Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 65: Gold, silver and bronze are used as deposits, and the marriage is completed! [Please read more]

At the next morning court session, Liu Kuan still just listened and said nothing, acting as a nobody.

When he returned to the mansion at noon, he asked Chunlan and Qiuyue to copy the microscope-related information from the laptop.

In the afternoon, he went to Fengxian Hall to meet Old Zhu.

"Your Majesty, this is the method for making a microscope and related information."

As Liu Kuan spoke, he took out a stack of papers and had Li Gui pass them to Zhu Yuanzhang's desk.

In the morning, Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Zhu Biao's story about what Liu Kuan had said at the evening banquet at the medical school yesterday, and he also knew that Liu Kuan was going to present the method of making a microscope.

As he flipped through it, he found that he recognized most of the characters, but he didn't understand most of the words that were connected together. So he stopped looking at it carefully and put it aside, preparing to hand it back to the Silver Bureau for research and trial production.

The Silver Works Bureau was originally a place dedicated to making various jewels and jewelry for the palace, and it had many skilled craftsmen under its jurisdiction.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang previously assigned the task of trial-producing a simplified version of the telescope to the Yinzuo Bureau.

I inquired the day before yesterday and learned that a simplified version of the telescope has been produced and only needs some modifications and carvings.

Although the method for making a simple telescope was relatively simple, it was of great military value, even more effective than cement. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Silver Bureau to keep the method secret.

Perhaps as Liu Kuan said, it is difficult to keep it secret forever, so we can keep it secret as long as possible.

After putting down the materials, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "This microscope can observe tiny things that are invisible to the naked eye. It is indeed of great significance to the development of medicine."

"You have done a great service by offering this. Tell me, what reward do you want this time?"

Liu Kuan didn't intend to be polite. He bowed and said, "Ten thousand taels of silver, a thousand acres of fertile land, and a shop on the street in the inner city of the capital will be enough."

This reward requirement is less than the one Liu Kuan asked for after he presented the telescope and the method of making the silver mirror.

And since Liu Kuan had disliked the treasure notes last time, Zhu Yuanzhang did not suggest changing the gift to treasure notes. Instead, he smiled and said, "You are still so rude... I have noted it all and will have it delivered to your residence later."

Liu Kuan immediately bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

If Lao Zhu could use the recipes he offered, he could make a lot of money, so he wanted these rewards with a clear conscience.

Although he has many ways to make money, he still needs a certain amount of capital to start with - who else can he get this capital from if not from Lao Zhu?

Speaking of which, Old Zhu rewarded him three times, which was quite a lot in total.

The total amount was 1,000 taels of gold, 20,000 taels of silver, and 1,000 strings of treasure notes.

There is also a mansion, a manor outside the city, and a thousand acres of fertile land in Yingtian Prefecture.

As well as a paper-making workshop, a printing workshop, and a street-facing shop in the inner city of the capital.

Finally, there were twenty male servants and twelve female maids.

Liu Kuan had not yet visited the manor, farmland, workshops, or shops. After these things were awarded, they were all taken over by the two stewards of the mansion.

However, the manager did report that the relationships of the tenant farmers of the manor and farmland, and the employees of the workshops and shops, had all been transferred to him, and were currently being operated and managed according to the original model.

The output from the manor and farmland, and the profits from the workshops and shops, will also be delivered to his house on schedule, so he doesn't need to worry about it for the time being...

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Liu Kuan did not leave after thanking him, so he asked, "Why, do you have anything else to do?"

Liu Kuan pulled out another memorial from his sleeve and said, "Your Majesty previously asked me to write a memorial on 'How to set up a guarantee for the Great Ming Treasure Notes'. I have already written it."

In fact, Liu Kuan had already written the memorial on the "Six Ministries Reform", but the Six Ministries Reform involved too many people and things, and he always wanted to make it as perfect as possible. In addition, there was no urgency, so he delayed submitting it.

The matter of security deposit is different.

It was just to fill the gap in the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes, and it did not involve any vested interest groups, so the matter was relatively simple.

So Liu Kuan submitted this memorial first.

As for the memorial on "How the Ming Dynasty should develop science and technology", he has not even started writing it.

After Li Gui forwarded the memorial to the imperial desk, Zhu Yuanzhang flipped through it carefully.

The memorial was written in small calligraphy with flower-shaped characters, which was obviously not written by Liu Kuan - as far as he knew, it was most likely copied by Liu Kuan's personal maid, who was renamed Qiuyue.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care.

The memorial copied by the maid was much easier to recognize than Liu Kuan's handwritten one.

The memorial was only a few thousand words long and the content was not much, but Zhu Yuanzhang read it for more than half a minute.

After reading it, he said, "I remember you said earlier that powerful nations in later generations all used gold as collateral for their paper currency, supplemented at most with silver."

"Why do you suggest that the Ming Dynasty use gold, silver, and copper as collateral in your memorial?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, in later generations, the exchange of goods and money between countries will be extremely frequent, so all aspects will affect each other, including the economy and finance."

"So, to avoid being influenced by other countries, powerful nations will try their best to keep their currencies stable. Therefore, using gold as collateral becomes inevitable."

