Ming politicians

The situation that Su Tiancheng expected really happened.

Starting from the sixth day of June, owning a piece of paper with a bank deposit certificate has become a symbol of glory in the capital. A large amount of gold, silver and jewelry began to enter the bank. This kind of glory slowly began to penetrate to the periphery of the capital. Needless to say, merchants, even ordinary people, try their best to get into the bank, deposit a few taels of silver, and get a bank deposit slip. Fortunately, the bank does not refuse, no matter how much they deposit, they will issue it certificate of deposit.

These deposit receipts are carefully kept. The bank officials said that this deposit receipt is equivalent to silver. If there is any need, when you go to the bank to pick up gold, silver and jewelry, you must keep the deposit receipt. If you accidentally lose it, If it is taken by others and taken to the bank to withdraw gold, silver and jewelry, it may cause losses.

Although it is said that having a deposit certificate has become a symbol of glory, no one shows it off, except for those ignorant young people who sometimes show off the deposit certificate, but after such things spread, young people will encounter The lesson of the elders is that the so-called wealth should not be exposed, if you show it off in front of outsiders, you are looking for death.

Su Tianhao and Song Sijun finally felt relieved.

The news from Shandong is the best, mainly because the largest shipping terminal of the Jin Dynasty is in Laizhou, so the flow of gold, silver and jewelry here is very large, and it is much more convenient to have a bank. Jewelry is deposited in the bank, and when trading, you can even go directly to the bank.

The situation in Nanjing is also very good. There are many people storing gold, silver and jewelry, which is also due to the leadership of officials. Gentlemen, wealthy households and merchants are vying to store them in the bank.

In other places, although the situation is not as hot as in Beijing, Shandong and other places, many people know that there are banks.Depositing your own gold, silver and jewelry in the bank is the most reassuring. You don't have to worry about being stolen, and you don't have to worry about where to hide the gold, silver and jewelry all day. I don't know how much gold, silver and jewelry you have stored.

The thing about unified banknotes.Not as smooth as opening a bank.

All the officials of the Jin court and their salaries in June were all issued banknotes. These banknotes had a fixed face value. The largest banknote was equivalent to one tael of silver, and the smallest banknote was equivalent to a copper plate. The denominations were divided into ten categories. They are one copper plate, two copper plates, five copper plates, ten copper plates, twenty copper plates, fifty copper plates, one hundred copper plates, two hundred copper plates, and five hundred copper plates.One thousand copper plates, of which the banknote denomination of one thousand copper plates is equivalent to one tael of silver.

The officials got these banknotes. Although they said nothing, they still murmured in their hearts. Anyone who is a little familiar with history knows that Jiaozi, which appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, was equivalent to banknotes.But in the end, Jiaozi ended with a bleak ending, because the imperial court failed to control the circulation of Jiaozi.When the court needed money, it used its power to issue Jiaozi indiscriminately, which led to inflation, and Jiaozi lost its own value and became waste paper.In the end, the court lost its credibility.

Will this happen to the Jin court?

To say that there are still people who are familiar with the issuance rules of Jiaozi, the Jin court needs at least a deposit to issue banknotes, so that prices can be stabilized, and the circulation of banknotes must be strictly controlled.Otherwise, prices would skyrocket. After all, banknotes and other things were printed by the imperial court, and the cost was not very high, so they could be printed in large quantities.

But even though he was muttering in his heart, the banknotes had already been issued. From the prime minister to the ordinary officials, all they received were banknotes, and no one could be special.

However, very few people understand the connection between banks and banknotes. The court’s security deposit is a huge amount of gold, silver and jewelry stored in the bank. With these security deposits, there will be no problems with banknotes. The problem must be controlled in accordance with the laws of economic development, otherwise there will definitely be major problems. If the banknotes lose their marked value, the credibility of the court will also be lost.

Starting from this point, the court must be very cautious.

It is very different from the opening of banks. Banknotes began to spread silently. Officials got the banknotes and definitely needed to use them. These banknotes were issued uniformly by the imperial court and strict printing measures were taken. It looks very exquisite, and it is almost impossible to imitate it. Besides, the imperial court has very strict measures. If anyone dares to counterfeit banknotes, the punishment they face is extraordinary.

Unlike going to the bank to store gold, silver and jewelry, those who use banknotes are first of all the lowest-level officials, who mainly rely on their salaries to live. It was different in the imperial court. Many officials in the Ming Dynasty did not have salaries, but these officials were definitely not rich. They had to use their monthly salaries, and it was impossible to save much gold, silver and jewelry.

