In the cabinet duty room of the Wenhua Palace, Zhang Ruitu handled the most urgent official documents sent in the morning, picked up the prepared documents, and prepared to attend the regular cabinet meeting every three days.

However, as soon as he got up, the secretary who served him had already knocked lightly on the door and walked in, and said to him, "Ge Lao, Your Majesty is talking with Lord Shoufu and Guo Ge Lao. He had just ordered the morning meeting to be postponed and the meeting to be reconvened at a later notice. ”

Zhang Ruitu's expression was a little subtle, but he didn't say anything after all, just said and understood. He waved the cabinet secretary out, but apparently he was still a little unhappy.

At this time, in the apse of the Wenhua Palace, Chongzhen, Huang Liji, and Guo Yunhou were looking at the minutes of the meeting in their hands, while listening to the reports of Wang Jiazhen, the head of the household department, and the representatives of the three major banks, while Zhang Guoji stood aside as a non-governmental person and listened.

Halfway through listening to everyone's speeches, Huang Liji interrupted Hu Guangyuan, who was speaking, a little impatiently, and he reprimanded him with some sternness: "The exchange of this yuan banknote for seven coins and two cents of treasury flat silver is a policy set by the old man and His Majesty last year.

Now that the year has not yet arrived, you want to use three yuan banknotes to correspond to seven coins and two cents of flat silver, what is the difference between this and robbery. Do you really think that the people of the Ming Dynasty are fools? There are more banknotes on the market, and the one-dollar banknotes can't be exchanged for seven coins and two cents of flat silver. Or do you deliberately want to pretend you don't understand? ”

Huang Liji's words suddenly made the representatives of the three banks look at each other, and they didn't know how to explain to the Ming chief assistant that they asked for an increase in the number of banknotes printed, and they did not want to plunder the people's wealth.

There was a sudden silence in the apse, and after a while, Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting at the top, finally broke the silence and said to Huang Liji: "Mr. Huang, don't be angry first, I believe that what they said is not what they meant.

According to the data they collected, the imperial court put 100 yuan in banknotes to the people, and the people took it to the bank to exchange only about 30 yuan, and the remaining 60 yuan was still circulating in the market.

If we still enforce the issuance of paper money at a ratio of 1:1, it will undoubtedly be equivalent to depositing more than two-thirds of the bank's deposits. For banks, there is a huge waste of funds, and there is a low utilization rate of funds..."

Zhu Youzhen said a lot of new words, which made Huang Liji, who was not familiar with the relationship between coins and coins, a little confused for a while, and the other people in the hall also seemed to understand.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him a little bewildered, Zhu Youzhen lowered his head and thought about it, before he said again: "In fact, in the final analysis, if we want to determine the exchange rate between paper money and silver, we must first figure out one thing, that is, what is money?" ”

"Your Majesty, isn't this money just gold and silver, but also copper money." Guo Yunhou, the head of the household, saw that no one answered Chongzhen's question, and couldn't help but answer.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but ask: "Gold and silver can be used as money in some places, but not in all places and all times can be used as money. Let's just say that in some remote mountainous areas of our Ming Dynasty, the people there don't know any money at all, and they are only willing to exchange a little grain or leather goods they have saved for some salt and cloth.

The same is true of some small tribes in the Mongolian steppe, who do not need gold, silver and copper, only tea, porcelain, silk, and ironware. On some savage islands overseas, shells and polished stones are used as coins.

It can be seen that we think that gold, silver, and copper coins are the concept of money, which is not the consensus of all people in this world, but only the understanding of us and some people. If we take these things and run to a place that does not recognize them, then are they still money? ”

Guo Yunhou and Wang Jiazhen felt that the emperor's words were a little sophistry, while the others were brought into deep thought by Chongzhen's words.

Guo Yunhou looked left and right, and couldn't help but cautiously ask: "Then may I ask Your Majesty, what do you think is money?" ”

Seeing that none of the people were persuaded by him, and there was still a faint suspicion, Zhu Youzhen thought for a while before saying: "When talking about money, I think I should first talk to you about what is called a commodity."

In ancient times, that is, the period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, the things produced by everyone were only enough for their own consumption, so there would be no surplus products for exchange, so there was no such thing as money. The voices of chickens and dogs are heard by each other, and the old and dead do not get along. That's the state of affairs.

In the Middle Ages, that is, three generations later, because of the development of various agricultural tools and tools, farmers grew grain that they could not eat, salt dices boiled salt that they could not eat, and weavers woven cloth that they could not use. At this time, people want to exchange the surplus products they produce for what they lack.

And this exchange of surplus products is called commodity trading. In other words, only products that are produced specifically for exchange are called commodities.

