Chapter 546

In the first year of Emperor Wanli, 6.5 million taels of silver flowed into the Great Ming. In the eleventh year of Emperor Wanli, even if there was no increase in coastal trade, there was now an ocean-going fleet bringing silver back. This time, the ocean-going trade brought back 3.23 million taels of silver.

This means that the inflow of silver in the eleventh year of Emperor Wanli might increase to the tens of millions level, and since the Great Ming can only mint 2.5 million silver coins this year, it means that silver will experience larger-scale congestion in major shipping offices, the capital, the Southern Capital, Songjiang Prefecture, Guangzhou Prefecture, and other places.

More debts are owed.

Bai Yin is actually not very convenient for circulation, because silver ingots need to be broken for change, which requires verifying authenticity, and also requires cutting the silver for change, which is very troublesome.

If one wants to spend silver, one must carry three things when going out: scissors, a small scale (dengzi), and wax blocks. Scissors are for cutting silver, and the small scale is a tiny scale, down to the "li" (a unit of weight), used in the Great Ming specifically for weighing gold, silver, precious medicines, and spices.

Wax blocks are used for sticking to silver shavings—that is, the silver fragments that fall off when cutting silver—accumulating them over time, and then melting and forging them.

In daily use, one has to carry these three things when going out to prevent short-changing. In large-scale trade, silver counterfeiting is truly ingenious among Great Ming craftsmen; there are too many such means. In large-scale transactions, every ingot of silver must be cut open to prevent embedded cores.

Therefore, silver is not convenient for circulation; silver coins are currency.

Dredging silver means allowing silver to circulate, from the south to the north, from cities to the countryside, which is extremely, extremely difficult. Not to mention anything else, just the first hurdle of minting silver coins is very difficult.

Only 2.5 million imperial silver coins can be minted in a year. The Great Ming is so large, what can such a small amount of silver coins do?

"This is truly a happy problem. Before, there was no silver to spend; now, there is too much silver." Zhu Zhu Yijun put away the memorial in his hand and said to Feng Bao, "Have the Junior Minister of the Court of Ceremonial, Gao Zhu Qiyu, and Xu Xu Jiugao go to Tianjin Prefecture to welcome the return of the Great Ming heroes."

Zhu Zhu Yijun certainly wouldn't blame the Imperial Academy of Sciences, nor would he feel that the Academy was incompetent. In this day and age, no one would feel that the Five Classics Doctors of the Academy were nothing more than that. Each of the Five Classics Doctors was a god-like figure; the Academy had truly tried its best!

The Great Ming needs more, more talent! In every industry, in every aspect!

Gao Zhu Qiyu had once traveled to the West on a large junk and returned to the Great Ming after traveling around the world. Xu Xu Jiugao was the captain of the Great Ming's first circumnavigation. Now, both are Junior Ministers in the Court of Ceremonial, and Xu Xu Jiugao is Gao Zhu Qiyu's deputy.

Gao Zhu Qiyu, Xu Xu Jiugao, Liu Ji, and Chen Chen Tianrui are the pillars of the Great Ming's ocean-going trade today. And the former two must ensure that they exert a key influence on the Great Ming's maritime opening policy in the imperial court, so that the Great Ming does not repeat the situation of "flipping pancakes" (reversing policies) as before.

The Great Ming must never lose the ocean again.

Given the reliance of the Emperor, the imperial court, and the Great Ming economy on silver, banning the sea again would be a suicidal act of cutting one's own throat. It would be better to just find a rope and hang oneself on the mountain behind.

On May 7th of the eleventh year of Emperor Wanli, Gao Zhu Qiyu and Xu Xu Jiugao welcomed Liu Ji and Chen Chen Tianrui.

Also going to welcome the ships was the third-ranking person in the palace, Li Li Yougong. Li Li Yougong spent more time out of the palace than in it. He came to welcome the people, or rather, to welcome the silver.

There was also a supervising eunuch named Chen Zeng, 21 years old, who was one of the Emperor's sparring eunuchs. Chen Zeng was responsible for one thing on the ship: leading the secret agents and guarding His Majesty the Emperor's silver.

