Chapter 833: The Only Way to Defeat Great Ming

The Great Ming Emperor built a gold treasury and prepared to issue banknotes, and there was still a lot of preparatory work to be done. The Ministry of Revenue had been waiting for this day for nearly two hundred years. If there was no stable monetary policy, the Ministry of Revenue would not be able to issue banknotes at all.

The Ministry of Revenue made all preparations, absorbed a large amount of experience, and prepared for the issuance of banknotes.

The Ministry of Revenue is fully responsible for the issuance of banknotes, with the Minister of Revenue in charge of the seal. In the three prefectures of Shuntian, Songjiang, and Guangzhou, 36 official-run banks were built, and the acceptance and exchange business of the Great Ming Association Hall was opened. Common people could use the miscellaneous silver in their hands to exchange for Hongwu Baochao at the official-run banks, and could also exchange Hongwu Baochao for silver coins and Wanli Tongbao.

The Hongwu Baochao Bureau under the Ministry of Revenue has a printing factory, specifically responsible for printing banknotes; a papermaking workshop is responsible for making abaca paper, determining the annual usage of abaca, and the subtle differences in abaca content are also an important part of anti-counterfeiting; the ink workshop is responsible for the production of special banknote dyes, etc. The Hongwu Baochao Bureau itself manages seven official factories. These seven official factories were originally responsible for printing Japanese circulation Hongwu Baochao and overseas circulation Hongwu Baochao, and now they have added Great Ming Hongwu Baochao.

In addition to the 1.2 million taels of gold in the inner treasury, the Ministry of Revenue also prepared eight treasuries to deal with possible runs. According to the experience of overseas issuance, at least 30% of the reserves must be prepared to deal with the risk of runs. Shuntian, Songjiang, and Guangzhou each prepared 700,000 silver coins to deal with possible runs.

The Ministry of Revenue also specifically established emergency stabilization treasuries in the northern and southern capitals, storing an additional 10% of the issued amount in reserve silver to prevent run events from spreading into panic.

In addition to this, the two capitals and sixteen provinces and five major Governor's Offices of Great Ming prepared to establish the Hongwu Baochao Extraction Office. This is Great Ming's vertical construction. The Hongwu Baochao Extraction Office of each province is responsible for the handover of Hongwu Baochao, banknote exchange, and other matters in various places.

Most crucially, after approval by His Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue broke through the political wall of the Tax Inspection Office in this matter of issuing banknotes.

For the first and second late tax payments, Hongwu Baochao can be used. There is no need for the third time; the third time is raiding the home. And the anti-counterfeiting and crackdown on fake banknotes in various places are all fully responsible by the Tax Inspection Office under the Northern and Southern Commanderies.

The Ministry of Revenue also established a new "Four-Pillar Audit Method": Old Management (last month's balance), New Receipt (this month's issuance), Opening and Dismissal (recovery and destruction), and Reality (market circulation) to comprehensively audit the administrative work of issuance. If these four sets of accounts do not match, that is rebellion!

One must know that the Wanli New Hongwu Baochao is an IOU written by the imperial court, taking gold certificates from the Tonghe Palace. Hongwu Baochao is the Emperor's gold.

If the four sets of accounts do not match, or if Hongwu Baochao is privately printed, it is stealing the Emperor's gold. Stealing other things is one thing, but actually daring to steal the Emperor's money—the Emperor is so frugal, how can one bear it!

"Eh, it was issued so smoothly?" Zhu Yijun looked at the Ministry of Revenue's report. The first issue of 2 million guan of Hongwu Baochao was completed in just three days.

Feng Bao said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Great Ming has a money shortage. It is only 2 million guan. Even if it were 20 million guan, it could be issued. Notes are easier to use than money, just like...

... many people use silver notes from private banks. In the eyes of the people, this Hongwu Baochao is actually a silver note from an official bank."

Real gold and silver are sent to the bank, exchanged for silver notes, and a management fee that is not cheap must be paid. For acceptance and exchange to other places, more money must be paid. A piece of broken paper represents dozens or hundreds of taels of silver. This behavior looks like something only someone whose brain was kicked by a donkey would do.

