jdhmnovel Chapter 139 What is the essence of money?
Chapter 139 What is the essence of money?
This is outrageous!
After only a moment's thought, Wang Qiong flew into a rage and said in a deep voice, "That's right, these lowly Japanese devils dare to live on top of the gold and silver mines of my Great Ming Dynasty! This is intolerable!"
Wang Qiong picked up his water cup and drank it all in one gulp. He then stood up, cupped his hands in greeting to Magistrate Yang, and said, "Brother Yang, I am in a hurry to return to the capital, so I will not stay in Ningyang County any longer. Farewell."
“Brother Wang, don’t be impatient,” Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, stopping Wang Qiong. “Even if the gold and silver mines are urgent, they can’t be completed in a day or two. Putting aside other things, we still need to build ships, right? You should know that sea ships are very different from river ships. The sea is rough and the waves are high, so we need to build sea ships that can withstand the wind and waves first.”
"Moreover, the army is on a northern expedition against the Mongols and the northwest has not yet been fully recovered. The court is unlikely to allocate extra troops to recover the gold and silver mines in the short term. Brother Wang, you should not be too anxious."
After hearing Yang Shaofeng's words, Wang Qiong had no choice but to sit back down and sighed, "Brother Yang, you don't know how short of money the court is, so you're naturally not as anxious as I am. If you knew, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to sit still either."
Yang Shaofeng, however, disagreed, saying, "If the imperial court is short of money, it should collect taxes. What's the point of just thinking about relying on gold and silver mines?"
Wang Qiong said, "Brother Yang, what you say is simple, but with the people suffering, where will the taxes be collected? Brother Yang, tell me, given the current situation, can the imperial court collect commercial taxes or land taxes?"
"They can collect any kind of tax."
Yang Shaofeng said, "As Brother Wang just mentioned, for example, in the Shanxi area, the rich own vast tracts of land while the poor have nowhere to stand. Since there are rich people with vast tracts of land, it is natural that we should collect land taxes from them."
At this point, Yang Shaofeng suddenly had an idea and decided to add some more amusement for Emperor Zhu Chongba.
After considering it for a moment, Yang Shaofeng continued, "For example, Liu Sanshier of Liumiao Village has fifteen mu of land. These fifteen mu of land are not subject to taxes. However, once the land is cleared, his land holdings will reach thirty mu, and then taxes will be levied on the extra land."
"What if it reaches forty-five mu? The first fifteen mu will be taxed normally, and the latter fifteen mu will be taxed twice as much. If there are another fifteen mu, the tax will be doubled again. In short, the more land he owns, the more taxes he has to pay. After reaching a certain number of mu, he may even lose money for each additional mu."
"In this way, Liu Thirty-Two would have to calculate how many acres of land he could make a profit from and how many acres he could lose money on. Once he reached a certain number of acres, even if you gave him land, he might not want it. The extra land could then be distributed to other people."
Wang Qiong really wanted to ask if Magistrate Yang's ancestors had changed their surname from Jia to Yang, otherwise how could they have come up with such a vicious plan so easily?
Yang Shaofeng continued, "Also, Brother Wang just mentioned that the court is short of money—have you ever considered what money actually is? Is it gold? Silver? Or copper coins?"
"When our ancient ancestors didn't have gold and silver, they used seashells as money. So, even though the Song Dynasty didn't have many silver or copper mines, they used paper money as currency. Even the Tartars used paper money, so why can't our Ming Dynasty?"
"To put it bluntly, money didn't exist originally. It only came into existence because people had a need for transactions. As long as the imperial court designates something as money, then that is money."
"Of course, the premise for the court to designate what kind of money is that the people must trust the court, and the court must also endorse the money it designates, and if necessary, it must also bail it out. For example, during the Tartar period, when they implemented the paper money system, did the people accept it at first? And why did they not accept it later?"
Yang Shaofeng got more and more excited as he talked, but Wang Qiong became more and more silent, and her expression became more and more confused.
There are too many factors involved; it's impossible to figure them out in a short time.
