King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

Zhu Biao felt like his three views were about to collapse!

Why does my father value money so much?

Zhu Yuanzhang said cautiously: "After all, whether it's salt, iron or soap, they are all valuable. If we put them overseas, we can make three or four times the profit, right?
I ordered the Jinyiwei to investigate. It turns out that at least two million taels of silver were spent on the salt from your Changlu Salt Field!

You have earned nearly 10 million taels of silver from salt alone, plus the other things. I am not greedy, I will split it in half with you!"

Zhu Tan let out a long breath.

Only 1000 million taels of silver!
Although the scale of overseas trade development is not that large at present.

It is indeed similar to what Lao Zhu estimated. His recent profit is only about 20 million taels of silver.

But he saw that Qingzhou had already belonged to him.

Trade with Japan and Goryeo was also developing.

This profit of 20 million silver is unstoppable.

Moreover, ships from Qingzhou have now begun to secretly sail to the South China Sea.

This is also the reason why Zhu Tan plans to build a batch of large ships as soon as possible.

If there were no protection at sea, not to mention the Japanese pirates who are still rampant on the coast, even the Fujian merchants who cooperated with him might stab him in the back when they were in the vast ocean.

After all, secretly sending ships to Southeast Asia would be a stab in the back for the Fujian merchants.

Zhu Tan never thought that his official status of the Ming Dynasty had any deterrent effect on these lawless people on the sea.

Out on the vast ocean, imperial power is useless.

Whoever has the bigger fist is the boss.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan and asked, "Old Ten, you broke our ban. We only want 10 million taels of silver, which is not much, right?
If you think it's too much, 950 million taels will also do!"

When Zhu Biao looked at his father's appearance, he felt that all his three views were shattered.

"Father, this is a matter of principle. Why are you really using money to measure it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Zhu Biao.

"Principles? Can principles be exchanged for money? You think our Ming Dynasty is very rich, right? Let me tell you, Yunnan will send troops again soon! There will be many places where money will be needed next!
The chieftains in Huguang area are causing chaos, and those in Yunnan and Guizhou are also restless. We have to send our army to suppress them!

In addition to mobilizing troops abroad, the Ministry of War is now in charge of the reform of the military system in various locations!
From now on, the Ming Dynasty’s soldiers will change from the garrison system to the recruitment system!
The amount of money spent on this transition phase is also enormous!

By the way, there are also the methods of making muskets and cannons that Lao Shi taught us!

The cost is extremely high!
The cost of making a musket is more than ten taels of silver!
The cost of making a cannon is as high as hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver!

Those bullets and artillery shells also consume a lot of money. My Ming army must be equipped with at least 50 muskets, tens of millions of bullets, and a thousand artillery pieces, right?
This is also money, all money!
We haven’t even talked about the money for water conservancy projects!
Yangtze River, Yellow River, Grand Canal!
Even to post roads leading to all parts of the country!
We don't even know where the money will come from for all these expenses... What can we do with the 1000 million taels of silver that Old Ten gave us?

We spent it all in a few months!"

Zhu Biao: ...

Zhu Tan: ...

Damn, I've long known that emperors with great talent and strategy are all prodigals.

But I didn’t expect that Lao Zhu’s way of squandering the family fortune was so scary.

I am so good at making money, and I am almost splitting it with Lao Zhu, but I am still losing more than he is.

No wonder he ignored his principles for the sake of money.

Zhu Biao said anxiously, "Father! If we are short of money, we can take our time and do it one by one, but how can we violate this principle?

It was you who set the sea ban!

Many coastal people who resisted were thrown into prison, but my tenth brother and those Fujian merchants can now circumvent the order to close the border and ban the sea and make a lot of money. This is too unfair."

Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Tan and said apologetically, "Tenth brother, I am only discussing the matter at hand. I am not targeting you. Please don't blame me!

But I think that our Ming Dynasty should be based on trust and justice, and follow fairness as the criterion, so that people all over the world will respect us and the people will submit to us!

Now it's like this, I just don't want to see it!"

Zhu Tan smiled and said, "That's fine! It's good that Big Brother has his own opinions and attitudes!"

Zhu Biao smiled bitterly.

You keep saying good things but never mention anything about correcting yourself.

Zhu Yuanzhang, however, looked disapproving.

"Prince, do you think I am old and confused and now I only want money and not the country?"

