"There is always a fixed number of things in the world."

Zhao Xingde repeated in a deep voice, he looked around at everyone, and where his eyes passed, a few timid people actually had a sense of fear. Some people secretly complained in their hearts, this General Zhao is like a murderer, and I am afraid that his temper is not very good, and the heads hanging from those wooden stakes on the seawall are still vivid. I'm afraid it's not good-tempered. Huang Xuezheng annoyed him, and then went to Ezhou. And these people have to live under the nose of the South China Sea sailor, and follow Huang Xuezheng to oppose Lord Zhao, I am afraid that they are asking for hardship. Everyone was secretly afraid, and the Accord also quieted down, Zhao Xingde's gaze returned to Huang Yuanlong, smiled slightly, and asked: "In this case, where does the imperial court go every time it mints so much money?" From the Taizu Dynasty to the present, there has been a shortage of money, but there has always been no fixed number. ”

"This," Huang Yuanlong's words were slightly sluggish, and he couldn't answer for a while.

"There is always a definite number of things in the world," Zhao Xingde didn't embarrass him, and continued, "You can't make something out of nothing, this principle is originally good." Since the Taizu Dynasty, copper coins have been minted over the years, so the money on the market is increasing day by day, and the copper that minted money comes from the copper mining mountain, so under the mining over the years, there is less copper stored underground. Therefore, from the perspective of the cycle of heaven and earth, yin and yang, there is always a fixed number of things in the world, which is also good. However, between heaven and earth, there is still yin and yang creation, and all things grow and disappear, if you think that everything has a fixed number, it is a big mistake. Who can have more than enough to serve the world? Only those who are Taoist. The total constancy of all things in the world is the avenue, and the transmutation of all things is also the avenue, and so on, how can there be a certain limit to a single thing, just like the population multiplies, and the wealth and goods are interested, just like I ate a bowl of rice last night, and today I ate two bowls, just like when the ancestor of this dynasty, the number of households in the world was less than two million, and now there are nearly 20 million households......" Huang Yuanlong opened his mouth when he heard this, and Zhao Xingde paused slightly, and said with a smile, "The words turn back, since the Great Song Dynasty Energy continues to extract copper from the copper mountain, How could Lord Huang conclude that the copper over there was a fixed number? ”

The businessmen did not feel anything about his remarks, and most of the civil officials and gentry were deeply touched and some were thoughtful.

"Miaozai, Miaozai," Zuo Nianyuan nodded and said in a low voice, "Mr. Daode really lives up to his reputation." ”

"Rare." Luo Huan was overjoyed, and said with a smile, "Mr. Yuanzhi told the avenue, and it was not in vain to come here. ”

Zhao Xingde recounted Zhou Li's "virtue with heaven" way, in just a few years has been widely spread all over the world, even if the poor countryside Sanjia Village and a school teacher, most of the desk has an old copy of "Moral Debate", oral often chanted two sentences of "the way of a gentleman", everyone has been admired for a long time, so the mature one agreed to give him the name of Mr. Morality. Huang Yuanlong also read his "Moral Debate" and "Gentleman's Country", although he gave his tongue and tongue, and was quite popular among the gentry in Guangzhou, but if he sat down with Zhao Xingde and discussed, his heart was empty, seeing that the topic Zhao Xingde actually dragged the topic to the distinction of the avenue, of course he refused to give in, his nose "hummed", and said: "Copper coins and bronze utensils must come from the copper mountain, how many copper mountains and how much copper are there over there?" Does Lord Zhao know? He thought about it for a while, and then sneered and said: "I am short of money for copper, if I could mine copper to sell it over there, I would have picked it a long time ago." Still waiting for you to go? ”

Only his voice echoed in the Accord, and the rest of the people were silent, and it was rare to hear such a wonderful argument. Everyone listened intently, because of the different positions, many people's moods fluctuated with the words of the two. Listening to Huang Yuanlong's questioning, Zuo Nianyuan couldn't help clenching his fists in his sleeves and looked at Zhao Xingde nervously. Guangzhou Prefecture learns the hidden dragon and crouching tiger, Huang Yuanlong can be unique, but he is not an idle person. "Mr. Zhao, can he know?" Luo Huan thought about it, but his eyes were undoubted.

"I know." Zhao Xingde replied forcefully.

This caught many people off guard, some wondered where his confidence came from, and others frowned.

A mocking smile hung on the corner of Huang Yuanlong's mouth, and he secretly thought, "Do you know if you know?" ”

Zhao Xingde did not hesitate, but repeated with affirmation: "I know, knowing is knowing." He smiled slightly, slowed down his tone, and said slowly: "Dashi does not have a large copper mine, but," everyone's hearts sank, and they heard him say again, "However, Yuan Zhi has traveled in the Roma Turks and Lumei, and knows that in the west of the Roma Turks and Lumei countries, there is a place where Bai Di lives called Europa, but there are huge copper mines. Many merchants only know Tianzhu and Great Food, and have never even heard of Europa, so Zhao Xingde explained, "Europa and we live in the two sections of the central continent of the world, I am connected to the East China Sea in the east of the continent, Europa is close to the Atlantic Ocean in the west of the continent, and the central continent stretches for 130,000 miles from east to west. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Xingde paused, allowing everyone to digest the impact of this magnificent description.

