Chapter 518
Zhao Xing didn't know this. He was furious in the morning court. In addition to expressing his attitude, he was indeed angry by the officials.
Those officials knew that minting counterfeit coins was a serious crime and did not dare to plead for those people, but tried their best to stop them.
Of course, those officials are not that thin-skinned.
With the nature of the civil officials of the Song Dynasty, even officials who colluded with the rebels and sent money and food to the rebels could plead for him.
How could it be that I dare not plead for the arrested officials just because I was worried about affecting my reputation.
They want to ask for love, but there are reasons.
What laws do not blame the masses, and what is for the stability of the court.
Is it obvious that you are worried about the country and the people, and you are selfless?
The real reason why I didn't do this is that Li Jie, the prince-consort, was also arrested.
If Zhao Xing doesn't arrest Li Jie, they can plead, but Zhao Xing is so selfless, how can he and the others plead?
But Zhao Xing also knew that this was only temporary. If he punished Li Jie lightly, those officials would inevitably attack him. "Your Majesty, Deputy Sheng asked for a meeting!" An eunuch walked into the hall and saluted. "Biography!" Zhao Xing came back to his senses and said.
"Yes!"
The eunuch retreated, and soon Sheng Wei walked in.
"I pay homage to Your Majesty!" Sheng Wei bowed.
"No gift!" Zhao Xing waved his hand.
Zhao Xing handed over the establishment of the money shop to Sheng Wei, so he left him to work as a deputy supervisor.
Qianjian was the institution responsible for the minting and management of coins in the Song Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, the money shops in various places are ready. I wonder when it will be officially launched?" Sheng Wei asked. "Have the new coins been shipped?" Zhao Xing asked. "The new coins were minted in total 10 million stags of copper coins and 2 million silver coins. They have all been shipped to various monetary houses." Sheng Wei said.
Zhao Xing thought about it when he heard this. Although he had recast the copper coins, he did not change his original style.
In ancient copper coins, there was a square hole in the middle, representing the circle on the outside and the square on the inside.
Although it has a certain meaning, its main purpose is to facilitate stringing things together.
Zhao Xing did not make any changes to this point, but only increased the casting process.
The copper coins coin developed by hundreds of skilled craftsmen are very exquisite.
Although this increases the casting cost, it can prevent counterfeiting well.
Only when the court can recruit so many skilled craftsmen and mint a large number of mintings, can the court ensure that it is profitable to mint coins.
If someone mints counterfeit coins in the future, if they want to use fakes as real, the cost of minting alone will be greater than that of copper coins.
Since you are fighting against counterfeiting, you must also carry out anti-counterfeiting. Only in this way can you avoid the emergence of counterfeit coins.
The reason why counterfeit currency is flooded is not only because of the development of commerce, a large amount of coins flowing into other countries.
The biggest factor is the low casting cost.
After all, the reason why copper was used as coins in ancient times was not because of the scarcity of copper.
Cultural factors also play an important role. Ancient currency was born in the late Bronze Age, and bronzes enjoyed a lofty status, and had the functions of sacrifice to heaven and earth, respecting ghosts and gods, and interpreting the royal power. They were symbols of their status at that time.
Bronze ware is not only used to make ritual instruments, weapons, musical instruments, etc., but also carries cultural significance such as social ideology, etiquette culture, rules and systems. Therefore, bronze is widely used in economic activities such as contribution, rewards, taxes, confiscations, salaries and payments, and has become a widely recognized wealth.
But the value of copper itself is not equal to the value after being minted.
Otherwise, the court would not be able to bear it.
So for the court, minting coins is itself a kind of money-making act.
Therefore, the process used when minting coins cannot be checked, but it is definitely not the best one.
The actual cost of casting copper coins may be only 20% or 30%. If the craftsmanship is top-notch, it will increase the cost, which is a "lose money" for the court.
Because the craftsmanship is not the best, it gives fakes an opportunity to take advantage of it.
Although they do not have to mint coins according to the standards of the court, they should at least look like it.
When the skills were behind the court and the amount of minting was not as good as the court, the counterfeit coins they minted were not as beautiful as those of the court, but the cost was higher than that of the court.
In order to prevent the emergence of counterfeit coins, Zhao Xing strengthened his technology, which was to make the cost of minting counterfeit coins higher than the actual value of the coins minted.
Otherwise, the coins minted will only be fake at first glance.
This way, counterfeit coins will not appear. "It's not enough, continue to increase the minting of silver coins, and wait until the minting of silver coins exceeds tens of millions before it officially opens!" Zhao Xing said.
