The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 429 Financial Reform

This moved the literary masters headed by Yuan Mei and Yao Nai so much that he gave out two seats as Republican members of parliament, which were extremely envied by the gentry and wealthy businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River.

Mo Zibu once again brought together the wealthy merchants of the Thirteen Hongs in Guangdong, led by Pan Qi, and the Yangzhou salt merchants, led by Jiang Chun and Li Yimin.

As well as the four prefectures of Susong Zhenchang in Jiangnan, the five prefectures of Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo and Shaoxing in Zhejiang, and the big tyrants in southeastern Anhui and northeastern Jiangxi were all summoned.

It was still a banquet, and everyone still drank and ate meat together.

In fact, Qianlong also did this job, but he was born into an imperial family. Although he had some skills, his background and vision limited him.

Therefore, many times, when Qianlong imitated the ancient sage kings and wise rulers in their courtesy and modesty, there were strong traces of performance.

Just like his favorite Peking Opera, it has a strong sense of stage.

My goodness, not to mention these elite people he wants to win over, even ordinary people can see that he is acting.

But my Emperor Mo is different. The Mo family is of semi-merchant origin, and Mo Zibu's predecessor was simply a loser engaged in foreign trade. He has really seen all walks of life and knows how to get along with people from different industries and what kind of people they are.

This is talent, a skill that others can never learn.

Even Jiang Chun, who was once called a friend of common people by Emperor Qianlong, broke out in a cold sweat after drinking a glass of wine with Mo Zibu.

Old man Jiang touched Liang Qinqin's back and secretly exclaimed, "It's amazing!" For a moment, he forgot that the person next to him was the supreme emperor, the emperor who had beaten Emperor Qianlong so badly that he had a stroke.

He thought it was his business partner.

After having a good meal and a good drink, Mo Zibu took these local tycoons to visit Tianyi Pavilion outside the palace. He looked around and found that none of the local tycoons were left behind. It seemed that everyone had drunk a lot, but they still kept a pretty cool head.

At this point, Mo Zibu took out a handful of round silver coins and handed one to each of these wealthy people.

Jiang Chun took it and looked at it. It looked a bit like the VOC silver coin minted by the Dutch red-haired devils, but it looked much more refined. The words "one tael" were engraved on the front, and there was a complex dragon pattern on the back. The words "one tael of Kuping silver" were engraved on the very edge.

This man is an old hand at handling money. He weighed it lightly and thought it was at most seven and a half cents. It should be less than that.

"I have thought about this for a long time. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, silver has been flowing in from overseas and has become a common currency.

However, measurement is very inconvenient. A small scale and scissors must be used at any time to determine the denomination. Not only is the operation troublesome, but also dividing the silver with scissors and melting the silver with candlelight will cause unnecessary waste.

The amount of money wasted on this every year in the whole world would probably not be enough even if it took a million taels.

Therefore, I ordered the Tiangong Institute to develop a hydraulic press to punch silver into cakes and produce this Dayu silver dollar.

It is expected that four types of silver coins will be issued: five taels, one tael, five coins, and one coin, as well as a gold coin of one tael.

Mo Zibu said it lightly, but the wealthy merchants below were all terrified. They looked at each other, and finally Jiang Chunnian, an old and virtuous man, came out and asked:

"Your Majesty, I feel... this silver coin weighs only seven or eight coins, not even one liang. If it is to be used as one liang, I'm afraid the people will not recognize it."

"You, Jiang Guangda, are indeed an expert. This one tael of silver is exactly worth seven qian and three fen in Ku Ping." Mo Zibu said with a laugh.

"Ah!" Jiang Chun was shocked. He never expected that the emperor would admit it directly.

He hesitated for a while, and seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, he had already asked the question. It was impossible for him to only ask half of it.

So Jiang Chun could only bite the bullet and continue to ask: "If that is the case, Your Majesty, I am afraid that the people will continue to use silver instead of Your Majesty's silver dollars."

The others were also discussing it. Although the Guangzhong Dynasty was currently at war everywhere and the finances were indeed tight, you were directly using seven cents and three fen of silver as one tael of silver, and the net profit was at least 25%.

This is almost like robbing someone directly. People in the world are not fools. Who would really treat your silver dollar as a penny?
"That's a good question!" Mo Zibu said word by word, his eyes slightly narrowed, looking at Jiang Chun indifferently.

You fucking licked Emperor Qianlong's boots. He went to the south of the Yangtze River five times and you led the Yangzhou salt merchants to collectively contribute more than 10 million taels of silver. After I took Yangzhou, I didn't take a penny of your property, nor did I pursue your crime of aiding the enemy. You still don't know what's good for you, huh?

