Chapter 170: Gold Foil for the Capital

As the night deepened, the atmosphere in Xiuwen Hall gradually reached its climax.

If the discussion in the morning was a group show, then tonight's scene became Zhao Duan's one-man show.

Master Dong sat in a chair, leaning against a soft brocade cushion, staring intently at the words that appeared on the screen.

However, this time, even he couldn't understand it.

"What does this mean?" No one said anything, but everyone's eyes showed the same meaning.

After Zhao Duan finished writing these four words, he turned around, faced everyone's gaze, and said with a smile:
"Just now, I proposed that the poll tax, corvée and other head taxes should all be settled in silver. This will certainly save the court a lot of trouble, but at the same time, it also has disadvantages."

At this time, Guo Jieyuan, who was ordinary in appearance but good at finance, suddenly spoke up:
"Silver reserves."

brush--

Seeing everyone looking at him, Guo Jieyuan, whose name implies that he hopes his son will become successful, hesitated and said:
"Copper is much more abundant than silver. In the past, copper coins were used as the main currency in various places. In foreign trade, gold and silver were rarely used. But if the court sets an example of using silver as tax, then in the future... I'm afraid that the money available will become less..."

Zhao Duan was a little surprised that this unremarkable scholar reacted so quickly.

Although Dayu was extremely backward in the field of "economics", Guo Jieyuan's description was not accurate.

But with his keen intuition, he captured the change.

"That's right, Master Guo has a sharp eye." Zhao Duan exclaimed.

Historically, after Zhang Juzheng's reforms, the Ming Dynasty transitioned from a dual standard of copper and silver to a silver standard.

However, the Ming Dynasty had a shortage of silver reserves, which greatly restricted economic development.

If the economy wants to prosper, there must be enough money to circulate, but if there is not enough silver as money...it will be embarrassing.

Before this, Zhao Duan had looked up the situation of the Dayu Dynasty.

I was surprised to find that the world's silver reserves are much greater than those of the Ming Dynasty.

This made him more confident in choosing the next strategy.

Zhao Duan first briefly explained to the other scholars who were not familiar with finance the consequences of the silver standard so that they could have a general idea.

Then he said:

“As far as I know, the Great Yu Dynasty actually has quite a bit of silver, but why did Scholar Guo say it was too little?

This is because too much silver was not circulated as currency, but was hoarded by gentry, aristocratic families, merchants, and even officials everywhere.

They would bury the silver in the ground in their own yards and hide it in the storehouse, and would not take it out unless they had to...

Just like a group of mice, they hid their silver and only used copper coins for daily expenses... This is the truth about the lack of silver and the abundance of copper coins. "

Zhao Duan talked freely:

“So, when I wrote down the word ‘silver’, I was wondering how I could make these people willingly take out the silver hidden in the house and spend it.

Only by spending it can we find a way to get it into the national treasury. If we just hide it, what Mr. Guo is worried about will happen. "

As soon as these words were spoken, surprise appeared on everyone's faces.

Willingly?

Let that group of people spend the gold, silver and treasures?

In their eyes, this proposal was like a fantasy.

"This is simply impossible," Han Zhou said:
"Hoarding gold, silver, and treasures, or even everything that can be hoarded, is the way for people to survive. Only by hoarding can we resist the years of disaster. If you can't use force, how can you expect people to give it to you?"

Wang You, Mo Zhaorong and others also nodded.

Zhao Duan sighed.

This is the result of a lack of economic theory. The wealth of the feudal dynasty is completely a "zero-sum game". If you grab one more point, I will have one less point...

So from top to bottom, everyone is hoarding money. This muscle memory penetrates into the bone marrow.

But is it true that everyone in the world only knows how to hoard?
Zhao Duan shook his head and said:

"At noon, I talked with Han Xueshi and pointed out that his ten strategies were to snatch money from the hands of people all over the world.

I believe you all think the same way, feeling that a copper coin is either in your hands or in someone else's.

So when the imperial court needs money, it can only use various methods to rob others, but let's change our thinking. Is there a way for you and I to hold a copper coin at the same time?"

Hold at the same time?

Mo Chou was stunned for a moment, with a strange look in her eyes.

I thought, apart from getting married, what other ways are there for the two of them to become husband and wife, and hold it at the same time?

This guy, he was speaking so clearly before, why did he suddenly start talking weird things?

Seeing that everyone was confused, Zhao Duan could only say it more clearly:
"Just now, Scholar Han said that people all over the world like to hoard money and don't like to spend it.

I have a different view. I want to ask, what about businessmen? All businessmen in the world are willing to spend money, sometimes, even without hoarding a penny, and spend it all. "

Wang You shook his head and said:
"Merchants spend money not just to spend it, but to buy shops and hire employees in order to make money... How can we generalize?"

Zhao Duan looked at him and said with a smile:
"That's right! Businessmen spend money because they can earn more money back after spending it.

The gentry also had to spend money to buy land, but they spent it happily because they could earn more money by cultivating the land.

Suddenly, Guo Jieyuan slammed the table, as if he suddenly realized something:

"That's right! People in the world don't like to hoard money, but they don't have any way to make money! So they can only hoard it in their hands.

What Envoy Zhao meant was that as long as the imperial court could make the gentry, merchants, and even officials throughout the world discover a place where they could spend one copper coin and earn back two.

