Chapter 1797 - The Private Meeting

Shen Changxi bowed to the assembled guests and explained with practiced grace: "Gentlemen! That Master Gao has entrusted our humble establishment with assaying the Australians' silver dollars is truly an honor to our modest reputation. It's been nearly a full cycle of sixty years since my grandfather's generation assayed the Folangjiren's 'Cross Silver Cakes'—such work hasn't been performed in the Guangfu region for quite some time."

Most of those seated came from families that had traded for generations. A few among them had been young boys trailing their elders when those Cross Silver Cakes were first assayed, and they still retained vivid memories of the occasion. Hearing Shen Gongbao reminisce about ancient history, they nodded slightly, each lost in recollections of those tumultuous years.

However, it was rather unseemly for a youngster to lecture a gathering of uncles and elders about events nearly sixty years past. Having established his family's authority, Young Master Shen cut his prologue short and suddenly thrust out a finger with an audible whoosh, instantly drawing every eye back together.

"As for assessing purity—I cannot be entirely certain, given that we're working by lamplight. These two Australian oil lamps burn bright, but they cannot compare to the sun overhead. And though the lamps illuminate well, the flame has a yellowish tint. For a proper silver assay today, I'm afraid I must invite you all to return tomorrow."

Speaking in hedged language was simply the way of the silver and gold assaying trade. Everyone was accustomed to it and couldn't be bothered to comment. They merely maintained composure, waiting for Shen Gongbao to continue.

"However, treasury-standard fine silver is also called 'snowflake silver' precisely because of its pure white color—like snow itself. If purity is low, it simply cannot achieve that snowy whiteness. From what I can tell, judging by color alone, this Australian silver is only slightly inferior to treasury-standard fine silver. However, once melted and examined, the story may differ." Young Shopkeeper Shen glanced at Old Shopkeeper Shen, who merely stroked his beard with closed eyes and gave a slight nod, saying nothing. Young Shen felt his confidence solidify.

"The official standard for treasury silver is fineness of ninety-three-point-something percent. This Australian silver, by my assessment, should come out to approximately eighty-seven-point-five percent." Young Shopkeeper Shen delivered his verdict in measured, unhurried tones after savoring his moment in the spotlight.

An immediate stir rippled through the assembled merchants.

The men gathered at Jufeng Assay House were all leading traders of Guangzhou. Many sat on the council of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce or headed their respective trade guilds—essentially luminaries of their industries, wielding tremendous influence. In the newly established Guangzhou General Chamber of Industry and Commerce, they held positions of considerable weight.

That day, Liu Xiang had convened a special meeting of the Chamber at the Municipal Government. Its content: the Council of Elders would soon issue new currency in Guangdong, with Guangzhou Special Municipality being first. A special meeting had been called to "inform" the guild heads so they could coordinate efforts and ensure smooth currency circulation.

The merchants were all seasoned veterans. The moment they heard this was an "announcement," they understood it as an order admitting no negotiation. In other words, all the activity the Australians had stirred up in Guangzhou over the past three months was merely the opening act—the real main event was this.

Though ancient China possessed no systematic financial theory, merchants since the time of Sang Hongyang in the Han Dynasty had developed an intuitive grasp of such matters. While many had been ruined by imperial monetary policies, quite a few had also reaped enormous profits from them. The circulation voucher system the Australians had implemented on Hainan was something the merchants knew somewhat—many had already encountered this "Australian" paper currency through their trade with Lingao.

Now that the Australians had arrived in Guangzhou, the merchants possessed some mental preparation for new currency. Truth be told, they weren't entirely opposed to circulation vouchers. Paper currency had circulated smoothly on Hainan, and the Australian government honored it—compared to the Great Ming's Treasure Notes, which were "valid when I give them to you but worthless when you try to spend them," this was remarkably conscientious.

However, the negative impression left by the Great Ming Treasure Notes ran deep. At the thought that the Australians might fully implement paper currency, the merchants couldn't help but feel uneasy. Many had already secreted away their finest silver ingots in anticipation of the Australians pulling the same trick as the Ming court: forcing merchants and commoners to exchange silver for banknotes.

Yet the meeting made no mention of exchanging silver for paper currency. The new currency would still be silver—only in the form of silver dollars.

Silver dollars were nothing new to these merchants. Decades ago, when the Folangjiren came to trade in Guangdong, their ships had unloaded these shiny round silver cakes. Later, the Red-Haired men brought silver dollars too. These foreign coins were welcomed by merchants for their fine purity. However, few used them directly—either cutting them up and weighing the pieces, or simply recasting them into silver ingots.

Though merchants who had traveled overseas reported that in many foreign lands these round silver coins circulated directly, no one in the Great Ming used them that way. First, people didn't trust the purity. Early foreign silver had been reliable in weight and fineness, but as more arrived, silver cakes of varying sizes appeared, with inconsistent weights and purities. In the end, cutting them up and weighing them was the only way to feel secure.

But the silver dollars the Australians had produced were entirely different from those brought by the Folangjiren or the Red-Haired men. Though roughly similar in size and weight, their refinement was distinctly "Australian"—as exquisite as the "Australian goods" they sold. Everyone who held one couldn't help but examine it at length.

