amaotonovel Chapter 482 This is too much!
Chapter 482 This is too much!
"This is acceptable?"
After reading the letter that Wang Qiong brought, Yang Shaofeng's first reaction was that this world was too magical.
Is the Ming Dynasty running out of currency?
Take the capital city as an example.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Revenue, in June of the fourth year of the Hongwu reign, there were approximately 300,000 strings of paper money circulating in the capital.
However, in August of the fourth year of the Hongwu reign, the amount of paper money circulating in the market dropped to 250,000 strings of cash.
This was followed by turmoil in the goods trading market, with signs of impending collapse.
As the money supply decreases, the value of money will increase, which will be reflected in the market as a rise in the purchasing power of money.
However, the production costs of goods are incurred before the purchasing power of the currency increases.
In other words, the production cost of the goods has not decreased.
for example.
Under normal circumstances, the cost of raising a chicken is 20 coins, and the selling price is 25 coins.
When the value of currency is artificially inflated, buyers are more willing to spend ten coins to buy chickens.
Correspondingly, the cost of raising chickens has always been twenty coins, and selling them for ten coins means losing a fortune.
This is reflected in the market as chicken sellers being unwilling to sell and chicken buyers being unwilling to buy.
The next reaction was that chicken farmers were unwilling to raise chickens, and those who wanted to buy chickens couldn't buy them.
This led to market turmoil.
Of course, this is just the simplest example. In reality, the turmoil caused by the "cash crunch" is far more complex than this, and the resulting damage is even more severe.
For example, a "money shortage" also occurred during the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Nine out of ten houses are empty; money is hoarded at the top, while there is a shortage of money below."
Coincidentally, the money shortage in the Ming Dynasty occurred in the southeast, just as the money shortage in the Northern Song Dynasty also occurred in the most prosperous southeast region. The money shortage was not significant in other regions, and even the northwest region experienced hyperinflation due to an abundance of money.
If we absolutely had to find some differences...
Basically, there's no difference.
The currency shortage during the Northern Song Dynasty, on the surface, appeared to be due to the Northern Song court collecting more currency from the people than needed for circulation. In reality, the Northern Song Dynasty was experiencing a severe outflow of currency.
As for where the money went...
At that time, the coins issued by the Song Dynasty in places like Korea, the Monkey Kingdom, Liao, Jin, and Mongolia, as well as places like Malacca, Srivijaya, and Champa, were far more valuable than the currencies they issued themselves.
The Ming Dynasty is now in almost the same situation.
Goryeo.
Annam.
Myanmar.
Siam.
Ryukyu.
The lost currencies all flowed into the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.
After reading the letter Wang Qiong had sent him several times, Yang Shaofeng suddenly frowned and said, "This is damn weird."
Wang Qiong was slightly taken aback and asked, "What's wrong?"
Yang Shaofeng asked, "How much paper money can those barbarian merchants take away? And how much silver and copper coins can they take away?"
Wang Qiong was stunned again, but Yang Shaofeng sneered and said, "Moreover, the most strange thing is that the goods they brought, as well as the gold and silver they brought, are all suspicious."
"Don't worry about how many banknotes and copper coins they take out, because even if they only take one coin, they will definitely bring back goods worth one coin first."
“If you take away a single coin of paper money, you must at least leave behind a single copper coin.”
"This rule is constant."
“If their goods and gold and silver don’t mysteriously disappear, then it doesn’t matter how much money and copper coins they take.”
"Because the Treasury of Paper Money can issue more paper money based on the surplus gold and silver."
"The amount of paper money circulating in the market will not mysteriously decrease due to a few transactions."
At this point, Yang Shaofeng looked at the letter in his hand again, then asked Wang Qiong, "The amount of gold and silver in the national treasury hasn't increased much?"
After a moment's thought, Wang Qiong replied, "The national treasury does indeed have more gold and silver than usual."
"There's an extra 30,000 taels of silver."
"But compared to the amount of paper money and coins that have been lost, there is still a shortfall of 20,000 strings of cash."
At this point, Wang Qiong's eyes suddenly widened, and her body even trembled slightly.
"What the Prince Consort means is..."
Wang Qiong hesitated before saying, "Is someone deliberately helping those barbarians yearn for lost precious paper money and coins?"
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement, his face also extremely gloomy.
It's hard to say whether it was intentional or not.
However, the large-scale outflow of paper money and copper coins was inevitable.
If we also consider the recent cases of rebellion...
Yang Shaofeng shook his head slightly and sighed, "They say it's hard to persuade a damned ghost with good advice."
"These people have become incredibly audacious; even His Majesty's executioner's blade cannot frighten them."
Yang Shaofeng had barely finished speaking when Emperor Zhu's voice suddenly rang out: "You dog, are you making things up about us again? What do you mean our butcher's knife can't scare anyone?"
Having just returned from a stroll around the city, Emperor Zhu went straight to the table, first stopping Yang Shaofeng and Wang Qiong from getting up to pay their respects, and then plopped down on the recliner.
Emperor Zhu poured himself a cup of tea and sneered, "Only a scoundrel like you isn't afraid of our butcher's knife."
Yang Shaofeng thought to himself, "You should stop bragging. After all, even cows need to live. If you keep exaggerating, what will happen to the cows?"
If the village dogs find out, then all the chickens, ducks, and geese will know.
Will this cow ever be able to hold its head high in the village again?
Just as Yang Shaofeng was cursing inwardly, Emperor Zhu took a sip of tea and asked, "Speak, who has the audacity to be as bold as you, a dog, not even afraid of our butcher's knife?"
The shouts were quite catchy.
What, are you going to take the postgraduate entrance exam?
Yang Shaofeng inwardly grumbled again, but outwardly he respectfully bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Reporting to my father-in-law, the letter just delivered by Wang Sheren says that a large amount of Ming Dynasty paper money and Hongwu Tongbao coins are flowing out of the country, and there are signs of a money shortage in the southeast."
The emperor, who was just about to lie down, suddenly sat up straight again.
"A cash crunch?"
Emperor Zhu frowned and said, "There's a money shortage in the southeast? Damn it."
It seems there are indeed people who are not afraid of Zhu Chongba's butcher's knife?
Yang Shaofeng nodded slightly and replied, "Yes, that's what His Highness the Crown Prince said in his letter."
Emperor Zhu glanced at Yang Shaofeng, then leaned back in his recliner and asked, "Then tell me, is there any way to deal with this?"
Ok?
Yang Shaofeng was completely bewildered.
No, you old man, aren't you worried at all when you hear about the cash shortage?
The problem is, if you're not in a hurry, fine, but why did you directly ask me if there's a solution?
So you want to arrest me to solve your problem?
More importantly, you didn't even offer a pound of small dragon balls as a token gesture.
This is simply going too far in bullying me!