Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 84 Let’s try whether father’s knife is sharp!
The warm breeze of March blows, and the rice fields in Huangzhuang sway gently in the wind.

Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Biao sat in the pergola, talking about their infinite aspirations and fantasies about the future.

"Thinking carefully, what the later generations said is true. Father's vision is indeed a little narrow. If the treasure notes are not exchanged, the harm to the people of the Ming Dynasty will be huge."

Zhu Biao wiped the mud off his feet with a towel, waited for the maid to leave, put on his shoes and said, "Although it is true that we have to pay a lot of price at the moment, the reputation of the court can be preserved and the people can be loyal to us."

"Grandpa Taibo still has his own bottom line on the issues of right and wrong. This is indeed a matter of not giving in. The most important thing for the Ming Dynasty is to maintain the country's credibility, otherwise it will be difficult to move forward in the future."

Zhu Yunfeng Cricket Zhu Yuanzhang said: "In the final analysis, our ancestors are more suitable for chopping people with knives. He is a farmer and he doesn't know how to be an emperor. This kind of national development issue should be handed over to visionary people, such as you, my great uncle."

"You are the one who said that."

Zhu Biao had a smile on his face. Although the discussion was about his father, he had to admit that he did not agree with his father's policy arrangements.

"I just want to make a little money."

Zhu Yunfeng said with a grin.

After all, the abolition of the Baochao system involved his purse.

As for the gold and silver exchange, the more the Ming Dynasty exchanged, the more money he earned.

If you don't exchange it for treasure notes, why do you need silver coins?
So for Zhu Yunfeng, exchanging treasure notes is a good thing.

It is also a good thing for the people of the Ming Dynasty.

For the entire Ming Dynasty court, it is a bad thing in the short term, but it will bring endless benefits in the long run.

Even though a large amount of treasure notes were to be exchanged, Zhu Yuanzhang needed to exchange all the gold he had obtained and the existing silver for gold and convert them into silver coins.

If these silver coins were exchanged for treasure notes which were no different from waste paper, the national treasury would be seriously short of money for a long period of time.

However, once the treasure notes are replaced with silver coins, inflation will be quickly eliminated.

The enthusiasm for private trade is also rising rapidly.

What will be gained in return is commodity circulation and economic development, and traditional industries such as silk, porcelain, and tea will recover quickly.

Although Europe was in the midst of a plague outbreak during this period and the Age of Navigation had not yet begun, going to Europe to trade was not a good option.

However, the commodity economy itself had not yet recovered in the early Ming Dynasty, and the internal circulation itself was insufficient. Moreover, Asia, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia were all good places for trade, and there were many gold-producing areas.

Therefore, exchanging treasure notes now will indeed have a great impact on the imperial treasury.

But in a dozen or twenty years, the economic development of the Ming Dynasty will reach an unprecedented height.

Therefore, if we take a long-term view, it will be a great system that will benefit people ten years later.

"So when do you think we can exchange it?"

Zhu Biao asked again.

"It's definitely not possible now. My production capacity is not that large. The exchange volume of nearly 1 billion is too terrifying. The old man is really crazy about printing money."

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "I calculated that with the current industrial capacity, we can produce thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons per month. But do you know how much silver our country produces in a year?"

"How many?"

"According to the data from the Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, the year before last was 1.63 tons, and the year before that was 2.68 tons."

“Is this a lot or a little?”

Zhu Biao didn't have much idea about this thing.

He is not sure about the production in other countries.

"It's a lot. Silver is now mainly used in the electronics, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. It is gradually being replaced by jewelry, diamonds and gold. Very little silver is consumed. So no matter how large the silver reserves are, few people will take the initiative to mine them. They are often separated as a by-product when smelting other minerals."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "As an industrial power, our country's silver production is fully sufficient, so we export a large amount of silver every year. Even if we import silver, we import silver powder and process it into high-purity silver products for export. Do you know what this means?"

"What does it mean?"

"It means that the silver we have now cannot fully meet the needs of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "We only import and export a few thousand tons of silver a year. 4000 tons of silver is equivalent to 1.07 million taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty. If we want to make up for the sequelae of our ancestors' large-scale banknote printing, we need at least 5-6 million taels of silver, which means more than 2 tons.

"For a country of our size, our annual production capacity is only so small. Most of the silver is used in industry. If so much silver is brought here, there will be a silver gap in our country."

He pointed out the key issue: "Moreover, at 7 yuan per gram, one ton costs more than 700 million yuan. 4000 tons of silver is equivalent to 280 billion yuan in our currency. Such a terrifying trade volume will definitely attract the attention of the country."

Strictly speaking, my country's silver production is not low, and ranks first in the world.

The data from the Nonferrous Metals Industry Association consists of two parts. One part is the mining volume, which is about 4000-6000 tons per year.

The other part is industrial by-product.

Thanks to my country's exaggerated industrial capacity, through the smelting of aluminum, copper, lead and other minerals, the annual output of silver by-products alone can reach more than 10,000 tons.

