Quanzhou, the most popular land for all merchants in the Ming Dynasty, has finally ushered in its supreme ruler.

Praised by Grianci as the 'Venice of the East', it is the most prosperous place between heaven and earth.

It is heaven and hell.

"After nearly 40 years of restoration, Quanzhou's prosperity is better than in the past, especially in the past ten years, Quanzhou has surpassed Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Pearl River and other places by virtue of its unique location conditions, and has become the most merchants, the most sea vessels, and the most fiscal and tax mansions under my Ming Dynasty."

Li Qingquan, the prefect of Quanzhou, took the holy car, and then was summoned by Zhu Yunwen to the imperial front to report.

In the eighth year of Jianwen, there were more than 40 countries in Quanzhou Port for trade, and its annual tax revenue reached 8.6 million taels, which exceeded the level of Shaoxi in the Southern Song Dynasty according to the conversion of market value.

Among them, there are nearly five million taels of silver, and the rest are equivalent bills from banks.

Most of this cash came from the daimyo of Nanyang and some of the eastern daimyos. ”

The annual tax is 8.6 million taels, and when the tax of a government exceeds that of Hongwu for 31 years, the annual state cash income?

The achievements of the reopening are enormous.

Zhu Yunwen was also greatly encouraged, with a smile on his face, and he stroked his palms and exclaimed: "Okay, good!"

Over the years, the words of the Tang and Song dynasties have almost worn out my face, and until today, I am finally qualified to accept this praise.

Quanzhou has won glory for my face. ”

Emperor Long Yan Dayue, the officials of Quanzhou Mansion also laughed.

After ten years of struggle, Quanzhou has relied on its unique economic strength and its political weight in the Ming political arena is also rising.

As the prefect of Quanzhou, the progress is also the government of a province, and there is no possibility of slowly boiling through senate and politics.

And the previous governor of Quanzhou directly passed through the place and entered the Ministry of Commerce as a left waiter.

"You just said that some of the cash came from the daimyo of Toei?"

While being happy, Zhu Yunwen suddenly remembered what Li Qingquan had said, and was slightly puzzled.

He doesn't have much affection for the country itself, and is prejudiced against the country.

Not only because of the positions between countries and the history of wars, but also because of the country's refusal to acknowledge the history of massacres and crimes it has committed.

I don't admit what my ancestors have done, and I also play with my life to beautify myself, how can I be virtuous with some people.

For this reason, it can be said that the vast majority of Japanese people are prejudiced against Japan as a country.

is also because of the prejudice sandwiched in this, Zhu Yunwen naturally knows much about Japanese history that is difficult to mention.

Zhu Yunwen's impression of Japan, in addition to being a vassal state of the Central Plains for thousands of years, in the Ming Dynasty, it is a related historical fact that Qi Jiguang's anti-Japanese war is a related historical fact, although after many corroborations and local government chronicles, the coastal troubles had nothing to do with the Japanese government at that time.

"Yes, since the coastal Japanese were cleared, the daimyo from Dongying began to look for cooperation with my Ming Dynasty."

Li Qingquan seemed to remember something, and hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, the people of Dongying called the Japanese on the sea back then ronin, and they were also hunting and killing. ”

"Why are they hunting down these widows?"

Zhu Yun was happy, and then said mockingly: "Isn't this all garbage abundant in their country." ”

"I heard from those Dongying merchants that their generals hope to be vassals to our Ming Dynasty."

History has taken a sharp turn in Zhu Yunwen.

In the thirtieth year of Hongwu, the unification of Japan's northern and southern dynasties, the Muromachi shogunate was completely in charge of Japan's state affairs, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who was the general of the expedition at the time, was ambitious to steal the power belonging to the emperor, so he sent a delegation to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute to Emperor Taizu Gao, but was rejected by Taizu.

Taizu believed that the emperor of Japan (known as the king of Japan) was the legitimate monarch, and did not recognize Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as a military officer of the warlord faction similar to Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo as a monarch, and belonged to the rebellious ministers and thieves.

