Chapter 267: Opening the Sluice Gates

In a pavilion of the imperial residence within the Pear Garden of Chang'an's Northern Park, a young and beautiful woman had already stripped off all her clothes, revealing her fair and lovely skin.

She moaned while flaunting her seductive poses, plainly trying to entice a man.

Yet the old man over sixty beside her showed no response whatsoever below the waist, nor any movement above it.

"Ah, ah! Sage, won't you move a little?"

The woman pouted coquettishly and could not help but sit herself onto the old man, writhing like a water snake.

But the expression on the old man's face remained utterly unmoved, and even... carried a deep disappointment.

"Withdraw."

The old man could not help but let out a long sigh and said.

"Sage, wait just a moment longer, your servant can still..."

The beautiful woman tried to say more, but saw Jige impatiently wave his hand and scold, "Withdraw!"

"Hurry up and leave!"

Gao Lishi came over to drive away this beautiful woman, who was a certain concubine of Li Tan, the Prince of Di. She had once been Li Tan's most favored concubine, but unexpectedly her looks apparently only suited Li Tan's aesthetic; with a different man, she was entirely ineffective.

"Have I already grown old?"

After only Gao Lishi remained in the pavilion, Jige could not help but let out a long sigh.

Many men whose bodies have broken down, though they have lost their ability in that regard, feel no diminishment whatsoever in their desire for beautiful women.

If that were the case, it would still be acceptable—at least he would know what he liked.

But Jige was different.

It was as though he could not muster any interest at all in matters between men and women; even if a stunning beauty stripped naked and seduced him right before his eyes, it was as if he saw painted flesh over a skull.

He could not be bothered to touch her at all.

Simply put, he felt nothing whatsoever.

Jige now had few moments of happiness and much time in depression. Apart from power, nothing else seemed to rouse his spirits anymore.

Even the music he once loved, Jige had little interest in, and had not sought out the musicians of the Pear Garden to "exchange skills" in a very long time.

"The Sage is still in the prime of his years—how can there be any talk of aging?"

Gao Lishi offered careful words of comfort.

"Enough."

Jige waved his hand, signaling Gao Lishi to say no more.

He had originally thought that possessing his son's beautiful concubines—this sense of transgression—might excite him.

Unexpectedly, it was still of no use.

Jige felt a great emptiness inside that needed to be filled with something. Yet no matter how he searched, he could not find that sense of satisfaction; it always felt as though something stood in the way.

Occasionally he touched upon it faintly, but it vanished in an instant.

"Those paramours of the Lady of Guo—dispose of them for me.

Ah yes, and the paramours of the Lady of Han and the Lady of Qin as well—handle them all together.

These vermin are quite disgusting."

Jige said with a slight frown, as if just remembering something.

In his heart there was none of the jealousy and grief that a young man would feel upon learning his woman had been touched by another.

What Jige felt now was purely the urge to lift his foot and casually crush some ugly caterpillar he had found by his feet.

At this moment his heart was utterly still.

The three Ladies of the Yang clan whom Jige had ennobled led extremely promiscuous private lives, and had been keeping paramours for a very long time—at the very least five or six years.

Thinking of this, Gao Lishi did not quite understand why Jige had not dealt with them sooner.

"Sage, some of those paramours have already left Chang'an and are difficult to track down."

Gao Lishi said with a troubled expression. Just as Jige in his younger days changed concubines as readily as changing toilet paper, the three Ladies of the Yang clan changed paramours just as frequently.

Some paramours were even "professional paramours."

Many among them were monks from Buddhist temples who simultaneously maintained improper relations with numerous noble ladies in Chang'an, and quite a few did not even bother to avoid those ladies' husbands.

Monks, after all, lodging at one temple, then growing tired of a place and moving on to lodge at another—this was only human nature.

This too was a certain "characteristic of the era" of the Tang dynasty.

"Dispose of each one you find. Henceforth, I do not wish to hear anyone say that Yang Xing's origins are unclear—understood?"

Jige said in an unfriendly tone.

"Understood. Your servant will attend to it at once."

Gao Lishi bowed and took his leave.

"Go."

Jige nodded slightly, then fell silent.

"Lishi, come here a moment."

Jige beckoned to Gao Lishi, who had already reached the doorway.

"What further instructions does the Sage have?"

Gao Lishi walked over with light steps and asked, looking puzzled.

"The Crown Prince now serves as Prefect of Jingzhao—have him investigate how many adulterers and how many loose women are carrying on their sordid affairs within Chang'an.

Have him clean up the morals of Chang'an.

Those who commit adultery, those who serve as paramours, those who carry on with men—as long as the Crown Prince uncovers them, they must be dealt with severely and to the fullest extent."

Jige said in an unfriendly tone.

Gao Lishi paused in slight surprise, then bowed and took his leave without another word.

The pitch-black night outside the window seemed to have grown even deeper.

……

Copper engraving plates were not simply "carved" into being.

The method of making them was to first carve a seal on a wax mold or on wood or stone, then refine it, and cast it into a copper seal stamp.

