Chapter 45: The Food of Annam

500,000 stones, this number is not small, but it is far from enough for the huge food shortage.

Zhu Qizhen's originally happy face suddenly sank. According to what was said in advance, there should be one million taels of silver, and at least two million stone of grain should be bought.

Zhu Qizhen said: "How much grain is there in the back?" ”

Li Shimian said: "The minister raised a total of four million stone of grain in Guangdong. ”

Zhu Qizhen was taken aback and said, "Four million stones? How can there be so many? ”

Li Shimian said: "The minister returned to Xin'an to mobilize 1.5 million taels of silver and purchase 2 million stones in Guangdong, but as Annan was about to move, this batch of grain could not be used easily. ”

"Even because of Huang Kuan's matter, the envoys of Annan negotiated with Zhu Jian, the governor of Guangxi, and for a while, there was a lot of rumors, and Wang Ao, the governor of Liangguang, did not allow the ministers to take all the grain away."

"So this one thing has been delayed."

Zhu Qizhen asked angrily and said, "Why don't you play?" "In his eyes, nothing compares to the famine at the foot of the capital

Li Shimian said: "The minister thinks that Wang Ao, the governor of Liangguang, is not wrong, because he is responsible for the Liangguang feudal territory, and it is absolutely impossible to drain Guangdong's grain when the war in Guangxi is imminent. ”

Wang Ao finally squeezed out 700,000 stone of grain from the official warehouse. However, the minister thought that these grains were a drop in the bucket for the Ming Dynasty, so he sent envoys to requisition grain from Nanyang, of which the old port Shi family served 500,000 stone grain. There is the old port Shi family to repay, only the Nanyang remnants to serve a total of 1.1 million stone grain, among them, Champa, Sulu, Siam, all have retribution. Here's the list. ”

Immediately, Li Shimian pulled out a stack of lists from his sleeve.

Wang Zhen took it and immediately handed it to Zhu Qizhen.

Zhu Qizhen saw that most of the Nanyang countries were listed, and even Majapahit also had them. It's just that in addition to the old port, there are also some overseas Chinese businessmen.

Zhu Qizhen immediately knew that this Shi Chang'an played a great role in it.

Although Nanyang has not been the focus of Zhu Qizhen's attention for several years, the line between Jinyiwei and Dongchang in Nanyang has not been broken.

Shi Chang'an is extremely prosperous in Nanyang, and he has a nickname called Nantianwang. Because the Ming Dynasty opened the sea in Xin'an and opened up the old port network, and Li Shimian was strict in his care, so anyone who wanted to find maritime business in Xin'an had to settle down in the old port. Or where did the Zeng family settle down in Shitangyu.

As a result, with such trading rights, the Han merchant group headed by Shi Chang'an expanded its power dramatically. Only then did he have the financial and material resources to support so much food in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that many places in the South China Sea are grain producing areas, and grain is not too valuable. There are many others, and the Wansheng Shitangyu Shoudao Zeng clan alone has served 30,000 stone of grain.

You must know Xuande

The people who stayed there during the years were just some boatmen, who didn't have much money, but now they were able to come up with 30,000 stones, which was already a year's tax for a small county.

Zhu Qizhen sighed in his heart: "If you are courteous, you must ask for something." It seems that I, the king of the Southern Heavens, are not having a good time. ”

The rapid expansion of Han merchants greatly squeezed the profits between local merchants and Arab merchants.

Many people have a delusion.

It seems that when the Westerners did not have access to the South China Sea, trade between the East and the West existed, no, this trade has always existed, but in the hands of Arab merchants.

As a result, the pressure on them is very high.

There have been many frictions and battles between the Shi family and the Nanyang overlord Majapahit.

Now the rumors of opening the sea in many places in the Ming Dynasty have come out.

But how to open the sea has a great impact on the Shi family, and its implementers want to maintain the status quo the most. Because in this way, the power of direct trade with the Ming Dynasty was enough to support the war funds of the Shi family. Don't look at Xin'an Customs in the past few years, the tariffs have earned millions of taels, but Zhu Qizhen is sure that the Shi family's profits are above this amount.

It's just that the Shi family has to use money in all aspects of Nanyang, and I'm afraid there won't be much to spare.

