I'm really not doing business

Chapter 891: The one who pursues the road is the people's destiny
The essence of money is debt. This has been clearly demonstrated in Xu Heng's "Chubi Zhazi" in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty.

Felipe's dilemma is very simple. The war did not go as expected, which led to a decline in the price of gold bonds. Felipe needs to continue issuing gold bonds to arm the navy and win the war, but the interest on the newly issued gold bonds is too high, and he is afraid that he will not be able to pay off the interest.

In the bond market, in order for the trick of borrowing new money to repay old debts to continue, the most important thing is to be able to pay the interest, otherwise there will be a complete collapse.

The first two times Felipe declared bankruptcy were because he could not pay the interest on his debts and had no choice but to go bankrupt.

In the past, Felipe was still young and everyone still believed in him. In the past, Taisi was full of imagination about the new world and was able to support him to go bankrupt twice. But the third bankruptcy, in addition to the collapse of the country's credibility, the most important thing is that everyone's imagination of the new world will be shattered.

If you cry wolf for the third time, no one will believe you.

Even if we win the war, we will lose the ocean and the future.

Soldiers, the country's major events, the place of death and life, the way of survival, must be observed.

Before any armed action is taken, the five questions raised by Qi Jiguang must be carefully considered. A war launched recklessly will end up in Felipe's embarrassing situation.

Chen Mo returned to the imperial study in Mochou Lake with mixed feelings. After reporting the news, he met with His Majesty and reported the details of Legashi's meeting with Pedro.

"In other words, this time the Spanish envoy came to inform the Ming Dynasty that he wants to increase taxes, rather than to have a good talk with the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Yijun asked with a frown.

The matter involves the inflow of silver, so as long as we can avoid a fallout, we will do so for the sake of silver.

But it seemed that Felipe had become more rude and increased the price directly, without even giving Ming Dynasty any room for negotiation.

"Mr. Li Tongshi, I have said everything I can say. The barbarians cannot listen to so many reasons." Chen Mo said with his head down.

Zhu Yijun exhaled, shook his head and said, "I think he is going to use the name of increasing tariffs to put pressure on the Ming Dynasty like last time, so that the Ming Dynasty will agree to some of his conditions."

"For example, let Daming buy some of his gold bonds. Even if the payment is in the form of goods, he can cash them out. The key is that after Daming buys, the market's confidence in gold bonds will be restored."

"Even the Ming Dynasty, which is far away on the other side of the world, bought gold bonds, which can bring endless imagination."

"Or simply ask the Ming Dynasty to give him some war loans, delivered in the form of five-masted ocean-going ships. If twenty five-masted ocean-going ships cannot kill England, what about fifty or a hundred?"

"After all, in the first expedition he launched, except for the five-masted ocean-going ship, all the others were buried in the ocean."

"I didn't expect that he wouldn't even bother to talk about it."

Chen Mo was silent for a moment, then hesitantly said, "Your Majesty, Li Yashi said that when the Hu people and barbarians do things, they are unreasonable and unreasonable."

"From the fact that Pedro blamed the war and the failure of the war entirely on the Ming Dynasty, it can be seen that they have no long-term plans at all. They act as they please, just like playing a game."

"It's just like the lazy ruffians in the village. They have no food to eat, but they don't think about what to eat or how to eat the next meal."

Chen Mo always felt that Pedro and Felipe's style of doing things was very familiar. On the way back to Nanjing, Chen Mo saw a group of ruffians and lazy people being sent to Southeast Asia, and he immediately realized what was going on!

These barbarians act no differently from the lazy guys in the village, even if he is the king.

The lazy people in the village never think about what to eat next, just like Felipe would not consider that without the staple goods of the Ming Dynasty, would the people under his rule have to eat raw meat and drink blood?
In fact, the Ming Dynasty is well prepared for negotiations. You put pressure on us by increasing tariffs, and the Ming Dynasty retaliates by increasing tariffs. We are on the other side of the world, and no one can do anything to anyone, so naturally we have to sit down and talk.

The Ministry of Revenue also specifically assessed the risks of lending war loans to Felipe.