In order to win the support of Taizu, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also sent troops to clear the 'Japanese Kou' and dedicate their heads to the Ming Dynasty, but they were still not allowed to support and enthrone them.

After the death of Taizu, Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne and supported the reopening of the Hongwu Sea Ban, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu saw an opportunity to send a mission to the Ming Dynasty again.

This time, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu got his wish, and was named the king of Japan by Zhu Yunwen, and since then it has been regarded as orthodox, although Japan still does not support the political orthodoxy of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, but in terms of international political status, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is a veritable Japanese king.

But in this time and space, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu does not have this opportunity.

Zhu Yunwen who crossed over was extremely disgusted with Japan, and the first time Japan sent a mission to the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Yi, who was the secretary of the Ministry of Rites at the time, reported to Zhu Yunwen, but the latter didn't even bother to see it and sent it away.

Later, Zheng Yi was beheaded for the crime of anti-poetry, and the successors Wang Qian and Zhu Gaochi, the scholars of the Ministry of Rites, were even more lazy to pay attention to the Japanese mission.

After so many years, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu still hasn't been able to live up to his expectations.

The history of Japan is not interested in Ju Yunwen, but he is now particularly interested in Japanese silver.

Nanyang has silver, copper and gold, he Zhu Yunwen now knows, listening to the meaning of Li Qingquan's words just now, Japanese businessmen seem to be quite rich?

"The merchants of Dongying are rich?"

"Yes."

Speaking of money, Li Qingquan suddenly became excited: "This group of Dongying businessmen has been buying from our Quanzhou for many years, and the account opened in Quanzhou Bank directly deposited 10 million taels in the first amount!" ”

Open an account and deposit 10 million?

Zhu Yunwen's face immediately brightened.

It's good to be rich, his favorite thing now is rich leeks.

"Where did all this bunch get all that money?"

"Dongying is rich in gold and silver in China."

It was Gu Yu beside him who took Zhu Yunwen's question.

"Back to Your Majesty, when Chen was the president of the Imperial Merchants Branch in Quanzhou, he also dealt with this group of Dongying people, and their domestic land movements were frequent, and there were a large number of open-pit silver and gold mines.

This group of Dongying daimyo has always been very large, when the Dongying people approached the ministers, hoping to buy fortune ships from our Ming Dynasty to expand the use of shipping.

At that time, the minister Gu submitted this matter to the cabinet for approval, and agreed that the Dongying people would buy a fortune ship at a price of 300,000 taels, and this group of Dongying people bought a full twenty ships in one go. ”

The cost of the Fu ship under the Fuzhou shipyard is 40,000 to 50,000 taels, and the sale is 300,000 yuan, which can be regarded as ruthless enough.

But Zhu Yunwen still felt awkward in his heart, he knew that Japan was so rich at this time, and he had to sell it for 500,000 or 800,000 yuan.

"Among the maritime merchants in Quanzhou, are there any Dongying people?"

While being happy, Zhu Yunwen suddenly thought of such a serious problem.

"Yes."

Li Qingquan replied without even thinking about it: "Not only do there are Dongying people in the Quanzhou Chamber of Commerce, but also several large businesses in Quanzhou Maritime Merchants have shares in Dongying people.

These Dongying people are generous, and they are transported by several boats of silver at every turn, and the officials of the shipping department have to be busy for several days just to weigh the weight of the silver every time. ”

How did Zhu Yunwen know that in the 15th and 17th centuries, more than one-third of the world's silver came from Japan.

The smooth implementation of Zhang Juzheng's whip law, most of which relied on the silver transportation of Japan at that time, made the country's cash silver soar in the late Ming Dynasty, and also gave birth to the sprout of capital.

Later, the Japanese government introduced policies to restrict the outflow of silver to the Ming Dynasty at the beginning of the 17th century, which directly led to a sharp decline in the inflow of silver in the Chongzhen Dynasty, and severe deflation in the country, which caused the economic system of the late Ming Dynasty, which was already overwhelmed, to collapse.

The lack of silver imports also caused the exchange rate of copper coins to depreciate, and the people experienced inflation.

It seems inconceivable that the two completely contradictory economic points of contraction and expansion occurred at the same time in the Chongzhen Dynasty, but they happened together.

This problem, in fact, Zhu Yunwen's current Daming will also happen, but the establishment of the bank has suppressed this matter, and at this point, Grianch explained to Zhu Yunwen before the establishment of the bank.

"In the bulk of the trade, the merchants used silver currency, and in daily life, the people used copper coins to trade.

Copper coins themselves are an independent monetary system, and do not simply exist as auxiliary coins of silver, so there is a problem of exchange between copper coins and silver.

However, the exchange relationship is not stable, once the cash inflow is excessive, the foreign trade surplus is infinitely expanded, then the domestic copper money will increase in value, because silver is not worth much, and then want to exchange one or two cash silver for a thousand copper coins, itself will not be accepted by the market.

Small transactions by the private sector are the basis of the national economic system, and it is inconvenient and inappropriate to settle purely in high-value silver currency.

Therefore, if you want to stabilize the exchange rate, it must be monitored by the state.

When the trade surplus reaches a certain point, it is necessary for the state to intervene in monetary control, including, but not limited to, the large-scale printing of copper bills, the repurchase of cash silver in the market, and the replacement of large quantities of silver currency with bank bills that are not valuable in themselves but have credit value.

All in all, the state should make a foundation for the copper money system commonly used by the people, and stabilize the exchange rate between copper and silver without too much fluctuation. ”

Zhu Yunwen heard all this knowledge involving the national economic system, but he still felt that what Grianchi said seemed to be reasonable, and he looked very powerful.

Otherwise, how could he be willing to let a foreign devil like Grianch be the first deputy governor of the central bank.

The Jianwen Dynasty has a bank, but the Chongzhen Dynasty does not.

So when Japan restricted the export of silver, the bad national economy of the Chongzhen Dynasty, which had long been overwhelmed, directly blew up.

Zhu Yunwen suddenly discovered that governing a country really did not seem to be as simple as he thought, and it was not only a matter of doing a good job in domestic affairs, but also fighting foreign battles.

Originally, the main purpose of his visit to Quanzhou was to investigate the monopoly of the imperial merchants, but Quanzhou's capital seems to have been highly developed, the economic system here is perfect, and countless individuals have benefited from it, and the relationship is even more intertwined.

If he directly does a one-size-fits-all approach now, will it hit this economic thigh hard?

Judging from the current situation, in the Ming economic system, the most urgent problem to be solved is not the monopoly of the imperial merchants, but such a group of foreign merchants who have extended their tentacles into Quanzhou.

Being able to attract foreign capital injection is itself a precursor to the rise of capital.

"Send someone to Nanjing and summon Glianqi to Quanzhou."

When it comes to the economic field, Zhu Yunwen doesn't understand, so he has to choose someone who knows how to do it.

Regardless of the distinction between countries and regions, it is not a pity that high-end talents who can be useful to Daming.

"Now in Quanzhou City, in addition to the Dongying people mixed in with a share, are there any merchants from other countries?"

"There are also countries in the heavens, that is, the countries that His Majesty calls Arabia."

Li Qingquan replied truthfully: "There are many trade objects of Quanzhou maritime merchants, doing business, and everyone works together to make money, so among the members of Quanzhou maritime merchants, the proportion of foreign merchants is also very large. ”

A large string of Quanzhou information passed through Zhu Yunwen's ears and entered his brain, which made Zhu Yunwen feel a little swollen and painful.

Quanzhou is too 'big', so big that Zhu Yunwen doesn't even know how to deal with Quanzhou's affairs for a while, the economy here is more than the entire Nanzhili, and there are maritime brokers from countless countries here, so Zhu Yunwen decided to stay in Quanzhou for a few more days.

