The Stories of Mine in the Ming Dynasty of China in 1368

It was the first time he had met someone like Li Qing, and little did he know that Li Qing was also meeting someone like him for the first time.

Li Qing was extremely frustrated. In the past, when he practiced with his master, the villagers nearby would bring food like steamed buns and rice to exchange for medicine when they came up the mountain. You, the mighty Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, are actually so stingy?

Seeing that Li Qing refused to leave, and not wanting to lose his temper in front of his sick wife, Zhu Yuanzhang sullenly reached into his sleeve.

He fumbled around left and right, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't pull out a single coin, and was left awkwardly in place.

Li Qing didn't expect such a situation either. For a moment, the atmosphere in the hall was extremely awkward.

Li Qing had received strict training. Although it was very funny, he managed to hold it in. Only the corners of his mouth twitched, but he didn't laugh.

Damn it, this guy dares to laugh at us... Zhu Yuanzhang's dark face turned red, a mix of shame and anger.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was about to explode, Li Qing secretly sighed, cupped his hands and said, "Your servant's clothes can still be worn after mending. I humbly take my leave."

"Wait."

I don't even want the money, what else do you want? If you don't let me go, I can't hold back my laughter!

"What does Your Majesty command?"

"It's just that I'm not used to carrying money." Zhu Yuanzhang tried to save face, "If you need money, go to the Crown Prince."

"Um... I understand."

"Hmm?" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, "What's your attitude? You're fucking disrespectful to us!"

Li Qing felt hopeless. This guy was really hard to serve. He quickly kowtowed in fear and then loudly protested his innocence.

"Why are you shouting so loudly? It's so noisy. Don't you know the Empress needs to rest quietly?" Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily, "Get out of here quickly."

"...Your servant takes his leave."

Walking out of the Qianqing Palace, Li Qing let out a long sigh of relief and thought to himself, "Getting along with Old Zhu is even more tiring than using my true qi to play the zither to treat Empress Ma's illness."

Joking aside, I still have to ask for the money!

In the Royal Study, Li Qing tactfully expressed his financial difficulties. Zhu Biao nodded with a smile and said to his personal eunuch, "Go to the Eastern Palace and get five hundred taels of silver."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Li Qing said with restraint, "Actually, I don't need that much."

"Take your time to spend it if you can't finish it." Zhu Biao asked, "How is Mother's condition?"

"Returning to Your Highness, it is developing in a good direction." Li Qing wasn't lying. That was indeed the case at the moment.

"That's very good." Zhu Biao showed a kind smile, "If you're tired, sit down and rest for a while. Don't be overly formal."

The Crown Prince really knows how to handle things... Li Qing thanked him, walked to the side and sat down, secretly restoring his true qi. He decided to take all the five hundred taels of silver.

One tael of silver can be exchanged for one thousand copper coins. Calculated according to the current price, it is roughly equivalent to 600 yuan in later generations.

Five hundred taels of silver is three hundred thousand yuan!

Li Qing was extremely happy. He felt like he had made a fortune.

Two quarters of an hour later, the little eunuch returned, came forward with a wooden tray and said, "Your Highness, the money has been fetched."

"Give it to Mr. Li." Zhu Biao didn't even look up and continued to review the memorials.

Li Qing was astonished. Could such a small wooden tray hold five hundred taels?

Seeing that the little eunuch was carrying it with great ease, Li Qing realized that it should be banknotes. He didn't really care; silver or banknotes were all the same to him. As long as it was money and could be spent, it was fine.

"Thank you for Your Highness's reward." Li Qing expressed his gratitude for the grace. He lifted the yellow silk covering on the wooden tray and was stunned again.

There were indeed banknotes on the wooden tray, but they were different from what he had seen on TV. They were extremely large, almost as big as an A4 paper. And what was printed on it wasn't the words for silver taels, but six big characters: "Great Ming Circulating Treasury Note".

Below the big characters were two squares. In the upper square, it was written "one guan", along with a pattern of ten strings of copper coins. In the lower square were the certificate issued by the Ministry of Revenue, the date, and the seal.

Li Qing couldn't help but wonder if this thing was valuable.

"One guan is equivalent to one tael, and the ten strings of copper coins represent one thousand wen." Zhu Biao had come over at some point.

Li Qing came to his senses and forced a smile, "Your servant has been staying in the mountains all this time and has never seen such currency. I thought..."

"You thought it was silver, right?" Zhu Biao smiled and explained, "Since the eighth year of Hongwu, the Great Ming Treasury Note has been officially issued and then quickly became the mainstream currency. After that, private transactions with gold and silver among the people are not allowed."

Li Qing asked curiously, "Then what about the gold and silver in the hands of the common people before? Cough cough, I'm being presumptuous."

