Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 206 Grain Circulation Coupons

The next topic is the issue of currency reform.Thanks to the modern Internet, this group of modern people from various professions from all corners of the country almost has a little superficial knowledge of economics, and these superficial ideas are divided into different economic theories.In the dormitory area, the future economic structure and monetary policy are the fourth most important issues for the time-traveling people, after the issue of nobility, inheritance and women.Many people are just like those who were on the forum back then, arguing with all kinds of plausible theories about things they don't understand at all, until they want to do it.

But to Cheng Dong, none of these theories made sense to the Finance and Banking Committee.Although anyone who has studied some history knows that ancient Chinese society was basically a natural economy society, self-sufficiency was the mainstream, and commodity exchange was very underdeveloped.

But it wasn't until they came to Lingao in this time and space, came into contact with all kinds of local people and things, and witnessed the social and business environment at that time, that the people who traveled through realized that they had come to an era of "natural economy".Especially in a remote purely agricultural county like Lingao.Although the end of the Ming Dynasty is known as the budding era of capitalism in China, in Lingao, not to mention capitalism, even the simplest commodity exchange is pitifully rare.

There are only fourteen cities in the whole county. These fourteen cities are so small that they are not comparable to the market trade markets in the residential quarters that many people lived in. Some cities have no houses at all, only a piece of mud and a few a straw shed.In the already pitifully small market circulation, physical exchange is also the mainstay.Whether farmers pay rent to landlords or landlords pay grain to yamen, grain is used.Most farmers and landowners live a life of self-production and self-marketing, and only a very small number of commodities are bought in the market-even if such transactions are mostly exchanged in kind, such as home-woven homespun cloth and special products in the mountains.Even the remuneration paid by the yamen to the yamen servants and petty officials is grain and cloth.

Therefore, not to mention "silver tickets" as in movies and TV shows in the local area, even silver is rare.The limited currency circulation is dominated by various copper coins.According to the statistics of the Ministry of Finance, there are more copper coins in circulation on the market, including Tang coins, Song coins and Ming coins, and even five baht coins as far back as the Han Dynasty are also in circulation.

In this way, an important problem faced by the traverser regime is the lack of sufficient means of payment.There is enough silver and gold in the hands of the traveler, whether it is brought from the original time and space, or sold in this time and space, or obtained from a big business. The inventory directly controlled by the Finance and Finance Committee alone currently has 975 silver and 120 kilograms, and various silver ingots , silver cakes, broken silver, and silver wares and silver jewelry totaled more than 700 kilograms, totaling more than 2 taels of Kuping silver in this time and space.There are also more than 2 silver coins from various countries, mainly Spanish riyals and silver pesos.The total reserve of gold is more than 200 taels.In addition, there are more than 5000 copper coins.

Such a huge amount of wealth is difficult for the traversers to use——travelers spend more in small amounts locally: paying wages, purchasing raw materials and food, these commercial transactions rarely use silver, and copper coins become consumption instead. most currencies.The traversers regard copper coins as metal raw materials and want to minimize expenditures in this regard.

As a result, various departments under the executive committee have come up with various methods when it comes to external payments. Wu De first used work point vouchers in the labor team and communes, and then more direct rice tickets and salt tickets appeared. .Workpoint coupons are essentially a grain-based currency.Finally, after the opening of the Women's Welfare Agency, the practice of using the traveler's bookkeeping salary points to purchase goods made this situation more complicated.

As a result, the financial department found itself in a state of chaos. Whether it is the budget reported, the accounts paid, or the reimbursement, each department has different units, and there are "two" and "documents". Where "jin" is useful, "point" and "fen" are also useful.Coupled with the conversion of different values, Cheng Dong's accountants almost went crazy.Therefore, the financial department insists on a unified currency.Only with a unified currency can we talk about establishing a currency exchange and financial system.

The currency system first proposed by the executive committee was the silver standard system, in which silver dollars were issued, and each silver dollar was equivalent to half Kupingliang in the Ming Dynasty.

Travelers have sufficient silver reserves in their hands, and such silver reserves will increase in the future, so there is sufficient material guarantee for the issuance of silver dollars.

Secondly, considering the notorious reputation of Daming Banknotes, I am afraid that merchants and common people will not like banknotes, and it will be very difficult to circulate and promote them.

From this point of view, the silver dollar system seems to be more appropriate.

However, some people also put forward different views, thinking that the timing of issuing silver dollars is not mature enough.

