"How can this be possible? Not to mention that all the people outside our Ming Dynasty were barbarians, just how could the wealth of other countries enter the treasury of our Ming Dynasty? Who are you? There is no one from his country! How can I obey you!" Li Mo burst out laughing as soon as Zhu Ping'an finished speaking.
In fact, what Li Mo meant when translated is that the country is stupid and gives you money for nothing, but you, Zhu Ping'an, don't you take a piss and look in the mirror to see what kind of person you are!
"That's right. We are a great country, a country of etiquette, and we cannot wage war against other countries. Besides, our Ming Dynasty is currently fighting the barbarians in the north and the Japanese in the south, and we are unable to cope with them all! How can we start another war?" An official behind Li Mo also stood up and cheered for Li Mo, joining the ranks to denounce Zhu Ping'an.
"How dare he! War is a major issue for a country, a matter of life and death, a matter of survival or destruction. It must be carefully considered! If he dares to lead our Ming Dynasty into war and put it into an irretrievable situation, I will kill him with my own hands." Li Mo was furious when he heard this, and he spoke without considering Zhu Ping'an's feelings at all.
This beast, this beast, I'm talking about this beast!
Li Mo's words were too extreme. He called me a petty thief when he opened his mouth and a beast when he closed his mouth. Although this man was characterized as a loyal and upright minister in history, Zhu Ping'an was still very unhappy when he heard Li Mo's remarks. This kind of person is very stubborn, so stubborn that he cannot accept opinions that are contrary to his own.
However, this person was still acting out of the interests of his country and family. Besides, Li Mo was the Minister of Personnel at the time, and Zhu Ping'an could not beat Li Mo with his weak arms, so he endured it.
"Tsk tsk, look at how angry our old man is. Why can't he let the top scholar finish his words?" Yan Shifan looked at Li Mo with his one eye slanted and sneered sarcastically.
"Hmph, let's see what he can come up with." Li Mo shook his sleeves vigorously.
Before speaking, Zhu Ping'an first bowed to Li Mo and others. After the ceremony, Zhu Ping'an took out two books from his sleeves, showed them to everyone one by one, and then presented the books to Emperor Jiajing, who had the eunuch deliver them.
"I had this idea when I was reading two books. The first book is "Records of Western Foreign Countries (II)", which was written by Gong Zhen, an entourage of Zheng He, the eunuch of Sanbao, when he sailed to the West. There are two interesting records in the book. The first thing is this: Gong Zhen sailed with the fleet to the Japanese pirates' den on the southeast coast of my Ming Dynasty. After accepting the tribute from the Japanese chieftain, Gong Zhen and others were replenishing fresh water and vegetables and fruits in Japan. A crew member in charge of purchasing went to a butcher to buy mutton, which required a total of 30 taels of silver. The crew only brought 20 taels of silver at the time, and the rest were gold. Seeing this, the butcher said: 30 taels of silver. If silver is not enough, gold is also OK, 6 taels of gold is enough. The crew looked sideways and returned to collect enough silver to pay for the mutton. He told this to everyone, and they all laughed at the butcher's treachery."
After Emperor Jiajing took the two books, Zhu Ping'an began to speak slowly, as if he was telling a story.
"The Japanese are cunning. 30 taels of silver is equal to 3 taels of gold, but the Japanese butcher wants 6 taels of gold. They are so greedy and shameless!" After listening to Zhu Ping'an's story, an official shook his head and angrily criticized the Japanese for their cunning.
"The Japanese butchers are greedy and stupid. This kid also knows that one ounce of gold is equal to two ounces of silver. He is so stupid that he doesn't even realize it, but instead tries to use this to plot against the people of our Ming Dynasty. It's really ridiculous." Someone smiled and shook his head, and many people agreed with him.
"The second interesting record is similar to this one, but this time it was about the Japanese chieftain sending people to pay tribute on the treasure ship. During the tribute, a civil official among the Japanese chieftain took a fancy to a piece of silk. He needed 5 taels of silver, but the Japanese official paid 1 tael of gold, took the silk, and left. The person in charge of the fleet hurriedly chased after him to retrieve the 5 taels of silver, but the Japanese official walked too fast. He failed to catch up. During the voyage, the person in charge was still worried about him." Zhu Ping'an said slowly.
