I'm really not doing business

Chapter 774 The emperor has no money?
"Father, you can't stop me no matter what. I must do this job well!" Wang Qian said very firmly: "This is also what the country needs! Father, if the Ming Dynasty cannot complete the gold accumulation within ten years, we will not be able to issue treasure notes!"

"Even if silver can flow in like it is now, a money shortage is still inevitable. On that day, the Wanli Reform, which was built on silver, will collapse!"

"The government-run factories and the Labor Party that my father had high hopes for will also disappear in the long river of history along with the tide of counterattacks. There are 270,000 craftsmen living in the Ming Dynasty, which means 270,000 households. A human disaster that will affect at least one million people will occur!"

"The country needs it, His Majesty sent me, and I just happen to have the ability, why shouldn't I do it!"

Wang Chonggu looked at his stubborn son in front of him. In his eyes, children would always be children, but Wang Qian had grown up long ago and he would be responsible for his actions.

Telling the golden story well and issuing Ming treasure notes involve the fate of the Ming Dynasty for twenty, fifty, or even a hundred years.

"What's the point?" Wang Chonggu sighed. He still didn't quite agree with Wang Qian's deep involvement in collecting gold. It was too dangerous.

The route that Wang Chonggu arranged for Wang Qian was that after his death, Wang Qian would retire on the grounds of mourning, leave the vortex of power, and become a wealthy man. His Majesty was a man who cherished old times, and he, Wang Chonggu, could at least be regarded as a meritorious minister of the Wanli Reform, and would not end up in such a miserable way.

As for those jackals, tigers and leopards, as long as Your Majesty does not say anything, no one will dare to touch the Wang family. It is not worth it. They have already left the center of power, so there is no need to target them anymore.

This is a retreat from the rapids.

But Wang Qian had to follow the route arranged by the emperor, to be a sole minister, to protect his family business, to tell the world that he was Wang Qian. Wang Qian's purpose was very complicated, to prove himself, to achieve self-realization, to protect his family, to protect his property and to make the Ming Dynasty great again.

The appearance of politics is various interests and calculations. In this turbid world, you have to talk about interests so that others can understand you, believe you, and think that your values ​​are predictable and that you are a living person.

If you keep talking about making the Ming Dynasty great again, the sun, the moon, the mountains and the rivers, and the Ming Dynasty forever, others will just think you are crazy. If you think of such vague things, they will think you are a difficult person to figure out and have something up your sleeve.

It is a common tacit understanding that in particularly high-sounding occasions, people talk about ideals, and in other occasions, people talk about practical benefits. This is the only way to make you appear genuine and humble.

But the driving force behind the essence of political activities has never been the appearance, but rather these seemingly empty inner ideals, ambitions and the desire to make the world a better place.

Wang Qian said that he had no choice, but he actually did have a choice. He talked about interests and calculations, but deep down, he was still trying to prevent the Ming Dynasty from falling into crisis.

The Western envoy, Legazpi, once accurately defined this phenomenon: there are martyrs who are willing to die for those illusory ideals. The Ming Dynasty has a widespread martyrdom mentality, and every Ming person is waiting for an opportunity to die, a death that is blatant and weighty.

This is the other side of high moral disadvantage, high moral advantage. The number of martyrs in the Ming Dynasty really shocked Li Ya.

For example, when Shen Shiqing was caught by Shen Shixing, he shouted to Yan Shixuan: Tell my mother that I am not a coward.

Li Yashi was not against high morals. He lived in the Ming Dynasty and made jokes about the emperor. Without high morals, he would have died long ago.

He opposed the Ming Dynasty wasting such high morals on colonies.

"I'm going to do it." Wang Qian was stubborn about this matter. He said after a breath of turbid air, "When you are alive, you have to do something to live."

“Then you should be careful and be conservative. Don’t lose His Majesty’s gold and silver. That is His Majesty’s personal money, not the national treasury.” Wang Chonggu reminded Wang Qian again that the huge assets he controlled were not public money, but private money, and this private person was the emperor who would definitely be held accountable.

