I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 390 The Manufacturing of Silver Coins

As soon as these words came out, the whole hall became extremely quiet.

Everyone knew that Feng Sanyuan had a stubborn personality, but no one expected that he would get into trouble with the emperor at this critical moment.

Liu Yishen and others also looked at each other, wondering how to save Feng Sanyuan.

"Your Majesty, Feng Sanyuan deceived the emperor and disrupted the imperial court. Not to mention that the war in Liaodong is not over yet, so the Liao soldiers should not have withdrawn.

To say that after His Majesty came to the throne, he revitalized the imperial court and pushed forward reforms vigorously, so that the imperial court was full of wealth and sufficient expenses, how could the people live in poverty and how could the people be in misery? Feng Sanyuan is really a bunch of nonsense. "

Bi Maokang, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, immediately stood up and impeached Feng Sanyuan.

The announcement of his impeachment was like a bomb detonating in the venue. Many people also criticized Feng Sanyuan.

"Feng Yushi's statement is a complete fallacy. The Liaoning salary should be abolished based on the salt tax revenue alone. If Liaodong is insufficient and the war is ruined, who will bear the responsibility then."

"I request that Feng Sanyuan be dismissed. He seems to be serving the people, but in fact, he is using this to gain fame. His crime is punishable."

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Zhu Youxiao felt a little better when he saw everyone below standing up to criticize Feng Sanyuan.

In his heart, this Liao salary must never be abolished, even if the Jianlu were pacified.

The official taxes of the Ming Dynasty were not heavy at all, and the court's income was very small. Now that there was finally such an opportunity to raise taxes openly, how could Zhu Youxiao waste such a good opportunity to raise taxes.

As for Feng Sanyuan's claim that Liao's wages made it difficult for the people to make a living, Zhu Youxiao was more willing to believe that it was not the tax rate that was the problem, but the corruption of the officials below.

You must know that after the establishment of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, the three rates in the late Ming Dynasty were directly fixed and all were evenly allocated to the regular tax.The taxes at that time were much heavier than those in the Ming Dynasty now, and the people could bear it, not to mention that Liao rates, one of the three rates, had only been added now.

"Your Majesty, although what Feng Sanyuan said was serious, he still wanted to reduce the burden on the people, and his intentions were good.

Besides, starting from Taizu, the duty of the Liu Ke Yan Guan Yushi in this dynasty is to write letters of remonstrance. As the Deputy Yushi of Youdu, I also hope that Your Majesty will have the heart to love the people. I also ask Your Majesty to exempt Feng Sanyuan from arrogant words. Don't punish sin too much. "

At this time, the chief assistant Liu Yishen also stood up. Although he scolded Feng Sanyuan in his heart for being too stubborn and not knowing how to adapt.

But when it came to this, he couldn't just sit idly by. Feng Sanyuan on the side did not expect that what he said would be met with such a plan by the emperor. He just wanted to say how difficult it was for the people, and did not mean to criticize the emperor. He never expected that the emperor would misunderstand.

When he saw this, he also wanted to speak, but just as he was about to speak, Liu Yishen gave him a look to shut up. Seeing this, he could only suppress his mood and stop talking.

Following Liu Yishen's speech, people in the court gradually stood up to speak to Feng Sanyuan, making the court more lively.

"Okay, stop arguing."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hands when he heard this. This Feng Sanyuan was arrogant and discussed the government affairs. He was really unhappy.

But Liu Yishen was right. Feng Sanyuan was the censor or the deputy censor of Youdu. It was his duty to advise the emperor.

If I were dismissed because of this incident, or even ransacked my house, even though I would feel happy, my reputation would be ruined, and the world would definitely feel that I would not tolerate it.

Thinking of this, he sighed helplessly in his heart. Feng Sanyuan would inevitably be punished for his death penalty, and he would really be unhappy if he was not punished.

"Although Feng Sanyuan is the censor and it is his duty to make suggestions, he should not speak arrogantly, but should be well-founded. Since I don't care about such wild remarks, I will pay a fine of three months and reflect on it carefully. I will speak more clearly in the future. Have proof and don’t make false claims.”

Liu Yishen and others heaved a sigh of relief when they heard this, and quickly bowed to Zhu Youxiao.

"Your Majesty Shengming."

Although Feng Sanyuan still felt that he was not wrong, he could only admit it.

After Feng Sanyuan made such a fuss, Zhu Youxiao's interest was disturbed a lot, and he was also a little less interested in the following content.

Later, Wen Tiren, the Minister of Civil Affairs, stood up and reported that the Ministry of Revenue had decided on the mission to the West, and that it would depart from Beijing on September [-]th according to the original plan, and take a sea ship to Guangzhou via South Zhili, and then board the mission. Franco's ships headed for Europe.

This was already agreed upon, and Zhu Youxiao didn't stop him and just nodded in agreement.

Subsequent matters such as disaster relief in Liaodong and Yuan Keli's implementation of new tariffs in Jiangnan did not go through any major disturbances. They were all reported to the subordinates, and Zhu Youxiao directly agreed.

An hour passed quickly. Zhu Youxiao saw that it was getting late and there was nothing to do, so he gave Wei Zhongxian a signal to withdraw from the court.

"Retreat!"

Wei Zhongxian understood immediately, took a few steps forward, and soon shouted at the top of his lungs.

Afterwards, the officials of Honglu Temple finished their "singing" and sounded their whips. When Zhu You, the school sage, retreated, all the officials also retreated and went back to the Yamen.

