The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 24 Jiyi Mountain

At the beginning of the tea party, a large businessman came to talk to Li Guozhu.

Wang Wenlong was bored, so he walked up to a man dressed as a middle-aged Confucian scholar. He took the initiative to say hello:
"Hello sir, my student's name is Wang Wenlong, and my pen name is Wang Jianyang."

The Confucian scholar was quite surprised: "It turns out that "The Scholars" is your work! I'm glad to meet you." He stood up quickly and said, "I am Xiong Qingbo, the owner of Chengdetang Bookstore in Jianyang."

Wang Wenlong smiled. He had already remembered who Xiong Qingbo was when they told each other their names. He was also the owner of a great bookstore. His "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the most preserved among the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that has been passed down to later generations. Version.

Wang Wenlong: "I am also from Jianyang. I wonder what the relationship between Mr. and Mr. Zhong Gu is?"

Xiong Qingbo said: "That is my uncle at home."

Wang Wenlong immediately made an expression of reverence: "That's it, I grew up reading Uncle Ling's books since I was a child."

Xiong Damu, courtesy name Zhonggu, was a giant in the book world in Jianyang from Jiajing to Wanli years, but he had passed away at this time.Whether he is related to Xiong Qingbo has always been a mystery in historians.

Xiong Damu is more famous than Xiong Qingbo. When Xiong Damu was active, his novel creation was not as developed as in the late Wanli years. Because he was short of manuscripts, Xiong Damu wrote the pen himself. His writing was very poor. He often wrote large paragraphs in his novels in order to make up for the word count. Duan often cited historical materials, but he relied on his own bookstore, so he left a lot of works. The earliest version of the complete "Yang Family General" was written by him.

Wang Wenlong had a conversation with Xiong Qingbo and asked about Xiong Qingbo's son's name: Xiong Fei.

Xiong Fei was the owner of the bookstore that later published "Heroes". Three generations of his ancestors and grandchildren have left records in the history of printing. They are also a printing family.

Xiong Qingbo was interested in making friends with Wang Wenlong, and Wang Wenlong was happy to chat with him. The two had a lively chat.

During the conversation, Wang Wenlong learned that Xiong Qingbo came to Yuegang this time just to solicit manuscripts.

The scope of his business is wider than that of Yu Xiangdou. Xiong Qingbo's bookshop has the ability to print small prints and a large number of illustrations. Yu Xiangdou can produce five or six books a year, while Xiong Qingbo can handle more than a dozen projects at the same time. There is also the printing business of periodicals.

Seeing that everyone was chatting away, Gao Yin clapped his hands and everyone's eyes were attracted. Gao Yin stood up and pointed at the two people around him and said: "I would like to introduce to you a strange man. This is a maritime merchant who returned from Luzon. Zhang Ni. This is Yan Yinglong, the left guard of Yulin Baihu. Zhang Ni has just returned from Luzon and has learned great news."

Two middle-aged men, one fat and one thin, stood up. Yan Yinglong was a thin man with a sinister appearance, but he was wearing the clothes of a military attache, while Zhang Yi was a fat man with a generous heart, elegant demeanor, and looked like a big businessman.

He stood up and said to everyone:
"I am a returnee from overseas, and there are quite a few businessmen here who are engaged in Western trade. I wonder if you have ever thought about why Luzon is so rich when it is just a small land?"

"There are tens of millions of islands in the Western Ocean. Why do the red-haired people, natives, and Japanese all go there to trade, and why do the red-haired people even want to seize local territory?"

The two sentences asked everyone here were a little confused, especially some maritime merchants. The subconscious answer to this question was very simple, because Luzon is an important trade transit station, but if you continue to think more deeply, everyone feels that it is really like Zhang Yi. Same as said.

There are so many islands in the Western Ocean, and there may not be a place bigger than Luzon. Why do the red-haired Japanese regard Luzon as a trade transit point, and even broke out a war with the locals for this reason.

Wouldn't it be better to go somewhere else?
Only Wang Wenlong frowned. He was probably the only one among the people sitting here who truly understood the importance of Luzon Island’s geographical location.