According to the principle of "three horses sharing the fat" in the Great Ming palace, one-tenth of the silver guarded by Chen Zeng would fall into the hands of Chen Zeng and the secret agents he led.

Chen Zeng's older brother was the most capable of the sparring eunuchs, Li Li Yougong. Li Li Yougong could fight to a draw with Luo Luo Sigong, and Luo Luo Sigong's strength was second only to His Majesty's, which could be described as skilled in archery and horsemanship. Li Li Yougong could shoot with both hands, and he also had some military talent.

There were quite a few eunuchs in the Great Ming with military talent, such as Zheng He, Liu Liu Yongcheng, and the Western Depot Supervisor Wang Zhi.

The operation of the Imperial Estates was also like this. One-tenth of the profits from the Imperial Estates led by Feng Bao would be distributed to the eunuchs as performance bonuses. Zhang Hong was in charge of the palace's accounts, and Inner Treasury Eunuch Cui Min was Zhang Hong's foster son. This faction led by Zhang Hong was mainly in charge of maritime investment, and one-tenth of the profits from this part belonged to Zhang Hong for distribution.

The Emperor did not allow eunuchs to take silver from outside the palace, but allowed eunuchs to take silver from the Emperor's hands. Therefore, the current eunuchs were mainly "impenetrable."

How much silver could they embezzle? During the During Zhengtong period, Wang Zhen made people furious; 1,000 taels of silver was enough to have a meal with Wang Zhen.

The salt permits given to Feng Bao by court officials were only worth 100 taels of silver each time.

Feng Bao had the greatest power, Zhang Hong received the most dividends, and Li Li Yougong's faction worked the hardest but received the least. They didn't have much silver to share before, but now they finally had dividends from the profits of ocean-going trade.

Li Li Yougong personally came to Tianjin Guard. After welcoming the ships, he chatted with Chen Zeng for a few words and immediately beamed with joy. Eunuchs had no sons, which made them particularly obsessed with silver. This time, the dividends exceeded 150,000 silver.

"Now, after going around in circles, the problem has returned to the old problem from before." Gao Zhu Qiyu looked at the accounts and finally shook his head.

Then, did Liu Ji, Chen Chen Tianrui, and others who were responsible for leading the fleet have no silver to share?

The civil officials on the ship took their share in advance. Whose goods were brought, how much was brought, how the purchasing price was decided—all were decided by Liu Ji, Chen Chen Tianrui, and others. Therefore, they actually did get silver, but only heaven knows how much they actually got.

Liu Ji, Chen Chen Tianrui, and others didn't even know how much silver they had gotten themselves, because the value of some things was not easy to measure—such as fame, connections, control over social resources, and leaving a name in history. How much silver could buy these?

Just for leaving a name in history, Liu Ji and others gained more than Yang Bo.

In the end, the ship's most hardworking boatmen, sailors, and soldiers were the ones who got the least. All they could get were the Emperor's rewards, an increase in social status, and a portion of the dividends from maritime trade profits.

The logic of the world's operation seems to have always been like this: those who do the most get the least.

Li Li Yougong frowned and asked, "What old problem?"

Gao Zhu Qiyu sighed and said, "The imperial court's official ships and official trade—the profits of ocean-going trade are so thick that everyone covets them. But ocean-going trade can only be organized by Great Ming official ships. The common people simply don't have this ability and can't afford this risk. It's exactly the same as the predicament at the beginning of the Yongle period."

Ocean-going maritime trade can only be conducted by Great Ming official ships. The profits here are high, but the risks are also great: harsh weather, fierce indigenous people, pirates in the shadows, greedy tax officials, etc. Great Ming merchant ships cannot stuff 18-pound cannons into the mouths of tax officials along the way to make them calm down.

In other words, history is a circle, going around and around, returning to the initial contradiction: the contradiction of the distribution of thick maritime trade profits.

During the Yongle period, it was Zhu Di, or the Inner Treasury, that ate the "exclusive meal."

"Then let's just have official ships and official trade." Li Li Yougong said indifferently, "His Majesty is in the prime of his life. Let's just run the official ships and official trade first. Once the road is smooth and wide, the common people's merchant ships will naturally be able to go."

