My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 194 It’s hard to repay this debt

The emperor went on an outing, met a woman looking for a woman, and returned home.

This is the record in the history books of the emperor's departure from the palace.

After learning that someone was searching for women outside in his own name, Zhu Youxiao was more than ready to capture the person and chop him alive.

This is that son of a bitch who dares to ruin his reputation.

But soon, after asking about the old man's situation, Zhu Youxiao calmed down.

These are the four bloodiest words in Chinese history - selling one's daughter to a son.

This old man is from Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture.

Zhu Youxiao calmed down.

This family was the most common common people during the feudal period of China.

Every time there is a natural or man-made disaster, in order to survive, you have to sell your things first and then your land. If you have nothing to sell, you have to sell your people.

The hemp rope is cut at the delicate point, and bad luck finds the poor.

The old man's family's land had been sold out, and then he sold his daughter.

Now it seems that my wife is sick and has no money for medical treatment. After entrusting her to relatives, I went to Beijing to see if I could find my daughter and ask for some reward.

But in essence, I can't survive in my hometown, and my wife has no hope of survival. After entrusting her to relatives, I go to Beijing to find a way to survive.

"Go and tell Shen Lian to find a job for the father and son, and don't let them die."

"Yes."

After hearing the emperor's words, the Jin Yiwei immediately responded with their hands raised, and then went after Shen Lian.

"Your Majesty, the food is served."

Seeing that the emperor had calmed down, a young eunuch came to report it.

"Forget it, don't eat anymore, just go back to the palace."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao had no idea of ​​eating at all. He waved his hand and led everyone outside.

Seeing the emperor leaving, the remaining people quickly followed.

After leaving the restaurant and asking Xu Waner to take a carriage back, Zhu Youxiao took more than a dozen guards in uniform and rode in the street towards Xiyuan.

"That young man just now was Grandpa Huang?"

"Seems to be."

Seeing the forty or fifty people leaving in large numbers, the shop owner and the waiter stood at the door, looking at the people leaving in a daze.

"I heard that young man claimed to be..."

The waiter said, turning to look at his boss.

"Quick, quick, those are the things that Grandpa Huang used. Go and seal up the house and collect all the things."

Seeing that the large group of people had left, the shop owner immediately gave orders.

Where Grandpa Huang has been, if this advertisement is published, he will not be able to make a lot of money.

On the other side, the emperor who returned to Xiyuan asked someone to bring the Ming Dynasty Code and started reading it.

"Set up a strategy to seduce your beloved as a slave, wife, concubine, and descendant, with a hundred sticks and three years' service."

"Repeat offenders will be paraded in the streets for a month and sent to the army. If they die, their descendants will take over."

The trafficked persons themselves were slaves and their crimes were mitigated.

Looking at the provisions on human trafficking in the Ming Dynasty Laws, Zhu Youxiao rubbed his chin and started thinking.

Looking at the regulations on human trafficking, Zhu Youxiao touched his chin and started thinking.

Ming Dynasty divided the problem of human trafficking into two categories.

If slaves were sold to work for others, they would still have a way to survive, and the punishment would be lighter.

As for artificially creating disabilities and begging on the streets?

That is not called human trafficking, but that is called harvesting and cutting, which is a serious crime that requires being cut alive.

Tapping his hands on the table, Zhu Youxiao was thinking about why the problem of women selling their daughters came up.

It’s obvious: the people are too poor and the upper class is too rich.

“What needs to be eradicated is poverty itself, not the people who cannot live because of poverty.”

Muttering something about future generations, Zhu Youxiao made a decision.

That night, in Shuntianfu City.

Qianhu Shen Lian invited several Jin Yiwei Baihu to come over to discuss matters.

However, Shen Lian, who was supposed to be presiding over the meeting, was drinking tea in the study with Lu Wenzhao, who had come to visit.

"What did the emperor ask you to investigate? You called so many people."

Sitting cross-legged opposite Shen Lian, Lu Wenzhao twisted a peanut and threw it into his mouth, looked at Shen Lian and asked.

"Your Majesty went out for an outing in the city today. When he returned to the city, he met an old man who sold his daughter to Yazi. He came to the capital to seek reward for his daughter who is said to have entered the palace this year."

After pouring Lu Wenzhao a cup of tea, Shen Lian looked into his eyes and said seriously.

"But this year, there are no more folk show girls in the palace. The emperor thinks that someone is recruiting beautiful girls from the countryside in the name of the emperor's talent show."

"Queen Chitose knew about the thin horse and told the emperor. The emperor asked us to check whether it is true or not."

"What about the thin horse?"

After listening to Shen Lian's words, Lu Wenzhao's mouth immediately stopped chewing peanuts.

"Those who raise thin horses have a background behind them, so be careful when investigating."

"Ah."

Hearing this, Shen Lian nodded silently.

Of course he knows this.

Anyone who can raise a thin horse is definitely not a small family.

This is a complete industrial chain. The lowest level of the Ming Dynasty, good-looking girls, and even boys, are bought back and trained in skills.

