Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 280: The Poor Layman Xia Yuanji

"Your Highness, wait a minute..."

Zhu Zhanjun issued the arrest order, handed the list of promotions to Jian Yi, and returned to the old man's study to prepare to revise memorials for the old man.

However, before reaching the study, a shout was heard from behind.

Zhu Zhanjun looked back and saw Xia Yuanji running towards him, panting.

Stopping in his tracks, Lao Xia chased after him and said with a smile, "Your Highness, I haven't seen you for a long time."

With a grunt, Zhu Zhanjun continued walking towards the study.

Xia Yuanji followed beside him, looked at Zhu Zhanjun's face, and said with a smile: "The weather is nice today."

Zhu Zhanjun stopped, looked up at the cloudy sky, and said to Xia Ji seriously, "If you really can't find a beginning, you can ask me if I have eaten well and slept well recently."

"Forehead!"

Xia Yuanji scratched his head awkwardly, and finally said with a ruthless heart: "Your Highness, the Ministry of Revenue has no money."

Zhu Zhanjun, who was about to continue walking, suddenly stopped, turned around to look at Xia Yuanji who had a serious expression on his face, and then looked at the sky which had become a little overcast.

“The weather is really nice today.”

Xia Yuanji: ???

The two of them entered the study, and Xia Yuanji diligently poured tea for Zhu Zhanjun and fanned him.

"Okay, stop working."

Zhu Zhanjun waved his hand in disdain. Old Xia quickly stood across the table, took out the memorial he had prepared long ago and placed it on the table.

Zhu Zhanjun snorted, and without picking up the memorial, he said directly: "Tell me, how much do you want."

"Han Xin is recruiting soldiers, the more the better!" Xia Yuanji said such shameless words without blushing or breathing heavily.

Zhu Zhanjun's face darkened and he pointed to the door: "Get lost!"

Xia Yuanji did not move, with a heavy and sad expression on his face.

He raised his hand and rubbed his eyes with his sleeves, and tears instantly filled his old eyes.

"Your Highness, our Ministry of Revenue is suffering."

"Now the whole Daming is under construction everywhere, the construction of cement roads, the laying of telegraphs, and that Zhan You who always has a sullen face and asks me for money."

"Are they building a railway? They are building a money-eating beast. Every month, they spend all the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver allocated to them without any progress."

"That's not all. When I was summarizing the results at the end of last year, that guy actually gave me a bunch of IOUs."

"Oh my God, the amount on those IOUs is so huge that I can't even afford to pay for my father's grave. How could he have the nerve to give them to me?"

"besides,……"

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Seeing that this guy became more and more sad as he spoke, he sat down on the carpet and started crying like a nagging woman. Zhu Zhanjun really couldn't stand it anymore.

How come he didn't notice that Xia Yuanji, who usually had a gloomy face when he looked at everyone, actually had such a side to him.

If the old man was here, he would definitely tell Zhu Zhanjun seriously: "You little brat have not seen a lot. Have you ever seen the Minister of War and the Minister of Rites raise their fists to fight because of some issues?"

"Have you ever seen the Ministry of Works being kicked into the flower pond by the Minister of Revenue because they had too many flowers and quarreled too fiercely with the Ministry of Revenue?"

"How much?"

Old Xia immediately calmed down, got up from the ground, and lay across the desk, looking at Zhu Zhanjun excitedly.

Zhu Zhanjun did not answer, but asked: "I remember that the east would send a sum of money every year, where did you spend it?"

It would be fine if we didn't mention the money, but once we mentioned it, Old Xia's face became extremely ugly.

"Where else could it go? It all went into your Majesty's pocket. I almost hanged myself at the gate of the palace to get this money, but your Majesty didn't pay a single cent."

"What else can you say? Sooner or later, he will hand over the Ming Dynasty to the prince. This country belongs to the prince. Let me ask the prince for money."

"But the problem is that the prince doesn't have the money. Even if His Royal Highness sells the East Palace, he still can't get enough money."

