I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 73: Gold and silver mines, damn it!
Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that smoke was coming out of his head, but when he heard what Song Shen said, the smoke on his head stopped for a moment.

He frowned and thought for a long time before saying:

"When the Yuan Dynasty was about to fall, firewood, rice, oil and salt were all expensive. Wasn't it because the world was in chaos, with natural disasters and wars everywhere?"

"What has this got to do with paper money?"

Song Shen smiled:
"You will know the answer to this question after I finish talking about currency."

"First of all, you just said that no matter it was the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty, they all had issued paper money. The Northern Song Dynasty's was called Jiaozi, which was the earliest paper money, while the Yuan Dynasty's was simply called paper money. Although the previous three dynasties had issued paper money, they all had their own problems, but your Ming Baochao has the biggest problem, it is rotten to the core."

"Because when the Song and Yuan dynasties issued paper money, everyone knew that they had to use reserves, that is, let the people use physical currencies such as gold, silver and copper coins to exchange for paper money, so as to ensure the credibility of the country's paper money. And you? You only see that people use paper money, don't you think about the connection behind it?"

"The purpose of paper money is to allow the country to store precious metals in the treasury and allow the people to use more convenient currency such as paper when trading. Both sides benefit from each other, which is called a win-win situation. No matter what problems the paper money of the Song and Yuan dynasties encountered later, at least they prepared sufficient gold, silver and copper for the people to exchange at the beginning. However, the Ming Dynasty forcefully promoted it without any preparation."

"Do you think this is appropriate?"

"You only let the people take out their own gold, silver and copper coins to exchange for treasure notes with the court. When people want to take them in large quantities, you either melt the precious metals to make weapons, or make handicrafts to reward or use them yourself. The court is happy when people exchange treasure notes, but you refuse to exchange them for real gold and silver. Who would be willing to use them?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was confused.

He always felt that he was right and should refute with confidence - All under heaven belongs to the king, and since we are the emperor and rich, shouldn't we have the final say on how the gold, silver and copper coins are used?
But facing Song Shen's face, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't utter a word and could only listen with his neck stiffened.

On the contrary, Zhu Biao, who was standing at the side, looked thoughtful after hearing this and asked:

"Sir, can you tell me why the prices of goods rose so much during the chaotic period at the end of the Yuan Dynasty? Although I was born during the Zhizheng period, I was too young at the time and only heard about it. I didn't know that it was related to the Mongol Yuan paper money."

Song Shen nodded readily and explained:

"When the Yuan Dynasty first issued currency, there was sufficient reserve, and the people had confidence in the court, because they could always take paper money to the court to exchange for enough metal."

"But there is a problem with paper money, which is that it cannot be issued in excess. We can only issue as much as we have. If we issue too much, there will be inflation."

"For example, you are the court and I am a commoner. Now I am exchanging a 100-liang note with you, and you can give me 100 liang of silver. Then this note is normal. But if you only have 100 liang of silver, but you give me a 200-liang note, when I take this note to you to exchange for silver, can you give it to me? No."

"So at this time, two hundred taels of paper money can only buy things that were originally worth one hundred taels of silver. From another perspective, isn't this a surge in prices? It has doubled."

"Just now, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that the price surge at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was due to war. In my opinion, this is putting the cart before the horse."

"First, the Yuan Dynasty was corrupt, which led to the need for the court to print more banknotes to make up for the deficit. Over-issuance led to inflation and rising prices. The people could not survive, and various other factors such as natural disasters led to war and the demise of the Yuan Dynasty."

"The cause and effect relationship between the two is the opposite. Have I made it clear enough?"

Zhu Biao frowned, and suddenly he seemed to realize something, then he was in deep thought, as if he was constantly sorting out this new concept he had heard.

Zhu Yuanzhang was already numb from listening to it.

He was born at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, so of course he knew how difficult it was to buy things and how expensive they were in those days, but he had never thought that the price was related to the excessive issuance of paper money, let alone the need for reserves to issue banknotes.

If it is true as Song Shen said, then the Ming Baochao was eventually abolished...it seems understandable?

"Sir, you mean that paper can be used as currency? Then can my Great Qin use it?"

Ying Zheng didn't even have paper at the moment, let alone banknotes. Fortunately, he had used it before in the exam, and he felt deeply the portability of paper at that time. Now that he found that this thing could actually be used as money, he was naturally excited and wanted to take the papermaking technique home immediately!

