Chapter 933 - Fiat Currency
"New currency issued!" Liu Hong gradually cut the road to the ground.
"To be exact, it is to issue a kind of legal paper money, just like the treasure money issued during the Taizu period!" Seeing that Zhu Cihong's face was a little puzzled, Liu Hongjian explained again.
"This won't work, Brother Liu! Although Emperor Taizu is eloquent and strategic, he ...... However, it turned out that the issuance of treasure banknotes was a wrong decision, and history records that the people and shops at that time were miserable, and it is not an exaggeration to use the people to make a living. ”
Zhu Cihong obviously knew about the issuance of treasure banknotes during the Hongwu period, but it really took courage to slander the ancestors, and Zhu Cihong said that his voice became quieter later.
"This banknote is not the same banknote, it can't be the same!" Liu Hong gradually knew that Zhu Cihong would not understand.
In fact, it is no wonder that Comrade Zhu Chongba's issuance of currency was also a whim, because it was inconvenient for non-governmental businessmen to trade large amounts.
The private transaction is not like in the TV series, spend a few hundred taels and just take out a few pieces of silver from the body and pay, one catty and sixteen taels in the Ming Dynasty, according to later generations, one tael is about equal to forty grams, and five hundred taels is forty catties.
Who would have nothing to do with dozens of pounds of stuff on their body every day?
There are many silver bills issued by the people, that is, silver tickets, but the credibility of the silver number is uneven and the market is disordered, so under the leadership of Comrade Zhu Chongba, the Daming treasure banknote came into being.
This is the only time in the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty to issue paper money, Comrade Zhu Chongba's starting point is excellent, but limited to the lack of economic knowledge, the old Zhu family is not at all what is called inflation, a vigorous printing of paper money, even for officials to use paper money.
As a result, when I bought a bucket of rice later, I needed to pull a cart of Daming treasure banknotes, and after the credit collapsed, the Ming treasure banknotes collapsed, and became the only magic weapon for the emperors of the Zhu family to reward meritorious civil ministers and military generals.
Since then, from the common people to the officials, including the emperor, they have always believed that paper money cannot be made, and if it is made, it will be a trap, and it has become a ban.
Although he did not study economics in college, he still understood the basic financial knowledge, and what he learned from that economics book was enough to set off a storm in the 17th century.
In Liu Hongchuan's view, the issuance of banknotes by the Ming Dynasty is the trend of the times and imperative.
There are several reasons, one is that whether it is gold, silver or copper coins, they are inconvenient to carry, www.biqudao.xyz and second, the quality of silver ingots cast in various places is uneven, and there are many fake ingots doped with lead and other metals.
The counterfeiting of copper coins is even more rampant, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there are many maritime merchants from Nanyang or Dongying to transport copper mines, and then privately mint fake copper coins, profiteers in order to obtain huge profits, in the copper coins mixed with other metals, resulting in a large difference in the quality of copper coins in private circulation.
The copper coins officially minted by the imperial court are exchanged for one tael of silver, while the copper coins minted by the private people often require 1,600 wen or even higher to exchange for one tael of silver.
Although the copper coins minted by the imperial court themselves are genuine, you will never think that the real copper coins are actually lost money by the imperial court, and the copper coins are extremely expensive due to the hand-made cost.
The value of a copper coin produced by a skilled coin in a day is not enough for the coin maker's wages and the cost of raw materials.
Those who make money lose money, who believes this? But this has been the case for hundreds of years.
How heavy a thousand copper coins are not to say, the shopkeepers who collect money in shops are generally connoisseurs, and they can judge the quality by looking at the fineness of the copper coins, but the people don't understand, and in the end it is the poor people who suffer a big loss.
The second is that it is inconvenient to use, not all people have silver ingots at home, and the folk circulation is more copper coins and broken silver.
For example, if you take a whole piece of ten taels of silver, go to the shop and buy seven taels of things and need to make change, the shopkeeper must first look at the fineness of the silver, and weigh it on a special small scale to see if it is full of ten taels.
Then the silver must be divided into two with steel scissors to determine whether it is pure silver, and then begin the tedious division process, first rummage through the drawer to see if there is exactly three taels of broken silver, if not, the broken silver will be cut again, cut the scale, not enough to cut again, to the last piece of ten taels of silver will become a large pile of broken silver.
Or you can also choose to use copper coins to make change, three taels of silver is three or four thousand copper coins, the fineness is not to say, but also a few heavy thieves, generally no stupid will choose to use copper coins to change.
Whether it is a gold ingot or a silver ingot, when it is used for the first time, it will be pinched off for anti-counterfeiting, and then in the process of circulation, it will be cut and cut again, and its cumbersome process will not be endured by later generations.
Over the years, Liu Hongjian has also been suffering from it, and the reason why he has not taken care of it is that he has been fighting in various places and has no energy, and secondly, from the court to the people, everyone hates paper money.
Now, Comrade Xiao Zhu has dismissed all the Beijing officials who are in high positions at once, and only one of the cabinet chief assistant commanders is still Liu Hongji's sworn friend, which means that the biggest obstacle is gone.
As for the people, with Liu Hongji's current voice and his methods, there is no big problem, after all, Liu Hongjian is working for the benefit of the people, not harming them.
Rao is so, Liu Hong gradually began to lay out more than a year ago, but it was carried out secretly through Xishan Shanghe, and now the production process of the new currency has been perfected, everything is ready, only the east wind is owed.
According to Liu Hongchuan's plan, the Ming Dynasty will issue a new currency, which is composed of paper money and coinage, from top to bottom, paper money is divided into one hundred taels, fifty taels, ten taels, five taels and one tael.
The coinage was divided into five grades of paper money and coinage, and copper coins were abolished.
The most fundamental reason for the circulation of copper coins is that the Ming Dynasty lacks silver, and the copper itself does not have the properties of general equivalents, but now the Ming Dynasty is not short of silver at all.
Liu Hong gradually thundered into a good explanation, Zhu Cihong nodded one by one, but it is unknown whether he really understood it, but he must have understood the abolition of copper coins.
"Why do we have to abolish copper coins? What is a general equivalent? Zhu Cihong looked serious, like a diligent and inquisitive student, and even saw that Liu Hong's mouth was dry, and he personally poured him a cup of tea.
"Of course, copper coins must be abolished, how can anyone who makes money lose money, do you lose money?
As for this general equivalent, in a broad sense, it is a commodity that is separated from the commodity and can serve as a uniform value expression material for all other commodities.
Do you understand? Liu Hongjian asked.
"I didn't ...... No. Zhu Cihong said embarrassedly, but he really didn't understand.
"To put it simply, gold and silver are the general equivalents, and although they are also a commodity, they can buy anything else through gold and silver.
But the currency is not, huh...... In other words, although paper money is legal tender, it is not a general equivalent, that is to say, paper money is currency, but currency is not necessarily paper money, paper money is just a credit currency that facilitates private transactions.
You get the idea, right? Liu Hongjian re-explained.
Zhu Cihong: .......
……
PS: Ahem, I don't think there's a lot of nonsense, mainly to popularize science for Xiao Zhu, and by the way, check if you have returned your high school knowledge to the teacher.