Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 180 Monetary System
"Your Highness, now that rice is expensive and silver is cheap, it's too much to say."

Zhao Shu shook his head and smiled wryly.

Theoretically speaking, they were importing grain to pay the officials, and they lost a lot.

When it comes to salary, we have to mention the salary system of the Ming Dynasty.

Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang liked to imitate the Han and Tang Dynasties. The Han Dynasty was too far away and the Tang Dynasty was relatively close, so the formulation of salaries also followed the example of the Tang Dynasty.

Take the magistrate of the seventh rank as an example. In the Tang Dynasty, the annual salary was only seventy shi, while in the Ming Dynasty it was ninety shi.

The rest of the grades are basically higher than those of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang often wondered if he gave too much?

But obviously, it's his self-indulgence.

Just like the establishment of later generations, whoever looks at the money, thinks about the treatment!
Officials of the Ming Dynasty, except for the exemption from corvee and taxes, all other benefits of the Tang Dynasty were completely cancelled.

For example, the county magistrate of Qipin in the Tang Dynasty, in addition to Lumi, also had a salary of 25 taels of silver, 20 mu of land (official land, only enjoy the harvest), and about [-] taels of servant subsidies.

In other words, the welfare subsidies of the Tang Dynasty are three times that of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, with an annual salary of ninety shi, for a county magistrate, he can live comfortably, and the family can eat and drink without worrying about it.

However, people are social, if entertainment, staff, face-to-face, etc. are added, it will seem stretched.

And the most pitiful thing is that with this little salary, the imperial court also used treasure banknotes, pepper, etc. to make up the money, and they couldn't live without corruption.

Well, it’s okay to keep a low salary with a high salary, right?

Song and Qing, these two dynasties, profound interpretation, don't underestimate the greed of bureaucrats.

Human desires are layer upon layer.

High salaries raise honesty, but instead raise a large group of corrupt officials.

Therefore, the salary should not be high or low, otherwise it would be easy to go to extremes.

"Then send the silver taels directly!"

Zhu Yixi thought over and over again, and said in a deep voice.

Since the opening of Longqing, the Ming Dynasty completely tore down the brand of sea ban. Gold and silver from South America and Japanese silver have been pouring into China continuously, and nearly [-] million taels have poured into China in half a century.

Politically, a whip law was implemented, and taxes were paid in silver.

For ordinary people, that is inflation, and the value of silver has plummeted.

In the early and mid-Ming Ming Dynasty, one tael of silver was worth about [-] copper coins, and by the end of the Ming Dynasty, it became [-] to [-].

Even, four hundred cash can be exchanged for one tael of silver.

This is also why the Ming court no longer collects taxes in silver, because the price of silver is too low. The court was originally poor, but the more it collected, the poorer it became.

At that time, the price of silver was expensive in the inland and low in the coast.

In a sense, the tax burden in the south of the Yangtze River is low, while that in the interior is high, resulting in regional imbalances.

"Silver and silver are of different fineness, I'm afraid it's inconvenient."

Zhao Shu proceeded from the reality and said in words: "The official silver will be cast in this way, and it will increase the loss."

Loss, also known as fire consumption, the fineness of silver is different, and then re-refined, so it must be re-refined to become official silver, which must have losses.

Therefore, in order to make up the business, the officials and gentlemen then levied a tax on the basis of the regular tax, called fire consumption, to make up for the vacancy.

Then, fire consumption becomes corruption.

In the Qing Dynasty, the fire consumption was returned to the public. In fact, this miscellaneous tax was collected into the state, and it was re-used to reward officials, which was called Yanglianjin.

"Of course I know!"

Zhu Yixi said to himself: "Therefore, reforms must be made to prevent fire loss."

Zhao Shu was puzzled, looking at King Hanyang's handsome face, he felt like looking at a fool.

It has been decades, and the princes of the court have not solved it. Can you solve it?
Regarding Zhao Shu's questioning gaze, Zhu Yixi said frankly:

"Mr. Zhao, have you seen the silver coins of Frangji?"

"Never!" Zhao Shu shook his head and asked curiously, "Don't Franji use copper coins?"

Zhu Yixi smiled: "People use silver to make money."

After discussing for a while, or in other words, under the arbitrariness of King Hanyang, he decided to forge silver coins.

Copper coins belong to the state-made money. In the current situation of copper shortage, private forging of copper coins is likely to lose money and is illegal.

But silver coins are different. This is not a national currency.

More importantly, the gross profit is also high, and you can make a steady profit without losing money.

So, Wang Wei, Mr. Wang, who hadn't appeared for a long time, reappeared:

"Your Highness wants silver coins?"

As the earliest scholar-bureaucrat who believed in religion in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yan was naturally familiar with silver coins.

However, what made him unbelievable was that Daming actually did this too.

After all, copper coins have been popular since ancient times, and the value of silver coins is still too high.

"Francois can do it, why can't we?"

Zhu Yixi said quite firmly: "Nowadays, the fineness of silver is different, and there is no standard. If you are not careful, you will receive the wrong one. For the court, the taxation is also quite cumbersome."

"And making silver coins, wouldn't it be more convenient for merchants to do business?"

Hearing this, Wang Yan nodded, that's the reason.

In private large-scale goods transactions, you have to bring a weight, and at the end you have to take a bite to confirm the authenticity, and it is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish.

A tael of silver has different values ​​because of its different fineness, and it is common to suffer losses.

"Silver coins are easy to make."

Wang Yan stroked his silver-white beard and asked, "It's enough to press the mold and then cool it with water, but I don't know how much silver should it contain?"

"Ninety percent!" Zhu Yixi insisted: "Ninety percent silver, one percent copper, and a little tin can be made into silver coins."

"The pattern on the border should be more careful, and the engraving on the mold should be more beautiful. If this is the case, no one will object to its value of one tael of silver."

Why is Yuan Datou popular in later generations for decades?That is, it is willing to use silver, and the silver content is basically more than [-]%, which is genuine.

The difference in the price of silver coins is the [-]% of replacing silver with copper, that is to say, a net profit of [-]% for each silver coin issued.

The biggest cost is manpower.

"Since the value of the silver coin is too high, it is possible to issue a secondary coin—silver coin."

Zhu Yixi thought over and over again, and in view of the liquidity, it is imperative to make some silver cents with a smaller amount.

For example, each silver coin is one tael, or 38 grams, and the silver centimeter is five grams, and the silver is three grams, and some copper, lead, tin, etc. are added, and the silver content is no more than [-]%.

Coupled with the huge circulation, its profit is even greater than that of silver coins.

Therefore, in Zhu Yixi's currency plan, one silver coin is equal to one tael of silver, ten silver cents is equal to one silver coin, and copper coins circulate in parallel to form a perfect financial chain.

Wang Yan thought for a while, then nodded and said, "I will forge it in the way of the French people, it must be exquisite, but, Your Highness's method is quite competitive with the people."

"I have to fight!"

Zhu Yixi sighed, and said with a helpless smile: "It's extremely difficult to raise an army, Huguang is dilapidated, and I don't want to increase taxes, so I can only do this."

Hearing the words, Wang Yan was stunned for a moment, and then said: "The old man only knows a few craftsmen, but he feels that only His Royal Highness can perform the important task of revitalizing the Ming Dynasty."

"Why?"

"Because His Highness, like Taizu, has a heart of loving the people."

(End of this chapter)