Chapter 374: Coinage Authority

【Previous section added 3000 characters.】

After thinking it over carefully, this Northern Border King is quite interesting—could it be that he deliberately did this for the Hu people to see?

If that's true, then… it's quite exhilarating!

Not to mention that Jin people, aside from the military, can freely come and go in the Northern Border as long as they have a travel permit—what's so hard about having the government issue one?

Immediately, many people took action—for example, the several commanderies bordering the Northern Border, and Xie Tu's classmates.

Furthermore, the aristocracy hasn't given up pointing fingers at the King. Many proud clans want to talk to him, demanding he stay put and properly rebel without causing trouble!

When the King rebelled, they were as quiet as chickens, but as soon as the imperial examination system came up, they jumped up and down.

In the King's words, it was like the whip hadn't lashed them yet. Whoever rebelled had nothing to do with them; no matter who won, their lives stayed the same. Now it's not possible—the Bai family has produced a troublemaker! He overturned the table!

Is the Northern Border King feeling pleased at home?

No, he's angry at home.

Are you sure it's just the new copper coins? No missing weight, they're genuine copper coins?

Yes.

Then what are they after by exchanging silver at a rate far above market?

The whole court lacked experience with this, so the King had Zhu Ti, who discovered this, brought up for further questioning.

This matter was first discovered by Zhu Ti, who directly reported it to the Grand Minister of Revenue.

She found that the vendors' businesses on Zhuque Avenue had suddenly improved a lot, especially those selling three or five wen coins, with the public spending quite generously.

It's not holiday season, nor is it after the autumn harvest with new income—how did the people suddenly become so loose with money?

Through chatting with the people and sending investigators, she quickly noticed the anomaly.

The Great Jin issues copper coins, with 1,000 wen equaling one tael of silver in theory, but the actual exchange rate with silver isn't a direct 1:1000—since everyone prefers silver, the market rate is about 1:1050.

Recently, a group of southern merchants appeared, claiming they had too many copper coins to carry conveniently and wanted to exchange them for silver on the spot, with the exchange rate reaching an astonishing 1:1300.

That means exchanging one tael of silver nets an extra 250 wen for free!

Once they confirmed the copper coins were genuine, nobody wanted to miss out on exchanging them!

They were doing it covertly, and the Chief Steward only noticed something was up when he saw these people spending lavishly on the copper coins they'd picked up on Zhuque Avenue.

The King blurted out a naive question, and the court ministers nodded along, after which the Chief Steward realized these people's minds weren't tainted by 'copper stink' and they had a clear grasp of economic basics.

"... According to my guess, this batch of new coins was specially made for the Northern Border, without worrying about deflation, just to pour a large amount into the Northern Border to exchange for silver."

The King didn't catch on at first and asked foolishly, "Why?"

"... Obviously, to wreck the Northern Border's economy."

The King was shocked: "? Why would they want to do something the Northern Border doesn't have?"

Xie Yuan: …cough cough!

Chancellor: …my knee hurts.

Xu Zhi: …if it weren't for me standing here, I'd have laughed.

"I know the official mint uses only a little copper and iron, yet they're still making a tidy profit this way—how did Bai Li Jin suddenly get a brain?!"

The three bigwigs below were looking at the floor, looking at the floor, and looking at the carved patterns on the pillars.

Zhu Ti said: "He wants to disrupt the Northern Border's economy, flooding it with newly minted copper coins to siphon off its silver, and if he doesn't stop, chaos will inevitably follow. Your Highness, do you have any countermeasures?"

The King thought for a moment, then said: "Take back… the minting right?"

Xie Yuan, who had been looking at the floor, suddenly lifted his head—indeed, he had become accomplished and refined!

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Once a clue is found in this matter, investigating it becomes easy.

Upon closer inspection, it's not just Youzhou; other prefectures, especially the commanderies near the Great Jin, show even more of this. Youzhou is after all the capital of the Northern Border, and they've deliberately avoided it, but the Northern Border is so poor that anyone with a bit of money still gathers in Youzhou.

To avoid drawing attention, many people who backpack across the border just to exchange money have sprung up.

One person carrying several strings of coins into the Northern Border to exchange for silver can easily make two or three taels per trip, which is considered exorbitant profit in the Great Jin.

The King arrested a few for interrogation and found they were merely itinerant peddlers; when assigned a task, someone watches them enter the Northern Border, strictly forbidding them to take advantage and exchange for silver in the Great Jin. They don't know the reason, only that it's a good livelihood. As long as the profit is big enough, in this chaotic age they'll dare to do anything.

