Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 467: Empress Dowager Xiao’s Dilemma
It is said that as long as one is a human being, he cannot escape the words "fame and fortune".

This is indeed the case. Those who do not love money definitely love fame. There are people in the world who do not love fame and fortune, but such people are definitely very rare.

The retired emperor was no exception. He wanted his portrait to be printed on the silver coin so that future generations could admire him.

I am also worried that I will be laughed at by future generations.

This is just like Fengshan. Mount Tai is there, but in history, very few emperors dared to go there for Fengshan.

Because Fengshan requires merits, without sufficient merits, Fengshan becomes a joke.

"Father, there is no problem with using Taizu's seal, but you can also use yours. When you were in power, you imposed low taxes and light corvée labor, and you were deeply loved by the people. Who dares to say that you have no achievements?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.

The Emperor hesitated for a moment after hearing this, then shook his head and said, "No! Governing the world is what I should do, how can it be considered an achievement? Emperor Taizu unified the world and ended the war, only he is worthy of it."

"Yes, I will have it reprinted then." Seeing that his father insisted, Zhao Xing thought about it and agreed.

"Ah."

The emperor nodded, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Can minting new coins really bring such great benefits? Will there be problems if there is too much money?"

Although the ancients did not understand finance, let alone inflation, they still understood the general meaning.

Otherwise, if the imperial court was short of money, it could just mint coins on a large scale.

It's not like no one has done something similar before.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Dong Zhuo was short of money, he melted down the coins for recycling, which led to severe inflation at the time.

Zhu Yuanzhang also did this during the Ming Dynasty. Whenever he ran out of money, he would print banknotes, which destroyed the banknote system.

In order to curb the depreciation of Baochao, Zhu Yuanzhang directly issued Baochao when paying salaries to officials.

The salaries of officials were originally low, and they only received banknotes.

At the beginning, the depreciation was not serious and it was still okay. But later, the depreciation became serious and I couldn’t even support my family.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was ruthless in killing corrupt officials, forcing many officials to buy things at the face value of the treasure notes, which made the whole place a mess.

The emperor knew nothing about what happened in later generations, not even that Dong Zhuo had made the Wuzhu coin.

However, he knew that money could not be created in large quantities, otherwise he would have done so long ago if the court was short of money.

"Don't worry, Father. These ministers know what's going on."

Zhao Xing knew more about this than his father did. He told his father about the massive outflow of Song Dynasty coins.

The money must be released slowly to ensure that prices remain stable and that the money does not depreciate.

"It's good that you know it. I'm old and I don't understand these things. But from what you said, it seems feasible. Just go ahead and do it." The emperor waved his hand.

"Yes!"

Zhao Xing smiled and said, "Once the currency is introduced, the Song Dynasty will no longer be short of money. When I move the capital in the future, I will definitely have people rebuild the Luoyang Palace and build a large palace for my father."

"I'm old, and I don't know how many years I have left to live. Don't waste that money." The emperor waved his hand.

"Father looks younger and younger now, and he will surely live to be a hundred years old. Moreover, with cement, building a palace will be easier and won't cost much money." Zhao Xing said with a smile.

"Haha, let's talk about it later."

He does feel much better now than before.

Zhao Xing chatted with his father for a while, then took his leave.

Since his father had said to use Taizu's portrait, Zhao Xing went to the Taimiao to take down Taizu's portrait, asked a painter to draw a half-length portrait based on the portrait, and had someone send it to the Ministry of Works to recast it according to Taizu's portrait.

The Ministry of Works had no idea what the silver coins were for when Zhao Xing asked them to do so, and they didn't even recognize the portrait of Taizu.

After all, Taizu had passed away for so many years, and the emperor's portrait was only in the palace, and the ministers could not see it.

So I didn't think much about it and got busy after receiving the portrait.

…………Shangjing
After the morning court session ended, Empress Dowager Xiao returned to the harem with a grim look on her face.

"Snapped!"

He took the tea offered by the palace maid, took a sip and threw it out.

The palace maids who served tea and the eunuchs and maids in the hall were so frightened that they immediately knelt down, not daring to breathe.

"Go down."

The forty-year-old nanny at the side waved her hand.

The palace maids and eunuchs in the hall bowed and left in haste as if they had been pardoned.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. We don't know how many eyes are staring at this place now." The nanny advised.

"Calm down?"

Empress Dowager Xiao said angrily: "He has even inserted his hands into the imperial guards in the palace. If this continues, I will really become a puppet!"

At the morning court today, someone impeached the deputy commander-in-chief of the imperial guards, saying that he was corrupt and had raped women.

At first, Empress Dowager Xiao hadn't reacted yet, and Yelu Yixin stood up and said that the matter needed to be investigated carefully, and until it was fully investigated, someone else needed to temporarily take over the position of deputy governor.

Empress Dowager Xiao was not stupid either. She naturally knew that Yelu Yixin wanted to get his hands on the imperial guards.

Now most of the Liao army is under the control of Yelu Yixin. The reason why she can compete with him, in addition to controlling a part of the army, the most important thing is that the palace guards are completely under her control.

Including the imperial guards, she had more troops in the capital than Yelu Yixin.

It was precisely because of this that Yelu Yixin did not dare to be too presumptuous.

But once Yelu Yixin put his hand into the imperial guards and slowly encroached on them, she would never sleep well again.

"Your Majesty, didn't Prince Zhao fail in the end?" the nanny consoled.

"Humph!"

Empress Dowager Xiao sneered, "It was unsuccessful, but look at the court today, many officials have sided with him. If he continues, it may not be a sure thing."

"Don't you have another hidden move, Your Majesty? As long as King Liang is not annihilated, King Zhao won't dare to act too recklessly."

"Yelü Chongyuan is not a pushover either. He actually proposed that after destroying Yelü Yixin, he would become the emperor and I would be the empress. He would also appoint Hongji as the crown prince! He really thinks I am a fool."

"Your Majesty, hasn't the prince consort of Xu State already established a firm foothold in Hehuang? Why not use the title of king as bait to lure the prince consort of Xu State into Liao?" suggested the nanny.

"Ok?"

Empress Dowager Xiao was stunned when she heard this.

The prince consort of Xu State that the nanny was talking about was Dong Zhan.

The relationship between the three kingdoms of Song, Liao and Western Xia and some small forces around them was very complicated.

Although the Zuosiluo tribe was nominally a vassal of the Song Dynasty, Dong Jian married a princess of the Liao Dynasty.

This is also the reason why Xixia was not worried that the Song Dynasty would help the Zuosiluo tribe when it attacked the plateau.

"Let's not talk about whether the Zuosilo tribe will agree or not. Yelu Yixin is not unprepared. Such an order will force him and me to break off relations." Empress Dowager Xiao shook her head when she heard this.

After the Zuosiluo tribe gained a foothold in Hehuang, she considered joining forces with the Zuosiluo tribe, but after careful consideration, she gave up the idea.

The Zuosiluo tribe has more than 200,000 soldiers and horses. If the Zuosiluo tribe is lured into Liao, combined with the troops under her control, it will indeed be possible to check and balance Yelu Yixin.

But the Zuosiluo tribe was an outsider after all, and it was impossible for them to enter the Liao Kingdom quietly.

If this were to be brought up in the court, not only would Yelu Yixin's people not agree, but even those who supported her might not agree.

(End of this chapter)