Jingtai: Making the Ming Dynasty Great Again

Chapter 145 Counterfeit Coupons

The clerk explained, "The Ministry of Revenue has issued new regulations that allow bonds to be held for another year after maturity, with the interest rate increased to 7 percent."

If you hold onto these 500 taels for another year, you will receive a total of 60 taels in interest by this time next year.

Liu Datong looked back at the long queue behind him, then at the silver in the counter, and finally said, "I'll cash it in. It's more reassuring to have the silver in my hand."

The clerk nodded and began recording the transactions and making payments.

Soon, the twenty-five taels of silver were neatly stacked on the counter.

Liu Datong's eyes lit up, and he personally examined each ingot one by one.

After confirming that everything was correct, he put the silver into the cloth bag he had brought and left satisfied.

Jin Lian watched his retreating figure and whispered to Li Xian, "This Liu Datong is really here to redeem his money, but the next one might be different."

Before Li Xian could understand Jin Lian's meaning, the next person had already come up.

This was a middle-aged man in his forties, with fair skin, three long wisps of beard, and wearing a royal blue silk robe.

He was holding a wooden box in his hands. When he opened it, he found a thick stack of bonds inside, at least seventy or eighty of them.

"My surname is Chen, and I am an official in Beijing for the Shanxi merchant guild."

Last year, Shanxi merchants subscribed to a total of 8,000 taels of bonds.

Let's exchange three pairs today.

Three thousand taels!

Most of those who came to exchange silver these past few days were city dwellers.

The bonds they subscribed to were mostly one or two taels each.

This three thousand taels is more than all the silver I've exchanged in the past few days combined.

The clerk swallowed hard as he looked at the thick stack of bonds, then began to examine them one by one.

The first one is fine.

The second one is fine.

The tenth one, no problem.

The twentieth one is still fine.

When he checked the thirty-first document, the clerk stopped.

He held the bond up to the sunlight streaming through the window and examined it.

Then he picked up a genuine coupon next to him and compared it, and his expression gradually changed.

He looked at Chen Tingjing: "Manager Chen, where did this bond come from?"

Chen Tingjing replied, "Naturally, it was purchased from the Ministry of Revenue last year. How could there be a problem?"

The clerk didn't say anything, but handed the bond to another clerk next to him.

The clerk took it, glanced at it a few times, and then handed it back to the first clerk. The two exchanged a look.

The first clerk stood up and said to Chen Tingjing, "Manager Chen, please wait a moment. I'll go and fetch someone."

After saying that, he turned and went into the back room.

Chen Tingjing's expression changed slightly, but he quickly returned to normal.

A moment later, a senior official from the Ministry of Revenue came out from the back hall. His name was Zhou Yan.

As soon as Zhou Yan came out, he spotted Jin Lian in the crowd and was about to go forward to pay his respects.

Jin Lian gave him a wink, and Zhou Yan understood immediately.

He walked to the counter, picked up the selected bond, and looked at it.

He then picked up the genuine bond next to him and compared it, before looking up at Chen Tingjing: "Manager Chen, this bond is fake."

Chen Tingjing's expression changed drastically: "Impossible! The bonds issued by my Shanxi merchant guild were all purchased from the Ministry of Revenue last year, how could they be fake?"

Zhou Yan ignored him and pulled out a few more bonds from the stack, looking at them one by one.

He would put each card aside after looking at it, until he finished looking at the last one.

Zhou Yan said, "Manager Chen, you have a total of three thousand taels of bonds here."

There were 31 genuine coupons, totaling 1,200 taels.

There were forty-nine counterfeit coupons, totaling one thousand eight hundred taels.

Three thousand taels of bonds were mixed with eighteen hundred taels of fake bonds.

Manager Chen, do you really not know?

Chen Tingjing's face turned pale instantly.

The crowd behind him began to stir.

"Fake? The Shanxi merchants are using counterfeit vouchers to redeem money?"

"Impossible! Manager Chen is a person of great standing!"

"If the people from the Ministry of Revenue said so, how could it be false?"