"Grand Minister Zhang Xueyan judged the risk of the war between England and Spain and offered Felipe a war loan at an interest rate of only 25%, which was lower than the tariff he paid to Ming. What a pity! Grand Minister Zhang Xueyan's efforts were all in vain."

"Right now, the political development of countries around the world is still immature, and people do things as if it were a child's play. When emotions are high, any policy can be formulated. This is indeed the case." Zhu Yijun wrote in red on a memorial.

The memorial with the emperor's red seal was a memorial submitted to the Ministry of Revenue. The court officials all felt that Spain was the empire on which the sun never set, and imposing tariffs was tantamount to declaring war, and was entirely intended to create an aggressive attitude and was a means of diplomatic coercion.

Unexpectedly, Felipe planned to add directly instead of using diplomatic means. Lord Ming Ming was completely overthinking it.

Chen Mo hesitated and didn't say much. In fact, from the conversation between Legazpi and Pedro, Chen Mo felt that Spain still wanted to talk. This actual increase in tariffs first was to put pressure on the Ming Dynasty.

But in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, raising tariffs was a declaration of war, not pressure at all.

And there is one question that the Ministry of Rites cannot answer. They compromised this time, but what about next time?

The barbarians have always been unreasonable. This time he directly increased tariffs. If the Ming Dynasty compromises, the barbarians will definitely become more demanding and will definitely take advantage of it.

Chen Mo completed his report and bowed his head to take his leave. He never interfered in state affairs. He just followed orders and reported the facts.

He will next participate in the investigation of the Southern Yamen tribute selection case. When he left the Mochou Lake Palace, he stopped and looked back. After experiencing this, he felt that this world was made up of a makeshift team.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty, for which he fought so hard, did not seem to be so sloppy.

At least the Ming Dynasty took almost all situations into consideration, but of course, it also overestimated the political ecology level of the barbarians.

As Your Majesty said, when the mood strikes, any decision can be made.

"Commander Chen, take care." Zhang Hong walked out of the palace gate, stopped Chen Mo, and said with a smile: "His Majesty said that Commander Chen's horse is a bit old, so he asked Commander Chen to go to the Imperial Horse Administration to pick a good horse."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." Chen Mo was stunned and expressed his gratitude. After completing His Majesty's sacred order, there are always various rewards. Even if it is not easy to reward openly, he will give horses, muskets, crossbows and other things.

For example, this time, in addition to getting a good horse, Chen Mo also received a compound crossbow and a brand new flintlock musket.

It was a pity when Chen Mo left. Jiangxi College did not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise it would have been investigated and dealt with thoroughly.

In the officialdom, the most troublesome thing is that your superior forces you to violate the rules.

This kind of thing happened a lot in the Jinyiwei. For example, when Ji Gang killed Xie Jin, Emperor Chengzu Wen asked, "Is Xie Jin still alive?"

As the head of the secret service department, Ji Gang had no choice but to kill people. Even without yellow paper and red seal or a white letter from the Ministry of Justice, Ji Gang had no choice but to kill.

Now the imperial guards don't have to worry about this problem. His Majesty's edicts have always been very clear. If the college in Jiangxi is clean, then it will not be established. It is better for it to remain clean.

Your Majesty hopes that the colleges in Jiangxi are clean, and not making things difficult for the sake of making things difficult.

During the process of the Western envoys coming to Beijing, the Spanish envoy Pedro was not allowed to leave the Wanguo City of Songjiang Prefecture. In other words, Pedro was unable to perform his duties as an envoy. He was now just a broker and could leave after buying things.

This is not because the Ming Dynasty is petty, but because the Ministry of Rites feels that Pedro may talk nonsense when he goes to the Southern Court to meet the emperor, which may anger the emperor and cause the policy to become more radical.

Just as the English have not yet cancelled their privateering licenses, the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards the English is extremely bad. Now Spain has been downgraded from a friendly country to an enemy foreign threat.

The Ming court decided to carefully study how to seize the rich silver mines. Since the silver was not coming, the Ming had to get it on its own.

Zhu Yijun noticed one thing. Felipe sent Pedro to Ming Dynasty. In addition to seeing if Ming Dynasty could agree to their excessive conditions, another purpose was probably to send Pedro to his death.

