Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 59 Money

"Xue Juzheng wants to see me? Then please invite him in."

Xue Juzheng's current position is the Minister of Household Affairs and the Third Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. He guessed that the reason why Xue Juzheng came to him was about Song and Yuan Tongbao.

Sure enough, Xue Juzheng's attitude after he came to the door was very low and he was very polite.

"Did brother send you here?"

"No, I'm here to see His Highness myself. I really don't understand something. As the Third Secretary, I really don't dare not to clarify it, so I'm here to ask for advice."

With that said, Xue Juzheng bowed to Zhao Guangmei very politely.

"You're too polite. Sit down. Since you're here privately, do you think my eldest brother has decided to issue Songtong Yuanbao?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Zhao Guangmei nodded, then turned to tell Sun Liancheng: "We can stop the expansion of the pergola for a while and try every means to raise money and borrow money. After the policy is introduced, the coins of the Southern Tang Dynasty will definitely depreciate significantly. Time will come when we can collect everything, especially in the Forbidden Army system, we can collect as much as we can, and we cannot let the officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army suffer."

While saying this, Zhao Guangmei even rubbed her eyes pretendingly.

Xue Juzheng, who was still sitting across from him, lost his guard for a moment and couldn't help but ask: "Why does Your Highness think this matter can't be done?"

Zhao Guangmei pondered for a while and said: "I'm afraid it's a bit complicated to explain this matter. But since you can come to me after the incident, I'm quite pleased. You should be a good prime minister in the future. Sit down, I I heard that you like drinking very much and have a good capacity for drinking?”

"Yes, it made His Highness laugh."

"What's so funny about this? My eldest brother is also happy to drink. You two were drinking buddies in the previous dynasty, right? Let me use wine as an example. Whose family has the best wine in Kaifeng City?"

"It's Fan Lou's "Mei Shou""

"Oh, how much does Meishou cost per pound?"

"Three hundred dollars"

"It's probably the most expensive wine in Kaifeng."

"Correct."

"If a new wine pops up in Kaifeng at this time, it tastes slightly better than Meishou, but not much, and it sells for three hundred yuan. Do you think it can sell it?"

Xue Juzheng frowned and said: "No, because Meishou sells not just wine, but reputation. Your Highness, you mean that the coins of the Southern Tang Dynasty are the Meishou in coins?"

"Xue Xianggong is Xue Xianggong after all. Just one thing will reveal it."

"However, the officials have made up their minds to expel the currency of the Southern Tang Dynasty and prevent it from being used." Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "Xue Xianggong is a good drinker. If one day the court bans the sale of Meishou, do you think there will be any left in the market? Will the life span become worthless, or will the price double?"

"what……"

Xue Juzheng was thoughtful when he heard the words.

Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "Since the Five Dynasties, China has changed dynasties too frequently. Almost every dynasty has its own currency, and the quality and credibility are really hard to say, so the people are not happy to use the currency of this dynasty. No. The solution is to collect two large tanks of Dazhou Tongbao today, and click tomorrow to establish the Dasong Dynasty. Although this little bit of wealth saved with great difficulty is not worthless, it has also depreciated significantly, and may even only be melted down. It’s time to become a copper envoy.”

"The key is that most of these Central Plains coins are short of a pound or two, or are mixed with iron and lead. If they really melt, it will be a huge loss."

"In contrast, the politics of the Southern Tang Dynasty are relatively stable, and the Tang Dynasty sounds more reputable. The currency of the Southern Tang Dynasty has always insisted on being honest, full of weight, and beautifully made. Although it has begun to be mixed with iron in recent years, But after all, people are used to it. This is money and credit. Are people really using money to buy copper?"

Xue Juzheng frowned and said: "However, if we forcefully expel and destroy it..."

"That was just a dream."

"what?"

"The gate defenses of the Southern Tang Dynasty cannot be closed at all. Moreover, the mainstream currency on the market in Houshu, Southern Han, Jinghu, Wuyue, and even Khitan is still Southern Tang money. This money can be spent anywhere. If we don’t go out, how can we, the Song Dynasty, ban it alone? The more we ban it, the more money it will cost.”

When Xue Juzheng heard this, he couldn't help but fell into deep thought, but it was really difficult to understand.

Of course, this cannot be blamed on his lack of ability. In fact, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, or the history of the early Song Dynasty, should be the first currency war of Chinese civilization. There is no previous experience to draw from. The influence of coins in previous troubled times The amount used is not much, and cloth and gold are used to make general equivalents.

In the original history, Zhao Kuangyin violently wanted to ban the currency of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but it had the opposite effect. Instead, he created a money shortage in the Southern Tang Dynasty. All his domestic money went to the Northern Song Dynasty, and he could not get it back even if he wanted to.

As a result, the Southern Tang Dynasty sent a large amount of annual tribute to the Song Dynasty every year, and doubled the annual tribute money every year. Even later, Li Yu gave up on himself and simply gave out pure iron money without a trace of copper. No matter it is mixed or pretended, the Northern Song Dynasty still used a large amount of Southern Tang money. In this way, on the surface it was the Southern Tang Dynasty that was paying tribute to the Song Dynasty, but in fact it was the Song Dynasty that was paying seigniorage to the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Later, people in the Song Dynasty also learned this trick. Those who offended us in the Song Dynasty would have to pay compensation no matter how far away they were. They would compensate neighboring countries one by one, and even felt complacent about it. Cheng Yi even wrote about this in his poems, thinking that it was a sign of the Song Dynasty. good governance and pioneering work.

But that's another story.

After all, Xue Juzheng was an ancient man. After thinking for a long time, he still seemed to understand but he still shook his head with a wry smile and said: "If this is really the case, then I, the Minister of Household Affairs and the Third Secretary, really did what I did and failed terribly. "

Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "Mr. This is not your fault."

"But Xue Xianggong, in my opinion, the two tax laws that have been implemented since the late Tang Dynasty have already changed beyond recognition. However, there is no particularly accurate regulation on how to collect this tax law. Society is developing and the times are progressing. Two hundred years of war was certainly a catastrophe, but it also completely destroyed the old order, and it was also a good opportunity to implement new tax laws."

"I personally think that sooner or later, the Third Secretary will ride on the head of the Ministry of Household Affairs and become the real financial minister of the Song Dynasty. Even this position, in my opinion, has heavy responsibilities, complicated things, and difficulties. The importance of the country should be far higher than that of the Privy Councilor and the ordinary affairs of the sect."

"It doesn't matter if Xue Xianggong doesn't do it now, but if you want to do this job well in the future, you must not fail to learn and learn about economic matters. Otherwise, if the court lacks tax revenue, the people may not be able to get it. Benefit, Xue Xiang was appointed by his eldest brother with the important task of the Third Secretary, and he was also the first Third Secretary of the Song Dynasty. The world changed greatly, starting from the emperor, Xue Xiangruo could not study hard, could not set an example for future generations, and set a wise The law of our ancestors, then you may really be a sinner through the ages."

(End of this chapter)