"Those who are good at serving the country will be high in the world, and they will be valued in the world. If they are not good, they will change their roots, and if they are empty, they will be empty."
Weiyang Palace, Xuanshi Palace.
The weather gradually got hotter, and the emperor also moved from the original Greenhouse Palace back to the Prosecution Room, and the center of power of the imperial court also changed accordingly.
Mu Shun's hands were holding a lacquer plate with a black background and a vermilion pattern on it. There were dozens of scattered copper coins piled on the plate. This kind of copper coins was light and thin, with a dull color, rough surface, and uneven edges.
The two words "five baht" printed on the front were blurred into a ball, and even the normal radicals could not be seen clearly. It was simply ugly.
The emperor frowned, stretched out his hand, gently picked up a handful of money from the plate with his five slender fingers, weighed it a few times in his palm, and couldn't help but chuckled: "This kind of thing"
He showed a look of disdain. As he spoke, he gathered his fingers together and gave a simple squeeze. Then he spread his hands and put them into the plate. He saw dozens of copper coins bent to varying degrees falling into the lacquer plate: "It counts.
Making money?"
The emperor waved his hand and motioned for Mu Shun to take the lacquer tray down, and then he faced Situ sitting below him, Ma Rixi, who was in charge of the Shangshu; Taiwei, Dong Cheng, who was in charge of the Shangshu; Sikong, Sun Rui, who was in charge of the Shangshu;
Among the servants, Xun You and Yang Qi, ministers of Ping Dynasty, Zhang Chang of the Shaofu, Zhou Zhong, the chief minister, and others said: "In order to enrich his own pockets, Dong Zhuo minted small coins and took away the people's wealth. It is really not a pity to die."
For various reasons, it has become politically correct to accuse Dong Zhuo of various tyrannies. Whenever Dong Zhuo is mentioned, everyone is indiscriminately hostile. Situ Ma Rixi did his part and spoke first: "Dong Zhuo corrupted the money law and exploited the wealthy, resulting in
In Guanzhong, money is cheap but goods are expensive, and one dendrobium of grain can cost hundreds of thousands. Prices are boiling, money and goods are not enough, and people throw away money and use it for bartering. Once the government went against the grain, it disrupted the administration of hundreds of generations. The court had to make repairs early in the future.
, and take this as a warning.”
As soon as he saw a scene like today, he roughly knew what the emperor was going to do. It was nothing more than to recast the five baht and restore the private economy that had been disrupted by small money. This was a good policy, and Ma Rixi had no reason to refuse, not to mention that he had just tried it.
Even though Shi Sunrui had some competition with him, the Kansai scholars occupied the two positions of prime minister and assistant, so they were the dominant family in the court.
Although Taiwei Dong Cheng inherited part of Dong Zhuo's political legacy, he still had to sit up straight in this situation: "Dong Zhuo messed up the government, and even if he died, he would not be able to escape his guilt. Nowadays, most of the taxes and levies in the imperial court are based on grain and silk.
However, grain and silk are not as good as copper coins. Not only are they difficult to store, but they are also inconvenient to transport and are of varying quality. It brings great trouble to the young government and the chief ministers to count their belongings, and also greatly reduces the annual income of the imperial court."
The emperor raised his eyebrows, not to mention Ma Rixi's reciprocation, but that Dong Cheng coincided with the emperor's intentions again after the Qing abbot went to Lin. This rare political sense and tacit understanding made the emperor somewhat surprised.
. He wanted to test how much skills Bingzheng Zhongtai had learned in the past six months and how much he had improved, so he deliberately asked: "It is easy to understand that storage is not easy, and transportation is inconvenient. What about the uneven quality and the decrease in annual income?"
?”
Dong Cheng was dressed in clean court clothes, and he was sitting upright on the mat, with a purple ribbon tied with a golden turtle button hanging gently from his waist to his legs, without moving at all. From the look of it, he looked quite
The manners of the Three Dukes are dignified.
After hearing the emperor's question, he slowly held up his hands as a courtesy: "For example, at the end of last year, the Shaofu and Da Si Nong collected taxes, and the imperial edict authorized the payment of grain and silk in lieu of money. During this period, some cunning people deceived the tax collectors.
