Cao Huachun did not give Lu Daqi any face and continued, "Lord Lu's second strategy also failed because there is a prerequisite for the court to issue silver coins."
"What's the prerequisite?" Lu Daqi asked.
"One silver coin is equivalent to one tael of silver, no more and no less! When Lord Lu exchanged the silver coin, he gave the people thirty coins. In the eyes of the people, this silver coin is not just one tael of silver!"
Lu Daqi was a little confused: "Is there a problem? Silver can be broken into pieces for change, but silver coins cannot! No matter what the people think, this silver coin can only be spent as a whole, it cannot be broken or smashed."
Looking at Lu Daqi, who seemed to be either really ignorant or pretending not to understand, Cao Huachun said slowly, "Master Lu, prices will go up!"
"This..." Lu Daqi could only say one word and couldn't say anything else.
After a long silence, Lu Daqi looked up at Cao Huachun: "What should we do? Does Lord Cao have any good ideas?"
Cao Huachun smiled slightly and said, "Lord Lu is the governor of the three borders of Shaanxi. I am just a small money shop owner. I am here only to exchange the copper coins collected by the court for silver."
Looking at Cao Huachun's humble look, Lu Daqi smiled.
Cao Huachun must have a way, otherwise Your Majesty would not have sent him.
As for why he didn't say it, Lu Daqi had already guessed about 70% of it.
He personally stood up and poured Cao Huachun a cup of tea, then whispered, "Each exchange of a silver coin has a profit of six cents, and the court left three cents of profit for the local government. I will take one cent out of the three cents and give it to Lord Cao and Daming Money House. How about that?"
"Two cents!" Cao Huachun opened his mouth loudly.
"You want to take two cents out of the three cents profit?" Lu Daqi glared at him as if he wanted to eat someone. "You're asking for too much, right? Do you know how many people are waiting to share this little money?"
"Officials from the seven prefectures, nineteen states, and eighty-three counties in Shaanxi Province are all waiting to share the money! In addition to them, there are also twenty-two generals and soldiers from the Shitu Guards who want to share the money!"
(Shitu Weisuo is a type of Weisuo in the Ming Dynasty. Since there are no prefectures, states, or counties in the Weisuo’s jurisdiction, the local military and political affairs can only be managed by the Weisuo. This type of Weisuo is widely present in the northwest border of the Ming Dynasty.)
In Lu Daqi's opinion, since the imperial court left a profit of 3 cents for the local governments, it meant that the imperial court knew that the local governments were difficult to manage and that it was difficult for local officials to do their jobs.
Therefore, this money cannot be kept alone by the government, but needs to be redistributed to the prefectures, counties and garrisons.
Especially the guards.
He required soldiers to be paid travel allowances (travel allowances) when they went to the countryside to deliver messages, otherwise they would just do their job perfunctorily.
"Two cents!" Cao Huachun emphasized.
Although Lu Daqi had difficulties, Cao Huachun was the owner of the Daming Money House and was only responsible to the emperor.
What did the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty like?
money!
So his mission is to make money, as much as he can!
Lu Daqi stood up, walked back and forth twice with his hands behind his back, and then remained silent for a long time, "One cent and two cents, no more."
"Two cents!"
......Lu Daqi was speechless.
Cao Huachun was too greedy. The court had already taken half of the six cents, and now he wanted to take half of the remaining three cents.
He wanted to disagree, but he had no good way to implement the currency reform.
"If Lord Cao's method is feasible, I am willing to give out one and a half cents. This is my limit. If Lord Cao thinks it is not feasible, then please do as you wish." Lu Daqi said cruelly.
"Deal!" Cao Huachun felt relieved as he spoke.
If Lu Daqi refused, he could only put on a stern face to keep the other party in order to make money.
Fortunately, Lu Daqi did not do that.
After determining the profit distribution ratio, Cao Huachun spent nearly a day explaining the specific strategy to Lu Daqi.
The strategy included both Chongzhen's ideas and Cao Huachun's own ideas.
After listening to Cao Huachun's explanation, Lu Daqi was skeptical at first, then thought about it, and finally was shocked, "This...this...can currency reform be done this way?"
Cao Huachun, who is nearly 60 years old, said proudly: "Of course! Your Majesty said that when facing unknown things, everyone's first thought is to follow the crowd, and this move is just right to deal with the counterattack of the gentry and merchants!"
"Okay, let's do it according to Lord Cao's idea!" Lu Daqi bowed to Cao Huachun, then stood up and went to the lobby of the government office.
After arriving at the lobby, he calmed himself down and said loudly, "Everyone, the court has decided to reform the currency in Shaanxi. Previously, we used silver, but now we use silver coins, which are the Ming Yuanbao. If you have silver in your hands, go to the Ming Money House and Baoyuan Bureau to exchange it for silver coins."
"Sir, can we still use silver in the future?" someone asked.
"It's hard to say. It's possible now, but I'm not sure about the future." Lu Daqi replied.
"Then...how many silver coins can one tael of silver be exchanged for?"
"One tael of silver can only be exchanged for one silver coin, and a silver coin is also one tael."
Everyone was silent, but communicated with their eyes.
The Ming Yuanbao was a new thing for them and it was difficult for them to accept it in a short period of time.
Lu Daqi didn't care and shouted to the cavalry outside: "Come here, send all the notices to the garrisons and garrison troops in various places, and ask them to go to the countryside and villages in groups of two and make sure to post the notices in every corner of Shaanxi."
"Yes, sir." A personal soldier walked out with the command arrow.
After the soldiers left, Lu Daqi gave an order to the officials beside him: "Send official documents to each state, county, land bureau, and inspector, and let them pass the message down. Tell the people that they can pay taxes with silver or copper coins. Since our dynasty uses silver to calculate the amount of taxes, we need to determine the standard for the exchange of silver and copper. After discussion by the court, it is temporarily set at one thousand coins for one tael of silver."
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