Compared to others, Huang Zongzhou cared the most about people's livelihood. He was always demoted by Emperor Chongzhen, so he had more contact with the people and naturally saw ordinary spinning machines.
Today, Emperor Chongzhen has arranged ordinary spinning machines and Jenny spinning machines in this side hall. No introduction is needed. He just asked the palace maid to demonstrate them on the spot. The efficiency can naturally be seen at a glance, which is far better than speaking verbally.
Emperor Chongzhen has always come up with new things in the past six months. These ministers have all seen it and have experience. Therefore, Huang Zongzhou spoke out about the new spinning machine.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen looked at the Jenny spinning machine that Huang Zongzhou pointed at, smiled and nodded and said: "That's right! You must have seen that this spinning machine is many times faster than the original spinning machine.
Bar?"
One good thing about Confucianism is that no matter what they think in their hearts, at least on the surface, they have a great meaning, which is to pay attention to people's livelihood.
Therefore, Huang Zongzhou immediately responded with admiration on his face: "Your Majesty is so powerful that with this new spinning machine, the people will be much better off from the cold!"
If this thing invented by Emperor Chongzhen was just for his own entertainment like Emperor Tianqi, he would definitely be attacked by them; however, this thing is related to people's livelihood, so that's different.
Hearing that these ministers were flattering him again, Emperor Chongzhen was very happy. He did not introduce anything more and just said to them: "Let me see one more thing!"
Then, he stepped out first and arrived at the Jiyi Hall, a side hall on the other side of the main Jing Hall.
This time, He Fengsheng and others had gained experience, and they were all a little curious as to what good things the emperor had invented. In their anxiety, they moved a lot faster.
Just like last time, after entering the palace, Emperor Chongzhen asked the maid waiting here to demonstrate, and there was an intuitive comparison immediately.
Seeing the surprised expressions of his ministers, Emperor Chongzhen introduced them to them: "Did you realize that this loom is just equipped with a sliding shuttle, which not only reduces manual operations, but also greatly increases the efficiency of weaving?"
Improve the quality, and the cloth weaved will be wider and better!”
"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" He Fengsheng and others responded to his introduction in unison.
Emperor Chongzhen waited for them to finish with some enjoyment, and then said with a smile: "With these two things you have seen, my efficiency from cotton to cotton cloth will be much faster, and the cost will be reduced a lot. I will look back later."
If people grow more cotton, the people will be able to afford new clothes."
Having said this, he paused, raised his voice a little, and said the key point: "I will set up a state-owned factory to take charge of this matter. It will be jointly managed by the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Shangyi Supervisor, and the profits will be divided into eighty-two cents."
In the past, Emperor Chongzhen had already built a glass factory, but he did not share the profits with the outer court. He only gave the officials who invested in the shares the right of first refusal. This time, he gave the majority of the profits to the treasury, which surprised these officials.
.
Even so, some people still thought of something, their faces changed slightly, and they wanted to speak.
However, Emperor Chongzhen turned around and walked out, towards the main hall of worship, and said at the same time: "I will show you something more!"
Upon hearing this, He Fengsheng and others couldn't help but be very curious, could there be something good?
However, when they entered the main hall with Emperor Chongzhen, they found nothing but some palace maids standing there holding trays.
The tray was covered with red cloth, but you couldn't tell what it was.
Emperor Chongzhen just waved his hand, and the maids received the order and came to the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty with trays in their hands.
Just listen to Emperor Chongzhen saying to them: "Please open it and take a look!"
He Fengsheng and others were curious, so they opened the red cloth in front of their eyes and were slightly startled when they saw the things on the tray.
After coming back to their senses, they all reached for the things on the tray and looked at them carefully.
Zuo Maodi picked up one and saw a flying dragon printed on one side, with two characters on the left and right sides, which meant "Twelve". Turning it over, a circle of auspicious clouds formed the edge, and a string of small characters in the middle read: Ming Dynasty Silver Coin,
The counterfeiter beheaded.
There are also lines on the edge of this silver coin. If I touch it with my hands and weigh it with my hands, I'm afraid it's less than ten taels. However, it's hard to say that it's exquisitely made. Both the pattern and the characters are slightly raised.
Later, Zuo Maodi picked up another one and looked at it. It was leading a flying phoenix, five taels. The others were similar, and the weight should not be five taels.
Looking at the coins one by one, Zuo Maodi quickly understood that they were twelve taels, five taels, two taels, one tael, ten cents, five cents, two cents, one cent, ten cents, five cents, two cents, one cent.
There are twelve kinds of silver coins in total.
In addition, there are copper coins, similar to this silver coin, which are ten, five, two and one, corresponding to the meaning of ten copper plates, five copper plates, two copper plates and one copper plate.
