Rise From the Humble

Treasure Island?

Unexpectedly, the Japanese country of Japan, which was originally thought to be wild and uncivilized, is actually called Treasure Island. Doesn't this title mean that Japan is full of gold and silver in our country? And what Zhu Ping'an just said was that the Japanese in my country used gold to cast a Buddha statue that was more than ten feet tall. Tsk tsk, the Buddha statues in our Ming Dynasty were mostly gold-plated.

Zhu Ping'an's statement made many officials in the hall become interested in Japan.

"It's nonsense. If the Japanese country is full of gold and silver, then why do they go to the coast of our country to be bandits and thieves in ragged clothes and not enough food?!" Li Mo did not believe what Zhu Pingan said.

"This is simple. The Japanese country is rich in gold and silver minerals, but lacks natural resources. It is composed of several large islands that are barbarians. The land suitable for farming is limited. Natural disasters and earthquakes are frequent, and food is scarce. The people depend on food. No matter how much gold and silver they have, If there is not enough food, it is useless." Zhu Pingan explained softly.

Zhu Ping'an's explanation is very convincing. For example, when a flood occurred, only two people managed to escape on the top of a tree, while below there was a vast ocean-like flood. The two people on the top of the tree, one is a landlord who brought ten taels of gold, and the other is a beggar who brought ten steamed buns. The beggar must be able to live to the end without food, and it will be useless no matter how much gold he has.

"What did Zihou mean when he mentioned gold and silver exchange among barbarian Japanese countries?" an official asked thoughtfully.

"The price ratio of gold and silver in Japan and Japan is very different from that in Ming Dynasty. The price of gold in Japan is much lower than that in Ming Dynasty. If we arbitrage gold in Japan, wouldn't it be a huge profit?" Zhu Pingan smiled slightly and replied softly.

Historically, around some time before Japan's Meiji Restoration, Western countries took advantage of the fact that the price of Japanese gold was much lower than the international price, made large-scale arbitrage purchases, and made huge profits. They earned huge amounts of gold from Japan and returned home with a lot of money.

What Europe has done, why can’t we, the Ming Dynasty, do it? Why should we leave this opportunity to the European powers more than hundreds of years later?

This is probably the crudest financial war.

"It's ridiculous. How can we, the great Ming Dynasty, the sovereign country, the country of benevolence and righteousness, use such means to obtain such ill-gotten wealth! After Confucius, we cannot do such behavior." After Zhu Ping'an proposed to cash out the gold After that, a grizzled veteran stood up and accused Zhu Pingan.

Well

This veteran is really a benchmark in the moral world! The Japanese pirates were killing, wounding, and looting at my doorstep. I just mentioned it to the Japanese country to cash out the gold, but that didn't work. The Kingdom of the Supreme Being, the Kingdom of Benevolence and Righteousness, the Queen of Confucius, etc. all came out.

By the way, I really want this old man to go to the coast to teach moral lessons to the Japanese pirates. Maybe the Japanese pirates will be so moved that they will have a caesarean section to apologize?

"What you are talking about can be regarded as a way to replenish the national treasury, but I wonder if you know that I know that silver is in short supply. Our Ming Dynasty has thousands of miles of territory, but we do not produce much silver. It is not easy to support the operation of our Ming Dynasty. How can we You can use our Ming Dynasty silver to exchange for gold. Our Ming Dynasty people's livelihood relies heavily on silver, and exchanging silver for gold will have disastrous consequences in the long run." After weighing the pros and cons, an official from the Ministry of Revenue raised a new question.

In the dynasties before the Ming Dynasty, the main currency circulating in the market was copper coins, with silver and gold being only auxiliary. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that the silver standard was established. If there is insufficient silver, Ming's economic system will collapse.

Although the officials of the Ministry of Accounts do not understand what the silver standard is and what finance is, they still have a rough understanding of it.

"What this gentleman said is absolutely true, but cashing out gold is not just about cashing out silver, there are other ways. Our Ming Dynasty is rich in ceramics, tea, cloth and other items, many of which are lacking in the Japanese countries, so they are sold to the Japanese countries. , but you want it to be settled in gold, so you can kill two birds with one stone." Zhu Pingan nodded, and then continued.

Zhu Ping'an had no intention of exchanging silver for gold from the beginning. He said so much, all he wanted to do was to lengthen the eyes of people with lofty ideals in the Ming Dynasty, and no longer just stare at the one-third acre of land in the Ming Dynasty. There are more worlds outside.

At this time, Europe is already on the road to catching up and surpassing China. If the Ming Dynasty starts to open its eyes to the world now, there will still be many opportunities at this time. The Ming Dynasty is not inferior to the West at this time.

However, if history continues, it will only be a matter of time before sea bans, seclusion, and locking the country away from Western ships and cannons open the door to our country. Zhu Pingan did not want to see the humiliation of modern China happen again, so Zhu Pingan took advantage of the opportunity to lengthen the eyes of the Chinese people and try his best to induce them to see the world with a straight face.

"Haha, you have said so much and gone in such a big circle, but you are not talking about relaxing the sea ban! Huh, the sea ban is an ancestral system, and it is clearly stated that a sail cannot be as big as the sea. The sea ban cannot be relaxed."

Li Mo sneered, looked at Yan Song, Yan Shifan and others who seemed to have expected this, and then looked at Zhu Pingan sarcastically. Obviously, Li Mo once again attributed Zhu Ping'an to the category of Yan Song's party members.

It is also easy to understand that most of Yan Song’s party members, especially Yan Shifan, were the loudest in calling for the relaxation of the sea ban. In Li Mo's eyes, Zhu Ping'an has gone around in such a big circle, saying that the national treasury will be doubled without increasing the wealth of the people, it is all nonsense, it is all a cover-up, and everything is just for one purpose: to relax the maritime ban!

Zhu Ping'an, a little thief, really worked hard to cheer for Yan Shifan and others. After all, Yan Song said a lot of good things to help Zhu Ping'an get promoted.

Li Mo brought the issue back to whether the maritime ban should be relaxed or not, and the two factions once again debated in the hall. Because of what Zhu Ping'an just said, the lax prohibitionists became more and more courageous in their arguments, and of course the strict prohibitionists were not to be outdone.

However, Emperor Jiajing did not give them more opportunities to perform this time. He only listened for a moment and asked Huang Jin to step down and call out a few names. Five people, including Yan Song, Li Mo, and Xu Jie, were left behind. The rest were left by Xiao Huangmen. He led him out of Xiyuan.

Zhu Pingan was also sent out of Xiyuan along with everyone. Although Zhu Pingan's performance in meeting the saint today was okay, Zhu Pingan was not qualified to stay.

When Zhu Ping'an walked to the Hanlin Academy, everyone in the Hanlin Academy already knew the news of Zhu Ping'an's promotion. Except for Zhang Siwei's heartfelt congratulations, everyone else had expressions of envy and jealousy on their faces, especially Yuan Wei. His face was so angry that he almost fell to the ground, and he resented Zhu Ping'an even more.

"Congratulations, Mr. Zhu."

Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhu Pingan a little strangely at first, but disappeared in a flash, and came over with a smile on his face to congratulate Zhu Pingan on his promotion.