The Assistant Minister of Finance slowed down slightly, and then, with some hesitation, said, "Your Excellency······"

Chen Xin raised his head and stared at the other party, waiting for him to speak.

"In the humble opinion of the ministers, the Song Dynasty used paper to meet the sons, and the Ming Dynasty issued treasure money, but they all spent nothing, and they got countless money. Why doesn't the kingdom just issue banknotes? ”

"Issue banknotes, hehe, you, you really dare to think, you actually thought of me in front of me, if you hadn't said the meeting and treasure money, I thought you were the traverser." Chen Xin secretly complained again.

Then he picked up the teacup, scraped it gently, hiding the surprise in his heart, and pretended to be careless and said, "Since you dare to mention it in front of this king, you must have discussed this matter with others." ”

"My king knows that the minister has discussed this matter with several assistants in the ministry, and everyone is very puzzled.

The minister has seen the records in the literature that the weak Song Dynasty resisted the cavalry expeditions of several countries in a small corner of the country, and stood firm for hundreds of years, because its treasury income was extremely rich.

Although I don't know the specific input of its tax income, the ministers can probably know that the proportion of paper money in the income of the Song Dynasty is not small.

Please also forgive the ministers for speaking bluntly, the ministers are puzzled, why did the king turn a blind eye to such a rich benefit? ”

Chen Xin smiled knowingly, took a sip of tea, and smiled to himself, the education level is still not enough, this little assistant minister has probably only heard of the reputation of Huizi and Bao Yuan, but has not studied this thing in detail.

Fortunately, Chen Xin, who came from later generations, had read these materials.

"Lao Bai, extract the information about Jiaozi Huizi in my mind, I want to pretend to be one."

Putting down the teacup, Chen Xin silently played a stalk, "I, expert, play money." ”

Then he pretended to be a bamboo in his chest, and said, "The issuance of banknotes is not a simple matter, take Jiaozi in the Northern Song Dynasty as an example, let's talk about it."

It is not accidental that paper money appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, it is an inevitable product of socio-political and economic development. The development of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty was relatively fast, and more currency was needed in the circulation of goods, and there was a shortage of copper coins at that time, which could not meet the demand in circulation.

At that time, iron money was common in Sichuan, and the value of iron money was low and heavy, and it was extremely inconvenient to use. At that time, a copper coin was worth ten iron coins, and the weight of each thousand iron coins was 25 catties for large coins and 13 catties for medium coins. It costs 20,000 yuan to buy a piece of cloth, weighs about 500 catties, and you need to use a car.

Chengdu is an important economic powerhouse, and the road to the outside world is extremely rugged and difficult, so there is an objective need for a light currency, which is the main reason why paper money first appeared in Sichuan.

Moreover, although the Northern Song Dynasty was a highly centralized feudal autocracy, the national currency was not uniform, and there were several currency areas, each of which did not use each other. At that time, there were 13 special copper coins, 4 special iron coins, and both copper and iron coins in Shaanxi and Hedong.

The outflow of currency is also strictly prohibited in various currency areas, and the use of paper money can prevent the outflow of copper and iron coins. In addition, the Song government was often attacked by the Liao, Xia, and Jin, and spent heavily on military and indemnities, and also needed to issue paper money to cover the fiscal deficit. A variety of reasons contributed to the creation of paper money - "Jiaozi".

The original Jiaozi were freely issued by merchants.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were "Jiaozi shopkeepers" in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, who operated cash storage business for merchants who carried huge sums of money. The depositor delivers the cash to the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper temporarily fills in the amount of cash deposited by the depositor on the roll made of paper, and then returns it to the depositor, and when the depositor withdraws the cash, he pays 3% of the interest paid to the shopkeeper for every 30 yuan of interest.

This kind of paper coupon that temporarily fills in the deposit amount is called "Jiaozi". At this time, the "Jiaozi" is only a deposit and withdrawal voucher, not a currency.

With the development of the commodity economy, the use of "Jiaozi" is becoming more and more extensive, and many businessmen jointly set up Jiaozi shops specializing in the issuance and exchange of "Jiaozi", and set up Jiaozi branches in various places.

Because Jiaozi shop owners are credited, take it at any time, the printed "Jiaozi" pattern is exquisite, hidden as a mark, black and red errors, handwritten words, others are difficult to forge, so "Jiaozi" has won a high reputation.

In order to avoid the trouble of transporting coins for large transactions between merchants, there are also increasing cases of direct payment for goods made with "jiaozi", which can be turned into cash at any time. It is in the process of repeated circulation that "Jiaozi" gradually acquires the character of credit currency.

Later, the Jiaozi shop owner found that only part of the deposit was used, which would not endanger the reputation of "Jiaozi".

So they began to print "jiaozi" with a unified denomination and format, and distributed it to the market as a new means of circulation.

This kind of "Jiaozi" is already a symbol of coinage, and it has really become a paper money. However, at this time, the "Jiaozi" has not yet been recognized by the government, and it is still a "private relationship" issued by the private sector.

However, not all Jiaozi shops are law-abiding and trustworthy. There are some profit-seeking, insatiable shopkeepers, malicious fraud, closed their doors and stopped business after indiscriminately handing out friends; or misappropriate deposits, business failures and bankruptcy, so that the "Jiaozi" issued cannot be cashed.

In this way, when depositors withdraw money but are unable to do so, it often provokes incidents and leads to lawsuits. So, during the Jingde period, Zhang Yong, the governor of Yizhou, rectified the Jiaozi shop, eliminated the lawbreakers, and operated it exclusively by 16 wealthy merchants. So far, the issuance of "Jiaozi" has been recognized by the government.

In the first year of Song Renzong's Tiansheng, the government set up Yizhou Jiaozi Affairs, and one or two officials from the Beijing Dynasty served as supervisors to preside over the issuance of Jiaozi, and "set up a paper making institute to reform the disadvantages of forgery", and strictly enforced its printing process. This is the earliest paper money officially issued by the government in China - "Guanjiaozi".

It is also the world's oldest banknote.

In the early days of the issuance of the "Guanjiaozi", its form was modeled after the private "private relations", stamped with the state seal of the state, but the amount of money temporarily filled in was different, generally consistent to ten times, and the scope of circulation was stipulated.

During the reign of Song Renzong, it was changed to five and ten runs.

By the time of Song Shenzong, it was changed to two kinds: consistent and five hundred wen. There is also a limit on the amount of issuance, which stipulates that the issuance shall be divided into three years (two years) for each sector, and the old will be replaced with the new.

The first Jiaozi issued 1,256,340 yuan, and the reserve capital was 360,000 yuan (using Sichuan's iron money as the banknote), and the reserve was equivalent to 28% of the issuance.

The circulation scope of "Jiaozi" was basically limited to Sichuan, and although it became popular in Shaanxi and Hedong, it was soon abolished.

In the first year of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the government of the Song Dynasty changed "Jiaozi" to "Qian Yin", and "Jiaozi Affairs" to "Qian Yinwu".

Except for Sichuan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Huguang and other places that still use "Jiaozi", other roads have changed to "Qian Yin".

Later, Sichuan also changed Jiaozi to Qian Yin in the third year of Daguan. The biggest difference between "Qian Yin" and "Jiaozi" is that it is based on "缗".

The paper, printing, drawings and seals of the "Qian Yin" are very good. However, the "money citation" does not place banknotes, does not allow exchange, and is issued at will, so the value of paper coupons plummets, and in the Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty, each note is only worth 100 yuan in cash. ”