"Your Excellency, the famous businessmen of our country mainly come from three places: Seoul, Uiju and Kaesong."

Park Yong-gil stood up after seeing Li Yuntian's gesture, bowed there and explained in an orderly manner, "Since Seoul is Kyoto, the merchants of Seoul are called Jingshang; In ancient times, Yiju was called Longwan, and the merchants of Yiju were called bay merchants; In ancient times, Kaesong was called Songdu, so the merchants of Kaesong were called Songshang. ”

"What is your position in the Songshang?" Li Yuntian nodded when he heard this, and after this period of inquiry, he knew that the business community of the Korean State was controlled by the merchants of the three major factions of the Beijing Merchants, the Bay Merchants and the Song Merchants, and formed a strong momentum in the Korean business circles.

"The villain is the head of the Gulf merchant who is responsible for buying and selling grain." Park Yongji didn't dare to hide it and answered honestly.

North Korean businessmen are divided into handymen, secretaries, store managers, bank heads, big bank heads, capital houses and large houses from low to high, among which the secretary is considered a low-level manager, the store manager is a middle and low-level manager, the head of the bank is a middle-level manager, the head of the bank is a middle-level and senior manager, the capital is a senior manager, and the big house is the highest manager.

Park Yongji's ability to sit in the position of the head of the Bay Commercial Bank shows that he has the corresponding ability, at least at night in some connections and status, and at the same time, he can stand up to those bullied people, which is enough to prove that he has the courage to break the boat, which has won Li Yuntian's favor.

In fact, the reason why Park Yongji broke into the Seoul Jiaofang that night was because he accidentally learned that Li Yuntian was the highest official in charge of the Liaodong war among the four chief and deputy envoys of the Ming Dynasty in Korea, and he would definitely not sit idly by and watch those military rations being embezzled.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Park Yongji decided to take a risk and ask Li Yuntian to go to the lawsuit, wanting to help those farmers get back the money from selling grain.

To tell the truth, Park Yongji thought that he would definitely die this time, and he would definitely be killed by those people in Hucao, but in the end, it was Hucao's people who were unlucky, and even Tocao's participation in the judgment also fell into bad luck, which was really unexpected by him.

Park Yongji couldn't have imagined that the reason why he got those news was secretly transmitted to him by Li Yuntiantong Guò Jin Mandao, since Park Yongji came to Seoul with a metropolitan house of a bay merchant more than two months ago to do business, he was trying his best to find a way to get back the money from the sale of grain, but it was a pity that others were so soft-spoken, who could pay attention to him such a small leader? Therefore, I can only cry out in vain, and I am in a low mood and get drunk in the tavern of Jinmandao.

This made Kim Man-do know that Park Yong-gil was angry about the embezzlement of military rations, so he recommended him to Li Yuntian, so that from the outcome of the matter, Park Yong-gil did not disappoint Li Yuntian, and also won him a new path in life.

"How much silver is the biggest business you've ever made?" After a deep groan, Li Yuntian stared at Park Yongji quietly and asked.

"Thanks to the blessing of the envoy, the biggest business the villain has ever done is the military rations sold to the Ming Dynasty this time, with a total of 5,000 taels of silver." Park Yongji didn't think about it, smiled and bowed down to answer, under Li Yuntian's intervention, those farmers who sold grain got double the price of grain, and he also earned more than 1,000 taels of silver for the Bay merchants.

"This envoy can tell you something, the Ming Dynasty has opened maritime trade with the countries of the South Seas in Jiaozhi, guess how much is the transaction volume of a trade?" Li Yuntian smiled when he heard this, and asked seemingly casually.

"One Hundred ...... Two million taels! Park Yongji couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, he never expected Li Yuntian to ask such a question, and then thought about it and cautiously said a number.

You must know that the annual business turnover of the Bay merchants is only two or three hundred thousand taels of silver, and he has calculated the maritime trade volume of the Ming Dynasty as ten times the annual business turnover of the Bay merchants.

"The envoy can tell you that the transaction volume of the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade is more than 15 million taels of silver, and in the future, with the increase of maritime trade countries, the transaction volume will exceed 20 million taels." Li Yuntian immediately laughed when he heard this, and corrected Park Yongji's guess with a smile.

