The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 133 Ancestral Worship, First Information

The first day of the first month of the eighth year of the Yongle reign!

After the grand court assembly, all officials took a break.

On this rare day off, most people were in high spirits, except for the officials who needed to be on duty.

Princess Lin'an's residence was already brightly decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard everywhere.

After Li Xianmu returned from the court, his nephews and nieces all gathered around to wish him well.

The three brothers went to kowtow and pay their respects to their mother.

The princess's residence was filled with joy, and the servants were also delighted. Naturally, they were given rewards on this day, as the princess's family was certainly not short of money.

Li Fang and Li Mao's wives, along with a group of female relatives, accompanied their mother in the inner hall, while the three brothers talked in the outer room.

Li Fang laughed and said, "I heard that a few days ago, my third brother directly silenced the Minister of Works at the imperial meeting. He was truly impressive. Now, our family's prestige in the court and among the people is entirely maintained by my third brother. I am truly ashamed."

Zhu Di treated the two Li brothers well, after all, they were his own nephews, but they were much worse off than Li Xianmu. Li Fang and Li Mao didn't have any real power, and they slowly rose through the ranks by accumulating seniority. However, with the Duke of Yingguo as their relative by marriage, if nothing unexpected happened, the highest position they would reach would probably be the commander of the Imperial Guard, a third-rank official.

Li Xianmu said in a deep voice, "I suspect that this scoundrel has embezzled and accepted bribes to line his own pocket."

Fifteen million strings of cash!

Could those corrupt officials in the Ministry of Works not have embezzled one or two million strings of cash?

Li Mao had joined the Embroidered Uniform Guard three years prior and was well aware of these matters. He said in a deep voice, "Third brother, should we investigate him? After all, he is a minister. Since we have already offended him, let's be more decisive."

"If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, your second brother will do it."

He then made a throat-slitting gesture.

Li Xianmu's eyes darted around, and he whispered, "Second Brother, could you take this opportunity to tell Ji Gang about this guess? He loves doing these kinds of things."

Discipline!

Li Mao trembled slightly, as if he had thought of something terrifying, but still said in a deep voice, "It's fine. Although I don't know him, it's still okay to let him hear about it."

But do we really have to involve him?

Something's wrong with Ji Gang.

"What's wrong?"

“Ji Gang often makes us do some strange things. If we do what he says, we will be rewarded, but if we don’t do what he says, we will be demoted or even disappear. I think there is a big problem with this person.”

Li Fang and Li Xianmu exchanged a glance, then said in unison, "Obedience test!"

Li Mao suddenly realized, "So this is the obedience test that my father was talking about."

After saying that, a look of horror appeared in his eyes, "Why would a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard do this?"

The three brothers exchanged glances. Their father had once said that eight out of ten people who did this kind of work had rebellious intentions!

Upon realizing this, the three brothers fell silent.

Although Li Xianmu had long guessed that someone like Ji Gang couldn't possibly have any loyalty, he really didn't expect that Ji Gang would actually go this far.

"He's not far from death."

Li Xianmu suddenly said softly.

Li Fang and Li Maoyi.

"Now we just have to wait for him to become even more arrogant, and then as long as someone reports him, Ji Gang will be dead immediately. However, we should try not to do this ourselves."

Li Xianmu instructed, "We are relatives of the emperor and close advisors. We can deal with civil officials and nobles, but we cannot personally deal with eunuchs and members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Elder brother and second brother, please remember this."

Li Fang and Li Mao nodded simultaneously and said in a deep voice, "Understood."

……

Li Xianmu never forgot that on the first day of the Lunar New Year, he had an important matter to attend to.

Before the ancestral worship ceremony, Li Xianmu, as the current priest, entered the ancestral hall first. Everyone in the courtyard watched as the ancestral hall's door slowly closed, and through the crack in the door, only the figure of Li Xianmu kneeling on the prayer mat could be seen.

"The Supreme One understands the profound mystery, the Ancestral Gods are above, the first day of the first month, Yin and Yang communicate with the underworld."

