Chapter 1064: Junior Minister, I Have Doubts

Thanks to Luzon's many years of using banknotes, Nanyang had generally accepted using banknotes as a general equivalent to measure the value of goods. At least banknotes were much stronger than shells and stones.

Your Majesty's reputation, even rebels had to give a thumbs up, not to mention the barbarians in Nanyang.

The ship throughput of Dianbai Port in Guangzhou Prefecture was not weaker than that of Songjiang Prefecture at all. As long as it was not a typhoon day, the sails covering the sky were busy day and night in the port, never stopping throughout the four seasons.

"Songjiang Prefecture is a bit too bullying. Before, it was 6 million guan every year. Songjiang Prefecture itself wanted to eat 2 million guan, Shuntian Prefecture kept 1.5 million guan, Yingtian Prefecture kept 1 million guan, Zhejiang wanted to take away 1 million guan, and Fuzhou and Guangzhou shared the remaining 500,000 guan."

"What is 500,000 guan enough for? It's not even enough to plug the teeth!" Hou Yuzhao talked about the flow of gold banknotes. Songjiang Prefecture relied on its economic status and didn't give others a mouthful, all of which were eaten by Songjiang Prefecture.

The capital only had 1.5 million guan, and Songjiang Prefecture occupied 2 million guan alone. Money was like this, always flowing to places that were not short of money.

After land return in Zhejiang, economic vitality was very strong, but the inflow of silver was insufficient, so the Ministry of Revenue had to give Zhejiang 1 million guan.

Guangzhou Prefecture was really thirsty for too long, too long. This special targeted increase of 6 million guan was really not enough.

"And Your Majesty, recently Songjiang Prefecture has swallowed most of Luzon's 6 million guan banknotes. Wang Qian relied on his father being the secondary grand secretary and did whatever he wanted, pressing the Ministry of Revenue to give the banknotes to Songjiang Prefecture. Now Songjiang Prefecture is used to eating, and even Luzon's 6 million guan has been eaten by Songjiang Prefecture for 4 million guan." Hou Yuzhao complained about the ground of Songjiang Prefecture again.

Don't look at the officials in Songjiang Prefecture, who were like quails in front of the Great Ming Emperor, letting His Majesty take whatever he wanted, and saying whatever His Majesty said. In this matter, they really understood Songjiang Prefecture.

They had one face in front of His Majesty, and a completely different face in front of the ministers.

In the eyes of the ministers, the officials in Songjiang Prefecture were not just generally arrogant.

The reason why Songjiang Prefecture could eat so many banknotes was entirely because Wang Qian relied on Wang Chonggu in the court, in order to seek his own political achievements, plus Songjiang Prefecture really needed banknotes. Zhang Xueyan was helpless and finally agreed.

Now it was good, Wang Qian went to Luzon as viceroy, his father had passed away, and it was his turn to suffer!

6 million guan, only 2 million guan flowed into Luzon. Wang Qian was completely stupid. He couldn't even bring back the banknotes. What was the use of him as a viceroy in Luzon!

The Great Ming was full of boomerangs everywhere. Zhu Yijun never expected that Wang Qian could be hit by his own boomerang in such a way.

"Your Majesty, the ground in Guangzhou Prefecture has an ugly way of eating. The banknotes given to Guangzhou Prefecture are too few. Guangzhou Prefecture has no way, so it issued official tickets, plus private tickets, to maintain the normal operation of Guangzhou Prefecture. If this continues, Guangzhou Prefecture is afraid that it will issue gold banknotes by itself." Hou Yuzhao reminded the Emperor that this 6 million guan must be issued.

Because Guangzhou Prefecture was already issuing banknotes. The flooding of sugar tickets was Guangzhou Prefecture issuing banknotes. This was a helpless move based on reality, not a heart of rebellion.

But after a long time, this was hard to say. Although there was the Nanyang Navy guarding, this capital was 6,000 miles away from Guangzhou. With the complete control of financial power in the local area, what would happen, I dare not imagine.

The people in Liangguang recognized banknotes, those smugglers recognized banknotes, and even overseas barbarians recognized banknotes. When everyone waved the banknotes in their hands and could buy enough goods, it had nothing to do with gold.

