I'm really not doing business

Chapter 557 Impossible Triangle

In the tenth year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty had a total inflow of 650 million silver. In the eleventh year of Wanli, even though there was no increase in offshore trade, there was now an additional ocean-going fleet bringing silver back. This time, the Ming fleet brought back silver in the ocean-going trade. 323 million taels of silver.

In other words, the silver inflow in the eleventh year of Wanli may increase to tens of millions, but this year the Ming Dynasty can only print 250 million silver, which means that silver will be sold in major shipping companies, Jingtang Nanya Songjiang Prefecture Larger scale damming occurred in Guangzhou Prefecture and other places.

The debt is even greater.

Silver is actually inconvenient to circulate, because naked silver requires change, which requires identifying the authenticity and cutting the silver to make change, which is very troublesome.

If you want to spend money, you need to bring three things with you when you go out. Scissors, as well as jizi and wax blocks. Scissors can cut silver. jizi is a small scale that weighs cents. Two cents are divided into cents. It was specially used for weighing in the Ming Dynasty. Measure gold, silver, precious medicines and spices.

The wax block is used to dip the silver shavings, which are the silver shavings dropped from cutting silver. The small amount becomes more, and when it accumulates, it is melted and forged.

In daily use, you must carry these three items when you go out to prevent shortages. In bulk trade, silver is counterfeited. The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty are really ingenious. There are too many these methods. In bulk transactions, it is necessary to make every Each ingot of silver is cut open to prevent it from being embedded.

Therefore, silver is inconvenient to circulate, and silver coins are currency.

Dredging silver means convection of silver, from the south to the north, from the city to the countryside. This is very, very difficult. Regardless of anything else, the first step of printing silver coins is very difficult.

Only 250 million imperial silver coins could be printed a year. The Ming Dynasty was so big, what could such a small amount of silver coins be used for?
"This is really a happy trouble. I used to have no money to spend, but now I have too much money." Zhu Yijun put away the memorial in his hand and said to Feng Bao: "Let Gao Qiyu, the young minister of Honglu Temple, and Xu Jiugao go there Tianjin Prefecture welcomes the return of the Ming Dynasty warriors.”

Of course, Zhu Yijun would not criticize the Imperial Academy of Gewu, let alone think that the Academy was incompetent. Nowadays, no one would think that the Doctors of the Five Classics in the Academy are just like that. All the Doctors of the Five Classics are immortal figures. The Academy has really tried its best!
Ming Dynasty needs more and more talents! All walks of life, all aspects!

Gao Qiyu once traveled to the West in a large sailing ship, and returned to the Ming Dynasty after traveling around the world. Xu Jiugao was the first captain of the Ming Dynasty to sail around the world. He is now also serving as Shaoqing in Honglu Temple and is Gao Qiyu's second official.

Gao Qiyu, Xu Jiugao, Liu Ji, and Chen Tianrui are the mainstays of the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going trade. The first two are in the court to ensure that they have a key influence on the Ming Dynasty's policy of opening up the sea, and to prevent the situation that happened before the Ming Dynasty opened the sea.

Ming Dynasty can no longer lose the ocean.

Just because the emperor, the court, and the Ming Dynasty's economy relied on silver, once again banning the sea, it became a suicidal act of wiping one's own neck. It would be better to find a rope and hang oneself on the mountain behind.

On May 7, the eleventh year of Wanli, Gao Qiyu and Xu Jiugao received Liu Ji and Chen Tianrui.

Also going to pick up the ship was Li Yougong, the third person in the palace. Li Daxuan spent more time out of the palace than in the palace. He came to pick up people, or in other words, money.

The fleet also has an admiral named Chen Zeng who is 21 years old. He is one of the emperor's sparring partners. Chen Zeng is responsible for one thing on the ship. He is responsible for the emperor's money. .

According to the Ming court's principle of dividing the wealth between three horses, one-tenth of the money that Chen Zeng is optimistic about will fall into the hands of Chen Zeng and the fans he leads.

