Near Bei'anmen in the Imperial City of Nanjing, a majestic and domineering new government office rose from the ground. Under the lintel, the five characters "Ming Dynasty General Bank" are clearly visible, showing that this government office is extraordinary. It is indeed extraordinary. In the Ming Dynasty, everyone with
A yamen with the word "money" is nothing ordinary.
Zhao Baoyuan, the minister, looked at his new yamen. He was not happy, but furious, "Damn it, I asked you to put two brave animals at the door, but you actually put two stone lions. I'm really angry!" p>
No wonder he was angry. This Pixiu is the ninth son of the dragon. It has a dragon head, a lion's body, a tiger's claws, a phoenix's tail, a goat's horns, and a deer's ears. It is a patron saint that can ward off evil, attract wealth, and keep money. It is really not the same concept as a lion.<
/p>
"Servant, please calm down. This must be due to negligence on the part of the subordinates. I will ask someone to replace it immediately," Xu Yuanwen, a manager of the used banknote exchange department, said carefully. Zhao Baoyuan asked him to be responsible for the decoration of the new Yamen, but unexpectedly he made such an mistake.<
/p>
"Well", Zhao Baoyuan calmed down his anger. He had just taken up a new position and his subordinates should not be too strict. He asked calmly: "How is the connection between you and Baochao Tisu Department? Remember, how many scraps will be destroyed once a month?
Old banknotes must be printed with the same amount."
The General Bank of the Ming Dynasty was only responsible for circulation, and printing was a matter for the Treasure Banknote Collection Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs. There was another reason for the failure of Hongwu's treasure banknotes: they only issued them but did not receive them. The paper was not durable, and the government did not recycle old banknotes, which led to many
The unusable old and broken banknotes accelerated the failure of Baochao. Zhao Baoyuan was knowledgeable and established a Department of Exchange of Used and Used Banknotes as soon as he took office. With Xu Yuanwen as the doctor, he destroyed some old and unusable banknotes every month and then exchanged them for Baochao.
The promotion department prints new banknotes of the same value.
"Don't worry, Minister, the Minister of Treasure Note Lifting, Yan Ruocha, is the same year as the minister, so the connection is very smooth," Xu Yuanwen replied.
"Yeah," Zhao Baoyuan hummed and walked into the Yamen.
"Minister, it's bad. The warehouse department has less than 100,000 taels of silver, and only 200,000 taels of copper coins left. The value of the exchanged banknotes has reached 4 million taels. If there is another large-scale exchange, I'm afraid there will be no silver.
"It can be exchanged," Chen Tingjing, a doctor in the warehousing department, reported to him.
"What! All the three million taels allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs have been spent?" Zhao Baoyuan said in shock.
"The common people did not seem to recognize the treasure banknotes, and they went to major banks to exchange them. The major banks went to the main bank to exchange them. Not only did they exchange all the 3 million taels allocated by the Ministry of Accounts, but they also exchanged the money we had originally reserved.
One million taels, and soon there will be no money to exchange," Chen Tingjing said with a sad face.
Zhao Baoyuan sighed and said, "Let the major banks not exchange money with the main bank for the time being."
"I'm afraid it won't work. The major banks don't have much cash on hand. Once we don't agree with them to exchange it, they won't have the money to exchange it for the people. I'm afraid the credibility of this treasure banknote will be gone."
Zhao Baoyuan thought for a while and said: "Previously, I asked major banks to freeze 2% of their principal as risk reserves. How was this handled?"
Chen Tingjing was dejected, "The minister's method is certainly good, but it's a pity that it has just been implemented and most banks have not had time to raise it. The risk reserve currently frozen is only 500,000 taels."
"Use all the 500,000 taels for exchange, and wait for this period first," Zhao Baoyuan said fiercely, gritting his teeth, and then anxiously asked to see Emperor Guangwu.
Normally, the old emperor would not necessarily have time to meet an official like him, but now is the critical period for the circulation of treasure banknotes, so he immediately announced that he had met.
"Your Majesty, I am guilty of the death penalty. People have exchanged treasure banknotes for silver. Of the 10 million guan of treasure banknotes currently issued, 4 million guan have been exchanged. The 3 million taels allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs have been exchanged, and the total amount of banknotes will be exchanged.
