"Now the son of Emperor Udo is in office." Huikong replied.

After that, he explained that it was the emperor who became a monk and gave up the throne to his son, so he was called the "Father King".

Shao Shude nodded lightly. He was not very interested in the troubles between the Japanese royal family. He just wanted to make money, so he asked: "In the past, Japanese merchants relied on Silla relays. Now, Silla is in chaos and trade has been greatly reduced.

Does Japan Junior High School have any ideas?”

"Your Majesty, Zen people only know how to worship the Buddha and have no knowledge of business affairs." Huikong replied: "However, from the territory of Mingzhou, your country, a ship will sail to our country every two years, carrying a lot of goods."

"It only takes one ship in two years?" Shao Shude asked in surprise.

"The storm is dangerous." Huikong shook his head and sighed, and pronounced the Buddha's name.

His meaning is very clear. The trade that only happens once every few years is actually a gamble on life. Japanese monks from the Tang Dynasty and officials sent to the Tang Dynasty often returned to Japan on Tang merchant ships, but the rate of shipwrecks was horribly high. There are many records in Japan.

It's shocking to see.

If they had a choice, Japanese merchants would rather go via Silla than go direct. This was actually the normal state of Sino-Japanese trade during most of the Tang Dynasty. There were no Japanese merchant ships that sailed directly to the Tang Dynasty, but they were relatively few.

The bulk of the profits from Sino-Japanese trade went to the Silla people, who were second-tier traders. Japan and the Tang Dynasty did not get much.

Of course, on the whole, in the late Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion, due to factors such as Silla pirates ravaging Japan and Silla falling apart, Japan began to change its attitude towards Silla. Tang merchants gradually rose up and ate up some of the shares of Silla merchants.

.These Tang merchants mainly came from Mingzhou, Qian Liu’s territory.

Even though the shipwreck rate remains high, Mingzhou merchants are still going to Japan one after another. There are also merchant ships from Japan coming to Mingzhou, which shows that their profits are high.

"What does Mingzhou export?" Shao Shude asked.

"Yue silk, celadon, Buddha statues, medicinal materials, spices, books." Huikong said.

In fact, there should be more, but Huikong only knows these categories. Of course, they are almost the same in reality. These are indeed the main export commodities and account for the majority.

"What did you bring back from Japan?"

"Mainly placer gold and copper, with swords, fans, dried seafood and the like, and less."

Shao Shude and Song Le looked at each other and asked: "Japan is rich in gold and copper?"

"There are some mines, but the Chinese smelting method is not available, so the output is not good. We can only sell placer gold and the like at low prices to Mingzhou merchants." Huikong replied.

This monk is very knowledgeable, but he doesn't know anything about business! Shao Shude was a little surprised and said: "Why not sail directly to Daxia? I also have white porcelain under my rule, and Qinghe silk is a famous product in the world, far better than Yue silk. The master may return to his country to report.

, order merchants from your country to come directly to Haizhou. The goods will be as much as they want."

He remembered that Japan had always been rich in gold, silver and copper. However, before the beginning of the 14th century, because the trade volume with China was limited and much of it was in the form of barter, the demand for gold and silver was not large, so it did not stimulate Japan's gold industry.

Silver production expansion.

Later, as the trade volume increased day by day, and China's demand for Japanese goods decreased and exports increased significantly, Japan had to use gold and silver to make up for the trade deficit, which stimulated its domestic silver mining. After demand increased, silver mining technology also

Slowly progressing, with the development of Omori Silver Mountain (Iwami Silver Mountain), silver production increased year by year, becoming one of the main sources of silver in the Ming Dynasty.

Another major source of silver during the Ming Dynasty was Mexico, that is, the Spanish Manila galleon trade.

But the scale of this trade is not large. Once every two years, the Manila sailing fleet sets off from Acapulco on the east coast of the Pacific, crosses the Pacific, arrives at the Cavite Shipyard in Manila to repair and maintain the ships, and then goes north. After the trade is completed, it goes back to

Return to Mexico via the Kuroshio route.

The Manila sailing fleet generally only has 1-2 boats, and it sails once every two years, with stops in between.

Shao Shude felt that the amount of silver imported into the Ming Dynasty through this route may not be as large as that from Japan. After all, the silver from the two major viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru mainly passed through the Flota fleet (home port of Seville) and the Gaia Arnes fleet.

The two fleets (home port of Cadiz) were sent back to the Spanish mainland - these two fleets are very large, each fleet has more than ten ships, usually more than thirty ships, and the tonnage of a single ship is far more than the Manila fleet.

, and luck every year.

Japan actually made outstanding contributions to the currency reform of the Ming Dynasty, which the Spanish could not match.

"Your Majesty, the Zen monks want to practice in Wutai Mountain and do not want to return to their country." Master Huikong looked troubled.

"Isn't the practice the same everywhere?" Shao Shude smiled.

"If you practice diligently in Mount Wutai and die in China, you can be a Chinese in the next life and live in Mount Wutai forever," Master Huikong said.

Shao Shude was silent, this monk's obsession is so deep. I heard that there are many Indians in the "Hall of Fame" in Mount Wutai, and they come here one by one and never leave, wanting to meet Manjushri Bodhisattva. Damn, if you have a business mind, this cliff is a great place.

A pilgrimage tourist destination.

"I heard that Master Huihe once returned home carrying Buddha statues from Mount Wutai. I can ask someone to give you two Buddha statues from Mount Wutai, as well as hundreds of volumes of scriptures translated by eminent monks, for you to take back home. How about it?" Shao Shude set out the conditions and asked.

Huikong thought about it silently, and it seemed pretty good. You can come back after you go back. So he responded: "The Zen people will obey the orders of His Majesty the Emperor."

Shao Shude was overjoyed and immediately summoned Lu Siye and ordered him to draft an order and send it to Hangzhou. He asked Qian Liu to select Mingzhou businessmen and twenty sailors who had been to Japan to go to Haizhou to obey the order.

This time, he planned to ask the Ping Navy to send a ship to carry the goods and Master Huikong back to Japan.

He doesn't care whether Japan resumes sending envoys to the Tang Dynasty or to the Xia Dynasty. He prefers that the trade between the two countries can reach a new level. The more the better.

Without enough precious metals, it would be difficult or even impossible to develop a larger-scale handicraft industry or a simple machine industry.

The simplest example is commodity prices.

In the pre-Tang Dynasty, if there was a good harvest, the price of millet would even drop to two or three cents. History books considered it a peaceful and prosperous era. But in Shao Shude's view, this was severe deflation.

There is very little metal currency in circulation. If someone casts a large amount of Buddha statues and makes copperware, causing a shortage of money in the market, coupled with a bumper grain harvest, such ridiculous prices will appear.

In many tombs unearthed since the Northern Dynasties, a large number of Eastern Roman gold coins were found buried with the tomb owners, which shows how tight precious metals were at that time.

Shao Shude has been promoting accounting currency in Fang City for 20 years. Today, the price of grain in Luoyang has basically remained within the range of 20 to 30 yuan per dou, and 30 to 40 yuan per dou. The shortage of money among the people has been greatly alleviated.

But this is not enough.

Without a price revolution, there can be no industrial revolution. When the monetary system is in a mess, it is impossible for you to still develop industry.
Chapter completed!