Chapter 344: The final feast of fine-spun wool

"Mercy does not command troops" and "loving soldiers like sons" seem contradictory and opposite, but in fact, they are talking about the same thing.

On the battlefield that determines fate, one cannot command troops with mercy; no matter what, one cannot retreat, because behind the army are the common people of the Great Ming. Only by loving soldiers like sons in peacetime can one fulfill the mission that a violent machine should have in major battles.

The Great Ming Emperors, Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di, Renzong Zhu Zhu Gaochi, and Xuan Sect Zhu Zhu Zhanji, could all go to the capital camp to inspect the troops for several years in a row, but Yingzong Zhu Zhu Qizhen stopped this item because he ascended the throne at the age of nine. In the Battle of Tumu, the combat effectiveness of the Great Ming's capital camp was already not as good as it was at the beginning, so defeat became a matter of course.

Military operations have always been like this. No matter what happens in the middle, the purpose of a military operation is only one, and that is victory.

Zhu Zhu Yijun did not want the soldiers to take risks, which was loving soldiers like sons, and it was also out of economic considerations. The Great Ming dynasty now had silver forming a dam in major cities, which needed to be digested for a period of time. The Great Ming's fine-spun wool could reflect the liquidity of silver. When the price of fine-spun wool rose steadily, it meant that the liquidity of silver was decreasing. When the price of fine-spun wool fluctuated violently, it meant that the liquidity of silver was increasing. The collapse of fine-spun wool meant the robustness of the Great Ming's monetary policy.

The Great Ming's demand for silver is infinite, like a glutton who eats as much as he has. But the digestion speed, that is, the circulation speed of silver from the city to the countryside, needs to be regulated.

Zhu Zhu Yijun is the biggest manipulator of the fine-spun wool plate. The slowing down of silver inflow is not entirely a bad thing for the Great Ming.

"Wait a little longer. If the West's large sailing ships don't come within five years, the Great Ming's large sailing ships will go over. The ocean-crossing ships were indeed designed to cross the ocean, but the Great Ming does not have enough crew members to operate large ships to cross the ocean." Zhu Zhu Yijun looked at Deng Deng Zilong and made his final decision.

He looked at Deng Deng Zilong's slightly puzzled expression and explained further: "The old case of the seven voyages to the Western Ocean contains many star-charting and ocean-crossing maps. We can digest them completely, update the needle charts, and after digesting the known routes, then explore."

"Captain Antonio offered many treasures, but he did not share his most precious navigation experience. This is a field we need to explore ourselves."

"General, what do you think is the chance of Antonio winning the Portuguese throne?"

Deng Deng Zilong understood the Emperor's reason for temporarily not conducting large-scale ocean exploration. The Great Ming had its own mature routes. The star-charting and ocean-crossing maps left by Zheng He still had guiding significance for current maritime trade. The Great Ming needed to digest these sea charts and understand the ocean better before exploring and taking risks.

"He should be able to win. He obtained twelve five-masted ocean-crossing ships!" Deng Deng Zilong was very optimistic about Antonio. With the Great Ming Emperor's investment, Antonio's success rate in competing for the throne in the West would be further improved.

"I think he is very unlikely to succeed." Zhu Zhu Yijun was not optimistic about Antonio's journey. Philip II's martial virtue was extremely abundant, and his army was very capable of fighting. Antonio only had the support of the common people, but where are these common people? In the struggle for the throne, how much influence does the support of the common people have?

This war situation could not be swayed by twelve five-masted ocean-crossing ships.

Deng Deng Zilong actually understood the Emperor's pessimism very well. The reason was very simple: Antonio's foundation was very thin.

Deng Deng Zilong chatted with His Majesty for a long time before leaving. Deng Deng Zilong would stay in the capital for half a month and then return to Luzon after his ship was repaired.

Zhu Zhu Yijun took out a miscellaneous newspaper. An article in it caught Zhu Zhu Yijun's attention. It was a discussion on whether to go to war with Altan Khan again.

Huang Huang Yuezhong, a hermit from Kunming Mountain, opposed going to war with Altan Khan again. The starting point of his opposition was that the Great Ming's continued investment in the conquest of Altan Khan was instead raising Altan Khan's status.

