Chapter 52: The New Currency System

After listening to He Xin’s report, Lin Baiguang nodded for him to leave. He made a mark in his deerskin notebook with a pencil.

From Hong Kong to Guangzhou, all the Ming army checkpoints and garrisons along the waterway had mostly reached an agreement with them to “surrender.” Even the officers who were unwilling to openly join the Australians had expressed that they would never stand in the way of the Senate and “bring about their own destruction.”

On the eve of the storm, betrayal had become a common practice. The Guangzhou campaign a few years ago had broken the backbone of the Guangdong official army—making the officers and soldiers in this area “turn pale at the mention of the short-hairs.”

Whether they believed the Australians had the ability to “contend for the world” or not, it was a fact that few were willing to be loyal to the Ming in the face of the Australians’ “strong ships and powerful cannons.”

The more vested interests one had in the court, the less willing they were to be loyal to the court in a crisis. Lin Baiguang had the deepest impression of this in his work among the enemy. These people possessed too much wealth, and when faced with a crisis, they would try their best to avoid damage to their personal and property safety. The Guanning Army, which the Ming court had raised by scraping the marrow from the bones of the people, had generals who were so fat that they had completely lost the courage to fight for the court.

Although the Ming army in Guangdong was not the Guanning Army, the situation of the army was no different. The officers, according to their rank and power, preyed on the fat, embezzled military pay, and exploited the soldiers. Besides supporting their own personal retainers and family servants, they were completely indifferent to the life and death of their subordinates. The army was corrupt and decadent to the extreme. Once the Fubo Army launched an attack, it would be a devastating blow.

However, Lin Baiguang and the Yuanlao who were about to take over Guangdong were also very clear that although the official army was corrupt and decadent, it was, after all, a local power that had been operating for many years. Many of the camp soldiers were from the local garrisons, born and raised there. They had deep feelings for their hometown, and in the face of a strong enemy, it was hard to guarantee that they would not resolutely “defend the country” for the purpose of “protecting their homes.” During the First Opium War, the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army were already corrupt and could not withstand the attack of the British army. Only when the British army attacked Zhenjiang did the local garrison of the Eight Banners fight to the death to defend it.

It was not difficult to destroy the enemy army, but under the flames of war, life and property would be greatly damaged. Secondly, the defeated soldiers would scatter into the countryside and immediately become bandits, causing secondary damage to the villages and increasing the social security tasks of the Senate after taking over the government.

Therefore, the general principle of the policy formulated by the Military Control Commission towards the Guangdong official army was to adopt a “peaceful” model as much as possible, striving for their original establishment to “surrender,” and then gradually reorganizing and absorbing them. At the very least, they could be transported to Hainan Island to supplement the labor brigades.

“In striving for their surrender and acceptance of reorganization, it is best if they are sincere. It doesn’t matter if they are half-hearted,” Wen Desi summarized at the meeting of the Military Control Commission Yuanlao. “As long as they can accept peaceful reorganization, whether they are willing to stay or run away, we can let them be. As for using a little money to buy them over, that’s no problem—buying a few centurions and chiliarchs is much cheaper than the military expenses and soldiers’ pensions consumed in a war. As long as the army accepts reorganization, the rest is not up to them.”

Under this general principle, Lin Baiguang commanded the intelligence network to be very active, basically clearing the way for the Fubo Army to enter Guangzhou. He was not worried that the officials would go back on their word. He had arranged for secret agents at key nodes. If the officials went back on their word, someone would naturally come out to incite the soldiers. The soldiers, who had been owed pay for years and oppressed by their superiors, were already full of resentment and could easily be provoked into a “mutiny.”

It was not difficult to enter Guangzhou, and it would not even take much effort to occupy the whole of Guangdong. The resistance of the Ming army could be directly treated as air. But Guangdong had long been known for its “prevalence of armed struggle.” The new Guangdong Special Administrative Region government would face a very complex situation of security warfare.

Historically, the reason why armed struggle was so prevalent in Guangdong was inseparable from the strong economic power and mobilization ability of the clan landlords who lived in clustered communities, especially in the Chaoshan area in the east. Not only was the clan power stronger, but the social atmosphere was also more aggressive and combative. Every time Guangdong encountered a war, the Chaozhou militia was always the first local armed force to be mobilized. It had become a common trick for the government of all dynasties to use the Chaoshan people to balance the Guangzhou people and divide and rule.

From this point of view, the real enemy that the Fubo Army had to deal with was not the Ming officials and soldiers, but the local militias controlled by the various local gentry scattered in the countryside.

Lin Baiguang had never been an official in Guangdong, but during his exchange studies, he had heard a lot about this from the local officials in Guangdong. Many villages had reached a point where the government’s administrative power could not be enforced without mobilizing the armed police. This was in the 21st century when the government’s control was unprecedented. Going back to the 17th century, when the government’s power did not extend to the countryside, the rural areas were basically countless independent small kingdoms. Without the support of the Fubo Army’s bayonets, the local gentry would not have bought into the laws.

