*

"Xu Shilang, our country itself is also very short of copper, although large copper mines have been found in Yanran Mountain and Nanhuazhou, but due to the remoteness, the mining cost is relatively high, and the supply of domestic demand is still insufficient. Fiction"

"What Sima Ge Lao said is, but even if Persia is allowed to maintain the market for copperware, in the case of a huge impact on the two fist products of cotton fabrics and carpets, and our country will definitely form a huge trade surplus with them. A large amount of gold and silver from the Persians flowed to our Great Qin, and it would not be long before it was enough to make the dilemma of a shortage of gold and silver in Persia. ”

Qin Mu shook his head and said: "Even if it is not to impact the carpet industry in Persia, it is very necessary for our country to develop this industry to increase the income of the people in remote areas.

In order to have a faster impact on Persia, it is necessary to remove some barriers in trade agreements, otherwise Persia will set up trade barriers and impose heavy taxes on specific goods, and it will not be easy for Daqin to increase the trade surplus.

After the arrival of the Persian envoys, they should pay special attention to this aspect of the negotiation of trade agreements, take a long-term view, and the more detailed and comprehensive the agreement, the better, so as to prevent them from erecting trade barriers in the future. Otherwise, I, Daqin, am afraid that I will have to go on an expedition again. ”

"Your Majesty rest assured, the minister will let the scholars ∵ the Department of Commerce discuss this matter when he turns around, and hand over the detailed regulations as soon as possible."

"Well, that's good."

Persia uses silver coins as currency, and as long as it continues to expand its trade surplus and let a large amount of gold and silver flow to Daqin, there will inevitably be a money shortage in Persia, that is, deflation.

Severe deflation can trigger a sustained decline in the price of goods, which will cause losses to debtors, which in turn will affect production and investment, and will reduce or even lose producers' profits, which will reduce production or stop production.

The decrease in production and investment will lead to increased unemployment and a decrease in people's income, which will exacerbate the shortage of aggregate demand and form a vicious circle.

This in turn led to a depression in all industries. A large number of people are unemployed and have no means of livelihood, and social contradictions will inevitably intensify, which will eventually lead to political turmoil.

The economic base determines the superstructure, and if a country wants to become strong, it is absolutely inseparable from the support of the economic base, and Great Qin has the ability to influence the economy of Safavid, so there is really no need to raise a crusade for the time being.

Qin Mu suddenly remembered something, beckoned the little eunuch to bring a book, and then said, "This is a book about the Ottoman Dynasty that the Hanlin Academy has just translated. I took a look. There is an article by Ottoman scholars analyzing the current situation facing the Ottomans, and the ministers may wish to take the time to read it.

In his article, he mentions that since the Renaissance and the Great Discoveries, Europeans have developed a vision of the world, and their armed merchant ships have sailed all over the world and controlled major shipping lanes and important ports around the world.

This would have had a serious consequence, since goods from the Far East and India would have landed in Egypt mainly through the Red Sea. It was transported to the Mediterranean through the Ottoman-controlled Suez region of Egypt and sold to European countries.

The Ottoman Empire effectively became a wholesaler of goods from the East and the West, and in the process, the Ottomans changed hands. You can get several times the profit, and the rolling financial resources ensure the strength of the Ottoman Empire.

But now the situation has changed, and the Europeans have opened a new route, and goods from the East and West pass through the Cape of Good Hope from India. Take the west coast of Africa to reach Europe. Bulk cargoes have rarely landed in the Suez region via the Red Sea.

In this way, the position of the Ottomans as wholesalers of goods in the East and West was replaced by the Europeans. After the Europeans brought the goods back, they sold them to Middle Eastern countries, including the Ottoman Empire. Earn four or five times the windfall profits.

As a result of the loss of control of trade, the Europeans made huge profits that belonged to the Ottomans. And not only did they not have to make huge profits from changing hands, but the Ottomans had to pay several times as much to buy goods from the Europeans. As a result, a large amount of gold and silver from the Middle East flowed to Europe, and then there was a shortage of money.