Seeing that Wang Qiong's eyes were gradually becoming like those of a college student, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but smile. He got up, went back to his study, and brought back several slips of paper of different sizes, placing them one by one in front of Wang Qiong.
"The smallest one represents one coin, the slightly larger one represents ten coins, and the largest one represents one string of cash."
Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "As long as we stamp it with the official seal of Ningyang County and make a few marks that no one can imitate, I will tell the people that this is Ningyang County's currency. From now on, everyone will use this currency to buy and sell things. Of course, when the government collects taxes, it will only accept Ningyang County's currency. If you bring copper coins or silver coins, you will need to pay an extra amount for the fire loss. Do you think the people will accept this?"
Wang Qiong answered without hesitation: "I will admit it, I definitely will."
But after she finished speaking, Wang Qiong felt that something was not quite right.
After thinking about it carefully for a long time, Wang Qiong gasped and looked at Magistrate Yang, exclaiming, "Doesn't that mean the imperial court can print as much money as it wants?"
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Wang Qiong with eyes full of concern for the mentally challenged, and asked in return, "What does the imperial court need so much paper for?"
Wang Qiong was even more confused: "Paper? Brother Yang, didn't you say this thing is money?"
Yang Shaofeng snorted and said, "Let's take Ningyang County as an example. Ningyang County currently has about 40,000 mu of land. Assuming each mu is worth one guan, that's 40,000 guan. All sorts of miscellaneous things like chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, cattle, and horses are converted to 10,000 guan each. Adding the land, that's 50,000 guan."
Wang Qiong still felt something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was for the time being, so she could only nod blankly.
Yang Shaofeng continued, "I, Yang, guarantee with the reputation of Ningyang County and with my official reputation in Ningyang County for the past six months, will print 50,000 strings of Ningyang Jiaochao (a type of currency). In the future, we will use this to pay the wages of the people in various workshops. These Jiaochao will gradually flow into the people's lives. When the people need money, such as to buy cloth, grain, or salt, these Jiaochao will circulate. When the people pay their taxes, these Jiaochao will flow back into the country. Is that right?"
Wang Qiong nodded again.
“Note that the currency itself is actually anchored to the land. The value of the land will not change easily, so the amount of currency issued by Yang will not change, nor will the value of the currency. Under these circumstances, the people will recognize the currency as money.”
"If the value of the land does not increase, and the number of chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs does not increase, then in general, the wealth of Ningyang County has not increased. Yet I have printed 100,000 strings of cash. Does that mean that 2 strings of cash are equivalent to one mu of land? At this point, will the people still have the same confidence in the cash as before?"
"Obviously not, because originally one string of cash was equivalent to one acre of land, but my unrestrained printing will reduce the value of the cash by half, so the cash will naturally not be as valuable as it was when one string of cash was exchanged for one acre of land."
"The common people are simple-minded and easy to fool, but they are not stupid; we cannot treat them like fools."
"To put it bluntly, the imperial court can issue paper money as currency, but it must not issue paper money arbitrarily, nor can it require the people to treat paper money as gold and silver while the imperial court still treats it as paper. If that were the case, not only would the people not recognize the value of paper money, but the credibility of the imperial court would also be questioned by the people. In the future, the people would not easily believe anything the imperial court says."
Wang Qiong suddenly felt like laughing.
In front of Magistrate Yang, I'm a complete idiot!
No, not only myself, but all the officials in the court are idiots!
They don't even understand the essence of money. All they do is spout nonsense about the court being short of money and the national treasury being empty. And they think they can assist the emperor like Yao and Shun?
No wonder His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince value this Magistrate Yang so much; it turns out that His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince are truly farsighted!
After sighing inwardly, Wang Qiong immediately cupped his hands to Magistrate Yang and said, "Brother Yang's insightful remarks have truly broadened my horizons. Many questions that I couldn't understand before have now become clearer. I admire you, I admire you."
After exchanging pleasantries with Yang Shaofeng once more, Wang Qiong tentatively revealed his true intentions: "Um... I wish to stay in Ningyang County for a few more days to consult with Brother Yang on this matter of money. I hope Brother Yang will be so kind as to offer his guidance?"