"When I left Beijing, I heard that you went to Changxing Island. Why did you come to Shandong again?" Li Xiao was used to Ai Husheng running around. Although this guy became the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he was often away from the capital. He traveled east and west.

Once there, I don’t know what I was busy with.

"There is something I want to report to the commander-in-chief." Ai Husheng respectfully bowed to Li Xiao.

"Why are you so polite? What's going on?"

"I want currency reform!"

"What?"

People of later generations don't quite understand that the so-called trading currencies during the Great Ming Dynasty were mainly silver and copper coins. Copper coins were all black and full of greasy dirt. As for silver, it was full of various scratches and saliva, and its shape was even cut into

All kinds of beautiful copper coins, as well as shiny silver, only exist in the government treasury. The amount of money spent on fire consumption is a huge amount every year, and there is nothing that can be done about fire consumption.

master.

Gradually, fire consumption became an important source of gray income for officials.

"Nowadays, the currency of our Ming Dynasty is mainly copper coins and silver. Our Ming Dynasty has been short of copper since ancient times. It is not cost-effective to spend most of the few copper resources on casting copper coins. Therefore, when minting coins, some lead is added to the copper coins.

However, if too much lead is added, the copper coins will not be resistant to wear and tear. After being used for a period of time, they will become blurry. Therefore, for a long time, the ratio of copper to lead in copper coins has been half to half. This ensures durability.

Wear and tear, and the cost can be guaranteed.

But during the Tianqi Dynasty, in order to line their own pockets, the Donglin Party actually used the method of casting coins with seven copper and three lead. Although the money looked good, it also consumed more copper. Those profiteers in Jiangnan collected copper coins to refine them.

Made into copper. There are not enough copper coins on the market, so the government naturally needs to mint more copper coins. So these profiteers sell the copper to the government, and they get a 20% profit from each purchase.

Every year, the country's extravagant expenditure on copper coins accounts for more than 10% of the expenditure of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

As for silver, there are even more disadvantages. The minted official silver is all silver ingots. But when it is circulated among the people, large pieces of silver ingots are inconvenient to circulate, so they will be clipped off piece by piece and used scatteredly. These are scattered pieces of silver!

Folks pay taxes to the government, and most of them use this kind of broken silver. The government needs to recast the broken silver into official silver, which generates fire costs. For more honest officials, the fire costs are only a little more than 10%.

Son, there are those who are evil and dare to receive 30%. The annual fire consumption of the Household Department accounts for about 20% of the income.

These are currency malpractices! The money consumed here alone accounts for more than 30% of the revenue of the Ministry of Revenue. If we want to eliminate the accumulated malpractices, we must start with currency reform."

Ai Husheng said it clearly, and Li Xiao nodded. He had heard about it. But Li Xiao could fight, but forget about economics. In the past, he went to the bank to withdraw money, and currency meant nothing to him.

It's just a series of numbers on your salary card.

"The imperial court also thought about reform, and the main method was to issue treasure banknotes. But when the treasure banknotes reached the public, the people were unwilling to use them. First, the court issued treasure banknotes indiscriminately, which led to people's distrust of treasure banknotes.

What's more! Some nobles from the imperial court secretly printed treasure banknotes. This made the circulation of treasure banknotes uncontrollable. Many treasure banknotes ended up being turned into piles of waste paper, leaving the people with nothing to lose. Because of the treasure banknotes issue

It is common to hear of people committing suicide by hanging from a beam, or even entire families committing suicide."

Li Xiao did know that the treasure banknotes were the currency of the next year. There were professional counterfeiters of money in later generations. What anti-counterfeiting measures could there be for the treasure banknotes of this era? It is reasonable for them to be pirated. What's more, this

There are also nobles involved. Even if they are caught, in the end they can only push out a few unlucky ones to take the blame.

With three times the profit, people will dare to take risks and kill people. The profit here is more than three times, which is enough to make people crazy. It is inevitable that counterfeit money will appear, but it is wrong if there is no counterfeit money.

"How are you going to change the law?" Li Xiao knew that this was a fundamental issue related to the national economy. The matter was so important that he was not completely sure that Ai Husheng would not come to discuss it with him.

"Commander! My subordinates have just been to Changxing Island and had a long talk with Mr. Yu. Mr. Yu can guarantee that now our iron smelting plant can produce a kind of steel that is not easy to rust. Moreover, there is a hydraulic press on Changxing Island, which can

Water pressure is applied to the steel.

