Borrow the day to change the day

() "Your Majesty, there was a saying in my time that whoever controls finance controls the world."

"Why?" Emperor Chongzhen was confused.

Zhong Jinwei explained: "This is the ultimate and greatest benefit of paper money. Whoever controls the issuance of paper money can pinch the neck of the paper money settlement country."

Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren had a bunch of question marks on their heads, how could it be possible?

Zhong Jinwei continued to use his half-knowledge to explain: "Of course, it's not enough for the court to print banknotes. There are a series of things that work together to have this effect."

In fact, what Zhong Jinwei was talking about was the power of modern finance. Why did Guochao not dare to open up the financial industry because he was afraid of being controlled by foreign capital.This has nothing to do with banknotes, it's just that banknotes are one of the expressions.

"Master Zhong, please speak carefully, I can't understand." Emperor Chongzhen asked Zhong Jinwei honestly.

"Then let's talk about it step by step." Zhong Jinwei said imitating an expert.

"The reserve fund system was established. The common people took the banknotes and used them. They found it convenient and kept their value, so they were happy to use them. But in the early days, the imperial court only printed banknotes of 1000 taels of silver, and the common people were not enough. What should I do? ?”

Wen Tiren held his breath and said nothing, just looked at Zhong Jinwei.After all, Emperor Chongzhen was young, and he was aroused by Zhong Jinwei's words: "What should I do?"

"Let them put their family's silver here with the imperial court, and the imperial court will give him banknotes. Then he will have banknotes to use."

"What about the benefits?" Wen Tiren stared at it.

"The advantage is that the court does not need to prepare the reserve funds, and the court can print banknotes."

"The banknotes that can be printed are not the banknotes of the imperial court, but just a substitute for common people's silver." Wen Tiren pointed out that the original function of banknotes is actually a substitute for physical currency.

"Take your time." Zhong Jinwei replied with a smile.

"If this continues, will the court's reserves be sufficient? Theoretically speaking, no matter how many banknotes there are in the market, they will be in a one-to-one ratio with the court's reserves, which can handle exchanges of any scale."

This is conceivable, Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren have no doubts.

"At this time, the imperial court can print more banknotes. For example, if the reserve fund is 100 million taels, the common people may only come to exchange it for 80 taels at most, which is equivalent to an additional reserve fund of 20 taels. The imperial court will print 120 million taels. Two banknotes come out. The extra 20 banknotes can be used.”

In this way, the court can make an extra 20 taels out of thin air without worrying about depreciation, which would be great.Emperor Chongzhen thought beautifully that he was short of money right now, and it would be even better if he could print out 20 or 100 million immediately.

Unexpectedly, Zhong Jinwei made a turning point: "However, this 20 taels cannot be used casually."

"Why?" Wen Tiren listened carefully now, and he couldn't feel that he didn't eat much and was hungry.

"Because you come out to play around, you have to pay it back sooner or later." Zhong Jinwei inserted a famous quote from later generations, feeling a little secretly proud.

Unable to understand, Emperor Chongzhen became a little anxious, and hurriedly asked: "Master Zhong, what do you say?"

"Because there is actually no real reserve for the 20 taels. If the imperial court directly used it, it may be no problem this time. However, once, twice, three times, and after that? The final result will definitely be There is only one ending: more and more banknotes are in the hands of ordinary people, and eventually they are afraid of the depreciation of banknotes and exchange them for silver taels. As a result, there is an embarrassing situation of insufficient reserves for exchange, and reputation will be lost.”

"Then how should we use the 20 taels?" Emperor Chongzhen was very concerned about this issue.

"Follow a principle: banknotes go out, real things come in; real things come in, paper money goes out."

Even Wen Tiren was dizzy now: "Bo Zhongxing means that all banknotes must have a corresponding reserve? Doesn't that mean there is no extra 20 taels?"

"No, the physical objects here don't mean that they must be silver taels. They can also be other assets, such as jewelry, jewelry, houses, fields and other valuable things."

"Master Zhong, please be more careful." Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren asked you a question, and I cooperated with Zhong Jinwei with a question.

"It's still the same example just now. Didn't the court have an extra 20 taels of banknotes? At this time, Zhang San, a commoner, has no silver taels in his hand, but wants to do some business or buy something urgently needed, so he can take his house. Wait for the above-mentioned valuable things to be mortgaged, and the court will give him paper money at a discount based on the value of his house. In this way, the paper money will be used.”

Wen Tiren vaguely understood, isn't it just some business of the current ticket office?

