I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 362 Big Man Keynes

Fei Yi said: "We still sell goods to Cao Wei and Sun Wu as we did in the past. We don't need people to buy them. This can also make the national treasury abundant."

"I can understand Fei Sima's mood," Li Heng said, "but the problem must be viewed dialectically."

"What is dialectics?"

"Everything in the world is changing, not static."

"General, what you mean is that the situation has changed now?"

"It has changed." Before Li Heng could say anything, Zhuge Liang said, "Luoyang already has its own refined salt, and I don't rule out that Sun Quan also has it."

"And the intention of Ji'an, I guess, is not only to use business to speed up the revitalization of Guanzhong and Jingzhou, but also to allow the people to participate, so that everyone can support the imperial court when fighting in the future."

Li Heng said: "The prime minister is wise, and this official has this intention."

Fei Yi didn't quite understand.

"Businessmen can make a fortune, which means the goods are sold well and the goods are bought by the people. If the people don't have money to buy them, the merchants can't make a fortune. Everything is a whole and cannot be viewed in isolation."

"Prime Minister..."

He started browsing again to see what shocking remarks Li Heng had to say this time.

"Where should we start?" Zhuge Liang asked Li Heng.

Li Heng took a deep breath, took out another document from his arms, and presented it to Zhuge Liang.

Fei Yi sighed and remained silent.

This has never happened in the past.

After reading it, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but said excitedly: "The concept of currency and monetary easing you mentioned here are simply a stroke of genius!"

Zhuge Liang took a closer look and read out: "The Wealth of Nations?"

Fei Yi said: "The common people you are talking about here refer to those businessmen who have made a fortune!"

"Wen Wei has other better ways?"

Zhuge Liang closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then said: "We can do this."

Fei Yi was worried that this would cause greater turmoil than the Yizhou New Agricultural Policy.

Zhuge Liang explained: "In the past, the restoration of the Han Dynasty was the restoration of the Han Dynasty by His Majesty and the ministers. The people were brought in by the ministers. For the people, the restoration of the Han Dynasty was distant and had nothing to do with them. Ji'an wanted to Let the court change its strategy and let the people participate in the reconstruction. The interests of the people and the court are consistent. This is what you call the awakening of public opinion!"

This shocked Fei Yi.

When Fei Yi saw it, his expression suddenly changed: General, you are still here!

It's not that Fei Yi was targeting Li Heng. This incident was about stripping some of the power from the elite and giving it to the people.

"Yes, we need to let the common people deeply understand that if we do not destroy Wei and Wu, not only the court may face a difficult choice in the end, but they will lose what they have and return to the way they were before."

This time I watched faster and faster, and the more I watched, the more shocked I became. As I watched, I exclaimed: "Good! Well said! So well said!"

As a result, my reaction this time was completely different from the last time.

Fei Yi was speechless for a moment. He paused, looked at Zhuge Liang, and said seriously: "Prime Minister, this is a serious matter, and we need to think about it carefully."

"But there is a problem, we don't have enough currency. The court cannot release a large amount of currency to the people in a short period of time."

"Xiaguan is here this time because of this matter." Li Heng said, "It's time for us to reform the currency."

"How to change it?"

"Use paper money!"

"Bills?"

"Yes, with paper money!"

Fei Yi asked: "What are banknotes?"

"Just use a piece of paper to make money."

Fei Yi immediately said: "Absurd! This is absolutely impossible!" "Possible! It is completely possible!" Li Heng said, "Currency is a contract between the owner of a property and the market regarding the right of exchange. It is essentially a contract between the owners. agreement."

Fei Yi seemed a little impatient. What Li Heng said today almost destroyed his brain.

Zhuge Liang handed the manuscript of "The Wealth of Nations" to Fei Yi: "This is written on it."

