Chapter eight hundred and eighty seventh consultation
Guo Song thought for a while and asked: "Do you know the origin of calligraphy and painting? Logically speaking, it is impossible for a businessman to own such a thing."
"Didn't I ask just now? My father-in-law also asked me to ask about the origin of calligraphy and painting. She said that her husband's grandfather bought it during the Anshi Rebellion. It only cost 3,000 guan at that time. It was bought from a general under An Lushan.
Purchase.”
Guo Song was relieved. After An Lushan occupied Chang'an, many precious collections in the palace and the mansions of dignitaries were lost to the people. This was right.
If it is a small piece of calligraphy and painting, 50,000 guan is a little more expensive, but for a large-scale central hall calligraphy and painting, 50,000 guan is really not expensive, not to mention the calligraphy and painting by Yu Shinan and Yan Liben. As my father-in-law said, even if you have money, you can't buy it.
"Can I buy it?" Guo Song asked.
Guo Ping smiled and said: "That's what Mrs. Liu came to me for just now. They felt that my interest rate was too high and they couldn't make any money. But they couldn't borrow so much money from other people. The cabinet shop could only borrow 10,000 yuan at most.
They asked me if I wanted to buy the calligraphy and painting."
"Buy it for fifty thousand dollars?"
"No, they want 50,000 taels of silver or 5,000 taels of gold, or 60,000 taels of gold."
"Sister, if you are not short of money, you can buy it."
"Okay! If you say so, I'll buy it."
Guo Song gave all 70% of her shares in Meishou Wine to her eldest sister Guo Ping. She had become rich in the past two years. She would not give these two calligraphy and paintings to her children after she bought them. She planned to give them to her nephew Guo Jincheng, which was considered a gift.
He gave his nephew a little kindness, but she didn't care about Xue Tao's willingness to lend it to her father for a few years.
The two came to the inner hall and sat down. Guo Song smiled again and said, "How far has Jun Yu and Yu'er's marriage progressed?"
"Everything that needs to be done has been done. The Zhang family's financial gifts have been sent, and I have prepared Yu'er's dowry. We all believe that the two of us will officially get married in three years."
When Guo Ping said this, she looked at her brother. She was waiting for Guo Song to agree!
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "We have decided this matter ourselves, otherwise we can discuss it with the princess. She represents my opinion and I will not participate."
Guo Song was very smart on this point. Since he had given his wife the full authority, he would not express his opinions randomly to avoid making it difficult for his wife to be a good person.
"Let's talk about business!"
Guo Song changed the topic back, "I actually came here because of something to do today."
After saying that, he put ten Hexi silver coins on the table and pushed them to Guo Ping. This was the first time Guo Ping saw coins, and she was immediately full of interest.
"There really is money made of silver!"
She quickly picked up the money and looked at it carefully. She could already recognize many words, "This is Hexi silver coin. Was it cast in Hexi?"
"Can eldest sister read?" Guo Song asked with a surprised smile.
"Why does this guy look down on people? Tell me, now I not only know more than a thousand characters, but I can also write. I have finished learning the thousand-character essay. Now who wants to lie to me, there is no way."
Guo Song also knew that the eldest sister was very smart and had an amazing memory. As long as she was willing to learn, she would be able to master it very quickly and would be able to read and write freely in a year or two at most.
Guo Song smiled and nodded, "This is the silver coin that was minted before. It has stopped long ago, but the Counselor's Hall has decided to mint a new batch of gold and silver coins. What problems do you think there will be?"
"Are you consulting me?"
Guo Song nodded, "I think as a businessman and from a lower class background, I should have more experience than me."
Guo Ping thought for a long time and said: "When it comes to casting gold and silver coins, I immediately think that copper coins are going to depreciate. This is usually the case. I remember that twenty years ago, the court issued a large amount of money, one for ten, and the price of rice doubled the next day.
, I was caught off guard!"
"But it's not big money!"
"Of course I know that silver money is not big money, but people feel that copper coins are worthless. Just like if you are six feet tall, everyone thinks you are tall. Suddenly one day a person who is seven feet tall comes and everyone doesn't feel tall anymore.
, this is what you said to me last time, when there is comparison, there is harm."
Guo Song understood. In fact, his expectations were different. With silver coins of higher value, copper coins would naturally become less valuable, and prices would naturally rise.
"Do you think this price increase can be avoided?"
"It's very simple! Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, plus food, clothing, housing and transportation. As long as the government controls the prices of these basic goods, not many people will care about other things even if they rise to the sky."
"So that's it. I've been taught a lesson. I have another question. What if someone in Meishou Liquor Shop encounters someone paying fake money to buy wine?"
