Chapter 549 [Second Update] 549
Liu Che felt that something was not right. He had clearly come here to educate his son, but why did he act as if it was his fault?
In fact, Liu Tan felt that it was his fault. If he hadn't gone through so much trouble, so many problems would not have occurred.
Liu Che couldn't keep a straight face anymore, so he said, "You...you should never do such dangerous things in the future. Be careful not to change your mind."
He didn't think there was anything wrong with Liu Tan's approach to dealing with Liu Qumao. He was just worried that after Liu Tan had used this method, he would find it convenient to take shortcuts.
He didn't care about the methods of cruel officials or some court officials, but he was worried that his son would become narrow-minded because of this.
Liu Tan said decisively, "The Northern Kingdom still has the final say."
If he were in the Northern Territory, why would he need to go to such lengths? If he saw someone he disliked, he could just speak up and someone would naturally help him.
Of course, most of the people he dislikes are not very capable. He would not make things difficult for people who are really capable.
Look at Sang Qian. When he first arrived in the Northern Border Kingdom, he was ignorant of the current situation and insisted on making trouble. Of course, Liu Tan had to deal with him. But after this man settled down, it was discovered that he was indeed a capable official with a family background in learning, so Liu Tan was not reluctant to promote him.
Liu Che shook his head helplessly. His son always had countless excuses.
He simply didn't dwell on it and changed the subject, asking, "What about the fleet you just mentioned?"
Liu Tan perked up at the mention of this. He said directly, "Your Majesty, you've seen this time too. Our ships can travel quite a distance when the weather is good. Even if the weather isn't great, as long as we don't encounter strong winds or heavy rain, there's no problem. So, I think we should prioritize maritime transport. We could go from the ports in Qi County, or even ports in places like Yangzhou, southwards to Jiaozhi, and then on to other countries. We could transport our goods there, and also buy goods from those places. I remember that some of the tributes sent from Jiaozhi were quite good. Many of them weren't produced there, but were traded with other countries."
After hearing this, Liu Che looked thoughtful: "It's just that we don't know which countries they are. It's a good opportunity to send someone to find out."
Liu Tan said decisively, "What are you trying to find out? Just ask the King of Jiaozhi directly, or let the eldest prince tell you. I believe they're willing to talk, and they might even mention some countries that have grudges against them. Then, once we've reached those countries, we can try to find out about the surrounding countries. By then, the Han Dynasty's map might be more comprehensive."
Although those countries are far away from the Han Dynasty, it is precisely because of this that the two sides can trade more peacefully, because the non-contiguous territories mean that there are no conflicts of interest or territorial disputes between them.
After hearing this, Liu Che was also quite tempted: "This is a good idea."
Liu Tan even said: "In the beginning, we will definitely use barter when trading with those countries. It would be great if we can use the five-zhu coins there in the later stages."
Liu Che asked in surprise, "Using Wuzhu coins? Why use Wuzhu coins?"
Barter is the fairest way, and it is difficult to set the price using Wuzhu coins. Liu Che didn't understand why Liu Tan did this.
Liu Tan said seriously: "This involves some financial issues."
In fact, it involves some knowledge of economics, but the word "economics" probably didn't exist at that time, so Liu Tan simply changed the term.
He continued, "The simplest reason for using the five-zhu coin is that if the national treasury is depleted by years of war again, we can simply transfer the risk to other countries."
Liu Che's expression became serious after hearing this: "Go on."
Liu Che has rarely mobilized troops in recent years. It is not that he does not want to, but that he cannot because the national treasury cannot support it. He has not really reached the point of disregarding the life of the Han Dynasty for his own personal achievements.
What's more, if the country is really destroyed, then those things will not be considered as achievements, but his failures.
But this does not mean that Liu Che is really willing to tolerate the Huns or other foreign races. His patience is limited. When his patience runs out, it is time for the Han Dynasty to mobilize troops again.
Liu Tan organized his words and said, "Simply put, the Khan cannot mint coins without limit. Minting too many Wuzhu coins will only cause them to depreciate and even cause the collapse of the currency system. Therefore, even if the national treasury is empty, the Minister of Agriculture and others will think about how to collect money from the people instead of allowing the emperor to mint coins at will. Then, if we use Wuzhu coins in all transactions with other countries, this problem will no longer be a problem. We can mint more coins, and then use Wuzhu coins to buy goods from those countries, bring them back to trade in China, and let the money of the people flow into the national treasury. This will at least maintain the stability of the Han Dynasty's transactions."
Liu Che was not particularly good at this, but he listened intently: "But what if those countries collapsed first?"
Liu Tan spread his hands. "If they collapse, we'll just lose a trading partner, but what does that have to do with us? It won't affect us at all. We can even borrow money from other countries."
"What?" Liu Che frowned. "The Han Dynasty is the Celestial Empire. Why would it need to borrow money from those countries?"
