I'm really not doing business

Chapter 841 The Early Ming Dynasty Banknote Circulation
The Ming Dynasty’s treasury was built in Tonghe Palace, where the emperor lived.

The emperor also gave keys to his ministers, and the door of the treasury could only be opened with the witness of multiple parties. It was only opened once a year to prevent embezzlement. The system design was approved by the court, and there were no major problems at the moment.

The main reason why Zhu Yijun did this was to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Hongwu Baochao. This was a historical lesson of the Ming Dynasty. The Hongwu Baochao had no physical support, which led to the overall collapse of its credibility.

The monetary system, especially the banknote system, is very fragile. Even though Zhu Yijun is now at the peak of his power, he still needs to plan ahead and be prepared for the total collapse of his credibility.

Since history has left us lessons, we must learn to draw lessons from them. The long history has left us various historical lessons, just like a book of wrong answers placed in front of the emperor. If we learn from them seriously, there will not be too many mistakes.

By the time history reached the Wanli period, enough wrong questions had actually accumulated, which is also part of the power of error correction.

The Tonghe Palace Treasury is a statement and a promise made by the emperor to the people of the world that Wanli Baochao will not be issued excessively.

The issuance of Baochao will be anchored to the growth of precious metals, assets, cargo volume and prices of gold, silver, copper and other precious metals of the Ming Dynasty, so as to avoid over-issuance to the greatest extent. If the over-issuance is too much, there is actually a way, which is to make the overseas barbarians suffer and bear the over-issued currency.

So overall, the Ming Dynasty was not very resistant to issuing banknotes, because the circulation of banknotes in Japan had caused suffering to the Japanese for more than ten years.

"The treasury is not just a treasury, it is also a symbol of confidence, the Wanli Restoration, and long-term stability." Zhu Yijun had high expectations for the Tonghe Palace treasury, which was an important step in the Ming Dynasty's gold narrative.

"The treasury is very important because Spain controls the rich silver mines. Felipe dominated the global trade through this silver. Even the Ming Dynasty was under this trade system. Silver hegemony is also one of the hegemonies of Felipe's British Empire, not just the hegemony of the sea route."

"I cannot cover my ears, close my eyes, and pretend that the Ming Dynasty is the Celestial Empire. If we want to look forward and move forward, we must face these problems squarely."

Zhu Yijun further talked about his ambitions for the Tonghe Palace treasury. The hegemony of Felipe's British Empire, in addition to the control of sea routes, was the control of silver. Spain had established a complete trade system centered around silver, and the Ming Dynasty could not escape the shackles of this trade system.

The Ming Dynasty established a treasury and issued treasure notes in order to construct a new independent monetary system with gold reserves as the main source and assets as the supplement, reduce its dependence on silver flowing in from overseas, and even replace the Spanish silver dollar's dominant position in currency.

"Your Majesty is wise." Zhang Juzheng looked at the area of ​​less than 11 acres, feeling a little emotional, and led his ministers to sing praises.

Collecting and storing gold was not an easy task. The Ming Dynasty was fighting wars in Korea and Japan, promoting the Dinghai school system in the country, building the Kowloon University and the Normal College, and the Longkai Chidao was still under construction. There were too many places to spend money. Since the 13th year of Wanli, the pressure on the national treasury was very great.

Your Majesty also had to hand over the remaining little silver to Wang Qian, who purchased and stored gold at a relatively low price in the trading house, which made the treasury even more stretched.

Zhang Juzheng felt that too much is as bad as too little, and that the emperor, as the supreme ruler of the world, was being too harsh on himself.

Just as he said, all this gold belongs to Your Majesty personally, not to the whole world. There is actually no need to take it out and put it in the treasury to make it part of the Ming Dynasty's reputation. This should be the responsibility of the court.

But your majesty's behavior is reasonable. Zhang Juzheng once said that everyone in the world is selfish, but your majesty is impartial.

Selfishness is a neutral word. It is the nature of animals and plants, not a derogatory word. It is reasonable for everyone in the world to pursue their own interests, but Your Majesty is the only one who cannot do that. Your Majesty wants the world to be shared by all.

