Chapter 659: He Silang of Qingcheng County

Simply regarding the accumulation of goods in warehouses, the dumping of milk into rivers, and the rotting of vegetables and fruits in the fields as a problem of human greed is, in itself, an irresponsible evasion. To say that because human nature is evil, these things are reasonable is irresponsible.

This is a comprehensive problem involving costs, risks, profits, supply, demand, and the regulation of social resources. Simply attributing it to the inherent evil of human nature cannot solve this stubborn ailment; it requires facing it squarely, acknowledging its existence, and then racking one's brains to alleviate or even resolve it.

Wang Wang Yie placed two teacups on the table, brought over a teapot, and said, "I am not clear about other Maritime Trade Offices, but the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office is indeed like this. Since the establishment of the Maritime Trade Office, the industries formed around Mizhou have been primarily export-oriented. For twelve years, it has been this way."

"Long-term over-reliance on the high profits of overseas trade for survival means that under these high profits, they lack interest in selling goods within Great Ming, because the profits are simply too low."

Wang Wang Yie picked up the teapot and poured water into one teacup; even when it overflowed, he did not pour water into the other teacup.

"Then, if we take away this teacup representing foreign trade, can the water in the teapot be poured into this teacup? That is not the case." Wang Wang Yie took away the teacup representing foreign trade and did not stop; instead, he splashed all the water from the teapot outside.

Only then did Wang Wang Yie speak: "Commerce is profit-driven. If there is no profit, there is no driving force."

Why would one rather splash the water from the teapot away than lower the price? Why can Great Ming's economy, no matter what, not take away a teacup?

Wang Wang Yie pondered for a moment and continued: "Let me give a simple example."

"He Silang of Qingcheng County is the largest influential squire in Qingcheng County. He has a workshop, hiring people from all around to work, producing all kinds of goods, covering all aspects of people's clothing, food, housing, and transportation. He Silang is obviously not doing charity. In this way, when there is only one teapot, a problem will arise that cannot be solved no matter what."

"If all the produced goods are worth 1 million silver, then He Silang wants to take 200,000 in profit, and the remaining 800,000 is distributed downward. This is already the most ideal state. In general situations, He Silang wants to take 900,000 and distribute 100,000 downward."

"Even in the most ideal eight-to-two split, the poor laborers only have 800,000 silver in their hands. No matter what, they cannot buy all the goods worth 1 million silver. Moreover, He Silang will never spend all the 200,000 in his hands. At this time, the extra 200,000 worth of goods is surplus."

"This is true for Qingcheng County, and it is also true for Great Ming."

Surplus does not mean people do not need goods, but because of distribution, the total market demand is less than supply. It is a problem that has appeared in multiple links: production, profit, distribution, and trade. Walking on only one leg of domestic demand inevitably leads to a vicious cycle.

Because profit-led production will inevitably produce surplus, representing that market supply exceeds demand, workshops will reduce production and reduce supply to maintain profits, which will lead to layoffs. Layoffs lead to even more sluggish market demand, step by step heading toward the abyss.

Wang Wang Yie used the story of He Silang of Qingcheng County to tell His Majesty that the ultimate direction of closing the country is the destruction of the nation. From an economic model perspective, this is an inevitable result.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhang Juzheng said very solemnly to His Majesty: "Closing the country and banning the sea is a path that cannot be taken. Of all things in the world, nothing exceeds four words: profit comes and profit goes. It is necessary to use the high profits of foreign trade to satisfy the needs of trade and commerce for profit."

"Then the problem now is that surplus has led to waste." Zhu Zhu Yijun returned to the very beginning of the problem. Closing the country is impossible. The many new challenges brought by opening the sea need to be solved by racking one's brains.

"Actually, there is a good method." Wang Wang Yie pondered for a moment and said: "People outside cannot afford Great Ming's goods. Great Ming issues national debt, raises funds, and begins to expand the military, then attacks cities and seizes land abroad, eating up Joseon, Japan, and Annan. If that is not enough, continue to expand the military—Toungoo, Mughal, the Arab world, the Black Barbarian Kingdom. If that is not enough, continue to expand. Anyway, no one can stop the Great Ming army."

