Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 13 Inside the Dashu Camp
“Fresh cabbage and eggplant!”

"Little chickens, if you take one away for a penny, you can sell it for more than [-] pence after raising it for three months!"

"Twenty cents will be taken away from the little black dog who looks after the home!"

"The poultry is sold, the meat is healthy and plump..."

In Dashu Camp, Zhu Gaoxu and Yang Zhan led the donkey cart for a stroll and bought a lot of things.

For Yang Zhan, there was nothing novel in all this, but for Zhu Gaoxu, he had a better understanding of the lives of ordinary people in this era.

On both sides of the compacted land were melons and fruits placed on straw mats, and in the imperial butcher shop not far away, strips of bright red meat were hung.

Although the passers-by wore cloth clothes and shoes, they were dressed very decently, and their hair was washed and bound with cloth towels.

Occasionally, someone would sell cattle, donkeys, and dogs, and Zhu Gaoxu would go up and ask for the price.

As Yang Zhan said, the price of a yellow ox is about [-] taels, while the so-called plow ox is a water buffalo, and the price is slightly higher, around [-] taels and [-] taels.

Although most people use copper coins when settling accounts, judging from the fact that they use "liang" as the unit, silver has gradually been circulated among the people as currency.

The reason why the common people did not use it was simply because of the imperial ban.

During this period, Zhu Gaoxu could also hear some merchants discussing that the lack of silver as currency made life inconvenient.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu could not criticize Zhu Yuanzhang harshly from the perspective of the common people, because he came from later generations and could understand the situation Zhu Yuanzhang faced from the perspective of God.

Although the countries of later generations have very high silver reserves in the world, that is because they have Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Northeast China.

Excluding these places, there are not many provinces in the Ming Dynasty that have easy-to-mining silver mines.

Silver has existed in all dynasties, but it has not become a currency in circulation. The most important reason is that the quantity is too small to form a circulating currency.

In Zhu Gaoxu's opinion, this change in the situation was also caused by the corruption of banknote law in the Ming Dynasty.

Starting from the Chenghua period, the imperial court began to pay attention to silver mining due to the extreme corruption of banknote law.

In addition, at this time, due to the continuous immigration of emperors in Yunnan for nearly a hundred years, the area was greatly developed, and Yunnan also began to become a major source of silver, with more than [-] taels of silver paid to the Ming Dynasty every year.

According to the [-]% ratio for silver courses in the Ming Dynasty, the annual silver output of Yunnan Province could reach more than [-] taels or more.

Coupled with the continuous mining of silver mines in Jiangxi, South Zhili, Guangdong and other places, the amount of silver mined every year in the Ming Dynasty was no less than one million taels, which greatly accelerated the process of silver monetization.

Of course, the more important source of silver was the massive inflow of silver from the Americas and Japan after the sea ban was lifted in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

At the peak of the East-West trade route, American silver could flow into the Ming Dynasty at a rate of one to two million taels per year.

During this period, Japan discovered the largest Iwami silver mine in the world at this time, so more than 200 million taels could flow into the Ming Dynasty every year.

The influx of large amounts of silver ensured the stable issuance and circulation of Ming Dynasty currency, and at the same time allowed the complete monetization of silver.

Zhu Yuanzhang could not have known that a large amount of silver would flow into the country in the future, nor could he have known that the easiest silver mine to mine at the moment was in Tottori, Japan, across the sea.

He didn't know, but Zhu Gaoxu knew.

"If I can develop the Iwami Silver Mine, I'm afraid I can promote the monetization of silver in advance, and I can also use the silver to recycle treasure banknotes to stabilize the treasure banknotes, restore the credibility of the court, and prevent continued inflation..."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the people using heavy copper coins to trade, and this thought came to his mind.

The Iwami Silver Mine and the gold and silver mine on Sado Island, as long as they are utilized properly, can provide the Ming Dynasty with millions of taels of silver and tens of thousands of taels of gold every year.