Because the emperor, father, and country are one and cannot be separated. Your Majesty is not only an individual, but also a role model for the world.

When Your Majesty really did it, Zhang Juzheng became a little worried. He was a little worried that Your Majesty could not hold on. Tan Lun, Yu Dayou, Wan Shihe, Hai Rui, and Wang Guoguang were all leaving, and he, Zhang Juzheng, and Qi Jiguang were also going to leave.

Your Majesty will become increasingly lonely on this path, and in the end, it will be the people of the world who will be unable to understand your behavior, and you will become the outlier.

In the past, during a lecture, Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Juzheng a question: Are the monarch and father and the monarch and country really inseparable? One is one, two is two, the monarch is the monarch, and the country is the country. At that time, Zhang Juzheng said that they could not be separated, and Zhu Yijun thought that when he grew up, he would separate them himself.

As time went by, Zhu Yijun found that it was impossible to do so at the moment, and the harder he tried to be a good emperor, the more he could not separate the monarch and the country from his monarch and father.

Even if he wanted to cut it now, none of the ministers would agree. The ministers would think that the emperor was taking a test of obedience and would behave more "loyally", and might even do all kinds of weird things, such as lying on the ice to catch fish, in order to seek promotion.

Others are not under my control, it is in vain to persist.

All Zhu Yijun could do was to do his best, not let things go wrong, and not let himself lose the ball and bring the Ming Dynasty into the abyss.

At a certain time and in a specific cultural context, the political system that people can accept has a clear and distinct range. Once the discussion of policies and ideas exceeds this range, they will be regarded as extreme and unrealistic fantasies.

Shen Li always talked about the collapse of rituals and music. He even agreed to the foreigners selling some foreigners to the Ming plantations. To some extent, it was because the practice of selling foreigners was beyond this range.

This range is not static, but will change with time, social changes, public opinion changes, political activities, and cultural changes. The standards of good and evil, radical or conservative policies will gradually be accepted by the world.

The Ming Dynasty called this period "heresy", and later generations called this period "historical limitations".

Even Emperor Zhu Yijun could not break this limitation. The Ming Dynasty at that time needed a wise emperor to lead it out of the predicament and quagmire of the small peasant economy. Only with economic prosperity and social changes would some heresies become more acceptable.

For example, the imperial system will eventually be eliminated.

"Let's talk about the resettlement of the victorious soldiers returning from the battlefields of Korea and Japan." Zhu Yijun led his ministers into the West Flower Hall and talked about major events on the front line.

The fundamental reason why the Ming Dynasty promoted the spirit of promoting civil and military power was the confrontation between civil and military officials, and the fundamental reason for the confrontation between civil and military officials was actually the struggle for political power.

These Ming soldiers who have made great contributions to the country should naturally be given higher political status, more power and more material rewards, which will take away some of the status, power and economy monopolized by scholars.

All political struggles are essentially class struggles.

Now, if the Ming army wants to triumph, all the heroes must be given enough status, power and economy. If these are not met, all that can be done is to kill them.

This kind of trouble has appeared many times in history. For example, in the early years of the Wanli period, suppressing the Japanese invasion and preventing the resettlement of foreign soldiers from the northern barbarians was once the top priority of the Ming court. All Zhu Yijun could do was to give Luzon to the foreign soldiers who were suppressing the Japanese invasion, and give Liaodong to the foreign soldiers who were resisting the barbarians.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has conquered Korea and part of Japan's homeland, how to reward these heroes has become a top priority.

"Establish military garrisons in Korea and Japan, and let the Liaodong soldiers serve as hereditary commanders of thousand households and hundred households, and the Korean soldiers will fill the garrisons." Wang Chonggu made a proposal. As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Wang Chonggu with complicated expressions.

Shen Li exhaled heavily and said, "How can you say it so openly and bluntly? It should be said that for the long-term stability of Korea and Japan, the Han army should be sent to serve and stabilize the local areas. That sounds much better."

"Isn't this different?" Wang Chonggu looked around and said, "There is no Zhongshu Sheren here, so no one will remember it."

"Alas, civility is gone, rituals and music are in disarray." Shen Li said helplessly. We are all scholars, how can we speak so bluntly!

