Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 220 Unified Currency
The Baochao Department is one of the smallest yamen in the Twelve Supervisors, Four Divisions and Eight Bureaus of the Inner Palace. Its function was originally to be in charge of making treasures for the imperial court.

However, this treasure banknote does not refer to Ming Tongxing treasure banknote, this treasure banknote is just an elegant name for various thick and thin papyrus used by the imperial court.

That is to say, the Baochao Division originally made straw paper.

There are quite a lot of processes in the ancient method of straw paper making. There are more than ten processes such as breaking materials, soaking materials, washing materials, blanching, stepping on materials, entering troughs, beating materials, papermaking, squeezing dry, baking paper, etc.

These processes also take up a lot of space. The courtyard where the Baochao Division is located has a lot of large and small rooms, and the area is even larger than the sum of Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace.

Taichang really couldn't figure it out, he had to make the toilet paper used in the palace himself, so he was afraid that someone would poison the toilet paper.

This, he is not afraid of.

He believes that it is enough to buy straw paper directly from the market. If you are afraid of being poisoned, you can let the eunuch try it first.

But at this moment, there are many things that must be done in the palace to be safe, and a large space is needed.

Therefore, at this moment, the function of the Banknote Department has changed. It is no longer a straw paper maker, but a bank note printing company. A neat square table, densely packed with copper frames specially used for printing silver notes.

In the clean and tidy room, the eunuchs pushed the ink pad trays with various colors of paints, and carefully printed them one by one with various overprinted copper molds. The delicate gold millet paper quickly revealed the silver notes. look like.

Taichang took the letter king Zhu Youjian, the head of the state Wu Yangchun, the minister of household affairs Bi Ziyan, and the minister of industry Bi Maokang around the brand-new workshop of the Baochao Division, and then led everyone to the opposite row of empty Inside the big room.

This place was originally a place for processing all kinds of forage, but now it has been cleaned up, and there is no longer a large trough. Wang Zheng is leading a group of doormen to assemble a new steam punch inside.

Taichang had a general understanding of the progress of the assembly, and then led everyone to the meeting hall in the middle of the courtyard.

He first asked Gao Zhongming, the eunuch in charge of the banknote department, to distribute a few stamped copper coins to everyone, and then he said loudly: "Everyone, the head of the country mentioned the situation of copper coins to me a few days ago, and the copper coins in circulation among the people are enough now. There are dozens of kinds, including Tongbao minted by the imperial courts and copper coins minted privately by the people. They are different in material, weight and even size. They are messy and mess up the prices. It is also very troublesome for merchants to do business in different places. Therefore, I decided Collect all the copper coins from the people and make them into this kind of Taichang Tongbao, and then distribute them.”

This kind of stamped Taichang Tongbao is indeed beautiful, and everyone's faces are full of admiration when they take it into their hands.

However, when Taichang said that he would replace all the copper coins on the market, everyone was immediately dumbfounded.

Bi Ziyan, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, couldn't help but reminded: "Your Majesty, there are more than hundreds of millions of copper coins cast in the past dynasties, plus privately cast copper coins, I don't know how many, hundreds of millions of copper coins, can we make them?" ?”

Of course, so many copper coins cannot be made, at least not in a few years.

Taichang smiled slightly and said: "This Liangfu has already figured out a way. We not only make copper coins, but also silver coins. One silver coin can be exchanged for a hundred copper coins. This way, the copper coins can be exchanged much faster. Moreover, the copper coins can be melted." In addition to casting other things."

This idea is indeed good, but not fast enough!

Hearing this, Bi Maokang simply proposed: "Your Majesty, what if we make gold coins together, and exchange one gold coin for a thousand copper coins?"

Uh, gold coins?

This method is indeed fast enough, and the exchange ratio of gold and silver is about one to ten at the moment, even if it is almost, the weight can be adjusted.

Question, is there anyone to exchange gold coins?
You know, a thousand copper coins is a guan, and ordinary people are considered good if they have a few guan.

If someone is willing to exchange it, that's naturally the best. One exchange is a lot of copper coins, and hundreds of thousands of gold coins can be exchanged for hundreds of millions of copper coins!
Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help asking with great interest: "Do you think anyone is willing to exchange copper coins for gold coins?"

Bi Maokang said without hesitation: "There must be, at least in Huizhou. I have seen it. Many people have copper coins in boxes and boxes, and some of them have green hair. If they can be exchanged for gold coins, Not only does it save space, but it also won’t cause copper rust!”

Indeed, the biggest advantage of gold coins is that they are not easy to rust. I believe that rich people definitely prefer gold coins.

Thinking of this, Taichang couldn't help but nodded slightly and said: "Well, gold coins are indeed better preserved. We can consider making gold coins more beautiful to make them valuable for collection. In this way, I believe more people want to exchange them. OK, Then make gold coins together."

Bi Maokang hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "The emperor is wise."

What is this, when did your guy learn to flatter?

Taichang shook his head with a smile, and then solemnly said: "Since we encourage business, we must try our best to create a business environment. This time, taking this opportunity, I plan to unify the currency of the entire Ming Dynasty. All copper coins, broken silver, gold ingots, etc. are all collected and exchanged for the imperial currency. In this way, it is convenient for merchants to do business and ordinary people to buy things. Now, gold coins, silver coins, copper coins, gold ingots, silver ingots, We have all the bank notes, do you have anything to add?"

