I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 656: Wasted Ming Dynasty Treasure Banknotes

Seeing that everyone present was silent, Zhu Youxiao felt like a bright mirror in his heart.When I heard Wang Yingjiao ask this just now, I knew that they were trying to trick me.

But he didn't care. Abolition of the Six Ministries in Nanjing was his long-term plan, and this was only the first step.

In the future, he will abolish Southern Zhili, divide Southern Zhili into several provinces, and greatly strengthen the central court's rule over Jiangnan.

Although he can't implement such a big thing now, otherwise it will definitely cause chaos, but it is okay to give them a break first and let them spread the news.

"Bi Aiqing, you are the new Minister of Household Affairs. Many measures to reform the Ministry of Household Affairs in the future will depend on you. I wonder if you have any ideas, Aiqing."

Seeing the emperor's inquiry, Bi Ziyan, who had been waiting for a long time, slowly came out of the queue with an unusually calm expression.When he served in Beijing and Nanzhili, he was most aware of the problems of the Ming Dynasty's household department.

After the emperor succeeded to the throne, he was an important supporter of the emperor's reform of the Ministry of Household Affairs. He also owes a share of the credit for the success of the Ministry of Household Affairs.So now that the emperor wants to make further reforms, how could he not agree?
"I have no objections. Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will definitely reform the Ministry of Household Affairs and will not disappoint His Majesty's expectations."

"it is good!"

Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction and secretly said that Bi Ziyan was indeed a famous financial manager in the late Ming Dynasty, and he was indeed responsible.Now with the support of Wang Yingjiao, Bi Ziyan and others, he is naturally reassured about the reform of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

After the Ministry of Revenue finished giving instructions, the last person left was the Ministry of Works.

The Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty was in charge of construction, logistics, water conservancy, manufacturing and other matters.In the 29th year of Hongwu's reign, it was designated as the four bureaucracies of the Qing Dynasty: Yingzhen, Yuheng, Dushui, and Tuntian. It also had jurisdiction over the Baoyuan Bureau, the Arms Bureau and other affairs.It can be said that among the six ministries, the Ministry of Industry is one of the least important.

But since Xu Guangqi became Minister of the Ministry of Industry, the role of the Ministry of Industry has become visibly important.

The most important of them are the Tongzhou Firearms Workshop and the Baoyuan Bureau, which mints new coins. What Zhu Youxiao wants to reform now is also the Firearms Workshop and Baoquan Bureau.I saw him thinking for a moment, and then slowly said:
"As for the Ministry of Industry, my idea is very simple. It does not need to reform the four civil affairs departments like the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Household Affairs. I just think that the Baoyuan Bureau and the Arms Bureau under them should become independent.

Among them, the Baoyuan Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and the Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Household Affairs were to be merged into the Baoquan Bureau. The imperial court would select ministers as minting ambassadors to lead their own affairs, and the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry would be responsible for the supervision. "

Zhu Youxiao made this decision after thinking about it for a long time, mainly because although the income from minting is very high, their efficiency is really slow.

It has been two or three years since Zhu Youxiao asked Xu Guangqi to mint new coins the year before last, and set up minting branches in Beijing, Nanzhili, and Jingzhou.This coinage was indeed a huge profit. In just a few years, the court made a profit of more than 200 million taels of silver, and it also solved the problem of people's lack of silver. It can be said that it is a great achievement.

But it’s still the same problem I just mentioned. Although I make a lot of money, my efficiency is too low.

At present, Baoquan Bureau and Baoyuan Bureau II mint only 500-[-] million copper coins every year, and the value of the silver coins minted is only about [-] million taels.

Although there was initially a shortage of copper ore raw materials, with the abolition of the mining ban and the reduction of taxes on the transportation of copper ore in tariffs, the copper ore shortage problem has also been alleviated.In addition, there is no shortage of silver that needs to be smelted in the Ministry of Finance. The problem of scarce raw materials has been alleviated, but the casting speed is too slow.

Therefore, whether it is to increase the court's income or to facilitate the people's expenses, it is urgent to expand the scale of the Baoquan Bureau.Zhu Youxiao thought of this and continued:
"After the Baoquan Bureau becomes independent, in addition to the current Baoquan Bureaus in Beijing, Nanzhili, Jingzhou and other places, Baoquan branches will also be re-established in other Chief Secretaries and Liaodong. The Baoquan Bureau of the Imperial Court will Unified jurisdiction and unified responsibility for minting affairs to improve minting efficiency."

Everyone present has really felt the benefits of minting money in recent years, so they naturally support this proposal with both hands.

However, Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Household Affairs, looked puzzled when he heard this. Therefore, the emperor only talked about the minting of new coins, but did not give any instructions on the issuance of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes.

Although Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes have become useless paper, they are still nominal currency in circulation and must be taken seriously.

"Your Majesty, now that new coins are being minted, there used to be a treasure banknote collection department in the Ministry of Household Affairs, which was responsible for printing the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes. Now that the imperial court is minting new coins, what should we do with the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes?"

Zhu Youxiao was not surprised when Bi Ziyan raised this question. This was exactly what he wanted to explain later.

The problem of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes has been around for a long time. As the only banknote issued by the Ming Dynasty, the currency has been officially circulated for more than a hundred years, making it the longest-circulating banknote in Chinese history.