Hou Yuzhao also talked about the three collapses of Felipe's gold bonds as the Minister of Finance and Junior Minister.

Gold bonds were not entirely based on how much gold Felipe had, but existed as currency.

When people could use gold bonds to buy enough goods in Seville, the home of New World trade, the anchor of gold bonds was multiple anchoring: Felipe's personal reputation, Spain's transcendent status as an empire on which the sun never sets, and endless goods.

And the total collapse of gold bonds was because the English stirred the entire Atlantic trade into a pot of porridge.

People found that gold bonds could not buy enough goods, so the anchor of gold bonds returned from multiple anchoring to the gold in Felipe's hands. Obviously, the gold in Felipe's hands was completely insufficient.

These views were already discussed very clearly in Wang Guoding's *Memorial on Banknote Anchoring*, which was a memorial from the ninth year of Wanli.

"Then issue it." Zhu Yijun was finally persuaded. He sighed and said, "My minister, I have actually thought about it carefully. Ministers have ministers' considerations, and I have my considerations. I have always been unwilling to over-issue because of the lesson of Hongwu banknotes. I have to be cautious and cautious."

"The country loses its great trust, and the world starts to doubt. I do not have the prestige of the Founding Emperor. Once the banknotes collapse due to over-issuance, what face do I have to face the people of the world?"

As an emperor, as the source of banknotes, he had to be responsible to the people. His insistence on a conservative monetary policy was because he did not want the past to reappear. This was his responsibility to carry the sun and moon and tie the country. Being supported by hundreds of millions of people, he had to take on this responsibility.

Hou Yuzhao stood up suddenly, raised his fist high, clenched it, and said loudly, "If it collapses, it collapses! If it collapses, just say the wealthy households printed it privately! If it collapses, just collapse the wealthy households, copy their homes to cash it! If it collapses, just change the version and print it again!"

?

Zhu Yijun looked at Hou Yuzhao with great surprise. He thought Hou Yuzhao was the same conservative faction as Zhang Xueyan and Wang Guoding. He didn't expect Hou Yuzhao to be an extremely radical faction!

What is meant by "if the banknotes collapse, it collapses"? Hou Yuzhao has great courage!

Hou Yuzhao's excited appearance almost caused a reaction from the ceremonial official. The ceremonial official saw that Hou Yuzhao was not trying to provoke His Majesty beyond his ability, so he took back his knife.

His Majesty's burly figure could beat ten Hou Yuzhaos.

"Your Majesty, still take Felipe's gold bonds as an example. So what if it collapses? As long as Felipe is still the hegemon on which the sun never sets, his gold bonds can collapse a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, and can still be issued! Because there are countless heads of overseas barbarians supporting his gold bonds!"

"As long as the Great Ming still has commodity advantages, then gold banknotes can be changed and printed again! So what if it is over-issued? Naturally, there are barbarians to bear it!" Hou Yuzhao explained again that gold banknotes could collapse forever.

There were too many people who could bear these crimes.

For example, treacherous officials are in power, and the Minister of Finance and Junior Minister are taken out and beheaded together; for example, the wealthy households do not care about the overall situation and print banknotes privately, copy their family property, and use the land return and equal land distribution method to cash gold banknotes; if it still doesn't work, use the Western method, use the heads of barbarians to support the reputation again!

There are ways. The biggest dilemma of gold banknotes is that the actual owners of gold banknotes refuse to issue banknotes.

Hou Yuzhao could fully understand His Majesty's concerns, but he hoped that His Majesty could be slightly more radical. It had been more than twenty years, and His Majesty had always been very wary of the issuance of banknotes.

"Your Majesty, the orderly growth of prices is beneficial to people's livelihood, while money famine is completely detrimental to people's livelihood." Hou Yuzhao's emotions were very excited, but he still sat down and tried to persuade His Majesty from the standpoint of the Ministry of Revenue.

The orderly rise of prices can stimulate the emergence of workshops, and the powerful and wealthy prefer to take out silver to invest in industries rather than saving, all of which have money to earn; while the price stability or even decline brought about by money famine means that no one has money to earn. It looks stable, but it is also missing opportunities.

Zhu Yijun said with a heavy face, "Junior Minister, debt will spiral upward, and any debt will rise faster and faster."

