Chapter 257 Different Memorial Contents
"The Japanese are warlike. They have a samurai system that emphasizes loyalty. If it is not eliminated, it may cause endless harm to our Ming Dynasty. You must use the troops of your Grain Bureau to gradually eliminate this system. Korea has been in peace for too long. They don’t know the danger, and even mistakenly think that Liaodong is their homeland. They should be taught a lesson. The natives of Luzon, Java and other countries oppress the Han people, and they should be taught a lesson!”
"Not only that, these people who are not from our tribe are ignorant and warlike, not engaged in production, and are not good to them or us. We have to civilize them, turn them into farmers, let them farm the land, get rid of their hostility, and create He's stupid, don't think about being a prince or noble person Clan, what kind of nobles are there in such a big place! Implement the road guide system. As long as the people kidnapped by your grain industry bureau, let them stay in the fields and organize them into households, and implement the lijia system! Open a Confucian school!”
"In short, establishing farms overseas, developing farming, and opening factories within the country to promote hundreds of industries are established national policies that I have agreed upon with the cabinet. Your Grain Industry Bureau bears a huge responsibility in this national policy, and you must complete it well!"
"Of course, the key goal is to increase food for the Ming Dynasty. If we win, we will seize people and land to grow our own crops and establish self-government. If we fail, we will use the money to buy it. How to use it is up to you!"
Li Chongsi would not have thought that Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao would say these words to him and that one day in the future, he would hold a gun in one hand and a hoe in the other, and then ask the local indigenous people if they wanted to die or live, and shoot if they wanted to die. If you want to survive, you will take over the hoe and farm the land honestly. As a result, you will forcefully turn the barbaric and backward areas into a Confucian society based on farming civilization.
Zhu Houzhao's current purpose is indeed to develop farming civilization outside the Ming Dynasty and industrial civilization within the country. He will use sea trade to dump Ming Dynasty's industrial products abroad and import agricultural products from abroad into the country. Then the prosperity of the people of Ming Dynasty can be improved. , and even get rid of the days of relying on the sky and the earth to make a living.
certainly.
It is not difficult to farm overseas, and it is not difficult to allow indigenous people to cultivate land, but it is still difficult to develop industry and commerce within the country.
because.
As a self-sufficient farming society, the Ming Dynasty had almost no commercial activities. The one-whip system has not yet been implemented. Even taxes must be paid in kind such as grain and cloth.
Fortunately, due to the progress of industrialization in the Ming Dynasty, especially after the mechanization of the textile industry, the quality and production cost of cloth produced at home cannot be compared with the cloth produced on a large scale in factories. As a result, the price of cloth has plummeted, and people generally prefer to do it themselves. Spending money to buy cloth no longer actively produces it.
This also led to an increase in currency transaction volume.
In addition, with the increase in domestic factories and engineering construction projects, farmers began to gradually turn into workers, and the products of labor in their hands changed from grain and cloth to silver, which also led to an increase in currency transactions.
"All the people in the world now live by earning money, but the power of casting silver cannot be controlled by the court. This is terrible. Since the opening of the sea, more and more silver has entered the Ming Dynasty every year. Once all this silver becomes Money will make everything more expensive! Therefore, the reform of money laws needs to be implemented immediately! ”
Zhu Houzhao said this to officials from the Cabinet, the Ministry of Revenue, the Royal Bank and other officials at the court meeting.
"What your Majesty said is true. In the past dynasties, iron coins were used to make coins, and copper coins were used. Iron coins were too heavy, but copper coins were easy to mint privately, and coins made of pure silver were also easy to mint privately. In the early years of the dynasty, treasure banknotes were issued, but Now it has been abandoned by the people!”
Wang Qiong said.
Zhu Houzhao nodded: "After the court meeting is over, I will issue an edict that no more treasure banknotes will be issued! To avoid hurting the people again."
"Your Majesty is wise!" The ministers nodded in agreement.
Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and continued: "I went to the Ordnance Bureau to inspect a few days ago. They have been able to refine a thing called zinc. They used condensation gas to control the temperature and finally got this thing. This thing can It can be combined with copper to form brass, or it can be combined with copper and silver to form a silver-copper-zinc alloy. I think it is best to use this alloy to make new coins, mainly made of silver, so that they are not easy to be counterfeited.”
"In this case, private individuals can no longer mint coins, and naturally they can unify the world's currency!" Liu Yu also agreed.
"In this case, you start to deal with this matter. The Baoquan Bureau is changed to the Central Bank of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Jing is in charge of this bank. This bank is specifically responsible for issuing currency all over the world. Only the Central Bank of the Ming Dynasty is allowed to issue currency. Any other yamen or even private individuals are allowed to issue currency. All must be severely punished! As for the specific determination of new currency samples and the first batch of issuance, we will discuss it in detail! ”
After Zhu Houzhao said this, Xu Jing and others quickly said yes, thinking secretly that His Majesty was wise and did not let the Royal Bank issue new coins. This meant that this bank, which did not fully represent the imperial court, could not make profits for itself by issuing a large number of coins.
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the money law reform of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Jing finally resigned from the World Investment Bank and took charge of the Central Bank of the Ming Dynasty. He personally assigned craftsmen from the Arms Bureau to join hands with craftsmen from the Baoquan Bureau to create a batch of new money samples.