Li Xianmu, a descendant of the Li family, respectfully requests his ancestor to issue a decree to bless his descendants!

With a solemn expression, Li Xianmu held the jade slip and recited the incantation his father had instructed him to recite one by one.

Li Qi had been watching Li Xianmu the whole time he entered the ancestral hall with the jade token. In fact, Li Qi was also very curious, as this was the first time Li Xianmu had used the treasure jade token, and he wondered what useful information the treasure jade token would give.

With a wave of his hand, the mirror, carved from a single piece of spirit jade, quietly appeared in his palm, still as warm and smooth as the first rays of the warm sun.

When I first saw it, the thin mist-like haze on the mirror surface quietly dissipated.

The map of the Ming Dynasty was thus displayed before Li Qi, with the two capitals and thirteen provinces vividly appearing before him.

Not just the Ming Dynasty!

When Li Qi waved his hand slightly and shrunk the map, many places in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia also appeared.

Then, about a dozen different messages appeared on the mirror, divided into three colors: white, blue, and purple. Anyone who plays games regularly would immediately recognize that these represent the different levels of importance of these messages.

He looked at the top white message: "There is oil here."

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the Daqing of later generations.

No wonder it's white information. In this day and age, what use is it to know the exact location of the Daqing Oilfield?
Are you suggesting we make warhorses drink oil and not eat?

He scanned several more white messages, some of which contained useful information, such as where the evidence of Ji Gang's crimes was, and the privately forged armor. If he told Li Xianmu, it should be enough to put Ji Gang to death.

To be honest, it's not very useful.

Ji Gang was merely Zhu Di's lackey; even without Ji Gang, there were others, so it didn't have a real impact on the overall situation.

Li Qi quickly skipped the white information and turned his attention to the blue and purple information.

There isn't much information, only about a dozen items, but they are indeed very useful, and it's hard to discard any of them.

This information may not be updated again next time, so he must consider it carefully.

"Let's choose this one: the Iwami Ginzan in Japan."

Li Qi recalled the current financial problems of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Xianmu's greatest desire was to solve these problems. In the end, he chose the silver-producing region.

These are the only two pieces of information in purple on the treasure map, and they are indeed extremely precious!

"It is already the eighth year of Yongle. Even if we find the silver mine, and with mining and other means, it will take many years to completely cover the Ming Dynasty. Every day earlier is a good thing."

As Li Qi pointed, the treasure mirror instantly blazed with purple light, obscuring all other information and leaving only that overwhelming purple light.

Inside the ancestral hall.

Li Xianmu felt the jade slip in his hand suddenly become slightly hot, and then a faint purple light began to shimmer. Finally, the light spread across the surface of the jade slip like flowing water.

The next instant, six large purple characters appeared on the jade slip.

"Iwami Silver Mine of Japan!"

Li Xianmu was taken aback at first, and then overjoyed.

He immediately understood that his father knew what he wanted.

Just a few days ago, at the Ming Dynasty's financial meeting, he was still worried about where to get so much money. He never expected that his father would find a solution so quickly.

No wonder he is the only god in this world!
He kowtowed on the ground, "Thank you, Father!"

The fact that my father went to such great lengths to pass down this information means that this silver mine must be very large, capable of producing a massive amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty!
Li Xianmu trembled just thinking about it.

Wasn't one of the Emperor's original intentions in sending Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean because of the rumor that there was gold overseas?

Unfortunately, the emperor couldn't find it. There's no gold now, but there is silver, both of which are precious metals, and they are very scarce in the Central Plains.

If the imperial court could acquire a rich precious metal mine, its finances would improve instantly. It might even transform the entire Ming Dynasty!

Li Xianmu stared intently at the jade slip in his hand. Although it was his first time using it, he already understood how powerful this divine object was.

And isn't the Li family, who possess such a divine object, the chosen one?

The Zhu family's empire can only be secure if it is held by the Li family!

Li Xianmu kowtowed a few more times, stood up, opened the door of the ancestral hall, and sunlight shone down, illuminating his face. Outside were members of the Li clan.