The small landlords of the local gentry will think so, because they are small landlords, the final producers of the small-scale peasant economy. They can be self-sufficient, and the frequency of commodity exchange with the outside world is extremely low. Real gold and silver can satisfy their usage needs.

But for wealthy merchants and powerful and wealthy people, silver notes are really easy to use, because their transactions are very frequent. Compared with precious metal currency, precious metal currency has natural disadvantages in portability, division, pricing, purity, and cross-regional trade.

The silver ingots in various places in Great Ming are completely different. Bai Yin ingots, silver bars, silver yuanbao, silver plates, horseshoe silver, round, flat, square, small yuanbao, etc., are all kinds of things. This is the anti-counterfeiting method of various places. Counterfeiting silver ingots is really "eight immortals crossing the sea, each showing their magical powers."

Different silver ingots in different places cause the need to melt the silver in hand into the shape of the local area during cross-regional trade, which will result in fire loss. The amount of fire loss depends entirely on the conscience of the local government offices.

Although silver coins have well solved these difficulties, they are still not as convenient as silver notes, because silver coins also have weight, and carrying them is actually not particularly convenient.

The Great Ming Emperor issued notes in the hinterland for the first time, and they were snatched up in three days, because Great Ming as a whole is in a money shortage and has a huge demand for more convenient and more credible currency. Even many Hongwu Baochao that should have been circulating in the overseas Governor's Offices were quietly circulating in Great Ming's hinterland.

The Ministry of Revenue made full preparations, which seemed a bit excessive. The people of Great Ming did not refuse the issuance of Wanli Hongwu Baochao, and even hoped that the imperial court could properly control the Hongwu Baochao, not let counterfeit money run rampant, and not over-issue it for no reason, so that the people of Great Ming would have money to use.

"Gao Honglu said to the Spanish envoy Pedro: 'It is easy to plan when the country is strong, but it is difficult to plan when it is weak and chaotic.' He really did not deceive me." Zhu Yijun was also a bit emotional. It is really that when moving upward, some seemingly very simple systems can also be executed. When weak and chaotic, no matter how exquisitely you design, government decrees still cannot be implemented.

The smooth issuance of Hongwu Baochao is essentially the restoration of Great Ming's confidence, but the construction of the Emperor and the imperial court's system is the bottom line for Great Ming's Hongwu Baochao.

Without perfect system design, when Great Ming enters a downward cycle, any subtle fluctuation will lead to the total collapse of confidence.

On June 7th of the 16th year of Wanli, a very special guest arrived at the Great Ming Four Barbarian Hall. The Japanese King's family entered the Four Barbarian Hall. Oda Ichi asked the Ministry of Rites, confirming that the Emperor did not intend to summon the Japanese King, but arranged for the Japanese King to be a neighbor with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, giving him a salary with the treatment of a fifth-rank official.

The Japanese King, just like in Japan, except for the descendants who inherited the throne, all other descendants were sent to temples to become monks and were not allowed to reproduce. Actually, it was just changing a place for imprisonment.

"Envoy Li, I don't understand. According to your introduction, this Japanese King is the nominal supreme ruler of Japan. Just like the Pope of the Papal States, according to Great Ming's laws, the existence of this Japanese King is itself a usurpation of Great Ming's imperial power. Why did Great Ming not kill him in Japan, but arrange for him to live in Great Ming?" Pedro was very puzzled by the Japanese King entering the capital.

Great Ming does not have religion here. The supreme one is the Emperor. The Japanese King usurped the title of Emperor; he deserves to die.

But Great Ming kept the Japanese King.

Li Yashi looked at the Japanese King's family and said in a low voice: "You must be careful of Great Ming's

But the Ming Empire kept the Japanese King.

Li Yashi looked at the Japanese King's family and said in a low voice, "You must be careful of the Ming scholars. The Ming Empire's strict talent selection system screened them out from the masses. Their wisdom is naturally worth affirming, but their moral bottom line is very flexible."

