I'm really not doing business

Chapter 842 The Only Way to Defeat the Ming Dynasty
The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty built a treasury and prepared to issue banknotes, but there was still a lot of preparatory work to be done. The Ministry of Revenue had been waiting for this day for almost two hundred years. Without a stable monetary policy, the Ministry of Revenue would be completely unable to issue banknotes.

The Ministry of Revenue has made all preparations, absorbed a lot of experience, and is preparing to issue banknotes.

The Ministry of Revenue was fully responsible for the issuance of banknotes, and the minister in charge of the seal was the Minister of Revenue. Thirty-six official money houses were built in Shuntian, Songjiang and Guangzhou prefectures, and the acceptance and remittance business of the Ming Huitong Post Station was connected. The people could use the miscellaneous silver in their hands to exchange treasure notes at the official money houses, and they could also exchange treasure notes for silver coins and Wanli Tongbao.

The Treasury Bureau of the Ministry of Revenue has a printing factory under its jurisdiction, which is specifically responsible for printing banknotes; the paper mill is responsible for making abaca paper and determining the amount of abaca used each year. The slight difference in abaca content is also an important part of anti-counterfeiting; the ink workshop is responsible for the production of special banknote printing dyes, etc. The Treasury Bureau itself is in charge of seven official factories. These seven official factories were originally responsible for printing banknotes for circulation in Japan and overseas, and now there is one more Ming Dynasty banknotes.

In addition to the 30 million taels of gold in the treasury, the Ministry of Revenue also prepared eight warehouses to deal with possible bank runs. According to the experience of issuing banknotes overseas, at least % of the reserves must be prepared to deal with the risk of bank runs. Shuntian Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, and Guangzhou Prefecture each prepared silver coins to deal with possible bank runs.

The Ministry of Revenue also set up emergency stabilization warehouses in the northern and southern capitals to store an additional 10% of the silver reserves of the banknotes issued to prevent bank runs from spreading into panic.

In addition, the two capitals, sixteen provinces and five governor-general's offices of the Ming Dynasty were preparing to establish the Baochao Tizhusi. This was a major construction project of the Ming Dynasty. The Baochao Tizhusi of each province was responsible for the handover and exchange of Baochao in various places.

The most crucial thing is that after obtaining approval from His Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue broke through the administrative wall of the Tax Inspection Office in the matter of issuing banknotes.

The first and second tax arrears can be paid with Baochao, but it is not necessary for the third time, as the property will be confiscated. In addition, the anti-counterfeiting and anti-counterfeiting of Baochao in various places are under the full responsibility of the Tax Inspection Office under the North and South Pacification Office.

The Ministry of Revenue also established a new four-column auditing method: old management (last month's balance), new collection (this month's issuance), expulsion (recycling and destruction), and reality (market circulation) to comprehensively audit the issuance of administrative work. If these four sets of accounts do not match, it would be a rebellion!

You should know that the Wanli New Baochao was a gold ticket that the court wrote an IOU on and went to Tonghe Palace to get. The Baochao was your majesty's gold.

The four sets of accounts don't match, and the private printing of banknotes is stealing Your Majesty's gold. It would be fine if they stole other things, but they actually dared to steal Your Majesty's money. Your Majesty is so frugal, how could they bear to do that!
"Uh, was it distributed so smoothly?" Zhu Yijun looked at the report from the Ministry of Revenue. The first phase of 2 million coins was issued in just three days.

Feng Bao whispered, "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty is short of money. It's only two million strings of cash. Even if it's 20 million strings of cash, we can still issue it. Banknotes are more useful than real money, just like many people use silver notes from private banks. In the eyes of the people, this treasure note is actually the silver note from the government-run bank."

When real gold and silver are sent to the money shop and exchanged for silver notes, a hefty management fee must be paid. When the notes are accepted and transferred to another place, more money must be paid. A piece of torn paper represents dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver. This behavior seems like something that only a person with a brain kicked by a donkey would do.

