Chapter 958 1047 Troubles of Gold and Silver

Just as several people digested Wei Guangde's suggestions and the feasibility of purchasing copper materials from Japan, Wei Guangde actually knew that it was profitable.

In fact, as early as the Tang Dynasty, Chinese copper coins had already flowed to Japan and were very popular, called "Dulai Money".

The early monetary history of Japan has always been deeply influenced by ancient China. Japan's earliest metal coins were cast in imitation of the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" copper coins of the Tang Dynasty in China, and the "Imperial Twelve Coins" were also cast completely in reference to Tang coins.

After the "Imperial Twelve Coins" stopped casting, ancient Chinese copper coins (mainly Northern Song and Ming coins) were imported into Japan in large quantities, monopolizing its currency circulation field and ushering in Japan's "Dulai Money Period".

After China entered the Ming Dynasty, silver was widely used as currency among the people, and the monetization of silver has become a trend and is irreversible. The status of silver in currency circulation continues to rise.

By the 16th century, silver gradually became the mainstream currency, surpassing copper coins, and was gradually recognized as legal tender by the Ming court. In addition, European merchants frequently appeared in East Asia, which also profoundly affected the changes in Japan's circulating currency. Japan gradually entered the "gold, silver and copper era".

In the early Ming Dynasty, due to the problem of Japanese pirates, the Ming Taizu severed ties with Japan and banned trade with Japan.

It was not until 1403 that the Muromachi shogunate regime in Japan paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty and formally established the "Kanko trade" relationship with China, that is, official tribute trade, and private trade was still prohibited.

Since then, the Muromachi shogunate in Japan frequently sent envoys to China to pay tribute to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and obtain a large number of rewards from the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Among the rewards, there were a large number of Chinese copper coins, which became "dulai money" after arriving in Japan and were circulated in Japanese currency.

Under the Kango trade model, the items that Japanese envoys paid tribute to the Ming emperor mainly included copper ore, sulfur, gold, swords, fans, lacquerware, etc., and the Ming emperors mainly rewarded Japanese envoys with raw silk, silk fabrics, cotton yarn, sugar, ceramics, copper coins, etc.

Among them, the raw silk and silk fabrics of the Ming Dynasty were very popular in Japan, and the prices were very high, with profits of 4 to 20 times.

Every time they paid tribute, Japanese envoys could receive a large amount of rewards from the Ming emperor, far exceeding the value of the items they paid tribute, so they made a lot of net profit.

After the "Onin Rebellion" in 1467, the real power of the Muromachi shogunate fell and lost control of the Kango trade.

At that time, some local feudal lords in Japan allied with Japanese private merchants, under the banner of the "shogunate", controlled the Kango trade, and traded with the Ming Dynasty.

Due to the political division in Japan, the official trade between Japan and Ming was in name only, and the trade could not meet Japan's demand for Chinese goods. As a result, private smuggling trade between Japan and Ming rose.

During the development of private smuggling trade, some savvy businessmen realized that China was in great need of silver at that time, and the price of silver in China was higher than in other places.

Therefore, as long as the silver from other places was transported to China, they could make a lot of money, and they could also use silver to directly purchase Chinese goods and then transport them back to their own country.

So, some businessmen began to engage in silver trade between Japan and Ming, with Japanese silver flowing to China and Chinese goods flowing to Japan.

In fact, after discovering the value of silver in Ming Dynasty, businessmen turned their speculation to silver and gave up copper trading. Generally, they would only bring back a small amount of copper.

During this period, Japan's mineral mining, refining, and casting technology were relatively backward.

After businessmen stopped or reduced smuggling copper to Ming Dynasty, the price of copper in Wakoku plummeted.

Before 1533, Japan's silver mining and refining technology was very backward, and the silver production was very small, so only a small amount of Japanese silver was shipped to China.

However, after 1533, a Japanese businessman, Kamiya Shouzhen, introduced an advanced silver refining technology "ash blowing method" to Japan, which was used to develop Iwami Silver Mine and quickly became popular.

This prompted many silver mines in Japan to be developed on a large scale, and Japanese silver began to flow into China in a steady stream.

At this time, Japan was in a period of fierce fighting among local feudal lords in Japan.

Due to the huge military expenditure caused by the war, mining gold and silver mines was undoubtedly the best source of funds.

When the feudal lords competed to develop silver mines, the development of gold mines also set off a climax, and the gold mining technology at that time also improved, from the original direct use of placer gold to the extraction of gold from gold ore.

The competitive development of gold and silver mines brought rich wealth and military funds to the feudal lords.

