The Ming Dynasty was so short of silver that it naturally seriously affected the development of commerce, so that the imperial court became poorer and poorer, and by the tenth year of Chongzhen, the finances had reached the verge of bankruptcy.

Some people may say that during this period, a lot of silver flowed to China in the world, and this is indeed true. In his article "Yanjing in the Ming Dynasty", the Western scholar Gise affirmed: "In 1597 (the twenty-fifth year of Wanli), the Spanish galleon transported 345,000 kilograms of silver from Acapulco to China, which is more than the output of the Ming Dynasty in half a century (the output of the Ming Dynasty's official silver mines was about 60oo kilograms).

Yes, it was true that a large amount of silver flowed into China at that time, but this silver was still not enough for the Ming Dynasty's rapidly expanding economy, and the most important thing was that the silver had not yet flowed into the hands of the Ming court.

Moreover, there was a time when the huge silver supply chain in the West was interrupted, and there was a serious shortage during the Longqing period (1568~1572). History of the Ming Dynasty? Jin Xueyan's Biography recorded this incident with a sigh-like expression: "The people of the world, the emperor is worried about scarcity, not enough grain and cloth, but not enough silver."

For the shortcoming of insufficient silver, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty also had an early experience. As early as the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), due to the lack of precious metals such as silver and copper at that time, the Hongwu Emperor who was born as a cattle herder promulgated a thing called "banknote law", set up a treasure banknote lifting division, and then set up papermaking, banknote printing two bureaus and treasure banknotes, two libraries, and issued in the name of Nanjing, Zhongshu Province in the following year, and prohibited the people from buying and selling gold and silver, that is, the imperial court began to use paper money instead of precious metals.

The denominations of the treasure banknotes are the same, with six types: 500 wen, 400 wen, 300 wen, 200 wen, and 100 wen.

It stands to reason that the use of paper money should be a symbol of civilization, but also the inevitable result of social development, but the Ming thing is to blame here, the Ming issue of paper money has always been only issued and not received, neither demarcation, nor recycling old banknotes, and there is no modern sense of reserves, resulting in more and more paper money circulating in the market, treasure banknotes flooded, and inflation began in the year of issuance.

Once, Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son, Zhu Di, returned to the court after winning a battle, and Zhu Yuanzhang was happy to reward Zhu Di with a "check" - a treasure note with a face value of one million taels.

This is also the largest denomination of the Ming Dynasty treasure banknote, it is estimated that this is also Zhu Yuanzhang's whim to print a million numbers in advance, anyway, he is the emperor, you can write as many numbers as you want, it can be known that the rulers of the Ming Dynasty are so ignorant of finance, and the people will also use the toilet paper used by the emperor sarcastically called "treasure money", and the deep meaning behind it can be known without asking.

In view of this, by the Zhengde period, the treasure banknote had actually been abolished, and after that, the Ming Dynasty no longer issued paper money, and only the previously issued treasure banknotes were still barely circulating on the market.

Although the credibility of the treasure banknote is broken, the trade must be done, right? Metallic currencies such as gold, silver, and copper began to circulate among the people, but due to the lack of precious metals, the economy of the Ming Dynasty has become somewhat deformed.

Pang Gang has clearly felt that the lack of silver has gradually shown the economic impact of Qingzhou, since Pang Gang has just taken charge of Qingzhou, relying on refined salt, cement and other items as support, Pang Gang has indeed made a lot of money, but due to the lack of silver, it has also led to some transactions involving large quantities of silver It is difficult to carry out, or that reason, the lack of silver.

As the de facto ruler of Shandong, Pang Gang had to plan for the future. Because of this, he set his sights on Obaro and the West, and only by letting his merchants earn money from the Obaro continent was the best way to alleviate his lack of silver, so he forcibly resisted the urge not to immediately send troops to recover Taiwan.

Looking at Pang Gang's contemplative face, Hua Yan and the others did not dare to disturb the thoughts of the adults, and quietly waited for the results.

After a long time, Pang Gang slowly raised his head and smiled at Lin Feng: "Governor Lin, if this official sends you to the Netherlands, what do you think?" ”

"What? Your Excellency is going to send a lowly office to Holland? Lin Feng was stunned for a moment, and his fat face stiffened a little.

Pang Gang smiled and quipped: "What, isn't it good to let you go to the Netherlands?" I heard that you haven't married yet, and the Yiren women are all plump breasts and fat buttocks, and you may be able to get a few foreign women back when you go to the Netherlands this time! ”

Lin Feng's face suddenly became bitter: "My lord, you have forgiven the lowly position, those red-haired devils are all red-haired and green-eyed, if you want to humblely marry those fans, you might as well kill the lowly position!" ”

"Hahaha......" Seeing Lin Feng's bitter face, everyone laughed, and Hua Yan even touched Lin Feng with his elbow and said with a smile: "Brother Lin, remember to bring a few foreign women back for the brothers when you come back." ”

"Brother Hua, even you are laughing at me." Lin Feng's round face wrinkled even more.

