"Receiving an honorific title while wearing imperial regalia?"
Hearing the surprise in the voice, Zhao Pu turned his head slightly and saw only the darkened expression of the emperor's face.
Well, it was dark to begin with, so there was little to be read from it now.
Still, Zhao Pu understood the emperor's astonishment. After all, even without speaking of the present, ever since the Tang dynasty passed through the An Lushan Rebellion, its customs and atmosphere had already diverged greatly from those of the Zhenguan and Kaiyuan eras.
In such times, ruling from behind the curtain was not shocking. But to openly don imperial robes, accept a supreme honorific, and face the court in person was truly difficult to imagine.
As for court officials openly submitting memorials urging the empress dowager to follow Empress Wu's precedent, Zhao Pu merely listened and let it pass.
How much of such a memorial was genuine loyalty, and how much was probing or opportunism, was highly debatable.
Zhao Guangyi, on the other hand, felt somewhat more relaxed. Looking at his elder brother's offspring, whatever might be praised about them had little to do with the proper duties of a Son of Heaven. If that was not the mark of a muddled ruler, what was?
Thus Zhao Guangyi casually echoed the light screen's assessment.
"This evaluation is fairly apt. Empress Wu's manner of ruling, rather than being merely high-profile, actually resembles Tang Taizong back when he was Prince of Qin."
"Charging into battle, fighting at the forefront, overwhelming others with sheer presence. The ferocity of her methods in grasping power was much the same."
Glancing at his brother's lengthy commentary, Zhao Kuangyin switched to a more amiable tone.
"Zeping, do you understand this Jiaozi Office?"
As Zhao Pu lowered his head to think, he could not help but sneer inwardly. The Prince of Jin's comparison had been far too blunt.
If Empress Wu was likened to Prince of Qin Li Shimin, and later generations said Liu E was the complete opposite of Empress Wu, then who was Liu E supposed to resemble? Crown Prince Jiancheng, who died at the Xuanwu Gate?
Not worth discussing.
Still, recalling how the emperor had earlier spoken evasively about Emperor Zhenzong's shameless Fengshan ceremony, as well as alliances and tribute payments, Zhao Pu felt a faint sense of weariness.
Hearing Zhao Kuangyin's question now, he gathered his thoughts and answered seriously.
"Yizhou has long been wealthy in trade but poor in gold and copper. Shu merchants are skilled at making money, yet they suffer from inferior iron and debased coinage."
"I have also heard in Heyang that in Shu, purchasing a single bolt of silk requires mule loads carrying a hundred jin of iron coins, which causes great inconvenience."
With that, Zhao Kuangyin understood at once. A bolt of silk weighed barely a jin and a half, yet it took a hundred jin of iron coins to exchange for it. Why would merchants not simply price goods directly in silk?
If a thin sheet of paper like jiaozi could be worth a bolt of silk, equivalent to a hundred jin of iron coins, then merchants would have no reason not to use it.
Yet the problems were just as obvious.
"Credit currency. Overissue. Flooding the market. Harvesting the people's wealth."
He recognized every word, but strung together they made no sense at all. Coupled with the light screen's merciless judgment that officials "did not even understand physical currency systems," Zhao Kuangyin began to feel anxious instead.
It felt like standing before a mountain of gold with no door to enter. An especially tormenting feeling.
Zhao Guangyi, left standing to the side, did not take offense. He quietly noted down phrases like tribute payments, heavenly texts, farce, Fengshan, planning to ponder them later and see if he could piece together a coherent thread.
Why had his elder brother never spoken of these matters to him?
...
Seeing the image of jiaozi on the light screen, Liu Bei immediately tensed.
"Kongming, the gold notes issued from Yizhou…"
"My lord need not worry. The printing of gold notes is strictly limited and carefully regulated."
"From Dujiangyan to the Eastern Sea, merchants everywhere now seek Yizhou gold notes to facilitate trade."
Zhuge Liang first reassured his lord, then nodded toward Lu Su.
Lu Su sighed inwardly but still rose and spoke.
"As Kongming says. Even before leaving Jiangdong, I had already heard of this. During the New Year celebrations, the Gu family even spent heavily to purchase gold notes as auspicious gifts."
In truth, Lu Su now felt deeply affected by the concept of "credit currency" spoken of by later generations.
After all, no matter how difficult the gold notes were to counterfeit, at their core they were still paper, not gold, not copper, not silk.
That Jiangdong's great clans accepted them was for two reasons.
First, the Shu brocade and Shu sugar purchased with these notes could be resold for several times the profit.
