A great court meeting turned into a vegetable market because of Li Shimin's two words.
Why were Tang officials so surprised?
Because in fact, China has been a silver-poor country for a long time in history, and silver only became one of the main currencies after the Wanli Year of the Ming Dynasty.
It's just that the Tang Dynasty has told development that using copper as currency is too small, so it has incorporated gold and silver into the currency system early.
Datang's local silver production is not high. Now Datang's mining and smelting technology has developed rapidly in the past few years, especially after the emergence of the steam engine.
But the annual silver output is only 100,000 taels.
How much is 100,000 taels? In the Tang Dynasty, one kilogram was about 680 grams and counted as 16 taels.
This 1 tael is 42 grams, and 100,000 taels is equivalent to 4.2 tons.
And if the two mines brought back by Tang Ping can really achieve the output Li Shimin said, it will be 20 times higher than the local silver output of Datang.
"Boss Tang, does Fusang really have so much gold and silver?"
Cheng Zhijie asked incredulously.
"Are the mineral maps I gave inaccurate?" Tang Ping asked with a smile.
The Ministry of Industry knew this matter best. Li Daliang, who succeeded Dai Zhou as the new Minister of Industry, said: "The mineral maps given by Ping Guogong, whether they are coal mines, iron mines or copper mines, are all accurate."
Cheng Zhijie rolled his eyes at him: "I didn't say I didn't believe in Mr. Tang."
After speaking, he looked at the generals around him and found that each of these guys' eyes were shining with gold, and he knew that they had the same idea as him.
However, none of these guys were willing to speak directly. He, Cheng Zhijie, was not afraid of being such a bad person, so he went straight out and said: "Your Majesty, since this Fuso has such rich mineral resources, then we..."
I haven’t finished what I said next, but as the leader of the Tang Dynasty’s Ministry of War, the meaning is obvious.
"Ahem." Li Shimin rolled his eyes at him. If he could snatch it away, could he not do it?
He dreamed of making those resources his own, and Tang Ping had told him privately that Fuso had at least two or three gold and silver mines of this size.
But Fusang has always been a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. If the Tang Dynasty saw that one of the vassal states had good things and took it for them, what would happen to the other vassal states?
Although Datang's strength is now enough to fight on multiple fronts, as a monarch, the country has only been stable for a few years, and he really doesn't want Datang's soldiers to suffer too many casualties.
In fact, Tang Ping is very good like this. He can get a lot of resources at a small price.
The term "concession" is very good. After renting it, you have the right to garrison troops and law enforcement there, just like a country within a country.
And it doesn’t say that you won’t be allowed to continue renting after the lease period is up. Everything is easy to discuss. Maybe we can “discuss” it with the other party at that time and the other party agrees?
They were all old partners. As soon as Cheng Zhijie saw the look in his boss's eyes, he knew that this path would not work, so he said nothing more.
The mining officials from the Ministry of Industry were discussing while looking at the mineral information given by Li Shimin.
In fact, Tang Ping found them all from modern times.
These things are not easy to find. Fortunately, he has a good relationship with museum expert Li Aiguo and is registered with them.
He said he wanted information about the mines of Sado Jinshan and Iwami Ginzan, so Li Aiguo found it for him from his childhood through his connections in the industry.
There is no way, now Li Aiguo is still holding the "San Jing Yi Shu" to negotiate terms with Xiao Ri. Of course Xiao Ri is willing to sell him a favor for such a trivial matter.
"Your Majesty, if the information given by Duke Ping is correct and we use steam engines as power, I think the output can be further increased." The one who spoke was the mining official named Li Yu who started chatting with Tang Ping.
"Well, but how to solve the fuel problem?" Li Shimin was of course happy to be able to increase production.
"This..." Li Yu looked at Tang Ping and asked, "I wonder if Fusang has coal mines?"
Tang Ping thought for a while and nodded and said: "Fuso coal mines are quite rich in resources, but there is no large-scale mining. If you want to use Fuso local coal mines, you may have to jointly develop them with Fuso local people."
"Then let them dig it!" Cheng Zhijie said a little arrogantly: "In the worst case, we will just pay you."
Everyone knows which is more valuable, the coal used for fuel or the gold and silver dug out.
"Cheng Chumo and Fang Yiai are still on a mission to Fusang. I'll contact them to negotiate with Fusang."
This kind of thing is beneficial to both parties. Datang can get coal, and Fusang people can increase their employment opportunities and earn an income.
So leaving it to two fools to talk can be regarded as training them.
"In this case, it's better to repair their Fuso road. At least the road from the mine to the seaport will be repaired."
"Yes, I heard that Fuso Fishing Ground catches a lot of fish, so I think we can also buy some."
Suddenly a large amount of money was made, and many officials began to discuss how to develop Fuso.
"Since Fuso has such rich mineral resources, they will definitely start to develop steadily in the future. I think we can start planning now. Although they are rich in gold and silver mines, they are short of other resources. We can dump our Datang products. Especially for luxury goods go to Fuso.”
"That's right, let them mine and make money, then buy our products from Datang, and finally bring all those minerals back to Datang."
"But I heard that the education level of Fusang people is relatively low. If we develop Fusang in large quantities, I think we need to improve the education level of their people."
"Absolutely, and letting Fusang people learn our Tang Dynasty culture from an early age would be conducive to their assimilation."
These officials are all experienced. Although a sum of money will be invested in Fuso for development, it is nothing compared to future output.
Moreover, if 80 tons of silver are dug out, they will definitely be used. Only by using it can money make money.
Therefore, the second half of a good meeting was directly turned into a meeting on the Fuso Development Plan by Datang officials.
It doesn't matter whether Fuso agrees with this development plan or not. As the saying goes, everything can be "discussed."
As Tang Ping listened, he finally understood why later generations always see the country giving interest-free loans to some poor countries in Africa and so on, as well as so many aid projects and so on.
After listening to it, I realized that there are so many twists and turns in it. I can only say that the free one is the most expensive. It really makes sense no matter where you put it.
These Chinese officials have been able to master one trick since ancient times.
At the end of the Great Dynasty Conference, according to statistics, Datang's input-output ratio could reach an astonishing 1:12.
