Chapter 557 The Impossible Triangle
In the tenth year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty had a total inflow of 6.5 million silver. In the eleventh year of Wanli, even though there was no increase in offshore trade, there was now an additional ocean-going fleet to bring the silver back. During this ocean-going trade, the Ming fleet brought back 3.23 million taels of silver.
In other words, the silver inflow in the eleventh year of Wanli may increase to tens of millions, but this year the Ming Dynasty can only print 2.5 million silver, which means that silver will be shipped in major markets, Larger scale damming occurred in Jingtang Nanya, Songjiang Prefecture, Guangzhou Prefecture and other places.
More debts are owed.
Silver is actually inconvenient to circulate, because naked silver requires change, which requires identifying the authenticity and cutting the silver to make change, which is very troublesome.
If you want to spend money, you need to bring three things with you when you go out. Scissors, a pair of pegs and wax blocks. Scissors can cut silver. A peg is a small scale that measures cents. Two cents are divided into cents. In the Ming Dynasty, it was specially used to weigh gold, silver, precious medicines and spices.
The wax block is used to pick up silver shavings, which are the silver shavings dropped from cutting silver. A small amount becomes a large amount. When it accumulates, it is melted and forged.
In daily use, you should carry these three things when going out to prevent the occurrence of shortfalls. In bulk trade, silver is counterfeited. The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty are really ingenious. There are too many methods. During the transaction, each ingot of silver must be cut open to prevent any ingots.
So, silver is inconvenient to circulate, and silver coins are currency.
Dredging silver means convection of silver, from the south to the north, from the city to the countryside. This is very, very difficult. Regardless of other things, the first step of printing silver coins is the first step. It's hard.
Only 2.5 million imperial silver coins could be printed a year. The Ming Dynasty was so big, what could such a small amount of silver coins be used for?
"This is really a happy trouble. I used to have no money to spend, but now I have too much money." Zhu Yijun put away the memorial in his hand and said to Feng Bao: "Let Young Master Honglu Temple Qing Gao Qiyu and Xu Jiugao went to Tianjin Prefecture to welcome the return of the Ming Dynasty warriors. "
Of course Zhu Yijun would not criticize the Royal Gewuyuan, let alone feel that the Gewuyuan was incompetent, and no one would think that the Five Classics of the Gewuyuan these days. Doctors are nothing more than that. All the Doctors of the Five Classics are immortal figures. Gokuyuan has really tried its best!
Da Ming needs more and more talents! All walks of life, all aspects!
Gao Qiyu once sailed to the West in a large sailing ship, and returned to the Ming Dynasty after traveling around the world. Xu Jiugao was the first captain of the Ming Dynasty to sail around the world. He is now also serving as Shaoqing in Honglu Temple and is Gao Qiyu’s second official. .
Gao Qiyu, Xu Jiugao, Liu Ji, and Chen Tianrui are the mainstays of the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going trade. The first two are in the court to ensure that they have a key influence on the Ming Dynasty's policy of opening up the sea and not to allow the Ming Dynasty to open the sea before it happens. The pancake situation.
The Ming Dynasty can no longer lose the ocean.
Just because the emperor, the court, and the Ming Dynasty's economy relied on silver, once again banning the sea, it became a suicidal act of wiping one's own neck. It would be better to find a rope and hang oneself on the mountain behind.
On May 7, the eleventh year of Wanli, Gao Qiyu and Xu Jiugao received Liu Ji and Chen Tianrui.
The third person in the palace, Li Yougong, was also there to pick up the ship. Li Daxuan spent more time out of the palace than in the palace. He came to pick up people, or in other words, money.
The fleet also has an admiral named Chen Zeng who is 21 years old. He is one of the emperor's sparring partners. Chen Zeng is responsible for one thing on the ship. He is responsible for the emperor's money. .
According to the Ming Dynasty court's principle of dividing the wealth among three horses, one-tenth of the money that Chen Zeng is optimistic about will fall into the hands of Chen Zeng and his followers.
