Daming: I became Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son

After the sea ban was lifted, tax revenue increased, and the national treasury began to fill up. Seeing the data from the six newspapers, Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted, and ordered three cabinet ministers to set up a sea control department to specialize in maritime trade.

At the same time, a Customs Department was set up, and anyone who came to Ming Dynasty from the sea for trade had to pay a certain amount of customs duties.

Of course, Zhu Tao reminded him of this point, otherwise the other party bought the most advanced things of Ming Dynasty at the local price, and they would sell them for ten times or even a hundred times the price in their home country.

In this way, wouldn't all the money be earned by those businessmen who crossed the sea, how could it be so cheap?
Therefore, the establishment of the Customs Department meant that the merchants in the Western Regions would spit out most of the money they earned, so that Ming could make money.

After hearing this suggestion, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered it to be implemented.

During the execution, someone suddenly came to report.

"Your Majesty, due to the increasing number of merchants from the Western Regions who are trading across the sea, they are rich in silver, and a large amount of silver has flowed into our Ming Dynasty. In the past, one tael of silver could be exchanged for Hongwu's money for a thousand coins, but due to the influx of more and more silver, , now a car of silver can only be exchanged for 780 copper coins."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and the official continued.

"And the merchant ships that I went to trade in the Western Regions in the Ming Dynasty took silver to buy things there, but they needed to be exchanged for gold, and the gold there was ridiculously high, often requiring us to pay more than double the amount of silver in order to get what we needed for the transaction. Gold, during this period of time, my treasury of the Ming Dynasty has suffered unreasonable losses, and all the money has been earned by those profiteers in the Western Regions, please Your Majesty to take countermeasures early to avoid continued losses."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't like to flatter by nature. At that time, an official named Ru Taisu wrote a lot of nonsense in the memorial, but Zhu Yuanzhang beat him forty court sticks.

If the minister had something to say directly, the effect would be better. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately summoned officials of the fifth rank and above for a court discussion.

At this time, some old-fashioned ministers immediately jumped out: "Bewitched by the villain, the emperor opened the sea ban without authorization, and finally tasted the evil results of opening the sea. In my humble opinion, it is better to ban the sea again to ensure that the currency of Ming Dynasty will not depreciate."

There are also some ministers who have benefited from opening the sea and immediately jumped out to oppose it, but there are no specific measures.

People from the two factions attacked each other, and were evenly matched for a while.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was talented and broad-minded, he had the limitations of his time after all. He didn't know how to deal with such complicated financial problems. After thinking about it, he fell in love with the resourceful chief assistant Liu Bowen.

Liu Bowen lost his mind for a while, and in desperation, he quietly pointed to a mop in the corner of the Golden Luan Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang's mind is lively: What does Liu Aiqing mean by mop?Mop... Mop it, is he asking me to procrastinate?Forget it, let's talk about it first.

So he immediately ordered the private eunuch to announce his resignation, and then asked Liu Bowen to stay. Seeing that everyone had left, Liu Bowen was whispering.

"Shaodong's family has many wonderful ideas, why don't you ask him?"

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his head: "Why did I forget Tao'er? What are you waiting for? Let's go."

The two changed into casual clothes, quietly left the palace, rode fast horses, and went straight to Zhujiazhuang.

At this time, Zhu Tao was writing quickly, not knowing what to write, when he heard someone entering his study, and when he looked back, it was Zhu Yuanzhang and Mr. Liu, who hurried over to have a conversation.

"What is the Young Master doing?"

Liu Bowen hurried away, went to look at the manuscript on the table, and saw that it was not a novel, nor was it a poem or song, and there were four big characters written on the top: "Yi Lin Gaicuo".

I can't help but wonder, is there any mistake in medicine that others haven't discovered?One must know that there have been many famous doctors in the past dynasties, is it true that their knowledge is not as good as that of this young master who is full of vigor?
So he read it carefully, and the first sentence stunned him.

"The thinking center is in the brain, not in the heart."

No matter what generation of famous doctors they are, they all believe that the heart is the organ of human thinking. Who knew that the first sentence of Zhu Tao's "Yielin Correcting Errors" was earth-shattering.

He even jumped up at that time: "People's thoughts are in the brain but not in the heart. Who did you listen to? Is there any evidence for it?"

Zhu Tao said confidently: "Of course, you will know after reading my manuscript."

He remembered this book "Correcting Errors in the Medical Forest" in his mind, which was written by Wang Qingren, a medical scientist in the late Qing Dynasty.

This book proposes that the unprecedented point of view that the thinking center is in the brain but not in the heart is the biggest shining point in the book.

The existence of this shining point alone covers up the shortcomings of other aspects of his theory, so it can also be called a remarkable book.

Zhu Yuanzhang trusted Zhu Tao's words very much, and without even thinking about it, he prepared to take the manuscript away and publish it, but although this shocked him, it was not the purpose of his coming.

So he got straight to the point and told Zhu Tao about the dilemma faced by the government and the public. Who knew that Zhu Tao smiled indifferently.

"Father, you rich country man is busier than the emperor, but this is easy to solve. Gold is always more valuable than silver, isn't it? As long as I, Ming Dynasty, also change the currency system and implement the gold standard system, that is, although copper coins are popular in the market, taxes will be collected. Silver is commonly used, but all these auxiliary currencies must be converted into gold before they can be settled.”

After a pause, seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen were listening attentively, he continued.

"As for the trade across the sea, isn't their country rich in gold and silver? Then we simply ask them to settle in gold. Silver is fine, and it must be converted into gold."

During the Taiping period of the Tang and Song Dynasties, one tael of gold could be exchanged for six taels of silver, but Zhu Yuanzhang opened the sea ban, which led to a large inflow of silver and caused a depreciation. Now one tael of gold can be exchanged for ten taels of silver.

Those profiteers used silver to buy Daming's things at a low price, earning the difference in price.However, the consequences of the depreciation of silver have been borne by Daming.

This kind of beggar-thy-neighbor method is very vicious, but according to Zhu Tao's method, the risks can be effectively avoided.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered Liu Bowen to go back and preside over the cabinet meeting, and drafted Zhu Tao's method into a memorial, and he would immediately approve it for publication.

After talking about this matter, Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned again that the seawater drying salt was huge and the effect was not good, so he asked Zhu Tao if there was any way?
Zhu Tao smiled: "We can use brine to make salt."

"How to make salt from brine?"

"This requires a lot of caustic soda. I can write down the specific method, and I can also draw some drawings for you. You can dedicate these to the court and execute them immediately."

Since salt and iron were monopolized by the imperial court, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to this matter, so he stared at Zhu Tao's study. Soon, Zhu Tao wrote a "Salt Making Manual" and drew drawings, which Zhu Yuanzhang immediately brought back He went to the court and asked the courtiers to discuss the feasibility of this method.