He saw his eldest and second eldest brothers.

As time went on, Li Xianmu realized just how precious the things his father had left him truly were. Once he possessed these divine objects, worldly possessions like money and titles became utterly unimportant.

What these divine objects truly gave him was a perspective that transcended all others, and a confidence that surpassed all others.

I will stand proudly above all others!

……

After the holiday on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the world returned to normal.

Li Xianmu then began to struggle with how to utilize the information from the Iwami Silver Mine in Japan.

There are a few difficulties. First, where is this Iwami Ginzan?
Although Japan's territory is much smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty, searching for it would be no different from finding a needle in a haystack.

This definitely requires official intervention, which raises another question: where did his information come from?

He certainly wouldn't go around talking about such supernatural things. Among the entire Li family, only he knew about it. His father's plan was also very clear: for the time being, it would only be passed down among the priests from generation to generation.

Because the priests do not yet have the power to protect themselves, they still need to rely on secular forces to ensure their safety.

"Iwami Ginzan, could this mountain be called Iwami-yama?"

Li Xianmu suddenly thought, "And if there are silver mines there, could it be that some people in Japan already know about them, but they don't know how much they produce?"

Moreover, Japan's smelting technology was far inferior to that of our Great Ming Dynasty.

Li Qi had been observing Li Xianmu ever since he relayed the news about Iwami Silver Mine. Now that he saw that Li Xianmu had figured it out, he breathed a sigh of relief.

According to the book "Iwami Silver Mine Old Records", as early as 1309, during the Yuan Dynasty, there were records of silver mining when the daimyo of Suo Province, Ōuchi Hiroyuki, visited Iwami Province.

The Iwami Silver Mine and Iwami Province are things that no one in the Central Plains would know, since who would care about the history of a small country? But there are definitely people in Japan who know about them.

This is why Li Qi informed Li Xianmu of the news so quickly.

They live in the real world, not a strategy game where you fill in the blanks and change colors. You can't just mine money overnight. Even if they knew there were silver mines in Japan, there were still many problems to deal with in the early stages. Finding a mine in the ninth year of Yongle was already quite remarkable. If they could actually mine the mine, it would show that the Ming Dynasty was incredibly efficient.

……

"This is the Japanese envoy, Inoue Jiro."

"This is Grand Secretary Li, His Majesty's nephew."

The officials of the Court of State Ceremonial clearly understood what these foreigners found most appealing. They were somewhat oblivious to the mere mention of official rank, but things like bloodline were what truly captured their attention.

As expected, upon hearing this, Inoue Jiro immediately became solemn and greeted him in fluent Mandarin with an accent, "Mr. Li, may I ask what important matter you have with me?"

Li Xianmu waved his hand, "Envoy, please sit."

"I have taken the liberty of inviting the envoy here today because I wish to inquire about something concerning Japan."

"Please ask, Mr. Li, and I will answer to the best of my ability."

Li Xianmu smiled slightly, “Recently, while browsing through ancient books, I came across a record of a place name in Japan, where a rather interesting story took place. The place name only contains the two characters ‘Ishimi’. I wonder if the envoy has ever heard of it.”

Iwami?

Inoue Jiro certainly knew this, after all, Iwami Province was one of the warring states of Japan. Although it was not that famous, as someone who was able to go on a diplomatic mission, he still had this kind of knowledge.

After Li Xianmu finished speaking, he kept a close eye on Inoue's changing expression.

he knows!
In just a moment, Li Xianmu caught that emotion. Inoue Jiro knew this Iwami, or at least had heard of him.

Inoue Jiro didn't lie, but asked with some doubt, "Mr. Li, Iwami Province used to be a small country, not even as big as a county in your country. I wonder where you heard about this place?"

I forget which one, but it was recorded in an ancient book, in some story, that mentioned such a small country that is unknown even in Japan.

Li Xianmu made up a story: "I didn't expect it to actually exist. I heard it's a very beautiful place, where the moonlight shines down on the mountains, it's very beautiful."

