teeth marks all over it. It was not necessarily possible to recognize whether it was stone or silver when it fell on the ground.

In the pre-Qin period, with the emergence of copper, people made bronze ware and cast copper coins.

Before Qin Shihuang unified the currency, the shapes of coins in various countries were different, including knife coins, round square hole coins, shovel coins, and other various currencies.

After the Qin Dynasty unified the Central Plains, the knife coins of Qin became the universal currency.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the imperial court concentrated on making coins, and the five-zhu coins were in circulation at that time.

However, until the Tang Dynasty, the nature and weight of the currency were not unified. The Kaiyuan Tongbao invented by the Tang Dynasty was a copper coin with a unified weight by the imperial court.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the common people used silver as currency. When Kublai Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, was in power, he vigorously promoted the use of silver ingots.

Why is it said that silver in ancient times was all black?

Because of the composition of silver itself, it is easy to oxidize and turn black when exposed to the air or in contact with people, which formed the black silver we see later.

In fact, even in later generations, silver jewelry also has this problem, and it will change color after being exposed to the outside for a long time.

In ancient times, silver making technology was not developed, silver was not refined pure, and the method of making silver was not standardized. Silver had all kinds of shapes, and in order to facilitate circulation, silver was often cut into small pieces of broken silver for daily consumption.

In life, there are few large ingots of silver ingots, and it is not convenient to change them when they are taken out for use.

These tiny pieces of silver, in the repeated circulation in the market, are constantly oxidized and worn, and gradually become a pile of black stone.

The scene of the ancients taking a bite of the silver in later film and television works is not fake, because silver is soft and oxidized to black.

So in order to distinguish the true from the false, the simplest method of the ancients is to take a bite, and the one that can leave a tooth mark indicates that it is indeed silver, not stone.

Over time, various pits and bumps are left on the surface of the silver, which is dirty and ugly.

Even the broken silver in Wei Guangde's pocket is actually like this.

He believes that Zhang Juzheng should have the same "stone" on him.

Not to mention that he has servants around him, does he not need to carry money himself?

Neither Wei Guangde nor Zhang Juzheng were born rich. They worked hard and slowly worked hard to get to their current positions. The habit of carrying money is not easy to get rid of.

In fact, there are also good-looking silver, that is official silver. The silver sent from the local area to the capital is the processed "snowflake silver".

The official silver has high manufacturing technology, high refining purity, and is produced with a unified mold, so the appearance is really good-looking, similar to the "snowflake" luster.

If these silvers are polished again, they will be exclusive to the royal family and will not easily flow into the folk.

The color of silver is related to its purity. The higher the purity, the higher the brightness and the whiter the color.

The silver dollar that Wei Guangde showed to Zhang Juzheng had a high degree of purity. Although the color was black, it was indeed more attractive than the silver taels circulating in the Ming Dynasty.

Sure enough, after being reminded by Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng reached out and took out a purse from his arms and took out a few pieces of silver.

In one hand was the small silver currently in circulation in the Ming Dynasty, and in the other hand was the Spanish silver dollar. He nodded slightly and said, "If it is put into the folks, everyone should like to use this."

"Yes, there should be no problem with the circulation among the folks. It is mainly the local government that can use pressure to promote it, but the matter must be settled first. Let the Ministry of Industry come up with a coin-making plan as soon as possible to convert the silver in the Changying Treasury into silver treasures for circulation.

In addition to small copper coins, large coins must also be set standards, and so must silver treasures. To make a silver treasure of the size of a flat coin, there must also be a silver treasure of one tael of silver.

In this way, there is no need to use scissors to cut silver into pieces in market transactions."

Wei Guangde said.

"This matter is of great importance. I think we should go to Heqing tonight to settle the matter.

The important matter of the court tomorrow is the reward of meritorious soldiers in Liaodong, and it cannot be delayed."

According to convention, this matter will be discussed secretly in the cabinet tomorrow, and after it is settled, it will be written into a memorial and submitted to the palace.

Once the palace approves, it will be implemented in conjunction with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works.

