I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 392 Huge profits from copper coins

When Zhu Youxiao thought of this, he walked up to the wooden plate, picked up another copper coin and measured it carefully.

The copper coin in his hand was no different from the one in Zhu Youxiao's memory. It also had a round square hole, and the four characters "Apocalypse Tongbao" were engraved on it.

"Xu Aiqing, tell me how much this copper coin costs."

Seeing the emperor picking up the copper coins and looking at him, Xu Guangqi quickly stepped forward and introduced them carefully.

"Your Majesty, this kind of copper coin contains [-]% of red copper, [-]% of white lead (zinc), and [-]% of tin and lead. Although this kind of copper coin contains [-]% less copper than the copper made in Wanli Year, it is due to the addition of white lead. Lead, the color is brighter and the cost is lower than before.”

Sixty percent?

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he looked at the copper coin in his hand again. He saw that the coin was still brass in color, very bright, and had good texture. The [-]% ratio was not bad.

In his impression, the proportion of Manchu copper coins in the Qing Dynasty was even lower than this, and such a low ratio could effectively prevent private minting. Private minting would not make much profit even if the money was melted.

When he thought of this, he also started thinking about it in his mind.

If the cost is deducted, the cost of casting copper coins can be [-]%, and the remaining [-]% is profit.But it can't be calculated like this, because it also takes into account the cost of raw materials and the value of copper coins.

Thinking of this, he slowly looked at Xu Guangqi and asked him the question.

"Xu Aiqing, since copper accounts for [-]% of the copper coins, the profit of the imperial court's casting of copper coins seems to be very high."

Xu Guangqi nodded. He had calculated the profit before coming, and was even more surprised after he calculated it.

"Your Majesty, if we take one furnace as an example, each furnace uses 48 kilograms of copper, and for every 240 kilograms, we add four kilograms of copper, resulting in a total consumption of [-] kilograms of copper, and a total consumption of one thousand, two hundred and forty-eight kilograms of copper.

I take the copper price in Yunnan as an example. One hundred kilograms of copper in the silver city is 70 taels. If freight, labor, etc. are included, the cost of copper is about 30 taels, while the cost of lead and tin is 100 taels. Therefore, the total copper coins along the way are [-] taels. .

After excluding the losses in each furnace, the actual net copper, lead, and tin was 180 four kilograms. Each coin weighed one coin and two coins, and a total of 18 coins were minted. "

Listening to Xu Guangqi's detailed explanation, Zhu Youxiao could not calculate the actual profit.

However, everyone present was one of the smartest people in the Ming Dynasty, and they knew the profit after just thinking about it for a while.

"Your Majesty, folk silver and copper coins are worth about one tael of silver and one thousand copper coins. If calculated according to this calculation, the copper, lead and tin with a cost of 100 taels can be minted to produce copper coins worth 180 taels."

Zhu Youxiao was surprised when he heard this. It seems that forging copper coins is much more profitable than casting silver coins. This is a full [-]% profit.

But this also made him even more puzzled. Since the profits were so high, why did the previous emperors not mint copper coins on a large scale? Could it be that they were just nervous about copper.

So he asked Ye Xianggao in detail.

Ye Xianggao himself came from a merchant family and was quite knowledgeable about economic matters. When the emperor asked, he immediately held up his hands and said:

"Your Majesty, although the profit of copper coins is high now, it is still quite satisfactory. Take the price ratio of silver and copper as an example. Although the current price ratio of silver and copper in the court is one tael of silver to one thousand copper coins.

It's just that since Zhang Taiyue's whipping method, our court has been using silver taels to collect taxes, and the demand for silver among the people is huge.

Therefore, the price ratio of silver and copper depends on the situation. In some places, it is 1000 fen per [-], or even as high as [-] fen per [-].

If you calculate it this way, although there is an [-]% profit from casting money, this is only the maximum profit. Generally, it is as little as [-]% and even [-]% is possible, depending on the situation. "

Zhu Youxiao nodded when he heard this, and it made sense.

But what about [-]% or [-]% profit? Even if it is [-]% profit, I will vigorously print copper coins.This kind of thing is good and profitable for the court, and it is even better for the people. Why not do it to alleviate the money shortage.

"In this case, it is even more necessary to do it. I think these silver coins and copper coins are not only beneficial to the court, but also beneficial to the people. Not only must it be done, but it must be done with great fanfare. Today we will discuss a charter and finalize the matter."

Everyone was not surprised when they heard this. After all, it had been agreed upon before. Now it seems that the new currency meets the specifications, so it is okay to implement it, but there are still some issues that need to be finalized with the emperor.

"Your Majesty, there is nothing to do in refining this silver coin. We only need to gradually melt the original silver coins of the imperial court into silver coins. From now on, all the royal salary and soldiers' pay will be used for this, and it will be popular all over the world.

But copper coins are indeed more troublesome. The imperial court is already short of copper. Now the mining ban has just been opened. As for the official mines, only the Chief Secretary of Yunnan is mining them, so it is a bit difficult to obtain copper mines. The cost of smelting and casting of copperware is high, which is not cost-effective. . "

Zhu Youxiao was not surprised when Sun Chengzong raised his doubts. He had been troubled by this problem before, but he also thought of some solutions. "I have heard before that there are many copper mines in Yunnan. Since the Hongwu period, we have been sending copper coins to the imperial court. However, we were harassed by Shenzong's mining tax envoys, which has led to some confusion now.