What skills should be cultivated, such as playing the piano and flute, reciting poems and writing, drawing, playing Go, playing Shuanglu, playing dominoes, and all kinds of obscene skills.

Then, they will be divided into upper and lower classes.

The lower class will be sent to various private prostitutes and brothels and sold everywhere.

The upper class will be arranged to spread their reputation, enter the upper class society, and form a reputation as a romantic scholar.

By the Chongzhen period, even the emperor was drawn into this industrial chain.

Chongzhen at least took in two Yangzhou thin horses.

One is Concubine Tian Guifei from his harem. This Chongzhen who Zeng Jin was in conflict with Empress Zhou.

The other one is the famous Chen Yuanyuan, who made Wu Sangui furious and became a beauty.

By the way, Chen Yuanyuan was able to enter Beijing because Tian Hongyu, the father of Concubine Tian, ​​dedicated it to Chongzhen, and then Chongzhen rewarded Chen Yuanyuan to Wu Sangui.

By the way, the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai in history, Gu Hengbo, Dong Xiaowan, Bian Yujing, Li Xiangjun, Kou Baimen, Ma Xianglan, Liu Rushi, and Chen Yuanyuan, were all Yangzhou thin horses.

These eight people can be said to be the pinnacle of Yangzhou Shou Ma.

However, even if they are famous all over the world, not many people can die a good death.

Most of the thin horses were sent to the fireworks alley to make a living by selling themselves. Eventually, they became sick and had no one to care for them. After death, they ended up with a straw mat.

During the training process, in order to prevent these little girls from escaping, a "beauty" that modern people cannot understand appeared - bound feet.

Women from the lower classes do not have their feet bound - how can they do farm work if their feet are bound, but women in rural areas have to hold up half the sky.

The original bounding of feet was popular among the upper classes.

And these women with bound feet are artificially bred to be thin.

Then, follow the example.

People are envious of wealth and honor. They don’t dare to do it outside, but it’s not easy to do it at home?

Under this trend, foot binding has spread inexplicably.

For this kind of waste of labor, even if the government kills the head to stop it, it can't stop it.

"It's hard to find out what's going on behind the thin horse. You should check the specific things."

After touching his chin and thinking for a while, Lu Wenzhao looked at Shen Liandao. "First find out who is so impatient that he dares to acquire women in the name of the emperor."

"After finding out, report the situation to see how the emperor will deal with it."

"Teachable."

Hearing this, Shen Lian bowed his hand to Lu Wenzhao.

This is because the problem behind it is too serious. If you do things too diligently, you will be hated by others.

So I chose to smoke the top, and it started to move.

"You drink slowly, I will arrange the work for these people first."

"Go."

Hearing this, Lu Wenzhao waved his hand and motioned for the other party to leave.

Early the next morning, Zhu Youxiao summoned Yuan Shizhen, the minister of household affairs, Zhao Han, the director of the Baoquan Bureau, Xu Guangqi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Wang Yuan, the director of the engineering department of the Baoyuan Bureau, in Xiyuan.

"Your Majesty, merchants in the capital have been hoarding coins recently. The 30,000 silver coins that Baoquan Bureau puts into the capital every day are not enough, far from enough."

After being summoned by the emperor, Duzhi Si Zhengqing Bi Ziyan immediately held his hands and said to the emperor.

"When it was first minted, the output was very low, but after the output increased, 30,000 pieces of silver were exchanged to the private sector every day. Now, how can anyone still rob it?"

Hearing Bi Ziyan's words, Zhu Youxiao felt very incomprehensible and asked.

After the emperor finished speaking, the eyes of everyone in the hall were focused on Zhao Han, the director of Baoquan Bureau.

"Back to the emperor, now not only the merchants in the capital are exchanging silver coins, but merchants from the entire Northern Zhili, and even Henan, Shanxi, and Shandong are rushing to the capital to exchange silver coins."

Seeing everyone's gazes, Zhao Han replied immediately.

"Especially after I heard that although the Baoquan Bureau exchanged more silver coins for the southern Zhili provinces, they spent more money on it."

As he said this, Zhao Han's face turned bitter.

"It can't be finished. It can't be finished at all."

"Your Majesty, Ming Dynasty is short of money."

Seeing Zhao Han saying that the casting was not finished, Bi Ziyan cupped his hands and said.

"It has been two hundred and fifty-three years since the first year of Hongwu (1368) to the present (1621)."

"However, during the Hongwu period, treasure banknotes were issued, and during the Yongle period, Chengzu widely minted copper coins. But from then on, until the Jiajing period of Emperor Sejong, the imperial court did not widely mint coins."

"Although the temple in later generations widely minted new money, it did not persist for a few years. In the early years of Wanli, Zhang Taiyue implemented a whip method and used silver to collect taxes. This silver became the actual money of the Ming Dynasty."

"Now His Majesty wants to introduce silver coins and ban gold and silver again."

