The brave men mourned after a hundred battles, and it was hard to recover from the Central Plains' defeat.
Although the children of Jiangdong are here today, are they willing to fight against the king?
——Wang Anshi, "The Overlapping Wujiang Pavilion"
…
After talking about private salt sales, Bai Fu asked about minting new coins.
Yun Yanying said to a person at the next table: "Brother Wang, you are the chief clerk of the Money Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs. You are very familiar with the history of coins in the past dynasties. Can you tell us what the re-coining is about?"
Wang Jiangting sighed: "Since ancient times, if the world wants peace and economic prosperity, the court should try its best to ensure the full value of official coins and maintain price stability.
Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the government has minted two kinds of copper coins. The first is the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" cast by Emperor Gaozu in the fourth year of Wude. Each thousand coins weigh six pounds and four taels.
The term "Kaiyuan Tongbao" is called Xiaoping Qian, which is the smallest unit of copper coins, which is what we usually call "one penny".
The second type is the ‘Qianfeng Quanbao’ cast by Emperor Zetian in the first year of Qianfeng.
'Qianfeng Quanbao' is worth ten pieces of money, that is, one 'Qianfeng Quanbao' is worth ten pieces of 'Kaiyuan Tongbao'. Emperor Zetian cast the 'Qianfeng Quanbao' back then, with the original intention of increasing the number of coins.
Alleviating the money shortage.
But contrary to expectations, after the "Qianfeng Quanbao" was cast, people hid the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" money one after another, so only the "Qianfeng Quanbao" money was left on the market, causing prices to skyrocket and the value of large amounts of money to depreciate.
Seeing that there was a profit to be made, lawless people began to cast weight-reduced "Qianfeng Quanbao" privately, and some privately cast coins were even less than half the weight of the official cast. As a result, official casts of large amounts of money were a waste of financial resources, while private casts
But sit back and enjoy the situation.
In desperation, Emperor Zetian issued an edict to stop casting the "Qianfeng Quanbao" less than a year after it was put into use. The already-used "Qianfeng Quanbao" coins and "Kaiyuan Tongbao" coins were priced at a one-to-one ratio.
Equivalent circulation.
After this change, Emperor Zetian never minted large coins for the rest of his life.
Unexpectedly, more than ninety years later, there would be someone who followed the example of Emperor Fengtian and risked the disdain of the world to mint huge amounts of money.
What was even more unexpected was that Master Wu Qi, the doctor of the Duzhi family, was not trying to alleviate the money shortage this time, but was going to devalue the currency and amass wealth from the people by issuing large amounts of money with false value to raise military expenses to put down the rebellion.
His Majesty has named this new coin 'Qianyuan Chongbao'. The weight of this coin is a thousand pieces and ten kilograms, but its face value is ten times that of 'Kaiyuan Tongbao'. In other words, by issuing new coins, one is equivalent to ten.
Use scrap money to earn ten times the profit, devaluing the 'Kaiyuan Tongbao' money by more than six times.
According to Master Wuqi's plan, one thousand pieces of 'Chonglun Qianyuan Money' weighing twenty kilograms will be issued next year. Each piece of this kind of money is worth fifty pieces of 'Kaiyuan Tongbao', based on the 'Qianyuan Chongbao'
, once again devalued the 'Kaiyuan Tongbao' money by more than two times."
Seeing that some people in the crowd did not quite understand, Wang Jiangting explained: "Let's put it this way, Kaiyuan Tongbao Xiaoping coin is equivalent to ten Qianyuan Zhongbao coins, and is equivalent to fifty Qianyuan Zhonglun coins. The weights of these three coins are respectively
Four, six, and twelve, but the corresponding face values are one, ten, and fifty, which has reached an unprecedented degree of depreciation in history.
Such a huge price difference will definitely make lawless people take desperate risks, and the private casting trend will become even more rampant!"
Sun Yan said angrily: "This is a naked plunder of people's wealth. Fifth Qi casts a large amount of money in the name of counterinsurgency to raise military expenses. But devaluing the currency will instantly rob the wealth accumulated by the people of the world over many years, which will definitely cause public resentment.
boiling.
When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty cast platinum three-grade coins and Wang Mang cast big spring coins, both caused great chaos in the world. At that time, the price of grain soared, rice was worth thousands of coins, and the starving dead were lying on the road. The people had no choice but to steal coins for private use.
money.
The tragedies of the past are so vivid in our minds that we cannot ignore them!"
