Chapter 395 How much?

Author: Potato Sweet Potato Pie

Chapter 395 How much?

Today's conclusion about the voyage to the Western Ocean is that you should slowly accumulate silver year by year, and use the annual surplus to build ships, so as to accumulate a large-scale fleet.

The monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty seemed quite confident in this.

It feels like as long as there is nothing to do like this every year, it will take two or three years to save up. But Xia Yuan knows that next year and the year after will not be as peaceful as this year. Earthquakes, droughts, and freezes will happen again.

They come in droves and appear one after another.

Looking at it this way, we don’t know how long it will take until the Ming Dynasty actually launches its voyage to the West.

Even far away.

Therefore, if we want the voyage to the West to be carried out as quickly as possible, the first thing to do is to make money and silver.

And where to get millions of silver, reform, and business, these cannot be achieved overnight, and it is impossible to obtain a large amount of silver in the short term.

The fastest way, of course, is to rob and plunder through force.

Anyone who knows something about the financial history of the seventeenth century knows that one-third of the world's silver at that time came from the Japanese country, and the bulk of it came from a place called Iwami Silver Mine, which is where Xia Yuan drew circles.

Mark the necessary areas.

How much silver can this silver mine produce each year?

Hundreds of tons of silver were produced. According to records, the highest output was 200 tons of silver per year. This mining during the peak period lasted for hundreds of years.

Calculated based on hundreds of tons per year, the annual silver output is converted into taels, which is more than three million taels.

Plus the remaining silver mines, that's tens of millions of taels.

This is because the Japanese country's own mining and refining technology is relatively backward. If the Ming Dynasty's mining and silver refining technology were used, and a large number of manpower were used to mine regardless of cost, this number should be doubled.

As long as he sends troops to defeat them, it is not only to get a lot of money, but more importantly, he wants to use this to train his troops. Although the Japanese country is close, it is still a sea voyage, right?

After experiencing the baptism of the landing battle, these soldiers will surely play an important role in the future voyages to the West.

Xia Yuan lit a lamp and boiled oil for the past two days, flipping through the memories in his head, spending countless brain cells, and finally drew this map of the Japanese country.

I don’t know how much hair I lost because of this.

As a result, when Emperor Hongzhi heard about it, it turned out to be just a few silver mines.

Can this be tolerated?

Xia Yuan really wanted to expose the emperor's face and make him realize that he was a poor man.

"Your Majesty, if these silver mines are taken down, the silver needed for the voyage to the West will be enough in just one year of mining, and there will be a lot of surplus."

Zhu Youtang frowned again when he heard this. He had just said that he was talking nonsense and just thought that this boy was unrealistic, but now, he felt that this boy was really crazy.

A rough estimate of the amount of silver needed for the voyage to the West is at least five to six million taels. In other words, these silver mines must mine at least seven million taels of silver a year, so that there will be a large amount of surplus.

.

Is it possible that several silver mines can mine seven million taels of silver a year?

As soon as this idea came to mind, the answer was given and rejected by him. It was absolutely impossible.

After all, my vast silver mines in the Ming Dynasty, all put together, only amount to one hundred thousand taels a year.

Zhu Youtang didn't say anything for a while, but just stared at him. Xia Yuan thought that the emperor was stunned by the number, but he didn't expect that Emperor Hongzhi suddenly turned his head, looked at Xiao Jing and asked: "Xiao Banban

, how many silver courses will I have next year?”

"Your Majesty, it's about more than fifty thousand taels a year."

"How much silver can be mined from those silver mines every year?"

Xiao Jing thought about it for a moment and said with a smile: "If I go back to the emperor, I can get more in these years, maybe one hundred thousand taels every year."

"."

At the end of the conversation, Emperor Hongzhi turned his head and glanced at Xia Yuan. Although he had no words, his eyes and expression clearly said that you are too young to understand silver mines. It does not mean that if there is a silver mine, it can be mined every year.

Millions of taels of silver.

This is a silver mine, not a silver mountain.

"Your Majesty, the silver mines in Japan are different from the silver mines in Ming Dynasty."

"What's the difference?"

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask a question first. Do you think our Ming Dynasty's silver mine is the largest and most abundant in the world?"

Upon hearing this question, Emperor Hongzhi said without thinking: "That's natural."

Xiao Jing added from the side: "Master Xia is probably confused. Our Ming Dynasty is rich all over the world. How can this silver mine not be the largest?"

"."

Xia Yuan already knew what the problem was. There were silver mines in China, just as he had guessed when he asked. With the national self-confidence of the Ming Dynasty, the self-identity of the Celestial Kingdom, and the lack of external awareness.

The emperors and eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, including the officials below, as well as the military and civilians, must have naturally believed that the silver mines of the Ming Dynasty were the largest and most abundant in the world.

And this largest and most abundant silver mine can only mine about 100,000 taels per year. How much can be mined from several silver mines in the small country of Japan?

Tens of thousands taels is just enough to cover the sky.

But in fact, the silver mine reserves of the Ming Dynasty, or China, are not necessarily the smallest among all the countries in the world, and they are definitely very small.

As we all know, China has been a country short of gold and silver since ancient times. Not only that, there is also a special shortage of copper.

In later generations, bullets in other countries were made of copper, while China used steel.

Is it better to be made of steel?

No, copper is better, much better than steel, but the problem is that China cannot afford to make copper and there is not enough copper.

In this way, the Chinese dynasties basically used copper as the main currency. Silver was rarely used because there was a lot of copper compared to silver.

Copper, which is already scarce, is much more abundant than silver. If you take a closer look, you can see how scarce China's silver reserves are.

"Your Majesty, although our Ming Dynasty is extremely powerful and rich all over the world, compared to other foreign countries, the silver mines of the Ming Dynasty are actually very few, pitifully small."

Xia Yuan organized his words, trying to get the emperor to break away from his false blind confidence and recognize the hard reality, "Silver is not about whoever has a strong country and whoever has a large silver mine reserve."

"Take sweet potatoes and other crops as an example. Our Ming Dynasty has abundant resources and abundant resources, but there are no sweet potatoes or those grains. Even the Champa rice was obtained from Annan in the Song Dynasty.

Annan is just a small country, not worth mentioning compared to our Ming Dynasty, but they have rice in Champa, but we don’t. That overseas land is isolated in the depths of the ocean and is not known to the world. Its people are barbaric by nature, but they have sweet potatoes.

, corn, potatoes and other crops, we still don’t have them in Ming Dynasty, these can explain the problem. "

Zhu Youtang thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Listening to what you said, it does seem that I am arrogant. There may be very few silver mines in Ming Dynasty, but there may be many silver mines in Japan."

At this point, he paused slightly and then said: "But if our country, the Ming Dynasty, starts a war lightly for a few silver mines, how is it any different from a country that brutally governs chaos? Scholars cannot conquer without teaching, and the Lord cannot

I raised my army out of anger, and the rise and fall of the world depended on me. This year, the world is at peace, and the people have a little breathing space. How can I start a war and ignore the soldiers and the people?"

Xia Yuan kept thinking in his heart, despite what he said now, it is a good thing. This is a country of high status and etiquette. It is not allowed to start a war lightly and ignore the people. It is all bullshit. It is purely because the interests are not big enough.

.

"Your Majesty, the silver mines in the Japanese country are just like the silver mine marked as necessary by the circle. This silver mine can mine at least millions of taels of silver every year. If all the silver reserves in the mine are mined, at least

It’s hundreds of millions of taels of silver.”

"How many!?"
Chapter completed!