In the spring of the third year of Hongxi, after three years of arduous reforms by Emperor Hongxi and his ministers, the Ming Dynasty finally passed the most difficult years, the reform policies have been effective, the long-trapped people have been relieved, and the phenomenon of starving to death in various places has been very rare, although the debts of the treasury have not been paid off, the finances are still stretched. otbnkotgt It's just that this recovery is much more difficult than imagined, especially in big cities, the lives of citizens are even worse than in the Yongle period, although there is no need to worry about being starved to death, but there is a shortage of materials on the market, Yongle Dynasty department stores gathered, the dazzling scene no longer exists, and even the number of stores has been reduced by more than half.
Because the people have almost no money in their pockets, they can't afford to buy consumer goods other than firewood, rice, oil and salt, and the merchants can't make money, so they can only reduce their operations or even close their doors.
The Ming Dynasty solved the level of inflation during the Yongle period by abolishing the treasure banknotes, but it fell into a deflationary dilemma.
This truth does not even need to be reminded by Wang Xian, Xia Yuanji, a financial expert who occurs once in a thousand years, has already explained to the emperor in the manuscript that in recent years, there have been bumper harvests in recent years, and the famine of the people has been basically solved, but the financial affairs of the imperial court have not improved because industry and commerce have shrunk very much.
The reason for the shrinkage of industry and commerce is that the imperial court strictly practiced frugality, stopped all procurement, and made it impossible for the industrialists and merchants who depended on them to make a living.
The more important reason is the hasty abolition of treasure banknotes, when the Hongwu Emperor made treasure money, there is a very important reason, is the shortage of precious metals in the Ming Dynasty, resulting in a serious shortage of currency on the market, so it will be supplemented with paper money.
Today, the situation of gold, silver and copper shortage has not changed, but the abolition of treasure money will naturally lead to serious deflation.
Xia Yuanji told the emperor that agriculture is the foundation of the country, but it can only ensure that the common people do not go hungry.
However, if we want to enrich the country and strengthen the army, we must develop industry and commerce, and if we want to develop industry and commerce, we must solve the crisis of deflation Although Xia Yuanji's recital was regarded by many civil officials as a criticism of the new policy and a revival of the old politics of the previous dynasty, Yang Shiqi was not blinded by the narrow view of the door, he knew very well that what Xia Yuanji said was insightful, and invited the old man who had already been at home to return to the capital and ask him for advice on how to solve deflation.
Xia Yuanji gave three strategies, the upper policy was like the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, with a new treasure banknote with reserves; The middle strategy was to restore the Western Ocean, and exchange silk, porcelain, and tea from the Celestial Empire for overseas gold and silver to make up for the shortage of domestic currency; The next policy is to vigorously mine gold, silver and copper mines throughout the country, prohibit private storage of silver and copper, and mint as many coins as possible.
It's a pity that Yang Shiqi finally adopted the next strategy after some deliberation with the emperor.
Whether it is Zhu Gaochi or Yang Shiqi, they all think that it is easy to abolish the treasure money, and this opening cannot be opened again, otherwise sooner or later they will return to the old road of abuse.
Going to the West is even more laborious and costly, and the pay and harvest are far disproportionate, so don't reopen it if you stop.
As a result, the emperor only ordered to mine gold, silver and copper throughout the country, and forbade private storage of silver and copper, and ordered local mints to mint as many copper coins as possible to solve the deflationary crisis.
In this regard, Xia Yuanji was very disappointed, he didn't expect that Emperor Hongxi and Yang Shiqi would be conservative to such an extent, if there was still how much gold and silver could be mined in the mines around the world, the finances of Yongle in the last years would not be tight to that extent The discouraged Xia Yuanji refused the emperor and Yang Shiqi's retention, and resolutely embarked on the road back to his hometown.
Hearing that Xia Yuanji was gone, Yang Shiqi, who was busy in the cabinet, just sighed and continued to be busy. 。
Compared with the haste of the emperor's summons and day and night, Xia Yuanji's return journey was much more calm.
No one urged him to hurry up, no one limited when he had to get home, the old gentleman simply drove slowly, all the way up the mountains and rivers, visited friends to find the old, and returned to the south without hurry.
After more than a month, Xia Yuanji arrived in Texas, and as soon as he entered the city, he felt very different.
He is now much more prosperous and lively here than the last stop Cangzhou.
The old gentleman casually visited a few shops, and now there are very rich materials in them, and the transactions are also very active.
After only standing in the store for a while, Xia Yuanji saw several transactions, and what surprised him even more was that the buyers and sellers used not gold, silver or copper coins, but a kind of banknote-like thing This aroused Xia Yuanji's great interest, and when the store was over and the shopkeeper was free, he went over to say hello and asked, "Shopkeeper, Xiao Lao'er is a passing traveler, there is something very curious, please give me advice." ” "The old gentleman is too polite, just ask."