The mutual conquest between the Great Ming and Altan Khan lasted for 25 years during the Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Longqing periods. On this gambling table, every time the Great Ming placed a bet, Altan Khan used military victory to win more chips with a small bet, raising his own status.

After the Emperor Longqing peace talks, Altan Khan could no longer raise his status through military games with the Great Ming. Moreover, with the rise of the peace faction represented by Sanniangzi, Altan Khan's status within the internal strife was constantly decreasing. If the Great Ming continued to invest, it would undoubtedly provide Altan Khan with an opportunity for games, or a reason to completely control the Great Ming's Jin country again.

This viewpoint of Huang Huang Yuezhong was very novel. Zhu Zhu Yijun found that what he said was not unreasonable.

Altan Khan had fought all his life and rarely lost. He only suffered a few losses in the hands of Ma Fang and Qi Qi Jiguang. If the war between the Great Ming and Altan Khan started again, Altan Khan's military talent could be brought into play. By then, the situation would instead become unfavorable to the Great Ming.

The idea Huang Huang Yuezhong gave was to wait—wait for Altan Khan to die himself. Altan Khan was already very old, so old that he could not effectively contain his own headquarters. As long as Altan Khan died, the main war faction among the Northern Barbarians would become leaderless. That time would be the best opportunity. Before that, the Great Ming should sleep with their weapons and train enough cavalry.

For this miscellaneous newspaper, Zhu Zhu Yijun specially asked Yu Yu Dayou, Qi Qi Jiguang, and Tan Lun to study it. Even the most radical Tan Lun was moved by Huang Huang Yuezhong's statement. His Majesty was only 17 years old and could wait, but Altan Khan was already old.

Qi Qi Jiguang believed that what Huang Huang Yuezhong said was not unreasonable. It was mainly because the Great Ming could do nothing now. Without cavalry, conquering Altan Khan was just sending food to Altan Khan, giving Altan Khan capital for military and political struggles, and also giving Altan Khan reasons and excuses for economic extortion.

The cultivation of warhorses is not putting horses on the grassland and then selecting from them. If you do that, no matter how good the horses are, they will become big-headed, thick-necked, short-eared, small-statured, and short-legged with poor endurance, which is actually very close to the physique of a donkey. Breeding warhorses requires good stallions—that is, large frames and strong endurance—and then feeding them with grain for several years, crossbreeding with similar good horses, and then selecting from the offspring.

The cultivation of warhorses requires a very long time. The progress of the Great Ming's cavalry formation is not slow. It just depends on whether Altan Khan dies of illness first or the Great Ming's cavalry possesses strong combat effectiveness first.

And another miscellaneous newspaper, the content of which was "People's Newspaper," contained some interesting cases that made people laugh.

A wealthy household surnamed Zou in the West City had an only son named Zou Zou Dalang. Because he was relatively stupid, he had never found a wife. A matchmaker came to propose marriage, but the mother-in-law's side was difficult to deal with, and he couldn't even see the bride. As a result, after paying 120 taels of silver, he still didn't see the girl.

Zou's mother felt something was wrong and went to the Shuntian Prefecture office to report the case. Upon investigation, she found that the matchmaker, the mother-in-law, and the bride were all impersonated by the matchmaker herself, playing three roles and deceiving the Zou Zou Dalang family. This was fraud. Zou's mother wanted to pursue it, but Zou Zou Dalang refused. Instead, this Zou Zou Dalang wanted to marry the person according to the matchmaker's words.

This matchmaker was 24 years old, a widow, still charming. This Zou Zou Dalang insisted on marrying her. The matchmaker did not want to be exiled, so she had to marry him. As a result, just two months after the marriage, this Zou Zou Dalang died from overwork.

This suddenly became a strange case. Zou's mother cried, and the new bride also cried. This Shuntian Prefecture Assistant Prefect Wang Wang Yie was a bit stupid. How to judge this?

What is more interesting is that later Zou's mother went to the office to cancel the case because the new bride, the matchmaker, was pregnant. Zou's mother felt that it was considered having descendants, and this new bride really gave birth to a son.

