My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 184 Cultivating the Comprador Class
The little tricks of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in private naturally did not escape Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, and the Goryeo model proposed by Cui Wenyuan to the Northern and Southern Dynasties made him very happy.

This Cui Wenyuan is quite smart. Unlike those teachers in the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple who can only study books and memorize rituals, he was able to think of so many things just from my suggestion. This shows that this boy is worth cultivating.

According to the information provided by Mao Xiang, the Japanese and Chinese dynasties' spying on the industrial secrets of the Ming Dynasty was becoming more and more rampant, and they would soon be able to close the net.

Although they did not obtain any useful information, and Liu Sanwu gave Bei Chao a bunch of useless waste paper, Bei Chao spent several hundred taels of gold for this, and thought he had picked up a great bargain.

Of course, all this money went into the Ming Dynasty's treasury. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's idea, this money would be most suitable for use as funds for technological improvements in the Military Equipment Bureau.

I remember watching the anti-Japanese video and there was a saying: If we don’t have guns or cannons, the enemy will make them for us!

Although a few hundred taels of gold is just a drop in the bucket for the Ming Dynasty's huge weapons manufacturing industry.

There are various signs that the envoys from the two dynasties of Japan are gradually losing their patience, and Cui Wenyuan is taking advantage of the hostility between the two dynasties to play both sides, making them like ants on a hot pan, running around in circles and unable to find a way out.

This was exactly the effect Zhu Yuanzhang wanted. Now the initiative was completely in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and Cui Wenyuan also proposed the Goryeo model at a perfect time. So it was time to negotiate with the two dynasties on the model of the tribute system.

Those who are capable should be given more work. Let Cui Wenyuan preside over the negotiations with the Japanese delegation.

"Mr. Cui, are you clear about what I mean?"

Cui Wenyuan could not be left to figure out the specific goals that the Ming Dynasty wanted to achieve on his own. After all, there were many new concepts. Even Zhu Yuanzhang himself only understood them after hearing Li Han's explanation.

Of course, he had to explain everything to Cui Wenyuan in detail. Sometimes Zhu Yuanzhang felt that when dealing with ministers, he was more like a teacher, and he had to teach them everything step by step.

It's like using commodities to control Japan's market step by step, and then using currency to control Japan's economy. I'm afraid only one and a half people in the entire Ming Dynasty understand these concepts.

One of them was naturally Zhu Yuanzhang himself, and the other half was the Minister of Revenue Yang Siyi.

If Cui Wenyuan were left to ponder this knowledge on his own, he would never achieve anything in his lifetime.

Sometimes he also felt that what the Ming Dynasty lacked most now was talent!

We are short of technical talents, economic talents, diplomatic talents... We need to speed up the training of talents.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang understood the principle that it takes ten years to grow a tree and a hundred years to cultivate a person, and these things cannot be rushed.

Cui Wenyuan tried hard to digest what Zhu Yuanzhang taught him. What is a market? What is currency circulation? These things were never taught by the saints!

As expected of His Majesty, you know so much!

It took me a long time to figure out what His Majesty meant, which was that the Ming Dynasty wanted to use commodities and banknotes to initially control the Japanese archipelago.

As for why goods and banknotes could control a country, Cui Wenyuan had no idea about these questions. Of course, he didn't need to understand them completely, as long as the Japanese could accept them.

"Your Majesty, please forgive my stupidity. Isn't the comprador the purchasing envoy of our Ming Dynasty? Why can Ming Dynasty gradually achieve control over Japan through the comprador? I don't quite understand. Please enlighten me, Your Majesty." At this time, when Cui Wenyuan faced Zhu Yuanzhang, he was more like a student facing a teacher, with an open mind to seek advice.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also happy to pass on this knowledge to his ministers, which always gave him a slight sense of superiority that "I know more than you."

"This comprador is not that comprador, Cui Shaoqing, please listen carefully. I will give you a simple example and you will understand."

"Your Majesty, I am all ears." Cui Wenyuan quickly pricked up his ears and became fully alert.

"For example, at this time in Japan, due to the division between the north and the south, the people's farming was greatly affected and food was extremely scarce. If Japan wanted to obtain more food, what ways could it have?"

Your Majesty is testing me. Cui Wenyuan thought about it and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, there are only two ways for Japan to obtain extra food. One is to work hard on farming, but due to years of war, this way will not be feasible in the short term.

If we want to get more food, we can only go through the second way and buy it from abroad. Japan is surrounded by the sea, and is surrounded only by Goryeo, Ryukyu and our Ming Dynasty. Ryukyu is composed of several small islands with not much arable land, and its food must also be purchased from Ming Dynasty, so Ryukyu can be ruled out.

Then only Goryeo and Ming are left, and now Goryeo is actually part of Ming territory, so the only source of food for Japan is Ming!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with satisfaction. Although Cui Wenyuan was young, his understanding of the outside world was much better than those teachers.

In Lao Li's words, this young man has some understanding of the international situation.

"Very good. Now you, Cui Shaoqing, are a Japanese businessman. You have an opportunity to trade with the Ming Dynasty. You are eligible to buy grain from the Ming Dynasty and sell it to Japan. Who will you choose to sell it to?"

Your Majesty's example is very easy to understand. At this time, Cui Wenyuan is trying to put himself into the role of "Japanese merchant". A Japanese merchant who can buy grain from the Ming Dynasty, who will he sell the grain to?
The first thing he thought of was to sell it to the people. Suddenly, he realized that his role at this moment was not an official of the Ming Dynasty, but a profit-seeking Japanese businessman!

As a businessman, of course I will sell to whoever has money!
Who has money in Japan today?
The answer is ready to come out.

"Your Majesty, if I were a Japanese merchant, I would choose to sell the grain to the shogunate or the royal family, and secondly to the daimyo of the local separatist regimes!"

At this point, Cui Wenyuan suddenly had an idea in his mind, as if he had thought of something, but the idea was gone in a flash and he could not grasp the key point.

"So after you make money from the grain trade, what will you do next?"

Zhu Yuanzhang guided Cui Wenyuan step by step to think for himself, just like Li Han had taught him before, which made him feel a sense of accomplishment.

"I will find ways to make myself the only grain merchant in Japan. No matter whether it is the shogunate or the royal family, or the daimyo or the common people, they can only buy grain from me!"

Suddenly, Cui Wenyuan raised his head abruptly. He grasped the flash of inspiration in his mind and finally realized the significance of Ming Dynasty setting up compradors in Japan!

"Your Majesty, I understand!"

Cui Wenyuan said excitedly: "If I, as a Japanese businessman, want to continue making money, or even become the only grain businessman in Japan, then he must obey the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty controls his grain channels!
This is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty controlling the entire Japanese grain supply by controlling the compradors who buy and sell grain! "

(End of this chapter)