Chen Zeng’s eldest brother is the most powerful person in Xiaohuangmen among the sparring partners, that is, Li Yougong. Li Yougong can tie with Luo Sigong, and Luo Sigong’s strength is second only to His Majesty. He can be described as proficient in bow and horse. , Li Yougong can shoot the bow left and right, and he also has some military talents.
There were not many eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty who had military talents, such as Zheng He, Liu Yongcheng, and Wang Zhi, the governor of Xichang.
The same is true for the operation of Huangzhuang. One-tenth of the profits of Huangzhuang led by Feng Bao will be distributed to the eunuchs as performance. Zhang Hong is in charge of the palace's account books. Min is Zhang Hong's adopted son. Zhang Hong's faction is mainly in charge of sea investment, and one-tenth of the profits from this part will be distributed by Zhang Hong.
The emperor did not allow the eunuchs to take money from outside the palace, but he allowed the eunuchs to take money from the emperor. Therefore, the current eunuchs mainly focus on keeping out the money.
How much money can greed be greedy for? During the Zhengtong period, Wang Zhen made people angry and resentful, and he could have a meal with Wang Zhen for just one thousand taels of silver.
The amount of salt given to Feng Bao by the court minister was only one hundred taels of silver at a time.
The one with the most power is Feng Bao, and the one with the most dividends is Zhang Hong. Li Yougong and others work the hardest but also get the least. They didn’t have much money to share before, but now they finally have ocean trade. profits were distributed as dividends.
Li Yougong personally led his people to Tianjin Wei. After picking up the ship, he chatted with Chen Zeng for a few words and immediately started to smile. The eunuch had no sons, which made them particularly persistent in their money. This time, the dividends More than 150,000 silver.
"Now, after going round and round, the problem is back to the same problem as before." Gao Qiyu finally shook his head after reading the accounts.
So Liu Ji, Chen Tianrui and others who are responsible for withdrawing the fleet don’t get any money?
This group of civil servants on the ship had taken it in advance. Liu Ji, Chen Tianrui and others had the final say as to whose goods they would take on board, how much they would take, how they would take them, and at what price they would buy them. Therefore, they actually Money was also made, but only God knows how much.
Liu Ji, Chen Tianrui and others do not know how much money they have made, because the value of some things is not easy to measure, such as reputation, such as connections, such as control of social resources, such as Qingshi Leave your name, how much money can you buy these for?
Just by leaving a name in history, Liu Ji and others gained more than Yang Bo.
In the final analysis, the hardest working boatmen, sailors, and soldiers on the ship are the ones who get the least. All they can get are the emperor’s rewards, an increase in social status, and part of the dividends from maritime trade profits. .
The operating logic of the world seems to have always been like this, do the most and get the least.
Li Yougong frowned and said, "What's the old problem?"
Gao Qiyu sighed and said, "Everyone is greedy for the imperial court's official ships and official trade, and the huge profits from ocean-going trade. But ocean commerce can only be organized by Ming Dynasty official ships. The private sector has no such ability and cannot bear the risk. It is exactly the same as the dilemma of Yongle's voyage to the West. "
Ocean ocean trade can only be established. Official trade can only be carried out on Ming Dynasty official ships. The profits are high, but the risks are also high. Bad weather, ferocious natives, pirates in the shadows, greedy tax collectors, etc. The merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty cannot be paid for. Eighteen pounds of artillery was stuffed into the mouths of tax collectors along the way to calm them down.
In other words, history is a circle, going round and round back to the original contradiction, the contradiction in the distribution of huge profits from sea trade.
During the Yongle period, it was Zhu Di, or in other words, internal money, who ate alone.
"Then the official ships and official trade will be ready." Li Yougong said indifferently: "Your Majesty is at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, the official ships and official trade will be done first. When the road goes smoothly and the road becomes wider, private merchant ships , you can leave naturally.”
“The Ming Dynasty needs silver, and other contradictions are secondary contradictions. Making the silver flow in more smoothly is the fundamental thing.”
Li Yougong is very good at contradictions. It is said that knowing the priorities, silver is what the Ming Dynasty urgently needs. In fact, this can be clearly demonstrated from this ocean-going trade. The Ming Dynasty only started to increase its positions on a large scale from the empty ships in the West to India, and was afraid of hurting Songjiang, Shandong The cotton farmer only brought back 100,000 bags of cotton, and the cabin was filled up only in Luzon.