Second, and more importantly, they were awed by Lord Xuande's military record. Cao Cao defeated in Jing Province, Yizhou and Hanzhong secured in succession, and now Guanzhong pacified.
Lu Su could already imagine that the great Jiangdong families, though nominally loyal to Lord Sun, would privately offer generous terms to acquire these gold notes.
Credit meant the people believed and used it. From this perspective, Kongming's quietly planned gold notes revealed just how many placed their trust in Lord Xuande.
Zhuge Liang's thoughts were not as complicated as Lu Su's. Looking at the surviving images of Song dynasty jiaozi, he merely felt that perhaps another edition of gold notes could be printed.
Such a decision, however, could not be made lightly. One would need to collect market data from Jiangling, Chengdu, and Hanzhong, use mathematical methods to assess currency shortfalls, and balance them against output from fields and workshops before making a proposal.
In truth, Zhuge Liang treated this experimental paper currency with extreme caution. Its value was anchored by Chengdu's stored goods, guaranteed by official markets under Lord Xuande, reinforced by his military prestige, and overseen by Liu Ba, who was well versed in finance, stationed in Chengdu. Only under such conditions could it be implemented with care.
...
"So this paper currency policy is not merely a tool to seize wealth, like the White Deer Coin?"
Li Shimin blinked as his thoughts became more animated, only for instinct to quickly suppress them again.
Later generations criticized the Song in many ways, yet still praised its commercial prosperity, and even then claimed it did not understand currency. That meant Tang would fare even worse.
Though later voices also mentioned debased coinage in Jianghuai, at least for now, such worries had not yet arisen.
The difference between jiaozi and the White Deer Coin was obvious at a glance, and later generations had clearly pointed out that jiaozi's failure lay in overissue and abuse.
For a moment, everyone frowned in contemplation.
Soon, Changsun Wuji sighed, and Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui exchanged glances, both shaking their heads.
"If an office were established to regulate it, it might indeed benefit the people," Du Ruhui affirmed.
"But the harm of overissue would be nearly impossible to eliminate," Fang Xuanling said with firm finality.
Changsun Wuji sneered repeatedly.
"To implement such a policy would require an emperor who clearly understands the state, officials without selfish motives, and clerks both diligent and capable."
"Otherwise, at the slightest disaster or unrest, this thing would poison the people even worse than debased coinage. It may offer one benefit to the state, but bring a hundred harms."
One benefit, a hundred harms. That was Changsun Wuji's verdict on credit currency, and Fang Xuanling agreed.
Du Ruhui, however, rarely held his ground so firmly.
"In my view, if our Tang gains Champa rice, opens maritime trade, and pacifies all directions, the state's revenues will exceed those of the Former Han by several times."
"The demand for gold and copper will multiply, yet the supply of good coin will not increase accordingly. That is precisely how the scourge of bad coinage accumulates."
"From what is said here, currency backed by state credit is the superior path. Now that we know of it, if we abandon it out of fear of its flaws, how are we different from those who stop eating for fear of choking?"
The rare division of opinion left Li Shimin to decide. For the Tang emperor, discussing how to charge straight into enemy lines and break formations was effortless, even for ten thousand words.
But when it came to state finances, he felt somewhat lost. Watching both sides refuse to yield, he found himself at a loss.
Seeing her husband's confusion, Empress Zhangsun spoke gently.
"In my view, since the pros and cons are hard to determine, why does Your Majesty not open markets in Yunzhong and Mayi, trade with sheep, and select a single market to test this for one or two years? Observe the results, and the gains and losses will become clear."
Li Shimin's eyes lit up at once.
Let the Turkic elders be the judges.
It was only regrettable that such a transcendent policy existed, yet it would require the people of Tang to suffer. Better to let the Turkic brothers experience this later-generation policy first.
Li Shimin immediately felt that the title of Heavenly Khan atop his head shone even brighter.
"Let it be as the Empress says."
With the matter settled, the Tang emperor turned his curiosity toward the Qing.
"A declaration of war against all nations? How did the Qing end up so strange?"
Had he learned of such a declaration under ordinary circumstances, Li Shimin would have been astonished.
But now, knowing that from the Ming onward China lagged behind the West in national strength, and having heard earlier that the Qing was forced into nationwide surrender by a mere ten-thousand-strong navy, later attributed to the disaster of isolation, he found the Qing's declaration more akin to self-delusion.
And that power ultimately rested in the hands of an illiterate only deepened his confusion.
After all, Liu E was praised despite her humble origins for diligent study, and though she wore imperial robes and was compared to Empress Wu, she still left behind a good reputation.
The Wu girl now in the palace was the same, studying with exceptional diligence.
How had the Qing managed to regress so completely?