Chapter 87 Urgent measures
Chapter 87: The urgent solution
Zhou Mengchen almost jumped up and said, "This is really not possible. At least 500,000 taels. We must also distinguish the future money. Those belong to the court and those belong to Datong. We can't just like today. Once you have money, you can grab it."
Fang Dun sighed and said, "I don't want to, but the gap in the court is so big. This is not enough. 300,000 taels are left for Datong. Haven't you been the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture? Does Shuntian Prefecture have so much money?"
Zhou Mengchen said: "Datong is not a prefecture, Datong is a town, Datong is a border town. How can it be compared with a prefecture? It is necessary to raise soldiers and directly fight against the Tartars."
Fang Dun said, "I know, can't I allocate some food? Anyway, the Xishan Canal is now open, and the food consumption is much lower. It is also convenient for transportation. Don't worry, you just need to make a request, and you will be transported to you within one month, no, within half a month."
Zhou Mengchen was speechless, as if it hadn't been for the opening of the Xishan Canal, the consumption of transporting food to Datong would have been greatly reduced. It seemed that Fang Dun would not even give him this.
Zhou Mengchen said: "Uncle Fang, we have a relationship. Can you point out a clear way? There are so many things that cannot be done with this little money."
Fang Dun was silent for a while and said, "Can you reconcile?"
Zhou Mengchen was stunned. He seemed to have never expected Fang Dun to say such words.
Fang Dun smiled faintly and said, "You are too persistent in the Datong position. Tell me, how many times have you been able to leave Datong and go on to the end, and stay in Datong. If it weren't for this, what's the reason?" He sighed softly and said, "Zeng Xian was the governor of the three sides. I was in Taipu Temple and dealt with Zeng Xian. You are willing to support the reconciliation. But I am really too big to have a gap here. Of course, if you can really turn stones into gold and solve some of the problems for me, I am not unable to show mercy."
After hearing this, Zhou Mengchen said in his heart: "I'm waiting for me here."
Fortunately, Zhou Mengchen had prepared a plan that could increase the court's funds in a short period of time.
Of course, this plan is not magical, it is a plan that has been used by all countries in later generations, is it just printing money?
It’s nothing more than money now, not paper money. When printing money, you need to make some adjustments according to local conditions.
Zhou Mengchen closed his four fingers and shook out a few coins from his sleeve. He said, "Have Uncle Fang seen this before?"
Fang Dun took it and looked up and down, rolled on his fingertips, and said, "There is nothing in the world that I don't know. It is Pingku silver, Guanping silver, Cao silver, gold and flower silver, and even the silver from various provinces. This silver has only appeared on the market in recent years, and it is not large in number. It is divided into two types, one is a double pillar and the other is a cross."
Fang Dun looked carefully, separated the silver coins and said, "These are double pillars, these are crosses."
Zhou Mengchen had to admire Fang Dun's professional qualities. The double pillars are Spanish silver dollars, and the cross is Portuguese silver dollars. Of course, Zhou Mengchen was not sure. Because there were too many silver dollars in the shape of the cross. Only the double pillars had a statue of the Spanish king and two pillars, which symbolized the Strait of Gibraltar.
These silver coins flowed into China on a large scale during the Wanli period. However, the Battle of Shuangyu has proved that East-West trade already existed. It is just that there has not been a large-scale inflow.
Zhou Mengchen said: "This silver dollar is about seven cents, but I heard that some places in Jiangnan use this as a pound. This is not sterling silver."
Fang Du pinched, cut it with his knuckles, and said, "At most, 90% of the silver." He put the silver dollars on the table and said, "You mean, money interest."
"Yes." Zhou Mengchen said: "Cast silver dollars with 70% of silver. If you remove the workload, you can earn at least 20%. One tael of silver can earn two yuan. One hundred taels will become one.2 million taels. If you like this silver dollar, you can earn more if you only make seven coins."
Fang Dun said, "You are minting a big money."
Zhou Mengchen said: "Not bad."
