Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 267: Issuing Public Debts and the Imperial Prerogative

While Xia Yan was discussing the opening of new shipping routes with Ming officials in Guangdong and Guangxi, the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao also arrived in Guangzhou in the south.

Zhu Houzhao came to Guangzhou naturally to take a close look at the specific conditions after the opening of the sea in Guangdong and Guangxi during the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao did not make a big fanfare. He suddenly appeared in Guangzhou with a small entourage. This would not only avoid disrupting the lives of the people along the way from the capital to Guangzhou, but also catch the officials in Guangdong and Guangxi regions off guard, so that he, the emperor, could see the most realistic situation in Guangdong and Guangxi.

The royal palace in Guangzhou was one of the palaces that Zhu Houzhao ordered the Royal Taxation Bureau to fund and build in various prefectures of the Ming Dynasty in the tenth year of Zhengde.

Now, Zhu Houzhao could naturally use the royal palace in Guangzhou as his temporary residence as an emperor.

Zhu Houzhao is now looking at a map, naturally the map of the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao is still struggling with whether he should draw a circle on the map of Guangdong and Guangxi as well. But then he thinks it is unnecessary. After all, there is no Hong Kong yet. It will not be too late to draw a circle for the small fishing village until the trade density becomes higher in the future. Now, just Haojing is enough to meet the trade transit needs of the entire Daming Sea area.

After looking at the map of Guangdong and Guangxi for a while, Zhu Houzhao felt a little bored. He stood up and walked to the glass window inlaid with lattice glass. He moved the model of a first-class battleship in front of the window and asked, "Now, how is the discussion between Xia Yan and the officials of Guangdong and Guangxi going? When can the large sailing ships of our Ming Dynasty be moored in Goa City on a large scale?"

"Your Majesty, the results of yesterday's discussion came out. Officials from Guangdong and Guangxi have expressed their willingness to cooperate with Xia Butang to open up this new route. In addition, Xia Butang has followed your instructions and, with the help of officials from Guangdong and Guangxi, has begun to convene local gentry and heads of major business companies in Guangdong and Guangxi to prepare to build the Ming Stock Exchange in Haojing. The newly established Empire Maritime Trade Corporation will be listed, and at that time all Ming citizens will participate in purchasing government bonds to form a fleet and shipping company to open up new routes!"

Liu Jin replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and asked with some concern: "Do you think Xia Yan can open the business successfully?"

"Xia Butang has received instructions from Your Majesty, and I believe he can do it. Moreover, among the assistants you have assigned him this time, there are students who have studied abacus for several years with Wang Jijiu (Wang Wensu) of the Imperial University of Peking, and officials from the Ministry of Revenue who have run several banks with Xu Zongguan (Xu Jing). It shouldn't be a problem to open this stock exchange. Moreover, Xia Butang himself is also a student of Your Majesty at the Imperial University of Peking, so Your Majesty should be relieved!"

After Liu Jin said this, Zhu Houzhao nodded and thought to himself: "I just don't know if the officials and common people in Guangdong and Guangxi are willing to subscribe to the government bonds issued by the government!"

……

Zhu Houzhao's worries were obviously unnecessary.

As soon as the Ming Stock Exchange was built in Guangzhou and the bonds issued to raise funds for the Imperial Maritime Trade Company to open new shipping routes were first sold, many officials, gentry and common people in Guangdong and Guangxi came to subscribe.

Zhu Houzhao originally thought that there were not many people, so he and Liu Jin came here incognito and planned to make a small fortune using the fake household registration certificates registered with the Ministry of Households.

As a result, when Zhu Houzhao arrived, he found that even at the hour of Mao in the morning on the first day of the issuance of government bonds, many Ming scholars and citizens had already gathered here to buy government bonds.

Zhu Houzhao could not help but stop a scholar wearing a lazy scarf and asked, "May I ask this brother, are you really willing to buy the government bonds issued by the government? Aren't you afraid of being cheated by the government?"

"I'm not worried. The court favors students. If the government dares to cheat us, we can make trouble," the scholar waved his fan and replied with a smile when he saw Zhu Houzhao was wearing luxurious clothes and gold and jade on his body.

Zhu Houzhao thought about it and it made sense. After all, this was the Ming Dynasty under his rule, not the Qing Dynasty. Although he, the emperor, was ruthless in killing civil servants, it also encouraged the scholars and people of the Ming Dynasty to regard themselves more and more as human beings. They did not even have the slightest suspicion of the government, even this student in front of him who did not even seem to have passed the imperial examination was the same.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao continued to ask: "But do you really believe that you can make money by buying government bonds?"

"Of course. To be honest, this was created by the wisest emperor in the history of our Ming Dynasty. He used this method to raise funds to secure his throne. Until now, the ministers who followed him have become rich. You should know this. Now private businessmen also use this method. Everyone knows that if everyone raises funds together and lets powerful people do business, everyone can get rich. This time, the public debt is also the same."

The scholar was in the mood to show off as he spoke, and Zhu Houzhao was dressed richly, so he wanted to make friends with him, so he continued, "This time the government issued bonds to open up a new route to Goa and even Cape Verde. I heard that there is a lot of gold and silver on that route. Lord Xia brought back a lot last time, and the fleet of Shouning Marquis (Zhang Heling) also brought back a lot. Now Lord Xia has obtained the emperor's approval to set up a company to open up this new route again. Naturally, he will be able to bring back more gold and silver. Although we can't get rich with them, we can invest money in some stocks now!
In Zong's opinion, this is a sure win. Look at that guy, Jiao Ge's brother-in-law, who came all the way from Henan to buy it. I heard that he brought a full 0 silver dollars this time!"