Shen Li gave a more high-sounding statement. Of course, everyone meant the same thing. The Liaodong Army that was conquered this time would become the hereditary rulers of the newly opened territories such as Korea and Japan, a guarantee for generations to come. This was the best reward for the Ming army that fought bloody battles.

"What about the elite soldiers of the Beijing Camp?" Zhu Yijun talked about the most difficult part. The elite soldiers of the Beijing Camp, armed to the teeth with sharp weapons, used the Formation Trap to pry open the mountain cities one by one, and only then did the Ming Dynasty sweep away the Japanese pirates. Now it's time to divide the spoils, what kind of reward should be given to the Beijing Camp?
Wang Chonggu thought for a while and said, "Let them guard the gold, silver and copper mines in Japan, which is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty enfeoffing several famous landowners in Japan."

The soldiers who were enfeoffed in the local area actually had the same identity as the daimyo of the current Japanese country, but they were daimyo of the Ming Dynasty. This was the answer given by Wang Chonggu.

If they don't want to go, they can exchange it for silver. Your Majesty is very generous in this regard and fully respects the soldiers' choice.

Just as after the battle of Suiyuan, the Womagang Mine was controlled by the Ming army;

Just as Chen Dazhuang traveled around the world for the emperor, the Datieling Guard was handed over to Chen Dazhuang;

Such as the Nagasaki Governor-General's Office, the Luzon Governor-General's Office, the Old Port Governor-General's Office, and the Jinchi Governor-General's Office.

The Ming Dynasty now has both the county system and the feudal system in parallel. The hinterland is a complete county system, while the feudal system is used in places that the court cannot fully control.

This was a discussion about the collapse of social order, or to put it more succinctly, a meeting to divide the spoils.

Qi Jiguang, Li Rusong, Ma Lin and other nobles were the ones who were easily rewarded. They themselves or their fathers were military heroes of the Ming Dynasty, and they were promoted to higher positions according to the five levels of merit rewards.

The only one who seemed to be in some trouble was actually Qi Jiguang, who was already the Duke of Fengguo, and the rewards he received were mainly in terms of treatment.

This also has an ancestral law in the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Fu, the Duke of Yingzhou, was named the Duke of Yingzhou in the sixth year of Yongle because of the conquest of Jiaozhi. Later, he continued to follow Emperor Yongle in his campaigns. The reward given to Zhang Fu by Emperor Yongle was to rest and prosper with the country.

Qi Jiguang's reward can be imitated from Zhang Fu's past deeds.

"Should we ban opium in Japan?" Zhang Xueyan talked about the question of whether the opium business in Japan should be completely banned.

When Gao Qiyu reported to the court, he talked about what he saw in Kyoto. There were seventeen opium dens in Kyoto. From Osaka to Hiroshima, there were varying numbers of opium dens in coastal cities of Japan.

The opium dens in Japan had developed to a point that even Gao Qiyu was surprised.

In Japan, there is a group of women who specialize in blending cigarettes. Each tobacco shop has its own secret recipe, and these secret recipes are their core competitiveness.

Gao Qiyu had been there several times for social events. He would invite the smoking girls, who, under the beautiful music and soft lights, would dance with their graceful bodies to the rhythm of the music and peel off the large opium balls with delicate structures layer by layer. Each layer would be flavored with different flavors, and thus given different effects: one layer for health care, another for aphrodisiac, another for removing dampness, and another for blood tonic.

After the smoke is puffed out, the Japanese brokers and compradors will crawl on these opium prostitutes like maggots, and many of these opium prostitutes themselves are also drug addicts, making the scene extremely corrupt.

The key is that these expenses are really expensive, including the smoking girls, opium, water and food, etc., which can drain the hard work of the brokers and compradors for days or even months.

"Banned." Zhu Yijun looked at the court officials and said, "All areas under the control of the Ming Dynasty are banned. For areas not under the control of the Ming Dynasty, I can do nothing about it. Let's maintain the status quo."

It is not an area under the actual control of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty is truly powerless. In order to make money, drug dealers can even evade the defense lines set up by the Ming Dynasty's coastal inspection patrols. Even in the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, a lot of opium can be found every year.

The profit of this drug was too high, and there were too many desperate people who took the risk. The Ming Dynasty investigated strictly and imposed heavy penalties, and people were often beheaded, but no one investigated or punished in Japan, and Japan also had silver, so these drug dealers went to Japan to do business.

Our ancestors said that it is better to unblock than to block. If we block the Ming Dynasty, the traffic will naturally flow to other places. Japanese silver is undoubtedly the best place for opium.

This created an even more bizarre situation, with opium destroying Japan's superstructure and Paradise Cult destroying Japan's grassroots civilians.

"Your Majesty, I have something to ask..." Shen Li took out a memorial with a serious expression and said, "It may cost a lot of money."

"Spend money? Where does the court have the money? Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, are you eyeing your Majesty's gold? This is simply outrageous!" Grand Tutor Zhang Xueyan became furious immediately, as if a key word had been triggered!
The Ming Dynasty has too many places to spend money, what is this Grand Master going to do now?
"Let me take a look. Money is earned to be spent." Zhu Yijun took the memorial, read Shen Li's memorial, and then circulated it.

The memorial was about a very tragic thing. There was a custom of confinement after childbirth in the Ming Dynasty. Women were not allowed to do heavy work for a month after giving birth. This custom can be traced back to the "Book of Rites" in the Western Han Dynasty, which was called "Yuenei".

However, only the rich and powerful could afford to sit in the confinement period after giving birth. Many rural women had to go to work in the fields just a few days after giving birth, and then they would get a disease called uterine dislocation. This disease was very common and could be seen everywhere in the Ming Dynasty.

Recently, a village woman in Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture, Gyeonggi Province, started working in the fields on the third day after giving birth. She suffered from severe uterine dislocation, which fell out whenever she did heavy work. People around her laughed at her.

The village woman was quite strong-willed. She prepared a pair of scissors, went home and cut off her uterus. When her family found her, she was bleeding heavily and was already dying. On her desk was a bowl of brown sugar egg custard, which she planned to prepare for herself as a comfort and reward after the treatment.

The family carried the village woman to the Huimin Pharmacy, but she was already dead.

Wanping County was in the capital area, so they did not dare to conceal the incident and reported it to Shuntian Prefecture, and Huimin Pharmacy reported it to the Imperial Medical Bureau.

"This village woman loves life very much. She doesn't want to be laughed at, nor does she commit suicide. She just hopes to live a good life without being criticized by others. This is not ignorance, but from ancient times to the present, no one has taught these women in the countryside what to do. To be more specific, it is the dereliction of duty of the court." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in front of him and clenched it a little tightly.

In fact, Shuntian Prefecture and the Imperial Medical Bureau had no intention of reporting the matter to the court.

This kind of tragedy happens every year, and there are a lot of them. Chief Medical Officer Wu Lian is a female imperial physician, and she is very accustomed to such things. She once saw a daughter bringing her mother to see a doctor. Her mother also had a dislocated uterus, and the uterus looked like a rotten pear. Because the cost of removing it was a bit high, the daughter refused to accept it.

But Shuntian Prefecture and the Imperial Medical Bureau eventually reported the matter to His Majesty.

"There is another memorial." Shen Li took out another memorial, hesitated for a moment, and handed it to His Majesty.

This time it was still a report from Daxing County in the capital of Shuntian Prefecture. There was a man named Zheng Carpenter in Qingyundian, Daxing County. Like names like Zhang the Butcher, people always put the surname and the occupation together. As time went by, no one called Zheng Carpenter by his real name anymore.

Carpenter Zheng is a country boy. He has been very strong since he was a child and has almost never been sick. With his dark skin and sturdy body, he is obviously a good farm worker. He has always been the strong labor force and pillar of the family. After he got married and had children, he became the backbone of the family.

When he was learning his craft, he was willing to endure hardships and study hard, and he used real materials for carpentry work. People from all over the place came to him to make furniture.

Last winter, Carpenter Zheng suddenly started to feel pain in his calves. The pain got worse and worse over three months, and he was even unable to get out of bed. Unable to bear the pain, he went to Huimin Pharmacy and got some medicine, but it didn't work. Carpenter Zheng, who was very angry, felt that he could not still work without a leg.

