"Who are you going to drag into this?" Ruan Dacheng asked worriedly, "The Crown Prince?"
"Haha," Qian Qianyi said with a faint smile, "Who to drag into the water and how to drag them into the water are Donglin's secrets. It is not convenient to disclose it at the moment!"
The more Qian Qianyi said this, the more worried Ruan Dacheng became: "Don't drag the prince into this. The power of life and death is in the hands of His Majesty. When the time comes, His Majesty will let the prince go and kill the other people involved!"
"Don't worry, it's easier to get into the water than to get out. The depth of the river is far beyond your imagination!" Qian Qianyi responded with a very confusing sentence, "I tell you this because I want to discuss cooperation!
"Cooperation?" Ruan Dacheng raised his eyebrows: "What cooperation?"
Qian Qianyi said seriously: "Of course, we should jointly promote currency reform! Although there are many people who joined the Donglin Party, there are not many who can really work for the Donglin Party and play a role."
"This matter will not be successful if the Donglin Party alone relies on it!"
“So I need to find some powerful and influential people to support the plan.”
Ruan Dacheng was in hesitation.
He didn't dare to make the decision on this matter, nor could he make the decision.
However...we can find out about the Donglin Party’s plans in advance!
He coughed lightly and asked, "What is the specific content of the cooperation?"
Qian Qianyi knew that Ruan Dacheng could not make the decision, but he still said generously: "Let's first assign the tasks to the prefectures, states and counties."
"Take Nanzhili as an example. It needs to be exchanged for 30 million Ming Yuanbao."
"The fourteen prefectures and four direct-controlled states under Nanzhili have a total of ninety counties!
“Some counties are rich, some are poor!”
"Find two wealthy counties and assign them the task of exchanging three million Ming Yuanbao coins."
"Next, we will persuade the local gentry to exchange their silver for Ming Yuanbao, and at the same time impose 100,000 taels of corvée on the people."
"Remember!" Qian Qianyi suddenly raised his voice to remind: "There are not many Ming Dynasty Yuanbao in stock, and it takes time to mint new ones. Therefore, corvée labor cannot be allocated all at once, but must be allocated in real time according to the progress of the exchange, otherwise the heavy corvée labor will provoke civil unrest!"
"Finally, a portion of the money from the corvée labor was returned to the gentry."
"If the public reaction is not intense, we can promote it in other states and counties. If the public reaction is intense, we can think of other countermeasures!"
"As long as we promote currency reform and do not provoke civil unrest, it will be a great achievement!"
"With the merits, why worry about promotion?"
At the end, Qian Qianyi stood up and walked to Ruan Dacheng: "Brother Ruan, the old man and the Donglin Party are here to seek cooperation with sincerity! I hope you can discuss it carefully after you go back!"
"Don't worry, Brother Qian. I also come here with sincerity." Ruan Dacheng replied.
"Brother Ruan, how long will it take you to consider this?" Qian Qianyi asked.
"Well...I'll give you an answer in three days at the latest!"
"Okay!" Qian Qianyi patted Ruan Dacheng on the shoulder and reminded him, "Cooperation means advancing and retreating together. When the time comes, we will share the credit and bear the responsibility together. I hope Brother Ruan will remember this."
On the way back from the restaurant, Ruan Dacheng sat in the sedan chair and thought deeply.
Qian Qianyi and the Donglin Party's methods not only promoted currency reform, but also enabled them to seek personal gain from it.
But risks and benefits coexist.
Once the truth comes out, you have to bear the corresponding consequences.
After returning home, Ruan Dacheng negotiated with the messenger sent by Ma Shiying in his study.
"Sir, do you really want to cooperate with Qian Qianyi?" asked the messenger.
"What else?" Ruan Dacheng raised his head after thinking all the way, "I am already over sixty years old, and I am still only a seventh-rank official! If I don't make some decent contributions, I will never be promoted until I die!"
"But once the imperial court gets to know about the assignment of corvée labor, I'm afraid..." the messenger said worriedly.
"Ah!" Ruan Dacheng sighed and interrupted the messenger, "Currency reform is a dead end!"
"Unless the imperial court issues an order to ban the circulation of silver, no one will be willing to exchange silver for Ming Yuanbao!"
"But it is unrealistic to issue an edict to ban the use of silver. Otherwise, it will cause unimaginable turmoil!"
"Therefore, the court can only appoint the representatives of the gentry's interests - the Donglin Party to solve this problem!"
"Now the Donglin Party has proposed the only way to solve the problem. The court must either agree or disagree."
"Do you think the court has any choice?"
The messenger lowered his head and thought for a long time, "Although the court has no choice, it can pretend that it doesn't know and then get rid of it!"
"Haha," Ruan Dacheng laughed, "The premise of killing the donkey after it has done its job is that the donkey has finished its work!"
"Currency is a national policy, a national policy that will last a long time! Coinage requires silver, craftsmen, and time! Nanzhili can only mint 15 million Ming Yuanbao coins at most every year."
"The current process of currency exchange is to register with the government first, then send the silver to the coin mint in order, and finally take away the corresponding number of Ming Yuanbao!"
"If you want to mint all the silver in the Ming Dynasty into silver coins, it will take four to five years at the shortest and more than ten years at the longest."
"During this period, if the court takes action against the Donglin Party that implements the policy, who will dare to implement the national policy after the news spreads?"
"So, the imperial court will not do such a thing as cutting off its own arm!"
The messenger blinked his eyes. "So... currency reform is a national policy, a business, and even a talisman?"
"That's right!" Ruan Dacheng stood up and walked to the desk, taking out pen, ink, paper and inkstone.
As he was writing the letter, he said to the messenger, "I have written down all my thoughts in this letter. When you return, give it to Brother Ma and he will know what I am thinking at a glance."
"yes!"
The brush dipped in ink fell on the paper, making an almost inaudible swish sound.
The top-down policy of currency reform surged toward the people of Jiangnan like a torrent.
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