"Felipe's gold bonds took twelve years to go from one-fold over-issuance to three-fold over-issuance, but it only took five years to go from three-fold over-issuance to seven-fold over-issuance, and it only took one year to go from seven-fold over-issuance to the fourteen-fold over-issuance of collapse. Gold banknotes are essentially debt, which is what I and the imperial court owe to the people of the world."

"If you just treat banknotes as a tool of governance, now the targeted increase is not 6 million guan, but 20 million guan."

"How carefree it is when borrowing money, and how embarrassed it is when paying it back. The larger the debt scale, the greater the pain caused by paying it back."

Paper money is not gold, silver, or copper precious metal currency. Paper money is debt. The more paper money issued, the more money borrowed. With more money borrowed, everything looks prosperous, and all things compete to develop. It seems that the Great Ming is about to get rid of the curse of the dynasty cycle and be so prosperous for generations.

When it comes to paying back the money, industrial adjustments, people have no livelihood, no work to do, and wages are falling rapidly. This gap will make social dissatisfaction rise rapidly. In addition, there is the life of the people, which will also become very difficult.

This is the first reason why Zhu Yijun has such a conservative monetary policy. Debt will cause the fluctuation of the development cycle to intensify. The larger the debt, the greater the fluctuation, and the greater the impact on the people.

Zhu Yijun continued, "The Great Ming has only completed the transformation of commodity economy in a few coastal areas, and the background is still small-scale peasant economy. Small-scale peasant economy cannot withstand any risks, and the imperial court has overestimated the driving influence of the rapid development of coastal areas on the hinterland."

"The fact is that this kind of driving is not obvious, and it is even a negative effect. The negative effect is easy to understand. The population and labor of the hinterland are being lost, the land is being abandoned, and people are leaving their homes and hometowns to rush to the coastal areas. Population is not only labor, but also people who have read books, as well as powerful and wealthy, scholar-officials."

"For example, Yangzhou has a large number of Shanxi merchants. These Shanxi merchants settled in Yangzhou, but they brought the wealth they obtained in Shanxi to Yangzhou."

"This carriage is not as powerful as imagined."

This is the second reason why Zhu Yijun is so conservative. Regional development is unbalanced. The rapid development of coastal areas has not effectively radiated to the hinterland, and has even sucked the flesh and blood of the hinterland clean.

Increasing the investment of banknotes and increasing investment in coastal areas will aggravate this imbalance.

"I have another concern. Junior Minister, don't be impatient. Listen to me." Zhu Yijun could see that Hou Yuzhao was indeed a bit anxious. After appeasing him, he said, "There is another one, which is a problem I must consider."

"Printing money to make money is too fast. Once the imperial court gets used to printing money to make money, it will turn from reality to emptiness. From industry to finance, it only takes issuing banknotes to enjoy endless glory. When encountering anything, the first thing that comes to mind is issuing banknotes."

"It seems that as long as the banknotes are issued, all problems will be solved."

"However, goods have never grown out of the shelves."

The third reason for the conservative monetary policy is that printing money is too profitable! Turning from reality to emptiness becomes inevitable. When people can make money from finance, does the whole society, from the imperial court to the people, still want to do industry to make money?

Monetary policy should be naturally conservative. This is Zhu Yijun's understanding.

"Then, Junior Minister, you have just returned to the court, and you don't know me. I don't actually care about my reputation. Whether it is violent or tyrannical, the powerful and wealthy now don't even have the courage to let their mouthpieces scold me. I don't care about reputation, but can you answer these three doubts of mine?" Zhu Yijun looked at Hou Yuzhao very calmly.

Hou Yuzhao sighed. More than twenty years ago, he heard that the Emperor asked "I have doubts" sentence by sentence, which made the genius Zhang Juzheng dizzy. Even during the court discussion, Zhang Juzheng was thinking about His Majesty's doubts and lost his mind several times.

Now, it was Hou Yuzhao's turn to face His Majesty's three doubts.

Can't hold it, can't hold it at all.

"I can't answer any of them." Hou Yuzhao was an honest man. He honestly admitted his lack of ability and could not solve the doubts for His Majesty. Let alone him, no one in the world could answer these three questions.

