"In other words, the value of the treasure banknotes at this time has dropped by half. Sinners call this situation depreciation. The value of the treasure banknotes is only half of what it was before. That is to say, the usual treasure banknotes are actually only worth five hundred coins.
However, the imperial court continued to issue treasure banknotes on the basis that it had always been consistent. The main ways for the imperial court to issue treasure banknotes were officials' salaries, the purchase of court supplies, the purchase of military grain and grass, and the issuance of military pay and pensions, etc."
"What's the problem with this? I don't care how much the treasure is worth, as long as I give it to them, how dare they object?" Although Lao Zhu's tone was light, the domineering power revealed in his words was overwhelming.
Like a giant standing tall on the sky and the earth, he can easily overlook everything.
"Your Majesty is so persuasive that what he says is what he says, and they will naturally not object. But Your Majesty, after all, the treasure banknotes issued are used to purchase goods. In the end, they still have to buy various items, such as food.
Cloth, etc. Since His Majesty distributes it to them in a way that a treasure banknote is worth a certain amount of wealth, they will only trade with farmers and workers in a way that a treasure banknote is worth the same commodity. This is not a problem for them.
What to lose? But this is an endless plunder of the people, because the people can't exchange for anything of the same value with the treasure banknotes. They can only exchange for five hundred coins. This is equivalent to the fact that in this transaction, the people
Half of the wealth has been taken away invisibly."
Are you plundering the people's wealth by issuing treasure banknotes? Zhu Biao was shocked when he heard this. He opened his mouth in the shape of an "O" and looked at Han Du, speechless.
Han Du did not stop and spoke out the dangers of treasure banknotes while the iron was hot: "What's more serious is that treasure banknotes circulate from top to bottom. This circulation process cannot go from top to bottom in an instant, but there will be
A long period of time. Officials and businessmen are all upstream in this process. They will notice the depreciation of the treasure banknotes at the first time. If they continue to keep the treasure banknotes, their wealth will inevitably decrease. In order to avoid this
If the situation changes, they will definitely try their best to recover their losses, tighten the use of gold and silver in their hands, and exchange all their treasures for things."
Having said this, Han Du smiled at the eunuch and said, "My father-in-law, a silver coin is now five hundred coins, right? Come on, there are twenty coins here. Give me the ten taels of silver in your hand. Come on, come on.
,come on......"
As Han Du said, he directly put all his treasure money into the eunuch's hand, and then dug out the silver from the eunuch's hand.
The eunuch was completely at a loss when faced with Han Du's banditry. Although he didn't understand why Han Du did this, he always felt that it was not a good thing for him and desperately wanted to hold on to the money in his hand.
However, Han Du came prepared. The eunuch was no match for him. As the last piece of silver was pulled out of the eunuch's hand, Han Du happily blew on the last piece of silver and put it in his hand happily.
The eunuch held all the treasures in his hands, without even half a piece of silver in his hand. He looked at Lao Zhu with a cry and said: "Your Majesty, this, this, this..."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned livid, he slapped his hand on the imperial case, stood up suddenly, and shouted angrily: "They dare!"
The eunuch's legs were so frightened that he almost dropped the treasure banknote in his hand to the ground. When he realized that the emperor was not talking about him, but was glaring at Han Du angrily, he felt certain in his heart. At the same time, he thought about it a little and figured something out.
.
When Han Du asked him to represent farmers and workers, he didn't know if Han Du meant it. At that time, he had a knot in his heart, feeling that Han Du disrespected him.
Now it seems that Han Du deliberately wanted him to avoid the emperor's anger. If Han Du asked him to represent Shi and Shang at that time, he really doesn't know how to face the emperor's anger now, even if it is not his fault
, at the very least, there will be a gap between the emperor and him.
And if an emperor is alienated from the eunuch around him, what will happen to this eunuch?
The eunuch trembled when he thought of this, and cast a grateful look at Han Du. Mr. Han is a good man.
Han Du didn't notice the friendly gaze of the eunuch. If he knew that the first good guy card in his life actually came from an old eunuch, he would probably be so angry that he wouldn't be able to eat for a few days.
Facing Lao Zhu's anger, Han Du spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, after all, they have done nothing illegal. They only need to exchange the treasure money for rice and grain as soon as they get it. No matter what happened to the treasure money,
depreciation, they can avoid losses to the greatest extent."
"What does depreciation mean?" Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask.
"Back to Your Highness, depreciation means that the value of treasure banknotes is getting less and less."
Zhu Biao suddenly asked, and after receiving Han Du's answer, he fell into silence with his head bowed, probably thinking about the treasure.
Although Lao Zhu was furious, after hearing Han Du's words, his anger suddenly dropped. He thought: "Han Du is right. Even if I issue an edict, it will be of no use. After all, the treasure money is given by myself with my salary."
For officials, how can we force them not to exchange things with the people? Isn’t this becoming a hooliganism?”