"Thirteen...... Miles? Luo Huan muttered, "I heard you right, right? ”

Since ancient times, the Chinese have believed that this land is in the middle of the world, surrounded by the four seas. The Song people also knew that to the west of the Xia Kingdom, there were still countless barbarian states. However, the merchants only vaguely knew from the Great Cannibal that many goods came from the Xiyi side, while the scholars learned about the bizarre Western barbarian kingdoms from travelogues such as "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", and imagined the Pure Land of Western Bliss from Buddhist scriptures. Everyone here only knew that the Central Continent was incomparably vast, but the distance of 130,000 li had never appeared in their minds. If others say this, they will definitely be scoffed at, but who is Zhao Xingde? Not to mention his prominent status, his experience in the Xia Kingdom, which was spread by many people intentionally or unintentionally, was also well known to many Kwantung scholars. Fight to make a name for yourself.

Whenever this matter was mentioned, Zuo Nianyuan, Luo Huan and other junior scholars were enthusiastic. Therefore, they took it for granted that they believed what Zhao Xingde said "knows". Not only them, but even Liu Gongliang, Liu Yu, Nie Siwei and others also believed eight or nine points. Even Huang Yuanlong believed it for six or seven points, but he didn't expect Zhao Xingde's counterattack to be so direct and affirmative. Huang Yuanlong's face turned a little pale, and he reluctantly sneered: "What's the use of just knowing?" That Europa is so big, do you know where the copper mountain is? You can't look for it everywhere, do you? ”

"The location of the Great Copper Mountain is known to some knowledgeable natives in Europa."

Zhao Xingde smiled and said: "As long as you inquire carefully, you will naturally know." His smile was confident and gentle, but it seemed very hateful to Huang Yuanlong, "In the northwest of Europa, there is a large peninsula called Scandinavia, and the land is equivalent to the sum of the east and west roads of Quang Nam, which is a bitter cold land, but on the west side of this island, there is a large copper mountain, and this copper mountain alone is slightly mined, and the copper output is enough to be several times the sum of all the copper mountains in our Great Song Dynasty." At this time, countless people in the seat gasped, Zhao Xingde seemed to be not shocking and endless, accurately said the location and name of the copper mountain, this is not as easy as saying "I know, but unfortunately you can't find it", since everyone knows, as long as someone goes over to investigate, whether it is true or false will be known immediately, Zhao Xingde has a great reputation, presumably he will not joke about such obvious things.

"Mr. Zhao is really well-informed!" Zuo Nianyuan and the others said secretly.

"Could it be that Zhao Yuanzhi paid attention to inquire about Xiyi Copper Mountain at that time?" Liu Gongliang groaned, "He really has a heart." ”

Zhao Xingde said luck in his heart, he used to be a steelmaking craftsman, and he was naturally familiar with the distribution of iron ore in the world, and copper ore is the largest non-ferrous metal, under the bypass, the situation is also known, Sweden's French copper mine production once accounted for two-thirds of the world's copper production, and the mining period is more than 1,000 years, so naturally it is not wrong. As far as he knows, Indonesia also has a major copper producing area in the world, but it is not as famous as the French copper mine, so he will ignore it for the time being, and then slowly send people to explore and find it after the entire southwest sea is under the control of the sailors in the future.

"You know, don't you know the big cannibals?" Huang Yuanlong's face turned pale, and he said in a fierce voice, "Are they stupid?" ”

He actually agreed with Zhao Xingde's statement in his heart, but he refused to stop there, and subconsciously insisted on the last moment.

"Big cannibals are not fools." Zhao Xingde shook his head and sighed, "It's just that the world has changed in time, and the times are different. ”

Seeing that there were doubts on everyone's faces, Zhao Xingde slowly explained: "In the Middle Ages, until recently, the trade between countries was all segmented, for example, Europa Zhuyi was rich in gold and silver utensils and glazed ware, so they were sold to Lu Mei, and Lu Mei was sold to the big cannibals, and the big cannibals were shipped to our dynasty for sale. This is only a rough idea, in fact, the goods may have changed hands several times just within Europa, and it is not uncommon for them to change hands more than a dozen times in the middle of the trade route. We are separated from Europa by dozens of links, and we don't know what they have and what they lack. And what is trafficked all the way can only be extremely profitable treasures. The shortage of copper and money in our dynasty is known to the big food merchants in the mutual market with our dynasty, but they are not those big cannibals in the mutual market with Europa, and their understanding of the mines in Europa may be similar to ours. Moreover, in the past, the sea ships were narrow, and the difference in copper prices between the two sides was probably not enough to break through these dozens or dozens of trade links, so that people could transport copper from the west thousands of miles away. ”

At this point, many let out a knowing sigh. "I see."

"Maybe the big cannibal also thinks that everything has a fixed number," Luo Huan joked in a low voice, "If a large thing like copper is transported over, not to mention the hard work, it is likely to suppress the price of copper in my dynasty, how can it be suitable to sell glass as gold?" "What Brother Luo said is very true," Wei Jianren nodded slightly, and said with a smile, "Shangjia is unprofitable and can't afford to be early." Therefore, what Lord Zhao wanted to transport from the west was high-quality bronze instead of copper, and the craftsmanship of the craftsmen was valuable, so that more merchants could be persuaded to trade copperware. ”

"Now, the world has changed in time, and the times are different."

When there was a whisper in the building, Zhao Xingde looked solemn, and said in a louder voice: "You have sea ships several times larger than them, there are powerful sailors, your merchant ships can sail from the east of the continent to the west of the continent, what the big cannibals couldn't do in the past, you can do it now!" It is true that everything has a constant number, but these hundreds of thousands of miles of oceans, countless mines, land, wealth buried in the ground and on the ground, this wealth that has been sleeping for thousands of years, are all waiting for you to develop! ”

Note: The use of "indigenous" in this book is an ancient meaning of "settled cultivators", rather than a metaphor for later generations.