Chapter 287 The solution to the money shortage (1)
After hearing Zhao Zhen's words, Chen Ke really wanted to spit in his face. The majestic Emperor of the Song Dynasty had more than 100 million people, an army of millions, and an annual military expenditure of up to 60xs tens of millions, but he was so afraid of war.
It's really disgusting.
Of course, he couldn't show his emotions, so he had to take a deep breath, nodded and said: "Small-scale armed conflicts are inevitable, but Weichen promises that the Song Dynasty will never allow the Song Dynasty to dispatch troops and enter a state of all-out war."
"Is this a military order?" Han Qi asked in a deep voice.
"It can be counted." Chen Ke also replied in a deep voice: "But, I need the full support of the court."
In fact, the big guys in Bianjing City knew very little about Dali Country. They basically listened to what Chen Ke said. Of course, this was also the reason why they were always unsure.
"According to your estimation, how much output can be produced from the copper mines in Dali?" Zeng Gongliang, the second prime minister who had been silent until the official replied, finally spoke.
This is a very important question, and everyone is looking at Chen Ke.
"The Dongchuan copper mine can be said to be endless, but it is limited by the level of mining and smelting." Chen Ke said: "According to my estimation, the initial output of Yunnan copper may only be 20 to 30 million kilograms. With the increase in manpower and material resources and technology,
With progress, production will further increase. This is why I advocate allowing businessmen to mine and the government to purchase. Because businessmen will definitely find ways to increase production in order to maximize profits."
"If you make a full calculation, let's say it's 30 million jins." Zeng Gongliang is the author of "Wu Jing Zong Yao". He has a strong technical complex, so I heard him say: "According to the system of this dynasty, three jins of copper are used to cast coins.
Ten taels, one catty of lead and eight taels of tin, the price is one thousand. It weighs five kilograms and consumes ten taels of fire." He paused and said, "So 30 million kilograms of copper can only get 8.2 million kilograms of money.
As for raising a soldier, the annual fee is 60 guan. Assuming a garrison of 50,000 people, the annual cost is 3 million guan. After deducting production and transportation costs, as well as merchants' profits, the annual cost is probably 3 to 5 million guan.
Based on this calculation, it seems that apart from solving the money shortage, the imperial court is working in vain?"
When Zeng Gongliang said this, everyone broke into a cold sweat. They all looked at Chen Ke with big eyes. If this kid didn't give a satisfactory answer, he would be scolded.
Chen Ke smiled and looked at Han Qi, who had served as the third envoy, and said: "I dare to ask Mr. How much coins are minted every year in the Song Dynasty?"
"Some years it's four million coins, and some years it's five million coins, and it generally fluctuates between these two numbers," Han Qi said.
"Now, the imperial court's coin supply has suddenly quadrupled, and the money shortage problem can be solved. For the Song Dynasty, this is something that no amount of money can buy." Chen Ke said lightly: "Let's make this issue clear.
, first of all, we must understand what is meant by money shortage?"
Of course, the big guys present would not answer his questions, so Chen Ke had to ask and answer his own questions: "In recent years, both public and private affairs have been suffering from a lack of money. Department stores are blocked, and thousands of merchants are at a loss. Humanity is in embarrassment, which is called a money shortage. I don't know, sir.
Have you ever thought about why the money shortage problem becomes more and more serious when the imperial court mints money year after year?"
"Well, I have really thought about it..." Han Qi nodded and said: "In my opinion, there are three main reasons. One is that people secretly cut money into weapons. The other is that coins flow abroad in large quantities. The other reason is.
Rich people like to hide their money."
"The Prime Minister is indeed very wise." Chen Ke patted his ass lightly and said: "These reasons have indeed aggravated the situation of placing more emphasis on money than things and insufficient currency, but these are only external causes of money shortage, not internal causes."
"What a loud tone..." Han Qi couldn't help but snorted and said, "I would like to hear the advice of the number one scholar."
"In fact, to discuss the problem of money shortage, the first thing to do is to figure out how much copper money the Song Dynasty needed to maintain the normal operation of the economy." Chen Ke tried his best to speak as plainly as possible: "What is money used for? Apart from those used as
Except for the hidden part of the wealth, the rest is used to purchase commodities. Therefore, commodities and currency are opposite poles. How many commodities were in circulation in the Song Dynasty required as much currency as they were in circulation."
In fact, what Chen Ke said is not accurate, but for these guys with zero economic knowledge to understand, the simpler the better.
Seeing everyone thinking for a while and nodding in agreement, Chen Kesong said: "So the reason for the money shortage is simply that there are too many commodities in circulation, which exceeds the supply of money. Or the currency in circulation decreases and there is not enough money to bear the goods. These two
It’s just a matter of aspect.”
"In my Tianshui dynasty, commerce and trade were prosperous and the economy was developed, which was unmatched by any previous dynasty. Especially during the decades when the officials were in power, they did little corvee and low taxes, and rested with the people. The people of the world were able to do business freely, so that
The explosive growth of commodities in the circulation field requires an urgent need to have enough currency to access department stores so that commodity exchange can be completed smoothly. In this way, the people can make more money and the court can collect more taxes." After a pause, Chen Ke sighed: "But
Our Song Dynasty lacked precious metals, and the output of gold, silver, and copper was very low. In the previous dynasty, the economy was underdeveloped and commodities were not abundant, so we could cope with the situation. But the prosperity of this dynasty is ten times more than that of the previous dynasty, and the problem of lack of money immediately became prominent.
come out."
