In a side hall of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Chongzhen was discussing national policy with the cabinet and the newly appointed Minister of Revenue, Xie Sanbin.
"Tell me," Chongzhen asked with narrowed eyes while sitting on the dragon throne, "How to promote currency reform in the four provinces of Jiangnan?"
The cabinet chief, Fan Jingwen, lowered his head and remained silent.
The cabinet ministers, Minister of Rites Huang Jin, Minister of Personnel Qiu Yu, and Minister of War Wang Jiayan, remained silent.
That’s not all.
They also subconsciously distanced themselves from Xie Sanbin, acting as if it had nothing to do with them.
The officialdom of the Ming Dynasty has always been a place where the old ones bully the new ones.
The same is true for the Cabinet.
They want to give the newly appointed Minister of Revenue a warning!
Although Xie Sanbin was the new Minister of Revenue, he was not a rookie official.
He glanced at a few people, smiled and bowed, saying: "Will you please give me this opportunity?"
"Minister Xie, just say whatever you want to say. Don't be polite!" Fan Jingwen was very satisfied with Xie Sanbin's attitude. He put away his serious expression and answered with a smile.
"Then...I am about to make a fool of myself!"
"Please help yourself!" Fan Jingwen took half a step to the side.
Xie Sanbin took a step forward and bowed deeply to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
"Please speak, Minister Xie!" Chongzhen replied.
"Yes," Xie Sanbin straightened up and began to speak, "I think the key to the currency reform in the four provinces of Jiangnan lies in the word profit!"
"The court is now in the best interests of the people, and the interests of the gentry are damaged, so they are resisting the new policy!"
"If the gentry are in favor, not only will they not resist, but they will welcome the new policy!"
Without waiting for Chongzhen to ask, Fan Jingwen asked first: "Minister Xie means to give all the profits to the gentry?"
"No! What I mean is to give up some of the profits!" Xie Sanbin clasped his hands and said, "We must demonstrate while giving up the profits! If we do both at the same time, the predicament of the currency reform in the four provinces of Jiangnan should be improved."
Just as Chongzhen was about to continue listening, he suddenly thought of a key question.
This matter...he can't be involved in it anymore.
It was he who proposed the currency reform, and the boycott by the four provinces south of the Yangtze River was tantamount to a slap in his face.
Discussing the slap in the face with the cabinet was like slapping him in the face again.
A slap in the face once is enough, never twice.
Moreover, he is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and sometimes face is more important than life.
With this concern, Chongzhen coughed lightly and said, "You are people I trust. The currency reform in Jiangnan is full of difficulties. I believe you can draft a charter."
Without waiting for everyone to respond, he said to the person beside him: "Wang Chengen, prepare tea and cakes for them. Drink tea if you are thirsty, eat cakes if you are hungry! No one can leave before the rules are drawn up."
After saying this, Chongzhen left in a graceful manner.
The reactions of the people in the Palace of Heavenly Purity varied.
Huang Jin, Wang Jiayan and Xie Sanbin encountered such a situation for the first time and stood there in confusion.
Fan Jingwen and Qiu Yu's performance was completely opposite to theirs.
Fan and Qiu were already accustomed to this; they skillfully took the tea and cakes and ate and drank at the same time.
Officials in the Ming Dynasty basically did not eat breakfast before going to court, so as to avoid the three urgent needs (urgent need to urinate, defecate, and fart) during the court session.
Huang Jin, Wang Jiayan and Xie Sanbin had not eaten yet, and they were hungry and kept swallowing their saliva under the temptation of Fan and Qiu.
After getting Wang Chengen's assurance, the three of them also joined the group eating and drinking.
After eating and drinking, everyone took a short rest.
When it was almost time to rest, Fan Jingwen took the lead and said, "We've eaten and drunk! We have to come up with the rules, otherwise no one can leave here!"
Qiu Yu, Huang Jin, and Wang Jiayan looked at Xie Sanbin at the same time.
The purpose of recommending him is to solve the problems encountered in currency reform.
If he can't solve the problem, let's unite and solve him!
Xie Sanbin understood this very well. He clasped his fists and bowed to everyone, "My Lords, I have a question."
"Excuse me!" Fan Jingwen said.
"Now, for every Ming Yuanbao exchanged, the imperial court will make a profit of 6 cents! The imperial court will take 3 cents and leave 3 cents for the local government, right?"
"That's right!" Fan Jingwen nodded.
"My idea is for the court to make concessions and only take 2% or even 1% of the profit, and the rest will be distributed to the local governments."
"How can this be possible?" Minister of War Wang Jiayan said bluntly: "To put it bluntly, the currency reform is plundering the wealth of the world! The people have already exchanged their silver for Ming Yuanbao according to the requirements of the new policy. They were not given any profit when they exchanged! If the profit was returned to the gentry, wouldn't plundering the wealth of the world become plundering the wealth of the people?"
“This is unfair to the people!”
"Haha!" Xie Sanbin laughed, "Lord Wang is wrong!"
"How much money do ordinary people have? Most of the silver is in the hands of the gentry and merchants. Only when the silver in their hands is exchanged for Ming Yuanbao can the currency reform be considered successful!"
"Now they are unwilling to change, and the court is eager to implement new policies!"
"The only way is to make concessions!"
"Besides, there was a precedent of returning profits when the new policy was tried out in Shaanxi!"
"Since there is already a precedent, we don't have to worry too much!"
Xie Sanbin's words left Wang Jiayan unable to refute, and he could only shut up and stop talking.
Fan Jingwen thought for a moment and asked, "How much profit should be returned to the gentry and merchants in Jiangnan?"
"My Lord," Xie Sanbin said respectfully to Fan Jingwen, "What I mean is that the refund ratio is not fixed!"
"What do you mean?" Fan Jingwen didn't understand.
"Let me give you an example!" Xie Sanbin moistened his throat with saliva and continued, "Let's take the profit of 6 cents as an example."
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