Then they will definitely take out all their wealth and spend it without anyone forcing them..." He said, but shook his head:
"But there are too few good places like this. The existing ones, such as salt and iron, have long been in the hands of the court. We can't open up the salt and iron business to those people just to deceive those gentry and merchants..."

Zhao Duan was surprised and thought to himself that Lao Guo was really good, his ideas were expanding very quickly.

As expected of a scholar who is good at finance, his reaction is the fastest among everyone when the word money is mentioned.

As Guo Jieyuan explained, the others also understood and looked at Zhao Duan with frowns.

I wonder what he is up to after all this going around in circles.

Zhao Duan was neither hurried nor slow, and completely mastered the rhythm of the game. He said:
"Mr. Guo is right. All the businesses in the world have long been divided up. But who says that these are the only businesses in the world?"

When he said this, he felt emotional.

In his previous life, he had studied some economic works, such as Schumpeter's Principle of Innovation Profit, which said that the economy itself would not develop.

For example, in the agricultural era, there were not many changes for thousands of years, and wealth just kept flowing among different people.

In the industrial age, productivity increased and the economy began to develop. A lot of "wealth" that did not exist before was created out of thin air.

Therefore, in the current situation of the Dayu Dynasty, if we follow the "game" and let the court and the people of the world compete for money, it will be turbulent.

However, if the method of "creating wealth" is used, it will not only not intensify the contradictions, but because the court is in control, more and more people will be tied to the court in terms of interests.

Zhao Duan said:
“As far as I know, the pass corridor from Dayu to the Western Region used to only cost money every year when it was guarded by soldiers, but later, it gave some merchants the opportunity to travel between the two places and do business. The court collected taxes from the pass and made a lot of money.

Similarly, the capital was also dilapidated during the reign of Emperor Taizu. But later, after it was designated as the capital, all the powerful and wealthy came to the capital, which gave rise to the phenomenon of thousands of boats racing at the docks. The expenses of the imperial palace could be supported by just collecting entrance fees at the city gates...

May I ask, have any weapons been used in these examples?
Never.

But why did the money come to the court on its own? Why did it come to the court on its own?

Without waiting for anyone to answer, he spoke:

"market."

"As long as the imperial court takes action, builds a market, grants certain privileges to a place, moves some important government offices to these places... and so on.

Merchants from all over the world would hear the news and flock to the court, working for the court on their own initiative. They made a lot of money, but the court made even more.

And when the merchants made money, the powerful families who opened countless shops under them, and even some wealthy gentry, would throw their hoarded silver to them if they could.

Because only by throwing it over can you make money, and if you don’t take it, someone else will make money.

If they don’t make money while others make it, the money in their hands will be worthless…”

"As long as the market is large enough, or if there is such a market in every place, the money of the rich will be invested in it and turned into 'assets'...

The court doesn’t need to worry about how to make money for everyone, because those merchants will find ways to create money themselves…”

When Zhao Duan said this, Mochou's eyes lit up and he said:

“Like the cheap ice sold at the Tianshi Mansion in the capital recently?
The sorcerers of the Tianshi Mansion made ice and let many wealthy people buy it, so they took the money that the wealthy people had hoarded, just like the merchants did. "

"..." Zhao Duan nodded with a strange look in his eyes and said:

“Yes, creating something that everyone wants is a way to get everyone to spend money.

As long as these merchants rack their brains to get people to spend their money, they will not hoard money but will continue to spend it to get more.

In this process, more and more people will be hired, so the people will have a way to make money. When they have money, they will spend it on things like ice cubes...

In this way, just like a wheel, if the court gives it a slight push, it will start to turn rapidly.

Instead of hoarding money, everyone should spend it... This way, the Dayu Dynasty will have more silver.

The imperial court could collect taxes continuously... endlessly.

Even more, if the court has more money, it can open a bank and lend the money to those merchants..."

Zhao Duan spoke faster and faster.

In everyone's mind, the scene became clearer and clearer.

Han Zhou stood there in a daze.

At this moment, he once again imagined the future scene in his mind, where all the gold and silver in the world would flow into the capital like a tide.

But this time, there were no more hateful gazes, but countless pairs of excited and greedy eyes.

He raised his head, looking past Zhao Duan, and looked at the four words "silver", "merchant", "capital" and "market" on the screen behind him.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed that the scholars were getting up one after another.

My heart is filled with emotion because of the future that Zhao Duan described.

Finally, Zhao Duan dropped his brush and concluded with a dry mouth:

“The most important thing is that, in this way, even the rebels and the Eight Kings will not be able to stop the people of the world from pursuing profit, and only the imperial court has the ability to do this, and others cannot imitate it.

No matter how unwilling the rebels were, they could only watch the money flow into the national treasury.

Once the gentry and aristocratic families were forced to get involved and the land tax was distributed, if they wanted to resist, they would have to worry about whether they would be kicked out of the market by the court...

Should he offend the imperial court or curry favor with it to gain more? It was not a difficult choice.

In this way, the resistance to the implementation of the new policy will be reduced.”

Zhao Duan said calmly:

"So, if these three strategies can be implemented successfully, within ten years, the money in the national treasury can gild the capital with a layer of gold foil."

"This is the Three Golden Strategies."

Thanks: Fengqiaoyebo97 gave 100 coins, Shun Shun Shun gave 100 coins~
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(End of this chapter)

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