Li Jin saw the doubtful looks of the three people and began to explain softly.
"In our Ming Dynasty, one tael of silver can now buy one stone of grain."
"With the influx of large amounts of silver, the amount of silver on the market has increased rapidly. When people have money, they naturally want to buy more food."
"But there is only so much food. If more people buy it, the price of food will inevitably rise."
"Food prices are the basis of all commodity prices. If the price of food increases, the price of cloth and other items will also increase."
"This will cause prices to rise and the value of money to depreciate. This is really not a good sign for us Ming people."
Li Jin's words were easy to understand, which made Zhu Biao and Xu Da fall into deep thought.
I have to say that what Li Jin said made sense, but Zhu Biao didn't intend to let it go.
Instead he asked:
"In this case, is there a way to solve it?"
"Iwami Yinshan has a silver mine reserve of 800 million taels. If only one million taels were mined every year, it would take eight hundred years to mine."
"This is really a drop in the bucket."
"Can we mine more every year and not have such a big impact on people's lives?"
In Zhu Biao's view, if so much money cannot be used here, wouldn't it be a waste?
Since mining can easily lead to price increases, is there any way to solve this so-called price increase?
Tang He on the side almost stared out of his eyes after hearing Zhu Biao's words.
After all, Tang He didn't know until now that the reserves of Iwami Silver Mountain were so huge.
After Li Jin heard Zhu Biao's words, he thought for a long time and slowly expressed an idea:
"It's not that there is no way, but this method is very cumbersome."
“If we don’t want to cause prices to rise, we need to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction and large-scale plunder.”
“This can slow down the rate of price increases.”
"Big infrastructure? Big plunder?"
Zhu Biao frowned slightly and murmured softly:
"I don't know what it means?"
"Major infrastructure is actually very simple."
Li Jin slowly explained the methods of reducing inflation in later generations of China, and explained to Zhu Biao and Xu Da:
"Just use this money to build some infrastructure."
"For example, roads, water conservancy, houses, city walls and other infrastructure."
"The Ming Dynasty is a land of vast resources, and the construction of these infrastructures will last for many years."
"The construction of these facilities will serve the present generation and benefit the future."
“It will not only make transportation in various parts of Ming Dynasty more convenient, build water conservancy, but also increase the yield of crops in Ming Dynasty.”
"In this way, within ten years, Ming's various materials will be fully developed."
"People have also become richer because of their participation in large-scale infrastructure construction, and farmers can produce more food."
"In this way, even if prices rise slightly, people will be able to accept it."
When Zhu Biao heard Li Jin's explanation, his eyes lit up, he high-fived and praised:
"good."
"What about the great plunder?"
"The great plunder is even simpler."
Li Jin curled up into a cruel sneer and said:
"Since food prices are the standard for all prices, we just need to control food prices from rising."
"There are only three situations in which prices can occur. If supply exceeds demand, food prices will rise."
“If supply exceeds demand, food prices will fall.”
"If supply and demand are balanced, food prices will be stable, neither rising nor falling."
"In the next period of time, the people of the Ming Dynasty will be stable, and the emperor is an eternal sage. Naturally, he can ensure political clarity, and the prosperous age of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably usher in."
"When the Ming Dynasty's population increases, the demand for food will increase significantly."
"Coupled with the mining of silver mines, which has caused a sharp increase in silver on the market, the trend of rising food prices seems to be unstoppable."
"But we can look for food supply places from some small countries outside our Ming Dynasty."
"Plunder the food from these small countries to feed the people of our Ming Dynasty and reduce food prices."
"In this way, the price of grain in our country will remain balanced, and prices will naturally not rise."
"With more and more money left in the hands of the people, the Ming Dynasty's business will develop rapidly. The more food the people buy, the stronger their desire to have children will be."
"By that time, the Ming Dynasty's population had grown rapidly and could even surpass the Han and Tang dynasties, becoming the first dynasty in Chinese history with a population of over 100 million."
The cake Li Jin drew for Zhu Biao made Zhu Biao's blood boil.
Far far away from the Han and Tang Dynasties, this was the prosperous age that Zhu Yuanzhang and his son of the Ming Dynasty longed for.
Zhu Biao even felt his body tremble slightly when he heard Li Jin's blueprint.
After waiting for a while, after Zhu Biao calmed down, he felt something was wrong and asked softly:
"We are going to other countries to plunder. Isn't this... not good?"
At this moment, Zhu Biao remembered the question he was thinking about on the boat.
How should I choose between morality and aggression?
Isn't now the perfect time to ask this question?
After Li Jin heard Zhu Biao's question, he laughed loudly and said:
"Since ancient times, China has regarded itself as a dynasty, and Confucian culture pays more attention to etiquette, justice, benevolence, wisdom, and trust."
"There is no problem with these things when it comes to the people of Ming Dynasty, but how stupid is this idea when it comes to interactions between countries?"
"Han Wu once said that foreigners are beasts and barbarians, fearful of power but not moral."
"Since other races are aliens, to me, the Ming Dynasty, these small alien countries are just barbarians."
"The traditional thoughts of Confucianism educate the world that we, China, are a kingdom in heaven. We should be friendly to the small countries around us and influence them with benevolence and righteousness. This is the kingly way."
"But in my opinion, it's really ridiculous."
"The royal way is for us, the people of the Ming Dynasty, not for these foreign barbarians."
"In my opinion, we should use dominance when dealing with these aliens."
"It's definitely wrong to bully the weak, but it depends on the target. Now we, the great Ming Dynasty, are extremely powerful."
"It is natural to squeeze the living space of the surrounding small countries and make them bow to our Ming Dynasty, but this is not enough."
"Submission is only in name. Our Ming Dynasty not only wants superficial benefits, but also some practical benefits to weaken the enemy and at the same time enhance our own strength."
"We want to plunder all valuable supplies from these countries. This kind of free supplies is probably the supplies that our people in Ming Dynasty need most."
"As the ruler of the Ming Dynasty, we should not consider how the people in foreign countries are living, but should try our best to improve the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty."
"Invading other countries will bring shame, just like the current Japanese islands, but it can benefit the Ming Dynasty."
"Then I, Li Jin, would rather bear the infamy for a lifetime, and let the descendants of the Ming Dynasty enjoy happiness for generations to come."
Li Jin's face was full of justice, which made Zhu Biao burst into tears.
These are the loyal, direct, and capable ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty.
If there are ministers like Li Jin in the court, why worry that the Ming Dynasty cannot rise?
Xu Da and Tang He also looked at Li Jin with slightly complicated eyes.
They are all old brothers who followed Zhu Yuanzhang. Naturally, they know Zhu Yuanzhang's character best.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, the two of them lived in as much simplicity as possible.
For them, they are now rich and wealthy, and they only need to spend the remaining half of their lives honestly, which is enough.
As for the people of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang naturally took care of them.
But now Li Jin's words can't help but remind them of their ideals when they were young, and their hearts can't help but feel a little fluttering.
But for them to be as decisive as Li Jin, they naturally can't do it. Just because they can't do it, they can't help but be in awe when they see such a person.
"Okay!! Mr. Li is righteous!!!"
Zhu Biao immediately jumped up and had no doubts about the issue in his mind.
Li Jin is just a seventh-grade county magistrate, but he can have such great righteousness. As the prince of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally cannot fall behind Li Jin.
"Ahem."
Seeing that the two young men Zhu Biao and Li Jin were a little excited, Xu Da couldn't help coughing twice and said:
"Master Li, you'd better take the special envoy to Iwami Silver Mountain to have a look."
"We will discuss the next steps after the reserves are proven."
