Daming: At the beginning, recognize Zhu Yuanzhang as grandfather!

Chapter 71 Too Powerful Kingly Spirit!
"Is there a good way to do nothing?"

The few people present were startled when they heard the words, showing puzzled expressions.

Because it's a strange thing to say.

"Ah."

Huang Xiongying nodded: "The publication of Daming Banknotes helped the Ming Dynasty to come out of poverty and weakness, but at the same time, problems such as the instability and depreciation of Daming Banknotes began to emerge. My grandson thought that the Daming Banknotes The banknote has also fulfilled its mission, since there is no way to stabilize it, then there is no need to deliberately try to stabilize it.”

"what?"

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was startled again.

Fu Youde and Feng Sheng also looked at Huang Xiongying with strange expressions, and then at Zhu Yuanzhang.

This is what you said that there is no way but also a good way?

Just let it rot?

There is no way around it enough, but is it really a good way?
Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a puzzled face: "The amount of money on the face value of the treasure banknotes will plummet if you don't pay attention. If it weren't for the strict prohibition of the imperial court to pull back the value of the treasure banknotes, I'm afraid I don't know what it will be like. If If you don’t want to find a way to stabilize the treasure note, wouldn’t the treasure note be scrapped?”

Huang Xiongying replied calmly: "The meaning of my grandson is to let the treasure banknotes be scrapped naturally!"

"Bullshit!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave a low drink, and there was already an unhappy look on his face.

Fu Youde was dripping with cold sweat, boy, don't talk nonsense, you've said it well every time before, why did you make a fool of yourself this time?

Don't ruin your image in the old man's mind!

As a direct descendant of the prince's lineage, he certainly hoped that the grandson of the emperor would be able to ascend to the throne smoothly, and he would not punish any sons.

"My lord, this is a political matter, so it's okay for Mr. Huang not to know."

Facing Fu Youde's attempt to smooth things over, Huang Xiongying said with a firm expression, "Grandpa, just listen to your grandson."

"Say."

Zhu Yuanzhang calmed down again, not to mention anything else, he liked his grandson's persistence and courage.

Huang Xiongying nodded and said: "Grandpa, let me ask you, does the imperial court have enough silver as a reserve fund to exchange for precious banknotes for the common people?"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and answered bluntly: "No."

"That's it!"

Huang Xiongying looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "If the imperial court cannot provide enough silver reserves, it will be impossible to stabilize the value of banknotes. Why?"

"Because in addition to banknotes, there is also silver circulating in the market as other currencies. Silver has long been a currency recognized by the people, and it is also a metal currency. The acceptance of the people is very stable, so when silver and banknotes happen When competing, the currency advantage of silver is immediately revealed, facing the competition of silver, precious banknotes will only lose value and be forced to withdraw from market circulation.”

"Once the imperial court strictly prohibits the circulation of silver and does not provide enough silver as a reserve for exchange, then in the end, the common people will be more willing to exchange things for things. At that time, the problems caused by precious banknotes will only become more serious."

In fact, according to the economic theory of later generations, Daming Banknotes can be regarded as a kind of credit currency without reserves.

Generally speaking, the issuance of credit currency without reserve needs to meet the following two conditions. First, the level of social and economic development is relatively high, and the society has a high demand for currency, which is enough to cope with the circulation of a certain amount of banknotes. Control the currency and maintain confidence in the value of the currency.

However, Daming Banknotes do not meet any of the above conditions.

Therefore, according to the thinking of ordinary traversers, they all want to take a series of measures around the treasure banknotes, so that the Daming treasure banknotes can maintain a high circulation value.

Because banknotes have great advantages, such as convenient portability, high transaction performance, etc., the advantages are too numerous to enumerate.

Including Huang Xiongying thought so at the beginning.

But as long as you consider the current environment, you will know that the elimination of Daming Banknotes is a historical necessity, and it is the result of both the current market laws and economic laws.

Moreover, there is another advantage of using silver instead of banknotes, that is, silver as a currency can connect China's domestic market with the world market. Chinese commodities begin to go to the world, and more and more world silver flows into China.

From this perspective, the collapse of the Daming Banknotes indirectly promoted the germination of capitalism in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, but this is all for a later story.

Speaking of the moment, Zhu Yuanzhang looked thoughtful after listening to Huang Xiongying's words. As the best person in this era, it is not that he does not understand what Huang Xiongying said.

