The reason why Yunxi asked them to buy grain from Nanyang was not only to fill the vacancy in domestic grain in the future, but also to balance domestic and foreign trade.
There is no fixed amount of wealth in the world. With the development of productivity, wealth is increasing; but there is a fixed amount of gold and silver in the world.
Now Nanyang can export a lot of things to the Ming Dynasty, but in general the Ming Dynasty has a trade surplus, and all countries have a trade deficit in general. If this continues, it will not be a good thing.
What will they do when the foreign countries of the Ming Dynasty are short of gold and silver and cannot purchase the goods they need from the Ming Dynasty? They do not have the courage and strength of Britain to launch a war, so they can only go to sea and rob as pirates. No matter how powerful the Ming Navy is, they cannot completely stop it.
Such a thing.
Therefore, Yunxi wanted to maintain the trade balance. Moreover, he did not lie. The food in Nanyang was indeed very cheap, and the merchants who sold food from Nanyang would not suffer losses.
As for the trade balance, I am not too worried about the Nanyang country Yunxi, but I am very worried about Fuso and North Korea. These two countries have no special products, so it is not easy to get rid of the trade deficit.
It's just a matter of paying back North Korea, but if that doesn't work, let it close itself off to the country; but the Fusang people have always had a tradition of being pirates, so we have to worry about it.
Yunxi was thinking about how to get Fusang out of the trade deficit when suddenly Li Bo, the guard beside him, said: "Your Majesty, two people over there just glanced at Your Majesty, and then turned around with panic on their faces.
And I can see from their expressions that they seem to recognize His Majesty."
"Huh?" Yunxi came back to his senses: "Is it in a merchant's store?"
"Your Majesty, it's in the merchant's shop." Li Bo replied.
‘Who is it that actually recognizes me?’ Yunxi thought as he said, “Go and catch these two people.”
…
…
"What's going on? His Majesty actually came to inspect the Shanghai Shipping Department in person!" said one person.
"It's all your fault. After I heard that Your Majesty came to Shanghai yesterday, I said that we should not stay in the Ship's Office for the past two days. No matter whether we were pretending to be sick or not, we could avoid it for these two days. You just said that His Majesty
It's okay if you don't recognize us. His Majesty has indeed forgotten us, but the guards seem to have recognized us two!" said another person.
"How did the guards recognize us? It was clearly your expression at that moment that made the guards suspicious, that's why it happened!" said the person who spoke before.
These two people are the two former candidates - Mai Guoze - who Yunxi took Siqi and Wenyuan to pay homage to the Temple of Heroes at the beginning of this year. He said outside the temple, "It's just a few Qiu Ba, but he still worships in person. Your Majesty is really..."
And Aisu.(Chapter 461)
The two of them were deprived of the title of Juren by Yunxi on the spot and completely lost their status. However, they did not dare to go home and stayed in the capital. The officials of the Ministry of Rites had some sympathy for them, so they did not drive them back to their hometowns.
The owner of the inn also sympathized with them, so he took them in and let them do accounting work to make a living.
But then Yunxi initiated the reform of Yingtian Mansion and replaced subordinate officials with policemen. They had no way to hide in the capital. With the help of fellow villagers who had passed the imperial examination and became officials, they came to the Shanghai Shipping Department.
The two of them were good at arithmetic and writing well, so they found a business in Shanghai Shipping Company to make a living.
But how could they be willing to go on like this! Both of them were former civil servants and local lords. Although they had no worries about food and clothing now, they had seen more during these days than when they were rich men in the countryside;
How can you be willing to do so if your social status plummets?
So the two of them have been trying to get rid of this kind of life these days. They are quite lucky. Recently, they made an agreement with a businessman who came to Shanghai Shipping Company to buy goods, and they will go to his home to teach his children to study. These two days
I was about to leave after delivering the matters at hand, but I didn't expect that something like this happened at this moment.
Li Bo walked into the shop with several guards and local officers, found Mai Guoze and Ai Su, and first said to the owner of the shop: "These two people are fugitives. Let's take them back and plead guilty."
Then they took the two of them away. The owner of the shop didn't even dare to let go.
However, Yunxi did not interrogate him immediately. Instead, he walked around Nanshi again and visited the entire Nanshi. Then he returned to Shibo Division and asked the policeman to prepare a room. He wanted to interrogate this person in person.
Two people.
Yunxi asked seemingly casually: "Do you two recognize me?"
Ai Su was so frightened that he trembled all over and knelt on the ground, kowtowing and not daring to speak; Mai Guoze was also very frightened, but struggled to say: "Your Majesty, the common people recognize your Majesty."
"How did you recognize me? What are your identities?" Yunxi asked.
"Your Majesty, the name of Cao Min is Mai Guoze, and the name of Cao Min's companion is Ai Su. Both Cao Min are from Changsha, Huguang."
"At the beginning of this year, two Caomin people... were fortunate enough to be blessed with the beauty of heaven when Your Majesty paid homage to the Yingling Temple." Mai Guoze said. He concealed the fact that the two of them were deprived of their honorary titles.
