The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Liu Sheng asked the Secret Mining Bureau to study a coin-minting machine powered by a steam engine based on the information he provided, in order to improve the official coin-minting capabilities.

After the inspection and understanding of some related issues of the coin minting machine, Liu Sheng expressed satisfaction.

The production capacity of this coin minting machine of the Secret Mining Bureau is more than ten times that of the minting equipment used in the previous Ming Dynasty!

The only thing that limits its production capacity is raw materials.

"Since there is no problem with the machine, it should be handed over to the Ministry of Finance and Mint as soon as possible."

"Yes." The promotion officer responded respectfully.

The Secret Mining Bureau is the organization responsible for developing various machines and even weapons according to Liu Sheng's instructions, while the Mint is the organization responsible for casting coins in Da'ei.

Liu Sheng added, "In addition, you ask the craftsmen who are studying the coin-minting machines to prepare. In a few days, I will have people send you some information about printing silver notes and treasure banknotes."

"When the time comes, you can develop a machine for printing banknotes according to my requirements."

After hearing these words, the Tiju officer couldn't help but twitch his right eyelid.

He never expected that Liu Sheng was going to print treasure banknotes.

In the past Ming Dynasty, treasure money was issued excessively and was eventually reduced to worthless, but the lesson is not far away.

If Damei also prints and issues treasure banknotes, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the officials and the people to accept it.

He could hardly resist the urge to remonstrate.

Then he thought that Liu Sheng was quite taboo about officials dictating matters that were unexpected due to their duties.

In addition, he felt that the ministers in the court should also know about the disaster of Bao Chao. If they learned about it, they would definitely advise Liu Sheng.

So, he swallowed the words that came to his mouth and just said "yes".

in the afternoon.

Liu Sheng summoned several military ministers and officials above the rank of Langzhong of the Ministry of Finance to the Wenhua Hall for a meeting.

"Gentlemen, please see, this is the coin minted by the steam-powered minting machine developed by the Bureau of Secret Mining."

At Liu Sheng's signal.

Several eunuchs came to the palace carrying trays.

Show Li Changwen and other ministers several coins that Liu Sheng brought back from the Secret Making Bureau.

This look.

Some officials couldn't help but admire in a low voice:

“It’s so exquisite.”

"Let's not talk about gold coins and silver coins. Although this copper coin is simple in design, it is also exquisite. It is really rare."

"However, it is not a good thing that copper coins are made so well."

This was a small meeting, not many ministers came, and it was all finished quickly.

Immediately, Ni Sihui, the left minister of the Ministry of Finance, gave his advice.

"Your Majesty, there has always been a phenomenon of bad coins driving out good coins in the coin industry. The Song and Ming dynasties have learned from this."

"This copper coin is too delicately minted, not to mention the high cost and reduction of the profits the court can make from it."

"Even if it is released to the public, I am afraid it will be collected by others and decrease rapidly."

"There will even be people who are greedy for profit and will collect new money and melt it to mint low-quality private coins and make huge profits."

Ni Sihui stopped here.

He felt that the truth was explained very clearly, and Liu Sheng should be able to understand it.

Liu Sheng said: "I have long known the phenomenon that Ni Qing mentioned that bad coins drive out good coins. But does it mean that just because of this phenomenon, the imperial court has to make low-quality coins?"

"In the late Ming Dynasty, the government and the private sector competed to mint bad coins. As a result, bad coins became popular on the market."

"Not only did the people suffer a loss, but in the end, the credibility of the copper coins collapsed and almost no one used them."

Ni Sihui said: "Your Majesty clearly knows that I am not suggesting that the court mint bad coins, but I feel that there should be a balance between good and bad coins."

Liu Sheng smiled and asked, "Does Ni Qing know why bad money drives out good money?"

Ni Sihui was already a capable minister in Qianming, otherwise he would not have been appointed by Liu Sheng.

Having been in Lei for more than two years, he knew that Liu Sheng attached great importance to the "professional ability" of officials.

Therefore, after serving as the left minister of the Ministry of Finance, he worked hard to understand financial affairs.

Currency is an important matter of finance. Although he does not understand it deeply, he has done some research and will not be unable to answer the question.

Hearing this, he said: "The actual value of bad coins is low, while the actual value of good coins is high."

“Therefore, if people get good coins, they will hide them; if they get bad coins, they will use them as soon as possible.”

"As time goes by, there will be fewer and fewer good coins on the market, and the market will be filled with bad coins!"

There is some truth to what Ni Sihui said.

Liu Sheng nodded first, expecting him to say more.

As a result, Ni Sihui stopped talking here.

This made Liu Sheng look disappointed.

"Have Ni Qing ever thought about why bad coins appear?"

Ni Sihui replied: "Of course there are people who are obsessed with profit - it is difficult for this generation to stop it, so it is difficult to stop bad coins."

"Therefore, if you use good money, you will be driven away by bad money. Please think twice, Your Majesty!"

Ni Sihui spoke sincerely.

Liu Sheng was unmoved.

He said: "As far as I know, although there were unscrupulous folk minting bad coins in the early Ming Dynasty, they were not on a large scale due to the severe crackdowns by local governments, and it was even more difficult to drive away good coins."

"It was only later that the former Ming government took the lead in casting copper coins with worse quality in order to gain profits."

"At the end of Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen years, there was a strange phenomenon that the quality of copper coins minted by the government was worse than private coins."

"As for the local government's efforts to crack down on private coins, it has been reduced again and again due to various reasons until there is nothing they can do about private coins."

"In this case, wouldn't bad coins and private coins become popular?"

Ni Sihui was stunned for a moment when he heard this. He didn't expect that Liu Sheng knew more about the past minting of coins in the former Ming Dynasty than he did.

Other officials were also surprised.

Liu Sheng continued: "In addition, there was a money shortage in both the Song and Yuan Dynasties and the early and mid-Ming dynasties."

"Even if there is a lack of enough copper coins, this is why private coins are given the opportunity to enter the market."

"That's why I asked the Secret Mining Bureau to develop a steam coin minting machine - its production capacity is more than ten times that of the previous Ming Dynasty, and the minted coins are extremely difficult for the private sector to imitate."

"It is even more obviously different from the private coins and bad coins of the previous Ming Dynasty, and it is easy to distinguish them."

"In addition, although this copper coin looks exquisite and has a rich copper color, the actual copper material used is only 60%."

"The imperial court used steam coinage to mint large quantities of coins. The cost was very low and the profits were high. It was not afraid of competing with private coins."

"As the left minister of the Ministry of Finance, Ni Qing rushed to deny the new money without fully understanding these things. Isn't it a bit arbitrary?"

Ni Sihui's face turned red with embarrassment. He couldn't help but knelt down in the middle of the hall and said, "I have neglected my duty. Please plead guilty to your Majesty."

"Get up, I don't like to kneel down." Liu Sheng slowed down his tone, "Ni Qing is not in charge of the affairs of the Currency Department in the Ministry of Finance, so it is not a dereliction of duty if he has a poor understanding. However, in the future, don't do it before you understand the facts clearly. It’s finalized.”

"Please keep this in mind."

But Ni Sihui is very stubborn, or in other words, he really cares about Damei.

After being "forgiven" by Liu Sheng, he raised another question.

"Your Majesty, there is no problem with new money, but now the market is full of bad money. We must find a way to solve it so that new money can circulate smoothly."

Liu Sheng said, "I have convened a meeting with you all today to discuss a solution."