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Chapter 337 A good official is one who knows how to settle accounts

"...Since His Majesty allowed officials to supervise private businesses, the number of glazed wares has increased dramatically. As long as they are not high-quality products produced by Liuguangzhai, a set of nine pieces only costs three to five taels of silver." Zhao Shiqing, as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, is quite familiar with product prices. , gave the answer accurately.

"Even if it costs 3 taels of silver, do you know how much a set of glass wine vessels sold to the Folangji merchant in Guangzhou costs? It's a full 10 taels of silver! If it is shipped to Manila or a farther Southeast Asian port, the price will at least double.

10两银子能买到什么呢？朕用两个东西举例，黄金和大米。在日本10两银子可以换2两黄金，在大明却只能换1两。在安南和暹罗10两银子可以买30多石大米，在大明却是能买不到13石。

If I spend 3 taels of silver to buy a set of glass wine vessels in the capital, sell them to Fo Langji in Guangzhou and get 10 taels of silver, and then go to Japan to exchange them for 2 taels of gold. After returning to the capital, I will deduct the capital of 3 taels of silver. A net profit of 17 taels of silver.

Then use these 17 taels of silver to buy rice in Annan and other countries, which can buy nearly 60 shi. If you transport it back to the capital, you can get 8 taels of silver based on the calculation of 48 silver coins per stone.

Some people might say that traveling tens of thousands of miles from Beijing to Guangzhou and then to Japan and Annan requires money for food, carriages and horses. It is impossible to earn so much, and it may not be enough to pay for the expenses.

If anyone thinks so, he can go to Shu and resign tomorrow. He is not worthy of being an official of our Ming Dynasty. I was just making an analogy. Anyone who sells goods cannot only bring a set of drinking utensils. The more goods there are, the smaller the costs, business taxes, and points will be when allotted to each piece. You must understand this truth.

So what do I mean by this? Don't panic, I'm not trying to help you figure out how much money you made by investing in the factory, but I want you to understand two things. First, goods must be circulated to generate money; second, if you want money to generate more money, you must know how to control the exchange price of gold and silver.

The Francois who were entrenched in Haojingao, Guangzhou and Manila came from Europe thousands of miles away by sea ship. They had only two purposes, preaching and making money.

The Francois used sea ships to transport silver from distant America to Manila. Some of it was used to buy silk, porcelain, sugar, and tea from the Ming Dynasty, and some of it was exchanged for gold and brought back to Europe.

On the Europa side, 1 tael of gold may require 15 taels of silver to be exchanged. If the amount of gold is large enough, they don't even need to purchase any goods. They can make a lot of money just by relying on the exchange ratio of silver to gold.

I haven't received last year's figures yet. The year before last, more than 1600 million taels of silver were shipped from Luzon to Haojing'ao, and more than 500 million taels of silver were transshipped from Japan via the Franconian merchant ship.

At first glance, it sounds like our business is booming and we should be making a lot of money. But if you think about it carefully, the commercial tax received by the imperial court the year before last was more than 70 taels, and the points drawn by the Municipal Shipping Department were also more than 70 taels, which also included literary quotations and shipping lessons from the Governor's Rate Office. The two combined are less than one-tenth of the silver imported from Hao Jing'ao. What about the rest? "

But it is not easy to explain clearly the principles and principles of import and export trade. In later generations, a random junior high school student could finish the lecture in five minutes and roughly understand it. However, in the Ming Dynasty, when faced with the group with the strongest knowledge and ability to govern, speaking for an hour would probably have no effect.

This is not a question of who is smart and who is stupid, but the limitations of the times. In order to make these court officials understand as much as possible, Hong Tao could only make up stories and simplify the complex things like he would do to children in a kindergarten class. He would not talk about the principles first, but only the phenomena.

"..." But as soon as this question came out, the room became silent again. Officials who were originally interested in new knowledge and new fields immediately lowered their heads and drooped their eyelids, as if they were old monks entering meditation. "I am not trying to find out whose hands the silver went to, but I am trying to explain the truth. A huge amount of silver is imported every year, but from the court to the people, there is not much wealth. Even in Fujian and Guangdong, where smuggling is the most rampant, the local people It's still very poor, and there aren't many more wealthy households there than in other places.

Since you are unwilling to answer, I will not force you. The money did enter the Ming Dynasty, but it was not made by more people, but all went into the hands of a small number of people. After they took the money, except for buying more land, building better houses, and wearing gold, silver, silk and satin, they hid the rest.

As I said just now, goods must be circulated to make money. The same is true for money. If you bury it in the yard for a hundred years, it will still look the same when you dig it out, without a penny more. And if you take it out and invest it in factories, mines, and plantations, you will get dividends every year and you can have babies.

In addition, the more money, the better. It can neither be eaten nor drunk. It is enough to keep the country's economy running. If you want to make more money, you can't just focus on money. Food, minerals, wood, coal, and spices are the real good things.

To use another analogy, if our country goes to war with Annan or Luzon and needs a large amount of military rations, but Huguang and Jiangsu and Zhejiang happen to be hit by disasters, and the food and grass supply is not available, what should we do? Wang Aiqing, you are the Minister of War, so it is most appropriate for you to answer this question. "

Seeing such a scene, Hong Tao had to explain quickly that he was not trying to catch corruption, so don't be nervous. Still no one dared to say anything, so I had to call them by name. It was like coaxing a child.

"...I think that following your Majesty's disaster relief measures, purchasing rice from Southeast Asian countries would be more convenient and economical than arranging grain from the north." Wang Xiangqian could only stand up and salute. Fortunately, he listened carefully, and his stomach was filled with excitement. It's not all nonsense, the answer is quite reliable.

"Wang Aiqing's method is right or wrong! It is indeed more convenient to buy rice from Nanyang countries than to transport grain from the north, but if it is in wartime, the price will not be so cheap. Whether it is done by maritime merchants or handed over to Fo Langji If someone buys for you, they will definitely take the opportunity to raise the price.

Even if the merchants of the Ming Dynasty were all loyal and patriotic people, the people of Folangji were enlightened by the teachings of the saints. They did not earn a penny and helped in vain. Purchasing a large amount of grain in a short period of time would still cause the local rice price to soar. The more urgent you want it and the more you buy, the higher the price will be.

届时会是个什么状况呢？本来打算用10万两白银购买20万石大米，可是米价上涨了两倍，从5钱银子一石变成了1两5钱银子一石，想得到20万石大米就得付出30万两白银。

Did you see that the rice is still rice, not much in one bite, but the silver is worthless, depreciating twice as much. At this time, the money in the hands of the imperial court is equivalent to being reduced by two times. If there is an unfavorable war or a famine, there will be big trouble on this level without thinking in advance. How should we deal with it? "

Wang Xiangqian was able to learn to walk in Handan and also tried to set his sights on neighboring countries. This was called a change in thinking, and Hong Tao was very pleased. However, just doing this is not enough, especially being a policy maker is not enough. You must take one more step.

(End of this chapter)