The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 327 The Ambition of the Japanese Kanpaku
The profits from this overseas trade were truly terrifying. The silver earned from raw silk and silk alone amounted to tens of millions of taels.

So, what else can make a lot of money?

Wanli thought, "Will this cloth be profitable if sold overseas?"

Li Dan nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the cloth we sell overseas is all top quality. It costs one ounce of silver for three pieces when you buy it in Zhejiang.

No one except the Ming Dynasty could weave such good cloth, and it could be sold at a high price of more than two taels of silver per piece in Japan and Southeast Asia.

We can sell about 500,000 horses a month, and at least 5 to 6 million horses a year.

After the Portuguese earned silver from Japan, they would also purchase cloth and sell it in Southeast Asia and the West. They could sell hundreds of thousands of pieces a month.

The Portuguese are just trying to get something for nothing in the Ming Dynasty, right?

These guys need to be brought in for a serious talk. If they don’t pay enough tariffs, get out!
Wanli nodded slowly and said, "You mean, the Ming Dynasty can sell more than 10 million pieces of cloth a year, and exchange it for more than 20 million taels of silver?"

How do you say this?

Li Dan thought about it carefully, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I can earn more than 10 million taels of silver from selling cloth here in a year. I have no idea how much the Portuguese have earned."

The output of this cloth seems to be sufficient, but even after they increase production, they don’t know if they can sell it all.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, I'll give you one million pieces of the best cloth every month. You can sell them and see if you can sell them all."

This year it’s more than 20 million taels!

Li Dan nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, I'll do my best to sell it."

Next is porcelain.

Wanli asked again: "How much money can you make from porcelain every year?"

It’s hard to say.

Li Dan thought about it carefully, and then said carefully: "Your Majesty, the quality of this porcelain is the main thing to look at. It seems that porcelain from the official kilns is very difficult to get. The ones I sell are mainly from private kilns.

In the Ming Dynasty, porcelain from folk kilns cost about ten taels of silver per load, and one load was about a hundred pieces. Common people sold them by the piece, with average quality pieces costing one tael of silver per piece and better quality pieces costing two taels of silver per piece.

"Now, the amount of porcelain we sell each year is about 30,000 dan, or about 3 million pieces, which we get in exchange for about 4 to 5 million taels of silver."

It is indeed difficult for ordinary people to purchase porcelain from the official kilns.

Because the output of the official kilns was so limited in the past, it was basically used by the royal family, vassal states and dignitaries, and very little of it fell into the hands of the public.

However, things are different now.

Wanli pondered, "I've ordered the construction of many official kilns in Gaoling Village. They can easily produce 100,000 pieces of high-quality porcelain a day, which means over 30 million pieces a year. Can you sell them all?"

what?
You give me more than 30 million pieces of official kiln porcelain every year!

Li Dan said in disbelief, "Your Majesty, official kiln porcelains are sold for at least ten taels each. With over thirty million pieces, there's no way they'll all be sold."

Uh, such a high profit, ten taels per piece, more than 30 million pieces, that’s more than 300 million taels!

This goes without saying. The world cannot produce so much real gold and silver in a year.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then nodded slowly and said, "Then I'll have them work slowly and try to paint some delicate patterns on them. I'll give you three million pieces a year as a trial. How do you think?"

That’s also 30 million taels!

There are so many, is it possible to sell them all?
Upon hearing this, Li Dan said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I can only say that I will try my best, but I can't guarantee that we can sell out."

The total value of raw silk, silk, cloth and porcelain is more than 70 million taels, so there seems to be no need to sell other things.

The problem is, we don’t know if these items can be sold out after increasing the quantity.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "What about tea? What's the current market price?"

Li Dan explained in detail: "Your Majesty, people in the tea business can't get too much tea. Every year, they only sell about 10,000 dan to the common people. One dan weighs about 100 jin, which is about 1 million jin.

Moreover, what they get is leaf tea, which is about two taels of silver per dan. Leaf tea cannot be sold at a high price. It is good to sell it for one tael of silver per jin outside. The common people can only exchange about one million taels of silver for this tea in a year."

Isn’t this tea business too small?

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but be surprised and asked, "You can only sell one million kilograms of leaf tea a year? Is this the only profit you can make from the tea business?"

Don’t I have any stock?
Li Dan said helplessly, "Your Majesty, this is all the people above us can give. Tea is easy to sell. If it's top-quality bud tea, five taels of silver per jin is no problem. We can easily sell tens of millions of jin of leaf tea and bud tea combined in a year. The problem is that there's no stock. There's not enough leaf tea to sell, let alone bud tea."

