I studied in modern times

Chapter 962: Liao Dynasty dug, Song Dynasty dug

After agreeing that the Liao people could copy the "old documents" of the Chongwen Academy, Yelu Gongchen and Yelu Yongchang both expressed their gratitude and said goodbye.

After copying the documents, they immediately left the palace and went back to prepare for returning home early the next morning.

Zhao Xu sat on the cushion in the Funing Palace, watching Yelu Gongchen and Yelu Yongchang disappear outside the palace steps step by step.

After an unknown amount of time, Xing Shu finally stood up, bowed and asked, "Your Majesty..."

"Then Japan's mountains of gold and silver..."

Zhao Xu looked at him and chuckled, "It's true!"

"Ah!" Xing Shu was stunned.

Zhao Xu looked at him and said, "Why should I deceive the Liao people on such a matter?"

Xing Shu swallowed his saliva and asked cautiously, "Then your majesty, how much gold and silver do you think those gold and silver mountains in Japan can produce every year?"

Zhao Xu pursed his lips and said, "I don't know about that!"

"But if the Liao people work hard at mining, it shouldn't be a problem to produce millions of taels of silver and tens of thousands of taels of gold per year!"

Zhao Xu mentioned Japan's gold and silver mines, not just Iwami Silver Mine and Sado Gold Mine.

There are also Besshi Silver Mine, Sama Silver Mine, etc., the locations of gold and silver mines in Japan that Zhao Xu can remember.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if the Liao people were useless, as long as they found these gold and silver mines and dug them casually, the annual output of silver and gold would be astronomical figures.

After all, the archipelago of our daily life was created by volcanic activity.

And volcanoes will definitely bring gold and silver from underground to the surface.

According to what Zhao Xu knew in modern times, Japan's gold and silver mine output was not as much as that of South America and North America.

However, it is also the best precious metal producing area in the world to mine with existing technological conditions.

Compared with the mines owned by Japan, the gold and silver veins of the Song Dynasty are simply rubbish!

Xing Shu was shocked by the numbers revealed by Zhao Xu.

A mountain of gold and silver that produces at least a million taels of silver and tens of thousands of taels of gold every year! ?

"His Majesty……"

Zhao Xu chuckled and looked at Xing Shu: "Master, do you think that I shouldn't tell the Liao people?"

Xing Shu nodded, then bowed and said, "I am a dull and ignorant person, and I do not understand your majesty's intentions... I beg your majesty to teach me!"

After three years of getting along with Zhao Xu, Xing Shu is now familiar with how to get along with Zhao Xu.

He knew that His Majesty was very willing to carefully explain the details of the relevant policies and laws to his ministers.

On some important matters, His Majesty would even take the trouble to analyze the relevant situations in detail with his ministers again and again.

In this way, His Majesty made sure that all the ministers around him knew what he was going to do, what his purpose was, and what kind of result he wanted.
Therefore, everyone can work together to know what they are doing, what purpose they are pursuing, and what results they are trying to achieve.
Zhao Xu stood up, walked to the center of the hall, and came to Xing Shu, and asked softly, "Master, do you mean to say that if I hand over the mountains of gold and silver to the Liao people, the Liao people will surely strengthen their country and become a disaster in the future?"

Xing Shu bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty is wise and wise!"

Every year, at least millions of taels of silver and tens of thousands of taels of gold were obtained by the Liao people for free.

What can't the Liao people do with this money?

Zhao Xu smiled: "Master, you don't think that this readily available gold and silver is a good thing, do you?"

Xing Shu raised his head, his eyes full of confusion.

Gold and silver, can there be any harm?
"I would like to ask the scholar..." Zhao Xu moved the chair that Yelu Yongchang had just sat on and sat in front of Xing Shu, then took the hand of the Hanlin scholar and foreign minister and sat down: "Since the Song-Liao Jiaozi Trade Agreement, has the Liao Kingdom purchased more and more goods from our Song Dynasty every year?"

"Yes!" Xing Shu nodded.

This is something everyone knows.

In the first half of this year alone, the Liao people spent all the agreed amount of 3 million strings of Jiaozi.

So they had to urgently send 200,000 taels of silver and ask the Song Dynasty to print an additional 1 million Jiaozi coins.

The Liao people spent all the one million strings of cash in just two months.

