My father is Jiajing

Chapter 326: Silver of the Ming Dynasty
East Building.

The unique and luxurious East Building is still the villa where Yan Shifan often stays.

Yan Maoqing, who came to Beijing to report on his work, went to Yan Shifan's East Building Villa before reporting to the court to report to Yan Shifan on the progress of his work at the Jianghuai Salt Field.

People today often think that the Jianghuai region in ancient times was the richest place in the world, but in fact this is just a beautiful misunderstanding.

The Jianghuai region refers to parts of Anhui, Jiangsu and Henan in later generations, which has a great overlap with the Yellow River Flood Area, and the term Yellow River Flood Area does not sound like a good word.

Therefore, the Jianghuai region has been a barren land with many disasters since ancient times.

But because this large area is home to a huge population, even in a barren land, as long as you do business right, you can make a lot of money.

The best business since ancient times is the salt and iron business monopolized by the imperial court.

Therefore, even though the Jianghuai region is poor, it is a treasure trove for a monopoly business like the Salt Administration that makes money based on its population base!

Yan Shifan looked at Yan Maoqing with a smile on his one eye, "Jingqing, thank you for your hard work."

Yan Maoqing was also shocked when he saw Yan Shifan, who had only one good eye. Although he had heard the story about Yan Shifan having eye disease in Jianghuai, he never expected that when he saw him again, Yan Shifan would become a one-eyed man!
The other eye is completely white, which looks a bit creepy.

But Yan Maoqing also knew that one should never judge Yan Shifan by his appearance.

Yan Maoqing bowed to Yan Shifan and said, "You have worked hard, young minister. When I was in Jianghuai, I missed you every day. It is a blessing from God that I can see you again today."

Yan Shifan smiled cheerfully: "Okay, okay, come, sit down."

Yan Shifan asked Yan Maoqing to sit on a chair beside him, and then he continued to ask, "How is Luo Longwen now?"

When Yan Maoqing heard Yan Shifan asking about Luo Longwen, he also sighed and replied: "The court is still pursuing the previous matter. Luo Longwen didn't stay with me for long. Before he left, he told me that he planned to go to sea to try his luck for wealth and fame."

Yan Shifan was also a little surprised when he heard that Luo Longwen was going out to sea to seek wealth and fame.

Yan Shifan said, "What kind of wealth can there be on the sea? I heard that the sea in the southeast is not peaceful now. There is a big pirate named Wang Zhi who is entrenched on an isolated island overseas and robs everywhere. The smuggling business of those Zhejiang and Fujian people has become difficult. What can he do by going out to sea now?"

Although Yan Shifan was an inland person, due to his status and position, he had some knowledge of things at sea.

I know that the sea is not peaceful now. Moreover, because of the maritime ban of this dynasty, the court's control over the sea is almost zero.

Therefore, the originally vast ocean was left with only a few Zhejiang and Fujian merchants who, under the protection and help of some local officials, were engaged in smuggling business to Siam, Luzon, Korea, Japan and other places.

It is said that in recent years some red-haired vassal states who appeared out of nowhere have also been engaged in maritime trade. These red-haired vassal states have a lot of silver in their hands, and they like to buy flashy things such as silk, tea, porcelain, etc. from the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Yan Shifan was also very interested in maritime smuggling.

But unfortunately, these smuggling channels are controlled by people from Zhejiang and Fujian. Even if he wants to get involved, he won't be able to gain any advantage.

After all, the vast ocean is a lawless place.

He can rely on his current status and position to show off his power in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but when he is at sea, no one will take his title of young cabinet minister seriously.

Maybe he had just happily organized a fleet to go out to sea to do some smuggling business, but the ship was hijacked by pirates before it had sailed far.

Therefore, no matter how many benefits there are at sea, Yan Shifan can only watch and not take advantage of them. Because the current maritime interests have long been divided up by Zhejiang and Fujian people. If anyone dares to compete with them, regardless of whether it is the ancestral system or not, these people will 100% join forces with pirates to rob others who want to participate in the maritime business.

Therefore, Yan Shifan was open-minded about the interests at sea, as long as it did not affect his ability to make money on land.

But now Yan Maoqing actually said that Luo Longwen had gone to sea, and Yan Shifan's thoughts naturally began to change.

Yan Maoqing listened to Yan Shifan's questions and naturally understood that what Yan Shifan wanted to ask was not about Luo Longwen's safety and future, but whether this matter was feasible.

Therefore, Yan Maoqing also chose his words carefully and said: "I heard from Luo Longwen that he seemed to know some Japanese people at sea. Therefore, I think Luo Longwen is very likely to find a way to contact the Japanese to do business at sea."

When Yan Shifan heard Yan Maoqing's words, his eyes lit up instantly.

It is such a pleasant surprise that I actually have connections with the Japanese!

Although the Ming Dynasty had never been very friendly towards Japan, and the Japanese often harassed the Ming Dynasty's coast every now and then, in the eyes of nobles like Yan Shifan, these were just some trivial matters and were not worth mentioning at all.

Therefore, there is a reason why the Japanese threat along the coast is becoming more and more serious.

The biggest reason was that the central court headed by the Yan Party did not take the Japanese invasion seriously at the beginning, which led to the subsequent widespread Japanese invasion in the southeast.

Yan Shifan clapped his hands and said, "Good, good, this is a good thing. If Luo Longwen can really find a sea route from the Japanese, then can't we also make money from the red-haired vassal?"

"I don't know where these red-haired barbarians got the silver from, but they were able to ship it to the Ming Dynasty in boatloads, and buy our silk, tea and porcelain at extremely unreasonable prices. I even wonder if there is something wrong with their brains. Don't they know how hard it is to earn silver?"

After thousands of years of mining, the silver mines that are easy to mine in China have long been mined. Therefore, whether it is from the Qin and Han Dynasties or the later Tang and Song Dynasties, China in all dynasties has actually been very short of silver.

In the transactions of many commodities, physical objects such as cloth and grain are sometimes used as currency units for exchange.

Not to mention the distant past, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, the tax system designed by Zhu Yuanzhang was almost entirely based on tax in kind, rather than the silver tax implemented after Zhang Juzheng's Single Whip Law.

The fundamental reason is the shortage of silver. There is not enough silver to use as currency.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang cleverly thought of the "Jiaozi" system implemented in the previous dynasty and came up with the Ming Treasure Notes, Zhu Yuanzhang had no scruples at all when printing the Ming Treasure Notes, and these Treasure Notes could not even be anchored as credit.

It is conceivable how terribly fast the depreciation of these banknotes produced by Zhu Yuanzhang was.

Although the Ministry of Revenue is still printing these treasure notes, the purpose of these treasure notes is only to appease the court's unwillingness to pay the salaries of the vassal kings. As for other uses, they are not even suitable for wiping one's butt.

However, this situation was reversed in the late Jiajing period.

Although the Ming Dynasty did not produce silver, the American continent did produce silver.

Western European countries, mainly Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, completed the invasion and colonization of the American continent in the early Age of Discovery and obtained a lot of gold and silver originating from America.

However, although these gold and silver are wealth, if they are not exchanged for real enjoyment and material things, they are just a bunch of worthless metals.

Therefore, after obtaining the gold and silver plundered from the Americas, these early maritime overlords brought the excess gold and silver to the Ming Dynasty and lavishly purchased Ming Dynasty luxury goods to satisfy their own desires.

Therefore, this also led to a large amount of silver pouring into the Ming Dynasty like a tide, making the era after the Ming Dynasty gradually silver the main currency unit, replacing the previous physical taxes and physical transactions.

(End of this chapter)