Hangzhou.

Ships of silk finally left the port, and many Persian, Roman, and Arab merchants were extremely excited. Arab and Persian Sassanthesanthes, Persian Sassanthesanthes, Rome, Tang and Tianzhu Jienn, wars continued, seriously affected the inflow of Eastern silk.

The price of silk has been rising again and again, and the Tang Dynasty also had a civil war. Silk in Suzhou and Hangzhou, the main silk production area, was unable to go to sea, which made the price of silk in the West rise sharply.

Now, Constantinople, the price of a pound of silk, reached twelve pounds of gold, and is still rising.

Because of the shortage of silk and the rapid price of price, there were many emperors' silk farms in Constantinople. They asked workers to decompose the silk from the Tang Dynasty and dismantle it into extremely thin silk threads, then mix it with twine, weave it into yarn, dye it, embroider it, and sell it on the Mediterranean coast at a high price, and sell it to Egypt and other places.

This price has increased by many times than before.

A few years ago, Persians and Romans purchased raw silk transported by Datang merchant ships in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. One pound of raw silk was four cents of gold, so it was perfect for the old man to be honest.

But now, finished silk can sell twelve times the weight of silk.

At this time, silk was no longer monopolized by China. The Persians and Romans mastered the silk production technology. The silk they woven was called Persian brocade, which was also very distinctive. They even sold it to Chang'an and Hanjing.

However, although they have obtained silkworm spinning technology for decades, their scale cannot be compared with China. The Tang Dynasty's silk has a huge number of silk and has an overwhelming advantage in scale. Not only did they produce finished silk, but they also produced silk, brocade and various silk fabrics.

It occupies the vast majority of the silk market.

When the Tang Dynasty reduced its export volume due to war, demand in the Western market was not met and prices rose rapidly.

Because Persia was between the Central Plains and Rome, it has always been a silk re-export trader. I don’t know how much money it made in Rome. For the profit of the silk trade, Rome and Persia fought many wars.

During the reign of Justinian the Great, the Persians cut off the supply of silk to Rome, resulting in the increase of each pound of ordinary raw silk to eight gold stones, which is equivalent to one ounce of gold in the Tang Dynasty. Later, Justinian was forced to surrender to Persia and paid 11,000 pounds of Roman gold coins to Persia every year as an agency fee for continuing to supply silk as Persia.

Later, the Western Turks controlled the Western Regions, obtained silk from the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, and crossed Persia to trade directly with Rome. The Persians were furious and poisoned the Turkic envoys, which led to the Turks and Persians turning against each other and supporting Rome to go to war with Persia.

Now, under the great navigation technology of the Tang Dynasty, various silk goods are directly sold to various countries. The export countries include Zhenla, Piao Kingdom, Langya Xiu, Kata, Srivod, Lion Kingdom, as well as India, as well as Arabia, Persia, Rome, etc., and are also sold to Xueyantu, Khitan, Shiwei, Silla, Baekje, Japan and other countries in the north.

The silk of the Tang Dynasty has become a commodity that nobles and rich people all over the world are pursuing. If you can't afford to wear Tang Dynasty silk, then you can't be called a rich man or aristocrat, you will be very shameless.

"The amount of silk exported this year has dropped sharply, but the money is earned more than last year."

Chengqian looked at the tariff books collected by Hangzhou Maritime and was amazed. The tariffs alone cost so much, and the weaving bureau responsible for silk production made more.

People plant mulberry trees and silkworms, and then merchants collect cocoons and weave them into silk.

According to regulations, these produced silks must be sold to the weaving bureau of the court, either processed, printed and dyed, or directly exported.

Some of the raw silk or silk purchased were directly sold to Persian merchants, Roman merchants, Arab merchants, Srivers, etc. who came to buy silk, and some were directly sold to traders such as Nanyang Company. The weaving bureau would also hand over some of the silk products to silk companies in the court and sell them to various foreign countries.

This regulation is actually the court that needs to make money by doing it.

Although the price is not entirely decided by the Weaving Bureau, they are indeed the dominant leader in this industry.

This was a reform plan proposed by Ma Zhou, and finally obtained Zhang Chao's consent. All parties in the silk industry must make money, and they cannot let the court watch it, and only collect some taxes.

The Weaving Bureau and the Silk Company are both state-owned.

"Market laws." Zhang Chao said with a smile.

Wars are all in Europe, North Africa, Central Asia and other places, and even South Asia and Southeast Asia are also in wars, and wars are going on everywhere, of course it is different.

"But countless of us are busy planting mulberry trees and silkworms, textile trafficking. The most fertile land in Jiangsu and Hangzhou in Jiangnan has now planted mulberry trees. We transported these silks overseas and exchanged them for gold and silver. Is it really worth it? Gold and silver cannot be eaten when hungry and cannot be worn when cold."

Chengqian asked a question.

