"Haha, Big Brother, long time no see!"
Wang Chong smiled, not minding at all. He pointed at a nearby table, indicating that Yang Zhao should sit down with him.
At the side, a servant girl had already changed the tea and served new pastries.
"Big Brother, you seem to be in such a rush. Just what matter could make you so anxious? Could it be that the Confucians will impeach you? "
Wang Chong took up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and faintly smiled.
"Worthy Brother, I don't have any military authority in my hands, and I'm not their enemy. How could they possibly look favorably upon me? But if I don't handle this matter well, the Confucians might really impeach me. "
Yang Zhao sighed, a worried frown on his face.
"Oh?"
Wang Chong's brow rose, and a serious expression appeared on his face.
"You make it sound so serious. Just what is it?"
"This is also related to you. Do you remember the gold yuan certificates you suggested to His Majesty?"
Yang Zhao's brow furrowed, but he began to talk about a matter that Wang Chong had suggested to the Ministry of Revenue long ago.
"Whether it's gold or silver, it doesn't matter if it's a small family, and it doesn't matter if they carry a few pieces of silver. If they want to travel far, they can just wrap it in a cloth and tie it to their waist, and it'll be enough for traveling. But now that the Tang dynasty is powerful and prosperous, and the economy is booming, there are countless wealthy merchants coming and going, and the money flowing in and out every day is like flowing water. This is truly spending money like flowing water, and this is no small sum. This is especially true for some of the great clans. With centuries of inheritance, they run several caravans and influence the prices of goods in the various commanderies of the nine provinces. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of taels of gold and silver are extremely inconvenient to carry around. Thus, the Imperial Court adopted your plan and vigorously promoted gold yuan certificates. Later on, after many twists and turns, His Majesty entrusted this matter to me. At the start, it truly did resolve many problems, but later problems arose.
"For some reason, many factions have begun to reject the use of gold yuan certificates. For the same item, they would pay the full amount if it was in real gold or silver, but if it was in gold yuan certificates, they would ask for twenty percent, thirty percent, or even more. Gold yuan certificates were becoming less and less valuable, and many factions were unwilling to use them. If they could avoid using them, they would do their best to avoid them. They would rather carry heavy chests of gold and silver and risk being robbed by bandits than accept the Imperial Court's gold yuan certificates. "
"You also know that the Imperial Court's gold yuan certificates are soft. If they don't accept them, there's nothing we can do. Not only that, it was only the great clans of the border who initially rejected the gold yuan certificates, but later on, even the great clans of the capital began to resist. There were even people privately buying and selling gold yuan certificates. Although the imperial court had issued repeated orders, it was useless. If this continues, there will be a major problem! Once the bow is shot, there is no turning back. The Imperial Court has invested a great deal of time and energy into promoting gold yuan certificates. Once the gold yuan certificates are completely boycotted, the Imperial Court will immediately suffer grievous losses, and it might even affect the national economy and the people's livelihood. After all, the problem of gold yuan certificates is a problem of money, and pulling one hair can affect the entire body. The effects are not something that the Imperial Court can resolve just by taking back the gold yuan certificates. It might even cause a massive economic problem. "
The more Yang Zhao spoke, the more worried he became.
"Worthy brother, you also know that there are many people who refuse to accept my position as Chamberlain of Palace Revenues. Countless people in and out of the court, including those officials in the Bureau of Revenue, have their eyes on me. If I make a single mistake, they will pull me down from my horse and take advantage of the situation to doom me beyond redemption. I'm currently sitting on pins and needles. You were the one who invented the gold yuan certificates, so no matter what, you have to help me! "
As he spoke, Yang Zhao suddenly grabbed Wang Chong's arm like a drowning man clutching at a straw, his face brimming with fear.
Wang Chong said nothing, but carefully examined Yang Zhao. He had heard a little about Yang Zhao's current situation. Although no one in the palace dared to criticize him to his face because he was Consort Tai Zhen's cousin, there were quite a few people who were dissatisfied with him in private. The majority of their attacks focused on his birth and his addiction to gambling. But Wang Chong knew that the reason Yang Zhao had been favored and placed in an important position by the Holy Emperor was not just because of Consort Tai Zhen. Although his birth was not very good and he had this and that problem, he had an astonishing talent for numbers and finance. To be able to acutely realize that the gold yuan certificates were not just a single thing, as well as their potential effects on the economy, was already proof of his talent in this area. And Wang Chong also knew that Yang Zhao had relied on his talent for economics to become Minister.
"Let me ask you, from the first gold yuan certificate to now, just how many gold yuan certificates have you printed?"
Wang Chong straightforwardly asked.
"This … not, not much …"
Yang Zhao immediately began to stammer.
