Chapter 406: The Battle of Baochao

Before dawn, thousands of fully armed soldiers suddenly appeared on the streets of Pingkangfang. They blocked the gates, patrolled the streets, and checked passers-by, scaring many clients who wanted to sneak home before dawn back to the brothel. The entire Pingkangfang was filled with a tense atmosphere.

Cui Lianxing, dressed in military uniform, led hundreds of elite soldiers forward quickly, and a land guard in Pingkangfang led them to a deep alley.

"General, the Turkic merchants you mentioned who bought silk are here." Di Bao pointed to the deep alley with some timidity.

Cui Lianxing waved his hand, and a team of soldiers holding steel crossbows immediately climbed over the wall and sneaked quickly along the wall. He stopped when he was ten steps away from the courtyard.

More than 200 other soldiers were holding giant shields and crossing their swords, and walked slowly forward. They walked to the gate and stopped, waiting for the next order. Cui Lianxing looked at the dead gate, and he felt a vague premonition in his heart.

He checked the three-storey cabinet shop in the East City last night and finally found the same kind of gold ingots. He found that this was a storehouse in a Shu brocade silk and satin shop. He then found the shopkeeper of the silk and satin shop and learned that it was paid by a Turkic caravan. The owner was a young Turkic woman. He returned to the East City again and found the official of the Municipal Administration Office. Finally, he found the caravan from the tax payment registration book of the Municipal Administration. It was already four o'clock. With the gold medal given to him by Zhang Huan, he finally got the support of the army.

"Go!" Cui Lianxing gave the final order.

With a loud bang, the soldiers kicked the door open, and hundreds of soldiers rushed into Tulan's yard. The yard was filled with boxes of large and large, mostly open, and they were all filled with the Shu brocade and Wu Ling he bought. The scene was messy and the house was empty.

Cui Lianxing strode into the courtyard, and a trace of regret flashed in his quiet eyes. Unfortunately, he was still a step slower. He carefully searched for clues in the courtyard inside the house, but in the end he still found nothing. The other party was an extremely cunning enemy. There was no clue to what he had discarded, and the things that might have left behind were not taken away.

Cui Lianxing pondered for a moment, and suddenly ordered his subordinates: "Go and find the painter immediately, and the pictures and shadows will be arrested in the whole city. Those who provide clues will be rewarded with 5,000 stakes, and those who hide will be punished for treason!"

Chang'an City immediately became excited, and teams of soldiers patrolled the streets, ready to receive clues and search at any time, while the Turkic people in the city were in danger. Their landlords and neighbors reported them one after another, and soldiers rushed into major inns and restaurants to search, and the entire Chang'an City fell into chaos.

The Zichen Hall of the Daming Palace was also serious and nervous. Here, the first court discussion after Zhang Huan ascended the throne was held. The court discussion was a way to deal with the stalemate of power. When Zhang Huan had objections to the major decision of the prime minister, he would not give a red order. Without the emperor's criticism, the prime minister could not decide major events without authorization. In this case, everyone needed to sit down and talk to the other side to make the matter clear.

Today's court discussion is the issue of issuing paper money. It should be said that this is something that Zhang Huan has considered for a long time. The currency of the Tang Dynasty was copper coins and silk. The former was too heavy and it was inconvenient to carry, while the latter was even more difficult to preserve and had poor circulation. As early as in Longyou, merchants kept suggesting that Zhang Huan use gold and silver coins to supplement copper coins. Although the plan was good, it was not adopted because the output of gold and silver was too small.

Shortly after he ascended the throne, the Salt and Iron Supervision Order Yang Yan proposed a major tax reform plan to him, changing the tax payment of Ding households to pay taxes based on land and property, and implementing monetary taxation. Changing tax payment based on land and acres can effectively check and balance land annexation, but because of the great impact, Zhang Huan believed that the time for implementation was not yet ripe before the throne was firmly settled.