Zhong Jinwei didn't know what Wen Tiren was thinking, and he was still saying to himself: "And Zhang San wants to return the banknotes within the specified time limit, and at the same time, he can give a certain amount of interest or handling fees. In this way, Zhang San will return the principal Afterwards, the extra 20 taels of banknotes printed by the imperial court were still in the imperial court's hands, but Zhang San got the interest. The imperial court would have benefited!"

"Your Majesty, the loan mentioned by Uncle Zhongxing is similar to Wang Anshi's Young Crop Law of the Song Dynasty and the folk usury. But it is even better."

Zhong Jinwei watched Wen Tiren report to Emperor Chongzhen without speaking, to see how much Wen Tiren knew.

"How to be better?"

"Both the Green Crop Law and private usury require capital, but Zhongxing Bo said that there is basically no cost. It is really a white wolf with empty hands."

Emperor Chongzhen nodded, yes, I like this costless business.

"However, I think that Zhang San can also borrow money from other people, such as wealthy folks, banks, bank accounts, etc. The court may not be able to earn the interest." Wen Tiren poured cold water on him.

Wen Tiren understood quite well, Zhong Jinwei nodded secretly, but he didn't say he wanted to praise Wen Tiren, but answered his question: "The imperial court can compete with them, but they can't compete with the imperial court. And, most importantly, These banks and bank accounts should be controlled in the hands of the imperial court, and then gradually released when they mature, and private lending should be cracked down. This is very important, and it has too much to do with people's livelihood."

Then, Zhong Jinwei temporarily let go of the bank issue, and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, this is just one of the benefits, and there is more to say."

"Oh, Master Zhong, please continue." Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen turned his gaze from Wen Tiren back to Zhong Jinwei.

"It is conceivable that this kind of banknotes issued in the form of reserves will not be able to meet the requirements of ordinary people for using banknotes in the end. Because there are not so many silver taels. Even if gold is added as a reserve in the future, there will be a day when it will not be able to meet the requirements."

"Then what to do?"

"The conversion from this reserve form to credit banknotes means that reserve funds are no longer needed, and the imperial court prints according to the total amount of banknotes that the common people want to use."

"Isn't that going back to the old path of depreciation?" Wen Tiren frowned.

"Therefore, there is also a need for a recycling system. If paper money is found to be depreciating, it must be recycled. The method of recycling can be guaranteed by the court's tax revenue in the coming year, and another paper money is issued to recycle the previous paper money."

The two ancients couldn't understand again, this banknote, that banknote, was stunned.

Seeing their appearance, Zhong Jinwei figured it out, and explained: "The banknotes guaranteed by the tax in the coming year can be called bonds. It is a bit special. Bonds can generate interest. This is also to attract people to take out the banknotes in their hands to buy this bond. The reason. The bond has a certain period. After this period, the imperial court will take it back, and at the same time pay the principal and interest to the people who bought it.”

"Master Zhong, isn't that still a paper money?"

"The key lies in this deadline. For example, this year the imperial court printed 20 taels of banknotes and depreciated the banknotes. Then the imperial court used bonds to recover the 20 taels of banknotes. Next year, it printed 20 taels less notes. People bought 20 taels of banknotes and returned them, so that the banknotes would not depreciate."

In fact, this also involves issues such as economic development, but if you really want to explain everything in detail, Zhong Jinwei does not have this ability, and people in the Ming Dynasty probably find it difficult to understand, so it is better to skip it.

Young people's thinking is still very fast, and Emperor Chongzhen immediately drew inferences: "Master Zhong, it is still in the stage of preparing funds, so can we do the same?"

Zhong Jinwei didn't expect it, he was taken aback for a moment, then after thinking about it, he couldn't help but praise: "Your Majesty is really amazing."

Then he added: "Your Majesty, this can be done, but it's best to establish the credibility of the banknote first."

Both Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren nodded, but it may be because of being the king of a country, he always remembered what Zhong Jinwei said earlier.

Seeing that Zhong Jinwei seemed to stop talking, he asked: "Master Zhong, what do you mean by pinching the neck of the paper currency settlement country that you said before, and you haven't explained it yet?"

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What I enjoy now is watching the number of clicks, red tickets, and favorites slowly increase every day. Of course, there are even greater ones, you know, but the number of words is too small now, so I dare not expect extravagantly.Here, I would like to thank the friends who took the initiative to give me some refreshment, work hard to code words, and strive to maintain two updates a day.