The world needs Ming’s goods, but Ming only needs the world’s silver.
Liu Ji shook his head and said: "This road is open, why should it be used by private merchants? They were not there when the road was opened, but after the road was opened, why should they come? Planting trees There were no them at that time, and they came when we were picking fruits? Your Majesty was happy, but the Ming court was not happy either. The court was happy, but some people were not.”
“When I was a desperado at sea, who was it? Whoever finds the fish nest belongs to him. Anyone who comes to rob it will fight hard."
Chen Zeng frowned and said, "They have to pay for the passage, so they all have to pay points. "
Chen Tianrui immediately said loudly: "But how many times have we made trouble with this 6% tax? We don't want to pay it at all! We should let these maritime merchants in Ming Dynasty see the world. , take a look at the world and see how those Thai and Western governors collect taxes! You have to pay 30% and pay bribes! If you don’t serve the tax officials well, do you still want to pass?”
"I want the protection of the Ming Navy, but I don't want to pay taxes to support the navy. I can make money by cooperating with them, and it all depends on my own efforts. It has nothing to do with my Ming Navy guaranteeing smooth sea routes, right?"
< br>Chen Tianrui is a soldier of the Ming Dynasty Navy first, and a naval officer second. He still cannot understand the 6% tax on maritime merchants. Is the Ming Navy free? Not only is the Ming Dynasty Navy not free, it is actually very expensive!
When the Ming Navy was unable to wipe out the pirates, the merchants complained that the Ming Navy was inactive. When the Ming Navy became tyrannical, they felt that the court was too lenient and showed off its power and relied on force. Take and take.
“As for the private markets currently inspected, their tax rates are quite high. For example, the seven private markets in Sanduao have a tax rate of 30%. Why are they smuggling? Because they have prohibited items on board. "Liu Ji is a desperado himself, and he knows desperadoes very well.
Of course they don’t want to pay taxes. Most of the people who set up private markets are maritime merchants themselves. They set up private markets just to avoid taxes. Of course, they don’t want to pay them. Others want to trade in private markets. , that is heavy taxation.
The private market exists mainly to avoid taxes, but also to traffic in prohibited items.
An impossible triangle emerged. Complete freedom, a safe ocean environment, and a stable inflow of silver. If you have two, you must lose one of them. Ming chose to lose complete freedom and had to collect taxes. To combat smuggling, contraband must also be prohibited from entering the country.
Complete freedom can ensure a stable inflow of silver, because Fujian and Zhejiang are major silver-producing provinces in the Ming Dynasty. These two major silver-producing provinces can mine up to 100,000 taels of silver a year! For Ming Dynasty, this cannot be said to be a drop in the bucket, but only a drop in the bucket.
So if there is complete freedom, the merchant ships of the Western Red and Golden Horses can enter and exit freely without having to pay taxes, and silver will continue to flow in steadily.
Complete freedom can actually ensure a safe marine environment. The ban on artillery, firearms and gunpowder is completely lifted. Everyone has a cannon, and every merchant ship is equipped with an 18-pound cannon. They are all pirates. It’s like there are no pirates!
At present, this is the path that Taixi is taking, robbing everywhere. Of course, serious businessmen cannot do business. With the emergence of privateering licenses, the piracy of the entire Taixi has become an irreversible trend.
The reason why Ming Dynasty is not suitable for the path of complete freedom is that Ming Dynasty can be decent, a businessman, and make money standing still.
“This voyage of merchant ship was organized by the five major voyage merchant houses. The imperial court ate meat and the people drank some soup. It was not bad. If you have to ask for more and eat meat, then you can only let They can't even drink the soup." Li Yougong thought for a long time, and there was no solution to this impossible triangle.
After discussing the impossible triangle problem, Liu Ji looked at everyone and said: "Sending opium from the Yuanxu Islands to the West is a thousand times more profitable."
"One A thousand times the profit?!" Li Yougong looked at Liu Ji blankly. This profit margin really made Li Yougong stunned. The profits of the cotton cloth business were astonishing, but the profits of opium seemed to be even more terrifying.