"Hmph, not much? Not many would end up like this? If you want me to help you, tell me the truth. "
Wang Chong's gaze was sharp as if he could see into the depths of Yang Zhao's heart. No matter what he was hiding, it could not escape Wang Chong's eyes.
"This … I printed a little too much. I only printed eight hundred million taels of gold. "
Yang Zhao trembled.
"You said eight hundred million, so there's at least one billion. In less than two years, you've printed more than one billion gold yuan certificates. Do you really think this is a money tree? You can print as much as you want! "
Wang Chong coldly said, immediately seeing through the essence of the problem with the gold yuan certificates that Yang Zhao spoke of. The Tang Dynasty pursued a strategy of enriching the people. Even though the country was wealthy, the Imperial Court's annual tax revenue was far from that, perhaps not even one hundred million taels of gold. Yang Zhao had printed one billion yuan in one go, equivalent to ten years' worth of revenue. The final result could be easily imagined.
Yang Zhao was still too greedy! Although he was very talented in the field of wealth and economics, his gambler's nature had immediately erupted from the treasury of gold yuan certificates. He had completely used this policy of benefiting the people and future generations as a tool to make money.
Although the majority of the money he had plundered had gone into the Imperial Court's treasury for the benefit of the people, his actions had completely destroyed the original intention that Wang Chong had had when he had suggested the Imperial Court establish gold yuan certificates!
This kind of paper money and gold yuan certificates was becoming less and less valuable, and they were even being sold on the 'black market'. In another world, there was a word to describe this situation: 'inflation', or more commonly, 'overissuance of money'.
When the Imperial Court had first introduced the gold yuan certificates, Wang Chong had suggested that the printing and distribution of gold yuan certificates had to be done with great care. They could not be indiscriminately issued or overissued, but all this had still happened.
"You're too greedy!"
Wang Chong sternly said, his expression much colder.
"It would have been better if the gold yuan certificates hadn't been issued, but now they're all over the world. Even if you want to take them back, it's already too late. What's done can't be undone. There are some things that, once done, cannot be undone. If the matter of the gold yuan certificates is not handled properly, do you know what will happen? "
Yang Zhao said nothing, but his face paled.
"You don't know the specifics, so I'll tell you. The first step is to use gold yuan certificates to buy them. They cost twenty to thirty percent more than gold. Let me tell you, this is only the beginning. Soon, the gold yuan certificates will be constantly depreciated, and a gold yuan certificate worth one hundred taels of gold will be worth only fifty taels of gold. And this is a conservative estimate. Once something like this happens, there will definitely be noble clans buying gold yuan certificates and then exchanging them with the Imperial Court. The common people have no channels, but the noble clans do. The gold yuan certificates are issued by the Imperial Court. In order to maintain the Imperial Court's prestige, no matter how much those noble clans exchange, the Imperial Court will have to redeem them. And the gold yuan certificates will become less and less valuable. "
"And in the end, the gold yuan certificates will really be no different from paper. If you issue one billion taels of gold, it will throw the entire currency market of the Tang dynasty into chaos. The common people will have things they can't sell, the merchants will have money they can't buy … the achievements of the Tang dynasty over decades, the efforts of several generations, the blood and sweat of millions of people will all be for naught. At that time, it will be a massive disaster. The wealth of the Tang dynasty will vanish into thin air in the blink of an eye! "
Wang Chong closed his eyes as he slowly described the future trajectory of this disaster.
"Buzz!"
Before Wang Chong could finish his words, Yang Zhao's face had already turned ashen, and cold sweat was dripping down his forehead. He was the Chamberlain of Palace Treasury, in charge of the empire's finances. If something like this really did happen, not even Consort Tai Zhen would be able to protect him. If the people became angry, he really would not be far from death. 'The Son of Heaven commits the same crime as the common people.' Consort Tai Zhen was completely capable of protecting him in a small matter, but if something major happened and the officials attacked him, no one would be able to protect him.
"Worthy brother, save me! No matter what, you have to save me!"
Yang Zhao was drenched in cold sweat as he stubbornly clung to Wang Chong's hand. The veins on the back of his hand were bulging from the force.
No one understood his current situation better than he did. In front of Wang Chong, he had still held back a little, but the true situation was far more serious than he had described. The situation had worsened far more than he had imagined. Three months ago, when Yang Zhao had received the news, he hadn't cared at all.
But now, three months later, Yang Zhao had no choice but to run over to Wang Chong for help.
"… Did they print too much? I'll tell them right now to stop printing the gold yuan certificates. If I need to take back a portion, I'll have them take it back immediately!"
Yang Zhao stammered. He was already in a desperate situation.
Taking back the gold yuan certificates was the last thing Yang Zhao wanted to do. After all, this was money. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Yang Zhao would never do such a thing. But there wasn't much he could do now.
"This is just treating the symptoms and not the root cause. Even if this problem can be solved in the short term, it will still erupt in the future."
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