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

Chapter 140 Crazy prelude!
The onlookers at the port kept looking towards the port through the guards' blockade.

from their perspective,
As two rows of guns saluted, Zhang Dingbian walked down from the main ship with several guards.

Zhu Yuanzhang saluted and shook hands with him, and then they started talking happily.

In fact,

"Your Majesty, is this all right?"

"Okay, the gold has been prepared, right? I'll have the Divine Guards escort me around the streets."

"Tsk tsk, the crystal box is filled with glittering gold, who wouldn't be tempted by it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhang Dingbian and said with a smile:
"Are you excited?"

A hint of green flashed across Zhang Dingbian's face and he waved his hands repeatedly:
"Don't, I'm almost sick of watching this stuff these past few years."

The craftsman soul equipment is evolved through upgrades. God knows how many disgusting pig zombies he has killed in the past three years. He is about to vomit from picking up so much gold.

In Zhang Dingbian's eyes, this thing is not as refreshing as a glass of strong liquor.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed out loud.
"Okay, I'll get you some more wine this time so you can get drunk."

Zhang Dingbian's eyes lit up and he clasped his hands in response:
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The people far away in the periphery could not see the conversation between the two.
All they saw was a round of cheerful greetings between the monarch and his subjects, and then boxes of gold packed in transparent glass boxes began to be unloaded from the ships.

The bright gold emits dazzling golden light through the sunlight.

Under everyone's stunned gaze, a mountain of gold gradually piled up in the port.

"Hiss! It's actually true! The Ming Dynasty really brought back a huge amount of gold from Europe!"

“I didn’t expect there would be such a huge fortune in that wild land!”

"Raw silk is so profitable! This price is definitely not something that can be earned back by the profit of 1200 taels of silver. This is probably not 1200 taels of gold per load!"

Everyone's eyes flashed with ecstasy.

The silk in my hand is not even raw silk, it’s not even as good as gold silk!

Buy! Must buy! Stock up now!
Now that the imperial cargo ships have returned, and the next voyage is imminent, they will certainly purchase large quantities of raw silk for trade.

In recent years, the official purchase price of raw silk was far lower than the market price, resulting in a huge gap in the raw silk in the hands of the court.

Tens of millions of taels of gold, let alone 800 taels per load, even if the profit was doubled, the court would definitely make a fortune!

When the imperial court can no longer purchase raw silk, it will certainly significantly increase the purchase price. At that time, reselling the raw silk will be a very profitable business!

Countless merchants, landlords, and even aristocrats who traded in raw silk went completely crazy.

The price of raw silk in the market changes every day.

If the storage of raw silk had not been entirely the responsibility of the Sun and Moon Trading Company, perhaps a large number of people would have taken the risk to rob raw silk merchants from all over the country.

Even Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty and Liu Futong had this idea. However, they sent people to investigate but could not find the place where the Riyue Trading Company hid the raw silk. In addition, due to the threat from the Ming Empire, they had to suppress the idea of ​​forced purchase and sale.

In the Yuan Dynasty and the old Song Dynasty, raw silk had even completely replaced the monetary properties of treasure notes and gold and silver.

Many people can travel without any problems just by carrying a few strands of raw silk.

For a time, the absurdly expensive price of Chinese silk became a common sight at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the data of raw silk, which had soared to an absurd price of 1200 taels per dan, and a cruel smile appeared on his face:

"Until now, I'm afraid they don't know what the deposit certificates in their hands represent. Minister Shen, it's time to close the net."

Shen Wansan's eyelids twitched twice, then he knelt down respectfully, said yes, and quickly retreated.

This is the time of autumn harvest.
Officials from tax bureaus across the country secretly took large quantities of raw silk and went to towns and villages where low-level farmers lived.

They are not only responsible for collecting taxes, but also for purchasing the grain grown by farmers at a guaranteed price.

Today, the Ming Empire has no shortage of food at all. Therefore, in order to prevent low grain prices from harming the people, the imperial court will have each village committee guide the planting of corresponding crops, and sign a minimum purchase contract in advance according to a unified price. No matter what the market conditions are, the crops planted by farmers will be guaranteed accordingly.

However, due to the skyrocketing price of raw silk during this period, and Zhu Yuanzhang not allowing the people in his territory to grow mulberry trees and raise silkworms, complaints from the people below had been accumulating for a long time.

I have heard that those who have a country and a family do not worry about scarcity but inequality; they do not worry about poverty but instability.

Even though their living standards at this time were already heavenly compared to the early years of the Zhizheng era,
However, when they saw those farmers from other places living up to the standard of small landlords by planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms, the resentment in their hearts continued to accumulate.

Although there won't be any trouble in the short term, once there is any natural disaster or man-made disaster, this group of people will definitely cause a riot in the first place.

But now these situations have completely changed.
The tax officer pointed to the load of raw silk behind him and said with a smile:

"This year, in addition to taxes, raw silk will be used to exchange for grain, and the exchange ratio will be based on the amount of raw silk that can be produced by raising silkworms on the same acre of land."

The farmers looked at the officials in confusion; they didn't understand what they meant.

What is replacement? What is equivalent to the number of acres?
The official coughed twice and said with a smile:

"Don't understand? To put it simply, this year I will give you the same amount of raw silk as the amount of raw silk produced per acre of land outside. Do you understand?"

All the farmers stared with wide eyes.
A look of ecstasy soon appeared on his face.
Instead of exchanging grain for the price of raw silk, they just counted it as if they had planted mulberry trees and raised silkworms this year?

You should know that mulberry trees cannot produce enough mulberry leaves to feed silkworms in just one or two years. Abandoning agriculture and switching to mulberry farming is a long-term job, so no one would dare to raise silkworms if they don't have some financial resources at home.

This is all because big businessmen have enough funds to cultivate it bit by bit to gradually make profits.

The climate in the north is not suitable for large-scale silkworm breeding. It has only been three years since the north abandoned agriculture and switched to mulberry farming. If it were not for the skyrocketing price of raw silk, they might not have earned back their invested capital yet.

Now I don't raise silkworms here, but I exchange raw silk according to the output of silkworms raised in three years by planting trees in the north.

For ordinary people, this is no different from giving money away.

At this time, the farmers looked at the village committee and the village head who had been preventing them from raising silkworms with disbelief and asked excitedly:

“Village Committee, is this true?”

The village chief coughed twice and said with a smile:
"Of course it is true. This is a reward given to us by His Majesty for our hard work."

The village committee also smiled and said to the villagers:

"I've said it before, when have I ever lied to you? Remember, after exchanging the raw silk, go to the Sun and Moon Trading Company and sell it immediately. Don't keep it in your hands."

The people cheered loudly when they heard this:

"Long live His Majesty. We will definitely not hoard any raw silk. This stuff is for the masters to use. It is more practical to hold silver and grain in hand."

As a result, a large amount of raw silk flooded into the market.
Those big merchants, landlords, and nobles who listed silk for sale also received deposit certificates printed by the Sun and Moon Company more and more frequently...

(End of this chapter)