Chapter 119: Section Three: Tacit Understanding

They were indeed counterfeit coins. The Great Ming’s standard-minted cash was sixty percent copper and forty percent lead, but the coins Huang Shi brought out were forty percent copper and sixty percent lead. If one looked closely, one could tell these coins were darker and also thicker.

Liu Qingyang was a merchant from Beizhili. When Shenyang fell, he was captured along with his father and brothers and sent to work the mines. In the tenth month of last year, he escaped the mines and fled to Lüshun. Midway, after hearing of Huang Shi’s reputation, he defected to the nearer Changsheng Island. One of his family’s traditional trades was counterfeiting coins. Huang Shi felt this was a relatively quick way to make money and resolved to develop coin minting into a pillar industry for Changsheng Island.

After selling off goods, Changsheng Island exchanged them for a batch of copper cash. Huang Shi told Mao Wenlong he wanted to make bullets for firelocks and also managed to obtain some lead ingots. After repeated testing and refinement, the quality of the latest batch of coins was already quite good. Liu Qingyang, upholding his family’s customary integrity, made the coins a full fen heavier than genuine ones, so that when weighed in the hand they felt like very fine, solid cash.

“General Huang,” Wu Mu had already grasped what Huang Shi intended to do, but this was a responsibility far beyond what a minor eunuch like him could shoulder: “Counterfeiting coins is a capital crime punishable by the extermination of one’s entire clan.”

“Eunuch Wu, allow me to explain slowly.” Huang Shi was not the least bit nervous. Grinning, he looked at the two Embroidered Uniform Guard officers, who were as tense as if facing a formidable enemy.

“These coins are all to be shipped overseas — to be precise, to the country of Wa…”

Huang Shi also planned to engage in some maritime trade. Japan was naturally the best target in this era. Historically speaking, it was rather strange: Japan had long suffered a chronic shortage of coinage and thus consistently imported large quantities of standard-minted cash from the Great Ming. Every coin circulating in the Japanese market was Great Ming copper cash.

“…The country of Wa has vast amounts of copper and silver…”

By the early seventeenth century, as Japanese mining technology steadily advanced and more and more mines were discovered, the price of Japanese copper bars kept falling. This strategic material, originally restricted for export, at one point actually became cheaper than standard-minted cash of the same weight. And with the discovery of the Iwami Ginzan silver mine, Japan’s silver output at one point reached as high as one-third of total global production.

“…The country of Wa uses nothing but our Great Ming’s copper cash…”

Although Huang Shi did not understand why the Japanese had not started minting their own coins earlier, he had no intention of letting this opportunity slip by. What trade in the world could compare to printing banknotes? Though the initial profits would likely be quite limited (Huang Shi lacked sufficient capital), if they could avoid any shipwrecks, detentions, or production accidents, this was a snowballing business that would double every two months.

“…Our Great Ming has already banned the export of copper cash overseas…”

In truth, the fastest method would be to directly use Great Ming cash to exchange for copper bars in Japan. But standard-minted cash had always been a state-controlled material (the same went for gold and silver). Huang Shi had no intention of explaining to the Grand Secretariat why he needed to ship precious metals boatload by boatload to a desolate island overseas, and even less did he want the whole realm to know and create competitors for himself.

“…Casting cannon requires copper, and silver can be exchanged for grain…”

The conclusion, then, was that only by minting the coins himself could he easily preserve the trade secret. Copper was also a vital future military strategic material for Changsheng Island. Finally, it would train a core of technical personnel and yield experience in metalworking — this too was very important. As for making the coins forty percent copper and sixty percent lead, that was out of risk considerations, and of course transportation costs and production costs had to be factored into the commodity price as well… In any case, our Japanese friends were suffering a severe coin shortage; as long as they couldn’t tell the difference, it would be fine.

“…As long as Eunuch Wu nods his head, this humble general can certainly handle this matter flawlessly, leaving no seam between heaven and garment.”

Moreover, he also had a way to solve the distribution problem. That this solution had actually delivered itself to his doorstep made it even more wonderful. Huang Shi had recently begun to feel that he himself possessed a certain measure of Overlord’s Aura.

Once they heard that Huang Shi did not intend to sell the coins into the interior, the two Embroidered Uniform Guard officers immediately relaxed their expressions. As far as they were concerned, the matter was now none of their business. Wu Mu, however, pondered it carefully for a long time, weighing the pros and cons.

Huang Shi gazed at him full of hope. If this were a civil official, there would be no hope at all — a single charge of condoning counterfeiting would be enough to ruin an official career. But eunuchs did not care about reputation; they only cared whether they could please the Emperor.

“General Huang, this servant sees no major problem. This matter can be memorialized secretly to His Majesty, bypassing the Grand Secretariat.” Wu Mu finally agreed. He was just as concerned about Changsheng Island’s military preparedness as Huang Shi was.

“And what if His Majesty does not grant permission?” — Wu Mu, if by any chance Tianqi refuses, this whole affair is dead. Without weapons in my hands, I can’t win battles, and you can’t exactly complain to the Emperor that he didn’t approve this plan.

“This matter is of tremendous importance and must be submitted to His Majesty for his sacred judgment.” — Brother Huang Shi, it’s not that I won’t help. A matter this big cannot be wrapped in paper to contain the fire; the Emperor will find out sooner or later, and when he does, my little life will be forfeit.