The most common people are used for copper coins, and the most money people hoard the most at home are gold, silver and land.
After all, copper coins have always been a thousand documents, and it is very troublesome to store or count.
The cost of casting copper coins is already high, and if you change one, you will have almost no profit.
But if the fire consumption is increased, the people will suffer.
So Zhao Xing did not think about what money to make on copper coins.
What he wants to do is make money on copper coins. As long as he issues an order, it is prohibited to use gold and silver to trade directly, those who have gold and silver in their hands will have to exchange it.
Although they can trade with each other secretly, this requires a certain degree of trust.
Otherwise, what if someone complains?
Zhao Xing never thought that everyone would exchange silver for silver coins, only a part of it was enough.
At that time, the fire consumption, plus the one tael of silver coins that were cast, would not use one tael of silver. The addition of the two would be enough for the court to make a fortune. "Yes!" Sheng Wei replied.
"In addition, although you can exchange copper coins for one, each person can only exchange 100 ci. If you exceed 100 ci, you need to collect 100% as fire consumption. If you exceed 100 ci, you need to collect 20% of them!" Zhao Xing said. "This requires checking the household registration, the cooperation of the local government, and it is very labor-intensive." Sheng Wei hesitated. "It's okay, it's worth doing this." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
Increasing the fire consumption is naturally aimed at the rich people.
One person has a hundred documents. If an ordinary family has seven or eight people, there will be a free redemption quota of seven or eight hundred documents.
And can ordinary people have so much savings?
Those who exceed it belong to the 'risky people', and those who exceed 100% of them are rich.
Will the people still exploit the rich without exploiting them?
However, you must check your household registration and register well, otherwise there will be loopholes to take advantage of.
It was quite troublesome to check the household registration system in ancient times, and it was not like later generations, so it would be fine just by brushing it.
But doing so also has benefits. The court can gain benefits for a while, and the second is to force out some of the people of black households.
Population and taxation are directly linked. No matter how prosperous it was in ancient times, there would never be a lack of black households.
With this, there are still room for exploitation.
For example, letting those people without money exchange for those rich families is as long as it is lower than the fire consumption collected by the court.
But for those rich families, when should they exchange the amount for a hundred documents?
Zhao Xing will also have some restrictions on the exchange time of new and old coins.
In this way, only those who have a little money can find someone to help exchange it. It is not practical for truly rich people to do this.
In addition, you can also buy people and tamper with the exchange.
This kind of thing is inevitable, and you can only do a good job of supervision and do as little as possible. "Your Majesty, this is not just a human problem. You need scholars to do such things, and ordinary people can't do it at all." Sheng Wei reminded.
"It's okay!" Zhao Xing said without any attention: "If there are too many idle officials in the court, I will dispatch people to you. After these ten money shops open, you will work harder. I ask that the money shop be opened to all prefectures and counties in the Song Dynasty within three years. After completing the exchange of all copper coins, the remaining copper coins will be regarded as counterfeit coins and are prohibited from circulation."
The idle officials he mentioned refer to those officials who only granted false positions after passing the imperial examination.
These people have been raised by the court for so many years, and it is time to work. "Yes." Sheng Wei wanted to speak but stopped.
"Your dear, just say whatever you want." Zhao Xing waved his hand. "Your Majesty, there are too many hidden dangers for exchange of new coins, such as..." Sheng Wei talked about some existing hidden dangers and said, "This is what I think of now. There may be more problems when the exchange begins."
"The most troublesome thing is that the Song Dynasty is too large and has a vast territory. Although it has been three years, the exchange time varies from place to place, and old coins are still in circulation. Some places where new copper coins are exchanged will naturally not recognize the old coins."
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Although the people have exchange quota, this is based on the household registration in various places.
According to what Zhao Xing said, the people can only exchange them in the prefectures and counties where their household registration is.
Although the Song Dynasty did not restrict the flow of the people, only a few people left their homeland, and most of them still have certain identities and assets.
The identities of such characters are easy to verify and have little impact.
But the people are not liquid, so the coins are liquid.
In some places where exchange has been started, the people do not recognize the old coins.
But those people who come here to do business and channels cannot exchange it because of their household registration, and only have old coins.
It is precisely because of the various problems that although there are cast copper coins in various dynasties, the types of copper coins in the people are actually very complicated.
Because the court could not completely take back the old coins.
Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Kaiyuan Tongbao of the Tang Dynasty was still circulated among the people.
It's just the number.
