Those who came to power in the middle and late stages of Renzong's reign were all young and vigorous people from the early Renzong's reign. This group of people were accustomed to Zhao Zhen's weak character. Zhao Zhen's poor health meant that he had less time to manage the court. As a result, after this group of prime ministers came to power, it felt a bit like "a monkey becoming king".
Hence the large difference.
But for Zhao Jun at the moment, this is a good thing.
Because at least in the early days of Renzong's reign, although the prime ministers had struggles, they were still afraid of Zhao Zhen and did not dare to go too far.
Even if he wanted to do something tricky, Lu Yijian would only do it when he had absolutely no other choice, and was finally stopped by Yan Shu.
If they had traveled through time to the late period of Emperor Renzong's reign, once Zhao Jun said something that harmed their interests, given the temperaments of people like Wen Yanbo, Han Qi, and Fu Bi, they would have jumped up and retorted him long ago.
So he can now speak freely without worrying about being led astray by these scholars and officials with their fallacies and heresies. He should really be thankful that the time he traveled through was not the late period of Renzong's reign.
However, Zhao Jun still felt unhappy when he heard everyone praising Zhao Zhen, but he did not get angry out of consideration for Zhao Zhen's face.
After they finished boasting, he suppressed his disdain and discomfort and said, "Although these have been achieved, it is far from enough. Jiaozi essentially only speeds up the circulation of goods and money and revitalizes the economy, rather than expanding the pie. If we want to develop national strength, we must adopt a multi-pronged approach."
"Any good ideas?"
Fan Zhongyan asked hurriedly.
Everyone was looking forward to it, hoping that he could come up with more good suggestions.
"There are three things I can think of right now."
Zhao Jun held up three fingers. "First, continue to open Jiaozi shops in major commercial cities to revitalize the economy. Second, immediately go to Japan and begin excavating Shimane Prefecture—no, that should be called the Iwami region at this point. Third, mint brass to reduce the loss of coins during circulation."
They all understood the principle of Jiaozi Shop, but what about this Iwami area and brass?
"Can you tell me more about that?"
Zhao Zhen said.
Zhao Jun thought for a moment and said, "There's no need to elaborate on the Jiaozi Shop. Let's first discuss the minting of copper coins. Copper coins are easily corroded during circulation because bronze and copper undergo an oxidation reaction. Brass, on the other hand, is very stable and won't corrode too severely even if left in water for hundreds of years."
"So, if brass coins were minted and replaced bronze and copper coins, the loss of copper coins during circulation would be reduced. It would also lower the risk of them being buried underground or corroded by water, thereby allowing for rapid economic growth and expanding the commercial sector."
"As for how to make it, it's easy. In the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, brass became the main material for coinage. It's made by melting copper and zinc in a certain ratio to create an alloy. I remember the ratio was about 60% copper and 40% zinc. It would be even better if a little silicon could be added."
"But you may not know about zinc. This substance has a low boiling point and easily turns into vapor, dissipating with smoke. It was difficult for ancient people to detect, so it was not discovered until the Ming Dynasty."
"I remember that Song Yingxing's book 'The Exploitation of the Works of Nature' recorded the world's earliest zinc smelting technology. The production process was simple: fill a ceramic jar with calamine, seal it, and pile it into a cone. Fill the gaps between the jars with charcoal, and then break the jar to extract the metallic zinc ingots."
"With zinc and copper, you can make brass."
"Then there's the Iwami Silver Mine."
"This mine is an extremely rich open-pit mine with a shallow ore deposit. The silver reserves inside are astonishing. In the 17th century, the silver production here accounted for one-third of the world's total silver production. It took more than 400 years of mining before it was exhausted."
"The Song Dynasty's currency was still based on the copper coin system, which was too outdated and unsuitable for large-scale commodity circulation. If we wanted to revitalize the entire economy, we had to upgrade the currency."
"If a large influx of silver could be obtained from Japan, the Song Dynasty could implement a parallel system of copper coins, silver taels, and paper currency, Jiaozi."
"By then, copper coins will be suitable for small transactions, such as trade between ordinary people and the purchase and sale of daily necessities. Silver will be suitable for small and medium-sized commercial transactions, such as the exchange of valuables and consumption in high-end places. Jiaozi will be used for the circulation of bulk commodities, such as grain, tea, salt, oil, etc."
"At the same time, the government had to store a certain amount of gold, silver, silk and other items as anchors for the credit of Jiaozi, to mitigate the inflation caused by the widespread issuance of Jiaozi. In this way, the essence of Jiaozi became the large-denomination silver notes of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and later bank checks."
"Once this tripartite currency standard is implemented, it will greatly increase the speed of commodity circulation and economic growth in the Song Dynasty. If we can continue to expand overseas and actively increase foreign trade at this time, it will bring endless wealth to the Song Dynasty."
"To achieve this, more gold, silver, and bronze must flow in. my country has considerable gold mines and reserves, but many are buried deep underground, making mining difficult. Furthermore, we try to avoid mining domestic minerals whenever possible, relying instead on obtaining them from outside sources."
"In this era of low productivity, mineral production is mainly concentrated in shallow open-pit mines. The closest gold and silver mines I can think of, and the ones with the largest reserves, are Japan's Iwami Silver Mine and Sado Gold Mine. They also have large quantities of associated copper, sulfur, and saltpeter mines, all of which we will need in the future."
"Therefore, it is urgent to capture Japan and seize its resources."
At the end, Zhao Jun's tone was very stern.
(End of this chapter)
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