my days with tyrants

Chapter 77 You might as well make your words clearer

"This is the world.

The earth we live in is a huge ball.

This ball is too big, and it takes nearly [-] miles to go around it. Compared with this big ball, people are too small. Therefore, within our line of sight, it seems to be on a flat ground, but it is not impossible to verify that there are still traces on weekdays. It can be found, such as looking at a sailboat in the distance at sea, the first thing you see is always the sail.

After about a hundred years, the Taixiyi people finally proved this with practical actions.

A fleet of their ships sailed west without changing direction, and finally, after some years, returned to port from their east. "

Yang Feng said to the globe.

Homemade.

There is no shortage of craftsmen on Yang Wen's battleship, and there are even professional map drawers...

He belongs to pioneering new routes, and of course he has to draw a map with him, so what Yang Feng needs is to let the craftsman make a wooden ball, which is nothing more than two oversized wooden bowls buckled together, as long as it can be guaranteed to be a rough ball shape.Then the mappers find a way to turn a rough map of the world into an image on a globe, and they don’t need to worry about the details. It’s just a land outline. After adding longitude and latitude lines, this is still very easy to achieve, and then paint different color.Especially the real actual control area of ​​Daming at present, this is also to be painted, the current Daming is north to the Songhua River Basin, not even Heilongjiang, south to Hainan Island, at least not yet to the islands in the South China Sea.

West to Andingwei, Handongwei, that is Ruoqiang and Hotan.

Shazhou Guard has not yet been established.

But the Mongols in Shazhou have already paid tribute.

Hamiwei has not yet been established, and Wunasili, who controlled it, surrendered or rebelled before. He was beaten up by the Ming army and paid tribute just last year, so it cannot be regarded as an actual control area.

Should be considered a vassal.

His identity is also King Hameri.

Yang Feng's standards for actual control areas in the Ming Dynasty were the Weisuo and Xuanweisi.

The Xuanwei Division is also considered an actual control area.

Although many Xuanweisi do not have the Ming army, let alone Ming officials, they are only chieftains, similar to the autonomous regions in the borderlands. The Ming army has the right to operate in the Xuanweisi. Although it may never have been in fact, there are This power, the two words Xuan and Wei have made this point clear, the former can mobilize the chieftain's army, and the latter can send troops into the chieftain's territory to comfort...

Of course, condolences with a cannon.

In short, the current Daming has such a large actual control area.

"That's all I have for Daming?"

Zhu Yunxi twirled the globe, looking at Daming with some dissatisfaction.

“That’s still loosening the standard.

For example, Uzbekistan Commander, the imperial court accepts their tribute, and occasionally sends an envoy to tell them, but in fact, the imperial court does not ask how they manage, but they can only do this there, after all, the place is too high. Our people couldn't breathe when they went up.

There are also eight hundred Dadian Xuanweisi, and they are only here to pay tribute, and we will make them officials.

Not to mention the actual jurisdiction, even our envoys probably haven't been there. "

Yang Feng said.

"The gains of these barbarian lands will not benefit the country, and the loss will not harm the country. If they want to truly govern, but they have to send officials and soldiers, it will be a waste of money and people.

I'm big Ming Huairou Yuanren.

As long as they submit to Daming, why should they care about anything else? "

Huang Zicheng said from the side.

He didn't even have a seat, so he had to stand there.

In addition, I also disdain to sit in such a place full of smog, and look at the women around me who are dressed indecently, especially the most beautiful one. It's shameless to expose a large piece, he is an upright gentleman, he just glanced at it a few times.

The same goes for other women.

Well, the adopted daughters of Ambassador Yang are dressed in retro fashion...

Restore the history of the Tang Dynasty.

After all, the clothes he designs must take into account his own aesthetics, so it must be cooler than this time.

That's pretty conservative already.

He didn't come up with a full set of modern clothes, so he already respected this era very much.

"Emperor grandson, please remember that there is no worthless land in this world, it's just when the value is revealed.

Eight hundred Dadian is our name, and the natives call themselves Lanna, which means a million rice fields. It is the best rice-producing area. Even in our time, it is also an important rice exporter. The fragrant rice there is Premium rice.The barbarian lands considered by the imperial court are just unexploited values. Take Mubang and Burma as examples, where there is the best wood for making warships. Later Taixi people occupied it and used teak wood to make warships. It is unrivaled across the sea. .Uzang is indeed a place on the plateau, we can’t breathe when we go up, but don’t forget that the Tang Dynasty was captured by Tubo in Chang’an, such a place is not firmly controlled, as long as there is another hero, or it will be controlled by those who covet Ming Dynasty , Shaanxi, and Sichuan never have peace.