“This is still only an idea. This humble general has not yet discussed it with anyone else. If it proves truly feasible, then we shall memorialize. Otherwise, if His Majesty grants permission but it proves unworkable here, would that not be disastrous?” — Help me keep it under wraps for a couple of days first, elder brother.

“When can General Huang have a definite answer?” — How long do you want me to conceal it?

“Before the end of the year.”

“Before the twelfth month.” — Six months at most.

“Thank you, Eunuch Wu.” — Done.

Huang Shi smiled and said, “This news should be able to be memorialized together with the victory report.”

Wu Mu was both startled and delighted to hear this: “There will definitely be a victory report within this year? General Huang, do not toy with this servant.”

“Eunuch Wu, set your mind at ease. Huang Mou’s words are absolutely not empty.”

Seeing Huang Shi so confident, Wu Mu and the two Embroidered Uniform Guard officers were all immediately overjoyed. Hadn’t the three of them come to this godforsaken place where birds don’t even shit precisely for this?

Historically, there would still be a victory this year — the recapture of Jinzhou, which would open up the situation in Liaonan. But Huang Shi no longer planned to follow Zhang Pan and scrape for merit; he already had another plan.

“Very well then, this servant has no objections.” Wu Mu also broke into a smile and began to drink.

Huang Shi felt that, on the whole, eunuchs were far easier to hoodwink than civil officials. They had never concretely handled government affairs, nor did they have the habit of scrutinizing details. When dealing with matters, their methods were either crude or simplistic.

For instance, the “Widow Remarriage” case of the great Ming eunuch Liu Jin was a very interesting example. From it, Huang Shi had grasped the typical mode of thinking of Ming dynasty eunuchs:

The Ming Code did not prohibit widows from remarrying. But this was an era without social insurance. After a poor family’s son died, life for the elderly and the children would be very difficult. Therefore, Ming civil officials encouraged the practice of preserving chastity, which could earn benefits such as tax exemptions. If a woman could obtain a chastity archway, her natal family would also reap benefits.

During Liu Jin’s time in power, a homicide occurred in Beijing. The gist of it was that a certain younger brother-in-law, for the sake of tax benefits, adamantly opposed his widowed sister-in-law’s remarriage. He declared that if the widow did not observe the full three years of mourning, he would seize her dowry (according to the Ming Code, when a couple divorced or a widow remarried, she would take her dowry with her). In the end, the woman, in a fit of fury and desperation, hanged herself. When Eunuch Liu heard of this, he flew into a rage: “These unruly commoners, for the sake of a few stinking coins, have driven a human life to its death.”

He immediately issued an order: all widows in the capital were to remarry at once. Those who failed to comply would have their fathers-in-law and fathers arrested and beaten with the plank. This decree, of course, turned into a farce. The people of Beijing hurriedly shooed their widows back to their natal families. Even nursing mothers could not escape being torn from their flesh and blood. Their natal families dared not accept this hot potato either. Yet for a time there were not enough men to marry them all, and many women from respectable families were thus sold off by their parents as concubines.

This absurd decree was not rescinded until Eunuch Liu fell from power, and only then did the state of marriage in Beijing return to normal.

This time, with just a simple speech, Huang Shi had likewise gotten Wu Mu to relent, and had even diverted all his attention with a distant, enormous profit. Wu Mu did not bother to carefully consider the details involved, nor did he remotely realize how much power Huang Shi would thereby gain. A person with ambition could fully use this opportunity to cultivate influence and could also establish a personal, independent economic foundation.

After the meal, Huang Shi summoned Yang Zhiyuan and instructed him to direct Bao Jiusun and Liu Qingyang to immediately begin preparations to start work: “Here is the military procurement authorization from Army Supervisor Wu. From our future payments for goods, we can take one thousand taels of silver to buy copper, and we can also buy some coal to bring back. We are going to open the kilns and mint coins right away.”

At the end of the fifth month of the third year of the Tianqi reign, Zhang Pan led the Dongjiang army from Lüshun northward on a show of force. To evade the Ming army’s sharp edge, the Later Jin garrison at Nanguan voluntarily burned their fortifications and joined forces with the Jinzhou garrison. After the Later Jin army abandoned Nanguan, more refugees were able to cross the blockade line and head for Lüshun.

Upon hearing this news, Wu Mu immediately came to find Huang Shi. When his colleague Eunuch Wang had submitted a secret memorial to the Grand Eunuch Army Supervisor of Dongjiang, he had also smugly written a letter boasting about it to Wu Mu. After reading it, Eunuch Wu’s heart felt as if a brood of little mice were scratching at it.

“Left turn — right turn — about turn…” It was now the busy farming season, so Huang Shi could only train his small squad of reserve officers.

When Huang Shi finally had a moment free, Wu Mu impatiently inquired when the Changsheng Island army would strike out.

“We’ll have to wait until after the seventh month at the earliest, once we’ve harvested the grain.”

“It’s a deal then?” Wu Mu immediately extended a finger: “Send out the troops in the seventh month.”

“I say, Eunuch Wu, please don’t be so impatient. I said after the seventh month, not in the seventh month.” Huang Shi, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, began to explain that he first needed to find an opening for battle.

“Also, Eunuch Wu, I have already cast the first batch of copper coins. Would you like to take a look?” Taking advantage of the fact that no one else was around, Huang Shi quietly asked Wu Mu.

“I won’t look. This servant knows nothing at all!”

Wu Mu hurriedly bustled away, throwing back a parting remark as he left: “Before the twelfth month, when General Huang has made up his mind, tell this servant, and this servant will then memorialize His Majesty in secret.”