"The Ming Empire's move will ensure that the evildoers in Japan will not be punished."

Evildoers will eventually be punished; someone must be responsible for mistakes. This is the most basic guarantee for the operation of a society. When evildoers are not punished, no one is responsible for mistakes, and everything in society will collapse.

"I don't understand." Pedro was Felipe's court secretary, not ignorant of government affairs, but he did not understand what Li Yashi was saying.

"The Ming Empire letting the Japanese King die would be a kind of mercy; letting him live is truly cruel." Li Yashi sighed. He understood the Emperor's arrangement. It was not at all about class identity being greater than ethnic identity. Just look at the things the Emperor did in Japan—if a historian wrote down a single word, it would be a great act of rebellion.

Li Yashi could imagine the tragic fate of the Japanese slaves and Japanese women, even if he had not witnessed it with his own eyes.

Therefore, the Emperor sparing the Japanese King's life was not because His Majesty was kind, but to cut off every possibility of Japan's self-healing.

Li Yashi continued, "When evildoers are not punished, people are no longer willing to cede part of their own power in exchange for order, because people generally no longer trust that rules can protect themselves. The foundation of cooperation and mutual trust is disintegrated."

"Individuals or certain small groups will instead rely on violence, fraud, and strong power to maintain their own interests and safety. At this time, lynch law will begin to spread like a flood, and all the necessities required for life must rely on violence to be obtained."

"When there is no price for doing evil, the boundary between good and evil will become blurred. People can rationalize all kinds of evil deeds through various sophistries to adapt to the cruel survival environment.

Morality will disintegrate and gradually degenerate into a tool, rather than a social norm."

"Disagreements will become increasingly large as all this becomes more serious. People will naturally evolve into two extremes: one part completely abandons moral constraints; another part completely avoids communication and exchange with others, maintaining the morality of small groups. Both types of people will affect one thing: the exchange of goods."

"People without morality will rob unscrupulously; complete hermits will refuse contact and exchange with the outside world. The exchange of goods is blocked, which undoubtedly pushes up the cost of everything, eventually leading to extremely expensive prices."

"When the Grand Minister of the Ministry of Rites was still here, he once called this phenomenon: civilizational regression."

Pedro seriously thought about what Li Yashi said. He frowned and said, "Isn't this the Dark Ages of the past? But how is all this caused by the Ming Empire? Clearly, it is Japan that is not striving for improvement. They should reflect on their own problems."

The West was conducting great travel and study activities, and the wave of anti-Catholicism in the West was rising higher and higher. Seventy years ago, England had already dismantled all the Catholic heavens in England, and Protestantism was very popular in England, Falanxi, the Hanseatic League, and other places.

Before the Renaissance, the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages were just such a scene. Pedro felt it deeply and thoroughly understood this terror.

But Pedro did not agree with what Li Yashi said—that these sufferings were not brought by the Ming Empire, and the Japanese should reflect on themselves and how they reached this step.

"You are right. If you stayed in the Ming Empire, you would be a very good official of the Ministry of Rites!" Li Yashi smiled and shook his head, saying, "Japan was only one step away from completing the construction of the nation-state. In fact, it already had considerable self-healing ability. The Grand Minister of the Ministry of Rites said this is Nirvana, interpreted as the possibility of giving birth to a new rule system in long-term chaos."

"And the Japanese showed this self-healing ability. People's uprisings, samurai uprisings, Ikko uprisings, national uprisings—like waves on the sea, continuous and endless."

"However, with the Japanese King alive, Ashikaga Yoshiaki alive, and Oda Nobunaga's family alive, Japan has no possibility of self-healing. The Shogun can suppress rebellions without any scruples. If he really commits an unforgivable sin, he can also leave, letting the Japanese struggle bitterly in purgatory."

Pedro thought seriously for a while before he understood what Li Yashi was talking about.

Japan's suffering was indeed caused by the Japanese themselves; this really needed reflection on their own problems. But what the Ming Empire took away was Japan's ability to heal and self-correct. This was the most terrifying thing, and also the cruelty Li Yashi spoke of.