Look, there is really no worthless land in this world.

Or for the rich soil.

Or there are inexhaustible mineral deposits underground.

Or special strategic value.

There is always a time to show its value.

Even for the sake of future generations, we must continue to expand the territory.

The world is so big, how big is the Ming Dynasty? The country has its strength and its weakness. Don't take advantage of its strength to grab more land, and leave as much land as possible for future generations. When it is weak, it is the turn of others to rob you.

Also, don't think about Huairou, Yidi is afraid of Weiwei, and Huairou cannot be exchanged for stability. They just treat you as a fool with a lot of money, say good things that don't really cost you, and then exchange them for rewards.I can clearly say that many of those Fanbang tribute envoys who paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty were businessmen, and had nothing to do with their monarchs. trading.

They paid tribute to a few horses and some spices, and the rewards from Ming Dynasty were more than a hundred times.

Profiteering!
How much is the spice?

Those islands in Nanyang are everywhere, just like weeds here.

And the national strength of Daming is hundreds of times and thousands of times that of these foreign countries. It can be said that the population of a county in Daming may be larger than that of their whole country, even if the population of those big countries may not be as large as that of a place in the south of the Yangtze River.

With such a huge advantage, why not just destroy the country, occupy the land, and enjoy everything from now on?
This point has to learn from Hu Yuan.

Hu Yuan did a good job, grabbing all the land he could, making dogs who were willing to submit, and massacring cities and families who were not willing to submit. "

Yang Feng continued to bewitch Zhu Yunxi.

"Daming is a country of etiquette, benevolence and righteousness benefit the world, how can it be like a barbarian?"

Huang Zicheng said angrily.

"When I was a serf owner, I used to call him Dayuan Shengshi, but now I see him cold, and call him a barbarian. I have no conscience!"

Yang Feng sighed with emotion.

"Uh?"

Huang Zicheng was tongue-tied.

Of course, Zhu Yunxi was not interested in paying attention to the mood of the companion. He was spinning the globe, and it was estimated that part of the blood in his body was awakening. After all, half of the Chang family blood flowed in him...

The emperor's grandson finally left holding the globe.

Of course, he didn't want it himself, he had to dedicate it to his grandfather, and his grandfather would definitely make a few more, and they would be more refined, so he would definitely have one in the end.At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang's world map was still unfinished, only the eastern part was completed. Now that Yang Feng is back, those who drew the map will continue their work soon.

"I've always wondered, why don't you support expanding territories?"

Yang Feng looked at the leaving emperor's grandson and asked Zhang Xianzong.

"Who pays for the food?"

Zhang Xianzong said very simply.

Yang Feng smiled slightly.

"Everyone knows that expanding the territory is a good thing, but who will provide the money and food for expanding the territory? Your Majesty's development of Huining can already be said to be a waste of money. The front is indeed only [-] to [-] troops. How many people are transporting behind? Jiangnan The grain needs to be transported to Liaodong by sea, and Liaodong needs to be transported to Kaiyuan by Liaohe River, and then continue to be transported from Kaiyuan. In order to build ships in Jilin, thousands of craftsmen were recruited, and the needs of these craftsmen had to be transported there.

From Jiangnan to Jilin, more than [-] people are transporting tens of thousands of people.

And these more than [-] people have to consume more money and food.

All taxes paid by the people.

This is still Huining, there is sea and river transportation along the way, and the transportation is convenient. If it is going to the southwest mountainous area or the desert of the Western Regions, how many people will be needed to transport it?How many ships will be built, how many craftsmen will be needed, and how much tax will these craftsmen have to support?
Expansion of territory?
One sentence is of course easy.

But when you really want to expand your territory, you have to pay for it. "

Zhang Xianzong continued.

“But the rewards are also huge.

Spices from the South Seas, trade from the Western Regions, even in places like Myanmar, there are also gems. "

Yang Feng said.

"But what does this have to do with the people?"

"What are you doing with the people in Jiangnan, or what are you doing with the gentry in Jiangnan?

You may wish to speak more clearly.