But Zhang Yi was introduced by Gao Yin, and he was too lazy to get involved. He was just curious about what medicine they were selling in their gourds.After everyone thought for a while, they all looked at Zhang Yi curiously.

Gao Yin was quite proud of the fact that the guest he introduced made everyone stunned when he opened his mouth, and motioned for Zhang Ni to continue speaking.

"I have lived in Luzon for many years and experienced hardships, and finally found out the real reason."

"It turns out that there is a Jiyi Mountain on the island, which can produce 10 taels of gold and 30 taels of silver a year. It is because of such a big treasure that the red-haired people, Japanese people, and natives fight endlessly for this Luzon! But we Huanghuang In the Celestial Empire, so many merchants have arrived there, but they haven’t figured out the real reason yet!”

"Pfft!" Wang Wenlong was drinking tea. Hearing this, he almost squirted the tea back into the bowl.

What is this talking about?

What is the concept of being able to produce 10 taels of gold and 30 taels of silver a year?
During the Wanli period, the total national tax collection converted into silver was just over 4000 million taels. Excluding physical taxes, the actual monetary tax was 310 million taels. According to the ratio of one tael of gold in the Ming Dynasty, one tael of gold could be exchanged for five taels of silver.According to what this guy said, the annual output value of Jiyi Mountain in Luzon alone is equivalent to 80 taels of silver, which is equivalent to a quarter of the national currency tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

Is this Luzon?
The big silver mines in South America cannot produce this much even if they are operating at full capacity!

While Wang Wenlong was stunned, Zhang Ni was still bragging.

"The red-haired people of Luzon don't know the magic method of refining gold and silver. I am the mine tailings they threw away. When I take it back to Ming Dynasty, it will be first-class gold and silver ore."

The more he listened, the more unreliable it became. Wang Wenlong was completely sure that this guy was a liar.

However, people in the Ming Dynasty did not have such insight. They had no idea that the silver traded in Luzon was brought by the Spaniards from the large silver mines in South America. Under Zhang Ni's guidance, everyone became surprised. A small man in Luzon In a small place, why is there endless money to buy so many precious goods from the Ming Dynasty?

When they heard that such a magical treasure mountain existed, not only the guests in the main hall, but also the female guests across a screen also stopped talking and listened curiously to Zhang Ni's narration.

"Jiyi Mountain occupies a vast area. According to my observation, if we use the skills of our Ming craftsmen, at least a dozen ore veins can be mined on that mountain, each of which is richer than the current mines opened by the red-haired people. Then It’s such a pity that the land we’ve been waiting for has been wasted like this! If our Ming Dynasty prepared ships, labor, and capital to trade and mine, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to earn several hundred thousand taels of gold and silver a year!”

"So after I heard such news, I hurried back to Ming Dynasty. This time I came back with the intention of organizing a group of manpower and material resources to go to Luzon to pan for gold."

Wang Wenlong's mind was spinning rapidly. When he heard that Zhang Yi finally wanted to organize a group of people to go to Luzon to pan for gold, Wang Wenlong finally remembered who this guy was.

Isn't Zhang Yi the big liar who caused the massacre of tens of thousands of people in the last years of Wanli?
Wang Wenlong thought of historical records: Zhang Ni was originally an ordinary maritime merchant. When he was young, he lost his capital by going to Western trade with others. He spent several years in Luzon before getting the opportunity to return to the Ming Dynasty.

After returning home, Zhang Yi happened to catch up with Gao Yin who came to Fujian to collect taxes. Gao Yin was eager for more wealth. Zhang Yi saw this opportunity and made up the story of Ji Yishan.

He first flattered Yan Yinglong, a member of the Yulin Zuowei Baihu next to Gao Yin, claiming that he had a big business that could be dedicated to the court, and then got the opportunity to meet Gao Yin.

At this time, people in the Ming Dynasty were full of illusions about overseas situations, and Zhang Yi was always talking about cheating. Gao Yin actually believed what he said, and even regarded it as a top secret.

(End of this chapter)