Yun He said to Li Bo: "Take this man named Mai Guoze out!" After Ai Su was alone in the room, he asked: "How do you recognize me? What are your identities?"
Of course he didn't believe what Mai Guoze said. The two of them were so abnormal. They looked very scared, like fugitives, and they didn't look like they were excited after seeing the emperor.
Aisu trembled and said: "Your Majesty, Cao Min is indeed from Changsha, Huguang, and it was indeed his Majesty's honor to see His Majesty's Long Yan when he visited the Yingling Temple at the beginning of this year."
"It's just that at that time, the grassroots were candidates from Huguang who came to Beijing to take the exam. Because they spoke against His Majesty's holy will, they were deprived of their honorary title. They had no choice but to come to Shanghai to make a living. Please forgive the two grassroots for their sins," he said.
After finishing speaking, he kowtowed repeatedly.
When he said this, Yunxi remembered what was going on. He looked down at Aisu again and understood that he was so scared now because he was supposed to be deported back to his hometown but now he was in Shanghai.
Yunxi will not deal with them anymore. It is already a very big punishment for them to lose their honorary title, and there is no need to punish them further. Besides, it is good for them to hang out in the Shanghai Shipping Department. Economic development requires intellectuals to enter the business field.
.
Yunxi said: "I have already punished you at that time, and I will not punish you again." He then ordered Li Bo: "Send them back to the shop and talk to the owner. There is no problem with them."
Ai Su hurriedly kowtowed again and said: "The common people thank Your Majesty for your kindness." Then he stood up. In the process, he couldn't stand up because he had been kneeling for a long time and fell to the ground. A notebook fell out of his arms.
The small notebook jumped on the ground a few times and arrived at Yunxi's feet. Yunxi was curious for a moment, lowered his head and picked up the notebook. He was about to ask the guard to hand it to Ai Su, and flipped through it, but he was stunned for a moment and was already about to reach out.
His hand stopped in mid-air.
I saw it read: '342 plus 967 equals 1309...'
‘It turns out to be a Dashi number, not an Indian number.’ Yunxi thought.
Yunxi said to Aisu: "Why do you use this number to count?"
Aisu said: "Your Majesty, my boss brought this here. He said that Indians use this count more easily than Chinese characters, so he asked us to use this count. We also thought it was easy to use, so we used it."
Yunxi thought for a moment and said, "Aisu, are you willing to be an official?"
What! Ai Su thought he heard wrongly, and looked at Yunxi blankly for a few times before he realized what he was doing. He knelt down and said, "The common people are willing!"
"I have appointed you as the inspector of the ninth grade of the Ministry of Household Affairs, responsible for promoting Indian numerals in the Ministry of Household Affairs."
When Yunxi first came here, he thought about promoting Indian numerals after he succeeded to the throne, but then he gradually got used to Chinese characters and he didn't do accounting anymore, so he forgot about it; now he finally thinks about it, of course
Promote it immediately to avoid forgetting it again.
Ai Su excitedly bowed his head and said: "The common people thank the Lord for your kindness." Even if he is just an inspector of the ninth grade, he is still an official, which is much higher than working as a bookkeeper for a businessman now.
Aisu paused and then said: "Your Majesty, Cao Min's friend Mai Guoze is also very familiar with Indian numerals. Can your Majesty also appoint him as the inspector?" He attaches great importance to friendship, so he has the courage to recommend his friends.
"No!" Yunxi said. 'You dare to deceive me. If you don't deal with it, it is already an extrajudicial favor. You still want to be an official? It's a dream. Besides, one person is enough to promote Indian numbers, and there is no need for one more person.' He thought.
Aisu didn't dare to say anything anymore and was taken away.
Yunxi later taught Aisu the three symbols '+, -, =' before returning to Beijing. He didn't know if these three symbols had been invented in this era, but he assumed that they had appeared, and
He told Aisu: "If someone asks you, just say that these three symbols were invented by Indians. Do you understand?"
Therefore, in this time and space, later generations all over the world thought that these three symbols were invented by Indians. Even the Indians themselves could not find any local documents recording these three symbols before these three symbols were transmitted to India from the Ming Dynasty.
, but it is regarded as a self-invention and has been praised as 'India's contribution to world civilization' for a long time.
Later, Chinese mathematicians invented the two symbols ‘*, ÷’ based on these three symbols.
…
…
The owner of the shop said to Mai Guoze: "Although you were captured and released by the policemen of the Shipping Department, my friend who originally wanted you to be his teacher was afraid of getting into trouble, so he no longer wanted you to be his teacher.
."
"Hey, I also know that you used to be more willing to do things like a scholar in order to promote people, but you should continue to work as my accountant now."
"You just came back from the Shibosi Yamen. You will have a day off today and resume work tomorrow."
The boss finished saying this and left.
Mai Guoze gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, you are such a good emperor!" He also secretly hated Aisu: "I only care about my future and don't remember my old friends at all. I misjudged you."