The small landlords who are the local gentry would think so because they are small landlords and the end producers of the small peasant economy. They can be self-sufficient and the frequency of commodity exchange with the outside world is very low. Real gold and silver can meet their usage needs.

However, for wealthy businessmen and powerful people, silver bills are really useful, because their transactions are very frequent. Compared with paper money and precious metal currencies, precious metal currencies have natural disadvantages in portability, segmentation, pricing, purity, and cross-regional trade.

The silver ingots in various places in the Ming Dynasty are completely different. There are various kinds of silver ingots, silver ingots, silver ingots, silver plates, horseshoe silver, round, flat, square, small ingots and so on. This is the anti-counterfeiting method of various places. Counterfeiting silver ingots is really like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their magical powers.

The silver ingots in different places were different, which resulted in the need to melt the silver in hand and cast it into local shapes when trading across regions. This would cause fire consumption, and the amount of fire consumption depended entirely on the conscience of the local government offices.

One problem with private silver shops is that they are highly regional. You can use Wang's banknotes in Puzhou, but you cannot use them in Songjiang Prefecture. Songjiang Prefecture does not recognize Puzhou's banknotes, and Puzhou does not recognize Songjiang Prefecture's banknotes. Sometimes, even the same family does not recognize banknotes.

Silver coins have solved these problems very well, but they are still not as convenient as silver notes, because silver coins are also heavy and are not particularly convenient to carry.

The first time the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty issued banknotes in the hinterland, they were snatched up in three days. This was because the Ming Dynasty as a whole was in a money shortage and there was a huge demand for a more convenient and reputable currency. Even many treasure notes that were supposed to be circulated in the overseas governor's offices were quietly circulated in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ministry of Revenue had made sufficient preparations, but it seemed a bit too much. The people of the Ming Dynasty did not reject the issuance of Wanli Baochao. They even hoped that the court would properly control the Baochao, prevent counterfeit currency from flooding, and prevent over-issuance without reason, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty would have money to use.

"Gao Honglu said to the Spanish envoy Pedro: It is easy to govern a strong country, but difficult to govern a weak and chaotic country. It is true." Zhu Yijun also felt a little emotional. When the country is moving forward, some seemingly very simple systems can be implemented. When the country is weak and chaotic, no matter how sophisticated your design is, your decrees still cannot be implemented.

The smooth issuance of Baochao was essentially a restoration of Ming Dynasty’s confidence, but the institutional construction by the emperor and the court was a guarantee for Ming Dynasty’s Baochao.

Without a perfect institutional design, when the Ming Dynasty entered a downward cycle, any slight fluctuation would lead to a total collapse of confidence.

On June 7, the 16th year of the Wanli reign, a very special guest came to the Shiyi Pavilion of the Ming Dynasty. The King of Wa and his family entered the Shiyi Pavilion. Oda City asked the Ministry of Rites and confirmed that the emperor was not going to summon the King of Wa, but to arrange for the King of Wa to be neighbors with Ashikaga Yoshiaki and give him a salary as a fifth-rank official.

The King of Wa was the same as in Japan. Except for the heirs who inherited the hereditary throne, all other descendants were sent to temples to become monks and were not allowed to reproduce. In fact, it was just imprisonment in a different place.

"Special Envoy Li, I don't understand. According to your introduction, the King of Japan is the nominal supreme ruler of Japan, just like the Pope of the Papal States. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, the existence of the King of Japan is itself an encroachment on the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty. Why didn't the Ming Dynasty kill him in Japan, but arranged for him to live in the Ming Dynasty?" Pedro did not understand why the King of Japan came to Beijing.

There is no religion in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor is supreme. The King of Japan usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. He deserves to die.

But the Ming Dynasty left the King of Japan behind.

Li Yashi looked at the King of Wa and his family and whispered, "You must be careful of the scholars of the Ming Dynasty. The strict talent selection system of the Ming Dynasty selected them from the vast crowd. Their wisdom is certainly worthy of recognition, but their moral bottom line is very flexible."