Pedro asked curiously, "According to you, is His Majesty a scholar?"

Li Yashi suddenly widened his eyes, looked at Pedro angrily, and stopped after wanting to speak. After careful consideration, he said, "His Majesty is His Majesty. Do not talk nonsense."

Naturally, one

cannot talk nonsense. This is the crime of pointing fingers at the imperial carriage and slandering the Emperor, a great crime punishable by hanging!

Talking nonsense—the Embroidered Uniform Guard will really arrest people!

His Majesty allows speaking, but does not allow talking nonsense. One must seek truth from facts. As long as one speaks correctly, one can say anything. If you say the Ming Empire must perish, as long as you speak correctly, His Majesty will even issue a gazette for you. But talking nonsense will result in His Majesty's "Ding-character return kill"—a physical decapitation.

Whether His Majesty is a scholar or not can be either, depending on whether "scholar" is a commendatory or derogatory term in the context.

"I know that in your heart, I am a traitor to Spain, preferring to live in the Ming Empire rather than return to Spain to serve His Highness. In your heart, the words I speak are all based on the interests of the Ming Empire, because I and my descendants will all live in the Ming Empire." Li Yashi watched the Japanese King's family leave the Four Barbarian Halls before speaking.

Pedro said, "This is what you said, not what I think."

Li Yashi pulled a stack of 100-wen treasure notes from his sleeve and handed them to Pedro, saying, "I admit that the localization of immigrants mentioned by the Grand Minister of the Ministry of Rites has happened to me. That's right, I am becoming more and more like a Ming person, speaking based on the interests of the Ming Empire, but I still have to say: do not easily threaten the Ming Empire with silver."

"Because this kind of threat is useless. The best means to deal with the Ming Empire will always be to let it fall into the quagmire of internal problems. More applause, more flowers, let the Ming Empire be immersed in a kind of arrogance of a Celestial Empire from top to bottom. This is the only way to defeat the Ming Empire—there is no other way."

Li Yashi had stayed in the Ming Empire for too long, and it was easy to develop the idea that the Ming Empire was invincible under heaven. This idea was not a delusion, but the consensus of many Ming people. This was a kind of arrogance. If the Romans could make Rome return like lightning, this arrogance would also be produced in the Romans.

Let the Ming Empire be forever immersed in the dream of a Celestial Empire, not thinking of progress. With the most respectful attitude, saying the most flattering words, in actual trade, let the Ming Empire occupy complete dominance, let the Ming Empire always be arrogant, and the Ming Empire can be eliminated.

Li Yashi looked at Pedro with burning eyes and said, "Let the Ming Empire feel that the Ming Empire is so powerful that it can withstand some subtle flaws and mistakes."

"Everyone in the empire feels that they can bully others through various means. When happy, they can give them some gifts; when unhappy, they can also send a fleet to eliminate and threaten them. All problems are handled and solved at will according to their own wishes."

"But the number of problems will increase continuously with arrogance and neglect. One day, it will be impossible to cope with so many problems. As long as the Ming Empire is immersed in this story of a Celestial Empire and cannot extricate itself, it will step into the abyss with an extremely confident and firm pace!"

"The Ming Empire is like a spring. The more you suppress it, the stronger its rebound force will be. The more you let it expand itself, it will eventually lose all its

elasticity."

Pedro held that stack of treasure notes and admitted that silver could not threaten the Ming Empire, but he was still somewhat unconvinced and said, "Is it impossible to crush the Ming Empire?!"

"Of course it is possible. If the strength is great enough, there is no problem, but Spain does not have the ability to deploy across the ocean, the ability to cross the ocean to eliminate the Ming Empire. Therefore, do the opposite." Li Yashi said very clearly.

This was a fact. Spain, as the empire on which the sun never sets, did not have sufficient ability for long-distance maritime deployment, the ability to cross the ocean to eliminate the Ming Empire.

"I cannot accept this path of yours, and His Highness cannot accept it either." Pedro knew what Li Yashi said was right, but he could not convince himself, nor could he convince Felipe.