But grain, cloth, salt, how to determine the exchange ratio of these commodities? I don't think the ancients would have patted their heads and casually decided to come out in a proportion. In your opinion, how should this exchange rate be determined? ”

Several court officials were at a loss for the emperor's question, while among the merchants, except for the representative of the Bank of Shanxi, everyone else looked thoughtful.

Zhang Guoji quickly glanced at the expressions of the people on the left and right, looked up at Chongzhen who didn't notice him, and couldn't help but say out loud: "Back to Your Majesty, the villain thinks that this exchange ratio should be determined according to the time and difficulty of producing grain, cloth, and salt. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Zhang Guoji's face and praised with a smile: "That's right, but I think that it would be more accurate to say that the labor invested in the production of grain, cloth, and salt is the most basic value of these commodities, and it is also the basis for comparison and exchange between them."

And money is the general equivalent of measuring the value of commodities, so from ancient times to the present, we have used grain as money, cloth as money, and salt as money. Of course, in the end, copper coins that were easy to obtain were chosen, and gold and silver, which were easy to carry and easy to divide.

Therefore, I think that money is nothing more than a commodity that is used to measure the value of commodities, and is fixed as a general equivalent. I think it would be more accurate to call it money, a denomination used to exchange goods in the market. ”

For what Chongzhen said about the ins and outs of money, Guo Yunhou and others suddenly fell into contemplation, for these officials and businessmen, it was the first time they heard such a clear and clear exposition of the essence of money. This was something they had never considered before, but once Chongzhen removed the fog that shrouded the money, they suddenly felt as if a window had opened in front of them, and outside the window was a new world.

Zhang Guoji, who has been devoting his energy to studying the exchange between banknotes and silver, seems to have suddenly figured out something, and he can't help but say with some excitement: "Therefore, whether it is paper money or silver taels, as long as the market recognizes that they can be used as general equivalents to exchange goods, then they are money."

Therefore, the amount of banknotes issued does not depend on the amount of silver deposited by the bank for exchange, but on the confidence of the people in the banknotes. ”

Hu Guangyuan shook his head and denied: "You are too biased to say this, it should be said that the number of banknotes depends on the number of commodities available for exchange in the market, if there are not so many commodities in the market for exchange, then the excess amount of banknotes issued should be immediately recycled, so as to avoid the market losing confidence in banknotes." ”

Wang Fengyuan said slowly: "If we can make the people trust paper money more than they trust the silver taels, then we can completely suppress the value of silver." ”

Zhang Guoji and Hu Guangyuan blurted out almost at the same time: "Gold." The two quickly closed their mouths tightly and glanced at Wang Fengyuan's gaze.

The continuous conversation between the three of them made the others seem to be unresponsive. Zhang Xueren, who represented Shanxi Bank, looked at these three people in amazement, feeling that the three of them were simply crazy, and they were so presumptuous in front of the emperor and cabinet ministers.

Wang Fengyuan tidied up his sleeves and said respectfully to Chongzhen, who was at the top: "Your Majesty, the minister has a suggestion..."

Zhu Youzhen suddenly interrupted him and said, "Stop, put your plan in your stomach first." ”

Wang Fengyuan looked at Chongzhen with some astonishment, he was a little unconvinced, the emperor had already understood his plans with Hu Guangyuan and Zhang Guoji, but he was quickly relieved, Chongzhen did know what they were thinking.

Zhu Youzhen continued: "Hecheng Nan, Hu Guangyuan, Zhang Guoji, the idea that just popped up in your heart will be put aside for a while, and you will consider it after the gold exchange bill is completed."

I see that this is the end of today's conversation, and I will give you an answer to the question of increasing the issuance of banknotes, after consulting with the Cabinet. Wang Shilang, this financial meeting you presided over is quite good, but I'm afraid it will take two more days for you to work, and when the court decides, how about you disperse? ”

After receiving Chongzhen's praise, Wang Jiazhen was naturally very relieved, which showed that his hard work in the past few days was not in vain, and he hurriedly bowed to Chongzhen to thank him.

Zhu Youzhen said a few words to Wang Chengen beside him, and then asked Wang Chengen to leave the apse with Wang Jiazhen and the representatives of the three banks.

After these people left, Guo Yunhou immediately asked Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, what do you think about the number of banknotes issued?" If it is not handled well, the treasure banknote is a lesson from the past. ”

Huang Liji also nodded again and again, Zhu Youzhen waved his hand, and said with a smile: "Let's put this issue aside for a while and talk about it later." I want the two gentlemen to see a plan, and this is the one thing I want to agree with them today. ”

Following Chongzhen's words, Lu Qi, who was standing behind him, walked in front of the two cabinet ministers with two stacks of documents.

Huang Liji took one and saw that the document was written on it, about the plan to strengthen the army's combat capability and to change the local guard posts into local governors' offices.