The shopkeeper saw that Xia Yuanji had an extraordinary appearance and a good bearing, and knew that this old man had an extraordinary background, so he got up politely and hugged his fists.
"I just saw that you are trading with paper money," Xia Yuanji asked: "Isn't it that since the beginning of the year, the treasure money has been completely invalidated, why do you still accept it here?"
"Hehe, old man, look carefully, is this a treasure banknote" The shopkeeper smiled, took out a banknote from the drawer, and put it in front of Xia Yuanji.
Xia Yuanji fixed his eyes and saw that it was indeed not a treasure banknote, although it was all paper money, but the paper, color, and words were all things he had never seen.
I saw that there were two italicized large-character silver tickets printed on the top of the head, and a line of words was written on the bottom of the post to take the official flat silver 2 pick up two whole words, and the right side looked up and wrote the number of the word Tianzi, and the left side was a certain day in the second year of Hongxi, and there was a seal of Jinan Guangsheng ticket number on the final payment, as well as a series of flowers and riding seals.
"What is the origin of this Guangsheng ticket number" Xia Yuanji is knowledgeable, and when he looks at this silver ticket, he knows that it is some kind of paper money that can be replaced by a private bank.
"Haven't you heard of Guangsheng" The shopkeeper said incredulously: "That is the Zhenguo Gong, the Shandong Political Envoy and the Shandong Provincial Government, as well as dozens of wealthy people, together with a big money village in the whole province, with this silver ticket can be exchanged for cash from them."
"Like you, do you use silver tickets to do business" Xia Yuanji looked at the shopkeeper, his heart was pounding, he couldn't imagine that someone in Shandong wanted to go with him, and it had already been implemented.
"Of course, I don't know anywhere else, we all recognize this thing in Shandong," the shopkeeper said, wanting to take back the silver ticket, but was held down by Xia Yuanji.
The shopkeeper thought he was going to rob the money, but his face changed, but he saw Xia Yuanji slap a gold ingot in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "I bought this silver ticket." 。
Coming out of that store, Xia Yuanji had no intention of traveling in the mountains and rivers at all, he visited the city of Dezhou, visited the Dezhou branch of the Guangsheng ticket number located on Fuqian Street, and also walked the streets and alleys to investigate the business conditions of large and small shops, and even went to the people's homes to see how their lives were.
The result made Xia Yuanji surprised and delighted, the prosperity of Texas' business can even catch up with Wuxi Jiaxing and other places in the south of the Yangtze River, which is more prosperous than his hometown in Changsha, and the living standards of the people can also fight with the people in Jiangnan, which is simply a miracle The only thing he didn't expect was that his actions actually attracted Jinyiwei, and Xia Yuanji had to reveal his identity, so he was not arrested as an enemy. didn't want to socialize with the local government, Xia Yuanji left Dezhou, and no longer stopped on the road, and rushed directly to Jinan.
When he arrived in Jinan City, Xia Yuanji was even more shocked, the kind of scene of business travelers gathering and shops like a forest, he could only see it in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing, the central cities in the south of the Yangtze River, and the entire north of the Yellow River was unique Replaced by ordinary people, seeing such a scene, may only sigh, worthy of the world's beautiful Jinan City, sure enough, but Xia Yuanji has been a Ming housekeeper for more than 20 years, how can you not know that the original appearance of Jinan is only five years ago, Jinan is still in the lower reaches of the provincial capitals in the country, only stronger than those provincial cities in the southwest and northwest, not to mention compared with Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, even cities like Taiyuan, Xi'an, and Changsha can not be compared.
Xia Yuanji knew that there were many problems in Jinan and Shandong, such as heavy labor, harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, long drought and no rain, rule by officials, rampant cults, and rampant gentry.
At the beginning, Zhu Di decided to take shock therapy for Shandong and let all the abscesses break, largely based on Xia Yuanji's judgment.
However, in less than five years, Jinan and Shandong have come out of the quagmire, and to this extent, how can Xia Yuanji not be red-faced and hot, and even embarrassed 。
Xia Yuanji originally planned to have a good visit in Jinan City, but was caught by Chu Yan.
"Oh, Xia Guolao can be regarded as finding you old" Chu Yan smiled and saluted Xia Yuanji: "I heard from the prefect of Dezhou that you came to Jinan, and the lower officials asked people to wait at the gate of the city, who knew that these idiots actually missed you" In the past, when Chu Yan was a member of the household department, Xia Yuanji was his cousin, and he was seriously Chu Yan's old boss.
However, Xia Yuanji did not put on the old boss's stand, and returned the salute to Chu Yan with a smile: "The old man has long been a grass people, just going around and playing time, how can he alarm the government."
"Eh, you can see the outside world when you say this, you are the boss of the lower officials, just say that our grandfather has already instructed, when you are passing by Jinan, you must be a good hospitality, and strive to let you live for a few more days, so that we can learn more from you."
"Zhen Guogong didn't say anything back, right" Xia Yuanji smiled bitterly when he heard this: "It should be the old man who asks you for advice." ”: