Daming: I became Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tao with a loving face, and didn't care much about how he managed these iron mines.

"Is it the king's land in the whole world, is it the king's minister on the shore of the land, no matter how you manage it, it is still within the land of Daming!"

Zhu Tao shook his head and said calmly.

"I know you think so, but I don't plan to use these iron ores in Daming territory, I want to sell them to Beiyuan."

After hearing this, all the ministers present were not calm. Zhu Yuanzhang scratched his head. Although he didn't know what Zhu Tao was thinking, he had to stop this topic.

"Son, don't make jokes casually, you will destroy the clan if you say this."

Since ancient times, tea horse rock iron has been controlled by the state, and the reason why Bei Yuan harassed the mainland from time to time was because they had no minerals at all, let alone manufacturing techniques.

Regardless of whether they are Mongolians or Han Chinese, they have one thing in common, that is, everyone needs to eat.

For Bei Yuan who had been driven to the desert by the Ming army, they couldn't even provide pots and pans and kitchen knives, so what to cook with?
Besides, most of the soldiers in the Yuan Dynasty were mainly cavalry, and the most important cavalry were horseshoes and sabers.

Casting horseshoes and sabers requires a lot of iron ore. If these are not available, it will be a problem for the Mongols to eat, and it is even more impossible to fight empty-handed.

Therefore, every dynasty in the Central Plains basically controlled the steel on the grassland to the extreme in order to prevent foreign disturbances.

What Zhu Yuanzhang said just now is not wrong. Whoever dares to sell iron to the Mongols must be a traitor of Ming Dynasty, and it is not too much to punish the nine clans.

Seeing the stunned look of everyone present, Zhu Tao couldn't help but smile and said.

"Actually, if we open up the iron ore trade with other countries, we can save a lot of money for us, and we can drag them down without a war."

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Zhu Tao closely, as if he was listening to an Arabian Nights tale. He really couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Your fourth brother led an army to confront the Mongols for several months before driving them into the vast desert, but failed to kill them all. If you provide them with iron ore now, wouldn't it give them a chance to make a comeback? You kid can tell us clearly!"

Zhu Tao still looked unhurried, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile, and said.

"In fact, our ironware can be made into pots and pans and sold to them. In this way, we can control the price of the things they produce. At that time, they will definitely use a lot of cattle and sheep in exchange for our ironware, and it is normal. It is said that they will use the fertile pastures of the grassland to raise a large number of cattle and sheep, and then sell them to us."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head a little, isn't this a virtuous circle?It's just too good for Mongolia, but it's not a good thing for Daming.

"Tao'er, don't forget that there is an endless stream of cattle and sheep in Beiyuan, and they will definitely use all the cattle and sheep to buy our ironware. After all, as soon as spring blooms and the pasture is fertile, they can have it again. There are a lot of cattle and sheep."

Zhu Tao explained calmly.

"Cows and sheep are the foundation of Beiyuan's life. They wear the fur of cattle and sheep, and eat the meat of cattle and sheep. After all, they are not engaged in food production. If they control their cattle and sheep, they also control their life and death! "

Zhu Yuanzhang obviously didn't understand this sentence. He looked at Zhu Tao and wanted him to continue explaining.

The Liubu Jiuqing who were present were also stunned for a long time. There is an endless stream of Beiyuan cattle and sheep. When spring comes, can people continue to feed the cattle and sheep?
Zhu Tao saw their doubts, so he continued.

"Actually, apart from ironware, whether it is salt, grain, cloth, or other daily necessities, they all need to be purchased from my Daming by cattle and sheep, because Beiyuan simply does not have the ability to produce these, and open all these to them. Trade, there will be a large number of cattle and sheep pouring into my Daming!"

After a pause, Zhu Tao showed determination on his face, and even smiled smugly.

"And in the beginning of spring and March, when their cattle and sheep have just passed the winter, it is the time when they are the weakest. The fat cattle and sheep have already been exchanged for other supplies, and at this time we can choose to cut off trade immediately!"

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang already fully understood that he was a talented and bold emperor after all, and he understood Zhu Tao's strategy in an instant.

"If this is the case, once they don't have the food provided by Da Ming, and they don't have beef and mutton to eat, it will be difficult for them to even survive normally."

Whether it was Zhu Yuanzhang or the six ministries and nine ministers present, the ministers all praised this strategy.

This strategy can be called an eternal conspiracy, but it is indeed extremely ruthless.

If this strategy is followed, Da Ming will not need to consume any more military power to put Bei Yuan in a desperate situation.

At that time, another Northern Expedition will not need to take a long time, and it will be able to destroy the dead and completely wipe out its remaining forces.

At this time, Liang Qingbiao, Shangshu of the Household Department, suddenly slapped his thigh and said in amazement.

"I remembered, this is Guan Zhong's trade strategy against Lu, which was recorded in the Spring and Autumn Period."

Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded when he heard this, what does this have to do with Guan Zhong?After all, he was born as a cowherd boy, and he was a soldier all his life. After he became emperor, he was very diligent in politics. Of course, he didn't have a lot of time to study.

But everyone present, except for Xu Da, are all well-educated people, of course they all know this story.

At this time, Li Shanchang stood up and explained to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, this is indeed the use of Guan Zhong's strategy. At that time, Guan Zhong, as the prime minister of Qi, wanted to deal with Lu, but Lu was also powerful. If he wanted to defeat Lu, he must kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred. At this time, the onyx in the state of Lu was famous all over the world, and Guan Zhong ordered the people of Qi to buy a large amount of onyx from Lu, so that the people in the state of Lu stopped farming and all raised silkworms and weaved onyx. Lu Jin was allowed to be used, and as a result, Lu's economy collapsed at once."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then frowned, and asked the ministers present.

"It seems that you all know this story, so why didn't you come up with such a plan before Tao'er?"

These ministers stared wide-eyed and suddenly the scene fell into an extremely embarrassing situation.

They really don't know how to explain it. Everyone is an official who reads the book of sages. The Four Books and Five Classics are too familiar, but they didn't expect to use it like this.

They were reading the same book, and Zhu Tao could come up with such a clever idea, which really made them very ashamed, as if they were eating dry food.