A simple and crude way to expand demand: military conquest.

Great Ming issued a total of one special national debt, a five-year term of 10 million silver, specifically used for the construction of the Suiyuan post road and mining. But this method of raising funds through national debt was quickly suppressed by Great Ming's conservative faction.

The Ministry of Revenue, led by Wang Wang Guoguang and Zhang Zhang Xueyan, believed that debt is an aggressive financial policy and a flood and a beast. Even debt supported by physical assets is a flood and a beast!

The first national debt of 10 million silver was a helpless move after Great Ming attacked Suiyuan because of insufficient funds. It was a special case and could not be used as a common means.

Any debt requires interest payments; it is a money-losing business!

Coupled with the fact that silver in the Inner Treasury and State Treasury is now piled up like a mountain, there is no need to raise funds, so national debt has not been issued again.

Gun in hand, follow me, grab, grab, grab! If you don't grab enough, continue to expand, continue to grab, expand the external cycle, expand demand, and resolutely use military means to promote free trade until the day of complete collapse.

Great Ming seems to be doing just that. Japan, Liaodong, Suiyuan, the Western Regions, Toungoo—Great Ming is fighting on all four sides, constantly expanding externally. But Great Ming has not issued national debt to expand its armed forces in a way that exhausts the country's resources.

"People have two legs, and the economy is the same. We must use strong and powerful means to adjust internal distribution, and we must also rack our brains to expand external demand. Both legs must be strong to support Great Ming's mountains and rivers." Wang Wang Yie summarized the first question he raised.

Walking on two legs, expanding domestic demand also requires expanding external demand. Expanding domestic demand requires effort in distribution, while expanding external demand means pioneering, pioneering, and pioneering.

Insufficient demand is the first bottleneck encountered by Great Ming in opening the sea.

Wang Wang Yie took a sip of water before continuing: "Your Majesty, the second bottleneck is that the silver flowing in from overseas has not grown rapidly for many years."

"There are mainly three routes for silver flowing into Great Ming. The first route is Japan, about 4 million silver per year. The second is the Manila galleon trade, totaling no more than 6 million silver. The third is Great Ming's own ocean-going fleet, the ocean-going fleet with Liu Ji as the captain, which brings back 3 million silver every year. Because of various reasons, the annual silver inflow is between 10 million and 14 million taels."

"Sometimes more, sometimes less."

"In contrast, the quantity of red copper is still increasing rapidly because of the twelve copper towns in Luzon. From 11 million jin in the ninth year of Emperor Wanli, it grew to 19 million jin last year. Moreover, Great Ming's exports to Luzon are also increasing with the inflow of red copper, and the scale growth rate is roughly equivalent to the growth rate of red copper inflow."

The inflow of silver is not just a problem of growing too slowly, but a problem of fluctuating amounts, unlike red copper, which is always increasing and will continue to increase in the foreseeable future.

The fluctuating inflow of silver will create shocks, and shocks will create speculation, causing various social contradictions. For the extremely conservative Great Ming, instability is worse than nothing.

Wang Wang Yie started from the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office and said that the second contradiction is also an extremely complex one.

An interesting fact is that because of the management of the Marquis of Long Zaosi, production in Luzon is increasing, and demand is also increasing, and the growth rates are completely positively correlated.

Luzon is a vivid example. To solve external demand, Great Ming still needs its traditional skill: Wang Hua (civilizing influence).

Wang Wang Yie really wanted to criticize the Great Age of Discovery of the West. Besides bringing guns, germs, and war plunder to the world, the West's Great Age of Discovery seems to have brought nothing else. Those colonized places, besides tragedy, only had tragedy; besides death, only death. The West's Great Age of Discovery has been going on for more than 130 years, and it has not increased the world's demand.

Great Ming opened the sea for twelve years and created a miracle like Luzon.

Manila City changed from a city with a circumference of five li and no more than 90,000 people to the dazzling pearl of the Nanyang today. In the census at the end of the twelfth year of Emperor Wanli, the population exceeded one million for the first time. The port is still expanding rapidly, from four berths to forty, yet it still cannot meet the demand. The seawall grew from 0 li to more than 700 li.

