Chapter 690 The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is a giant oriental dragon who loves silver
Wang Chonggu used his rich experience to tell everyone the way to be an official. It is not the way of the previous Confucian monarchs and ministers, but in the officialdom. Nie Hai, what should I do to ensure that I will not end up in tragedy?
When Zhu Yijun was in Beiya, he liked to read miscellaneous newspapers. After arriving in Nanya, there were even more miscellaneous newspapers. After all, Nanya would be freer without an emperor. Zhu Yijun saw some unrealistic political ideas.
What the Donglin Party members are best at is criticizing current affairs and criticizing the specific government affairs of the country, supplemented by advocating integrity, claiming to be clean, and clamoring for various government orders that may seem beautiful but cannot be implemented. , Such a barking attracts fans. In the eyes of the emperor Zhu Yijun, this is a barking.
The Ming Emperor summarized these seemingly wonderful but unrealistic decrees.
The Wanli Reform was implementing many new policies. These Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats mainly made noise and wanted to implement some new policies.
For example, in the matter of cleaning up the social atmosphere, the Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats headed by Gao Panlong proposed that "the trend of corruption is very rampant, and we should vigorously reform the brothels to eliminate corruption and correct the injustice." That is to say, Eliminate all the brothels, and then the oppression of the women in the brothels will disappear.
It seems that the unhealthy social atmosphere is caused by the women in brothels.
This seems very clear. After all, the world of fireworks is a petri dish for crime. Around the world of fireworks, social security issues such as gangs, forced buying and selling, and turf competition were born. But these scholar-bureaucrats, He never said that if the brothel is gone, what will happen to the prostitutes in the building.
Besides, if carnivores like them don’t go to high-end consumption places like brothels, wouldn’t they be gone? While frantically pupating on the brothel woman's body, he also cursed the woman as a bastard.
For example, in the area of education, these Jiangnan scholar-officials believed that education should be returned to the people.
This trend mainly started after Zhu Yuanzhang deleted Mencius. The imperial court controlled the imperial examinations, and also controlled the official engravings. It also established prefecture and county schools, controlled students, and educated the people. Then the world will be unified, but these scholar-bureaucrats will never say that they need ten taels of silver for a year's repairs, let alone poor people and coolies. The idle rural sages and gentry cannot afford to support their three or five children at home.
This is relatively good, and there are still some more misleading public opinions spreading in Nanya.
For example, the officials and the gentry all paid the rations, but the officials and the gentry actually did not pay the rations! Are they still from Ming Dynasty? It seems that he supports the court's tax collection, but it is not at all.
The officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty also had to pay grain, and their privilege was to be exempted from part of the official tax, and their privilege was not to perform hard labor.
The biggest problem of the Ming Dynasty was tax evasion. The antidote was for the Tax Inspection Institute to vigorously collect taxes, clarify the cadastre, and clarify the issue of tax base. The court knew who should collect the taxes, not who Every summer and autumn, the yamen collect taxes as if bandits are going to the countryside.
If you really listen to these scholar-bureaucrats and cancel the privileges of officials and gentry to be exempted from official duties and no labor service, the largest group of scholars, the poor scholars, will only resent the court and join these forces and become right-wing.
When an emperor governs a country, he always needs scholars. How to get more people to study is the key to the problem.
For example, when the Ming Dynasty was in financial difficulty, why didn’t it strictly enforce the Salt Law to make money? The salt law and salt introduction system of the Ming Dynasty have long been corrupted. If illicit salt sales were banned, the Ming Dynasty court could earn at least 10 million more silver a year. This seems simple and easy, and this is not a random estimate. In the Southern Song Dynasty, There are more than 31 million yuan in salt money alone!
Money, a lot of money!
If the Salt Law is strictly enforced and the court issues salt quotas, there will be no need to set up official factories to collect them. This will bring a bad reputation and the income will not be much different from that of the Salt Law.