It is the bank that promotes the widespread circulation of banknotes.

Some merchants are very worried after getting the banknotes, wondering if this kind of exquisite paper will suddenly become useless, or the banknotes worth one tael of silver will depreciate greatly, and the final value is only a few copper plates , So after getting the banknotes, they started to go to the bank to store them. They think that the bank's deposit certificate is more secure, and the banknotes deposited in the bank can also increase in value slightly, and the bank will pay a certain amount of interest.

At this time, the bank played the role of the mainstay, no matter how many banknotes they were, they were all allowed to store them, even if they were dozens of copper plates, they could also be stored.

At the same time, the governments at all levels have publicly demanded that the value of banknotes and copper plates are exactly the same, and privately driving up prices is never allowed. If such a situation occurs, the government will severely crack down on it. At the same time, copper plates must gradually withdraw from the market. , this time limit is half a year, after half a year, copper plates are not allowed to appear in the market, and gold and silver will not appear in principle.As for the copper plates, gold and silver in the hands of ordinary people, all of them can be exchanged at the bank and exchanged for banknotes.

In other words, after half a year, copper plates will no longer be coins.

This move is very critical, and it has been repeatedly emphasized by governments at all levels.

The common people must listen to the government, and with the banknotes circulating in the market, there is no problem in purchasing goods, so the people at the bottom began to accept banknotes.

It is precisely those gentry and wealthy households who were skeptical about paper money at the beginning, because they have richer knowledge and are very clear about the value of paper money, which is largely controlled by the court. If the court issues paper money indiscriminately, they will suffer heavy losses.

Farmers who work in workshops are the first to get banknotes. Merchants deposit gold, silver and jewelry in the bank, but merchants need gold and silver for circulation. When they go to the bank to withdraw money, most of them are withdrawn. Banknotes are issued directly to the employees who do things, which saves a lot of trouble.

Officials in the government, merchants and employees in the workshops began to use banknotes, which made banknotes circulate in the market at the fastest speed. In addition, the government said that copper plates will be completely banned from entering the market in the third year of the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, many People began to go to the bank to exchange banknotes.

This speed is very fast. In just one month, banknotes have become the main currency in the market, replacing gold, silver, jewelry and copper plates.

This was a very gratifying situation, without large-scale publicity, but banknotes soon began to circulate, replacing gold, silver, jewelry and copper plates in many places, especially in Shandong, where all taxes for commercial transactions were paid in banknotes. The Shibo Department basically does not collect gold, silver and jewelry, and commercial and trade taxes have mainly become banknotes.

At this time, Su Tiancheng specially summoned the prime minister, the imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the six ministers and the minister, and emphasized again. He warned everyone not to think that the circulation of banknotes is a trivial matter. The circulation of the currency means that the pressure on the imperial court has increased. The imperial court must guarantee the value of the banknotes and cannot depreciate them, otherwise the banknotes will be severely damaged, and the credibility of the imperial court will also be severely damaged.

The only way to guarantee the value of banknotes is to vigorously develop commerce and trade, making the imperial court stronger than ever before, having enough gold, silver and jewelry to guarantee the value of banknotes, and at the same time, there must be no negligence in agricultural production.

Su Tiancheng also made it clear that all government expenditures in the future will use banknotes. Regarding the circulation of banknotes, the imperial court will set up a special agency. This agency must abide by the rules and determine the size of the banknotes. Even if it is the imperial decree of the emperor, It can also be resisted.

Everyone did not expect that the emperor would have such an idea. Zhu Shenxuan and others believed that the amount of banknotes to be issued could be directly decided by the emperor, but the emperor disagreed with this and decided to set up a special organization. If you don't accept the leadership of the cabinet and the prime minister, you will have a lot of power in terms of the system.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish. Su Tiancheng has always kept this sentence in mind. The Jin Dynasty is very different from the previous dynasties. If you are not careful, the ending will definitely be worse than before. It is precisely because of this that Su Tiancheng Pay special attention to the fact that although the Great Jin court is still ruled by man as a whole, and will be ruled by man in the next few years, it must work towards a higher goal.

If the Jin Dynasty wants to develop, it can only vigorously develop the economy. Only when its own foundation is strong can it talk about expansion. Besides, the establishment of a bank and the issuance of banknotes will soon allow the court to use corresponding economic means. , to decide the fate of the vassal states, and to influence the situation of the countries in the Western Regions. Once the banknotes of the Jin court circulated to these places, it was the beginning of the court's usurpation of wealth. (To be continued..)