After hearing what the scholar said, Zhu Houzhao understood. He knew that since Xia Yan, Zhang Heling and others brought back a lot of gold and silver, the officials, gentry and common people in Guangdong and Guangxi have already known the benefits of this. However, the officials, gentry and common people themselves could not organize a strong armed fleet. Now that the government is selling public bonds and building a strong armed fleet to engage in maritime trade, naturally these officials, gentry and common people are not fools and will rush to buy. Even some people with a keen sense of smell in the mainland have followed suit.

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and couldn't help but look at the brother-in-law of Jiao Ge Lao who was sitting in a half-open sedan chair with a maid massaging his back. He couldn't help but ask Liu Jin: "Jiao Fang is eighty-three years old now, right? His brother-in-law is so young? He looks only sixteen or seventeen years old!"

"In reply to your Majesty, Lord Jiao just took in his 26th concubine, Ms. Mei, who is 18 years old, last year. This brother-in-law must be the younger brother of his 26th wife, Ms. Mei," Liu Jin couldn't help but reply awkwardly.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that those officials who followed me back then are indeed very rich. They even have more women than I do. The Daming Securities will be opened soon. Let's go and make some money. Let's go!"

……

At this time, people had already started queuing up in front of the Daming Stock Exchange. After Wang Hua's spiritual civilization construction, queuing up had become a common practice in the lives of the people of Daming.

Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin appeared here in casual clothes and did not take advantage of any privileges. They lined up very orderly. However, when there were still two or three hundred people left to him, suddenly two or three hundred people in front of him were unwilling to line up anymore and simply dispersed.

Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin successfully appeared at the front of the stock exchange.

The scholar who had just bought the bonds before Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin could not help but ask Zhu Houzhao in astonishment: "Why are they not lining up?"

Zhu Houzhao said he didn't know and it was not easy to say that this was his guard, so he just came to the counter.

At this time, a green-robed official from the stock exchange skillfully fiddled with an abacus and asked without even looking up, "Name, how much do you want to buy?"

"Zhu Shou, thirty thousand silver dollars, buy them all!"

Zhu Houzhao handed over the bill issued by the Royal Bank, and at this time another green-robed official handed over a coupon with a smile: "You are a big customer. According to the instructions above, you will be given a free ticket to the Haojing Haitian Shengyuan."

Zhu Houzhao didn't quite know what the Crystal Pavilion ticket meant, so he just stood aside and waited until Liu Jin had bought his ticket before asking, "Where is Hai Tian Sheng Yuan?"

"It is the most romantic place in Guangdong and Guangxi, and it is owned by the Shouning Marquis family. They specialize in kidnapping foreign girls and Japanese girls for people's pleasure. This is your pass, which allows you to have fun in all aspects. The price of this pass is three hundred silver dollars! And it is still in short supply!"

At this time, the scholar suddenly came over and said.

"Give it to you!"

Zhu Houzhao handed it over to the scholar, thinking that if he wanted to play with a Hu girl, he would have to go to Haitian Shengyuan. How could he, the Marquis of Shouning, not offer the most beautiful one to him? Therefore, Zhu Houzhao took Liu Jin away after saying this.

After returning to the palace, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but ask Liu Jin: "How much did you buy?"

"Your Majesty, ten thousand silver dollars," Liu Jin replied.

"Have I given you the ticket for Hai Tian Sheng Yuan?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

Liu Jin quickly put the voucher into his sleeve and replied, "Your Majesty, no!"

"It doesn't matter if you don't have it. This doesn't interest you much," Zhu Houzhao said, and ordered someone to summon Zhang Heling, Marquis of Shouning, who was temporarily staying in Guangzhou Prefecture.

Soon, Zhang Heling brought two extremely beautiful Hu girls who looked as white as jade to Zhu Houzhao. "I didn't know that Your Majesty was coming to Guangzhou. I failed to welcome you from afar. Please forgive me. One of these Hu girls is the princess of Qianxiang Country, and the other is the fiancée of the prince of Venice. I specially offer them to Your Majesty. They are both the most beautiful this year and have never shown their faces to anyone!"

Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling were specially arranged by Zhu Houzhao to go overseas as pirates;
Zhang Yanling even planned a voyage around the world, but Zhang Heling was purely engaged in looting and robbing. However, because these two were the emperor's uncles, they did not care even if they were impeached by the upright officials of Neo-Confucianism. Moreover, Zhang Heling also knew the rules and always gave his best to his nephew, the emperor.

Although Zhu Houzhao knew that according to modern education, all people are equal, he now found that even if he were the emperor he could only make all Ming citizens within the Ming territory equal. Even so, he still had to use imperial power to intervene and it was not fully realized. There were great obstacles. As for the white and black people outside the Ming Dynasty, it was even more difficult.

Even reformist officials did not support Zhu Houzhao.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao could only accept the phenomenon of treating non-native people as non-human beings in the early Ming Dynasty colonial era.

Zhu Houzhao believed that with the progress of civilization, the Ming Dynasty would change, and many years later, those white people or black people would choose to forgive himself and the Ming Dynasty.

After all, in history, didn’t some people who were colonized by Western colonizers forget their hatred many years later? Some people were even grateful to these invaders because they brought them advanced civilization.

Zhu Houzhao thought that maybe a hundred years later these foreigners who had been enslaved by the Ming Dynasty would be grateful to the Ming Dynasty for colonizing them, and even hope that the Ming Dynasty would colonize them for another three hundred years!

Besides, it would be better to keep these robbed Hu Ji by his side and at least release them to Hai Tian Sheng Yuan for all the people of the Ming Dynasty to play with, so Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "Uncle is thoughtful. Come on, take them to the backyard to see Concubine Su!"

Thanks to Chaoxuexuechi for the 100 starting coins reward

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(End of this chapter)