The crocodiles and orangutans that were baring their teeth and brandishing their claws everywhere have slowly disappeared.

Luzon has steel and coal iron factories, as well as twelve large copper factories with an annual output of over one million jin of red copper. Each of these twelve copper factories has formed a town with a population of over 100,000, possessing roads, bridges, canals, and even schools.

Great Ming and the West went to sea, both for the sake of plunder. The initial motivation was no different, but the final result was worlds apart.

Wang Wang Yie originally wanted to criticize the West's Great Age of Discovery, but later felt that this was discussing Great Ming's internal problems. Criticizing others to elevate oneself was completely unnecessary, so he didn't say much more.

This is one of the eight great virtues of the Great Ming Emperor: humility.

"Your Majesty, regarding this second bottleneck, the minister believes that overseas needs Emperor Hongwu Baochao (precious banknotes), and Great Ming's Emperor Hongwu Baochao should circulate overseas." Wang Wang Yie is not a complainer; he only needs to look at phenomena, find problems, and analyze causes. He provided a solution.

Wang Wang Yie further spoke: "Luzon's overseas circulating Emperor Hongwu Baochao is quite stable. The minister believes that the issuance of Emperor Hongwu Baochao can continue to be expanded. Even if there is a possibility of Emperor Hongwu Baochao flowing back, it should be increased from the scale of 1 million Zhen Guan per year to 5 million, or even 10 million Zhen Guan."

"At the very least, it should provide Emperor Hongwu Baochao equivalent to the value of the red copper inflow. This is very important for Luzon."

Wang Wang Yie did not intend to take big steps. The policy pilot was in Luzon, and the scale expanded from the experimental 1 million Zhen Guan to 5 million Zhen Guan. It looks like a big step, but it is actually almost the same as the quantity of red copper inflow.

"Good." Zhang Zhang Juzheng was quite in agreement.

Great Ming does not implement the banknote system, only the coin system. The conservative in this matter is the Great Ming Emperor. The Great Ming Emperor has always been worried about the occurrence of Emperor Hongwu Baochao flowing back, and his attitude toward this matter was too conservative, leading to the fact that Great Ming's banknote system, except in Japan, has never been issued on a large scale.

"Luzon also needs Emperor Hongwu Baochao. Great Ming took away the red copper; what will Luzon use to trade? Either withhold a portion of the red copper, or intercept a portion of the silver flowing into Great Ming, or rely on the Emperor Hongwu Baochao issued by Great Ming. As long as Great Ming does not fall, the Emperor Hongwu Baochao on Luzon soil will be strong." Zhang Zhang Juzheng further explained why he agreed.

The Emperor prioritizes the hinterland, but he must also consider the practical needs of the Luzon region. With the establishment of copper factories, Luzon has begun to develop and is no longer in a completely wild place. The demand for currency is also extremely strong.

Emperor Hongwu Baochao is the optimal solution, and there is no need to worry about devaluation, because as long as Great Ming exists, Emperor Hongwu Baochao has a standard.

"Your Majesty, the inflow of silver cannot be disorderly. Without silver inflow, one will starve to death, but if too much silver flows in, it will also cause blockages. But Great Ming previously lacked a valve to regulate silver inflow, and overseas circulating Emperor Hongwu Baochao is that valve. If you want more silver, issue more Emperor Hongwu Baochao; if you want to reduce silver inflow, you can reduce or even withdraw Emperor Hongwu Baochao to reduce silver blockages." Zhang Zhang Juzheng further elaborated on his reasons.

The speed of silver inflow needs to be autonomous and controllable.

Although the Emperor did not say anything, the silver piled up like a mountain in the Inner Treasury was carrying such a large blockage, and the Emperor's pressure was really great. The unconstrained inflow of silver would also cause many problems. Having a valve would be much better.

Just like a steam engine, a steam engine's centrifugal governor can effectively regulate the flow of steam, allowing the steam engine to output relatively stably. You want as much power as you want.

"En, Governor Wang, write it into a memorial. I will give a vermilion endorsement and send it to the Shi Shi Jingtang for discussion." Zhu Zhu Yijun thought about it repeatedly and decided to agree with Wang Wang Yie's idea.

