prosperous age

If we don't take advantage of the low gold prices now to accumulate gold, it will be too late when the wealthy hoard their gold and silver.

"Twelve?"

Upon hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Juzheng gently shook his head.

He is no longer someone who knows nothing; he has a basic understanding of finance.

When Wei Guangde analyzed gold and silver prices with him, it was then that his eyes were truly opened.

After all, in the past, commodity prices were considered a natural thing to them, and this has always been the case.

However, they can understand the basic supply and demand relationship: when crops fail, grain prices are higher, and when mulberry trees are damaged, silk prices are higher.

However, Wei Guangde's theory was different. No matter how overseas silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty, even if the Ming Dynasty did nothing, the price of commodities would rise simply because there was more silver in the market.

Although Zhang Juzheng did not agree at first, he gradually understood the reasoning behind Wei Guangde's words after further observation.

Just like the current prices in Beijing, chicken, duck, goose and pork are important commodities in the city, and the prices of these items have risen significantly in the past two years.

You're saying it's because people's wages have increased, so more people are buying and driving up prices?

That's not necessarily true. Although people have more money in their hands, the prices of various commodities have also risen. Overall, it seems that they can only buy about the same amount of money as they could a few years ago.

However, commodity prices have indeed risen.

This forces us to consider Wei Guangde's statement that the price increase was caused by an increase in the amount of money in the hands of the people.

Currently, silver is flowing in, wages are increasing, and prices are rising, so people can maintain their current level. But what if silver inflows decrease or even stop, or in the worst-case scenario, outflows? What will happen to the market then?

Zhang Juzheng couldn't be sure because he hadn't encountered it.

This is the situation that all countries have encountered since the world moved from being closed to being open.

Countries that responded well, or those that gained various advantages, developed rapidly during this transformation.

As for the Ming Dynasty, due to internal and external troubles, it completely missed the opportunity to participate in this transformation.

Even if foreigners appeared in China, the eyes of the Chinese people were covered, and they could not see what was happening outside.

"Do you really think the price of gold will rise further? During the Tang and Song dynasties, the price of gold was only five or six taels of silver."

The current market price is about eight taels, which is quite a lot.

Furthermore, I understand that the price in Japan is currently around six taels of silver.

Zhang Juzheng was clearly paying attention to the regular reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which included not only domestic news but also overseas information, such as grain and gold and silver prices in Korea and Japan.

It can be said that Wei Guangde had taken intelligence work to its extreme in this era, inferring a country's economic situation through prices.

"That's why I previously suggested that merchants go to Japan to trade, otherwise the profits would all be earned by the barbarians."

Well, even now, Wei Guangde still blames Spanish and Portuguese merchants for the appearance of Ming Dynasty goods in Japan.

Currently, the market share of Japanese merchant ships is roughly evenly split between those under Wei Guangde's command and those of the foreign merchants.

However, Wei Guangde knew that this kind of business could not continue. He had to muddy the waters to prevent his merchant ships from slipping up when they went to Japan to do business and causing trouble.

The best way to muddy the waters is to send other merchant ships along, so that the navy no longer blocks the sea lanes.

"It is indeed despicable that foreign merchants openly violate the laws and regulations of our Great Ming Dynasty. However, when we discussed this with their representatives before, they pushed all the blame onto the merchants, saying that as long as we have evidence to prove that their merchants have sold Great Ming goods to Japan, we can resolutely refuse to trade with those merchants."

But where are we supposed to gather evidence in something like this? They say you have to catch a thief red-handed. Even if we know who it was, and the time and place of the transaction, if they deny it to the death, there's nothing we can do.

Zhang Juzheng was a man of principle; he wouldn't do something like executing someone without prior instruction.

Although Wei Guangde felt it was unnecessary, he thought it would be enough to let them prove that they had not traded Ming Dynasty goods with Japan.

However, he cannot do that.

Foreign merchants were aware of the smuggling of goods by ships during the Ming Dynasty, but it wouldn't do for the thief to cry "stop thief!"

"Relax the restrictions appropriately, as long as ships that trade with Japan are required to pay an additional tax upon their return, which must be paid in gold."

Wei Guangde laughed.

"Haven't you always been eyeing Japan's gold and silver mountains? How much can you possibly gain from taking a little tax?"

Zhang Juzheng smiled.

"Although our Great Ming Dynasty is vast and rich in resources, there are some things that are produced more and of better quality by the surrounding barbarians."

Japan's gold and silver mountains were of great significance to our Ming Dynasty.

As I said before, if one day the inflow of silver decreases or stops, the market will have to rely on the production of silver from Japan's silver mines to maintain activity.

Gold and silver produced in Japan will be transferred to a treasury, modeled after the Changying Treasury.

The existing silver reserves were intended for wartime use, while this new treasury is intended to maintain market stability.
If the imperial court can maintain its operations, it is best to rely on taxation.

Wei Guangde said.