In this way, we no longer use copper to cast copper coins. Steel coins are more wear-resistant and cost less than copper coins. More importantly, our steel coins are stamped, which is different from cast coins.

They are completely two different things. This ensures that it will be difficult for the plutocrats in Jiangnan to carry out counterfeiting in the future.

Steel money can be stamped into different sizes, with denominations of one dollar, two dollars, five dollars, and ten dollars. In other words, if you buy something in the future, you will only use ten big characters. You don’t need to take out ten coins.

All you have to do is take out ten coins.

As for silver, it can also be stamped into one coin, two coins, five coins, one tael, two taels, five taels and ten taels. This will reduce the loss of silver as much as possible, and the government will no longer have to collect fire money. In the past, in the fire

The wasteful consumption will naturally disappear.

In the early days of currency issuance, in order to ensure the trust of the people, the court still had to stamp the silver into coins, but the people will get used to it in the future. We can use steel coins instead of silver coins, which can further save costs.

The most important thing is that the coins are all stamped, which can effectively curb counterfeit currency."

Li Xiao was a little embarrassed that Ai Husheng had to bring this matter up. If there was a crack in the ground now, Li Xiao would like to get into it. I have to say that Ai Husheng is indeed a financial genius for being able to think of this level.

"I think this is a good thing. Go to Beijing and tell Mr. Sun. Currency is related to the fundamentals of the national economy and people's livelihood, and it needs to be implemented as soon as possible." Li Xiao expressed his approval of Ai Husheng's currency reform plan. Such a good thing needs to be implemented as soon as possible.

Implementation. However, Li Xiao felt that it was better to discuss this matter with Sun Chengzong, an old fox. After all, Sun Chengzong and Li Xiao were not on the same level in terms of government affairs.

"Now Bianyifang has spread all over cities in Shandong and Hebei, and the exchange business is also connected in all directions. My subordinates are thinking about whether to separate the exchange business from Bianyifang."

In the past two years, the business model of Biianfang has been rapidly copied. Now, in addition to Beijing and Tianjin, it has been widely spread in Liaodong, Shandong, and Hebei. In almost every city, the most prominent and largest store is Biianfang.

of pavement.

Bianyifang is now a semi-official and semi-private existence, and Xie Youcai's market is now bullish. Wherever he goes, he is received by the local officials. Those officials such as the prefecture and county officials are fawning over each other. No one can imagine that,

Yuhi's big teapot actually has such a distinguished day.

"Well! Be independent, and it is no longer suitable for us to control Bianyifang. We can sell the shares of Bianyifang. In the future, this kind of government-business behavior must be stopped. A businessman is both the maker of rules and the beneficiary of the rules.

.If things go on like this, corruption will breed here. What is even more worrying is that this kind of officialdom will use powerful capital and unequal rules to compete and kill off those small businesses.

Official business does not require much labor. If you want to provide more employment opportunities, you must encourage small private businesses. However, the exchange business is related to the foundation of the country. This cannot be controlled by private individuals. It needs to be controlled by households.

It can only be done by the Ministry of Finance. Since this is a money-making business, let's call it a bank." Although Li Xiao doesn't understand economics, he is very familiar with the long-standing shortcomings of state-owned enterprises in later generations. Now that Ziyi Fang has not grown into a towering tree,

Sell ​​it out as soon as possible. Private capital will naturally carry forward this business model. After all, the essence of capital is to seek more benefits.

"No! I think it is appropriate to call the bank. I will go to the capital immediately and report these things to Mr. Sun." After Ai Husheng finished speaking, he wanted to leave.

"That's right! Go find Xie Youcai. I'm going to find him a new job. Let him go directly to Changxing Island to wait for me."

"Let him take charge of the bank?" Ai Husheng hesitated to speak.

"It's not appropriate for him to be in charge of a bank. It's better to have the bank in your hands. In the future, taxes, etc., can all be remitted through banks. All government treasuries and official banks can be deposited in banks. In the future, banks will become

The most important department of the Ministry of Household Affairs."

"promise!"

To carry out such an important project, Li Xiao felt that he should go back to Changxing Island. But before returning to Changxing Island, he had to deal with someone.

It's very easy to deal with Ao Ye, it only requires one drink. If you can't handle it, then two!

When brothers drink wine, there is no need to have any dishes. A whole roasted whole lamb, a half-foot-long prawn, and a plate of fresh ginseng dipping sauce!

"I heard that you gave birth to a son?" Ao Canghai asked confusedly without drinking.

"Ah! What's wrong?"

