Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

While Zhu Youjian and Wang Chengen were discussing the Director of the Secretariat, the officials outside were also having a discussion.

Zhang Pu, busy editing the latest issue of "Science," sighed to Chen Zilong and others:

"The Hanlin Academy really got a great deal; a Hanlin Academician can actually serve as a Zhongshu Academician."

"Most of the future Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet will come from them."

Chen Zilong said with a smile:

"Look at the Emperor's arrangement for the Directorate of Secretariat, isn't it very similar to that of the Grand Secretariat?"

"The cabinet assists the emperor. The emperor's decrees need to be drafted by them; otherwise, they are considered imperial edicts and the civil officials will not recognize them."

"The Secretariat assists the Cabinet, and most of the Cabinet's official documents need to be drafted by them. If they are not approved by the Secretariat, they have no effect."

"Isn't this similar to the cabinet? The emperor deliberately set up the Secretariat to check and balance them."

Everyone burst into laughter. Zhang Pu said:

"The cabinet controls the central government by relying on its power to draft proposals, and even the emperor is controlled by them."

"Now that we have a small cabinet, let them have a taste of what it's like."

"Once the Hanlin Academy has the power to appoint the Grand Secretary, its prestige will surely soar."

"Our journal *Science* still needs to work harder to keep pace with *Hanlin*!"

Chen Zilong fell silent, because it was also his wish to make "Science" a publication on par with "Hanlin".

Only in this way can their science have unparalleled appeal in the academic world.

Now that the Hanlin Academicians have joined the Secretariat and are in charge of this small cabinet, how can they compare?

Qian Qianyi's practical learning would surely flourish, and other fields of knowledge could also be disseminated through the Hanlin Academy.

However, some people were not worried. Chen Renxi, who served in the Imperial Household Department, said:

"No matter how much power the Hanlin Academy had, it could not restrain Science."

"Don't forget that the Academy of Sciences is called the Royal Academy of Sciences; it's an inner court institution."

"The Hanlin Academy is an outer court office, so the Emperor will naturally be closer to the Academy."

"As long as we don't make mistakes in our papers, no one can suppress us."

"If the quality of the paper is better than that of Hanlin, it can even surpass them."

He advised everyone to focus on their papers and not to worry about official matters.

The others nodded in agreement, showing no particular concern.

The reputation of the Hanlin Academy, built up over thousands of years, is certainly not something that the Academy of Sciences can shake; they are already quite satisfied with their current status.

The reason it is now being compared to the Hanlin Academy is largely due to the emperor's intentions.

Apart from Zhang Pu, the others didn't pay much attention.

Chen Jiru then said:
"While the Hanlin Academy wields considerable power in controlling the small cabinet, our Academy of Sciences is not without its own strengths."

"Tianru, didn't you join the Planning and Development Commission? That's an office directly under the Grand Secretary, and it can be called a mini-cabinet."

"As long as the Chinese Academy of Sciences can control the Planning and Development Commission, it will definitely be no weaker than the Hanlin Academy in the future."

Zhang Pu nodded; he had come to understand the power of the Planning and Development Commission during this period.

In the future, the development plans for the three major industries of agriculture, industry, commerce and commerce in the Ming Dynasty will all be formulated by the Planning and Development Commission.

Major local projects also require approval from the Planning and Development Commission.

This is a very powerful institution, truly deserving the title of a small cabinet.

Now that the Cabinet has established six major committees, all of which have their own seals, the Planning and Development Committee, which is personally headed by the Prime Minister, may be called the Cabinet's First Committee.

He said to Chen Jiru and others:

"Both the Planning and Development Commission and the Central Secretariat serve the Cabinet, and their powers are indeed comparable."

"Moreover, when it comes to making plans, the most important thing is mathematics, which is where science comes in."

"I will propose to Prime Minister Han that an advisory body be established within the Planning and Development Commission."

"In the future, all academicians of our Academy of Sciences will have the opportunity to participate in decision-making."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jiru was immediately delighted.

He certainly harbored ambitions of becoming a high-ranking official in plain clothes, but although the emperor valued him, he assigned him to the National Assembly.

Even if Congress is established eventually, it won't have the power to make decisions—

The emperor's expectations of Parliament were for legislation and oversight, not for granting it any other powers.

He highly valued the position of advisor to the Planning and Development Commission, which would allow him to participate in decision-making. Chen Jiru hoped to gain greater influence in the court through this role.
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Zhang Pu dared to say this because he knew the Planning and Development Commission needed people.

The talent needed to formulate the plan is virtually limitless.

Zhang Pu initially thought that offering suggestions was enough, but when formulating a specific plan, he realized how complicated the matter was.

In particular, the emperor had very high requirements, demanding long-term plans in addition to short-term ones.

