In the heavily guarded Concierge Hotel, Dali guards guarded the outside at all levels, and the inner courtyard was handed over to the guards of the Song Dynasty... The guards were ordered that this morning, important guests were visiting, and no outsiders were allowed to enter the inner courtyard.
In the inner courtyard, all the officials of the mission gathered together to listen to the guest's account of the situation in Dali.
This middle-aged man, who is short in stature, has rough skin, but has shining eyes, is named Zhang Yu. He introduces himself as a Shu native who has been doing business in Dali all year round. He does not have a general understanding of the situation in Dali.
The envoys introduced the tense situation in Dali. Then they introduced the rich products in Dali:
"Dali is rich in fine horses and can provide tens of thousands of war horses to the court every year; the armor produced in Dali is not only light but also strong, and is the best armor in the world; Dali's swords, because the local iron is of good quality, can be blown and ventilated, no matter how strong they are.
It's still sharp, both far surpass those produced in the Song Dynasty."
"Speaking of which, wouldn't Dali's army be invincible?" Seeing him praising Dali as a flower, some people didn't like hearing it. The superiority of the Celestial Kingdom is still deep-rooted.
"No matter how good the weapons are, if the soldiers are fasting and chanting Buddha's name, how can we fight this war?" Zhang Yu said with a smile: "And what I mentioned is not the most valuable thing in Dali."
"What's the most valuable?" officials asked.
"Money." Zhang Yu said in a deep voice, "Money is everywhere in Dali."
"This..." The young officials found it interesting, but Wang Gui's face was not so good-looking. No matter how approachable he was, he was not interested in hearing the businessmen's lies here: "You should grab a handful and take a look.
look?"
"I did bring it." Zhang Yu smiled, opened a wooden box that he brought with him, took out pieces of objects wrapped in red silk, placed them on the table and said, "Everyone, open them and take a look."
The young officials' curiosity was also aroused, and they stepped forward to uncover the red silk, only to see pieces of yellow-green, yellow-brown, and green-brown stones inside.
"Aren't these rotten stones?" Someone asked with a smile: "Can they be used as money?"
"No, but it will be fine after processing." But there are people who know the goods. Zeng Bu picked up two stones, rubbed them against each other and said, "This is copper ore, and it is a high-quality copper ore.
"
"This gentleman knows the goods!" Zhang Yu praised: "That's right. There are copper mines almost everywhere in Dali, and they are all in shallow layers, which are easy to dig." After a pause, he said in shock: "With the copper mines in Dali,
Compared with the total copper reserves of the four great money managers of the Song Dynasty, they are only a drop in the bucket."
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room was different...
China is a country seriously short of precious metals. Especially in ancient times when exploration and mining methods were not developed enough. The shortage of silver and copper has always been the most troublesome problem for monarchs and ministers in the past dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, when commerce was unprecedentedly developed and the economy was unprecedentedly prosperous, this was not just a headache.
A fatal question... During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, only 320,000 coins were minted each year. In the early Song Dynasty, the amount of coins minted reached more than 1 million coins. After that, it increased year by year. By the Qingli period, the number was close to 500 coins.
Wan Guan, this doesn’t include iron money and Jiaozi.
Afterwards, the number of coins minted began to shrink. It was not that there was enough money, but that there was not enough copper...
Looking at the history of the Song Dynasty, you will find that the Song Dynasty was always accompanied by a serious money shortage. In this era, the money shortage was the copper shortage. In order to alleviate the money shortage, the government did everything it could. In the second year of Taizu's Xiande,
Then the "Copper Ban" was promulgated, which stipulated that private people were not allowed to own copper utensils. Except for certain ritual utensils in temples, all other copper utensils were confiscated, destroyed, and smelted to make coins.
In addition, in order to reduce the amount of copper coins needed, the imperial court also banned the flow of copper coins into Sichuan and Shaanxi and prohibited the outflow of copper coins. It can be said that they tried every means, but they were still short of money. I don’t know where so much money was minted every year. Where did it go? Song Dynasty
People couldn't understand it, but Chen Ke understood it, but he didn't tell them.
But they can really feel the crisis caused by the country's lack of money. For people who grew up in the city, what they saw was that the market was unable to trade due to a lack of cash, and pawnshops were closed during the day because they had no cash.
Officials who grew up in rural areas are more aware of the dangers of lack of money. Because there is no cash in the market, farmers cannot sell their products and cannot pay taxes, so they have to flee.
Wang Gui once served as the Minister of Household Affairs and had a deeper understanding of this. It is no exaggeration to say that because the court was short of money, department stores were blocked, people were in distress, and the treasury was empty. The money minted every year was like water poured out.
He disappeared immediately. The whole country was like a man in desperate need of water, almost dying of thirst!
If Dali really has so much copper, and if it can be transported to the Song Dynasty, then the national treasury will be full, the people will not be short of money, and a truly peaceful and prosperous age will come!