The fundamental reason is that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River did not get any benefits. His Majesty the Emperor still did not let go of private overseas trade. No matter how much money was made in the development of Nanyang, it belonged to His Majesty the Emperor.Even if the development of the Western Regions can benefit, it is the military generals in the Northwest. It is cheaper for the Mu family to open up the Southwest, but the money and food are all from the south of the Yangtze River.

No good, you naturally don't support it.

But what if?
First, although we have many differences, we are in agreement on this issue.

Private overseas trade should be open.

But the premise is that you must use treasure banknotes to trade, but if you want to use treasure banknotes to trade, you must use force to force those foreign countries, or you have to use force to open up first. After all, if you want benefits, you have to invest first. Your emperor has completely liberalized overseas trade.

You have to support him to expand the territory first, anyway, it's useless if you don't support it. "

Yang Feng said.

"How do you get His Majesty to let go of private overseas trade?"

Zhang Xianzong said with some emotion.

He is from Fujian, and this is what Fujian gentry look forward to most.

"Treasures!

Don't you still understand that what he really wants to avoid is actually losing currency dominance?The more prosperous overseas trade is, the more gold, silver and copper coins will be accumulated in the hands of folk gentry merchants. His real purpose is to promote treasure banknotes from beginning to end, and the promotion of treasure banknotes is to control currency dominance. So no matter how strict he is, he can't stop the people from using these things for trade.

The well-developed overseas trade will make it more and more difficult to implement his treasure banknotes, even trading with spices is more popular than treasure banknotes.

It also makes him lose control of the currency.

Now he can print money and give it to the army, and the army can buy what they want.

Once he loses control over the currency, he can only obtain metal currency through taxation. At that time, he can only compromise with the gentry, because the developed overseas trade will allow the gentry to obtain huge amounts of metal currency. Simply put, the gentry has gained currency dominance.

He must bend to the will of the gentry.

That's the key. "

Yang Feng said.

That's how Daming ended up!
The collapse of treasure banknotes made the country lose its currency dominance.

The Jiangnan and Fujian-Guangdong gentry groups, which hold a huge amount of overseas trade silver, completely control the country's currency. They rely on currency dominance to control the country's policies, and eventually become the Donglin Party.Zhu Yuanzhang's mistake from the beginning was that he chose treasure banknotes as the currency. Although he couldn't help it, after all, he really didn't have so many copper coins, and the Song Dynasty had already used iron coins.During the Yuan Dynasty, the Semu Group and the Mongolian nobles continued to search for metal coins. The Yuan Dynasty had already used precious banknotes. Zhu Yuanzhang just had no choice but to face the reality.

but……

This ancestral system cannot be changed by future generations.

Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, Baochao has always been legal tender.

Although it has not been used for a long time, it is still legal tender.

Silver is not.

The combination of money and banknotes is the law.

The loss of the authority of the Ming Dynasty government was a process of losing currency dominance.

At the beginning, when the treasure banknotes were mainly copper coins and supplemented by copper coins, it was the era of strong emperors such as Hongwu Yongle, and the era when the treasure banknotes were devalued seriously and copper coins were the main ones. It was those emperors who were getting weaker and weaker, because they could not stop the private casting of copper coins. Later, private casting of copper coins When the official copper coins were completely replaced, the imperial power could no longer hold on, and in the end it could only be suppressed by civil officials.Then the silver in overseas trade completely kicked out the precious banknotes like a dimensionality reduction blow, and the remaining copper coins became more and more weak because of the increasing amount of silver. When silver completely dominated, they became the emperors after Wanli. .

Not only civil servants, but also the local gentry behind the Donglin Party can suppress the imperial power.

When the mine supervisor and tax supervisor in Wanli were beaten to death by the local gentry like a dog, burned to death and thrown into the river to drown, he couldn’t even kill Ge Chengcheng who was a scapegoat. Under protection, he has been served in prison like a hero for more than ten years, and then he was released.

It's a magical world.

In the final analysis, Wanli has no control over the currency.

Suzhou gentry have.

Wanli dared not really offend them.

So it is very simple to want Zhu Yuanzhang to let go of overseas trade, and the gentry support his precious banknotes.

Not lip service.

It is to really cooperate with him to complete the currency's currency and establish a sustainable system so that he does not have to worry about his own currency dominance, and then turn the object of cutting leeks into the surrounding small foreign countries...

In other words, the monarch and his ministers worked together to harm the surroundings.

Monarchs and ministers build mutual trust.

Work together to establish a currency system that is acceptable to both parties and can operate in the long run.

(End of this chapter)