Looking at Lin Feng's fat body and five-short figure, Pang Gang also smiled, the Dutch are the highest average person in the world, Pang Gang remembered that the average height of Dutch men in later generations was one meter eighty-two, and the average height of women had reached one meter seven, even if it had not reached the height of later generations, but it should not be too far behind.

Looking at Lin Fengcai's short and fat figure, Pang Gang's mind suddenly appeared with a stone under his feet and a foreign girl.

"No, it's too dark and too evil, although Lin Feng is a little fat, it's not right to think so as his boss." Pang Gang, who couldn't hold back a smile, patted Lin Feng's shoulder and encouraged: "Governor Lin, some things always have to be done, why should our silver let those people earn in vain, if you have silver, you have to earn it yourself, you have to remember that the purpose of your visit this time is to earn back more silver, gold and other things from the other party......"

After Pang Gang's detailed explanation, Lin Feng and the others understood Pang Gang's purpose, yes, Daming is short of silver, but Oubaro has silver there, and it is really necessary to fly for the development of Qingzhou.

"But do you really want to take those merchants with you to Holland? It must be known that businessmen seek profits, and they are afraid of ......" Hua Yan on the side also raised his own concerns.

"What are you afraid of, it's normal for businessmen to pursue profits, but if one day businessmen don't pursue profits, then it's bad."

Pang Gang saw this very openly, "As long as the merchants can bring more silver back to Daming and Qingzhou, the officials will not care how they make money, and the more they earn, the more taxes we will have." ”

Everyone discussed for a while, and Pang Gang explained some things to them in detail, and then everyone dispersed.

When Pang Gang returned to the inner courtyard, Kong Ruolan, Wei Manyao and other women were already sitting in the small hall waiting for him to eat.

Looking at Ruolan, who was already four months pregnant and her belly was already obviously bulging, Pang Gang hurriedly helped her sit down, and reproached her lovingly: "You are really, eat first when you are hungry, you don't have to wait for your husband to come back, you are still pregnant, how can you be hungry." ”

Because of pregnancy, the original melon seed face gradually became rounder, and every smile carried the brilliance of the mother's surname.

Ruolan pursed her lips and smiled: "What do you say, husband, as the head of the family, it doesn't matter if you go out on a campaign, now that you are back, how can a concubine be so illiterate, wouldn't it be laughed at if it is passed on, Sister Manyao, do you say that this is the reason?" ”

"Flutter!" With a sound, Wei Manyao smiled, "In my opinion, Sister Ruolan is now one person and two people make up, can you compare with us, sir, what do you say?" After finishing speaking, Wei Manyao's beautiful eyes glanced at Pang Gang, and the meaning of grievance was expressed.

Pang Gang couldn't help but touch his nose and laughed dryly, Wei Manyao's meaning was very clear to him, as the saying goes, a mother is more expensive than a child, Ruolan is pregnant now, if she gives birth to a son in a few months, it will be the eldest son, and she will inherit her family business in the future.

Wei Manyao is even more generous in this kind of thing, I'm afraid there will be a knot, but Pang Gang also feels very helpless, the sky testifies, in this kind of thing he has always been a bowl of horizontal ends, not to mention Wei Manyao, his efforts on Ling'er, Qiao'er, Li Xuezhu and even Chen Yuanyuan and others are enough, but so far only Kong Ruolan has won the bid, what can he do?

Although Wei Manyao is said to be generous, Kong Ruolan is not a vinegar jar, and the two of them are also harmonious, but since they became married, the subordinates in the house and the subordinates below have consciously divided into two factions, one faction is headed by Kong Wen's father and son, and the people in this faction are mainly businessmen in Qingzhou, who are united because they have common interests in business.

The other faction is a faction of officials headed by Hua Yan, the reason is very simple, Wei Manyao's father Wei was the governor of Shandong in the same year, and Wei Manyao was born as a serious official eunuch, which naturally represents the power of the scholar and the government, and Hua Yan and others have no reason not to support her.

Pang Gang is not unaware of the actions of the following people, but the great men of later generations also said that there are no factions in the party that are strange, and it is not said in the novel, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes.

For this kind of thing, Pang Gang also knew that it was unavoidable, and Ping Yue also turned a blind eye, and now when he saw Wei Manyao's resentful gaze, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed for a while.

In order to divert everyone's attention, Pang Gang turned to Kong Ruolan and said, "Ruolan, I plan to let your brother accompany our mission to those Yi people country at the end of this month, that is, the Obaro Continent, what do you think?" ”

(To be continued)