After reading this, senior officials of the Ming Dynasty, including Zuo Maodi, immediately understood the meaning of the silver and copper coins in front of them.
When they really wanted to say something, they heard Emperor Chongzhen say to them with a serious expression: "I have been training the new army before, and now I have achieved results. It's time to free up my energy and improve people's livelihood!"
Invisibly, he pointed out that this victory was all because he focused on the army.
Of course, no one present, including Du Yinxi, who actually carried out the execution, denied this statement. After all, they had all seen what Emperor Chongzhen did.
Today's unprecedented victory is indeed all the hard work of Emperor Chongzhen.
When they heard what Emperor Chongzhen said, they subconsciously listened attentively. Faintly, there was a little expectation that the emperor would do the next thing?
They were thinking that Emperor Chongzhen continued to speak: "The north will soon be settled, and people's livelihood will come first. And the key to people's livelihood lies in this coin..."
After hearing this, the people present basically couldn't understand it. The key to people's livelihood is not to recuperate and recuperate. Why is money the most important?
Emperor Chongzhen glanced at their expressions and understood their doubts, so he continued to explain: "There is a lot of waste waiting to be done. It is really a time when money is needed everywhere. I decided to establish the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank, which is also a bank.
Similar. We provide safekeeping of gold and silver property for wealthy families without charging storage fees to relieve their worries; we provide loans for ordinary people with annual interest of only 10%. In this way, all my people can benefit from it!"
After a pause, he pointed at the coins on the tray with his hand, and then continued: "These coins are exquisite and expensive to make, but they can solve the inconvenience of people's buying and selling and the inconvenience of carrying them when traveling. These coins and gold
The price difference of silver is actually just the cost of construction."
At this point, seeing the ministers wanting to speak, Emperor Chongzhen waved his hands gently, not giving him a chance to speak, and continued: "Today's silver ingots and copper coins, together with these coins, can be freely used. Three years later,
, you can only use this kind of coins."
"All the salaries, wages and salaries of the royal family and nobles of the capital, the civil and military officials, the Yongwei camp and the Beijing camp, as well as inside and outside the palace, are all issued by the bank, and they are of this kind of money. They must not be corrupted or lost; below the seventh grade
, it can be exchanged back to ordinary silver money through the bank. Civil servants and generals of seventh to fifth rank can only exchange half of their salary for ordinary silver money. As for those of fifth rank and above, they cannot be exchanged. I emphasize here that if you can exchange it, I guarantee the exchange. If
If the current silver is not enough, all the income from the glass factory, textile factory, honeysuckle, etc. will be used as collateral."
"In addition, the imperial court will only collect these coins when collecting taxes. Glass factories, textile factories and other shops controlled both inside and outside the palace will only accept these coins."
Having said this, he paused and looked at the ministers in front of him who were thinking, and some of them wanted to speak, so he raised his voice and became a little more severe: "If it is discovered that the silver content of these coins changes in the future,
It’s too small and beyond the normal range. Once discovered, the relevant persons will be killed without mercy!”
Upon hearing this, the minister who wanted to speak just stopped.
This kind of coin is actually similar to the Ming Dynasty treasure banknote. From now on, it will be valued based on the face value on it.
However, the difference between this silver coin and copper coin is that the Ming Dynasty banknote itself has no value at all. If too many are printed, it will be worthless.
However, most of these silver coins and copper coins contain silver or copper. Even if they depreciate, they will not be lower than the value of the silver and copper content. In other words, there is a prerequisite for maintaining value.
And just now Emperor Chongzhen emphasized that the proportion of silver or copper will not change. To put it bluntly, it will not decrease, otherwise someone will be killed. In this way, there will be even more
share protection.
However, the people present were all human beings. Although Emperor Chongzhen spoke grandly, they also knew that in this way, they would definitely make a lot of money just from minting coins.
In fact, since the Ming Dynasty, local tycoons have been secretly casting copper plates to reduce the copper content and make a lot of money.
Looking at the silver and copper coins in front of them, they had to admit that these silver and copper coins were indeed exquisitely made. It would be impossible for the people to imitate them. Maybe the emperor invented something and used it in the casting of these coins.
superior.
After the hall was quiet for a while, these people all realized that this bank, which was similar to a bank account, would definitely be very profitable. As a result, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance quit working.
What kind of bank of yours cannot be relegated to the inner palace? The treasury is still starving to death!
In fact, he had objections when Emperor Chongzhen returned all the confiscated money to the inner treasury. However, Emperor Chongzhen was frightened and did not dare to fight for the money.
It was also used for practical purposes, rather than spent by Emperor Chongzhen himself.
Nowadays, Emperor Chongzhen seems to be back to normal, and this bank is definitely a cornucopia, with money constantly coming in, so he naturally wants to compete.