Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1461 Changes in Southern Border ([-])
Gao Pragmatically decided to let the question of how to get rich be put aside for now, and it will not be too late to talk about it later. He planned to answer Zhang Yuangong's next two questions first.

Gao Yushi's answer was simple: "If Luzon's previous monarch can still be found, or if his heirs can still be found, I will show the emperor, and naturally I will do the matter of survival and death, and restore Luzon's country."

Zhang Yuangong didn't ask why at all, just nodded and asked, "What if you can't find it?"

Gao Wushi said indifferently: "Among the local barbarians, there are those who have great reputation and admire me in the sky... I, Beiyang, plan for the long-term stability of the barbarians. I will appoint a person as the king on behalf of the barbarians, and then I will report to the emperor and grant an imperial seal."

Zhang Yuangong thought for a while, then hesitated and said, "Will it be a bit presumptuous?"

Gao Wushi did not answer him directly, but instead glanced at Zhu Yingzhen and asked, "What is Cheng Guogong's opinion?"

Zhu Yingzhen smiled and said, "I don't understand these things! However, since Da Sinong said that it is possible, then it must be possible... British, what do you think?"

With Zhu Yingzhen's hint, Zhang Yuangong immediately reacted this time, and quickly said: "Ah, yes, yes, I think so too." As if he felt that saying that was not sincere enough, Zhang Yuangong added: "The emperor Bian has always accepted all advice from Da Sinong as it is ordered!"

It's good that you understand.Gao Wushi smiled slightly and did not continue the topic.

In fact, he knew in his heart that this method was the most feasible.Although Lu Song is not one of the "countries not to be conquered" set by Zhu Yuanzhang, the consistent habit of Ming Dynasty is there. Even when Chengzu went to the West, he would not directly "merge a certain place in Nanyang into Ming Dynasty". It is some measures based on Jiji thinking, such as the famous "Old Port Consolation Commissioner".

However, the Consolation Commissioner is not a good plan in Gao Yushi's mind, because in Gao Yushi's eyes, Luzon is also a part of "Southern Xinjiang". significance.

In fact, it is better to use Jinghua's method of controlling southern Xinjiang to set up a king for Luzon to set up a consolation mission that is actually out of control.Then Jinghua continued to control the country by acting as the central court in its actual sense in the form of an advisory group.

This approach not only complied with Da Ming's consistent "survival and death" thinking, but also firmly controlled the real power, and it would not cause too much trouble for Gao Yushi. It was the best of both worlds.

After solving this problem, Gao Wushi returned to the problem of making money that Zhu Yingzhen mentioned earlier, and said: "As for how to get rich, it is natural to have a two-pronged approach."

Zhu Yingzhen asked with some doubts: "Since Luzon has changed hands, will the Spaniards come again? If they don't come, the gold and silver will be cut off."

Gao Wushi shook his head and said: "I have a lot of news about the Spaniards. Generally speaking, because Spain has made enemies on all sides, it is now fighting in three places. Two, with my trillion people in the Ming Dynasty, if we fight three Mongolians at the same time , what do you think?"

"This...Spain's enemies are as powerful as the Mongolian Tartars?" Zhu Yingzhen was suddenly taken aback.

Gao Yushi said: "At least the Mongols don't have guns, and Spain's enemies may not be less than their guns. Let me put it this way, if Spain can't get a lot of gold and silver from overseas, they won't be able to survive for a year."

Zhang Yuangong couldn't help interjecting: "I heard what you mean by Rixin, do you mean that the Spaniards are actually hanging their lives by relying on those gold and silver?"

Gao Wushi smiled, and said: "Actually, although there is a lot of gold and silver, it can be called a steady stream, but it is not enough to satisfy the consumption of the Spaniards. It's just that the situation of the Europa people is different from that of my Ming Dynasty. There are many small countries, and they both fight and cooperate with each other, fighting with some countries and cooperating with some countries.

The Spaniards were at war with the Netherlands, the French, and the English.But at the same time, it has a lineage with the Austrians (here the Habsburg dynasty is divided into Spain and Austria), so it is a natural ally.There is another country, although small, but rich because of its developed trade and commerce, its name is Genoa, and it is the pocketbook of the Spaniards..."

"Money bag?" Zhu Yingzhen asked, "Spanish people often blackmail them?"

"But it's not extortion, it's actually a loan." Gao Wushi thought about it, and realized that if he didn't explain it clearly, the two princes might not be able to understand it.After all, in their eyes, the emperor is the most wealthy in the world, so how could he ask others to borrow money?Daming didn't say that either.

Gao Yushi had no choice but to pick a few examples of European banking families in the Middle Ages and talk to the two of them.In fact, before and after this era, the families of Peruzzi, Baldi, Medici and Genoa were all prominent banking families, and the only one that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Italian bankers was the Fugger family of the Holy Roman Empire.

However, since we are going to talk about Spain, the Peruzzi, Baldi, Medici and other families are not going to introduce it. He mainly talked about the Fugger family and the Genoese bankers who are closely related to Spain.