“No one in the world is foolish, but I am ready to issue an order. From the moment the Dayu silver dollar enters the market, all other silver except silver dollars will be banned from being used as currency.

Silver can be exchanged at the Fuxing Bank. Every ounce of silver can be exchanged for one silver dollar. No one is cheated."

When talking about being honest, Mo Zibu also slowly glanced around the room, "I can tell you that the Imperial Household Transportation Department is ready to set up a tax police team, and the Jinyiwei Northern Pacification Department will also participate in the assistance.

If anyone dares to use silver instead of silver dollars after my order is issued, it will destroy the country's Northern Expedition plan and hinder the great rejuvenation of the Han nation.

Those whose amounts are too large and seriously affect the national finances shall be treated as traitors!

It’s time to just rob the money, right? Some people couldn’t sit still anymore, so a big landlord from the Qu family in Changshu came out to take the lead.

"Your Majesty, this is a harsh policy!" Landlord Qu spoke eloquently.

“If the Imperial Household Department were to oversee the use of money by the people, regardless of whether or not the Imperial Household Department had enough personnel, even if it did, there would certainly be many greedy officials who would create many false cases and wrongful convictions to harm the people.

Furthermore, after reading Your Majesty's Theory of Righteousness, Loyalty, and Treachery, I began to believe that we must first investigate Hanzhong. Only those like Qin Hui and Zhang Hongfan of the Song Dynasty who had clear evidence of their crimes could be considered traitors. If we were to label someone a traitor based on trivial matters at this time, the execution of the law would be too arbitrary and excessive.

There is indeed something wrong with what he said, but the biggest reason is that Mr. Qu was very disappointed and a little angry.

Their Changshu Qu family produced the great loyal minister Qu Shisi, but because their descendants did not make any achievements, they did not receive the same good treatment as the descendants of Zhang Huangyan and Chen Zilong, and their mentality was a little unbalanced.

"Mr. Qu, what you said is wrong!" However, as soon as the landlord Qu said this, someone came out to object. This person was Li Yimin, a big salt merchant in Yangzhou.

"There are priorities. If the silver dollar continues to be implemented, it will indeed cause chaos and oppress the people. However, if it is not implemented, we will not be able to drive out the Tartars, and we may even lose the current situation. You all should have a clear understanding of what is more important."

Li Yimin spoke out because the salt merchants in Yangzhou had been severely ripped off by the Qing Dynasty, having lost over five million taels of silver in a single year. To save the market, they collectively borrowed three million taels of silver from the Fuxing Bank at a low interest rate, but the funds had not yet been received.

The emperor has made it clear that the silver will only be released to them after it passes the silver dollar circulation plan, and it can even be interest-free for five years.

Unlike Jiang Chun, who is old and frail and has the stain of serving Emperor Qianlong, and might be killed by the emperor as a warning to others at any time, Li Yimin is in his rising period and naturally still wants to do something big.

After being refuted by Li Yimin, Landlord Qu wanted to refute again, but suddenly he saw the emperor's half-smile. He shuddered and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

"What you two said makes sense, and it's all for the good of this country." Mo Zibu still set the tone very kindly, "From my side, I am also willing to share the world with gentlemen like you two.

Therefore, I abolished the harsh official recusation system of the Qing Dynasty, and did not allow the meritorious officials of Fujian and Guangdong to become bannermen of the new dynasty and ride on your heads and act tyrannically.

I would even like to introduce a republican parliamentary system into Jiangnan, so that those of you who are capable of studying and taking the imperial examinations can enter officialdom.

Those who cannot enter the government can also enter the Republican Parliament as long as they are willing to work with me to promote national development.

Ladies and gentlemen, I will speak openly to you today. Although the position of republican parliamentarian is not lifelong, its effectiveness is almost equivalent to a golden ticket to immunity from death.

Throughout the dynasties, has there ever been an emperor who was willing to share the power in his hands with his subordinates like this?"

As soon as these words were spoken, even the somewhat unbalanced landlord Qu had to admit that Emperor Mo was really nice to people, was willing to delegate power, and really wanted to share the world with the gentry.

"Your Majesty is benevolent and cares for the people. These common people understand this." Landlord Qu quickly knelt down to explain, "I just feel that the rash introduction of the new silver dollar law is too hasty."

Mo Zibu immediately walked over and helped the landlord Qu up. "Today I am gathering with you all to discuss things. There is no relationship between ruler and subject here, so please do not bow down."

After hearing this, Pan Qi's eyes twitched violently. Yes, today we will discuss this with you guys regardless of the relationship between the emperor and his subjects. But if you still don't agree, then tomorrow the tax police from the Imperial Household Transportation Department, the spies from the Northern Pacification Department of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the imperial guards from the Ministry of Justice will come to reason with you.

