Chapter 109: Currency Issuance

At 10 p.m., the lights-out bugle sounded on time outside. The 40-man dormitory was soon filled with the sound of snoring. After all, a full day’s schedule was quite tiring. But Li Ziyu couldn’t sleep. He had always slept alone; how could he have the experience of sharing a room with so many people! The snoring, teeth grinding, and human smells kept him from falling asleep.

He recalled today’s lessons, thinking that his initiative in raising his hand had indeed caught the attention of the true Kun. When Chief Pan said that they could “raise their hands to ask questions” during class, he had been wondering whether he should be the “first under heaven.” He never thought he had bet on the right horse! From Chief Pan’s expression, it seemed he already remembered him.

As long as the true Kun chief remembered him, there would be some benefits in the future.

On the bed next to him, someone was whispering in a voice that was almost inaudible. Li Ziyu listened carefully. It turned out they were talking about wages. This time, it was said that they would be given eight dou of rice for work and food each month, but how much money they would be paid was not mentioned.

Guangzhou was a big city, the provincial capital, and it had always been a place where “living is not easy.” Although the price of one shi of rice fluctuated, it was never less than one tael of silver. A common person in the city would find it difficult to support a family without eleven or twelve taels of silver a year.

An income of eight dou of rice a month was less than one tael of silver. Although it wasn’t low, it wasn’t high either. Because it was only said to be “work and food,” and not how much salary would be paid, everyone had some expectations.

Li Ziyu secretly laughed at his two classmates for being “ignorant.” The yamen runners in the constable’s office, the “official” ones, only got three dou of work and food rice a month, and the unofficial ones got nothing at all. Didn’t they have families to support? Yet they all lived well. Since ancient times, those who ate the public’s rice had never relied on that little bit of salary and rations to live! Besides, the Australians were “most generous to their subordinates.” Even the military pay for the soldiers was much higher than that of the Great Ming. They certainly wouldn’t treat these future claws and teeth of the Senate poorly.

“Come, come, try this. I made it myself, sweet and sour pork ribs!”

In the Senate’s private dining room on the top floor of the Guangzhou Great World, six people were sitting. The speaker was none other than the new mayor of Guangzhou, Liu Xiang. He was serving the director of the policy planning department of the Central Reserve Bank. The two sat opposite each other, as host and guest of honor. To Liu Xiang’s left was Zheng Shangjie, the director of the Guangzhou Commercial and Trade Bureau. Next to Zheng Shangjie was Meng Xian. The other two were the general manager of the Guangzhou Great World, Zhang Yikun.

Speaking of pork, Lin’gao still hadn’t been able to eat it freely. Although the scale of breeding had expanded, the population had also exploded. The protein supply was still mainly fish, chicken, and duck meat and eggs. Large livestock meat like pork and beef was a rarity. Although there was no rationing system, the number of animals slaughtered each day was still limited. Even for the Senate members, if they wanted to buy good quality pork ribs or belly, they had to make arrangements in advance, otherwise it might not be available when they needed it urgently. But in Guangzhou, there was no such restriction. Live pigs were slaughtered on the spot. As long as they passed quarantine and there were no tapeworms or other things, you could eat as much as you wanted. Meng Xian and Zheng Shangjie had been in Guangzhou for a long time and were not particularly impressed. The other three, however, rarely had the chance to eat sweet and sour pork ribs made from the best cartilage-only rib tips. Hearing that Liu Xiang had cooked it himself, they had to give him face, so they each took a piece and ate it.

Liu Xiang never used strong spices when making this dish. He just followed the one-two-three-four ratio: one spoonful of sugar, two spoonfuls of cooking wine, three spoonfuls of vinegar, and four spoonfuls of water. He would bring it to a boil over high heat and then reduce the sauce over low heat. If the meat was still tough, he would steam it again. In the original time and space, he would have used a pressure cooker to make it tender, but although the Lin’gao plane had introduced cast-iron kitchen pressure cookers, which were very popular in the Lin’gao market, Liu Xiang was not very confident in the quality and hadn’t bought one for his home. Besides, the cast-iron pressure cookers produced in Lin’gao were too heavy, weighing over twenty jin, which was really laborious to use.

Everyone praised it as delicious after tasting it. The others each took another piece and ate it. Only Du Mo reached for the other dishes with his chopsticks. A closer look revealed that they were all salty and spicy dishes. It seemed he didn’t like sweet food. Liu Xiang didn’t mind and chatted about other things, and the atmosphere became more and more lively.

As the banquet drew to a close, all six people at the table leaned back in their chairs with their bellies sticking out—they were full. They each drank the beverages they had ordered. Some drank wine, some drank tea. Chen Ce, however, first asked the kitchen and then ordered a drink that was popular among the officials and nobles of the Ming Dynasty to warm the stomach and cut the grease after a meal. It was a time-honored tradition to discuss business at the dinner table, but Liu Xiang, being a big foodie and a carnivore, hated talking about business while eating. If they had to talk business at the table, they could, but only after they had finished eating, like now.

The life secretaries cleared the leftover dishes and plates from the table, replaced the tablecloth, and served their respective drinks.