However, I have also read previous books and found out that in the early years of Emperor Shenzong’s reign, I set up an official copper shop in Luzhou, Sichuan, to collect copper produced in Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to fully provide copper for coining coins in the two capitals.

I think this suggestion is very good. We can place officials in Luzhou. In the future, the copper mines of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan will be gathered in Luzhou. Later, Baoquan Bureau will be set up in Jingzhou and Nanjing. Copper from the southwest will be gathered in Baoquan Bureau to cast copper coins. The Ministry of Industry will send A dedicated person is responsible for casting money.There should be an official in these two places, who will be in charge of Jingzhou and be responsible for its affairs. "

This suggestion was also known to Zhu Youxiao from reading previous question books and files.

Luzhou, Sichuan, is originally a confluence of waterways and is a shortcut for copper water transportation in Yunnan, Sichuan and other places, and its cost is only a quarter of that of land transportation.

"As for people, I think Dong Yingju, the Minister of Taipu Temple, is good. He followed Zuo Guang to farm some time ago and achieved remarkable results. However, this person has outstanding abilities and dares to do things. I think he can be promoted to Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Industry and go to Nanjing to take charge of the southwest How do you, my beloved, feel about purchasing copper ore and minting money?"

Zhu Youxiao, Dong Yingju, has always wanted to re-use him. Ever since he submitted a letter last year proposing to establish farming in Gyeonggi Province, he was appointed by Zhu Youxiao as the military envoy of Gyeonggi Farming. Although there were some twists and turns in the farming at the beginning, it has been going smoothly so far.

I received his title book last month, saying that since November last year, [-] households of refugees from Liaodong and Shandong have been resettled in Shuntian, Yongping, Hejian, and Baoding areas.

He also ran around with the 12 farmland silver given by Zou Yuanbiao, the governor of Gyeonggi Province, and purchased more than 18 acres of civilian land. Together with the idle land, a total of 5 acres were recruited to be cultivated by refugees, and water canals and embankments were built; together with pig houses, warehouses, farmyards, Transportation tools and other equipment only cost [-] taels, while the annual wheat harvest amounted to [-] taels.

This incident was greatly appreciated by Zou Yuanbiao, who wrote a letter to Zhu Youxiao to commend Dong Yingju. Even Zhu Youxiao was shocked after seeing it.

In the past, he always gave money to others, and the others spent nothing, and then in turn asked for money from himself.

But Dong Yingju was different. Not only did he use the money to do things beautifully, resettle the refugees, open up wasteland, but also paid taxes. In the end, he told himself that he only spent half of the money.

How could Zhu Youxiao not like this kind of minister and not reuse him?

Upon hearing that the emperor appointed Dong Yingju as the left minister of the Ministry of Industry to be responsible for coining money, Liu Yisui and others also nodded. They had also heard Zou Yuanbiao and others mention this person's talents, and they recognized his ability.

"Dong Yingju is a man who dares to take charge. He has done a good job in the countryside in the capital this year. He can indeed take on the important task of minting money in the southwest. But if Yunnan copper is smelted in Jingzhou and Nanjing, what should the Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Industry in Beijing do? .”

When Liu Yishen saw what the emperor said, he immediately nodded in agreement, but also raised another question. In his opinion, it was better to take a long-term approach.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Youxiao laughed when he heard this, looked at the coins in the wooden plate, then picked up a silver coin and said to them:

"What's so difficult about this? If there is copper, just melt and cast copper coins. If there is no copper, the Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Industry in Beijing can just melt and cast silver coins. The silver coins from the internal funds and the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the silver coins escorted to Beijing every year, if you want to melt them all into Silver coins are not that easy.

As for the copper mine, I think it would be really troublesome if we only look for it from Yunnan.The world is vast, and Korea, Japan, Luzon, the West and other places are rich in products.Now that the sea has opened, merchants are encouraged to transport more copper and silver to our Ming Dynasty.

I think that by encouraging the transportation of grain, the tariffs will be reduced or exempted for shipping merchants who transport silver and copper to the Ming Dynasty, and the Baoquan Bureau can also come forward to purchase them to ensure their profits, and the merchants will make huge profits. Then there will be someone to bankroll them. The copper comes back and can make up for the lack of silver and copper in my Ming Dynasty. "

Zhu Youxiao knew exactly where there were copper mines overseas.But now the strength is not enough, so we can only do business in a friendly manner. When the strength is enough, we must borrow some from Japan, Luzon and other places for use.

Hearing that the emperor had already planned this matter in his mind, Liu Yishen and others no longer had any worries, and said:

"This arrangement is very appropriate, and I have no objections."

"Then do it."

Zhu Youxiao was in a good mood after seeing everyone obeying his orders, and then said to Xu Guangqi:

"My dear friends, I will let you discuss the specific details. But I also have three ideas. First, the Baoquan Bureau must be under the control of the imperial court. Currently, only three places, Beijing, Nanjing, and Jingzhou, can mint coins. The other chief secretaries are not allowed to mint coins. Mint coins at will.

Second, as soon as newly minted silver coins and coins are released, people will surely imitate them privately. The court must issue a document and will never tolerate these things. "

Zhu Youxiao paused at this point. The above two can be said to be commonplaces, and private coinage has been banned repeatedly in all dynasties.

He could only emphasize to Liu Yishui here that Liu Yishuo and others also knew what to do, so there was no need for him to elaborate.

What he wanted to say most was not these two, but the third point.

　Dong Yingju's deeds have been recorded in history and are not exaggerated.At the same time, historically he was also appointed to mint coins in Jingzhou, which achieved great results.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)