The official shut his mouth suddenly and realized that it was rare for him to be able to say that this was the emperor's order? Moreover, the emperor had indeed promised these envoys, but since the emperor did not directly issue a decree to give them treasure money, but sent Han Du here, could it be that the emperor wanted to go back on his word? The emperor was too embarrassed to break his promise and get fat, so he sent Han Du here to cause trouble?
The official lowered his head and looked at the tea cup in his hand, as if he wanted to count all the tea leaves in it one by one.
When Han Du saw the official acting like this, he laughed in his heart, "That's right. I didn't let you speak, so just keep your mouth shut." Helping out randomly will get you into trouble.
When the Korean envoy saw that the official of the Ministry of Rites suddenly changed his attitude and did not say anything to help him, he had to turn back and ask Han Du: "What do you want, sir?"
Right, this is the attitude of the conversation.
Han Du looked at the angry envoy and said with a smile: "The Ming Dynasty spent a lot of manpower and material resources and a lot of hard work to make the treasure banknotes. Your envoy wants it, and the emperor looks at the fact that your country has always paid homage to it." It’s hard to refuse for your sake. But treasure banknotes are different from copper coins and cannot be given to your noble envoy in vain.”
"If your envoy really wants the treasure banknotes, I will not refuse to give them. However, the banknotes must be repriced. It is impossible for you to take them back as before."
The Korean envoy stood without sitting down and asked in a serious voice: "I wonder how your Excellency wants to price it?"
Han Du blew into the tea cup twice and said with a smile: "It's easy to say, the tribute brought by the noble envoy is only more than 3,000 guan, and the return gift from Ming Dynasty is three times, so it can be considered as 10,000 guan. But the noble envoy also saw Now, the price of this treasure banknote is very high in the Ming Dynasty. One treasure banknote can be exchanged for five copper coins. Therefore, if your envoy wants the treasure banknote, I can decide to give you two thousand copper coins as a return gift from the Ming Dynasty. , let your envoy take it back."
When the Korean envoy heard this, he immediately jumped up and the other two people also looked at Han Du angrily.
"Your Excellency, you have gone too far to bully others. Is this the style of the Ming Dynasty? Not only did you belittle the tribute of our vassal countries, but you also tried to plunder 80% of the gifts in return. When did the Ming Dynasty become like this? This envoy wants to see the emperor. .”
Want to see the emperor? That only requires Lao Zhu to agree to see you. Lao Zhu is regretting that he agreed to your request indiscriminately. It would be strange to meet you.
Han Du sneered at the intimidation tactics of the Goryeo envoys. Not to mention that you can't see the emperor now, you are not afraid even if you can see Han Du now. Han Du is not an official who has never seen the world, and he is not someone who can be threatened by the Goryeo envoy who wants to complain to the emperor.
"If you want to see the emperor, go quickly." Han Du said with a smile, and then his face began to become cold, and he said in a deep voice: "Your envoy wants to get the treasure banknotes from the court, and then sell them on the market for five Are you trying to bully the Ming Dynasty to get huge profits at twice the price?"
Being told what was right in Han Du's mind, the Goryeo envoy's momentum weakened. When the new treasure notes first came out, the Korean envoys were jealous when they got the news. They wished they could collect a lot of treasure notes and take them to the market in exchange for a large amount of gold and silver.
It's a pity that the emperor only gave out some of the treasure notes as an official's salary. It's not known when the rest will be released. There is no chance of falling into his hands.
But the Korean envoy had a bright mind after all, and he suddenly thought of Daming's return gift. If Ming's return gift could be turned into treasure money, wouldn't he have it in his hands? They did whatever they thought of. In order to increase their chances of winning, the Korean envoy also roped in people from Ryukyu and Siam.
The Korean envoy's plan succeeded. Lao Zhu heard their request and agreed without thinking.
But just when the Korean envoy thought he had succeeded, Han Du rushed out halfway and stood in front of him.
Looking deeply at Han Du, the Korean envoy said in a deep voice: "The market price is the market price. The emperor personally issued the imperial edict. The court only recognizes the denomination of the treasure banknotes. Your Excellency is acting like this now, isn't it because you want to resist the edict? Don’t comply?”
The Korean envoy bared his teeth and sneered at Han Du. Your emperor himself issued an imperial edict, but you dare to blatantly try to reduce my tribute in return. Isn't this a disobedience to the edict? The Korean envoy wanted to see if Han Du was afraid of death.
Even the officials from the Ministry of Rites who were on the throne couldn't help but sweat for Han Du when they heard this. I couldn't help but glance at Han Du. If you said they wanted treasure money, just give it to them. Is it so serious as to violate the imperial edict? Why are you doing this?
Han Du did not take the threat of the Goryeo envoy at all and said coldly: "Whether I disobey the imperial edict or not, that is the emperor's final decision, not you. As for the price of the treasure banknote, that is my decision. Forget it. If your envoy wants treasure money, this is the price, I said so."
"You!" The Korean envoy couldn't help but point at Han Du, his chest kept rising and falling, and after a moment he said angrily: "Since your Excellency looks down on me so much, please excuse me and say goodbye."
After saying that, he cupped his fists and saluted the official on the throne, turned around and left angrily.
A negotiation ended unhappily.
Han Du watched the envoy leave in silence. Han Du knew that although the three of them left angrily, since they were eyeing the treasure, how could they just let it go?
Sure enough, the next day Gao Xin, the Minister of Rites, asked to see the emperor.
As soon as they met, Gao Xin asked straight to the point: "Your Majesty."
"Ai Qing, why are you here?" Lao Zhu raised his eyes and glanced at Gao Xin. Although he had some guesses about the purpose of his visit, he still asked.
"Back to the Emperor, the envoys from Korea, Ryukyu, and Siam want to return home. Please ask me, Ming Dynasty, to give them a return gift in time so that they can set off as soon as possible." Gao Xin said in a matter-of-fact manner.
Lao Zhu knew in his heart that it was really for this matter. The content of the conversation between Han Du and the envoys from the Three Kingdoms yesterday was placed in front of Lao Zhu that night, and Lao Zhu knew exactly what happened. Although he felt that Han Du's actions were a little too much, he was also somewhat dissatisfied with the arrogance of the envoys from the Three Kingdoms.
After all, Ming Dynasty is also the suzerain country. If you leave angrily without a few words of agreement, doesn't this mean that you don't take Ming Dynasty seriously and don't take him as the emperor in your eyes?
"How are you preparing to return the gift?" Lao Zhu couldn't say no directly, so he had to pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Gao Xin was stunned when he heard this. He saw that the emperor really wanted to regret it. The emperor obviously wanted to pretend to be confused and get through. But how can it be that easy? Do you want to just get through it easily?
Who wouldn't pretend to be confused? You pretend and I pretend too.
