"Master, there's news from the palace!"
A servant walked in from outside, and behind him was a little eunuch. Obviously, he was sent by his elder brother to deliver the letter.
"Eunuch Liu, what did my elder brother say?" Zhang Xun asked anxiously when he saw the young eunuch.
The little eunuch said, "Er Ye, I don't know what Godfather said when he came. I'm not here to deliver a message to Er Ye, I'm here to deliver a letter to Er Ye." The little eunuch took out an envelope from his bosom.
Zhang Xun was stunned, but he quickly took the envelope.
Looking at the grease on the envelope and seeing that there was no problem, Zhang Xun opened the envelope.
Taking out the letter, Zhang Xun had a strange expression on his face. Finally, he sighed helplessly.
"Housekeeper, send Eunuch Liu out. Also, give him a hundred taels of silver."
Hearing this, the young eunuch smiled and said, "Then this servant thanks Second Master for the reward!"
The young eunuch took the money and left. Zhang Xun sat on the chair and thought for a while. He could only smile bitterly and shake his head.
Zhang Jing's letter approved of Zhang Xun's business. This made Zhang Xun very happy.
However, there was one thing that Zhang Xun was still unhappy about. Zhang Jing had made a request in his heart.
He could do business, but he couldn't use Daming commoners, even if they were of lowly status.
In addition, he couldn't sell slaves in private. He couldn't sell them to anyone other than the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
This request made Zhang Xun very uncomfortable. This was an opportunity to make a lot of money, but he couldn't do it now.
Although Zhang Xun wanted to ignore his elder brother's words, he didn't dare.
Zhang Xun knew a little about his elder brother, Zhang Jing.
His elder brother was favored in the palace and was in charge of Dongchang. He was even known as the most powerful eunuch.
However, he knew himself well. Not to mention others, just Zhang Cheng of the Imperial Stables was eyeing his elder brother's position covetously.
In addition, there was the newly risen Xu De in the inner factory. His elder brother's position wasn't as secure as outsiders thought.
If he dared to do anything out of line, the inner factory would definitely report it to the emperor.
Once it affected his big brother, then he would be left with nothing.
"Such a good business, I wonder who will benefit from it!"
Zhang Xun sighed after a while. He took his big brother's letter to the oil lamp and burned it.
Zhu Yijun didn't know what Zhang Xun was thinking. Even if he knew, Zhu Yijun wouldn't care.
In the Hall of Wenhua in the Forbidden City, Zhu Yijun was holding a court meeting.
The participants included the three Grand Scholars of the Cabinet and the newly promoted Grand Scholar of the Hall of Literary Glory, Wang Yongji.
There was also the Minister of Personnel, Rites, Punishment, War, and Works, the Minister of Personnel, and Li Shenxing, the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who had just returned from Shanxi.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was getting bigger and bigger, and Li Shenxing's status was getting more and more important.
Zhu Yijun walked into the hall expressionlessly. His eyes swept across everyone's faces before he slowly opened his mouth and said, "I've asked you here today because I have something to discuss with you."
When everyone heard Zhu Yijun's words, their faces became serious.
The Law of the Daming was being revised, and the Shun Tian Prefecture was busy these days. They really didn't know what the Emperor wanted to do.
But looking at the Emperor's attitude, it was probably not a small matter!
"This is the reason why I have gathered all of you here today!"
As Zhu Yijun spoke, Zhang Jing, who was next to him, walked up from behind, holding a big silver ingot in his arms.
The silver ingot was so big that it dazzled everyone. It had to be heavy!
15 catties!
Zhu Yijun was very clear about this weight. This was something that Zhu Yijun had ordered people to cast.
The Daming had always been short of silver. The main currency was copper. Everyone knew this.
But there was a time when silver was short. It had been 20 years since Long Qing switched it off.
In these 20 years, although the Daming didn't have mountains of silver, there was definitely a large flow of silver.
Although it might not reach 100 million taels, it wouldn't be too far off.
One had to know that the Daming only lacked silver, it wasn't that there was no silver. The inflow of silver directly led to the birth of some problems.
In the past, although the Daming's royal family and the rich knew that silver could be used as currency, they didn't use it as currency. Instead, they used it as jewelry like pearls and jadeite.
Otherwise, the Zheng De Emperor wouldn't have been so stupid to use silver to build a house, spending 20 million taels of silver. Therefore, a large amount of silver was sleeping in the palace and the mansions of the kings.
However, Zhu Yijun knew that silver would depreciate very quickly. In the last years of the Wanli era, the price of a meter of rice would soar to 18 taels of silver. The price was so high that it was rarely seen in the world.
The inflow of silver did not create new purchasing power, nor did it create new value. It also did not promote innovation.
Instead, it was concentrated in the hands of a few officials and merchants. It was either invested in land, real estate, or stored underground.
