amaotonovel Chapter 347 I only want to sell crutches, and you're all eager to lie on stretchers?
Chapter 347 I only want to sell crutches, and you're all eager to lie on stretchers?
Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "That's right, trade is still the most important thing. As for whether the trade takes place in the established market in Dengzhou City or on a temporary open space outside Dengzhou City, does it really matter?"
It doesn't matter at all.
The important thing is that Hu Yuan's ship is about to sink. Even Emperor Shun of Yuan died a few months ago. King Wang Jeon of the Korean Peninsula is unable to use Hu Yuan's power to suppress King Shin Don. Now he is desperately trying to get on the Ming Dynasty's ship as soon as possible.
As long as trade could be established with the Ming Dynasty, Goryeo would have boarded the Ming's ship. Where the trade took place, and whether they would return with gold and silver or other goods like silk, tea, and porcelain, were secondary.
Taking another look at Park Deok-hwan and Park Sung-sung while picking up his teacup, Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "How about this, Ambassador Park and Vice Ambassador Park, why don't you take this opportunity to think about what Goryeo plans to bring for border trade, and what Goryeo needs?"
Park Deok-hwan and Park Sung-sung exchanged a glance, but Yang Shaofeng put down his teacup, slapped his forehead, and laughed, "There's one more thing, which is a bit more troublesome."
Park Deok-hwan paused slightly and asked, "May I ask, Your Highness, what is the troublesome matter?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "Our Great Ming Emperor and the court are currently promoting the Great Ming Treasure Notes to replace gold and silver. I presume that Ambassador Park Jeong and Vice Ambassador Park are aware of this?"
Park Deok-hwan and Park Sung-sung naturally knew this, since it was common knowledge that Hu Yuan had taken a large amount of gold and silver when he fled north, and it was also no secret that Emperor Zhu wanted to promote the Great Ming Treasure Notes to replace gold and silver.
Yang Shaofeng continued, "Now the Ministry of Revenue has issued an official document requiring that only Ming Dynasty paper money be used in border market transactions. Merchants from your country are not allowed to accept gold or silver when selling goods, but only paper money. Similarly, merchants from our Great Ming Dynasty can only accept paper money when selling goods."
"In other words, your country's merchants must exchange their gold and silver for Ming Dynasty banknotes before entering the market, and can only exchange the Ming Dynasty banknotes back for gold and silver after the transaction is completed and they leave the market."
Park Deok-hwan and Park Sung-sung exchanged a glance, both feeling that this way of promoting the precious paper was a bit like taking off one's pants to show off one's empty face.
Yang Shaofeng picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said with a smile, "Your Excellency may not know this, but these precious notes can be exchanged for gold and silver at the same value. One string of precious notes can be exchanged for one tael of pure silver. However, when exchanging gold and silver for precious notes, there is a five-wen fee deducted from one string of notes. In other words, one tael of silver can only be exchanged for precious notes with a face value of nine hundred and ninety-five wen."
This regulation is actually a bit of a joke.
After all, the Ming Dynasty's paper money has not been fully rolled out yet, and the people's acceptance of it is not high. If the paper money is forcibly tied to taxes and a fire loss fee is added, it will lead to the situation of using the fire loss fee to plunder the people's wealth. Therefore, there are currently only two pilot programs in the capital and Ningyang County. When people exchange gold, silver, and copper coins for paper money, they receive the full amount and there is no fire loss fee involved.
However, the situation was different for the Dengzhou border market.
Would ordinary people come to the border market in Dengzhou?
Not at all.
Those who come to the border market to trade are either merchants from the Ming Dynasty or merchants from the Korean side. Yang Shaofeng would feel guilty if he didn't charge them the fire tax.
As for whether these merchants will try to circumvent the fire loss?
This is for sure.
Since ordinary people don't have to pay a fire surcharge when exchanging small amounts of paper money, these merchants often target ordinary people.
For example, if people were to exchange their one or two taels of silver for one string of paper money, they could save five coins from that string. Even if they were given a benefit of one or two coins, they could still save three or four coins.
However, Yang Shaofeng did not intend to stop them from doing so. After all, this method could allow the people to earn a few more coins, and at the same time increase the people's acceptance of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes. Yang Shaofeng had also achieved the key performance indicators for the promotion of the Treasure Notes, which was a win-win-win situation.
Of course, there are losers in this.
Park Deok-hwan and Park Sung-sung are feeling very uncomfortable right now.
To engage in border trade, one is destined to suffer a loss of five coins for every thousand coins traded.
If each transaction involves only one or two taels of silver, or even several taels, it's not so bad; at most, the loss would be only a few dozen coins.
But how could a few taels of silver be enough to settle a trade that can be conducted at the border market?
A thousand taels of silver would result in a loss of five thousand copper coins, which is five taels of silver.
If you calculate it this way, the loss is quite substantial!
Park Deok-hwan and Park Sung-sung exchanged another glance, but before Park Deok-hwan could speak, Park Sung-sung gritted his teeth, cupped his hands towards Yang Shaofeng, and said, "May I ask Your Highness, is it permissible for us Goryeo merchants to bring our precious notes back to Goryeo?"
Yang Shaofeng was secretly delighted, but kept a straight face and said, "Your country's merchants want to take the precious paper money back to Korea? This..."
Park Sung-sung preemptively asked, "May I ask, Your Highness, is there something troubling you?"
Yang Shaofeng shook his head slightly and said, "There is nothing difficult about it. After all, the Ministry of Revenue has not yet issued the corresponding regulations. It should be possible for your country to exchange them and take them away. However, the Ming Dynasty banknotes are not yet in full circulation in the Ming Dynasty. How can they be circulated after your country's merchants take them back?"
Park Sung-sung was overjoyed upon hearing this and laughed, "As long as we can bring it, that's fine. After all, the border market isn't a one-time trade. If we can bring the banknotes back to Goryeo, then Goryeo merchants won't need to exchange them for banknotes when they come to the border market again. Wouldn't that be convenient?"
Good heavens, I only wanted to sell you my crutches, but who would have thought that you, Park Sung-sung, would be so eager to lie on a stretcher!
While inwardly complaining, Yang Shaofeng put on a helpless expression and said, "Then let's go with Vice Envoy Park's suggestion for now. However, the matter of the precious paper money is of great importance. I will eventually have to report it to the court. I hope Vice Envoy Park will understand."
Park Sung-sung nodded in understanding, then asked, "May I ask, Your Highness, where should we exchange these precious notes?"
Yang Shaofeng pointed outside the county government office and said, "We'll have to wait until the paper money exchange shops open."
After a slight pause, Yang Shaofeng added, "Vice Envoy Park, rest assured, I will submit a memorial to the court in the next couple of days to request the opening of a paper money exchange shop in Dengzhou. Paper money exchange will definitely be available before the border market opens."
Park Sung-sung was relieved and bowed to Yang Shaofeng, saying, "In that case, thank you very much, Your Highness."
Yang Shaofeng exchanged a few polite words with a smile, then kindly reminded Park Deok-hwan and Park Sung-sung, "Why don't you two discuss the trade items first?"