Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 293 Li Ming: Fight a currency war with me?

"Oh? You caught a few more illegal vendors distributing counterfeit money?"

The temporary capital of the Ming Dynasty was located in Pingzhou Prefecture.

Li Ming raised his head from behind the mountain of reports and looked across with a frown.

"The facts have been clarified." Yuchi Xunyu's throat was throbbing:

"They are all spies from Chang'an, ordered by the false emperor of Tang to disrupt the normal market order of our Ming Dynasty."

During this period he reaped great rewards, capturing many spies lurking from the Tang Dynasty.

With resentment towards the Tang Dynasty for secretly changing the emperor without telling them, the intelligence personnel swung their sticks with great force. After performing a great memory restoration operation on the spies, they quickly figured out the whole story of the incident.

The little black charcoal head finally got rid of his previous depression and was completely proud of himself.
"Is this Tang's return gift to me for importing counterfeit currency into the Ming Dynasty? Li Chengqian is quite interesting."

Li Ming put down the volume in his hand.

The Tang Dynasty neither fired the first shot as he wished, nor did it continue to fight him without firing a single shot as he wished.

Instead, he used non-military means to launch an attack on the Ming Dynasty.

They fought, but not completely. In the "war or peace" questionnaire given by Li Ming, they actually answered "or".

This is a bit of a headache.

Fortunately, Li Ming had already taken precautions against criminals printing counterfeit banknotes.

The paper used for the Ming Dynasty's common currency was made from pulp from birch, yew, spruce and other tree species unique to the Northeast forests, which were then mixed and formulated in specific proportions.

This gives real money a unique feel.

Counterfeit currency may look exactly the same, but the feel of the material is impossible for skilled craftsmen to replicate.

They couldn't get over the hurdle of raw materials. In the warm Tang Dynasty, rhinos could still run in Chang'an, and they had nowhere to find cold-zone trees.

"But this is a bad sign. Li Chengqian has capable people under his command." Li Ming knocked on the table and pondered:
"Our Ming Dynasty is vast and diverse, and there are loopholes that cannot be closed. This time they ran into the gunpoint. What about next time, will we have such good luck?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, your concerns are not wrong, Your Majesty." Fang Xuanling took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and asked:

"Have you found out who gave him the advice?"

"I have asked all the questions clearly!" Yuchi Xunyu was just waiting for someone to ask him, and couldn't wait to show off his skills in front of others:
"It was Li Zhi who gave the fake emperor advice!"

Li Zhi?

Li Ming was slightly surprised.

The little traitor who was caught on the spot during his failed rebellion actually won the resurrection match and continued to stay in the central decision-making level to make suggestions.

Jiulang is awesome, and Dalang Chengqian is even more awesome. He even dares to continue using his sinister little brother whose true colors have been revealed. He is really courageous.

None of Old Li’s legitimate sons are bad.

"The spies also revealed that the fake emperor designated Li Zhi as his successor." Yuchi Xunyu continued to reveal the information.

"Oh...what?!" Li Ming's jaw almost dropped.

"This is absolutely true." Yuchi Xunyu also knew that this sounded ridiculous, but this was the situation.

"Li Zhi has already moved into the East Palace."

"Is this true? Did Li Chengqian adopt Li Zhi as his son?"

Could it be that Li Chengqian and Chengxin were playing some kind of house game, and was Li Zhi a part of their play?

Or is it that Li Zhi is actually the son of the plane, and no matter how the world line is messed up by time travelers, he is destined to be the commander-in-chief?
"Hiss..." Li Ming also scratched his scalp because of the headache.

He suddenly realized that he had underestimated Xiao Nanliang.

With a piece of empty cake that was no less than "I am Qin Shi Huang, v50 I will make you a general", he tricked Li Zhi to his side and made him do his best to give him advice.

Li Zhi also had a short memory. After being lured once by Li Ming with the position of "Regent", he was lured again by Li Chengqian with the title of "Crown Prince".

Is that little brat Jiulang so power-hungry...

Uncle Changsun, who was standing by, put down the paper and pen in his hand and commented:

"Cheng Qian, aside from his quirks, is a magnanimous man. Li Zhi was intelligent since childhood.

"The two of them working together is a headache."

As an uncle is like a half father, Changsun Wuji has a lot to say about the personality traits of the two men.

Li Zhi and Li Chengqian, the elder brother grasped the general direction while the younger brother came up with ideas, and they achieved victory by combining the right and the unexpected, which complemented each other's strengths.

"Li Zhi has also joined in, so now..."

Fang Xuanling raised his head and thought, counting on his fingers for a while, and asked:

"Your Majesty, how many years older is Li Zhi than you?"