"It doesn't matter." Zhu Biao waved his hand and explained, "The gold and silver in the hands of the common people are not invalidated. They can exchange them for Great Ming Treasury Notes of the same denomination from the court. They can exchange them at any time.

If the treasury notes become old, they can also exchange the old notes for new ones of the same denomination."

"I see. His Majesty is wise. Thank you, Your Highness, for clarifying."

Li Qing felt speechless. He always thought that Old Zhu's doing this was not proper. Asking the people to exchange their glittering silver for the court's treasury notes seemed to be a loss for the common people no matter how you looked at it.

If the treasury notes were issued based on silver as the standard, it wouldn't be a big deal. But he was afraid that the court would print them recklessly. In that case, over time, it was bound to cause inflation. He wondered if Old Zhu had studied finance.

Li Qing looked at the five hundred Great Ming Treasury Notes in the wooden tray and thought that he had to spend them as soon as possible, buy some things that could preserve their value, and prepare for inflation.

After all, he still had a long life ahead and had to be careful with his money.

After much thought, he thought buying a house was the most reliable.

Li Qing evaluated the risks. He felt that he had pulled Empress Ma back from the brink of death and extended her life. Even if Empress Ma really passed away in the future, the probability of him being implicated was not high.

Moreover, Empress Ma had given him a life-saving token. Old Zhu was a man who loved his wife. He wouldn't want to go against his wife's last wish, right?

If he could skillfully show some advanced concepts from later generations to prove his importance... Well, it shouldn't be a big problem!

Li Qing left the Royal Study, found a secluded corner, and evenly stuffed the treasury notes into his bosom, sleeves, leggings, and shoes.

Wealth should not be revealed. It was better to be cautious.

After finishing all this, Li Qing returned to the eunuch's duty room, inquired about the location of the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division Yamen, and then took the Xiuchun Knife and left the palace.

...

Zhenfu Division.

Li Qing stopped at the door for a moment, then stepped inside. Although the Jinyiwei at the door thought he looked unfamiliar, the flying fish robe and the Xiuchun Knife had already proven his identity, so they didn't stop him.

As soon as he entered the main gate, he saw a familiar face. Li Qing quickly stepped forward to greet him, "This subordinate greets Hundred - household Liu."

Liu Qiang was training new recruits. Seeing him come, he quickly returned the greeting politely, "Thousand - household Li, you're too polite. This subordinate can't afford such respect."

"Thousand - household Li?" Li Qing was taken aback, then asked in surprise, "You mean, I'm a thousand - household now?"

Liu Qiang nodded with a smile and turned to say, "Hurry up and pay your respects to the lord."

Dozens of newly - recruited Jinyiwei immediately knelt on one knee, cupped their fists and saluted, "This subordinate greets the thousand - household lord."

"Er, hehe... You're excused. Get up!" Li Qing was a bit unaccustomed.

Liu Qiang said, "Thousand - household Li, please follow me. The lord wants to see you."

"Okay." Li Qing nodded.

They passed through two large courtyards and came to the inner hall, where Li Qing saw the commander Mao Xiang again.

"This subordinate Li Qing (Liu Qiang) greets the Zhenfu lord."

Mao Xiang put down the tea cup, stood up and read out the appointment imperial edict, then gave him a waist token, "Your Jinyi thousand - household post currently has only 150 people, but we're in the process of expanding. Liu Qiang is your deputy."

"Thousand - household lord, please take care of me." Liu Qiang cupped his fists.

Li Qing nodded with a smile and asked Mao Xiang, "Zhenfu lord, is there any task today?"

"..." Mao Xiang rolled his eyes, "You've just joined the Jinyiwei. You don't even know your department and subordinates yet. What can you do?"

"Liu Qiang, help your superior get a good understanding of our Jinyiwei."

After saying that, he left directly.

Liu Qiang smiled, made a gesture of invitation, "Lord, please have a seat. Let's talk slowly."

"Our Jinyiwei are mainly responsible for gathering intelligence and arresting law - breaking officials. We're not under the jurisdiction of any department and only take orders from the emperor. After catching criminals, interrogation and execution are all our responsibilities, and other departments have no right to interfere."

Liu Qiang was talking about the Jinyiwei's preeminence, with a look of self - satisfaction on his face, "To put it bluntly, if a duke or marquis commits a crime, we can arrest them without hesitation. We've executed seven or eight ministers and vice - ministers already..."

Li Qing interrupted his endless talk and asked, "Why are there so few people in the yamen? How many people are there in our Jinyiwei in total?"

"Including you, my lord, there are ten thousand - households in total." Liu Qiang explained, "The emperor wants to severely punish the case of stamping blank papers. There aren't enough hands in local areas, so the brothers in the yamen have gone to help."

"By the way, my lord, please follow me." Liu Qiang smiled, "I'll show you some good stuff of our Jinyiwei."