These cheap Confucian scholars do not talk about the price. The collapse of the Yanyin system was not only caused by Emperor Xiaozong's excessive filial piety. In the situation at that time, the investigation of illegal salt sales was very ruthless. I am afraid that another one will be investigated. When Huangchao came out, private salt dealers became rampant because of the demand for salt.
The serious salt law looks great, but what do people eat? This is the most basic question that the humble Confucians will never explain. It is to deliberately create a persona that I am smarter than the court Ming Gong, so as to attract fans and disciples.
There are many, many more of these messy government orders. Each of them looks beautiful, but in fact they are all unrealistic and even harbor evil intentions. Just put the contradiction above and think about the contradiction. You will find the problem.
“This one seems the most outrageous, but it is still possible.” Zhu Yijun looked at a miscellaneous newspaper in his hand and said cheerfully.
The humble Confucians in Nanya believe that every adult in the Ming Dynasty, that is, an adult man, should get some land from the imperial court for cultivation!
This seems to be the most outrageous. The Ming Dynasty had nearly 120 million inhabitants. Where did these lands come from? !
The current New Deal of the Ming Dynasty is sorting out the means of production of the Ming Dynasty, and the idea advocated by these cheap scholars is to get it right in one step. Whatever is sorted out, it can be sent directly to the fields! It somewhat uses more radical policies to satirize and criticize the conservative New Deal, thereby achieving the purpose of destroying the New Deal.
The intention is bad, but the Ming Emperor can really execute it, and Ming Cheng Ding can really get the land!
It’s just that these lands are in Suiyuan, in Liaodong, in the four major governor’s offices, in Jilong, in Ryukyu, in Luzon, in Java, in the Thousand Islands Kingdom, and in the Yuanxu Islands.
"Your Majesty, this is a memorial from Chief Situ." Feng Bao handed a memorial to His Majesty. This memorial did not require approval. It was about what Wang Guoguang saw and heard in Nanya.
After Zhu Yijun read the memorial, he was silent for a moment. Emperor Ming had no way to deal with what Wang Guoguang said.
In his memorial, Wang Guoguang stated a contradiction, the contradiction between the silver dam in Nanya and the lack of currency. The silver dam is not blocked by too much silver and cannot be dredged downwards, resulting in silver The exchange value has dropped sharply. Why is Nanya still short of money?
“In May last year, I had one tael of silver and 840 cash. As of June, I had 820 cash. As for the shops, I only got 7670 cash. The common people had no money. Money can be used, and it can still be passed if it is mixed with lead and tin." Zhu Yijun read the original text of the memorial.
What is lacking in currency is base metal currency. The scale of casting of Wanli Tongbao in the Ming Dynasty still cannot keep up with the huge market demand of the Ming Dynasty. Silver is piled up like a mountain, and the inflow of red copper is far smaller than the inflow of silver. This has caused this A magical phenomenon in which silver depreciates on a large scale, but money is still not enough.
Nanya's currency is changing from a simple money shortage in the past to a situation of excessive inflow of silver, too few copper coins, rapid depreciation of silver, and rapid appreciation of copper coins and even flying coins.
If the big problem of being blocked at both ends cannot be properly solved, Nanya, the richest place in the Ming Dynasty, and the largest carriage that drove the Ming Dynasty forward, will come to a standstill. This will do great harm to the Ming Dynasty. Estimated.
Zhu Yijun looked at this memorial and said helplessly: "The first solution is to issue more overseas currency, which will inevitably face the problem of bad currency driving out good currency, and this requires the Ming Dynasty court The credibility of the Ming Dynasty is strong enough, but the Ming court has no credibility at all. Although it has recovered in the past thirteen years, it is not enough.” , so that the inflow rate of red copper is greater than the rate of silver depreciation and copper coin appreciation, or greater than the development rate of Nanya. "
The contradiction between silver and copper coins seems to be that when there is too much water, there is more water, and when there is too much water, there is more water. problem, but the current problem is that the Ming court has too much noodles and not enough water. Adding water is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice.