Are you calling "Your Majesty" too often? Do you think being the emperor makes you so happy... Li Ming's mouth twitched:
"...

"Mr. Fang, are you trying to figure out whether I can outlast Li Zhi? You'd better give up on this idea."

With the joining of Li Zhi, the game between Ming Dynasty and Tang Dynasty became more complicated.

Li Zhi is not only young, but also smart and has great potential. Under the influence of his father and brother, he has a promising future.

In other words, with Li Zhi there to support them, it would be difficult to wait until Li Shimin's death and then easily conquer the Tang Dynasty.

The delaying tactic didn't work.

"Since we can't delay, let's make it quick."

Li Ming knocked on the table and raised his voice.

He had never wanted to delay the unification plan indefinitely and "did not trust the wisdom of future generations."

Ten thousand years is too long. We must seize the day and cut the Gordian knot quickly to take over the remaining half of the world to avoid any more trouble.

The Ming Dynasty was large in size and had many loopholes that were difficult to defend. What about the Tang Dynasty?
There will only be more vulnerabilities, not fewer.

Therefore, instead of passively accepting the attack, it is better to take the initiative and consume the opponent's brain power.

"Your Majesty, what's your plan?"

Fang Xuanling, Zhangsun Wuji, and Yuchi Xunyu came up together:
Li Ming glanced at the three people sitting down and said slowly:

"It is impolite not to reciprocate. They sent some 'money' to my Ming Dynasty, so my Ming Dynasty should also give a gift in return.

“However, our Great Ming is vast, rich in resources, and a prosperous and strong country.

"The money they sent was fake. We are sending real money back."

The three of them looked at each other:
"what do you mean……"

"Give them imported inflation." Li Mingdao:

"Try to see how good that perfect couple is."

…………

Li Ming's Ming Dynasty had plenty of copper coins.

Under the leadership of Mr. Yuan and Mr. Xuan, chief experts of the Science Department, and with the continuous development of border residents, although the Beidahuang has not yet built the Beida Granary, a large number of mines have been explored.

While the Ming Dynasty craftsmen were smelting steel, they also smelted a large amount of copper.

On the other hand, when the merchants of the Ming Dynasty did business with the copper-based Tang Dynasty and the greater Chinese civilization circle influenced by the Tang Dynasty, they received a lot of copper coins in return.

With so much copper, there would be enough left over to give every citizen a radiator, but the Ming Dynasty did not use copper coins, so apart from making handicrafts, there was no other use for it.

These coppers were left idle, causing copper prices to plummet, and they were piled up in warehouses and still took up space.

These are the bullets that wage currency wars.

Li Ming used this trick to deal with Qizhou, where the unlucky Ma Zhou was in charge. First, he imported a large amount of copper coins to destroy the local economy, so that Qizhou would open the city on its own initiative and merge into the Ming Dynasty without bloodshed.

Then, copper coins were abolished in Qizhou and replaced with paper money, and the copper coins previously invested were recovered and used for the next currency war.

Sustainable development belongs to it, and this is a perpetual motion machine that can overthrow the regime at zero cost.

Li Ming's plan was also simple and crude.

They still used the same method they used to deal with Ma Zhou of Qizhou, but on a scale several times larger.

Copper mines across the country worked at full capacity to mint Kaiyuan Tong Bao coins in large quantities. Then, through the developed trade between the Ming and Tang dynasties, large quantities of copper coins were imported into the Tang dynasty.

In a short period of time, a large number of wealthy buyers came to Datang.

They bought up rice, flour, cloth, grain, oil, farm tools, manure and other daily necessities from the Tang Dynasty as if they were free, leaving behind large amounts of copper coins.

This kind of momentum is much more grand than the few spies that Li Chengqian stuffed in with his hands.

Money increases supply while goods increase demand.

There is no need to say more about the consequences of the two phases being superimposed.

In just a few days, prices in the Tang Dynasty doubled, and prices in border cities increased several times.

In a peaceful era without war, this inflation rate is already very, very outrageous.

This alternative "money shortage" soon spread to the core of the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an.

…………

"The price of rice in Chang'an has risen from five cents a dou during the Zhenguan period to twenty cents a dou, and the people are complaining."

At the small court meeting in Liangyi Hall, Huangmen Shilang Liu Li presented a report.

The atmosphere in the hall was quite solemn.

After experiencing the rule of Li Shimin and Li Ming, the officials inevitably felt a sense of disparity when they were given orders by Li Chengqian.

It's like an experienced driver who is used to driving trams going back to drive the Peugeot he learned at the driving school. It's not that he can't drive it, but he always feels like something is missing.

"There are rumors among the people in the neighborhood that..." Liu Li paused here.

