The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 27: Mischief
Wanli was willful and acted recklessly, leaving Zhang Siwei speechless.

This guy is risking his life to build a summer resort.

What’s more, the lives of important officials and nobles in the court were at play.

Zhang Siwei didn't want to make mortal enemies with these important officials and nobles in the court.

He had no choice but to agree to allocate two million taels of silver and 20,000 craftsmen to Wanli to build a summer resort.

Did Wanli really want to build a summer resort?
of course not.

His main purpose in doing all this was to make money.

At the moment, he did not have enough force to investigate and seize corrupt officials, but the equipment of the Beijing Camp had to be built quickly.

Moreover, making weapons and equipment is not a one-day job. It requires a lot of craftsmen and even more materials.

The more than one million taels he robbed from Wang Zhizhen and his gang was probably not enough for him to hire craftsmen and purchase materials.

So, he used the excuse of building a summer resort and asked for two million taels.

Two million taels is not a small amount. If he lets the Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan approve it for him privately, it would be harmful to Zhang Xueyan.

Zhang Xueyan would definitely be branded as a shameless flatterer and would be forced to step down by those censors.

If he forced Zhang Siwei to agree, then it would be a different matter. If anyone had to bear the blame, it would be Zhang Siwei.

Zhang Siwei was so beaten up that he had no choice but to agree. If he agreed, he had to approve it. Not approving it would be deceiving the emperor.

This old bastard doesn't dare to deceive the emperor openly. If he wants to deceive the emperor, he will trick others into doing it, but he himself will not do it.

So, the two million taels were approved quickly.

After receiving the money, Wanli started to work immediately.

Early in the morning at about 1 a.m., when it was just getting light, he summoned Zhang Shunpin's father Zhang Zhen and the three dukes to his tent.

When the four of them walked into the general's tent and took a look, they were a little confused.

Wanli and Li Xuancheng were sitting there drinking porridge and reading by the light of an oil lamp.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli raised his hand and said, "You haven't eaten yet, come sit down and have something to eat with us."

The table in the tent was the big round table where Wanli had his meals. In the middle was a large pot of porridge, as well as piles of pickles, steamed buns, dumplings, etc. There were many bowls, chopsticks and spoons around it, which were obviously prepared for them.

Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen was used to it, so he sat down, picked up the bowl and started scooping porridge.

Seeing this, the other three could only sit down carefully and follow Duke Cheng to scoop up the porridge.

Wanli put down the book and said solemnly: "Mr. Jingchuan, do you know?"

Everyone understood as soon as they saw the cover of the book.

Mr. Tang Shunzhi of Jingchuan was a man of both civil and military talents. He fought in many battles throughout his life and wrote many books. He was a famous talent in the Jiajing Dynasty and the commander-in-chief of the anti-Japanese war.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jingchuan fell ill while suppressing the Japanese pirates in the 39th year of Jiajing and died.

There are also rumors that Japanese pirates assassinated and poisoned him.

In short, Mr. Jingchuan died as early as the Jiajing period.

Mr. Jingchuan is most famous for his six volumes: "Left", "Right", "Wen", "Wu", "Ru" and "Bi". The one Wanli read was the "Wu" written by Mr. Jingchuan.

Upon hearing this, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen sighed slightly and said, "Mr. Jingchuan's untimely death is truly a pity."

Yes, what a pity for such a talented man.

Wanli pointed at the book cover and said solemnly, "Mr. Jingchuan mentioned the price of iron in his book. I think this is very important."

Uh, iron price?

The four of them were stunned when they heard this.

When you read "Wu Bian", are you looking at the price of iron?
Seeing this, Wanli said bluntly, "Don't underestimate the price of iron. There's a huge profit here. Mr. Jingchuan mentioned in his book that the price of pig iron is nine cents per hundred catties, which is nine coins per catty. Is that okay?"

Zhang Zhen carefully reminded him, "Your Majesty, that was the price of iron during the Jiajing period. The price of iron has increased now. Even one tael of silver may not be enough to buy a hundred kilograms of pig iron."

He was originally a traveling businessman, that is, he carried a load on his shoulder and went from village to village selling bulk goods, so he was very familiar with this.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "What about wrought iron? Mr. Jingchuan mentioned three taels of silver for one hundred catties, which is thirty wen per catty. Has the price also increased?"

Zhang Zhen nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the price of charcoal and labor has increased, and the price of wrought iron has increased even more. Now, five taels of silver may not be enough to buy a hundred kilograms of wrought iron."

Well, it seems that you are quite familiar with this business.

Wanli asked, "Then tell me in detail how much various ironwares are selling for now."

Zhang Zhen heard this and said, "Most of the iron tools used by civilians nowadays are made of wrought iron and scrap iron. A spatula head weighing one ounce costs ten coins, a shovel head weighing six ounces costs forty coins, a rake head weighing one catty costs seventy coins, a hoe weighing one and a half catties costs one hundred coins, a hatchet weighing two catties costs one hundred and thirty coins, an axe weighing three catties costs one hundred and eighty coins, and an iron pot weighing five catties costs three hundred coins.

