Borrow the day to change the day

Zhong Jinwei said while recalling: "Since the Ming Dynasty implemented a whip law, it has been stipulated that all taxes must be paid in taels of silver, and the problem lies in this."

After hearing this, Wen Tiren interjected: "But the money is not enough to pay taxes?" He has heard about this, so he said so.

Zhong Jinwei turned to Wen Tiren and nodded, and then continued: "Yes. Shaanxi is located inland, and commerce is not very developed, so the circulation of silver taels is not very active. And taxes are collected every year, resulting in less and less silver taels in Shaanxi. .”

When he said this, he turned back to look at Emperor Chongzhen, and explained a basic phenomenon to him: "If the silver tael is low, the silver tael will appreciate in value, otherwise the silver tael will be cheap. This is actually the same as banknotes. It's just that the two The difference is that banknotes can be issued indefinitely, while the mining of silver taels is limited. Therefore, the degree of depreciation of paper money can be infinite, while silver taels has an upper limit, and it is impossible to depreciate infinitely."

Emperor Chongzhen nodded, he understood the truth.

"So in Shaanxi, silver taels are becoming more and more expensive. Originally, the common people only needed half of the output from farming an acre of land to pay taxes in silver taels. But later, because silver taels became more expensive, more than half, or even all It is not enough to exchange enough silver taels to pay taxes, which leads to the fact that the people end up on the road of thieves because they cannot pay taxes.”

When Zhong Jinwei said this, his face was a little heavy, and he said to Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren: "No one who has land can afford to pay taxes, especially those who rely on renting. And this phenomenon is universal, and it will pervade all There is a shortage of places with enough silver. I remember that it seems that this situation will eventually spread to the whole country, and a large-scale silver shortage will occur in the entire Ming Dynasty."

Wen Tiren frowned, his nose parted slightly, thinking that this is really a troublesome matter.However, he was puzzled, so he asked Zhong Jinwei: "Marquis Zhongxing, you said that this phenomenon will occur in the entire Ming Dynasty, do you mean that it will also occur in the Jiangnan area?"

Jiangnan is the most prosperous area in Ming Dynasty. If there is a silver shortage here, the consequences will be disastrous.Emperor Chongzhen also turned serious, staring at Zhong Jinwei a little nervously, to see how he would reply.

Zhong Jinwei nodded to Wen Tiren and said: "Yes, Jiangnan will also happen, because the biggest source of silver in Jiangnan is overseas trade rather than silver mining. I wonder if Master Wen still remembers what I said about the world situation?"

Wen Tiren didn't know why Zhong Jinwei mentioned this again, but he still nodded and said, "I remember."

"Westerners can make a lot of money by plundering the wealth of those backward countries, obtaining enough silver taels, gold, etc., and then exchanging porcelain, silk, etc. with Daming and selling them back to China. , and circulated into the territory of Daming."

Zhong Jinwei told them one by one the history he saw on the Internet: "In this way, the silver obtained by these Westerners went to Daming, and rarely shipped to their own country. And if their own country's economy develops, it will There must be enough silver taels, otherwise it will limit their country’s greater development. In other words, the lack of silver taels will limit their country’s development. At the beginning, they don’t feel it, but they will eventually find it.”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he couldn't help asking: "So the emperor ordered the silver they got to be shipped back to China?"

Zhong Jinwei nodded at Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Exactly, it seems to be Spain. I don't remember very well. I first issued an order requiring the governors of Spain all over the world to transport silver taels back to China, which led to the gradual decrease in the amount of silver taels imported into Ming Dynasty. , causing a silver shortage in Ming Dynasty."

Emperor Chongzhen frowned badly. He still has no ability to change this kind of thing.

"Marquis Zhongxing, is this also a currency war launched by other countries against Ming Dynasty?" Wen Tiren suddenly said.

Zhong Jinwei was taken aback when he heard this, and then nodded, Wen Tiren was really amazing, he hadn't thought about it yet: "Yes, but they didn't do this intentionally, it was just a side effect on Daming because of their own needs. I believe that in the current world, no one can understand currency wars, and will not take the initiative to initiate or prevent such currency wars.”

This matter actually involved the concept of trade surplus and deficit, but Zhong Jinwei did not mention it, lest the two people in front of him could not understand and asked questions. Now his focus is not to teach them economic concepts.

"Master Zhong, I have decided to speed up the process of replacing banknotes with silver taels. The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty will do as you say."

Emperor Chongzhen spoke firmly and forcefully, he believed in Zhong Jinwei, there was no need to lie to him about this matter.And the logic in it all makes sense, even if it doesn't happen now, it might happen in the future.Emperor Chongzhen could not tolerate this happening, so he made this decision.

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen had made a decision, Zhong Jinwei was delighted, and said, "Your Majesty, after the Daming Royal Bank becomes the leader, although it will no longer handle ordinary business, it can also have another business through which it can operate domestic finance. Solve the problem of the amount of currency that I just said."

This point has actually been mentioned before Jinwei, but the specific method is still relatively vague.Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen asked with concern: "What business?"

Talking to Zhong Jinwei, I also learned new terms one by one.

"I don't talk about the ticket number and the bank, but use the bank instead." Zhong Jinwei has to say two names every time, which makes him very awkward from later generations.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't bother with this, and nodded for him to continue.

"The most common thing for ordinary banks is to handle deposits and loans. The interest difference between deposits and loans to ordinary people is the interest rate difference..."

Zhong Jinwei was interrupted by Wen Tiren before he finished speaking: "Marquis Zhongxing, interest will be paid to the common people on this deposit? It seems that Daming now charges a silver storage fee, which is collected from the common people."

Zhong Jinwei was taken aback when he heard that, it turned out that the bank hadn't fully evolved yet.He said slightly embarrassed: "Ah, it turns out that Daming's bank is still in its initial stage. This is not good, and it will definitely become the interest of the people in the future."

Emperor Chongzhen was surprised when he heard this, and asked, "Master Zhong, isn't it a loss in this way? Those who open banks shouldn't be so stupid?"

Zhong Jinwei laughed when he heard it. Although Emperor Chongzhen was smart, not everything was easy to understand.

He explained in detail: "Your Majesty, what banks rely on most is how much money they have on hand to lend out. If they charge deposit custody fees, then the wealthy people will be less willing to deposit money in the bank. There is less money that can be loaned out. If the bank pays a little interest to the people who are willing to deposit, then it is conceivable that the money will not only be safer in the bank, but also have interest. In this way, there will naturally be more people Willing to deposit money in the bank."

This matter is common sense for people of later generations, but it is quite novel for people of Ming Dynasty.

But the two people in the hall are smart people, and Zhong Jinwei understood everything after explaining this way.Wen Tiren asked Zhong Jinwei: "The key is that the interest on the loan is high enough to make up for the interest paid on the deposit?"