amaotonovel Chapter 1037 Is Old Deng planning to run away ahead of schedule?
Chapter 1037 Is Old Deng planning to run away ahead of schedule?
With the successful conclusion of the wedding of the black sesame dumplings, the envoys from various vassal states in the capital were finally received by Yang Shaofeng.
The order in which Yang Shaofeng received the envoys from various vassal states is quite interesting.
Ryukyu is ranked first.
The second-ranked group consisted of the Goryeo envoys who presented the most congratulatory gifts.
Third on the list is the Japanese envoy, whose congratulatory gift was slightly less than that of Goryeo.
Simply put, apart from the Ryukyu envoy who came first, the order in which the remaining envoys were received was determined by the amount of gifts they brought.
As for Old Deng's side?
After generously treating the many vassal envoys to a banquet, Old Deng didn't bother with them anymore.
Or perhaps Lao Deng has been so preoccupied with Yang Shaofeng's recent memorials that he has no time to worry about the fate of the envoys.
The newly reorganized Ministry of Rites was busy formulating the procedures for the imperial examinations in the spring of the eighth year of the Hongwu reign, as well as compiling numerous books such as agricultural and industrial books. At the same time, it also had to proofread previously compiled books such as the "Hongwu Great Dictionary," "Hongwu Zhengyun," and "Hongwu Great Canon." It had even less time to attend to the affairs of entertaining envoys from other provinces.
Then, after meeting with the envoys from house to house, Yang Shaofeng specially held a banquet, and with a smile, took out the so-called "Gao Sui" and "Gao Mo" teas, telling the envoys that these were good teas that had recently become popular among the nobles of the capital.
Then, Yang Shaofeng specially arranged for someone to demonstrate what "tea art" is.
From the twelve tea utensils, including the purple clay teapot, white porcelain cup, and tea washer, to the twenty-one procedures, such as adding tea, waiting for the water to boil, Guan Gong patrolling the city, and Han Xin inspecting the troops, the tea ceremony perfectly demonstrated what "harmony, respect, refinement, and joy" means, and frantically instilled in the envoys the idea that "living water must be boiled over a living fire".
Yang Shaofeng stated that glass teaware that originally cost several hundred or even a thousand strings of cash in the market is now considered a low-end product. Although the price will not decrease, the Ming Dynasty now has more high-end purple clay teaware and exquisite porcelain that can be considered luxury items.
Well, high-end Zisha teaware starts at five thousand guan, while the starting price for exquisite porcelain, which can be considered a luxury item, is as high as ten thousand guan.
Moreover, they are not sold individually; certain conditions must be met for distribution.
Yang Shaofeng also stated that in order to improve the living standards of the people of the various vassal states, the Ming Dynasty would also release a batch of luxury goods such as "Fuguang Brocade", "Longquan Ink Paste", "Suzhou Embroidery", "Dehua White Porcelain", "Huizhou Ink", and "Duan Inkstone". The price of these goods, which is often tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands or millions of strings of cash, only grants the qualification to purchase them. Whether one can actually buy them and how much money one needs to spend are separate matters.
Take Linglong porcelain for example. The starting price of this thing is as high as 10,000 guan, which refers to the price of a single teacup. In fact, if you want to collect a complete set of the cheapest Linglong porcelain tea set, the price will be as high as 300,000 guan, which is equivalent to 300,000 taels of silver.
More importantly, exquisite porcelain tea sets are not sold individually, but only as a set. If one piece breaks, the whole set is broken, and there is nowhere to buy a replacement.
Should we go to a porcelain workshop in the Ming Dynasty to buy it?
Folk workshops dared to use Longquan ink to stamp the bottom of porcelain with the words "Imperial Gift" and "Made in a certain year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty"?
dare not.
This is a capital offense.
And exquisite porcelain without this kind of seal is not worth the high price that starts at tens of thousands of dollars.
In short, the scale of "Nine Clans Selected" luxury goods will be expanded in the border markets, so that the people of the various vassal states can enjoy a higher quality of life.
Then, many of the envoys who remained in the capital went mad.
It was one thing that I had never witnessed the prosperity of the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
However, after witnessing the prosperity of the capital of the Ming Dynasty and the wedding of the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty...
The allure of being bestowed by the royal family is simply too great!
As for money?
In the minds of many vassal envoys, money was equivalent to the number of laborers.
In other words, the more laborers you sell to the Ming Dynasty, the more money you will have in your hands.
Alternatively, laborers could be replaced with food, or other medicinal herbs, or ores, etc.
Especially warhorses and ore.
The border markets actually operated on a dual-track pricing system for warhorses and ores—the official transaction price was one price, while the actual transaction price in paper money was another.
The publicly listed transaction price is relatively low.
The actual transaction price of the banknotes will be slightly higher.
This extra portion was practically the private coffers of many vassal envoys.
Then, Yang Shaofeng smiled and proposed the "perpetual right of residence in the Ming Dynasty".
Obtaining "perpetual residency in the Ming Dynasty" is very simple.
First, one must pass the Ming Dynasty's Chinese proficiency test.
Secondly, one must ensure that they have a certain amount of savings in the border market, or be able to pass the Ming Dynasty's artisan level examination.
Finally, there is no record of any violation of the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
So... make money!
Enjoy the high-end lifestyle of the Ming Dynasty!
Then, Yang Shaofeng took a newly produced memorial, "Request to Establish the Imperial Luxury Goods Trading Company of the Ming Dynasty," to Lao Deng.
"Even with a conservative estimate, this trading company's annual profit is still around tens of millions of strings of cash."
“Father-in-law, you can split the shares of this business. Part of it can go to the imperial treasury, and the other part can be distributed to the nobles and civil and military officials in the court.”
"Of course, this is only part of my son-in-law's plan."
"The remaining part will have to wait until the steam engine is loaded onto the treasure ship."
Emperor Zhu's eyes lit up immediately.
Tens of millions of dollars in profit a year?
Good heavens, how many nobles and officials in our Great Ming Dynasty are qualified to receive a share of the money?
A few thousand should be enough!
If we can bring back tens of millions of strings of cash in a year, even if it is distributed equally, it would be enough for each of these thousands of people to receive 10,000 strings of cash.
Ten thousand strings of cash a year, which translates to eight or nine hundred strings of cash a month.
How much is too much?
Not to mention our good son-in-law said that once the steam engine is loaded onto the treasure ship, we can make even more money.
Yeah!
We cannot allow them to inherit their titles in perpetuity, because the national treasury cannot afford it.
But we can let them receive the money in perpetuity because Old Zhu still cares about these old brothers!
The more Emperor Zhu thought about it, the happier he became. He smiled and said to Yang Shaofeng, "My dear son-in-law, we'll have Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen discuss the shareholding later."
Yang Shaofeng immediately became wary—this old man's claim of being a virtuous son-in-law was not without reason!
Now that he calls me "my dear son-in-law," who knows what kind of bad intentions he's harboring!
Emperor Zhu then said with a smile, "Look, Jin'er is pregnant, and we're thinking of letting her stay in the capital to rest and prepare for childbirth."
"As for Biao'er, he just got married, so it's really not suitable for him to go and do something like 'Sealing the Wolf and Dwelling in the Mountain'."
“This is what we’re thinking: let Biao’er stay in the capital for now, and we’ll go with you to Beiping Prefecture to see Dadu and discuss the matter of renovating Dadu.”
"Then, let's go to Liaodong together and see the local customs and culture."
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Yang Shaofeng was completely stunned.
No, the black sesame glutinous rice ball actually guessed correctly?
Is Old Deng planning to leave ahead of schedule?