"This move by the Ming Dynasty will ensure that the evildoers in Japan will not be punished."

Those who do evil will eventually be punished, and someone must be held accountable for their mistakes. This is the most basic guarantee for the functioning of a society. When those who do evil are not punished and no one is held accountable for their mistakes, everything in society will collapse.

"I don't understand." Pedro was Felipe's court secretary. He was not completely ignorant of government affairs, but he didn't understand what Legatus was really saying.

"It was a mercy for the Ming Dynasty to let the King of Japan die. It was really cruel to let him live." Li Yashi sighed. He understood the emperor's arrangement. It was not about class identity being more important than ethnicity. As for what the emperor did in Japan, if the historians wrote down a single word about it, it would be considered treason.

Even though Legashi had not witnessed the tragic fate of the Japanese slaves and women with his own eyes, he could still imagine how cruel it was.

Therefore, the Emperor spared the King of Japan's life not because His Majesty was kind, but in order to cut off all possibilities for Japan to heal itself.

Legazpi continued: “When evildoers are not punished, people are no longer willing to give up some of their power in exchange for order, because people generally no longer trust that the rules can protect themselves, and the basis for cooperation and mutual trust is disintegrated.”

"Individuals or small groups will turn to violence, fraud, and power to protect their own interests and security. At this time, lynching will begin to spread like a flood, and all the necessities of life must be obtained through violence."

“When there is no price for doing evil, the boundary between good and evil will become blurred. People can rationalize all evil deeds through various sophistry to adapt to the cruel living environment. Morality will disintegrate and gradually become a tool rather than a social norm.”

"As all this becomes more serious, the differences will grow. People will naturally evolve into two extremes. Some people will completely abandon the constraints of morality; some people will completely avoid communicating with others and maintain the morality of their small group. Both types of people will affect one thing: the exchange of goods."

"People without morals will rob without scruples; hermits who completely withdraw from the world will refuse to communicate and exchange with the outside world. The exchange of goods will be hindered, which will undoubtedly push up the cost of everything and ultimately lead to extremely high prices."

"When Wan Zongbo was still alive, he once called this phenomenon: civilization degeneration."

Pedro thought carefully about what Legazpi said. He frowned and said, "Isn't this the dark ages before? But how could all this be caused by the Ming Dynasty? It is clearly Japan's own fault. They should reflect on their own problems."

The West was engaged in large-scale travel and study tours, and the anti-Catholic wave in the West was getting higher and higher. Seventy years ago, all the Catholic paradises in England had been demolished, and Protestantism was very popular in England, France, the Hanseatic League and other places.

This was the scene in the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages before the Renaissance. Pedro felt it firsthand and fully understood its horror.

But Pedro disagreed with what Legazpi said. These sufferings were not caused by the Ming Dynasty. The Japanese should reflect on themselves and wonder how they had come to this point.

"You're right. If you stayed in Ming, you would be a very good official in the Ministry of Rites!" Li Yashi smiled and shook his head and said, "Wakoku is only one step away from completing the construction of the dynasty. In fact, it already has a very strong self-healing ability. Wan Zongbo said that this is nirvana, which means that a new system of rules may be born in the long-term chaos."

"And the Japanese showed this ability to heal themselves. The uprisings of the people, the uprisings of the samurai, the uprisings of the koku, and the uprisings of the country were like waves on the sea, one after another."

"However, as long as the King of Wa lives, Ashikaga Yoshiaki lives, and the Oda family lives, there is no possibility for Wa to heal itself. The Shogun can suppress rebellion without scruples. If they really commit unforgivable sins, they can also leave and let the Wa people struggle in purgatory."

Pedro thought about it seriously and finally understood what Legazpi was talking about.

The suffering of Japan was indeed caused by the Japanese themselves, and they really need to reflect on their own problems. However, what the Ming Dynasty took away was Japan's ability to heal and correct itself, which is the most terrifying thing, and it is also the cruelty that Legashi said.

Pedro asked curiously, "According to what you said, Your Majesty is a scholar?"

Legazpi's eyes widened suddenly, and he looked at Pedro angrily, wanting to say something but stopping himself. After careful consideration, he said, "Your Majesty is Your Majesty, don't talk nonsense."

Of course we can't talk nonsense. This is a crime of criticizing the emperor and slandering the emperor, a serious crime punishable by hanging!

Nonsense, the Tiqi will really arrest people!

His Majesty allows you to speak, but not to talk nonsense. You must seek truth from facts. As long as what you say is right, you can say whatever you want. If you say that the Ming Dynasty will surely perish, as long as what you say is right, His Majesty will send you a report. But if you talk nonsense, your Majesty will kill you with a vengeance.

Is Your Majesty a scholar? He may or may not be. It depends mainly on the context, whether "scholar" is a positive or negative word.

"I know that in your heart, I am a traitor to Spain. I would rather live in Ming Dynasty than return to Spain to serve His Highness. In your heart, what I said was based on the interests of Ming Dynasty, because my descendants and I will live in Ming Dynasty." Legashi said after watching the King of Wa and his family leave the Shiyi Pavilion. Pedro said, "That's what you said, not what I think."

Legazpi pulled out a stack of 100-wen notes from his sleeve, handed it to Pedro and said, "I admit that the irreversible localization of immigrants mentioned by the Grand Master has happened to me. Yes, I am becoming more and more like a Ming person now, speaking based on the interests of the Ming Dynasty, but I still want to say that you should not easily threaten the Ming Dynasty with silver."

"Because this kind of threat is useless. The best way to deal with the Ming Dynasty is always to make it fall into the quagmire of internal problems. More applause, more flowers, let the Ming Dynasty from top to bottom immerse in the arrogance of the Celestial Empire. This is the only way to defeat the Ming Dynasty. There is no other way."

Li Ya had stayed in the Ming Dynasty for too long, and it was easy for him to develop the idea that the Ming Dynasty was invincible. This idea was not false, but the consensus of many people in the Ming Dynasty. This was a kind of arrogance. If the Romans could make a lightning return, this arrogance would also appear in the Romans.

Let the Ming Dynasty forever indulge in the beautiful dream of being the Celestial Empire, and stop striving for progress. Use the most respectful attitude and say the most flattering words. In actual trade, let the Ming Dynasty occupy complete dominance. Let the Ming Dynasty always be arrogant, and then you can destroy the Ming Dynasty.

Legazpi looked at Pedro with sharp eyes and said, “We need to make the Ming Dynasty feel that it is so powerful that it can afford some minor flaws and mistakes.”

"Everyone in the empire feels that they can oppress others in various ways. When they are happy, they can give them gifts. When they are unhappy, they can send fleets to destroy and threaten them. All problems are handled and solved at will based on their own wishes."

"But the number of problems will continue to increase with arrogance and neglect. One day, we will not be able to cope with so many problems. As long as the Ming Dynasty is immersed in this story of the Celestial Empire and cannot extricate itself, it will step into the abyss with extremely confident and firm steps!"

"The Ming Dynasty is like a spring. The more you suppress it, the stronger its rebound will be. The more you let it expand, the more it will lose its elasticity."

Pedro held the stack of banknotes and admitted that silver was no threat to the Ming Dynasty, but he was still a little unconvinced and said, "Can't the Ming Dynasty be crushed?!"

"Of course you can. If you are strong enough, there will be no problem, but Spain does not have the strength to kill the Ming Dynasty in one go, so we should do the opposite." Legashi said very clearly.

It is a fact that Spain, as the empire on which the sun never sets, did not have sufficient capabilities to deploy troops overseas and cross the ocean to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

"I cannot accept your path, and neither can Your Highness." Pedro knew that what Legazpi said was right, but he could not convince himself or Felipe.

