"Dad, have you ever seen a place where the grain ripens four or even five times a year? Have you ever seen a place where you don't starve to death without farming? Have you ever seen a place full of minerals and gold?”
Zhang Che didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked back.
Old Zhu shook his head subconsciously.
As long as Big Ming had a place like the one Zhang Che mentioned, he would wake up laughing in his dreams!
"There are many of these places overseas. Not to mention other things, just the Wei Nation, which was not far from the Ming Dynasty, had a large silver mine. It was not an exaggeration to say that there was gold and silver everywhere!”Zhang Che said, smiling.
After saying this, the room suddenly fell into a strange silence.
Zhang Che saw that the expressions of Ol 'Zhu, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Di were a little ugly.
Zhu Di cursed in a low voice.
"Father, what's wrong?" Zhang Che couldn't help but ask.
"No, it's nothing." Old Zhu laughed dryly.
At this moment, Old Zhu's heart was filled with hatred.
After the Ming Dynasty was founded, Old Zhu had designated some of the surrounding countries as non-conquering countries.
The Wei Nation, which had a good life, was one of them.
This was originally a way for Da Ming to show goodwill to the surrounding countries.
However, some countries took the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
There was a bad habit in the Xia Dynasty.
That was, after their vassal states paid tribute, they would return rewards that far exceeded the value of the tribute to show the magnanimity of the Celestial Empire.
These small countries around Great Ming originally had no vassal relationship with Great Ming.
But they liked to shamelessly send people to Ming Dynasty to pay tribute.
In front of the emperor, saying a few pleasing auspicious words would earn them a large amount of money. This transaction was extremely cost-effective for them.
The country was small and weak. It was actually not a big deal to rely on these underhanded methods to become rich.
Logically speaking, Old Zhu wouldn't be lacking in the three melons and two dates that they had.
However, according to Zhang Che, the Wei Nation people had gone too far!
The Wei Nation was the largest country in the Ming Dynasty.
This country had been in contact with the Central Plains since the Three Kingdoms period, and it had never cut off contact since then.
However, in the impression of the Central Plainsmen, this country had always been poor and somewhat shameless.
When the Central Plains was strong, they had been humble and subservient.
Once the Central Plains was in trouble, they would stir up trouble and take advantage of it.
All in all, this country was very annoying!
The Wei Nation was also one of the countries that paid tribute, and they did so very frequently.
Their tributes were basically some strange stones, rare animal skins, and the like. If there were a few gems and pearls, it would be considered generous.
Old Zhu treated everyone equally, and he had never been stingy in returning gifts.
Because Old Zhu really believed that the Wei Nation was very poor!
Now, he heard from Zhang Che that the Wei Nation people really had silver mountains in their homes?
This news infuriated Old Zhu!
Since the appearance of silver coins in the Song Dynasty, silver had gradually become a widely recognized currency.
However, this status was not officially recognized.
Old Zhu had been planning to turn silver into official currency.
This matter could be said to be extremely urgent for the royal court.
The reason was simple.
The bulk of the transactions among the people basically used silver.
Almost all the silver in the world was hidden in the homes of the rich merchants, so the court did not have much silver.
Such a situation was, of course, illogical and extremely dangerous.
However, to acknowledge the status of silver as a currency and link it to copper coins…
Then the imperial court would need to have a certain amount of silver reserves. Otherwise, everything would be out of the question.
He didn't expect that the Wei Nation people, who always complained about their poverty in front of him, would have a large amount of silver?
I am the emperor of Ming Dynasty. If you were to do business with Ming Dynasty honestly and honestly, would I treat you badly?
The more he thought about it, the angrier Old Zhu became.
"Wei Nation really has silver mines?" He couldn't help but ask.
"Definitely!" Zhang Che nodded.
He remembered that when the production of the Ishiki Silver Mine was at its peak, it accounted for a full third of the world's silver production. It could not be said to be small.
What Zhang Che didn't know was that he remembered wrongly again.
In fact, the Wei Nation's silver mines were only discovered 150 years later.
The current Wei Nation was really poor.
Of course, it didn't matter whether they had it or not. As long as Old Zhu Xin and the others had it, it was enough.
"I heard that His Majesty Hongwu has always been in the forbidden sea, but this isn't very appropriate.”Zhang Che continued.
Old Zhu's face twitched, glaring at Zhang Che.
"Oh? What's wrong with the forbidden sea?" Old Zhu snorted coldly.
"This is a big mistake!"
As Zhang Che spoke, he pointed at the westernmost part of the world map.
"Father, look here. Now, many countries in Europe were opening up the sea to explore the world. Father, what do you think they will do if they find the places I mentioned?”
"Of course I'm taking it for myself!" Old Zhu replied without hesitation.”
"That's right. How many places like this existed in the world? These countries took the lead in opening up the sea and gained so many benefits for nothing. Big Ming banned the sea, one step wrong, step by step wrong, could this be said to be right?”
Hearing this, Old Zhu could not help but fall silent.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。