Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 581 Silver Dollars and Salt and Iron Certificates
"Great victory! Great victory! The Duke of Qi led an army of 300,000 to conquer Yunnan and Guizhou. In the Battle of Qujing, he annihilated the main force of the Yuan Liang King, numbering 100,000. More than 50,000 were killed in battle, and more than 40,000 were captured. The Liang King committed suicide after his defeat. Our army has already recaptured Kunming in early winter!"
"On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, they captured Dali, killing and capturing more than 60,000 enemy soldiers. The entire Duan family, the governors of Dali, were captured and will soon be escorted to the capital to be presented to the emperor. The various routes in Yunnan will be pacified, and the recovery of the entire Yunnan region will be just around the corner!"

On the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, after nearly half a month of express delivery, the good news finally crossed half of China and was delivered to the capital before the end of the third year of the People's Republic of China. The messenger carrying the good news entered the city through the west gate, riding his horse along the street and shouting, which immediately drew gasps and cheers from the crowd in the city.

"Okay, good fight!"

"May the Great Ming Dynasty be victorious!"

"What? The entire Duan family of Dali has been captured? And they're going to be presented as prisoners to the emperor! Good, this is wonderful! Since Dali in Yunnan established itself at the end of the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had Nanzhao, the Song Dynasty had Dali, and even the Yuan Dynasty had to appease the Duan family, making them hereditary governors. In the end, they still have to rely on my Great Ming Dynasty."

"Hahahaha, Nanzhao and Dali, which even the great Tang and the former Song could not conquer, were actually recovered by our dynasty in one battle. I think the Duan family is nothing but a bunch of chickens and dogs."

A teacher-training student in Beijing and several classmates were walking down the street when they heard the good news and excitedly shouted.

But his classmate next to him retorted, "What do you mean 'nothing special'? Our Ming army is invincible. If the Duan family were really so incompetent, why would Hu Yuan have made them hereditary governors of Dali?"

"That's right, it's the might of the Ming army, may the Ming Dynasty be victorious!"

"At this rate, it will be only a matter of time before the territory of our Great Ming surpasses that of the Han and Tang dynasties. Wherever the sun and moon shine and wherever the rivers flow, it will all be Han territory. By the way, which of the former territories of the Han and Tang dynasties have not yet been recovered?"

The other person next to him thought for a moment before saying, “In the south, only Jiaozhi should remain unrecovered. In the northeast, Liaoning Province has been established, and Yunzhong County and Jiuyuan County in the Hetao region have also been recovered. There are also our dynasty’s troops stationed in the former Yuan capital in the south of the Gobi Desert. Now, if we think about it carefully, I’m afraid only the Hehuang region (Qinghai and Gansu), the Western Regions, and the four counties of Goryeo remain unrecovered.”

"However, Goryeo has already become a vassal state of our Great Ming Dynasty, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to take it back in the future, right?"

The radical teacher trainee who spoke first sneered, "Why not take it back? If we really want to fight them, are we afraid we won't find an excuse? What a joke! I'll personally volunteer to be the Han envoy and make sure I don't come back alive from Goryeo. That way, the court will have a reason to send troops. Who knows, I might even go down in history in the future, hahahaha."

The two classmates next to me were speechless. Good grief, are you trying to imitate the Han envoy and stage an accident to extort money from someone?
Three scholars walked down the street chatting and laughing. Behind them, in front of a restaurant they had just passed, the Goryeo envoy Choi Cheol happened to appear at the restaurant entrance. He overheard their conversation and was immediately shocked and furious.

Cui Zhe was leading a delegation to the Ming Dynasty to celebrate the New Year, as he did every year.

He had just arrived in Jiankang a few days ago when he heard that a new dish was circulating in the streets. It was said to have come from the imperial chefs in the palace and was made with sweet potatoes from Lizhou. Even His Majesty the Emperor loved to eat it.

He had just finished reporting to the officials of the Court of State Ceremonial two days ago and immediately came to this restaurant to taste the pork, cabbage, tofu and vermicelli stew. He was enjoying his meal and was still savoring it when he left the restaurant. However, he saw this scene as soon as he stepped out, which made him feel uneasy.

Firstly, he was furious at the scholars’ attitude that Goryeo could be easily destroyed. But then he heard the news that the Ming Dynasty had wiped out more than 100,000 enemy troops in Yunnan and Guizhou, which terrified him. If these 300,000 troops were to attack Goryeo, Goryeo might not be able to withstand them.