The bank's silver reserves were exchanged for one million taels. At this rate, the bank's reserves are only enough to last for seven days." Zhao Baoyuan fell to the ground to plead guilty, sweating profusely.
"Humph!"
The old emperor snorted dully, "Didn't I say that I was absolutely sure that three million taels would be enough?" After saying that, he stared at Zhao Baoyuan coldly.
Zhao Baoyuan suddenly felt as if he had fallen into the mouth of a giant beast from the wild, and a biting cold air hit his forehead from the bottom of his feet.
"I didn't expect that the people of the Ming Dynasty didn't trust treasure banknotes so much. As soon as 10 million guans were issued, they exchanged them for 4 million guans. And they are still exchanging them," he said slowly and lowered his head.
With the tiger, life and death can only be left to God.
The old emperor did not speak, his expression was gloomy and uncertain.
Zhao Baoyuan felt that the pressure on his body was getting bigger and bigger, and he was about to crush himself. Unwilling to accept his fate, he yelled: "It is not a pity to die, but the credibility of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes must not be lost. Your Majesty is the emperor."
, you should know that this is a decisive battle. If you win, the treasures of the Ming Dynasty will be popular all over the world; if you lose, the credibility of the court will be lost. Please release your internal funds quickly to help!"
"I have a lot of money? Do I have a lot of money?" The old emperor cursed in a hurry.
In fact, there was still some internal money, otherwise the order would not have been increased from four dishes to six dishes per meal. After the war, the royal family acquired a large amount of wasteland and invested in the Daming Bank. Although the expenses were high, they still saved some money.
Is it too much? I still have 600,000 taels.
He asked coldly: "How much more do you need?"
"The main bank can still spare 800,000 taels, and another 1.2 million taels should be enough." Zhao Baoyuan's voice trembled.
"Stand back."
Zhao Baoyuan retreated as if he had been granted amnesty, secretly thinking that his life was finally saved. In fact, the emperor did not not want to kill him, but knew that killing him would not yield any money.
Zhu Hengjia called Zhang Xiaoqi, the Minister of Household Affairs, and asked, "Qing Zhang, how much money is left in the treasury?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaoqi felt like an aggrieved daughter-in-law, "The weather has been good this year. There has been no war or major famine, so I could have saved a lot of money. But Your Majesty insists on going south, building seaports and building warships."
, ordnance and equipment, to assist the vassal, and asked for money for everything, and asked the minister to give three million taels to the Ming Dynasty Bank. Now, there is really not even a tael of silver!"
Zhu Hengjia blushed and said softly: "Zhang Qing, you know that the issuance of Ming Dynasty banknotes has reached the most critical moment. Think of a way for me!"
Zhang Xiaoqi sighed, "Your Majesty, the money is gone. We can deduct the necessary grains from the past years in the granary and resell them to grain merchants, and we can still get 600,000 taels."
Zhu Hengjia calculated in his mind that these 600,000 taels plus his own 600,000 taels would be enough to make up 1.2 million taels. With a sudden move, he issued an order to allocate it all to the General Bank of the Ming Dynasty. He also sent an order to the Food Supervisor:
From now on, I will still have four dishes and one soup for every meal.
In the end, 6 million guan of the 10 million guan treasure banknotes were exchanged back to the Ming Dynasty General Bank, and another 2 million guan were used as taxes and returned to the vassal treasury. Only 2 million guan were circulated in the market. However,
With credit preserved, as long as there is credit, the eight million coins returned to the main bank and the vassal treasury will still be able to circulate sooner or later.
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At Yuelai Restaurant in Jintan County, Zhenjiang Prefecture, Pan Yunsheng returned after a long journey.
"Master, have the treasure notes been converted into silver?" Zeng asked nervously.
Pan Yunsheng grinned and took out a small silver ingot, "Here, a whole tael, no less."
"Oh, it seems that Mr. Liu is right. This treasure note can really be used as money. It is also lighter and more convenient than money." Mrs. Zeng smiled happily.
Pan Yunsheng suddenly felt a little embarrassed, "Madam, we charge those postmen for food and drinks, but they are really too expensive!"