He also saw the newly minted copper coins of the imperial court, and the gap was very big compared to all the previous coins.
Once the court stipulates that the circulation of old coins will not be allowed, the various impacts will be too great. "This is not a big problem. People who use copper coins more often are still ordinary people. Although this has a certain impact, those vendors can completely exchange silver coins, and there is no restriction on exchange of silver coins." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
Copper coins are more used by the people. Due to the distance, it is difficult to carry, and more gold and silver are used.
This will have benefits, and it can force those rich to exchange silver coins.
Of course, this does not completely solve the problem and will definitely cause inconvenience to some people.
But everything has its pros and cons, and it is impossible to give up on the food because of choking.
In addition, there are also those maritime businesses that trade with the Song Dynasty, which also have a certain impact.
But they mostly bargain, and even if they exchange money, they still collect money from the Song Dynasty.
I will not directly come to the Song Dynasty to buy things with the copper coins from the Song Dynasty. "As for other issues, you can find more people, work together, find out the problem as much as possible, and come up with appropriate solutions. In any case, the new currency must be exchanged within three years." Zhao Xing said. "Yes!" Sheng Wei replied. "Go." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"I'll leave!"
…………
For the next period of time, the Imperial City Department dispatched everywhere, and many wealthy businessmen and officials were arrested and sent to Bianjing.
Every day, the thorns from all over the place rushed towards Bianjing like snowflakes.
Even the officials who had calmed down because of Zhao Xing's furiousness in the court, they became active again.
Their impeachment this time is reasonable and well-founded.
The Imperial City Department arrests people everywhere, and there are always some people who are greedy and receive benefits when arresting officials and wealthy businessmen who are involved in the minting of counterfeit coins.
When someone arrested someone, they saw that the other party’s wife and concubine were beautiful, they took it for themselves.
There are even people who accept benefits and let some merchants and officials go.
This gave the chance of the officials in the court. They demanded a strict investigation of the Imperial City Department, and the arrest and interrogation of those officials and merchants should be handed over to the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate's Three Divisions for trial.
Zhao Xing naturally could not agree, but ordered the Censorate and the Nanhuangcheng Municipal to conduct a thorough investigation of the impeachment of all officials.
"I am guilty, please punish me!" Yin Hanzhang bowed and said. "Of course you are guilty. After so long, you are in charge of the Imperial City Department? Even some of the impeachment of officials are fake. But even if only 10% are true, you, the Imperial City Department, can't stand the blame!" Zhao Xing said coldly.
"I was guilty of death!" Yin Hanzhang knelt down.
Zhao Xing laughed angry and stood up, kicked him, "Deathly crime! What can I do if I kill you?"
Yin Hanzhang got up and knelt on the ground again.
Zhao Xing said coldly: "Do what you should do. I have asked someone to investigate this matter. It would be better that it has nothing to do with you! Get out!"
"Yes!"
Yin Hanzhang stood up and retreated.
Zhao Xinggang returned to the dragon throne and sat down. An eunuch walked in. "What's the matter?" Zhao Xing said coldly.
"Go back to Your Majesty, please see the Minister of the Honglu Temple!"
The eunuch was startled and bowed quickly.
"Biography!"
"Yes!"
The eunuch retreated, and after a while, the Minister of the Honglu Temple walked in and saluted, "I pay homage to Your Majesty!"
"You are asking for a meeting, what's the matter?" Zhao Xing asked. "Report to Your Majesty, Liang Yimang, the envoy of the Western Xia Dynasty who had been on the Song Dynasty, suddenly came to the Honglu Temple and said that there was something important to see Your Majesty. I dare not make a decision privately. I come to report to Your Majesty and ask Your Majesty to make the decision!" said the Minister of the Honglu Temple.
"Has Liang Yi been buried?"
Zhao Xing was stunned and asked, "For the sake of Emperor Liang?"
"That's right, he said he would redeem Queen Liang with Lingzhou City and several nearby cities!"
"Ha." Zhao Xing sneered when he heard this, "I'm really willing to give up!" Liang Yi came here, both unexpectedly and reasonable.
Since he did not receive the message in advance, it means he came here secretly.
But he directly told the Minister of Honglu Temple that the Western Xia would exchange Lingzhou City and several nearby cities for Queen Liang.
It was obvious that he wanted to let the officials of the Song Dynasty know through the mouth of the Honglu Temple.
Zhao Xing knew the ministers in the court so well that he could exchange several cities without a single soldier, or an important ministerial pool like Lingzhou City.
The ministers in the court could not bear this temptation.
(This chapter ends)