The village chief's salary is set at two buckets of rice per month, which is more than thirty kilograms, enough to feed a strong rural laborer.
I can only feed myself and cannot feed my family.
Because the village chief spends most of his time farming his own land.
Activities such as persuading people to pay for food and organizing road construction are all in the slack season, so there is nothing to do.
As for mediating disputes, you can hold a bowl during meal time and settle the dispute while picking up the rice. If you are arrogant, you can ask the villagers to take care of it first, and then finish the meal yourself.
This level of salary is equivalent to one more teacher per village.
By the way, the salary of rural teachers is now supported by the villagers in each village, mainly to relieve financial pressure. You may question that this is not compulsory education, but this is how New China came about. Farmers are willing to support teachers in their own villages, and
Extremely respectful to teachers.
Even so, the financial expenditure is still too high, because this year we have to provide relief to the disaster-stricken people in Huguang and Guangdong, and a large number of people have to immigrate to areas with serious war disasters.
"The Baoquan Bureau has been set up and several money molds have been made. Money can be minted this month."
Fei Chun and Song Yingxing came to find Zhao Han to discuss the matter, and also took Li Banghua and Huang Shunfu with them.
Fei Chun said: "The Secretary of Finance and the Secretary of Government have a dispute over which kind of money should be minted. To be honest, this issue cannot be discussed. Each has its own pros and cons."
"You can't mint too much and discount it by ten cents, otherwise the people will suffer losses." Huang Shunfu, who is in charge of the Government Affairs Department, said.
Fei Chun argued: "Even if we don't mint ten cents, we should cast five cents more. Otherwise, if we cast the same coin at two cents, we will lose as much as we mint!"
Li Banghua suggested: "It is too much to exploit the people by discounting ten qian. If the money is flat, you will definitely lose money if you discount it by 2. In my opinion, let's discount all mints at 5 qian, and declare that the grain bank will not accept the 10 yuan discount."
"If the grain bank announces that it will not accept the ten-cent discount, who among the people will use it? Wouldn't the ten-cent discount in the hands of ordinary people be lost?" Huang Shunfu is concerned about people's livelihood.
Fei Chun said angrily: "If we accept it, Chongzhen will keep casting, why should we coddle Chongzhen?"
The two chief officials of finance and civil affairs quarreled in front of Zhao Han, and each of them had a valid point.
The root cause was the financial distress of the Ming Dynasty, so the printing of money became more and more outrageous. It was divided into four types: flat coins, 20% off, 50% off, and 14% off. Not only were the denominations of copper coins getting bigger and bigger, but the quality was also getting worse and worse, resulting in
Purchasing power has plummeted.
Coupled with silver deflation, today's copper-to-silver exchange ratio is so outrageous in some places that one tael of silver can even be exchanged for four thousand copper coins!
If Zhao Han's Baoquan Mint dares to mint large quantities of flat coins and 2-cent coins, it will definitely lose as much as it mints. The better the quality and the smaller the value of the coins, the more merchants will like them. They will definitely scan the market and take all the good money.
Store it up and let Chongzhen's bad money circulate in the market.
This is a typical example of bad money driving out good money!
And there is no solution, because the circulation of Chongzhen's bad money is too large. First, Zhao Han's mintage is too small to carry Chongzhen Tongbao; secondly, the circulation of Chongzhen Tongbao cannot be directly banned, otherwise Zhao Han's territory will fall into economic chaos
.
After all these people had finished arguing, Zhao Han made a final decision: "I have three requirements for Baoquan Bureau to make coins. First, a discount of five coins for large quantities and two coins for small quantities. The quality of the coins is equivalent to that of Nanjing in the fourth year of Chongzhen;
Second, the current money model was used first, and a new model was immediately started, which was still called Chongzhen Tongbao, but with the words "World Datong" added; third, after the new money came out, the grain bank immediately refused to accept Chongzhen's ten coins.
"
The quality of Nanjing copper coins produced in the fourth year of Chongzhen is worse than the Beijing coins of the same period, but much better than the later ones. It can be regarded as a medium-valued copper coin.
As for still casting Chongzhen Tongbao, it was mainly to facilitate circulation in other provinces.
Adding the four words "Great Harmony under Heaven" does not hinder the use of copper coins.
In the late Chongzhen period, there was also a kind of copper coin with very poor quality and a pattern of galloping horses, commonly known as "Horse Racing Chongzhen". This was a kind of private money, and some people think it was cast by Li Zicheng. As for Chuang Wang, it is normal to ride a horse. One horse is enough to get started.
Chuang, the horse broke into the Forbidden City and destroyed the world, Li Zicheng.
Huang Shunfu reminded: "If the grain store in the main town refuses to accept the ten-cent discount, I'm afraid that the ten-cent discount among Jiangxi people will cost 6,000 to 8,000 yuan to exchange for one tael of silver."
"Even so, we have to refuse it," Fei Chun immediately retorted, "The long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain. We can't keep letting Chongzhen mint money to suck our blood. This is also sucking the blood of the people of Jiangxi. If it is allowed to circulate anymore,
Chongzhen was afraid that he could mint as much money as a hundred coins!"
Zhao Han stopped him and said: "Okay, don't say any more, it's settled like this. As for the people who have ten yuan off in their hands, they can only admit that they are unlucky, and there is nothing we can do to help."
There is really no way, Zhao Han can't recycle it.
Once Zhao Han recovers it and the merchants are profitable, they will deliberately go to Nanjing to buy it at a discount of ten cents, and then ship the whole ship over to the grain bank to exchange it.
Now that Zhao Han had made his decision, everyone had no objections and immediately went to do their own things.
