In the heavily guarded ceremonial hotel, the Dali guards guarded the periphery layer by layer, and the inner courtyard was handed over to the guards of the Great Song Dynasty to get an order, this morning, there were important guests visiting, and no outsiders were allowed to enter the inner courtyard.

In the inner courtyard, all the officials of the mission gathered together to listen to the guest talk about the situation in Dali.

This middle-aged man with a small stature and rough skin, but sparkling eyes, named Zhang Yu, introduced himself as a Shu man who has been doing business in Dali all the year round. He did not have an ordinary understanding of the situation in Dali, and first introduced the tense situation in Dali to the people of the mission. Then he introduced the abundant products in Dali:

"Dali is rich in good horses and can provide tens of thousands of war horses for the imperial court every year; The armor produced in Dali is not only light but also strong, and is the best armor in the world; Dali's swords, because of the good quality of the local iron, so the blowing hair is breathable, whether it is strong or sharp, it is far more than the Song Dynasty. ”

"Speaking of which, isn't Dali's army invincible?" Seeing that he praised Dali as a flower, some people didn't like to hear it, and the superiority of the Celestial Empire was still deep-rooted.

"No matter how good the weapons are, the soldiers all eat fasting and chant Buddha, how can this battle be fought?" Zhang Yu smiled: "And what I said is not the most valuable object in Dali." ”

"What's the most valuable?" Officials asked.

"Money." Zhang Yu said in a deep voice: "Dali is full of money. ”

"This ......" The young officials still found it interesting, but Wang Jue's face was not so good-looking. No matter how approachable he is. I'm not interested in hearing the merchant sell his mouth here: "Why don't you grab a handful and take a look?" ”

"I really brought it." Zhang Yu smiled. He opened the wooden box he had brought with him, took out a piece of something wrapped in red silk and placed it on the table, and said, "Open it and take a look." ”

The young officials were also aroused by their curiosity, and stepped forward to uncover the red silks, only to see that there were yellow-green, yellow-brown, and greenish-brown stones inside.

"Isn't this a rotten stone?" Someone laughed and said, "Can you be a money maker?" ”

"No, but you can do it after processing." But there are also people who know the goods, I saw Zeng Bu pick up two stones, rub them against each other and say: "This is ~~-Update~~ copper ore, and it is a copper ore of high quality." ”

"This adult knows the goods!" Zhang Yu praised: "Yes, in Dali, there are copper mines almost everywhere. And it's all shallow, easy to excavate. After a pause, he was shocked: "Compared with the copper mines of Dali Kingdom, all the copper reserves of the four major money supervisors of the Great Song Dynasty combined. It's just a drop in the bucket. ”

When I boarded, the atmosphere in the room was different......

China is a country with a serious shortage of precious metals, especially in ancient times when the means of exploration and mining were not developed enough, the lack of silver and copper has always been the most headache for the monarchs and ministers of all dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, where commerce was unprecedentedly developed and the economy was unprecedentedly prosperous, this was not just a headache, but a fatal problem...... During the Tang Tianbao period, the annual coinage was only 320,000 guan, and the amount of coinage in the early Song dynasty reached more than 1 million guan, and then increased year after year. In the Qingli period, this number was close to five million, not counting iron money and Jiaozi.

After that, the amount of coinage began to shrink, not because there was enough money, but because there was not enough copper......

If you look at the history of the Song Dynasty, you will find that the Great Song Dynasty has always been accompanied by a serious money shortage. And in this era, a shortage of money is a shortage of copper. In order to alleviate the shortage of money, the government has done everything possible. In the second year of Taizu Xiande, he promulgated the "Copper Ban", stipulating that the people are not allowed to own bronze utensils, except for some magic utensils in the temple, the rest of the bronze utensils are all confiscated and destroyed. Smelting coinage.

In addition, in order to reduce the size of the copper coins required. The imperial court also banned the flow of copper coins into Sichuan and Shaanxi, and prohibited the outflow of copper coins. It can be said that they have tried their best, but they are still short of money. I don't know where all the money goes every year? The people of the Song Dynasty couldn't figure it out, but Chen Ke did, but he didn't tell them. …,

But they can really feel the crisis caused by the country's lack of money. For people who grew up in the city, what they saw was that the market could not trade due to a lack of cash, and the pawnshop was closed during the daylight because of the lack of cash. Officials who grew up in the countryside can better understand the dangers of lack of money, because there is no cash in the market, and the peasants cannot sell their products and pay their taxes, so they have to abandon and flee.

Wang Jue once served as a household attendant, and his experience of this is even deeper. It is no exaggeration to say that because of the lack of money in the imperial court, the department stores were blocked, the people were embarrassed, the treasury was empty, and the money minted every year disappeared immediately like spilled water. The whole country is dying of thirst like people who are desperately short of water!

If Dali really has so much copper, if it can be transported to the Great Song Dynasty, then the treasury will be full, and the people will not be short of money, and the real peaceful and prosperous era will come!

Saliva trickled down from the mouths of many officials.