Zhu Zhu Yijun liked reading miscellaneous newspapers, especially this "People's Newspaper" that did not talk about current affairs but only cared about the lives of the common people. It was Zhu Zhu Yijun's favorite miscellaneous newspaper.

"Have there been any movements from those wealthy households that migrated from Xitucheng since Yao Xu Guangqi left?" Zhu Zhu Yijun asked about the wealthy households that migrated from Xitucheng. With the departure of Yao Xu Guangqi, the representative figure, the cohesion of the wealthy households in Xitucheng had dropped a lot.

"Your Majesty, people like Yao Xu Guangqi are not easy to find. He fought with Wang Qian in the capital for so long without falling behind, and occasionally could take advantage. There are only so many wealthy households in Xitucheng, so no one else can be found to take the lead." Feng Bao explained with a smile.

The work Yao Xu Guangqi did, to put it nicely, was to fight for the right to speak for the wealthy households in Xitucheng; to put it bluntly, it was testing on the edge of death. Fortunately, the Great Ming Emperor was a reasonable person and did not put a few "shit basins" on Yao Xu Guangqi's head, otherwise Yao Xu Guangqi would have died long ago.

Such people were not many to begin with, and among the wealthy households in Xitucheng, there were even fewer people who dared to take the lead and could take the lead.

Zhu Zhu Yijun actually hoped that Xitucheng would produce a few people like Zhang Zhang Siwei or Cheng Ji. Zhang Zhang Siwei directed slaves to enter the palace to burn the palace, and Cheng Ji drew his sword to commit regicide, stabbing him, with the blade coming out of his back, and the Son of Heaven died in the carriage.

In this way, the contradictions would be directly intensified to an irreconcilable state, and the gentle literary struggle could be directly upgraded to an armed struggle to suppress the rebellion, and the entire Xitucheng would be razed to the ground.

Clearly, the Great Ming Emperor was very radical in this regard, and the wealthy households in Xitucheng were not stupid. Migrating wealthy households to enrich the capital was originally the Great Ming imperial court treating the wealthy households somewhat unfairly. They were attached to their land and moved their families to move here. You, the imperial court, wanted me to move my family, and I obeyed the order. You, the imperial court, still want to kill my whole family? That is the country losing its great trust.

The migrated wealthy households knew very well that as long as they did not commit any principled mistakes, the Great Ming imperial court had no reason to excessively criticize them.

Everyone thought that Deng Deng Zilong came to the capital to ask the Emperor for five-masted ocean-crossing ships. The atmosphere inside and outside the capital was still very harmonious. Everyone's interest in this vassal state isolated overseas, Luzon, was far less than their interest in the "Guoxingye" of Luzon. The rumors that the Guoxingye had 108 concubines in Luzon, that the Guoxingye had countless gold and silver mountains in Luzon, and that the Guoxingye was the illegitimate son of the old Zhu family were countless.

Soon, no one cared what Deng Deng Zilong came to the capital to do, because the price of fine-spun wool began to fall. At first, it was thought to be a technical adjustment, but soon, the price of fine-spun wool dived four times in one day. When all the speculators holding silk currency were still wondering why it suddenly plummeted, a piece of news spread like wildfire.

The news that the large sailing ships overseas could not arrive at the port on time and that the silver inflow was about to be cut in half spread throughout the capital like it had grown wings. At this time, everyone knew why the price of fine-spun wool had plummeted.

The Jin faction, led by Wang Wang Chonggu, had already left the market at the beginning of last year, because wealthy households like Wang Wang Chonggu were very afraid of risks. Violent price fluctuations indeed represented profit, but also represented huge risks. And some big households received the news in advance and shipped out together when Zhu Zhu Yijun started to smash the market. The price of one foot of fine-spun wool plummeted from 17 silver to 7 silver. After a short pull-up, it plummeted directly to 3 silver the next day.

Zhu Zhu Yijun held a large amount of fine-spun wool and chose to ship out directly to smash the market. This was actually telling all the speculators that if they didn't sell, it would only rot in their hands.

On the 4th day of the fourth month of the seventh year of Emperor Wanli, when the trading house on the first floor of the Yanxing Building opened, countless speculators flooded into the first floor of the Yanxing Building and began to hang up the fine-spun wool in their hands for sale. This panic caused by the plunge caused the price to drop again.