, deliberately soaking the corn and wheat to increase its weight, and pulling thin silk to reduce its quantity. So that after these wet grain and thin silk were collected into the treasury, the accounting books said that they were worth thousands, but in fact they were worth half of the price. In addition, the wet silk was
Grain is prone to mildew, thin silk is difficult to sew, and it is not worth a penny at all.”
When the emperor heard this, he smiled slightly to show his satisfaction, but he felt a little emotional in his heart. It seemed that Dong Chengsheng had received these lessons and finally looked like a qualified politician.
However, being able to clearly recognize the shortcomings of a piece of government affairs and the twists and turns behind it is just the basic quality of an official who has insight into world affairs and is not deceived by his subordinates. A truly capable official can not only find out where the bad government is, but also
Can propose corresponding solutions.
"What do you think?"
Dong Cheng responded in a deep voice: "Nearly four hundred years since Emperor Xiaowu first minted the five-baht, the five-baht of our great Han Dynasty has circulated all over the world, and even traveled to foreign countries in the Western Regions. It has been very popular. The five-baht of good quality is worn on the face.
Half-stars, horizontal outlines, or Sijue inscriptions all have deep outlines and exquisite writing. But now Dong Zhuo has made small coins and corrupted the law of money, so that the people have abandoned money and don't use it. Therefore, in the opinion of his ministers, the only plan for now is
Break and build again, abolish small coins and recast five baht!"
When the emperor heard this, his expression was somewhat unpredictable, and he said with a smile: "It is feasible to recast the five baht, but if we directly abolish the small money in the hands of the people and make the small money in their hands no longer valuable, wouldn't it be another exploitation and harm to the people?
What?"
"This..." Dong Cheng was speechless for a moment. He was only thinking about what the emperor would do and what he should do. He never thought about how the people would be affected.
Sikongshi Sun Rui said at this time: "After the money is minted, the court will discuss the regulations. For example, a small coin usually weighs one and a half baht, and it can be set as four small coins for five bahts each. Then the counties and counties will allow the people to exchange the small coins. Wait.
After collecting the small folk coins, they melt them and recast them into five bahts. In this way, after more than a year of exchange, the small folk coins will disappear and the five bahts will flourish again."
The emperor just weighed the weight of the small coins. One and a half baht is converted into one gram in later generations. Four small coins are four grams, while five baht is a little more than three grams. According to the exchange ratio mentioned by the scholar Sun Rui, if the common people
The four-gram coin, which has no value scale or circulation function, is exchanged for the orthodox five-baht coin, which weighs three grams. The cycle goes back and forth, and the court can still make a profit from the price difference.
Dong Zhuo's small coins are now only circulating in Guanzhong, and the impact is only on the monetary system of Guanzhong and Kansai. As for the collapse of the monetary system in Guandong and other places, it cannot be attributed to small coins, but to the years of war.
The economic decline of the Han Dynasty, the lack of business travel, and the decline in the purchasing power of the people were the result of a combination of factors. Of course, the self-sufficiency that had already emerged during this period and was preserved in troubled times, and the manor economy that rarely communicated with the outside world also contributed to the collapse of the economic system in the late Han Dynasty.
an important factor.
Nowadays, Guanzhong is peaceful. Policies to calm the people, such as farming, reducing taxes, and water conservancy, are being implemented in an orderly manner. Both the economy and social production are constantly recovering. It will not take long for Guanzhong to regain its former vitality. The imperial court uses the new five baht
The recovery of small money only needs to be limited to Guanzhong. It will not take long to rebuild the currency system in Guanzhong, restore economic order, collect taxes for the court, develop commerce, and lay a solid foundation for the opening of the Western Regions.
"I didn't expect Sikong to have economic talents." The emperor clasped his hands in admiration. His eyes swept over everyone one by one, and finally stopped at the last two people, the Young Master Zhang Chang and the Grand Sinong Zhou Zhong: "Emperor Xiaowu
At that time, he took over the power of minting coins from the prefectures and states in the world. He established the Shuiheng Duwei and the three officials of Shanglin to mint five bahts and issue them all over the world. It was not until Wang Mang usurped the throne that the power of minting coins was returned to the prefectures. Since the Zhongxing Dynasty, the power of minting coins has been restored.
The power has always been in the hands of local officials, governors, governors and other officials..."