Song Yingxing was left behind by Zhao Han.
Zhao Han asked: "How is Fei Ruyi?"
"Quite talented, but his reputation is not good." Song Yingxing replied.
When Fei Ruyi was at Hanzhu Academy, he was already studying "Mengxi Bi Tan" and went to Suzhou to learn strange and obscene techniques from craftsmen.
However, this guy's route has gone astray. His main focus is fabric dyeing, researching how to dye brightly colored fabrics at low cost. At the same time, he likes to design his own clothes, jewelry and hats, which is consistent with his title of "Food Demon"
Perfect fit.
At the end of last year, Fei Ruyi came to find Zhao Han. After learning about the current situation, Zhao Han gave Song Yingxing the job as his assistant.
Zhao Han said: "Tian Younian has always been the agent for the affairs of the Department of Public Works. I decided to promote him to head."
"You don't have to ask me, headquarter, I won't mind." Song Yingxing said with a smile. He is living a very fulfilling life now, leading craftsmen to do research and development all day long, and even leaving the daily affairs of the weapons institute to his confidants.
Song Yingxing didn't care, but Zhao Han had to reassure him: "You are still the boss, but you are in charge of different affairs. This is a special case and will not happen again in the future."
Song Yingxing cupped his hands and said, "Thank you so much for your concern."
"Look at this." Zhao Han threw a silver dollar over.
This is a Spanish eight-riel silver coin, with "8" on one side and "P" on the other side. Together they actually make "8 pesos".
This kind of silver coin exists in large quantities in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong. Merchants especially like to use it because it has a fixed denomination and does not have to weigh the silver during transactions.
Why didn’t the Ming court mint silver coins?
Because Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that gold and silver cannot be used to make money!
Silver ingots are not money, at least not legally.
However, after Zhang Juzheng's reforms, the Ming Dynasty levied taxes and only collected silver, not copper coins.
Song Yingxing asked: "The general town wants to mint silver coins?"
"I have this plan." Zhao Han nodded and said.
Song Yingxing played with the Spanish silver coins and commented: "This coin is of poor quality. If we mint silver coins, we should make them more exquisite."
The Spanish silver dollar is indeed of poor quality. Do not substitute it for the late Qing Dynasty type.
At this time, the Spanish silver dollar had a very high silver content and very little impurity filling. This was for the convenience of casting. The purer the silver, the softer it would be, and even the most rubbish machines could complete the pressing.
However, the pressed silver coins are not guaranteed to be perfectly round, and there may even be various gaps and cracks that have not been flattened.
After a long period of use, the soft silver coins became even more disfigured by the collision.
The silver coin in Song Yingxing's hand has turned into an irregular oval shape.
Zhao Han said to Song Yingxing: "This kind of silver coin is not cast, but pressed mechanically. I hope to make a machine that can hammer out harder silver coins."
Song Yingxing said: "If you want silver to become hard, you have to add a lot of impurities. Will the people recognize it?"
"I'll admit it," Zhao Han said, "adding impurities to silver coins has three benefits. First, it makes the silver coins more beautiful and less likely to deform after being used for a long time; second, it can earn more income by minting coins.
The first is the price difference of impurities; the third is to prevent people from scratching off the silver rim. The outer ring of the silver coin in your hand will be scratched away."
Never underestimate the people's love for money. Not to mention the scraping of silver coins, they also scrape the edges of copper coins.
There are several Jiajing Tongbao coins of high quality, and the edges of the copper coins are often scraped off. Mainly by illegal merchants. After scraping off, the copper is melted and used for other purposes.
Adding more impurities to silver coins can effectively prevent silver coins from being scratched: first, the texture becomes hard and difficult to scratch. Second, there are too many impurities, and they have to be re-refined after being scraped off. This greatly reduces illegal profits.
Song Yingxing nodded and said: "I will organize people to develop a coin pressing machine when I get back."
Zhao Han said: "Jiangxi's water network is crisscrossed. It would be best to make a hydraulic coin press. In the future, I will not only press silver coins, but also copper coins. The copper coins of the Ming Dynasty are too chaotic. At least half of the country must be occupied before we can start to reform the currency value. By then
The coin press is of great use. I will gradually replace copper coins with copper coins!"
Song Yingxing felt that it was of great significance, and immediately stood up and handed over his hands: "I will do my best."
Zhao Han sighed, hoping to win Guangdong soon.
The significance brought by Guangdong is that it can not only intervene in maritime trade, but also alleviate the silver shortage.
Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, silver has flowed into China in large quantities.
It is difficult to say whether there is inflation or not, because the Ming Dynasty's economy was also developing rapidly at that time, and rising prices were certain. Especially in the Jiangnan prefectures, the social economy continued to increase, and if prices did not rise, there would be problems.
Much of this silver flowed into the cellars of wealthy merchants, which also promoted the industrial and commercial upgrading of the Jiangnan prefectures.
After Zhang Juzheng's reforms, instead of experiencing inflation, there was a shortage of silver across the country because the government only collected taxes in silver.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Spanish Empire declined, the inflow of silver decreased, and now there is a widespread silver shortage.
On the one hand, silver was scarce, and on the other hand, copper coins were manufactured indiscriminately, resulting in the exchange ratio between silver and copper coins becoming increasingly outrageous.
According to later statistics, in the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign alone, the amount of silver imported into Macau from the Philippines was as high as 14 million taels. Regardless of whether the data is true or false, one thing is certain, Macau was the main importer of silver during the Ming Dynasty.
As long as Guangzhou is occupied, the silver shortage under Zhao Han's rule can be alleviated, and the impact of Chongzhen's indiscriminate issuance of copper coins can be slightly offset.