"It's really a happy worry." Zhu Yijun didn't think it was anything. It was a worry of development, which was much better than the worry of waiting to die.
Feng Bao said with a smile: "That's true."
Feng Bao didn't think it was a bad thing. Now, Nanya, which is full of vitality, is better than Nanya, which is a stagnant small farmer economy. , when those scholar-bureaucrats went to visit brothels, they all liked the new tea that was tender and watery, and did not like the old tea that was old and yellow.
What is more interesting is that there is a very common public opinion among the scholar-officials in Jiangnan that Zhang Juzheng is to blame for everything!
For example, regarding the contradiction between silver and copper coins, the Confucian scholar put this issue on Zhang Juzheng’s head. What kind of whipping method did Zhang Juzheng use? What kind of monetary tax should be collected? What kind of tax should be collected? Where is this kind of trouble?
When Zhu Yijun was worried about the red copper of Ming Dynasty, the person who solved this trouble was already ready to set off.
Legas took Galileo to the Ming Dynasty on a large sailing ship brought by Felipe II to trade in the Far East. During the nearly one-year voyage, Legaz disembarked at the Port of Luzon and embarked on the voyage again. Ming’s territory.
That’s right, in Legaz’s view, this is not the governor’s palace at all. There are governors, governors, inspectors, chief secretaries, twelve town yamen, the Ming law is used, and there are even schools. Luzon, the territory of the Ming Dynasty, was very different from the Governor's Mansion in Taixi.
When Galileo got off the ship, he felt a little dizzy. The long life on the ship, especially the long ocean current voyage from Peru to Luzon, made him forget the feeling of being down to earth. In Davao City, They were not allowed to disembark because there was actually a government office like the Philippine Governor's Office in Davao City. In order to prevent collusion, the sailing ship was prohibited from disembarking in Davao City.
In order to maintain each other's dignity, the Ming Dynasty retained such a yamen. In order to maintain his own dignity, Felipe II pretended that the Philippine Governor's Palace still existed and sent some supplies every year.
Galileo said sincerely: "This place was not called Luzon or the Port of Luzon before, but was called Manila. This was the pride of Felipe II in the Far East. The pearl in the Far East was captured by the Ming Dynasty. Felipe Pei is so willing to bring four to six million taels of silver to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty."
"Pray for the mercy of the Ming Emperor and obtain some silk, cotton, and ships."< br>
Legaseg waved his hands repeatedly and said: "You are wrong. This place was called Luzon hundreds of years ago. It was we who killed the king of Luzon, enslaved the civilians of Luzon, and called it Luzon." He built the stone castle over there for the natives and humanoid monkeys, and used the strong castle to maintain his arrogant and bloody rule."
"Please don't discuss history with the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty is the Far East. Living Rome is the source of all culture. "
"Child, you are only in your twenties. I hope you will always remember this sentence. Sin is always sin. It is not about praying in front of the gods and buying a few. Sin can be eliminated by issuing an indulgence."
Legasi was a missionary. Later, he broke his promise. When he was on the ship, he pretended to be a believer. After he got off the ship, he immediately stopped pretending. , and even began to publicly attack indulgences as committing evil with a clear conscience.
It is self-evident who is coming to the land of Luzon. It is unwise to discuss history with the Ming Dynasty. It is better to discuss arithmetic with the Ming Dynasty. The arithmetic of the Ming Dynasty was after Guo Shoujing of the Yuan Dynasty. There really has been no development.
“During the cruel colonial rule, these people were slaves, but now they are directing the labor and carrying red copper to the ship.” Legaz looked at the blue sky and sea on the sea-sky line, and saw They used various methods to pull the heavy cargo from the trestle to the ship, shouting loudly and shouting at the laborers at the port.
The trade winds changed in April, and it was the busiest time for maritime trade. There were about 12 million kilograms of copper stored in twelve copper towns. This year, the red copper that arrived in Ming Dynasty from Luzon Copper will exceed 17 million catties.