“Is the plan for the new currency issuance finalized? I’m waiting to implement it,” Liu Xiang knew Chen Ce’s purpose in coming to Guangzhou, and now it was finally time to talk business.

Chen Ce waved his hand and called over his guard, who opened a beautiful small box.

“These are the sample coins of the new currency!”

The box opened, revealing rows of gleaming coins.

At the top was a rectangular silver bar with a trapezoidal cross-section. Except for the top surface, the other sides were polished to a mirror-like shine. The top surface had been treated with some unknown technology and was printed with several rows of large golden characters. The top row read “Central Reserve Bank of the Senate,” the middle row read “Treasury Silver Ingot, Material Weight One Kilogram,” and the bottom was a string of numbers, 875-020-8888-0001. On the two short sides were two vertical rows of the same words: “Circulation Prohibited.”

These numbers must have some meaning, Liu Xiang thought. But if this treasury silver couldn’t be circulated, what was it used for? He didn’t ask in detail and instead looked at the coins below.

Below the silver ingot were three horizontal rows of six round coins of different sizes, embedded in soft-lined slots just like the ingot. Each was placed on a small silk cloth. The silk cloth was also exquisite, with its edges locked with bright yellow silk thread and embroidered with auspicious and artistic patterns radiating from the center. The silver coin pressed in the middle gave it a “golden plate and jade cup” feel. By gently lifting the corner of the cloth, a silver coin could be taken out of the slot and held in the hand for appreciation.

This silver coin was bright and shiny, with a diameter of 35 millimeters. It felt heavy in the hand. When flipped with the thumb for a coin toss, the coin would hum and vibrate in the air.

The obverse had the Song-style characters for “One Yuan,” surrounded by a wheat ear pattern. Below were the small characters “Central Reserve Bank” and the year of issue in Arabic numerals. The reverse had the Arabic numeral “1” and a globe under the light of the morning star. A ribbon encircled the globe with four Latin letters: S.P.Q.M.

The raised edge of the silver dollar was reeded—presumably to prevent “scraping.”

“Tsk, it’s not even a Ma Datou or Wen Datou!” Liu Xiang was filled with the frustration of having no material to complain about.

The row below had noticeably smaller silver coins, with a smaller diameter. The obverse had the face value “Half Yuan,” and the reverse had “50.” The reverse design was the “Holy Ship.”

“Could you be any lazier! Isn’t the Holy Ship design already used on cigarettes! Would it kill you to change the angle!” Liu Xiang frowned and forced himself to swallow his complaints.

Further down was the 20-cent denomination. The design was even more simplified, and the silver content of the coin was slightly lower than the previous two.

Chen Ce watched Liu Xiang’s actions as he “admired” the various coins. Seeing the change in his expression, he immediately smiled and explained, “Actually, besides the different sizes and weights, the silver content of these three types of silver coins is also different. The lower the value, the lower the silver content.”

“What about the fineness of the highest one-yuan coin?”

“87.5% silver content,” Chen Ce said. “The lowest 20-cent coin is 60% silver.”

In terms of silver content alone, they were considered “good currency” in the market, and their acceptance would not be a problem.

Next were the banknotes, mounted in glass-paned wooden frames. There were seven denominations of banknotes. Besides the equivalent banknotes for the three silver coins, there were also 10-cent, 5-cent, 1-cent, and half-cent notes. The notes were printed with “Central Reserve Bank of the Ministry of Finance and Economics, Silver Yuan Reserve Note,” and according to their value, they were printed with words like “Redeemable for One Silver Yuan, Half Yuan, Twenty Cents…” The printing of the banknotes’ base and design was extremely exquisite, even more so than the recently printed grain circulation coupons. In particular, the texture of the paper was very close to that of the banknotes of the old time and space. The intricate and complex patterns of the copperplate engraved base were something that no engraver in this time and space could likely replicate. But since there was no copperplate production and printing technology in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was considered the strongest anti-counterfeiting measure.

“This time, the new currency will be issued simultaneously in all regions to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the different exchange rates between the two places,” Chen Ce said. “The grain circulation coupons in Hainan, Jeju Island, and Taiwan will also be gradually withdrawn and replaced with the new currency. However, in these three places, we will focus on promoting paper currency. Silver coins will only be put into circulation in the recovered areas on the mainland. So, Mayor Liu, you don’t have to worry about the silver coin reserves.”

Liu Xiang played with the coins in his hand for a long time before putting them down and saying, “These coins are too exquisite. I’m afraid if I put them out, I won’t get them back.”

Chen Ce smiled faintly. “I completely understand your concerns, but I’m sure Governor Meng has already told you that our policy is to vigorously promote paper currency. Silver coins are a guarantee for the paper currency. Especially in the early stages of the new currency issuance, the role of silver coins is to calm people’s hearts. But this alone is not enough.”

For paper currency to circulate, it needs the support of the state machinery on the one hand, and sufficient circulating goods to guarantee the value of the currency on the other. Although the new currency was on a “silver standard,” it still needed sufficient goods to back it up. Simply put, the Senate’s silver yuan reserve notes had to be spendable and able to buy things. These things could not be Australian mirrors or Nanyang spices, but items that everyone genuinely needed.