AWB Chapter 365 Three Years of Planning
Chapter 365 Three Years of Planning
Dong Zhentang glared!
You only have 15 million... and a stock of no more than 20 million taels, and you dare to issue 50 million?
What about the promise not to abuse the power of minting and issuing coins?
Seeing this, Gu Jingzhi just smiled slightly and said, "Minister Dong, casting and issuing are two different things. Although the court only has so much gold and silver, the people still have a lot!"
"Let's not talk about anything else, just talk about the Ningzhou Chamber of Commerce!"
"The Ningzhou Chamber of Commerce is led by local powerful people in Ningzhou, but its main members include powerful people from all the major prefectures along the Yangtze River. Combined with the distribution center controlled by Ningzhou, it can be said that it controls the foreign races radiating from the northwest of Daxia and the countries in the Western Regions!"
"By then, the imperial court will order that all transactions within Daxia be settled in the new currency. What will be the gold and silver exchange rate?"
"..."
Dong Zhentang glared and asked, "Will those foreign merchants agree?"
"Of course they can't agree, but they have no other choice!"
Gu Jingzhi smiled and said, "But if they want to exchange what they have within Daxia, they must exchange currency of equal value!"
"Of course they would do it even if they disagree!"
"Just think about it, the so-called business way is to buy low and sell high, and merchants make profits from it. So as long as there is profit, it will be easy to operate!"
"They buy goods at low prices and sell them at high prices in Daxia. Although they only get Daxia currency and cannot sell them in their territory, they can easily buy goods of equal value in Daxia and then sell them back in their own territory!"
"What they will get in exchange will be gold and silver!"
"Similarly, our merchants in Great Xia can use the new Great Xia currency to purchase local goods and trade with foreign races, earning gold and silver. This way, foreign gold and silver will flow into Great Xia continuously!"
hiss……
Dong Zhentang took a breath of cold air.
As a military general, Qiao Zhen didn't quite understand this, but he could understand some of it.
If Gu Jingzhi really did this, it would be tantamount to controlling all the foreign races and countries outside the northwest. Isn't that terrifying?
Seeing his expression of having seen a ghost, Gu Jingzhi couldn't help but laugh and said, "Actually, from the current perspective, this is not something that can be achieved overnight. The most important thing right now is to fully circulate the new currency through large-scale trade transactions!"
"Ningzhou's commercial tax rate is 10%, which means that for every 10 taels of silver traded, one tael of silver will be taxed. The Ningzhou Distribution Center's annual transaction throughput could reach 20 million taels, and as time goes on, it might even be higher!"
"This is just the Ningzhou distribution center. If we include border trade, how much would it be?"
"Those who can participate in border trade are almost all powerful clans. If they are unwilling to give up this piece of fat meat, they must accept trading in the new Daxia currency."
"By then, the new currency will flow into the entire Yangtze River coast, and most of it will eventually gather in the Jiangnan area!"
"..."
Dong Zhentang was speechless. He was so shocked by Gu Jingzhi's words that he was speechless!
After a while, he stammered, "Didn't you enact the new currency law to prohibit the people from using gold and silver? Why are you resorting to such a stunt?"
"hehe!"
Gu Jingzhi smiled and said, "The law is the law, and the market is the market! The law is to build confidence in the new currency among the people, but the law cannot interfere with the market!"
"The aristocratic families hold most of the gold and silver. If they don't want it, how much of it can be returned to the national treasury?"
"However, if we use the art of commerce to circulate the new currency, then those noble families will be forced to exchange it with the new currency. Although there won't be much at first, as long as we open this door, they will gradually adapt!"
"After all... when all the shops and transactions around them only accept the new currency, it makes sense for them not to exchange it!"
What the hell...
Dong Zhentang was really speechless this time!
He imagined himself, if he ran away with a large amount of gold and silver, but no one wanted to accept it for food and accommodation, he would have to exchange it, right?
He originally regarded Gu Jingzhi's formulation of laws as just wishful thinking.
After all, the laws of this era are somewhat useful to the powerful and wealthy... Those who understand will understand that even if this law is enforced, it is likely that it will not have much effect.
However, merchants were the lowest class in this era. As powerful people, they could disobey the rules, but those vendors did not dare to do so!
As long as the vendors comply, they will be forced to accept it!
It is totally unexpected that low-status merchants and peddlers... could one day be used to fight back against the powerful. No wonder Gu Jingzhi had spoken up for the merchants in the court before.
At the beginning, the officials in the court were very disdainful of Gu Jingzhi's remarks, thinking that he was just a businessman. How could he become an important part of governing the country?
As a result, after hearing what Gu Jingzhi said...
No matter how rich you are, what can you do if people don't sell things to you?
Gu Jingzhi saw his expression and immediately understood that he had understood the truth, so he smiled and continued, "Using Ningzhou as the starting point, it seems that you are relying on my layout in Ningzhou, but in fact, you are setting your sights on the prosperous areas along the Yangtze River and Jiangnan!"
"Jiangnan's wealthy merchants travel extensively throughout Daxia. This is also the richest place in Daxia. With their help, this new currency will be able to circulate rapidly throughout the country!"
"In this way, no one will be able to shake the power of the new currency in the market. By then, even relying on the laws of the market, it will be enough to make the noble families pay out their gold and silver!"
"..."
Qiao Zhen and Dong Zhentang looked at Gu Jingzhi as if he were a monster.
Is this a civil servant who came from the imperial examination? It really is a bloodless battle. Think about the complicated and intertwined aristocratic families. Even with their status, they feel suffocated when encountering resistance from the aristocratic families.
But what about Gu Jingzhi?
Not only does he not care about the aristocratic families at all, but he also schemes against them in the area where they have the greatest advantage. What kind of genius is this?
No wonder the emperor values him so much, Gu Jingzhi is indeed an extraordinary talent!
Especially the father and son of the Qiao family, they had also stayed in Ningzhou for some time, but they never thought that Gu Jingzhi would plan such a big chess game under their noses.
Qiao Zhen was surprised and asked, "You actually started planning these things back in Ningzhou?"
"hehe!"
Gu Jingzhi smiled and said, "To be exact, the planning should have started during the palace examination!"
"..."
The corners of Dong Zhentang's mouth and the Qiao family's father and son twitched.
Palace Examination...
At that time, Gu Jingzhi had not yet entered the court, and he had just started planning his family during the palace examination. No wonder the emperor chose him as the top scorer and directly granted him the official position of secretary.
It seems that people saw the interference of the aristocratic families in the court at that time, and also guessed that Emperor Xia intended to deal with the aristocratic families!
And what about Gu Jingzhi?
There is no doubt that the reason he dared to think so at the time was not only for his future, but more importantly for his own protection.
After all, Gu Jingzhi's life experience was revealed one by one later, so he had a reason to deal with the aristocratic family. It was Gu Heng's family that made enemies with him, but Gu Heng's backers were Song Pu and the aristocratic family.
If he wants to touch Gu Heng, he will have to offend Song Pu.
Therefore, he was just a young man with no background or backing, but he dared to plot against the aristocratic family. Even in his plan, the emperor became his backer!
This is crazy...
The few people who figured it all out were filled with amazement.
A young man like him could actually calm down and spend several years planning a chess game. This kind of strategy, wisdom, mentality and patience...
It was destined that he would be promoted to the position of a third-rank minister when he was only 23 years old!
Several people couldn't help but feel that "if I had a son, I wish he would be like Gu Jingzhi."
Dong Zhentang sighed and asked, "So how do you want me to help you today?"