The Great Jin's copper coins are really low-tech, with no fancy anti-counterfeiting tech—counterfeiting brings execution of nine clans, and all metal mines—copper, iron, silver, etc. —belong to the court, firmly gripped by the imperial family.

The King took some new coins to Bai Yang to weigh them again on a precision scale, finding that those collected from Youzhou were close to the original weight, while those from Yizhou were noticeably lighter.

The King flew into a rage: "Still practicing regional discrimination!"

Bai Yang laughed enough, fetched a pair of pliers to cut one open for a close look—no difference visible to the naked eye—"Want me to test the copper‑lead ratio for you? Haha, don't be mad; they've really sunk money into messing with you this time."

The King was displeased: "They're just going through the trouble, but the silver they're exchanging for is my pure silver!"

Here lead and tin aren't worth anything, and making such copper coins is already mature tech in the Great Jin—just sand‑cast, pour, and do a little finishing. How did they know I've stockpiled a lot of copper, giving them a good use for it?! Infuriating!

"Wanting to take back the minting right is fine, but have you considered who's behind this? Your eldest, second, or fourth brother?"

"The areas controlled by the second and fourth brothers have no copper mines; the court's mint is in the eldest brother's territory. However…… the territory controlled by the King of Jiangxia has copper mines"

"... My gut says it's still the eldest brother. He's impulsive and short‑sighted, but he's got the Wang clan behind him."

The Dog‑headed Military Strategist immediately thought of the next step: having the King himself mint coins. Seeing that time is still tight, the populace must be kept stable, no chaos.

"Just decide on the mother coin and have your White Brother take care of it!" the strategist declared, pounding his chest.

"Huh? You can also carve? Isn't your labor more expensive over there?"

I can't carve, but I can give you the mother coin to save time. Check out 3D printing?

Finally Baiyang asked a friend who specialized in making scenic area handicrafts; the friend suggested he replace wet sand with quartz sand and resin, so the imitation ancient coins wouldn't be so rough. They also said that nowadays overly rough craftsmanship won't sell well. The friend even asked if he was planning to shift from retail to production…

The Great King quickly raised silver to set up his own mint in the North Border, locating it near Longtou County, which has a garrison. Before the copper coins are ready and everything is prepared, this matter must be kept under wraps, lest the populace riot.

The clever Great King didn't want Baili Jin to keep reaping profits, so he came up with a good idea: spreading the rumor that someone had exchanged counterfeit copper coins with Jin people from the south.

Whenever someone on the street used copper coins for trade, merchants inspected them repeatedly; this made the populace instantly cautious.

It's unreasonable to lose a tael of silver over two hundred cash!

The Great King simply went all-in, opening an official money shop to preemptively block any possible constraints from the south.

The money shop was directly overseen by the Senior Minister of Agriculture; selecting the site and construction was another expense. When the Great King allocated that sum from the treasury, the funds immediately shrank, making Zhang Si Nong frown so hard he could pinch a mosquito, and the goal of a hundred thousand units felt even farther away.

Thus the Great King still goaded him, saying, "For this review I specially summoned the Tang Cishi and the Duke of the Eastern Capital; when the time comes, Zhang Si Nong can just explain things to them."

Zhang Si Nong: ……

After work, the Senior Minister of Agriculture went to the construction site to supervise the excavation of the treasury, making sure not a single cash was wasted.

The Great King decided to hold a review and sent letters to the Duke of the Eastern Capital and Tang Qian; Tang Qian had just seen off the Western Region folks when he received the familiar arrogant 'envoy,' and after a few glances he smoothly received the Great King's personally written decree.

The Great King also ordered Shanyang Pass to contribute a detachment to the North Border grand review—how could such a major event lack the Shanyang Pass contingent!

The Great King suggested he bring a forty-nine-person detachment to represent the garrison of Shanyang Pass.

Tang Qian took the selection of this detachment very seriously; ever since meeting the Great King he had envied their discipline, shouting the slogans in perfect unison, and their spirit looked even stronger.

The Great King also left him an instructor; they trained for half a year and could finally show their stuff. The troops he selected for the Youzhou review were chosen even more strictly than a beauty pageant.

They needed to be tall, skilled horsemen, and on top of that, have a fierce appearance.

Unlike the Great King, who cares about looks, the Tang Cishi prefers a menacing visage—one look and you know they're not to be messed with.

After the personnel were chosen, seeing his subordinates busy picking out good-looking horses, the blunt Tang Qian suddenly had a brainwave.

"Just pick those with strong legs; don't worry about appearance. Your Highness, if you look down on our poverty, hehe—maybe on the way back the brothers can swap for better horses!"

