"Master, there's news from the palace!" A subordinate walked in from outside, followed by a little eunuch of yours, apparently sent by his eldest brother to deliver the letter.

"Father-in-law Liu, what did my eldest brother say?" Seeing the little eunuch, Zhang Xun said with some eagerness.

The little eunuch said: "Second master, our family doesn't know what the godfather said when he came to the house, and our family is not here to deliver a message to the second master, but to deliver a letter to the second master." As he spoke, the little eunuch took out an envelope from his bosom.

Zhang Xun was stunned, but he quickly took the envelope.

After taking a look at the oil sludge on it, he found that there was no problem, so Zhang Xun opened the envelope. took out the letter paper from it and looked at it a few times, Zhang Xun's expression was a little strange, and finally sighed helplessly.

"Butler, send Father-in-law Liu out, and give Father-in-law Liu another hundred taels of silver."

When the little eunuch heard this, he hurriedly smiled and said, "Then the slave will thank the second master for rewarding!" ”

The little eunuch took the money and left, while Zhang Xun sat on the chair and muttered for a long time, only smiling bitterly and shaking his head. In Zhang Whale's letter, he approved of Zhang Xun's deal, which made Zhang Xun very happy.

But there is one thing that Zhang Xun is still very unhappy about, that is, Zhang Whale made a request in his heart.

You can do business and trade, but you can't use the people of the Ming Dynasty, even if it's a lowly person. In addition, it is forbidden to sell slaves privately, and slaves cannot be sold to anyone other than the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

This request is very uncomfortable for Zhang Xun, this is obviously an opportunity to make a lot of money, but now he can't do it.

Although Zhang Xun wanted to ignore his eldest brother's words, Zhang Xun didn't dare. Zhang Xun still knows something about the eldest brother Zhang Whale. Although the eldest brother is favored in the palace and is in charge of the East Factory, he is even known as the first eunuch today.

But his family knows his own affairs, not to mention other people, just Zhang Cheng of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, who is eyeing his eldest brother's position.

In addition to the newly rising Xu De in the inner factory, his eldest brother's status is definitely not as solid as imagined outside. If you dare to do something out of the ordinary, you will definitely be stabbed to the emperor by the inner factory.

Once it affects his eldest brother, then he will have nothing left.

"Such a good business, I don't know who will be cheaper!" Zhang Xun sighed for a while, took his eldest brother's letter to the oil lamp, and burned it directly.

Zhu Yijun didn't know what Zhang Xun thought, and even if he knew, Zhu Yijun wouldn't care.

Forbidden City, Wenhua Palace, Zhu Yijun is holding a court meeting.

Present at the Council were three Cabinet Scholars and the newly promoted Man Wah Hall Scholar Wang Yongji. There is also the secretary of the Ministry of Household Rites and Punishments, and there is Li Shenxing, the chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau, who has just returned from Shanxi.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is now getting bigger and bigger, and Li Shenxing's position is becoming more and more important.

Zhu Yijun walked into the hall expressionlessly, his eyes swept over everyone's faces, and then he slowly spoke: "Looking for you Aiqing today, there is something to discuss with you Aiqing. ”

As soon as everyone heard Zhu Yijun's words, their faces became serious.

The Da Ming Law is being revised over there, and Shuntianfu is also busy these days, and everyone really doesn't know what the emperor is going to do. But looking at the emperor's posture, I'm afraid things are not small!

"I'm looking for you Aiqing today, that's why!"

Zhu Yijun said, and Zhang Whale next to him walked up from behind, holding a big silver ingot in his arms. This silver ingot makes everyone a little dizzy, how heavy is this!

Thirty pounds!

This weight Zhu Yijun couldn't be clearer, this is what Zhu Yijun made people cast.

The Ming Dynasty has always been short of silver, and the main currency is copper coins, which everyone knows. But the lack of silver is also timely, and it has been 20 years since Longqing switched.

In the past 20 years, although it has not allowed Da Ming to understand that there are mountains of silver, there is definitely a large inflow.

Although it may not reach 100 million taels, it will not be too bad.

You must know that the Ming Dynasty is only short of silver, not without silver, and the inflow of these silver has directly led to the breeding of some problems. In the past, although the royal family and wealthy people of the Ming Dynasty knew that silver could be used as currency, they did not treat silver as currency, but collected it as jewelry like pearls and jade.

Otherwise, Emperor Zhengde would not be stupid enough to build a house directly with silver, spending 20 million taels of silver, and a large amount of silver therefore slept in the palace and various royal palaces.

However, Zhu Yijun knew that soon silver would depreciate rapidly, and in the last year of Wanli, the price of one stone of rice would soar to eighteen taels of silver, which was rare in the world.

The inflow of silver did not generate new purchasing power, create new value, or promote innovation. Instead, they were concentrated in the hands of a small number of officials and businessmen, and were either invested in land, real estate, or hidden underground.