"On the way before I came, Gu Yu reported to me, saying that there is a bay restaurant in Quanzhou, which is the most interesting place in Quanzhou."

A trace of ambiguity flashed on Li Qingquan's face, and he smiled: "If Your Majesty can come, it will be excellent." ”

"Then let's go check it out."

Zhu Yunwen tilted his head slightly, and Gu Yu nodded and retreated in understanding.

He's going to have to go on a clearance mission.

This is no small undertaking.

In the past few years since the establishment of the Bay Restaurant, let alone clearing the venue, the dignitaries and dignitaries who come and go have never broken the long queue, and it belongs to the place where the queue cannot be squeezed in.

Stop for a day, that's tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of revenue!

"Eat, drink, play, and have fun, this bay restaurant has everything, and it is not all a filthy land of wind and snow."

Accompanying the emperor, Li Qingquan vigorously admired this business card landmark of Quanzhou.

"Troupes from all over the country, foreign barbarian gadgets, juggling, this bay restaurant is all there."

"Prostitutes are all from all countries."

Zhu Yunwen said casually, but Li Qingquan would be wrong.

Man, everybody understands.

The emperor is also a man, so it's not necessarily inappropriate to care about this matter, right?

"I don't really understand this."

Li Qingquan's hypocritical seriousness: "There are many and redundant things in Quanzhou, and the traveling merchants from various countries are like carp crossing the river, and the minister can be said to be buried in the case in recent years. ”

"In that case, the Qing family's foreign language should be learned well."

Zhu Yunwen just happened to remember such a stalk and said it casually, but looking at Li Qingquan's discolored face, it seems that he happened to be right?

"It's all for local affairs, so the minister hired a few barbarians to be teachers out of his own pocket."

Li Qingquan is still here to fight with Zhu Yunwen, and Gu Yu has already turned back.

"I respectfully ask Your Majesty to move."

There are clouds in ancient times, and you can see the whole leopard at a glance.

Zhu Yunwen thought of going to the Bay Restaurant, naturally not purely to see the top entertainment venue in the Ming Dynasty.

The saint drove up, and thousands of brocade-clothed guards guarded the imperial chariot from the prefect's yamen and drove straight to the destination.

To be honest, Zhu Yunwen has really been to a place like this.

Although it was all decades ago in his memory, he was also a person who had eaten and seen it.

In the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago, an era when the ancients had no electricity and no modernization, even if it was an entertainment club, what could there be fun.

It's nothing more than listening to the opera, singing, dancing, and drinking a little wine to help the fun.

What a boring era, what can there be to linger about?

But Zhu Yunwen now has to admit that he underestimated the 'taste' of the ancients.

If it weren't for the plaque hanging high on the door with the four gilded characters of 'Bay Restaurant', just looking at the tall stone lion statues at the door and on both sides, Zhu Yunwen would have thought that he had come to a palace!

"It covers an area of up to 300 acres, with countless pavilions and attics, and a small garden, where rare and exotic beasts from Chinese and foreign countries are stored inside."

Not to mention the software of carving beams and paintings, it is not a small investment to say that the hardware equipment that occupies an area is such a large piece in Quanzhou, which can be called every inch of land.

"Long live, long live, long live His Majesty the Emperor."

The restaurant is backed by the sea, and the front is an extremely wide Happy Valley, and several rows of hundreds of warblers and warblers are kneeling in Zhu Yunwen's eyes at this moment.

This Gu Yu is really good at arranging, and all the men in the restaurant except for the cook have been driven out, and the drama, regardless of whether they are performing arts or selling their bodies, has been retained.

This is really a response to a sentence, there are all kinds of demons and monsters.

Zhu Yunwen swept around, and the good guy knew at a glance that he was not a Ming person.

You say these dramas or bitches. If there are Nanyangs, Arabs, or even Europas, Zhu Yunwen can understand.

But there are a few black chicks in there!

It's fun to play!