Chen Tingjing forced himself to remain calm and said, "Sir, you say these bonds are fake, do you have any evidence?"

Although our Shanxi merchants operate on a small scale, we are not to be bullied!

Zhou Yan smiled.

He held up a fake coupon to the sunlight and pointed to the bottom right corner: "Manager Chen, please look here."

A genuine coupon will show a hidden mark when held in sunlight.

Those were special seals made by the Ministry of Revenue, printed with special inks.

Do you have this one?

Chen Tingjing leaned over to take a look, but there was nothing there.

Jin Lian held up another card: "Look at this one."

The serial numbers on genuine coupons are printed using a special font, with each stroke having a specific thickness.

Does this match?

Chen Tingjing's face grew paler and paler.

Zhou Yan gathered the counterfeit bonds together and pushed them aside: "Manager Chen, every bond issued by the Ministry of Revenue has five layers of anti-counterfeiting measures."

Those who forge it don't know, and even if they did, they couldn't replicate it.

The 1,800 taels of counterfeit currency you have are quite well-made; an ordinary person wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Chen Tingjing's lips trembled; he wanted to say something but couldn't utter a single word.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves approached from afar.

Lu Zhong arrived on horseback with several of his men.

He first approached Jin Lian: "Minister Jin, I've heard someone is using counterfeit certificates to commit fraud?"

Only then did everyone realize that the person who had been watching from the crowd was actually the Minister of Revenue.

Jin Lian pointed at Zhou Yan, indicating that he was now in charge.

Zhou Yan also stepped forward and bowed to Jin Lian, then looked at Lu Zhong: "Commander Lu, here are counterfeit vouchers totaling 1,800 taels."

The person who possessed the counterfeit coupons was this shopkeeper, Mr. Chen.

Lu Zhong took the fake coupon, flipped through it, and looked up at Chen Tingjing.

That gaze was like that of someone looking at a dead person.

Chen Tingjing's legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground with a thud: "Minister Jin, spare my life! Commander Lu, spare my life!"

I don't know what happened either!

There must be some misunderstanding here!

Lu Zhong coldly replied, "Misunderstanding? Come back to the Northern Garrison Command with me and we'll explain!"

As Lu Zhong waved his hand, several Imperial Guards grabbed Chen Tingjing and dragged him outside.

Chen Tingjing struggled desperately, shouting, "Minister Jin! I truly knew nothing! Spare me!"

The crowd gradually quieted down.

The people still in line looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

Jin Lian turned to face the crowd and cupped his hands in greeting: "You have all witnessed what happened today."

Someone tried to defraud others by using fake bonds, but the Ministry of Revenue saw through the scheme on the spot.

Every bond issued by the Ministry of Revenue has multiple anti-counterfeiting measures, making it impossible for counterfeiters to succeed.

As for the genuine bonds in your hands, the Ministry of Revenue keeps its word.

Those who are willing to pay in cash can go in and exchange it now, without missing a single penny.

For those willing to hold the shares for another year, the interest rate will be increased to 7%.

For those willing to exchange their land and shops, the Ministry of Revenue has a list available for you to choose from.

The choice is yours.

There will absolutely be no situation where you cannot redeem your currency.

Last year you trusted the imperial court, and now the imperial court will not let you down.

After a moment of silence, someone spoke up: "I bought these bonds last September for a total of ten taels."

I'm not going to redeem it; we'll talk about it next year.

The speaker was an elderly man in his fifties. He tucked the bonds into his pocket, squeezed out of the line, and left.

Many people hesitated for a moment, but then followed suit.

The line was shorter than it should have been.

But quite a few people stayed and stood in line quietly.

Jin Lian looked at the people queuing up and said to Zhou Yan, "Keep exchanging, exchange as much as you have."

Zhou Yan nodded and turned to make the arrangements.

The Ministry of Revenue is not afraid of these small investors exchanging small amounts of money.

All together they only had tens of thousands of taels.

The Ministry of Revenue needs to retain the large merchant houses, as each of these houses holds bonds worth several thousand or even tens of thousands of taels.

As long as they don't run on the bank, there shouldn't be a big problem.