The former will cause the price of land to become extremely expensive, and ordinary people simply cannot afford it, further concentrating land in the hands of the powerful. The latter will turn the results of the "Longqing Switch" into a blank slate.

The inflow of large amounts of silver has also brought two new problems. First, it leads to the high price of goods and the cheapness of silver, which leads to inflation. Second, silver became the currency in circulation, which made the Ming Dynasty cede control of the currency to others.

This problem must be solved, and if the currency problem is not solved, no matter how much you make yourself, it will all be taken away.

Although Zhu Yijun had never experienced the economic war in later generations, he had also heard of it, not to mention the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the economic collapse of Japan alone, it was a lesson.

What I worked so hard to get out, you want to buy it with some silver? Don't even think about it.

Monetary reform is imperative!

Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Whale to put the big ingots on his dragon book case, and then said: "Ladies and gentlemen, Daming is short of silver, everyone knows this, but do you know where I got this ingot?" ”

Everyone was stunned, but they hurriedly replied: "I don't know!" ”

"This is the silver I asked people to get back from Jiangnan." Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "Maybe you think this silver is nothing, but I tell you that in Jiangnan, silver has already depreciated. ”

"Maybe you don't know what depreciation means, I'll explain it to you."

"In the early years of Wanli, one tael of silver could be exchanged for 1,500 copper plates, and in the fifth year of Wanli, one tael of silver could be exchanged for 1,400 copper plates. In the tenth year of Wanli, one tael of silver can be exchanged for 1,200 copper plates, and in the fifteenth year of Wanli, that is, this year, one tael of silver can only be exchanged for 900 copper plates. ”

"You Aiqing are all well-educated people, do you know why?"

Everyone was stunned, and many people turned their heads to look at Zhang Xueyan, the head of the household department. The meaning is obvious, it's time for your household to stand up at this time, and this matter is in your hands!

Zhang Xueyan glared at the person who was looking at him, then took a step out before he spoke: "Back to Your Majesty, this means that there is more and more silver on the market." ”

Nodding, Zhu Yijun stretched out his hand and stroked the big silver ingots in front of him, and said with a smile: "Yes!" There are more and more silver in the Ming Dynasty, but where does the silver in the Ming Dynasty come from? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, since the switch of Longqing, the trade between Jiangnan and overseas has become more and more prosperous, and these silvers are used by those outsiders to buy goods." Zhang Xueyan said on the side at this time.

Zhu Yijun nodded again: "Zhang Aiqing is right. ”

"That Zhang Aiqing, such a large amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty, what good is it for our Ming Dynasty, for the people of the world, and for me?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Xueyan and asked with a smile.

Money is money when it is spent, and if it can't be spent, it is waste paper.

If you don't have the identity of currency, exchanging the property of the Ming Dynasty for foreign silver is definitely a loss-making transaction. Only if there is a buy and a sale, Daming just sells, does not buy, this problem is big.

Zhang Xueyan listened to Zhu Yijun's words, pondered for a moment, and then his face changed.

"Your Majesty, this and this!" Zhang Xueyan even sweated down, and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty, this silver is harmful to the Ming Dynasty, please close the Moon Harbor, implement a new sea ban, and restore the ancestral system of plates not going to the sea." ”

Looking at Zhang Xueyan, who was a little messy, Zhu Yijun sighed.

This is a smart man, and he just pointed out the problem himself, and he saw the terrible nature of the problem. But closing Moon Harbor is not the solution to the problem.

When the ministers present heard Zhang Xueyan's words, they all looked at Zhang Xueyan like crazy people.

You must know that since the opening of Longqing, the maritime trade in Jiangnan has flourished, and the officials from the imperial court who came from Jiangnan basically have done this in their families. You actually want to seal the Moon Harbor, and you can't go to the sea if you want a plate, you are afraid that you will die fast enough!

Zhu Yijun knew that there was indeed a problem with Daming's maritime trade, but the problem was not whether it was opened or not, but the problem of smuggling.

You must know that in this era, smuggling has become the mainstream of maritime trade, the biggest factor is currency, the vast majority of trade is silver, and the Ming Dynasty does not have a good trade system.

For example, you can buy a piece of cloth for two taels of silver in Guangzhou, but you may only need one tael to go to the smuggling market, and three taels to buy from the Ming government.

The government and trade cannot compete with the private sector at all, and most business travelers who come to China to trade will choose the path of smuggling. The vast majority of the money goes into the hands of the big smugglers, and in a few years, these big smugglers will form an alliance of interests, and they are the Donglin Party.

Zhu Yijun is a Jedi who will not allow such a thing to happen, this is the purpose of his convening this court meeting today.

"Zhang Aiqing, come and tell everyone!" Zhu Yijun naturally noticed the reaction of the others, sighed and said, "Everyone, Aiqing, listen to what Zhang Aiqing has to say." ”

Zhang Xueyan also stabilized his mood at this time and stood up from the ground. respectfully saluted Zhu Yijun, and then said, "The minister obeys the order!" As he spoke, he began to speak of his own understanding.