Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

If Li Jinglong had some realization, he quickly came back to his senses.

"Jiang Lang, that's not right!"

"What's wrong?" Jiang Xinghuo asked with a smile, as if he had expected Li Jinglong's reaction.

"Even if treasure notes continue to be issued indiscriminately like this, sooner or later they will become a piece of waste paper. But if you want silver to become the main currency of the Ming Dynasty, in the final analysis, the production and stock of silver in the Ming Dynasty are not enough!"

Li Jinglong became more and more puzzled, and even Zhu Gaoxu realized that there seemed to be very little silver in the Ming Dynasty.

Although Zhu Gaoxu usually only carries golden beans in his pocket,

Li Jinglong recalled briefly and said with certainty: "I have personally been to the silver mines in southern Zhejiang and Fubei. The official silver mines of the Ming Dynasty are mostly concentrated in these two places. But to be honest, even the official silver mines are very difficult to mine. It’s high, and the silver content is not high, and the fineness is also slightly lacking.”

"In the government-run silver mines, the imperial court set up a silver field bureau to recruit miners to mine and craftsmen to refine. After deducting necessary expenses from the annual production income, all the rest had to be turned over to the imperial court. This is the so-called 'silver class'."

You should know that Li Jinglong was responsible for supervising the banking class in southern Zhejiang for several years, so now he talks about silver matters very well, and he knows the inside story very well.

"As for the silver class of the Hongwu Dynasty, it was thirty thousand taels in the twenty-third year of Hongwu, twenty-five thousand taels in the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, and twenty thousand taels in the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu."

"Judging from the decreasing number of silver classes, the existing government-run silver mines in the Ming Dynasty are almost exhausted. How can we still mine enough silver for circulation throughout the Ming Dynasty?"

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu, who had been listening silently, suddenly said secretly: "The decrease in book figures does not mean a decrease in production. Maybe it goes into some people's pockets?"

Li Jinglong's face froze, and he turned his head with difficulty and looked at Zhu Gaoxu.

Li Jinglong felt a little flustered. In order to show his loyalty and stand in line at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, he contributed 25,000 taels of silver to Ming Dynasty's overseas voyages.

This is an astonishing wealth equivalent to one year of silver class in the Ming Dynasty!

Some of them were taken from silver market bureaus in various places.

If it's normal, then that's it. This is a semi-public secret in the officialdom.

But right now Zhu Di is still listening.

Li Jinglong was about to cry, but he could hardly imagine what would happen to Zhu Di after hearing these words.

To put it more seriously, this matter has already involved a conspiracy to steal money from the treasury, and may even involve other crimes, which is enough to punish the nine tribes.

And the reason why Li Jinglong was willing to serve as Zhu Di's eyes and ears with the dignity of a duke, wasn't it because he opposed Zhu Di during the Jingnan Campaign, and was he now afraid that Zhu Di would settle the score later?

The old sins cannot be redeemed by performing meritorious service, but the new sins are brought out by one's bad words. It can be said that stealing the chicken but losing the rice.

The more Li Jinglong thought about it, the more afraid he became. He felt that his legs were weak and his forehead was dripping with cold sweat.

Zhu Gaoxu seemed to be unaware of it and still spoke in a relaxed and cheerful tone.

"So, I think the Ming Dynasty's silver class still has great potential. If we check all the silver class leaders in various places over the years, we will search the homes of those who should be ransacked and the heads of those who should be beheaded. Maybe there will be enough money to be circulated throughout the Ming Dynasty. What’s up?”

As soon as these words came out, Li Jinglong immediately rounded his eyes, stared at Zhu Gaoxu nervously, and said with a stiff expression.

"Hehe, hehe. How is that possible? Don't be joking."

Fortunately, Jiang Xinghuo finally spoke and saved Li Jinglong who was on the verge of collapse.

Jiang Xinghuo said: "As I have said before, first of all, the local silver production in the Ming Dynasty is very small; secondly, the Ming Dynasty has only been founded for a few decades, and the private silver stock is extremely insufficient and mostly concentrated in the hands of the powerful. There is not much in the hands of the common people."