Wang Chonggu, who was highly authoritative, was actually not afraid of the infighting among the bureaucrats. He had been fighting all his life, and all he was fighting about were trivial and dirty matters. The biggest danger in this matter was the emperor.

Collecting gold sounds simple, but it is actually very difficult. Concubine Zhang, the favorite concubine of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, loved pearls, which caused the price of pearls in Kaifeng City to increase dozens of times. Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty had no choice but to pick a peony and give it to Concubine Zhang. The palace stopped purchasing pearls, and the price outside the palace dropped.

Once the news of the emperor's hoarding of gold spreads everywhere, the price of gold will soar to an unimaginable level. Unless the emperor comes forward and announces that he will no longer hoard gold, the price will remain high.

But now, the emperor handed the matter over to Wang Qian, and Wang Qian, relying on Yanxinglou Trading Company to collect the funds, also encountered many difficulties.

Because the emperor wanted to accumulate gold at a low cost, this game of passing the flower must always have players entering the game to continuously harvest gold. If the harvest is too heavy, the gold will not grow, and if the harvest is too light, the gold will be accumulated too slowly.

How to control this rhythm is the difficulty Wang Qian encountered.

"Dad, actually, as for collecting gold, I am just helping out. We mainly rely on the inflow from overseas." Wang Qian was very excited when he heard his father's advice and knew that he would no longer object.

He talked about the path of collecting gold. The collection of gold in the Ming Dynasty relied on the Yanxinglou Exchange, but the amount was not large and it mainly relied on inflows.

"Is there a lot of gold in the West? I only heard that there is a lot of silver." Wang Chonggu was stunned, shook his head and said, "I don't know the situation in the West. When I get old, I mess around with the government factories. I am better at it."

Wang Qian looked around and said, "Dad, you don't understand this. The Spanish court is richer than the Ming Dynasty. I heard that Philip II can earn 4 million taels of gold a year. He can issue a large number of debts. The Genoese are keen to buy the debts issued by Philip II and then sell them everywhere."

"As a result, Felipe II now owes his countrymen more than 10 million taels of gold, but every time a debt is due, he cheats and declares bankruptcy. He has declared bankruptcy twice, but there is still a steady stream of merchants going to Madrid to buy Felipe's bonds and sell them everywhere."

"Because people believe that Philip II can honor these debts. Similarly, these bonds are our Ming Dynasty treasure notes, right?"

Wang Chonggu did a simple calculation and said in a daze: "The people of Taixi are really too patient. Really, with a debt of 10 million taels of gold, the common people of Taixi have not rebelled and overthrown his kingdom?"

Wang Chonggu simply couldn't dare to imagine what would happen if such a thing happened in the Ming Dynasty. The annual revenue in the 3500th year of Wanli was only 8800 million silver coins. According to the Western ratio, it means that the Ming court owed a debt of million silver coins. Not to mention that the people could not bear it, the Ministry of Revenue would be the first to be unable to bear it!

Wang Guoguang was afraid that he would not be able to sleep the whole night.

The Ministry of Revenue has been talking about the 10 million silver dollars of the Suiyuan Chidao national debt ever since it was incurred, and it was not until the moment it was paid off that it was completely relieved. It also does not agree with Your Majesty issuing new national debts and borrowing silver from the people. On the one hand, the interest is high, as the Ming Dynasty is really tired of being poor, and on the other hand, it always damages the reputation of the court.

"Nothing. In order to retake the Netherlands, he sold bonds worth four million taels of gold. He said he was going to build a new fleet to attack England." Wang Qian shook his head and said, "The Ming Dynasty has its own national conditions, and the West has its own national conditions. I guess they are used to it."

Wang Chonggu was stunned for a moment, and said blankly: "I don't understand, I always advocate more goods."

It is difficult for old people to accept all kinds of new things. Wang Chonggu doesn’t pay much attention to what is happening overseas, thousands of miles away. He focuses on how to produce more goods so that people can obtain goods and commodities more easily.

