"Mr. Concubine, this is a newly minted silver coin. Please check it out!" As soon as Li Xiu arrived at the Financial Management Supervision Bureau, he saw that Liu Rengui, who was usually unable to see a figure, was waiting for him here. Then he took out a small box from his arms and excitedly presented it to Li Xiudao.

"The silver coins have been minted?" Li Xiu couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard Liu Rengui's words. The reason why he named the bank was because he fooled Li Shimin to use silver as money. So from the beginning of integrating the money minting bureau, he had already begun to consider minting silver coins. However, the time was not ripe before, and the bank didn't have so much silver in his hands, so he never started minting.

"Yes, this is a sample coin cast by a craftsman. If the prince consort thinks it is OK, he can distribute the mold to the local coin minting bureaus to start minting the coins!" Liu Rengui said excitedly at this time.

Last year, he basically did nothing else and was just focusing on integrating coin minting bureaus in various places. Now the small and too dense coin minting bureaus in various places have either been cut or merged. They have only retained some relatively large coin minting bureaus, and also unified the coin molds, making the difference in coin produced in various places very small, making the circulation of copper coins convenient. After this year, he had time to prepare for the minting of silver coins, and now he has finally achieved some results.

When Li Xiu heard this, he reached out to take the box and then opened it gently. He saw a silver silver coin lying quietly on the white silk in the box. He saw that the silver coin still guaranteed the style of Tongbao coins, with exquisite round square holes. After all, the people of the Tang Dynasty were used to the style of copper coins, so there was no need to change the style of the silver coin. What's more, Li Xiu also thought that the style of the round square holes was actually quite beautiful and there was no need to modify it at all.

Before the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains used the Five Prison coins that started from the Han Dynasty. However, after Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, the copper coins were changed to Tongbao coins in the first order. In the fourth year of Wude, the first Tongbao coins were cast and named "Kaiyuan Tongbao".

It is worth mentioning that the copper coins made in the Tang Dynasty were all called Kaiyuan Tongbao, which is different from the copper coins in later generations. Later, Li Longji had a year name, also called Kaiyuan. This is just a coincidence. It is not only the copper coins cast during the Kaiyuan period of Li Longji were called Kaiyuan Tongbao. In fact, Kaiyuan Tongbao appeared nearly a hundred years earlier than Li Longji's Kaiyuan year.

"Kaiyuan" means to create a new era, which means changing the Wuzhu coins into Tongbao coins, while "Tongbao" means Tongbao goods, which is actually the synonym of money. These four characters were originally decided by Li Yuan, and Li Xiu could not modify them, so the front of the silver coin is still printed with the four characters "Kaiyuan Tongbao". It is said that these four characters were written by the great calligrapher Ouyang Xun. It is between official script and regular script, and the shape of the characters is very beautiful.

Originally, the back of Kaiyuan Tongbao in the early Tang Dynasty was without words, but silver coins were different from copper coins. When Li Xiu turned the copper coins over, he found that there were four characters printed on the back, "One silver is a hundred", which also represents the value of silver coins. According to the bank's regulations, a silver coin can be exchanged for hundreds of copper coins, and ten silver coins are Yizheng.

Li Xiu played with this exquisite silver coin for a moment, and finally nodded with satisfaction. This silver coin inherited the advantages of Tongbao money in style and was also very exquisitely made, with no burrs on the edges at all.

Of course, there must be a big gap between this silver coin and the coins rolled out by machines in later generations. However, in the era of backward craftsmanship in the Tang Dynasty, it was very rare to make such exquisite coins, at least it was much more beautiful than the money in Rome. Li Xiu had seen gold and silver coins circulating in Rome, with irregular shapes and even the patterns on them were even more terrible. Not to mention the silver coin in his hand, even ordinary copper coins were more beautiful than theirs.

"Not bad, this silver coin is very exquisite, but you can calculate it by one hundred, so don't make any mistakes!" Li Xiu smiled at Liu Renzhi at this time. The exchange rate between different coins is very important. If the exchange rate is high, minting silver coins will become a loss-making transaction. If the exchange rate is low, the credit of the silver coin will be reduced, so this must be grasped well.

"Don't worry, the prince consort, we have carefully calculated that for example, the silver coin in your hand is only worth about 70 cents. In addition, fire consumption, labor, etc., the final cost is estimated to be between 80 and 85 cents. It is equivalent to saving at least fifteen copper coins for the imperial court for every silver coin issued!" Liu Rengui guaranteed confidently at this time.