Some ministers once suggested to him that the imperial court should provide enough silver reserves for the people to exchange for precious banknotes, so as to stabilize the value of banknotes.

But in the end it was not adopted by him.

Why?

Not because there is not so much silver!
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Huang Xiongying, and said slowly: "Dasun, what you said is reasonable, but you didn't say a way to solve the treasure banknote problem?"

Huang Xiongying replied: "My grandson thinks that since the banknotes are no longer stable, there is no need to think of a solution, but to make silver a legal currency and implement a policy of concurrent banking."

"Money and money?"

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly: "But in this case, wouldn't Baochao be eliminated?"

Huang Xiongying nodded and said: "If it is not recognized by the market and the people, elimination is its inevitable fate!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was still puzzled: "But... Where did our Ming Dynasty get so much silver?"

Huang Xiongying replied: "Change!"

"Change?"

When several people heard the words, they all showed puzzled expressions.

I only heard Huang Xiongying say: "The salt, iron, tea, silk, porcelain, etc. of our Ming Dynasty are very valuable to the barbarians in all directions, even overseas. Didn't the imperial court use tea to go to the western countries to exchange for war horses?" ? So you can still use these things to exchange for silver with barbarians from all over the world and overseas countries!"

"This……"

Zhu Yuanzhang wondered: "Is this really possible?"

Huang Xiongying nodded and said: "It can be done! There are many smugglers in the coastal area now, they are dumping smuggled goods, including government-operated salt, iron, tea, silk, porcelain, etc., to make huge profits, including a lot of silver .”

In fact, history also develops in this way.

Merchants from Spain, Japan and other places brought a large amount of silver to the Ming Dynasty to purchase goods, which enriched the silver in the Ming Dynasty market and gradually met the needs of the common people, thus eliminating precious banknotes.

Until the Qing Dynasty, China's silver was very sufficient.

It’s just that the Qing Dynasty lost a lot of silver in the several times of land cession and indemnity. The Xin Chou Treaty alone made the indemnity as high as 5000 million taels of silver, including interest close to one billion taels. What a terrifying figure.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he thought for a while, and then asked in a deep voice: "The imperial court has banned the sea, how dare those coastal merchants be so bold? Not only went into the sea, but also smuggled goods, blatantly defying the emperor's will?"

Huang Xiongying said: "If grandpa doesn't believe it, send someone to investigate and find out!"

"They did more than grandpa imagined. They colluded with Japanese pirates, controlled the government, and formed a huge profit network!"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

Instead, he remembered a memorial not long ago, which said that a government office along the coast was attacked and killed by Japanese pirates.

At that time, he didn't pay much attention to it, but now it seems that there is something else hidden in it!
Huang Xiongying saw that it was getting too far, and brought the topic back to currency, saying: "So, as long as the imperial court dumps salt, iron, tea, silk, porcelain and other materials to the barbarians in all directions and overseas countries, it will definitely be able to exchange for a large amount of money. silver."

"And once the silver is sufficient, the precious banknotes will naturally be eliminated!"

"Um……"

Zhu Yuanzhang showed a thoughtful look, of course he would not rashly change the national policy just because of Huang Xiongying's words, but it's okay to give it a try.

If it is really possible to exchange a large amount of silver from the barbarians in all directions and overseas countries as his grandson said, then what is the use of this precious banknote?

In fact, what he didn't realize was that once the imperial court exchanged materials such as salt, iron, tea, silk, and porcelain for silver, it would also greatly promote the development of domestic productivity.

The sea ban during the Ming Dynasty was actually more about preventing Japanese pirates than banning trade.

Looking at the contemplative crowd, Huang Xiongying continued: "This is my grandson's point of view."

"A point of view? Your point of view really shocked the rest of us. With your courage and guts, we all have to obey, haha!" Zhu Yuanzhang laughed, obviously already knowing Huang Xiongying's routine, and said cooperatively: "One point of view, it seems that there are two more points?"

"Not bad!"

Huang Xiongying spit out another word lightly: "Grab!"

"grab?"

A simple word made everyone present look pale.