The Great Ming Emperor Zhu Zhu Yijun came to the Yanxing Building quietly with a group of people in the afternoon. Looking at the human tragedy on the first floor, his expression was calm. He did not pity these speculators, because everyone treated the Yanxing Building as a big gambling house, and everyone here was a gambler.

"The price is still too expensive. Originally, one foot of large cloth only needed 7 *qian* of silver. Now it is still 2 *liang* and 1 *qian* of silver. It is still too expensive." Zhu Zhu Yijun stood at the railing, looked at the human tragedy, and said to Zhang Zhang Juzheng and Wang Wang Chonggu in a very cold tone.

This plate still had to be smashed.

"Your Majesty, human greed is insatiable. They knew that this day would definitely come, but they were convinced that the one who would be unlucky in the end would definitely not be themselves. Beating the drum and passing the flower, in the end, the flower still fell into their own hands." Zhang Zhang Juzheng looked at the despair of those people and said without any indifference.

Wang Wang Chonggu's expression was extremely complex. He smiled and said: "Your Majesty, these people reached out to the poor people, so it is time for their despair."

Zhu Zhu Yijun's market-smashing behavior was not a temporary idea, but a rule set at the beginning of the fine-spun wool business. Zhu Zhu Yijun had told Wang Wang Chonggu that once these speculators reached out to the common people, he would overturn the table. And these speculators were really prepared to reach out to the common people.

The minimum trading unit for fine-spun wool is one foot. The ordinary common people of the Great Ming could not afford it at all. And the speculators sold a kind of "cloth ticket" in the cloth shops. Holding ten of these cloth tickets could be exchanged for one foot of fine-spun wool. When this kind of business appeared, Zhu Zhu Yijun launched a market-smashing, coupled with the negative news that the Western large sailing ships could not arrive at the port on time. Under the dual effect, this terrible sell-off was triggered.

Zhu Zhu Yijun did not interfere too much with fine-spun wool. As a dealer, he naturally would not lose money, and he rarely interfered with price fluctuations. But this game of beating the drum and passing the flower could not turn from the carnival of speculators into a gamble where the poor people exhausted everything.

"Who are those people?" Zhu Zhu Yijun frowned, looked at the gate of the Yanxing Building, and found a group of people wearing damask and silk flooding into the trading house.

Feng Bao whispered a few words in the ear of a small eunuch. The small eunuch walked down the stairs and disappeared at the corner of the stairs.

Zhu Zhu Yijun immediately realized that there were new players entering the market. The reason for the plunge in the price of fine-spun wool, besides the Emperor smashing the market and the panic caused by unfavorable news, was that the big players in this market had less silver in their hands.

And now, new big players began to enter the market, and new silver entered the market.

"Today, as much fine-spun wool as there is, eat it all." When these people entered the door, the leader took out a handful of silver notes, placed them on the table in front of the waiter at the counter, and shouted loudly.

The waiter smiled and said: "May I ask where you gentlemen are from? There is quite a lot of fine-spun wool today."

"You are doing business, why are you asking about my background? I have plenty of silver!" This person said impatiently: "I am not the owner either; I am just taking silver to do things. You can just call me Huang San."

"Huang San, honored guest, please come this way." When the waiter heard this, he understood. This "Huang San" was a pseudonym. His identity was likely a steward of a wealthy household, or perhaps a broker for a bank. The Yanxing Building was doing business and had no reason to push people away.

Huang San's triangular eyes were hanging upside down, and fierce light appeared. "Appearance comes from the heart." Huang San was indeed ruthless in doing things and never spoke of feelings. He held hundreds of thousands of silver in his hands. These silver were not his, but were handed to him by some wealthy households behind him. Huang San had been waiting for the opportunity. Now the price of fine-spun wool had fallen to the level he thought was suitable for entering the market.

Huang San followed the waiter into the side room. Not long after, the price of fine-spun wool began to rise, from 2 *liang* and 1 *qian* per foot, immediately soaring to 7 *liang* and 4 *qian*. The recovery of the price made the atmosphere of the entire trading house harmonious. Those who had originally hung up their signs immediately chose to remove them, and the price became higher.

