open sea

Chapter 913 Metrics
Inside the yamen of the Dongyang Military Mansion, Chen Mu stood up and stretched, raised his hand and raised the curtains to look at the square facing the yamen. people.

He raised his hand and pointed at them, and smiled slightly at Zhao Shizhen who was packing up the documents on the table: "They must be very confused now, why do the Spaniards seem to have a good relationship with us?"

Zhu Xiaoen sat quietly at the side, watching the clear tea in the backflow pot slowly pouring into the cup, just like money, he never thought that people could make money like Chen Mu.

The documents and customs clearance documents on the table were collected by Zhao Shizhen one by one. It seemed that Zhao Shizhen could not leave the work involving important documents to others. His words were not as relaxed as Chen Mu’s, and he said with a lot of emotion: “Any country that is involved If you hand over 30 taels of silver to the emperor every year, you can reap the friendship of Ming Dynasty, not to mention they also bribed the commander-in-chief with two hundred catties of gold."

陈沐非常认真地纠正赵士桢：“不是30万两，是40万九千800两到64万2000两。”

"Where in this world are there any pure silver coins minted? In the past, their silver coins consisted of nine silver coins and one copper coin. Naturally, we should do the same. In fact, silver coins are beneficial and convenient to use."

Zhao Shizhen, who packed up the official documents, sat back on the chair and said, "So the commander asked the fleet to go back to report to the imperial court last year, and please allow Asia to mint silver coins?"

It is difficult to get permission to mint coins in other places, but Asia is different. This guards the silver mines, how can it circulate without minting coins?It's just that the imperial court has never had a precedent for silver coinage, and I'm afraid this matter still needs some discussion.

"Yes, let's mint silver coins for Spain first. Didn't we tell this Martyn just now that he sent someone to ask Alva for instructions to facilitate trade, and to unify the weights and measures of the two countries on the silver coins. In the future, all coins will be minted in half taels. "

The half tael will be more than half smaller than the silver coins used by the Spaniards in the past, but Chen Mu believes that his coins can still conquer the usage habits of the Spaniards. People like to use better things. They are not the same. Basically, the weight tolerance of two silver coins can reach nearly one penny, which is one-tenth of the total weight. This tolerance is very exaggerated.

This happened in the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the era of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, even the most moderate emperor, as many officials who presided over the minting of coins would be dismissed by the law... The size of the coins is not the same, it is not caused by technical factors, but corruption. .

Of course, this matter may not be technically possible in Spain. The judge Matien from Potosi came over earlier, and revealed something during the conversation that made Chen Mu very concerned.

In Spain, before Philip came to the throne, Seville had [-] looms. Of course, it was not like that of the Ming Dynasty. It was far behind, but [-] looms were also a very large number.

However, there are only less than a thousand looms left, and the number of sheep in Andalusia used to be 700 million, but now there are less than 200 million. Fei Laoer issued a decree prohibiting the import of foreign books, and at the same time prohibited citizens from traveling abroad. Learning, in the past Chen Mu always thought that handicraft industry was weakening in Spain, but in fact their various industries were rapidly weakening.

Only the construction industry grew rapidly, because they built nine thousand monasteries for Spain, and the growth rate of priests could be compared with that of knights who lived in the army.

This country is already extremely weak, and the arrival of the Ming Empire, in the eyes of insightful people in Potosi, may be an opportunity for Spain to turn around.

But Chen Mu didn't come to do charity.

"With half taels, it will be easier for their coins to be exchanged for Tongbao at the border in the future. We teach them how to use money, liang, catty, inch, chi, step, and li. They will soon learn Chinese well and bring these to the Any corner of Europe except England."

"Don't pretend to be dead, the English are here, you can still sit still." Chen Mu said, looking at Zhu Xiaoen who was sitting on the side, and said: "Tell me, how do you plan to entertain them? Sitting outside for half an hour is like taking a bath, I don't want to wait for two sweaty people to enter my side hall."

Zhu Xiaoen scratched his cheek. He did know that the English were coming, and he had heard about this Drake, but there was nothing he could do. He shrugged and said, "If the commander asks me, I will detain them and declare war." ...but I don't think that should be the case."

Too rigid.

"That's how you fight over there?" Chen Mu was amused by Zhu Xiaoen's words, he waved his hands and said, "If it were me, I would do this, but you are not going to conquer them, but to revive your country, don't mess yourself up Like an aggressor, you're going home, be generous."

"My plan is to see what letters their queen has written, and then start trading."

Chen Mu raised his finger and pointed at Zhu Xiaoen, saying: "Thirty captains, thirty merchants' assistants, the king will be their teachers, teach the language and customs, this is only a few months, and then send them to England as envoys and merchants , to obtain permission to purchase goods throughout the territory.”

Chen Mu was talking about infiltration, and Zhu Xiaoen wanted to applaud him. He introduced: "In Alan Country, our people do not change the law of their ancestors, and the land is shared by the people of the same clan according to the township agreement. In order to preserve this tradition, all tribes He fought against the British and barbarians several times in bloody battles."

"However, they are all weak and light, and they were defeated several times. Every time they were defeated, the participating ministries were punished by the British and barbarians. The land was deprived of colonization, and the flesh and bones were eaten by the ignorant barbarians."

What Zhu Xiaoen said was not rhetorical techniques, but facts. Among the books sent to Changsheng by Fu Geer, there are many European herbal medicine books. Blood is used as medicine.

And the best for England, of course, are Irish criminals, white and clean, good for the English.

For example, the book "The Treasury of Drugs Unlock'd" written by John Jacob Berlu in 1690 is a practical guide to buying and selling drugs.

Among a bunch of common medicinal materials, the entry of "Cranium Humanum" is particularly conspicuous.

Although European fanatics criticized the West Indian natives for their bad cannibalism, Europeans chose to ignore these ignorant habits in themselves, and in fact, compared with them, the Native Americans' eating methods can be described as gentle. .

What they consider is not whether they should eat people, but what to eat when they have this disease.

"Now there are fewer and fewer people who dare to resist Yingyi. Even if they see others being attacked, they dare not attack and defend each other. As long as the commander-in-chief can send someone to see those leaders, I can unite everyone and promise to protect the ancestral system. If we buy some more weapons, we will definitely be able to lead them across the sea for a decisive battle in the coming year."

"great."

Chen Mu clasped his hands together and smiled: "Before we go to war, let's be friends first, let's see what Elizabeth can offer us!"

(End of this chapter)