This would form a "rough blank."

Then, using a graver made of hundred-refined steel, a "second processing" was performed on the copper rough blank, striving for perfection.

Only then did it become a costly copper engraving plate.

Naturally, its printing quality was also incomparable to ordinary woodblock printing. If Fang Chongyong had not personally seen Song Dynasty jiaozi copper engraving plates in his previous life, he would certainly have made do with woodblock printing.

On this day, in the dyeing workshop filled with the fragrance of ink, the first batch of jiaozi had just been printed.

Fang Chongyong held a one-hundred-silk jiaozi in his hand, examining it and clicking his tongue in wonder. He then passed it to Ma Daifeng, Guo Ziyi, Cen Shen, and the others beside him to look at. Everyone who had admired the jiaozi wore expressions of praise and wonder, finding it incredible.

The appearance of this thing was truly fine, and it looked neat, high-end, and perfectly fitted.

Let alone forging it—they had never even seen a "painting" similar to the jiaozi! Everyone was full of confidence in the smooth circulation of the jiaozi.

Their confidence did not come from nothing; the complex printing process of this thing alone had already surpassed the era.

The first printing process used black petroleum ink and a copper engraving plate, employing a stamping technique to print the main characters, traditional Chinese characters, and illustrations of the jiaozi.

The second printing process used red cinnabar pigment and a wooden engraving plate, printing the jiaozi's border lines, patterns, anti-counterfeiting symbols, and other fine, intricate designs onto the semi-finished product from the first process.

The third printing process used deep blue pigment and a simple rotary "movable type printing" method, rolling the print onto "unnumbered jiaozi" to stamp Arabic numerals. Because of this technique, no two jiaozi would be completely identical!

None of these individual processes had an insurmountable technical threshold. Yet combining these techniques together and scientifically integrating them into the jiaozi—

This kind of vision surpassed the era by several centuries. In particular, the numbered serial codes on the jiaozi appeared very late in history, only beginning to gain widespread use in modern times.

The denominations of the jiaozi printed this time were divided into four types: one hundred silk, fifty silk, ten silk, and five silk. The corresponding engraving plates were also divided into four sets, each set having one dedicated red plate and one black plate. The deep blue numerals, however, shared a single movable type plate across all four denominations.

"No two jiaozi are completely identical… tsk tsk tsk."

Guo Ziyi held a one-hundred-silk jiaozi in his hand and murmured. He could hardly imagine that such a thin sheet of paper was worth one hundred silk.

One had to know that one hundred silk of silk fabric was more than a strong man could carry and required a cart to haul. But a jiaozi was just a sheet of paper, almost weightless on the body. A person carrying dozens of them would find it as effortless as child's play.

For everyday use of jiaozi, the savings on transport costs alone would be incalculable.

The convenience this thing brought to circulation, and the meticulousness of the mind that had devised the jiaozi—the more one thought about it, the more frightening it truly was.

Guo Ziyi vaguely sensed that this thing would have far-reaching consequences.

"Starting tomorrow, Judge Cen, you and Yang Yan together will begin collecting silk at the markets of Liangzhou, enforcing mandatory exchange for jiaozi.

Remember, the government only accepts silk. As for ordinary hemp cloth, whoever wants to trade it can trade it—we will not interfere.

The silk exchanged for jiaozi may not be withdrawn until at least one month later.

Deputy Military Commissioner Guo will lead a team to maintain order within the city of Liangzhou.

Transactions below five silk will continue to use Western Regions gold and silver coins, and the Great Tang's Kaiyuan Tongbao.

In the future, a one-silk denomination jiaozi will be issued.

This matter admits no failure; none of you must be negligent."

Fang Chongyong instructed Cen Shen and Guo Ziyi, his expression grave.

One could imagine that enforcing the circulation of jiaozi would certainly encounter enormous resistance at first, because no matter the era, people always have inertia when it comes to using currency.

However, the circulation of jiaozi was a "leapfrog" technology; for the feudal era, its progressive significance was beyond doubt, and it could not simply be regarded as a tool for plundering the people's wealth.

In Fang Chongyong's jiaozi issuance plan, the first step was to return the current natural currency to its original scope of "use value," stripping away its exchange value. In other words, it was to make silk, which currently served as an intermediary in trade, become true fabric.

For whatever reason grain had withdrawn as a primary medium of trade, silk would likewise withdraw for the same reason.

The second step was to reverse the method of "bad money driving out good," pushing precious metals out of the primary circulation chain, and then transforming the silk standard into a mixed standard of silk and precious metals.

In other words, no matter how low the cost of minting debased coinage, it could never be lower than the cost of printing jiaozi! Compared to jiaozi, all metal coins were "good money." The problem of debased coinage that had plagued the Great Tang's central government for over a hundred years was thus left with no power to fight back against the jiaozi.