"Alright, I'll have the Ministry of Revenue continue to purchase gold slowly until the price rises to ten taels of silver."

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "Anyway, the Changying Treasury has only exchanged more than 30% of the silver so far, and it is estimated that it can still collect two million taels of gold."

"Three million taels of gold, which will probably be worth thirty million taels by then, is enough to cope with a major war."

Wei Guangde laughed.

"Gold prices fluctuate, and besides, gold prices have never been this high in history."

If Changying Warehouse releases gold in exchange for silver, the price of silver is likely to fall.

Zhang Juzheng frowned and said, disagreeing.

"The imperial court can simply issue a decree. For example, one tael of silver can be exchanged for nine hundred and sixty copper coins, which was already agreed upon beforehand."

Wei Guangde laughed.

Previously, when the Ming Dynasty began minting silver coins, the court issued official pricing for the coins.

One tael of silver was worth sixteen mace, each mace was equivalent to sixty copper coins in official currency, and one fen was equivalent to six copper coins. Furthermore, private minting of copper coins was strictly prohibited.

According to the Ming dynasty system, one tael was equal to sixteen coins, and each coin was ten fen.

In Wei Guangde's view, since the court could set the prices of silver and copper coins, naturally money could also be linked to silver.

However, these policies are only issued during special periods, such as when the imperial court needs to release gold to exchange for silver.

In other periods, when the price of gold fell below ten taels, the imperial court would use silver to buy back gold to stabilize the price.

If this continues, the price of gold will naturally be difficult to fall below ten taels of silver.

If the Ming Dynasty could acquire Japan's vast wealth, maintaining its rule wouldn't be difficult at all.

At the very least, if the price difference between gold and silver in the East and West is not significant, there will be no financial speculators.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Western gold prices are still 20% higher than those in the Ming Dynasty; remember what era this is.

In this era of inconvenient transportation, a 20% price difference carries a life-threatening risk.

Moreover, with the imperial court guaranteeing a minimum of ten taels, the price of gold couldn't possibly be only ten taels; it might even be higher.

"Which is more attractive, the white or the golden?" It's obvious at a glance.

As Wei Guangde spoke, he took out a money pouch from his person, took out a gold coin and a silver coin, and tossed them back and forth in his hands. The gold and silver coins were naturally Tongbao coins minted by the Ming Dynasty, but the gold coins had not yet entered the market on a large scale and were only used for rewards, while the silver coins had long been in circulation.

"hehe."

Zhang Juzheng chuckled lightly, then said seriously, "Shan Dai, this is something I've been thinking about these past two days. The court sets the price of silver, but if too much silver flows in, can the price really be maintained?"

"Ok?"

Wei Guangde was taken aback; he hadn't really considered Zhang Juzheng's concerns before.

In ancient China, copper coins were the standard currency. Although gold and silver were valuable as precious metals, they were also used as "money".

In ancient times, the amount of copper coins that one tael of gold or silver could be exchanged for was not fixed.

When copper coins are scarce, money is expensive; when gold and silver are scarce, money is cheap.

Actually, the main reason is that China has always lacked precious metals, including gold, silver, and copper.

The country is too big; although the total amount is astonishing, it is not enough when averaged out.

In the early Tang Dynasty, one tael of silver was worth only a few hundred coins. Later, as the Tang Dynasty entered its golden age, one tael of silver was worth about a thousand coins. However, the price still fluctuated wildly because silver was scarce, so the purchasing power of silver actually exceeded a thousand coins.

During the Song Dynasty, the economy was unprecedentedly prosperous, but this was also accompanied by a large outflow of copper coins. So, nominally, one tael of silver in the Song Dynasty was equal to one string of cash, but the price fluctuated more dramatically, especially during the Southern Song Dynasty.

Because of the burden of paying tribute, whenever tribute needed to be paid, the price of coins would rise sharply and the price of silver would fall sharply, sometimes even to the point where four or five hundred coins could be exchanged for one tael of silver.

To alleviate the money shortage, the government eventually stepped in to issue paper money, which depreciated to three strings of cash, while copper coins remained at a price of six or seven hundred coins. Iron coins and other currencies also appeared during the same period.

The Ming Dynasty continued the system established by the Tang and Song Dynasties. Although Zhu Yuanzhang invented "treasure paper" to raise funds, the official exchange rate was still one tael of silver to one thousand coins, which remains to this day.

What Zhang Juzheng was worried about was whether the prices of silver and copper coins could be maintained if a large amount of silver entered the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Wei Guangde had not considered this issue.

In his view, once the imperial court sets a policy, it is not allowed to be changed by those below.

However, if there are too many silver coins and too few copper coins in the private sector, it might actually affect the monetary system.

"Does this mean we're going to mint five-cent silver coins?"

Wei Guangde suddenly said.

"Ok?"

Zhang Juzheng was taken aback, but then he understood. "Hehe, that's something we can consider. We can mix in other materials to mint smaller denomination coins."

