prosperous age

"What? We have to wait a year after the money exchange is established before we start setting up this stock trading house?"

Wei Guangde told Emperor Wanli about his plan, but the emperor's reaction was unexpectedly strong.

"Your Majesty, this trading house mainly deals in stock trading, and the stock of the Ming Dynasty Bank is definitely the trading house's most important commodity."

If you put your money from money shops into the trading house too early, it will be difficult to maximize your profits.

The stock price will only rise after a year of operation and a year of dividend distribution before it is listed for trading.

In this way, all shareholders holding shares will benefit.

My plan is to establish a trading house after the money shop has been operating for a full year and has started distributing dividends.

Taking advantage of the good news of the dividend, another ten million taels of new shares were issued at a high price.

However, the newly issued shares are not the same as the original one or two taels of silver per share, but at least one and a half taels or even two taels of silver.

The higher the share price, the more beneficial it is for the initial shareholders.

Wei Guangde briefly explained his ideas, and the Wanli Emperor grasped the most important information, which was that Wei Guangde was talking about driving up stock prices.

This aligns somewhat with his initial thoughts.

Although he had not received education from later generations, he had actually thought of it when he heard the news from Zhang Hong.

Since stocks are treated as a commodity, their prices are naturally subject to fluctuations, and ups and downs are normal.

But no matter what, as long as the stock price doesn't fall below one or two taels of silver, his three million taels of silver will still be a profit.

It's just a matter of how much or how little you earn.

If the stock price can really rise to one and a half or two taels.
"is it possible?"

The Wanli Emperor asked.

"In the first year, according to my estimate, the dividend will be no less than three qian of silver, and it will only be more in the future."

Our business is a sure-fire way to make money.

How many years will it take for those nouveau riche to recoup their initial investment in land purchases?
Buying land and collecting rent requires favorable weather to ensure sufficient rent is collected.

You have to sell it to get silver.

Alternatively, one could go into business, which could be more profitable, but also carries risks.

Our business has no risk; we just collect interest.

"Whether it's more worthwhile to buy land or start a business, or to invest in our Great Ming Bank, those nouveau riche should be able to figure it out."

Wei Guangde explained with a smile.

"This gold is like the earth, and that analogy is quite apt."

Crops grow in the fields, and our shares earn interest.

Emperor Wanli was just thinking that if the value of the money shop shares really rose to two taels of silver, he would sell his three million taels of shares and instantly turn them into six million taels of silver.

But now, hearing Wei Guangde's words, a slow and steady approach seems better.

"At this point, Master Wei will handle everything; I will no longer interfere."

In the past two days, I have also learned that Master Wei and the cabinet ministers have suffered quite a bit because of the trouble caused by Wei Yunzhen.

The joint memorial submitted by the Censors of the Censorate and the Six Ministries has already been approved by me. I have instructed all ministries to reprimand them.

Wei Yunzhen was punished because he spoke recklessly and inappropriately, while Li Sancai was suspected of overstepping his authority and trying to guess the emperor's intentions. What did this have to do with the assistant ministers?

Back in the cabinet, I hope Master Wei will perform his duties diligently and not be influenced by those people.

Emperor Wanli summoned Wei Guangde this time with the intention of appeasement.

Although he was unaware that from then on, the sons of the ministers would have to avoid the palace examination, which could be said to have a huge impact, it was clear that this incident was quite significant.

Several cabinet ministers have all faced criticism to varying degrees.

At this point, Emperor Wanli seemed to understand why Yan Song hadn't allowed Yan Shifan to participate in the imperial examinations.

Even though Yan Shifan's appearance was a bit unusual, given Yan Song's power at the time, it wasn't a big deal for him to suppress the Ministry of Rites.

However, Yan Shifan's final choice to go to the Imperial Academy instead of having Yan Song intervene on his behalf was very clever.

In fact, Yan Shifan was very clever to choose a different path to officialdom instead of taking the imperial examination.

Otherwise, regardless of Yan Shifan's scholarship, other candidates would judge him based on his appearance and deem him unworthy of becoming a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).

Yan Shifan's physical defects, namely his obesity and one eye, would indeed make it difficult for him to pass the Ministry of Rites' approval and would become a reason for attacking him.

In ancient times, when selecting candidates for the imperial examinations, not only were literary talent considered, but physical appearance was also taken into account.

But appearance can be a factor, but as the Grand Secretary, his son's appearance and his ability to pass the imperial examination would inevitably be used against him.

"Master Wei, I heard that your eldest son has passed the Jiangxi provincial examination. I wonder if he plans to take the metropolitan examination or become an official through the Imperial Academy."

The Wanli Emperor suddenly asked a question.

"I do not intend to interfere in this matter; let the child decide for himself."

Wei Guangde hurriedly and respectfully replied.

"Oh, I see."

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly, and seeing that Wei Guangde had no intention of seeking favors, he said nothing more.

The storm caused by Wei Yunzhen has finally passed.

After Emperor Wanli rejected the censors' appeals again and issued an edict urging Wei and Li to leave the capital, the turmoil gradually subsided.

