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Chapter 658 Coinage

The Zhao State had experience in destroying countries before, such as the Zhongshan State, but the Zhongshan State was a small country after all. Although some people in later generations called it the eighth hero of the Warring States Period, it was actually not on the same level as the other seven.

Zhongshan State has been surrounded by Zhao State for a long time. Its customs, habits, language and writing are not very different from Zhao State. After Zhao State annexed Zhongshan State, it did not encounter much resistance in terms of governance.

The Yan State is located in the northeast and has been isolated from the Central Plains for a long time. It has already evolved its own system. The Zhao State needs to break this system and shape the Zhao State's system.

Yan State is remote and isolated from the Central Plains. Even if trouble occurs, Zhao State has enough ability and time to solve it.

Yan State is large enough. After Zhao State succeeds, it can use the same method to solve other areas in the future.

The governance of the Yan region will provide the most valuable experience for Zhao's future development.

Everyone heard the unprecedented firmness in Zhao Kuo's tone, and they quickly leaned over and said yes.

"The fourth thing is to mint coins. I am going to mint 200 million copper coins, weighing one baht and ten baht respectively. The style is a round square hole. Among them, there are 100 million one-baht coins and 100 million ten-baht coins."

Zhao Kuo said.

This matter is not only to mint coins, but also to unify the currency.

At this time, there are mainly four types of copper coins in the world. The first type is cloth coins, which evolved from Kongshou cloth.

Kongshou cloth is a large coin cast in the Zhou Dynasty. It looks like a shovel or other agricultural tool. Because there is a round hole in the head for the handle, it is called Kongshou cloth.

The inside of the cloth coins is also very confusing. There are ones with round shoulders, square feet, and round spans. There are ones with square shoulders, square feet, and round spans. There are ones with square shoulders, pointed feet, and round spans. There are ones with square shoulders, square feet, and square spans.

.

There are all kinds of styles.

The second type is the knife coin, which, as the name suggests, is a copper coin that looks like a knife.

Cloth coins evolved from farm tools, while knife coins evolved from knives.

There are also big and small knives and coins, pointed and rounded.

The third type is round copper coins, which are relatively familiar to everyone, and their appearance is more in line with the aesthetics of later generations, but most of them are without holes or have round holes. The square holes are mainly half liang from the Qin Dynasty.

money.

The fourth type is copper shell, which evolved from the original shell coin and was mainly used by the Chu State.

The Qin State mainly used round coins, that is, half a liang of money, one liang is equal to twenty-four baht.

Yan and Qi mainly used knife coins, Han mainly used cloth coins, and Wei mainly used cloth coins and round coins, with different units.

The Zhao Kingdom was the most chaotic. In addition to copper shells, cloth coins, knife coins, and round coins were all used. Moreover, the minting power was not returned to the central government. Each major city or noble had the minting power and could mint currency. This led to Zhao

The currency types in the country are very confusing, and there are all kinds of currencies.

Anyone can make it, and the quality of the money produced can be imagined.

Don't expect some people's conscience to mint enough copper coins for you. Even if such people existed, they would have been eliminated long ago.

The currency chaos directly affected the people's livelihood development of Zhao State.

Zhao Kuo wanted to mint coins a few years ago. In addition to the money shortage at that time, the main reason was to unify the currency.

The money shortage is of certain benefit to the State of Zhao. If it weren't for the money shortage, everyone from the common people to the nobles and nobles would be short of money. No one would hold their noses and use banknotes, and the banknotes would not be so smoothly recognized by everyone.

There was really no money in the whole country, and there was no money in other countries. Many people had no choice but to barter, which allowed paper money to circulate.

But at that time, Zhao Kuo had neither time nor money. The copper produced by Zhao State every year was too little, and it would not make a big splash if he poured it all in. Moreover, if Zhao State used enough copper to mint coins, they would exchange them for inferior coins cast by other countries or nobles.

You can lose copper coins and pants.

If Zhao State also casts inferior copper coins, it would be meaningless whether to cast them or not.

Nowadays, large-scale merchants either transfer goods through accounts, use banknotes, or barter. No one would choose heavy copper coins. However, for the common people at the bottom, heavy copper coins can give people a more sense of security.

Zhao State's casting of inferior copper coins will not deceive others, it will only deceive the people at the lowest level, and then backfire on Zhao State itself.

Now Zhao Guoteng has started, and after several years of accumulation, Zhao Guo has continued to mine copper mines, and Yuan Hua has shipped a large number of copper blocks from Yingzhou. Zhao Kuo now finally has the confidence to mint coins.

Although one hundred million one baht and one hundred million ten baht are completely insufficient, the number of coins minted by Zhao State has increased many times compared with the previous ones.