The Ottoman Empire also used silver coins as currency, but its domestic production of silver was not much, and the emergence of money shortage severely hit the economy of the Ottoman Empire. Annual revenues have dropped sharply, and the deficit in the national treasury has become more and more serious. In the absence of silver inflows, the Ottomans could only cope with the money shortage by devaluing their national currency.

And once the currency is devalued, it will inevitably lead to inflation, and in recent decades, the inflation rate in the Ottoman Empire has reached alarming levels, with average prices rising fourfold and food prices rising nearly fifteen times.

Sudan can only issue a decree forcibly prohibiting price increases. The entire Middle East was facing the problem of inflation, and the Ottoman Empire forcibly suppressed domestic prices, triggering a rampant smuggling trade;

A large number of commodities are smuggled abroad, resulting in an even greater shortage of domestic commodities and a more serious inflation of prices. Enter an uncontrollable vicious circle, and eventually the entire social system will collapse.

The Ottoman scholar was well aware of these problems, so he appealed to the Ottoman Sultan, suggesting that naval forces should be vigorously developed on the southern side of the Arabian Peninsula, at the entrance to the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aden.

The aim was to control the maritime trade routes, so that goods from the East and the West could return to the Red Sea trade route, and regain control of the trade routes, so as to fundamentally solve the problems of the Ottoman domestic financial deficit and money shortage.

I don't know how the ministers felt when they heard this, but I was deeply shocked when I saw it, firstly, I was amazed that the Ottomans had such a broad-minded scholar, and secondly, the impact of control of trade routes on a country was shocking. Third, the consequences of the currency issue hitting a country are so serious.

Among them, there are too many things that are worthy of my Daqin's humble reference and careful study. Therefore, I hope that every minister can read this book well. Only by making clear what is at stake can we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when formulating major national policies today. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The ministers sitting there looked awe-inspiring, these problems of the Ottomans, perhaps because of the geographical location, Daqin can not worry too much, but there are indeed many things worth warring.

So will China face a similar problem? You may think that China has silk, porcelain, and tea, and these few items alone are enough to maintain a trade surplus without worrying about money shortages.

Indeed, this understanding is correct.

But in fact, China's history has been plagued by money shortages. This was mainly due to the policies of the imperial court, or because of numbness.

For example, the policy of banning the sea in the Ming Dynasty made the domestic silver expensive and copper cheap, and the people usually used copper coins, but it was necessary to exchange copper coins for silver to pay taxes. Silver and copper are cheap, which is equivalent to the people having to pay a lot of taxes, and the people of the world can be said to suffer from it.

Another example is the Qing Dynasty, before 1800, the whole society was relatively stable, but due to the opium smuggling trade, a large amount of silver from China flowed out, resulting in a serious silver shortage in the country;

It is no exaggeration to say that the fall of the Qing Dynasty began from this.

Why Lin Zexu strongly wants to ban smoking is not because of the shortage of money that has caused serious domestic contradictions, and if it goes on like this, without being beaten by others, his country will collapse.

Freezing three feet, not a day's cold, these problems are not very obvious at first, and after accumulation, you will feel pain, and by then, the problem is often very serious.

Therefore, those in power must have a deep understanding and at the same time have a far-sighted vision, discover these problems as early as possible, and formulate targeted policies to guide them, so as to nip the problems in the bud.

The admiral thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, no wonder the ocean-going fleet reported that there are signs of strengthening the navy on the Ottoman-controlled Arabian Peninsula. Now that Li Ding has started a war with the Ottomans and the Persians have sent envoys to sue for peace, it is better to let the ocean-going fleet go to the Arabian Peninsula and wipe out the Ottoman navy. ”

Qin Mu muttered: "The importance of maritime trade routes, the ministers must have a deeper understanding. You see, although it takes more than 100 miles to enter the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea through the Suez region, in fact, it is still much more affordable to take such a passage than to go to the West Continent. The question is how to control the Red Sea, as well as the Suez region, which is the only way to control the world's most important trade route. ”

ps: Dear friends, the second more is offered, ask for a monthly pass! The second half of the month is coming, ask for a monthly pass! (To be continued......)