Zhu Qizhen secretly said in his heart: "I remember this favor." There will be rewards in the future. He cursoryly looked at the list and said, "So it is less than two million stones, but where did the rest of the grain come from?" ”

Li Shimian said: "I would like to thank the Marquis of Baoding for this matter, the Marquis of Baoding fought against Dinglu River, which shook Tiannan, and Annan's attitude changed greatly. It seems that he is worried that the court will ask for guilt, and he is willing to sell one million stone of grain to the court for three hundred wen and one stone. Wang Ao was relieved when he saw this, and collected more than one million stone of grain from all over the country. Coupled with the minister's purchase from the people, there are a total of four million stone grain. ”

Annam crops three times a year and is also a grain-producing area.

Annan sold grain to Daming, and Zhu Qizhen naturally understood the political attitude.

It was in this gesture that Annan eased tensions with the Ming Dynasty over the border issue.

Of course, Annan will never let go of his mind on the matter of Huang Kuan, which represents the political correctness of the Annan court, if people from afar come to defect, Annan will not dare to accept it.

The authority of the Annam court would have been questioned.

So, he'd rather lower his profile in other ways. In the matter of Huang Kuan, he did not make compromises.

Of course, this is also because he sees that Daming actually doesn't want to fight with Annan, at least he is not willing to fight another war with Annan for the sake of more than 20 villages.

"Let's write it down for now." Zhu Qizhen secretly said in his heart: "The matter in Qinzhou is not over yet. Zhu Qizhen ignored a little border dispute for the time being, and said: "Is the silver two at the customs enough?" ”

Li Shimian said: "At this point, the minister has to ask for guilt

。 When the minister settled with Annan, he paid the bill for his practical goods, not silver taels, so the cost of buying grain was less than 300 wen, and he borrowed some silver taels from Guangdong. That's enough. ”

Zhu Qizhen suddenly understood.

In fact, this time it is an example of grain for Chinese goods.

Didn't the officials and nobles of Ananda have a desire for the artifacts of the Central Plains? Some of China's various delicate goods have always been hard currency in ancient times. Therefore, the payment for Annan's grain must be directly offset with Xin'an's goods.

Of course, Zhu Qizhen can also figure out that Li Shimian must be lowering the price at both ends.

For Chinese businessmen, then there is a backstage behind it. In the face of Li Shimian, who has the right to act cheaply, they can't resist it. For the people of Annam, the price in their hearts is naturally higher than the place of origin.

Therefore, Li Shimian's procurement cost is less than 300 yuan.

Zhu Qizhen estimated that the price of grain in Annan may not be below 300 wen.

Who is at a loss here?

For a while, Zhu Qizhen's estimation was not clear. But he understood one thing. That's not to think that the ancients didn't understand the way of change, if it was really necessary.

They also play with thieves.

Zhu Qizhen said: "How many ships do you bring and how much capacity do you have?" How many trips can four million stone points be transported? ”

Li Shimian said: "The minister is only the first trip, about half a month, a total of three trips, if there is no accident, the four million stones can be transported to the capital." ”

Zhu Qizhen silently calculated that in about mid-June, the four million stone grain would be enough to get to Beijing.

With these four million stone grains, Zhu Qizhen breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Today, there is a gentleman, so that the people of the capital will not starve." ”

Li Shimian said: "The minister never dares to be, this is the name of His Majesty's foresight, if it were not for His Majesty's decision to open the sea, the minister would not have been able to raise so many ships." There is only one thing, and I ask Your Majesty for forgiveness. ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Speak." ”

Li Shimian said: "The minister promised the shipowners that after arriving in Beijing, they would be able to meet Tianyan. Your Majesty also has a reward. ”

As soon as Zhu Qizhen heard this, he knew that Li Shimian must have written a blank check to these ship owners.

Thinking about it, Li Shimian's funds are limited, and the purchase of grain will be spent, and the transportation of grain from Guangdong to Tianjin is probably not a small number alone.

If these maritime merchants are good citizens of the Ming Dynasty, it will be easy to do.

After all, the Ming government has not done it once or twice.

But these people are not honest people. It can be said that in this era, there are no honest people who are fighting at sea.

If there is no benefit, it is difficult to get them to work. Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "How much?" ”

"One million taels." Li Shimian said.