The Ming Dynasty has already killed an envoy, Sauron, but Sauron brought this upon himself as he wanted to corrupt the Ming Dynasty with opium.

Pedro came to provoke the Ming Emperor. As long as Pedro died in Ming, Felipe could blame the Ming for the failure of the war. This sophistry narrative became particularly reasonable.

But the Ming Dynasty never gave Pedro the opportunity to be buried with Spain, but directly refused to let Pedro meet the emperor. He had no way to anger him.

After Chen Mo left, Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao: "Dripping water wears away a stone, and ice three feet thick is not formed in a day. Spain's predicament today is not the result of a failed expedition. We can clearly see the crux of the problem."

"The collapse of the credibility of the gold bonds is the result of Felipe's repeated issuance of bonds and forced bankruptcy. The Spanish royal family maintained its military lead through financial means, and then used its military lead to expand by force to maintain its hegemony in the financial field, and this cycle repeats itself."

"But this cycle is unsustainable. Felipe created the Spanish Empire, and he ended it with his own hands."

What he said to Feng Bao was also his comments on the memorial to the Ministry of Revenue.

Once something happened, the Ming Dynasty could not just watch the fun and let it go. It had to absorb the experience and lessons to prevent such a thing from happening to the Ming Dynasty.

Although the only lesson people have learned from history is that they have not learned any lessons from history and that repeated mistakes are always made over and over again, it is still worth learning from.

Feng Bao thought about it again and again, and said with certainty: "Your Majesty, Felipe's gold bonds and Ming Dynasty treasure notes look like the same thing, but I think they are completely different products."

"Gold bonds were issued to meet Felipe's war needs, while treasure notes were issued to meet the current development of the commodity economy in Ming Dynasty."

"Different motives lead to different final destinations. The gold bond is more like a gamble. The Genoese businessman is betting that Felipe can win, and always win."

Feng Bao did not think that the Ming Treasure Notes were the same product as the gold bonds. He deeply believed that the Ming Treasure Notes would be successful this time. The Tonghe Palace treasury was not a false treasure. Every gold bar was the cornerstone of the credibility of the treasure notes.

"To put it more simply and directly, Your Majesty has never issued debts for war. All the debts issued are real money. If Your Majesty issued debts for war, I'm afraid even Lord Wan would have to make a memorial to advise against it."

"The Ming Dynasty's treasure notes were issued because the situation in the dynasty was basically stable and the decline since the reign of Emperor Xiaozong was completely eliminated." Feng Bao added the evidence for his point of view.

When did the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty borrow money to fight a war?
Moreover, the difference between Your Majesty and the monarch on whom the sun never sets is that Your Majesty always takes a win as a win and a loss as a loss, and Your Majesty never boasts of victory.

Because of his trust in the Miao people, the Duke of Qian was almost driven to Dali by Toungoo. When the situation in Incheon and Seoul could not be opened, and when Ulsan Fortress was invaded and retreated nine times, Your Majesty gave enough trust to the front line.

"Your Majesty, I don't know where Felipe spent his annual income of four million taels of gold. He even had to borrow money to fight the war. That's four million taels of gold!"

"During the Jiajing period, the Japanese pirates were causing trouble and the imperial court collected no more than 6 million silver coins a year, and did not even have to borrow money to fight the war." Feng Bao found it hard to imagine where Felipe spent the money.

With an annual income of 2100 million ducats, if calculated based on the gold and silver prices before the establishment of the Jinchi Governor's Office, Felipe would have 6100 million taels of silver at his disposal. The Ming Dynasty has only collected million taels of silver a year, and most of this is from commercial taxes.

"I have finally understood that you are trying to flatter me in various ways. All right, bring me the memorial." Zhu Yijun initially tried to analyze the logic behind Feng Bao's words, but after thinking about it for a moment, he realized that Feng Bao was flattering him and ended the topic.

"Yes." Feng Bao was helpless. Every word he said was true, not a word of flattery. But His Majesty did not like too much applause and flowers. After all, His Majesty was still young and not yet old enough to hear words.

Criticisms against the team of Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, Shen Yikuan, and Wang Yi'e have completely stopped. The nine memorials sent from the Northern Yamen need to be dealt with by the emperor himself.