Li Yashi said somewhat helplessly, "Confrontation will only arouse the fighting spirit of the Ming Empire. I will stop here; the Embroidered Uniform Guard has arrived."

Li Yashi would not be monitored when he was not meeting foreign envoys, but when he met foreign envoys, especially Spanish envoys, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would closely monitor his every move. Clearly, Li Yashi had expressed inappropriate remarks, and the quick-reacting Embroidered Uniform Guard intended to arrest him.

"Two Embroidered Uniform Guards, if I fall into the river, for pointing fingers at the imperial carriage, will you save me?" Li Yashi asked with a very stable mood.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard said sternly, "You can try saying you evaded taxes; the tax-auditing Embroidered Uniform Guard might save you. We won't, but you have to pay the meal fee!"

"Fine." Li Yashi was once again thrown into prison.

Zhu Yijun received the report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard. After reading the case file, he said with a full face of smiles, "Li Yashi spoke very well. I think there is absolutely no problem. This is indeed a method, and it is very effective."

"The Spanish envoy saying the Ming Empire is a Celestial Empire is at most flattering words to satisfy the self-esteem of the Ming people. As a result, the Ming Empire is still complacent. If they think this is a compliment, they have fallen into this trap. Everyone wants to hear flattering words."

"What he said is very right. This is the only way to eliminate the Ming Empire."

Immersed in the Ming Empire's abundance of treasures, vast territory, and prosperous culture, losing oneself in one "Celestial Empire" after another—as long as the Ming Empire is not sober itself, in its arrogance, it will miss one opportunity after another. These small mistakes will accumulate until they are sufficient and not corrected, and it will perish.

"Killing with kindness" is also a strategy.

"Since what he said makes sense, there is no need to pay the meal fee." Zhu Yijun very generously exempted Li Yashi from the prison maintenance fee, letting him stay in prison for ten days for free.

"Your servant obeys the decree." Zhao Mengyou bowed his head to receive the order and left. His Majesty was already very lenient.

It was not that the maintenance fee was lenient; it was that being locked up in the Northern Internal Security Division for ten days was lenient to Li Yashi himself. Li Yashi would not have to see Pedro again.

Pedro had made many excessive demands in the past few days, which Li Yashi could not satisfy with all his might, nor could he satisfy them, because it would violate the Ming laws, such as inquiring about some confidential information.

This made Li Yashi caught in a dilemma. Being locked up meant he did not have these concerns.

Li Yashi had already told Pedro and Spain the way to defeat the Ming Empire. As for whether they would do it or not, that had nothing to do with him, Li Yashi. He had done everything he could.

"Actually, our Li Yashi does not think highly of Felipe II and his Spain. Li Yashi feels that the Ming Empire can win and eventually seize maritime hegemony." Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao, "Because he feels that the Spanish are not as shameless as the English."

"Li Yashi firmly believes that the shamelessness and low morality of the English will make them the final winners of the Great Navigation."

Li Yashi did not think highly of Felipe winning, nor did he think highly of the Ming Empire winning. Instead, he felt that the English would eventually win because they were shameless enough. As long as they were shameless enough, they could break free from the shackles of morality and obtain more wealth from overseas colonies faster and more effectively.

Perhaps Li Yashi was right, but the Ming Empire would win in its own way.

Ma Minister Liang sent her special envoy to the Ming Empire, a Grand Archbishop of the Great Light Sect. This time, coming to the Ming Empire was to settle the ten five-masted ocean-crossing ships. These ships would be anchored at the Great Light City.

This was an order for the entire country of Falanxi, but it was usurped by Ma Minister Liang. Her father, through some means, made the ownership of these ships belong to Falanxi, but they were used by Ma Minister Liang's Free Knights.

The atmosphere between Spain and the Netherlands became increasingly tense. Felipe II's navy broke the Netherlands' overseas colonies. The Dutch, who had lost their table salt, could only have surrendered, but the Ming Emperor gave the flag of the oath a chance to flutter again, allowing the Dutch to purchase table salt from the Ming Empire.