Li Yashi said helplessly: "Confrontation will only arouse the fighting spirit of the Ming Dynasty. I will stop here. The Tiqi have arrived."

When Legaspi was not meeting foreign envoys, he would not be monitored, but when he met foreign envoys, especially the Spanish envoys, the Tigris would closely monitor his every move. Apparently Legaspi had made inappropriate remarks, and the Tigris, who reacted quickly, planned to arrest him.

"Two Tiqi, if I fall into the river and hit the imperial carriage, will you save me?" Li Yashi asked in a very stable mood.

The tax inspector said sternly: "You can try to say that you evaded taxes. The tax inspector may save you, but we won't. But you have to pay for the meal!"

"Okay." Legashi was thrown into jail again.

Zhu Yijun received the report from the imperial guards. After reading the case file, he said with a smile on his face: "Li Tongshi said it very well. I think there is no problem at all. This is indeed a method and it is very effective."

"The Western envoy said that the Ming Dynasty is the Celestial Empire. At most, it was a compliment to satisfy the self-esteem of the Ming people. As a result, the Ming people were complacent. If you think this is a compliment, you have fallen into this trap. Everyone wants to hear compliments."

"He is right. This is the only way to destroy the Ming Dynasty."

Being obsessed with the vastness of the Ming Dynasty, its vast territory, rich resources and flourishing culture, the Ming Dynasty lost itself in the repeated calls of "the Celestial Empire". As long as the Ming Dynasty itself was not sober and remained arrogant, it would miss opportunities again and again. When these small mistakes accumulated enough and were not corrected, it would lead to its demise.

Praising someone to death is also a strategy.

"Since what he said makes sense, you don't have to pay for meals." Zhu Yijun generously waived Li Yashi's tuition and allowed him to stay in the prison for ten days for free.

"I obey your order." Zhao Mengyou bowed his head and left. His Majesty was already very merciful.

It's not a mercy on tuition fees, but being locked up in the Northern Pacification Office for ten days is a mercy to Legazpi himself. Legazpi won't have to see Pedro again.

Pedro has made a lot of excessive demands in the past few days, and Li Yashi has tried his best to fail to meet them. He cannot meet them because it will violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, such as finding out some confidential information.

This put Li Yashi in a dilemma. If he was locked up, he would not have to worry about this.

Legazpi had already told Pedro and Spain the way to defeat the Ming Dynasty. As for whether they would do it or not, that had nothing to do with Legazpi. He had done everything he could.

"In fact, our Li Tongshi is not optimistic about Philip II and his Spain. Legazpi thinks that the Ming Dynasty can win and eventually seize the maritime hegemony." Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao, "Because he thinks the Spanish are not as shameless as the English."

"Legaz firmly believed that the shamelessness and low morals of the English would make them the ultimate winners of the Age of Discovery."

Legazpi was not optimistic about Felipe's victory, nor was he optimistic about the Ming Dynasty's victory. Instead, he felt that the English would win in the end because they were shameless enough. As long as they were shameless enough, they could break free from the shackles of morality and obtain more wealth from overseas colonies faster and more effectively.

Maybe Legazpi is right, but Ming will win in its own way.

Marion sent his special envoy to Ming Dynasty, an archbishop of the Great Light Church. This time he came to Ming Dynasty to deliver ten five-masted ocean-going ships, which will be anchored in the Great Light City.

This was an order from the entire country of France, but it was seized by Marion. Her father used some means to make the ownership of these ships belong to France, but to be used by Marion's Free Knights.

The atmosphere between Spain and the Netherlands became increasingly tense. Philip II's navy destroyed the Netherlands' overseas colonies. The Dutch, who had lost their salt, had no choice but to surrender, but the Ming Emperor gave the Dutch a chance to raise the flag again and allowed them to buy salt from the Ming.

