"Brother Li, you think the price of silver is falling and the price of copper is rising, so you want to exchange your silver for copper coins to avoid losses?" a gentleman asked Li Pu.
"That's right!" Li Pu answered seriously.
After listening to this, the other gentry lowered their heads and thought about the feasibility of this matter.
After a moment, a gentleman named Zhao Ling shook his head and said, "Not right, not right!"
"Why is it inappropriate?" Li Pu asked.
"There are three things wrong," Zhao Ling put down his wine glass and held up three fingers.
Li Pu also put down his wine glass upon seeing this and bowed to Zhao Ling: "Please give me some advice, Brother Zhao."
"The first problem is that it is easy to exchange silver for copper, but difficult to exchange copper for silver! I asked someone to inquire about it, and found that money houses in Xi'an can exchange silver for copper, but not copper for silver. To put it bluntly, silver is more important."
"The second problem is that it's too late. The copper coin has already reached its highest point. If nothing unexpected happens, it will fall soon. If we use silver to exchange for copper coins at this time, we will definitely suffer a huge loss!"
"Wait..." Li Pu interrupted Zhao Ling and asked, "Brother Zhao, why are you so sure that the price will fall?"
Zhao Ling smiled slightly and said, "The currency reform that the court is trying to implement in Shaanxi has a great impact. Not only the court is paying attention to this place, but also nearby Shanxi, Northern Zhili, Henan and even Sichuan are paying attention to this place. After the news of the copper coin price increase spreads, merchants from other provinces will transport a large number of copper coins to Shaanxi to seek profits."
"Once their copper coins arrive, the copper coins in Shaanxi will definitely drop sharply. I guess there will even be a situation where one tael of silver can be exchanged for 1,600 wen!"
Li Pu frowned and thought for a while, then frowned slightly. He always felt that what Zhao Ling said was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
With no other choice, he could only bow to Zhao Ling: "Brother Zhao, please continue!"
"Where was I just now?" Zhao Ling scratched his head embarrassedly.
"It's time to talk about the third thing that's wrong." Someone reminded.
"Oh, yes," Zhao Ling swallowed his saliva, "The third problem is that exchanging silver for copper coins is exactly what the court wants! The court is eager for us to take out silver to exchange for copper coins. As for why, you should all know it in your mind."
After Zhao Ling finished speaking, the remaining seven gentlemen sat in their chairs and began to ponder.
"No," Li Pu was the first to react, "the price of copper may not fall."
"Why do you say that?"
"The reason why copper was cheap and silver was expensive before was that the imperial court only collected silver coins, not copper coins, when collecting taxes. Every time when paying taxes, the common people had to exchange their copper coins for silver, so the copper coins fell in value."
"But now that the imperial court has decreed that copper coins can also be used to pay taxes, the people have no need and will not take the initiative to exchange them for silver. If the people do not exchange them, the copper coin will not fall!"
"Brother Li, don't be so quick to deny it," Zhao Ling tapped the table with his hand, "I just said that foreign merchants will bring in copper coins."
"What is the exchange rate for silver and copper outside? One tael of silver can be exchanged for 1,400 or even 1,500 copper coins."
"The copper-silver exchange rate in Xi'an is one thousand for one tael. In order to make a quick profit, foreign merchants would exchange one tael of silver for one thousand and one, one thousand and two, or even one thousand and three hundred wen."
"Under their disruption, the price of silver in Shaanxi will inevitably rise and the price of copper will fall!"
call--
It is unusually cold in Shaanxi in November.
The cold wind whistled outside the window like a ferocious beast, making a heart-pounding roar.
Everyone in the room sat quietly around the table, not saying a word.
The expressions on their faces varied; some looked happy, some were skeptical, and some looked calm.
"So... we don't have to do anything, just hold on to the money?"
"Yes," Zhao Ling said confidently, "It is inevitable that silver will rise and copper will fall, and it will happen very quickly!"
"Brother Zhao knows more. We are ashamed of ourselves!"
"Let's toast to Brother Zhao!"
"Cheers."
Amidst laughter, everyone drank the wine in their glasses.
After putting down the wine glass, Zhao Ling whispered: "The key to the court's currency reform is to have enough silver to mint silver coins. As long as the silver is not taken out, the court will soon be out of silver to mint coins. The so-called currency reform will also be forced to stop and eventually be abolished."
"Then we will go back to paying taxes with silver!"
"Hold on, everyone. Better days are ahead!"
A gentleman asked doubtfully, "Brother Zhao, are you sure about this?"
Zhao Ling smiled mysteriously: "Who said I was just guessing?"
"Ah? Where did Brother Zhao get the news from?"
"Secret!" Zhao Ling once again showed a mysterious smile.
"I see," someone laughed, "Brother Zhao has someone in the court, and it was that person who told Brother Zhao the news, right?"
Zhao Ling didn't say anything, picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip of tea.
The court's currency reform caused losses to many people, and he was not the only one who wanted to secretly oppose the court.
This is a currency war without the smoke of gunpowder.
He was just a small follower in the charge, the real mastermind behind the scenes was someone else.
Everyone was overjoyed upon seeing this, and they all straightened their backs and regained their former spirit.
If what Zhao Ling said was true, they no longer had to worry about their interests being damaged.
The gentleman Li Pu didn't laugh at all, but sat in the chair and kept thinking.
"What are you thinking about, Brother Li?" someone asked loudly.
"No," Li Pu said suddenly, "It's very wrong!"
"Brother Zhao's analysis is so good, what's wrong with it? Stop thinking about this headache and drink!"
"Everyone," Li Pu stood up under the gaze of everyone, "After the foreign merchants transport the copper coins to Shaanxi, they don't have to exchange them for silver. They can also use the copper coins to buy things!"
"The same piece of cloth sold for 400 wen is worth 4 qian of silver in Shaanxi, but less than 3 qian of silver according to the silver-copper exchange standard in other places!"
"Foreign merchants will buy a lot in Shaanxi and then ship it to other places to sell because of the interest rate difference!"
"It won't be a big problem in the short term, but over time the prices in Shaanxi will rise sharply!"
"Moreover," Li Pu paused, "the imperial court has just issued an order to reform the currency system in Shaanxi. It will not be abolished in a short period of time, otherwise it will be a slap in the face of the imperial court! In other words, Shaanxi will face a situation where money is light and goods are heavy (inflation) for a long time in the future."
"We can't just sit there and wait for death!"
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