Lingaolin itself is economically underdeveloped, the market is small, and the production of materials is not rich.Even if silver dollars with half a Kuping tael are issued, the purchasing power is too high. After all, the price of rice in Lingao is only one tael or three dollars, and half a Kuping tael can buy almost 36 kilograms of rice.Still too big for small payments.Transcending the regime will inevitably result in the continued issuance of secondary coins.

In order to gain credibility, the traverser's coinage must be well-made, but another law in the market is that bad coins drive out good coins.It is conceivable that once the traveler puts high-quality coins on the market, the Chinese traditional habit of hoarding gold, silver or even high-quality copper coins will swallow these coins like a black hole.Not only will it not be able to rule the market for a while, but it is very likely that it will be swallowed up by the bad money pouring in from around - after all, what the traverser controls is only a small Lingao.

Taking into account that the executive committee finally decided to issue grain-based banknotes in the ruling area, this banknote was named "Lingao Grain Circulation Coupon". , Money raised these tokens, merchants in ancient China have always issued their own, the government rarely interfered.

It uses "yuan" as the unit in order to avoid confusion with past units such as "wen", "liang" and "qian".The basic unit of Lingao Circulation Coupon is yuan, and each yuan is equivalent to 500 grams of rice.Below the yuan is "fen", one yuan equals one hundred cents.

As long as the crossing regime has enough grain in its hands, the credit of this banknote can be guaranteed-the crossing people still have full confidence in their own agriculture.

In the long run, the food standard is only a measure of interests, but at the current level, this system is still relatively safe and acceptable-after all, the traversers have already established considerable credibility locally.It shouldn't be very difficult to implement this kind of "food stamps".

"I still doubt whether the banknotes can be used." Li Haiping of the Navy felt that this matter was unreliable at the seminar. There is still credit when we get home. Why should we let the common people believe it?"

Wen Desi explained, "As long as there is a place where the equivalent can be exchanged in full, the common people can accept it. When the British pound still has gold content, everyone knows how much gold can be exchanged for a gold pound, but in fact no one will go there. To exchange it for gold, it is enough for people to know that it can be exchanged for gold in the Bank of England."

"But what do we use for foreign trade payments?" People in the commercial department questioned, "People don't recognize your banknotes, and don't want your rice. They all have black eyes for silver."

"Hehe, I'm still thinking about silver. What do we need silver for, to buy things outside Hainan Island? Then why don't we just have the supplies brought in? It's not too much trouble to transfer hands with silver? We're not Spaniards. If we don’t have good things, we can only buy them with silver. We have attractive goods, and merchants will naturally come chasing profits. It’s better to just barter.” Yanquezhi said.Because he graduated from a bachelor's degree in finance and understands accounting business, he has been transferred to the Finance and Finance Committee by Cheng Dong.

"Actually, I also think that it is not very meaningful to increase the local silver reserves in Lingao." Wen Desi said, "Lingao is a small place. If there is too much silver, the value will depreciate. As for the current foreign purchases, we have 10,000 silver in Guangzhou. The money for + is available, and there will be a steady stream of supplements in the future at Guangzhou Station. There is no difficulty in purchasing and paying.”

"If we really need money, we can pay with silver pesos." Cheng Dong said, "This kind of money is very popular along the coast, and its circulation is convenient."

"Then if outsiders come to our ruled area, what exchange rate will be exchanged?"

Cheng Dong said: "Let me explain the monetary policy."

The time-traveling regime has no intention to completely replace all currencies in the local market with circulation notes.This is beyond our current capabilities.Travelers just use it as a means of payment and settlement.Silver and copper coins already in circulation will continue to circulate.The exchange rate between them is based on the price of rice.Assuming that the price of rice is 100 kupingliang per hectare (1 kilograms), then 1 kupingliang can be exchanged for 200 yuan of Lingao circulation coupons.

"But this is a theoretical statement. Within a few years, there will be no exchange between our currency notes and various miscellaneous coins."

Cheng Dong explained that the reason for not doing exchange is that the currency system in the Ming Dynasty was extremely disordered, and the phenomenon of private coining was serious. Whether it was silver or money, the fineness was unimaginably complicated, and it was difficult to estimate its correct value. The exchange was too difficult.

Someone asked: "I want to know how capable we are of actually manipulating the rice market in Lingao? Since rice is used as collateral, fluctuations in the price of rice will cause fluctuations in the actual purchasing power of the currency, right?"

"This is indeed a problem." Cheng Dong admitted.Food is no more precious than metals like gold and silver—the value is relatively stable.Grain is affected by many external factors, "but I think that the crossing government is fully capable of controlling the price of rice as far as Quanlingao is concerned."

(End of this chapter)