First Prince of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 441

Several people wrote down what Zhu Biao had said and agreed in unison. There was nothing they could do if they refused. Seeing that His Royal Highness looked like this, he knew how to do it.

Several people were about to bow and retreat when Zhu Yuanzhang, who was silent just now, suddenly said: "The Ministry of Rites should start preparing for the prince's concubine. Goryeo has been urging for half a year, and Li Shanchang is here together Let’s do it a year ago, and prepare for the second and third children next year.”

The servant of the Ministry of Rites agreed, but Zhu Biao didn't say anything when he saw this. Although he originally wanted to wait for Chang Luohua to give birth before taking a concubine, the things he had originally decided were indeed dragged on for too long, just like Gao Li. The princess has been waiting in the capital for seven or eight months. "

The wedding officials in Goryeo were going crazy. They even played Zhu Yuanzhang on the moon, and they had to go to the Ministry of Rites to make a fuss every day. They were really panicking. They were afraid that His Highness the princess would be divorced and would not be able to explain to the King of Goryeo after returning home.

After everyone had retreated, the father and son tacitly put down their work and called the eunuch to pass on the meal. It was already noon, and if they didn't pass on the meal, Queen Ma would come and watch them eat in person.

Seeing this, the eunuchs serving in the palace were also relieved. When the Holy Majesty and His Highness were dealing with government affairs, they did not dare to go up to complain, but if they starved these two, their slaves would not escape punishment.

After a while, four dishes and one soup were served on the table, Zhu Biao glanced at the densely packed court ladies and eunuchs and waved his hand, and everyone retreated, leaving only Liu Jin serving dishes.

After the father and son ate a few bites at the table, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "If you want to issue banknotes, your little silver is not enough to make a reserve, and a few more 10 taels will be about the same."

Zhu Biao took a mouthful of the red and white duck in the bird's nest and said, "It's not enough, but the issuance of banknotes will have to be next year or the next year. During this period, find a way to save some."

Whether it is a perfect banknote system or the anti-counterfeiting work of banknotes, it will take a long time, and there are many things that can be operated during this period.

What's more, the salt, iron, tea, ore porcelain in the hands of the imperial court is not a profiteering business, and it is far more valuable than anything else, not to mention salt and iron, which are lacking in all parties.

The temptation of tea to Mongolia in the north alone is terrifying. Every year, the imperial court has to kill a group of people who sell tea to Mongolia privately, more or less nearly a thousand people.

In the early years of Hongwu, his father ordered that tea storage by the people should not be used for more than a month, and anyone who found private tea leaving the country and neglecting the pass would be executed at a later date!
This is still caught, and there are more people who haven't been caught. Officials, merchants, frontier soldiers are all involved. This is the crime of beheading.

In fact, there was no shortage of tea in Ming Dynasty. The tea planting area in Hanzhong, Jinzhou, Shiquan, Hanyin, Pingli, and Xixiang counties alone had reached 45 hectares of tea gardens and more than 86 tea plants.

Not to mention the land of Bashu that has just been recovered, where the tea production is even greater. The tea tree tax set by the imperial court is one out of every ten tea trees.

Calculated in a year, the tea collected by the imperial court has tens of millions of catties. Naturally, it cannot be said that rarity is the most expensive thing. What's more, unlike table salt, tea is not a necessary thing for people's daily life. something to replace.

This scarcity is not the other scarcity. Comrade Zhu’s main concern is not the economic value of tea, but the added value that tea can bring to the Ming Dynasty, or the strategic value.

Although there was no shortage of tea in the Ming Dynasty, it does not mean that the northern Mongolia and the Jurchens in the northeast did not lack tea. Facts have proved that they are not only short of tea, but also have a huge demand for tea.

They all eat meat and milk as their staple food. The nomads lack vegetables and fruits, so they have problems such as greasy, hot and difficult to digest.

According to the records of the Ministry of Rites, during the Yuan Dynasty, all the people in Mongolia had no tea for a day, felt guilty and dizzy, did not eat well, and could not sleep at night.

This may be exaggerated, but we can also see the importance of tea to the Mongolian Yuan. Now they have lost the tea supplied by the Central Plains, and Zhu Yuanzhang strictly forbids the government and the people to sell tea privately.

This led to the scarcity of tea in Mongolia, and we could only exchange precious horses, cattle and sheep for tea. It depends on Zhu Yuanzhang's mood. If he is happy, he will sell you more, and if he is unhappy, he will cut you off for two or three months.

Zhu Biao put down his chopsticks after he ate eight percent full: "Father, I remember that because of Ye Sudie'er, the imperial court has blocked the northern trade for several months, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and nodded and said, "It's been half a year, only Tianbaonu still has some trade, and the rest of Oara and Tatar and other Mongolian tribes have been blocked."

Zhu Biao said with a smile: "Isn't that just right? I'm planning to use salt and tea to search for their gold and silver treasures. When they withdrew from the Central Plains, they took away a lot of good things. I came from the raid last time." I'm afraid it's just a drop in the bucket."

"For example, the batch of gold and silver reserves that Emperor Yuan Shun took away from Dadu for the restoration of the country. After raiding and capturing Shangdu, the ministers raided for several times but did not find it."

After Zhu Biao forced the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty to death, he seized a lot of rare and rare treasures, but now thinking about it, there are really too many treasures missing. I don’t know whether it was the Three Caves of the Rabbit or the rewards to the kings of various ministries to appease them not to rebel.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "Everyone who abandoned his country fled, and if he doesn't use a lot of money to appease him, who can continue to support him, and now it seems to be scattered on the Tatar kings."

Zhu Biao sighed regretfully. In order to resolve the war as soon as possible, he ordered the generals not to invade the property of the Mongolian princes. After all, compared with the yellow and white things at that time, the first priority was to appease the Mongolian kings to submit to Daming.

Now that I think about it, it’s a pity. I knew I would have blackmailed them a little bit more, but it’s not too late. Mongolia is now trapped in the grasslands. The gold and silver in their hands are no different from broken copper and iron.

Mongolia has long been no longer a huge empire that dominates the Eurasian trade circle. Now it is just a scattered pack of wolves that are still fighting among themselves. Now they can't even choose a wolf. They refuse to accept each other and bite each other. The weak want to be a dog.

"What does the emperor think? It is impossible to count on the territory. You swiped your pen just now, and several state capitals are tax-free. If you continue like this, let alone save enough reserves for issuing banknotes, I am afraid that even three years later There is no food left.”

Zhu Yuanzhang put down his chopsticks in embarrassment and said: "Stinky boy, what should we do if there is no tax exemption? You can't just watch the people die and rebel."

Zhu Biao also sighed when he heard the words, the common people have enough land to grow, but natural disasters and man-made disasters are rampant, corrupt officials make things difficult, if the court does not give them hope, then it will really turn trees into soldiers, raise poles into flags, and princes and generals Ning has something to do with it.

Meng Yuan still has grasslands to retreat to, but the old Zhu family does not. If the world is in chaos, it may be even worse to return to Fengyang. Now Fengyang has a large number of immigrants, and most of them hate to death and force them to leave their hometown. Emperor Zhu Prince Zhu is gone.

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(End of this chapter)