Saliva dripped from the corners of the mouths of many officials without restraint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With heavy breathing, the officials of the mission completely understood what Zhang Yu or Chen Ke meant - there was civil strife in Dali, and there was a life-saving elixir from the Song Dynasty in Dali. Needless to say, what should we do? Of course we should take advantage of the chaos.
Take it!
"There is a secret decree." Chen Ke took out a piece of yellow silk from his sleeve. The officials quickly listened to the decree with solemn faces and said, "Please take a closer look at the reserves of Dali copper mine to see if it can be easily transported out and whether it can be used by me.
And... if you want to take it, a plan will be laid out, so admire this."
Amidst the sounds of surprise, everyone finally understood that the officials sent such a large-scale mission to Dali not just for Nong Zhigao, but for a more important goal!
"Zhong Fang, it's so hard for you to hide it from us," Wang Gui said with a bitter smile: "Before leaving Beijing, the officials once said that when you get to Dali, you have a secret decree to announce, so you told us."
"My lord, forgive me, this matter is important and we have to be cautious." Chen Ke smiled apologetically and said: "Before coming, the officials told me that this matter must be done with great caution. Firstly, one should not act rashly, and secondly, the news should not be leaked. This is a last resort for lower officials.
For that.”
"How can I ignore the importance?" Wang Gui laughed and said, "I'm just kidding you." He said seriously: "Tell me, what are you going to do?"
"In fact, many of the problems of the imperial court are nothing more than a lack of money. Although a large increase in the supply of copper coins is only a symptom, not a root cause. But the country is like one person. The disease is serious. It needs to be warmed and recuperated first, and then treated when the body is strong." Chen
Ke Zhengse said: "Boss Zhang spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and twelve years to discover dozens of copper mines, which is enough for our Song Dynasty to mine for a hundred years. This is exactly the warm and tonic formula that our Song Dynasty urgently needs.
Master, I am a generation of scholars who always hate being unable to repay the favor. Now that the opportunity to make lasting contributions has come, how can we miss it?"
"Yes, if the Dali Kingdom can really solve the urgent needs of the Song Dynasty, it is a gift from heaven. If you don't take it, you will be punished!" Wang Shao immediately said excitedly. This guy has some heroism. In his life, he most wants to expand the territory and make achievements.
There was nothing more to his liking than this.
Lu Huiqing, Zeng Bu, and Song Duanping also had the character of hating nothing in the world, so they naturally responded positively.
Several experienced officials, on the other hand, looked troubled and said: "This is related to national policy, how can we, a junior minister, speak nonsense?" After saying this, they all looked at Wang Gui, only to see him twirling his beard and thinking deeply... Wang Gui was thinking, official.
The grand arrangement made by the family and the husband is obviously intentional. If I go back without doing anything, I am afraid that my career will be bleak for the rest of my life. However, the officials and the husband all know that they have always been responsible for the official position.
, why did you send me to take this risk? Oh, you are telling me to hold back the reins and not let Chen Ke and the others go too far.
After figuring out the ins and outs, he looked at the crowd and said, "Since it is the Holy Will, we will naturally obey it, but in this foreign country, it is really difficult to accomplish this."
"Wouldn't it be over to turn Dali into the Song Dynasty?" Wang Shao said solemnly: "This country is in disarray. As long as the court makes up its mind and plans carefully, it will not worry about being able to win it."
"Don't even think about it," Wang Gui glared at him and said, "If you fail to steal the chicken, it won't be a matter of losing a lot of rice, but it will create a strong enemy for the court!" Guangliao and Xixia were enough for the Song Dynasty. If
Add Dali to the mix, and it will collapse immediately.
"It's really not good to take it by force, and it's not necessary." Lu Huiqing said: "What we want is the copper mine here, not this land. Besides, Dali is full of barbarians. If we really want to turn against each other, how can we mine?"
"Yes, it is enough for Dali to be a minister." Zeng preached: "But the road is dangerous, which is a big problem."
How they got here, everyone naturally has a deep understanding of how much the copper ingots weigh. If they are transported out by the truckload, the risk is too high, and the cost is too high... No matter who is in charge of Dali,
They may mine for you for free, but the court must pay reasonable remuneration. If the transportation costs remain high and the court loses money, this matter will not last long.
"I can answer this question. There is no need to go overland." Zhang Yu said: "Dali has a crisscrossing water system and is the source of many large rivers. For example, the Nanpan River can be connected to the Pearl River for sea transportation, and the Jinsha River can be connected to the Yangtze River for river transportation.
It can greatly shorten the time and reduce the cost, so that it is still profitable for the imperial court to transport copper from Dali back to the inland." He paused and said: "Of course, the rivers here are primitive and need to spend money to repair them."
"Speaking of renovations, the simplest one is actually the Lingqu." Chen Ke continued: "Qin Shihuang more than 1,500 years ago built a waterway for us that runs from north to south. Let's connect the last bit.
Can’t you overcome all the difficulties?”
Chen Ke knew that in the Qing Dynasty eight hundred years later, Yunnan's copper output accounted for more than 95% of the country's total, so this matter can definitely be done!