eldest son of Ming dynasty

During this period, Japan was in the Warring States Period, as they called it. The actual routine was familiar to the Chinese. It was a unified dynasty that lost control of the country due to a civil strife, which led to the rise of heroes and war in all directions.

That's roughly it.

This originally unified country was called the Muromachi Shogunate.

This civil strife is called the Yingren Rebellion, which occurred from 1467 to 1477, that is, from the third year of Chenghua to the thirteenth year of Chenghua.

To this day, Japan is still leaderless.

However, in the process of many years of big fish eating small fish, daimyo represented by the Ouchi clan and the Hosokawa clan gradually emerged. The shogunate had no control over these two parties.

As for the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Houzhao stopped taking advantage of others in the prospecting trade, he changed to doing business with all merchants who arrived in the Ming Dynasty.

They do not distinguish which strength they are in, and rarely participate in the battles between them.

In fact, these two big names were dealt with in the same way. They would conduct trade with the Ming Dynasty, so they had envoys in Ningbo.

You Zhi wants to summon two people at once.

Zhu Houzhao was waiting in the palace while listening to Ping Haibo's talk about the trade situation with Japan.

After the Kanhe trade ceased, the trade between the Ming and Japan gradually began to be dominated by the Ming Dynasty. In fact, the Kanhe trade itself was not a normal commercial trade, but an alienated trade method dominated by political gifts.

Japan is a place with a small territory and sparse population. What can it provide to the Ming Dynasty?
This was Zhu Houzhao's initial thought.

But when Mei Kejia mentioned a word, he suddenly realized what he had overlooked.

"Rich? You mean Japan is rich?"

Mei Kejia didn't know what the emperor was wondering about. He once again said with certainty: "The caravans who go to Japan and come back will always say this, especially the Ouchi family. They don't know where they plundered the wealth, whether it is to buy knives." , guns, armor, silk, and ceramics, the Ouchi family will often pay a high price, and will give 50 taels of silver that has been melted and cast uniformly."

Zhu Houzhao understood immediately, "That's not the wealth collected."

That was dug out of a silver mine.

Japan is indeed a place with poor resources and is located in an earthquake zone, resulting in mountains and disasters, but this also makes it rich in gold, silver, copper and other metal resources.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, silver trade with Japan began on a large scale.

During the Qing Dynasty, copper trade was also extensively carried out with Japan.

Whether it is silver or copper, they were actually relatively scarce during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Copper coins are used daily in folk trade, and they feel like small change. It is impossible for every common person to trade like five taels or ten taels.

Moreover, Japan not only has copper, but the quality of copper is also very good. "Tiangong Kaiwu" gave it an exclusive title called Dongyi Copper, also known as red copper.

As for gold and silver, there is no need to talk about it. Europeans originally called Japan Treasure Island. At its peak, Japan's silver exports accounted for one-third of the world's silver exports.

Just one Ishimi Yinshan can produce 38 tons of silver every year, which is 380 million taels of silver.In Japan as a whole, the annual silver production is about 200 tons, which is 2000 million taels.

Of course, some of this is for domestic needs.

Still, it was a very large fortune, not to mention gold.

Although these metals themselves can neither be eaten nor drunk, and are not wealth, but merely a currency symbol to measure wealth, in an era when silver was widely used in world trade, holding silver in hand could be exchanged for a huge amount of supplies.Moreover, sufficient money supply will promote the development of the commodity economy and make the entire society full of vitality.

It can be said with certainty that there is no problem with a prosperous scene that has lasted for hundreds of years.

The problems after the excessive supply of money are what future generations will have to think about.

In Zhu Houzhao's memory, the prosperous period of Japanese silver was indeed about to begin, but it seemed not that early.

In fact, what he didn't know was that the first mining record in Shijian Yinshan was in 1306. During such a long time, especially in the past ten years, the Ming Dynasty carried out trade on a large scale, and only recognized silver and gold. After the interruption, the Japanese tried every means to collect silver, which promoted the local Ming Dynasty's mining of Iwami Silver Mountain.