Also, kitchen knives used at home must be made of at least two-fired wrought iron. A knife weighing half a jin costs at least 100 wen. Knives made of five-fired wrought iron are the best, and weighing half a jin costs at least 300 wen. Also, small items like needles and nails vary in size and price. When we buy them by the jin, needles are 100 wen per jin, and nails are 80 wen per jin.

This is very profitable.

There is one most important question.

Upon hearing this, Wanli said solemnly, "Hasn't salt and iron always been a monopoly of the imperial court? Can ordinary people also buy them by the hundred catties?"

This one.

Zhang Zhen said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, as I said, even if you have silver, you may not be able to buy 100 catties of iron.

However, there are still people who sell private iron because the profits are high, and some people still do this life-threatening business.

We merchants actually do both buying and selling, because there is scrap metal in the folk, and we can make money by collecting it."

The profit is indeed high. In ancient times, once it became a royal monopoly, the price would be much higher than that of ordinary items.

It’s like salt, which later cost one or two yuan per pound.

However, this was not the case in the Ming Dynasty.

The price of salt in the Ming Dynasty was like a roller coaster. At its lowest point, it was more than ten wen per catty, which is equivalent to five to eight yuan per catty in later generations.

Once corrupt officials come to power, the situation will be disastrous. When Yan Song and his son were in power, the price of salt rose to several hundred wen per catty, which is equivalent to one or two hundred yuan per catty.

This may seem absurd, but it is a historical fact.

Historically, at the end of Chongzhen's reign, the price of salt in the northwest had risen to more than one or two ounces per catty, which was five or six hundred yuan per catty!

The price of iron could be lower, but pig iron that cost nine cents a pound would be equivalent to four or five yuan a pound in later generations, and wrought iron that cost fifty cents a pound would be equivalent to twenty or thirty yuan a pound.

The reason why Wanli thought of selling iron was because the price of iron was high and the profit was huge.

To put it bluntly, the salt and iron monopoly was actually the imperial court making money by controlling the sale of salt and iron.

If the imperial court can make money, why can't he, the emperor, make money?

Now he just doesn't care and does things recklessly. He can do anything to get money to build weapons and equipment!

He thought about it carefully, then asked, "Father-in-law, how much pig iron and wrought iron do you think we can sell in a year if we sell it freely?"

what?
Zhang Zhen was shocked when he heard this and asked, "Your Majesty, can this thing be sold freely?"

Are you afraid that others will buy iron to make weapons for rebellion?
I'm not afraid, so what are you afraid of?
Wanli explained: "Father-in-law, you are talking about the past. In the absence of muskets and cannons, it was indeed not possible to sell iron freely. However, with the advent of muskets and cannons, it is different.

As long as the Beijing troops are equipped with enough muskets and artillery, no matter how many swords, spears, swords and halberds they have, it will be useless. You can just sell them with confidence. Just tell me how many you can sell in a year."

How do you say this?

Zhang Zhen thought about it carefully, then said solemnly: "Your Majesty, based on my humble experience as a merchant, the common people are actually quite short of iron tools. Only wealthy families can afford a complete set of tools such as shovels, rakes, hoes, hatchets, and axes.

Most people don't have shovels or axes, so they have to borrow them if they need them. Many families make rakes out of bamboo or even wooden sticks. Some families don't even have pots, so they can only use clay pots to cook porridge.

If the sale is liberalized, I believe that a county with a population of 10,000 to 20,000 households could easily sell 10,000 to 20,000 catties of iron a year. With the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and more than a thousand counties, I believe that selling 10 million catties of both pig and wrought iron a year would be no problem."

Your estimate is too low. A family has at least three or four people. Can they use a pound of iron in a year?
Ten million catties of pig iron and wrought iron each would only make 600,000 taels a year. How can you make any money from that?

Wanli pondered and said, "How about this? We can sell them cheaper: pig iron at five coins per catty, and wrought iron at twenty-five coins per catty. You must sell me ten million catties of both pig iron and wrought iron every month."

what?
It’s so cheap, so I guess a lot of people would be scrambling to get it.

After all, iron is used in many places, not just for making iron tools.

In the past, because iron was expensive and could not be purchased in large quantities, many things had to be replaced with wood.

If the price of iron were reduced by half and sold freely, I don’t know how booming the business would be.

Question, do you have so many bargains?

Zhang Zhen asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, can you provide me with 10 million catties of pig iron and wrought iron each per month?"

Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes."

But I didn't see even a single iron hair.

Zhang Zhen asked carefully again, "Your Majesty, where are the pig iron and wrought iron you mentioned?"

Wanli said very straightforwardly: "Duke Dingguo, Kaiping Zhongtunwei and Luanzhou both have large coal mines, and Qian'an has large iron mines, did you know that?"

You ask me this?
Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi nodded cautiously and said, "I have heard a little about this."

Wanli said without hesitation, "Go over there and gather the remaining soldiers from the garrison to mine and smelt iron for me. Can you smelt one million kilograms of pig iron for me every day? Is that a problem?"

what?
Do you want to gather the remaining soldiers in the garrison to mine and smelt iron?
One million kilograms a day!
How many remaining soldiers from the garrison should be summoned?
Isn't this just nonsense?
(End of this chapter)