However, the cabinet ministers who were most hurt by this incident could only calm down and silently lick their wounds.

After nearly two months of back-and-forth negotiations, the talks between Qi Jiguang and Japanese officials, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi, were drawing to a close.

Wang Xijue, the strategist who had always remained detached from the war against the Japanese pirates, once again received a draft agreement from Qi Jiguang.

"Cession of territory and payment of reparations"

After reading the document, Wang Xijue fell into deep thought.

The primary objective of the Ming Dynasty's expedition to Japan was to acquire its gold and silver mines.

Although it seems that the goal has been achieved, it is uncertain whether taking this agreement back with us will draw criticism from the domestic academic community.

In Wang Xijue's own view, the Ming Dynasty was actually there to steal from others, which was clearly wrong according to their education.

However, Wei Guangde's explanation for acquiring Japanese territory was to station troops nearby, monitor Japanese movements, and prevent Japanese pirates from invading the southeast again.

As for the reparations, Wang Xijue never expected that the Japanese would agree to them.

According to the agreement, Japan must repay the Ming Dynasty one million taels of silver within three years for the losses incurred due to the Japanese pirate raids.

The Ming Dynasty suffered losses of more than ten million taels of silver in the southeast, but the Japanese resolutely refused Qi Jiguang's offer of five million taels of silver in compensation.

The compensation of one million taels of silver was only reluctantly agreed to by the Japanese in order to end the war as soon as possible.

After this battle, the Japanese daimyo suffered losses to varying degrees.

The minor losses of soldiers were secondary; the main problems were the supply of provisions for the main army and the loss of firearms, which were a major headache for the various daimyo.

Of course, the Mori family suffered the greatest loss, so they were not required to pay the compensation this time; instead, the other Ming dynasty officials would share the burden.

Wang Xijue was not concerned with the internal situation of the Japanese; he had to consider how to beautify the battle report and send the draft contract back to the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible.

Although he was the military governor, he could not sign such a contract with a vassal state without the court's authorization. It took Wang Xijue two days to finish writing the memorial. Instead of taking credit as usual, he pushed most of the credit away, simply not wanting to get involved with the contract.

In Wang Xijue's view, this achievement was somewhat dishonorable.

Although, it was a credit for the fight against the Japanese pirates.

He only mentioned in his memorial how he commanded Qi Jiguang to win the war; he did not participate in the subsequent negotiations, but instead focused on pacifying the people in various places.

Well, the Chinese territory was ceded to the Ming Dynasty, and the Japanese living there naturally became subjects of the Ming Dynasty.

Whether they admit it or not, it's already a fait accompli.

Just as Wang Xijue was polishing his memorial and trying to absolve himself of any responsibility he didn't want to take, the Embroidered Uniform Guard also used its own channels to expedite the delivery of the draft contract negotiated between Qi Jiguang and Toyotomi Hideyoshi back to the capital.

Soon, the draft contract was placed on Liu Shouyou's desk. After reading the draft contract, Liu Shouyou was overjoyed.

Unexpectedly, the imperial court's plan to seize a piece of land not only succeeded, but also extorted a million taels of silver from Japan.

Is a million taels of silver a lot or not?

Of course, it's a lot; the imperial court's annual revenue was only a few million taels of silver.

If we estimate that this million taels of silver goes into the treasury, it will almost recoup all the money the imperial court spent on this war.

Of course, this does not include provisions and firearms, but only the soldiers' departure, double pay, and rewards.

Generally speaking, it's enough to cover the costs.

War is really expensive, especially for agricultural countries.

With limited cash tax revenue to begin with, wars consume a significant amount of real money.

On the contrary, the food rations for 100,000 people don't seem like much at all. The annual tax revenue collected by the imperial court for this type of grain is worth more than 20 million taels.

Immediately, Liu Shouyou summoned a clerk to copy the draft contract section by section.

He made two copies, one of which he sent directly to the Qianqing Palace.

This is a good thing, a great achievement. The Embroidered Uniform Guard has also made a name for itself in this battle against the Japanese.

Before the imperial court had even decided to send troops, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had already secretly infiltrated Japan to gather intelligence.

During the war, the Imperial Guard captains also participated in many operations against Japanese cities and warehouses, especially the bombing of a gunpowder depot outside the Japanese capital, which directly forced the Japanese to abandon their continued fighting against the Ming army.

While the Embroidered Uniform Guard exaggerated the outcome of this incident, the difficulty in procuring gunpowder was indeed a significant reason why Toyotomi Hideyoshi abandoned the war against the Ming army.

He was also a master of firearms. In fact, ever since Oda Nobunaga defeated the Takeda cavalry with arquebuses, the so-called famous generals of the late Sengoku period in Japan were often officers who were accustomed to using firearms.

Years later, during the invasion of Korea, the Japanese army used arquebuses on a large scale to fight against the Ming army.

Although the Ming army was no match for the Japanese iron cannons in terms of arquebuses, the large number of breech-loading cannons possessed by the Northern Army still gave the Ming army an absolute firepower advantage on the battlefield, enabling them to completely defeat the Japanese army.

