"I would like to ask you first what do you think of other countries?"
The old prime minister was still a little unhappy.
"It goes without saying that we, the Great Wei Dynasty, dominate the Central Plains, while the other countries are all inferior."
"Uh... Prime Minister Chu, let's talk about something practical."
"Then what do you think?"
Seeing that Chu Rupeng's face looked a little strange, Yang Ke, who was sitting behind the desk, quickly intervened.
The corners of Mu Jianming's mouth twitched and he smiled softly.
"I don't need to explain the position of Wei State to those of you here, but every disadvantage has an advantage."
At this moment, what flashed through Mu Jianming's mind was the scene of Zhuge Liang's victory. However, Wu Hou was wearing fluttering white clothes and a feather fan and turban. He lowered his head and looked at himself again. He was dressed in black clothes and his hands were empty. It was a bit embarrassing.
"But what Prime Minister Chu said is correct.
The Later Qin is located in the northwest, with a small territory and a sparse population. It can be said that the land is barren and the people are poor. Although the Iron Cavalry of the Later Qin is powerful, it is not a concern.
After Shu was closed, the king was greedy for pleasure, so there was no need to worry too much.
If Nanchu is trapped in a peaceful corner of the Yangtze River, it will not accomplish much."
When Mu Jianming first came to this world, he tried to find a map to understand the geography. Fortunately, the Shen family was the home of a military general, so there was a map at home. Although it was not precise, some general situations were still drawn on the map.
However, with the current mapping technology and drawing style, he couldn't help but want to complain.
The situation of Wei at this time was very similar to that of a dynasty in his previous life.
The Jin Dynasty after occupying the Central Plains.
Even worse.
After all, the northeastern region has not yet been included in the territory of Wei State.
In the Jin Dynasty, Mongolia dominated the north, Xixia existed in the west, and the Southern Song Dynasty continued to resist in the south.
And what about the current Wei State?
There are Turks in the north, Hou Qin in the northwest, Hou Shu in the southwest, and Southern Chu in the south.
Look!
What a start!
This is why the power of the Wei State from the battle with the Turks more than ten years ago is still there. The Wei State and Southern Chu divide the river to rule, and the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River are in the hands of the Wei State. And for the Later Qin and Southern Chu, the Wei State after all
Still have this great righteousness, otherwise...
Wasn't the Jin Kingdom also destroyed by Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty?
"So Wei is still very safe for the time being. But..."
He paused and looked at Yang Ke, who was sitting behind the desk.
"Since the First Emperor, unification has been the pursuit of every dynasty. I believe Your Majesty also has this idea. But since the end of the Han Dynasty, there has been no unification. Looking back on the history of these hundreds of years, we can't even achieve a short-term unification.
Arrive. But after all, the general trend of the world will eventually unite after separation."
When the emperor and his ministers heard this, their eyes lit up.
What Mu Jianming said, the people in the study were all people who had studied history books, so they naturally knew the authenticity of what he said, but I had never heard the last sentence, so it was so good.
But Mu Jianming in the palace felt a little hot.
You can actually say this by yourself. It seems that for certain things, people's motivation can really be infinitely amplified.
"Do you think we, the Great Wei, have the power to dominate the world?"
Qiu Huaixin looked at Mu Jianming with hope.
"Don't you think so?"
Mu Jianming replied with a very relaxed expression.
"Keep talking."
Yang Ke urged impatiently.
"To pacify the world, it is indispensable to use the army. Before the three armies are moved, food and grass go first. In a war, food and grass are fought, and to be more precise, logistics."
"It's good that the three armies have not moved, and the food and grass have gone first. The Shen family is worthy of being a family of generals, and a girl is also so knowledgeable in the art of war."
"Well……"
Mu Jianming looked at the excited Qiu Huaixin with some confusion, and awkwardly stroked the hair on his forehead.
He didn't know that the phrase "the three armies have not moved, food and grass will go first" that he was accustomed to did not appear at this time. This phrase first appeared in a storybook from the previous Ming Dynasty.
Qiu Huaixin was a Taiwei officer and was in charge of the world's troops. His professional requirements were more sensitive to food, grass, troops, military strategies, and so on, so his reaction was the greatest.
"These all require sufficient national strength and population. What is ultimately needed is this."
Ignoring the somewhat excited Taiwei, Mu Jianming continued to speak and at the same time took out something from his purse. He clasped his index finger with his thumb and flicked it hard. With a "clang" sound, the thing flew into the air.
, then stretched out his hand and caught it steadily.
"money?"
"Yes, it's money!"
Mu Jianming answered Cheng Kangming's question in the affirmative.
The four monarchs and ministers shook their heads secretly, but Cheng Kangming continued to speak.
"The combined taxes of the Wei Dynasty, summer and autumn, when the year is good, it only amounts to a few million yuan a year. Adding up all the expenses, it is barely enough. When there is a disaster, you have to eat a lot of food. You
These are all good things to say, but where is the money left to prepare the army?"
Mu Jianming smiled slightly: "I just want to buy a world with money."
After hearing Mu Jianming's words, the monarch and his ministers looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
"Colonel Shen, you are a little too fanciful."
Mu Jianming also laughed together.