"Your Majesty, this person's name is Huang Huang Zhaoxun, nickname Huang San, from Haining, Zhejiang. The Chen family in Haining started from Chen Shiliang in the Later Tang Dynasty and originated in the early Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, the imperial concubine Wu of Emperor Gaozong of Song was seriously ill. The Chen family's ancestor was an imperial physician and brought her back to health. He was awarded a royal fan, served as a Hanlin scholar, and was granted the title of Golden Purple Good Physician of the Hanlin Academy, supervising medical officials inside and outside. Since then, it has been prosperous." Feng Bao told the Emperor everything he had found out.

"Selling medicine." Zhu Zhu Yijun immediately understood the origin of this family.

Selling smiles cannot sell medicine, and selling medicine cannot sell sugar. This medicine-selling business is much more profitable than selling smiles, so it is understandable that their family foundation is indeed thick.

And this Huang San was a house dog of the Chen family in Haining, and also a broker for the wealthy households that migrated from Xitucheng. The fine-spun wool business had clearly been coveted by these migrated wealthy households for a long time, and now they finally waited for the opportunity.

The panic was contained, and the price of silk currency began to stabilize.

"Your Majesty, should we continue to release silk currency?" Feng Bao asked with some hesitation. Whether to continue smashing the market was up to the Emperor.

"Don't rush. Play with him. Not many people know the news that the large sailing ships cannot arrive at the port on time. I want to see how long he can stabilize it." Zhu Zhu Yijun stretched out a hand, signaling Feng Bao not to worry. The panic had not yet reached its peak, and the wave of sell-offs had not yet reached its highest point.

Zhu Zhu Yijun thought for a while and said: "Imperial Guard Commander, send someone to spread the news."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Zhao Zhao Mengyou bowed and left. The efficiency of passive dissemination of news was far less than active dissemination, and various versions of the news began to appear.

The news that the large sailing ships could not arrive at the port soon turned into the Great Ming being defeated by the red-haired barbarians in the South Seas, and not a single tael of silver would flow into the Great Ming this year.

The speculators of the Great Ming knew very well the relationship between fine-spun wool and silver inflow. After learning this news, more people flooded into the trading house.

Huang San had been sitting in the trading house. Just as he said, as much fine-spun wool as there was in the Yanxing Building today, he would take it all. However, even with him sitting here, the price of fine-spun wool was still plummeting at a speed visible to the naked eye. When the market closed in the evening, the silk currency closed at 3 *liang* and 5 *qian* of silver per foot.

On the afternoon of the second day, Zhu Zhu Yijun still came to the Yanxing Building. Huang San was still there, and the price was still falling.

"He is panicked. He should be running out of silver to cover the bottom." Zhu Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair and said with a smile: "Smash 1,000 bolts first to test his silver."

The fine-spun wool quotation was 6 *qian* lower than yesterday, reaching 2 *liang* and 9 *qian*. And Zhu Zhu Yijun smashed 1,000 bolts at once. One bolt was 50 feet, and these 1,000 bolts were worth 145,000 silver.

When 1,000 bolts appeared on the board, Huang San was obviously panicked. He was sweating profusely, but he still ate the 1,000 bolts of fine-spun wool with extreme difficulty.

Zhu Zhu Yijun already knew Huang San's bottom. It was about the same as the bottom line he had built yesterday. If the price still couldn't stabilize after eating it, he would be killed by his own master.

Zhu Zhu Yijun saw Huang San's reaction and said to Feng Bao: "Smash another 2,000 bolts."

Zhang Zhang Juzheng, seeing this, frowned and asked: "How much fine-spun wool does Your Majesty still have?"

"About 15,000 bolts." Zhu Zhu Yijun answered his question truthfully. He had prepared nearly 20,000 bolts of fine-spun wool for this market-smashing. He could not precisely control the price of fine-spun wool, but he could definitely guarantee that he could call a stop to this game.

When the 2,000 bolts of fine-spun wool appeared on the board, Huang San collapsed on the ground. He knew that everything was over. At the final feast of fine-spun wool, he became the meat on the chopping board.