"In addition, the coinage rights of local and nobles will be recovered. In other words, from now on, no one except the imperial court will be allowed to mint money privately, which is against the ban of exile in Yingzhou. Those who have experience in minting before, or still are

At the place where coins are minted, nobles must hand over all molds and mint workers to the court within three months. Starting next year, the new coins will be officially implemented. The court will gradually recycle other versions of copper coins. Three years later, the baht coins will be abolished.

All copper coins other than copper coins are prohibited from being traded by anyone using the old version of copper coins." Zhao Kuo continued.

Zhao State had not been able to abolish other copper coins before, because the borders of various countries were intertwined, business exchanges were close, and Zhao State's own strength was not particularly outstanding. If Zhao State abolished it unilaterally, it would directly lead to the paralysis of Zhao State's business. Businessmen from various countries regarded Zhao State as

It's a forbidden area. If you can't come, don't come.

Although large merchants rarely use copper coins, small and medium-sized merchants still rely heavily on copper coins.

But things are different now. Zhao has become stronger and more confident.

Rules are made by the strong. Zhao used to obey the rules, but now he is making rules.

Zhao Guo Chamber of Commerce is spread all over the world, and more than half of the world's businessmen have joined the Zhao Guo Chamber of Commerce. Zhao Guo has the cheapest salt in the world, a monopoly on paper, a near-monopoly on war horses and coal, the most sophisticated agricultural tools in the world, and the best tasting food.

milk wine...

The world can no longer do without the State of Zhao, and merchants cannot do without the State of Zhao.

Especially now, the really big businessmen and the businessmen who dare to take risks have all gone to the Western Regions, and the remaining small and medium-sized businessmen can only eat soup in the Central Plains.

When doing business in the Central Plains, except for a few commodities such as Shu brocade and colored glaze, all other commodities are inseparable from the State of Zhao.

No one stood up to object. When Zhao Kuo discussed with them, he really discussed it. He could raise any opinions he had, but if he gave an order, then objection would be useless.

Moreover, it took more than a day or two for the State of Zhao to prepare the coins. Everyone had already guessed this day when they saw the shiploads of copper blocks being transported back to Handan.

It would be beneficial to everyone to unify the currency and ban inferior currencies.

"If the old coins are recycled, the 200 million copper coins minted alone may not be enough. And...someone may take the risk and mint a large number of low-quality copper coins in exchange for high-quality copper coins." Lin Xiangru said.

There is no shortage of people in this world who take risks out of desperation. As long as the benefits are sufficient, people will flock to them even if they are decapitated.

"Just recast the recycled old coins into new coins. Although there will be losses, the difference will not be too big, unless all the recycled coins are extremely inferior copper plates. As for the second point, for those who exchange a large number of copper coins,

You can ask them to provide the source of the copper coins, and then exchange them after verification. If they are too inferior, they will not be exchanged," Cai Ze said.

In fact, there are not many coins that are too inferior. Although most copper coins cannot be called genuine, they are barely usable and are much better than those of the later Han Dynasty.

It’s not that these people have a bottom line, it’s that the world is not unified at this time and everyone is selective. The coins you mint are too bad and no one will use them. Not only will you not make any money, but you will also waste your money.

"What if the other party distributes the money to a large number of civilians and the civilians exchange it? Even the government may not be able to find it. I also suggest that low-quality copper coins be exchanged at a discount." Yu Xin said.

"No." Zhao Kuo said immediately, "Zhao State has different copper coins, and it is difficult to set a discount standard. Even if the standard is set, various problems will occur during the implementation process, and in the end the lowest level of civilians will suffer.

I would rather the court suffer a little loss."

Theoretically speaking, there is no problem with the discount treatment mentioned by Yu Xin, and it can minimize the court's losses.

The court can make money by minting coins, but if they are used to exchange old coins, Zhao will not only be unable to make money, but will also lose a lot of money. Yu Xin also wanted to reduce Zhao's losses.

But this matter needs to be handled by people. When people handle it, there will be subjective judgments. If the judgment standards of both parties are different, some people will be dissatisfied.

It is even possible for the lower-level officials to label copper plates of good quality as inferior copper plates, give them to civilians at a discount, and then report them to the court according to the standard of good quality, earning the difference for themselves.

This kind of thing has happened frequently over the past two thousand years.

In the end, both the court and the people lost money, the court lost the support of the people, and had to bear the infamy of those corrupt officials who enriched their own pockets.

Rather than letting corrupt officials get away with it, it is better to distribute this money to the people.

"I, the officials of the State of Zhao, can handle these things well." Yu Xin's eyes were full of faith. There may be some of the officials of the State of Zhao who enrich themselves, some who cheat, and some who harm the people, but he can guarantee that most of the officials of the State of Zhao can

I have ideals, I won’t go there, and I don’t bother to do such a thing.