Even though the emperor wanted to accumulate gold secretly, people with inside information always received the news quickly, and the market reacted to it with various interpretations.

In fact, gold was a currency with very poor liquidity in the Ming Dynasty. It was so precious that in most cases, gold was simply used to make jewelry.

When the emperor wanted to accumulate gold, various street financial analysts made their own interpretations, but these interpretations all pointed to the same direction: the emperor had no money!
The emperor's fundamental purpose was not to collect gold, but to sell gold!

The conclusion that the emperor had no money was reached because the Ming Dynasty was engaged in large-scale construction projects. The emperor was building highways, including the Kailong Highway, Suiyuan Highway, Jingkai, Jingmi, Suiyuan, Songjiang Ring Road, etc. These were all projects with large investments. Moreover, the emperor was also fighting wars, and as long as there was a war, the investment would be extremely high.

Your Majesty, who was obsessed with military expansion, was finally forced to exchange gold for silver. On the surface, he said he wanted to hoard gold, but the purpose was just to sell it at a higher price.

This argument is in line with reality and logic, but the fact that the tone is so unified obviously shows that someone is deliberately manipulating public opinion. The mastermind behind this is none other than Wang Qian. He controls several newspapers and his analysis is very complete.

The gold price at Yanxinglou Trading House fell three times in one day, which also proved that a large amount of gold was being sold.

Wang Qian started to accumulate gold only when the price of gold fell sharply and one tael of gold could only be sold for five taels of silver. The sickle had already been quietly raised and began to swing towards the speculators' heads.

Wang Qian could manipulate the market by buying at low prices and selling at high prices, repeating the cycle over and over again. The reason he could do so was because he had the support of massive amounts of silver and gold given to him by the emperor.

The emperor's order to Wang Qian was: exchange 62.5 million taels of silver for 1 taels of gold, that is, the ratio of gold to silver was 16:. Even if only taels of gold could be exchanged, it would be fine. After all, the emperor needed gold, and these powerful and wealthy people would definitely take the opportunity to raise the price. As long as it was not too excessive, Zhu Yijun could accept it.

But Wang Qian was greedy. He wanted to turn Yanxinglou Trading House into a water pump to squeeze out all the gold from the land of Ming Dynasty.

"Give an order to Wang Qian, asking him to take it easy. The price of gold has been fluctuating so much that it makes me terrified." Zhu Yijun was also shocked when he found that Wang Qian was waving his sickle like a whirlwind.

Feng Bao bowed his head and said, "This will definitely be the case in the short term. Over time, the prices of gold and silver will stabilize, and then we won't be able to do it."

This often happens in Yanxinglou. A few days before the new five-masted ocean-going ship is invoiced, the volatility is most intense. At this time, emotions are greater than value, and then it will gradually tend to be value-oriented.

"You mean the first batch of leeks is the most juicy, so if you don't harvest them, others will, right?" Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "Forget it, let's respect the laws of the market."

Hayek's big hands are always so ruthless, but there is such a giant dealer in the gold and silver market. The only way to avoid being harvested by the giant dealer is to stay away from Yanxinglou Trading House.

"I have always told the people of the Ming Dynasty that they should read more so that they will be less fooled by scholars." Zhu Yijun could only let Wang Qian do it. The matter had been handed down and the standards for the examination had been given. How well it would be done depended entirely on Wang Qian's methods. If he interfered too much, no one would work for him as the emperor in the future.

"Your Majesty, Li Yashi has arrived." A eunuch walked into the imperial study and said with his head bowed.

After the Lantern Festival, Zhu Yijun summoned the Honglu Temple interpreter Le Yashi and asked him for detailed information about Felipe II.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty." Li Yashi greeted you very respectfully. After hearing the invitation to sit down, he stood up and sat aside.

"I called you here because I have something to ask you. I want to ask you about some situations in the West." Zhu Yijun sat up straight. After obtaining information from Li Yashi, the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going merchant fleet also had to go to the West to obtain information in person, and by the way, inquire about the situation from the Westerners, and verify each other's information.

