Chapter 57: The Age of Discovery! (Please read it for me)
As soon as Emperor Xuande finished saying the word "silver", he immediately noticed that Lao Zhu's expression was wrong and he quickly added.
"I have made a decree that people are strictly prohibited from using silver for transactions. Anyone who trades with one penny of silver will be fined a thousand guan. If a corrupt official accepts a tael of silver, he will be fined 10,000 guan."
The meaning of this is obvious.
Ancestor, I am listening to you. Those who are disobedient are the common people. If you want to beat or scold them, you can’t blame me!
However, the decree issued by Emperor Xuande is actually the same as it was before it was issued. It has depreciated thousands of times, and no one wants the paper to wipe their butts. If you want to punish it, you can punish it. Who cares?
"Even the imperial power cannot defeat the laws of the market."
Ji Boying summed up everything in one sentence, and then looked at everyone.
"You are both the emperor and prince who pioneered the enterprising period of the Ming Dynasty. In your era, some things were not too late."
As soon as the words came out, Eleven Zhu all held their breath and listened intently, for fear of missing a word or a word. They knew that Master Ji Boying was about to teach the true meaning and mysteries.
And this is why Ji Boying divided the Ming Dynasty into three periods according to the timeline. Some of the things he is talking about now are simply useless for those dynasties later in the timeline, or are so riddled with holes that it is too late. .
You can only change the teaching materials.
"The law of the market chose silver, which means that Ming Dynasty was forced to choose silver."
‘The Ming Dynasty was forced to choose silver?’
This sentence rang in the hearts of Lao Zhu, Lao Zhu Di and others. They always felt that there was a dark cloud filling the sky over the Ming Dynasty. At this time, this dark cloud split open under the thunder of the immortal master. A ray of dawn.
"Master Immortal, what is the difference between active choice and forced choice? Why is there a risk of national subjugation if forced to choose?"
Abiao, the first three-good student in the Zhu family, asked.
"Good question."
Ji Boying smiled, he liked such good students who followed the teacher's ideas.
"The core point is time."
'time?'
Everyone's hearts trembled again, and they didn't speak in surprise. They just listened attentively.
"The Ming Dynasty was forced to choose the time of silver."
"Abiao, let me ask you, when Ming Dynasty is forced to fully accept silver as its currency, which point will become important?"
Zhu Biao's expression tightened, and Lao Zhu, Lao Zhu Di and others all looked at Zhu Biao, hoping that this good student of Lao Zhu's family would give them a long face.
Along with the crazy rotation of Naoren CPU, Zhu Biao had a flash of inspiration, his eyes revealed his spirit, he took a deep breath and spoke.
"Total amount of silver!"
"very good!"
Ji Boying clapped his hands in praise.
His teaching method of teaching people how to fish is worse than teaching them how to fish, and it obviously worked for Zhu Biao.
"At the time when Ming Dynasty was forced to choose silver, this place..."
Ji Boying paused and coughed twice. The concept of the earth will be instilled in these people named Zhu when he has the opportunity in the future.
"This world's great age of navigation has arrived."
The Age of Discovery?!
Lao Zhu is numb again. One of the ancestral rules he set is the forbidden sea...
At this moment, Lao Zhu began to doubt life a little. Could it be that all the ancestral rules he had set were wrong?!
Old Zhu Di's eyes lit up when he heard this. His Yongle voyages to the West with Zheng He were six, and he already knew how prosperous the world was. However, his voyages to the West were only official actions. Although he made money, it was all used by Old Zhu Di himself. .
"The Ming Dynasty fully accepted silver as the mainstream currency, but the amount of self-produced silver was too low. At this point in time, it ushered in the Age of Discovery. In order to ease finances, it had to introduce a large amount of overseas silver. From then on, the Ming Dynasty became the world's largest currency in this era. The largest importing country of silver.”
"It can be said that overseas silver extended the life of Ming Dynasty."
