Currency reform is a long and arduous task!
The essence of most monetary reforms is to plunder private wealth, so they are very difficult to implement.
Take Wang Mang, who usurped the Han Dynasty, as an example. He carried out four currency reforms during his reign.
In the end, they all ended in failure.
In particular, the monetary reform in the first year of the founding of the country (the first era name of Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty) was a complete failure.
At that time, he abolished the Wuzhu coins of the Han Dynasty and the knife coins introduced in the first currency reform, and replaced them with 28 kinds of currency made of gold, silver, tortoise shells, copper and other materials.
There are many types of currencies, and it is difficult to convert them into each other, so the difficulty of circulation is immeasurable.
For convenience, people continued to use the Wuzhu coins of the Han Dynasty.
Wang Mang issued an order to ban old coins, and even copper and carbon. Anyone who had copper and carbon at home would be charged with the crime of privately minting coins, and all five families would be punished.
However, even under this high-pressure situation, the new currency failed to be implemented.
Many times, some things are beyond human control.
It was precisely because of these failed cases that Chongzhen did not issue paper money but instead introduced silver coins.
Is silver recognized by ordinary people?
They are stubborn!
The truth is that apart from money, everything else is nonsense.
The currency reform of the Ming Dynasty was essentially a plunder of private wealth.
What is different from the past is that the currency reforms of other dynasties plundered the people, while Chongzhen's reforms plundered wealthy people such as merchants and gentry.
The reason is that most of the silver is in the hands of these people, and the common people have only a handful of silver.
In order to complete the task of promoting the new currency, it is necessary to fight a bloodless war with local businessmen and gentry.
“Fighting” requires people, so who should be sent to implement the currency reform in Shaanxi?
After seeing Fan Jingwen off, Chongzhen sat on the dragon throne in the Qianqing Palace and pondered deeply.
This matter is of great importance and no mistakes can be made.
"Wang Chengen..." Chongzhen thought for a long time but could not come up with any ideas, so he looked up at his side.
"I'm here." Wang Chengen bent down and listened attentively.
"Help me find someone."
"Who does the emperor want to find? What does he want him to do?" Wang Chengen asked.
"Find an omnipotent person and let him go to the Ming Dynasty Money House in Shaanxi to take charge of the overall situation." Chongzhen said slowly.
"Almighty?" Wang Chengen had no idea what this word meant.
Chongzhen paused and continued, "First of all, this person must have seen the world and be loyal enough. The loyalty here does not mean loyalty to the court, but loyalty to me."
"Secondly, you must be cunning enough but not too greedy. If you are not cunning enough, you will not be able to deal with the gentry in Guanzhong, and if you are too greedy, you will disrupt the currency reform."
"The last point is that the Daming Bank is not the court's bank, but my bank, so this person must be a eunuch from the Jinyiwei or the Dongchang."
this...
Wang Chengen was in a dilemma.
If there were only the first two, Wang Chengen wouldn't be able to find the rest, but he could still find thirty or forty.
But with the last item, all previous candidates are reset to zero.
"Your Majesty, "The East Factory Commander King's Heart..."
"No, his main task now is to open mines. Besides, he is too greedy and cannot take on this responsibility." Chongzhen shook his head.
"Then...can Guangzhou Jinyiwei Ma Jixiang take on this task?" After thinking it over, Wang Chengen said in a low voice.
"No, that's not possible. Zhang Tongchang lost a lot of money in the first commercial war in Fujian. I plan to let Ma Jixiang go to assist. So... he can't go north." Chongzhen replied, shaking his head.
Then there will be no one available!
Wang Chengen slapped himself in annoyance.
He hated himself for being brainless and having a bad memory.
After slapping himself, Wang Chengen began to see stars in front of his eyes.
As he was taking the risk, he suddenly thought of someone.
"Your Majesty, I remember someone." Wang Chengen knelt on the ground excitedly: "The former governor of the East Factory, the governor of the military affairs of the Beijing Camp, Cao Huachun."
"Cao Huachun?" Chongzhen was a little stunned when he heard the name.
Throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, Wang Chengen was the person Chongzhen trusted most.
The last person he trusted like this was Cao Huachun.
Cao Huachun was born into a poor family. In order to support his family, he was sold into the palace as a slave at the age of thirteen.
Thanks to his natural intelligence and hard work, he learned and mastered calligraphy, poetry and painting through osmosis!
With the help of Wang An (Feng Bao's subordinate), the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department at that time, he entered Prince Xin's palace to accompany the young Chongzhen in his studies.
After Chongzhen ascended the throne, Cao Huachun was entrusted with important tasks.
He served successively as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, the governor of the Eastern Depot, and the governor-general of the military affairs of the Beijing camp.
The famous Yongwei Battalion was trained under him.
Even Huang Degong, who was the Earl of Jingnan, had to bow his head to show respect when he saw him!
In February of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Cao Huachun took leave and returned home because of his advanced age and poor health.
Historically, the capital was captured and Chongzhen hanged himself.
Cao Huachun was heartbroken and went to Beijing to petition the Qing Dynasty to build a mausoleum for Chongzhen according to the specifications of an imperial tomb.
It stands to reason that there is nothing wrong with what he did.
However, some members of the Donglin Party wanted to throw dirty water on Cao Huachun. When they submitted a memorial to Shunzhi, they slandered that it was Cao Huachun who opened the city gate to welcome Li Zicheng into the city, saying that he was a traitor and requested that he be executed.
Cao Huachun was wronged!
During the Jiashen Rebellion, he was living in his hometown of Wuqing!
Even if I wanted to open the city gate, I couldn't reach it!
Shunzhi (Dorgon) knew the whole story, so he replied: Cao Huachun has been feeling wronged for no reason, his true feelings are clear, there is no need to reveal his true feelings.
"Cao Huachun is old and in poor health. Can he still do his job?" Chongzhen frowned and looked at Wang Chengen.
"In reply to Your Majesty, Cao Huachun is just unable to serve Your Majesty, not unable to take care of himself. At that time, he only needs to make plans and the specific matters can be left to the Jinyiwei and the factory guards below." Wang Chengen replied.
Now that you put it that way, it seems to work.
With Cao Huachun's ability, although he cannot guarantee that he can defeat the Shaanxi gentry, he can at least draw with them.
Chongzhen nodded and said, "Draft an edict. Let Cao Huachun be the manager of the Shaanxi branch of Daming Money House. All the Jinyiwei in Shaanxi will be under his jurisdiction."
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