Chen Zeng's eldest brother is the most powerful person in Xiaohuangmen among the sparring partners, that is, Li Yougong. Li Yougong can tie with Luo Sigong, and Luo Sigong's strength is second only to His Majesty. It can be described as proficient in bow and horse. Li Yougong can shoot the bow left and right. He There is also some military talent.

There were not many eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty who had military talents, such as Zheng He, Liu Yongcheng, and Wang Zhi, the governor of Xichang.

The same is true for the operation of Huangzhuang. One-tenth of the profits of Huangzhuang led by Feng Bao will be distributed to the eunuchs as performance. Zhang Hong is in charge of the palace's account books. Cui Min, the internal money eunuch, is Zhang Hong's righteous Son, Zhang Hong's faction is mainly in charge of sea investment, and one-tenth of the profits from this part will be distributed by Zhang Hong.

The emperor did not allow the eunuchs to take money from outside the palace, but he allowed the eunuchs to take money from the emperor's hands. Therefore, the current eunuchs mainly focus on not making money.

How much money can you greed for? During the Zhengtong period, Wang Zhen made people angry and resentful, and he could have a meal with Wang Zhen for just one thousand taels of silver.

The amount of salt given to Feng Bao by the court minister was only one hundred taels of silver at a time.

The one with the most power was Feng Bao, and the one with the most dividends was Zhang Hong. Li Yougong and his team worked the hardest but also got the least. They had no money to share before, but now they finally have profits from ocean-going trade.

Li Yougong personally brought his people to Tianjin Wei. After picking up the ship, he chatted with Chen Zeng for a few words and immediately started to smile. The eunuch had no sons, which made them particularly obsessed with silver. This time, the dividend exceeded 15 silver.

"Now, after going round and round, the problem is back to the same problem as before." Gao Qiyu finally shook his head after reading the accounts.

So Liu Ji, Chen Tianrui and others who are responsible for raising the fleet don't get any money?
This group of civil servants on the ship had taken it in advance. It was Liu Ji, Chen Tianrui and others who had the final say as to whose goods they would take on board, how much they would take, how they would take them, and at what price they would buy them. Therefore, they actually made some money. But only God knows how much was harvested.

Liu Ji, Chen Tianrui and others do not know how much money they have made, because the value of some things is not easy to measure, such as reputation, such as connections, such as the control of social resources, such as leaving a name in history, these are How much silver can it buy?

Just by leaving a name in history, Liu Ji and others gained more than Yang Bo.

After all, the hardest-working boatmen, sailors, and soldiers on the ship are the ones who get the least. All they can get are the emperor's rewards, an increase in social status, and part of the dividends from maritime trade profits.

The operating logic of the world seems to have always been like this: do the most and get the least.

Li Yougong frowned and said, "What's the old problem?"

Gao Qiyu sighed and said: "Everyone is covetous of the imperial court's official ships and official trade, and the benefits of ocean-going trade. However, only Ming Dynasty official ships can build ocean-going trade. The private sector simply does not have this ability and cannot bear the risk. It’s exactly the same dilemma as Yongle’s voyage to the West.”

Ocean trade can only be carried out by the official ships of the Ming Dynasty. The benefits are high, but the risks are also high, such as bad weather, ferocious natives, pirates in the shadows, greedy tax collectors, etc., the Ming Dynasty's The merchant ship couldn't take out the 18-pound cannon and stuffed it into the mouth of the tax collector along the way to calm down the tax collector.

In other words, history is a circle, going round and round back to the original contradiction, the contradiction in the distribution of huge profits from sea trade.

During the Yongle period, it was Zhu Di who had money from his family and had to eat alone.

"Then the official ships and official trade will be ready." Li Yougong said somewhat nonchalantly: "Your Majesty is at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, so the official ship and official trade will be done first. When the road goes smoothly and the road becomes wider, private merchant ships can naturally leave. "

"The Ming Dynasty needs silver. Other contradictions are secondary contradictions. Allowing silver to flow in more smoothly is fundamental."

Li Yougong was very good at contradictory sayings. He knew the priorities, and silver was what the Ming Dynasty needed urgently. In fact, this can be clearly demonstrated from this ocean-going trade. The Ming Dynasty started to increase its positions on a large scale from the empty ships in the West to India, and was afraid that It hurt the cotton farmers of Songjiang and Shandong, and only brought back 100,000 bags of cotton, and only filled the cabin in Luzon.