With such merit, who dares to say that the Embroidered Uniform Guard did not make great contributions in this battle? Even Wang Xijue repeatedly submitted memorials to the emperor requesting that the Embroidered Uniform Guard be credited.

After all, the contributions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard spanned from the beginning to the end of the war, and their merits cannot be erased.

The other copy was naturally prepared for the cabinet.

Although Wang Xijue will certainly submit a draft as well, the Embroidered Uniform Guard needs to be one step ahead to demonstrate their value.

Just because officials outside the capital report to the authorities doesn't mean the Embroidered Uniform Guard should stop transmitting intelligence.

After copying the draft contract, Liu Shouyou hurriedly left the Northern Garrison Command with the draft and rode his horse toward the palace.

"Your Majesty, Liu Shouyou, the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, requests an audience."

In the imperial study, the Wanli Emperor was practicing calligraphy at his desk when he had some free time.

Later commentators have noted that Emperor Wanli's calligraphy was of extremely high quality, and his artistic achievements were among the best of all Ming emperors. He was even praised by later scholars as "ranking among the top three in the Ming Dynasty."

His calligraphy is best known for its regular script, characterized by its grand and vigorous style, powerful strokes, solemnity and rigor, combining royal majesty with the elegance of literati, completely overturning the stereotype of a "tyrant".

This was naturally due to Zhang Juzheng's cultivation and guidance.

In ancient China, there was a saying that one could judge a person by their calligraphy. Therefore, Zhang Juzheng's education of the Wanli Emperor, in addition to his ideology, focused more on having him practice calligraphy.

This was one of the reasons why Emperor Wanli was close to Wei Guangde in his early years. Wei Guangde's calligraphy was not very good, so he naturally did not have high expectations of the emperor.

Therefore, in the emperor's eyes, Wei Guangde's studies were the easiest.

Other teachers would strictly teach the emperor according to the Four Books, and even make him memorize the classic passages.

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde wouldn't be so forceful, but Zhang Juzheng always assigned heavy calligraphy assignments, making the young emperor suffer terribly.

In other words, Wei Guangde's assignments never required him to practice a lot of calligraphy.

Well, the current Wanli Emperor believes that his calligraphy is actually better than that of the Grand Secretary.

Some scholars believe that Emperor Wanli had two great hobbies in his life: saving money and calligraphy.

Perhaps, being able to write beautiful calligraphy, surpassing his teacher Wei Guangde, was one of Emperor Wanli's proudest achievements.

Recently, he has also been working on having the Inner Study Hall make rubbings and compile precious stone inscriptions left over from past dynasties, and then compile them into a book.

Although it is still in preparation, Emperor Wanli had already decided on the title: "Collection of Ancient Cursive Script Secrets and Clarifications by Famous Authors Throughout History".

This collection meticulously engraves the cursive script styles of renowned calligraphers throughout history, including Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, Huaisu, Sun Guoting, Song Ke, Zhu Yunming, and Wen Zhengming. It lists the cursive script styles of a particular calligrapher and a specific character, along with explanatory texts in regular script, making it convenient for practitioners to study and learn.

These were all personally selected by the Wanli Emperor.

Some of them were damaged, and the Ministry of Works was asked to find a way to repair them.

Emperor Wanli's calligraphy was based on Liu Gongquan's style, and also absorbed the styles of Yan Zhenqing, Zhao Mengfu, and the "Taige style". He paid attention to the variations in pressure and rhythm of the strokes, the symmetry of the strokes, and the abundance of strength.

Perhaps I've mastered regular script and now plan to practice cursive script.

When Liu Shouyou came in, what he saw was Emperor Wanli copying a cursive script inscription by Sun Guoting.

"Your Majesty is overjoyed! Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

Liu Shouyou entered the imperial study and immediately knelt down and shouted.

The Wanli Emperor ignored him and continued to focus on completing his work before slowly putting down his brush and asking, "What is it?"

"Your Majesty, this is a draft contract just sent by the Japanese Imperial Guards. After two months of negotiations, General Qi and the Japanese general have reached a preliminary agreement."

As he spoke, Liu Shouyou presented the draft contract with both hands.

A eunuch stepped forward, took the memorial from his hand, and respectfully handed it to the emperor.

"The deal is done, what's the result?"

The Wanli Emperor asked casually, without rushing to look through the documents in his hand.

"The demands set by the imperial court at the beginning of the war have all been met."

Furthermore, Japan will also pay our Ming Dynasty one million taels of silver as atonement.

Liu Shouyou hurriedly said.

Many of the terms concern the subsequent borders on both sides, so there is no need to repeat them.

Liu Shouyou knew that as long as the contract stipulated "ceding territory," the imperial court would approve it.

The million-dollar compensation that Qi Jiguang received was an unexpected surprise.

As expected, the Wanli Emperor, whose face had been impassive just moments before, smiled upon hearing about the million taels of silver in reparations and eagerly began to read through the pages. (End of Chapter)