On the first day of September in the first year of Chongzhen, the focus of the people in the capital was from the gentry conference at the beginning of the year, the change of Shuntianfu to the city hall, and the number of workers recruited by various workshops in the capital finally moved to the exchange ratio of gold and silver.

Since the early years of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court set an official price of gold for one tael of silver and four taels, and since then more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty has not issued a similar precious metal currency exchange policy.

First, the exchange policy issued by the imperial court was always out of consideration for enriching the treasury, and it was always hoped that the surplus materials in the treasury would be exchanged for the wealth of the people, and the thoughts of the common people were rarely taken into account. Therefore, the monetary policy formulated is always unrealistic, such as stipulating that one ingot of treasure money is exchanged for one tael of silver or 880 copper coins.

Naturally, this kind of policy, which bordered on plundering the wealth of the people, was not accepted by the common people, and often even provoked local rebellions. According to the consistent practice of Ming officialdom, no matter what the reason for stirring up a popular uprising, the parties concerned will be punished heavily, so no official dares to use his brains in monetary policy.

As a result, the currency exchange market of the Ming Dynasty eventually became the most market-oriented commodity economy. The exchange ratio of gold, silver, and copper coins is completely dependent on the actual transactions of private commercial trade.

Not only in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, the exchange ratio of gold, silver, and copper coins is inconsistent, and even between neighboring cities, there is a slight gap in the currency exchange ratio. Where there is abundant supplies, the value of copper coins is higher, and where supplies are scarce, the price of silver is more expensive.

The exchange ratio of silver money in various places is basically in the hands of local money banks. Like the early banks in the West, the predecessor of the money bank was the gold and silver jewelry store, and when they made gold and silver jewelry, they gradually found that the exchange between gold, silver, and copper coins was profitable, so they began to appear shops specializing in the exchange of gold, silver, and copper coins.

The Ming Dynasty's money village arose during the orthodox period of Ming Yingzong, when the excessive issuance of treasure banknotes led to rapid depreciation, and the imperial court had to relax the ban on the use of silver. Since copper coins alone have three different differences: money-making, private money, and white money, the exchange business of coins has begun to become the livelihood industry required by the people of the Ming Dynasty.

When he arrived in Jiajing, the imperial court opened the casting furnace, and there were many kinds of coins, and there were dozens of names such as gold backs and spiral edges for making money alone. This further facilitated the development of the numismatic exchange business. In the eighth year of Jiajing, the private smuggling of copper coins was rampant, and the imperial court ordered a ban on the sale of copper coins. As a result, money desks and money shops engaged in currency exchange business "made private agreements with each other, and each closed the money market, resulting in a sharp increase in prices."

So in the fifth year of Wanli, the imperial court once again relaxed the restrictions on the establishment of money banks. Minister Pang Shangpeng approved the establishment of a money shop, which was filled by the real households in the town, and according to the amount of their funds, they bought money from the government to make money through transactions. In this respect, the line between money banks and banks is only one step away.

However, this step of the Ming Dynasty has never been able to cross, and the local money banks have enjoyed the seigniorage that should have belonged to the imperial court. By the end of the apocalypse, the private money bank had become an independent financial organization, not only exchanging coins, but also making loans, providing convenience for issuing posts and withdrawing money.

There are also joint money banks in the two places, which issue bills that can be exchanged in the two places, which has become a credit document similar to paper money. In addition, in the rural areas of Jiangnan, small-scale money exchange shops and money and rice shops provide spring loans for the people of Jiangnan, and harvest rice, cotton, and raw silk in autumn, which greatly invigorates the local economy in Jiangnan.

However, after the establishment of the central bank and two other banks, these small local banks were either swallowed up by the three banks, or were run out of the currency exchange market by the three banks. The ratio of gold, silver, copper and paper money exchange has gradually begun to have a unified standard.

The exchange standards between silver, copper, and banknotes were the first to fall into the hands of the three banks because of the continuous expansion of the branches of each bank. However, the exchange ratio of gold and silver, because it is not a small currency used by the common people on a daily basis, is therefore least affected by the banks.

The bulk goods that can be traded with gold and silver are, first, overseas trade; the second is the salt industry; The third is silk, bamboo, wood and grain. However, in terms of concentration, the former two industries are the most important.

Therefore, when the imperial court issued the gold bill, and the three major banks wanted to push the ratio of gold to silver to a fixed ratio of 1:15, the biggest resistance they encountered was the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan and the salt merchants in Lianghuai.

These wealthy businessmen who relied on the support of the gentry in Jiangnan were naturally unwilling to accept their fate after being squeezed by the imperial court in overseas trade. However, they couldn't find a chance to fight back against the imperial court, and the eighteen-zhi pirate group recruited by the imperial court firmly controlled the law and order in the southeast sea, and all ships that went to sea abnormally would be intercepted by these former pirate leaders.

According to the order of the newly established customs yamen, after the auction of all seized smuggling vessels and their goods, the inspectors can first get 30 percent, and then there will be other rewards. Stimulated by this high bonus, those former pirates who were recruited felt that they now had more points than when they were pirates before, and they didn't have to worry about being surrounded and suppressed by the official army, so their enthusiasm was much higher than those of the Ming sailors.

