I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 438 North Korea seeks silver
Nanjing, Forbidden City.

Zhu Yijiong is receiving North Korean envoys.

"Pu Wenxiu, the subordinate minister of Korea, pays homage to His Majesty the Ming Emperor!"

The chief envoy of the North Korean mission is still Piao Wenxiu. This guy has shared hardships with Li Bang and has experience of being an envoy to the Ming Dynasty.He also suggested that Li Bin invite troops to restore the Ming Dynasty, and he had already become Li Bin's confidant.

"No courtesy, I'll give you a seat." Zhu Yijiong said with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Park Wenxiu first thanked him, and then sat down on the seat. He didn't dare to sit down completely, but only sat half of his buttocks.

The pilgrimage mission sent by North Korea was supposed to arrive at the beginning of the year, but because the Ming Dynasty was at war with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the entire Liaodong was still at war.

Although North Korea does not need to send troops, it must provide food and grass.

The Tatars were finally driven to Hetuala, and Liaodong was in dire straits. Anyway, whenever the Ming army was short of food, they would ask for it from North Korea.It was not in vain, the Ming army paid for it, but the food was completely scraped.

One of Park Wenxiu's diplomatic missions this time was to cry out to the emperor of China about this matter.

However, Park Wenxiu intuitively felt that it was unlikely that the Emperor of China would agree.

After chatting for a while, Pu Wenxiu got to the point: "Please ask His Majesty the Emperor of China to give North Korea silver."

Zhu Yijiong was stunned for a moment and thought he had misheard: "Giving silver? Pu Qing wants to say that North Korea wants to pay tribute to silver, right?"

Pu Wenxiu quickly explained: "Your Majesty misunderstood that the Japanese shogunate was despicable and violated the original agreement by ordering a ban on merchants to trade more silver in Korea, and also deliberately transported inferior silver to our country. This despicable act, The King of our country really cannot bear it, so he also asks His Majesty the Emperor of China to give North Korea silver. In this way, North Korea will have Chinese money and will no longer need to use Japanese money to circulate and pay taxes."

North Korea has always relied on Japanese silver as its main currency. This may sound outrageous, but it was all a trap buried by the North Korean monarchs and ministers in the early Ming Dynasty.

Because Lao Zhu felt that North Korea was dishonest, he asked North Korea to pay a large tribute of silver as punishment, but North Korea felt that it could not afford it.

As a result, the North Korean monarchs and ministers at that time came up with a bad idea. They ordered a ban on domestic silver mining. As long as there were no silver mines, there would be a reason not to pay tribute.

Then, such an outrageous and bad idea actually succeeded.

The price paid was a bit high. The use of silver among the private sector was prohibited, and the government's copper coin minting technology was too poor. They lost money no matter how much they minted, which led to complete barter in North Korea.

Even if the people in the country want to be exempted from military service, they will be compensated in kind.

This outrageous situation did not improve until the outbreak of the Wanli Korean War.Because the Ming army had difficulty transporting food, they wanted to replenish it on the spot. As a result, North Korea did not recognize gold and silver.

Emperor Wanli felt that it was really troublesome, and immediately ordered North Korea to lift the silver ban.

In another time and space, during Li Ban's reign, the prosperous trade between North Korea and Japan declined rapidly. The reason was that Japan began to restrict or even ban the export of its own silver to North Korea.

Moreover, Japan's silk and ginseng industries have also developed and are no longer dependent on North Korea's Korean ginseng and silk.

Zhu Yijiong quickly understood what Pu Wenxiu meant and said vaguely: "The matter of silver is a big one, and I have to think about it carefully."

It is indeed a big matter. After all, it involves silver currency, so it must be treated with caution, or at least discussed with the ministers.

Pu Wenxiu was a little disappointed, and then said: "I heard that the Ming Dynasty has a crop called sweet potato, which is not only suitable for mountain cultivation, but also extremely high-yielding. I would like to ask your Majesty to give sweet potatoes to North Korea."

Historically, North Korea only introduced sweet potatoes from Japan in the middle of the Qianlong reign. Now, because the domestic famine is getting worse and relations with Japan have begun to deteriorate, they are thinking of getting it from the Ming Dynasty.