Basically, the annual output is more than 7 tons, equivalent to more than million taels of silver.

It is said that the Qing Dynasty inherited a large amount of silver from the Ming Dynasty and continued trade. By the late Qing Dynasty, the national silver reserves reached 4.9 tons, which is about 13 billion taels.

It is exactly the total amount of silver paid as compensation by the Qing Dynasty under various treaties.

In other words, my country's modern silver production in two years exceeds the silver reserves of the entire Ming and Qing dynasties for 600 years.

Even if there are omissions, just add one more year's production.

If the output of these three years were given to any emperor in the five thousand years of Chinese history, it would be enough for him to squander in ten lifetimes.

But Mr. Zhu was really bad to his grandson.

Given the same size, even the Americans don't dare to print money like this.

After all, although the United States is weak, it still has certain industries and finances, and the dollar hegemony sucks blood from the world.

Considering that crazy money printing will infinitely reduce the credibility of the US dollar, the Americans can only take it step by step.

But Lao Zhu doesn't care about that.

He dared to print tens of millions of banknotes a year. In history, in the 9500rd year of Hongwu, he even printed million banknotes, which was close to million.

Outrageous.

After hearing what Zhu Yunfeng said, Zhu Biao realized that his father had deceived his son and grandson again, and frowned and said, "What should we do?"

Zhu Yunfeng thought for a moment and said, "Take your time. I estimate that it would be good if we can produce several dozen tons per month. But the good news is that we can prepare for both situations. We can produce silver coins and directly transport silver. Even if we can only produce 240 tons per month, we will have 900 tons in a year, which is almost equal to million taels of silver."

"Your calculation is not correct."

Zhu Biao scratched his head and said, "240 tons, shouldn't it be equivalent to 640 million taels?"

"Did you forget that I said silver coins are alloys?"

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "One silver coin can save more than 30% of silver. 240 tons can save more than 70 tons, and these more than 70 tons can be used to make silver coins."

The reason why silver coins were made instead of steel coins was that ancient people only recognized gold and silver.

They have their own methods of testing gold and silver. If you take coins out, it's easy to shoot yourself in the foot when the country's credibility is not good.

Therefore, the best way is to use gold, silver and copper as credit currencies to maximize the country's credit, and then use paper money. Moreover, gold and silver must be used as anchors, and the issuance must be controlled to stabilize the economy.

Otherwise, the consequence will still be that the people will doubt the credibility of the country and will not recognize the coins. Just like in Zhu Yunfeng's county, the one-yuan coin is not circulated.

"I see."

Zhu Biao suddenly realized, and then said happily: "Can more than 900 million silver coins be delivered in that year?"

"Well, we'll slowly think of ways to expand production capacity later." Zhu Yunfeng nodded and said, "To be honest, this amount of production capacity is nothing in the metal processing industry. The annual production capacity of steel mills, mining groups, iron ore, copper mines, aluminum metals, and steel mills is millions or tens of millions of tons, but in the silver industry, a few hundred tons per year is a bit eye-catching. So we can only do it step by step, there is no other way. However, Daming itself has a certain amount of silver, which can be used together with silver coins. When we restore a certain economic capacity, we will go to Japan to rob it."

"Forehead"

He hesitated for a moment, but decided to speak politely: "Buying gold and silver mines. As a major commercial country, it is normal for us to buy some minerals overseas. And for the sake of public security, it is normal to station soldiers there. Don't you agree, Grandpa Tai?"

"good."

Zhu Biao smiled and said: "It is indeed very difficult to destroy Japan now, but if we have a navy, it is easy to deter Japan."

"Then let's work together."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled. Before he knew it, it was already noon.

The spring breeze blew on my face, and some gray clouds floated in from the east, making the originally bright world a little dim.

It's going to rain in spring.

Zhu Yunfeng suddenly said, "By the way, this time we came here to talk about the silver processing plant, there is another thing."

"what?"

Zhu Biao asked.

"If you want to promote high-yield rice in all aspects of Ming Dynasty, you will need fertilizers. Since modern fertilizers cannot be transported, you will have to set up a large number of traditional fertilizer factories."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "I have looked at the traditional fertilizer making method. The raw materials are rotten grass and leaves, human, pig, cattle, sheep, bird feces, slaked lime, animal ashes, soybeans, yeast, vegetable leaves, coarse sand, etc. Although there were composting methods in ancient times, they were mainly based on feces and the method was not scientific. According to the traditional fertilizer making method I have seen, the result is solid soil fertilizer, unlike manure, which is made into manure water and is inconvenient to transport. I plan to set up a company here and set up private traditional fertilizer making workshops, and open a large number of them in the prefectures and counties around Taihu Lake and Dongting Lake."

“Does it have to be private?”

Zhu Biao frowned and said, "Can it be run by the government? I think this can also expand the national treasury."

"It's not that I want to make a little money. It doesn't matter if I give you all the profits from the operation. The most important thing is, if you turn it into a government-run business, won't you be so greedy that you die?"