The world needs Ming's goods, but Ming only needs the world's silver.

Liu Ji shook his head and said: "This road is open, why should it be used by private merchants? When the road was opened, they were not there, but after the road was opened, they came, why? When the trees were planted, they were not picked, and the fruits were picked. When they came? His Majesty was happy, but the Ming court was not happy either. The court was happy, but some people were not.”

"When I was a desperado at sea, whoever found the fish nest belonged to him. But if anyone came to rob it, they would fight tooth and nail."

Chen Zeng frowned and said, "They have to pay for the road, so they get points from the rates office."

Chen Tianrui immediately said loudly: "But how many times have we made trouble with this 6% tax? I don't want to pay such a small amount! It's time for our Ming Dynasty maritime merchants to see the world and see the world. How do those Thai and Western governors collect taxes? You pay 30% and you have to pay bribes! If you don’t serve the tax officials well, do you still want to pass?”

"I want the protection of the Ming Navy, but I don't want to pay taxes to support the navy. I can make money by cooperating with them, and it all depends on my own efforts. It has nothing to do with my Ming Navy guaranteeing smooth sea routes, right?"

Chen Tianrui is a soldier of the Ming Dynasty Navy first, and a naval officer second. He still can't understand the 6% tax evaded by maritime merchants. Is the Ming Navy free of charge? Not only is the Ming Dynasty Navy not free, it is actually very expensive!
When the Ming Navy was unable to wipe out the pirates, the merchants complained about the Ming Navy's inaction. When the Ming Navy was too tyrannical, they felt that the imperial government was too lenient and used force to take everything.

"As for the private markets currently inspected, their tax rates are quite high. For example, the seven private markets in Sanduao have a tax rate of 30%. Why are they smuggling? Because they have prohibited items on board." Liu Ji Being a desperado himself, he knows desperadoes very well.

Of course, they don’t want to pay taxes. Most of the people who set up private markets are maritime merchants themselves. They set up private markets just to avoid taxes. Of course, they don’t have to pay them. If others want to trade in private markets, they will be heavily taxed.

Private markets exist mainly to avoid taxes, but also to traffic in prohibited items.

An impossible triangle emerged. Complete freedom, a safe ocean environment, and a stable inflow of silver. If you have two, you must lose one of them. The Ming Dynasty chose to lose complete freedom. It had to collect taxes, anti-smuggling, and ban contraband. The product enters the Ming Dynasty.

Complete freedom can ensure a stable inflow of silver, because Fujian and Zhejiang are major silver-producing provinces in the Ming Dynasty. These two major silver-producing provinces can mine up to 100,000 taels of silver a year! For Ming Dynasty, this cannot be said to be a drop in the bucket, but only a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, if there is complete freedom, the merchant ships of the Western Red and Golden Horses can enter and exit freely without having to pay taxes, and silver will continue to flow in steadily.

Complete freedom can actually ensure a safe marine environment. The ban on artillery, firearms, and gunpowder is completely relaxed. Everyone has a cannon, and every merchant ship is equipped with an 18-pound cannon. All pirates mean there are no pirates!

At present, this is the path that Taixi is taking, robbing everywhere. Of course, serious businessmen cannot do business. With the emergence of privateering licenses, the piracy of the entire Taixi has become an irreversible trend.

The reason why Ming Dynasty is not suitable for the path of complete freedom is that Ming Dynasty can be decent, a businessman, and make money standing still.

"The merchant ships on this voyage were organized by the five major voyage trading houses. The imperial court ate meat and the people drank some soup. It was not bad. If they had to ask for more and eat meat, they would not be able to even drink the soup. Here we are." Li Yougong thought for a long time, there was no solution to this impossible triangle.

After discussing the impossible triangle problem, Liu Ji looked at everyone and said: "Sending opium from the Yuanxu Islands to the West is a thousand times more profitable."

