Jingxing, one of the eight towns in Taihang, is an important passage connecting Shanxi and Hebei. By the Taohe River under Niangziguan, Yang Guohai, the commander-in-chief of Zhending in the Ming Dynasty, came with a team of men and horses to trade with a lot of salt.
Zhang Ji, who was on the Duliang Road in Shanxi, also brought his own road signs and escorted many carriages and horses out of the customs for trading.
In the distance, the lady closed the door and the green flag fluttered, but the Qing troops stationed turned a blind eye to it.
The armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties openly traded in this important military town.
"Master Zhang, ten thousand rock salt are all here."
Zhang Ji sent his servants over to check.
Break open a few packets of salt and get some salt out of it.
"Sir, these are all fine reed salts, of very good quality."
Zhang Ji was very satisfied.
"General Yang really keeps his word."
"That's natural. I, Yang Guohai, have been doing business for many years and I have always been a good boy. Mr. Zhang, where are your grain and horses?"
Zhang Ji waved his hand.
"I have brought them all, five thousand stones of millet, and two thousand fine horses."
Yang Guohai also sent people to check and found that the grains and grains were indeed new this year, and the horses were in good condition and in good spirits.
Both parties were very satisfied, so they finally handed over grain and horses in one hand and salt in the other, exchanged materials, and then said goodbye.
"When will the next batch be traded? How about this price and this amount?"
Zhang Ji was surprised that these people had great appetites and strong abilities. They had just taken two thousand horses, but they still wanted so many more.
"Is it possible that General Yang is planning to attack Zhending Fucheng? You want so many horses, can you afford them?"
"I don't need to worry about this, sir. Let's do business for mutual benefit. You won't lose and I will make a profit. As for the other things, I don't care about it. But since you asked, I won't hide it from you. We are going to take over Jingxing County.
Take it, it’s getting colder and colder today, we have to find a place to take shelter from the wind, right? Mr. Zhang won’t come to beat us, right?”
Zhang Ji chuckled.
"General Yang, don't be joking. I am Shanxi Liangdao, and Jingxing County is a city in Beizhili. It is none of my business. Besides, I am not a general leading troops in war. Those things are none of my business."
"General Yang, let me introduce you to a few friends. They are all merchants from Shanxi and Shanxi. They also got the horses this time. Let's make friends and keep in touch with each other more in the future."
Yang Guohai and Tu Guobao are both from Daibei, and they know these Shanxi merchants very well. They are a group of people who have milk and are mothers. As long as there is money to be made, even the Lord of Hell and they are willing to cooperate, and they will never care about whether they are officials or bandits.
, foreigners are still thieves. They used to do business with the Mongols and Houjin and made a lot of money.
Especially during the Chongzhen years, the Tatars robbed countless gold and silver, but their own family was short of food and famine. These Shanxi merchants transported grain, iron materials, and even tendons for war to Hou Jin in exchange for Hou Jin's hand.
Gold and silver jewelry, as well as cattle, horses, mink fur, ginseng and other items, you can make a lot of money with just one transaction.
During the Hou Jin Dynasty, all the people were soldiers, and it can be said that food, grass and military supplies were all provided by Shanxi merchants.
Regarding these people, Yang Guohai felt that he could trust them. They only had money in their eyes, so there was no need to worry about informing the Qing court.
Now that the Ming army controls salt, the Tatars rely on the salt from Jiechi in Shanxi and some salt ponds in Ningxia, which is completely insufficient. Even if they are smuggled from him, the price is much lower than the cost of salt from Jiechi and other salts. What's more
The quantity is quite large.
Yang Guohai chatted with the shopkeepers of Shanxi merchants for a while, and reached several orders. Not only could they exchange salt for horses, but they could also exchange silver coins for ordnance.
Shanxi merchants guaranteed to provide the ordnance Yang Guohai wanted, whether it was cotton armor, muskets, cannons, gunpowder, bows, arrows, shields, etc.
As long as the price is right, they can provide what you need.
As for the source, they just laughed and said it had its own origin.
They even wanted to sell Liaodong ginseng to Yang Guohai, saying they could get as much as they wanted.
Yang Guohai could guess some of the ordnance. They were simply stolen and sold by those in charge of military supplies, or by generals secretly selling the supplies they received, or even by soldiers who directly sold their own equipment.
