The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1542 New Treasure Notes

"Your design disappoints me. Where do you place the vast land of my Ming Dynasty? Where do you place His Majesty the Emperor of my Ming Dynasty? I have repeatedly emphasized that it should reflect the boundless expanse of my Ming Dynasty and the legacy of my Ming Dynasty's past emperors..."

In the newly revitalized Treasury, Wang Yan angrily berated everyone present, looking utterly disappointed.

Lu Fang tried to smooth things over for these people: "Magistrate Wang, don't be impatient. Things have to be done step by step. You can't get fat in one bite. Just tell them what you want to change, and keep making changes little by little. Eventually, you'll get the style you want."

Wang Yan then stopped his efforts and began to study the new design with the others.

His purpose in speaking was certainly not to express dissatisfaction with other designs, but rather to demonstrate his loyalty to the emperor. After all, Lü Fang was present; if he emphasized a few more points, the emperor would be pleased to hear them from Jiajing. He would know that his capable subordinate was always thinking of His Majesty the Emperor. He needed to show respect publicly, and even more so in private.

There are three key aspects to minting coins: materials, design, and anti-counterfeiting measures.

The materials used for banknotes must ensure their durability and toughness, and they must be waterproof, stain-resistant, and not easily damaged. Anti-counterfeiting features naturally aim to make them difficult to imitate and easy to distinguish from counterfeit banknotes. This is reflected in both the materials and the design.

The style is of paramount importance, since this is something people use; we must pay attention to its image and its symbolic meaning.

After a period of research and discussion, it was finally decided that the largest denomination coin, the "One String of Cash," would feature the images of all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, up to the current Jiajing Emperor, on both sides. Otherwise, with so many people, one side would be too small to depict them all. The background would be the Forbidden City.

The remaining five hundred, one hundred, and fifty paintings depict the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, as well as other figures who fought for the Chinese nation. These are all group portraits, with no individual figures among them.

The ten, five, and one-yuan paintings used most frequently depicted ordinary soldiers, craftsmen, and common farmers. They were all realistic in style, and the subjects were all real people. Wang Yan also had the newly arrived registrar, who loved writing unofficial histories, record the names of those chosen for portraits in the historical records.

The printing process also presented a challenge. Because money has many intricate details, the printing technology had to be top-notch. Wang Yan and his team of craftsmen worked on it for a long time before finally solving the problem.

The design was also approved by Jiajing, who personally inscribed the four characters "Da Ming Bao Chao" (Great Ming Treasure Note) and the amount of money on it.

With the new paper money passing through Jiajing's hands, the opinions of the remaining cabinet members became irrelevant; in fact, the cabinet itself supported it. They all understood the reasoning behind the emperor's words, and since the trial implementation was being conducted right under their noses, it was an extremely beneficial thing for the country, and there was no reason for them to oppose it.

After all, if money is printed in the future, deficits can be deliberately created, making things easier for the cabinet and other high-ranking officials. The lower-ranking officials don't object either, because this way, deficits caused by various reasons can be smoothly and easily resolved, and everyone can make money…

They all praised Wang Yan, saying that when it came to the ability to amass wealth, Wang Yan was unmatched. He was no longer content with simply profiting in the present; instead, he was using the nation as a front to directly swindle money from tomorrow, the day after, and the year after that…

Although they also used the traditional methods of landlords and wealthy landowners, such as issuing IOUs to swindle people out of their future money, they were not as shrewd as Wang Yan, who actually wanted to directly tie the imperial court to his cause...

In any case, in the spring of the 42nd year of the Jiajing reign, taking advantage of the commencement of various projects in the new year, the various projects in the palace and Daxing were no longer settled in copper coins, but were paid in Da Ming Baochao (a type of paper money).

The common people could spend their money within the territory of the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, in order to avoid panic among the people, the Treasury of Paper Money opened many money shops in the capital, allowing people to exchange their notes for copper coins at face value.

At the same time, a notice was issued to every merchant, informing them that if people brought paper money to spend, they must settle the account normally; otherwise, it would be considered a serious crime of treason. This was because the Ming Dynasty paper money represented the Ming Dynasty court and His Majesty the Emperor. Not recognizing the paper money was disobeying the court and disrespecting the emperor, and would be punished to the fullest extent of the law—a truly heinous crime.

Especially since the person in charge of this matter was Wang Yan, who was known for his tough life, they had no choice but to accept it reluctantly. But accepting it didn't mean they wouldn't benefit from it.