Having said this, Bi Ziyan secretly glanced at the emperor's face, and then continued.

"We need to mint all the silver coins that should have been minted during the reign of the previous emperors."

"I checked the historical records and found that in the former Song Dynasty, the annual amount of money minted was between one million and three million guan, even up to 5 million guan during the Yuanfeng period of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty. Even then, the former Song Dynasty was still short of money."

It was obvious that Bi Ziyan had done his homework and immediately used data to speak to the emperor.

"People like to save silver. If you want silver coins to circulate smoothly among the people and be used by everyone, I believe that ten million silver coins need to be put into the world to ensure the circulation of silver coins. Only by putting in fifty million silver coins can pure silver be banned. trade."

What Bi Ziyan meant was that the Ming Dynasty owed too much money to the people. Now if it wants to ban pure silver trading and implement silver coins, it must first pay off the debts owed over the years.

If the amount of minting is not enough, the people will not listen to the court and all use silver coins.

"Fifty million pieces? Five hundred million?"

After hearing Bi Ziyan's words, everyone present couldn't help but count with their fingers.

In order to increase production, Baoquan Bureau has tried every means possible.

Four shifts and assembly lines are all methods that can increase production, and Baoquan Bureau has used them.

The current daily output is at least 150,000 pieces, and can reach 200,000 pieces at high times. The monthly output is about 5 million pieces, and the annual output is 60 million pieces.

So to complete the order of 500 million silver coins, it will take ten years of continuous casting.

Zhu Youxiao expressed doubts about Bi Ziyan's estimate of 500 million silver coins.

He vaguely remembered that according to later statistics, the amount of silver deposits among the people in the Ming Dynasty was at least 800 million.

I don’t know where the historical data came from. Li Zicheng raided Beijing and found 70 million taels of silver.

I don’t know if this number is an exaggeration, but if it is true, the amount of silver deposits in Beijing should be more than 100 million taels.

We are now implementing a new monetary policy, and if we round it off, this is a two-hundred-year debt that needs to be repaid.

"Your Majesty, this is just a new one."

Seeing the heavy faces of everyone in the hall, Bi Ziyan added.

"If the court does not mint new silver coins, the people will be short of money."

"Compared with the Song Dynasty, our Ming Dynasty has more land in Liaodong and Yanyun."

After saying that, Bi Ziyan paused and said.

"There are also Mongolian tribes in the north who trade with our Ming Dynasty, and the amount of silver they sell each year is not a small amount."

"If we estimate based on the three million copper coins minted in the previous Song Dynasty, if we in Ming Dynasty want the people to have no money shortage, we will need to mint at least five million more silver coins every year."

"There are twelve months in a year. It takes one month to mint these five million silver coins. If the remaining eleven months are used to repay old money, it will take Baoquan Bureau fifteen years to mint."

"..."

After hearing Bi Ziyan's words, everyone in the hall fell silent.

The emperor has already explained the role of currency. Now the new monetary policy is to forge a sharp sword for the court, a sword used to control, or in other words, harvest the world.

However, it now takes too long to forge this sword.

The new monetary policy is indeed a good policy. Just look at the reaction of businessmen in the capital.

All the silver coins were snatched away, leaving no chance for the common people below to redeem them.

But the current amount of debt is shocking.

"Five hundred million, five hundred million."

Thinking about the amount Bi Ziyan said, Zhu Youxiao had a headache.

He is a time traveler. In addition to what Bi Ziyan said, he also remembers the grandchildren in the West.

At this point in time, Spain has not yet declined, and a large amount of silver is transported to the Ming Dynasty every year. In the south, prices have been rising and silver prices have fallen over the years.

If we wait another ten years, Spain will go to war all over the world, the Tokugawa shogunate will close the country, and the inflow of external silver will decrease.

Ming Dynasty’s current industrial capabilities rank first in the world.

However, this kind of world first is not the kind of high-intensity industry based on petroleum and electric power in later generations.

It is a pseudo-industrial system composed of small workshops.

If you can't get the order. . .

Those small workshops will go bankrupt, which will really hurt the country.

The Ming Dynasty’s appalling monetary and customs policies directly opened a hole in the giant’s arteries.

"Zhao Han."

Thinking like this, Zhu Youxiao looked hopefully at Zhao Han, the director of Baoquan Bureau.

"The minister is here."

Seeing the emperor's eyes, Zhao Han replied tremblingly.

Originally, he wanted to take advantage of his monthly output of five million coins to complain to the emperor and see if he could take a break.

But now, Bi Ziyan told him that he needed to mint 50 million silver coins within fifteen years before the emperor's new monetary policy could be completely stabilized.

The conscience of heaven and earth, five million coins a month, everyone in Baoquan Bureau is already busy.

"I will leave this matter to you."

Looking at Zhao Han, Zhu Youxiao's tone was full of encouragement.

"His Majesty!"

After hearing the emperor's words, Zhao Han's face suddenly became filled with panic.

"My lord, I can't do it."

(End of this chapter)