"A thousand times profit?!" Li Yougong looked at Liu Ji blankly. This profit rate really made Li Yougong sluggish. The cotton cloth business was already extremely profitable, but opium seemed to be even more terrifying.

The difference between a hundred times and a thousand times is a difference in order of magnitude. "One acre of land produces 1.5 kilograms of opium, which is one and a half opium balls. In the Yuanxu Islands, an opium ball only costs three taels of silver, but when shipped to the West, an opium ball sells for 3000 taels of silver." Liu Ji took out another item. A trade list, which lists the sales volume and price of three goods: chat grass, opium, and ayahuasca.

Liu Ji looked at the goods in his hand. These three items were all powerful hallucinogens, and the profits were frighteningly high.

Chen Tianrui also said with emotion: "Even an opium ball shipped to Ming Dynasty cost 2000 taels. It was not so expensive before. The more the court banned it, the higher the price, and the more people took risks. In order to pass the customs, it's really It is the Eight Immortals who cross the sea and show their magical powers, and the private market has been banned for many times, and this is also the reason. "

"It must be banned. Freedom cannot be free." Li Yougong looked at everyone and said: "It's best not to think about lobbying His Majesty to make such money. Your Majesty has only one attitude towards these things, ban!"

"But the tea and coffee business can still be done."

"Coffee, there are no seeds in the Ming Dynasty. Those big food merchants kept it a secret. This is the password to their wealth. The red-haired fan tried his best but failed to find out the seeds and planting methods." Liu Ji shook his head and said.

Since tea can be identified as a global commodity, Liu Ji naturally knows about coffee, which is widely spread in the West. This is a crop that came into Liu Ji's sight along with Chat grass.

But the Big Eater was very smart about roasting and grinding the coffee into powder and selling it everywhere, so it was impossible to obtain the seeds.

"This problem has been solved. Our old friend, Envoy Shah, gave His Majesty seven bags of seeds as a national gift." Gao Qiyu said with a smile.

Shah Maimaiti, in this name, Maimaiti, is a noble in the Great Cannibal. Of course he has channels to obtain this kind of seeds. The exchange of coffee seeds for the friendship of the Ming Emperor is not a money-losing transaction. On the contrary, it is earned with blood!
Although friendship cannot be discounted, the cotton distribution business is enough. In addition, ships can be purchased from the Ming Dynasty. The red-haired Pandiu Governor's Mansion can no longer rely on ships, fast guns and many cannons to put Emperor Akbar in the face. It rubbed on the ground.

These are the demands of the Mughal Kingdom, and the Ming Dynasty can satisfy these demands. In order to win the favor of the universal monarch, it is an honor to give some coffee seeds!
"Guojiao earned 124 million silver last year." Li Yougong said solemnly.

Drinks are very profitable. Wine, tea, and coffee are all very profitable. In the past, Li Yougong didn't quite understand why the two Song dynasties had to specialize in wine.

The wine franchise in the Song Dynasty started from the source. In the Liang Song Dynasty, wineries were called "wine warehouses", which specialized in wine making, while those with certain rights to make wine and distribute wine were called "zhengdian", and there were a group of wineries that did not have the right to make wine. The small shop is called "Jiaodian". Every year around Qingming Festival, the imperial wine warehouse starts brewing wine, and the aroma of wine floats throughout Kaifeng Prefecture or Lin'an (Hangzhou) in the Southern Song Dynasty.

The "Inspection Office", an organization in charge of internal and external wine warehouses, will inspect all the wines produced. After the Qingming Festival, the inspection office will open for sale and submit samples. The emperor will drink first, and then hold a wine tasting meeting at the inspection office. , if Kaigu can come out on top, they will write on a long banner, 'A certain warehouse has selected a famous master winemaker to brew a high-quality, spicy and high-quality wine, and it will be the first place! 'Slogans began to parade.

The people parading in the street are beauties, that is, prostitutes. They are not ordinary prostitutes, but beautiful and famous ones, that is, oirans. On this day, oirans will wear jade crowns with pearls and jade flowers, sell gold shirts and skirts, and ride on silver saddles. BMWs, each holding flowers, playing drums, or holding a dragon, Ruan Qin and Se' are wandering around the city.