The third step was for the government, through a "low-interest loan" lending model for independent farmers, to open the floodgates and increase liquidity. On one hand, this would crack down on private usury; on the other, it would provide independent farmers with a sum of "seed capital." This was effectively converting M1 money into M2 money—a more sophisticated method of injecting money.

In the short term, the paper currency that could be printed on a massive scale would absorb the bad debts of independent farmers, temporarily alleviating social tensions and preventing them from immediately going bankrupt and selling their land.

The imperial court would not suffer a liquidity shortage and consequent fiscal bankruptcy due to a lack of precious metals.

As for the inflation caused by this, it would be borne by the entirety of Great Tang society.

That was a separate matter.

Of course, how far Brother Ji could go with this, Fang Chongyong did not know. After the jiaozi was launched, how the political maneuvering surrounding it would unfold was also not something Fang Chongyong could control.

It could not be ruled out that in the future, the Great Tang would slide into the abyss because of the jiaozi.

It is always people who kill, not the knife in their hands. Tools are innocent; even the finest tool in the hands of a bad person can become the root of evil, used for murder and arson.

Any monetary policy is a "trade-off game"; there is no such thing as a monetary policy that exacts no price.

The tragedy of an era is, in the end, forged by every individual of that era. If one gives up eating for fear of choking and does nothing at all, that is simply going from one extreme to another.

The people present saw the smile on Fang Chongyong's face fade, and were all somewhat bewildered.

Before they could speak, Fang Chongyong said resolutely:

"Starting tomorrow, strictly control the outflow of silk from the five Hexi prefectures. The government will begin fully collecting silk and issuing jiaozi."

……

Late at night, Anaye continued to administer acupuncture to Fang Chongyong, relieving his migraines. Because of his body conditioning regimen, the two had not engaged in relations for many days, and both were feeling a restless itch.

After the treatment was finished, Fang Chongyong pulled out from his robe a one-hundred-silk denomination jiaozi, numbered A00000001. He tucked this jiaozi into the deep "cleavage" in front of Anaye's chest and said with a wicked grin, "The acupuncture worked well. Serve me properly tonight, and this money is yours."

"That's it?"

Anaye pulled the one-hundred-silk denomination jiaozi from her chest, held it in her hand, and looked at it again and again. With a strange expression, she asked, "This one sheet of paper can be exchanged for one hundred silk? What fool would use this?"

"That's right, exactly so. Tomorrow, Liangzhou will begin using this kind of jiaozi in place of silk."

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and said.

"My lord, this is robbery, isn't it?"

A Na Ye returned the banknote to Fang Chongyong, sighed lightly, and was too lazy to complain.

"It's not robbery; it's better than robbery."

"In two days, you go to the market and buy a few sheep, see if they're good."

Fang Chongyong placed the banknote into A Na Ye's hand again.

"Fine… it just feels weird."

A Na Ye kept the banknote safe; since it was something Fang Chongyong instructed, she would definitely try it.

"In the future, if a man brandishes such a banknote before a woman, he can make the woman obediently strip naked and lie on the bed, letting the man manipulate her."

Fang Chongyong sighed, saying that in his previous life there were far too many such incidents.

Rich men smash beautiful women with cash. Rich women also smash handsome men with cash.

Banknotes can rescue people from dire situations, or push them into a fire pit.

Thin banknotes bear the normal functioning of society, carrying countless people's hopes and desires.

It possesses endless power.

Tomorrow, this monster will be released from its cage by itself; will it bring blessings or disaster?

Fang Chongyong's gaze drifted, as if he had thought of many things, far ahead.

"A Lang, what's wrong, your soul wandering?"

A Na Ye began to gently knead her man's temples with her small hands, softly asking by his ear. This naive girl, of course, didn't know how massive a wave the banknote would raise in the future.

It was then she realized what Fang Chongyong was sighing about now.

"It's nothing; I was just imagining the scene of me brandishing a banknote, strolling arrogantly through Chang'an's Pingkang Lane."

Fang Chongyong couldn't help but sneer.

During the mid to late Tang, noble women of the Five Surnames and Seven Families, for money, also became commodities. Families in decline raised funds by "selling daughters."

Fang Chongyong thought that as long as his body was healthy, these women were goods on a shelf; printing money could be played with freely, and the issuance of banknotes would accelerate this process.

Even if he didn't play, others would line up to play, one after another. That's the tide of the era.

"A Lang, though I have little insight and have never been to Pingkang Lane, let me say this: even if you have not a single coin on you, in Wuwei's Huamen Tower you could still stroll arrogantly."

Whether you prefer the plump or the thin, Han women or Hu beauties, isn't that all a matter of a single sentence?

Having a banknote or not, what's the difference?"

A Na Ye didn't comprehend the iconic scene in Fang Chongyong's mind; in her impression, with Fang Chongyong's current power, to run rampant in the flower streets and willow alleys— is that really that difficult?

"Life sometimes just loses some pleasures; you don't understand."

Fang Chongyong said, his interest waning.

When a person controls the issuance of banknotes, the act of brandishing cash to show off becomes rather dull.

(End of chapter)