Chapter 954 1043 Confidential

"In the 33rd year of Jiajing, Emperor Shizong adopted He Tingyu's advice and allowed the people to use small coins with sixty pence as one cent of silver. This custom must be abolished. This time, the Ministry of Household Affairs also needs to carefully plan whether to issue small coins under the Xiaoping coin. ”

After confirming the exchange of flat coins and silver treasures, Wei Guangde said again.

All explain why private money was flooding in the DPRK. In fact, it was also caused by the decree of Emperor Jiajing.

Speaking of which, in fact, although the money law of the Ming Dynasty was never "corrected," it changed several times starting from the time of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang began to mint large and medium-sized copper coins when he was granted the title of Duke of Wu. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he began to issue Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes in the eighth year of Hongwu. In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, he switched to a pure paper currency circulation system.

It's just that everyone knows about the treasure banknotes, which led to the serious depreciation of the treasure banknotes. After the Yingzong first relaxed the ban on using money and silver, silver gradually excluded banknotes and became the main currency in circulation.

In the late Ming Dynasty and the Longqing Dynasty, China's late feudal society was dominated by silver, supplemented by money, and the currency circulation system of both silver and money was formally established, and the reform was completed.

In the process of this change, the money law has been adjusted many times, forming different circulation patterns of several monetary economic structures such as parallel banknotes, single banknotes, parallel banknotes, and parallel banknotes.

From the 21st year of Yuan Zhizheng to the seventh year of Hongwu, in view of the collapse of the circulation of Yuan banknotes, at the turn of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, some anti-Yuan rebels minted copper coins and resumed the circulation of copper coins after establishing their respective regimes.

In the 21st year of Zhengzheng, Zhu Yuanzhang was granted the title of Duke of Wu by King Xiao Ming. He set up Baoyuan Bureau in Yingtian and began to mint Dazhong Tongbaoping coins.

In the 23rd year of the Zhengzheng period, Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang. The following year, he was renamed King of Wu. He ordered Jiangxi Province to set up a currency bureau and issue Dazhong Tongbao coins in the fifth class. Dang five, Dang ten, and five other coins were circulated throughout the Wu regime.

In the eighth year of Hongwu's reign, "the imperial edict was issued to the province to make Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes for public circulation." At the same time, "it was forbidden for the people to trade gold and silver goods, and anyone who violated them would be punished." '

Reestablish a unified national banknote law and implement a currency circulation system with treasure banknotes as the mainstay and banknotes as parallel currency.

In order to ensure the smooth flow of the banknote method, there are three main changes to the money method:

First, it is stipulated that Dazhong, Hongwu Tongbao and old money from all dynasties should be used with equal value, and they can be used together with treasure banknotes.

In the eighth year of Hongwu's reign, it was stipulated that "the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes should be printed and used in conjunction with copper coins" and "each banknote should always be accurate to one thousand copper coins". The banknotes are always accurate.

Second, it stipulates that both treasure banknotes and copper coins are national currencies, but copper coins are mainly used for small payments, and the payment limit of special copper coins is stipulated.

In the eighth year of Hongwu, it was stipulated that in commercial and taxation courses, "copper coins should be used only if the amount is less than one hundred words." In the tenth year of Hongwu, the Baoquan Bureau of each province was ordered to "cast both small coins and banknotes, and only money should be used if the amount is less than one hundred words." In the twenty-second year of Hongwu, , and ordered "to make more small notes from ten to fifty coins", "for civilian use".

Since then, the amount of payment in copper coins has been reduced from one hundred coins to less than ten coins.

Later, the legal status of copper coins was lowered. In the eighth year of Hongwu, it was stipulated that "for commercial taxes and various courses, both money and banknotes should be collected, three-tenths of money and seven-tenths of banknotes." In the tenth year of Hongwu, it was also decreed that "commercial taxes It also collects money, three coins and seven coins.

The money law under this parallel banknote system was subject to the court's currency circulation policy, which was dominated by banknotes and supplemented by money.

In August of the 27th year of Hongwu's reign, due to the "blockage of banknote laws", "the imperial edict banned copper coins" and "ordered the officials to collect all the money and return it to the official, and exchange the banknotes according to the number, and no more copper coins were allowed to be used."

Within half a month, all copper coins of the military, civilians and merchants will be sent to the official. Anyone who dares to use them privately or bury or destroy them will be punished. '

Since then, the pure paper currency circulation stage in the early Ming Dynasty began. After Hongwu, the four dynasties of Jianwen, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande all inherited its system, and added systems such as "household salt" and "heavy banknote method".

But the funny thing is that during the forty-one years since the pure paper currency circulation system was implemented, copper coins were not absolutely abolished.

In the sixth year of Emperor Yongle's reign, he ordered Yongle Tongbao coins to be minted; in the eighth year of Emperor Xuanzong's Xuande reign, he ordered Xuande Tongbao coins to be minted.

At the same time, it also broke through the Hongwu decree that "no gold, silver, and copper coins are allowed to be exported" and "sent internal officials to go to foreign countries and the northwest to buy horses and receive goods." Copper coins are often produced in the tens of millions by sea and land, and are often used as rewards to foreign countries.