Zhu Houzhao had only his own image printed on the silver coins, and did not let anyone print Zhu Yuanzhang's. This was also to avoid creating a sense in the world that he was still an emperor who valued ancestral institutions, and only printed his own. The avatar is to tell the world who the real great emperor of Ming Dynasty is.
The Central Bank of Ming Dynasty spent half a year producing the first batch of silver coins.
These banks determined the quantity based on currency inflows and outflows from the Royal Bank and the World Investment Bank. They also reserve gold of the same price, so there is no need to worry about issuing it, which will cause price fluctuations.
Just after the fifteenth day of August in the twelfth year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao issued an edict to the world. From the thirteenth year of Zhengde, the world was no longer allowed to use silver as currency, and newly minted silver dollars were the only legal tender. He also asked the people of the world to quickly go everywhere. The bank exchanged it and required that except for the land tax, which could still collect grain, all other taxes would only be collected in silver dollars. Beginning on August 15th of the twelfth year of Zhengde, the Royal Bank, which was mainly responsible for industrial and commercial lending, began to lend silver coins to businessmen and dignitaries.
The World Investment Bank, which is mainly responsible for construction investment, began to lend silver coins to infrastructure bureaus, local governments and even foreign vassals.
besides.
The salaries of hundreds of officials and even the feudal kings were distributed with rice and silver coins. They no longer used grain, cloth, pepper, treasure notes and other miscellaneous things to put together and distinguish according to their roles.
The unified currency system is meaningful. It makes Ming's commercial activities much cheaper and is more conducive to the circulation of goods.
Of course, compared with paper money, it is still inconvenient to use silver dollars for transactions, especially for bulk goods transactions, where you cannot carry thousands of kilograms of silver dollars.
But the Ming Dynasty cannot issue banknotes yet, because from the Yuan Dynasty to the present Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has abused banknotes, causing both officials and people to be extremely distrustful of banknotes and would rather trust the bills circulated within a few commercial banks.
"Yesterday, I stayed at Yuxiang Pavilion, spent three yuan of silver, and was served by a Japanese girl. Its peaks are as tall as Mount Tai rising from Pingchuan. I almost want to be squeezed out of my old roots and become a minister!"
Although Zhu Houzhao now has many memorials transferred to the cabinet and other departments, he still allows a group of officials from the Zhongjun Society to secretly report to him and report to him new things other than their own work, so that he can do more work besides Xichang. A pair of eyes that scrutinizes the world.
The memorial that Zhu Houzhao saw now was from Qin Jin, governor of Huguang.
Qin Jin was a man of good humor and even courage. Ever since he conveyed some naughty jokes to Zhu Houzhao for the first time in a secret memorial and was not reprimanded by Zhu Houzhao, he became more and more courageous and told everything about his affair with a prostitute. Zhu Houzhao.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh after seeing Qin Jin's memorial. He just wrote and replied: "Next time, try it. Use sterling silver to meet girls. Will they be willing to squeeze out your old roots?"
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A few months later, Qin Jin, the governor of Huguang, responded: "Since the silver dollar became popular all over the world, due to the small circulation of silver coins and the increasing amount of silver on the market, private individuals can only cast silver but not silver coins. As a result, silver coins are expensive and silver is cheap. , I was not allowed to enter the place where the winding path led to the secluded place, and I was despised. I was not allowed to show even half of my official badge, so I could have a meeting in Wushan!"
After Zhu Houzhao saw Qin Jin's replay, he couldn't help but laugh: "It seems that the silver dollar has been recognized by the people. It's rare that this woman from a shabby house also trusts the silver dollar. Remember to reward her with more money next time you go there!"
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then.
A few months later, Qin Jin responded again: "I have been ordered to reward three silver coins. The oiran is very happy!"
"Absurd! This guy is getting bolder and bolder!"
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help laughing and scolding, but at this time, the accompanying queen looked over and said, "Who are you saying is bold?"
"Huguang Qinjin, I will also give you three silver coins. Is your concubine willing?"
Zhu Houzhao said and gave the memorial to the queen for a look. After the queen read it, her face turned crimson and she said angrily: "Your Majesty, you actually compare my body to that of a prostitute!"
"Then I won't give you any silver coins. You can do it yourself," Zhu Houzhao said.
Zhu Houzhao still maintained a trace of reason, picked up his ink pen and continued to write on Qin Jin's secret notes, and replied: "Now that the method of patenting has become common in the world, I asked you to apply for a patent for the method of women's blouse secretly made by you!"
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The patent bill that Zhu Houzhao mentioned has indeed begun to be implemented. In the past, craftsmen with core technologies would hide their secrets and would not grant their secret skills to others, or even pass them down to their families. This has a lot to do with the absence of patent laws. After all, craftsmen can only rely on If someone steals your core skills to support your family, you will lose more than you gain. However, with patent law, you can avoid this problem.
Moreover, this can also greatly promote people's enthusiasm for scientific creation and make people realize that there is a way to get rich in academics.
Of course, to encourage Ming Dynasty's scientific and technological innovation, Zhu Houzhao did not just establish a patent law. Now, the winner of the first royal highest science and technology is about to be announced.
Thank you to book friend 201709281514185811000 for the first reward this week, oh yeah!
(End of chapter)