And because this mineral vein is too large, it has also triggered local fights among various parties.

People in the Ming Dynasty did not care about the local village fighting, but if they really paid attention, they would find that the steel knives, spears, and armor they imported from the Ming Dynasty were on the rise in recent years.Zhu Houzhao's index finger continued to tap the desk regularly.

He is not a person who has been brainwashed by the saints' classics in this era. Regardless of this silver mine, he is even willing to slow down his personal expedition plan when it comes to benevolence, righteousness and morality.

"Uncle Ping Hai, please step aside first. When you return, you can find some silver for me to use for the trade between the Da Nei clan and the Ming Dynasty. Bring some pieces of land and hand them over. I need them."

"Yes!"

Then Zhu Houzhao screened away the people around him and read Mao's Chinese text in front of him.

Looking at the commander of the Jinyi Guards who was quite diligent in his work, he said: "Yuwen, you should know everything about my rage in the palace yesterday, right?"

"Yes, I have heard about this. The Japanese are despicable and have no sense of shame. Not to mention Your Majesty, any of the people of the Ming Dynasty will be furious after hearing this, and I can't wait to lead an army to attack!"

"I have my own opinion on this matter. Is there anyone in Jinyiwei in Japan?"

"Your Majesty, yes. After the sixth year of Zhengde, in order to understand the situation of various countries and safeguard the trade of the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty ordered the Jin Yiwei to send secret agents to various countries. At that time, Japan, Korea, Luzon, etc. all had Jin Yiwei spies. .”

"How about the Chen Chaorui I asked you to check before?"

"Your Majesty, it seems clear that he is indeed from Jiaxing."

"Why hide your place of origin?"

"It seems to be to avoid a case."

case?

Zhu Houzhao raised his brows. Although he had doubts, he didn't care about the details at this time. "Forget it, you can ask about this later. If you know the situation, report it to me. Chen Chaorui, please transfer him to Japan." , responsible for all Jin Yiwei’s actions in Japan.”

"Yes!"

Not long after, You Zhi came back.He took small steps and reported outside the door, "Your Majesty, the Japanese envoy has arrived."

"Let them wait in the main hall."

"Yes."

In the house, Zhu Houzhao helped Mao Yuwen up and said in a slightly softer voice, "I want to completely solve the Japanese problem. Yuwen, please pay attention to this matter."

After speaking, he patted Mao Yuwen on the shoulder.

"Yes, I am willing to follow His Majesty to expand the territory and establish unparalleled achievements!"

"Go ahead and do it well."

……

……

In the main hall, two Japanese men with half their heads bald were waiting anxiously.

At some point, a voice came from behind the screen on the side of the house, "In the ninth year of Yongle, the envoy of Ashikaga Yoshinori of the Muromachi shogunate informed: Since the founding of the country, everything has been done by the gods. I have proclaimed myself a vassal to a foreign country and will not receive any foreign missions from now on. I am here to warn my descendants to hold fast and not fall... I didn’t even know that there was such a general in Japan. If he were alive, I would really like to meet him."

As the sound gradually approached, the figure of Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty also appeared.

The two envoys saw this, and actually felt a little complicated in their hearts. The Ming Dynasty was not Japan. It was not only unified, but also powerful. Emperor Masanori was not the loser of the Ashikaga family. He was resolute, strong in politics, and had millions of soldiers. To rule hundreds of millions of people, they are both envious and afraid...

As for Emperor Zhengde's words, they sounded like he was raising an army to accuse him, so they had to be careful.

"Foreign Minister Ouchi Shoichi (Hosokawa Kaede) is here to see His Majesty the Ming Emperor! The Foreign Minister is very excited that His Majesty the Emperor can come to Ningbo. He has applied to the Municipal Shipping Department many days ago, hoping to see His Majesty the Emperor and pass on the great names to Ningbo. His Majesty the Emperor’s greetings and blessings.”

……