Not only did they gleam with silvery-white brilliance, but their near-perfect roundness and intricate designs, so finely detailed that every hair and whisker was visible, made anyone who held one feel they were looking not at money but at a work of art. Compared to any silver dollar or ingot they had seen before, the difference was as between heaven and earth.

Still, no matter how beautiful a coin might be, one had to verify its purity. The merchants had gathered at Jufeng precisely to see how the Australian silver dollars measured up.

"Given the purity, what about the weight?" Gao Ju asked.

"Each coin weighs six qian, seven fen, six li," Young Shopkeeper Shen replied. "Every single one is identical, without the slightest variation."

"This is Australian money—that's no surprise," someone laughed. "What about the half-dollar coins and the twenty-cent pieces?"

"These two smaller silver coins have considerably lower purity," Young Shopkeeper Shen said. "They assay at about sixty percent."

Another stir ran through the seated merchants. Upon hearing this, several of the attending shopkeepers and proprietors could no longer contain themselves and began whispering to each other, filling the room with sudden buzzing chatter. Of the three silver coin denominations the Australians planned to issue, the purity wasn't particularly impressive. Apart from the one-dollar coin, the other two were lower in fineness than expected. Judging by appearance alone, all three seemed roughly equivalent in purity.

Boss Zhu gave a cold snort. "The Australians haven't been in the city long, yet their methods of monetary extraction are already quite refined!"

Lowering silver content was a time-honored trick of currency manipulation. The various Chongzhen Tongbao coins flooding the market were a case in point—not to mention privately minted small coins and debased currency.

"That's not quite fair to say," countered Manager Ding of the grain merchants' guild. "If the Australians wanted to extract wealth, why bother minting silver dollars at all? They could simply roll out those circulation vouchers—and execute anyone who refuses to accept them. Wouldn't that be easier?"

Manager Ding's grain business had benefited from the Australians' abolition of the broker monopolies, so his words inevitably carried some bias. But his point was reasonable. The Australians were issuing silver coins—whatever their purity, at least they were silver. As for low purity, the assorted loose silver they received daily varied wildly in quality. Every day, considerable effort went into assessing grades and weighing amounts.

Master Gao had remained silent during the discussion of purity. Now he asked in his slow, measured way: "Old Shen! The sample coins everyone brought you—are they all identical in purity and weight?"

Each merchant attending this meeting had received a set of "sample coins." The three silver coins brought to Shopkeeper Shen for assaying came from one of these sets.

Shopkeeper Shen nodded. "To answer Master Gao: these coins are truly extraordinary. I've been learning this trade in this shop since boyhood, under my grandfather and father. The gold, silver, and copper coins that have passed through my hands are beyond counting—never have I seen such uniformly consistent currency. Place them on the scale, and every single one is identical to the last fraction."

Everyone present was a veteran of commerce and understood the advantages of coins uniform in purity and weight.

"What good is uniform purity and weight?" Boss Zhu spoke up again. "Once these silver coins hit the market, people will naturally clip the edges and file the surfaces. Just look at the copper cash on the market—isn't it all like that? Eventually, you'll still have to assay and weigh them before you can use them."

Shopkeeper Shen replied: "But this is different—copper cash is only small change. Filing off a bit costs so little in value that no one bothers arguing. These silver dollars are over six qian of silver each. File off even a few fen, and will the recipient just let it pass? These Australian silver dollars are nothing like Cross Silver Cakes. Just look at the milled edge and the raised patterns on both faces—file off even a tiny bit, and there will be visible traces. Who would accept such a coin?"

The group fell into debate again, the atmosphere momentarily resembling water beginning to boil.

Gao Ju suddenly spoke. "I suspect Shopkeeper Shen is correct."

As the most influential tycoon in all of Guangzhou Prefecture, Gao Ju's single sentence immediately silenced the room.

"The way I see it, the Australians' introduction of new currency is not up for discussion—it's a done deal," Gao Ju continued. "Whether these silver coins have good or poor purity, whether they can circulate in the market—that's not ours to decide. Money must be spendable and must flow. Only then can it be considered successful."

"Master Gao, do you mean..." The questioner was the head of the night-soil guild, surnamed Mi—a man whose nature inclined most toward opportunism. His reputation in Guangzhou Prefecture was extremely poor, but since he controlled the night-soil trade—a veritable weapon of mass destruction—no one dared openly cross him.

In truth, this Chamber of Commerce meeting hadn't invited him. But he had sharp ears, and upon hearing of the matter, he insisted on "putting in his oar" at this private gathering.

"What I mean is this: the Australians are the emperor of Guangzhou right now. If they want you round, you become round; if they want you square, you become square. Fortunately, the exchange terms they've offered this time are quite generous. We won't suffer losses by bringing out some silver to exchange for silver coins. The most important thing is not to slight the Australians."

Everyone understood his meaning. The broker guilds, in their fight over brokerage licenses, had attacked the Chaoshan Guild Hall. That had slighted the Australians—and now every one of those families had been ruined and impoverished. This was a lesson written in blood.

End of Chapter