Thank you very much, envoy. It would be even better if I could make a trip there someday.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while and seeing off the still puzzled Japanese envoy, Li Xianmu could hardly contain his excitement.

"I didn't expect it to go so smoothly, but we still can't be sure if this Iwami is the one my father was talking about. We still need to understand the situation in Japan better."

The Ming Dynasty was completely ignorant about the situation in Japan.

After all, the Ming Dynasty didn't even know that Japan had an emperor, and the Japanese king they appointed was actually a general. It's easy to imagine how little they knew about Japan.

The best way to find out the situation is to send someone to Japan in person.

He was worried that the Japanese envoy might become suspicious, so he could go through the Honglu Temple later.

Thinking of this, Li Xianmu felt he still needed to go to the palace. He should report this matter to the emperor as soon as possible. The emperor had sent Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean for the sake of the elusive gold, and now it was a certainty that Japan had silver!

……

"Didn't you take the day off? Why did you come to the palace, and why didn't you go to the Wenyuan Pavilion?"

Li Xianmu bowed respectfully and then solemnly said, "Your Majesty, I received some news some time ago, which reminded me of a joke my father once told me. This has given me a lot of doubts, so today I went to the Japanese envoy to confirm some things, and then I came here to report to Your Majesty."

Seeing Li Xianmu's serious expression, Zhu Di also stopped smiling and narrowed his eyes slightly, saying, "Something that you value so much must be quite significant."

"Your Majesty, when you sent Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean, was it with the intention of finding gold?"

"That's right. I heard that there is a great deal of gold thousands of miles away, which is why I sent Zheng He there, but unfortunately there was no harvest."

"It seems His Majesty is aware that the Ming Dynasty is currently short of money."

How could I not know?

Zhu Di sighed, "Every dynasty has been short of money. The court has minted so many coins, totaling hundreds of millions of strings of cash over the years, but we don't know where all that money went. It's as if it disappeared into thin air."

If there were enough money, there would be no need to collect so many taxes on goods.

"Minting coins is a losing proposition, and I cannot afford to mint coins on a large scale. The only way to make ends meet is to issue the Great Ming Treasure Notes."

The fact that minting coins results in losses is different in ancient and modern times. In modern normal countries, once the printing press is turned on, money is made in a flash. The United States, in particular, can reap the wealth created by the labor of people all over the world once the printing press is turned on.

However, minting coins in ancient times was actually a losing proposition.

Because modern money is paper money, it is worthless in itself except as a general equivalent for exchange.

But ancient money was made of gold, silver, and copper, which had intrinsic value. Just now, Zhu Di asked where all that money went. A lot of it was buried in the ground by landlords, and a lot of it was melted down and made into bronzeware.

Because copper is the material used for casting, it is subject to market regulation. Often, the face value of a copper coin is only one coin, but the weight of the coin itself is worth three coins.

The choice then becomes self-evident for the merchant.

Copper is not suitable as currency; gold and silver are the most appropriate and natural forms of currency. Even in modern times, while silver has lost its luster, gold remains a hard currency.

Li Xianmu resonated with Zhu Di's first few words. It was already quite good that the emperor had such insight, but that was not enough. He had to make the emperor understand more clearly the dangers of lacking money so that the emperor could truly mobilize the entire nation's resources to support his trip to Japan to find silver!

This isn't just a simple matter of finding silver; it could very well lead to war!
If the emperor had not been as determined as he was in fighting the Mongols, he might have died halfway through.

"Your Majesty, the shortage of money may be more serious than you imagine."

Li Xianmu said in a deep voice, "I am not exaggerating when I say that if things continue as they are now, my Great Ming Dynasty is very likely to be defeated by a lack of money."

Zhu Di sat up straight immediately. He knew Li Xianmu quite well and knew that he generally wouldn't exaggerate. Since he said so, it meant that the lack of money was indeed a serious problem.

"Will it ruin the Ming Dynasty? I feel it will only make paying taxes a little more difficult and reduce tax revenue every year. Is it really that serious?"

(End of this chapter)