Although Lao Zhu often acted like a hooligan in the court, after all, he was targeting individual officials. If he really had to face all the officials in the court, Lao Zhu himself would be frightened.
And this is only a part of the treasure banknotes issued. In fact, most of the treasure banknotes were used to prepare for the Northern Expedition. It has only been fourteen years since the first year of Hongwu, and the Ming Dynasty has already gone to the north three times. Each time the Northern Expedition, the Ming Dynasty
More than 100,000 troops were needed, hundreds of thousands of civilians were recruited, and countless other supplies such as grain and grass were needed, which required a large amount of money to support.
Where does this money come from?
During the first northern expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, the national treasury was still somewhat full at that time. Lao Zhu captured a lot in the process of pacifying the world, but no matter how much he captured, he could not withstand the consumption of the war.
Moreover, Lao Zhu also cared about the people. In the first year of Hongwu, he issued a decree to exempt land reclamation from taxes for three years. In addition to the Jiangnan area, land in other places also received various degrees of tax exemptions.
As a result, although the wealth of the people has increased sharply and the people's lives are getting better year by year, Lao Zhu's money bag has become like water without a source and a tree without roots. The taxes collected every year are not even enough to pay salaries to officials.
, the treasury is getting emptier year by year.
In the fifth year of Hongwu, after the second northern expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, the national treasury was so empty that a rat could starve to death. It was not until the eighth year of Hongwu when the treasure banknotes began to be issued that this situation began to change, and only then was there enough energy to support another northern expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty last year.
.
Although last year's Northern Expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty was a success and a lot of seizures were made, if you count it with your fingers, it was a loss in terms of material consumption, pensions, and rewards.
Originally, Lao Zhu didn't care if he lost a little, because he had the wealth gathered from issuing treasures. As long as he could completely eliminate Meng Yuan, a serious problem in his heart, and get a stable north, it would be worthwhile.
But now Han Du told him that the wealth he accumulated by distributing treasure notes was plundering people's wealth.
Every northern expedition to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty consumed the wealth of the people.
Lao Zhu himself is a commoner. He has seen how miserable the life of too many people at the bottom is, and he has even experienced a lot of it himself.
It is precisely because of this that Lao Zhu reduced taxes more than once after he became emperor. He just wanted to make the lives of ordinary people better and easier.
But the money he originally thought he had found as a way to get rich turned out to be a plunder of the people, even more so than the tax exemptions he had reduced. This made Lao Zhu's heart feel like a knife.
On the one hand, Meng Yuan, who was making it difficult for him to sleep and eat, was eyeing him in the north. Is it okay not to conquer Meng Yuan? No, Meng Yuan must die.
But war requires money. Without the support of treasure money, what would he use to go to the Northern Expedition?
But issuing treasure banknotes is plundering people's wealth. Wouldn't it make the people who are already hungry and cold even worse?
Lao Zhu, who has been decisive in killing all his life, also hesitated. Faced with such a dilemma, he didn't know how to choose.
Staring at Han Du fiercely, he regretted summoning Han Du now. He really wished he had not summoned Han Du today and had not heard his words.
Lao Zhu couldn't help but grab the inkstone on the imperial desk with one hand. The veins were exposed, as if he wanted to crush the inkstone. Even if red cinnabar stained his fingers, he didn't notice it at all.
Lao Zhu really wanted to smash the inkstone in his hand onto Han Du's forehead, but he knew that he could not hide his behind the scenes. If killing Han Du could solve the problem, then Lao Zhu would definitely not hesitate. But it was a pity that he killed Han Du.
It's no use, the problem is still not solved at all. These problems are real and are not caused by Han Du.
"How could this happen? If so, wouldn't it be..." Zhu Biao turned his head and looked at Lao Zhu with a horrified expression.
Zhu Biao has been helping Lao Zhu to manage government affairs for a long time, and he knows exactly where the treasure money goes. Zhu Biao even knows how many treasure notes are distributed every year, how much goes to official salaries, and how much military supplies are purchased. He knows everything clearly.
.
It is precisely because he knows that what Han Du said will definitely come true. As soon as the treasure banknotes begin to depreciate, officials will definitely use the treasure banknotes as soon as possible. Since the purchase of military supplies is a national matter, the purchase
People who supply military supplies will only purchase supplies according to the face value of the treasure banknotes.
In this case, it is the common people who suffer no matter what.
When Han Du saw Lao Zhu and the prince changing their expressions at the same time, he laughed in his heart. Are you scared by this? Then let me add fuel to your fire.
"Your Majesty, once the treasure banknotes begin to depreciate, the distributed treasure banknotes will form a cycle, a vicious circle. People with spare money and savings will desperately hold on to the gold and silver in their hands, and waste more treasures
The banknotes are used in transactions. In this way, from the first banknote issued to the present, all the banknotes will be flooded throughout the people in a very short period of time, which will rapidly promote the depreciation of the banknotes.