"Two ...... Twenty million taels! Cui Li, who acted as an interpreter when he heard this, was suddenly startled, and subconsciously looked at Li Yuntian, his eyes were full of consternation, which was simply an incredible astronomical amount for him.

Park Yongji saw that Cui Li did not translate in time, but looked at Li Yuntian dumbfounded, and suddenly felt suspicious in his heart, not knowing what Li Yuntian said, so that Cui Li was so out of shape.

Cui Li quickly came back to his senses and hurriedly translated to Park Yongji, who was immediately stunned when he heard this, his eyes were full of incredulity, he had been in business for many years, and he naturally knew what the concept of 20 million silver was, and it was more than enough to buy the entire Seoul, and there was such a lucrative business in the world.

The corners of Li Yuntian's mouth showed a subtle smile, unlike Cui Li, he saw the heat in Park Yongji's eyes in addition to shock, this is the instinctive reaction of Park Yongji's businessman's nature, and Cui Li's ambition is in the official career, so there is nothing other than shock.

"This envoy asks you, do you want to become a bay merchant in Korea, or do you want to sell goods to a country on the other side of the ocean?" Then, Li Yuntian asked Park Yongji with a smile.

"Lord Envoy, the villain is willing to sell goods all over the world!" Park Yongji was a little puzzled at first after hearing this, and then understood what Li Yuntian meant, knowing that Li Yuntian had the intention of soliciting, and then his face couldn't help but be happy, and he quickly knelt down at Li Yuntian with excitement.

Even if he sits in the seat of the bay merchant house, he has only been running back and forth for hundreds of thousands of taels of business for a year, and once he joins the merchant groups engaged in overseas trade in the Ming Dynasty, then the goods circulating through his hands will reach the scale of ten million taels of silver, which is what every businessman dreams of.

"As far as this envoy knows, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce of the Ming Dynasty will set up a Seoul branch in Seoul, which is responsible for commercial and trade affairs with the Korean state, and if you are interested, this envoy will recommend you to be the vice president."

Li Yuntian nodded with satisfaction when he saw this, Park Yongji's appearance made him very satisfied, as the saying goes, a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and Park Yongji is obviously a person who is not willing to be lonely, which meets his requirements.

In order to strengthen his control over the Korean state, Li Yuntian is ready to use a two-pronged approach, gradually infiltrating the political and business circles, and then the king of Joseon will find that he has unknowingly entered a large net quietly woven by Li Yuntian.

Therefore, Li Yuntian decided to set up the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce in Seoul, and the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce gradually controlled the trade of the Korean state, so as to undoubtedly control the circulation of Korean goods, and would deal a heavy blow to the king of Korea.

The most basic economic source of the DPRK is the agricultural tax, which is mainly tribute rice, mixed with a small amount of local specialties, and rarely collects monetary rent, so agriculture has become the key to the economy, and this is also an important reason why Li Yuntian is willing to pay a large price to buy military rations from the DPRK, and wants to use this to win over the peasant households of the DPRK.

Therefore, the issue of land is particularly important, and the Taejo of the Joseon Dynasty established the Ketian system that began at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty after the Joseon Dynasty, abolished the bad habit of the nobles occupying large tracts of land and liberated a large number of slaves and maids, but unfortunately, the slave and maid phenomenon in the Joseon Dynasty was still very strict, and the situation of the two classes of nobles encroaching on the land through the guò imperial examination was also becoming more and more severe.

With the development of society, the proportion of commerce and trade in the economy of the DPRK is increasing, and the trade with the Ming Dynasty has become more and more frequent, and the commercial tax has become an important tax of the DPRK.

During the Xuande period, the economy of the Ming Dynasty gradually prospered under the impetus of Emperor Xuande's national policy of recuperation and recuperation, and the demand for those high-end specialties of the Korean state, such as ginseng, Korean paper, fur, dried seafood, etc., also became very huge.

The merchants of Seoul, Uiju and Kaesong, namely the Gyeongshang, Wanshang, and Songshang, could bring nearly one million taels of silver to Korea every year.

In addition to trading with the Ming Dynasty, the merchants of the Korean State also served as transit merchants for the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, using the silver obtained from the trade of Japan to buy the silk of the Ming Dynasty, and then transported the silk of the Ming Dynasty to Japan in exchange for silver.