According to estimates by Chen Chengyi, the general manager of the Luzon Copper Factory, in the fifteenth year of Wanli, the amount of red copper shipped from Luzon to the Ming Dynasty will exceed 22 million kilograms.
Chen Chengyi brought extremely rich red copper to the Ming Dynasty, which could alleviate some of the conflicts between silver and copper coins in Nanya.
Legas said with great emotion: "You know? These labors are not free. The Luzon Governor's Mansion has to pay them wages, so if you look at them, talk and laugh, you probably plan to wait until the work is over. , where to have a good time.”
“In the era of cruel and bloody colonial rule, the employees of the Governor’s Palace would not pay any wages. These Luzon people did not even have bows and arrows, so they were under the coercion and inducement of firearms. , and worked until death. ""Then everyone tells you that this is a gift from God, Galileo. Do you think it is a gift or a robbery?"
"You can say it. Yes, this is cruel plunder." It was also the first time that Galileo heard Legaz criticize the Holy See, doctrine, and the Spanish colonial behavior so severely.
On the ship, Legas was also cautious about his words and deeds, for fear of saying the wrong thing and being thrown into the sea by the sailors. But when he arrived in the Ming Dynasty, he could speak out. Once here, he didn't have to believe in God.
“You only agree superficially.” Legas looked at Galileo and shook his head.
There is a process called backfire in the Ming Dynasty. In order to make the core hardness of the workpiece higher than the surface hardness, the craftsmen will naturally cool the workpiece and then put it in the furnace to heat it again, and use a strong fire to make the surface temperature rise. High, let the temperature become even after taking it out, quench immediately, and heat again.
Now Galileo is going through this process. The reason why Legaz understands so well is that he has experienced it.
When a person encounters opinions or evidence that conflict with his or her own beliefs, unless these opinions and evidence are enough to undermine the original belief, people will ignore it or even refute the opinions and evidence. , when the external force is strong enough, and you have to bow your head, you will temporarily agree with the surface, and the original belief will become stronger. This is the backfire of people, soft on the outside and hard on the inside.
Legaz did not intend to crush Galileo's belief immediately, because Galileo did not agree with the doctrine itself. He talked too much, but it made the young man have a rebellious mentality, which was counterproductive. The journey has been long and he has seen a lot. Naturally I understand.
Galileo smiled and said nothing.
You Legas are the traitors to the Holy See, and Galileo is the secular knight who charges against the Holy See. The anatomy and astronomy he studies, each of which shakes the foundation of the Holy See. If he believes in religion, Can he still be forced to leave Taixi and go to Ming Dynasty?
Along the way, Galileo Galileo was not blind, he could see clearly what life was like for the slaves in the Governor's Palace of the West and the colonies, and what life was like for the common people in Luzon under the Ming Dynasty.
He does not agree superficially, he really recognizes the high moral inferiority of the Ming Dynasty. He is fascinated by the temple of science that only exists in legendary stories, the Ming Dynasty Royal Academy of Geosciences.
“This time, there is no opium.” Yin Zhengmao, the governor of the Ming Dynasty, after fully inspecting the large sailing ship, confirmed that no contraband was carried this time. He was also relieved. The last case of Sauron made Yin Zhengmao Also helpless.
“There seems to be an extra two million taels of silver on the ship.” Shi Longbo and Deng Zilong said with a strange expression. This year, there was an extraordinarily large amount of silver on the ship, exceeding 7 million taels of silver, far exceeding the transaction volume in previous years.
Legas explained with a smile: "Last year's opium controversy, King Felipe II of Spain did not know about it. It was Solon who acted privately for his own benefit, but this explanation is too pale. , no one would believe it, so His Royal Highness took two million taels of silver and gave it to the Ming Emperor as an apology. After all, real money is more convincing."
