China was the world's most prosperous commercial and trade center before the opening of the Western Age of Discovery, and there were many commercial records achieved in China during the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, while in the West it was not until the middle and late industrial revolution that it was caught up and overtaken.

Because of today's open civilization, the liberal business environment of the Northern Song Dynasty, China's annual economic output once reached and exceeded half of the entire world, this record has not been broken by any country and nation, and many world records set by the Great Song Dynasty are also the pride of the Chinese nation so far, and now, it may be difficult for people to imagine the prosperous commerce on the land of China during that period.

It is precisely because of the prosperity of commerce during the Great Song Dynasty, the rapid growth of the economy, the increase of population, and the frequent trading between various regions, the currency that has always been the core of commerce began to appear in crisis, which first occurred in the Sichuan region of the Great Song Dynasty, and the specific situation is the lack of copper coins and the inconvenience of trading.

Copper money is the official credit currency determined by the ancient government from the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, has always played an extremely important role, and has made irreplaceable contributions to the development of commerce, but since the Song Dynasty, this credit currency has increasingly attracted people's dissatisfaction, the reason is that the prosperity of commerce has made the transaction of bulk goods begin to be frequent, and more currency is needed in the circulation of goods, and the shortage of copper coins at that time can not meet the demand in circulation.

In order to solve this problem, the earliest people used the method of issuing iron coins to make up for the lack of copper coins. But the value of iron money is low and heavy, the use is extremely inconvenient, at that time a copper coin to iron money ten, the weight of each thousand iron money, 25 catties of big money, 13 catties of money, buy a piece of cloth need 20,000 iron money, weigh about 500 catties, to use a car, Chengdu is an economic powerhouse. And. The road to the outside world in Shu Han was extremely rugged and difficult, so it objectively required a light currency, which is the main reason why paper money first appeared in Sichuan.

As a result, Jiaozi came into being, which is the world's earliest paper money. It was born. It can also confirm the prosperous economy of the year from the side. Its birth means that China's business has entered a new era.

Prior to this, the world's earliest paper money prototype produced during the Tang Dynasty Xianzong period - flying money. After all, it is a prototype, used and traded on a small scale, and has not been expanded on a large scale, and the influence caused by it is not as good as Jiaozi, so its actual status can not be more important than Jiaozi except that it was produced earlier.

At the end of the ninth year of Zhenguan, at the southernmost point of the land territory of the Tang Dynasty - the port of Guangzhou, witnessing the use of a cart of copper coins and silk cloth by maritime merchants and northern merchants to trade, it is natural to think of paper money, which is a product produced to facilitate commercial transactions, compared with a car of copper coins and silk cloth, the use of paper money is undoubtedly the most convenient.

Now may be a little early, the maritime trade is only a very rare phenomenon, the Tang Dynasty is not short of copper coins now, the circulation of copper coins has not produced a lack of crisis, the Tang Dynasty government because of the Zhenguan innovation of a large amount of money demand and the income to the treasury of the copper money all spent, objectively did not cause the lack of copper coins in the market, unlike the Han Dynasty Wenjing rule period, copper coins piled up in the treasury, the rope is rotten.

That's not a good thing, the government put the copper money into the treasury but don't spend it, it can only cause less and less copper money on the market, and eventually affect the development of the economy, the ancient Chinese government has no such awareness, that the treasury is full of money is a good thing, as long as there is, even if nothing is good, Suning scoffed at this, where do you put the money, can it still give you a little money? !

However, although there is no shortage of copper coins now, it will not be long before the Lingnan region becomes more and more prosperous in maritime trade, and the Lingnan region must be the first area to lack copper coins, and it is also the first area to feel the inconvenience of copper coins.

The increase in population, the increase in business demand, and the rapid growth of currency circulation, it will not take long for business to encounter the first bottleneck, and what can help business break out of this bottleneck is the birth and circulation of paper money, but Suning really doesn't know much about the economy, has not studied the economy, and does not know what the economy is.

However, in this day and age, everyone can't do it......

Everyone has no experience, no experience, they still know, there is some knowledge, others are not knowledgeable, even so, Suning still feels related, this kind of thing is not what he is good at, let alone a bank, the issuance of banknotes requires reserves as the basic, how to issue banknotes without reserves? A banknote without a reserve is a note with no value, just a piece of paper with no value.

China has the world's earliest bank, Jiaozi Exchange, his task is to store copper coins, to ensure the safety of copper coins, the owner of copper coins from their own property to pay Jiaozi as a remuneration, the original bank is to help people look at money, profit from it to take money, and do not participate in any commercial activities, more pure, now to engage, must be similar to such a bank, modern banks to join the commercial action, every move is related to the security of the national economy, a bad is the collapse.

