Chapter 68: Learning now and selling it now, Lao Zhu showed his holiness in front of the ministers! After hearing Xia Yuanji's words, Zhu Yuanzhang did not refute immediately, but pondered for a while. What was he thinking during this process of pondering?
Nothing at all.
He just wanted to let Xia Yuanji and others understand that he said these words after careful consideration.
He said: "The output of silver in the Ming Dynasty is extremely low, and it relies entirely on the import of silver from overseas countries. In the early stage, everyone was happy, but Xia Aiqing, have you ever thought about it, if overseas countries find a large amount of silver in the Ming Dynasty, it can be exchanged for countless products in the Ming Dynasty, and they find that the continuous import of silver will increase the value It's getting lower and lower, and suddenly one day he stops giving you silver. What should the Ming Dynasty do? There is less silver in the hands of the people, but the people who are used to silver cannot find silver in the Ming Dynasty. How should they live their lives? "
This……
Xia Yuanji has not considered this issue, or he cannot think about it.
It's not that he isn't smart, but that he doesn't understand the world outside the Ming Dynasty.
I don’t know where the silver comes from.
I only know that I can get silver by doing business with foreigners overseas.
Because that’s what was done during the Song Dynasty.
Xia Yuanji read through the history books and found that the Song Dynasty obtained a large amount of silver due to trading with foreigners overseas.
So he naturally believed that he could continuously obtain silver through overseas trade.
Zhu Yuanzhang's words immediately stopped him.
Then Zhu Yuanzhang issued another soul torture, "Xia Aiqing, have you ever thought about what the people of the Ming Dynasty would do if they got silver after they were harmed by treasure money? Will they use the silver to buy more things?
Or will they bury the silver like a treasure? "
Xia Yuanji was speechless for a moment.
Judging from his understanding of ordinary people, it is estimated that it will be the latter.
After seeing Xia Yuanji's face, Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "Have Xia Aiqing ever thought that if the people of the Ming Dynasty obtained silver, not only did they not take the silver to the market for circulation, but they hid it.
Can it be said that what the common people exchanged for silk, porcelain, tea, medicinal materials, and food was a pile of stones that cannot be eaten, used, or worn? The silver is in other people's hands. Does that mean that whatever price they want to price our Ming Dynasty's properties is, that's how much it is, and our Ming Dynasty has no room to resist? "
After Xia Yuanji heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, he suddenly felt his heart shake.
Indeed, he had never heard of this topic, and no one had ever talked to him about it.
These words immediately opened a window for his thinking.
Xia Yuanji himself was very capable and intelligent, otherwise he would not have become the Minister of Household Affairs and the Chief Steward of the Yongle Dynasty.
He just thought about it and realized that His Majesty the Emperor seemed to be right.
In its transactions with overseas countries, what the Ming Dynasty lost was a large amount of property, but what it gained was a pile of silver that would be buried underground by the people.
Does that mean that this is equivalent to getting nothing, but instead putting in so much hard work?
When I thought about it, I suddenly felt that this overseas trade was unfair.
Shen Liqian was suddenly enlightened when he heard this.
His home is in Songjiang, and what Songjiang is most famous for is cotton.
Since the Yuan Dynasty, Songjiang's cotton cloth has been selling well all over the country and even overseas. His family also grows cotton and spins cotton cloth.
He has seen his parents weaving cotton cloth day and night since he was a child. On the one hand, he paid the cotton tax to the court, and on the other hand, it was also used for trading.
And as His Majesty the Emperor said, the cotton cloth that was woven with such painstaking efforts was not made into clothes to wear on one's body, but was replaced with a stone by others. How can one be willing to do so? Thinking of this, when Xia Yuanji and Shen Liqian looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, their hearts were filled with admiration.
His Majesty the Emperor looks at the problem deeply.
I only thought about selling the goods, but I never thought about it. The essence of goods trading is that I use my production income to exchange your production income.
I'll trade rice for your wheat, so that both of us can be relatively satisfied.
But now the Ming Dynasty exchanged high-value crops such as silk, porcelain, and tea for a pile of silver.
After all, silver is not much different from stone.
Because silver is a rare metal, a few people hide it immediately after getting it, thus losing the original purpose of question suddenly made Xia Yuanji feel as if a dose of thunder had been injected from Tianling Gai.
His whole body was numb.
There is only one thought in my mind: Your Majesty is truly a heavenly being!He is indeed the Hongwu Emperor!Unparalleled wisdom! ! A person like Xia Yuanji, who has studied finance for so many years, immediately felt that Zhu Yuanzhang was like a heavenly being after hearing such a conclusion.
Again, it's not that Xia Yuanji and Shen Liqian are not smart enough, it's simply that Chen Han stood on the shoulders of countless giants and came to this conclusion.
Xia Yuanji and the others would never have imagined that so much silver would be discovered in the American continent a few hundred years later.
Nor would they know that the exchange ratio of gold and silver in European countries is different from that in China, which has led European countries to bring silver to China to make a fortune.
They also cannot see the tragic fate of the Chinese people being enslaved by silver in the past 400 years.
But judging from the current situation, it is the consensus of the people that silver should replace treasure banknotes.
It can only be said that Zhu Yuanzhang was lucky enough to hear the summary from descendants more than 600 years later, and dimensionality reduction hit Xia Yuanji and others.
Seeing Xia Yuanji and the others' shock, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction and pride.
Look at them all in shock.
It seems that what Chen Han said is right.
If after Ming Dynasty's products are exported, they are exchanged for another overseas product that can be eaten, used, and can increase their knowledge, then that's okay.
Then everyone is equal and mutually beneficial.
But if a pile of silver is brought back, it is not used for a long time and is stored in a hoard, which means that Ming's efforts have not been rewarded.
Zhu Biao watched his father confront Xia Yuanji and others about Chen Han's remarks. Xia Yuanji and others were shocked and speechless, and they were also thinking in their hearts that Chen Han's statement made sense.
Officials cannot yet see the dangers of silver, let alone the common people.
As Chen Han said, the Ming Dynasty was relatively closed and could not see what was happening in the overseas world.
Once a large number of silver mines are discovered in overseas countries, the Ming Dynasty will become a piece of fat in others' mouths.
Although this time has to be pushed back 200 years, if the idea of abolishing silver as the standard currency was not determined at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty and this trend was curbed, then such a trend would be impossible to avoid.
After thinking for a long time, Xia Yuanji and others finally prostrated themselves on the ground: "Your Majesty is wise, but I am ignorant. I only hope that Your Majesty is wise and can save the people from the fire and water."
The ball was kicked to Zhu Yuanzhang again.
Zhu Yuanzhang also wanted to know what kind of method could concretely solve this problem.
Chen Han was still pondering and couldn't say anything.
He had no choice but to sigh, "Although I have seen the essence of the problem and understand that the Ming Dynasty cannot be influenced by silver, there is no better way now.
I only hope that after Aiqing and others return, they can use their talents to think together.
I am tired today, you can continue to deal with the memorial. "
After saying that, he got up and left the small side hall next to Fengtian Hall with Zhu Biao.
We went all the way back to the Qianqing Palace behind the main hall.
Sitting in the study.
Zhu Yuanzhang no longer had the pride of showing his holiness in front of the ministers just now, but it became heavier.
This issue is so serious that it is not just as simple as the tax system, but also related to the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty.
It is a major issue related to whether we can get rid of silver poison in the next 400 years...
Please read!
(End of this chapter)