He has been to many countries. In the past, Zhao State may have been no different from these countries, but the officials of Zhao State have changed a lot in recent years. Yu Xin felt honored to be an official in the same court as these people.

"It's not that the king doesn't trust officials, but... there are officials below officials. Can you guarantee the officials, can you guarantee the officials?" Lin Xiangru came to the rescue.

Officials and officials have not been the same class since ancient times. Whether it is now in various countries or later in the Han, Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties, there are very few real officials.

For example, in the Han Dynasty, according to statistics, there were only more than 8,000 real officials. With such a small number of people, they could not manage the entire Han Dynasty well even if they did not sleep or eat or drink.

However, the total number of officials in the Han Dynasty totaled more than 120,000.

Zhao officials counted nearly a thousand people including Yan lands, but officials counted nearly ten thousand even if they didn't count the Yan lands that had not yet been counted.

It is these officials who really help the country manage the grassroots level. It is these officials who can truly represent the court and reach out to the common people.

During the feudal system, officials were originally retainers or servants of the princes, assisting them in managing their fiefdoms.

Later, the enfeoffment system gradually disintegrated and became the county system. Officials became floating officials and were appointed directly by the central government.

However, the official position was fixed, and the son inherited his father's business and passed it down from generation to generation, gradually becoming a local leader in various places.

These officials actually control the grassroots level of the country, and even control the destiny of the country. Whenever the control of the country declines, these officials will unscrupulously force the people, and finally force the people to rebel.

They turned around and continued to hang out with the new owner.

Except for special opportunities, no matter how good these officials are, they cannot become officials. In other words, the upward path is locked from the beginning.

Such a group of people who have lost "hope" control the bottom of the country. You can imagine what the bottom is like.

Thieves like Tuo Tuo cannot be caught, and fugitives like Xiang Liang and Zhang Liang are even less likely to be caught. The most they can do is catch honest people.

After all, there is nothing an honest person can do against them.

Not to mention unjust, false and wrongful convictions, subjugation, corruption, perversion of the law, corruption and bribery, etc.

In order to solve the problem of officials forcing people to rebel, ancient China invented a system: amnesty for the world.

The criminals caught are released in this way to alleviate public resentment.

Every time the Qin State conquered a place, it would pardon the criminals and move them to these places. Also moved there were merchants, their sons, and their grandsons...

Later, Qin II issued a general amnesty to the world and ordered Zhang Han to command a group of pardoned criminals to suppress the rebellion. The effect was extremely effective and he won consecutively until he met Liu Bang and Xiang Yu.

The Han Dynasty and the following dynasties were very disciplined, and whenever something big happened, they would offer amnesty to the whole country.

During Liu Bang's twelve years in power, he granted amnesty twelve times.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty reigned for fifty-five years and granted amnesty twenty-five times.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the division between officials and officials became more obvious. Officials were the superior people, and officials were the inferior people. Out of contempt for officials, those who were born as officials were not allowed to take the imperial examination for the third generation.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Completely losing hope, the officials became more unscrupulous. In "Water Margin", Bai Sheng stole the birthday card and paid some money to get out.

The Warring States Period was okay, not as deformed as the Tang and Song Dynasties. If you were lucky, officials could still become officials, and they could become high officials.

The worst thing is, if I don't live with you anymore, I will have a chance to live in other countries. It's just that the chance is very, very small, but it's not impossible.

Moreover, there are standards for the selection of officials, and not just anyone can be an official.

For example, Liu Bang became the chief of the pavilion only after passing the examination.

But the power of local snakes has already formed, such as Liu Bang...

Whether they are officials of Zhao State or officials of other countries, they must rely on officials to govern the local area. This is inevitable.

But it’s hard to say what an official’s ability is…

Moreover, at this time, Zhao State did not set up a standard system for assessment and selection of officials like Qin State.

Zhao State is still lagging behind in this regard.

"I naturally believe in the officials of my Zhao State, but our Zhao State is so big that I cannot trust all the officials." Zhao Kuo said calmly. Different status means different ideas. Zhao Kuo himself does not believe in virtue.

Virtue can only educate people, but cannot discipline them.

Lawyers must rely on the law.

"Does your Majesty have the molds and finished products for the new coins?" Lin Xiangru continued to ask without dwelling on the previous question.

"Yes." Zhao Kuo handed Lin Xiangru the molds and finished products that had been prepared.

"The quality is good, with round square holes and easy to carry. You should not object to the new coins." Lin Xiangru took the finished product, nodded, and then said awkwardly, "It's just... I, the State of Zhao, can't spare the manpower right now."

"I have told the Mohists that hydraulic forging is mainly used. Technically, it is not a problem. We don't need too many manpower. The workshop is enough." Zhao Kuo said.

"In that case, I have no other opinions." Lin Xiangru shook his head.

"I don't have any objections," everyone said as they leaned over.


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