Fei Yi took it in pain, his expression seemed to say, Prime Minister, do you really think that your subordinates can understand?
Zhuge Liang explained: "Ji'an means that currency itself does not have commodity value. It cannot be eaten or worn. It is a consensus of constant commodity value among everyone in the market."

"But the people are willing to accept copper coins because copper itself can be exchanged for food and copper itself has value." Fei Yi said.

"So, Jian mentioned metal reserve currency." Zhuge Liang said.

"Metal reserve currency?"

Zhuge Liang said: "The current copper coins are in the hands of the imperial court and used by the people as banknotes. If the people are willing, they can exchange them for equal amounts of copper coins."

"It's better to use copper coins. Anyway, there must be as many copper coins as there are banknotes."

Li Heng said: "No, there is no need for equal amounts of banknotes and copper coins, only 30% of the copper coins are needed."

This number is valid.

The earliest paper currency in the world was Jiaozi, which was made by businessmen in Chengdu, Sichuan during the Song Dynasty.

As commerce developed in the Song Dynasty, the currency was heavy and inconvenient for transactions, so Chengdu people came up with paper vouchers.

Jiaozi was originally a deposit certificate. Later, people became accustomed to carrying these certificates for direct transactions, so a new trading medium was quickly formed in Chengdu.

Later, the Song Dynasty court believed that this was feasible and would be of great help to business, so the government officially intervened and formulated the rules.

Let a dozen private businessmen in Chengdu start issuing Jiaozi, and stipulate that the reserve of copper coins accounts for 28% of Jiaozi.

Jiaozi later collapsed during Cai Jing's reign.

In order to make up for the military expenses, Song Huizong Zhao Ji went to war with Xixia and reached an agreement with Cai Jing: Let's make big money! The Central Plains minted large amounts of metal currency! Sichuan will increase printing in Jiaozi! Anyway, there are a lot of folk leeks! Not cutting is too wasteful!
Therefore, in the late Northern Song Dynasty, there was a financial crisis and economic collapse, and the price of one stone of grain in Bianjing reached five thousand dollars!
This story tells us that finance can promote business prosperity, but it carries great risks and we need to be respectful of it.

Power is mistaken if it thinks it can control it.

Li Heng continued: "When the people accept banknotes, not everyone will come to exchange for copper coins. We only need to ensure that when people come to exchange for copper coins, there will be enough copper coins, 30% is enough."

"Where can people go to exchange copper coins?" Fei Yi asked again.

"Money works."

"Qian Xing?" Fei Yi suddenly remembered that Li Heng had set up a Qian Xing in Chengdu a few years ago, and all the copper coins of the Han Dynasty were issued by Qian Xing.

Speaking of which, Jiang Wan is the one who manages the money bank.

"Did you set up a money bank before for today?" Fei Yi said in shock.

"Yes, it's just that the conditions were not mature before, and there were not even enough copper coins. It was impossible to use banknotes directly."

"What happens after using the banknotes?" Fei Yi asked again.

"It's simple. The production cost of banknotes is low and faster. The imperial court takes the printed banknotes and organizes people to build houses and purchase factories and workshops through the imperial court's trading companies. The participating workers receive monthly salaries. This is internal construction. ”

Fei Yi retorted: "There is not enough food. It is impossible. The people cannot leave the fields and enter the factories and workshops."

"We currently have a commercial advantage over Cao Wei and Sun Wu. We can buy another batch of grain from them as a supplement."

"In addition, Fei Sima, don't forget that the popularization of the curved shaft plow has increased the reclamation of wasteland and the production of grain."

Fei Yi carefully considered Li Heng's method.

He said: "Let the imperial court direct the flow of money and let the workers get the money. If the workers have money, can they buy the imperial court's goods?"

"Yes, you can also collect business taxes." Li Heng said, "This is the business led by the imperial court."

In 21st century terms, it is Keynesianism.

The essence of Keynesian economics is that decision-makers make decisions based on their own expectations to create the future, which is the self-fulfillment of expectations themselves.

(End of this chapter)