, many soldiers in Shanxi now don't even have food to eat and haven't been paid for more than a year.
Some of the rebels who had been defeated and retreated into Wutai Mountain and other mountainous areas were surrounded and captured by the Tatars, and were even directly eaten by them.
Those who were hungry were cannibals. They not only ate captives, but sometimes even secretly captured people and ate them like two-legged sheep.
When people are hungry, they can do anything, and the people will exchange their children for food. How can a soldier with a sword and a gun still be polite?
When it comes to officials like Zhang Ji, it is even more unlucky for those who serve as soldiers. There was originally insufficient food production due to wars, natural disasters, etc., but these people ended up selling the food.
The soldiers and the common people were hungry, but they still sold grain, even to the Ming army, the enemy of the Qing army.
"When will you trade next time? Can you still get food?" Although Yang Guohai was happy to make more trades, he doubted that Zhang Ji would be able to get food.
"Don't worry about this. This time the imperial court also has a decree to collect and investigate, which can be used to collect all the grain. Although Shanxi was in chaos before, it has been pacified now. There are still a lot of obstacles for the powerful gentry in Shanxi, and there is still a lot of grain in hand.
Yes, if you dig these mouse holes, there will still be food."
When Zhang Ji said this, he didn't feel ashamed at all.
What kind of shame does an official need?
How can you be an official if you have a sense of shame?
Zhang Ji also made several requests to Yang Guohai this time. In addition to exchanging salt for grain and horses, he also planned to exchange copper coins and silver for some gold.
Yang Guohai did not refuse this request. Zhang Ji had mentioned this matter before and said he would go back to discuss it.
After the report was sent to Tokyo, the superiors replied that it was OK.
Copper coins, copper materials, and silver are all valuable things. Of course, there is no problem in converting them into gold. Even if they exchange them specifically, they can still make a profit.
Zhang Ji and others wanted to exchange for gold, but the purpose was easy to guess. It was just that gold was valuable, easy to carry and maintained its value.
It is actually no secret that Zhang Ji is trading with the Ming army. At least the governors and generals in Shanxi also know about it. In fact, Zhang Ji is a trading representative they introduced. If something happens, it will be nothing more than that.
It's just a scapegoat.
Everyone has a share of the money earned from trading.
If something happens in the future, he will be the scapegoat.
Zhang Ji actually knew his risks, but he wanted to make money but didn't want to take risks. How could such a good thing happen? He took some risks and worked hard for two years. When the time came, he washed his hands and left with the gold exchanged, and he became famous.
, and can even accumulate wealth that cannot be earned in several lifetimes.
"We don't have much gold on hand, but we can think of ways to exchange it for some, but it's a bit troublesome, and in troubled times, others are not willing to exchange silver for gold. There is a lot of cost involved," Yang Guohai said, taking out a
A list listing the specific ratios of gold, silver, and gold and copper exchanges in detail.
Different silvers rise and fall.
One tael of gold must be exchanged for sixteen taels of pure silver. It is not the silver of 935, nor the silver of 94, but 100% pure silver. Of course, actual pure silver is very rare, so Zhang Ji wants silver to be exchanged for gold.
, when the time comes, his silver will have to be priced according to its fineness.
For example, if the quality is ninety-four, then for one hundred taels, an additional six taels must be added.
One tael of gold was exchanged for sixteen taels of silver. This ratio was extremely high.
Zhang Ji only hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
As for copper coins or copper materials, various copper coins also have different exchange ratios. They are first converted into pure silver, and then converted into gold. Different copper coins contain different amounts of copper, so they are only exchanged for copper, not for silver.
face value.
Copper materials are calculated directly based on copper prices.
In the end, Yang Guohai had to deduct an exchange fee, and Zhang Ji agreed.
"We only have one request. We hope that the gold exchanged can be gold coins with dragon carvings from the south."
The dragon pattern silver coins issued and minted by the Mint Bureau of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Shaotian Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty are now very popular among merchants and people due to their exquisite craftsmanship, good anti-counterfeiting technology, and ease of use based on the denomination.
The Royal Mint also minted and issued Jinlong Yuan, pure gold gold coins, one or two, with Zhu Yihai's head on the front, a gold dragon relief on the back, and tooth patterns on the edges to prevent scratching. These gold coins were also very beautifully minted.
