My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Everyone looked in the direction of the coughing sound and saw Chang An, who was sitting in front of Song Jing, wiping his mouth.

Censor Zhang frowned slightly and asked, "Is Mr. Chang feeling unwell?"

"Thank you for your concern, Censor Zhang. There is nothing wrong with my body. I just feel a little uncomfortable after listening to Censor Zhang's methods." Chang An smiled slightly and said to Censor Zhang.

Censor Zhang frowned even deeper. He could tell that Chang An had something else in mind, but he couldn't get angry for Song Jing's sake.

"Yonghe, don't be rude." Song Jing also reprimanded Chang An at the right time.

Chang An raised his hand and saluted towards Song Jing and Zhang Yushi, and said, "It was the student who offended."

"But," he then changed the subject and said, "In my opinion, both Censor Zhang's method and Minister Zhou's method are ineffective."

"Oh?" Censor Deng spoke up, "Does Mr. Chang have any advice?"

Chang An ignored his sarcasm and said slowly: "I don't deserve your advice, it's just a trivial suggestion:"

Song Jing looked at his student in surprise. Su Ying beside him also said, "You are also a member of this discussion, so you can naturally tell us your opinion."

"Okay, but students need to ask a few questions first--" Chang An stood up and walked to the middle of the main hall, "What is bad money? How does bad money circulate? And why does bad money come into being?"

"Bad money is the currency of the previous dynasty, as well as the inferior coins minted privately by the people. In addition, now that low-level officials and ordinary people have a hard life, more people are willing to use cheap privately minted bad money, so it circulates and is produced in this way." A Huang Chengling explained.

"I also know that the official coins and private coins are exchanged at a ratio of five to one, and they want to buy the bad coins." Chang An continued, "But those who use bad coins are all poor people at the bottom of society. Why are they unwilling to exchange? Because five bad coins are only one official coin, how can ordinary people afford official coins?"

Chang An's words seemed to hit the point, and everyone present, including Song Jing, pondered for a while.

"Although the official coins are more formal and more valuable than the bad coins, the most important point is ignored - the people at the bottom of society are not taken into consideration." Chang An said, "Why are the people unwilling to change their money? It's because they can't afford it and dare not change it."

"Moreover, the various reforms of our ancestors all contained some personal ideas, and they were quite conservative and could not hit the nail on the head. Therefore, the problem of bad money in our Tang Dynasty will continue to accumulate."

"For such deep-rooted problems, the best approach is to eliminate them directly and eradicate them at their roots."

"Then Yonghe, what else do you have in mind?" Song Jing couldn't help but ask.

"There is a way, but this method will hurt a lot of people and easily cause resentment. Regardless of success or failure, it will have a significant impact." Chang An said.

"That's what you say."

"Then the student said that his method is divided into four steps:" Chang An looked at the officials present and said, "The first step is to reform the way of minting coins."

The officials present looked at each other in confusion. Chang An continued, "The reform of the method does not mean allowing private coinage, but adding an extra mark when the government mints coins."

"Add marks? What kind of method is this?" Censor Zhang couldn't help but laugh.

"As for the mark, everyone can see it - that is to add the time of minting on the coin, and add the word of the year." Chang An glanced at Zhang Yushi, "After the obvious mark is done, add some hidden marks. Choose one of the two words Tongbao, add some subtle lines or knock a shallow dot."

"This is how we distinguish official money from bad money, and the second step is to exchange the money." Chang An continued to explain the second step: "Why didn't anyone come to exchange money before? Because the people felt it was not worth it. If you want them to exchange, you have to make them feel it is worth it first."

"Why was it not worth exchanging money before? It was because of the five-for-one exchange policy that made people unwilling to exchange money. If people were unwilling, the people would not be on the side of the country, and no matter how much we banned it, it would be useless."

"The reason why this method is so resentful is because of this second step. It is better to exchange one for one. If the people think it is worth it, they will naturally come to exchange money."

