The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 517: The Ninth Year of Jian'an
Nowadays, large merchants often carry half goods and half money when they travel for business.

If you are prepared to sell ten carts of goods, you must bring ten carts of money.

If the goods are valuable, you will need to carry more money.

The transportation of these coins will actually bring a lot of hidden costs.

For example, if there are a lot of vehicles, the number of livestock just to pull the vehicles will be doubled.

Not to mention the cost of hiring people and paying more tariffs... Once these various costs are added up, the profit margins of goods are destined to be low, and low profit margins will lead to the small size of the business. Therefore, many businessmen sell their properties after making enough money, and go back to the agricultural tax business, which is more time-saving, labor-saving and worry-free, and then merge land, and the cycle repeats...

When Zhang Ji heard the emperor suddenly mention this, he was puzzled after thinking deeply: "Why did your majesty suddenly mention this? What does this have to do with the gold mine?"

No matter how high the gold reserves are, it is impossible for it to be as cheap as copper and cannot be used as a common currency.

So Zhang Ji was curious about what the emperor wanted to do.

"De Jong, if there is such a currency, as thin as paper, that can be carried around for transactions, wouldn't merchants be able to save some effort?"

Zhang Ji didn't react at first.

But after thinking about it carefully, he was horrified: "Is the emperor going to make white deerskin coins?"

White deerskin coin.

It was the currency issued in the fourth year of Yuanshou (119 BC) during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, there were many deer in the Han Garden, so they collected deer skins to make currency. Deer skins were square feet long and embroidered with algae as currency, worth 400,000 coins. When the princes and royal family came to pay homage to the emperor, they had to offer deer skins as currency and jade discs before they could pass...

To put it simply, it was just an act of hooliganism by Emperor Wu of Han.

A deerskin costs four hundred thousand coins!

Moreover, they used the emperor's authority to force transactions!
what?
Not buying?

Do you think Emperor Wu of Han's sword was rusty?
So when Zhang Ji heard that Liu Xie's method was similar to Emperor Wu of Han's white deerskin coins, he immediately wanted to dissuade him!
It is too despicable for the emperor to behave like a hooligan. We cannot do this!
"Where is De Jong thinking..."

Liu Xie was also helpless, but there was nothing he could do.

The main reason was that in order to save money to fight the Huns, our ancestor Liu Che resorted to all means of deception and fraud, which made the Han emperor's credibility in financial matters surprisingly low!

We were clearly discussing how to help merchants and speed up the flow of goods, so how did you end up thinking about making money?

"I will not do anything about the white deerskin coin."

"And the white deerskin coin... this thing..."

Liu Xie also hesitated to speak.

The main reason is that the ancestor was such a bastard in this matter that it is difficult for him to comment on it.

White deerskin coins, how can that thing be called currency?
It's basically like the emperor giving someone a piece of deerskin, and then that person asks for 400,000 coins!

But if you use this deerskin to ask the emperor for money? Humph... no way!
“So, there must be rules for all this.”

Liu Xie skipped commenting on the white deerskin coins and started talking about the real business to be done.

"I do want to use a paper currency to replace the bulky copper coins."

"But this paper money cannot be something I said at random. If that were the case... then even if I engraved the imperial seal all over the paper, it would be useless."

"So, I want to link paper money to gold."

"Whenever someone goes to the government with paper money, the government must pay out gold of equal value."

"In this way, the credit of paper money is guaranteed, unlike the white deerskin coin, which becomes a floating duckweed without water."

Paper money, equivalent to gold.

Gold standard!
Xun Yu and Zhang Ji both came to their senses at this moment.

If this is true, then it would indeed make it possible for paper money to circulate. But in this case...

Chang'an needs sufficient gold reserves!

And this itself is also a powerful means!

In the future, all the gold in the world may gather in Chang'an, and what will replace it will be paper money that can be exchanged for gold!

Zhang Ji was cheered up!
If we follow the emperor's words, we can actually accomplish this!

“We can implement it in Guanzhong first.”

Liu Xie knew that if paper money was to be truly circulated, the most important thing was the people's trust in the Han Dynasty.

And because of the inhumane things that the ancestors did, the credit of the Han emperor in terms of money was actually shockingly low...

In this case, it is natural to make the people in Guanzhong, the basic base, believe in paper money, so that this policy can be implemented.

"Okay, let's start planning this now and try to get it done before the grand court meeting."

In this way, many important events of the grand court meeting in the ninth year of Jian'an had already been outlined.

The first thing was to grant Liu Wansheng a fiefdom as a model for subsequent governance after the pacification of the Western Regions.

The second thing was to formally send troops to the Western Regions to conquer Shule, laying a solid foundation for granting fiefdoms to ministers and establishing states in the future.

The third thing is to prepare paper money to strengthen future trade with the Western Regions.

These three things are actually one thing in essence.

That is the long-awaited expansion of the Han Empire!

It was different from the promulgation of the Jian'an Code and the implementation of the imperial examination in the first year of Jian'an; the promotion of the curved plow and iron smelting technology in the third year of Jian'an; and the reform of official positions in the sixth year of Jian'an.

In the ninth year of Jian'an, the Han Dynasty finally cleared up the country and wielded its claws outward for the first time!

Western Region!

Establish a state and build a nation!

As the Han Dynasty points its spearhead outward, the stubborn small peasant economy will inevitably accelerate its collapse!
Large-scale movement of population.

Trade is booming like a revolution.

And the great changes in the political system, the revival of Zhou Li...

All these things will inevitably trigger a large number of unprecedented thoughts!

Once the trend of thought begins, it is bound to bring vitality to this pond that has been silent for hundreds of years, set off terrifying huge waves, and turn this pond into a turbulent sea!
And some news gradually spread in Chang'an.

The first prince general of the Han Dynasty was Liu Wansheng, the descendant of Grand Tutor Dong. Everyone was surprised, but also felt it was reasonable.

But for some reason, the news of the discovery of gold mines in the Hehuang Valley also spread!

This news undoubtedly made many people's eyes tear up, but at the same time, more people were gloating.

Everyone thought that if a gold mine was really discovered in the Hehuang Valley, the imperial court would never give this land to Liu Wansheng.

However, if this piece of land is not granted to Liu Wansheng, the court's plan to establish a state will probably be stillborn!
If you find a gold mine in the country, you want it. But if you find other things, will the court want them too?

For a moment, everyone had their own thoughts, wanting to see how the emperor and the court would deal with the matter of enfeoffed states.

On the contrary, not many people pay attention to paper money, which is closely related to people's livelihood.

And the grand court meeting in the ninth year of Jian'an will finally resolve these issues once and for all!

(End of this chapter)