"The Great Ming needs silver. Other contradictions are secondary contradictions. Letting silver flow in more smoothly is the fundamental thing."

Li Li Yougong was very good at the "contradiction theory," knowing what was light and what was heavy, what was urgent and what was slow. Bai Yin was what the Great Ming urgently needed. In fact, this could be reflected in this ocean-going trade. The Great Ming only started large-scale loading of cargo in India after sailing empty from the West, and because it was afraid of harming the cotton farmers in Songjiang and Shandong, it only brought back 100,000 bags of cotton, and only filled the cargo holds in Luzon.

The world needs the Great Ming's goods, and the Great Ming only needs the world's silver. This resulted in the Great Ming's trade surplus and Spain's trade deficit.

Therefore, the contradiction between the Great Ming and Spain, the maritime hegemon, is essentially a silver contradiction.

The Great Ming does not need goods from other countries, so the Spaniards had to use the silver and silver dollars they plundered from the New World, such as Mexico and Peru, to exchange with the Great Ming, from which they obtained profits of 600% or 800%.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng was very appreciative of Liu Ji's judgment, because the trade deficit was also a problem that Philip II had to face.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng thought for a long time and said with certainty, "If he wants war, the Great Ming will give him war! Even if he is far away in the West and the Great Ming is beyond its reach, the Portuguese King Antonio is in the West."

Zhang Zhang Juzheng said sternly, "I will report this matter to His Majesty tomorrow. Special Envoy Liu, you must report this matter to His Majesty."

As the hegemon of the West, Philip II, who possessed the Invincible Armada, likely could not tolerate the Great Ming repeatedly harming Spain's interests.

The Great Ming's conquest of Luzon, the Great Ming's support for Antonio, and the Great Ming's circumnavigation trade all tangibly harmed Philip II's interests.

"Of the private markets raided so far, their tax rates are actually quite high. For example, the seven private markets in Sandu'ao generally have a tax rate of 30%. Why smuggle? Because their ships are full of contraband," Liu Ji himself is a desperate person, and he knows desperate people very well.

Of course, they don't want to pay taxes. Most of the people who set up private markets are sea merchants themselves. They set up private markets to avoid taxes. Of course, they don't have to pay, but if others want to trade in the private market, it's a heavy tax.

The existence of private markets is mainly to avoid taxes, and also to transport contraband.

An impossible triangle has appeared: complete freedom, a safe marine environment, and stable inflow of silver. If you have two, you must lose one. The Great Ming chose to lose complete freedom, wanting to collect taxes, crack down on smuggling, and prohibit contraband from entering the Great Ming.

Complete freedom can ensure the stable inflow of silver, because the Great Ming's Fujian and Zhejiang are silver-producing provinces. These two silver-producing provinces can mine as much as 100,000 taels of silver a year! For the Great Ming, this cannot be said to be a drop in the bucket, it can only be said to be a drop in the ocean.

So if it is completely free, the merchant ships of the Western red-haired foreigners and golden-haired foreigners can enter and exit freely without paying taxes, and silver will still continue to flow in stably.

Complete freedom can actually ensure a safe marine environment. Completely lift the ban on cannons, firearms, and gunpowder. Everyone holds cannons, and every merchant ship is equipped with 18-jin cannons. If everyone is a pirate, there are no pirates!

Currently, the West is taking this route, robbing everywhere. Of course, legitimate businessmen just stop doing business if they can't. The appearance of privateering licenses and the piracy of the entire West is an irreversible trend.

The reason why the Great Ming is not suitable for this route of complete freedom is that the Great Ming can be decent, be a businessman, and earn silver standing up.

"This long-distance merchant fleet was organized by the five major long-distance merchant firms. The imperial court ate the meat, and the common people drank some soup. It's not bad. If you want more, if you want to eat meat, then you can only let them not even drink the soup," Li Li Yougong thought for a long time. This impossible triangle has no solution.

After the discussion on the impossible triangle was finished, Liu Ji looked at everyone and said, "Transporting opium from the Yuanxu Islands to the West is a 1,000-fold profit."

"1,000-fold profit?!" Li Li Yougong looked at Liu Ji in a daze. This profit margin was truly astonishing.