This is the modern method of replacing counterfeit or bad banknotes. Chang An changed the terminology and still uses it today.

"However, this will damage our dynasty's income and cause losses to the national treasury." Zhou Chengling spoke.

"Then let me ask Zhou Chengling, is it better to suffer a loss or have no effect at all?" Chang An looked at Zhou Chengling, "Although this method will cause a certain degree of loss to the national treasury, Zhou Chengling, have you forgotten that this money exchange is actually the recycling of bad money in essence."

"Privately minted coins are made of iron, while the coins of the previous dynasty were made of copper. Can't the copper and iron make up for some of the damage?" Chang An said, "The copper coins of the previous dynasty were melted down and re-minted, and iron also has its own uses. How can it be said that it harms our dynasty?"

"Although this is inappropriate, our goal is to deal with bad money, not to consider whether the treasury is losing money. The treasury can make up for the loss, but the bad money issue should be eliminated."

Chang An's words completely shut Zhou Chengling up. Being scolded by a junior, he didn't have the face to continue mocking.

"Yonghe, what about the third step?" Song Jing asked anxiously.

"The third step requires borrowing the means of certain people," Chang An said.

"who?"

"Cruel officials!" Chang An emphasized these two words. "The third step is to thoroughly investigate the private minting. Private minting is against the laws of the Tang Dynasty. Without the protection of local officials, who would dare to mint private coins?"

"To put it another way, these local officials are most likely the umbrellas for those who minted coins privately. If we want to thoroughly investigate private minting, we must tear off their umbrellas. Not only should we investigate the officials, but we should also punish those who were accomplices or those who provided convenience."

"Not only that, we also need to root out those who minted coins. According to the amount of coins minted, they will be severely punished. How can they remember it deeply without suffering physical pain? We must deeply engrave the horrific consequences of such coin minting into their hearts and flesh, so that they dare not even think about it."

As Chang An spoke, Song Jing's expression kept changing and becoming clearer.

"And we will not just check once, but once every one or two years. We will deal with as many people as we find out. We must not be lenient. We must stop those who can mint coins, stop those who dare to mint coins, and stop those who want to mint coins from wanting to mint them."

Everyone present couldn't help but swallow their saliva. This was a thundering move.

"Since there are large quantities of counterfeit coins, more copper will be used to mint them. The output of copper may not be able to keep up, so we need to issue coins with the same value and function as copper coins," said Chang An.

At this time, Song Jing also nodded and asked, "Then the fourth step is to make a substitute for copper coins?"

"It can't be said to be a substitute, but an equivalent." Chang An shook his head and corrected: "The fourth step is to make items with the same functions as copper coins, and these items must be affordable for ordinary people."

"Why not use paper to make currency? Print the denomination on the paper and use it like copper coins. If you don't want to use paper money, you can exchange it for copper coins."

"In addition, paper money must be marked like copper coins, with the year printed on it and the place where the money was made marked on it. The more complex the workmanship, the better, and it must be replaced regularly, and each paper money must be numbered and recorded in a register."

"Of course, the first three steps need to be executed immediately, but the fourth step can be done more slowly."

After hearing Chang An's method, everyone present fell silent and began to calculate the success rate of this matter.

These methods are modern practices to combat money laundering and counterfeit money. Now Chang An has taken them over and slightly changed the wording to come up with this method.

"This method is very clever," Su Yan also laughed, "We have only tried each of your methods individually, but we have never thought of integrating them and implementing them together."

"It seems that Yonghe's method is the best." Song Jing also said with a smile.

"But this method will cause resentment from others and may even involve and harm the interests of certain officials. If you want to implement it, you need to be mentally prepared." Chang An looked at Song Jing and said worriedly.

"It doesn't matter. This kind of thing should be done by people like us. Things that benefit the world must be done!" Song Jing stood up. "I am already half buried in the ground. I am not afraid of losing my head."