……That makes sense.

If we could pluck fifty good horses from the Great King……that would be perfect!

Having selected the people and horses, Tang Qian set off without delay; it was his first time going to the capital, and he was very enthusiastic.

The Great King, who was eyeing good horses, indeed wasn't short of several dozen. The ranch bred quickly, and he bought another three thousand plus, freeing up the original three thousand Snow Cavalry warhorses.

Qiao Yi indeed handled the Great King's matter as a major patron, inquiring everywhere about where to get white ordinary horses.

There, even low-grade spirit beasts were easier to buy than ordinary horses; selling such interface‑featured spirit beasts to the mortal realm incurs tolls from the homestead, and if they have any special function, the price becomes outrageously high.

The Great King wanted the quantity of three thousand; it didn't matter if it was just a single mirage—any would do.

After inquiring for days, he heard while trading spirit herbs that a distant relative of an eighth‑level spirit horse was white. The Great King's habit of buying horses based solely on color is rare anywhere.

Qiao Yi went to the place where those horses were produced and indeed saw local caravans exploiting its cheapness, using this breed called 'Zhe Luo' for transport.

He posted a procurement task there and soon gathered over three thousand; the only downside was that the horses weren't pure white but a slightly grayish white.

Seeing the tall, sturdy gray‑white horses, the Great King was delighted: "What's wrong with not being white? If I can't find what I want, I'll just settle for light chestnut or yellow. They also have great endurance and can bear heavy loads—what else could I complain about?"

With over thirty‑three hundred horses, the Great King paid more than twenty thousand ingots, and his deposits once again reached five figures.

The Chief Steward took receipt, handed it over to the ranch, and after two days of acclimation the animals began training with the Snow Cavalry.

The Great King figured he'd pretty much finished what he needed to do, sitting on an empty purse while waiting for the Xiongnu to arrive so he could recoup his losses—even mosquito blood counts as blood.

The Great King received daily updates: the Western Regions and Xiongnu had joined forces, the Tang Cishi's troops had passed them, the Duke of the Eastern Capital had set out, and each piece of news made him feel his little stash was getting closer.

Before that, the Hejian Wen clan finally scraped together eight hundred thousand, and Zhao Bao said the Wen clan wanted an audience; the Great King pondered.

There were too many things, so he forgot them all.

"…Oh, is that the one who smashed my stall? Let them wait a bit. The Xie clan have arrived; I'll go pay them a visit."

The Xie clan moved half of their lineage to the North Border, dragging things out and wasting plenty of time. This bunch, who had lived in comfort all their lives and never known hardship, either couldn't stand seasickness once aboard ship, or demanded the speed be reduced lest lives be lost.

The Great King sent a warship, which somehow outran the speed of a little fishing skiff.

When the Great King heard Xie Tu say the clan had arrived, he finally realized this group was moving far too slowly.

After letting them rest for two days, the Great King personally went to the Xie manor to pay a visit.

The main branch of the Xie clan that came stayed with Xie Yuan, while the others lodged temporarily in the mansions the Great King had built. The highest‑ranking among them was Xie Tu's father, Xie Che, the eldest son of the current Xie clan head; barring surprises, he would be the next head.

The Great King was extremely warm and hospitable; hearing of Xie Yuan and Xie Tu's experiences in the North Border, upon seeing the stern old gentleman Xie Che he felt as if he were looking at a creditor.

Their parents have arrived!

The Great King was bursting with enthusiasm, slapping his chest and promising, "…Great Master, treat this place like Youzhou and Chen Commandery—this is your home! My word is bond; the Xie clan may stake out any patch of land in Youzhou to rebuild their manor, and everyone can live together just as in Chen Commandery."

The Great King's motor mouth wouldn't let Xie Che get a word in edgewise; when the Great King finally stopped, he hurriedly asked, "…What's this 'Great Master' about?"—a strange title he kept repeating.

"Ah, aren't you Mr. Xie's elder brother? I'll just call you Great Master to distinguish you."

Xie Yuan: ……

Xie Che: ……This person is really weird.

As for the Hejian Wen clan, ever since the Great King's people showed up at their door, they've been startled and angry.

After the messenger soldiers finished speaking and left, they hadn't considered fleeing, but they couldn't abandon the eldest son. Eight hundred thousand taels was truly a lot for the Wen clan, and the household head suspected the King of the North Border had deliberately assessed their wealth and was demanding exactly that.

Coming up with it all at once was a bit strained, but they could manage by scraping together.

【There are changes; you can refresh.】