The resistance to implementing monetary taxation is much smaller. The most direct advantage is that it greatly increases tax revenue without increasing the burden on the people. Simply put, it can greatly reduce grain mold and loss during transportation, and avoid favoritism and fraud in the process of physical taxation. For example, a place collects a tax of 100 stones of grain, but in the end, only thirty or forty stones are left to the capital. Of course, there are many types of food reduction, such as road loss, storage mold, etc., which are very glossy, but in fact it has a large number of local officials at all levels.

However, there is a problem with the implementation of monetary taxation, which is the insufficient copper coins. Due to the restrictions on copper materials, the annual amount of coins in the Tang Dynasty was about 2.5 million jin. Ten years ago, it was barely enough to circulate. However, with the rise in prices, especially the rise in rice prices, the money was not enough to buy three dou of rice. In severe cases, the rice was a thousand dollars, and the copper coins were obviously deviating from their value. In this way, many merchants and wealthy families store copper coins in large quantities, making the copper coins on the market less and less, and many places returned to the original state of bartering. In this case, if taxes are implemented in currency, the serious situation of expensive and cheap money will inevitably arise, which will greatly harm the interests of farmers. Therefore, the currency problem has become a bottleneck for all reforms, and finding new currencies has become an urgent task.

This is the deep reason why Zhang Huan was eager to promote banknotes. He believed that it was not complicated. In fact, it was to reduce the amount of flying tickets and change the name to Baochao. For this reason, he accumulated a large amount of gold and silver as credit mortgage for issuing Baochao. However, he did not expect that Zhang Yanshang's suggestion to issue Baochao was flatly rejected by the prime ministers. How could Zhang Huan feel balanced?

Except for the Minister of War Yuan Zai who participated in the court, who had not returned to handle the matters of the Khitans in Hebei, the other six prime ministers attended the court. In addition, there were more than a dozen people, including the heads of the ministry and temples related to finance and taxation, Liu Yan, the new Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Yanshang, the Minister of the Taifu Temple, Guo Quan, the Order of the Shaofu Supervisor, Yang Yan, the Order of the Salt and Iron Supervisor, Pei Mingyuan, and more.

"Dear friends, the reason why I held this court meeting was because of a memorial by Zhang Yanshang, the Minister of Taifu Temple, two days ago. Regarding the issuance of paper money, this memorial has been denied by the Prime Minister of Han. The reason is that the system is inconsistent, but I think the reason for this denial is rash? I dare not agree. This matter is of great importance, so I summoned this court discussion to revisit this matter."

After saying that, Zhang Huan took out Zhang Yanshang's memorial and handed it to the eunuch beside him. The eunuch returned it to the prime minister. Please pass it on and browse it. In fact, Zhang Huan had already told the ministers attending the meeting yesterday. Everyone knew it. The court discussion was held in the side hall. The place was not big. Everyone sat in two rows. The first person sitting in the right head was Han Huan. He was the first ruling writer after the reform of the general system. From his original intention, he strongly supported the development of industry and commerce, and it was also Yang Yan's tax system reform.

The main supporter of the Gre, but he firmly opposed the issuance of paper money. He believed that this was a devil who harmed his descendants. Once the gate was opened in his hands, it might have laid the root of the demise of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, he firmly denied Zhang Yanshang's suggestion, but he also knew that this was actually the emperor's intention, so he only criticized the system in the memorials, but he did not expect that this would become the handle for the emperor to hold on. He knew very well that the purpose of opening the court today, which might become the first conflict between the king and the prime minister.

Han Huan took a deep breath and stood up step by step. Zhang Huan bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty, it is the minister who denies the memorial of Zhang, but I am definitely not rash. In fact, before writing this memorial, Zhang had asked me why His Majesty wanted to save gold and silver. I told him that this was the emperor's idea of ​​issuing paper money, and I also told him the various disadvantages of issuing paper money. He expressed his willingness to oppose His Majesty's idea of ​​banknotes with me, but I did not expect that just two days later, he wrote a letter to request the issuing paper money. This was completely different from me, which really puzzled me."