Zhu Biao wanted to say yes, but he didn't dare to.

I can only remain silent.

Zhu Yuanzhang became instantly angry when he saw Zhu Biao's appearance.

"You might as well just say that I am like that! If you don't say anything now, wouldn't that mean you are admitting that I am like that? But you didn't say it out loud!"

Zhu Biao smiled bitterly and said, "I don't dare!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, “You are the prince, if you have any objections, we can explain it to you in detail!
There is a reason for this closure of the sea!

The first and most important point is because of the Japanese pirates!

A considerable number of these Japanese pirates came from Japan, and they called themselves so-called Ronin!
snort!
It’s really wild!
Instead of staying in your own country, you run away to seek death!

These Japanese pirates are certainly hateful, but compared to them, even more hateful are the pirates who cooperate with these Japanese pirates!
A considerable number of Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen's former subordinates remained at sea!
We can't do anything to those people!

To put it bluntly, the navy troops along the Zhejiang coast are now disobeying our orders in secret!"

When Zhu Tan heard this, he looked at Lao Zhu in surprise.

No way, it’s already the 18th year of Hongwu, and there is still an army that Zhu Yuanzhang can’t deal with?

He even tolerated it until now?
This sounds incredible no matter how you listen to it!

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed helplessly and said, "Almost all of the navy troops stationed in Zhejiang are former subordinates of Fang Guozhen.

Fang Guozhen surrendered to us, but we didn't do anything to him!
Logically speaking, he was a double-faced villain. When he was against us before, sometimes he supported Zhang Shicheng, sometimes he secretly colluded with the Yuan court, and sometimes he hooked up with Chen Youliang!
Of course there is no shortage of others, come and work with us!
He did give us a lot of food, fodder, gold and silver.

But sometimes, he would just give us gold and silver, and then join forces with Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang to plot against us!

Even if this villain surrenders, I will chop him to pieces according to my usual character! But I can only endure it!

no way!
There is no navy along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, let alone an army that can stop the Japanese pirates!
At that time, Fang Guozhen's nephew Fang Mingqian suggested to me that I should set up more coastal garrisons, and I listened to him without hesitation.

What about those guards in the end?
They are all his former subordinates from the Fang family!
We were busy fighting the Yuan court at the time and urgently needed to stabilize the situation in the south. There was no choice but to grit our teeth and endure it.

After all, without these garrisons, the Japanese pirates would wreak havoc on the coast of the Ming Dynasty. How would we collect taxes and fight wars?

This patience lasted until the 18th year of Hongwu! It is estimated that these coastal garrisons have been managed by the Fang family into an iron plate. Although they appear to be submissive, if we really have any intentions towards these garrisons, it is possible that some Japanese pirates and bandits will turn the Ming Dynasty upside down! "

Listening to Old Zhu telling these past events, Zhu Tan roughly understood some of them.

The navy trained by Fang Guozhen was indeed powerful, and Zhang Shicheng was beaten to a pulp by him...

The Yuan army was simply destroyed again and again by Fang Guozhen, and finally had to run to ask for peace.

The Ming Dynasty has been plagued by Japanese pirates for many years. If it weren't for the garrisons built with Fang Guozhen's former subordinates as the foundation, the Japanese pirates would probably have become a disaster.

But some of Fang Guozhen's former subordinates are still entrenched in the coastal areas of Zhejiang, and they have also become part of the Japanese pirates...

To put it bluntly, the people Fang Guozhen left behind were both soldiers and bandits...

However, Zhu Tan didn't know why Lao Zhu wanted to tell these things.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "So this closure of the sea is not to prohibit overseas trade!
Both the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty made huge profits through overseas trade. We are not stupid, so how could we not know the benefits of this?

But there is no way!
Those Japanese pirates were blocking the coast, and the former subordinates of Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen were entrenched on the large and small islands along the coast of the Ming Dynasty!

If we open up maritime trade, I'm afraid that by then the people will all join the bandits. Not to mention how arrogant the Japanese pirates will be, I'm afraid these pirates will become so powerful that they can't be controlled!"

Done.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao and said, "Prince, do you understand why we don't care about Lao Shi colluding with Fujian merchants to go to sea?"