"However, dialectics tells us that everything in the world has two sides, good and bad, good and bad."
"Although the large import of overseas silver temporarily relieved the financial pressure of the Ming Dynasty, the direct consequence was that the Ming Dynasty completely lost control of the domestic currency and gave the wealthy nobles the opportunity to collude with overseas giants and embezzle national wealth."
"By the time of the Chongzhen period, the major countries in the world that control silver exports realized the importance of silver to their own economies and began to curb the outflow of silver. The amount of silver that could be imported into the Ming Dynasty dropped sharply to less than the original amount in just ten years.
20%.”
"Silver is in short supply, the people are fearful, and aristocratic families are filling their own pockets. On the one hand, there is less silver flowing in from overseas, and on the other hand, there is also less silver circulating domestically. Under double oppression, a serious silver shortage has been caused."
"At this time, the imperial court has already lost control of currency. It cannot even issue excessive currency to quench thirst. The only way is to increase taxes, seven times in a row, in order to extract silver from the hands of the people.
Every time the number of lives is increased, the rebel army grows stronger. The stronger the rebel army becomes, the more silver the court needs to quell the chaos. This is a vicious cycle."
"Therefore, one of the causes of death in the fall of the Ming Dynasty was silver poisoning."
After finishing speaking in one breath, Ji Boying took the herbal tea presented by Xiyu and drank it in one gulp.
For a science and engineering major, Ji Boying already felt that it was very good to be able to talk about the problem to this extent.
The emperors and princes in the audience all looked surprised and solemn when they heard this, because they suddenly discovered that even if they seemed to understand, even if they seemed to know these problems, they could not think of a way to solve them!
"Brother, if you are poisoned by silver, doesn't it mean that silver is bad?"
"Then...can you not use it?"
Lao Zhu asked a question that even he thought was a bit stupid.
Ji Boying put down his teacup.
"no."
"In these centuries, silver is the world currency, and this is the world trend."
"Lao Zhu, don't you understand yet?"
Ji Boying stood up, took two steps forward, and approached Lao Zhu slightly.
"Don't you understand the core of the problem I just talked about?"
He took two steps closer.
"this…"
Lao Zhu rubbed his big hands and looked a little nervous. After so many years, he felt at a loss for the first time. He didn't even blink when he fucked Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang.
"You are truly the worst class I have ever taught!"
Ji Boying flicked his sleeves and snorted coldly.
At this moment, Lao Zhu was sweating on his forehead. The emperors and princes on the seats all looked unhappy. This was the first time in their lives that they felt so embarrassed.
"Enlightened!"
"I understand!"
At this moment, the eyes of Zhu Biao, a good student, shone brightly, and he stood up with great joy, just like Yangming Longchang had realized the Tao a hundred years later.
In an instant, all the big, middle and small Zhus looked at him. This was the only face of their old Zhu family!
"Abiao, tell me."
Zhu Biao took a deep breath and suppressed the joy on his face.
"There is nothing wrong with silver. What is wrong is that there is too little silver in the Ming Dynasty!"
After hearing this, Ji Boying smiled.
The true meaning and sense of accomplishment of teaching are reflected in this.
“Excellent answer!”
Ji Boying showed a compassionate smile, cast an affirmative look at A Biao, and then motioned for him to sit down.
"What I just said about making money is making silver."
"Master Immortal, my Ming Dynasty silver class only has so much money every year. Even if I want more silver, there is nothing I can do."
Fatty Hong Xi frowned and said, everyone else also had the same question, where can I get silver?
"Who said it was going to happen in Ming Dynasty?"
"Where to do it?"
Lao Zhu subconsciously spoke.
Ji Boying rolled up his sleeves, sat back on the imperial chair, and crossed his legs.
"Far away in the horizon, yet so close."
Xiao Zhusi was stunned when he heard this, then scratched the back of his head and smiled a little embarrassedly.
"Master Immortal, what...it's not good for so many of us to do it to you alone, isn't it?"