Asking Cao Huachun to go to the Ministry of Justice to file files was actually just a formality. But it had to be done.

Yan Siqi didn't hide anything when he saw Zhu Youdong. That was his honesty. But as the prince of state power, Zhu Youdong must not just wave his hand and say that the matter was revealed: in this way, these guys will have no law and order in their hearts in the future.

.As time goes by, it becomes impossible to control.

As for whether the Nanjing Ministry of Punishment has a file on this case, logically, the murder case should be submitted to the Ministry of Punishment for filing. But now the conduct of officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty...

In short, Cao Huachun's reply the next day was that after investigation, what Yan Siqi said was true.

So Zhu Youdong happily said that Yan Siqi would not have to accuse the people in front of him in the future.

At this time, the conversation between Zhu Youdong and the two merchants (pirates) became possible to go further.

"Ergeng, you have done very well in Yuegang these past few months. Then tell me, how much money should Yuegang earn for the court in a month?"

What is said here is not ‘can’, but ‘should’. Smart people like Tian Ergen immediately understood the meaning.

"Your Highness, the imperial court in Yuegang has clear accounts for tax collection every month, and the Nanjing Ministry of Household should also have corresponding account books. What I want to say is that the imperial court only gives 100 trade passes each year. This certificate

, simply cannot meet the large trade needs of our Ming Dynasty and overseas countries, so that smuggling is still rampant. If our Ming Dynasty can open more ports and issue more passes. I think that through sea trade, we can pay taxes to the court every year.

One million taels is no problem."

"Yes." After listening to Tian Ergeng's words, Zhu Youdong nodded slowly - it seems that Tian Ergeng had only been in Yuegang for a few months, and he had already discovered that there were huge problems in Ming Dynasty's maritime trade.

Since Xuande, the Ming Empire gradually implemented a policy of seclusion. However, at this time, the Ming Empire's economy, especially the southern economy, had already exceeded its demand. At this time, Japan and the Portuguese also had trade needs. Therefore,

, private smuggling came into being.

In any era, only ordinary people can really make the smuggling business prosper. There will also inevitably be power-money transactions and collusion between government and businessmen. During the Jiajing period, some of the richest families in the southeastern coastal areas who were the biggest smugglers joined forces with Japan's wandering samurai to start a smuggling war.

The Japanese rebellion started on an astonishing scale.

After Emperor Longqing succeeded to the throne, he deeply realized that the origin of the Japanese pirate problem in the southeast was actually the conflict between the overseas trade needs of domestic and foreign merchants and the stubborn implementation of the closed-door policy by the court. Therefore, in the first year of Longqing, the court opened Yuegang as a sea port.

The place for trade and commerce. This is the famous Longqing switch.

From a geographical point of view, Yuegang is completely blocked by Xiamen Island and is not suitable for being a trading port. Moreover, the land official road facilities in Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province are also very poor, which is not conducive to the transportation of goods from the Ming Dynasty inland to be concentrated here.

However, the opening of such a port with very poor conditions was a result of Emperor Longqing's best efforts.

This is the struggle between the imperial power and the gentry of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Just imagine: if the Ming Empire still implemented a policy of isolation from the country, and the demand for overseas trade continued to exist, then smuggling would inevitably continue. And those who can dominate smuggling must have a large amount of production means in one hand and local authorities in another.

Gentlemen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The Ming Empire switched from the policy level to allow ordinary people and businessmen to participate in overseas trade. In the past, these Jiangsu and Zhejiang gentry who made a fortune through smuggling will face fierce competition from the private sector. By then, these gentry who have made money by relying on the mistakes of national policies will

The profits of the decadent class who are full of riches will inevitably be greatly reduced or even go bankrupt!

Therefore, these guys are the most opposed to the switch. The result of the struggle between the two sides is to open a small window in Yuegang, a place that has no advantage at all.

However, as long as you give the hard-working Chinese a little chance, they will fight for great value. Since the opening of Yuegang, this place has quickly become the most prosperous port in the entire Western Pacific region, with a large amount of goods shipped out.

A large amount of silver flowed in. In the 31st year of Wanli, this port contributed 360,000 taels of commercial tax to the royal family. In that year, the total commercial tax of the country was only 457,000 taels.

But this income is still insignificant compared to the value generated by the entire maritime trade (including smuggling) of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youdong had read many research articles on the Longqing Switch before traveling through time. These articles all pointed out that from the late sixteenth century to the early seventeenth century, at least 330 million taels of silver flowed into China from overseas.

The average annual inflow is 4.7 million taels. What needs to be made clear is that this is only an excess. If the Qing Dynasty imposed a tariff of at least 40% on all imported and exported materials in the era when tariffs were independent, it would be a shame.

, the imperial court’s annual customs revenue should be more than four to five million taels.

Therefore, Tian Ergeng was indeed not lying when he said that if sea trade could be fully opened, the imperial court would make at least one million taels of profit every year.

"Two brave men, is Tian Baihu right?"

After Li Guozhu and Yan Siqi looked at each other, Yan Siqi stood up and said: "Your Highness, when I went to sea from Zhangzhou Prefecture, I was just an ordinary farmer's boy. I don't know the specific operations of the country in Yuegang. But from what I have seen in Japan these years.