The Yongle and Xuande dynasties not only still minted copper coins, but also stipulated the provincial bureau for casting and the annual amount of coins to be minted. These Yongle and Xuande Tongbao coins were more refined and the layout was more neat, showing the regulations of money style.

The copper coins of the Ming Dynasty were not only used in large quantities for foreign trade, but were also allowed to be used and paid in certain areas, each with its own laws, forming the money law of this stage.

It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang's decree banning copper coins was basically abolished after his death, and the people still maintained the previous state of using banknotes together.

However, the value of treasure banknotes depreciated crazily during this period, and people abandoned them like shoes.

In December of the 10th year of Xuande, Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne and issued an edict to "relax the prohibition on the use of money." The following year, when the Yuan Dynasty was changed to orthodoxy, he also "relaxed the prohibition on the use of silver."

From then to the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, during the 131 years, the currency circulation system of the Ming Dynasty was transformed into parallel banknotes and silver coins, and the legislative provisions of using banknotes as the main currency have never been changed. It is still orthodox in the early stage of this stage. During the Qing Dynasty and Jingtai period, there were twists and turns such as "the method of using banknotes was blocked and the ban on applying for money again" occurred.

However, the collapse of the banknote system is an irreversible trend. Although treasure banknotes continued to be issued until the end of the Ming Dynasty, they only served as a form of preservation of the ancestral system. The parallel currency circulation system of banknotes and money has lost its practical significance in social and economic life. Mainly silver.

The parallel currency structure pattern of silver and money has emerged. Since the Hongzhi Dynasty, the imperial court has continued to issue decrees stipulating the price comparison of clear money, old money of the past dynasties, and the discount of silver, and adjusted it from time to time.

At this time, although the court still strictly prohibited the private casting of copper coins, due to the lack of copper coins among the people, some people still began to secretly cast copper coins privately.

In the 33rd year of Jiajing's reign, Shizong adopted the words of He Tingyu, the imperial censor, "please allow the people to use small coins, with sixty coins as one cent of silver", and ordered that "the money law should be based on the convenience of the people."

Emperor Jiajing adopted this suggestion, perhaps because he believed that blocking was better than sparing.

However, once this hole was opened, the flood of private money could no longer be contained.

After all, it was illegal to mint privately before, but now it has become "open according to orders". Moreover, at this time, in order to obtain more huge profits, private mints of small coins are even more shoddy.

In fact, as long as you are careful, you will find that the clear money stipulated by the court is seventy cents per cent of silver, while for private money, it is sixty cents per cent of silver.

In other words, the ratio of open money to private money is 8.6 to one, one denarius of silver is equal to ten denarii, and sixteen denarii is equal to one tael.

Ordinarily, the Jiajing Dynasty seemed to have already established the money laws of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it did not.

Because although the imperial court had decided on the exchange of silver and money, the government did not care. That is to say, the common people exchanged money for silver and the price fluctuated, and they did not strictly follow the imperial regulations.

When there are many copper coins, the price of silver rises. When there is little silver, the price of copper coins rises. Some large merchants also take advantage of this to exploit the common people and small merchants.

The reason for this situation is that Emperor Jiajing also issued a decree, that is, "Silver should be used for taxes and official salaries."

In the 42nd year of Jiajing's reign, drumming and casting were stopped, and since then the tax levied silver instead of money.

It was precisely because of this decree that it caused extremely bad effects that lasted hundreds of years later.

The sixth-grade text "Breaking Rice" published by the People's Education Press is selected from "The Harvest of Three or Five Dou More" by Ye Shengtao. It tells the story of farmers in old China who sold rice after a good harvest. Although the price of rice fell, they had to bear the pain and sell it at a low price. thing.

Since then, changes in the price of Ming money have mainly occurred when local governments paid taxes and levies.

Merchants manipulated the price comparison of silver and took advantage of the court's regulations to collect silver instead of collecting money and exploit the common people crazily.

Therefore, in the third year of Longqing's reign, Tan Lun once proposed: "Please let the people use money to lose money to the officials, and then the money law will be self-explanatory."

The actual meaning is to abolish the levy of silver instead of levying money. The common people can pay for the silver with money according to the imperial edict.

The purpose of Wei Guangde's redundant money law is to establish this in the form of legislation.

Merchants can speculate on the price of silver coins, but the government must collect taxes on 1120 Wen coins according to one tael of silver.

As long as the government clarifies the price of money, there will be less room for merchants to make profits.

"How about the imperial court follow the example of the previous Song Dynasty and introduce iron coins? One to ten exchanges with copper coins?"

Tan Lun suggested in a low voice.

"Iron coins are much more difficult to cast than copper coins, and they corrode easily and are inconvenient to store. If you really want to cast small coins, it would be easier to reduce the quality of small coins."

Zhu Heng said.

He is the Minister of Industry, so he naturally knows the difference between copper and iron.

Although iron money seems to have a small face value, you may think it is not easy to cast. In fact, casting iron money is much more troublesome than casting copper coins.