Even, Hou Yuzhao could not persuade His Majesty, but was instead persuaded by His Majesty. Large-scale over-issuance was a manifestation of irresponsibility.

Large-scale over-issuance was a lazy government. His Majesty could play this lazy government of stepping on the left foot and the right foot to spiral into the sky for at least twenty or thirty years, which was enough to create a Wanli prosperous age that was unparalleled in history.

As for decades later, when it comes to paying back the debt, naturally there will be the wisdom of later generations.

The prosperous age was created by His Majesty. If the descendants cannot grasp it, it is the descendants who are unfilial.

But Wang Guoding said it well, any form of debt must be repaid, and no one, nothing can be an exception.

"Old Zhao, let me tell you, I actually want to issue banknotes too. Bai Yin dams are all concentrated in the metropolis. The people have been suffering from money famine for many years, looking forward to the rain like farmers looking at the cracked land, hoping that heaven will rain."

"In the past, neither the imperial court nor the Emperor had sufficient credibility, so they could not issue paper currency. The common people used money orders and flying cash, while the powerful clans and wealthy merchants used large and small denominations, as well as the interest rate spreads between good and bad currency, to profit. The common people suffered greatly from this."

"I also want to, but I can't figure out these three questions, and the ministers can't solve them, so I can only endure it."

"Now 18 million guan is already a nearly three-fold over-issuance. If it weren't for the Great Ming's commodity advantage, and the Great Ming's most diligent people producing enough goods to support the banknotes, the banknotes should have gone bankrupt for the first time by now." Zhu Yijun was also embarrassed.

Hou Yuzhao was really not for himself. If he was for himself, things would be simple, just drag him out and behead him.

But this matter was a dead knot that was very difficult to untie.

"This 6 million guan in Guangzhou Prefecture still has to be given, but it is also agreed that it is a special increase, not a regular example. Next year's targeted increase will only be 6 million guan." Zhu Yijun made the final decision.

"Your Majesty is wise." Hou Yuzhao sighed. In the end, he failed to persuade His Majesty to issue a large amount, but was instead persuaded.

Sometimes, the conservative faction is not really wanting to be conservative, but there is no way.

Hou Yuzhao left the Yanqing Palace and returned to the Ministry of Revenue office in Songjiang Prefecture. He sat on the grand master's chair without moving, quietly thinking about His Majesty's three questions. These three questions, as long as he could solve one, he could persuade His Majesty to issue more, but he thought for a long, long time, and could not solve any of them.

"Alas, state affairs are difficult. We should strive forward." Hou Yuzhao could only look for some ways to solve the problem in development.

"Junior Minister, the Minister of Justice Wang is here." A clerk hurried in and reported to Hou Yuzhao that Wang Jiaping had come.

"Please." Hou Yuzhao stood up, walked out quickly, and came to the door to welcome Wang Jiaping.

"I have seen Minister Wang." Hou Yuzhao bowed in greeting.

Wang Jiaping said with a smile, "You are too polite, Junior Minister. I came here today specifically to thank you for your help. My disciple who doesn't worry me begged me here, asking for an increase of 6 million guan. I heard about this, and His Majesty would definitely not agree, so I sternly refused him."

"I didn't expect that Wan Wenqing, this guy, actually begged you, Junior Minister. I'm sorry to trouble you, Junior Minister."

Wan Wenqing had someone in the court, but this time the targeted increase, having someone in the court didn't work. Wang Jiaping did not take action.

Wan Wenqing was the Prefect of Guangzhou. His teacher didn't care about him, so he went through the normal process and found the Minister of Revenue to make a scene, no matter what, he had to let Hou Yuzhao help.

How could Hou Yuzhao not know that this was a hot potato? His Majesty's conservative policy on banknotes was not for one or two days, but Hou Yuzhao still went.

This was something everyone always mentioned. Hou Yuzhao was really different from others. Others were to avoid things as much as possible, while Hou Yuzhao was to do what should be done. He never shirked his responsibilities.

It seems that all the public ministers in the court are here to be officials, only Hou Yuzhao is here to govern the country and settle the world.

After Wang Jiaping thanked him, he frowned and said, "Junior Minister, you are full of sorrow and misery. Was it because you asked for banknotes and were reprimanded by His Majesty? My disciple is just causing trouble for you."