Huang Xiongying said: "The Japanese pirates have been harassing the coast of Daming for a long time, burning, killing and looting, doing all kinds of crimes, and grandfather, you said that Emperor Hongwu once gave the Japanese a letter of state, asking them to discipline their subjects. The strategy of prospering the war, Xiaobang also has a plan to defend against the enemy, now our Ming Dynasty has a strong army and horses, and it will not be destroyed, when will we wait?"

"Grandson also met some businessmen from the Wa country earlier, and learned from them that there are a lot of gold and silver mines in the Wa country, and they are buried shallow and easy to mine. Go to the mines, and the women go to comfort, in this way, our Daming can get a lot of silver!"

"Really?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes glowed, he looked at Huang Xiongying and said, "Is there really a lot of silver mines in the Wa Kingdom?"

Huang Xiongying nodded and said, "When did your grandson lie to you? And you can also send people to investigate. Although Wa is a small country, it does store a lot of silver mines."

Huang Xiongying did not deliberately lure the imperial court to subjugate the Wa country. In the 16th century, the Iwami silver mine in Datian City, Genxian County discovered by the Wa country was the largest silver mine in the country and even the world. One-third of the world's silver is produced in the country of Wa, and the country of Wa was called the "Silver Islands" by people in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

After such a long time of contact, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer has any doubts about his grandson's words.

Every time his grandson's words sounded shocking, but in the end they all proved to be correct.

Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang just had a mentality of trying to conquer the Japanese country, and did not make a lot of determination. He thought that King Qi would go to suppress the bandits and restore peace along the coast.

But now I heard what Dasun said.

He felt that this Japanese country must be defeated!

One is to avenge his refusal to surrender and kill the envoys, and the other is to take down the Wa Kingdom, which will be a huge profit!

"Grandpa, in fact, the conquest of the Wa Kingdom can not only snatch silver, but also alleviate a difficult problem that has been insoluble by all dynasties since ancient times."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang showed a curious look.

Only Huang Xiongying said: "Land annexation!"

Hearing this, the curiosity on Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned into deep anticipation. As the king of a country, he certainly knew about the issue of land annexation.

Throughout the dynasties, the country has always been strong at the beginning, and will become weak in the end. In addition to the stupid monarch, there is another eternal problem, that is, land annexation.

Land annexation is an incurable disease of centralized power in feudal society.

There have been many laws and regulations to adjust and manage land mergers in the past dynasties, from the land equalization system implemented in the Northern Wei Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty, the Wang Anshi Reform in the Song Dynasty, the whip law drafted by Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty, and the system of dividing the land into acres during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, etc. This chronic disease has never been completely cured.

The reasons for this are complex.

To put it simply, with the establishment of a new dynasty and social stability, the land will be redistributed. The tyrants who originally obtained the land, the dignitaries and nobles will become richer and richer, and instead own more and more land, eventually leading to the rich In groups, the poor have no place to stand.

In fact, as long as the social system recognizes private ownership of wealth, regardless of wealth or land, there will inevitably be a concentration of wealth or land.

Unless the ideal world in the mind of Marxism-Leninism is achieved.

As for land annexation, Huang Xiongying doesn't need to explain too much, Zhu Yuanzhang and Fu Youde are very clear about it.

But Huang Xiongying's words made their eyes shine.

Under the shocked eyes of several people, Huang Xiongying continued: "It is almost impossible to solve the land annexation from the inside. The sages of the past dynasties have already told us with their actions, so if we want to break the situation, we must fight out!"

"If the land is merged, then the largest one will be merged, and all the land will be merged into my hands, Daming!"

"Don't those barbarians admire my Chinese culture? Then they will all be included in our Ming Dynasty. As I told you before, instead of letting the vassal kings claim their land in the country and support their own self-respect, why not let them go out and make contributions? Let those places become I am the true vassal state of Ming Dynasty!"

"In this way, if the domestic land is not enough to divide, then go to the outside, establish immigrant settlements in the conquered places, plunder various resources, just like going to Japan to grab silver, and promote Chinese characters, turning those places into My territory of Ming Dynasty!"

Swish!
Everyone's eyes widened.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang was no exception. He only now realized that he was wrong. He was worried that his eldest grandson would be like a prince, respectful, courteous, generous and benevolent, without the air of a king.

But now he is worried, is the kingly spirit in his grandson too strong?
His greatest ambition in life is to conquer the mainland of China, while his great grandson wants to conquer the world!

(End of this chapter)