"While the Ming Dynasty has trade relations with countries around the world, it's far less developed than in later generations, and the domestic currency system is relatively stable." "Additionally, gold, silver, and copper are all in short supply in the Ming Dynasty. Using only gold as collateral would be difficult. Therefore, using silver and copper coins as supplementary materials is a good option."

As for the matter of minting gold and silver coins, Liu Kuan did not mention it for the time being.

Firstly, with the current minting technology of the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult to mint suitable gold and silver coins. The minting of qualified gold and silver coins requires more attention to detail than copper coins.

Secondly, it is true that the Ming Dynasty does not need gold or silver coins at present.

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the most commonly used metal currency among the people was copper coins. Gold and silver were just like cloth, occasionally used as currency, but they were actually valuable items.

The situation was roughly the same in the early Ming Dynasty.

In addition, paper money was issued during the Song, Yuan and early Ming dynasties. As long as the credibility of the paper money remained unchanged, the people's acceptance of it was actually quite high.

In contrast, other countries in the world today have not yet successfully used paper money.

Finally, when the Ming Dynasty's industry develops in the future, industrial products together with original silk, porcelain and other commodities will be sold overseas on a large scale, which will inevitably have a greater impact on neighboring countries and even Western countries.

By then, the Ming Dynasty would only use treasure notes instead of gold and silver coins, which would actually help it plunder gold and silver from other countries through trade.

Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Liu Kuan's explanation and nodded. "Your idea is quite practical. What about the over-issuance of treasure notes that are three to five times the margin?"

Liu Kuan said, "Although the security deposit and paper currency should theoretically maintain a one-to-one ratio, as far as I know, many major countries in later generations have issued paper currency at a rate three times the amount of the deposit."

"Because the Ming Dynasty's currency system is relatively stable, I believe that overissuing three to five times the amount of paper money will not be a major problem."

"But five times is almost the limit. Your Majesty should clearly stipulate that the over-issuance of treasure notes shall not exceed five times."

"Also, after a hundred years, the limit must be changed to no more than three times the original value. According to my humble estimation, after a hundred years, the Ming Dynasty will have more frequent exchanges with countries around the world and its economy will be far more developed than it is now. Therefore, the currency will need a more stable value to avoid major problems."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded again, "I understand this matter, and I will leave it as an ancestral instruction."

Unfortunately, ancestral teachings may not be effective.

Liu Kuan sighed inwardly.

But he didn't say it.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't control what happened after his death, and neither could he. Whether it was a blessing or a curse depended on the actions of future generations.

Putting away the memorial, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Liu Kuan and said, "If there is nothing else, you can leave. I will grant you a few days' leave. Stop worrying about court affairs and focus more on wedding preparations."

This is Zhu Yuanzhang's care for his son-in-law as a father-in-law.

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty... I understand."

···
Time flies.

It was August 29th, the 14th year of Hongwu.

It is auspicious for traveling, opening a business, breaking ground, building a house, offering sacrifices, getting engaged, and getting married! Good luck!

On this day, Liu Kuan seemed like a puppet shaped like a groom, allowing the people who organized the wedding to manipulate him, following the well-trained procedures one by one, and being busy all day long.

Fortunately, he was young and strong, and he followed Empress Ma's advice and conserved his energy for a few days, otherwise he might not have been able to endure it.

Because the wedding was held after sunset, Liu Kuan was busy until the beginning of the night (around nine o'clock in the evening), and only after seeing off the last guest at the mansion did he have some free time.

Reeking of alcohol, Liu Kuan arrived at the door of the master bedroom in the middle courtyard.

Two teenage palace maids were guarding the door to either side. When they saw Liu Kuan, they bowed together and said, "Greetings, my dear husband."

Liu Kuan has been tested by alcohol in the workplace, and coupled with his special status, although he drank some wine tonight, he was not drunk.

He knew that the two people in front of him were Zhu Huilan's personal maids, who were considered part of her dowry and would be part of his family in the future.

As for his name, he hadn't asked yet, nor did he want to ask at this time.

He nodded, then walked into the master bedroom with excitement, anticipation and joy, and closed the door behind him.

Because the Han wedding customs during the Hongwu period were still similar to those of the Southern Song Dynasty, Liu Kuan saw a woman wearing a red wedding dress with wide sleeves, a shawl on her body, a pearl and jade crown on her head, and a wedding fan in her hand to cover her face, sitting quietly at the round table outside.

During the previous wedding process, Liu Kuan had actually lifted the veil and looked at Zhu Huilan's appearance.

So at this moment, when the two of them were alone in the new house, he was actually calmer than before he came in.

He sat down at the table, looked at Zhu Huilan, and asked with a smile, "Madam, is there anything else we haven't completed yet?"

Zhu Huilan, who was fanning herself, shook her head and said in a gentle, clear voice, clearly nervous, "Husband, the wedding wine has already been drunk. There are no other wedding procedures."

"Why is the lady still covering her face with a fan and refusing to see me?"

Hearing this, Zhu Huilan had to put away her fan, lowered her head shyly, and her pretty face was already red...
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　　Thanks to [追慕烈山] for the reward of 100 Qidian coins!
　　Thanks to [Erciyu] for the reward of 100 Qidian coins!
　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)