Chapter 297 Straight Hundred Coins

Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, but ever since the Great Qian Imperial Court disbanded the Sixteen Guards, the four borders had actually remained quiet.

In the north, Northern Liang and Northern Yan fought several rounds until neither could hold out any longer, forcing them to cease hostilities and call a truce.

The land of Hebei was split in two, a result that Northern Liang found relatively satisfactory.

Northern Yan, however, was not so pleased; no one is happy when half their interests are carved away.

Lu Heng was very unwilling but had no choice; without grain, grass, or soldiers, he couldn't make bricks without straw, no matter how great his talent.

With Northern Yan and Northern Liang having lost their momentum, the three provinces of Da Qian north of the Huai River managed to stabilize.

The newly appointed Military Governors of the three provinces also had enough time to find their footing and seize power.

The only unexpected thing was that two of these three Military Governors were actually civil officials.

This deeply worried General Ma Zhiyuan, Song Ren, Mao Biao, and the others who were already idling at home.

Meanwhile, Gao Yuan seized the time to perfect the defenses in the direction of Hanzhong, especially at Yangping Pass.

Everyone was prepared, and since the two northern powers lacked the energy to move south, the entire Da Qian suddenly entered a period of stability.

At this time, hearing that the Nanyue Kingdom had gained immense benefits through currency reform, Xiao Yu and the others could no longer sit still.

In the Department of State Affairs, Xiao Yu took out the memorial jointly submitted by Song Yehong and Zheng Ting.

He wasn't stupid; he could naturally see the problems within, but the massive profits tempted him and the Powerful Families behind him.

Xiao Yu hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he couldn't withstand the clamor of the majority.

In the eleventh month of the third year of the Jianan era of Da Qian, the Da Qian Emperor Zhao Changluo issued an edict to officially implement the zhibai coin.

This was a new type of copper coin, slightly larger in size than the original ones, with a value of one hundred wen.

Besides the official imperial mints, some of the great Powerful Families also had their own mints.

They took all the copper coins in their hands to be melted down and cast into the new zhibai coins.

Since the copper from only three and a half standard coins could cast one zhibai coin, it was truly a highly profitable business.

The effects were immediate; all the owed military pay was distributed in full.

Expenditures in the imperial palace became lavish, and the members of the Powerful Families began spending money extravagantly.

At first, the merchants and commoners thought it was quite good; if these big figures were willing to spend, they could earn more money themselves.

However, no one noticed that a massive hidden danger had been buried, like a volcano constantly building up pressure.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect Zhao Changluo and Xiao Yu would actually 'discover' the zhibai coin."

Gao Yuan laughed loudly as he handed the intelligence Xian Ying had just given him to Zhao Xiyao and Yang Xin.

"Do you think they are truly stupid, or did greed blind their judgment for them to use this move?"

To be honest, when Gao Yuan first gave this idea to Song Yehong and Zheng Ting, he was only doing it with a 'give it a try' attitude.

If it didn't succeed, he lost nothing; if it did, it would be a massive gain.

As time passed, he had almost forgotten about it, but he didn't expect it to actually happen now.

Zhao Xiyao looked over the intelligence and gently shook her head.

"Husband, is this zhibai coin really that dangerous? I don't see much difference between it and our new currency!"

"Not so, not so. The difference is immense. Listen as your Husband breaks it down for you."

Gao Yuan swayed his head and acted profound, but after receiving eye-rolls from the women, he returned to his normal self.

"First of all, our gold and silver coins have intrinsic value. To put it simply, even if you melt down a gold coin, it's still worth that much money."

"Secondly, our gold and silver coins aren't created out of thin air; the Bank itself possesses that much wealth, and it enters market circulation as physical objects through the new currency."

"This means the total amount of money in society grows alongside the growth of social wealth."

"Simply put, however much one wen could buy before the new currency, it can basically buy the same amount after it comes out."

Gao Yuan stopped to drink water, and Yang Xin continued.

"But they are different. Their zhibai coin isn't actually worth a hundred wen in itself."

"They spend three or four wen in costs to produce something valued at a hundred wen, which they use to buy goods worth a hundred wen."

"In other words, under their operation, social wealth hasn't increased, but the amount of money on the market has."

"As this continues, money will gradually become less and less valuable, followed by skyrocketing prices."

After speaking, Yang Xin sighed.

"It's a pity they don't have a Bank, otherwise I could play them into bankruptcy."

Gao Yuan naturally knew what she meant and smiled slightly.

"Actually, it's not impossible, it's just not necessary. We can just quietly watch them collapse."

Yang Xin also smiled.

"I was thinking of giving them a push to accelerate their demise!"

The two chatted away, while the other women were completely bewildered.

However, from the smiles on their faces, they knew the two must be plotting something bad.

Seeing how curious they were, Gao Yuan could only push Yang Xin forward.

Yang Xin was full of confidence in what she was good at, and 'Professor Yang's Lecture' immediately began.

"For example, if I go to the Xiao Family now to borrow a thousand strings of cash and promise to repay them with grain worth one thousand one hundred strings a year later;"

"I then take those thousand strings, convert them into grain, and transport them back to our Nanyue Kingdom..."

Halfway through, everyone except Mu Qing and Princess Consort Huang Yueying understood the key point.

Currently in the Capital City, one dou of rice is worth twenty wen; a thousand strings of cash can buy five thousand shi of rice.

If, as Gao Yuan and Yang Xin said, prices within the Great Qian Imperial Court's jurisdiction skyrocket, how much will one dou of rice be worth in a year?

Will it be a hundred wen, two hundred wen, or even more expensive?

How much rice will one thousand one hundred strings buy then? At two hundred wen per dou, it would be five hundred and fifty shi.

Meaning they would only need to repay five hundred and fifty shi of rice.

With such a maneuver, they would earn over four thousand shi of grain for free; it was practically profit from nothing!

With this analysis, several of the women became eager and turned their questioning gazes toward Gao Yuan.

Gao Yuan shrugged helplessly, making a little 'bear shrug' gesture.

"If you want to do it, go ahead. But be careful not to overplay your hand; it's no joke if they retaliate..."

If the women wanted to play this way, they would certainly have to use the Hidden Guard's channels.

He feared that if they pushed others too far, it would lead them to trace it back to the Hidden Guard's network hubs, which would be more loss than gain.

"True..."

The women immediately realized the point, and their expressions turned a bit disappointed, but things quickly took a turn.

Gao Yuan thought of the perfect target.

"You can go to those temples in Jiangnan to borrow money; those bald monks are each incredibly wealthy."

"Monks also practice usury?"

Yang Xin looked at Gao Yuan in surprise.

Before Gao Yuan could speak, Zheng Wan answered her doubt.

"These temples have vast amounts of land for rent, and they don't have to pay taxes or perform corvée labor, so they have a lot of money in their hands."

"Those temples all offer a type of high-interest loan they call 'Xiangjichu,' with interest rates around fifty to seventy percent."

Gao Yuan smiled slightly and added,

"Do you know what it means when they say 'deep Buddhist affinity' and 'endless blessings'?"

Seeing Yang Xin shake her head, Gao Yuan then explained,

"This phrase means the usury interest is very high, it takes a long time to repay, and you can never finish paying it off."

Yang Xin was completely shocked; she felt her worldview was being shattered.

At this moment, Gao Yuan leaned into her ear and softly added more fuel to the fire.

"Guess why those temples cast massive copper Buddha statues and copper bells?"

"Because they have too much money and nowhere to put it, so they melt it down into these to hide the wealth."