“Magistrate Wang, these merchants truly deserve to die! They took the paper money and then used it to exchange for copper coins at the money exchange!” said the head of the Paper Money Management Office.

No one is a fool. The merchants know very well that Wang Yan has a limited number of copper coins. Once the money shops can no longer exchange the coins, the people who are barely accepting them and willing to spend the paper money will rush to the money shops to redeem them, and the paper money will naturally go bankrupt.

It wasn't just a simple matter of the banknotes going bankrupt; along with it, Wang Yan's myth of invincibility also crumbled. People desperately needed Wang Yan to fail, desperately wanted to strike him down when he did. Even knowing that Jiajing Emperor would protect him and prevent Wang Yan from being utterly ruined, it would still damage his reputation.

The simplest difference is that the king's words are "definitely feasible" to "the king's words might be feasible."

"Don't worry, I've already taken care of this. Have someone post a notice at the entrance of the money shop, saying that depositing copper coins there will yield an annual interest of three percent. Furthermore, if merchants urgently need funds for expansion, they can borrow from the money shop. The specific amount, duration, and annual interest rate should be discussed in detail, but I can guarantee that the annual interest rate will not exceed ten percent."

"Does Magistrate Wang want those people with savings to deposit their money and lend it to those merchants? What if wealthy people deposit their money in money shops while simultaneously exchanging their paper money for copper coins..."

Wang Yan shook his head: "Let them exchange it, exchange it however they want."

“Magistrate Wang, you should think twice. The wealthy have a lot of money; no amount of copper coins is enough for them to exchange.”

"They won't be able to redeem it all within at least a year or two. We'll still be collecting taxes, and those taxes will also be collected in paper money. Once the paper money stabilizes after a year or two, the people will accept it, and then they won't have a choice but to accept it. They won't be able to do anything to sabotage it then."

At this point, Wang Yan glanced at him and said, "You need to be more proactive too."

"Magistrate Wang, please speak frankly."

“You’re being tactless,” Wang Yan shook his head, sighed, and waved his hand. “All the money passes through the money exchange, and the amounts are all traceable. Who exchanged the most banknotes and who deposited the most copper coins are all known. Why don’t you check that out? If you see someone you don’t like, and it just so happens that killing that person would cause some trouble but wouldn’t affect the overall situation, then you just go and kill that person.”

Especially those ignorant members of the royal family; arresting one could implicate other powerful and wealthy families, leading to the deaths of a whole string of them. Even if they weren't killed, they could be demoted to commoners. This would not only clean house for His Majesty and prevent the royal family from being disgraced, but also reduce the court's expenses. In the process, you, the one handling the matter, could also earn a considerable amount of money. Why not?" "Oh, Magistrate Wang, you make it sound so easy. My office has no people, no power. What can I do? Who can I arrest? Besides, my head isn't as hard as yours; I'm quite ruthless."

"How did you become an official? Why did His Majesty entrust you with this matter?"

Wang Yan looked disgusted. "Our Great Ming has a currency law. This law was formulated by you, the chief official, together with the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate. You formulated the law, then used it to find faults and applied to establish an inspection team. After all, money in banks needs to be protected, the printing bureau needs to be kept secret, the banknote warehouses need to be strictly guarded, and the destruction of banknotes needs to be strictly supervised. Isn't it normal to have a law enforcement and protection team?"

"If you submit a memorial requesting His Majesty's approval, the cabinet will surely pass it. Then you'll have the laws and the personnel you need, and you can even request other departments to join the operation. Wouldn't that mean you can arrest whomever you want? With the laws of the Ming Dynasty in hand, there's no one you can't arrest."

Having been taught the art of framing and slander by Wang Yan, the head of the Treasury of Paper Money diligently went out to post notices...

This strategy is appropriate. It's impossible for all the big investors to be so united that they all stop depositing money or all borrow money. As long as there are people, it can be done.

Moreover, there are still a considerable number of small business owners in the city who do not have such powerful backgrounds. They try to build connections everywhere and work hard to make ends meet, but they still don't have much money left over after working themselves to the bone every year.

During Wang Yan's year-long tenure in Daxing, these were the people who benefited the most. They had some ideas and connections, but they weren't powerful enough, and they faced a lot of exploitation when trying to do business.

