After five years of teaching support, Daming became an empire on which the sun never sets.

"Your Majesty, the other country is currently at war, and I am afraid that selling porcelain, silk and other things to it will not earn much money." Gao Qi stood up after thinking for a while and said, "War costs a lot and their wealth is used to deal with the war. If you are stretched, you will not have extra financial resources to buy non-essential items such as porcelain and silk."

"Not bad!"

"Master Gao is right!"

……

After hearing this, the ministers seconded their opinions one after another.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not so sure about this phenomenon, because Qin Yu had told him about the Opium War.In the late Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty fell into the quagmire of war, didn't it still buy overseas opium?

But on second thought, after all, porcelain and silk are not opium.

The two cannot be compared in the same breath.

So agree with him.

"Then what about buying grain from them?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked again.After he became emperor, he always attached great importance to food, probably because he was hungry and afraid before.

"They certainly don't have food. During the war, their imperial court must have extremely strict control over food. After all, food is the most important strategic material during times of war," said a minister.

"I heard that they also use gold and silver as currency. But there are no gold bars or silver ingots. Instead, gold and silver are minted, and metal coins similar to Hongwu Tongbao are used for circulation." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"The emperor is wise." Shen Wansan said, "Gold and silver coins are circulated in all overseas countries, as if we have made an appointment." After speaking, he took out a bag of gold coins and a bag of silver coins from his pocket, and said,
"This is the currency in circulation in overseas countries, please take a look at it, Your Majesty and your lords."

An eunuch came down, took the bag of gold coins and silver coins, and then walked back to present it to Zhu Yuanzhang.

After Zhu Yuanzhang read it carefully, he distributed it to his officials.

The officials held the gold and silver coins in their hands and looked at them carefully, observing their patterns and styles, and after blowing a breath, they listened to the sound in their ears to see their fineness. They had a great time playing.

Moreover, they whispered and talked in a low voice.

"The only difference between the styles of overseas currencies and the copper coins of the Central Plains Dynasty is that they do not have holes in the middle." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "It is not convenient to carry without holes in the middle. What should they do if they need a lot of money?"

"It's very inconvenient."

"Back to the emperor, they all put gold coins and silver coins in bags." Shen Wansan said, "It's really inconvenient for merchants to use them when doing large-scale transactions."

"Do they have copper coins?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"No." Shen Wansan said, "According to the investigation of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, all western overseas countries do not have copper coins. That proves that they did not have copper coins before."

"Since gold and silver coins are inconvenient to use in large quantities, and they don't have copper coins. Then why are gold and silver coins of this style popular in Western countries?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"This minister doesn't know." Shen Wansan said.

When the officials heard the emperor's question, they were also at a loss and said they could not answer.Afterwards, they handed over the gold and silver coins to the eunuchs who came to collect them, and returned them to Shen Wansan.

Well known.

A social phenomenon is often an important reflection of the national conditions of that country.

Currency is even more important.

That is to say, Westerners do not have copper coins, and gold and silver coins do not drill holes, which reflects the important national conditions of Western countries for thousands of years.If we can know the reasons, we can understand the Western countries more fully.

However, the knowledge of the officials is limited and they cannot answer.

"Since everyone can't answer, let's put this matter aside for the time being." Zhu Yuanzhang also said that he had no hope for the ministers.With the opening of overseas trade in Ming Dynasty, various overseas problems appeared.

But all the ministers asked three questions. After all, it was the first time in history that a question related to overseas came up.It has never happened in all dynasties, and these scholars have no history to draw lessons from.

This group of people's vision is not good enough to ask Mr. Qin, Emperor Zhu thought in his heart.

So he changed the topic: "Everyone, continue to discuss the topic just now."

"It is precisely because the expedition fleet that Daming went out to explore cannot dump porcelain and silk on a large scale on them, nor can they buy a large amount of grain to sell back to Daming, so they pay attention to women." Yang Xiandao, Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province, " They bring back British women and sell them in brothels for silver."

"What happened to Princess Catherine of Britain is the best example."

"I reckon that if they don't do this, not only will they not be able to earn money, but they will pay back the money."

"Is this phenomenon common?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"It's very common." Yang Xian said, "According to my secret investigation, there are many more British women and French women in brothels all over the Ming Dynasty."

"They sold the prettier women to brothels."

"The uglier ones are sold to remote mountainous areas to be married to those bachelors."

"Last time, the emperor distributed ten taels of silver to each household of the people. They just used this money to buy British wives. In many remote areas, buying and selling British and French wives has become a hot business."

"This business is even more profitable than selling grain, dumping porcelain, and silk. Therefore, during this period of time, a large number of expedition fleets went to the battlefield of the British mainland."

"Your Majesty, do you want to stop such a thing?"

"Let's go with the flow." Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Anyway, it's very difficult for men in remote mountainous areas to marry a wife."

"Your Majesty, the old minister still suggests stopping this situation. If there are more women in Britain and France, and they all marry Chinese men, will it affect my Yanhuang bloodline?" said the old minister Song Lian.

"As long as their children born with Chinese men learn our culture from an early age, then they are Ming people, that is, my descendants of Yan and Huang are not outsiders." Zhu Yuanzhang said,
"It doesn't count as affecting the blood."

"The Chinese bloodline is extremely inclusive. Didn't the Yi, Qiang, and Mongols in the Hu and Yuan Dynasties all become naturalized in the end? So we can't close ourselves and not accept new things."

"Besides, they brought back overseas women, not overseas men."

"As long as the man is from China, who cares what country the woman is from?"

"Your Majesty!" said the ministers.

This group of ancients were somewhat machismo, and felt that as long as the paternal line could be maintained, it didn't matter which country the matriarchal line came from.Zhu Yuanzhang himself married a Gaoli concubine, a Mongolian concubine.

This kind of male chauvinism was formed under the influence of thousands of years, and it cannot be changed for a while.

"I once heard Mr. tell us about overseas history, saying that Western powers went to the New World to rob slaves and buy them back as their cheap labor." Zhu Yuanzhang said,

"Western powers plundered men, but we brought back women."