"Your Majesty, trade brings gold and silver, and gold and silver are also wealth. The Tang Dynasty has a lot of land and materials. Even if a large amount of mulberry and textile is planted in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it will not affect food security. And when our silk weaving industry develops, the large amount of gold and silver that is exchanged for itself is wealth. Furthermore, the merchants and the people of the silk weaving industry are rich, and the court has also gained a lot of money in participating in business and tax collection."

"The court uses these taxes and benefits to maintain the army, establish education, and build water conservancy, which is not only a powerful country, but also a reduction in the burden on the people. Furthermore, with farmers and merchants, the prices of agricultural products such as grain can also rise a little, and low grain will hurt farmers. When the economy is booming, the prices of agricultural industries will rise a little, which is actually protecting the interests of the vast majority of farmers."

Now the exports of the Tang Dynasty are basically trade surplus.

Whether it is silk, tea, porcelain, sugar, paper, glass, spices, weapons and armor, they are extremely popular, or even exclusive products.

The trade between the great powers such as Rome and Persia was basically in a deficit with the Tang Dynasty. At most, the ones they could sell to the Tang Dynasty were slaves and some raw materials. These things did not have too many additional prices and were very cheap.

As a result, they can only use gold, silver and even copper as deficit compensation.

Nowadays, a large amount of gold, silver, copper, and slaves flow into the Tang Dynasty every year. Then these gold, silver and copper were continuously minted into currency by the mint.

Although Zhang Chao said that the Tang Dynasty cannot do without paper money, metal currency cannot do without it. The gold, silver, copper coins they have more reserves, and the credit of paper money is safer.

Many people now say that trade is getting bigger and bigger, which is not a good thing. They think that the exchanged gold, silver, copper, gems, and other golds are of no value at all.

This statement is too shallow.

Although gold and silver cannot be eaten or worn, he can change food and clothing. Daxing trade has driven many industries, such as textile processing industry, transportation industry, maritime trade, etc. Countless people are sharing dividends, and the court also collects taxes in one link, making a lot of money.

The same goes for the saying, if the court makes money and has gold and silver, it depends on how to spend it.

If you just save it, that money is not worth it. At most, it will increase the credit security of some paper money.

Just like in history, the Spanish kept digging gold and silver in the New World to transport them back, but the royal family and nobles only knew how to enjoy the gold and silver.

The consequence is that Spain's prices have risen sharply, and the lives of the people in the country are even more difficult.

However, Britain, France and other countries have become places for the Spanish royal family and aristocrats to buy. Britain and France have developed their own industrial system by producing various commodities for Spain and quickly became stronger.

When Spain eventually went bankrupt, Britain and France became the new overlords of Europe, one sea and one continent.

The Tang Dynasty made money through trade, but the key is how to use it.

Establishing education, strengthening the army, building road maintenance and water conservancy, etc. are all infrastructure construction and the key to the take-off of a great country.

The gold and silver in the hands of the court can also purchase the grain, cloth, silk, etc. from the hands of the people, which can not only stabilize market prices, protect the interests of farmers and workers, but also increase the country's real wealth storage.

With money, the court can support more foreign development, open up more territory, and give more land to the people...

This has a bit of mercantilist meaning, but it is not all.

"When we have money, we can support him ten, eight or even a dozen armies, and build him five or six fleets."

"When you have money, all the children of the Tang Dynasty will receive six or even nine years of compulsory education in the future."

"When you have money, more roads will be built after the Tang Dynasty, divided into national highways, state highways, county highways, and even rural roads."

“We can even build more hospitals, schools.”

Money is not omnipotent, but with money, the court can do a lot of things.

Cheng Qian was a little excited when he heard this.

In a happy moment.

An urgent message is delivered.

Chengqian took it and opened it.

The more I looked, the more solemn my face became, and finally I even whistled to the sky.

Zhang Chao and the others were all shocked.

"Your Highness, what happened?"

"Gu and him are irreconcilable, and their kindness is broken. From then on, Gu will never have that father again!" Cheng Qian roared angrily.

Zhang Chao quickly took the letter, and the more he read it, the more angry he became.

bristle!

The emperor killed Xia Hua, and when Xia Hua died, she was nearly six months pregnant.

Li Shimin announced that he would personally fight.

·······

"Beast!" Zhang Chao was so angry that he couldn't help but curse.

After the letter, Zhang Chao no longer cared about the news that Su Dingfang killed the three princes of Li Tai.

Li Shimin first killed one of his sons, now he killed another daughter, and even his unborn nephew.

"Teacher, I want to mobilize my troops and fight him to a decisive battle!"

"beat!"

Zhang Chao only replied with one word.

"Okay, now we will mobilize our troops and fight to Hanjing immediately!"

But Zhang Chao stopped Chengqian.

"Your Highness, we must fight, but we don't have to rush to Hanjing, we go to the estuary of the Yangtze River. He took the war, but the location of the decisive battle has to be decided by us."

"Don't he want to fight in person? This time, we will deal with him here!"

When he said this, Zhang Chao was so murderous that he was really angry. Before that, although Zhang Chao had raised an army, he had never thought of killing the lord.
Chapter completed!