"That is indeed very convincing. "Deng Zilong said with great approval: "Has His Majesty's recognition of silver reached Taixi?"
Everyone present immediately smiled understandingly. His Majesty's frugality is well known to the world. Shown in the preference for silver.
The transformation from a small-scale peasant economy to a commodity economy required a large amount of silver as a catalyst. Only when massive amounts of silver continued to flow into the Ming Dynasty could the Ming Dynasty make steady progress. Of course, this created the international image of the Ming Emperor: an Eastern dragon who loved silver. What's pressing down are mountains of silver.
Legasi thought for a while and replied: "That is inevitable, but what surprised His Majesty the King is that His Majesty the Great Ming Emperor, a prophet of wisdom, is indifferent to gold. This proves that His Majesty does not like silver, but He is a wise king, and I told His Majesty that His Majesty also likes red copper very much compared to silver.”
This passage is a bit of a riddle, but everyone present can understand that His Majesty truly loves it. Is it silver?
The quantity of gold is too small and cannot be widely used; silver is a precious metal currency that can be widely used, but it is not a currency for poor coolies; and the Wanli Tongbao cast from red copper is what all people need.
So His Majesty the Emperor loves silver and copper. In fact, he loves all the people.
This is a very subtle flattery, and it is also the truth of the matter. During the fifteen days of telling stories to Felipe II, Legas made this logic very clear.
But Felipe firmly believes that silver is the way to apologize that can be recognized by His Majesty.
Whether Sauron’s actions are personal or not, Sauron is Felipe’s messenger.
“What are those big pipes over there that are emitting white smoke?” Galileo looked into the distance of Luzon Port. The visibility was very good. Galileo saw chimneys one after another, emitting billowing white smoke. .
“That’s brick-burning.” Deng Zilong explained with a smile that bricks are a local commodity. Because bricks are not high in price and are heavy, all brick-burning is done locally. Manila New Luzon City is being built, so a large amount of bricks will be fired.
"Can I go and have a look?" Galileo was very curious about everything about the Ming Dynasty. The nobles used stone to build castles, but in fact the West also made bricks. For example, Galileo saw Wuzhang brick, which is a kind of red brick. For various reasons, this kind of brick was not durable, but the Ming Dynasty bricks he saw were all cyan, which aroused his curiosity.
"Yes." Yin Zhengmao agreed to Galileo's request.
Galileo left, full of expectations for the unknown journey.
"Who is this person?" Yin Zhengmao asked with some confusion.
Legas looked at Galileo's back, took out a notebook, and said affirmatively: "A genius who is full of curiosity about the infinite principles of all things, is very smart, and is willing to put it into practice. This genius It was a star map he drew on a large sailing ship. It took him only three months to fully master the art of guiding stars across the ocean, and he successfully identified the direction three times, allowing the fleet to arrive in Manila a month early. "
"Guo Xingye, believe me, he and the doctors of the Five Classics of the Royal Academy of Gewu must have many common topics."
Yin Zhengmao was stunned for a moment and asked: "He only uses After three months, he mastered the art of traveling across the ocean?"
"It was boring on the boat. He learned it by himself and no one taught him." Li Yashi said with some fear: "I don't know either. , how did he learn such a complicated thing? Is he still a human being? "
The world of genius always makes ordinary people a little confused. Everyone has one nose and two eyes. How come there is such a big difference? Woolen cloth?
Legasi also studied the art of leading stars across foreign countries, but did not understand it.
Yin Zhengmao immediately said to Deng Zilong: "Deng Zilong, you lead a team of people to protect him from being killed by the natives. Perhaps he is more valuable than two million taels of silver."
Yin Zhengmao has a passion for geniuses. He clearly knows it, because he is also a genius. Which person who can pass the Jinshi examination is not the best among people? The best among readers?
A person who has taught himself how to navigate the stars and cross the ocean, and can learn it successfully, and correctly identify the direction, can be regarded as a genius, and is the person the Ming Dynasty Royal Academy of Geosciences needs.