"Your Highness, I have something to tell you!"

"Okay, okay, stop talking. I get it."

Seeing that this guy was developing into a resentful woman again, Zhu Zhanjun quickly called a halt.

After a moment's silence, he said, "Since you've said that, let's get started with the money distribution plan."

"bank?"

Xia Yuanji's eyes lit up.

Zhu Zhanjun had talked to him about bank matters a long time ago, and he had also asked and talked about it with other people in the space.

I have to say that Lao Xia is really good with money. Just from what other people say or simple understanding, he understands the situation and the rules of operation.

Preparations are currently underway, and banks in various prefectures have already been built, waiting for the court to issue a new currency to replace it throughout the country.

Zhu Zhanjun nodded and was about to speak when a puzzled voice came from outside the door.

“The bank is operational.”

The two looked back and saw the old man holding the little guy and striding in from outside.

"His Majesty!"

Xia Yuanji hurriedly bowed, and Zhu Zhanjun stood up and took the sleeping kid in his arms, asking, "Why are you back so early?"

The old man pointed helplessly at the little guy in Zhu Zhanjun's arms.

"It's your son who tore up the old monk's treasured scriptures as soon as he arrived."

"I saw that the old monk looked unhappy, and I was afraid that I might break something else and make him angry to death, so I came back directly."

Listening to the old man's story, Zhu Zhanjun laughed.

My son can crawl now.

Children at this age are curious about everything and are also greedy for everything. They will put anything they can get their hands on into their mouths.

The old monk liked to place the sutras he often read beside him. If the little guy caught it, it would definitely be broken. Zhu Zhanjun asked the nurse to take the sleeping little guy away, and said to the old man: "It's a good thing that you are back. Let's discuss this bank and choose a day to open it."

"What about currency?"

The old man has already learned about this aspect. Now banks in various places have been built and are waiting for Zhu Zhanjun to come up with currency.

Up to now, he has not seen the template of the currency. He wants to see if it meets his ideal aesthetic standards. If not, he will remake it. Otherwise, if it is distributed to the people and made a fool of itself, it will be a loss of face for the royal family and the court.

Zhu Zhanjun said "wait a moment", and under the old man's curiosity and Xia Yuanji's vigilant gaze, he turned and walked into the room where the old man was resting.

"I'm telling you, you need to figure out who you work for and who pays you the salary from the court."

Noticing Xia Yuanji's wary look, the old man glared at him unhappily.

Xia Yuanji was not afraid at all: "Your Majesty, I still have a lot of pepper you gave me at home. Do you want me to return it to you? I really can't finish it."

Speaking of this, Xia Yuanji got angry.

Other dynasties paid high salaries to officials to keep them honest, but the Ming Dynasty kept officials in poverty.

It's fine if you say you are poor, but at least you can give out some money and food instead of giving out those useless banknotes that can't even be used to wipe our butts every day.

Later, when he realized that no one wanted the treasure notes, he started to sell them directly.

Thinking of this, Xia Yuanji was speechless.

Neither of these grandfather and grandson are good people.

As soon as the grandfather distributed pepper, his grandson's shop started selling pepper at a low price, so that the pepper in their hands was rotting without being sold at all.

The whole family, young and old, stared at the pile of pepper every day, and their stomachs growled with hunger.

If it weren't for the fact that the Veterans Chamber of Commerce couldn't stand it anymore and he had contacted Zhu Zhanjun many times, the Veterans Chamber of Commerce agreed to take the pepper in exchange for food. It is estimated that some honest officials and their entire families would have starved to death.

Faced with Xia Yuanji's resentment, the old man gave a dry laugh and changed the subject.

He had no money, but there was plenty of pepper in the warehouse. He was worried about how he would finish eating so much.

After a while, Zhu Zhanjun came out with a box in his hand.

Putting the box on the table, Zhu Zhanjun opened it, revealing what was inside, and introduced it to the two people: "This is a new type of currency, a counting unit, using three units of Wen, Yuan, and Jin."