In particular, one or two pure gold coins are more convenient to use. There is no need to identify the quality, exchange for premiums, etc., which is better than large and small yellow croakers. After all, a small piece of gold is easier to make, and this kind of one or two gold coins has these
The embossed tooth pattern is not that easy to fake.
"Okay, one gold emperor can be exchanged for sixteen taels of silver."
Today, the gold and silver exchange ratio in the south is about one gold for thirteen silvers, while in the north it is about one gold for fourteen or more, and one gold for sixteen silvers. The profit here is already very high.
As for converting copper coins and materials into gold, Yang Guohai would actually not lose money.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty has always been short of copper, especially the current war, which has deeply affected Yunnan, the main copper producing area of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, Japan's previous trade with Ming copper materials was low, which caused the copper material prices to rise sharply in the copper-deficient Ming Dynasty.
Copper is an important raw material for making money and even cannons.
If the Shaotian Dynasty had not implemented a silver standard system and minted silver dollars as the main currency, if it had still used copper coins as the main currency like the Tang and Song Dynasties, there would have been a serious money shortage. It might have been the same as the Tang Dynasty, and silk had to be used.
Cloth also served as currency.
As a small currency, copper coins are indispensable, otherwise daily transactions will be very inconvenient.
On the other hand, the copper coins and copper coins currently minted by the Shaotian Dynasty are all anchored to silver coins. It is stipulated that one silver dollar is equivalent to one thousand copper coins. Therefore, according to the current price of copper materials, the weight, size, and copper content of the copper coins will be adjusted accordingly to maximize the value.
Let one thousand copper coins be worth almost one silver dollar.
If copper is expensive, the copper content will be reduced; if copper is falling, the copper content will be increased to maintain the exchange rate of silver and copper.
Of course, the copper content of one thousand copper coins is not actually worth one silver dollar. Adding tin and lead still leaves a profit from minting, just like a piece of silver emperor. In fact, the silver content is only eighty-nine. Adding copper to casting, deducting all materials and labor
In terms of cost, there is actually about five points of profit from minting, which is equivalent to seigniorage.
Copper coins and copper yuan, as small coins, are actually much more profitable than silver coin minting. The Shaotian Tongbao copper coins currently issued weigh one cent and two cents, and the ratio is 50% copper and 41.5% white lead.
Black lead is 6.5%, tin is 2%. More than 164 kilograms of copper, lead and tin. The fire consumption during casting is about 9%. The final price is 150 kilograms, which is 20,000 yuan, which is exactly 100 kilograms per day.
One coin and two coins.
The materials purchased include more than ten taels per hundred pounds of copper, plus lead, tin, and freight. The last 20,000 taels are made into money. The cost of one scale of copper is about twelve taels, lead is about three taels, and tin is five cents, plus freight.
The cost of fire, etc. is 20,000 cents, the cost is about 17,000 yuan, and there is about 15% minting profit.
Of course, the prices of copper and tin fluctuate greatly, especially copper, which is mainly imported from overseas, so the price fluctuates greatly and is greatly affected by supply relationships.
And if you are casting copper coins, especially copper coins with large denominations, the profit is actually higher. For about one thousand copper coins, the profit is about two and a half silver dollars. For casting one million copper coins, you can make a profit of 2,500 silver dollars.
.If one million copper coins are minted every day, there will be at least 700,000 to 800,000 silver coins in a year.
So Zhang Ji and others wanted to exchange the various copper coins and copper materials they collected for gold coins, and Ming Dynasty would be happy to exchange them.
Not only is the exchange ratio high, you can earn a lot of exchange fees, but the silver and copper you get back can be recast, and you can earn a seigniorage tax. The more the merrier.
For Zhang Ji and others, there will certainly be some exchange fees, but among the silver ingots, copper coins, and copper materials, there are no golden pieces that make people like them.
No one plans to stay in Shanxi forever.
Just like Zhang Ji, he has already prepared in his mind that this Shanxi grain road and postal road can be used as a post road for at most two years, and then this fat job will have to give way, so hurry up and fish it now. If you catch it, you can exchange it for gold coins so that you can take it away easily.
.
"I want as much silver and copper as there is." Yang Guohai said with a smile. He could still make a profit by changing hands in this business. The more he exchanged, the more he could earn.
So he is very active about this matter.
The exchange ratio he gave Zhang Ji and the others was much higher than the exchange ratio given to him by the Ministry of Revenue, and the higher amount was all his benefits.