"There is a saying that rare things are valuable, and the same goes for copper coins. Because the money shortage is getting more and more serious, the phenomenon of money being expensive and things being cheap is getting more and more serious. At this time, hoarding copper coins becomes profitable. Rich families continue to hoard copper coins.
, causing more and more copper coins to withdraw from circulation. Copper coins can only represent wealth figures when stored, but as long as the owner does not use it, it does not exist and is useless to society. Therefore, the money shortage intensifies
Money shortage, this is an increasingly vicious cycle."
Chen Ke's words were very simple, but they were like a bright light, allowing the officials and everyone to understand at once some problems that had been puzzling before. Han Qi suddenly realized:
"So the large-scale mining of Yunnan copper in Dali will not only triple the number of coins minted by the imperial court. More importantly, it will put the copper coins at risk of long-term depreciation... Because although the number of mines is limited, the reserves of copper mines are unlimited, and the market
There will only be more and more copper coins on the market, and there is no risk of exhaustion. Therefore, the copper coins hoarded by wealthy households will no longer increase in value but depreciate. So they will try their best to spend the money, so that the copper coins on the market will increase immediately and the money will be scarce.
Only then has the problem been completely solved... As more money is spent, the court's tax revenue will naturally increase, and the problem of not being able to make ends meet will naturally be solved!"
"Congratulations, Mr. Han!" Chen Ke was really convinced this time. Han Qi was indeed a genius for being able to accept and understand the theories of later generations so quickly.
"You are the wise one!" Han Qi looked at Chen Ke with admiration and said, "I think you should come to the Third Division. After a few years of experience, you can be in charge of the financial planning of the Song Dynasty."
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Mr. Han rarely praises others. Hearing him praise Chen Ke so much, the officials were very happy... He went out of his way to become the number one scholar, and the ministers were more or less criticized. Now even the most demanding Han Qi is full of praise for Chen Ke.
Of course you have to prove your vision.
"What kind of support do you need?" Zhao Zhen asked Chen Ke with a smile.
"Reporting to the official family, there are three things. First, transfer old general Yang Wenguang and his troops from Guangnan Road to enter Yunnan, and recruit 30,000 to 50,000 horses on the spot in Guangnan. Second, recruit 100,000 civilians from Guangdong and Guangxi, and transfer several
A technical officer was responsible for dredging the Hongshui River. Thirdly, in order to solve the problem of military and engineering expenses, the court was asked to subcontract the future copper mines to businessmen of the Song Dynasty by purchasing money in advance."
"You have really bad eyesight." Han Qi chuckled and said, "I immediately named the First Lingnan Army." Now he looked at Chen Ke much more favorably.
"Otherwise, there is no way to intimidate the people of Dali." Chen Ke replied with a smile: "Otherwise, there is no way to organize and train the new army. Once the new army is formed, General Yang can continue to sit in Dali and deter Jiaozhi and Tubo.
Move elsewhere, but listen to the imperial court's orders."
"The first two can be considered, but the third one, the mining, transportation, and coinage of copper mines have always been handled by the imperial court, not by merchants." Fu Bi said: "This is related to the security of the Song Dynasty."
"The situation is different. First of all, the copper mines in Dali are inexhaustible, and the court does not need to worry about over-exploitation. Second, mining Yunnan copper is only the first step, and it needs to be transported out of Dali to be useful. However, the Dali mountains are high and the water is far away.
, transportation is difficult, as long as the imperial court controls the waterway of the Hongshui River, it can ensure that all the copper ore is transported to Qianjian, and there is no risk of getting out of control."
Chen Ke's statement was so reasonable that the officials and the princes could no longer raise any questions, so they asked him to retreat first and wait for the decree.
After Chen Ke left, Zhao Zhen looked at the ministers and said, "What do you think of sending troops to Dali?"
Speaking at this time is a responsibility. Several political advisors and deputy ministers looked at the Prime Minister and the Privy Council.
At this time, Fu Bi, as Prime Minister, naturally had no shirk. He sighed softly and changed the subject: "Last year's floods across the country caused disasters everywhere, and relief was needed everywhere, but the national treasury was empty. To be honest, if it hadn't been for the end of the year,
I don’t know how I can get the income from selling land for Thirteenth Line Shop. Officials have night clothes and food, and everyone should be tired. But it can’t be like this anymore... There is no Thirteenth Line Shop in Bianjing City that can be sold.
!”
Everyone nodded. The three major problems of the imperial court - redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses - are, in the final analysis, a financial crisis. Nowadays, the court's deficit is getting bigger and bigger, and the national treasury is empty. If it is not solved, there will be a big problem.
questionable.
"Being in charge of a business is nothing more than reducing expenditure and increasing revenue." Fu Bi said very sincerely, "Reducing expenditure is to cut down on three redundancies, but everyone knows that every redundancy is connected with endless obstacles. If you make a little move, you will definitely save someone.
I will jump out and fight with you. The three redundancies must be cut, but to be steady in your approach, you must first be steady in your heart. Only when you have money in the treasury and don't panic when encountering problems can you stay calm and start cutting them step by step."
"Prime Minister, this is a mature way to plan for the country." Zhao Zhen heard this and said with admiration: "Opening the source of funds is something that everyone is happy about. There is little resistance and the effect is good."