Zhu Yijun asked, and Li Yashi explained everything in detail.

After understanding the emperor's question, Li Yashi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Felipe is not as wealthy as Your Majesty. Four million taels of gold is obviously an exaggeration."

"It is said in the Ming Dynasty that His Highness Felipe earns four million taels of gold a year. This is obviously a misunderstanding. In fact, His Highness only earns more than two million taels of gold a year, which is 2100 million ducats. This was before the Netherlands region was lost. Now it is even less."

Legazpi was not sure how much annual income Philip II had after losing the Netherlands. Before that, it was 2100 million ducats, and one gold coin weighed about centimeters.

Zhu Yijun frowned and said in confusion: "I heard that he sold another 2.45 million taels of gold bonds. Now the total debt has reached million taels of gold. With an annual income of million taels of gold, can he afford such a huge debt?" The debt is seven times the annual revenue. If it were in the Ming Dynasty, it would mean that the national treasury owed the people of the Ming Dynasty million taels of silver. Not to mention the Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang, even Zhu Yijun would be unable to sleep or eat.

This is called: Genoese financial innovation.

"If you can't hold on, you'll go bankrupt." Legazpi shook his head and said, "His Highness Felipe has done this twice. People always believe that it's only a matter of time for His Highness, who has taken control of the New World, to pay off these debts, but in fact, His Highness is simply unable to repay them."

"Your Majesty, don't think about it. It has no reference value for the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty cannot accept the court's bankrupt and dishonest behavior. Your Majesty cannot dissolve the cabinet to quell the public anger. The Ming Dynasty is not a feudal system. Your Majesty is a monopoly."

Each place has its own way of playing. The Ming Dynasty had no way of learning the advanced financial experience of the West. If it played it wrong, it would be the Central Plains where the dynasty changed.

Zhu Yuanzhang rebuilt the Ming Dynasty in the hands of the barbarians, which was equivalent to the lightning return of Rome in the West. For such a powerful feat, Zhu Yuanzhang issued some Ming treasure notes, and all in all, they did not exceed the annual revenue of the court, so he later urgently stopped it.

Even the kings of later generations did not dare to issue banknotes on a large scale, taking it as a warning.

This has been talked about for more than two hundred years, and people will continue to talk about it, saying that he came from a peasant family and didn't understand financial affairs.

Isn't it natural for a king to owe some debts? Nowadays, England, France, Spain, Portugal, which one is not full of holes?
Philip II owed a debt of 14 million taels of gold. The Spanish court would have to go without food and drink for seven years to pay off this debt, but not eating or drinking was impossible, and they would eat and drink lavishly.

“You will go bankrupt only if you can’t pay the interest, but you will pay the interest before you go bankrupt.”

"Your Majesty, it seems that the government office went bankrupt and then rebuilt without paying any price, but it is not actually the case. I have repeatedly advised your Highness against this behavior many times. This method is killing the goose that lays the eggs. One day, it will be abandoned by both humans and gods." Li Yashi did not hide anything, but explained this "king's evil deeds" in detail.

Felipe and Genoese merchants established a close credit alliance. Felipe II issued gold bonds and Genoese merchants sold these bonds everywhere. The control of the New World magnified Felipe's own credit, resulting in any actual investment not being as profitable as buying bonds.

The profits from raising sheep and shearing wool, establishing handicraft workshops, and even urban land were not as high as the returns from bonds, resulting in a large amount of funds flowing into bonds rather than entities. This had a huge impact on Spain's handicraft workshop industry, and for a long time there was no industry worth investing in.

All the money flowed into the bond market.

The influx of goods from the Ming Dynasty had very limited destructive power on the Western industrial chain, and the rest was all destroyed by the gold bonds themselves.

Legazpi said with emotion: "I left Spain for twelve years. When I returned to Spain, nothing had changed. People were used to the high returns in the bond market and could no longer return to the path of hard work to create wealth. They were used to making quick money and became extremely impetuous."