The gap between 100-fold and 1,000-fold is a gap in order of magnitude.

"One mu of land produces 1.5 jin of opium, which is one and a half opium balls. In the Yuanxu Islands, one opium ball only costs 3 taels of silver, while one opium ball sells for 3,000 taels of silver in the West," Liu Ji took out another trade list. This list listed the sales volume and prices of three goods: khat, opium, and ayahuasca.

Liu Ji looked at the goods in his hands. These three are all strong hallucinogens, and the profits are frighteningly high.

Chen Chen Tianrui also said with emotion, "Even if transported to the Great Ming, one opium ball costs 2,000 taels. It wasn't this expensive before. The more the imperial court bans it, the higher the price, and the more people will take risks. In order to pass customs, they really use all their skills. The repeated prohibition of private markets also has reasons for this."

"Ban, it must be banned. Freedom is impossible," Li Li Yougong looked at everyone and said, "It's best not to think about lobbying His Majesty to earn this kind of silver. His Majesty only has one attitude toward these things: Ban!"

"However, the tea and coffee business can still be done."

"Coffee, the Great Ming has no seeds. Those Arab merchants kept the secret. This is the code to their wealth. The red-haired foreigners tried their best but couldn't spy out the seeds and planting methods," Liu Ji shook his head.

Since tea can be determined as a world-class commodity, Liu Ji naturally knows about coffee, which is widely circulated in the West. This is an agricultural crop that entered Liu Ji's sight along with khat.

But the Arabs were very shrewd, roasting the coffee beans and grinding them into powder to sell everywhere, making it impossible to obtain seeds at all.

"This problem has already been solved. In the imperial gift to His Majesty from our old friend, the Shah, there are seven bags of seeds," Gao Zhu Qiyu said with a smile.

Shah Muhammad—the name "Muhammad" means he is a noble among the Arabs. He naturally has channels to obtain such seeds. Exchanging coffee seeds for the friendship of the Great Ming Emperor is not a losing business. On the contrary, it is a huge profit!

Although friendship cannot be discounted, the cotton cloth distribution business alone is enough, and they can buy ships from the Great Ming, so the red-haired foreigner Diu Governor-General's Office can no longer trample Akbar the Great's face on the ground by relying on fast ships and many cannons.

These are all the demands of the Mughal Empire, and the Great Ming can satisfy these demands. To win the favor of the Great King who unifies the four seas, sending some coffee seeds is an honor!

"The National Cellar earned 1.24 million silver last year," Li Li Yougong said very solemnly.

Drinks are very profitable. Wine, tea, and coffee will all be very profitable. In the past, Li Li Yougong didn't quite understand why the two Song dynasties monopolized wine.

The two Song dynasties' monopoly on wine started from the source. In the two Song dynasties, wine factories were called "wine warehouses," specializing in brewing wine, while those with certain brewing rights and distribution rights were called "official shops," and another batch were small shops without brewing rights called "foot shops." Every year around the Qingming Festival, the imperial court's wine warehouses began to brew wine, and the fragrance of wine floated all over Kaifeng Prefecture or the Southern Song's Lin'an.

The "Inspection Office," which managed all internal and external wine warehouses, had to inspect all the brewed wine. After the Qingming Festival, the Inspection Office would open for sale and present samples. The Emperor would drink first, and then hold a wine tasting conference at the Inspection Office. If the opening sale could take the top spot, they would use long banners to write slogans like "The wine master of this warehouse has selected famous high-skilled wine craftsmen, brewing a top-grade, spicy, and incomparable high-quality wine, ranking first!" and start parading through the streets.

And the people parading through the streets were beauties, that is, prostitutes, and not ordinary prostitutes, but famous ones, that is, flower queens. On this day, the flower queens would "wear pearl and jade crowns, satin shirts and skirts, ride silver-saddled precious horses, each holding flower drums or holding dragon lutes" and wander through the city.

The excitement would last from after the Qingming Festival until May before slowly subsiding. And for the brothels and prostitutes, besides singing and dancing, the most important job was to act as wine promoters to sell wine.

Because it was truly very profitable.