"So, since you have gained so many benefits, you should consider this country even more. Only if you treat Dayu as everyone's, can this platform be built.

If you only regard Dayu as my, Mo Zhao's, then since it is my personal property, don't blame me for having to rely on the factory guards to do things like the other emperors of the Ming Dynasty.

For example, the change in the value of silver dollars was actually because the silver on the market was either plundered by the Qing Dynasty or hidden away.

Now, my country has no shortage of grain, cloth, silk, tea, or anything else. The only thing we lack is silver, especially silver for circulation.

Therefore, what is lacking now is not goods, but currency that can serve as a medium of equivalent value.

As long as you all join me in banning silver from being used directly as currency, then even though this one-liang silver dollar weighs only seven qian and three fen, it is still one liang of silver and can have the purchasing power of one liang of silver."

This is truly a heartfelt statement, and it reflects the actual situation that Dayu is currently facing.

There was sufficient material production on the market, but because the Qing Dynasty had squeezed out more than 20 million taels of silver and a large amount of silver was hidden in the cellars of these landlords, there was a panic in the market.

In this situation, Mo Zibu's best choice was to increase the money and start flooding the market with money, with the state forcibly taking away about two, three or four cents of profit, and then using the money to support industrialization, the Northern Expedition, the war of unification, and going to Southeast Asia.

Since there is sufficient supply of goods for the people, it will not cause too much price increase.

After all, the silver has been recovered, and the minted silver coins will not all be released immediately. They will flow into the market slowly in stages over about five years.

At the same time, Mo Zibu also planned to make a change to the exchange rate between copper coins and silver. Now it was about 1,500 wen for one tael of silver. Mo Zibu intended to forcibly reduce the exchange rate to 1,200 wen, or even 1,000 wen for one tael of silver.

This made the copper coins in the hands of the common people more valuable, which was a small benefit. At the same time, foreign merchants coming to trade also needed to convert one tael of silver dollar into one tael of silver.

Mo Zibu knew that this was actually a very risky operation. The court's finances and taxes, especially the money held by the inner court, would increase significantly, but all kinds of strange problems would follow. In extreme cases, it might even cause large-scale inflation.

But in order to have money to do big things, and at the same time to strike the Qing Dynasty economically and regulate the money market, this is a necessary step.

First, collect seigniorage domestically, then collect seigniorage from foreign countries, and finally control the entire currency market of Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, and then make a fortune.

It's risky, but the rewards are worth the risk.

"Yesterday, I reached an agreement with Mr. Jian Zhai, Mr. Xi Bao and other Jiangnan scholars. They will fully support me."

Hearing the emperor say this, Pan Youdu, a junior who had always been eager to see the world, was shocked. He finally understood why the emperor valued Yuan Mei and Yao Nai so much.

Because the Jiangnan literati group headed by these two people, although they do not hold high official positions and do not have the most money, they have very strong say.

This is the literary master of the time. If he really wants to discredit someone, he only needs a few articles or even a few gossips, and within ten days at most, that person will be infamous.

If he was criticized by Yuan Mei and Yao Nai, and the emperor attacked him from behind, he would have died socially immediately. If he was labeled a traitor, he could really be labeled a traitor.

"Dad, Your Majesty is truly formidable! He uses Liang Guozhi, Qian Daxin, and others to control the Jiangnan officialdom, and Yuan Mei, Yao Nai, and Zhao Yi to control Jiangnan public opinion. Now, as long as these wealthy merchants and landowners surrender, Jiangnan will be conquered."

Seeing the buzzing noise below and the fearful expressions on most people's faces, Mo Zibu finally said:
"I will be staying in Chengtian Prefecture, the southern capital, for the next few days. You should all stay here for a while. Let's discuss how to smoothly implement the silver dollar reform plan so that everyone can benefit."

Mo Zibu was determined to carry out currency reform. Only in this way could he strangle the lifeline of these wealthy merchants in the south of the Yangtze River and seize financial power.

Mo Zibu was not afraid that they would disagree, because the silver dollar reform would not cause much harm to these people. At most, it would just restrict the excessive issuance of silver dollars.

If there are really people who don't know what's good for them, we have to rely on Yuan Mei, Yao Nai and others to build momentum, and then "turn" out a few tainted witnesses from the bannermen captives in Jiangning, and kill them to scare them to death.

Once this item was passed, Mo Zibu estimated that the imperial court would immediately receive tens of millions of taels of silver, and the inner treasury would probably receive a similar amount. This way, there would be enough financial resources to launch a large-scale northern expedition.

(End of this chapter)