For these former pirates who were not afraid of the gentry in the first place, the tricks they used in the past in front of the Great Ming Sailors were completely ineffective. As long as the masters behind these wealthy merchants send a post to the officials in charge, the officers and soldiers of these sailors will dare to interrogate their ships.

But what kind of patrol mansion and town guard mansion, these wealthy merchants have been inquiring for a long time, and they don't understand who is in charge of these recruited pirates. I had heard that there was a maritime association that could coordinate the actions of these pirates, but the maritime association was an unofficial organization that could really communicate with the emperor, and it was not for them to exert pressure.

In order to join the Maritime Association, it is necessary to clarify the source of funds for overseas trade and commit to obeying the public opinion made by the Maritime Association. These two conditions forcibly shut out these wealthy merchants, their sources of funds are obviously unspeakable, and they can only obey the orders of the masters behind them, not the public opinion of the maritime association.

Unable to join the Maritime Merchants Association, and unable to profit from the previous smuggling operations, these wealthy merchants naturally lost a lot of profits. If they pay taxes according to normal trade, the profits they get are not enough to distribute to the owners of the funds behind them. Therefore, when they realized that the rise in gold prices promoted by the three major banks was planned by the imperial court behind them, they naturally chose to suppress the price of gold.

As for the two Huai salt merchants, they can actually be regarded as representatives of the Daming salt merchants. These deep-pocketed salt merchants are not really interested in whether gold rises or falls.

However, the Lianghuai Salt Merchants were not an indisputable merchant group after all, and they also had the support of the gentry groups in various places behind them. Among them, the Shanxi gentry and the Jiangnan gentry had the greatest influence in the salt industry of Lianghuai.

Although there is also a group of local gentry behind the three major banks, their biggest supporter is Chongzhen himself. If the support of the emperor himself is removed, the power of the gentry behind the three major banks is completely inferior to the power behind the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan and the salt merchants in Lianghuai.

Therefore, the gold bill, which was strongly supported by the emperor, remained firmly at the 1:12 mark of gold to silver for several months after April, and refused to go down.

But for the people of the Ming Dynasty, the gold tug-of-war in the past few months has made them begin to agree with the price of gold in paper money issued daily by the two gold exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai. Theoretically, paper money is just a silver substitute coupon, but as the scale of transactions using paper money continues to expand, ordinary people rarely calculate how much silver a dollar note represents.

In their opinion, 3 cents can buy a pound of salt, 09 yuan can buy a horse of Beijing standard cloth, and 1 yuan can buy 1 stone of millet, which is enough for them to recognize the value of paper money.

The opinions of the ministers in the court, who were worried that the people would not recognize the value of paper money and refuse to use paper money for transactions, also began to slowly disappear. Even the ministers themselves began to be happy to accept paper money instead of white rice posts issued by the imperial court. Paper money can be consumed directly in the Four Seas Commercial Bank, but the white rice posts issued by the imperial court are more pitiful, and you need to go to the rice warehouse to collect them.

It's okay to get some rice stickers in the capital, but it just makes the servants at home harder. However, most of the places where the rice was received were in Tongzhou Dacang, and the cost of transporting grain back and forth accounted for almost two-thirds of the money. There are even some officials who have their rice stickers as far away as Nanjing, and this kind of rice can only be sold to merchants at half price in the market.

As the price of paper money stabilized, the number of copper coins used in the city began to decrease significantly. This is indeed a good trend for officials who mint copper coins. Although the price of goods in the capital has increased compared with before, it is still a good thing compared to the ups and downs of the money shortage crisis.

After all, there is not enough paper money, as long as one batch is printed. And if the copper coin is insufficient, it will not be minted in a short time. In addition, because of the quality of copper coins, if new money wants to circulate, it must be recognized by merchants.

But paper money is different, its price is determined by its exchange value, not its own value. Therefore, as long as the accepting bank has the ability to exchange banknotes, there is no need to worry about being rejected by merchants in the market.

However, the strong financial resources of the three major banks were sniped by the joint efforts of the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan and some of the two Huai salt merchants in the price of gold.

But all the businessmen who have some insight have begun to understand slowly in the gold price war for several months. In this game, if the three major banks push the price of gold above 1 for 14, it will be a big victory.

From then on, the price of gold in Daming will be manipulated by the three banks. Just setting a price for gold may not have such a huge impact on other merchants.

The problem, however, is that if the three banks were to issue banknotes based on gold, they would suddenly have a large amount of liquidity. This extra liquidity, wherever it goes, leads to a great boom.

Correspondingly, if the three banks fail to push up the price of gold, it will inevitably affect their own creditworthiness, and may even cause a run on paper money. For the shareholders behind the three banks, it's a win-or-death war.

For the other side that suppressed the price of gold, they also had a hard time riding the tiger. They had only entered the market to teach the three banks a lesson and to attack the economic policies of the imperial court.

But what they didn't expect was that the three banks would invest so much money in the gold trade, which was a complete gamble. And the futures trading model opened by the gold exchange has completely plunged many people on their side into a quagmire.

Futures trading is not like spot trading, which can be stopped at any time, they can only fill in their assets little by little, hoping to get the results they want.