"Then what auxiliary materials did you add to the silver coins?" Li Xiu asked curiously again when he heard this. Coins are generally not single metals, such as copper coins. Although the main material is copper, other auxiliary materials are generally added to reduce costs. In the past, there were no integrations in the coin minting bureaus in various places, and even the auxiliary materials added were not unified. Some places were added sten, some places were added iron, and some places even led. After the integration, the copper coins of the Tang Dynasty were now added tin, because this thing has a large reserve and is cheap, and it is not toxic like heavy metals like lead.

"Because the texture of sterling silver is too soft and it is easy to wear out when used, we also tried a lot of auxiliary materials in order to make strong and wear-resistant silver coins. Finally, we found that it is better to add copper coins. Not only does it become much harder, but it is also very wear-resistant. However, the cost is higher, and after adding copper, the silver color will become dimmer!" Liu Rengui replied again.

When Li Xiu heard this, he looked at the silver coins in his hand carefully. Sure enough, he found that the silver color was a little wrong, not as white as sterling silver. Of course, because there is little copper added, it is not very obvious. Moreover, the coins are circulated by people, and silver is easy to oxidize, so people who don’t know the inside story can’t tell at all.

"Only, your money minting bureau is doing well. I am very satisfied with this silver coin. I will present it to Your Majesty tomorrow. As long as your Majesty nods, the silver coin can be cast. Are there any difficulties in your money minting bureau?" Li Xiu nodded again with satisfaction. The hardness of this silver coin is indeed very high, and he can't bend it even if he uses force. This is much stronger than sterling silver.

"There are no other difficulties, but the bank still needs the prince consort to nod. After all, we must need a large amount of silver to mint money, and all of them need to be provided by the bank!" Liu Rengui smiled bitterly at this time. The bank's inventory management was strict. They needed a batch of silver to try mint before, and he had to get it himself.

"No problem. Since the bank was established, I have already asked me to start acquiring silver. I have acquired a lot of them now. If it is not enough, the bank can still collect them again in the future. However, the issuance of silver coins must also be discussed with the bank. The number of issuances must be checked by the bank!" Li Xiu immediately made the decision, and then reminded him again.

"Don't worry, the coins minted by the Money Crushing Bureau will be handed over to the bank for issuance. I know this very clearly in my heart!" Liu Rengui patted his chest and promised that the copper coins minted by the Money Crushing Bureau were handed over to the Ministry of Revenue to dispatch, but starting this year, the newly cast copper coins will be handed over to the bank for issuance. Of course, when the Ministry of Revenue wants to use money, it also needs to apply to the bank, which is equivalent to independent finance from the Ministry of Revenue.

The next morning, Li Xiu excitedly presented the newly minted silver coins to Li Shimin. The opening of silver coins was also decided when the bank was established. Moreover, with the prosperity of business, the disadvantage of the low value of copper coins has been revealed, which has also brought great inconvenience to the business. Therefore, Li Shimin had no objection to the opening of silver coins and immediately agreed.

With Li Shimin's order, the minting agency also became busy, and the silver in the bank's inventory also began to be transported to the minting agency. However, Li Xiu was still very cautious about issuing silver coins. At the beginning, he only minted a batch of small amounts of silver coins and then tried to issue them at the bank headquarters in Chang'an. After all, although copper coins have disadvantages, it is not easy to get people to accept a new currency. Maybe something will happen.

However, what surprised Li Xiu was that the silver coins were just issued at Chang'an Bank, which immediately attracted many people's attention. The prepared silver coins were exchanged in less than one morning. In this way, a large number of merchants were blocked at the bank's door and demanded to exchange silver coins. After all, they really needed a coin with a larger value.

Faced with this situation, Li Xiu immediately asked Liu Rengui to start all the work to mint silver coins, and at the same time issued silver coins in full at several established banks. However, even so, silver coins are still in short supply, which also caused some bad effects. A silver coin on the black market can be exchanged for copper coins that exceed its own value. For example, in Chang'an, a silver coin can be exchanged for 120 silver coins in private, far exceeding the bank's regulations. This is not a good thing, but there is no good way to do this. He can only urge the minting agency to speed up the minting and increase the supply of silver coins.

Later, Li Xiu summarized the reason why the issuance of silver coins was so popular. In addition to the need for large-value currencies for commercial purposes, there were two other main reasons. The first is that before the issuance of silver coins, there were already silver trading in private commercial transactions. After all, silver in the Americas has been transported to the Central Plains, which has increased the amount of silver. Especially in the southern coastal areas, the circulation of silver has become very popular among merchants, so banks are naturally easily recognized by these merchants.

Another important reason is that after last year's efforts, the credit of banks has been established. The banknotes in later generations are actually based on credit, and silver itself is valuable. In addition, the credit of banks has naturally been sought after by people.
Chapter completed!