Li Chengqian sat on the dragon couch and said expressionlessly:

"You can speak freely, Mr. Liu."

"The common people say that the Zhenguan period was better. Your Majesty is much worse than the retired emperor." Liu Li told the truth.

His colleagues below secretly glanced at Lao Liu.

What nonsense are you talking about? The troublemaker you are talking about is not you yourself.

Huh... Li Chengqian was almost spit on by the minister. He breathed heavily and remained silent for a long time.

Just when everyone thought that the new emperor was going to lose his temper, the heaving of his majesty's chest gradually calmed down.

He said calmly:
"I am I, and the late emperor is the late emperor.

"Instead of arguing about who is stronger or weaker, we should save our energy and use it to overcome the crisis at hand."

It must be said that Emperor Li Chengqian's temper and attitude are probably the best among the candidates.

In addition, the emperor’s prestige is still there.

Therefore, the ministers were still willing to stay in Chang'an to help him, rather than go to Pingzhou.

Minister of Civil Affairs Tang Jian was the first to fire:
"The fake Ming country plagiarized our methods and put a large amount of counterfeit currency on the market. We should increase our investigation efforts to eliminate the counterfeit currency!"

As an official in charge of people's livelihood finances, he deeply detests this wave of economic warfare.

Yu Zhining, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, expressed a different opinion:

"Tang Shangshu's opinion is not feasible. The coins imported by the pseudo-country are all made of pure copper. Not only are they made of real material and have sufficient weight, but their craftsmanship is also the same as that of the Taichang Temple Mint.

"That's real money! How do we detect it? How do we exclude it?"

This is the problem that gives them the most headaches.

Unlike the tree species unique to the frigid zones, there are two pieces of copper placed here. Can you tell me which one is from the Tang Dynasty and which one is from the Ming Dynasty?
Unexpectedly, the seemingly light paper money is actually more difficult to counterfeit than the heavy copper coins!
"Although we can't tell the authenticity of coins, money doesn't have legs of its own, so it must be transported by humans!"

Tang Jian didn't give up and continued to come up with ideas.

"We should strengthen the city's defenses and severely punish those spies who transported the fake Ming copper coins into the country!"

The spy, Zhang Liang, shook his head:

“It’s difficult because there are no spies there.

"Those who trade copper coins in China are ordinary merchants and common people. Some are from the other side, but most of them are ignorant people from our side."

From the perspective of the country, this is imported inflation; but from the perspective of an individual, this is the Ming Dynasty spending money lavishly.

Those who don't make money are fools.

It can be said that it was the big hand of the market that was importing excess currency into the Tang Dynasty.

Li Ming used this pair of invisible big hands to slap the people in Chang'an in the face.

"We can't catch the person, and we can't get the money. Is there nothing we can do?"

Tang Jian's questioning voice echoed in the Liangyi Palace, but received no response.

The other side used an open strategy and abnormal productivity to launch a wave of offensive.

Under this trend, there is actually very limited what they can do.

"The person opposite is Li Ming..."

For Liu Li, who had fought with Li Ming many times, this familiar taste came back again.

Although Li Ming was still a "dead man" at the official level of the Tang Dynasty.

However, in the core circle of the imperial court, the fact that "Li Ming is the one who makes the decisions in the Ming Dynasty" has become common knowledge.

After Liu Li's reminder, everyone is slowly coming back to their senses.

Fighting an economic war against Li Ming, the man who invented paper money and solved the money shortage, isn't this just using one's own weakness to attack others' strengths? !
"Are we just going to let prices continue to soar and lose without even fighting?" Tang Jian scratched his head.

Another Zhongshushilang, Du Zhenglun, made the following suggestion:

"The market is flooded with copper coins. Can't we take back the extra money?"

Yu Zhining objected on the spot:
"How? From whom? From merchants and common people? How is this different from handing over the country and the people's hearts to others?"

If there was only one Tang Dynasty in the world, the government could still use tough measures and the people would not dare to say much.

But now in the northeast, there stands a Ming Dynasty like a beacon.

The Tang Dynasty can no longer act recklessly; it must consider its own manners.

"Neither this nor that will work. Why don't we just stop using copper coins and go back to trading rice, grain, and cloth." Du Zhenglun said angrily.

"How much rice will be enough? Don't create another famine." Tang Jian complained.

Du Zhenglun was just saying this in anger, and he didn't take it seriously.

It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. After experiencing the convenience of monetary economy, it is impossible for ordinary people to go back to the era of barter.

If you make me unhappy, I will join the Ming Dynasty, it's that simple.

The ministers were at a loss as to what to do.

"Ahem." The Secretary of State Ashina She'er, who had been silent all this time, interrupted:
"Or, let's go to war."

(End of this chapter)