My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 39: The problem of treasure notes is easily solved
"Of course, there is a group higher than the bourgeoisie, called the proletariat. To cultivate the proletariat, we must allow the Ming Dynasty's society to evolve to a higher level.

With the current development of the Ming Dynasty, forget it. It is still very far away. Old Zhu, you just need to know the concept. But one day, it will be realized on the land of China. "

Hey, Lao Li, what you said is a bit discouraging!
However, the proletariat is a higher level than the bourgeoisie. Just hearing the name, you can feel a sense of returning to nature and the invisible way of sophistication.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but yearn for it.

“Back to the point, allowing the princes to engage in overseas trade is not only to prevent them from living a life of idleness, but more importantly, it allows them to form new interest groups.

Become an important force outside the court to check and balance the landlords and gentry!

At the same time, with the assistance of nobles, the influence of nobles in the army can be reduced to a minimum until it is completely eliminated.

Okay, now that we have chosen the protagonist of the Ming Dynasty Age of Navigation, what should we do next?

Don't worry, there is one more important thing that needs to be resolved first, which is the issue of the treasure notes that you mentioned in your letter, Lao Zhu."

Zhu Yuanzhang was suddenly shocked. The various drawbacks of the treasure notes were gradually emerging, and he needed a perfect solution.

"I've told you before that the most important function of the imperial court is to ensure the circulation of treasure notes.

The basis for ensuring that everyone can use treasure notes is the credibility of the imperial court.

However, if the imperial court itself does not use Baochao, who would believe in Baochao?

"For all commercial taxes, both cash and banknotes are collected, with cash at 30% and banknotes at 70%. For taxes below 100 coins, only copper coins are accepted."

This law was made by you, Old Zhu, right? "

Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned red. In order to allow the court to recover more money, he had indeed made such a rule.

"Of course, there are more laws restricting the use of treasure notes as taxation. I won't list them all to avoid upsetting you, Old Zhu.

Even the collection of taxes strictly restricted the use of treasure notes. Where was the credibility of the imperial court?
At the same time, the imperial court can use treasure notes to exchange for gold and silver in the hands of the people, but the people cannot use treasure notes to exchange for gold and silver. After a long time, who would use treasure notes? "

That's true, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, the drawbacks of Baochao have reached the point where it must be solved.

"Baochao began to be issued in the eighth year of Hongwu. By the fifteenth year of Hongwu, it had depreciated to about 60% of its original value. Why? The court issued it excessively!
In contrast, the copper coins have hardly changed, so the people will naturally prefer to use copper coins rather than treasure notes, which will naturally further restrict the circulation of treasure notes. "

Could it be that the only way out of Baochao is to abolish it?

Zhu Yuanzhang was unwilling to accept this. Objectively speaking, the issuance of Baochao did greatly alleviate the court's financial problems, but he did not expect that such serious problems would arise among the people.

“Of course, it doesn’t mean that Baochao is useless. What we need to solve this time is to restore Baochao to normal currency and ensure its normal circulation.

Because, treasure notes are the most powerful weapon for the future Ming Dynasty in ocean trade!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was cheered up, and we knew that Lao Li had a solution!
Moreover, Baochao can become the most powerful weapon in maritime trade?
What does this mean?
Are banknotes more powerful than soldiers and warships?

He could not imagine it, because one cannot imagine what one has not seen.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not have the answer in his mind, he knew that the answer must be with Li Han.

"This is a systematic project. The fundamental reason why Baochao is not trusted is that Baochao has no hard currency to back it up. Generally speaking, there are only two types of hard currency in the world, namely gold and silver.

That is to say, the issuance of treasure notes should be based on the country's gold or silver reserves, and the corresponding treasure notes should be issued.

The more gold or silver reserves there are, the more treasure notes can be issued. Of course, we also need to count the total output of grain, handicrafts, etc. produced by humans in the Ming Dynasty last year, and then estimate how much the Ming Dynasty can produce this year. Combining the two, we can then decide the amount of treasure notes to be issued.

This monetary system anchored to gold or silver is called the gold standard or the silver standard.

Of course, considering that the Ming Dynasty did not have much gold reserves, using silver as an anchor for the treasure notes was in line with the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty.

Old Zhu, you may ask, the Ming Dynasty is also short of silver now, how can we anchor it?
Hey, Old Li has his own way, but I’ll keep it a secret for now and tell you later.”

Lao Li, you are here again!!

Zhu Yuanzhang almost vomited blood. Stay calm, stay calm. Old Li is such a bad guy, we should have gotten used to it long ago.

"The most urgent task at present is to solve the problem of the depreciation of treasure notes. This is the simplest. Old Zhu, think about it, why are there more and more treasure notes circulating in the market of Daming?"

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and thought for a long time. It seemed that the treasure notes were not issued indiscriminately, so why were there more and more of them?
"Baochao is made of paper, which is easy to be damaged. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty court prints and issues new Baochao every year.

However, the court did not recall the old treasure notes. The old ones are still there, and new ones have come. Isn't the treasure note increasing?"

Zhu Yuanzhang clapped his hands suddenly. Oh my god, this is what is happening!

It is true that those who are involved are often confused, while bystanders can see things clearly. If it weren't for Lao Li's reminder, I would probably have been kept in the dark my whole life!
We must quickly ask the Ministry of Revenue to establish a mechanism to recycle damaged banknotes!

But how do we solve the silver standard problem that Lao Li mentioned? Lao Li will not build a mountain of silver for us, right?
We, Old Zhu, are really curious!

"Okay, now that we have solved the problem of banknotes, we can finally move on to the main topic, maritime trade!

In the era of the Ming Dynasty, Europe has not yet started the great voyages of discovery. Therefore, from this moment on, the Ming Dynasty has seized the absolute initiative!
Moreover, in today's era, whether in military power, economy, politics, technology or culture, the Ming Dynasty is the best in the world. If the Ming Dynasty doesn't take the top spot in maritime trade, who else is qualified to take it?"

Ah!
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded heavily. Old Li was a good person and spoke nicely. He was unlike those sour Confucian scholars who talked about all sorts of things all day long. It was so annoying.

"The Ming Dynasty is surrounded by the sea on the southeast. To the east, there are Goryeo and Japan. To the south, there are Siam, Cambodia, Johor, Luzon, and other countries. There are also direct Ming territories, Jiaozhi and Annan.

Goryeo is a poor, mountainous and water-scarce place, but its location is extremely important, so we will not discuss it here for now.

Let us turn our eyes to the south, to Jiaozhi, Anna, Siam, Chenla, Johor, Luzon and other places, where the climate is hot and humid, and sugarcane and rubber are produced in abundance.

I don't need to tell you what sugar cane is used for, and almost all of these countries have tributary relations with the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Lao Zhu, your idea is right. The first stop of the ocean trade is to use the tribute-paying foreign countries as a base to open the first gateway for the Ming Dynasty's ocean trade!"

Zhu Yuanzhang clapped his hands and almost jumped up with excitement.

Lao Li, we heroes think alike!

The midnight chapter is here! Does any book friend know how to make a character card? Garlic would like to thank you in advance.

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(End of this chapter)