"This is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. For the sake of short-term income, a large amount of debt is issued, causing the money to flow into the bond market instead of into production. If the hegemony of the New World can be maintained continuously, it can continue. When it cannot be maintained, it will collapse."

In addition to the fact that money flows into the bond market, resulting in a lack of investment in the handicraft workshop industry, the second drawback of this approach is that it aims to maintain the false prosperity of the bond market. Bankruptcy will not be declared unless there is no other way out.

The interest must be paid no matter what and the bond market must be maintained. Only by maintaining the bond market can Felipe himself obtain a steady supply of funds to sustain the war.

At this time, in order to raise enough interest to maintain the prosperity of the bond market, Felipe spent more than 20 years ceding public land and selling legal privileges at a large amount of low prices.

The cession of public land resulted in a reduction in the government's continued income; the sale of official positions and titles led to the collapse of the law.

"Your Majesty, this is not enough." Li Yashi said solemnly.

"The harm is already great enough, isn't it enough?" Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said in surprise, handicraft workshops are closed and even no new industries are emerging, the harm is already great enough.

Li Yashi nodded and said, "Even if we do this, the money is still not enough. At this time, we need to increase taxes."

"Your Highness has increased taxes fourteen times in the past twenty years, on raisins, wine, coal, fish, wool, salt, etc. Raw materials have risen in price, making food, clothing, housing and transportation expensive. The costs of handicraft workshops in the city will be piled up, and they will eventually go bankrupt and close down, forming a vicious cycle."

"Your Majesty raised the tax cautiously, and was worried that increasing it from 6% to 13% would lead to strong opposition. Spain has already raised the wool tax to 40%."

The Ming Emperor possesses such great power, yet he is so cowardly!

Look at what the Western kings did! England was enclosing land, Spain was issuing bonds, Russia was engaging in serfdom, and the Ming Dynasty was raising taxes, but they were being secretive, discussing it in court, discussing it with the ministries, asking for the opinions of governors from all sides, and even only trying it out at the Maritime Customs.

Legazpi said helplessly: "Your Majesty, a debt is a debt. If you owe money, you must pay it back. If His Highness Felipe doesn't pay it back, then the Spanish civilians will have to pay it back."

Debts must be repaid. If the ruling class spends the money recklessly, the debt will be borne by the entire nation. Once there is a military defeat, Spain will lose its Atlantic hegemony. If the Strait of Gibraltar is blocked one day, Spain will lose the opportunity to be on the table and become the fish on the table.

"That's indeed the truth. If you owe a debt, you have to pay it back." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and agreed with Li Yashi's point of view.

"Your Majesty, if the Ming Dynasty wants to accumulate gold, it can sell salt to the West." Li Yashi leaned forward and said, "As long as Your Majesty starts selling salt, gold will flow into the Ming Dynasty continuously."

"I don't quite understand. Please explain in detail." Zhu Yijun immediately sat up straight with a serious expression.

Zhu Yijun has always been worried that hoarding gold would lead to a decline in silver inflows, causing social turmoil and requiring new commodities specifically for gold inflows.

It was obvious that Legazpi knew very well why the emperor had called him here and had already thought of an answer.

Li Yashi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, the people of Taixi mainly eat mineral salt, not sea salt. After arriving in Daming, I realized that it was because of the latitude that Taixi lacked sunlight and heat, which led to a shortage of sea salt."

"The reason why Venetian merchants were able to build the water city of Venice and create such a powerful influence with more than 100,000 people, and even bought half of Constantinople at one point, and made the Eastern Roman Empire pawn the crown of the Roman Empire, was because of salt."

"On the northern shore of the Holy Roman Empire on the Baltic Sea, there is a commercial alliance centered on Lübeck, called the Hanseatic League. This alliance was even able to make the King of Denmark flee in panic because Lübeck was the salt production center of the West."

"His Highness Felipe's actual rule over the Netherlands was also achieved through salt, and taxation was also achieved through salt. Now His Highness Felipe has banned the sale of salt to the Netherlands. Salt is like a bridle, around the neck of the Netherlands, tightening the reins if they don't behave."