The difference between a hundred times and a thousand times is a difference in order of magnitude. "One acre of land produces 1.5 kilograms of opium, which is one and a half opium balls. In the Yuanxu Islands, an opium ball only costs three taels of silver, but when shipped to the West, an opium ball sells for 3,000 taels of silver." Liu Ji took out another item. A trade list, which lists the sales volume and price of three goods: chat grass, opium, and ayahuasca.
Liu Ji looked at the goods in his hands. These three were strong hallucinogens, and the profits were terrifyingly high.
Chen Tianrui also said with emotion: "Even an opium ball shipped to the Ming Dynasty cost 2,000 taels. It was not so expensive before. The more the court banned it, the higher the price, and the more people took risks. In order to pass the customs, it is really the Eight Immortals who cross the sea and show their magical powers. The private market has been banned for many times. There are also reasons for this. "Freedom must be banned." Li Yougong. Looking at everyone, he said: "It's best not to try to lobby your Majesty to earn this kind of money. Your Majesty has only one attitude towards these things, ban them!"
"However, the tea and coffee business can still be done."
"Coffee, there are no seeds in the Ming Dynasty. Those big food merchants kept the secret. This is the code of their wealth. The red-haired fans have exhausted it. Even with all his strength, he couldn't find out the seeds or planting methods," Liu Ji said, shaking his head.
Since tea can be identified as a global commodity, Liu Ji naturally knows about coffee, which is widely spread in the West. This is a crop that came into Liu Ji's sight along with Chat grass.
But the Big Eater was very smart about roasting and grinding the coffee into powder and selling it everywhere, so it was impossible to obtain the seeds.
"This problem has been solved. Our old friend, Envoy Shah, included seven bags of seeds as a national gift to His Majesty." Gao Qiyu said with a smile.
Shah Maimaiti, in this name, Maimaiti, is the noble in the Great Cannibal. Of course he has channels to obtain this kind of seeds. Coffee seeds are exchanged for the friendship of the Ming Emperor. It is not a loss. Buy and sell. On the contrary, it is earned with blood!
Although friendship cannot be discounted, the business of distributing cotton cloth is enough. In addition, ships can be purchased from the Ming Dynasty. The Red-haired Pandiu Governor's Mansion can no longer rely on ships, fast guns and many cannons. Emperor Akbar's face rubbed against the ground.
These are the demands of the Mughal Kingdom, and the Ming Dynasty can satisfy these demands. In order to win the favor of the universal monarch, it is an honor to send some coffee seeds!
"Guojiao earned 1.24 million silver last year." Li Yougong said solemnly.
Drinks are very profitable. Wine, tea, and coffee are all very profitable. In the past, Li Yougong didn't quite understand why the two Song dynasties had to specialize in wine.
The wine franchise in the Song Dynasty started from the source. In the Liang Song Dynasty, wineries were called "wine warehouses", which specialized in wine making, while those with certain rights to make wine and distribute wine were called "zhengdian", and there were a group of wineries that did not have the right to make wine. The small shop is called "Jiaodian". Every year around Qingming Festival, the imperial wine warehouse starts brewing wine, and the aroma of wine floats throughout Kaifeng Prefecture or Lin'an (Hangzhou) in the Southern Song Dynasty.
The "Inspection Office", an organization in charge of internal and external wine warehouses, will inspect all the brewed wine. The inspection office will open for sale after the Qingming Festival and present samples. The emperor will drink it first, and then order it. The inspection office held a wine tasting conference. If Kaigu came out on top, he would write on a long banner, 'A certain warehouse has selected a famous master winemaker to brew a high-quality, spicy and spicy wine, and he will be ranked first! ’ slogan and began to parade.
The people parading in the street are beauties, that is, prostitutes. They are not ordinary prostitutes, but beautiful and famous ones, that is, courtesans. On this day, courtesans will wear pearls and jade crowns and sell gold. Wearing shirts and skirts, riding silver-saddled horses, each holding flowers, playing drums, or holding a dragon, Ruan Qinse, and wandering around the city.
