Han Du nodded with a smile and asked: "I dare to ask your Majesty, if Weichen accepts one hundred taels of silver from a foreign minister, not only will the court and the people not suffer any loss, but he will make a profit of ten thousand taels from the country. Then Weichen Will he be skinned and used as grass?"
"He gave you money and also let you profit from him. Is he crazy?" Although Lao Zhu understood that Han Du would not be innocent, he still didn't believe it.
Han Du had no choice but to explain patiently: "Your Majesty, the value of the same thing in the eyes of my Ming Dynasty is completely different from that in the eyes of those foreign countries. Although the humble minister has benefited from him, it does not mean that he will Suffer a loss. Just like a mirror, even if we sell it to them at the current price, we may not suffer a loss."
"The price has been reduced by half, and you still say that Ming Dynasty has not suffered a loss? Han Du, I think you have really taken their money, so you are speaking for them like this!" Old Zhu glared at Han Du with red eyes, as if his money was stolen by Han Du. The speed is gone.
It was obviously Lao Zhu who agreed to the price of others, but now it became Han Du's fault.
"Your Majesty, there are advantages to both high prices and low prices, and there are also advantages to low prices. This cannot be black and white. Your Majesty might as well think about it and give it to them at the current price, even though they will not always make more. But the huge profits will drive them to continue to buy more mirrors. Because only by buying more mirrors can they make more money." Han Du smiled confidently and continued: " No one can resist the temptation of ten times huge profits. In order to make money, they will only come to Ming Dynasty to buy more and more mirrors. In this way, although Ming Dynasty makes less money per mirror, it can sell more. That would make more money than raising the price.”
Lao Zhu's anger gradually disappeared as he listened. The more he listened, the more he felt that what Han Du said made sense. If you only get double the profit, you may not be very active. Just like the Ming Dynasty's tribute, it was okay at the beginning. Lao Zhu was so proud that he hoped that other countries would come to pay tribute. But now the Ming Dynasty has lost interest in paying tribute. Why, isn't it because the profits are too little?
If you can't make money, who would care to argue with you?
So why are fan states becoming more and more active in paying tribute? It's simple, they can make money. Bringing back Ming's things will bring you multiple profits. How can they not be active?
The more Lao Zhu felt it made sense, the more he felt something was wrong.
Suddenly, Lao Zhu frowned and asked dissatisfiedly: "Are you talking nonsense? If that's the case, why did you raise the price in the first place?"
Han Du spread his hands helplessly and explained: "There is no way, the current production of mirrors is insufficient. The current production is simply difficult to satisfy the internal requirements of the Ming Dynasty. There are really not enough mirrors for the foreign ministers to take back. Weicheng improved The price is also a helpless move, I just want to maximize the interests of Ming Dynasty."
Lao Zhu was finally satisfied with Han Du's explanation and nodded with a smile. Twisting his beard and thinking for a moment, if this is the case, doesn't it mean that the production of mirrors only needs to be increased. As an emperor, not only does he not have to break his promise, but he can also earn more?
"Then how to increase production?" Lao Zhu asked excitedly.
He was naturally excited because he didn't have to break his promise and could earn more. How can you not be excited when you encounter such a good thing that has the best of both worlds?
"If all countries want to purchase a large number of mirrors and want to increase the production to fully satisfy them, Wei Chen estimates that it will definitely not be possible to rely solely on the Banknote Bureau. After all, the Banknote Bureau has limited manpower, and it also has to take care of the banknotes. It's impossible to be busy with paper making." Han Du explained to Lao Zhu roughly.
Lao Zhu also thinks that this is the case. After all, there are only a few craftsmen in the banknote bureau. If they all make mirrors, who will make the banknotes?
Judging from the current situation, treasure money is more important in comparison. Even if the production of mirrors is insufficient, it will at most affect how much money is earned, and treasure money is related to lifeblood.
Which one is lighter and which one is more important is naturally clear at a glance.
"How about I mobilize another group of craftsmen for you? Is five hundred enough? If not, I will mobilize a thousand." Lao Zhu became excited and couldn't help rubbing his hands.
Among scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, Lao Zhu has always valued scholars the most, followed by farmers, then craftsmen, and preferably businessmen. Even though he was rude to officials, he would either arrest or kill them. In fact, almost all those Lao Zhu arrested and killed were corrupt officials, officials who harmed the people. Lao Zhu was generally reluctant to kill officials who worked diligently like an old scalper to contribute to the world of his family, Lao Zhu. Moreover, Lao Zhu has always been thirsty for talents. He not only opened the imperial examination, but also allowed the princes and nobles to recommend talents. These all showed that he valued scholars.
Relatively speaking, Lao Zhu doesn't attach much importance to craftsmen, which is why the lives of craftsmen now are rather miserable. But now Han Du told him that craftsmen could bring huge income to the court. At this time, Lao Zhu's thoughts changed, and he felt that craftsmen were also very important.
Although craftsmen cannot govern the country like scholars, nor can they pay taxes like farmers, they can make money through craftsmen. Lao Zhu still knows how important money is.
But Han Du shook his head and did not agree with Lao Zhu's method.
"Your Majesty, in Wei Chen's opinion, it is a big waste to have craftsmen make the mirror from beginning to end. Because except for some key areas that require skilled craftsmen to operate in person, in fact, when making the mirror, There are many things that ordinary people can do.”
After hearing this, Lao Zhu muttered: "If you have any ideas, tell me and listen."
"Do you think we can use a small number of craftsmen to do key things, and then spend money to recruit some common people to do those simple things? In this way, there is no need to mobilize a large number of craftsmen, only the existing craftsmen are needed to lead these common people, We can increase the production of mirrors." Han Du kept watching the changes in the expression on Lao Zhu's face, and said very carefully, because this matter is not trivial.
Recruiting people privately during the Hongwu Year was no small matter. If you are not good enough, someone will tell you that you might gather a crowd to rebel.
Therefore, even with Han Du's boldness, he would not have dared to try to recruit people privately before. But now Han Du had to take the risk to mention it. One was that he was very critical of this point in the first place, and it was indeed too much to restrict people's activities to this extent.