Thinking of this, he then said to the Ming Dynasty official from the Court of State Ceremonial, who was standing beside him, "Director Zhao, it seems that your country's scholars are quite hostile towards our Goryeo."

Zhao Zhixuan, known as Zhao Shucheng, was merely a low-ranking official of the Honglu Temple, responsible for receiving foreign tribute envoys. However, he didn't take the Goryeo envoy seriously at all. Upon hearing this, he immediately said disdainfully, "How can you take the jokes of a few scholars seriously? They are not officials, so what use are their words? I hope Envoy Cui won't stoop to the level of a few scholars."

"Hmph, I certainly won't stoop to the level of an ordinary scholar. But I'm going to continue shopping. Does Director Zhao still want to follow me?"

"It is my duty to entertain the envoys." Although Zhao Zhixuan agreed verbally, he was actually unwilling to follow Cui Zhe around aimlessly. However, he had been ordered to keep a close watch on the Goryeo delegation's every move, so he had no choice but to go along.

The group left the restaurant. As the year drew to a close, the streets were bustling with activity. Vendors selling New Year's goods and ordinary people buying them were everywhere. Many idlers gathered together to discuss the good news they had just heard, while peddlers carried their wares through the streets and alleys, calling out their wares.

"Peanuts, sunflower seeds, and red dates—Lizhou dried fruits! Salty and delicious, you can have them for free if you don't like them!"

'Another product from Lizhou.'

Upon hearing this, Cui Zhe's heart stirred. He had just eaten the vermicelli from Lizhou and was now seeing the dried fruit from Lizhou. It seemed that the Ming Dynasty had indeed brought a lot of good things from Lizhou.

Unfortunately, he didn't know the exact location of Lizhou. He only heard that it was on the opposite side of the East Sea, a round trip of 100,000 li. Without the large white ships (warships) and advanced navigation skills of the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible to reach the other side. Therefore, even though they coveted the treasures of Lizhou, Goryeo had no ability to explore it.

Thinking of this, he immediately called out to the peddler, "What kind of dried fruit from Lizhou are you selling?"

Seeing that there was business, the peddler quickly put down his load and introduced, "Peanuts, melon seeds, and red dates are all freshly roasted. It's okay if you don't buy them, you can try them first. Let me tell you, this is a method I learned from His Majesty's farmers. Ordinary people can't make this taste."

Cui Zhe grabbed a few, then asked in confusion, "Are these red dates also from Lizhou?"

"No, it's not the red dates. These peanuts and melon seeds have only been planted in Daming for a year, so the yield is limited. I don't have many here either, so I'm selling them with some red dates."

"I see. How do you eat this?"

"Sir, you can peel the shells like this, or crack them open with your teeth, and then you can eat the melon seeds and peanuts inside. Please try them," the peddler immediately demonstrated to the group.

Cui Zhe tried some and found them to be very delicious. He wondered how the sunflower seeds and peanuts were made, as they were encased in a hard shell but were still very flavorful inside. The sunflower seeds were salty and savory, and the peanuts were rich in garlic flavor.

The process involves first boiling the melon seeds in brine, then draining them, mixing them with salt, and dry-frying them. This allows the melon seeds to absorb the flavor. The same principle applies to peanuts. This is a modern method passed down from Lu Jin. Otherwise, if people had to figure out how to eat them on their own, it would have taken a long time.

"The taste is indeed excellent. How much do you want to sell this?"

The peddler glanced at Cui Zhe and his companions' clothing and heard their Mandarin, which was clearly not their native language. His eyes lit up, and he immediately decided to swindle them. Then he looked at Zhao Zhixuan next to Cui Zhe, who was dressed like a Ming Dynasty person, but was just smiling at him, as if he had guessed what Cui Zhe was up to but did not intend to interfere.

So the peddler gritted his teeth and said, "Melon seeds are thirty coins a pound, peanuts are forty coins a pound. How much would you like, sir?"

"So expensive?" Choi Cheol was taken aback. Although this amount of money was nothing to him as a Goryeo envoy, it was outrageous for ordinary people buying snacks. Forty wen could buy a peck of rice; who would spend forty wen on a pound of snacks? "You're selling them at such a high price, do you think you can sell them? Are you trying to scam me?" Choi Cheol asked, somewhat disbelievingly.

