I am Da Song

Chapter 164 Unified Currency
To Jun Yao and Shun is the highest ideal pursuit of Confucian scholar-bureaucrats.

The ultimate goal of so-called self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace is to achieve this ideal.

So when Yang Shi talked about the final tone, he was excited and excited, and he did not hesitate to elevate Zhao Huan to the height of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors.

This performance made Zhao Huan smile, he didn't need to deliberately instigate, he had to firmly implement this reform.

The imperial court has achieved a super breakthrough of [-] million yuan in fiscal revenue, and the oppression of the people has dropped dozens of times. This is a well-deserved benevolent government for the Great Song Dynasty and the billions of people.

But the interests are always balanced, the court and the common people have received great benefits, and one party must have paid a heavy price.

Obviously, the most serious damage to the interests of this reform is the powerful and scholar-bureaucrat class.

In the past, they occupied 70.00% of the land, but relied on privileges, did not pay various taxes, did not perform corvee service, and did not perform military service. They became one of the four evils lying on the country and sucking blood.

Now the taxes are consolidated, and silver is collected on the basis of mu.Those who pay the most taxes are naturally these scholar-bureaucrats who occupy a large amount of land.It can be said that it was the literati who used the embezzled wealth to realize the reform of making the country rich and the army strong for the Song Dynasty.

Yang Shi looked solemn, and said frankly to Zhao Huan: "This reform can be said to cut flesh and bones from the scholar-bureaucrats, and it is bound to be fiercely resisted by the powerful all over the world."

Zhao Huan smiled confidently. If he wanted to implement this reform in a peaceful time, he would have to face extremely strong resistance from the scholar-bureaucrats, and he might even struggle.

The scholar-bureaucrats will fight against the imperial policy at all costs and force the reforms to fail.

However, as the country was broken and then established, Vientiane was renewed, and all the policies implemented by the imperial court were brand new systems.

And coincidentally, the literati and bureaucrats had just been educated by Zhao Huan with force, and the arrogant ones were all beheaded by the Shenwu Youjun, while the cowardly and timid ones hid in the dark corners tremblingly, looking at them in horror. situation.

They are at the lowest stage of arrogance as a whole. At this time, they are faced with the decision of whether to ask for money or die.

Zhao Huan said with a smile: "I believe that the literati and bureaucrats are loyal to the country and will make the most appropriate choice for the overall situation! You can just carry out this new taxation law with peace of mind, and I will help you persuade any opponents!"

Yang Shi also showed a few traces of carefree smiles.Although Yang Shi was also in the class of scholar-bureaucrats, no one said that scholar-officials could not operate on scholar-officials.On the contrary, it was the scholar-officials who betrayed the scholar-bureaucrat class the most.

Compared with Yang Shi's personal fame through the ages, the overall interests of the scholars are not even as good as grassroots at their feet!What's more, the new party of the Song Dynasty is in charge and reforms the tax law. Who hasn't used the privileges of scholar-bureaucrats?At most, I'm a little bit more ruthless with this knife.

In today's situation, the worst is that the scholar-officials continue to defect to the small court in the south of the Yangtze River, and continue to fight with the officials.

But Yang Shi felt that the court officials even wished that the local officials would do this.They just stared at the posts in some fat places, waiting for them to give up the posts to themselves.

The imperial court had the courage to reform and the perseverance to implement it firmly.

The rest is how to smoothly spread the reform to the whole country. Yang Shi said: "Officials, the biggest problem is that the national currency is not unified. The tax is [-] yuan per mu. Money, there is no obstacle to the implementation in the capital area. But the standard of [-] yuan is difficult to measure outside the capital area. Unifying the currency and collecting silver by mu will give tax collectors a lot of room to operate."

Zhao Huan can easily see this problem clearly, it's not that Song has never tried to change this situation.

Cai Jing, the head of the six thieves, also exchanged currency in Jiang, Huai and other seven routes, and all old banknotes were not allowed to be used.As soon as this regulation came out, a large number of wealthy businessmen with hundreds of thousands of households were turned into beggars, and even drowned and hanged to death.

Obviously, it is an extremely large and difficult task to unify the national currency. It is not only related to the success or failure of the reform, but also to the lives and family property of countless people.

Unlike the paper tigers of scholar-bureaucrats, if the court forces people to complain, the world will boil.The people from all over the world roared and rose up, which would really shake the state of the Song Dynasty, and even pull the emperor down.

However, Zhao Huan was not discouraged. The greatest charm of Song Dynasty is his pioneering and innovative spirit of reform.Being able to personally save this country from the plight of poverty and weakness is also the most accomplished thing for the kings and generals of this era.

So Zhao Huan said to Yang Shi: "I intend to introduce a new currency, which will become the national unified currency and gradually replace the complicated currency systems in various places."

Yang Shi said: "The government's ideas have been thought about by the monarchs and ministers of all dynasties. With the prestige of the court, as long as the new currency is promoted, even by force, the people can accept it. However, the currency needs to be able to purchase enough materials before it can be truly circulated. .”

"In addition, the exchange rate between the imperial currency and local currencies also needs to be considered."

Zhao Huan nodded, and said, "I know about this. The imperial court must have materials that can anchor its value in order to promote currency."

This is like the US dollar used to be bound to gold in later generations, and the US dollar was once bound to oil.

There is also a need for a kind of material in the Song Dynasty. As long as you use the currency issued by the Song Dynasty, you can definitely buy some kind of strategic material.

A few things came to Zhao Huan's mind almost immediately.Bear the brunt of land, taxes and salt and iron.

Especially for taxation, there is a precedent in Song Dynasty.That is discount.

Although this is not a good custom, at least it is very familiar within the country.

Zhao Huan said: "I intend to promulgate a decree that the country will only collect new currency for tax next year."

Yang Shi thought for a while, nodded his approval and said: "Everywhere has discounted supplies. The people can accept the local currency to replace the government's new currency before paying the tax, and then pay the tax. This can at least ensure that the new currency is enough to circulate."

But the disadvantage is that it may greatly increase the burden on the people.At that time, the government will rush to collect taxes, and if the people have new currency in their hands, they can only exchange it at a higher price.In the end, the officials and scholar-bureaucrats who worked hard were rich.

In response to this item, Zhao Huan said: "Before the tax is collected at the end of the year, I plan to let the currency circulate among the people for a period of time. The private land transactions must use new currency."

Land transactions are large transactions, and the spring plowing period has passed, so ordinary people will not be too anxious.They can calmly exchange their currency for new coins of the imperial court, so that the exchange price between the two parties tends to be stable.

Yang Shi said: "My minister suggested that it should be popularized from the Gyeonggi and Jianghuai areas. Copper coins are used in this area, which has always been the common currency for the court to collect taxes. New coins can be exchanged for copper coins one to one, and the impact on the people is minimal."

"Then use the land price as a reference to spread to Sifangfu, roads, states, and counties. Gradually realize the replacement of other currencies."

This is a big project. To replace the various currencies of the 24 roads across the country, it must be completed before the end of the year.

The traditional minting method is definitely not going to work.

(End of this chapter)