Liu Mingzhi walked to an empty chair nearby and just sat down. Xia Gongming, the chief minister of the cabinet, immediately picked up a pot and poured a cup of tea and sent it over.
"Your Majesty, today is not a day for court meetings. Why did you come into the palace?"
Liu Mingzhi took the tea and took a sip. He looked up at Xia Gongming who looked a little confused and gently fiddled with the tea lid.
"Sir, please don't say that you have forgotten the reward I asked you to handle."
Xia Gongming suddenly realized what he saw when he saw Young Master Liu frowning slightly.
"I haven't forgotten, I haven't forgotten. How could I forget what your Majesty told me?
Your Majesty, please wait a moment, I will bring the reward documents to you for your review."
Xia Gongming walked to his desk, picked up a document and returned.
"Your Majesty, I have listed the things that were awarded to Sakai He, the envoy of the Japanese mission, one by one in the document. Your Majesty, please take a look."
Liu Mingzhi put the tea cup on the table beside him, reached out to take the document handed over by Xia Gongming, and looked through it carefully to examine the contents.
After a while, Liu Mingzhi closed the document in his hand and patted his palm with the document hesitantly.
"Sir, the Japanese delegation came to worship our dragon this time, and the annual offerings they made are of great value.
Moreover, Sakai Ga also presented a priceless three-foot night pearl that night.
The Japanese mission donated so many rare treasures at once, but we only rewarded them with these things. Isn’t it a bit too petty?"
"Return to Your Majesty."
"Sir, sit down and talk."
"Old minister, I obey, thank you Your Majesty."
"Your Majesty, these rewards are the conclusions reached after repeated discussions between the veteran minister and his colleagues.
The things we rewarded the Japanese envoys are nothing to me, Dalong, but they are extremely precious to the Japanese envoys.
Your Majesty didn't know something. The day after the palace banquet, the old minister asked Mr. Wang from Honglu Temple to visit the cabinet.
The old minister instructed Mr. Wang to find some envoys from the Japanese mission and other envoys from other countries to make some insinuations.
Let’s talk about this silk and satin, and silk brocade clothes. Because of Your Majesty’s diligence and love for the people, although this silk and satin is not a common thing in Dalong, it is not as rare and precious as it was many years ago.
According to the half-monthly document reports from the Household Offices of various prefectures and prefectures, the people of Dalong are now more or less willing to buy one or two pieces of brocade and fine clothing.
We Dalong may not think that silk and satin pieces are very precious, but to the Japanese people, these things are valuable and good things.
According to Mr. Wang's report, the price of a piece of silk and satin in Japan is seven or eight times that of Dalong.
Besides, the price of these porcelains, our Dalong porcelains, will also increase several times once they arrive in Japan.
It was said that the plum vases included in this batch of porcelain were rewarded to them. Once the Japanese mission brought them back to the Japanese country, the price would at least increase by about five times.
If the merchants of the Japanese country operated properly, they might be able to earn even more.
Your Majesty, as the king of a great dragon country, you may feel a little dissatisfied with these things.
But for the Japanese mission, these rewards became an eye-catching good thing.
You must know that many of the things in the reward list are tributes from the palace and are not allowed to be circulated among the people.
Even if the many envoys of the Japanese mission were rich, they could not buy these things in the major markets in the capital.
In addition to various copper utensils, spices, rare medicinal materials...as well as my Dalong's specialties and other rewards, there are already a lot of rewards.
Your Majesty, the things you look down upon are all good things to others."
After listening to Xia Gongming's explanation, Liu Mingzhi tapped his fingers lightly on the table and pondered for a moment, then raised his head and glanced at all the cabinet officials in the hall.
"You guys, do you have any different opinions?"
"Your Majesty, I have no objections."
Wei Yong, the second assistant to the cabinet, picked up the tobacco bag from his desk, filled it with tobacco and walked towards Young Master Liu with a smile.
"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, rare things are valuable.
When these rewards came into the hands of the Japanese envoys, not only did they not feel that our Dalong family was angry, but they were so happy that they could grin from the corners of their mouths to their ears.
How come our Dalong official merchants and private merchants are able to do business with all countries in the world without any disadvantage? Isn’t it because of our Dalong specialty products?
The barbarians have never seen good things. If we really reward them with some gold, silver and jade articles, they may not think they are valuable.
After all, their respective territories also produce gold, silver, jade and other things, and they can also make many things themselves.
If you want to reward people, you have to give them something they don’t have.
They have benefited from it, and they can offer more things when they come to me to make offerings in the year of the Dragon.
If the old minister said something that was not pleasant to the ears, our reward would actually look like a business deal."
Liu Mingzhi looked at Wei Yong who was puffing away smoke, took off the tobacco bag from his waist and handed it over.
"Wei Fu, I smelled it. Your shredded tobacco is good. Give me a pot of it."
"Okay, your Majesty, wait a moment."
After a while, Wei Yong handed the pipe filled with shredded tobacco to Liu Mingzhi's hand and blew out the fire stick in his hand.
Liu Mingzhi lit the tobacco on the fire, squinted his eyes and blew out a puff of smoke.
"Mr. Xia."
"His Majesty?"
"I will give them five hundred more pieces of silk, and three hundred pieces of all kinds of porcelain."
"Yes, I obey my orders."
"Add silk to Shu brocade, not Yun brocade, add folk porcelain, and don't add anything from the official kiln. It is better for good things to flow into the hands of our own people than to be given to them as rewards."
"Hehehe, I understand.
I’m joking, my Majesty just added so many rewards all at once, I thought your Majesty was really generous for a while!”
"You old guy, do you think I'm too petty?"
"Your Majesty, I forgive you. I know I was wrong. I know I was wrong."
Liu Mingzhi took a puff of his cigarette and turned around to scan the people in the hall.
"Are the officials from the Ministry of Works here?"
"Your Majesty, I am here."
"Ministry of Works, do you have many glazed mirrors and other glazed products in your warehouse?"
"Back to Your Majesty, the craftsmen just fired a batch of glazed products seven days ago and are preparing to put them into storage."
"It seems that the circulation of glass products by private merchants is not allowed yet, right?"
"Your Majesty, except for Liu Weng's Liu family merchants and caravans, all glass products have always been handled by the imperial court's officials and merchants."
"I understand, Mr. Xia."
"His Majesty?"
"In addition to the rewards from Japan, there are 300 glazed mirrors of various kinds and 600 glazed products of various kinds.
There are also fifty pieces of gold, silver and jade jewelry used by women."
"Yes, I obey my orders."
"Okay, that's it for deciding on the reward for the Japanese mission.
We will discuss the specific details together, and as long as there are no major discrepancies, we can just send someone to Honglu Temple to deliver the message."
"I obey your orders."
"By the way, are there any first-class memorial documents entering the cabinet today?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is none."
"Okay, then I will leave the palace first."
"I will respectfully send you off to Your Majesty."