Han Huan's words caused an uproar. His meaning was obvious. Zhang Yanshang's memorial was to please the holy intention, and the real culprit of issuing the banknotes was the emperor himself. Although this could seize the initiative to prevent the court's approval from today's court discussion, Han Huan would also anger the emperor. Everyone couldn't help but feel worried about him.

Sure enough, Zhang Huan's face suddenly became gloomy. He didn't want to come forward for this matter. Yesterday, he sent eunuchs to hint that Zhang Yanshang would be the one who would take charge of the matter today, but Han Huan saw through his intentions and took off the firewood from the pot as soon as he came up, disrupting his deployment.

"Then let's talk about what are the disadvantages here?" Zhang Huan said coldly.

"Your Majesty, I will first ask the simplest truth. If the imperial court issues paper money, how can your Majesty prevent the appearance of fake paper money?"

"If anyone dares to make a fake banknote, he will kill all his family. Those who participate in the printing of fake banknotes will also be punished by death. I will use the most serious law to deter counterfeiters."

Han Huan shook his head and said, "Severe punishment may be effective, but it can only intimidate the common people. If it is a big food, the Uighurs and other countries printed banknotes from the Tang Dynasty to buy porcelain, silk, etc.? They even bought nothing at all. His Majesty issued 10 million guan, and they also issued 20 million guan to our Tang Dynasty. How can His Majesty deal with this situation at that time?"

"Then I will order the supervisor to develop new printing methods so that other countries cannot imitate them."

"Your Majesty, don't you hear that the Tao is one foot taller and the devil is one foot taller?"

Seeing Zhang Huan's willful deeds, Han Huan couldn't help but sigh: "I am not only worried about printing paper money, but also about the people not accepting it. After all, there is an adaptation process for the emergence and promotion of new things. The court can also use coercive means to promote paper money. As Your Majesty said, inventing new technologies to prevent fake paper money, I am not worried about this, but about the future. Once Your Majesty sets this precedent, how can I control it in the future?"

Zhang Yanshang was originally asked to come out to fight, but was forced to go barely by Han Huan. Zhang Huan, who lost face, was extremely annoyed. Under Han Huan's step-by-step pressing, he forced himself to get angry several times. He waved his hand and said impatiently: "Don't I know the risk of issuing paper money? What do I do to store a large amount of gold and silver? Isn't it just to use gold and silver reserves as a guarantee? If I can't issue paper money, why can the flying ticket be used again?"

Zhang Huan's voice rose step by step. He finally stared at Han Huan and said, "Secretary Han, it has been a month since I ascended the throne. I fully respect the opinions of the prime ministers. But since you know that is my idea of ​​issuing paper money, why can't you respect me once?"

Han Huan hardened his neck and said without giving in: "I am against printing paper money for the sake of the people of the world. It has nothing to do with respecting Your Majesty or not. Your Majesty may be able to consider using gold and silver as a guarantee. But if your Majesty's descendants do not issue paper money in a thousand years, resulting in the overflow of paper money and causing endless harm, can Your Majesty be responsible for setting this precedent today?"

"Are you saying that my idea of ​​issuing banknotes is irresponsible?" Zhang Huan stared at Han Huan in a sequel, and a murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

"Yes! That's what I mean." Han Huan raised his head without fear, with a strong heart.

The Zichen Hall was silent, and the atmosphere was extremely tense. Everyone was watching Zhang Huan, fearing that he would kill Han Huan with a slap in the imperial case. Zhang Huan's eyes also changed drastically, and it was difficult to get out of the stage. At this time, Lu Qi, the Minister of Rites, sneered in a gloomy voice: "Shangshu Han, it would be fine if you object to Your Majesty for unknown things thousands of years later, but you did not obey the etiquette of the monarch and ministers, and you were brutal in your eyes. Do you still have Your Majesty in your eyes?"