During the Song Dynasty, there was a large outflow of copper coins and a shortage of copper raw materials. At that time, commodity transactions became more and more active, and the demand for copper coins increased sharply, so iron coins had to be introduced.

Although the Ming Dynasty still lacks copper, after all, there is more silver, and silver is now the main currency in circulation. Otherwise, Wei Guangde would not have proposed to cast one coin of silver treasure.

Speaking of which, such silver coins are about the size of copper coins, but one can be worth seventy copper coins.

However, Wei Guangde felt something in his heart at this moment, and said, "I remember that there are still people among the people who exchange treasure notes, but only ten treasure notes for one penny?"

"What Mr. Wei Ge means is to use treasure money?"

Tan Lun asked with a frown.

"No, no, absolutely not."

Wang Guoguang, the Minister of Household Affairs, said: "Although this is true among the people, it is not considered this way in the imperial court.

If we follow this approach, the imperial court’s treasury from the central government to the local governments will be reduced.”

Immediately, Wang Guangguang listed the shortcomings of Wei Guangde's method.

Although everyone knows that treasure money is useless, it was printed by Taizu. Even if it is discarded, the most basic dignity must still be retained.

"But, I heard that someone below exchanged treasure banknotes for money from the treasury."

Wei Guangde glanced at Wang Guangguang and said.

As soon as he said these words, the room suddenly became quiet, and Zhang Juzheng also frowned.

Wei Guangde's words were too straightforward. Although he did this below, because the number was small, everyone acquiesced and did not declare it.

To this day, the account books of the Ministry of Accounts still record treasure notes.

When local governments pay taxes to the court, they not only pay taxes in kind and money, but also pay part of the treasure banknotes according to "customary practice".

Do local governments accept treasure money?

No matter what, they collect money from the people according to the price of treasure notes, and then the silver money is turned into treasure notes and handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

This is why everyone knows that treasure banknotes are useless, but there are still people who exchange them.

It is useless to the common people, but in the hands of the officials, it turns into nothing.

“Let’s all think about this again and brainstorm, and come to the cabinet tomorrow to discuss it again.

However, the Ministry of Industry must calculate the labor prices as soon as possible and make money and silver treasure sample coins. "

Zhang Juzheng said.

The more we talked about this, the more we discovered the shortcomings of the imperial court's chaotic money laws, which seemed to have reached a point where they could not be changed unless they were changed.

The original intention of implementing a whip method is to reduce the burden on the people.

Although people exchange money with each other, there are still many shortcomings. Wei Guangde's money law reform targeted these shortcomings, but Zhang Juzheng began to pay attention to them.

Therefore, he asked everyone to go back and think about it now and continue tomorrow, but he gave the Ministry of Industry the task of completing the sample coins as soon as possible.

It can be seen that in his heart, money law must be done and it is of great importance.

"Yes, don't worry, Chief Assistant. I will gather people to discuss this matter when we get back."

Zhu Heng nodded and said.

"Please keep it secret. This matter must not be made public until the imperial court collects gold on a large scale.

If anyone here leaks any information to the outside world, don't blame me for being so heartless. "

Zhang Juzheng said seriously.

Since taking over the position of chief minister, he has stopped worrying about the court's finances all the time.

Now Wei Guangde's money law seems to have given the court an opportunity to open up money. Before, he never thought of controlling the price of gold and silver to make profits for the court.

But now, although Wei Guangde said it very simply, the meaning behind his words was very clear.

The Yi people took advantage of the price of gold and silver to make profits, and the imperial court seemed to benefit from this.

As for competing for profits with the people, they are competing for the profits of the barbarians and big businessmen. In fact, they do not lack this little money.

On the other hand, the redeployment law is indeed of real benefit to the people.

"The meaning of Lord Shouxu also means good loan."

Wei Guangde also expressed his stance after Zhang Juzheng finished speaking.

"I fully support the opinions of the first and second assistants."

Lu Tiaoyang also spoke at this time.

The three assistant ministers of the cabinet expressed unanimous opinions, which I believe is enough for the three of them to understand the pros and cons, which can really bring someone down.

Although Wang Guoguang, Zhu Heng and Tan Lun are all considered "partisans" of Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, in the face of actual interests, it is difficult to guarantee that no one will have any wrong ideas.

Getting vaccinated in advance can save you a lot of trouble.

When it comes to first- and second-grade officials, it's actually hard to tell who is who. Everyone just gathers together for their own benefit, and each has their own supporters behind them.

People cannot be simply defined by political parties or township parties. When Yan Song invaded the government and the opposition, there was Jinda, a fellow villager who was not a member of the Yan family.

"But, after all, the Ministry of Industry needs people below to do it, so it's kept secret."

Zhu Heng was a little embarrassed when he heard that it was kept secret for the time being.

Arranging people to do things, but not explaining things clearly will inevitably lead to mistakes.

At this time, both Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde attached great importance to it, and he did not want to make any mistakes in the Ministry of Industry.

"It is said that the imperial court saw the scattered silver among the people and planned to mint a batch of silver coins to pay officials' salaries."

Wei Guangde had already worried about this and immediately reminded him.

"All right."

Zhu Heng could only nod in agreement.