Moreover, the feudal lords also fought each other for gold and silver resources, which constantly stimulated the development of gold and silver mines.

Japan's gold and silver mining ushered in a century-long historical peak, which was also the so-called "Warring States" period in Japan.

In the Japanese folk, a large amount of gold and silver was mined at this time, but Japan lacked advanced casting technology, so the local currency in circulation was made of gold, silver and copper as raw materials in the form of long strips or cakes, and the value was calculated by weight in the Ming Dynasty.

As far as Wei Guangde knows, well-made Chinese coins are very popular in Japan, and there is no need to worry about losing their recognition due to color or weight.

Although the Ministry of Industry will not specifically cast coins for Japan, Wei Guangde does intend to use the most cost-effective way to cast coins and make as much money as possible for the court in the process of casting coins.

And it is the excellent casting technology of the Ming Dynasty that is relied on.

Yes, no matter whether it is Zhang Juzheng or himself who is in power, sooner or later he will face the difficulty of Ming Dynasty's financial shortage. If we can find a stable way to make money for the court, for example, it will make Ming Dynasty's rule more stable.

In fact, the downfall of the Ming Dynasty was not due to corruption, but to the system. The court had no money and no place to collect money.

Every year, merchants pocket huge profits but pay almost no taxes to the court. This is completely unimaginable in the West.

Wei Guangde, who came from a later generation, still believes that paying taxes is a citizen's obligation, and businessmen should pay taxes if they have money.

Collecting business taxes is undoubtedly the easiest way to solve the Ming Dynasty's financial dilemma.

It's a pity that he didn't dare to propose collecting business taxes at this time. The impact would be too great and would arouse collective opposition from the entire gentry class.

Because in terms of business, it was actually still controlled by the gentry class.

Wei Guangde wanted to make money and was willing to pay taxes, but it was a pity that no one would accept them.

In fact, in later generations, Chinese people do not object to paying taxes. Everyone agrees that they should pay taxes. They just want to pay less, so they evade taxes.

But if you really ask him whether he should pay tax, in fact everyone will nod and agree to pay tax, but they think the tax rate is too heavy.

Of course, this view did not exist before the 1990s. Before that, because the main body was in public ownership, there was basically no tax to pay.

After the reform and opening up in the 1980s, the individual and private economy emerged, and tax collection gradually resumed.

Most people's views cannot be changed at once, so tax resistance was very common in the 1980s, and no one had the awareness to pay taxes.

Commercial taxes were not paid for a while, so Wei Guangde could only rely on the power of the Ming Dynasty to enrich the treasury by casting money, which was also a disguised form of tax collection.

This is also the reason why he chose to hand over the minting profits to the Ministry of Accounts, instead of leaving them in the Ministry of Works as usual.

After Wang Guoguang and Zhu Heng left, Wei Guangde was stopped by Zhang Juzheng and asked him about how to obtain copper materials from Japan.

Now, if the imperial court openly imports copper materials from the Japanese country and trades with them, it is afraid that it will arouse the opposition of the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty.

Although Zhang Juzheng guessed that Wei Guangde wanted to use entrepot trade, someone in the middle would benefit. If this matter spread, it would have an impact on their prestige.

"This is a problem, but it's actually easy to solve."

Wei Guangde was not surprised to be retained by Zhang Juzheng. He also thought that he would definitely ask about the details.

Wei Guangde doesn't plan to earn this money. If he earns it and exposes it, it will only leave a stain on him.

So, when Zhang Juzheng asked, he chuckled and said: "Refer to the model of the private chamber of commerce, the imperial court holds 50% of the shares, the inner court holds 20%, the remaining 30% is sold to the outside world, the nobles take 10%, and the remaining 20% ​​is sold. To merchants, it is also a source of funds for trade.

The Chamber of Commerce hired some Koreans as sailors, saying that they were buying copper materials from North Korea, but in fact they were purchasing Japanese copper materials through that route.

On the surface, just find a North Korean businessman to be the representative. For the court, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry will come forward. The Metropolitan Procuratorate will send special personnel to supervise and replace them regularly.

In fact, these are just for the outside world to see, and we should try our best to prevent the news from spreading in private. "

"But you can't hide this from anyone."

Zhang Juzheng hesitated.

"It's just a superficial thing to hide it from anyone. If we really conceal it completely, I'm afraid the impeachment memorial will not fly into the palace like snowflakes.