This is a means to solve the speed of silver inflow. Whether it is useful or not still requires practice, but having it is better than not having it.

Great Ming is in a money famine, and the whole world is also in a state of money famine. Great Ming's scholars have always liked to criticize the imperial court, especially various iron coins, which are regarded as the worst of bad policies. Iron coins and flying money from the Han Dynasty have all been objects of criticism.

But besides the Central Plains being able to luxuriously use iron to cast coins, in the whole world, there is not even a country that can cast iron coins on a large scale. Great Ming's ironware is sold overseas and has firmly occupied the second place in bulk commodities, even challenging the first place of cotton cloth.

The world does not have blast furnace iron smelting technology, and countries do not have iron smelting offices.

The West's money famine was only gradually alleviated when it reached the Great Age of Discovery and plundered everywhere, but that was only the West. The whole world is still in a moment of absolute money famine. As long as Great Ming can complete the exploration of the banknote system, the banknote system alone is enough for Great Ming to extend its life for decades or even hundreds of years.

Great Ming's overseas circulating Emperor Hongwu Baochao, forming a stable general equivalent, will be used everywhere: Mexico, Chile, Brazil, the West, Africa, the Arab world, Mughal, and so on.

"In this way, doesn't it mean that Japan will become an island of currency again?" Zhu Zhu Yijun thought simply and reached a conclusion that made people laugh and cry. Japan suffered an unprovoked disaster when Great Ming was turning around.

Because Japan's currency is Japan's circulating Emperor Hongwu Baochao, which is not the same version as Great Ming's overseas circulating Emperor Hongwu Baochao. Japan's circulating Emperor Hongwu Baochao does not have abaca. Abaca is produced in Luzon and is an excellent hard fiber, with characteristics such as strong tensile strength, salt resistance, immersion resistance, and corrosion resistance. Japan's circulating Emperor Hongwu Baochao is specially made and does not have abaca.

Japan wants to communicate with the world in commerce, but without a currency widely recognized by everyone, it cannot trade.

Upon hearing this, Wang Wang Chonggu laughed and said: "There is no other way. Great Ming itself does not have enough Emperor Hongwu Baochao, just like rice."

Great Ming's Emperor Hongwu Baochao is destined to flow back to Great Ming as a supplement to the coin system. If it is not enough, naturally one cannot sacrifice one's own interests to replace Emperor Hongwu Baochao for Japan.

"The third bottleneck encountered in opening the sea, besides insufficient overseas demand and the fluctuating inflow of silver, is a huge challenge, which is the problem of sea pirates. Within the Strait of Ma Liujia, the Great Ming fleet can travel freely, but outside the Strait of Ma Liujia, pirates are rampant." Wang Wang Yie talked about the third bottleneck.

All things exist in universal connection, and thus universal contradictions exist. These three bottlenecks are interrelated.

Great Ming merchant ships cannot get out of the Strait of Ma Liujia. Regarding sea pirates, within Great Ming's radiation range, sea pirates have already lowered their flags and stopped their drums, because the origin of sea pirates, Japan, has already been built with high walls by Great Ming. These high walls are physical high walls on Tsushima Island, the Nagasaki Governor's Office, and Ryukyu, firmly trapping the Japanese pirates in Japan.

If Philip II could build high walls against England, the sea pirates of the West could be reduced by more than half. After all, things like privateering permits are simply too despicable.

"Why say that Great Ming merchant ships are increasingly disliking going out of the Strait of Ma Liujia? Even if there is immense wealth, they are unwilling to go out. The reason for saying this is because the sales of Great Ming's five-masted ocean-going ships did not increase significantly after the opening, and they were mainly purchased by the imperial court and the five major ocean-going merchant firms." Wang Wang Yie was not talking nonsense. The number of five-masted ocean-going ships stopping at the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office is relatively fixed, and the sales of five-masted ocean-going ships at several shipyards are also relatively sluggish.

"If the Mediterranean is a calm bathtub, then within the radiation range of the Great Ming navy, it is a man-made bathtub. Compared to the terrible and changeable celestial phenomena, people have some ways to observe and avoid them, but outside Ma Liujia and Davao City on Mindanao Island, it is a place where pirates revel and run rampant, and man-made disasters are rampant." Wang Wang Chonggu looked at the figures Wang Wang Yie took out. Great Ming sea merchants have little interest in five-masted ocean-going ships because there is no demand.