Zhu Youxiao arrived at Qianqing Palace in a luan and walked to Dongnuang Pavilion.Since the last time he went to Xiyuan for summer vacation, he has fallen in love with Xiyuan more and more. Unfortunately, this place is too far away from the cabinet, the Military Aircraft Department and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, so it is very inconvenient to summon anyone.In addition, it was already September and the weather was not that hot, so Zhu Youxiao moved back to live in Qianqing Palace.

"Your Majesty, Xu Guangqi, Minister of Industry, would like to see you."

Zhu Youxiao, who had returned to Qianqing Palace and changed into regular clothes, was about to flip through the question book when he heard He Ning's report.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youxiao secretly wondered what Xu Guangqi could do to him.

"Let him in."

After a while, He Ning came in with Xu Guangqi, but Xu Guangqi was holding a wooden plate in his hand, and the contents on it were covered with a red cloth, so Zhu Youxiao couldn't see what it was.

"Xu Guangqi, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, comes to see Your Majesty."

Xu Guangqi came in, put down the wooden plate gently, and immediately bowed to Zhu Youxiao. Zhu Youxiao became even more curious when he saw this.

"Get up, Zhang Chang will give you a seat."

After Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, he looked at Xu Guangqi and said:

"Xu Aiqing, I see you are well prepared for this and are quite mysterious. Why don't you report it in the morning? Instead of coming here alone, I will talk about it alone."

Xu Guangqi stood up slowly and smiled when he saw the emperor saying this. He glanced at the wooden plate he placed on the table and said with a smile:

"Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance. It has just come out now, and I did not have time to report it to Your Majesty in advance. Instead, I brought the things over in advance. I want Your Majesty to take a look in person and check them before making a decision."

When Xu Guangqi said this, Zhu Youxiao became even more curious. He stood up slowly, wanting to see what Xu Guangqi was going to present.

"Your Majesty, I remember that you discussed with me three months ago the issue of casting copper and silver coins. At that time, when silver and copper coins were being issued, people would be crazy about counterfeiting them. Therefore, you proposed to engrave seals on the edges of the coins to prevent counterfeiting.

After you gave this task to Weichen, Weichen gathered the craftsmen of Baoquan Bureau for discussion and found that the key lies in the mold of the coin.Finally, after repeatedly carving molds, a batch of silver coins and copper coins of high quality were finally produced, and I asked Your Majesty to take a look. "

Zhu Youxiao's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this. He really didn't expect that the good news now came one after another, first the equalization of land and the equalization of service, then the tax reform, and now the currency reform has also achieved some results.

"Okay, Xu Aiqing, you are indeed the minister of the humerus. I did not misjudge you. Hurry up and bring the coins and let me have a look."

Upon seeing this, He Ning hurriedly stepped forward, picked up the wooden plate and came to Zhu Youxiao. As the red cloth was taken away, Zhu Youxiao also saw clearly the appearance of the newly made coins.

There are five rows of neatly stacked coins in the wooden plate, including four rows of silver coins and one row of copper coins.

Xu Guangqi also walked up to Zhu Youxiao at this time and patiently explained.

"Your Majesty, according to your instructions, the maximum value of a silver coin is one tael of silver, followed by five coins, two coins, and one coin. Their currency values ​​are consistent with their weights. Folks only need to weigh them or weigh them with their hands to know Is it worth it?”

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he picked up the silver coin with a face value of one tael and looked at it carefully.

Because of the weight and size involved, this silver coin with a face value of one tael does not use the traditional round square hole manufacturing method, but is similar to the silver coins from the Republic of China period. There is no hole in the middle, and the four characters "Apocalypse Year System" are written in regular script on one side. , there are two big characters "one liang" up and down on the back, and the edge of the silver coin is a circle of fine serrations, which feels a bit astringent to the touch.

Zhu Youxiao weighed the silver coins with his hands, and then said to Zhang Chang:

"Bring me the son."

Seeing Zhang Chang hurriedly go out to get the weighing instrument, Zhu Youxiao picked up the five-cent silver coin again.

This is a round square hole, but the shape is slightly larger, slightly smaller than one tael of silver coins, and the text on it is similar.

"Your Majesty, it is difficult for people to use one tael of silver for their daily livelihood unless they are doing business or doing weddings and funerals. But five taels of silver, one tael of silver, or one tael of silver is used a lot.

This amount of silver is equivalent to about one hundred wen, so it will not be used as little as one tael of silver. At that time, it may be produced in large quantities to meet the needs of the people. "

While listening to Xu Guangqi's introduction, Zhu Youxiao picked up a silver coin and a copper coin with a denomination of one cent and compared them with each other.

This one-cent silver coin is slightly larger and heavier than the copper coin.

"You did a good job. This kind of silver coin is exquisitely made. It seems that a lot of effort has been spent. And now that we have this edge-tooth technology, it is more difficult for private people to imitate it."

The more Zhu Youxiao talked, the more satisfied he became. As he spoke, he turned to He Ning and told him:
"Go to Wenyuan Pavilion, invite a few people from the cabinet, and say that you have important matters to discuss."

He Ning heard the words and immediately took the order and left.

"Xu Aiqing, this kind of coin looks good. I think it can be refined on a large scale, but how much does it cost, what materials are needed, etc. I'll wait for Liu Yishen and the others to come over, and he will explain it to them."

(End of this chapter)