When the Great Ming State Treasury and Inner Treasury were so poor that they had to pawn their pants in the early Emperor Wanli years, they also had a comprehensive understanding of the official monopoly of the two Song dynasties. Finally, they discovered that the two Song dynasties really played in a way that opened people's eyes and was dazzling. By comparison, the Great Ming was like a farmer digging for food in the dirt, busy all year round without much silver.

Finally, the Great Ming determined its official monopoly items: coal and steel.

The Great Ming's National Cellar is not a monopoly. It also allows the common people to brew their own wine. Most of the production of this high-distilled wine from the National Cellar is supplied to the navy, and only a part is sold.

The imperial-bestowed National Cellar is even rarer. The imperial-bestowed National Cellar is mainly on the two words "imperial-bestowed," which is imperial favor, and it is measured in bottles, not jars.

In fact, the profit of drinks is very, very thick.

The Great Ming is also looking for places suitable for growing coffee. The Baoqi Division searched for a long time and found that Yunnan is the most suitable place for growing coffee, followed by Guizhou and Guangxi.

Fujian grows tea, and Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Qian grow coffee. When these two drinks go to the whole Great Ming and the whole world, the local common people can also generally benefit from the hot sales of these two drinks.

It is not that they must grow opium, khat, and ayahuasca. These things, no matter how thick the profit is, it is impossible to touch them.

Let those inhuman things in the Dissection Courtyard stay in the Dissection Courtyard.

Because once the imperial court touches this kind of business to make a profit, under the influence of the superiors, the ban will be a piece of waste paper. If there is opium on an official ship flying the dragon flag, how can the coastal defense inspector crack down on smuggling? Once a gap is torn open, the rules will fail.

It is the same reason that the Great Ming cannot issue privateering licenses. Robbing is not as good as planting. The Great Ming is the beneficiary of order, and it is the natural maintainer of order.

"It's a pity that the planting scale of coffee needs to be improved over ten or twenty years before it is possible to sell it overseas to exchange for silver," Liu Ji was very excited when he heard such good news!

This represents that another kind has been added to the Great Ming's ocean-going trade commodity list!

Silk, cotton cloth, iron pots, pepper, tea, porcelain, etc., plus coffee, the Great Ming's ocean-going trade is profitable, and it is a thick profit!

This is exciting good news for everyone!

This batch of loyal supporters of opening the sea headed to the capital the next day. Liu Ji, Chen Chen Tianrui, and others, after arriving in the capital and staying at the meeting hall post station, all headed to the All-Chu Quanchu Huiguan, because among the court officials who strongly supported opening the sea, there was Liang Liang Menglong.

Liang Liang Menglong is the Minister of Personnel of the Great Ming and also a student under Zhang Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng is also a beneficiary of the teacher-student system, but he took out the "Examination Law" to break the indulgence and shielding under the teacher-student system.

Except for Gao Zhu Qiyu, everyone entered the All-Chu Quanchu Huiguan.

"Does the teacher still refuse to forgive me?" Gao Zhu Qiyu stood in front of the All-Chu Quanchu Huiguan gate, asking You Qi, who was welcoming guests, in a daze.

You Qi said helplessly, "How can the teacher forgive you? Chen Chen Xuehui was promoted to Left Vice Minister of Rites, and His Majesty wanted to make you the Minister of the Court of Ceremonial Guests, but the teacher firmly opposed it and demoted you to Junior Vice Minister. The teacher never thought about forgiving you. Go back, go back, don't come again in the future."

Gao Zhu Qiyu saw Zhang Zhang Juzheng, because Zhang Zhang Juzheng was inside the gate, and didn't say a word to him.

When Gao Zhu Qiyu left, he was lost and soul-less, and his walking was a bit awkward. It was awkward because he was distracted, because he was somewhat at a loss. Regarding the matter of that year, His Majesty didn't care after he returned from his mission to the West, but the teacher still cared.

"Shun also ordered Yu," the topic he set for the provincial examination in Yingtian Prefecture in the first year of Emperor Wanli, was somewhat of a suggestion to abdicate.