In addition to this year's plan, there are three-year plans, ten-year plans, twenty-year plans, and even a hundred-year plan... to implement the decisions made by the imperial court.

For example, regarding the shipbuilding plan handled by Zhang Pu, the emperor required a survey of the tonnage of warships and shipbuilding plans of various countries to determine how many tons of warships the Ming Dynasty needed to build in order to reach the standard of two superpowers within twenty years.

How much timber would a warship of this size require? Where would the timber be felled, and how long would it take to dry?
How many years will it take for the timber needed for the ships to mature? After logging and replanting, when can we log again?
Woods like teak and oak, which take a hundred years to mature naturally, need to be planted now so they can be used for shipbuilding a hundred years from now.

All of this requires Zhang Pu to formulate a plan and make arrangements in all aspects according to the plan.

When Zhang Pu mentioned this matter to Chen Jiru and others, he sighed:
"Now I understand why His Majesty values ​​mathematics so much."

“You know about shipbuilding, right? Some people used to say that one batch of material costs one stone, while others said that one batch of water costs 3.45 stones and one batch of grain costs 2.58 stones.”

"His Majesty requested a more detailed approach, requiring the use of the metric system to calculate the ratio of materials per ton."

"It means how many cubic meters of timber are needed on average for one ton of water displacement, and how many trees need to be felled to produce one cubic meter of timber."

"Only by determining this data can the shipbuilding plan be finalized."

"You must learn mathematics; it is the foundation of science."

Chen Zilong and the other young people listened and all remembered this incident.

They deeply understood why the emperor established the Academy of Sciences and allowed it to participate in court decision-making.

However, Chen Jiru and Chen Renxi are getting old and no longer have much energy to study.

However, they are knowledgeable and insightful in many areas. Chen Jiru, a long-time resident of the Suzhou-Songjiang region, said:

"I heard that the imperial court plans to issue vouchers, using the confiscated corvée goods as collateral."

Have you considered the risks involved?

Zhang Pu became interested and asked:

Is there a significant risk involved?

"Is it possible that no one will accept the government's vouchers?"

Chen Jiru said:

"If there are always supplies available for sale, the people will naturally accept them."

"What I'm afraid of is that you purchase a lot of supplies at low prices, but the people don't need them, so you can only sell the vouchers to others."

"If people all buy a certain commodity, or if someone rushes to redeem a large number of vouchers, but the supply and marketing group can't provide them, then the value of the vouchers may plummet, becoming as worthless as paper money."

"This is indeed a risk," said Chen Zilong, a fellow native of Huating, Songjiang.

"Master Mei, is there any way to resolve this?" Chen Jiru chuckled and stroked his beard, saying:
"After careful consideration, I realized that the use of goods as collateral for vouchers is just like the use of silver dollars as collateral for subsidiary currency."

"However, vouchers can be used as collateral for a wide range of goods, while subsidiary coins are used in the form of silver."

"A wide variety of supplies can lead to more distribution, but it's not stable enough."

"The best way is to limit the types of supplies, to only a few types of supplies that the people must buy and can store for a long time."

"For example, grain, cloth, timber, oil, salt, as well as coal, steel, and petroleum."

"These supplies are basically easy to sell, and the people need them and recognize their value."

"On the contrary, if you use some random or worthless things as collateral, the people will not believe you."

This statement made Zhang Pu ponder deeply.

He quickly realized that this was more stable and less risky than mortgaging all his resources.

But what about the other materials that the supply and marketing group purchases? If they don't use vouchers, do they have to buy them with real money?
To this question, Chen Jiru chuckled and said:
“The imperial court can collect materials for corvée labor or convert them into silver.”

"You're procuring all sorts of supplies; the pressure is just too much for you."

"There's absolutely no need to buy those unnecessary things; just let them pay the taxes."

"Or, based on the number of workers, have them pay service vouchers."

"This way, the value of the substitute service vouchers will be even higher, and more factories will buy them."

Zhang Pu nodded, completely agreeing with this.

The imperial court needed to make money by purchasing corvée labor supplies; it couldn't just buy everything.

He has decided to make this suggestion to Han Kuang and revise the relevant plan.

The issuance of vouchers should also be approached with caution, and should first be secured by basic materials. Ideally, all the materials collected for corvée labor should be listed on the Suzhou-Songjiang Futures Exchange to facilitate value calculation and sale through the futures exchange when necessary.

After exchanging words with Chen Jiru, his gaze towards Chen Jiru immediately changed. He realized that although this old gentleman had never held an official position, his knowledge and experience were extraordinary.

He smiled and continued to ask:

"Master Mei, do you have any other suggestions? Please feel free to share them."