The former would cause the price of land to become abnormally high. Ordinary people couldn't afford it, and the land would be concentrated in the hands of the rich.
The latter would turn the results of Long Qing's switch into a blank piece of paper.
The large inflow of silver also brought two new problems.
First, it made things expensive and silver cheap, which led to inflation.
Second, silver became the circulating currency, causing the Ming Dynasty to hand over the control of the currency to others.
This problem had to be solved. If the currency problem was not solved, no matter how many things he made, they would all be taken away by others.
Although Zhu Yijun hadn't experienced the economic war of the future, he had heard of it. Not to mention the collapse of the Soviet Union, just the great economic collapse of Japan was a lesson.
I worked so hard to make things, and you want to buy them with some silver?
Don't even think about it.
The currency reform was imperative!
Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Jing to put the big ingot on his desk, and then said, "Everyone, you, the Daming is short of silver. Everyone knows this, but do you know where this ingot came from?"
Everyone was stunned, but they still hurriedly replied, "We don't know!"
"This was made with the silver that I had people bring back from Jiangnan."
Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Perhaps you think that this silver is nothing, but let me tell you, in Jiangnan, silver has already depreciated."
"Perhaps you don't know what depreciation means. I will explain it to you."
"In the first year of Wanli, one tael of silver could be exchanged for 1,500 copper coins. In the fifth year of Wanli, one tael of silver could be exchanged for 1,400 copper coins.
In the tenth year of Wanli, one tael of silver could be exchanged for 1,200 copper coins. In the fifteenth year of Wanli, which is this year, one tael of silver could only be exchanged for 900 copper coins. "
"Everyone, you are all learned people. Do you know why this is?"
Everyone was stunned, and many people turned to look at Zhang Xueyan, the Minister of Revenue.
His meaning was obvious. It was time for the Ministry of Revenue to stand up and take care of this matter!
Zhang Xueyan glared at the people looking at her, then took a step outside and said, "Your Majesty, this means that there is more and more silver in the market."
Nodding, Zhu Yijun reached out to caress the big silver ingot in front of him and said with a smile, "Yes!
There is more and more silver in Daming, but where does Daming's silver come from? "
"Your Majesty, since Longqing's opening, Jiangnan's trade with other countries has become increasingly prosperous. The silver is used by the foreigners to buy goods," Zhang Xueyan said at this time.
Zhu Yijun nodded again, "Zhang, you are right."
"Then, you, with such a large amount of silver flowing into Daming, what benefits does it bring to our Daming, to the people, and to me?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Xueyan and asked with a smile.
If money was spent, it was money. If it was not spent, it was waste paper.
Without the identity of the currency, it was absolutely a loss to exchange the Daming's products for foreign silver.
It was only possible to buy and sell. If the Daming only sold and didn't buy, it would be a big problem.
After hearing Zhu Yijun's words, Zhang Xueyan pondered for a moment, then his expression changed.
"Your Majesty, this … this!"
Zhang Xueyan was sweating and said in a hoarse voice, "Your Majesty, the silver is harmful to Daming. I request that you close the Moon Port, re-enforce the sea ban, and restore the ancestral rule of not allowing the slabs to go into the sea."
Looking at Zhang Xueyan who was a little confused, Zhu Yijun sighed.
He was a smart person. He only pointed out the problem, but he could see the terrible nature of the problem.
But closing the Moon Port was not the solution.
When the ministers heard Zhang Xueyan's words, they all looked at Zhang Xueyan as if he was crazy.
Since Longqing's opening, Jiangnan's sea trade was prosperous. Almost all the officials who came from Jiangnan had families in this business.
You want to close the Moon Port and not allow the slabs to go into the sea? You're afraid of death!
However, Zhu Yijun knew that there was indeed a problem with the Daming's sea trade, but the problem wasn't with the opening or closing of the Moon Port, but with smuggling.
In this era, smuggling had become the mainstream of sea trade. The biggest factor was the currency. Most of the trade used silver, and the Daming didn't have a good trade system.
For example, two taels of silver could buy a bolt of cloth in Guangzhou. One tael would be needed in the smuggling market, and three taels would be needed in the government.
The government trade could not compete with the private trade. Most of the merchants who came to China to trade would choose to smuggle.
Most of the money flowed into the hands of the big smugglers. In a few years, these big smugglers would form an alliance of interests. They would be the Donglin Party.
Zhu Yijun would not allow this to happen. This was the purpose of his court meeting today.
"Zhang Aiqing, why don't you explain it to everyone?"
Zhu Yijun naturally noticed the reactions of the others. He sighed and said, "Everyone, listen to what you have to say."
Zhang Xueyan had calmed down and stood up from the ground.
He respectfully bowed to Zhu Yijun and then said, "Your subject obeys!" He then began to talk about his own understanding.