Zhu Yunfeng scratched his head and said, "To be honest, this is a mess. I would rather not deal with it myself. I have a lot of things to do at Modern Company. I will just give it to you to deal with, but can you handle it?"

The government-run fertilizer factory can be referred to as the government-run tea market of the Song Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty had an official tea production company. The government purchased tea from tea farmers at a price of a few cents per ounce, and then resold it at a price of several dozen cents per ounce. The government split the profits 70% to 30% with the court.

Seventy percent of the court?

wrong.

Seventy percent belong to officials.

The court could only get 30% depending on their mood.

By then, the Ming Dynasty obtained various traditional fertilizer-making formulas and started its own government-run fertilizer production.

There is a high probability that they buy raw materials such as feces, ashes, lime, and plant residues from farmers at low prices, make them into fertilizers and sell them at high prices, and then make huge profits by cooking the books.

And this is considered a very low-level way of operating. What’s even more serious is that they clearly collected 1,000 tons of raw materials, but they only reported 500 tons.

They make the remaining 500 tons into fertilizer and sell it themselves, so they make more money and it is not easy to find out.

In addition, how are farmers’ quotas for the prepared fertilizers divided?
It is possible that they will not sell to ordinary farmers at all, but instead sell at low prices to merchants and landlords who are in collusion with them. The merchants and landlords will then exploit the farmers, and they will share the profits.

Therefore, in ancient times, the possibility of official corruption was very high.

Private enterprises are different.

Although there are also risks involved, such as the shopkeeper or the clerks causing trouble.

But don't be afraid.

He is His Royal Highness the King of Wu.

The government-run trading houses were protected by each other, and the officials had great power and were supported by the people below them, so it was very difficult to investigate.

Isn’t it easy to investigate small private workshops?

Those shopkeepers and their assistants have no backers and no power. If you want to profit from it, just send them to jail.

After all, these things are the private property of His Royal Highness the King of Wu. If officials, workshop workers, shop owners, and clerks dare to get their hands on them, Zhu Yunfeng will have reason to deal with them.

So in this regard, private enterprises are actually more convenient than government-owned ones.

Moreover, this is actually equivalent to the royal family's private property, with a semi-official and semi-private nature.

Zhu Biao frowned slightly at first, then relaxed after a moment and said, "You are right. I will leave Yunfeng to you."

"Oh, sometimes I wonder how high an official position is considered high. I am already the King of Wu, but I still have to worry about the corruption and abuse of power by the people below me. I just don't know how big a storm will be stirred up after the spring plowing next year."

Zhu Yunfeng stood up and imitated Zhu Yuanzhang, standing with his hands behind his back, gazing at the endless fields to the south.

“Are you worried that there will be too much food and corruption will run rampant?”

Zhu Biao asked.

"Yes, the grain production has increased, but the landlords are not happy. If the landlords are not happy, how can the officials be happy?"

"Hmm? What's the logic behind this? I don't understand. Isn't it good to have more food?"

"Of course it's not good. The landlords are looking forward to natural disasters and man-made disasters. If there are too many natural disasters, the people will have to sell their land at a low price, and the landlords will have more land. If grain production increases, the people don't have to sell their land. Will the landlords be happy?"

"Is there such a trick in this?"

"Maybe I'm overthinking it. Maybe only the big landlords can see this. For small landlords, they would be happy if they could make more money with more grain. But the big landlords..."

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head: "This Ming Dynasty is not our future generation after all."

Are there any landlords in later generations?
The income from farming is much lower than that from working.

But this was not the case in the Ming Dynasty. Farmland was the only way for most people to survive at that time.

As a result, the landlord class became the largest force at that time.

Let’s not talk about anything else, let’s just talk about Zhu Yunfeng’s home.

Back then, their ancestor was known as "Chen Banshan" and owned most of the land in Lansha Town. Half of the people in the town worked for their family.

How did that land come about?

It was a time of famine, and self-employed farmers could not make ends meet, and even small landlords were forced to sell their land.

The Zhu family had the gold and silver that their ancestors brought with them when they fled, so they had the ability to resist risks. During the famine years, they melted the gold and silver to buy land at a low price. Gradually, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, they had become a large landlord with tens of thousands of acres of land.

If Lansha Town had good weather and every household had surplus food, there would be no need to sell land. Even if a rich family refused to sell their land, there would be nothing you could do about it.

Therefore, the landlord class will not be happy because of the increase in grain production and the extra money they make.

They just hope that more natural disasters and man-made tragedies will happen so that land prices can be cheaper so that they can snatch land from ordinary people like mad dogs.

When Zhu Biao heard Zhu Yunfeng's words, murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

"If that's the case, then try to see if father's knife is sharp!"

This was the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty.

Not the Jiajing, Wanli, Tianqi, or Chongzhen dynasties.

The landlord is causing trouble.

No wonder Lao Zhu wielded the butcher knife.

(End of this chapter)