According to the previously established monetary system, a five-cent silver coin was equal to thirty copper coins. It was even possible to mint one-cent silver coins by adding a small amount of silver to other worthless metals to the coins, which could alleviate the problem of insufficient copper.

"Once the imperial court has established the monetary law, it must find ways to maintain it and not change it arbitrarily, otherwise it will harm the country and the people."

Wei Guangde said, "If too much silver flows in, then we should mint more small-denomination silver coins. We must at least preserve the monetary system."

Furthermore, paper money could be issued, anchored to silver.

Upon hearing Wei Guangde mention paper money, Zhang Juzheng frowned.

Upon seeing this, Wei Guangde immediately laughed and said, "The paper money I'm talking about isn't the precious paper money printed in the palace. When paper money is issued, if someone has 960 paper money, the government has to exchange it for one tael of silver. The court issues paper money according to the anchor, neither more nor less."

Naturally, this paper money must also be usable for paying taxes, just like copper coins.

"That's right, this was the original design for paper money, but it changed over time."

In that case, I was overthinking it.

Zhang Juzheng nodded; it seemed he had worried unnecessarily.

Even if you have more silver than money, there are still many ways to make a difference.

"It's nothing. Uncle, didn't you realize that Japan actually has quite a lot of copper? I'll have the Embroidered Uniform Guard compile a document on Japan's mineral resources and send it to you later."

Wei Guangde laughed.

I was delayed on the way, but I'm back in the cabinet now.

"Go and invite Grand Secretary Zhang and Grand Secretary Shen over."

Zhang Juzheng entered the cabinet and immediately gave instructions to the people at the door.

"Yes."

The man agreed and immediately went inside.

After they entered the duty room, Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing arrived shortly afterward.

"His Majesty and the Empress Dowager have already decided on a course of action. At this point, they will focus on the minor offenses and let the major ones go. The palace will issue an edict to the Earl of Wuqing, but the servants of the Earl's residence who were involved in this matter will be severely punished."

Zhang Juzheng immediately stated the countermeasures decided upon in the palace.

Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing's expressions remained unchanged, clearly indicating that they had anticipated this outcome.

Disciplining the Earl of Wuqing was a minor matter, but Empress Dowager Li lost face, which was a major issue.

"I'll go and give a heads-up to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice, and I'll also urge the Ministry of Revenue to gather the remaining cloth and cotton as soon as possible."

The matter of military uniforms cannot be delayed. If any of you gentlemen have businessmen, you may contact them.

This delay of two months means that completing over 300,000 sets of military uniforms in the next three months will not be easy.

Zhang Juzheng continued.

Shen Shixing's expression didn't change much. His family did have business members, like his uncle's family, but unfortunately they were in Fujian, so they couldn't help him in his immediate situation.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei, on the other hand, were both close to merchants, and at this time they were the only ones who could be contacted.

Zhang Juzheng, on the other hand, was not so close to merchants, so it was naturally difficult for him to find a suitable one at that time.

This time, the requirements for everything from fabric and cotton to workshops are quite urgent. It would be difficult for any single person to complete such a large workload within the stipulated time. Therefore, we can only distribute the work in this way to ensure that the cotton-padded clothes can be delivered before winter.

Upon returning from his post as Grand Secretary, Wei Guangde immediately wrote notes to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of War immediately began searching for new merchants to take over the business, while the Ministry of Justice ordered the arrest of the steward of the Marquis of Wuqing who was involved in the matter.

Not long after the note was sent out, the Ministry of Justice took action. Wei Shiliang directly signed the official document and dispatched constables from the Ministry of Justice to the Marquis of Wuqing's residence to arrest the person.

The Earl of Wuqing had already received the message from the palace. No matter how much Empress Dowager Li hated him, she couldn't possibly not inform her father.

At this moment, Wu Qingbo was personally beating his subordinate manager, blaming him for his incompetence.

The person in charge of this matter was, of course, the most innocent, but also the most unfortunate.

Everything was the fault of Wu Qingbo, yet he was made to take the blame in the end.

Yes, it was all Wuqingbo who did the reselling of cotton cloth and cotton. He also ordered the purchase of inferior cloth and cotton. How could the worst materials possibly be used to make uniforms that meet the military's minimum requirements?

The military uniforms are now deemed unqualified for storage, which means that Wu Qingbo's previous efforts have been in vain.

Not only that, he also had to lose a lot of money, all of which was for the inferior fabric, cotton, and labor costs.

"I told you to guarantee the quality and there could be no mistakes, and this is exactly what you did for me."

Still not satisfied, he lashed the steward several more times. Just then, a servant came in and said that the Ministry of Justice officials had arrived.

"Drag him out."

Li Wei waved his hand, gave instructions to the people beside him, and then looked at the steward who was half-beaten to death, saying, "Know what to say and what not to say, or you'll lose your life." (End of Chapter)