Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 142 The Cruelty Behind Cutting Off Tribute

"We should also make paper money and use it as currency."

This was Emperor Zhu Chongba's first thought after reading the first half of Wang Qiong's memorial regarding currency.

After all, when Tieguo (Tuohun Temur's Chinese name) ran away, he took a large amount of money with him. The Ming Dynasty's treasury was now short of gold and silver. They even wanted to split copper coins in half to spend. To say that they were so poor that rats were starving to death would be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was true that they didn't have much money.

If paper money could be minted and used as currency as Magistrate Yang suggested, the problem of the Ming Dynasty's empty treasury would be greatly alleviated, and there would be no need to count on one's fingers when it would be possible to save enough money to forge iron pots.

Emperor Zhu Chongba's second thought was, "This bastard is still so inhuman."

What does it mean to leave behind the banknotes of a small country and not allow others to exchange them?

How could our Great Ming Dynasty, a celestial empire, do such a despicable thing?

Simply severing its tribute obligations is enough; the rest can be left to the smaller countries surrounding that small country.

You can't eat too rudely.

The thought of paying tribute to the emperor immediately brought his gaze to Zhu Biao, the Vice Emperor of the Ming Dynasty: "Hey, Biao, shouldn't our Ming Dynasty take in some vassal states now?"

Zhu Biao was slightly taken aback at first, then replied with a helpless expression, "Our Great Ming is currently poor and weak. Which country would be willing to come and become a vassal state of our Great Ming? Besides, even if a country were willing to come and pay tribute, what would we give them in return?"

Emperor Zhu Chongba chuckled and said, "You don't understand, do you? As for vassal states, we've never been afraid of them coming to pay tribute; we're only afraid of them not coming. We're not afraid of giving them too much in return; we're only afraid of giving them too little."

Zhu Biao couldn't help but purse his lips. "Yes, the gentlemen said that the arrival of all nations to pay tribute is a sign of a nation's strength. If vassal states really do come to pay tribute, even if our Great Ming suffers a slight loss, we cannot mistreat those vassal states."

As Zhu Biao finished speaking, Emperor Zhu Chongba was stunned. After a long while, he asked in a deep voice, "Which teacher taught you this?"

Zhu Biao was a little confused for a moment, so he honestly replied, "It is Master Song Lian."

Emperor Zhu Chongba hummed in agreement, firmly memorizing the name Song Lian. Then he gave a cold laugh and said, "Biao'er, take some time to go to Ningyang County. You can bring Jin'er and Yu'er, or you can bring the second, third, and fourth princes. When you get to Ningyang County, ask that madman Yang what he thinks about the tribute system."

Upon hearing Emperor Zhu Chongba's words, Zhu Biao immediately sensed something was amiss and asked, "Did Master Song say something wrong?"

Emperor Zhu Chongba chuckled and said, "Wrong? More than wrong! Throughout history, how many emperors have actually been willing to spend real money on tribute just for the sake of saving face?"

"Since all the founding emperors in history were willing to spend money on tribute, it means that tribute was not just a matter of appearances, but must have contained benefits that were too great for them to refuse."

“Remember this, Biao’er: there were definitely fools among those emperors, but it’s impossible for all emperors to be fools, especially the founding emperors, because the real fools were played to death long before they became emperors.”

Zhu Biao frowned slightly and muttered to himself, “Tribute is when a foreign country brings something to pay tribute, and the Celestial Empire gives a certain reward in return. The whole process involves sending envoys to pay tribute, offering local products, receiving rewards from the Celestial Empire, establishing the relationship between the suzerain and the vassal, trading at the border markets, and the departure and stay of the envoys.”

“Sending envoys to the court and the departure of envoys correspond to each other, as do offering local products and receiving gifts in return from the Celestial Empire. However, the step of establishing the relationship between the suzerain and the vassal states does not correspond to the trade at the border markets. When small foreign countries come to pay tribute, the Celestial Empire, as the superior nation, is naturally the suzerain.”

Zhu Biao's eyes grew brighter as he spoke: "I understand now, the problem lies in the border trade!"