"Hey...! What a pity, why am I, Lao Ao, just a girl?" Ao Canghai took a drink in a depressed tone.

"Girl is daddy's little cotton-padded jacket. Having a girl is not enough for you." Li Xiao was very curious about the ginseng dipping sauce. He dipped a root of ginseng in his mouth and ate it. It tasted really good.

"Yes! It's a pity that he was born by a concubine, so his status is lower. Otherwise, we can be in-laws."

"Identity is not a problem. If the two children see each other in the future, I will not object. Just let it happen!"

"I met Lao Yuan yesterday. You brought us all to Shandong, but you let Cao Wenzhao go. Our two divisions were left in Shandong with nothing to do."

"Many veterans of the First and Second Divisions are from Shandong. During this period, you can arrange for them to go home and visit. Every family has been allocated land to let them know that their family is doing well. You are not allowed to go south to fight. That's because Shandong is now

According to historical records, tens of thousands of surrendered troops were being reorganized.

That's tens of thousands of people. How can we do it without letting you two divisions watch? Don't talk about you, Master Man will be back in a few days.

That bastard Wu Sangui destroyed Pi Island, and the output of the rebuilt gunpowder workshop on Changxing Island cannot be increased for the time being. The supply of supplies is limited, and we can only let the Third Division attack Yangzhou. The Third Division has not fought any battles since its establishment.

They should also be allowed to go to the battlefield and see blood.

From now on, our battlefield is so vast, how can we only rely on two divisions of you and Lao Yuan? Stay in Shandong for a few months. After reorganization, we will have enough troops to go south. By then, there will be many battles fought by you, and we will hit you.

nausea."

"That bastard Shi Kefa is not bad. Let's have a drink with him when he gets to Jinan!" Shi Kefa once lived in Ao Canghai's teacher. It's rare for a scholar to be able to have a temper with Master Ao. Master Ao values ​​this friend very much!

"It's almost! It should arrive in a few days. Two days ago, we said that people have been picked up at sea. Counting the days, it will only happen in the past few days." Li Xiao also thought of Shi Kefa, who was picked up by Luzhu.

At sea, he will disembark in a few days and then take the land route to Jinan. He still has a large number of his subordinates in Shandong who need his help in reorganizing them.

Due to historical reasons, the establishment of the Nanjing Forbidden Army and the Liao Army are very similar. Even the drill regulations are similar, and these soldiers have undergone several years of training. If they want to march into Jiangnan in the future, how can they do it with only four divisions?

The Nanming still occupies half of the country south of the Yangtze River, although their soldiers are all garrison soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of people are just piles of meat to the Liao army. But to conquer such a large place, there must be

Only troops can be stationed.

If these four divisions of the Liao army were sprinkled all over the south of the Yangtze River like pepper powder, Li Xiao would not do such stupid things.

"Did I cause trouble for you?" Ao Canghai said suddenly without thinking.

"It's not really a trouble. If a soldier doesn't have a temper, why should he be called a soldier? As long as he doesn't violate the rules, it's not a big deal." After Li Xiao finished speaking, he took a sip of wine.

"Sometimes I also want to be polite when talking to those sour guys. But damn, these sour guys don't know how to show appreciation. You talk politely to him, as if you are afraid of him. In the end, you still look down on us.

These big bosses.

It doesn't matter if you are asking questions from a university like Mr. Sun. A bastard who knows nothing and has been in a private school for several years dares to secretly talk about me behind my back. This is still good, but some sour men deliberately deprive us of our food.

I went to see Ai Husheng, and his food supply was fully allocated. But he was held back by those pickles and beaten a few times by me. I heard that it was not easy for Lao Yuan.

He is not that tolerant, and he is embarrassed to tell you that he has suffered a secret loss."

"Is there such a thing?" Li Xiao frowned. Many officials at the grassroots level still have to use officials from the Ming Dynasty. This is something that can't be helped. There are too few literate people. There are many people who want to be officials, but are they capable of becoming officials?

There are really not many children. Damn it, Li Xiao wishes that the children in those schools in Liaodong would turn into young men overnight. They would all replace these disciples and grandchildren of the Donglin Party!

No! There are not that many people now, and the hostility of the Liao army among these people comes from the bottom of their hearts.

These days, there are not many students from poor families. Most of the scholars have a lot of money at home.

Some of their families' land was divided, and some of their family members were killed because they resisted the land division. Such control over some seemingly small but fatal rights is indeed a bit dangerous. It seems that the current officials need to be reviewed.
Chapter completed!