"That's not the case. Although His Majesty was surprised, he didn't reprimand me. Liangguang ground needs it, plus the establishment of the Western Trade Alliance, there must be money to use, so he approved it. It was His Majesty who asked me three questions, and I couldn't answer any of them, feeling ashamed."

"The monarch shows sincerity to the subject, but the subject cannot share the worries for His Majesty." Hou Yuzhao repeated His Majesty's three doubts.

Wang Jiaping sat and thought for a long time. The more he thought, the harder it was, and he was full of sorrow.

Wang Jiaping leaned on the back of the chair, shook his head and said, "I have no way either. This is not a question of ability. The Grand Secretary should have no way either. If he had, he wouldn't have let His Majesty be confused until now."

The rapid growth of debt spirals, the economic fluctuations caused by debt cycles, regional development imbalance, and the most terrible turning from reality to emptiness, these three problems, one is harder to handle than the other.

"Difficult, yo. There is not much I can do to help you, Junior Minister. This regional imbalance can be slightly alleviated. Building a road can slightly alleviate the second problem, but it is also slightly alleviated." Wang Jiaping knew clearly that the road could not solve the fundamental problem. This was determined by geography.

Wang Jiaping was a viceroy in Liangguang, but there was only a viceroy in Liangguang before. At that time, Wang Jiaping had led troops.

There was a problem that every viceroy had to face, and that was transporting grain and grass for war.

Five hundred miles, only 50% arrived, the rest was loss, people and horses eating;

And one thousand miles, only 25% arrived, the rest was 75% loss;

If it was two thousand miles, only less than 50% arrived.

Using 10,000 troops, driving one thousand miles, the grain transported per month was 160,000 shi, and 1.92 million shi per year.

And the Great Ming's land tax grain tax was about 20 million shi per year, which was one-tenth of the Great Ming's annual land tax for a small-scale war of 10,000 troops for one year.

Entering Korea to resist Japan, the Great Ming and Korea had many communications around the grain and grass matter. It was not that the Great Ming was stingy. War was really too expensive. A few tens of thousands of troops, fighting for three or five years, could empty the Great Ming.

And there was only one solution: use river transport if you can, use sea transport if you can, which could reduce the loss by more than ten times.

The logic of transporting grain and transporting goods was the same. After the technical difficulties of sea transport were gradually overcome, the coastal areas with developed sea transport were natural economic centers. This regional development imbalance, the road was only to alleviate, not to cure, and there was no way to cure it.

Wang Jiaping deliberated and continued, "If the Western Trade Alliance runs stably, plus the smooth opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou road, then His Majesty can issue another 6 million guan of banknotes every year."

If you split His Majesty's doubts, you could see the main contradiction, and the main contradiction was inconvenient transportation. The road could alleviate this problem. If you continue to split, you will find that in addition to the road, there is also whether the Western Trade Alliance can run stably.

"Then can the Western Trade Alliance run as smoothly as the Global Trade Alliance?" Hou Yuzhao asked with great expectation. If it could run smoothly, it would add another fifty years of national fortune to the Great Ming.

This was not an exaggeration at all. The gold, silver, and other raw materials of the Global Trade Alliance had already let the Great Ming take a big breath. This breath was fifty years of energy.

"The scale may be smaller, but it is not much different." Wang Jiaping was still very confident about this. Although there was no silver, other raw materials were also what the Great Ming needed.

Western Trade Alliance provides raw materials, Great Ming uses raw materials to produce sufficiently sufficient goods, Global Trade Alliance provides sufficient gold, silver, and red copper and other precious metals, Wanli opens the sea, and the Great Triangle trade is completely stable.

This big breath of the Great Ming, two hundred years of national fortune is in hand.

"And I tell you, the Marquis of Shouli Chen Lin and Lou Hu Luo Shangzhi fought this battle in Annan too well, so that these Western barbarian envoys were all trembling with fear."

"You don't even know, the Grand Minister of Rites Gao complains to me every day, these barbarians have no self-knowledge and are always opening their lions' mouths."

"Now it's good. After one battle, it's immediately quiet, and even the etiquette is complete, and they no longer rely on their barbarian status to ask for sky-high prices, which greatly promoted the establishment of the Western Trade Alliance."