The whole bustle will last from the Qingming Festival until May and then slowly subside. Besides playing, playing and singing, the most important job of various brothels and prostitutes is to sell wine on a consignment basis.

Because it’s really profitable.

In the early years of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, when people were so poor that they had to wear pants, they had a comprehensive understanding of the official affairs of the two Song Dynasties. Finally, they found that the two Song Dynasties were really eye-opening and dazzling. , in comparison, Ming Dynasty is like a farmer digging for food in the soil. He has been busy for a year and has not much money in the end.

In the end, Ming Dynasty determined its official business, coal and steel.

Guojiao in the Ming Dynasty is not a franchise, but also allows people to make their own wine. Most of the output of Guojiao, a highly distilled liquor, is supplied to the navy, and only part of it is sold.

Yuci Guojiao is even rarer. Yuci Guojiao mainly refers to the word Yuci, which refers to the holy family. It is all about bottles, not altars.

In fact, drinks are very profitable.

Daming was also looking for a place suitable for growing coffee. Baoqisi searched for a long time and found that Yunnan was the most suitable place for growing coffee, followed by Guizhou and Guangxi.

Tea grown in Fujian and coffee grown in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guizhou, when these two drinks spread throughout the Ming Dynasty and the world, the local people will also generally benefit from the popularity of these two drinks.

It’s not necessary to grow opium, chat grass, or ayahuasca. No matter how profitable these things are, it’s impossible to touch them.

Those things that are neither humans nor ghosts in Jiecuyuan, it is better to let them stay in Jiecuyuan.

Because once the imperial court gets involved in this kind of business to make a profit, the ban will be a dead letter. If opium is found on an official ship flying the Tuanlong flag, how can the anti-smuggling coastal defense inspections detect smuggling? Once a hole is opened, the rules cease to exist.

It is the same as the reason why the Ming Dynasty cannot issue privateering licenses. It is better to plunder than to sow. The Ming Dynasty is the beneficiary of order and the natural defender of order.

"Unfortunately, it will take ten or twenty years to increase the scale of coffee cultivation before it can be sold overseas in exchange for silver." Liu Ji was very excited when he heard such good news!

This means that there is another item on the cargo list of Daming Ocean Trading!
Silk, cotton, iron pots, pepper, tea, porcelain, etc., plus coffee, the Ming Dynasty's ocean trade was profitable, and it was huge profits!
This is exciting news for everyone!
This group of loyal supporters of Kaihai began to head towards the capital the next day. After Liu Qi, Chen Tianrui and others entered the capital to stay at the Huitongguan Inn, everyone went to the Quanchu Guild Hall, because the imperial court Mingji, who strongly supported Kaihai, , there is Liang Menglong.

Liang Menglong was the official minister of the Ming Dynasty and a student of Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng was also a beneficiary of the Zuoshi system, but he took out the exam method to break the appeasement, protection and connivance of the Zuoshi system.

Except for Gao Qiyu, everyone entered the Quanchu Guild Hall.

"Sir, are you still unwilling to forgive me?" Gao Qiyu stood in front of the Quanchu Guild Hall and asked a little dullly as he came out to greet You Qi.

You Qi said helplessly: "Sir, how can I forgive you? Chen Xuexue was promoted to the left minister of the Ministry of Etiquette, and His Majesty asked you to be the Minister of Honglu Temple. Sir, I insisted on it and demoted you to the rank of Shaoqing. Sir, I never thought of forgiving you." , Go back, go back, don’t come here again.”

Gao Qiyu saw Zhang Juzheng, because Zhang Juzheng was at the door and didn't say a word to him.

When Gao Qiyu left, he was in a state of despair, and his walking was a little sloppy. The slumping was because he was distracted and because he didn't know where to go. His Majesty didn't care about what happened back then after he came back from his mission to Taixi. Sir, he still cares about it.

"Shun also ordered Yu", this topic he came up with in the test in Yingtianfu Township in the first year of Wanli, which was somewhat of a persuasion.