The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Industry purchase copper materials from the Korean Chamber of Commerce. What do they have to say? "

Wei Guangde said nonchalantly, "Even if someone notices it, a little investigation will tell you that you can't continue. Why did Xungui buy a stake? Isn't it just to let them come out and deal with them openly?"

Regardless of the fact that the civil servants hold great power, Xungui seems to have lost the power of the past, but in fact, whether in the capital or local areas, Xungui's influence is still huge.

It's just that this influence is more reflected at the grassroots level rather than at the court.

Because the officials who can stand in the court are all through the imperial examination.

But how can such a big country be managed by just such a small number of Jinshi?

Civil servants only have the right to speak in the court and local areas, but in terms of governance, they are also constrained by the strength of local gentry families and nobles, so they must also get their support.

Civil officials, especially censors, can be distinguished while in office, but what about later?

So what if you become a civil servant after becoming an official? Honors are hereditary. Even in a family like Wei Guangde, the family will always have the status of a Ming official, which can be passed down from generation to generation.

How many military households passed the Jinshi examination, and how many of them gave up their status as military households because of this?

In fact, they are very rare, because they, Jinshi, have hereditary military positions in their families. They can lie on the Ming court and suck blood until they die, and they are also vested interests.

Civil servants could take away their rights, but their hereditary titles and military positions could not be shaken at all.

If you dare to touch this, you will truly fight to the death.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng actually both had a clear understanding of this. They had similar backgrounds, and even the hereditary military position of commander in Zhang Juzheng's family was hereditary.

The benefits gained from it are just a lot more.

Wei Guangde used nobles as a threat to make those civil servants surrender. Zhang Juzheng naturally understood what he meant.

After thinking about it, I nodded in acquiescence.

"Actually, there is no rush now. The matter has not been settled yet. Only when new coins are minted on a large scale will the Ming Dynasty's own copper materials be unable to provide relief. At that time, Japanese copper materials will be needed.

After this matter was over, I talked to Liu Shouyou. His spies could follow the North Korean merchant ships to the Japanese country. I think they have good connections, which is exactly what we need. "

Wei Guangde whispered again: "Let's stop talking about this matter for now. When the court really needs it, we will take action again." ’

The copper materials of the Ming Dynasty were definitely not enough, but Zhang Juzheng saw that Wei Guangde had already made up his mind, so he no longer considered the matter.

In fact, if that day comes, no one in the Ministry of Revenue may think of this method. After all, they paid tribute to the Japanese country earlier, and the Japanese country also sent copper materials at the beginning.

After leaving Zhang Juzheng's check-in room, Wei Guangde returned to his own check-in room and immediately recorded some of the opinions mentioned by Wang Guoguang and Zhu Heng previously.

These were also his valuable suggestions for improving the New Money Law Memorial. Anyway, Zhang Juzhi left this matter in his hands and asked him to be responsible for drafting this article.

Sitting in his seat, Wei Guangde was still wondering, thinking repeatedly about how future generations would leap from the silver standard to the gold standard.

In the past two days, he dug out the letters he had received earlier from merchants in Yuegang and other places. Wei Guangde also discovered that it seemed that in Europe, people used copper plates and silver coins on a daily basis, and gold coins were only used to store wealth. It has not entered the circulation field.

After thinking for a long time, Wei Guangde couldn't figure it out, so he had to shake his head and stop thinking about it.

With his thinking from later generations, he believed that he had adopted the best strategy. There was really no better way that could not only make money for the court but also promote economic circulation.

Yes, Wei Guangde puts making money first.

Little did he know that three hundred years later, all countries in the world were actually on the silver standard system, and tens of thousands of tons of silver were dug out from Peru and Mexico, temporarily satisfying the world economy's demand for silver at that time.

However, all this changed due to the influence of "maverick" Britain.

Spain, which had seized a pile of silver mines, became the richest man in Europe at that time. At that time, Milan was weaving cotton for Spain, the Netherlands was producing striped cloth for Spain, Florence was producing clothes for Spain, and the West Indies were producing clothing for Spain. Production of beaver skins.

But at this time, the United Kingdom stood up and said, "Although silver is good, I refuse." The United Kingdom began to go against the trend. In the 18th century, it began to link its currency "pound" to gold, and in the In 1816, the gold standard was officially adopted and the "Gold Standard System Act" was launched, hoping to make gold the mainstream of the world.

It's just that the ratio of silver to gold in the UK was not adjusted properly, resulting in a large amount of British silver flowing abroad. Newton, who was the consultant, even expressed his guilt and took the blame.

But it was precisely because of this mistake by Britain that the golden age began inadvertently.