Although the original intention of its release was to solve the problem of money shortage in the early Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ming court did not have basic financial knowledge at all. Once the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes were released, they would not be cashed, and there would be no boundaries, no restrictions on regions and circulation time, no issuance limits, no issuance reserves, no change in the name and form of the currency, and only release of unused currency. Coming back, there are many problems.

As a result, the number of Ming Dynasty banknotes increased dramatically and inflation became increasingly serious.Although the Ming Dynasty tried to save the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, it was to no avail. As a result, the current Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes are like waste paper. No one uses them among the people. The court still prints them, which has no practical effect at all.Therefore, Zhu Youxiao no longer wants to save the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes. Since the minting of new coins is now smooth, there is no need for the existence of the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes.It would be better to abolish it directly and issue similar banknotes when the time is right in the future.

"When the treasure banknote was promulgated, it was originally intended to solve the problem of money shortage. But now that copper coins and silver are circulating more and more widely, paper currency has been accumulated for more than 200 years. Therefore, I think it is better to abolish the treasure banknote promotion department and no longer issue it in the future. Treasure money, only copper coins and silver coins will be used from now on.”

Now all the ministers present are used to the emperor's shocking words, but that's what the emperor said.

Treasure banknotes are now so common among the people that they have become like waste paper. It is timely to abolish them now, so they will not object.Bi Ziyan wanted the emperor's assurance, but now that Zhu Youxiao was so certain, he no longer objected and immediately nodded in agreement.

"The other thing is the Ordnance Bureau. Since Sun Aiqing took charge of the Ministry of Industry, the Ordnance Bureau has been getting better and better day by day. Especially after the establishment of the firearms workshop in Tongzhou, it played a great role in helping the imperial court to pacify Liaodong and Southwest.

Dear friends, you all know that what the Yi and Di people fear from China are firearms.The current research and development of blunderbuss, flintlock guns, Krupp cannons, etc. have shown that firearms are vital to our Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, I want to separate the Ordnance Bureau from the Ministry of Industry like the Baoquan Bureau did before, and appoint a minister from the Ministry of Industry to concurrently serve as the Ambassador of the Ordnance Bureau. From now on, all expenses and production of the Ordnance Bureau will be reported separately to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of War. The cabinet does not need to go through the Ministry of Industry. "

Xu Guangqi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, was expressionless when he heard this, but his heart was full of loss.

It can be said that the Ordnance Bureau and Baoquan Bureau were run by him.But now the emperor wants to separate these two institutions from the Ministry of Industry. Why not make him uncomfortable?

But the matter has come to this, the previous reforms of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Households have been passed, and now it comes to the Ministry of Industry, he can't say anything, he can only express his agreement with his hands.

From this, the preliminary plan for the entire six-department reform was finalized by Zhu Youxiao. Although it only involved three departments, it was still considered a big move. After all, food had to be eaten one bite at a time, and there was no rush.

Moreover, Zhu Youxiao had only finalized a rough plan and specific reforms. The powers, personnel transfers, etc. involved were very complicated and could not be solved in a short time.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao gave them two years to adjust. If the effect is obvious by then, further reforms will be carried out.

After the incident was over, Ye Xianggao took advantage of Zhu Youxiao's presence to report two more things to him.

The first thing was that the Chief Secretary of Fujian reported a request to establish a county in Taiwan.

Since the beginning of last year, the imperial court has been immigrating to Taiwan, with a batch of 400 people every two months.So as of now, the number of Taiwanese immigrants, plus the people who immigrated to Taiwan before, now exceeds [-].

Therefore, in order to better manage the people in Taiwan and facilitate the management of subsequent immigrants.The Chief Secretary of Fujian suggested setting up Taiwan County in Taiwan and sending imperial officials to manage it.

Zhu Youxiao naturally has no objection to this. Taiwan will definitely be one of the key directions for Ming immigrants in the future. It will be a good thing for the future to be included in management earlier.

The second thing requires money.At the beginning of this year, Zhu Youxiao felt that the climate had been dry and disasters had been frequent in recent years, so he issued an edict asking the chief secretaries to build new water conservancy projects and include them in the annual assessment of hundreds of officials, just like the reserve warehouses. After all, those officials Only then do you have the motivation to do this kind of thing.

Originally this was a good thing, but the construction of water conservancy projects and the repair of reserve warehouses in various places were in greatest need of money and grain. Therefore, the cabinet was prepared to request Zhu Youxiao to allocate 150 million taels of silver for the construction of water conservancy projects and the construction of granaries.

Although Zhu Youxiao felt distressed when he heard this, he knew in his heart that this kind of thing could never be avoided, so he immediately agreed to allocate funds.However, he also told Yang Lian, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, to strictly assess and implement the matter to the letter. If anyone is found to be corrupt and perverting the law, he will not be lenient.

After all this, the first stage of the entire six-ministry reform came to an end.

Ye Xianggao and others also began to get busy and put these things into practice as soon as possible.Zhu Youxiao, who had made good arrangements, sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, taking care of Zhu Ciran while keeping an eye on the progress of Ming Dynasty affairs.

Time flies, and a month passed quickly.

Zhu Youxiao's peaceful life was also broken by several letters.

　I tried the illustration function today and it seems to be quite useful.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)