Buzz
Everyone laughed. How could the Japanese be like this? The butcher couldn't tell that one ounce of gold was equal to ten ounces of silver. How could the Japanese officials be so careless? They were really barbarians, out of touch with the world!
"Zhu Zihou. Why don't you talk about how to double the national treasury without increasing taxes on the people, but instead talk about these insignificant things? Do you think we are as fools as those Japanese pirates?" An official behind Li Mo listened to the two insignificant travel notes that Zhu Ping'an had told, and couldn't help but stand up and criticize Zhu Ping'an.
"Don't be anxious, sir. Ping'an is talking about a method to double the national treasury without increasing taxes on the people." Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly.
What
What kind of method is this to double the national treasury? Isn't it just two insignificant travel notes? Isn't it just a stupid butcher and a careless official? Are you trying to make money from this stupid butcher and a careless official? You are kidding me, even if you squeeze them dry, it will only be a small amount! It won't help!
There was a burst of disdainful noises from the officials, especially the official who had spoken just now, who all laughed out loud.
"Zhu Zihou, are you kidding?" Li Mo suppressed his anger and almost yelled.
"How dare Ping'an joke in this golden palace? What I am talking about is the method to double the national treasury. Maybe it is not obvious from these two travel notes. Then let me talk about another book. The other book I saw was the record of the Honglu Temple. It recorded the tribute from Japan and Japan 20 years ago. It recorded such an incident. After the tribute from Japan and Japan, the Honglu Temple rewarded the envoy with 100 taels of gold according to the imperial decree. The Japanese envoy requested to exchange the gold for 500 taels of silver of equal value on the grounds that there were too many people and it was inconvenient to distribute the gold." Zhu Ping'an shook his head and then told another recorded story.
What is this? I still don’t understand. How can this be considered a method of doubling the national treasury
Many officials still don’t understand what Zhu Ping’an is talking about. What do these three records have to do with the doubling of the national treasury
"Zihou, are you saying that the exchange rate for gold and silver in Japan is one tael of gold for five taels of silver?" Yan Shifan was the first to react. His face was filled with joy, and his eyes were shining, as if he had seen a shortcut to getting rich.
"What Lord Yan said is correct. After much investigation, I can basically confirm that the gold-silver exchange rate in Japan is very different from that in Ming Dynasty. In Ming Dynasty, ten taels of silver can be exchanged for one tael of gold, while in Japan, ten taels of silver can be exchanged for two taels of gold, which is exactly twice as much." Zhu Ping'an nodded, and then revealed this conclusion in an affirmative tone.
The reason why Zhu Ping'an said this was that he wanted to plant the seeds of financial war in everyone's minds, and use interests to draw everyone's attention to foreign countries, hoping to subtly let the people of the Ming Dynasty open their eyes to the world.
What? The gold-silver exchange rate in Japan is 1:5. How can there be such a strange exchange rate? The officials in the hall were surprised. This was the first time they had heard of such a thing. The exchange rate of gold and silver was so different that it was twice the gold after one transaction. Without Zhu Ping'an's explanation, everyone could simply perceive the huge business opportunities. Modern Chinese aunts could establish a great reputation on Wall Street.
"How much gold does Japan have?" an official asked.
"During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, there was a man named Marco Polo who traveled from the sea to the Central Plains. In his travel notes, he called Wa the Zipangu, which means the country of gold. In his travel notes, he recorded that every Wa person had countless gold, the roof of the palace was made of pure gold, and the gold on the floor was as thick as the width of two fingers. Many rooms were equipped with thick pure gold tables, and the windows were also decorated with gold. It is said that there was a temple in Japan with a ten-foot-high Buddha statue made entirely of gold. In his travel notes, he also called Wa the Silver Islands, saying that there were countless silver mines in Wa, and there were open-air mountains with silver sand that could be reached by leaning over."
Zhu Ping'an exaggeratedly described the contents of a travelogue based on Marco Polo's narration. This travelogue was not the later Travels of Marco Polo, but another travelogue narrated during the Yuan Dynasty. This travelogue was in a corner of the library and was found by Zhu Ping'an when he was sorting books the day before yesterday.
As for authenticity
Haha, who cares? However, history does record that gold and silver mines were abundant in Japan during this period, and Japan's current Warring States period was supported by gold and silver mines. (To be continued.)
ps: This chapter is a supplement to last night’s, and will be updated tonight.