In March of the 16th year of the Wanli reign, Carpenter Zheng bit a towel and sawed off his bad leg with a saw. He heated the iron red and planned to brand the scab after sawing it off.

After four of his teeth were bitten off, his leg was sawed off, and his wife cried while branding his leg with an iron.

Carpenter Zheng felt that although he had lost one leg, he could still do physical work, because his son had grown up and could help him with the physical work, and he only needed to be responsible for the technical work.

However, the hemp rope always breaks at the thinnest part, and misfortune always finds its way to the unfortunate. Carpenter Zheng still died in April, from the festering ulcer on his wound.

Zhu Yijun finished reading the memorial and circulated it to the ministers before speaking: "Carpenter Zheng wanted to live very much. He sawed off his leg and burned the wound with an iron. I don't know how painful it was, but I saw that he wanted to live and live well."

"In fact, even if he bought a bottle of iodine or a bottle of alcohol and sprayed it every day, he wouldn't die. He can even endure the pain of a leg-saw iron. It's just the burn of alcohol."

"This is not ignorance, but from ancient times to the present, no one has taught them what to do. To be more specific, it is the court's failure."

Zhu Yijun repeated what he said before. These two cases were so typical that even if someone taught them and told them that it was wrong to do so, they would still survive.

"I have communicated with the chief doctors and came up with a solution that is not a solution." Shen Li took out the third memorial. This memorial was where money would be spent, and a lot of money at that.

The great medical officers are going to compile a medical book titled "Simple Prescriptions for Hygiene Prevention" based on "Simple Prescriptions for Hygiene" to popularize hygiene concepts, prevent diseases and provide simple treatments. Complex diseases will still be left to the Huimin Pharmacy, but hygiene concepts and prevention can solve most problems.

The original "Simple and Easy Prescriptions for Health" was a medical book written by Hu Yi, a veteran of the Six Dynasties and the Minister of Rites from the Jianwen to Jingtai period. Hu Yi was indeed the Minister of Rites, but he also came from a family of doctors, and the book popularized some health concepts.

Great medical officers Li Shizhen, Chen Shigong, Pang Xian, Wu Lian and others planned to write a book of simple health prevention prescriptions based on the previous ones, aiming to make it easy to understand, concise and to the point, explaining what can be eaten, what cannot be eaten, how to prevent and treat diseases, etc. Prevention is more important than cure, which is the main purpose of the new version of the simple prescriptions.

But popularizing hygiene concepts and preventing diseases requires manpower.

"Selection, training, management, assessment, and treatment all cost money." Shen Li explained where this system really costs money.

After reading the memorial, the ministers fell silent. Shen Li had found a big job for the Ming court. The Dinghai school system had already emptied the Ming treasury, and now they had to establish a medical system that would benefit all the people. Just think about how much money it would cost, how long it would take, how slow it would be to see results, and how much criticism it would generate.

Throughout history, both in China and abroad, medical care has always been an extremely expensive social resource.

"It is true that doctors who are forced to do something unprofessional will have all kinds of problems, such as poor skills, killing people, non-compliance, and even low morals. They use forced sales and fraud to cheat people. In the Song Dynasty, medical skills were still based on alchemy." Zhu Yijun told the ministers about the shortcomings of this system.

These are shortcomings that can be seen at a glance. There is no need for the scholars and officials in the court to talk nonsense. The ministers are not fools.

These doctors who are forced to do something unnecessarily are already showing high moral standards by not selling powerful pills or universal talisman water.

Zhu Yijun continued: "Zhuangzi said: a carp in a dry rut."

"Zhuangzi saw a small pothole on the road. There was a fish in it. It asked Zhuangzi for help. Zhuangzi said: "Okay, I will go to the south to persuade the king of Wu and the king of Yue to raise the water of the West River to welcome you. Is that okay?" The fish was furious and cursed: "You should have asked for me earlier in the dried fish shop!"

"The fish cursed Zhuangzi and said, 'You can survive with only a dou sheng of water now, and you actually said such a thing. When you are done, come find me at the dried fish shop!'

