People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 675 They just took a small step forward, but Daming was already running away
Of course, Chen Han is not talking about Emperor Yang of Sui. Yang Guang was definitely a good emperor.

He must have not done something well enough in some areas, otherwise no one would rebel against him.

It’s just that the more people do things, the more mistakes they make, and that’s for sure.

Those who do things will definitely be cursed.

Because once you want to do something, you will have to go through a lot of trouble, and going through a lot of trouble will definitely make people think you are a tyrant.

The people will not understand the saying that the benefits to the present will last for generations to come. They will not even understand why you make our lives difficult.

They will never understand why you, as an emperor, have never thought about letting us common people live a good life. Otherwise, why are there so many unruly people everywhere?

So it is very difficult for people who do things.

This is also something that is difficult to understand, which is why Zhu Biao is actually quite worried now.

Because what he wants to do is not as simple as just expanding the territory.

Chen Han is now using the method of reform to make people's lives better while also building large ships to sail to Southeast Asia.

After going to Southeast Asia, Chen Han told him at the beginning that when Prince of Yan Zhu Di became the emperor, that is, Emperor Yongle, when the emperor went to the West, it was actually not done that way at all.

On the one hand, they were looking for Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen who might have fled to the Nanyang region.

On the other hand, it is also to promote national prestige.

The reason why he did this was actually to divert the domestic conflicts. He also hoped to use this kind of ostentation-like method, which was actually to show off the country's strength, to prove that he was doing a good job.

It is understandable that he wanted to reduce the negative impact of his usurpation of the throne.

Of course, there are also many people who say that Emperor Yongle actually made a lot of money by sailing to the West. This may be because they do not understand the financial systems of the Ming Dynasty at all.

In fact, going to Southeast Asia is not profitable at all, because building ships there is actually very expensive.

On the other hand, the countries they passed through on their way to Southeast Asia made friends with them, not like the Europeans at that time, who did so directly to plunder local products.

The Ming Dynasty at that time adhered to the principle that everything you own in the world must be paid tribute to us like some vassal states, rather than plundered.

What we uphold is that we are the way of heaven and we are the center.

You must come and pay homage to us so that you can have your own value. Why did you have to show off your national strength at that time?

They just hoped that those countries in Nanyang could do business with the Ming Dynasty or pay tribute to it, creating a kind of egocentric theory to satisfy their ideals of pioneering, so in fact they did not make any money at all.

Because the money earned from the small trade in Nanyang was much less than the rewards given by the Ming Dynasty.

Do you know what products and resources were available in Nanyang at that time?
There was indeed gold and silver, but at that time the Ming Dynasty was still using treasure notes, so they could only be regarded as collectibles.

And it could only enter the emperor’s own small treasury.

In other words, the imperial court at that time lost money but let the emperor gain face.

Even so, some people say that if going to the West was not profitable, why did Emperor Yongle launch so many northern expeditions and still have the money to support it?
This shows that we have even less understanding of the operation of the Ming Dynasty at that time.

The method used by the Ming Dynasty at that time was not to use the money earned from voyages to the West to support the Northern Expedition.

On the one hand, Emperor Yongle levied very high taxes on the world, and on the other hand, he made the same mistake as Zhu Yuanzhang did back then, that is, he madly imported treasure notes to make up for the cost of the Northern Expedition.

It can even be said that the amount of banknotes printed by Emperor Yongle at that time was more than that printed by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was in the same situation as Zhu Di, so he began to print banknotes crazily in order to get more funds for the Northern Expedition from the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, he also has some other methods, which is to regularly harvest the rich people all over the world. Whether they are officials or wealthy people, they are all within his harvest range.

Using this method of harvesting, he quickly earned a lot of money that could be used for the Northern Expedition.

But after Prince of Yan Zhu Di became emperor, he was no longer able to truly reap the world's wealth like his father had done.

Because at that time everyone in the world will be on guard against this move. If you still use this method, the stigma that you are in an illegitimate position will be infinitely magnified.

Zhu Yuanzhang could do whatever he wanted because he was the founding emperor. No matter what he did, others would say he had no choice, and the people could understand that. But if you, Prince of Yan Zhu Di, also known as Emperor Yongle, did the same, then you could not do so because you were not qualified.

You cannot reap all the wealth in the world like your father did, because you did not conquer the world like your father did. You became the emperor by snatching it from your nephew.

It was precisely because of this that Prince of Yan Zhu Di was forced to take risks. On the one hand, he used the method of sunset to promote his reputation, and on the other hand, he increased taxes and used the crazy printing of banknotes to regain control of the world.

At that time, Emperor Yongle issued much more treasure notes than Zhu Yuanzhang, which is also recorded in historical materials. Therefore, it can be seen that Emperor Yongle was just like Zhu Yuanzhang. In fact, he knew that crazy printing of treasure notes would inevitably bring a lot of trouble.

The reason why Chen Han can avoid going to Southeast Asia without making any money like Emperor Yongle did is also to avoid destroying the image of the Ming Dynasty as a central country, so he did not do like the European colonists.

When they arrived at a place, they started killing and burning people, then colonized the place and treated the local people as their slaves, dug up all the minerals, and left a bad reputation for the world.

The question is how to truly demonstrate the national strength of the Ming Dynasty while wanting to obtain more resources, which is to fight pirates to expand its own reputation.

Similarly, the fight against pirates also broadened the way for other countries to do business with the Ming Dynasty, making the trade route wider, and trade could bring more peace between the two countries.

Why do we have to do this?
First of all, trade will definitely promote the economic development of small countries in Southeast Asia. But why should we promote their economic development?

In fact, it is not kindness, nor is it just for their sake.

Instead, he wanted these people to have money so that they could come to the Ming Dynasty to spend money.