However, there aren't so many shady practices under Wang Yan's management. As long as you abide by the law, pay taxes according to regulations, and operate with integrity, you can run your business smoothly without fear of anyone resorting to underhanded tactics. As long as it's within the normal scope, Wang Yan won't interfere. But if it's outside the scope, and you report it to Wang Yan, those who don't follow the rules will really suffer the consequences.

On the other hand, the people of Daxing have earned money and gained a certain level of purchasing power, leading to a diversification of their consumption patterns. Their purchases have expanded beyond the necessities of daily life to include other non-essential items.

The main consumer market in Beijing is in Dongcheng District, so these businesses naturally made a fortune. After a final calculation, even after paying the cleaning fees, their profits were no less than before. Of course, this excludes the fire hazard fines; those fines caused all the businesses in Dongcheng District to lose money last year.

Only those merchants who later saw the opportunity, believed that Wang Yan was an upright and just official, and dared to invest and start businesses, truly made money.

Meanwhile, those who are truly eager to expand are precisely these people. They seized the opportunity to rise to power, and naturally want to seize that opportunity to grow stronger. They are not involved in such high-level struggles; they only think about making money for themselves, and naturally they will not join the big players in squeezing out their investments.

So after the notices were issued and people understood the government's intentions, those who wanted to advance their careers went to borrow money. It was generally very smooth; after inspecting the properties and conducting investigations, the loans were disbursed quickly. Loans ranged from a few months to two years, with interest rates mostly around four, five, or six percent.

After passing the review, the money shops directly disbursed the loans, lending out stacks of paper money, which then spread further through these people. Borrowing money involved paper money, while depositing money involved depositing copper coins. The purpose was to recycle copper coins and, at the same time, to stimulate economic development through finance, promote market changes, and advance productivity and creativity.

This takes time, but when the quantitative change reaches a certain point, it becomes an unstoppable force. Workshops develop, workers are hired, workers earn money and consume, the market prospers and competition intensifies, product prices decrease, stimulating creation, product iteration, further development, and more competition…

As long as this virtuous cycle is maintained, progress can be made indefinitely.

What Wang Yan wants to do is be a guide and a regulator. He offers ideas when others have none, and he corrects those who stray from the right path. That's all.

If things continue to develop in this way, the Ming Dynasty will eventually become a great empire that will endure as long as the sun and the moon...

Once the loan program was introduced, people understood how deposit interest was generated. Seeing so many people taking out loans, those with surplus funds felt comfortable depositing their copper coins in money shops. Wealthy individuals also deposited copper coins and silver, and then used the money they earned to extract copper coins from the money shops.

They gained nothing from doing this, nor did they have the power to smash the paper currency and cause it to collapse. They simply didn't believe in the future of the paper currency, nor did they believe it could withstand the test of time.

On the other hand, they no longer use silver notes for large transactions, as those incur handling fees. Instead, they've switched to using paper money for settlement. After all, one tael of silver equals one string of cash, and their business typically involves only a few hundred notes, making it even more convenient than silver notes.

Anyway, the paper money is still holding up well, and more and more money shops are opening every day, gradually spreading to all the counties in Shuntian Prefecture.

This wasn't something Wang Yan intended to expand; rather, it spread naturally with commercial transactions, and gradually, it naturally spread throughout the entire Ming Dynasty.

That will be the true beginning of the challenges facing the new currency. Whether it can stabilize the currency, ensure the smooth operation of the economy, and achieve high-speed development will ultimately depend on mathematics, making a final judgment based on various data from the Ming Dynasty to ensure the currency's strength.

As for the lack of support from the wealthy, Wang Yan planned to have a few large copper mines discovered by chance, and then use a mix of real and fake discoveries to drive down the price of copper. He would then stir up trouble by counterfeiting coins, so that a single one-wen banknote could be exchanged for multiple copper coins, effectively halving the assets of the wealthy.

In conclusion, the matter of paper money developed rapidly and steadily. After a period of time, the salaries of officials in the capital and the salaries of troops stationed in the capital were also paid in paper money.

After a brief period of strength and a sudden market boom, all anxieties about the paper money vanished. All that remained was the pursuit of even greater wealth.

Elsewhere, things were in full swing in Daxing. Workshops were being set up outside the city, and people from both the city and the countryside were working there.

The markets in Daxing have become even more bustling, with significantly more people than last year. The people's faces are smiling, their voices are loud, their backs are straight, and their eyes are filled with hope…

In the autumn of the forty-third year of the Jiajing reign, a carriage slowly traveled along the flat, wide official road, passing through the Daxing area and arriving in the capital...

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