Philip II, whose plan was foiled, was unable to prevent Ming Dynasty goods from arriving in the West. He had assembled an invincible fleet and was preparing to retake the Netherlands. His target was England, which was instigating behind the scenes. In Philip's view, as long as England was defeated, it would be natural for the Netherlands to return to the arms of Spain.

The Queen of England executed the Queen of Scots. Felipe wanted to launch an expedition against England in the name of revenge for the Queen of Scots.

King Antonio of Portugal gave up past grudges, allowed the left and right crusading legions to join Philip's expedition plan, and opened all ports along the way to allow the Spanish fleet to resupply.

Zhu Yijun picked up another memorial from the Portuguese envoy Paulino Franco. This time, the Sword Saint Marcus still did not come. The Sword Saint was getting older and older and could not bear the bumps of the ocean voyage. It might be difficult for him to come to the Ming Dynasty for pilgrimage in the future.

The Portuguese envoy stated Portugal's attitude. The reason for giving up past grudges was mainly to make money. With the mobilization of Spain's huge navy and Portugal's provision of supplies, Portugal could make a lot of money, bring countless orders to workshops, and provide many jobs.

The longer Philip II's expedition plan lasts, the more Portugal will earn.

"It seems that our king Felipe, on whom the sun never sets, has reached the end of his patience and will not listen to any advice. If nothing unexpected happens, Felipe's fleet has already set off and is heading towards England." After reading the letter from the West and combining it with the news brought back by Liu Ji from his circumnavigation of the world, Zhu Yijun knew that this expedition was imperative.

Zhu Yijun wrote many letters to Felipe to urge him to act with caution. He said that this massive expedition might fail due to the lack of understanding of hydrology and geography, that gambling on the country's destiny was too risky, and that a cross-sea war to destroy a country would be too protracted and would drag down Spain. These reasons ultimately failed to convince Felipe.

This would be a protracted war, lasting a full eighty years, and in the end Spain would win the war but lose the ocean.

"It's really surprising that the French actually stand with the English." Feng Bao was a little surprised. The grievances and hatreds between the French and the English are really a long story, with twists and turns in it that are difficult to explain.

Zhu Yijun reviewed the memorial on the table and shook his head, saying, "Because the Queen of England bribed King Henry III of France and obtained a promise from Henry III, France will at least remain neutral in this war."

The positions of Portugal and France both prove one thing: between countries, interests come first.

The Great Light Church received an imperial edict from the Ming Emperor, and Ming ships will go to the Great Light City to distribute goods; Portugal returned a batch of war loans and sent seven Portuguese students, and the fleet obtained a large amount of Ming goods; the envoys of the Russian Kingdom did not come this year, and the Cossacks' journey east of the Ural Mountains was very unsuccessful. The tribes on the Xianbei Plain received some weapons support.

The Spanish envoys were still communicating some details with the officials of the Honglu Temple. Pedro hoped that the Ming Dynasty would stop funding the Dutch. The Ming officials were very dissatisfied with this request. It was not the barbarians' turn to say who the Ming Dynasty did business with!

"Good news! The first batch of iron materials from Datiling in Juezhou has been shipped back to Ming Dynasty." Zhu Yijun opened a memorial.

This memorial was submitted by Chen Dazhuang. He bought thousands of slaves, built roads, and mined open-pit iron ore. The first batch of iron that arrived at the port was only 120,000 kilograms.

One hundred and twenty thousand jin is not a lot, but it mainly proves that Chen Dazhuang is not fooling His Majesty, and there is really iron mine in Datieling.

The three geomancers of the Stargazing Ship spent several months observing Datieling and, after making an estimate, gave an evaluation of eight words: inexhaustible.

You can never finish picking them all!
There is simply too much high-quality iron ore.

Chen Dazhuang's stargazing ship also brought good news. The northwest corner of Juezhou is suitable for farming. The food and clothing for Datieling can be produced in the oasis in the northwest corner and supplied to Tieling by sea.

(End of this chapter)