Next year, the Liao people will increase the amount of Song-Liao Jiaozi to 4 million strings in one go.

Obviously, with the current spending rate of the Liao people, the 4 million strings of cash next year may not be able to be sustained for even half a year.

Zhao Xu looked at Xing Shu and said, "The Liao people are so extravagant. Are the people in the country becoming more arrogant and extravagant?"

Xing Shu still nodded.

This is something that doesn't need to be asked.

Without mentioning anything else, let’s just look at the members of the Liao Kingdom delegation that are now entering the DPRK?
From top to bottom, everyone was shopping after entering Bian Jing!
They are not only purchasing for the Liao Kingdom, but also purchasing for their relatives and friends, and purchasing for their own businesses!

According to Yelu Ju and Yelu Yongchang, there are now many people in the Liao Kingdom trying to grab a position as a low-level accompanying member in the delegation so that they can come to Bian Jing to shop.

It would cost thousands of strings of cash just to bribe the relevant parties.

Not only that, but you also need someone with background and connections.

Otherwise, even if you have money you can’t join the mission.

Zhao Xu laughed and said, "Then, according to your opinion, after the Liao people bought so many goods from our dynasty, is it true that no one wants Liao people's own goods?"

“Even if someone wants it, they will have to lower the price or even sell it at a loss?”

“Who would do a business at a loss?”

"Once the Liao people find out, it is better to buy cloth from the Song Dynasty than to weave it ourselves. What will the Liao weaving industry do?"

"If this continues, what will happen to the Liao people's national situation?"

Zhao Xu asked with interest.

The current craze for importing goods from the Liao Kingdom by the Song Dynasty has a special term in modern times - dumping!

And it is the most violent way of dumping!

Zhao Xu even took out all the silk cloth that his father had stored in the Fengzhuang warehouse and started selling them at bargain prices.

At the beginning, the cloth sold was old and inferior cloth.

The price is cheap and understandable.

But now, Zhao Xu has started selling silk cloth that has only slight flaws but does not actually affect its use.

And they are selling at a bargain price.

The original price of silk cloth was two and a half strings of coins, but now it has been slashed to one and a half strings of coins!

And in Liao, how much did a piece of silk cloth cost?
Four strings of cash!
This is because the Liao area is cold and harsh, sericulture is difficult, and textile technology is also backward compared to the Song Dynasty, so even the cost of linen is very high.

At the same time, Zhao Xu also began to export cotton cloth to the Liao Kingdom.

Since the beginning of winter this year, the Liao people have bought tens of thousands of pieces of cotton cloth from the Song Dynasty. The combination of silk and cotton cloth was enough to destroy the Liao Kingdom's already poor and backward hand-woven textile industry.

Xing Shu was a little confused by Zhao Xu's questions. He took a deep breath and lowered his head: "I am stupid and don't know the wise plan of Your Majesty. I hope Your Majesty will explain it to me!"

Zhao Xu looked at him and knew that it would be difficult to make people in the Middle Ages understand what a resource trap was and what the natural dilemma of a financial country was.

Therefore, he simply said directly: "In the long run, the Liao Kingdom will become more and more dependent on our commercial goods!"

"Their industry and commerce will gradually disappear, and the few that can survive will only be owned by the royal family!"

"Its production will gradually decline, its craftsmen will no longer have the heart to go in... its rulers and ministers will be intoxicated by the cheap goods brought by the Jiaozi trade!"

"But..." Zhao Xu looked at Xing Shu and asked, "Scholar, do you know what the Liao people are missing from what I described?"

Xing Shu lowered his head and replied softly, "Gold and silver!"

Zhao Xu smiled: "My dear minister, you are right!"

"The Liao people are now short of gold and silver!"

"So, I have filled in this last link for the Liao people!"

To be honest, when Zhao Xu heard that the Liao army had crossed the sea and invaded Japan, he couldn't help but want to sell Japan's gold and silver to the Liao people.

It’s just that I haven’t found the right opportunity yet!

Without him!

In Zhao Xu's eyes, the appearance of the Liao army in Japan was simply - God's help!
There is no way. The current Song Dynasty does not have the ability to deploy military forces to the Japanese islands.

This is not just a limitation of navigation technology.

It is also a shackle caused by the shortage of navigation talents and the serious insufficiency of naval construction.