‘Brush!’ All eyes were focused on Lu Qi, surprised, confused, contemptuous, and angry. Lu Qi took the blame at this time and took off the emperor's steps, clearly trying to kill Han Huan.

Han Huan slowly took off the black hat on his head and the purple goldfish bag on his waist, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, I will not agree to the issuance of paper money. If Your Majesty insists on doing it alone, I will resign and let Your Majesty deal with it."

Cui Yu, who was sitting at the lower head, also stood up. He also took off his black hat and purple goldfish bag and said with a high voice: "Even if the Secretariat and His Majesty pass the issuance of paper money, my disciple's disciple's disciple will also reject it. I also resigned from my disciple's minister and returned to my hometown to farm."

At this time, Zhang Huan had slowly calmed down, and Han Huan's toughness finally made him realize that he was a little anxious in this matter. He glanced at Lu Qi, then sighed slightly and said to Han Huan: "This matter may be because I have been wrong. I apologized to you, and Minister Cui, I also disagree with your resignation. Please take it back!"

"Your Majesty!" Han Huan knelt down with great excitement. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to express it. After a while, he choked up and said, "Your Majesty's kindness is engraved in my heart."

"Han Aiqing, don't be polite. You insist on state affairs. How could I really blame you?"

Zhang Huanyi waved his hand in a bleak manner, preparing to end the court discussion. Suddenly, someone at the back of the hall said, "Your Majesty, I have a plan to achieve both goals!"

Everyone in the hall looked back, and saw that there was a person standing up at the last throne, but Pei Mingyuan, the new land and land supervisor. He had the least experienced court officials attending this court discussion, so he could only sit at the end. He slowly walked to the front and bowed to Zhang Huanshen, "Your Majesty, I suggest using silver coins to replace Your Majesty's banknote plan."

As soon as he finished speaking, several people next to him laughed. Han Huan sighed secretly, but smiled at him gratefully and said, "Mingyuan may not know that the reserves and output of my Tang Dynasty silver are really limited, and the quantity is insufficient, so it is difficult to circulate into coins."

But Zhang Huan's eyes lit up. He suddenly remembered something that Pei Mingyuan had told him, and hurriedly said, "Don't rush to draw conclusions for now, listen to Mingyuan's words."

Pei Mingyuan smiled slightly and said to everyone: "When I returned from Dashi, I heard from Cao Hanchen, the governor of Suiye that a few years ago, the Gelulu people discovered a huge silver mine belt in the Wuhu River Basin, close to the Pamir Mountains south of Suiye. However, the Gelulu people could not mine ore. Not only in the Wuhu River Basin, there were also many silver and gold mines near the Suiye River. Governor Cao had begun to order tens of thousands of prisoners of war to mine silver mines on a small scale near Suiye. When I passed by Suiye, the governor Cao had already refined 300,000 taels of silver. It was just a long journey and it was inconvenient to transport it to Chang'an."

Pei Mingyuan's words aroused a great response in the hall. There was insufficient gold and silver in the mainland of the Tang Dynasty, but it did not mean that there was no other place. Especially the west of the Pamir Mountains has been rich in gold since ancient times. There were only a dozen people in the hall, but the discussion was chaotic. Especially the Salt and Iron Supervision made Yang Yan particularly excited. If the currency problem could be solved, then the first step of his tax reform could be implemented. Before he could leave the list to express his support, the more impatient Han Huan had already taken the lead and said to Zhang Huan: "Your Majesty, I ask the Shaofu Supervision to send people to Shuye to investigate the minerals immediately."

"I object!" Lu Qi's sharp voice was like a basin of cold water, which wiped out the enthusiasm in the entire hall. The hall suddenly became quiet, and all his eyes were focused on him.