But Song Shen poured cold water back:
"In my opinion, the situation in Daqin is not suitable for issuing paper money."

"Paper money first appeared in the Song Dynasty, which was actually the most economically developed dynasty in my country. It is no exaggeration to say that I think the people in the Song Dynasty lived a more affluent life than those in the Ming and Qing Dynasties."

"In the Song Dynasty, commerce had gradually developed. Merchants used Jiaozi for large-scale trade and exchanged it for gold and silver because they needed it. If I remember correctly, in the Qin Dynasty, merchants had an extremely low status and paper money had almost no survival ground."

"It was not just during the Qin Dynasty, but also during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. You were hostile to merchants and tried your best to suppress them. You even treated them as blood bags. When finances were tight, you slaughtered them to fill the treasury. In this environment, how could there be any business development? Why would you need paper money? You can just use precious metals for small-volume trade."

"Students, you must believe in one thing: if you take too big a step, you will eventually get hurt. Paper money is good and easy to think of, but why did it not appear until the Song Dynasty? Because it was only from the Song Dynasty that it really had a channel to flourish and be used. When it was time, it didn't need to be issued by the court. It just appeared on its own. A forced melon will not be sweet."

He was not just mean to Zhu Yuanzhang.

From Qin Shi Huang to Emperor Wu of Han, he poured a basin of cold water on them one by one. How can this not be considered another way of keeping things fair?
After saying this, Ying Zheng was a little unhappy:
"Merchants are not good people to begin with. Why should I treat them well?"

"These people do not produce anything. Their minds are full of how to exploit loopholes and how to gain without working. If I don't treat them harshly, won't everyone in the world go into business? If that happens, no one will plant the fields. What will the people eat and drink?"

At the side, Liu Che, who had not spoken but was innocently affected, spoke quietly:
"Emperor Qin Shi Huang, if you have any personal feelings, you can just say it. Everyone knows who started your dislike for merchants. Why hide it?"

Ying Zheng immediately turned his head and glared at Liu Che:

"Can you say that again?"

Seeing that the atmosphere in the classroom was getting tense again, no one said anything.

Anyone with ears can hear that the "who" Liu Che just mentioned refers to Lu Buwei. This is indeed a bit too offensive, especially when it happened in front of Ying Zheng.

Zhang Liang was a kind-hearted man. Even though he and Ying Zheng had a grudge of destroying their country, he was no longer young and hot-tempered and vengeful. In addition, he had assisted the King of Han in destroying Qin and replacing it. The grudge was over. So Zhang Liang pulled Liu Che's clothes and frowned:
"Is this how the Liu family teaches their descendants?"

"Stop talking. How can you be considered a hero if you pierce someone's lungs?"

Liu Che was already in his thirties, but he had always been a self-centered person. He was a little bully when he was young, and he was still a bully at the age of thirty. How could he apologize to others? What's more, the person in front of him was not his ancestor, so he was not afraid at all.

So he just lowered his head and looked at the tip of his shoes in silence, refusing to apologize.

Zhang Liang was helpless and could only look to Song Shen on the podium for help, hoping that he could resolve the conflict.

Song Shen: ...Song Shen can’t solve anything.

He turned a deaf ear to the arguments below, took a sip of water, and said:

"Okay, now that we've talked about the issue of paper money, let's get back to what we started with."

"Japan is not a big country, but it has a lot of gold and silver mines."

"In fact, there are many gold and silver mines in our country, but the main problem is that we have a vast territory. To put it nicely, we have a vast territory with abundant resources. To put it bluntly, several gold and silver mines are separated by 1,800 miles, so it is actually quite difficult to develop them."

"This problem does not exist in Japan."

"In the future, there are hundreds of countries in the world, but Japan is so small, but its silver mine reserves rank sixth. What does this mean? Silver mines are everywhere!"

"Later, the Ming Dynasty even gave the Wakoku Islands a name, the Silver Islands, which shows how much silver there was. For more than 16 years after the th century, Iwami Ginzan in Japan was once the world's largest silver mine. At its peak, its silver production accounted for one-third of the world's total."

Song Shen pointed at the mineral map he projected again:

"As for the gold mine, come here, the Hongzhiwu Gold Mine in Hokkaido has produced a total of 70 tons of gold and 1,200 tons of silver in the past 50 to 60 years."