"We'll wait and see if this is too whimsical. I want to ask a few questions."
"you say."
"How many countries in the world, including the grasslands, have yamen specifically responsible for making money?"
"In addition to my young master's office, the post of the Superintendent of Later Shu can mint coins. However, there are also many private mints in Nanchu."
"Is there any basis for the number of coins minted by Wei Dynasty every year?"
"It's just decided based on the number of coins minted in the previous year and the market price."
"Does Hou Shu do the same thing?"
“all the same”
After getting Cheng Kangming's answer, Mu Jianming's smile became more confident.
"I don't know about the situation of Qin, Shu, and Chu. But as far as the Wei Dynasty is concerned, Han five baht can still be seen in the market at any time. Although Shu State mints coins, they are iron coins, which are also circulated and used in the market. I want to come to Shu
, Chu and Chu are also facing the same situation."
"Qin and Chu rebelled more than ten years ago. It is unusual for them to still use my Wei Dynasty's money now."
Chu Rupeng nodded and answered.
"In addition, all the wealthy households in the world have the problem of hoarding money, and some also use money to cast copper for profit. Therefore, the money cast by the state of Wei is almost supplied to the whole world."
The monarch and his ministers all nodded and admitted that what Mu Jianming said was good.
"It's true that wealthy people do have the habit of hoarding money for emergencies."
Mu Jianming continued.
"However, money is only called money when it is spent, and money stored in the treasury is called broken copper."
Chu Rupeng was a little puzzled.
"What you are hoarding is also money. How can you call it broken copper?"
"The only way people use money is for food, clothing and travel. Money can neither be eaten nor worn, but can be exchanged for grain and silk cloth, which has achieved the purpose of food and clothing.
In fact, there is no need to mint money at all, or very little money, and it is enough to replace the damaged money. However, the amount of money minted every year far exceeds this amount.
Copper coins of the Wei Dynasty were circulated all over the world, and wealthy households hoarded money and lent money to cast copper. These three factors hindered the money shortage even though the Shaofu Superintendent worked day and night."
Judging from the time, the period that Mu Jianming is living in now is probably during the Southern and Northern Dynasties in the previous life. At that time, you sang and I came on stage, the king's flag changed on the city wall, and the change of political power was really ordinary. The currency system was not an ordinary chaos.
In today's world, although the political power is relatively stable, the control of the currency system is also quite chaotic. Even during the Three Kingdoms period, gold, silver, and silk could only be circulated between Wei, Shu, and Wu, but money was not universal.
In this era, as Chu Rupeng said, money is common to all countries. Moreover, all kinds of privately minted and inferior coins in Chu State are everywhere, and Shu State even uses iron money. This leads to two results: the production of exquisite Wei-made coins
Official money is very popular; among the people, in addition to the official money of the Wei Dynasty, people barter for things from time to time.
According to the experience of later generations, bad money will drive out good money, but it also gave him a chance.
Although he does not study economic systems and currency systems, he has always seen people running away from pigs. Since Wei's official money can circulate throughout the world, he can learn from some of the practices of later generations.
"Then what do you think we should do?"
Yang Ke glanced at Chu Rubeng.
The old man is a bit grumpy today!
"What will happen if a large amount of money flows into the market now to buy grain and all the grain stored in various places are bought up?"
Chu Rupeng and Cheng Kangming had a deeper understanding of the economy. They frowned in thought for a moment and shook their heads.
"This is not easy to do. Nowadays, the taxes collected by various countries, including my own country, are mainly grain. The rest is money, silk, and various minerals. The tax revenue I just mentioned to you is all converted into money.
The last quantity.”
"I also know that the grain will be collected in the warehouse. But Shu and Chu are two countries, one is a country of abundance, and the other occupies the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River. The trade of grain is common. As long as it is broken into parts, it will not attract the attention of the two countries."
"It's still not right."
After listening to Mu Jianming's explanation, Cheng Kangming continued to speak.
"Even if I can buy food secretly, I, the Wei Dynasty, don't have that much money."
"If you don't have money, then mint it. Mint enough money."
Mu Jianming answered decisively.
Cheng Kangming still shook his head.
"For one thing, we can't mint a large amount of copper coins. Minting money also requires costs. The more we mint, the greater the cost. Furthermore, countries are not stupid, so how can they allow us to purchase large quantities of grain."
Mu Jiaming smiled sheepishly.
"I don't know the current method of making coins, so I can't answer the first question yet. As for the second question, as long as we get started, someone will naturally finish the rest for us."
"What does this mean?"
"We went to Shu and Chu in the name of private caravans to purchase large amounts of grain. This will cause the price of grain to rise on the market. And the rise in grain price will in turn drive up the price of other items.
Wealthy households will be the first to feel the rising prices, and later, whether for their own use or profit, they will add fuel to the fire and become our support.
There are aristocratic families behind several countries. The aristocratic families put their own interests first. They will purchase grains without caring about the lives of the people. If they don't have enough money, they will melt away the copper coins they have accumulated and cast inferior coins themselves.
And as long as one family does this, other families will follow suit. By then, all the money circulating in the market will be bad money. The people will have no food in their hands, only these bad coins. By then, you will definitely have more ways than me."