Ming Dynasty did not need to go to America to solve its current money shortage and economic problems.

It's a pity that although Zhu Gaoxu knows this, he is currently unable to change the situation.

He didn't believe that his grandfather would believe his words, after all, his weight in his heart was too light.Even if his father, Zhu Di, spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang probably would not pay attention.

My grandfather's current focus is on how to prevent the feudal kings and nobles from causing chaos and maintain the orthodox inheritance of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment. It wasn't until Yang Zhan bought all the supplies they needed that they got on the donkey cart and headed back home.

"Fortunately it didn't rain, otherwise I would have been covered in mud today."

Sitting at the front of the car, Yang Zhan was joking to himself, and when Zhu Gaoxu heard this, he also thought of the scene when the rammed earth was soaked by rain.

Thinking of such a scene, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head: "This is the fourteenth century after all, not later generations..."

Zhu Gaoxu understood that he had to correct his position. If he could not correct his position, he would not have a place whether it was the heir apparent, the prince's position, or the future emperor's position.

"Power is a tool to realize one's ideals. If I don't have absolute power, no matter how right my idea is, I still have to look at other people's faces..." Zhu Gaoxu thought to himself.

Yang Zhan, who was standing next to him, looked at him with a strange expression. He thought that this market town was far different from what Zhu Gaoxu had imagined, so he didn't dare to speak for a while, unaware that Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts had reached a place that he didn't dare to think about.

The two of them were silent, except for the sound of the wheels rolling on the dirt road and the stubborn panting of the donkey.

However, the silence did not last long, because the dull sound of horse hooves sounded behind them.

Hearing the sound of horse hoofbeats, Yang Zhan did not dare to neglect and drove the donkey cart to the side of the road, while Zhu Gaoxu also raised his head and looked towards the end of the road.

Dust was flying in the distance, and light cavalry wearing breastplates could be seen rushing from the end of the road. The number could not be seen at a glance.

The cavalry rode away. On the way, someone recognized Zhu Gaoxu. They immediately reined in their horses and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu on horseback:
"Your Highness, did you just come back from the market town?"

"Well, what happened?" Zhu Gaoxu nodded and glanced at the Qingqi who had not all passed by.

"The Tuman rebels in Daozhou, we were called back to the camp to wait for military orders from the Governor's Office."

The soldiers bowed and reported back. When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, he was also worried and asked: "Are you going to go on an expedition?"

"Based on regular examples, there should be no need to go out on an expedition, but we need to gather and wait for His Majesty's call." The soldier shook his head and explained in passing.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also bowed in return, indicating that the soldiers could leave.

The soldiers were a little surprised when they saw Zhu Gaoxu returning the salute to him. They hurriedly returned the salute and then rode away.

After more than ten breaths, this group of cavalry completely passed by Zhu Gaoxu and the two men and rushed towards the large teaching field in the distance.

"They should be Mu Xiu's soldiers from the Leopard Guard in front of the palace. The soldiers from the Hezhou Guard are not that tall."

Yang Zhan looked at the backs of the soldiers with their horses and whips raised, his eyes full of envy.

For a military attaché like him, whose father was only from a hundred households, it would be very difficult for him to get a military horse given by the imperial court unless the Ming Dynasty's horse administration allowed the world to flood with horses.

Even Zhu Gaoxu, before he was granted the title of county king, could not normally possess military horses privately.

In the past, in Peiping, they could only borrow military horses but could not possess them.

However, rules are rules. If Zhu Gaoxu really wanted to take possession of it, the officials of the Bureau of Animal Husbandry and the Royal Horse Supervisor would not dare to say anything.

But if Zhu Gaoxu really did that, then he would have personally ruined the reputation he had built in the past three months.

He would not do such a petty expense.

"Let's go, I guess the Duke's Mansion has also sent something."

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and got on the donkey cart. Yang Zhan also quickly got on the cart and drove the donkey cart back to the teaching field...

(End of this chapter)