The same is true with the modern Belt and Road Initiative today, why should we help those African countries?
Those African countries have so many mines but no way to cash them in. How can we get them to cash in to help them build roads, mines, houses and infrastructure? This has attracted many online trolls in China.

It has always been said that if the country makes such an investment, it would be better for the money to be given to its own people.

This group of people have low cognition, so they simply don’t understand why the country is doing this.

Similarly, if Chen Han did this, many scholars in the Ming Dynasty who thought they were very knowledgeable would start to criticize Chen Han's actions. In fact, they had no idea why Chen Han did this.

The reason why Chen Han did this was to make the countries in Nanyang rich quickly. Only after they become rich will they do business with you.

Similarly, many people would say that if they were allowed to become wealthy, would they continue to become stronger and fight against the Ming Dynasty? In that case, there would be a disadvantage. This is indeed a disadvantage, and there is indeed such a hidden danger, but the reason why Chen Han has such great confidence is because his navy will never allow those people to have the opportunity to become powerful.

As the planner of the Ming Dynasty's expansion into Southeast Asia, he absolutely could not allow those countries in Southeast Asia to become rich and then develop thoughts of rebellion.

What is he going to do first?
The first is to develop your own agents.

How to train agents?

We must tie the truly wealthy and powerful countries in other countries to the economy of the Ming Dynasty.

How to bind?
The first thing is to send Ming treasure notes to these countries, allowing them to convert their wealth into Ming treasure notes and deposit them in Ming money houses.

Once this group of people are directly tied to the ship of the Ming Dynasty, how can they resist the Ming Dynasty?

Think about it, all the money they have saved for half their lives was deposited in the Ming Dynasty. Their own wealth and their current status were all obtained through trade with the Ming Dynasty.

If their king wants to go against the Ming Dynasty, will this group of people stand up and oppose it?

Many countries do this.

Many countries that want to control another country do the same thing.

It is necessary to cultivate these wealthy people who can be close to the Ming Dynasty, so that these people's countries will not dare to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

Only in this way can this group of people live a truly comfortable life, and individuals in other countries will never have the idea of ​​rebellion.

You can never resist, this is the real essence.

Chen Han actually had the idea of ​​doing this a long time ago.

Similarly, the reason why Chen Han was able to do this was not only because he had more knowledge and more means, but also because he had a direct conspiracy - that was the dual-track system of Baochao and silver.

The system implemented in the Ming Dynasty today was developed by him personally and is very useful.

He dug out the silver from the Iwami silver mine and the gold from the Sado gold mine in Japan and transported them to the Ming Dynasty.

However, this amount of gold and silver cannot actually be used as currency.

Instead, it is used for storage.

You can exchange your gold and silver for Baochao, but your gold and silver cannot be used directly as currency.

By circulating it throughout the country, the value of the treasure notes can be stabilized.

Chen Han can also use this method to carry out the same thing in various countries in Southeast Asia.

Similarly, if the gold and silver mined in the Southeast Asian countries were traded with the locals, they would not be able to spend them.

Because most of the local people are in extreme poverty, you can't even exchange gold and silver for their products, and even if you barter, you will have nothing to exchange.

So where can all this gold and silver go?
It must flow to the late Ming Dynasty.

If they wanted to trade with the Ming Dynasty, they could not use gold and silver directly as currency, but had to convert them into treasure notes.

In this way, Baochao is actually equivalent to collecting taxes from other countries at the first hand.

This is equivalent to collecting two taxes, which is equivalent to collecting another tax starting from entering the customs of the Ming Dynasty.

If this is done, it will bring a lot of trouble.

For example, too much inflow of gold and silver will lead to deflation.

What this means is that there is too much gold and silver, but the domestic products are not abundant enough. This will cause the value of gold and silver to fall, and the treasure notes will also fall accordingly.

If you want to prevent this situation from happening, it is very simple, that is, the court intervenes.

Because if it is just a market economy, it will be easy for all people who do business, whether they are rich or poor, kind or speculative.

They will all take a look at the exchange rate set by the court. If it does not conform to the rules of the market, someone will definitely take advantage of this business opportunity.

An underground black market will emerge for those who have precious banknotes, and these people will actually conduct private transactions with the merchants outside.

For example, if one and a half taels of silver can be exchanged for one string of treasure notes, then there will definitely be people in the underground black market who will tell the merchants outside that we only need one tael and two cents to exchange for one string of treasure notes.

Then the court's credit and tax revenue would be damaged.

So what should we do at this time?

The first thing to do is to increase the intensity of the crackdown. Once caught, they will be skinned to death, their tendons will be pulled out, and tortured with burning people with fire, etc., all of which can be used as deterrence.

The second option is to increase infrastructure construction and improve product quality, that is, to increase productivity.

In fact, this is a paradox, but there is nothing we can do about it.

If you really want to promote the productivity of the court or the country, you must trade with the outside world.

You have to expand domestic and foreign demand, and you have to prepare for the impact of the influx of foreign products or silver on monetary policy.

In fact, how can we resist this risk in the end?

Increasing investment in infrastructure and improving productivity are the fundamental solutions.

The reason why Chen Han has this confidence is because the current Ming Dynasty has fully met such conditions.

Of course, what Chen Han is more confident about is that today, whether it is Nanyang or Xiaorizi, as well as other surrounding countries, their gold and silver mining volume is actually completely incomparable to the speed of developing productivity in the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty was fully capable of concentrating its efforts on productivity and development.

When other countries' national strength is greatly improved under the impetus of the Ming Dynasty's trade, they will find that they have only taken a small step forward, while the Ming Dynasty has already rushed to a place where they can't even see its back...

(End of this chapter)