The quantity of ivory from the Black Barbarian Kingdom is also decreasing year by year.

In short, Great Ming sea merchants have all been spoiled by His Majesty's powerful navy. Where the Great Ming navy cannot reach, sea merchants will not go. Whoever wants to go can go. The business environment in those places is too terrible.

The Great Ming navy just fought to the Bay of Bengal and to Toungoo City, and sea merchants followed the navy and made a fortune. On the sea, everyone saw the existence of the Big Dipper flag and the Great Ming Dragon flag, and they were completely at ease.

The Great Ming navy does not rob merchant ships. This is a clear military regulation since Yu Yu Dayou established the navy. Military discipline equals combat effectiveness. Without strict military discipline, there would be no invincible Great Ming army. Looting by soldiers is the greatest destruction of military discipline.

In the West, the country's navy is also pirates. This is a typical moral vacuum. Great Ming's navy does not rob merchant ships, which is also recognized by Legazpi as a kind of Great Ming's high moral disadvantage. Not being able to rob merchant ships makes the cost of maintaining the navy too expensive.

Merchants are profit-driven. If they are robbed, not only will there be no profit, but all costs will be factored in.

Zhu Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "This is not a problem that can be solved by allowing armed merchant ships. Any policy that clamors for something similar to a privateering permit is seen as making the complex and changeable ocean even more dangerous."

"So the solution is still for the navy to expand its military." Zhang Zhang Juzheng thought about it repeatedly and couldn't think of any way. Expanding the military became the only solution.

But maintaining a navy with good discipline is too expensive. Now these 100,000 people are already Great Ming's limit. Great Ming's military expenditure has already occupied nearly half of the Great Ming imperial court's annual revenue.

The four major Governor's Offices all maintain a certain scale of personal guards, and the Great Ming imperial court at most sends some guest troops. This is the result of the Great Ming navy's serious lack of military strength.

Expanding the military requires money, and Great Ming is very poor, and there are too many places that need money. How to make trade-offs is a test of political wisdom.

Actually, there is a ready-made way to solve this problem, but none of the people present mentioned it.

That is to indulge the four major overseas Governor's Offices to expand their own military. The navy in Great Ming's hinterland has a high moral disadvantage, while the Governor's Offices do not have this problem. Spain and Portugal have Governor's Offices all over the world; which one is not a robber?

But Great Ming is a highly centralized feudal monarchy. This is the bottleneck that Wang Wang Yie wanted to say, but didn't dare to say.

The fundamental contradiction between Great Ming's political system itself and external expansion, the product of the four major Governor's Offices which is between the enfeoffment system and the prefecture-county system, is already the greatest compromise of the Emperor and the imperial court.

The high concentration of power under the imperial system and the dispersion of power in the overseas Governor's Offices is an unsolvable contradiction.

Antonio and Philip II could calmly accept the high autonomy of the overseas Governor's Offices, but the Great Ming Emperor could not accept it no matter what. It was not just the Emperor; even overseas governors like Yin Yin Zhengmao, Zhang Zhang Yuanxun, Chen Lin, and Xu Wei found it difficult to accept. Chen Lin is the Governor of Ryukyu, but he is even more the Regional Commander of the Great Ming Navy. All year round, Chen Lin only goes to Naha Port in Shuri Prefecture during armed patrols.

"Your Majesty, during this southern tour, should we let the local places offer some beauties?" Zhang Zhang Juzheng proposed a genius idea!

Add more concubines, have more children. His Majesty hasn't even completed the nine-concubine system set by Emperor Shizong. Now in the palace, there are Empress Wang from the wedding, side concubines Concubine Liu and Concubine Li, Concubine Zhou and Concubine Ran who were promoted in the eighth year of Emperor Wanli because of giving birth, and Guo Guo Yunyao and Wang Wang Xiyue who entered the palace in the tenth year of Emperor Wanli and are heroic and gentle as water. These two are also on the list of attendants.