When the examiner was appointed in February of the second year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng was criticized by Ge Shouli. That was the most passive time in Zhang Juzheng's life. Since then, Zhang Juzheng has never expressed any opinions on the imperial examination, nor has he recommended the examiner. , with the examiner.

If this matter is said to be serious, it is naturally a big deal. If it is not serious, it is actually nothing. In the era of the third generation of universal law, Yao, Shun, and Yu, as the third generation of holy kings, raised such a topic, which is considered a reasonable scope. within.

When Ge Shouli attacked Zhang Juzheng, he did not rise to the point that Zhang Juzheng was about to usurp the throne. Instead, he said that Gao Qiyu should avoid this issue and avoid suspicion.

Zhang Juzheng received the warriors who returned from the ocean with great enthusiasm. He showed his respect by personally greeting them at the door.

"Everyone, please take a seat." Zhang Juzheng said with a smile on his face: "A few days ago, the elder Situ and the younger Situ came to me to cry about poverty, saying that the country's money was poor and the country's finances were in great losses. They asked me to think of a way. I can have What can you do? It will be a great joy for me to return to the court tomorrow."

The Ministry of Hubu was so poor that even the doctors were eyeing the money in the Yunnan treasury. The heavy debts put great pressure on the officials of the Ministry of Hubu.

There are only two ways to make money, to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. To reduce expenditure is not to build roads. To increase revenue, either tax internally, or to develop externally, and tax internally. The Ming Dynasty is too good at transferring taxes to the bottom. It seems There are many roads, but in fact there is only one road, open up to the outside world.

Liang Menglong advocated grain shipping by sea since the second year of Longqing. The four-month water transportation time in the river channel occupied too much of the Grand Canal's transport capacity. Grain shipping meant that we could only resolutely open the sea, improve navigation skills, and prevent ships from capsizing.

"Felipe may have some ideas." Liu Ji looked at everyone and said: "Before the sailing ship arrived in the West, the Ming Dynasty and Spain were friendly countries, but after the sailing ship arrived, they did not choose Seville but Lisbon. , Felipe II is very likely to be very dissatisfied.”

"There are more than a thousand Han Chinese in Mexico's Sun City. I'm afraid there will be some problems. Although we advised them to leave with the fleet, the local Han people did not recognize our persuasion."

The Han Chinese in the City of Sun, Mexico, could not survive the Ming Dynasty and ran to Luzon, where they boarded a sailboat and became sailors before migrating to Mexico. They did not trust the Ming Dynasty court.

"Your worries are not unreasonable." Zhang Juzheng said with a frown: "Felipe II had better not be stupid and deliberately create confrontation and contradiction. This is a situation that Ming Dynasty does not want to see, but he must provoke Ming Dynasty. Daming will also make him pay a price that he will never accept."

"I will report this to Your Majesty."

Silver is not only the currency of the Ming Dynasty, but also a currency generally recognized in Europe and the West. The world needs the goods of the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty only needs silver. This results in a net inflow of silver to the Ming Dynasty, that is, the Ming Dynasty has a trade surplus and Spain has a trade deficit.

Therefore, the conflict between the Ming Dynasty and Spain, the maritime overlord, is essentially a silver conflict.

The Ming Dynasty did not need goods from other countries, so the Spaniards had to exchange the silver and silver dollars they plundered from the New World, such as Mexico and Peru, with the Ming Dynasty, and obtained a profit of 600% or 800%.

Zhang Juzheng highly recognized Liu Ji's judgment, because trade deficit was also a problem Felipe II had to face.

After Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment, he said with conviction: "If he wants war, Ming will give him war! Even though he is far away in the West and the Ming Dynasty is beyond his reach now, the Portuguese King Antonio is in the West."

Zhang Juzheng said seriously: "I will meet with Your Majesty tomorrow. Special Envoy Liu will report this matter to Your Majesty."

As the overlord of the West, Felipe II, who had an invincible fleet, would probably not be able to tolerate the Ming Dynasty harming Spain's interests again and again.

The Ming Dynasty's attack on Luzon, the Ming Dynasty's support for Antonio, and the Ming Dynasty's global trade all seriously harmed the interests of Felipe II.

(End of this chapter)