Seeing that Zhao Zhixuan didn't expose him but just chuckled, the peddler became even more confident and immediately said, "Look at what you're saying, sir. What kind of place is Jiankang? It's right under the emperor's nose, the most important place in the capital. Everyone living in the city is either rich or noble. If you just throw a brick on the street, you might hit the steward of some high-ranking official. How could it not sell?"

"Besides, this is a local product of Lizhou. It has only been planted in Ming Dynasty for less than a year, so the yield is limited, which is why it is naturally more expensive. In two years, when every household is planting it, the price will naturally drop as the supply increases. After all, scarcity makes things valuable. Don't you think that makes sense? If you buy it now, sir, wouldn't that make you look just as powerful as those noble people?"

Upon hearing this, Cui Zhe nodded, finding the peddler's words to be somewhat reasonable. He then stopped doubting and immediately said, "Then weigh five catties of one item for me first."

"Alright, peanuts, melon seeds, and red dates from Lizhou, five catties of each!" the peddler shouted, and immediately began weighing the goods. After weighing them, he wrapped them in straw paper into two large packages, tied them with thin hemp thread, and handed them to Cui Zhe as he spoke.

"Five catties of melon seeds for 150 coins, five catties of peanuts for 200 coins, a total of 350 coins. What do you think, sir?"

Before the peddler could finish speaking, Cui Zhe's attendant handed him a shiny silver coin, which immediately caught the peddler's eye.

"Hey, a five-cent silver coin! It's worth five hundred coins. Wait here, I'll give you your change." The peddler quickly took the silver coin, stood it up, put it to his mouth, and blew on it. Buzz—the silver coin immediately emitted a clear and melodious vibrating sound. The peddler was even more delighted when he saw this. He quickly took out his money bag, pulled out a stack of colorful salt and iron certificates, counted out one hundred and fifty coins, and handed them over.

"Here's a five-cent silver dragon, and I'll give you 150 coins in change. Please take it, sir."

Cui Zhe watched the transaction between his attendant and the peddler and suddenly seemed to understand something. The silver coins they were using were only issued by the Ming Dynasty in the second half of this year.

The obverse features the words "Central Bank of the Great Ming Dynasty" at the top, followed by the year "4053 AD" in Arabic numerals below. The denomination is written in traditional Chinese characters and lowercase Arabic numerals in the center. The reverse features a five-clawed dragon design, and the sides of the coin are also decorated with machine-knurled patterns, hence its affectionate nickname "Silver Dragon" among the people.

These silver coins were made by melting 90% silver and 10% brass, first rolling them into plates, then stamping them into blanks with a press, then pressing the front and back patterns with a cold heading machine, and finally rolling the knurling on the sides with a rolling edge machine. They were pure machine-made coins with very exquisite relief patterns, and the dragon design looked very lifelike.

Silver dollars were divided into three denominations: large, medium, and small. The largest was one yuan, with a diameter of 35 millimeters and a weight of 27 grams. It was smaller in diameter than the Yuan Shikai silver dollar from the Republic of China, which was 39 millimeters in diameter, but the weight was the same. Therefore, it looked thicker and was called the "Big Silver Dragon" by the people.

The medium-sized one is five cents, with a diameter of 28 millimeters, the same as the diameter of ancient copper coins, and weighs 13.5 grams. It was used as five hundred copper coins or salt and iron certificates, hence it was also called 'five-cent silver dragon' or 'medium round'.

The smaller version had a face value of 20 cents, a diameter of 22.5 millimeters, and weighed 5.4 grams. It was about the same size as a modern one-dollar coin and was used as 200 cash. It was also known as the 'Little Silver Dragon'.

Originally, there were plans to issue silver dollars with a face value of one jiao (10 cents), but Lu Jin was not very satisfied with the samples made. The one-jiao silver dollar weighed only 2.6 grams. If the diameter was too small, it would be easy to lose; if the diameter was too large, it would be too thin.

Silver is inherently soft. Although 10% brass was added to increase its hardness, it was still easily deformed and damaged. Moreover, it was easy to confuse it with the two-cent denomination. So in the end, the one-cent denomination was simply not issued.