Guo Guo Yunyao and Wang Wang Xiyue have not been pregnant since entering the palace. When Wang Wang Yaozhuo determined the list of attendants, he took special care of them. In fact, His Majesty prefers the Yunnan girl Concubine Ran. After all, whether it is appearance or figure, it is written that the family is not peaceful, but Concubine Ran gave birth to Zhu Zhu Changchao and has offspring, while Guo Guo Yunyao and Wang Wang Xiyue do not.

Have more children and enfeoff them overseas. This is the only way Zhang Zhang Juzheng can think of. For the sake of Great Ming's great cause of opening the sea, let His Majesty work hard on his waist again.

Zhu Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "I do not wish to disturb the local people."

Because Emperor Wu Sect had no children, his favorite thing to do during his southern tours was to have the local authorities present him with beauties, attempting to father a child, but he never succeeded.

Zhu Zhu Yijun did not have this concern, so he brought the Empress and two imperial concubines south with him.

Procreation was a necessity, but there was no reason to look at the pot while eating from the bowl.

"How about having the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office present some Goryeo beauties and Japanese courtesans?" Wang Wang Yie proposed his own idea. Sometimes, even one's favorite food becomes tiresome if eaten too often. There had been no happy news from the palace in the past two years; if His Majesty was tired of the usual delicacies, Mizhou could provide some exotic overseas flavors.

Feng Bao, that "Flower and Bird Envoy," was already starting to stir! Changing one's palate occasionally was fine. His Majesty did not like the taste of those golden-haired and red-haired Westerners, but Goryeo beauties and courtesans were delicious and must be tasted.

"Stop, stop!" Zhu Zhu Yijun said in exasperation, "We are discussing the major matter of opening the seas; why has it veered toward taking in concubines? Stick to the business at hand."

In the unsolvable contradiction between imperial centralization and the dispersion of the Viceroy's office, it was already quite remarkable that Zhang Zhang Juzheng could devise a solution that everyone could accept, though it required His Majesty's cooperation.

"Your Majesty, your servant personally believes that there is another dilemma in opening the seas: the uneven development between the north and south. North of the Qin Ling Mountains and the Yellow River, there is only the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office, and its scale cannot be compared at all to the New Port of Songjiang, the Shuangyu Port of Ningbo, Yuegang in Fujian, or Guangzhou Dianbai in Guangzhou. If Your Majesty wishes to invest in opening the seas, the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office is also an option." Wang Wang Yie's map of the Yan state was a bit long, and finally, the dagger was revealed, as he spoke of his main motive for this audience with the Emperor.

Just as Wang Wang Chonggu had his eyes on the silver His Majesty was about to release for flood control, Wang Wang Yie hoped that the Emperor of Great Ming would also consider the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office when making investments in opening the seas.

His Majesty's main investments were concentrated in Songjiang Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture, not the north. The south was already wealthy, and due to the existence of the Yangtze River, it possessed geographical advantages. Coupled with the tilt of His Majesty's investments, the scale of the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office could not be compared to the others.

Wang Wang Yie hoped the Emperor of Great Ming could give Shandong a chance; Shandong would prove that it, too, was a coastal province.

Jiaozhou Bay was also a natural, sheltered harbor, and an ice-free one at that. For Great Ming, this was the best harbor in the north. Although the north lacked a great river, it had imperial highways, and the highway had already been extended to the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office. Due to many historical reasons, the Emperor of Great Ming was wary of Jinan Prefecture and quite dissatisfied with the Duke Duke Yansheng of Yanzhou, so he had not poured much strength into Shandong.

The consequence of the excessive difference between the north and south would be a top-heavy structure, making it difficult to manage.

Wang Wang Yie hoped His Majesty would attach importance to this.

"Everyone is eyeing the little silver in my private treasury. Shen Shen Shixing wants it, Li Le wants it, Wang Wang Jiaping wants it, and now Governor Wang wants it too," Zhu Zhu Yijun said with a smile. "Draft this into a memorial and send it to the capital for court deliberation."

Zhu Zhu Yijun did not agree immediately. It was not that he had not forgiven Shandong, but investment could never be decided on a whim. Investment required a certain rate of return; whether to increase investment in the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office required study and a decision.