Since the 14th year of Emperor Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty, it has entered the sixteenth century. During this time, the European economy and population are expanding. Major monarchies such as Spain, France, and the United Kingdom have continued to fight for economic and military hegemony. This century has only 25 years without major wars. War of scale.During most of this period, Antwerp was the main financial center.

Frequent wars have stimulated the demand for loans. Due to the development of the credit market, interest rates have also dropped accordingly. The short-term loan interest rate of the royal family is roughly between 6-18%. In emergencies, the interest rate will climb to more than 24%.Bankers are still the main lenders, but the royal family also borrows money through the exchange.

From the end of the fifteenth century to the first half of the sixteenth century, the Fugger family of South Germany seized the dominant position once held by Italian bankers.Starting with a loan from the Habsburg royal family, the Fugger family, which started the textile industry, obtained a large number of mining rights for silver mines, copper mines, and iron mines in Central Europe and the Americas.

This family successively took refuge in the two Holy Roman Emperors of the Habsburg family, and its wealth reached its peak after the [-]s. As a commercial family, its political influence was unmatched at that time.

In the 14th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1519), the Fugger family spent 85 Gulden (the currency used in South Germany) to bribe the elector to ensure that Charles V of Habsburg could defeat another candidate, France. King and became Emperor of Shinra.

After the success of Charles V, the areas he ruled included Spain, the Spanish Low Countries, the Holy Roman Empire (nominal), Austria, most of Italy, Alsace, and the Spanish American colonies.Only the Valois dynasty in France can stand against the Habsburg dynasty in continental Europe.

The vast ruling area also brought endless war burdens to Charles V.In the famous Italian War, both the Spanish and French armies had to cease fighting many times due to lack of funds; in order to defend the Christian world, Charles V also fought against the Ottoman Empire at the peak of its national power, so the emperor had to continue to borrow money. To maintain the rule, to maintain the war.

From 1518 to 1572, the interest rate of short-term loans (called asientos in Spain) provided by Fugger Bank to the Spanish royal family was generally between 10-16%, and the interest rate rose to 24-52% during financial stress.During the same period, the royal family’s interest rate for financing from the Antwerp exchange was between 6.25-31.5%, and the exchange cost was obviously lower.Many bankers actually borrowed money from Antwerp and Lyon at low interest rates, and then resold it to the royal family at high interest rates.

In 1556, after owed a huge debt of 2000 million ducats, Charles V passed the throne to his son Philip II. (Note: If you don’t worry about equivalent purchasing power, it’s equivalent to more than 14 taels of gold based on the gold content of Ducats alone. Daming’s gold-silver ratio is 1:10, which means it’s equivalent to more than 140 million taels of silver in Daming. Note that at this time not much American gold and silver had flowed into Europe, the price revolution was far from beginning, and the real value of gold was very high, so this was indeed a huge debt.)
However, in the second year of Philip II's succession (1557), Spain, which did not want to pay back the money, directly declared bankruptcy, and France, which was also heavily in debt, also declared bankruptcy in the same year.To make matters worse, the Spanish Crown declared bankruptcy again a few years later in 1560.

In 1562, the banking consortium headed by the Fugger family was forced to agree to the royal family's debt restructuring plan.Their short-term loan of 700 million ducats was converted into long-term government bonds (juros, guaranteed by government taxes) with an interest rate of 5%, but the market value of such bonds was much lower than the face value.

In this case, the Fugger and other families obviously lost money, but fortunately they obtained other compensations: monopolizing the procurement of military supplies in Spain and the mercury mine in Almaden.Therefore, Fugger Bank did not go bankrupt due to debt default, but as a commercial bank, their family suffered huge losses of funds and reputation.

After 1560, the Fugger Bank continued to participate in the Spanish royal family's loans, but at this time the main lender was already the Genoese banking family, and the proportion of Fugger was very low.

Gao Pragmatism did not talk about the future decline of Fugger Bank, after all, that has not happened yet.Of course, the reason is very clear and pragmatic. The long-term reason is that the large amount of silver imported from the Americas in the 50s severely reduced the family bank’s source of funds—the profitability of silver transactions.The more direct reason is that during the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century, the Holy Roman Empire was devastated, the economy declined, and the population dropped sharply. The Fugger family has since disappeared.

After Fugger and other Deutsche Banks were hit hard, the Genoese devoted themselves to the financial industry.The Genoese banking families that controlled the European financial industry during this period included the Spinola family, the Doria family, the Centurion family, the Grimaldi family, and the Lomerini family, among which the Spinola family and the Doria family had A dominant player in Genoese politics since the 70s, they were also at the heart of the Genoese system that financed the Spanish crown.

The Spanish Empire remained militaristic for most of the reigns of Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV (1556-1665), with almost no year of peace under Philip II, so war spending The external debt continued to rise.