The first installment of war reparations for the Japanese pirates was raised with great difficulty under the auspices of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Half of the compensation was paid in silver, and the other half was paid in the form of Japanese slaves and prostitutes. It has been handed over to the Nagasaki Governor's Office. The Ming army has stationed troops in various major mines, but currently only silver mines are stationed, with no gold or copper mines being stationed.

What surprised Zhu Yijun was that Gao Qiyu forced Toyotomi Hideyoshi to sign a "Supplement to the Treaty of Kyoto". The main content of this new supplement to the Treaty of Kyoto was three things.

The first was to recognize the ownership of all mines, and change the Ming dynasty's annual payment of Japanese currency notes to purchase mineral materials to a system where Japanese tribute was paid and the imperial court granted Japanese currency notes;
The second is the establishment of Owari Prefecture. This newly established Owari Prefecture belongs to the Ming Dynasty. Before, Owari Province was still a fiefdom of the Oda family. And because the descendants of Oda Nobunaga were in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty court administered it on behalf of the province. Now it has been officially confirmed that the land has been ceded.

The third one is that Han people who commit crimes will be tried by the Ming Dynasty. The Japanese side is not allowed to arrest any Ming people, otherwise it will be regarded as treason. The Nagasaki Governor-General's Office and the Osaka Bay Garrison Thousand Households have the right to suppress the rebellion.

"It is said that scholars have dirty minds. Look at Gao Qiyu, he is a typical example! Before the situation was unclear, he was vague in places where he could be vague, so as not to make the will to resist too strong. But when the Ming army stationed at the silver mine, he immediately became clear."

"What do you call this? Pretending to be confused when you should?" Zhu Yijun approved Gao Qiyu's memorial.

Gao Qiyu is really cunning!
This supplementary agreement was made after the Ming Dynasty had completely controlled the silver mines and the overall situation had been decided. It supplemented the Kyoto Treaty, clarified the nature of some things, reduced the ambiguity of the treaty, and at the same time, opened a loophole, a loophole for suppressing the rebellion.

Today, Japan is arresting and killing people from the Ming Dynasty. The Nagasaki Governor-General's Office's guards and the Osaka Bay Garrison will suppress the rebellion.

But the situation will definitely deteriorate. All kinds of reasons will be fabricated to suppress the rebellion, and eventually all the habitable areas in Japan will be occupied.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the envoy An Guo Shao Ji slept with the Queen Mother Qin in order to find a reason to send troops. This eventually led to the Lü Jia Rebellion, and the Han Dynasty immediately sent troops to quell the rebellion.

Destroying the Japanese is destined to be a slow and long process.

"Young Master Zong, I really want to make progress." Feng Bao said with a smile.

Among the nine books, there is one from Grand Tutor Zhang Xueyan, a cabinet minister in charge of finance who is good at cross-checking. It summarizes the transaction details between the Ming Dynasty and Spain.

From the first year to the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign, Western sailing ships imported an average of 650 million taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty every year. After the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign, 450 million taels of silver were converted into gold.

But this time Pedro only brought precious metals worth less than 300 million silver, and wanted to obtain goods worth 650 million silver.

This was what the Spanish court secretary called the currency offset plan, which deliberately exacerbated the Ming Dynasty's money shortage problem and forced the Ming Dynasty to lower the prices of its supplies so that the Ming Dynasty would pay for its defeat in the Spanish war.

Unfortunately, he could only take away three million silver coins worth of goods.

"Interesting." Zhu Yijun discovered something interesting.

The prices of the six major world commodities of the Ming Dynasty increased by about 15%, among which the price of ironware increased by more than 60%. This was a spontaneous action of the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants in response to Spain's unreasonable tariff policy.

The reason for doing this is simple. In order to maintain the prices and profits of goods, the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants would rather let the goods pile up in the warehouses and raise the prices than lower the prices and sell them to Pedro.

This is an economic behavior under the commodity economy and has nothing to do with the will of the court.

Prices fluctuate around supply and demand. When market demand decreases, merchants will choose to reduce supply, which is equivalent to increasing demand in disguise, to maintain commodity prices and profits, maintain basic survival, and wait for the situation to change.

