Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 47 The crazy price increase of the new Ming Dynasty treasure notes!

After experiencing the previous episode, the officials who were queuing up to change their copies became much more honest.

The queue lasted until 1:00 p.m., and all the 300,000 new Ming Dynasty banknotes printed by the Baochao Bureau in the past few days had been completely replaced.

So He Yong, the president of the Beijing branch, had no choice but to walk out of the accounting office and bow to apologize to the Ming officials who were still queuing.

"My Lords, I'm sorry, but all the Ming Dynasty banknotes have been exchanged for today."

"If you want to exchange Ming Dynasty banknotes, please come early tomorrow."

After saying that, He Yong turned around and went back to the Beijing branch.

In front of the Beijing branch, the officials who failed to exchange their banknotes for the new Ming Dynasty treasure notes had a blank mind for a moment.

After they realized what was happening, everyone was stunned.

"This... this... the new Ming Dynasty banknotes have been replaced? What should we do then?"

"Your Majesty doesn't allow us to use silver and money, and the new Ming Dynasty banknotes have all been exchanged. So those of us who haven't exchanged for banknotes, won't we be unable to use money?"

"I haven't changed any money yet? I haven't changed any money yet!"

"What should I do? I have a whole family who need money. How can I use the money without Ming treasure notes?!"

"..."

The officials who failed to exchange for the new Ming Dynasty treasure notes were extremely anxious.

Finally, they set their sights on those officials who had already exchanged their banknotes for the new Ming Dynasty treasure notes.

"Feng Shaoqing, I remember you exchanged a lot of Ming Dynasty banknotes, right? Can I exchange some of your banknotes with silver?"

"Don't worry, I won't let you exchange it for nothing. I'm willing to pay more money in exchange for your giving it up."

"I'll give you three hundred and fifty taels of silver in exchange for three hundred strings of cash. What do you think?"

Feng Zheng, the Junior Secretary of the Honglu Temple, was in a bit of a dilemma. He had just exchanged more than 1,300 strings of cash when he was suddenly stopped by a colleague.

Three hundred strings of cash for three hundred and fifty taels of silver, at any other time, this would be a very profitable deal.

But the situation is special now. Officials like them cannot use silver and can only exchange it for Ming Dynasty treasure notes.

In this case, he was at a disadvantage, but that person was a colleague...

Feng Zheng hesitated for a while, but finally agreed: "Okay."

So the two of them made a transaction in the street, exchanging silver for banknotes.

This move enlightened the other officials who had not exchanged for the new Ming Dynasty treasure notes, and they followed suit.

"Mr. Feng, I am also willing to exchange three hundred and fifty taels of silver for your three hundred strings of cash!"

"Feng Shaoqing, I am willing to pay four hundred taels of silver in exchange for your three hundred strings of banknotes. Please exchange with me, Feng Shaoqing!"

"Feng Shaoqing, I'll give you 450 taels of silver in exchange for 300 strings of cash!"

"..."

Feng Zheng was startled and quickly covered his sleeves tightly.

"Not much, not much, I don't have much left."

"I'm sorry, colleagues, I really can't change. Please change with others."

After saying that, Feng Zheng hurriedly got on the carriage and urged the servants to drive home quickly.

After Feng Zheng left, the officials who failed to exchange their banknotes turned their attention to other officials who had successfully exchanged their banknotes.

"Mr. Shao, are you willing to exchange one hundred strings of banknotes for me? I am willing to pay one hundred and thirty taels of silver!"

"Cheng Yushi, I will give you 300 taels of silver in exchange for 200 guan notes. How about that?"

"General Wang, six hundred taels of silver in exchange for three hundred strings of cash, okay?"

"..."

Officials' bids kept getting higher and higher, and more and more outrageous.

At its peak, one guan note could be exchanged for two taels and five cents of silver.

Such a crazy exchange rate made the people who had been watching the fun from the sidelines smack their lips in amazement.

At the same time, they also began to realize that the newly issued Ming Baochao was completely different from the previously issued Ming Baochao.

The officials discussed the issue of exchanging silver for banknotes for a long time outside the branch in the capital.

There were quite a few transactions completed, but even more that were not completed.

It was not until dark that those officials who had not exchanged for the new Ming Dynasty banknotes reluctantly left. When the night was deep, thousands of Western Factory soldiers rushed to the Beijing branch and surrounded it, making it impossible to get out.

Afterwards, the door of the Beijing branch opened.

One carriage after another, loaded with silver, drove into the palace under the escort of the Western Factory guards.

There were a total of fifteen carriages in this convoy, and each carriage was carrying 20,000 taels of silver.

In just one day, three hundred thousand taels of silver entered the treasury!

When Zhu Youtang learned the news, although he was prepared, he couldn't help but feel furious.

"You mean, less than two hundred officials exchanged 300,000 strings of Ming Dynasty banknotes?"

"Each person exchanged an average of 1,700 taels of silver?!"

"And many officials have not even exchanged their banknotes for treasure notes, but they are already asking for them at high prices at the gate of the Beijing branch?"

"The highest price was actually two taels and five cents of silver for one string of Ming treasure notes?!"

Zhu Youtang slammed the dragon table angrily, with murderous aura all over his body.

"It seems that I still killed too few people!"

Wang Zhi stood respectfully in front of Zhu Youtang without saying a word.

However, since Zhu Youtang had already said before that he would not care how much Ming treasure notes they exchanged, he would not blame them for it.

If Zhu Youtang really wanted to kill all corrupt officials.

If all the officials of the Ming Dynasty were killed, there would definitely be false cases and wrongful convictions.

But if we kill every other one, there will be a lot of fish that slip through the net.

The corruption among officials in the Ming Dynasty was systemic.

From top to bottom, from inside to outside, from the center to the local...

There is no place without corruption.

To solve the corruption problem among Ming Dynasty officials, we must proceed step by step and not be impatient.

Zhu Youtang's current goal is to raise money as quickly as possible, and now it seems that he has been relatively successful.

Of course, he couldn't possibly spend all this money.

According to the 20% bank reserve ratio set by Zhu Youtang.

Of the three hundred thousand taels of silver, he could probably use two hundred and forty thousand taels.

This much silver is already very good.

Moreover, there are still a large number of officials who have not yet exchanged their banknotes for Ming Dynasty treasure notes.

In the future, the Beijing branch will continue to supply silver to his treasury.

Thinking of this, even Zhu Youtang couldn't help but feel a little excited.

Taking into account that there were still many officials who had not exchanged their notes for Ming Dynasty treasure notes, and the Baochao Division could only print a maximum of 50,000 notes a day, Zhu Youtang set another rule.

"Wang Zhi, pass down the order. For a period of time from now on, each person can only exchange a maximum of 500 strings of banknotes per day."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wang Zhi nodded in acceptance of the order and left quickly.

……

The next day.

It was still dark, but there was already a long queue outside the Beijing branch.

The officials who failed to exchange their banknotes for new Ming Dynasty notes yesterday learned their lesson and lined up at the door of the Beijing branch early.

The only difference between today and yesterday is that, apart from the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

There were actually a few citizens from the capital city mixed in the queue to exchange banknotes.

This made the officials in the queue feel dissatisfied and ashamed to associate with these people.

But the Western Factory guards, who were as ferocious as wolves and tigers, were staring at them closely.

This made them dare not get angry and they could only hold their dissatisfaction in their hearts.

(End of this chapter)