I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 483 Gold!!!

Gold?
All the civil and military officials were in an uproar, all showing an expression of disbelief. How many taels of gold would one hundred and twenty boxes weigh?
Zhu Houzhao felt very frustrated that he had been guessed right away. He ordered: "Tear off the seal and let all the ministers see it with their own eyes."

One box was opened, revealing gold sand. Another box was opened, revealing gold sand again.
After opening more than a dozen boxes, all the ministers became numb and no longer questioned the gains from this voyage.

Zhu Houxuan said: "This time we went to sea, we brought back more than 350,000 taels of gold."

The boxes containing gold were not big, only about six liters, but the gold inside weighed 110 kilograms. If it were heavier, two people would not be able to lift it. The 120 boxes weighed a total of 13.2 tons, which was equivalent to more than taels of Ming Dynasty gold.

Zhu Houzhao said happily: "Even though I already know this number, I am still shocked to hear it again. I heard that this voyage was a life-and-death experience. More than 20% of the crew died, and those who survived were all sick and injured. As the saying goes, the emperor does not lack hungry soldiers. Such casualties should be rewarded."

Zhu Houxuan said: "I thank your Majesty on behalf of the crew! Your Majesty, rest assured, I have already made arrangements."

No one paid any attention to the conversation between Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Houxun, because all the civil and military officials were stunned by the figure of 350,000 taels!
In the early Ming Dynasty, the official gold-silver exchange rate was 1:4, and in the early years of the Zhengde reign, it had become 1:5. In recent years, with the increase in the number of open sea ports and the continuous influx of foreign silver, the private gold-silver exchange rate has become 1:6.

More than 350,000 taels of gold, converted into silver, is nearly 2.1 million taels of silver!
Even the calm and composed Liang Chu was dumbfounded at this moment. After a while, he asked: "Captain Chen, how did you find so much gold in one trip to the sea?"

Yang Yiqing also asked: "Don't the Tawan Ting Sulong Kingdom treasure gold, so they gave so much?"

Chen Lang replied: "The Tawanting Sulong Kingdom also likes gold and silver, and these gold sands have nothing to do with them. I have said before that the place where the fleet landed was named Xinjin Mountain by us. Xinjin Mountain is a barren land with no owner, only tribes that eat raw meat and drink blood. There are two rivers in the northeast of Xinjin Mountain, and there is a lot of gold in the rivers. The natives along the river don't know the value of gold and silver, so I let them pan for gold and then exchange them with axes. When the axes are almost exchanged, I will trade with steel knives, cloth, silk and other items."

All the ministers were shocked. A bunch of ordinary things were exchanged for 2.1 million taels of silver. They were indeed a bunch of brainless savages.

Yang Tinghe asked in confusion: "Two rivers yielded 350,000 taels of gold?"

Chen Lang said: "Mr. Yang, you don't know that there are so many gold sands there that they are golden when the sun shines on them. Therefore, the sailors call one of the two rivers the Flowing Gold River and the other the Flashing Gold River. Thousands of natives have mined so much gold sand in just a few months. If we go there again next time, I'm afraid it won't be so convenient because there won't be much gold sand left in the nearby river sections. However, I sent people to explore upstream and found that there is gold sand for dozens of miles upstream!"

The hall was filled with an uproar and all the ministers were shocked. There were still dozens of miles of river sections full of gold sand waiting to be mined!

Many people's first reaction was disbelief, but seeing Chen Lang's calm look and the boxes of gold sand in the hall, they couldn't help but believe it to some extent.

The gold rush in the United States attracted about 300,000 people to pan for gold, and the annual output of gold mines in California was close to 40 tons. This was just an average of ten years. In the first two years, it was easy to pan for gold, and the annual output was probably 50 to 60 tons. These data are from the official data, and there is also a lot of gold that is directly traded among the people, which is not included in this data.

And fifty tons, converted into Ming Dynasty system, is about 1.34 million taels!
(Note: Of the 300,000 American gold prospectors, the first 10,000 were the ones who really got rich. Gold prospecting was just like picking up gold in the river. Although the later prospectors were also able to find gold and earn several times more than working, the prices there increased by more than ten times, so in the end they were still worse than working. What's even more ridiculous is that unscrupulous merchants raised the price on the spot. For example, when drinking in a tavern, the owner only charged gold and not money.)
Zhu Houzhao was very proud: "After one trip to the sea, we brought back more than 350,000 taels of gold. Yang Ge Lao, are you still worried about the treasury being empty?"

Upon hearing this, the Minister of Revenue Shi Jie was overjoyed and quickly said, "Your Majesty, will all this gold go into the national treasury?" Zhu Houzhao's face turned embarrassed, and then he looked at Zhu Houxuan.

Zhu Houxuan glanced at Shi Jie calmly and said, "The expedition fleet is fully funded by the Royal Group, so all the profits belong to the Royal Group."

Shi Jie's face immediately turned dark. Although the Ministry of Revenue's annual revenue had increased in recent years, it was no longer comparable to that of the Royal Group.

Although the Royal Group has never announced its annual profits, just looking at the speed at which the Royal Group spends money, you can tell that its annual profits have exceeded the income of the Ministry of Revenue (here refers to the income in silver, excluding the in-kind taxes collected by the Ministry of Revenue).

The military expenses of the Imperial Guards for these six years were almost all paid by the Royal Group. Although Zhu Houxuan took the annual salt tax from the Ministry of Revenue and gave it to the Imperial Guards, the salt tax was also paid by the Royal Group.

Now almost everyone knows that the income of the Ministry of Revenue is only enough to cover daily expenses, and the remaining money can only be used for repairs. If they really want to do big things, they have to rely on the Royal Group.

"Then your highness, what are you going to do with so much gold?" Shi Jie said with a dark face.

"Just for you to see," Zhu Houxuan said with his hands spread out.

"You" Shi Jie said angrily.

Zhu Houzhao was amused and burst into laughter again.

Zhu Houxuan would never give this gold to the Ministry of Revenue. In his hands, this gold would not be worth just 210 million taels of silver. Once this gold was in the vault of the Royal Bank, it could be used to issue silver dollar notes with a value three times that of 630 million taels of silver and a face value of million.

After opening up the Pacific route, Zhu Houxuan decided to slowly turn to a radical monetary policy. With the gold and silver from America as a backing, the people in the Ming Dynasty could not calculate how much gold and silver he had, so he could naturally be more radical.
Yang Tinghe looked worried. Liang Chu was now close to Zhu Houxuan and was considered a reformist. He could only unite the conservatives, so he could only bite the bullet and say, "Your Majesty just said that more than 20% of the sailors who went out to sea died, and everyone who survived was injured and sick. Although gold is valuable, human life is priceless. We must reduce the number of voyages and bring back more gold sand each time."

Zhu Houxuan suddenly said: "Many crew members died because of the corruption of fresh water. The Royal Group is studying the art of water storage, which may reduce casualties at sea."

Zhu Houzhao said: "If you can gain something by then, I will certainly reward you generously.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" said Zhu Houxuan.

(End of this chapter)