Zhu Zhanjun picked up a coin with a copper inner ring and a bright silver outer ring.

"This is a penny, the smallest unit of currency, and its purchasing value is the same as the current Ming penny."

The old man reached out to take it and looked at it. On one side of the coin, there was a capital "1" written on it, and there was a special symbol below it. There were traces of gears on the outside, and the inner circle was engraved with the sun, moon, and stars surrounding the entire coin.

On the back, there is the Ming Dynasty's sun and moon logo engraved, surrounded by four large characters, Yongle Tong Bao.

"it is good!"

When the old man saw the four big characters "Yongle Tong Bao", he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.

But then he wondered, "Is this money on the periphery silver? Isn't the price too high?"

Zhu Zhanjun rolled his eyes and Xia Yuanji twitched the corner of his mouth.

Zhu Zhanjun took the currency and said speechlessly: "You still need silver for one penny. Even if we have a lot of money in the Ming Dynasty, we can't use it like this."

"This is a new type of alloy steel, which is very strong and wear-resistant. The mass production price is very cheap, and the amount of copper inside is only 1/4 of the original official copper coins."

"After overall calculation, the manufacturing cost is less than half of the original copper coin."

"The patterns on the outside are all directly engraved by steam engines. It is fast, saves time, effort and money."

After hearing the cost price, the old man nodded with satisfaction.

If the value of a copper coin was more valuable than a penny, the court would not be able to print many and would lose everything.

Zhu Zhanjun picked up a few other slightly larger coins made of the same material but in different shapes.

"These are ten cents, twenty cents, and fifty cents. This currency value ratio is the most suitable number for the common people to use."

The old man took them one by one and was very satisfied after watching them.

Especially the fifty-cent note, which even had a portrait printed on it.

He looked at it for a long time and it seemed to be him, which made him even more satisfied.

After introducing the copper coins, Zhu Zhanjun picked up a large silver dollar.

"This is a unit of yuan, which is equal to one tael of silver. It is made by mixing silver with various materials."

As he said this, he put it to his lips and blew hard, then drew it close to the old man's ear.

The old man heard a buzzing sound instantly.

"In addition to the color and style, this method of blowing and hearing the sound in the ear is also a means of distinguishing the authenticity of silver coins."

After explaining some methods to determine the authenticity of the silver dollar, Zhu Zhanjun put the silver dollar into the box.

This is the first batch of handmade coins and is of great commemorative value. Zhu Zhanjun plans to leave it to his son, and then his son will pass it on to his grandson.

After introducing the two units of currency, Zhu Zhanjun picked up the last gold coin that was so shiny that it was dazzling.

The pattern of the gold coin is more complicated. In addition to the unchanged gear marks on the outer circle, the sun, moon and stars surrounding the inner circle have turned into five golden dragons of different shapes.

This suggestion was put forward by Lao Zhu. In his words, the five elements will rotate forever.

These five golden dragons represent gold, wood, water, fire and earth.

Apart from the unchanged symbol in the middle, the portrait engraved on the other side made the old man feel disgusted.

Because the face engraved on it was his father who made him a little afraid.

Surrounding my father’s portrait are four big characters: Ming Empire!
"This is the largest unit in my Ming Dynasty, gold. One gold can be exchanged for 100 yuan, which is equivalent to 100 taels of silver."

After hearing Zhu Zhanjun's story, the old man pointed at the gold coin in his hand and frowned, "How can someone exchange this little for a hundred taels of silver?"

Zhu Zhanjun put the gold coins back into the box.

Compared to those guys who used a piece of torn paper to exchange for real gold and silver, it was reliable enough that he used real gold and silver to mint coins.

After closing the box, Zhu Zhanjun said to the old man unhappily, "If you and great grandfather hadn't ruined the treasure notes, I wouldn't have needed to exchange them with real gold and silver. A piece of torn paper could have brought back the money buried in the cellar by those landlords."

(End of this chapter)