By 1667, the total debt of the Spanish royal family reached a whopping 1.8 million ducats. The royal family's income fluctuated greatly, and it was increasingly unable to keep up with the increase in debt.

In addition to the severe inflation caused by the price revolution during this period, an important reason for the sharp rise in war costs was the military revolution in Europe since the 20s.The maturity of matchlock guns has increased the proportion of firearms in the army, and the power of artillery has also promoted the emergence of complex and solid city defense Shuobao system. The strengthening of defense not only increases the material input of the defender, but also makes the attacker invest more. many.

After this gunpowder military revolution, one of the decisive factors in winning a long-term war is the government's financing ability-Gao Pragmatism knows this very well, so he will increase the proportion of military firearms and equipment while trying to find ways to make money all over the world.

Although Spain has a steady stream of silver pouring in from the Americas, in fact, the importance of silver income to the royal family's finances is not as great as imagined.Before the Eighty Years' War (80-1568), income from the Netherlands was greater than any single item of royal income, including American silver.

After the start of the Netherlands War, the spending of the Spanish army in the Netherlands was already higher than the taxes contributed by the Netherlands, and the Netherlands became a negative asset in the financial sense of the Spanish Empire.

In fact, due to too many enemies and frequent wars, except for Spain and the Americas, all other territories of the colonial empire have become negative assets.

As the first serial bankrupt in the history of European royal (sovereign) lending, Philip II went bankrupt four times, but his father Charles V should be blamed for the first two times.His successors Philip III and IV continued to play the bankruptcy game, and went bankrupt five more times in 1607, 1627, 1647, 1653, and 1662.

Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong managed to understand the concept of bankruptcy. When they heard that Philip II and his son had gone bankrupt several times, they couldn't help but peek at each other.Zhang Yuangong shook his head greatly: "This emperor has done a bit miserably. If it's like this, where can I save face?"

Gao Wushi emphasized: "Philip II is not the emperor."

"The king is similar, that's what I mean." Zhu Yingzhen said disdainfully: "A three-year-old child understands the principle of debt repayment, and it is a matter of course for father and son to repay debt.

Whether the father and son are emperors or kings, they are still the kings of a country, right?It's okay to find someone to borrow money without feeling ashamed, but you still renege on it!Sure enough, they are all barbarians, without any courtesy, justice and shame. "

Zhu Yingzhen was more concerned about the money in front of him, and interrupted: "I understand what Rixin means. You mean that the king of Spain used the continuous overseas gold and silver as collateral to find these hot...hot loans to fight the war. .

But he also knows that this alone is definitely not enough, so the money that should be earned must be earned, and he must not let go of any opportunity to make money.Since they very much need our goods to be sold to Europa to make money, it means that even if Luzon is lost, they still have to come to Luzon to find us to do business, otherwise the loss will be even greater-is that the meaning? "

Gao Wushi laughed, and said, "Mr. Cheng has a clearer mind, and I admire him for being pragmatic."

"Hey, don't say that. If you didn't explain it, how would I know these inside stories? I can't judge the Spaniard's movements after they lost Luzon. In the end, you are still more powerful than Situ. You know everything about these small barbarian countries, I am really convinced."

Zhang Yuangong seemed to be a little puzzled, and asked: "I still don't understand one thing, since this Philip II has such a bad reputation, why is he so hot... What kind of rich people are still willing to lend him money again and again ? Didn’t he threaten to ransack the family and exterminate the family?”

"You must have misunderstood just now. Rixin probably meant something like this: this Spain is like Qin, which fights here and there all day long, and this small hot country is small, but people are rich... ...Of course everyone likes money, and it’s impossible for Qin to fight just because it says so, after all, Qi, Chu, Yan, Han and other countries don’t agree, right?” Zhu Yingzhen looked at Gao Yushi after finishing speaking, and asked, “Probably this mean?"

Gao Wushi smiled and said, "It's probably similar."

Zhu Yingzhen was triumphant, but Zhang Yuangong gave him a blank look, and said, "I understand your analogy, but you didn't explain my question: why does this small country keep lending money to a strong Qin who doesn't value credibility? Do they think Can this strong Qin unite the six kingdoms?"

This time Zhu Yingzhen didn't dare to talk nonsense, he coughed lightly and didn't respond.

Gao Yushi said: "Using Cheng Guogong's example, under the melee of various countries, the money of this small country has no place to spend, and the investment may be reduced to ashes wherever it is invested. As I said just now, these kings borrow money The interest rate is very high, so the small country would rather lend them... What if they win the war?"

"Oh..." Zhang Yuangong seemed to understand now.But Zhu Yingzhen was too lazy to dwell on this issue, so he changed the topic and turned the question back: "Okay, well, since we know everything about these small barbarian countries every day, we don't need to care about it so carefully. I just want to ask now, what is this?" When will the battle be fought, let us send troops... No, how many ships and servants will we send each?"

After a pause, he added: "Also, after the game, are there any profitable projects that can be divided?"
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(End of this chapter)