Zhu Biao hesitated for a moment after hearing this, and said, "Escort means that my tenth brother is cooperating with the Fujian merchants to go to sea, because the Fujian merchants are strong enough and will not be robbed by the Japanese pirates, and those people will not join the ranks of pirates, so there will be no such danger.

But at the same time, they can also earn a lot of money and sell Ming Dynasty products overseas!
This view actually has its benefits.”

Zhu Yuanzhang groaned and said, "You finally got it this time. It's worth our effort to train you! The only bad thing is that we can't collect taxes!"

Zhu Tan sneered and said, "Father, do you have the nerve to charge a tax rate of 30%?
If you agree that the Fujian merchants can go out to sea freely, they don't have to hide and conceal their true intentions now. Not to mention the tax rate of 30%, even if it is % tax rate, the Fujian merchants will be willing to pay it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "This matter involves fairness!
Fujian merchants can go to sea right under our noses, and we can tolerate them! That's why Jinyiwei has a good relationship with Fujian merchants. It was also Fujian merchants who left Wu Qingchen's substitute last time.

But we still cannot allow them to go out to sea in public, otherwise it will be unfair to other ordinary people!

If you are a strong Fujian businessman, you can go out to sea at will.

It is not acceptable to say that other places cannot go out to sea because they are weak.”

Zhu Yuanzhang gnashed his teeth and said, "That's why we have to put up with this!
Now that Old Ten can actually give us money, we can of course encourage him secretly."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao, sighed, and said, "Prince, as the crown prince of the country, you have to be more mature.

Where is fairness in this world?

Even for us, nothing has ever been fair!

If you have good intentions for the people in your heart, then be nicer to them, and never maintain some so-called principles and rules.

We are the ones who set the principles and rules, so how can we abide by them ourselves?

Those principles and rules are set for the people under our rule, and they are to be followed by them!"

Zhu Biao nodded and said, "Father's teachings, I will remember them!"

Zhu Tan couldn't help but shook his head.

Old Zhu has corrupted a prince who has a pure and righteous heart!
This is to make him have feudal privileged ideas...

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Look at Lao Shi, he has no bottom line or principles! As long as it is beneficial to himself and to the Ming Dynasty, he will do anything!
He dares to do it! That’s why he can succeed! You should learn more from Lao Shi in this regard.”

Zhu Tan smiled bitterly.

"Father, are you praising me or scolding me?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said indifferently: "You don't care whether we praise or scold you, just take it as a compliment."

Zhu Tan:......

Do you want me to praise you?

So what you mean is not to brag?
If you don’t praise, you are scolding!
Dark old thing...

It seems to take a lot of time to discuss these overseas trade matters.

But in reality it was just some small talk.

During this period of time, the auctioneer had hyped up this set of glass wine utensils as the best in the world and very rare.

At the same time, under Zhu Tan's instruction, this black-hearted auctioneer also described the glass wine glass as a treasure that can prolong life and strengthen the body...

Instantly, everyone's desire for glass wine sets reached a new climax.

suddenly.

Auctioneer Zhao Chunlai said: "I have said so much, but I have not yet shown you the absolute beauty of this set of glassware! Please open your eyes and appreciate it carefully!"

As he spoke, Zhao Chunlai took out a pot of wine.

Then he poured the wine into a glass jug that had been placed aside.

Everyone present was staring at the liquid flowing slowly in the glass jug. The red liquid looked particularly gorgeous in the transparent glass jug, like a shallow beach sparkling in the setting sun.

Then, Zhao Chunlai poured the wine from the glass jug into a glass.

When the red wine is poured into the glass as thin as a cicada's wing, the audience can clearly see the wine slowly rotating in the glass, and the contact between the wine and the wall of the glass seems like a gentle dialogue between liquid and air.

The red wine sways gently in the glass, reflecting the light, which is extremely tempting.

The atmosphere in the venue was so captivated by this scene that many people even held their breath, fearing that their every move would break this fragile and beautiful balance.

Zhao Chunlai's technique is extremely professional, which is the result of his thousands of times of practice. Every pour is handled just right, ensuring that every drop of wine shows its best style in the glass.

The glass wine glasses in front of you are not just a drinking tool, but more like a work of art that can perfectly display the color, aroma and taste of the wine. In this way, they prove their uniqueness and nobility that are different from any other materials.

Everyone in the room was deeply shocked when they saw the wine in the glass! (End of this chapter)