Emperor Zhu Chongba laughed heartily twice, then asked with a smile, "Then guess what's wrong with the trade at the border markets?"

Zhu Biao was stunned again, but this time he couldn't figure it out even after thinking for a long time. Helpless, he could only honestly answer, "I can't understand this."

Emperor Zhu Chongba chuckled and said, "Don't say you can't understand it. Actually, we couldn't understand it before either. We even thought that those emperors and ministers in history were all fools who suffered for the sake of saving face, even though we knew that was impossible."

At this point, Emperor Zhu Chongba couldn't help but shake his head with a smile, and then continued, "The reason we were able to figure out the intricacies of this matter is actually because a single sentence from Magistrate Yang enlightened us."

Under Zhu Biao's curious gaze, Emperor Zhu pointed to Wang Qiong's memorial and said, "There are two sentences in this memorial that are very correct. The first sentence is: Money did not originally exist. It was only because the people had the need for transactions that money came into existence. As long as the court designates something as money, then it is money."

"The second point is that money needs to find an anchor, and its value should be determined based on that anchor."

"Thinking about these two sentences, the imperial court can stipulate what is money and what is worth how much. In other words, if the imperial court stipulates how much a fine horse costs, then it is worth that much. If the imperial court says how much a pound of tea is worth, then it is worth that much."

"Thinking further, if the court says that the spices offered by foreign lands are worth one pound of tea, then they are worth one pound of tea. If the court says that a fine horse offered by foreign lands is only worth one bolt of silk, then they are only worth one bolt of silk."

"You don't need to worry about how much these spices and fine horses are worth in our Ming Dynasty. You just need to know that the imperial court has the power to set prices for foreign countries."

At this point, Emperor Zhu simply stood up from his chair and slowly paced back and forth, saying, "There's another saying here: if the court dislikes a small country, it can use some tricks to turn that country's paper money into worthless paper, thereby causing turmoil in that country and unrest among its people."

Emperor Zhu chuckled and said, "It's only thanks to that madman Yang that this method could come up with it. But it's still too simple and crude. If this method is used a few more times, other small countries will become wary, and it won't work anymore."

"Let me teach you a better way."

"Sever their tribute mission!"

Zhu Biao was stunned again, and asked dumbly, "Sever their tribute?"

Emperor Zhu Chongba smiled and nodded, saying, "That's right, it means cutting off their tribute, which means not recognizing them as a vassal state of our Great Ming. Remember this, Biao'er: since ancient times, apart from our Central Plains, which of those other small vassal states wasn't right next to other small states? And how many of those small states haven't had friction and conflict with each other?"

"The reason why those small countries rushed to pay tribute was partly for the purpose of border trade, but border trade was not the most important reason. The most important reason was that they wanted to become vassal states of the Central Plains' superior state. They wanted to use the name of being a vassal state of the superior state to interact with other small countries in the surrounding area and to avoid conflict by relying on the name of being a vassal state of the superior state."

"Even if two small countries really do fight, the weaker one can ask the upper state for help. As long as the upper state in the Central Plains is willing to help them, they can ensure that they are not destroyed. Even if they are destroyed before the upper state intervenes, their king and his family can still go into exile in the upper state and slowly seek the opportunity to restore their country."

"So, if any vassal state were to anger the Central Plains and cause the Central Plains to sever its tribute obligations, then that small state could basically be declared extinct—do you think its surrounding vassal states would take the initiative to send troops to show their loyalty?"

After listening to Emperor Zhu Chongba's remarks, Zhu Biao felt as if the whole world had become unfamiliar.

What my father said was completely contrary to what was written in the book and what my teacher taught me!

However, judging from the remarks of Magistrate Yang recorded in the memorial submitted by Wang Qiong, what his father said was the truth about the tribute, while what was written in the book and taught by the teacher was more like a high-sounding excuse, a pretext to cover up the bloody stench behind the tribute!

After pondering for a long while with his head down, Zhu Biao nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I remember."

Emperor Zhu Chongba smiled and nodded, then picked up Wang Qiong's memorial and began to read it.