Just like when there's an economic crisis, farmers pour their milk into the Mississippi River.

The increase in Spanish tariffs led to a decrease in trade volume, which was a decrease in demand. Therefore, increasing prices and reducing supply became the common choice of merchants.

Many people in the Ming Dynasty were extremely arrogant. In the eyes of most maritime merchants, foreigners were just talking beasts, and the sailing ship trade was generally regarded as a tribute trade.

Tribute means offering from below to above. The selfishness of the tribute trade of the Ming Dynasty was probably that these red-haired foreigners came to the Ming Dynasty to beg for food with the silver that the Ming Dynasty needed.

Begging is begging, and if tariffs are added, the Ming Dynasty’s maritime merchants will really raise prices.

After all, there are not so many people who have their spines broken and their knees rooted to the ground.

"Merchants are always petty and profit-driven. These sea merchants have raised prices after actually doing the math. They sell a batch to the red-haired foreigners at a high price so that the rest will not be piled up in the warehouse and get moldy. If that doesn't work, they will sell them to the court." Feng Bao simply stated the logic behind the price increase. They could sell to the court.

The Ming Dynasty had its own ocean-going merchant ships. The ocean-going fleet led by Liu Ji had already embarked on the eighth journey of global trade, and the scale was still expanding. Although selling to the Ming court could not generate excess profits, there was still a certain profit while maintaining the operation of the workshop.

It is also because of the existence of this kind of bottom-line mechanism that maritime merchants dare to raise prices to cope with the increase in tariffs.

If they were sold to the emperor at a fair price, the emperor would even erect a monument in his honor, saying that the merchants were righteous and willing to contribute to cultural and educational endeavors. If they were sold to Westerners at a low price, even the emperor would not be able to buy them.

The emperor's favor is the most valuable currency among all the currencies. With it, one can greatly avoid the risk of being hung on the wall of Chaoyang Gate. Of course, if one commits a crime or rebels against the emperor's order, one will still be hung.

Wan Shihe was a flatterer, but he once criticized His Majesty Chen Shan in person because all the silk was allocated to the sea trade, and advised him to leave some silk for the officials of the Ming Dynasty! If the Ming officials cannot have free silk and satin, what kind of officials are they!
Eventually, the Ming Dynasty switched to fine woolen cloth to supplement official uniforms, thus ending the original silk dispute.

Westerners don't want it, but the nobles of the Ming Dynasty have just as much demand for it.

"Then let's do this. I can't order the merchants to lower their prices." Zhu Yijun did not issue an administrative order to interfere with the merchants' price increase this time.

After Zhu Yijun finished processing the nine memorials, he handed them to Feng Bao, who sent them to the Northern Yamen for disposal.

"The Wanli Reform has just begun, and the burden on my shoulders is still very heavy. The success of the Wanli Reform is in the past, and greater difficulties lie ahead." Zhu Yijun said sincerely when he handed the memorial to Feng Bao.

He needs to remind himself from time to time and not dwell on past successes, because success has already passed and no longer counts. It only represents that he did well in the past.

The Ministry of Rites of the Northern Yamen submitted a memorial stating that Duan Fenggang, the magistrate of Fufeng County, Fengxiang Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, had committed suicide.

It was not because he was forced by the powerful and wealthy, nor was it because he was unable to satisfy the powerful and wealthy. The powerful and wealthy suddenly killed people and then disguised it as suicide. It was not because of public opinion, but because he was ashamed of the grace of His Majesty the Heaven and Earth and the expectations of the people.

There was a drought in Shaanxi this year. Severe drought will inevitably lead to locust plagues. When the locust plague is all over the mountains and plains, it is really not something that can be solved by raising some ducks. After the drought and locust plague, there will be famine. Even though the court responded quickly, Fengxiang Prefecture provided disaster relief and pensions in the first place, and Xi'an Prefecture transported grain and fodder.

However, 600 households still starved to death, and more than 2,000 people died of famine.

The ground was littered with corpses, it was a horrific sight. Duan Fenggang collected the corpses, dealt with the aftermath of the drought, left a farewell note, sent it to the capital by express, and then committed suicide to apologize.