In the sound of heavy breathing, the officials of the mission completely understood what this Zhang Yu or Chen Ke meant-Dali is in civil strife, Dali has the life-saving elixir of the Great Song Dynasty, do you need to say what to do? Of course, it's taking advantage of the chaos!

"There is a secret purpose." Chen Ke took out a yellow silk from his sleeve, and the officials hurriedly listened to the order, and said: "Let's wait to see in detail the reserves of Dali copper mine, whether it is convenient to transport out, and whether it can be used by me." And...... If you want to take it, the plan will be settled, and you will be able to do this. ”

In the midst of astonishment, everyone finally understood that the official family sent such a large-scale mission to Dali not only for the sake of Nong Zhigao, but for a more important goal!

"Zhong Fang, you are so bitter that you hide from us," Wang Qi smiled bitterly: "Before leaving Beijing, the official family once said that when you arrived in Dali, you had a secret decree to announce, so you told us." ”

"The prince forgives me, the stakes are very high, and I have to be cautious." Chen Ke smiled apologetically: "Before coming, the official instructed that this matter must be cautious, first, not to act rashly, and second, not to leak the news, and the lower officials have no choice but to do it." ”

"How can I be inflicted?" Wang Jue smiled and said, "I'm kidding you." Saying that, Zhengse said: "Say, what are you going to do?" ”

"In fact, many problems in the imperial court are nothing more than a lack of money. Although a large increase in the supply of copper coins is only a symptom, not a cure. However, if a country is like a person, he is seriously ill, and he needs to be warmed and recuperated first, and then treated when his body is strong. Chen Ke said: "Boss Zhang spent hundreds of thousands of yuan and 12 years to find out dozens of copper mines, which is enough for me to dig in the Great Song Dynasty for a hundred years." This is exactly the kind of warm tonic prescription that my Da Song desperately needs. My generation of scholars, always hate to serve without a way, now the opportunity to build a thousand years of merit has come, how can you miss it? ”

"Yes, if Dali can really solve the urgent need for the Great Song Dynasty, this is heaven and it, and if you don't take it, you will be blamed!" Wang Shao immediately said excitedly. This guy has some heroic diseases, and he wants to expand his territory and make contributions in his life. There is nothing more to his liking.

Lu Huiqing, Zeng Bu, and Song Duanping are also characters who only hate nothing in the world, so they naturally respond positively.

However, a few old officials said with embarrassed faces: "This is a matter of national policy, how can we be a junior minister?" After speaking, they all looked at Wang Jue, but saw him twisting his beard and pondering...... Wang Qi was thinking that the arrangement between the official family and the prime minister this time was obviously an intention. If you go back without doing anything, I am afraid that the career of the second half of your life will be bleak. However, the officials and ministers all know that they have always been stable as officials, so why did they send me to take this risk? Oh, this is telling me to take the reins, don't let Chen Ke and them go overboard.

After figuring out the ins and outs, he looked at the crowd: "Since it is the holy will, we will naturally obey it, but in this foreign country, it is really difficult to do this." "...,"Isn't it over if you turn Dali into Da Song?" Wang Shao said in a deep voice: "This country is scattered, as long as the imperial court makes up its mind and plans carefully, it will not be able to take it." ”

"Don't think about it," Wang Jue glared at him and said, "If you can't steal chickens, it's not a matter of eating rice, it's another strong enemy for the imperial court!" "The Liao Kingdom and Western Xia alone are enough for the Great Song Dynasty to lose their souls, and if you add a Dali, it will collapse directly.

"It's really not good to take hard, and it's not necessary." Lu Huiqing said: "What we want is the copper mine here, not this land." Besides, Dali is full of barbarians, if you really want to turn against each other, how can you mine? ”

"Yes, it's enough for Dali to be a minister." Zeng preached: "But the road is dangerous, this is a big problem. ”

How did they come along the way, everyone naturally has a deep understanding, thinking how heavy the copper ingots are, if a car is transported out, the risk is too high, and the cost is too high...... No matter who is in charge of Dali, it is impossible for you to mine for free, and the imperial court has to pay a reasonable remuneration. If the transportation cost remains high and the court loses money and mints money, this matter cannot last long.

"I can answer this question, there is no need to go overland." Zhang Yu said: "Dali water system is vertical and horizontal, is the source of many big rivers, such as the Nanpan River can pass through the Pearl River by sea, the Jinsha River can enter the Yangtze River, take the river transport, can greatly shorten the time, reduce the cost, so that the imperial court from Dali copper, back to the inland is still profitable. After a pause, he said: "Of course, the rivers here are all primitive and need to be renovated. ”

"Speaking of renovation, in fact, the easiest way is the spiritual canal." Chen Ke continued: "Qin Shi Huang, more than 1,500 years ago, has already built a waterway connecting the north and south for us, and we can't even overcome the last difficulty?" ”

Chen Ke knew that in the Qing Dynasty eight hundred years later, Yunnan's copper output accounted for more than ninety-five percent of the country, so this matter must be done!

partition

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