"Let's follow the advice of the Grand Master."

Zhu Yijun was planning to do it, but he was like a carp in a dry ditch. All the fish were almost dead. It was too late to train professional doctors, but training some barefoot doctors who could popularize health concepts and prevention systems could solve the urgent problem.

"Where does the money come from?" Zhang Xueyan spread his hands and said, "This old treasury silver, how about we move the old treasury silver?"

Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "No need. That is the capital of the Ming Dynasty. I have 1.2 million taels of gold, which can issue 6 million strings of notes. To issue notes, the Ministry of Revenue will write a promissory note and set the interest rate, and then I will issue the notes."

"Can you pay back the money in cash?" Zhang Xueyan asked tentatively.

Zhu Yijun smiled and replied: "Of course, if I don't recognize the treasure notes, who else in the world will recognize them?"

"I know, I know. The ministers think that the national treasury is my right and left hands. It's just a matter of transferring money from the left hand to the right hand. What is issued is not real gold or silver, but treasure notes. We also need to write promissory notes and set interest rates. Is it necessary to go through so much trouble?"

"It has to be this troublesome. Even if it's just a transfer from one hand to the other, even if I can give the court low interest, no interest, or even an indefinite extension, there must be a give and take, and the account will be right. If this account doesn't make sense, then all the accounts in the world will not make sense."

"Okay." Zhang Xueyan looked at Zhang Juzheng and said, "This year, the large sailing ships arrived at the port, with only 200 million taels of silver and 25 taels of gold. The inflow of silver is slowing down. Whether this slowdown is intentional or unintentional by Felipe, we must treat it with caution."

"Your Majesty, it is very reasonable to lend 6 million in treasure notes for 1.5 million gold."

Zhang Xueyan said this to Zhang Juzheng. Wang Guoguang was a maverick back then. After he left the Jin Party, he never attached himself to the Chu Party or the Zhang Party. The Ministry of Revenue also had its own path. Even Zhang Juzheng could not stop the Ming court from injecting liquidity into the Ming economy.

The inflow of silver was decreasing, and gold was not suitable as currency in the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty, which lacks liquidity, will inevitably fall into a liquidity crisis if timely intervention is not made.

Wanli Tongbao was still used in daily life by poor laborers. The influx of red copper had a great impact on the expansion of production scale, but from experience, silver was still the main currency for investment.

"If you are short of silver, you can actually confiscate the property." Zhang Juzheng hesitated and chose a traditional solution. It seemed that the timing was not yet ripe for issuing banknotes, so it would be better to confiscate the property directly.

Wang Chonggu immediately said, "This is not good. They are confiscating our property for no reason? How can this be justified?"

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said, "Of course it's not without reason. When Qin Shihuang collected weapons from all over the world and cast twelve golden men, it was not without reason. In my opinion, it would be better to issue an edict to collect gold and silver from all over the world and put them into the treasury, and let them hand over the gold and silver and exchange them for gold and silver promissory notes."

"If you don't hand it over, it won't be too late to confiscate your property."

This conservative faction suddenly became conservative even to Qin Shi Huang. Zhang Juzheng meant that when Qin Shi Huang collected weapons from all over the world and cast twelve golden men, it was a test of loyalty. Whoever refused to hand it over had rebellious intentions and would be screened out and killed.

Zhang Juzheng's method is actually a typical Legalist thinking, and the reason is very sufficient. The ancestral law during the Hongwu period has a ban on gold and silver, which means that the people are not allowed to use gold and silver as currency.

If the ancestors have done more, the descendants will have an easy time. The cheap Confucianists keep talking about the laws established by their ancestors, and everyone will follow them.

Zhu Yijun quickly stretched out his hand, "Sir, let's issue banknotes. The ban on gold and silver has been dormant for many years. It won't come to that. It really won't come to that. It hasn't come to that."

If the situation really reached its end, Zhu Yijun would not mind doing so, but the Ming Dynasty is not at the end of its rope now. It’s just that there are too many things it wants to do and too little money.

In fact, the powerful and wealthy, local gentry and nobles are afraid of this. Once the emperor controls the military power and is short of money, it is easy for him to do this.

(End of this chapter)