According to the new system of weights and measures promulgated by the Ming Dynasty, one kilogram is equal to two jin, and each jin weighs 500 grams, which is equal to ten liang. Therefore, one liang should weigh 50 grams. However, gold and silver still use the old system, calculated at sixteen liang per jin.

Therefore, one tael of silver should weigh 31.25 grams, but the silver dollar issued this time weighs only 27 grams, which is equivalent to only 0.865 taels of silver. In addition, this thing has a silver content of only 90%, so it can only be used as 0.8 taels of silver at most.

However, once these silver coins were issued, they were very popular among the people. Even though they were worth less than one tael of silver, the people still liked them because the currency of the Ming Dynasty was problematic. The main problem was that the value of salt and iron certificates was overestimated, while the value of silver was underestimated.

The official price set by the imperial court was one thousand salt and iron certificates for one tael of silver, but in reality, the common people could not exchange them for even one tael of silver. At this time, because silver was scarce, its purchasing power was much higher than at the end of the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, and it was not as severely devalued as it was during the later period of inflation.

At this time, the imperial court introduced a silver coin worth only eight qian (a unit of weight), which perfectly filled the gap between silver and salt and iron certificates. One thousand salt and iron certificates could be exchanged for one silver coin (eight qian of silver).

In addition, this thing has a stable content, uniform value, and a variety of denominations (three denominations). When used in conjunction with the paper money of the Salt and Iron Certificates, it is very convenient to use. You no longer need to use a mini scale to weigh the silver as before, and you no longer need to use scissors to cut the silver into pieces when making change.

In the end, the merchant received a pile of broken silver. Not only was this broken silver easy to lose, but the merchant also had to take it to a silver melting shop to be cast into silver ingots, and in the process, the merchant had to bear a fire loss fee.

Now, all these troubles are completely eliminated. You can simply look at the face value of the silver dollar and know how much it is. There is no need to weigh it anymore. Since there are three denominations, large and small, and with the salt and iron certificates, it is also very convenient. There is no need to cut the silver into small pieces, and you don't have to bear the fire loss of melting silver ingots. Therefore, it is especially popular among small merchants.

For wealthy merchants, while silver dollars were valuable, they still preferred large-denomination salt and iron certificates, such as ten-yuan salt and iron certificates, which were worth a thousand silver dollars in a stack. For large transactions over long distances, these certificates were clearly more convenient than silver dollars.

Carrying a thousand yuan in paper money is completely undetectable and very safe. Try exchanging it for a thousand silver dollars! It weighs a full 54 jin (27 catties), who the hell could carry that?
On another note, the paper salt and iron certificates of the Ming Dynasty are still very strong. Firstly, the Ming Dynasty abolished the depreciation difference of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. No matter how old or worn your salt and iron certificates are, as long as you take them to the supply and marketing cooperative or bank, you can immediately exchange them for new banknotes. There is no such depreciation fee as in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Depreciation costs shouldn't be borne by ordinary people in the first place. Otherwise, if people have less and less money in their hands, who would want to use it?

Secondly, this thing is tied to physical salt, and salt is a necessity for daily life. As long as you still need to eat salt, you don't have to worry about not being able to exchange the salt iron coupons for real goods.

Thirdly, the imperial court allowed the use of salt and iron certificates to pay taxes, which further promoted the circulation of these certificates. People were willing to use them, dared to hold and save them, and the value of these salt and iron certificates naturally remained strong.

As Choi Cheol watched the peddler happily accept the five-cent silver dollar, he wondered if he should also transplant the Ming Dynasty's monetary system to Goryeo. After all, whether it was easy to use and whether the people were willing to use it were things that could be seen. In the original history, Joseon had imported a large amount of copper coins from the Ming Dynasty because the copper coins they minted themselves were not good. So it was normal for Choi Cheol to have this idea.

"Please take care, sir. Come back and buy from me again next time if you're satisfied." After the transaction was completed, the peddler put away his money bag, shouted, and immediately picked up his load again. He walked briskly, and after several twists and turns, he quickly disappeared into the street.

In the blink of an eye, the peddler had vanished. Cui Zhe immediately realized he was in trouble; he had probably been swindled by the peddler.

But just as he was thinking about whether to send someone to find the peddler, he suddenly heard a melodious bell ringing from the east of the city.

The bells rang out, their tones varying in pitch, as if playing music.

He immediately asked curiously, "What is that?"

(End of this chapter)