Chapter 60 briefly describes the process of monetization of Baiyin! Chen Han smiled and said: "Let me briefly describe the issue of silver monetization. This situation lasted until the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli dynasties, and suddenly ushered in a period of silver explosion.
Because during this period, Spain in the West discovered the American continent during its great voyage and unearthed huge amounts of silver.
Long before the Ming Dynasty, Western countries had realized that there was a large country in the Middle East, where products were rich, the people were wealthy, and the country was vast.
Since the Tang Dynasty, all countries have been admiring the East.
When Westerners unearthed such a large amount of silver that their own countries could not digest, they immediately thought of using ocean trade to trade with the giants of the East.
After all, silver has a lofty status in the minds of the people of the great Eastern countries.
As a result, these huge amounts of silver passed through the Philippines as a transit point, and continuously flowed into the Ming Dynasty through ocean trade.
That period of time should have been the time when the Ming Dynasty’s economy exploded, known as the sprout of capitalism.
In particular, handicrafts and commerce along the southeastern coast have developed significantly due to the stimulation of silver and the Ming Dynasty's lack of intervention in commerce.
During that time, Westerners unearthed large amounts of silver from the aboriginal people who colonized the Americas and brought it to the Ming Dynasty through ocean trade ships one after another.
Then they took away Ming Dynasty silk, porcelain, tea and other valuable items.
As for our people in the Ming Dynasty, we got piles and piles of silver that we couldn't eat or drink.
The Ming Dynasty saw that silver had been recognized by the people, and saw that the tax system was so chaotic, so Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, vigorously promoted a codification method to combine land taxes, miscellaneous taxes, etc. into one, and converted them into silver for collection.
During that period, the Ming Dynasty's taxes soared from around 200 million taels during the Jiajing period to more than 400 million taels per year.
The Wanli Dynasty became the most economically powerful era of the Ming Dynasty. After the accumulation of a whip, Emperor Wanli was able to launch the three major conquests, and only then could the entire Ming Dynasty be revived.
But is the influx of silver really a good thing?
Wrong, totally wrong! "
Zhu Yuanzhang and the others were even more confused when they heard this.
Isn’t it a good thing that silver has replaced the depreciated Ming Dynasty banknotes?
Why isn't this a good thing? Zhu Yuanzhang himself felt that if he had a large amount of silver, he would not need to issue treasure banknotes, and it would be better to use silver directly.
Chen Han said helplessly: "In the short term, the inflow of silver injected fresh blood into the chaotic finances of the Ming Dynasty.
However, the whole country did not realize that this blood contained chronic toxins, and this poison broke out quickly. "
Ling Han was very curious when he heard Chen Han say that the inflow of silver is like a toxin, and sooner or later it will become poisonous.
How do you say this? In their understanding, wouldn't it be a good thing for the people if more silver flows in?
Being able to sell the goods of the Ming Dynasty and obtain a large amount of silver would make everyone rich.
Moreover, silver does not depreciate as much as the Ming Dynasty banknotes. It is said to be stable. Isn't it the best currency? Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Ling Han were all puzzled.
Now when they heard what Chen Han said, they felt like they were falling into the fog, very confused.
Chen Han explained: "If the inflow of silver can make the entire economy take off and promote the development of business, then of course it will be a great thing.
But as mentioned before, we Chinese have had a worship mentality for gold and silver from ancient times to the present. In addition, with the popularity of treasure banknotes in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court used treasure banknotes to harvest the blood and sweat of the people, causing a serious lack of security for the people. .
So when a large amount of silver flows in, the first thing that capable people think about after acquiring silver is not to spend it or invest it, but to hoard it.
Since silver itself has both monetary and commodity attributes, silver itself is a commodity, and it is also a commodity with a relatively stable value to the common , a large amount of silver was not put back into circulation in the market, but was buried.
Even a large number of wealthy families immediately bought properties, bought fields and built houses after they got the silver.
Or the silver may be turned into jewelry, causing the silver to lose its circulation and become a collectible.
So much so that no matter how much silver flows into overseas, by the time of the Ming Dynasty, it is like sinking into the sea. At this time, the silver is nothing more than moving from the underground of America to the underground of the Ming Dynasty.
Apart from exchanging the goods of our Ming Dynasty, is there any difference?
Isn't it just a pile of stones buried in the soil? "
This……
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.
Zhu Biao fell into deep thought.
Putting it this way, it seems that for the people of the Ming Dynasty, silver really just moved the silver from America to the ground of the Ming Dynasty and buried it.
Chen Han said: "Relatively speaking, the people of the Ming Dynasty lost too much.
Like ants and bees, the common people work hard to plant mulberry trees bit by bit, work hard to pick mulberry leaves and raise silkworms, let the silkworms spin silk, and finally weave it into silk, and then get a pile of A pile of stones.
The entire Ming Dynasty became a large factory in Western countries that exchanged stones for goods.
This went on for hundreds of years.
We can proudly say that two-thirds of the silver excavated around the world has flowed into China.
But have our people lived happily in these hundreds of years? The subsequent historical facts tell us that life was even more miserable.
Because the Ming Dynasty experienced a mere few decades of Wanli's resurgence, it quickly declined.
Logically speaking, with such a large amount of silver in our pockets, the people must not be very happy?Why the more silver flows into us, the less happy we are. "
Chen Han then asked, "Village chief, do you know what's going on?"
Ling Han thought about it for a long time and then said, "Because as you said, Mr. Chen, the silver excavated by Western countries is just a stone in their eyes, but what they exchange for is something that our people have worked hard to produce.
Originally, these outputs are for the use of the people, and the people will be happy and happy.
But what I got in exchange was a pile of stones that I couldn't eat or drink, right? "
Sure enough, when someone reaches the level of Minister of Rites, his brain is quite easy to use.
Even if they lack knowledge of economic theory and finance, even if their vision is not as broad as modern people.
But their wisdom is not inferior at all. Even in the eyes of such a political boss, Chen Han is actually no different from a novice.
So after Chen Han summarized it, Ling Han immediately came to this helpless conclusion.
……
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(End of this chapter)