The whole bustle lasts from the Qingming Festival until May and then slowly subsides. In addition to playing and singing, the most important job of the brothels and prostitutes is to sell wine. liquor.
Because it’s really profitable.
In the early years of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, when the poor were so poor that they had to sell their trousers, I also had a comprehensive understanding of the official affairs of the two Song Dynasties. Finally, I found that the two Song Dynasties were really trying to make money. People's eyes were opened and dazzled. In comparison, Ming Dynasty was like a farmer digging for food in the soil. He was busy for a year and didn't have much money in the end.
In the end, Ming Dynasty determined its official business, coal and steel.
Guojiao in the Ming Dynasty is not a franchise, but also allows people to make their own wine. Most of the output of Guojiao, a highly distilled liquor, is supplied to the navy, and only part of it is sold.
The Yuci Guojiao is even rarer. The Yuci Guojiao mainly refers to the word Yuci, which refers to the holy family, and it is all about bottles, not altars.
In fact, the profits from drinks are very, very generous.
Daming was also looking for a place suitable for growing coffee. Baoqisi searched for a long time and found that Yunnan was the most suitable place for growing coffee, followed by Guizhou and Guangxi.
Tea grown in Fujian and coffee grown in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guizhou, when these two drinks spread to the Ming Dynasty and the world, the local people will also benefit from the popularity of these two drinks.
It is not necessary to grow opium, chat grass, and ayahuasca. No matter how profitable these things are, it is impossible to touch them.
Those things that are neither humans nor ghosts in the Jieyuan are better left alone in the Jieyuan.
Because once the imperial court gets involved in this kind of business to make a profit, the ban will be a dead letter. If opium is found on an official ship flying the Tuanlong flag, how can the anti-smuggling coastal defense inspections detect smuggling? Once a hole is opened, the rules cease to exist.
It is the same as the reason why the Ming Dynasty cannot issue privateering licenses. It is better to plunder than to sow. The Ming Dynasty is the beneficiary of order and the natural defender of order.
“Unfortunately, it will take ten or twenty years to increase the scale of coffee cultivation before it can be sold overseas in exchange for silver.” Liu Ji was very excited when he heard such good news!
This means that there is another item on the cargo list of Daming Ocean Trading!
Silk, cotton, iron pots, pepper, tea, porcelain, etc., plus coffee, the Ming Dynasty's ocean trade was profitable, and it was huge profits!
This is exciting news for everyone!
This group of loyal supporters of Kaihai began to head towards the capital the next day. After Liu Qi, Chen Tianrui and others entered the capital to stay at the Huitongguan Inn, everyone went to the Quanchu Guild Hall, because the imperial court Mingji, who strongly supported Kaihai, , there is Liang Menglong.
Liang Menglong was the official minister of the Ming Dynasty and a student of Zhang Juzheng.
Zhang Juzheng was also a beneficiary of the Zuoshi system, but he took out the exam method to break the appeasement, protection and connivance of the Zuoshi system.
Everyone except Gao Qiyu entered the Quanchu Guild Hall.
"Sir, are you still unwilling to forgive me?" Gao Qiyu stood in front of the Quanchu Guild Hall and asked a little dullly as he came out to greet You Qi.
You Qi said helplessly: "Sir, how can I forgive you? Chen Xuexue was promoted to the position of left minister of the Ministry of Rites. His Majesty asked you to be the Minister of Honglu Temple. Sir, I insisted on it and demoted you to the rank of Shaoqing. Sir I never thought about forgiving you, go back, go back, don’t come here again.”
Gao Qiyu saw Zhang Juzheng, because Zhang Juzheng was at the door and didn’t say a word to him.
When Gao Qiyu left, he was in a state of despair and walked a little smoothly. The smooth walking was because he was distracted and because he didn’t know where to go. His Majesty didn’t care about what happened back then after he returned from his mission to Taixi. , sir still cares.
"Shun also ordered Yu", this question he asked in the test in Yingtianfu Township in the first year of Wanli, somewhat meant to persuade people to enter.