"Why should Lu Aiqing object to this matter?" Zhang Huan asked expressionlessly. The scene of Lu Qi taking advantage of Han Huan just now made Zhang Huan a little alert. There was also a deep conflict between his important officials.

"I am not against the combination of gold and silver coins. I am against the acquisition of silver from the Western Regions. Not only is the long journey, it takes great manpower and material resources to transport silver from the Western Regions to the Central Plains. Moreover, our Tang Dynasty only has a single enclave of Shuye west of the Pamir Mountains. The rest of the land is actually controlled by the Dashi people. How should we deal with the possible interception of Dashi? Once the conflict occurs, it will inevitably give Dashi a reason to start a war. Now our Tang Dynasty has just moved from chaos to rule, and it is time to hide its strength and keep a low profile. How can we bear the war with Dashi?"

"Why is Lu Shangshu so unscrupulous?"

Pei You, who had been silent, walked out. He glanced at Lu Qi contemptuously and said, "In the past, Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, the world was settled, and everything was in ruins. Emperor Taizong could still fight against the Turks in the north and take Anxi west, so that our Tang Dynasty would no longer be in trouble. Although our Tang Dynasty was in chaos, we could not stop eating and not be enterprising. The west of the Pingling Mountains has always been the territory of our Tang Dynasty. How can we use the excuse of hiding our strength to maintain a low profile and watching the Dashi completely occupy the west of the Pingling Mountains? Moreover, gold and silver are strategic materials for a country, which is related to the prosperity of our Tang Dynasty. For this reason, we cannot guard the mountains of gold and silver without the money to buy rice."

After saying that, Pei You turned around and replied to Zhang Huan: "Your Majesty, I believe that this matter is of great importance and should be upgraded to the strategic height of the entire Tang Dynasty. The status of Sailye should also be improved. At the same time, the additional heavy troops should be sent to garrison."

Zhang Huan nodded, "What Pei Aiqing said is in line with my wishes. Dashi will not let us go just because we keep a low profile. We have to go head-on to the battle we should fight."

Seeing that Lu Qi was still opposed, he waved his hand to stop him. This time, Zhang Huan said in an uncontroversial tone: "This matter is of great importance. Not only will it encounter the problem of territorial ownership west of the Pamir Mountains, but also a series of major events such as garrison, labor, mining, smelting, transportation, etc., which must be considered thoroughly. A respected and capable person needs to fully coordinate the matter."

His eyes swept across everyone one by one, and finally fell on Zhang Potian. He ordered in a deep voice: "Shangshu Zhang of the Ministry of Justice."

Zhang Potian never expected the emperor to take a fancy to him. He felt panic in his heart and quickly stood up and said, "I'm here!"

"I will order you to be fully responsible for coordinating this matter. If this matter can be successful, I will agree to your dear friends and completely give up the banknote plan."

Zhang Potian felt a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and he bowed resolutely and replied: "I will never let down Your Majesty's trust!"

The court discussion ended, and everyone dispersed. Zhang Huan also returned to the imperial study room. He sat in front of the imperial case and stared at a yellow Kaiyuan Tongbao gold coin on the case. This gold coin was minted in the early years of Tianbao. This gold coin can be worth a permanent copper coin. It is only because the gold is scarce and there is no large-scale metering and circulation. If the silver mines in the Western Regions can be mined in large quantities, then the same silver coin can be worth 100 cents. In this way, the bottlenecks restricting the various reforms of the Tang Dynasty will be suddenly completed. The goal that could only be achieved in twenty years may be completed in five or ten years.

Zhang Huan couldn't help but feel excited. He lay down slowly with his head resting on his hands and looked at the roof in a daze. Today's court discussion was about the issuance of paper money, but he didn't expect that he would have an unexpected result. He gave up the paper money and adopted gold and silver as coins, and it was not just a simple move to gold and silver. Taking the Shattered Leaf and the Silver of the Wuhu River meant that the suspended Anxi strategy would be restarted again.
Chapter completed!