When Huang San was in a hurry to hang up his inventory for sale, Zhu Zhu Yijun smashed out another 10,000 bolts, a terrifying quantity. The price of fine-spun wool dropped directly from 2 *liang* and 1 *qian* to 7 *qian*. At this point, this market-smashing action finally ended.

Huang San sat blankly in the corner. Until now, he could not understand one thing: why did the dealer want to smash the market?

The wealthy households in the capital could guess who the owner of the Yanxing Building was. It was either the Imperial Manor or the Quanchu Guild Hall. Therefore, the dealer of fine-spun wool was either the Emperor or Zhang Zhang Juzheng.

Huang San could not understand why the Great Ming Emperor or Zhang Zhang Juzheng would be willing to destroy this treasure bowl. The price of fine-spun wool at more than ten silver per foot made the Great Ming Woolen Official Factory earn until their scalps were numb, and the 0.3% commission of the trading house made the Yanxing Building earn a fortune. This fine-spun wool business was a treasure bowl!

And the dealer was actually willing to smash this treasure bowl!

This was completely beyond Huang San's expectations. Which gambling house owner would be willing to dismantle a well-managed gambling house?

Huang San thought that when the price was low enough, the dealer would come out to cover the bottom. Huang San thought that the dealer would not be willing to destroy this priceless treasure bowl. But when the price touched 7 *qian* of silver per foot, Huang San knew that this time next year would probably be his death anniversary.

Zhu Zhu Yijun swept his cold eyes over the desperate faces of the speculators again and left with his hands behind his back. The fine-spun wool business ended completely from today.

"Master wants to enrich the country and strengthen the army. I destroyed this trading house with my own hands. Master, don't blame me." Zhu Zhu Yijun smashed a treasure bowl with his own hands. He really wanted to know Zhang Zhang Juzheng's opinion on this.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng did not express any opposition during Zhu Zhu Yijun's market-smashing process and let the Emperor act. Now that the treasure bowl had been smashed, how did Zhang Zhang Juzheng judge it?

"Your Majesty, I presided over the new policy under the banner of enriching the country and strengthening the army. Accumulating wealth and promoting profit is indeed necessary, but some money is better not earned." Zhang Zhang Juzheng bowed again: "Your Majesty, the people are the foundation of the country. If the foundation is solid, the country will be peaceful. These speculators, they shouldn't have let the common people participate in it."

The reason for smashing the treasure bowl was the appearance of cloth tickets that divided one foot of cloth into a hundred parts. The business had changed its nature when it reached this point. There was no need for it to continue to exist.

"Master is righteous." Zhu Zhu Yijun knew Zhang Zhang Juzheng's temper very well. If he was really dissatisfied with the treasure bowl being smashed, he would definitely say it to his face. In the 32nd year of Emperor Jiajing, the Daoist master was scolded by Zhang Zhang Juzheng in a memorial. Zhang Zhang Juzheng's character was like this; he really spoke his mind.

Wang Wang Chonggu looked at those wailing speculators and revealed a cruel smile.

Recommend a book, "Returning to 07, Others Listen to Advice, I Become a Male God."

Introduction: As the saying goes, listen to advice and eat well. And Cao Yang, who likes to persuade others, started to enjoy life and live freely from the day he successfully persuaded others!

This is a wonderful story of a life starting over!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 345 =====

"Teacher is righteous." Zhu Zhu Yijun knew Zhang Zhang Juzheng's temper very well. If he were truly dissatisfied with the treasure bowl being smashed, he would definitely say it to his face. In the thirty-second year of Emperor Jiajing, even the Daoist Master was scolded by Zhang Zhang Juzheng in a memorial. Zhang Zhang Juzheng's character was just like this; he really said what he had to say directly.

Wang Wang Chonggu looked at those wailing speculators and revealed a cruel smile.

Recommending a book, Returning to 07, Others Listen to Advice, I Become a Male God

Introduction: As the saying goes, listening to advice leads to a full meal. And Cao Yang, who likes to advise others, starts to enjoy life and live life to the fullest from the day he successfully advises others!

This is a wonderful story of a life starting over!

(End of chapter)