Guo Ping said with a smile: "Don't worry, our wine shop deals with money every day, and we have never received counterfeit money once. Our clerks and shopkeepers have all practiced it. They will recognize counterfeit money as soon as they get it, and it will feel different in the hand. As for silver coins, they usually have a flat head."
When ordinary people receive money, they will carefully identify it and recognize the three generations of their ancestors. If they are not sure, just don't accept it. Counterfeit money often appears in large transactions because the amount is too large and there is no time to identify it. We only need to put this one end
If we find a way to block it, there won't be any big problem."
On the way back, Guo Song was very emotional. There were many things that they had not thought of, but the eldest sister had thought of them. It seemed that we could not do things behind closed doors. We had to widely solicit opinions from the people.
When Guo Song returned to the government office, he immediately called in Pan Liao, Du You and Zhang Qianyi. The three of them formed a temporary team to be fully responsible for the casting and issuance of gold and silver coins.
The three of them sat down, and Guo Song told the three of them Guo Ping's suggestion to control prices.
Pan Liao nodded, "This suggestion is very timely. The amount of gold and silver coins issued is not large, and a large part will be collected by powerful merchants. Not many actually flow into the market, and the impact on prices is not big, but it
It will cause a kind of psychological tension, which will lead to skyrocketing prices.
I suggest a two-pronged approach. First, try to keep a low-profile distribution while controlling public opinion so that gold and silver cannot become a topic of concern. Second, lower the price of grain. On the one hand, we must sell official grain at a low price, and on the other hand, we must publicize the big food boom.
A bumper harvest, and at the same time publicizing that we have seized a large amount of grain in Hebei, makes ordinary people feel that the price of grain needs to be reduced, and as long as the price of grain falls, nothing else can rise."
Zhang Qianyi also smiled and said: "Not only food, but also other aspects can be considered. For example, publicize that the rent of government-rented housing will be reduced next year. Then it will really be reduced to ten cents per month. Twenty cents is not impossible. As long as the government-rented housing is
If the rent does not increase, other rents will not increase either.
Then there are the 200,000 pieces of old coarse cloth in the Youzhou warehouse. Anyway, they have been stored for too long and the quality is not good, so they are simply sold at a low price in the Chang'an market. As for the operation, 10,000 old horses can be transferred from Hexi to pull the cart.
, In this way, we have countermeasures in all four aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and we don’t have any worries at all.”
Du You also smiled and said: "I thought about it last night. In fact, this year's problem is not big. Everyone likes gold and silver. For example, the Du family. As soon as it is issued, the Du family will definitely buy tens of thousands of gold and silver coins to replace the previous ones.
The amount of copper coins stored is similar to that of other families. I suspect that there are no gold and silver coins on the market at all.
Moreover, the three million copper coins we got are used to build ships and buy camels, and they will not be circulated in the market for a while. What I mean is that we have various plans ready, but it does not necessarily have to be
To implement it, just pay close attention to market trends.”
The so-called three cobblers are just like Zhuge Liang. The three of them are indeed experienced and wise veterans. They each expressed their opinions and arranged everything that Guo and Song worried about without leakage.
Five days later, Pan Liao placed the box containing hundreds of gold and silver samples on Guo Song's table, and also brought a copper weight.
"This is a batch of gold and silver coins cast by Li Weijin, a doctor of Taixue. He made fifty coins each. The silver coins are nine silver coins and one copper coin. The same goes for money. They are not pure gold or pure silver. We still use Kaiyuan Tongbao's molds and do not make them.
Any changes, the difference between it and copper coins can be clearly distinguished from the material, please take a look at it, Your Highness."
Guo Song took one out of the box and took a closer look. It was a shining silver Kaiyuan Tongbao. It felt obviously heavier than copper coins. After all, it was new money. It had not been polished by thousands of hands and was still slightly rough.
"Does each one weigh the same?" Guo Song asked.
"Basically identical, the differences are negligible."
Guo Song took out another piece of money and looked at it. The golden light was particularly tempting.
"Your Highness, these gold and silver coins all contain copper. Although one tael of silver can be cast into eleven silver coins, the same is true for gold. However, considering the cost of casting, we decided to exchange ten silver coins for one tael of silver and ten coins for one.
Two pieces of gold."
"This is not a big problem, don't think too much about it."
Guo Song took the copper weight from the table and took a closer look. The weight was square with four corners polished and rounded. There was a hole in the middle for threading a rope. It was very delicate.
Guo Song took out a delicate small copper balance from the drawer. He placed the copper weight on the scale, and put twenty silver coins on the other side of the weight. It was indeed balanced.
Guo Song said excitedly: "Have you ever tried to make a fake silver coin with six silvers and four bronzes mixed in it?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, we are making ten fake gold and silver coins and they will be out soon."