"allow."

Zhu Yijiong did not refuse. North Korea had been trapped by Liaodong, and even giving sweet potatoes could not save them from the collapsing famine problem in the country.Moreover, no one really thinks that as long as we have high-yielding crops, we can save the country, right? (Speaking of ancient times)
This is just like current computer software. No matter how much memory the hardware squeezes out, the software always has a way of swallowing it all. After swallowing it, it will report insufficient memory... Not much to say.

Zhu Yijiong agreed so readily, but Pu Wenxiu breathed a sigh of relief. Daming's father really still loves North Korea.Immediately he fell to the ground and kowtowed: "I, my ministers, would like to express my gratitude to His Majesty for your grace!"

After thanking him for his kindness, Pu Wenxiu immediately struck while the iron was hot: "Your Majesty, now that the war in Liaodong is over and the Tatars have been expelled by the Great Tomorrow Army, can North Korea suspend the transportation of grain to Liaodong? Even our North Korean treasury has been unable to transport grain to Liaodong for such a long time. It’s a little hard to hold on to.”

Zhu Yijiong said: "This is wrong. Although the war in Liaodong is peaceful, the Tatars are still not destroyed, and the war still has to be fought. However, if North Korea really cannot make ends meet... so be it! I have given a decree to Liaodong. From now on, How about if Liaodong buys grain from North Korea, the price will be increased by [-]%?"

"This……"

Pu Wenxiu was speechless. This was not a matter of food prices, but of selling too much food.

Park Wenxiu and Li Bang's close ministers have carefully calculated that the entire Liaodong War is a bottomless pit. If they continue to sell grain to Liaodong, the North Korean treasury will be emptied.

By then, North Korea will have no food to train its troops and prepare for shortages. This is a very serious issue.

Zhu Yijiong frowned: "What? Isn't a [-]% increase enough?"

As soon as these slightly threatening words came out, Pu Wenxiu came back to his senses instantly.

yes!The Emperor of China never said that he would no longer buy grain from North Korea. This meant that North Korea must continue to sell grain to Liaodong.

The [-]% increase in food prices is not only a step given by the emperor of China, but also a temptation for the powerful class in North Korea.

If the national treasury does not have enough food to prepare for shortages and train troops, what does it matter to these powerful people?

They just need to sell grain to Dad Ming and earn countless gold and silver money.

Li Ban asked Pu Wenxiu to go to Ming Dynasty as an envoy to ask Ming Dynasty to stop buying grain from North Korea. If it happened, he would be hated by the powerful class.

Lee Yeon, the king of Joseon, is definitely fine, but Park Moon-soo can't say for sure.

Pu Wenxiu quickly raised his hands and said: "That's enough, that's enough. Your Majesty is so considerate of the Korean vassal country. He is truly a benevolent monarch!"

Zhu Yijiong nodded slightly, chatted with him for a few more words, and then dismissed him casually.

Return to Jinshen Hall.

"Call the cabinet minister, come and see me quickly!" Zhu Yijiong said to the accompanying secretary.

It was still early in the morning, and the cabinet ministers were not too far away from the three main palaces. They just had to take a detour due to the strict hierarchy of the palace.

After waiting for a long time, six important ministers of the cabinet came to Jinshen Hall.

After meeting with the emperor first, Zhu Yijiong then told the cabinet about today's reception of the North Korean envoy.

After just thinking for a moment, Wang Li said: "The Ming Dynasty cannot give the silver demanded by the vassal country of Korea, at least not lightly."

Zhu Chengxun also nodded: "What Yuan Fu said is absolutely true. Although North Korea is a vassal state, they are not allowed to ask for anything. I, the Ming Dynasty, will give them whatever they want, or at least give something in exchange."

Zhu Yijiong's cabinet has obviously been deeply influenced by his emperor and has become profit-seeking.The self-respected status of the imperial dynasty in the past dynasties, and their dealings with external vassal states were all treated favorably and favorably. In their eyes, it was all nonsense.

At this moment, Wang Yuan, who had just joined the cabinet not long ago, suddenly said: "Your Majesty, North Korea is asking for my great silver. This is my opportunity for the Ming Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)