The essence of money is general equivalent commodities!
The appearance of currency reform is to exchange silver for silver coins, but the essence is to buy silver coins with silver.
If you think about it from another perspective, you can understand currency reform as a business.
The Ming Dynasty court was the seller, and the common people and gentry were the buyers.
In this business, the seller has absolute supremacy.
but...
In order not to ruin the good situation, Chongzhen decided to sell the things through commercial means.
Since silver coins are commodities with special properties, Chongzhen's method was not to force people to buy them with silver. Instead, he found someone to create the illusion that silver coins were in great demand, and spread the news that the court was planning to ban the use of silver.
Under the double attack, ordinary people panicked.
They thought that no one would take the initiative to exchange silver for silver coins, but they didn't expect that not only were there many people exchanging, but each one was richer than the other.
Some people would exchange hundreds or thousands of taels of silver for just a few bucks, and would directly clear out their stock, leaving no chance for those behind.
The people who could not exchange their silver coins began to panic, and the panic spread quickly.
They were of low status and had little power, and could not nor dare to go against the imperial court, so they took out the silver in their homes and wanted to exchange it for Ming Yuanbao as soon as possible.
On the fourth day of Shaanxi's currency reform, the number of trustees decreased significantly, while the number of ordinary people increased significantly.
but...
The Daming Money House and Baoyuan Bureau still did not open their doors to the people for exchange, but instead limited the amount to a certain amount each day.
First, the number of silver coins minted by Baoyuan Bureau every day was limited.
Second, Chongzhen had an order: in the early stage, a situation in which coins were hard to come by must be created.
Why did Chongzhen do this?
Because he wants to use hunger marketing!
If you want the people to voluntarily exchange their silver for silver coins, it is not enough to just create panic.
And make them feel they are getting value for money.
Why were people unwilling to exchange for silver coins at first?
To put it bluntly, they think the goods are high in price and low in value, so they don't exchange them.
What determines the price of a product?
Supply and demand!
As long as the situation where supply is less than demand is created, the value of the product in the minds of consumers will naturally increase.
The value of goods has increased, but the price has not changed.
Considering the special properties of silver coins, you can imagine how popular they are!
On the tenth day of the currency reform, Lu Daqi received good news.
"Your Excellency the Governor, the people of Xi'an are flocking to the Ming Yuanbao and are asking the government to increase the daily exchange quantity." An officer ran into the lobby of the government office and reported to Lu Daqi.
"Great!" Lu Daqi slapped the table happily. "I thought currency reform would be a tough battle, but I didn't expect it to be so smooth."
"Oh, right," Lu Daqi thought of a question, "Has the price of grain changed in the market?"
"Yes, grain is a little cheaper than in previous years. Many people who sell grain specifically ask for Ming Yuanbao!"
"That's great!" Lu Daqi clapped the table happily again.
Now the currency reform has got off to a good start. If it can be completed smoothly, he will be able to move forward.
Now he is a provincial governor, and if he moves up a level, he will at least be the Minister of one of the six ministries.
There was an unwritten rule in the Ming Dynasty that not all the six ministers could enter the cabinet, but the cabinet ministers all served as ministers or left censors of the Censorate.
In other words, he has every chance of entering the cabinet.
Once you enter the cabinet, how far can you be the Prime Minister?
Just as Lu Daqi was dreaming, a messenger came to report: "Governor, there are five business representatives outside the government office asking to see you."
"Merchant?" Lu Daqi frowned at first, then smiled and said, "Let them in."
"As you command."
Soon, five businessmen walked in quickly.
After they entered the government office, they immediately knelt down and said, "Your humble servants pay their respects to the Governor."
"No need to formality!" Lu Daqi stretched out his hand to signal them to stand up.
The five people stood up at the same time and began to introduce themselves.
These five people are all famous businessmen in Xi'an and even Shaanxi. Not only are they wealthy, they also have connections in the court.
After looking at their appearances one by one, Lu Daqi asked slowly, "Do you have anything to do with me?"
After the five merchants exchanged glances quickly, one of them, named Chen, stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Governor, I have something I don't understand and I'm here to ask for your advice."
"Tell me!" Lu Daqi looked confident.
The businessman surnamed Chen first organized his words in his mind, then swallowed his saliva, "Governor, the court is trying to reform the currency in Shaanxi, requiring the people to exchange their silver for Ming Yuanbao. I want to ask, are you asking everyone to exchange all the silver in their homes for Ming Yuanbao?"
"That's right!" Lu Daqi nodded.
"I am in trouble. I beg the Governor to show mercy and allow me to exchange only part of it."
Lu Daqi smiled coldly: "You haven't even told me the difficulty yet and you want me to let you go. How ridiculous!"
"Please forgive me, sir!" The merchant surnamed Chen knelt down and kowtowed, "I am a businessman, and my caravan travels around to make money. This month I am in Guanzhong, next month I may be in Henan, and the month after that I will be in Nanzhili."
"At present, only Shaanxi has implemented currency reform and unified the use of Ming Yuanbao! But other places have not implemented it yet and are still using silver."
"When I took the Ming Yuanbao to other places, the merchants there wouldn't recognize it, and even the government wouldn't recognize it!"
"So I want the Governor to show some leniency and allow me to exchange half of my silver for Ming Yuanbao first. After other places also carry out currency reform, I will exchange the remaining silver for silver coins."
After the businessman surnamed Chen finished speaking, he kowtowed to Lu Daqi again.
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