“I will recommend Mr. Mei as an advisor another day, so that arrangements can be made.”

Chen Jiru smiled broadly and said:

"I do have a suggestion: subsidiary currency."

"This thing is secured by silver dollars, so it's stable."

"But it's not stable enough yet; it would be best to switch to gold."

"Gold prices have been rising in recent years. Although silver dollars have also appreciated compared to copper coins, they have depreciated compared to gold."

"This means that money has become worthless, which affects people's confidence in silver dollars."

This question made Zhang Pu frown. He knew a little about it, because the inner court had been demanding that the profits be converted into gold.

However, he did not disclose this to the public, saying:
"I will make that suggestion to Lord Han. Are there any other suggestions?"

Chen Jiru said:

"Another issue is that the issuance of subsidiary coins is too small, and they are rarely seen on the market."

"If we want the people to use it more, I think we should distribute more."

"The face value should also be increased, at least to one yuan, five yuan, and ten yuan."

"Otherwise, it would be too troublesome to carry silver dollars for large-denomination transactions."

Zhang Pu remained silent upon hearing this, so Chen Renxi explained:
"Understood by Mei Gong, His Majesty originally intended to issue silver dollar notes."

"But as you know, the paper money issued by the imperial court is practically worthless."

"So the Emperor handed the matter over to the National Assembly, and after a vote by the Zhuolu District Council, it was changed to subsidiary currency."

"The issuance of subsidiary currency is stipulated in the Currency Law, and the imperial court cannot change it at will."

Chen Jiru had not been in Beijing for long and was not very familiar with this matter.

Upon hearing this explanation, he frowned and said:

How can the bills enacted by the Zhuolu District Council be applied nationwide?

“The value of subsidiary currency is now recognized, so I think this bill should be amended.”

"We can't keep running out of money and force people to barter."

Zhang Pu immediately agreed:
"It definitely should be revised."

"If more paper money is issued, the imperial court will have more money."

Chen Renxi shook his head and said:

"If everyone thought like you, subsidiary currency would become precious paper money."

"When it becomes worthless paper, our salary will be worth less in cash."

They believe it's fine as it is and oppose any changes.

Chen Zilong and others also knew the harm of the excessive issuance of paper money and believed that since the subsidiary currency had only been issued for a few years, it was not appropriate to change it now.

If the imperial court over-issues funds, everyone will suffer.

The last time the emperor proposed a method for issuing paper money, it almost failed to pass. Now that he wants to amend it, it is estimated that most members of parliament will not agree.

Chen Jiru then laughed and said:
"I have a way to get Congress to agree."

"Didn't His Majesty use the proceeds from issuing subsidiary currency to increase officials' salaries?"

“I think we can add this clause to the amended bill: the proceeds from the issuance of banknotes should be included in the social security fund and used to pay social security contributions for officials.”

“This way, former officials will also be able to receive pensions. Their salaries back then were converted into cash, and they can’t possibly disagree with being compensated with social security.”

"If there is any surplus, it should be used to support scholars, issuing them food coupons and banknotes to ensure their survival."

"Members of Parliament are all scholars; let's see who would disagree!"

Zhang Pu's eyes lit up when he heard the suggestion.

Because he knew that the emperor was dissatisfied with the subsidiary currency and that the plan at the time was to issue silver dollar notes.

Moreover, he had overheard the emperor saying that the emperor thought there was no problem with a 1:3 ratio of paper money to silver dollars, but now only one-tenth could be issued.

His Academy of Sciences was tasked with investigating how much paper money needed to maintain monetary stability.

If Chen Jiru's method works, the benefits will be significant. Even if it doesn't increase the ratio to three, it will at least be one to one.

In this way, the more than 20 million taels of silver received by the imperial court from selling land could be used to mint 20 million silver coins and print 20 million subsidiary currency notes at the same time.

The financial difficulties will be resolved, and there will be no need to worry about millions of taels of silver anymore.

Of course, according to Chen Jiru, this money is to be included in the social security fund.

However, the social security fund cannot be spent all at once; the government can borrow money and invest in state-owned enterprises.

Projects planned by the Planning and Development Commission can all be invested in using loans. He will be able to quickly achieve results in the Planning and Development Commission within the Cabinet.

Knowing that Han Kuang was seeking re-election and a title, Zhang Pu immediately recognized the importance of this matter. He eagerly pulled Chen Jiru aside and made this suggestion to Han Kuang.

At this moment, Han Kuang was thinking about making a contribution. When he heard that following Chen Jiru's suggestion would give him an extra 20 million silver dollars, he was immediately tempted.

Following Zhang Pu's suggestion, he petitioned the emperor to appoint Chen Jiru as a cabinet advisor to amend the Currency Law. (End of Chapter)