Of course, the use of the silver in Changying Treasury cannot be bypassed by the Ministry of War, after all, the Ministry of War is in charge of the Imperial Household Department and Changying Treasury.

Seeing Wei Guangde nod, Zhang Juzheng said to Liu Shouyou on the side: "Shouyou, this matter is of great importance and must not be leaked."

"Yes."

Liu Shouyou hurriedly stood up and clasped his fists and said.

"The Jinyiwei must make preparations for this matter. There must be no mistakes in collecting gold."

Wei Guangde added, "Find out the situation of gold and silver shops in various places as soon as possible. Once confirmed, exchange it as soon as possible."

"Yes."

Liu Shouyou turned around again and clasped his fists to Wei Guangde.

"You Qi."

Zhang Juzheng shouted to the outside of the door.

"Master."

You Qi at the door came in and bowed in front of Zhang Juzheng to listen to his orders.

"Go quickly to deliver the message and prepare the sedan chair. I'm going to Prime Minister Lu's house."

Zhang Juzheng ordered.

"Sir, it's getting very late."

When You Qi heard that Zhang Juzheng was going out so late, he couldn't help but say something.

However, Zhang Juzheng ignored him and started chatting with Wei Guangde again.

Seeing this, You Qi had no choice but to go out and make arrangements.

Not long after, a long line of cars and sedans came out of Zhang's house, heading all the way to Shiyongfang.

Soon, they arrived at the gate of Nanxunfang, but at this time, the gate of Fangshi had already been closed, and was guarded by 50% of the troops and horses on night patrol.

"Who are you? No one is allowed to pass during the night."

The gatekeepers looked at the lanterns coming from a distance and shouted loudly.

There was no need for Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde in the car behind to speak. Liu Shouyou had already rode over and threw his badge at the other party.

The officer on the opposite side of the night duty army felt something unusual when he took it. What he came into contact with the most was actually the wooden or copper waist badges used by middle- and lower-level officials, which were either light or heavy.

But the one I have in my hand today has a obviously different material.

When I took it in front of me and looked at the pattern carefully, I immediately recognized that it was an ivory waist badge. Then I looked at the pattern on it.

A circle of patterns surrounds the engraving of seven characters, "Commander of the Jinyi Guards, Liu".

"Commander Liu"

The team officer stammered something, but was interrupted by Liu Shouyou as soon as he spoke.

"Be quick and open the door quickly."

Liu Shouyou said angrily to the soldiers.

"Yes, yes."

Quickly agreeing, the team officer immediately turned around and ordered his subordinates behind him: "Open the door, open the door quickly."

After giving the instructions, he immediately held the waist badge in both hands and sent it to Liu Shouyou.

Liu Shouyou reached out to take it and hung it around his waist again.

At this time, the gate of Fangshi had opened, and he waved to the cars behind him to continue moving forward.

When the sedan passed the door, the team officer was still laughing, but when he saw the words on the lanterns hanging on the front and rear of the sedan behind him, he was shocked again.

On the four corners of the lantern, some were written with the words "Grand Master of a certain palace", "Shang Shu" of a certain ministry, and "Zhang Mansion" and "Wei Mansion". Even the fool knew who he had just stopped.

In Nanxunfang, these two giant Buddhas live.

Seeing them walking out of the west gate towards the palace, the team officer's first thought was that something big had happened. The commander of the Jin Yiwei ordered them to clear the way. Going to the palace so late, something big must have happened.

After everyone left, the team officer panicked and asked his men to take care of the gate of Fangshi.

"Everyone, be alert, don't take a nap, and be careful tonight."

After finishing speaking, the team officer's right hand was already on the handle of the waist knife behind him.

Wei Guangde took a car to Zhang Juzheng's residence, and then the two of them left the mansion and left Nanxunfang. The news soon spread to every household in the city.

Those who can live here are naturally not ordinary people, but high-ranking officials in the imperial court.

Although they didn't know what happened, they were all alert.

If they knew that the commander of Jinyiwei, Liu Shouyou, was leading the way, they might also have the same idea as the soldier, Ma Si, Xiaobing.

But to the west of Nanxunfang, it not only leads to the palace, but also to the small Yongfang.