"It is very necessary to declare power overseas." Wang Jiaping talked about the Western Trade Alliance and was also a bit proud.

Just for the merit of the Western Trade Alliance, he, Wang Jiaping, was fully qualified to be buried in the Jinshan Imperial Cemetery after his death. In the future, he would be one of the meritorious officials of the Wanli Reform, and like Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang, Wang Chonggu, Tan Lun, etc., he would leave his name in history and be famous for ages.

"That's good, that's good." Hou Yuzhao's eyes lit up when he heard this.

The Great Ming had a convection around the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, called coal-silver convection. Although few people mentioned it, it did not mean that coal-silver convection was not operating. Coal-silver convection was operating very smoothly.

The opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou road was equal to the Great Ming having another big artery. The Great Ming would build more than a hundred official factories in the north, and the goods-banknote convection could be established again.

Once it is connected, everything is connected. His Majesty does not need to use the endless over-issuance, borrowing from the future, and emptying first, to leave the disaster to his descendants.

Printing money is a lazy government. His Majesty chose a road that is harder to walk. The road of reform was already very difficult to walk, and His Majesty was unwilling to reduce his burden. It could have been lighter. Of course, this is His Majesty's responsibility, one of the cornerstones of His Majesty's reputation.

On the third day of September, the Great Ming Emperor, like a migratory bird, boarded the ship again and left the Yanqing Palace for Yangzhou Prefecture.

In this year, whether it was by boat or by road back to the capital, it was actually very uncomfortable.

The hardship of the journey is by no means an empty word. Zhu Yijun's two trips this year were for the peace and prosperity of the Great Ming. No matter who it was, in this matter, no one could say anything wrong about the Emperor.

To some extent, the Great Ming up and down had actually reached a consensus, that is, His Majesty was indeed a wise monarch. Changing to another one would definitely not be as good as His Majesty. Even the powerful and wealthy would not be better off.

Because His Majesty hoped for the development of the Great Ming, not for the powerful and wealthy to die. Changing to another person, without His Majesty's talent, in order to seek profit, it is hard to guarantee that he will not kill the chicken to get the eggs.

His Majesty never did things that killed the chicken to get the eggs, but let the powerful and wealthy be the chickens that lay golden eggs.

For this responsibility, the wealthy households were quite satisfied. The utilization value of the chicken that lays golden eggs was extremely high, which meant that His Majesty would not kill the chicken easily, but would raise it well.

What people fear most is not being used, but having no utilization value.

Zhu Yijun returned to the capital on the nineteenth day of September. After getting off the carriage at Zhaoyang Gate, he looked around and said to Feng Bao, who came to greet him, with some confusion: "Feng Banban, I stayed in Songjiang Prefecture twice this year, and there was no accident. Unlike Emperor Shizong, let alone southern tours, there was danger living in the palace."

"The capital is also calm." Feng Bao's words were even a bit regretful.

Although Feng Bao had retired, he was still the old ancestor in the palace. After the Emperor left the capital, he and Luo Sigong protected the safety of the Crown Prince together.

Feng Bao had already thought about his own ending. Someone wanted to deal with the Crown Prince and kill the Emperor's prestige. Feng Bao, as the old ancestor, stood up after His Majesty left the capital and died to protect the Crown Prince!

What an ultimate ending!

In the future, he would be a wise eunuch of the Great Ming. He didn't dare to say he was as famous as the Three Treasures Eunuch, but he could also be under the Three Treasures Eunuch.

For this, the Crown Prince's food and daily life were all taken care of by him personally, especially the luxury members he made for his own compensation, just for the posthumous reputation of loyalty to the monarch, leaving his name in history.

However, those cowardly, ugly, and dirty monsters didn't even have the courage to challenge His Majesty! ===== CHAPTER 1065 =====

In the future, he would be a virtuous eunuch of the Great Ming; while I dare not say he would be as famous as Eunuch Sanbao, he would certainly be able to rank just below him.

For this reason, Feng Bao personally attended to the Crown Prince's diet and daily life, especially the luxury dishes he prepared himself, all for the sake of a posthumous reputation of loyalty to the monarch, to be remembered in history.

Yet, those cowardly, ugly, and filthy monsters and demons didn't even have that much courage!