"But recently this ban has been lifted, and the Dutch seem to have found a source of salt, which has enabled them to become de facto independent."

Felipe could no longer use salt to control the Netherlands because the Dutch found salt lakes in Venezuela in South America.

Salt is very important to the Central Plains dynasty, and it is equally important to the West, as it can determine the rise and fall of a dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty had complete salt-drying technology. There were salt fields almost along the long coastline from Shandong to Qiongzhou, and each company had a variety of technologies. Legashi once learned about the Ming Dynasty's salt-drying technology in order to translate it into Latin and send it back to the West, but he finally gave up because of insufficient light in the West.

The Ming Dynasty needed commodities to meet the demand for gold inflows, so it just needed to focus on salt.

"I will pay attention to this matter." Zhu Yijun said with certainty.

Legazpi said with some emotion: "The last time I returned to Taixi, my greatest achievement was to persuade His Highness Felipe to implement benevolent policies."

Legazpi never betrayed Spain, but he also never betrayed the Ming Dynasty. He was a messenger, delivering and communicating with the distant world.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, what are you going to do?" Zhu Yijun asked in surprise.

Legazpi said with certainty: "Benevolent governance, specifically, means giving up the conquest of the Netherlands and England, and using the huge war funds, estimated at 4060 million ducats, on construction, so that the people can rest and recuperate."

"As long as there is no war, the Papal States will not be able to interfere in Spain's internal affairs; as long as there is no war, Spain's handicraft workshops can recover quickly; as long as there is no war, the seemingly huge debt can be slowly repaid, and there is no need to continue to cede public land, sell legal privileges, and increase taxes to exploit the common people."

"Your Majesty, Spain has less than 20 million people. Compared with a giant like Ming with 130 million people, it is easy to turn around."

"The Netherlands is a conspiracy of the British, a gold trap set for Your Highness. Giving up the Netherlands, which is already alienated, will only result in the loss of some tax revenue, but it will allow Spain's glory to last for a long time."

"Instead of attacking the Netherlands, we should find out where the Dutch have new salt pans. As long as we can find the salt pans, we can put the reins on the Dutch!"

Li Yashi spoke highly of the abandonment of land by the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration in the first and second years of the Xuande reign, even though the Ming Dynasty literati had repeatedly criticized this act of abandoning land.

From the Hongwu period to the Xuande period, the Ming Dynasty had been waging northern expeditions for 56 consecutive years. Such a long and large-scale expedition, with tens of thousands of people entering the grassland, had already exhausted all the troops. Giving up Jiaozhi in exchange for the people having a chance to recuperate was, in Legashi's view, a benevolent policy, not an evil one.

"Did Felipe accept your opinion?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

Legazpi shook his head and said, "I accept it, but not completely. Your Highness does not intend to give up the Netherlands, but he intends to find new salt fields for the Dutch and take back the Netherlands in a cheaper way."

This is also the reason why Felipe II was willing to exchange talents for markets. Legazpi, a foreigner, had become a national strategist in the Ming Dynasty after more than ten years. Felipe was willing to pay silver in exchange for native Ming people to become his think tank.

Only after the emperor knew everything he wanted to know did Legazpi leave Tonghe Palace.

"Next, ask the Ministry of Industry which place in our Ming Dynasty has the best salt-drying technology." Zhu Yijun was very concerned about the new bulk commodity.

The inflow of silver must be maintained stable, which involves the stability of the dynasty, and gold must also be accumulated, which involves the future of the Ming Dynasty. New categories of commodities have become very important.

The Ministry of Works quickly responded and answered the emperor's questions.

"In the 11th year of Wanli, Shandong replaced Lianghuai and became the largest salt producing area in the Ming Dynasty. It was Yao Guangqi who caused this phenomenon." Zhu Yijun said with great surprise after reading the memorial.

Yao Guangqi, the kelp king, not only grew kelp, but also dried salt. He invented a grading salt field method, which made Shandong's salt production surpass that of Lianghuai.

(End of this chapter)