Wouldn't there have been financial crises in ancient times? Yes, of course it will, at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the indiscriminate issuance of banknotes led to the rapid reduction of paper money into waste paper, causing panic among the whole people, the Yuan Dynasty indiscriminately issued banknotes, the rapid depreciation of banknotes, the national economy almost collapsed, the issuance of banknotes is limited in quantity, less is not good, more is not good, and the issuance of banknotes can only be handed over to the state to do, the Song Dynasty was the first to happen in the private merchants indiscriminately sent Jiaozi to collect money and then evaporated in the world, which directly prompted the official to intervene in the issuance process of Jiaozi, and indirectly prompted Jiaozi to become officially recognized banknotes.

Suning began to think, is it necessary to issue banknotes now? The use of paper money for maritime trade? Perhaps. Only in a small range of issuance of paper money, paper money can only be settled in the process of maritime trade, after leaving the maritime trade, in the private small-scale transactions, or use copper coins and silk cloth, little by little, little by little, until the real need for large-scale circulation of paper money, at that time, I believe that I have enough experience.

Suning made up his mind. began to discuss with Feng An, the biggest power in Lingnan.

"Banknotes?" Feng Ang was puzzled by this new term. He was also curious, he didn't know what paper money was, but what Suning said was true.

"That's right, banknotes. Feng Gong. Did you find out. When the maritime and land merchants traded, the amount of copper coins and silk cloth used was too large. A transaction requires several carts of copper coins and several carts of silk cloth. Not only is it not easy to bring it over, but it is also not easy to bring it back, it is easier to attract people who see money to loot, and it is even more difficult to protect, and in the long run, I am afraid it will not be a good thing for maritime trade.

Therefore, I think that it is possible to write the amount of money represented by copper coins and silk cloth on a piece of paper, and the two sides use this paper to trade, and the person who buys the paper gives this paper to the person who sells the goods, and after the seller gives the goods to the person who buys the things, he can use this paper to obtain the money in a specified place, so that when the two sides trade, there is no need for several cars and cars to transport the copper money and silk cloth, and then transport it back, Feng Gong thinks? ”

Suning said while holding a piece of paper, writing the words "three thousand money" on it, and then handing it to Feng An, Feng Ang looked at the paper in his hand, and looked at Suning suspiciously: "This is the banknote?" What is it for? ”

Suning said: "I gave you this piece of paper, there is the word "three thousand money" on it, you can use this piece of paper, to exchange for three thousand copper coins in the lower house, that's it, but when buying and selling, as long as this piece of paper is OK, you give the paper to others, others will rely on this paper to get the money that you believe, just like an IOU, the paper itself is worthless, but take it to the place where the money is stored, you can exchange it for money, in this way, this paper is equivalent to money, but it is more convenient, what do you think?" ”

Feng Ang frowned, looked at the piece of paper in his hand, and asked: "That is to say, the old man sold you something, you give this piece of paper to the old man, and the old man can go to your house to get the three thousand copper coins back, is that what you mean?" ”

Suning nodded: "That's it." ”

Feng Ang was puzzled: "But your residence is so close to the old man's residence, what do you need this piece of paper for?" Wouldn't it be nice for you to take it and send the money over directly? Why do you need to make this piece of paper? Moreover, the paper is fragile and fragile, so I'm afraid that no one wants to use it, right? ”

Suning shook his head: "Gong Feng, you can't say that, you and Zai Xia are very close now, but after Xia returns to Chang'an City, will we still be close?" At that time, Feng Gong will need 3,000 copper coins, and he will have to travel thousands of miles from Chang'an City to transport these 3,000 copper coins to you, do you think it is convenient? However, if you set up a warehouse for the Su family to store money here, and you take this piece of paper, the people there will directly give you the three thousand money, so that it is more convenient than sending it from Chang'an? ”

Feng Ang kept nodding: "What you said seems to be the case, from Chang'an to Lingnan, it is indeed not easy to transport three thousand copper coins, how much more than three thousand for this journey!" ”

Suning nodded and said: "I'm already like this, not to mention the merchants who have been put here to do business, when they come over, they have to bring dozens or even hundreds of cars of copper coins and silk cloth, how difficult it is, but if we set up a warehouse in Lingnan that everyone can use to store money, every northern businessman can deposit money here, we give him a piece of paper as the basis for saving money, he can directly use these papers to trade, Wouldn't it be nice for the merchants to take out the money from the northern merchants from the warehouse? ”

Feng Ang thought for a moment and questioned, "What should I do if the stored money runs out?" Isn't it still going to be shipped from the north? What's the difference? ”

Suning thought for a while and said: "It's better to set up a warehouse like this in the north for those merchants to deposit, they store their money in the warehouse in the north, and get these papers, they can take these papers to Lingnan to do business, and after they arrive in Lingnan, they can use this paper to withdraw as much money as they want from us, and then our expenses can be transported from the northern warehouse and returned to us, and they can transport a lot of money at a time by ship." ”

Feng Ang muttered: "That is to say, they put the money in the warehouse in the north, and then get this kind of paper, which says how much money, as long as they bring this paper to Lingnan, our warehouse in Lingnan can give them the money, and then transport the money from the northern warehouse by ship, and we can get the money given to them, is that?" (To be continued......)