When the examiner was confirmed in February of the second year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng was criticized by Ge Shouli. That was the most passive time in Zhang Juzheng's life. Since then, Zhang Juzheng has never expressed any opinions on the imperial examination matter. I have not recommended the chief examiner or co-examiner of the general examination.
If this matter is said to be serious, it is naturally a big deal. If it is not serious, it is actually nothing. In the era of the third generation of universal law, Yao, Shun, and Yu, as the third generation of holy kings, raised such a topic, which is considered a reasonable scope. within.
When Ge Shouli attacked Zhang Juzheng, he did not rise to the point that Zhang Juzheng was about to usurp the throne. Instead, he said that Gao Qiyu should avoid this issue and avoid suspicion.
Zhang Juzheng received the warriors who returned from the ocean with great enthusiasm. It was his respect to greet them at the door in person.
"Everyone, please take a seat." Zhang Juzheng said with a smile on his face: "A few days ago, the elder Situ and the younger Situ came to me to cry about poverty, saying that the country's money was poor and the country's finances were in great losses. It made me think Think of a way, what can I do? It will be a great joy for me to return to the court tomorrow."
Hubu is so poor that even the doctors are eyeing the money in the Yunnan treasury, and the heavy debts have made it difficult for them to do so. Officials are under great pressure.
There are only two ways to make money, to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. To reduce expenditure is not to build roads. To increase revenue, either tax internally, or to develop externally, and tax internally. The Ming Dynasty is very good at directing taxes to the right. The bottom layer has been transferred. It seems that there are many roads, but in fact there is only one road, opening up to the outside world.
Liang Menglong advocated grain transportation by sea since the second year of Longqing. The four-month water transportation time in the river channel occupied too much of the Grand Canal's transport capacity. Grain transportation by sea meant that we could only resolutely open the sea and improve navigation. technology to prevent capsizing.
"Felipe may have some ideas." Liu Ji looked at everyone and said: "Before the big ship arrived in the West, Ming and Spain were friendly countries, but after the big ship arrived, Seville was not chosen. Asia chose Lisbon instead, and Felipe II is very likely to be very dissatisfied."
"There are more than a thousand Han Chinese in Mexico City, so I'm afraid there will be some problems, although we advise them to go with the fleet. We left, but the local Han people did not recognize our persuasion.”
The Han people in Mexico City couldn’t survive in the Ming Dynasty and ran to Luzon, where they boarded large sailing ships and became sailors. They had just migrated to Mexico, and they did not trust the Ming Dynasty.
"Your worries are not unreasonable." Zhang Juzheng said with a frown: "Felipe II had better not be stupid and deliberately create confrontation and contradiction. This is a situation that Ming Dynasty does not want to see, but he must provoke Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty will also make him pay a price that he will never accept."
"I will report this to Your Majesty."
Silver is not only the currency of the Ming Dynasty, it is also the currency of the West. Generally recognized currency, the world needs Ming Dynasty's goods, but Ming Dynasty only needs silver, which results in a net inflow of silver to Ming Dynasty, that is, Ming Dynasty's trade surplus and Spain's trade deficit.
So, the conflict between Ming Dynasty and Spain, the maritime overlord, is essentially a silver conflict.
The Ming Dynasty did not need goods from other countries, so the Spaniards had to exchange the silver and silver coins they plundered from the New World, such as Mexico and Peru, with the Ming Dynasty, and obtained 600% or 100% from them. A profit of eight hundred.
Zhang Juzheng highly recognized Liu Ji’s judgment, because trade deficit was also a problem that Felipe II had to face.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Juzheng said with conviction: "If he wants war, Ming will give him war! Even though he is far away in Western Europe and Ming Dynasty is beyond reach now, King Antonio of Portugal is in Western Western Europe."< br>
Zhang Juzheng said seriously: "Tomorrow I will meet with Your Majesty, Special Envoy Liu, to report this matter to Your Majesty."
As the overlord of the West, Felipe II, who has an invincible fleet, is likely to be unable to Tolerating the Ming Dynasty harmed Spain's interests again and again.
The Ming Dynasty's attack on Luzon, the Ming Dynasty's support for Antonio, and the Ming Dynasty's global trade all really harmed the interests of Felipe II.
(End of chapter)