"Let me share some scientific knowledge with you. One ton is equal to 2,000 kilograms. The weight of kilograms varies in each dynasty. Just understand that it's roughly the same."

"And the Sado Gold Mine. Here, on Sado Island, it produced 78 tons of gold and over 2,000 tons of silver in 300 years."

"The Hishikari Gold Mine, in northern Kagoshima, has mined 250 tons of gold, and that's not all."

"I'm only talking about the top three gold and silver mines on the island of Wakoku. There are others that are more or less the same. These are the easiest to mine."

"So what are you guys still fighting about?"

"If you really have the ability, take your men to take over this island of Japan. The gold, silver and copper mines on it will all be yours. You can dig as much as you want and refine them however you want. As long as you have enough gold and silver, wouldn't it be easy for you to issue paper money?"

"As for the issue of commerce, as long as productivity increases, commerce will naturally begin to develop, whether it is curbed or not, so don't think about how to suppress it, just go with the flow and make good use of it. For example, let merchants pay taxes according to their income ratio. The higher the income, the higher the tax. Then, wouldn't it be a win-win situation for them and the court?"

After such a long speech, Song Shen finally finished speaking. He picked up the thermos cup and started pouring water into his throat.

His last words, asking these emperors to conquer Japan, were of course just his best wishes. He knew very well that these people were just projections of the real emperors. They had the experience and intelligence of the Qin Emperor and Han Emperor Wu, but they could not flatten the island country like a real emperor.

The only people we can really look forward to are Chen Guorui and Chen Biao in real life.

As long as the Chen family's fleet could successfully reach Japan and bring back the news of the gold and silver mines on the island to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, a stingy guy, would definitely grab his weapons and rush over to rob the money.

From this replica in class, it can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang had long disliked the Japanese pirates, but considering that the Ming Dynasty had just been established, it was unnecessary to fight against Japan, which was a thankless task, so he ordered to strengthen the maritime ban and avoid them first. But as long as Chen Guorui and others told Zhu Yuanzhang that the Japanese islands were full of gold and silver, it would be a miracle if Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to be tempted!
On the podium, Song Shen was daydreaming about the Ming Dynasty attacking Japan to steal gold and silver.

In the classroom, the breathing of all the emperors and generals suddenly became rapid.

Previously, Song Shen only said that there were gold and silver mines on the Japanese island, but did not mention the specific numbers, so they had no idea. After hearing it, they were only a little excited, but not much.

But now...

It’s often dozens or hundreds of tons of gold, or one or two thousand tons of silver?

Damn it, how can a mere island country have so much gold and silver? !
One hundred tons of gold is equivalent to two hundred thousand kilograms of gold.

One thousand tons of silver is two million kilograms of silver!

Even if it was food, they had never seen so much of it, let alone gold and silver?
Money is not only a motivating factor for people, it also made the eyes of Ying Zheng, Liu Che, Li Shimin, and Zhu Yuanzhang almost turn green.

Mr. Song was not kidding. This mountain of gold and silver is just as good as potatoes!

"Do you want to do it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang had tried his best to lower his voice, but everyone could still hear the excitement and panting in his voice.

But no one laughed at him. They were all emperors, and not to mention the eldest brother, everyone's eyes were equally excited.

Ying Zheng's voice even became a little hoarse:

"Why not? Xu Fu, that bastard, was able to sail over with young boys and girls, so why can't I form a fleet?"

Liu Che looked over, his eyes glowing green, like a wolf that had been hungry for half a month:
"Zhu Yuanzhang, your Ming navy is pretty good, right? How about giving me a copy of the shipbuilding blueprint? I will definitely reward you handsomely in the future!"

Li Shimin took the opportunity to join:
"I sent envoys to Japan to return the favor. They should have navigation maps. Zhu Yuanzhang, if you can bring the maps, I will exchange them with you after I find them!"

Zhu Qizhen raised his hand silently:

"I... I can also find Zheng He's navigation charts from that time. Maybe there are more accurate ones."

Everyone looked at each other.

At this moment, all factions and intrigues were thrown out of the window.

Everyone's heart, eyes, and brain are filled with one thing——

Gold and silver mines...must be obtained!!!

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(End of this chapter)