Diqin Designer

Chapter 277 The Function of Coins

What are coins used for?
Of course, it serves as a general equivalent in trade to facilitate people's trade. If there is no currency, people's trade will become barter, which becomes extremely inconvenient.

For example, Passerby A wants to buy a bag of rice, but he only has a bundle of radishes. Passerby B, who is selling rice in the market, does not need radishes, but needs a bundle of cabbages. Passerby C, who is selling cabbages in the market, does not need rice and wants a bag of salt. Passerby D, who has salt, does not need cabbages and wants a bundle of radishes.

Then Passerby A who wants to buy rice must first exchange his radish for salt from Passerby D, then use the salt to exchange for the cabbage in Passerby C's hand, and finally take the cabbage to Passerby B to exchange for rice.

The whole process is time-consuming and laborious, and this is a model for four people. If there are more people and more items they want to get, it will be even more complicated.

However, coins effectively simplified this tedious process. With them, one can buy both rice and radishes.

Although they did not know the term "general equivalent", the important officials of the Qin Dynasty in the hall knew the function of currency. However, the question asked by the man was definitely not that simple.

Before any of them could answer, Li Nian answered himself: "The essence of money is a general equivalent, and its main function is to facilitate transactions among people."

After asking and answering his own questions, Li Nian raised another question: "Is money itself wealth?"

Generals like Wang Jian and Wang Ben did not think deeply about this issue, but people like Wang Wan and Li Si did think about it.

After thinking for a while, Li Si replied: "Coins themselves are not wealth. They are often considered wealth because they can buy all kinds of things."

Li Nian nodded and said, "That's right. Money itself is not equivalent to wealth. It is because it can be used to buy firewood, rice, oil, salt, cars, horses and houses that it is often considered wealth."

“The rich who hoard coins in their homes as if they were their wealth are actually hoarding what the coins can buy.”

After hearing this, everyone already understood why Li Nian wanted the Xiongnu and Baiyue to use the Qin currency when trading.

Doing so could turn the actual wealth in the hands of the Xiongnu and Baiyue people into Qin's currency. Things like the cattle and sheep they raised, the medicinal herbs they collected, the cloth they wove... were originally real things, but were now gradually exchanged for Qin's currency in transactions.

As for coins, they can neither be eaten nor drunk. You need to use them to buy things. Then, Daqin only needs to reduce the purchasing power of coins...

And this idea has another great advantage, that is, the real wealth in the hands of the Xiongnu and Baiyue people will be concentrated in Daqin. Simply put, the cattle and sheep grazed by the Xiongnu and the medicinal herbs dug by the Baiyue people will continue to flow to Daqin in trade, and they will get coins.

If the Qin Dynasty recognizes the purchasing power of currency, their wealth can be secured, but if the Qin Dynasty does not recognize currency at that time, their wealth will instantly become nothing.

The way everyone looked at Li Nian changed. Although this Minister Li was young, his methods were indeed insidious and clever.

But it must be said that Li Nian's method opened up a new idea for them. In this way, they could eliminate the threat posed by wealthy businessmen in the Qin Dynasty, such as Ba Guafu Qing and Wu Shi Luo... A new currency would be issued to replace the old currency. Within a specified period of time, the old currency would be replaced by the new currency throughout the country, and the outdated old currency would be invalidated. There would be a limit on the amount of old currency that each person and household could exchange, and when a certain amount was reached, a certain tax would need to be paid.

In this way, the assets accumulated by those wealthy businessmen can be reduced, and at the same time their assets can be added to the court. It is a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

It turns out that governing a country can be done this way. Some people have already begun to conceive of such plans in their minds, but Li Nian said that this is not to strike against the wealthy businessmen in the Qin Dynasty. He is targeting other countries, and the influence of currency is not limited to the thoughts of the ministers.

Li Nian smiled and said, "As I said just now, coins themselves are not equivalent to wealth. After trading with the Qin Dynasty, the Xiongnu Chanyu and the leaders of Baiyue would hoard a large number of Qin coins. If the Qin Dynasty recognizes these coins, they are useful and are indeed wealth. But if the Qin Dynasty does not recognize them, they are just a pile of waste copper."

"Moreover, not only the wealth of the Xiongnu and Baiyue upper classes will be turned into waste copper overnight, but also the wealth of the Xiongnu and Baiyue commoners. Your Majesty and you can imagine what will happen?"

The First Emperor and the ministers in the hall followed Li Nian's question and thought about it, deducing and simulating in their minds, and the conclusions they came to surprised them a little: if that situation really happened, the Xiongnu and Baiyue would be in chaos.

When coins turn into a pile of scrap copper, it is not just as simple as wealth being reduced to zero overnight. It also means that they cannot buy food, clothes, pay military salaries, or see a doctor. It is easy to imagine what people will do when their basic survival needs are not guaranteed.

Of course, this was in ancient times, not modern times, and this situation might not necessarily be a fatal blow to the Xiongnu and Baiyue.

"It seems that your majesty and you have already thought of this, but it is not recommended to do so in non-emergency situations, because it will damage the country's credibility and will not be conducive to the Great Qin coin becoming a world currency and building the Great Qin currency hegemony."

There are new words again, "national credibility", "world currency", "monetary hegemony". We know what each word means, but their function when combined together is not quite understood.

Li Nian explained: "Daqin coins should not only be circulated within Daqin, but it is also best to make it a currency that is accepted and used by all countries, so that all countries will use Daqin coins when trading."

"As for the reason, you should have guessed it. It is convenient to concentrate the real wealth of other countries to Daqin..."

"Coins themselves cannot buy food, drink, shelter, and transportation, but they can buy these things. Using the coins of the Qin Dynasty to gather food, drink, shelter, and transportation from all over the world to the Qin Dynasty, all you have to pay is a pile of coins that cannot buy food or drink. Do you think it is worth it?"

Of course this is a good deal, how could it not be? Some people have begun to understand Li Nian's true intention, which is to use money as a rope for Daqin, tying other countries to it, hurting the interests of other countries and enriching Daqin, and using other countries to support Daqin.

The currency of the Qin Dynasty is the common currency of all countries, which means that the currency of the Qin Dynasty can buy goods from all countries. Doesn't it mean that the Qin Dynasty only needs to mint more coins to reap the materials obtained by the hard work of all countries? It's really scary.

Everyone took a deep breath. There was actually such a way to restrain the countries in the world. But if you think about it carefully, this method seems to be feasible.

Ying Zheng even thought in his heart, could it be that in the future, there is a country that uses this method to reap the future countries? Is this country a certain country in the West?
(End of this chapter)