, although the imperial court ordered our Ming merchants not to trade with Japan, our Ming Dynasty needs Japan’s copper, silver, gold, and sulfur, and Japan needs our Ming Dynasty’s silk, tea, porcelain, and ironware. Therefore, there is an endless stream of merchant ships on the sea.

, but there are always so many merchant ships docking at Hirado every day. Calculated in this way, the volume of sea trade between the Ming Dynasty and Japan alone will not be less than three million taels of silver a year. If the two countries each have ten

If you draw one, just from the trade between the two countries, you can draw 150,000 taels of silver a year."

"Your Highness." Li Guozhu stood up and said: "My Li family currently has sixty merchant ships, including forty large-scale ships with more than two thousand materials (one material is about 150 kilograms, two thousand materials is 300 tons). Basically, these four

The ten ships are not idle every year and are constantly plying the sea. Therefore, Master Tian and Brother Yan’s estimate is generally correct."

"Yes." After slightly nodding, Zhu Youdong looked at the three of them, and then said to Wang Chengen: "Is Cao Sanxi here?"

"Shopkeeper Cao has been waiting outside for a while."

"Ask him to come in."

While Wang Chengen went out to call someone, Zhu Youdong stood up and pulled out a roll of maps from the bookcase at the back. After Cao Sanxi also came in, Zhu Youdong asked Wang Chengen to spread out the roll of maps, and then he cleared his throat: "This is

I drew a world map myself based on ancient book records and Mr. Matteo Ricci’s teachings in recent years. Combined with this map, I will tell you my thoughts on the Ming Dynasty maritime trade.

First of all, we must know that although our Ming Dynasty also has some silver mines, this output is far from enough compared with the silver currently circulating in the market in our Ming Dynasty. Therefore, at least before the Jiajing Dynasty of our Ming Dynasty, the amount of silver on the market was

In trading, money has never been mainstream.

So, why has silver become the mainstream of transactions in the market now? Although the imperial court has never clearly confirmed that silver is the official currency of the Ming Dynasty, why is it now used to pay salaries to officials and soldiers? Of course, it is a large amount of overseas silver.

flowed in.

Speaking of the inflow of overseas silver, where does this silver come from? There are mainly two places. First, the Japanese silver mines. Second, the Spanish silver mines in the Americas. There is no need to mention the Japanese silver mines.

Let's talk about it. After all, it is his own silver mine in China. The Spanish silver mine in America is very interesting.

...In short, because our Ming Dynasty's silk, porcelain, and tea are unparalleled in the world, both the Hongyi people and the Japanese can only spend a lot of money to buy the products of our Ming Dynasty. And what they can sell to us

But there is not much, so this silver has been deposited in our country year after year. When our country has enough silver reserves, silver will naturally become the main subject of transactions."

"Hiss~~~ Your Highness, as you said, the Spaniards are so powerful. A small army of a few hundred people dared to attack a country with a population of millions? The key is that they still won?"

"Yes, the Aztecs were backward in weapons. Secondly, the American continent has been isolated from our continents for thousands of years. The people there have never had smallpox and are completely unable to resist smallpox..."

"Your Highness, so that means Luzon doesn't produce silver?"

The person who asked this question was Cao Sanxi who was in the audience.

"Why, Boss Cao has also heard that my imperial grandfather heard that Luzon was producing silver, and did he ever think about it? Luzon also produces silver. But the amount is very small. The silver in Luzon,

Mainly from America."

"Your Highness." It was Yan Siqi who stood up to ask: "Are these Spaniards stupid? Judging from the world map His Highness just showed, the Americas are obviously closer to Europe. Why didn't they directly transport the silver they produced in the Americas?

Why do you want to return to Europe but have to transport it to Luzon first?"

"Haha, that's it. Spain has vast colonies, and the output of each colony is different. So they have two permanent treasure fleets. One is called the Manila Fleet, which sets out from Manila in Luzon.

The ships were loaded with porcelain, tea, silk and spices from Siam and other countries. This fleet crossed the Pacific and arrived on the west coast of Mexico. Later, another fleet, called the Caribbean Fleet, set off from the east coast of Mexico.

Transport the goods brought by the Manila fleet and the things plundered in America back to the Spanish mainland.

Of course, everything on the Manila fleet must be purchased from the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, when the Manila fleet returns from the west coast of Mexico, it must be loaded with gold and silver produced in America."

"That's it!" Yan Siqi slapped one fist on the palm of the other fiercely: "Brother Guozhu, I heard that Captain Li also stayed in Luzon back then. If we can take advantage of the fact that Spain's Manila fleet is about to arrive,

I fucked him when I was in Luzon...Oh, Your Highness, I forgive you, I'm a thief and I've offended you."

"It doesn't matter, the people you want to rob are not my people of the Ming Dynasty, but speaking of which, what Yan Zhuangshi just said has been done for many years."

"Ah? There are such heroes on the sea near here? Why didn't we know?"

"Hahaha, what those guys robbed was not the Manila Fleet, but the Caribbean Fleet. The location of their robbery..." Zhu Youdong moved his fingers slowly on the world map on the table, and then pointed to the west coast of Spain and France: "These heroes robbed
Chapter completed!