"But at its root, the problem lies in one."

"—Insufficient silver."

Li Jinglong, who still had the cold sweat on his back, rolled his eyes in his heart. Isn't this just like 'listening to your words is like listening to a word'.

"But what if I told you." Jiang Xinghuo narrowed his eyes, "Not far from the Ming Dynasty, there is a high-quality super-large silver mine that will account for one-third of the world's silver production in the next few hundred years? "

"Jiang Lang, stop joking!" Li Jinglong almost squeezed out these words through his teeth.

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly became excited, patted his thigh and said.

"Tell me quickly, where is this huge silver mine? When I get out of prison, I will take people to evacuate it immediately!"

Jiang Xinghuo glanced at him and asked with a smile.

"Can you move a silver mine that can produce eight million taels a year and produce continuously for hundreds of years?"

"What's only eight million taels?!"

After Zhu Gaoxu's slow reflex arc came to his senses, he was stunned.

Li Jinglong was even more stunned, and a thought flashed through his mind almost instantly.

We, the Duke of Cao, have worked hard to save for two generations, but we can only save less than 30,000 taels of silver.

Eight million taels, the Duke of Cao would not be able to save so much money until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

And this is only the output of Jiang Xinghuokou Zhongyin Mine in one year!

How can it be?

Li Jinglong's face turned pale, his lips trembled, and he roared after a long while.

"--I do not believe!!!"

The secret room outside the wall suddenly became silent.

This news is so exciting that it has shattered everyone’s concepts and perceptions!

"Snapped!"

The writing brush in the hand of a scribe fell heavily onto the rice paper on the desk, and a ball of ink suddenly appeared on the rice paper. But at this moment, Ji Gang's attention was all focused on Emperor Yongle, and he had no time to distract himself from scolding.

Zhu Di's first reaction was also disbelief.

How is this possible? If this is true, doesn't it mean that all the wealth in the world belongs to him, the Ming Emperor?

If he really had eight million taels of silver a year for military expenses, Zhu Di was even confident that he would be able to send his army northward to wipe out Mobei immediately, and even bring the Western Regions together to clean up!

This is not enough, then we have to capture Annan and occupy the entire south, and finally launch a land and sea attack to the west to destroy the Timurid Empire.

"Snapped!"

Another brush fell to the ground, and this time the holder of the brush fell to the ground and was broken into two pieces.

Everyone's attention just shifted to the clerk sitting on the other side of the desk.

He had thrown away the brush just now, and now he was shaking all over, as if he wanted to cry, and his face was red.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry. I can't even earn eight taels of silver in a year. When I suddenly learned about this astronomical figure, I immediately panicked."

Zhu Di didn't say anything, just waved his hand.

After these two transparent scribes informed their families that they were safe, they were told by Ji Gang that they were not allowed to go home and could only live in the imperial prison and be guarded by royal guards.

Therefore, if Zhu Di didn't plan to kill two people after just one class, it would be too much trouble for a small official; even if he wanted to kill, he would have to wait until all the classes were completed.

"This, this is impossible."

Zhu Gaochi muttered to himself, as if he couldn't hear the conversation at all.

What is the concept of eight million taels? The annual silver class for Ming Dynasty will only be 20,000 taels!

One silver mine is 400 times the size of the hundreds of silver mines throughout the Ming Dynasty!

Doesn't this mean that if you get this silver mine, you will immediately become rich? !

No, he is as rich as four hundred countries! !

When Zhu Gaochi came to his senses, he ignored the others. He only turned around and stared at Zhu Di, speaking word by word.

"If the Ming Dynasty can really receive an additional eight million taels of silver steadily every year, I will have the confidence to help my father achieve true success."

"——Yongle Shengshi!"

So, where is this huge silver mine that is rich enough to rival four hundred countries?

After saying that, the two of them stared intensely at the wall covered with special loudspeaker porcelain almost at the same time, waiting for Jiang Xinghuo's answer.