When the chief examiner was determined in February of the second year of Emperor Wanli, Zhang Zhang Juzheng was attacked by Ge Ge Shouli for this. That was the most passive time in Zhang Zhang Juzheng's life. Since then, Zhang Zhang Juzheng never expressed any opinion on the imperial examination, nor did he recommend any chief or associate examiners for the metropolitan examination.

This matter was a huge deal if you say it was serious, but it was nothing if you say it wasn't. In an era where everyone believed in the Three Dynasties, setting such a topic was also within a reasonable range.

When Ge Ge Shouli launched an attack on Zhang Zhang Juzheng, he didn't rise to the point of Zhang Zhang Juzheng wanting to usurp the throne, but said that Gao Zhu Qiyu should avoid setting this topic to avoid suspicion.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng received the warriors who returned from the long-distance voyage with great enthusiasm. Personally welcoming them at the door was his respect.

"Everyone, please sit, please sit," Zhang Zhang Juzheng said with a face full of smiles. "A few days ago, the Grand Minister of Revenue and the Junior Grand Minister of Revenue came to me to cry about poverty, saying that the State Treasury is poor and the country's finances are in great deficit, asking me to think of a way. What way can I have? Your return to the court is a great happy event for our Great Ming."

The Ministry of Revenue was so poor that the Physician was eyeing the silver in the Yunnan treasury, and the heavy debt put great pressure on the Ministry of Revenue officials.

To get money, there are two ways: open source and reduce expenditure. Reducing expenditure means not repairing roads. Opening source means either taxing internally or expanding externally. Taxing internally, the Great Ming's powerful and wealthy families are too good at shifting taxes to the bottom. It looks like there are many roads, but there is actually only one road: expanding externally.

Liang Liang Menglong had advocated the sea transport of grain since the second year of Emperor Longqing. The four-month grain transport time of the Grand Canal occupied too much transport capacity of the Grand Canal. Sea transport of grain meant that they could only firmly open the sea, improve navigation technology, and prevent ships from capsizing.

"Felipe might have some ideas," Liu Ji looked at everyone and said, "Before the large sailing ships reached the West, the Great Ming and Spain were friendly nations, but after the large sailing ships arrived at the port, they didn't choose Seville but chose Lisbon. Felipe II is very likely to be very dissatisfied."

"There are more than 1,000 Han people in the Yangcheng of Mexico. I'm afraid there will be some problems. Although we persuaded them to leave with the fleet, the local Han people don't recognize our persuasion."

The Han people in the Yangcheng of Mexico all couldn't survive in the Great Ming and ran to Luzon, boarded the large sailing ships, and became sailors before migrating to Mexico. They didn't trust the Great Ming imperial court.

"Your worry is not unreasonable," Zhang Zhang Juzheng frowned and said. "Felipe II had better not be stupid. Deliberately creating opposition and contradictions is a situation the Great Ming doesn't want to see. But if he insists on provoking the Great Ming, the Great Ming will also make him pay a price he will never accept."

"I will report this to His Majesty."

Bai Yin is not only the Great Ming's currency, but also a currency generally recognized by the West. The world needs the Great Ming's goods, but the Great Ming only needs silver, which caused the net inflow of silver to the Great Ming—that is, the Great Ming's trade surplus and Spain's trade deficit.

Therefore, the contradiction between the Great Ming and Spain, the maritime hegemon, is essentially a silver contradiction.

The Great Ming doesn't need other countries' goods, so the Spanish had to use the silver and silver dollars they plundered from the New World, Mexico, and Peru to exchange with the Great Ming, gaining a profit of 600% or 800%.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng highly recognized Liu Ji's judgment, because the trade deficit is also a problem that Felipe II must face.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Zhang Juzheng said certainly, "If he wants war, the Great Ming will give him war! Even if he is far away in the West and the Great Ming is currently unable to reach him, but the Portuguese King Antonio is in the West."

Zhang Zhang Juzheng said solemnly, "Tomorrow when we meet His Majesty, Special Envoy Liu, you must report this matter to His Majesty."

As the hegemon of the West, Felipe II, who possesses the Invincible Armada, probably cannot tolerate the Great Ming harming Spain's interests again and again.

The Great Ming's attack on Luzon, the Great Ming's support for Antonio, and the Great Ming's global trade have all effectively harmed Felipe II's interests.