Chapter 83 Preparations for the Construction of the First Railway in Daming
The promotion of treasure banknotes throughout the Ming Empire to replace silver coins was the first major national event that Zhu Biao truly led.
Different from the previous trivial matters such as dealing with Jianghu affairs and setting up a steel trading house, this matter really involves all aspects of the national economy and people's livelihood.
To be honest, when Zhu Biao was asked to take the lead on such a big event, he was really a little afraid of not doing well.
But there is no way, this is Lao Zhu's personal order.
He could only try to do it.
Now it seems that at least the first step was done quite well.
Next, we can only wait for the people to gradually get used to it. This kind of major policy related to currency will not be able to see results in a short while. It can even be said to be a century-old plan.
However, Zhu Biao believed that as long as there was enough money in the bank and there was no risk of bank runs, which would affect the credit of the banknotes, the banknotes could be popularized throughout the Ming Dynasty within three years.
By then, both officials and ordinary people will realize the convenience of using banknotes.
The country will also benefit from this.
For example, an increase in taxes.
In the original history, all the gentry and wealthy families in the Ming Dynasty had the habit of hoarding silver. This resulted in a huge amount of silver reserves in the late Ming Dynasty, but the country still could not collect taxes and was extremely poor.
There are of course various deep-seated reasons for this, but one of the important reasons is that most of the silver stopped flowing after it fell into the hands of the gentry.
When Zhu Yuanzhang ransacked his houses, some families even had millions of taels of silver hidden there. The money had been hidden there untouched for hundreds of years and had been passed down from generation to generation. It was simply unbelievable.
And if the currency is changed from silver to banknotes, and the country has the right to issue currency, then as long as it issues an appropriate amount of currency every year, so that the Ming Dynasty's treasure banknotes are always in a state of benign depreciation, then everyone can get their hands on it.
Spend the money.
Because if you don’t spend it, it will only depreciate in value and become less and less valuable.
And as long as money is spent, whether it is doing business or building a factory, money will flow, and as long as money flows, the country will receive taxes.
This is the biggest benefit of the country having the right to issue currency.
As a native, Lao Zhu didn't even understand these things, but Zhu Biao knew it very well.
Therefore, he attaches great importance to the issuance of treasure banknotes, and has been staying at the Royal Central Bank with Shen Wansan to check for possible hidden dangers and loopholes in the issuance process of treasure banknotes.
One month later.
Shen Wansan came to report to Zhu Biao with a happy face.
"What a happy event for Your Highness!"
"Not only did our Nanjing Central Bank's silver not decrease, it actually increased by two hundred thousand taels. Some people went to the bank to deposit silver in exchange for treasure notes!"
"Okay!" Zhu Biao was also quite happy when he heard this.
"If someone saves money, it is basically a big step to become a treasure. The next thing to do is to maintain it carefully."
"It seems that the imperial court still enjoys the trust of the people."
"This is the profound foundation of public opinion laid by Lao Zhu for him!"
Zhu Biao sighed with emotion, and then continued: "It seems that we can prepare to implement the next plan."
Three months later, the Nuan Pavilion in the back hall of Fengtian Palace was used by Zhu Yuanzhang to summon ministers to discuss matters.
"What?"
"Building railways?"
"And from Nanjing to Peking?" Li Shanchang shook his head after hearing Zhu Biao's words.
"Your Highness, you are wasting your time and money!"
“I think it’s inappropriate!”
At this moment, Li Shanchang was not brought home by Zhu Yuanzhang to retire in the fourth year of Hongwu. Zhu Yuanzhang not only brought him to the late Ming Dynasty to see his miserable ending in history, but also allowed him to continue to be the right prime minister, and even transferred Hu Weiyong to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Became the Minister of the Ministry of Finance.
But because of this, Li Shanchang, who was well aware of Zhu Yuanzhang's nature, became more cautious and prudent. He only dared not go beyond his duties in the slightest.
"It's a bit of a waste of money, but it won't hurt the people!"
"This time I will not expropriate households and force people to do corvee service. Instead, I will provide rewards and use treasure money to recruit workers to work!"
Zhu Biao smiled and said: "And I have already expressed my anger with my father about this matter, and he also supports it."
Of course Zhu Yuanzhang supports it. Now Zhu Yuanzhang's vision is no worse than Zhu Biao's.
Since the late Qing Dynasty, he has been studying the development history of the Xiyi people, especially after 1840.
He discovered that the Xiyi people had only really developed in the past few decades, and the root cause of all this was the steam locomotive, which was the most critical source of power for the development of the industrial system.
Only by building roads can the resources of the huge Ming Dynasty be mobilized, and it is possible for the Ming Empire to be upgraded from an agricultural country to an industrial country.
How could he not let Zhu Biao try to do these things!
Perhaps it was because he saw Zhu Biao's courage to try out all kinds of new things that he let Zhu Biao, the prince, supervise the country.
In Lao Zhu's words: "Dad is going to conquer another world, and he also has to manage a lot of things there. You are very thoughtful in doing things, and you have been following me to handle government affairs for seven or eight years. Plus, you are turning 20 this year."
, in order to sympathize with dad, you must bravely shoulder some burdens."
What else can Zhu Biao do?
I had no choice but to throw off my arms and start fucking with Lao Zhu.
"Li Gong, the current grain production in the Ming Dynasty is sufficient. The imperial court has just issued another treasure banknote. There is a large amount of funds in hand. The steel production is sufficient. All the conditions for starting this major project have been met."
"So Mr. Li, don't worry, everything is going according to plan."
Hearing this, Li Shanchang was immediately speechless.
It was impossible for him to refuse what Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao decided together.
"But Your Highness, your road will be paved entirely with iron ingots. How many iron ingots will it cost?" Li Shanchang's face was full of worry.
"There are now more than 60 steel smelting workshops under the jurisdiction of the Royal Steel Company across the country, and they are evenly distributed throughout the Ming Dynasty. As long as I give an order, these places will continue to produce iron ingots.
.”
"Mr. Li doesn't need to worry about this matter."
"I just need Mr. Li to arrange enough officials for me as management personnel!"
"For this reason, I am even planning to set up a separate railway administration agency to manage this matter!"
Looking at Zhu Biao talking eloquently in front of him, Li Shanchang looked inexplicably dazed. He saw the shadow of Zhu Yuanzhang when he was young in Zhu Biao.
"Okay, I know this, and I will do my best to accomplish this for His Highness."
After negotiating with Li Shanchang about the first railway in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao entered the fantasy world of Xumi without stopping.
He also wanted to come back to approve the memorial sent by the Imperial Academy, as well as inspect the major discoveries made by the Academy of Sciences in the past two days.