Zhou Chen said: "I have never thought about this problem before. Your Majesty's appearance as a celestial being and his sage and wisdom are far beyond the reach of a celestial being. Only then can I be fooled. The road your Majesty built for the coal in the Western Mountains is really a weapon for the country. The imperial court

Its lifeblood."

"I was in the west of the city yesterday for a day's observation. As I observed, the carriages on the galloping road are all driven by two horses, with a load of more than a thousand kilograms. It should be possible to travel a hundred and fifty miles a day."

"And the journey from Nanjing to Beijing is only more than three thousand miles. If a road is built from Nanjing to Beijing, it will take only one month for twenty shi of grain to travel from Nanjing to Beijing."

"Nowadays, water transportation takes many years."

"There is still water transportation for north-south transportation, but transportation from Beijing to the border is even more difficult. People either push wheelbarrows or carry people on horseback, making it even more difficult."

"If we build a Chi Road from Beijing directly to Datong, Xuanfu, Yulin, and Ningxia, the furthest distance will be no more than a thousand miles. Although there are mountains and rivers that are difficult to cross, it will be enough to reduce the loss of food and grass a lot."

"As for how much it can be reduced, I don't have accurate data at the moment, so it's hard to calculate, but I am determined to save a lot compared to now, and the savings in consumption are enough to make up for the gap in the opening method."

"Furthermore, Your Majesty wants to overhaul Hebei's water conservancy, which will cost tens of millions of dollars. I think in a few years, Hebei will be the granary of the north, and grain and grass from all over the country will be transported from Hebei. It will save a lot. Therefore, the concessions that benefited the salt merchants at the beginning of the country should be re-

Take back."

"Furthermore, I have also said that the most important thing for the imperial court is to replace banknotes with silver. However, the annual national tax is only three to five million taels. It is just salt, tea, and mineral taxes. Even if the sea opened last year, additional

Together, it's only about seven million taels. The imperial court's silver minister wants to use it as a substitute for banknotes, but he has no choice but to do so."

"If we can collect millions more taels from the salt tax, it will be enough to support Hebei's major projects, and it will also be enough to complete the calculation of various taxes of the imperial court in silver."

Zhu Qizhen said: "I know Zhou Qing's intention, but this matter is of great importance and must be discussed by the important ministers of the imperial court."

Zhu Qizhen knew very well that even if he was the emperor, such a major matter could not be settled with just one word, not to mention that there were too many interests involved.

I really thought those big salt merchants had no business.

A salt merchant without connections would never be able to achieve such a big undertaking. Zhu Qizhen's intervention in the salt law affected the interests of many people, and a considerable number of them even belonged to the military.

After all, the emotional abuse involved in the Kaizhong method cannot be accomplished without the cooperation of someone in the military.

Such a major event is so important that it is impossible for Zhu Qizhen to listen to Zhou Chen's words. However, Zhu Qizhen listened to Zhou Chen talk about treasure banknotes several times. An idea came to Zhu Qizhen's mind and he said: "Even if the banknote method is

If that doesn't work, can the imperial court only use silver coins?"

Zhou Chen thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that the imperial court must use silver coins, but that there is nothing else to use except silver coins?"

Zhu Qizhen said: "How do you say this?"

Zhou Chen said: "Since the founding of this dynasty, the Hongwu period has been the first to use money. Therefore, the Hongwu period was the period when the most money was minted in our dynasty. It was probably more than 10,000,000 yuan. However, from the last years of Hongwu, there was a money shortage.

The imperial court issued banknotes, first using them together with banknotes, and then using banknotes for orders of more than 100 yuan."

"From then on, the imperial court was not enthusiastic about coining coins. For example, during the Hongxi Dynasty, there were almost no copper coins in the world. Even the copper coins of the Zhengtong Dynasty were probably not much."

"If the banknote method is not good, people can't barter on a daily basis."

"So using gold and silver has become a must-have for the people."

"The habit of using silver actually only became popular in the B.C. Yuan Dynasty. The banknote method was irreversible, gold was too expensive, and everyone used silver. The court wanted to reorganize the money system, so it naturally had to use silver."

Zhu Qizhen sometimes just sighs.

History is both accidental and inevitable. It is difficult for him to tell whether the use of silver is inevitable or accidental.