Liu Tan spread his hands and said, "As long as it's profitable, why bother with such rigidity? Besides, it's a loan, so isn't it up to us to decide whether to pay it back or not?"
Chen Ajiao had been listening at the side the whole time. The more she listened, the more she felt something was wrong. She couldn't help but ask, "If you don't pay it back, where does your credibility come from?"
The Han people still attach great importance to the word "reputation". Even a verbal agreement will not be easily broken. If the agreement is broken, it may not be a problem for ordinary people, but it will become difficult for the upper class - no one is willing to have business dealings with such a person.
However, unless they are enemies, the nobles usually have some economic dealings and conflicts of interest with each other. If there is really no interaction between them, the family will only decline little by little.
So borrowing money and not paying it back generally doesn’t happen.
Liu Tan explained, "It's not that they won't pay back the money at all. They're just manipulating the exchange rate between the two currencies. For example, the Han Dynasty borrowed three taels of gold from Jiaozhi..."
Chen Ajiao was surprised: "They just took advantage of three ounces of gold?"
Liu Tan was at a loss for words: "I was just making a metaphor."
If the metaphorical number is too large, it will be difficult to calculate. Even Liu Tan will have to count on his fingers or even use abacus to figure it out. Anyway, he just needs to describe the matter clearly, and it doesn't matter how much money he borrows.
Liu Che patted Chen Ajiao's hand and said, "Don't make trouble. Let Tan'er finish his words."
Liu Tan continued, "For example, if we borrowed three taels of gold, but agreed to repay it with five-zhu coins at the Jiaozhi exchange rate for gold, we would have to pay back about 300,000 shell coins. This means that the exchange rate of five-zhu coins to shell coins is about 1 to 10. So if we can manipulate the exchange rate of five-zhu coins to 1 to 20, or even 1 to 50, then if we calculate it at 1 to 50, we would originally have to pay back 30,000 five-zhu coins, but with this manipulation, we would only have to pay back 6,000 five-zhu coins."
Liu Che was confused, but he understood the two numbers Liu Tan said. One was to pay back 30,000 and the other was to pay back 6,000. The difference between the two was indeed huge.
In fact, what Liu Tan said was relatively simple. It is certainly not that easy to manipulate. However, as long as the status of the Han currency in the world can be established, the economy of the Han Dynasty will never collapse, unless one day another country appears to end the Han Dynasty's dominant position.
What Liu Tan wanted to do was to turn the Han Dynasty's Wuzhu coins into something like the US dollar in later generations.
As an international currency, the benefits of the US dollar to the United States are countless. Liu Tan has not studied this knowledge and basically has only a superficial understanding of it.
But he knew that this would be beneficial, so he tried his best to persuade Liu Che to open up the sea for trade and exert the influence of the Han Dynasty bit by bit.
It is very easy for the Han Dynasty to influence other countries. As long as they are not bordering countries, they can fully support each other's armaments.
Liu Che thought about Liu Tan's words again and suddenly laughed, "I think you and Sang Hongyang can have a good chat."
Liu Tan immediately said: "I am just daydreaming. The Minister of Agriculture is the one with real ability."
Liu Che stood up and said, "You don't have to be so modest. Find a time later to discuss with Sang Hongyang what to do."
Liu Tan calculated the time and found that it was still early for the autumn harvest in the Northern Border Kingdom, so he agreed very readily.
Liu Che left with satisfaction. After he left, Chen Ajiao's face immediately darkened.
Liu Tan turned around and saw that his mother seemed very angry. He couldn't help but ask, "Mother, who made you unhappy?"
"He didn't even notice." Chen Ajiao's tone sounded very unbelievable.
Liu Tan was stunned for a moment: "What didn't you find?"
Chen Ajiao slammed the table and said, "He didn't even notice I wasn't wearing makeup!"
Liu Tan: ...
He really never expected that this was what made Chen Ajiao angry.
He didn't know what to say, so he just slipped away under the pretext of going back to write a petition.
Chen Ajiao did not suspect anything, but instead urged him to write carefully.
In fact, there was nothing much to write about Liu Tan. He only knew that there were benefits to turning the Han Dynasty's currency into an international currency. As for the real benefits... he couldn't write down a few points, so he just told Sang Hongyang directly. With Sang Hongyang's brain, he should be able to react quickly.
In order to meet Sang Hongyang, Liu Tan ran back to his palace and sent a message to Sang Hongyang, inviting him to his house for a chat.
Sang Hongyang arrived very quickly. The invitation was sent almost in the afternoon of the previous day, and he came the next day after court.
Liu Tan hadn't had much contact with Sang Hongyang. He had been thinking about how to greet Sang Hongyang, but after meeting him, all the words he had prepared were forgotten. He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Why does the Minister of Agriculture look so haggard? What happened at court?"
Sang Hongyang looked at Liu Tan in silence for a while, then suddenly bowed to him.
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