Felipe II, whose plan was destroyed, could not block Ming goods from reaching the West. He had already assembled the Invincible Armada, preparing to recover the Netherlands region, and his target was England, which was instigating from behind. In Felipe's view, as long as England was defeated, the Netherlands returning to Spain's embrace would be a matter of course.

The Queen of England executed the Queen of Scotland. Felipe used the name of avenging the Queen of Scotland to launch an expedition against England.

King Antonio of Portugal abandoned past grudges and allowed the Left and Right Protection Legions to join Felipe's expedition plan, and opened all ports along the way, allowing the Spanish fleet to resupply and navigate.

Zhu Yijun picked up another memorial, from the Portuguese special envoy Paulino Franco. This time, the Sword Saint Marcus still did not come. The aging Sword Saint could no longer bear the bumps of long-distance ocean voyages, and it would likely be difficult for him to come to the Ming Empire to make a pilgrimage again in the future.

The Portuguese special envoy stated Portugal's attitude. The reason for abandoning past grudges was mainly to make money. Spain's massive naval mobilization, with Portugal providing supplies, could earn a lot of money, bring countless orders to workshops, and provide many employment positions.

The longer Felipe II's expedition plan was executed, the more Portugal would earn.

"It seems our King of the Empire on which the sun never sets, Felipe, has reached the limit of his patience and cannot listen to any advice. If there are no accidents, Felipe's fleet has already set sail, heading toward England." Zhu Yijun finished reading the national letter from the West, combined with the news brought back by Liu Ji's global voyage, and knew that this expedition was imperative.

Zhu Yijun wrote national letters many times to advise Felipe to be careful. This massive expedition was very likely to fail due to a lack of understanding of hydrology and geography, the act of gambling the nation's fate was too risky, and a cross-sea war of annihilation that was too long would drag down Spain. These reasons ultimately failed to convince Felipe.

This would be a protracted war that would last for eighty years. In the end, Spain won the war and lost the ocean.

"The Falanxi actually stood with the English; it is truly surprising." Feng Bao was somewhat strange. The grievances between the Falanxi and the English were truly a long story, and the rights and wrongs were difficult to discuss.

Zhu Yijun approved the memorials on the table and shook his head, saying, "Because the Queen of England bribed the Falanxi King Henry III and obtained Henry III's promise that Falanxi would at least remain neutral in this war."

The positions of Portugal and Falanxi both proved one thing: between countries, interests come first.

The Great Light Sect received the imperial decree from the Ming Emperor; Ming ships would go to the Great Light City to distribute goods; Portugal returned a batch of war loans and sent seven Portuguese students, and the fleet obtained a large amount of Ming goods; the envoy from the Ross country did not come this year. The Cossacks' journey east of the Ural Mountains was very unsuccessful, and the tribes on the Xianbei Plain received some support in weapons.

The Spanish envoy was still communicating some details with the officials of the Court of State Ceremonial. Pedro hoped that the Ming Empire would stop funding the Dutch. The Ming officials were very dissatisfied with this request. Who the Ming Empire did business with was not for the barbarians to gossip about!

"Good news, the first batch of iron ore from the Great Iron Ridge in the Absolute Continent has been transported back to the Ming Empire." Zhu Yijun opened a memorial.

This memorial was submitted by Chen Dazhuang. He purchased thousands of slaves, built roads, and mined the open-pit iron ore. The first batch of iron ore arriving at the port was only 120,000 jin.

120,000 jin was not much, mainly to prove that Chen Dazhuang was not fooling His Majesty, and that the Great Iron Ridge really had iron ore.

The three earth masters of the Star-Gazing Ship looked at the Great Iron Ridge for several months. After estimation, they gave an eight-character evaluation: "Inexhaustible and unfathomable."

Cannot be mined out, absolutely cannot be mined out!

There was simply too much high-quality iron ore.

Chen Dazhuang's Star-Gazing Ship also brought good news: the northwest corner of the Absolute Continent was suitable for farming. The food and clothing for the Great Iron Ridge could be produced in the oasis in the northwest corner and supplied to the Iron Ridge by sea.