In this case, the only option for Zhao Xu was for the Liao people to land in Japan and help the Song Dynasty mine Japan's gold and silver mines.

Anyway, didn’t the Liao ruler Yelu Hongji claim to be a descendant of Emperor Gaozu of Han and the emperor of China?
In this case, doesn't it make any difference whether the Song Dynasty or the Liao Dynasty goes to Japan to dig for gold and silver?

If the Liao Dynasty dug it, it must be the Song Dynasty that dug it.

Anyway, won’t all this gold and silver eventually go into the Song Dynasty’s treasury?

The fate of the Liao Dynasty was already determined after it landed in Japan and discovered the gold and silver mines.

He will become medieval Spain!

Zhao Xu has watched some European documentaries on modern history.

He knew that the first empire on which the sun never set in human history was Spain.

Relying on the discoveries and colonial plunder during the Age of Exploration, Spain quickly rose to become the first global empire.

Spanish galleons transported silver from North and South America back to the country in a steady stream.

However, this became a curse for the Spanish Empire.

The massive influx of silver enabled the Spaniards to start a shopping spree.

At the same time, the influx of countless silver locked up all production and technology in Spain.

Why should I go through so much trouble to produce something myself when I can just buy it?

I'm not a masochist!
As a result, all European countries took advantage of Spain.

The silver that the Spanish obtained from their colonies through great effort and bad deeds did not give them an advantage in the competition on the European continent.

Instead, the silver became the enemy of Spain.

For example, the source of the first pot of gold for industrialists in France, the Habsburgs, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Especially the British - the Spanish contribution to Britain's primitive accumulation is indelible.

Many aristocrats wearing the Union Jack in London made their first fortune from the Spaniards.

Even the British navy grew up relying on the Spanish sailing ships.

What about Spain?

The huge amount of silver became his curse.

It not only missed the first industrial revolution, but also the second industrial revolution.

So much so that when the ironclad steam battleship of the Lighthouse Country arrived in the Philippines.

The Spanish flagship was a wooden sailing warship that was no longer in use even by the Qing Dynasty.

This is the innate curse of a financial country - a financial country is bound to be a deficit country and does not inherently have the conditions to become an industrial producing country.

No matter how powerful or wealthy they are.

They are all rootless duckweed and water without a source, and will eventually die from backwardness.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu said to Xing Shu proudly: "Even better, the gold and silver that the Liao people obtained from Japan will eventually be sent to our dynasty, turned into Jiaozi, and then used to buy various commercial goods from our dynasty!"

"Let the industry and commerce of our Great Song receive timely rain, and let the craftsmen of our Great Song have sufficient work!"

"If everyone has a job..." Zhao Xu looked at Xing Shu and said, "You are well-read, so you should know what this means, right?"

Xing Shu felt his scalp tingling and goose bumps all over his body. He subconsciously said, "The way of the people is that those who have permanent property have perseverance, and those who have no permanent property have no perseverance!"

This is the text from Mencius - Duke Wen of Teng.

The next two sentences are: If one has no perseverance, he will indulge in evil and extravagance, and do whatever he wants. When he is caught in a crime, he will be punished. This is to deceive the people!

History has told people this throughout the ages, generation after generation.

Those without permanent property will once become the mainstream.

It will inevitably lead to disorder and the collapse of the world.

The reasons for the success of all successful wise and powerful rulers have one surprising thing in common - they allow as many people as possible to become self-cultivating farmers with land, families and children.

The good family sons of the Qin and Han dynasties and the government soldiers of the Tang Dynasty all came from self-cultivating farmers.

So, Xing Shu raised his head and looked at the face of the young master in front of him. He stood up, bowed deeply, and kowtowed before the king again: "I swear to follow your majesty's policy until death!"

Probably because this young master has revealed a bright future to him.

A path that is different from the Han and Tang dynasties, but one that is feasible in the Song Dynasty.

To absorb population through industry and commerce.

Give landless farmers and more and more customers in rural areas an opportunity to support themselves and their families.

In this way, since the Renmiao period, with the increasing population and increasingly tight cultivated land, the various social problems brought about seem to have solutions!

Once this road is successful!
What Xing Shu knew was that this was the way to bring peace to the world for all eternity!

(End of this chapter)