Everyone stood up and bowed to Song Jing and Su Ying.

Afterwards, Censor Zhang and Minister Zhou also bowed to Chang An, and Censor Zhang said apologetically:

"I never thought that Master Chang, who is still a young man, could have such talent. I was too presumptuous before."

Chang An quickly extended his hand in return, saying, "As Censor Zhang has said, I am still young and energetic. Censor Zhang doesn't know me well, so how can you be so presumptuous?"

Censor Zhang and Minister Zhou also smiled. The young man in front of them was not only talented but also modest. They couldn't help but feel pleased with Chang An.

"I thought we would need to study this for half a day, but I didn't expect it to be this way." Song Jing twisted his beard and said, "I wanted you to learn from me, but I didn't expect it would be us old guys who wanted to learn."

Chang An also bowed in return and said modestly: "Sir, you are too kind. I just made some suggestions."

"Okay, okay, I know you, Chang Yonghe, are a humble person," Song Jing patted his shoulder jokingly and said to the officials, "Since you are here today, just drink some tea and have some snacks."

The officials also sat back in their seats, eating snacks and drinking tea while chatting with the people around them. When Chang An heard the word snack, he was stunned for a moment, then returned to his seat and picked up the candy that Gu Li had wrapped for him. Then he came to Song Jing and said, "Sir, this is the snack candy that my wife asked me to bring you."

"Oh?" Song Jing took the candy from Chang An curiously, and after opening it, he asked in confusion, "Is this candy or a snack?"

"This is a snack candy, which can be considered a combination of candy and snack." Chang An knew that he couldn't explain it clearly at the moment, so he could only explain it this way.

"Where is this food produced? It looks a bit novel."

"This...this is not from any store. It was made by the students themselves." Chang An scratched his head embarrassedly.

"I see."

Song Jing picked up a piece of butter candy, put it in his mouth, and nodded with satisfaction. Then he handed it to Su Ke who was standing beside him, and Su Ke naturally took one without hesitation.

Chang An calculated the time and it seemed to be early, so he returned to his original seat. At this time, an official sat down next to Chang An and called out, "Mr. Chang."

"Minister Huang."

"People outside say that you, Chang Yonghe, are talented and versatile. Today, you proposed a good solution to the problem of dealing with bad money. I think you have great talent."

"Minister Huang, thank you for your praise."

"I heard that you are married to a merchant's daughter. Is that true?"

"That's right." Chang An didn't know what he wanted to say.

"I have a little daughter at home who has just come of age. I wonder if Mr. Chang is interested in marrying her?"

Chang An raised his eyebrows, and immediately understood, and said: "Thank you for your kindness, Minister Huang, I have no intention of taking a concubine."

"How can this be called taking a concubine?" Huang Shilang said quickly, "I wonder if Mr. Chang's current wife is pregnant?"

Chang An shook his head and replied, "My wife is ill and will not be able to offer incense in the short term."

"That's it," Huang Shilang smiled and said, "Why don't you divorce your current wife and marry my daughter?"

Chang An's face suddenly turned cold. He naturally knew why the Minister of the Central Secretariat was willing to establish a relationship with him. If the Emperor heard what he said today, he would definitely not run away if he was rewarded for his merits. Moreover, he was very likely to pass the imperial examination, so the Minister Huang naturally wanted to establish a relationship with him in advance.

"Thank you very much for your kindness, Minister Huang. Let's forget about this matter."

Chang An's face turned cold. He wanted to sit for a while and rest, but when he heard this, he felt inexplicably unhappy. So he stood up, saluted the officials first, and then saluted Song Jing, saying:

"Sir, I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, without waiting for Song Jing to nod, he just turned around and left in front of everyone.

"Minister Huang, you've gone too far." Song Jing glanced at Minister Huang below and said, "My student Chang An is a man who dotes on his wife. Don't say such things to him again in the future."

"He will not marry again."