According to historical records, the Korean state "trade white silk in the Ming Dynasty, all enter the Japanese pavilion, and they will get great profits." 100 catties of white silk, trade with 60 gold, and to the city of the museum, the price is 160 gold, this big profit. Therefore, although the white silk is tired of 10,000 catties, it can be sold."

In order to break free from the dominance of commerce, the Songshang merchants launched fierce competition with the Beijing merchants and the Gulf merchants in the ginseng wholesale and export trade activities, and carried out international trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese state.

They usually bought large quantities of Korean paper from producers in Korean temples, dried goods such as kelp and sea cucumbers from the eastern coast, furs of wild animals such as otters, leopards, and tigers from hunters in the central and northern mountains, white silk and tin from the Ming Dynasty, and red copper and iron from Japan.

In addition, the entrepot trade from Guò to the South Seas also developed, and medicines, spices, and luxury goods such as pearls, tortoiseshells, and corals were imported from the South Seas, and a Ryukyu trade ship that sailed to Korea appeared in Shurijo, the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

It is worth mentioning that after the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty, the trade volume between the Joseon Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty and Japan increased rapidly, of which the trade with the Ming Dynasty included three types, namely the official tributary trade, the smuggling trade carried by official personnel and the private smuggling trade.

Among them, in addition to cattle, horses, salt, iron and other commodities, because the Korean country is rich in ginseng, the most important trade of the Korean state to the Ming Dynasty is the ginseng trade.

The ginseng trade is also known as the eight-pack trade, and the so-called "Yanxing" personnel of the Korean mission to the Ming Dynasty are allowed to carry eight packets per person, and each pack of ginseng is 10 catties, hence the name.

Later, in order to expand the flow of goods, the Korean state stipulated that the officials of the mission could carry Korean goods, such as furs, paper, dried seafood, and other miscellaneous goods, to Daming for trade.

Since the low-level officials in the mission, such as the interpreters, had no money to spare and could not afford to buy the goods that went to the Ming Dynasty for trading, the merchants of the Korean state took advantage of the situation and either lent money to those low-level officials, or directly provided the mission with ginseng and silver, and purchased goods from the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, merchants sold ginseng and other goods in exchange for Ming fabrics, daily necessities, metal goods, books, medicinal herbs, dyes, as well as medicinal herbs, jewelry, Suzhou-Hangzhou silk and other luxury goods used by the Joseon royal family, as well as silver from Japan, which were huge and profitable.

According to historical records, the goods transported by the Joseon State to the Ming Dynasty included horses; fur of mink, otter, green mouse, leopard, etc.; dried seafood such as sea cucumber, abalone, shrimp, fish, kelp, etc.; gold, silver, copper, bean tin, pig iron, steel and other metals; white paper, strong paper, mulberry paper and other papers; ginseng, pepper, alum, dried ginger and other medicinal herbs; dyes such as danmu and locust flowers; Pears, apples, persimmons, chestnuts and other dried and fresh fruits.

Cattle and sheep were imported into Korea from the Ming Dynasty, including cattle, sheep, mules, donkeys and other livestock; scissors, tweezers, needles, bed stoves, kettles, suitcases, saddles, umbrellas, wooden chopsticks, abacus, combs, buttons, cigarette pouches, porcelain, wool paper, bucket square paper, flint, fire sickle, pens, ink, inkstones, copper kettles, tin kettles, compasses and other daily groceries; various metal products such as shovels, plows, ploughshares, saws and other tools; gold, silver, copper money and other currencies; cotton, cotton yarn, raw silk and other textile raw materials; all kinds of cotton cloth; various brocade silk silks; All kinds of men's and women's ready-to-wear clothes, hats, shoes and socks; various dyes; all kinds of food; various medicinal herbs; various books; and even imported jewelry, jade, lacquerware, ivory carving, furniture antiques, hairpin ring jewelry, cats, dogs, parrots and other rare birds and animals.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited the export of astronomy, calendar, geography, history books, as well as horn, gunpowder, saltpeter, sulfur and other military supplies, rice, beans, wheat and other grains, as well as raw silk, copper and iron and other materials, mainly smuggled and smuggled by the mission.