Oh, so you can sell tens of millions of kilograms.

Wanli estimated, "Okay, I'll buy several million kilograms of leaf tea and bud tea for you this year. Starting next year, Bashu will be able to produce more tea. Ten million kilograms will be no problem. After three years, twenty million kilograms a year will be no problem." The way you do business as an emperor is different.

Those guys can't get enough goods, but you have so much that you can't sell it all.

If we can really produce 20 million kilograms of tea a year, plus raw silk, silk, cloth, and porcelain, the sales will be over 100 million taels a year, and it is impossible to sell all of these!
Li Dan bowed repeatedly and said, "Okay, Your Majesty, I will do my best to expand the tea business."

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "How is the market for Wanshengtang's medicine?"

I've just started doing this.

Li Dan estimated, "Pharmacy sells very well in Japan, because many people there are literate and probably know what medicine can cure what disease. Wanshengtang's medicine is also sold at a high price there. A small bottle of ordinary medicine can be sold for five or six taels of silver.

However, it seems that the people above can't get many medicines from Wanshengtang Pharmacy, and those that ordinary people can bring to Japan will be sold out.

As for the Spaniards, I have also asked around. They don't know our words, and they don't know what diseases our medicines can cure, so it's a bit difficult to sell them.

However, if we can give them a rough idea of ​​what the disease is and prescribe them a small bottle of medicine, they will be willing to pay ten taels of silver."

This is easy to say.

Wanli said without hesitation: "We can put a leaflet printed with their language inside each box of medicine. Since you do business with them, you should understand their language, right?"

Li Dan nodded repeatedly and said, "Of course. I was chosen to do overseas business because I know more about Japanese, Southeast Asian, and Western languages. Those who receive government subsidies are better than me."

That's good.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, Guozhu, stay here and translate the instructions into various languages. I'll give you one million boxes of Wanshengtang ordinary medicine this year and see if you can sell them all."

Oh my god, that's another million boxes of medicine!

Li Dan bowed repeatedly and said, "I will do my best."

It's too troublesome to do it one by one.

Wanli pondered and said, "As for the other goods, how much can you sell now? Estimate the quantity and give me a list. I will order someone to prepare it for you."

Li Dan nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, Your Majesty."

We've been talking for so long, but I haven't asked about the situation in Japan yet.

Wanli thought for a moment, then said solemnly, "Tell me everything you know about the current situation in Japan."

How do you say this?

Li Dan thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, Japan is now almost unified. The Japanese regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi is very ambitious. He said that what he said about our Ming Dynasty was very unpleasant."

Of course I know that Toyotomi Hideyoshi has great ambitions.

I don't know what this guy said about the Ming Dynasty.

Upon hearing this, Wanli urged, "Just tell me what he said. It wasn't you who said it. I won't blame you."

Then I will say it.

Li Dan gritted his teeth and said, "He said that the Han people used documents to preserve the world, the He country used bows and arrows to rule the country, and the Ming Dynasty was a group of women who were governed by civil officials. They are men who advocate martial arts.

Your Majesty, you must be careful. Toyotomi Hideyoshi has told many people that he wants to conquer the Ming Dynasty. Starting from the 15th year of the Wanli reign, he wrote a sentence in the letters to many princes: "As long as I live, I will add Tang territory to my territory."

What Toyotomi Hideyoshi said really makes sense!

The Ming Dynasty was governed like a woman by civil officials.

The Japanese pirates have the habit of robbers. It would be strange if they didn't bully women.

As for Toyotomi Hideyoshi's desire to invade the Ming Dynasty, I already knew it without you reminding me.

Wanli nodded slowly, then asked, "When do you think he will send troops to attack the Ming Dynasty?"

Li Dan explained in detail, "Rumor has it that he wants to borrow a passage from Korea, a vassal state, to drive straight into Liaodong, then attack Shanhaiguan and capture the capital of the Ming Dynasty. However, Korea has been dragging its feet and has not responded. He is so angry that he wants to attack Korea."

Is Toyotomi Hideyoshi threatening his vassal state, Korea, at this moment?
Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned and said, "Even if Korea, a vassal state, wanted to drag things out, it still had to report this to the Ming Dynasty. Do you know why they're not saying anything?"

Li Dan pondered, "It seems the court of the vassal state of Korea is divided into two sides: Easterners and Westerners. They are arguing endlessly about this matter, but I don't think they've reached a conclusion yet."

Is the vassal state of Korea also experiencing factional strife?
Party strife is detrimental to the country.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty was ruined by factional struggles, but unexpectedly, its vassal state, Korea, was also ruined by factional struggles.

(End of this chapter)