His Majesty is very interested in recruiting talented people from all over the world. Only by increasing productivity can we produce more materials and settle down the people of the world.
Development can solve most problems naturally. Some stubborn diseases that were considered impossible to change in the past will become insignificant in the process of development.
Those who live in warehouses know etiquette, and those who have enough food and clothing know honor and disgrace. Even Confucians, who are half buried in the soil and exude a rotten atmosphere, still say that material is the basis of morality. Without material, discussing morality is False things.
Galileo came to the brick kiln's civilian workshop. When Deng Zilong and his soldiers surrounded him, Galileo was very panicked. He waved his hands and said in unskilled Chinese: "General, I don't have Why do you want to arrest me for stealing any secrets of the Ming Dynasty? "
Galileo is not very proficient in Chinese. He always used Latin in the port. In the West, he was worried about being arrested by the Inquisition. In his heart, , the Ming Dynasty was similar to the Holy See. He thought that the knights of these knights wanted to arrest him because he said something wrong.
"No, it was the special envoy Legas who said you are a genius. In the Ming Dynasty, genius is more valuable than two million silver, so I brought troops here. This team of people will protect you. You have to know that the locals are very jealous of the red. Mao Fan is not welcoming, even hateful." Deng Zilong explained why he came.
The hatred of the natives towards the Red-haired Fans is extremely strong and cannot be alleviated by an order from the Governor-General.
"Am I more valuable than two million taels of silver? Me? A bereaved...bereaved dog who was driven around?" Galileo was not proficient in Chinese with hyperlinks, especially idioms. Behind each idiom there is a story and The implication is that this thing is really difficult to learn.
"The lost dog." Deng Zilong explained and said: "You can look at it as you like."
Galileo felt at ease and began to look around. For some words that could not be expressed accurately, he would use Latin Wen, and the accompanying general will also explain.
Galileo asked with great confusion: "In other words, the walls of the capital city in the south of the Ming Dynasty are more than two hundred years old and are still standing. Are they all made of rammed earth and covered with bricks? Will the bricks not decompose? "
"Ah? Why do bricks decompose?" Tongshi was even more confused. What gave Galileo such an idea? The Nanjing city wall has been standing for more than two hundred years. How could it be so if it was not demolished intentionally? Easy to collapse?
Galileo sighed, shook his head and said: "The red bricks will decompose."
The process of the green bricks fired in the Daming Dynasty is more complicated. For example, this kiln is a behavior that Galileo cannot understand. The reason why red bricks are red is actually the red color of rust, which is fully oxidized ferrous oxide, while the green bricks are due to the kiln, which is not fully oxidized, so it is ferrous oxide. Red bricks are not necessarily worse than green bricks, they are just from the Ming Dynasty. The process is just more rigorous.
This is a brick carefully selected by the nine tribes.
“Can three carriages run parallel on the brick-clad city wall of the Ming Dynasty? I don’t believe it. How is this possible?” It’s not like Galileo has never seen a city wall. It’s good if he can have people standing on the city wall, let alone There is a horse-drawn carriage, and people who get on it have to be careful to prevent falling.
Tongshi didn’t care. The difference between Ming Dynasty and Taixi was very clear to him. He pointed to the distance and said: "You don’t believe it? Well, the new Luzon City Wall is right there. There is room for three carriages, but it is only a section. The governor ordered that no city wall be built.”
"Ah?" Galileo looked in the direction of the general's finger and saw a city gate that had been built. This city gate was built in a traditional city. However, the city wall was only built for a section, and then the work was completely stopped. It was not because there was no money. Yes, because times have changed.
The Governor's Palace of Luzon does not need to build a city wall. The reason is the same as most cities in the south do not have a city wall. Firstly, the enemies they face are not very strong. The residential buildings outside the city are completely sufficient. Secondly, , the size of the city continued to expand, and the city walls hindered development.
Everything in Luzon is thriving.
(End of this chapter)