Bai Fu asked: "This move is as bad as war. Brothers, you are so wise and far-sighted. Why don't you advise the court?"
Wang Jiangting was heartbroken and said: "How can the imperial court not know the dangers of casting large sums of money with false value?
Although this move sacrificed the interests of the people, it could raise money, solve the depletion of tax sources, and make up for the gap in military expenditure. Therefore, many important ministers in the court remained silent and allowed Wu Qi to take risks.
Issuing large amounts of falsely valued money has always been a double-edged sword. To amass money at the expense of the interests of the people is to drink poison to quench thirst. It must not be done until it is absolutely necessary.
Si believes that once the war is over and the treasury has a slight surplus, it should be collected as soon as possible, and he immediately issues an edict to stop minting new coins!"
Sun Yan snorted coldly and said: "Having said that, I'm worried that once the imperial court tastes the benefits of issuing large amounts of false money, it will be greedy, get worse, and get out of hand!"
Wang Jiangting poured the whole pot of strong liquor into his throat, coughing and sighing: "We are all small officials who have fled to the outside world. We have a humble position and can only express a few complaints. How can we influence the court."
Seeing that everyone was mad and began to allude to the imperial court, Yun Yanying pretended to be confused and in high spirits, saying: "Only talk about romance, don't discuss state affairs. I drank too many drinks today and got drunk. Let's break up..."
When the banquet was over and he was leaving, Bai Fu asked the waiters at the Bashu Guild Hall to prepare ten catties of cured meat and two jars of fine wine for each scholar.
Everyone was overjoyed, thanked him profusely, and said goodbye one by one.
After the scholars left, Bai Fu called Huang Zhen and Tang Kui into the secret room and told them one by one what the officials of the Ministry of Revenue had just said.
Bai Fu said: "I once heard Taifu talk about the founding of the 'Qianfeng Quanbao' by the Wu Zhou Dynasty. The Kaiyuan Tongbao money saved by the people in their lifetime shrank instantly, and their wealth quickly disappeared. Prices in the world skyrocketed, and people's resentment boiled.
.
Later, most of the bells and bronze statues in the temples were destroyed in order to get the copper to make coins. Countless people broke the law and stole coins."
Tang Kui sighed: "The common people are not stupid. How can they be willing to be exploited in such a situation? They will definitely hide a large amount of Kaiyuan Tongbao money. Or they will take desperate measures and imitate new coins. It is inevitable that the trend of private coining will continue to be banned."
Huang Zhen didn't know much about finance and taxation, so he asked directly: "Brother Fu, what do you think we should do?"
Bai Fu said: "Today's message is quite valuable. Once new money is issued, a lot of money will depreciate and prices will skyrocket, especially rice prices. Therefore, I think we should take precautions, make early preparations, and stock up on more supplies, especially food.
Second, exchange more Kaiyuan Tongbao money and hide it in our secret warehouse.
Third, buy all the copper mines that can be bought in various states and counties in the name of the two princes Li Yan and Li Qiu or Princess Qingluan. It doesn't matter if it is more expensive.
Fourth, stock up on copper utensils and copper materials, and secretly recruit skilled craftsmen who are good at minting coins to prepare for emergencies."
…
Tang Kui was shocked and said: "Brother Fu, do you want to mint new money privately?"
Bai Fu raised his brows and said, "Brother Jiang Ting just said that the newly minted money has depreciated to an extent unprecedented in history.
If private coiners cannot find copper materials, they will destroy official coins and cast them into lighter copper coins in order to make profits. In order to compete with private coiners, the imperial court will also start to reduce the weight of copper coins. Once there is less profit, private coins will
The minter will further reduce the weight of the copper coins. The two compete with each other and continue to lose weight. In this way, the phenomenon of stolen coins will be out of control, and there will be countless people who violate the law and prohibit theft of coins.
If what Brother Jiang Ting said is true, not only will the common people suffer, but the royal family, nobles, and wealthy families will also not be spared, and the wealth that will be looted will be even greater. This move will definitely arouse public outrage.
I guess not only criminals will steal coins, but also wealthy families will mint them privately if the situation goes bad."
At this point, Bai Fu's eyes turned cold and he said: "Let's make preparations first and act according to the opportunity. If necessary, I will dare to take risks!
He is unkind, and I am unjust. I cannot stand by and watch the family fortune we have worked so hard to save be robbed and arbitrarily looted by Wuqi and other officials, and be instantly reduced to nothing!"