jdhmnovel Chapter 622 There are no good people in the Ming Dynasty court
Chapter 622 There are no good people in the Ming Dynasty court
Chang Yuchun sensed that most of the envoys and merchants from those regions were suffering from some serious illness.
Will they sell their own grain at a low price for money?
No.
What's so special about those paper notes? They're just ink, nothing more. Can't we live without them?
Chang Yuchun asked suspiciously, "Are those envoys and merchants really so inseparable from paper money?"
Xu Liang nodded seriously: "The Duke of E is right. The envoys and merchants of the vassal states really can't do without paper money."
"Take the sickle, for example."
“It’s not that the artisans in the various vassal states are completely incapable of making sickles.”
"But the sickles they made were not durable and were far inferior to the sickles of our Ming Dynasty."
"Take shovels for example. The shovels made in our Great Ming Dynasty can cut through rocks without much damage, and may even crack them. But the shovels they make are useless once they hit a rock."
"Even iron pots are the same."
"Not to mention things like tea bricks, tea leaves, silk, salt, and sugar."
"In fact, things like glass cups can make money in the market, but only through those merchants."
"But for items like tea bricks, tea leaves, silk, cloth, salt, and sugar, the prices and quantities were negotiated directly with the envoys at the border markets."
Chang Yuchun carefully recalled the shops he had just visited, but in the end, he could only sigh helplessly.
Someone who's ruthlessly ripping people off.
A group of people eagerly waiting to be scammed.
The Dengzhou market was truly amazing.
Just as Chang Yuchun was pondering this, Xu Liang continued, "Besides the use of paper money in trade at the border markets, trade between various vassal states and their merchants also relies on paper money, and even more so on the border markets."
"After all, the coins minted by each vassal state have different copper or silver content, making it too troublesome to exchange them with each other. It is far more convenient to exchange them directly with paper money."
"Moreover, the trade between merchants of different vassal states and between different vassal states often involved tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of strings of cash. In addition to the inconvenience of using copper or silver coins, more importantly, it was difficult for these vassal states and merchants of different vassal states to trust each other."
"For example, the merchants from Annam, when asked to do business with the merchants from Champa, would mostly sabotage each other, and neither trusted the other."
"As a third party, the market can actually build trust between both parties."
"..."
As Xu Liang continued to explain the various situations and routines of the border markets, Chang Yuchun felt a little itchy on the scalp.
It's like the hair is about to pop out of the scalp?
Seeing that he couldn't understand the intricacies of the border market at all, and wanting to monopolize the supplies of Dengzhou while also worrying about whether Xu Da would monopolize the supplies of Ningyang County, Chang Yuchun suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Taking advantage of Feng Sheng, Fu Youde and others not paying attention, he instructed Xu Liang: "Reassign some of the deputy prefects, deputy section chiefs, clerks and the like in your Dengzhou government office to me."
Xu Liang was completely dumbfounded.
No.
Chang Pingzhang, you were actually a bandit?
Otherwise, how could they be so brazen as to kidnap people?
Just as Xu Liang was inwardly complaining, Chang Yuchun's face darkened, and he snorted coldly, "What? I, the Grand Councilor of the Secretariat, can't even command a few minor officials from your Dengzhou Prefecture? As for your Prefect... Hmph, even if he finds out, what can he do to me?"
I'm also a victim here!
……
As it turns out, there were very few good people in the Ming Dynasty's court.
Just as Chang Yuchun was planning to transfer a few minor officials from Dengzhou Prefecture as the victim, Xu Da, who also considered himself the victim, set his sights on the minor officials in Ningyang County.
"You have so many deputy county heads in your county. I can transfer two of them without any problem, right?"
"With so many clerks in each department, I'll transfer a few of them as well. You'd agree, wouldn't you?"
Xu Da smiled and said to Yang Shaofeng, "Give me a few of the men from Ningyang County, and we'll call it even. If you ever try to trick Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, I might be able to help you out."
Seeing Yang Shaofeng's unwilling look, Xu Da lowered his voice and said threateningly, "Don't think I don't know. You had Princess Fu Ning and Princess Fu Yang go to the Empress and talk about my eldest sister and the fourth prince in front of her. That's how their engagement came about."
Whenever the topic of his eldest sister and the fourth son in the family came up, Xu Da couldn't help but want to slap Yang Shaofeng.
My daughter is a famous female scholar in the capital!
Compared to her eldest sister, the fourth sister in the family was just a pure lump of... well, you know!
Although her daughter and the fourth son of the superior family were quite close, and there was some affection between them, that was all for the future.
Now look what's happened! Because of Princess Funing and Princess Fuyang, the marriage between my daughter and the fourth son of the Shang family has already been arranged!
Seeing Xu Da's dark and sour face, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
The marriage between Xu Miaoyun and Zhu Laosi was indeed influenced by Jin'er and Yu'er.
Now that Xu Da is the aggrieved party, he's using this as leverage, and Yang Shaofeng really doesn't have a good chance of refusing.
What Yang Shaofeng never expected was that Xu Da's skill in taking advantage of others' misfortunes was even greater than that of Chang Yuchun, who came from a bandit background.
"I've heard that the people of Ningyang County are all literate and have a basic understanding of arithmetic."
"Here's what we'll do. I'll send some people to visit the villages and communities to see if there are any willing to join the army. I'll bring them into the army to work as clerks."
After a slight pause, Xu Da added in a low voice, "When they reach the age of fifty, they can leave the military and become civilians again."
Hearing Xu Da's words, Yang Shaofeng immediately perked up.
The Ming Dynasty's army now operates on a hereditary military household system.
In other words, no matter how old a soldier is, as long as there are no able-bodied men of suitable age in his family to replace him, he must continue to serve in the army until he dies of old age or on the battlefield.
According to Xu Da, soldiers could retire from the army at the age of fifty, which basically proves that the Ming army had begun to reform.
At the very least, a relatively accurate service period has been stipulated, and the old practices of sons inheriting their fathers' jobs and military households passing down their positions will no longer be used.
While pondering haphazardly, Yang Shaofeng cupped his hands in response, "If Prime Minister Xu is willing to send someone, then he may send someone, but..."
Xu Da was slightly taken aback and asked, "But what?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "Prime Minister Xu is a step too late!"
"His Majesty has been traveling between various villages and communities recently, and the purpose of his travels is to recruit some young men from Ningyang County to form a new army."