What made Duan Fenggang hang himself was that he was caught in a dilemma during the drought. At that time, there was a batch of carefully selected grain in the county government warehouse, and he had planned to let the people cultivate it after the drought.

After the drought occurred, if he had released this batch of grain, the 600 households would not starve to death, but there would be a poor harvest the next year; if he did not release this batch of grain, people would starve to death. He made a choice and did not release the grain. After the drought ended, he gave his life as compensation for the 600 households that starved to death.

Last year, there was a severe drought in Xuzhou. As the prefect, Liu Shunzhi was able to break off relations with the Imperial Censor-in-Chief of the Grain Transport Bureau to open the sluice gates to release water and open the granaries to release grain. In the end, he saved more than 30,000 households and was recognized by the emperor for his meritorious service in local governance.

But Duan Fenggang was completely helpless.

The whole of Shaanxi suffered from a severe drought last year. Fengxiang Prefecture tried its best, but there was no food in the treasury. Xi'an Prefecture also had no food, and even the wealthy and powerful had no food at home.

Duan Fenggang searched all the granaries of landlords in the county, but found no surplus grain to allocate.

"If we want to feed the people of Ming Dynasty, there are only 130 million people in Ming Dynasty. I must fill their stomachs no matter what." Zhu Yijun approved the request of giving the county magistrate a posthumous title. Generally, posthumous titles are only given to the third rank and above. Those above the third rank and those with hereditary military honors are all nobles.

The Ministry of Rites gave him a posthumous title, Huaimin. A person who dies young and is kind is called Huai, and a person who suffers from sorrow in the country is called Min.

The posthumous title itself was an acknowledgement of Duan Fenggang's choice. In fact, the people under his rule did not blame him for his incompetence. The poverty in the Guanzhong Plain had not lasted for just one or two days, but had been worsening for 170 years.

Duan Fenggang was a rare good official. He did not condone annexation, but took the yamen runners to look for food everywhere.

The harm of the small glacier climate is not only the temperature but also the precipitation. The continuous decrease in Shaanxi’s population is mainly due to the climate rather than man-made disasters.

"If the Longkai highway is completed, things will be much better. The freight cost of transporting grain from the hinterland to Long will be much lower." Feng Bao mentioned a key issue. The highway from Jiayuguan to Kaifeng cost Your Majesty more than 30 million silver coins and a total of six engineering corps battalions, which were built in sections.

Before the Ming Dynasty recovered Hetao, Shaanxi was even more short of food. Any severe drought would kill more people, not to mention protecting the crops or the people. Nothing could be protected!
"The Longkai Chidao is very difficult to build." Zhu Yijun never urged the construction progress of the Chidao. Because of the court's urging, the Chidao had to stop for a short time every three days and for a long time every five days. Looking back, some sections even had to be rebuilt. That was the evil of the meat-eaters.

Mountains will not move away because of your emperor's urging, nor can a complex geographical environment be turned into a thoroughfare because of an imperial decree.

"Wang Ci Fu has shown great respect by not increasing my budget from 3412 million silver to 5000 million silver." Zhu Yijun thought that Longkai Chidao would become the One-Eyed Mo Dao Stoneman of the Ming Dynasty.

However, Wang Chonggu presided over the meeting with great caution and did not increase the budget much, only four million silver coins. In addition, some sections of the road, such as the section from Kaifeng to Xi'an, were already open to traffic. During the severe drought in Guanzhong, 400,000 shi of grain were transported from Henan.

The role of Chidao has gradually become apparent.

"Wang Ci Fu said that once this highway is completed, it will be the dragon vein of the Ming Dynasty." Feng Bao was full of emotion when talking about the Longkai Highway.

Wang Chonggu used two words to describe the importance of the Daming Chidao, that is, dragon vein.

The pulse is the home of blood. The word pulse refers to blood vessels. The dragon vein of the Ming Dynasty naturally refers to the blood vessels that connect the east, west, south and north of the Ming Dynasty. Its significance cannot be measured by tens of thousands of taels of silver. It involves the stability of the country.

In normal years, a drought of this magnitude would have led to civil unrest that would have resulted in the seizure of prefectures and counties.

Those who work hard on the road are the people's destiny.

(End of this chapter)