Since the Age of Discovery, China's foreign trade has been running a long-term surplus, which historically continued until the late Qing Dynasty, when silver outflows occurred due to the import of opium.
However, Zhu Cixiang was not the kind of ruler of the Celestial Dynasty who only pursued a surplus. In fact, he did not want a surplus at all!
Not at all!
Why does the Ming Dynasty want to have a surplus? Trade should come and go. If one side is always in surplus, trading partners will be unhappy, and it may even trigger a trade war or something. It is too disharmonious.
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang does not want a surplus. He just wants to seize all the most valuable gold and other important resource producing areas in the world in the future and turn them into the territory of the Chinese Empire. Then there will be no need for a surplus... How great is this! What kind of surplus do you want?
In addition, there is an obvious benefit of developing Ming's domestic "import demand", which is to prevent merchant ships from running empty.
Merchant ships are most efficient when they leave and return fully loaded.
And high efficiency is competitiveness and profit!
If Ming Dynasty wanted to build a merchant fleet that could compete with British merchant ships and Dutch merchant ships in the Age of Discovery, it could not blindly pursue a surplus and let its own fleet return empty.
But Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu were stumped by Zhu Cixiang's request. The country was vast and rich in resources, and they had everything they wanted. If they didn't have it, they would just grab it. What else could they buy from Europe?
When the two profiteers looked at each other and didn't know what to say, the little pony Mary Mancini had already changed into a red silk dress that could be matched with a pearl necklace and came back... This dress was a little tight. , it makes the little foreign pony’s figure look bumpy, which is really eye-catching.
Huang Jiang and Lin Yihu were both a little greedy after seeing it. The little foreign horse was so beautiful... How about buying some of these little foreign horses? I wonder if they can sell it?
"Mary, you came just in time," Zhu Cixiang asked with a smile, "Tell me, what special products does Europe have that I don't have in China?"
Mary curtsied to Zhu Cihong first, then sat down next to him, and then said with a smile: "There are still many specialties in Europe, such as French wine, Venetian glass and olive oil, British woolen fabrics, Swedish and German And steel from Milan, fur from Rakshasa Kingdom... Oh, butter, cheese, and all kinds of leather goods are also good."
"There are still a lot of good things!" Zhu Cixiang smiled and nodded, and said to Lin Yihu, "You can buy French wine... After you buy it, you can use it to package it in exquisite glass bottles, and then use European-style wine. Come taste it from a tall glass, it should be very good!”
"Your Majesty, we can't make a good-looking glass bottle..." Huang Jiang reminded.
There are already many glass factories here in the Ming Dynasty, and their products are mainly low-quality flat glass, which is mounted on windows. The stuff isn’t really that good, but the supply exceeds demand – it’s better than papering up the windows!
"That's because there is no demand!" Zhu Cihong said, "As long as we buy French wine in large quantities, we can ask the big French wineries to send people to help us build wine bottle factories! In this way, our glass manufacturing technology should be able to improve faster. ”
Buy wine and send it to the glass factory? Huang Jiang nodded, this is a good idea!
"You can also buy some butter and cheese." Zhu Cixiang continued, "These can be used to make Western-style pastries... There should also be a certain market. There is also woolen cloth, which is the clothing material of Westerners. Although it is rough, it looks upright and energetic when worn on the body, and it is relatively strong and can block the wind and cold. It is good to be used as military uniforms and jackets."
Nowadays, the military uniforms of the Ming Dynasty are mainly made of cotton and silk. They look dull and easy to damage.
Emperor Zhu had long wanted to replace the troops with woolen military uniforms, but in the Ming Dynasty, only Xining under Wu Sangui had a fairly good woolen textile industry, but the output was very limited, and the products were mainly fleece blankets.
Therefore, if conditions permit, there is nothing wrong with importing some European woolen fabrics to produce military uniforms - if there is demand, then slowly improve the domestic industry!
After the trade matters were almost settled, Zhu Cixiang turned to the financial industry.
"Old Huang, you have been working in banking for almost eleven or twelve years, right?"
Huang Jiang smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I have been working at Maritime Bank for more than twelve years!"
He is actually one of the founders of Maritime Bank.
"You did a great job!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "It's time to go out and start a business... Do you have the confidence to do well?"
"Yes!" Huang Jiang nodded, "With His Majesty's guidance, I have confidence."
He was not complimenting Emperor Zhu. In fact, he and Su Laomi, who was in charge of the Salt Trading Company, were puppets manipulated by Zhu Cixiang. Without Zhu Cixiang's various rules, regulations and business strategies, the two major banks would never have developed today. the point.
Emperor Zhu had also thought deeply about letting Huang Jiang go out to start a business and open a new bank in Europe that could borrow the credit of the Chinese Empire.
Because it is not feasible for Maritime and Salt Commercial Banks to open branches in Europe, because the head office must bear unlimited responsibility for the actions of the branches, and European branches cannot be effectively controlled by the head office. It is precisely because of this characteristic of the banking industry that today In this era, banking is a regionally divided industry.
Banks opened in Europe must operate independently, must have sufficient capital, must borrow the credit of the Chinese Empire, and must have experienced and responsible management... Therefore, the management must hold a large number of shares in order to Completely tie their interests to the bank.
Zhu Cixiang warned again: "I'll say a few more words... First, your bank must rope in the Dutch East India Company and ask them to buy shares, and also give them 20% to 30% of the equity. You must Otherwise, the business will not survive.”
This bank mainly relies on exchanges to absorb funds and earn interest and handling fees. The Dutch East India Company is the biggest target customer. How can we do business without tying them in?
"Second, you cannot drag the Cromwell government into the situation...Mary will write to her sister Holstein to help you contact Charles II." Zhu Cihong paused, "Wait until the British and French forces capture London. After Kirk, you can give Charles II a sum of money, just a few tens of thousands taels."
Zhu Cihong knew that Cromwell would only have a few more years to live, and there was no need for all banks to accept shares from the Cromwell government until Charles II came to power.
And Charles II will be restored after Cromwell's death, so it must be beneficial to burn the cold stove during his most difficult time.
Zhu Cixiang continued: "The bank must lend money to Britain, France and Portugal... Although the foreigners may not have the money to pay back, the debt must be released! If you don't lend it, it will not be enough to win the trust of the Europeans."
"Your Majesty, you can't get back the money you gave out..."
"No problem," Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "As long as you charge interest every year... But you have to provide a preferential interest rate, seven to eight. If your bank has credit, you can get zero through remittance. For the cost of silver, there will also be European dignitaries who are willing to save money at low interest rates, so if you can receive an interest of 7 to 8 points, you will make a profit."
The annual interest rate of seven to eight percent is an extremely low interest rate in today's Europe, especially for countries like France, England, and Portugal where bankruptcies and defaults often occur.
Ordinary loan sharks would hardly lend money to them at such an interest rate, but the banks in Huangjiang had to lend. If he didn't borrow money, there would be no way he could open a business in France, England, or Portugal, let alone get support from the governments of these countries.
Zhu Cixiang said: "In addition, the location of the bank's head office must be carefully considered. If possible, it should be placed in the town of Versailles... It is a good place west of Paris.
Finally, you have to find ways to make Mingliang a popular and standard currency unit! The money released must be calculated in Ming Liang, and the deposits received must also be converted into Ming Liang and accounted for. "
This is the first step to seize the world’s currency issuance power!
Don’t think that this kind of thing can be accomplished overnight, it must be done step by step, and the first step is of course to establish a credible standard currency!