Fang Du was a little hesitant. There were no policies in Chinese history. The policy of minting big money was not handled by one dynasty or two dynasties, but almost all dynasties had done it. Fang Du even understood the consequences of doing so. But he pondered for a moment, and even drinking poison to quench his thirst, he could only do this. After all, Fang Du knew that the court needed a large sum of money. Even if Zhou Mengchen handed over more than 2 million taels of Datong without leaving a penny, it might not be enough.
Zhang Jing was impeached in the Southeast countless times. Zhang Jing almost offended the Southeast gentry. There are several reasons. The first thing Zhang Jing did was harsh, so it was inevitable that he would be injured by accident. After all, the Southeastern men, those with industries at home, all have connections with the sea. In their opinion, this time, although they were playing with it, they could not throw their children out.
Second, Zhang Jing quelled the Japanese turmoil on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also worked hard to ensure that the Southeast taxes resisted the capital on time.
This made the Southeast complain. After all, on the one hand, they suffered from Japanese turmoil and suffered a lot of casualties. On the other hand, they also raised funds for anti-Japanese war. After all, the court still counted on taxes in the Southeast and asked the court to allocate funds to the Southeast. They didn't even think about it, and finally paid taxes to the court. Although the situation has seriously affected the normal taxes in the Southeast. However, the Southeast taxes are not exempted at all.
They naturally don't want to.
Don’t Fang Dun know about this situation?
He knew. But this was the task that the cabinet had to complete before Zhang Jing left Beijing. There was nothing else. With the current economic system of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty could not be taxed in the southeast for a day. No matter how much the price Zhang Jing paid, the task that he had to complete was a heavy task that was equivalent to pacifying the Japanese.
In fact, Fang Dun's economic vision is still not good. He only knows that it is harmful to send money indiscriminately. But in Zhou Mengchen's opinion, it is not the case at all.
Even in Zhou Mengchen's view, with the current economic state of the Ming Dynasty, the amount of money should be increased. Even the insufficient amount of money is still seriously restricting the economic development of the Ming Dynasty. There is not much silver native to China, and it can even be said to be less.
Although Zhou Mengchen studied economics, he also knew that there was a relationship between the issuance of money and the economy. As the economic volume increased, the issuance of money should be increased in moderation. As for the amount of the appropriate amount, Zhou Mengchen didn't know. But Zhou Mengchen knew one thing, that is, the money supply in the Ming Dynasty is seriously insufficient, and there was even a little deflation.
History has also proved this point. Spain has also lie down with a large amount of currency input. However, the Ming Dynasty had a late Ming Dynasty that was full of luxury.
Fang Dun took out the silver coins again and said, "In fact, even if you follow your method, the benefits are limited. Because the silver in various places is not pure silver. Some of them are even worse than this silver. If you follow your 30% formula, the interest rate is only a little more than 10%. If you mint the money, it will still be exhausted."
Zhou Mengchen said: "Why do you need to mint money? Is it okay to use suppression?"
Fang Dun said: "Suppress."
Zhou Mengchen said: "The specific situation, I will tell Uncle Fang in detail in the future. However, even if this method has 10% interest, I can exchange all the silver taels in Datong for silver dollars. There is at least 200,000 taels of interest, and keep Datong for 500,000, right?"
Fang Dun said, "Okay, if you can really do this, I promise you."
After all, if this method can be implemented, the benefits to Fang Du will definitely not be just 200,000 taels of silver. Even if the Ministry of Revenue’s bank vault is empty now, Fang Du has enough means to get the silver on the market into the Ministry of Revenue’s bank vault, and it will be silver dollars.
However, the premise is that Zhou Mengchen's method is low enough to ensure sufficient interest.
Zhou Mengchen said: "What do you say about the tax paid by Datong?"
Fang Dun smiled slightly and said, "What do you want to do?"
Zhou Mengchen said: "All land taxes are paid, but the commercial taxes must be kept in Datong."
Fang Dun said: "Yes, but I will send someone to take over the canned food stall. They will pay commercial taxes, but the profits will be directly transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. If you agree, there will be no problem with the rest?"
Chapter completed!