“This is not an easy task,” Lin Baiguang silently looked at his notebook. Simple and brutal mass killings, with heads rolling, would naturally be the easiest and most effective method, but killing too many people would have many after-effects. If not handled properly, they could get bogged down in the quagmire of security warfare, especially when they were short of troops and cadres…

The work meeting proposed to “be both lenient and strict.” It was easy to say, but difficult to do.

“Chief, this is the clean proof of the proclamation,” his secretary walked over and handed him a large scroll of paper. He unrolled the scroll. On it was the Proclamation Against the Zhu Ming, printed in beautiful Song typeface. On the slightly yellowed white paper, the black characters were clear and very beautiful.

This proclamation, which symbolized a declaration of war, was carefully crafted by several Yuanlao who were proficient in classical Chinese from the Great Library. They had originally wanted to ask the Jinshi scholar, Liu Dalin, to “correct” it, but later considered not to provoke him. If this benchmark figure they had worked so hard to establish committed suicide out of a moment of despair, all their previous efforts would be in vain.

“Has the manuscript been proofread?” he asked.

“It has been proofread three times.”

“Print five hundred copies first,” Lin Baiguang instructed, signing the “printing permit.”

“Yes, Chief.”

This was the main station of the Guangzhou intelligence station. The intelligence station was now located in the Guangzhou Grand World. Lin Baiguang and his men worked around the clock here, directing the secret activities of the entire Guangdong province. The current focus was on preparing to take over Guangzhou.

A few months ago, a secret printing factory was set up here. Various printing plates were transported from Lingao and began to print various documents, forms, leaflets, booklets, notices, and certificates needed by the various levels of the military control commission. In the warehouse, “occupation-use” printed materials were piled up like mountains. Even the new banknotes to be issued, the “Silver Yuan Reserve Notes,” had been transported in dozens of boxes. According to the plan, after the occupation of the Pearl River Delta was completed, the new monetary system would be fully implemented.

Prior to this, Delong had already begun to gradually withdraw the grain circulation coupons from the Guangdong market. Of course, this kind of paper money was not widely circulated in the market itself. It was mainly used in small quantities in Guangzhou, and the users were mainly the few enterprises under the Zi Ji brand, so the withdrawal work was not difficult.

Economic work was the primary task after the takeover. The quality of public security was closely related to the economic environment, and the issuance of new currency and the promotion of a new currency system were the primary tasks of the Senate regime after taking over Guangdong.

In the past, the Senate only ruled Hainan Island. The circle of currency circulation was very small, and the circulation of goods was under strict control. The relationship between the circulation coupons and silver was a controlled compulsory exchange system. After silver was imported, it had to be exchanged for circulation coupons to be circulated in the market, and the circulation coupons did not have the ability to make foreign payments. The profits of foreign merchants in Hainan were either consumed by purchasing local goods or re-exchanged for silver.

Once they occupied Guangdong, they would occupy the second largest commodity market in 17th-century China. Both the total amount and the scope of commodity circulation would far exceed that of Hainan. Continuing to use the grain circulation coupon system could no longer meet the economic needs. The use of a new monetary system was officially put on the agenda.

The new monetary system adopted the silver standard. This was a decision made after comprehensively considering the usage habits, acceptance, and commodity circulation needs of the local natives. Silver was a precious metal widely recognized by the natives, unlike paper money, which required a lot of time and energy for promotion and publicity. The stock of silver itself was large, and the currency material was abundant. With the metallurgical and mechanical processing level of the Senate, they could easily manufacture silver coins with a low silver content but an exquisite appearance that looked “genuine.” Just by collecting the weighed silver on the market and re-minting it, the seigniorage income obtained would be very considerable.

The financial and economic department proposed that the benefits of promoting silver coins were not limited to this. Through the issuance of silver coins, they could also issue token coins, that is, the so-called “Silver Yuan Reserve Notes.” With physical silver yuan as endorsement, paper money would be more easily accepted, preparing for the future transition to a completely credit-based currency and the full circulation of paper money.

In Lingao, a few hundred kilometers away from Guangzhou, a tense technical meeting was being held. Although most of the attendees were Yuanlao from the machinery processing and metallurgical fields, there were also a few Yuanlao from the financial and economic department who were speaking with great passion.

The meeting they were holding was discussing the issue of the new currency, which had been delayed for a long time.

In Lingao, the only consensus reached in the discussion on currency was that a new currency system must be adopted to replace the current grain circulation coupons. In addition, there had been extensive debates on whether to adopt a precious metal standard and the material of the coinage. They were roughly divided into three factions: one advocated adopting the silver standard and issuing silver coins; one resolutely demanded the abolition of coinage and the adoption of a pure paper money credit currency circulation system; the last faction advocated using base metals to issue coinage—the so-called “mithril faction.” However, this faction had currently declined because the metallurgical department could not produce stainless steel and industrially smelted aluminum.