Hearing this, Wu Yangchun hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, even this gold coin can be made, can we also print gold tickets? More and more people are depositing gold in the bank at the moment, and we can only convert it into gold coins." The silver bills are used as evidence for others, and they have to be recorded in detail to prevent others from being unable to get the gold they have deposited, which is really too troublesome."

Well, gold tickets can actually be printed, just add some gold leaf powder to the thick ink.

Taichang nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, let's print some gold tickets too, just use gold foil powder instead of silver foil powder. Do you have anything to add?"

After hearing the words, everyone thought about it carefully, and then shook their heads to express that there was no more.

There are already enough types of gold coins, silver coins, copper coins, gold ingots, silver ingots, gold tickets, and silver tickets, and whether it is ordinary people, merchants, or rich local tyrants and gentry, these are enough, and there is no need to add any currency up.

Seeing this, Taichang nodded slightly and said, "Okay, we've decided on the types of currency, that's all. Next, tell me about the styles of the gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins. The copper coins you are taking now are just samples. That's it, the style is actually the same as the previous copper coins, except that the surface is brighter. We have to make new coins to replace all the old coins. Naturally, they can't be the same as the original style, especially if the silver and gold coins are the same as the copper coins, there is nothing wrong with them. It is so strange that someone might take the risk of imitating it, after all, even if the folks don’t have a punching machine, they can still punch out the shape and then carve it, or cast it directly and find a way to polish every surface.”

Indeed, if the stamped gold, silver, and copper coins are in the same style as the original old coins, there will still be some folks who will find ways to imitate them. We must find a way to prevent folks from imitating them.

If there are counterfeit coins made privately at that time, the impact will be great. You must know that silver coins and gold coins are very valuable. If people use copper and tin to imitate them, the market will probably be chaotic soon. .

As for how to prevent folk imitation, there are many ways.

Everyone talked to each other, and the discussion was very enjoyable. After discussing for a long time, the system of gold coins, silver coins and copper coins was finally finalized.

Time flies, ten days passed in a blink of an eye, Wang Zheng has assembled fifteen brand-new steam punching machines, and made molds for various gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins.

"哐嘡", "哐嘡", "哐嘡", the punching machine in the treasure bank was ringing non-stop, and the gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins were rushed out one after another, and soon filled several box.

On this day, Taichang called everyone into the lobby in the middle of the Baochao Department, and gave everyone a gold coin, a silver coin and a copper coin.

This time it is not a sample, but a genuine product that will be released soon.

Moreover, this authentic product is much more beautiful than the original sample after adding things to prevent imitation.

The copper coins have not been modified much to prevent imitation, that is, a circle of ant-sized words is added on the outer circle, "Made under the supervision of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, and imitation is strictly prohibited."

However, with such a circle of characters, it is unlikely that the folks want to imitate this kind of copper coins, because the copper coins minted are not even clear with a few large characters, and a circle of small characters the size of ants cannot be cast. The characters can only be punched out by punching dies.

Of course, if it is purely hand-carved, it can be carved, but the effort to carve a copper coin is definitely worth more than the copper coin itself. I believe that no one would be so boring as to carve copper coins that are not worth much.

If you really have the ability to carve copper coins exactly like the ones that were washed out, what do you do without carving copper coins?
After the small characters in this circle are added, the copper coins become more beautiful, which makes people love it.

The silver coins are even more beautiful. Not only is there a circle of small characters on the outer circle, but also the gaps around the big characters in the middle are full of exquisite cloud patterns, which look as beautiful as jewelry.

The gold coins are even more incredible, there are little golden dragons in the gaps around the big characters in the middle!

Such an exquisite little golden dragon can only be carved on a hundred steel-making molds by artisans who specialize in working for the royal family. It is impossible for the folks to have such masters.

Seeing the admiration on everyone's faces, Taichang couldn't help saying with a little complacency: "How about it, the gold and silver coins are well made, right?"

When everyone heard the words, they were of course full of praise.

Seeing this, Taichang made a final decision and said, "Okay, these gold coins, silver coins and copper coins will be distributed to the major branches of the Daming Bank today and tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, the major colonies will start to replace the old copper coins. Replace all copper coins in North Zhili, South Zhili, Shandong and Zhejiang."

When everyone heard the words, they all nodded their heads in agreement.

Immediately afterwards, Taichang said to Bi Ziyan: "Jinghui, when you go back, you will draw up an announcement in the name of the Ministry of Households to inform the prefectures and counties of Beizhili, Nanzhili, Shandong and Zhejiang. All old coins in the four places are abolished, including all kinds of copper coins and privately minted gold and silver ingots, and only the gold and silver tickets, gold ingots, silver ingots, gold coins, silver coins and copper coins supervised by the Ministry of Users are available on the market!"

Bi Ziyan cupped his hands without hesitation and said, "I understand."

Taichang nodded slightly, and then said majesticly: "Let's exchange all the old coins of Beizhili, Nanzhili, Shandong and Zhejiang first. After the rebels are suppressed, the currencies of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of Ming Dynasty will be unified. , all old coins must be abolished!"

(End of this chapter)