I was pulling trees in Daming, and Lao Zhu begged me to come out of retirement

Chapter 136: Strange things to live in
As the saying goes, rare goods are valuable.
It refers to storing rare goods and waiting to sell them at a high price.

It was with his business acumen of hoarding rare goods and being good at investing that Lu Buwei successfully supported the King of Qin to ascend the throne.

At this time, with the intervention of huge national capital, raw silk was completely hyped up into a rare commodity that could be hoarded.

The price of raw silk skyrocketed everywhere, and all the large goods circulating in the market were swept away.

Although the price has clearly increased, the amount of raw silk received by the industrial alliance has decreased.

At this time, Shen Wansan sat respectfully beside Zhu Yuanzhang with a flattering look on his face:
"Your Majesty, as you expected, after the first batch of funds were invested, a large amount of foreign funds followed up and helped to consume all the raw silk in the market."

Zhu Yuanzhang showed a sneer on his face.
"There is no business without fraud, they are all parasites who are only interested in profit."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to business, it did not mean that he valued businessmen.

He still vividly remembers how when he was young, a large number of merchants took advantage of the successive natural disasters to hoard food and make a fortune in the national disaster, causing his parents and relatives to starve to death.

In his opinion, these businessmen who have joined the game are all profit-driven and unscrupulous scum, and have nothing to do with the real entrepreneurs that Tianyu mentioned.

The corners of Shen Wansan's mouth twitched twice, and he silently reduced his presence.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Shen Wansan and said with a smile:

"Minister Shen is different from those profiteers. Now you have had an epiphany and have become an excellent entrepreneur. Carrying forward the spirit of fulfilling responsibilities, daring to take on responsibilities, and serving the society is what this group of people should learn."

Shen Wansan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded repeatedly:

"Your Majesty is so complimentary."

As a successful businessman, he understands the principle of not showing off his wealth.

But Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Shen Wansan calmly and said:
"Is it a compliment? No, it's not a compliment. Remember, you are now the Minister of Commerce of our Ming Dynasty. You must tell them that we have money in our Ming Dynasty! We encourage the development of commerce. You represent the Ming Empire. You must not show weakness in any occasion and you must not lose the face of our Ming Dynasty."

Shen Wansan was startled, then he excitedly clasped his hands and said:
"I understand! Your Majesty is farsighted and farsighted, and I am far inferior to you."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt refreshed when he heard the flattery.
He stood with his hands behind his back and spoke to Shen Wansan in an unfathomable manner:
"The purchase price of raw silk will increase by 1 tael every month until the spring planting next year. In addition, I will order people to sell the obsolete wooden fairy treasures in small batches to the outside world, and only accept raw silk as currency for transactions."

Shen Wansan looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with admiration again, said yes respectfully, and asked if there was anything else he wanted to tell him.

Looking at Shen Wansan's respectful eyes, Zhu Yuanzhang let him leave with satisfaction.

After Shen Wansan and his son Shen Wang evacuated from the palace,
Shen Wang couldn't help but ask Shen Wansan:
"Father, didn't you prepare a detailed booklet at home to present to His Majesty? Why didn't you take it out when His Majesty proposed the plan?"

Shen Wansan changed his previous flattering expression and scolded Shen Wang with a serious face:
"Foolish! Don't think that you have established yourself just because you have gone from being a businessman to an official."

"When my father and I were recruited into the imperial court... um... government, we were opposed by so many people. Even though His Majesty values ​​commerce, he still hates businessmen very much."

"Now that your majesty has proposed the next major framework, we as ministers only need to follow it. If it is done well, it will all be credit to your majesty."

"What will happen if I submit the book again? Am I smarter than Your Majesty? Is it my credit if it succeeds? Don't you think about what the consequences will be if it fails?"

"Remember, being an official is different from being a businessman. You can't use your little knowledge as a businessman to figure out those old foxes in the officialdom." "We are directly under His Majesty. We must always remember to only manage state-owned enterprises and not state affairs. You can only step half a foot into the court, otherwise it will lead to the annihilation of the clan."

Although the Ming history records that Shen Wansan helped Emperor Gao (Zhu Yuanzhang) to repair the city of Nanjing and requested rewards for the army, he was confiscated and exiled by Emperor Gao.

But in fact, the "Wujiang Chronicles" compiled by Mo Dan in the Ming Dynasty clearly recorded that Shen Wansan had died during Zhang Shicheng's occupation of Pingzhou. This is why there is a record of Zhang Shicheng erecting a monument for Shen Wansan.

But now Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Zhang Shicheng several years ahead of schedule.
Shen Wansan was also recruited by Zhu Yuanzhang at this time, so naturally his death had not yet come.

Any businessman who becomes the richest man is a shrewd man. As a man who became the richest man in the country, how could Shen Wansan be so stupid as to reward the army on behalf of the emperor?

Shen Wansan patted his son Shen Wang on the shoulder and sighed:
"To be with the emperor is like being with a tiger. If I had not helped Zhang Shicheng fight the enemy and feared being implicated, I would not have been the first to do so. Fortunately, the imperial court took Pingzhou without bloodshed, otherwise our Shen family would have been in great trouble."

"Now I am grateful for the grace of the Lord, but I still have a few years to live. When I die, you can resign."

Shen Wang opened his mouth, wanting to refute his father, but ultimately lowered his head in silence.

The class distinction between scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans is ingrained in his bones. Now that he has finally had the opportunity to become an official, he really doesn't want to go back to being a businessman.

Shen Wansan ignored Shen Wang's disappointment and continued to sneer:

"Now that Your Majesty continues to raise the price of raw silk, I'm afraid that the merchants holding raw silk in the market will be even less likely to sell their stocks."

"Once your majesty's treasures are released into the market...tsk tsk."

Shen Wansan exclaimed in amazement.

"Your Majesty, there must be someone behind the scenes directing you. This is a big trap for those who want to fleece the government."

Shen Wansan sighed and said no more.
He immediately called together the big businessmen of the Raw Silk Industry Alliance and released the inside information about the increase in the guiding purchase price of raw silk.

Silk merchants from all over the country were overjoyed.

With the guarantee from the imperial court, this group of businessmen began to actively lobby landlords to abandon farming and develop sericulture.

The landlords, who had always been worried about being cheated, couldn't help but be tempted when they saw the increasingly lucrative fortunes in the hands of the merchants.

As time went by, nearly half of the land owned by local owners was converted to mulberry tree planting, and the remaining half was used to pay taxes from the Yuan and Song dynasties.

At the same time, as wooden tools entered the market, the monetary properties of raw silk began to become more stable.

After all, the fairy treasure can be sold at a high price as long as it is shipped out through the Silk Road.

Although the territory of the Yuan Dynasty was no longer as large as the Danube River during its peak period, it had opened up continental transportation since the Han and Tang Dynasties.

The seven main roads centered on Yuan Dadu covered most of the Eurasian continent, providing extremely convenient channels for the trade of Hu merchants.

For a time, the price of raw silk skyrocketed, and even with the government's guidance purchase price, it was impossible to buy any raw silk at all...

(End of this chapter)