The money shortage was the most troublesome problem in the Song Dynasty. There were not enough copper coins in the world. No matter how many coins were minted, it was like pouring it into a well, without any splash at all.

In Zhu Qizhen's view, the Ming Dynasty Baobao was like a large-scale credit currency experiment that was messed up.

In the past, everyone knew that the Ming Dynasty Baochao was dead, and they still tried to save it. However, during the Zhengtong period, the government and the public agreed that there was no cure for the Baochao.

Zhou Chen's opinions are not just his own, but represent the views of a considerable number of people.

The financial chaos caused by the absence of treasure banknotes can no longer continue. Their choice is naturally the simplest way, which is to replace the treasure banknotes with silver that has already been taken up by the private sector on an absolute scale.

But in Zhu Qizhen's view, this is extremely irresponsible. It is simply a huge setback. It is not impossible to use silver, at least it must be minted into silver coins.

This kind of simple monetary policy could last for six hundred years. Zhu Qizhen couldn't understand it.

But Zhu Qizhen did not want to continue. Zhu Qizhen said: "Since treasure banknotes are to be abolished, it is not impossible to use silver in the imperial court, but it is too troublesome to use silver coins. Especially the issue of fire consumption is even more troublesome.

Extremely.”

"What does Your Majesty mean?" Zhou Chen was confused for a moment.

It has to be said that even though Zhou Chen was a top-notch financial expert at the time, he didn't have much impression of Huo Xi's influence. After all, the matter of breaking silver became popular only from him. As for the various developments of Huo Xi after that,

, which is really beyond Zhou Chen’s imagination.

Zhu Qizhen said: "How about using money?"

Zhou Chen's mind changed and he thought to himself: "Your Majesty probably wants to get money and interest." Naturally, he had no intention of objecting and immediately said: "Your Majesty's intention, I understand. As long as your Majesty gives the money sample, the Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Revenue will

, all the silver collected by the household department will be minted into silver coins."

Zhu Qizhen said: "How about copper coin casting?"

Zhou Chen said: "There is a shortage of copper materials, which is one of the reasons why the imperial court has not minted many coins since Hongwu. Therefore, the imperial court has rarely minted copper coins since Hongwu. It is just that the people are short of money, and most of them are minted privately. It is time to make more money."

Improved."

Zhu Qizhen also knew this. Really good copper materials were in short supply, so just look at the Xuande furnace.

The reason why the Xuande furnace is so famous is because the Xuande furnace uses the best copper material from Southeast Asia. After twelve refinings, there are very few such copper materials after the Ming Dynasty, and there are also very few such prodigal ones.

This makes Xuande stove its last song.

However, talking to Zhou Chen was so comfortable that Zhou Chen understood it almost before Zhu Qizhen had clarified his words.

Zhu Qizhen said: "After Zhou Qing went down, he wrote these two things in a question book and presented it to me."

Zhou Chen said: "I understand."

Zhou Chen then left with a wink.

Zhu Qizhen immediately rejected all subsequent summons and thought silently one by one.

As for the war, there was the civil fort incident first. Naturally, Zhu Qizhen had no idea of ​​​​conquering the army himself. Therefore, his preparations for the battle with Wasi were all in the grain, and the entire Hebei water conservancy plan was almost all for this matter.

Generals such as Meng Ying, Jiang Gui, Ren Li, Cao Yi, Yang Hong, Guo Deng, and Fang Jin are all experienced generals, and they only emerged after Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne.

The general is coming.

Generally speaking, Zhu Qizhen is closer. As for the British Duke Zhang Fu, the Chengguo Duke Zhu Yong, and their forces representing the old nobles, they are not in a position where they cannot fight at all.

In fact, Zhu Qizhen even had an illusion sometimes.

The reason for this illusion is that he clearly knew that there were actually many problems in the Ming Dynasty's army. However, it did not show much weakness in foreign campaigns.

Whether it is the Battle of the Northwest or the Battle of Luchuan. Whether it is Adai Khan or Siren Li, as long as they dare to fight against the main force of the Ming Dynasty, the outcome is already doomed.

Generally speaking, Zhu Qizhen did not feel that the Ming army was weaker than Wa Ci. It was just that the cavalry was somewhat passive.

As long as the money problem is solved and there are enough war funds and sufficient logistical support, he won't be able to win even if he doesn't believe it.
Chapter completed!