Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 565 Michael's Scheme!

"The two currencies are pegged to a certain value so that merchants from both sides can conduct trade activities smoothly."

When Zhu Di got to this point, his tone changed slightly, and he said with a hint of contempt, "But if I may be frank, the currencies issued by most city-states and countries in Europe are, in my opinion, no different from garbage, and have no credibility whatsoever."

"After much thought, only the Ducat issued in Venice is qualified to be exchanged with the Ming Dynasty's Treasure Notes."

To ensure the unimpeded circulation and use of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes in Europe, establishing a binding relationship with Ducati, which already enjoys a high status and widespread circulation in Europe, is undoubtedly the best and fastest method.

However, Zhu Di knew very well that although he had just said "request" or "help," it was only a polite gesture. He couldn't let the other party think that he was asking for help and then use that to blackmail him. So, after saying that, Zhu Di immediately put forward new conditions.

"Of course, if Venice and the Ming Dynasty sign a currency swap agreement, then the Ming Dynasty will need to exercise certain oversight over the Ducat gold coins you issue."

"You must promise the Ming Dynasty that you will never issue gold coins indiscriminately, nor will you reduce the gold content of the gold coins."

"This currency swap agreement can stipulate the size and duration of the swap, such as a three- or five-year term, with a size of one million ducats or more. Once the agreed term is reached, a decision can be made on whether to renew it."

“If you abuse the issuance of Ducats, our Great Ming has the right to terminate the currency swap agreement.”

"Similarly, when the agreed time comes, both parties can review the agreement and decide whether to renew it."

Zhu Di calmly presented a series of demands.

When Michele heard him say that, her eyes lit up.

Maintaining the Ducat's dominant monetary status in Europe has always been a top priority for Venetian nobles, as it directly determines the lifeline of Venice's trade and economy.

As the Doge of Venice, this was also a heavy responsibility on Michele's shoulders.

Although Ducati has always held a high position in the European region.

Ultimately, Venice was just one city-state in Europe.

Its total population is less than one percent of that of Europe.

The currency it issued enjoys its current status entirely due to Europe's prosperous trade and extremely high reputation.

However, as long as Venice itself is not a powerful country, without military strength, population, economic value, and other such backing, whether the currency issued by Venice can gain recognition will always be a matter that requires a great deal of effort to maintain.

We must never slack off.

If a currency swap agreement could be signed with the Ming Dynasty, it would undoubtedly greatly solidify Ducat's position.

As the Doge of Venice and a shrewd businessman, Michele immediately recognized the enormous business opportunities hidden within Zhu Di's proposal.

Leveraging the Ming Dynasty's immense influence in the East, the Ducat gold coin was linked to the Ming Dynasty's paper money.

The potential profits... Michele's heart was instantly filled with turmoil, and the wine glass in her hand began to shake violently with excitement, almost spilling the wine.

But he quickly concealed his excitement, regained his composure, and smiled, saying, "This is a wonderful proposal that would be of great benefit to both of us."

Michele's tone changed rapidly, and her expression became solemn: "However, this is undoubtedly a major event with far-reaching implications."

"Although I am the Doge of Venice, I cannot act arbitrarily. Such an important decision needs to be reviewed and approved by the Parliament."

Michele said, "So I need more details."

"For example, how should the exchange value between the Ming Dynasty Treasure Note and the Dukat gold coin be determined?"

Michele still wore a gentle smile, but the content of her words had changed: "Although the Ming Dynasty Treasure Note has a high collectible value in Europe and is sought after by many people, as you know, once it is put into large-scale use as a currency, all of this will change."

“If your asking price is too high, we are afraid we will be unable to agree.”

Zhu Di cursed inwardly, thinking, "This guy really is a cunning old fox."

Just moments ago they were enthusiastically praising the collectible value of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes, but now, upon hearing about the proposed currency swap agreement, they've immediately changed their tune and started suppressing prices.

But this is normal.

It would be truly strange if Michele, as the Doge of Venice, didn't even have this much business acumen and strategic vision.

Europe is, after all, a relatively developed cultural region, and Venice has an even stronger commercial atmosphere with a long history of commercial culture, which in some ways even surpasses many regions of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the Chinese tradition for thousands of years was to "emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce," and the revitalization of commerce was a major policy shift implemented after Zhu Yunwen came to power.

Venice, on the other hand, is completely different.

This is a region that has been a commercial center since its founding.

While they may lack in other aspects, the shrewdness and calculation characteristic of merchants have long been ingrained in the blood of every Venetian, becoming an innate heritage.

As the governor of this city, needless to say.

"We are all in this for mutual benefit," Zhu Di said with a smile. "Of course I will not let Venice suffer any losses. On the contrary, I will only bring you countless wealth and benefits."

"As for determining the value of the currencies of both sides," Zhu Di pondered for a moment, then continued, "I am new here and do not yet know the actual purchasing power of Ducati here."

"Perhaps we can select some goods that both parties agree on and determine the value of the currency based on their value in their respective countries."

Michele nodded slightly and said, "A very good suggestion."

He waved his hand, and someone brought over a blue-and-white porcelain vase from the Ming Dynasty, saying, "This is a piece of Ming Dynasty porcelain from my family's collection. I wonder what its value is in your Ming Dynasty?"

Although the Ming Dynasty and Europe had never had direct trade relations before, they had indirect connections.

Porcelain from the Ming Dynasty was also sold to Europe through merchants.

However, any piece of porcelain that is sold to Europe changes hands many times.

On land, it was sold to Central Asia by merchants from the Hu region, and then transported to the far west by other merchants, eventually reaching Europe.

At sea, they were first sold to Southeast Asia, then to India, then to Persia, and then transported by land merchants to Europe.

No matter which path you take, the journey often takes more than a decade.

Due to their scarcity, a piece of porcelain from an ancient Eastern country can typically fetch an extremely high price in Europe.

Only top European nobles like Michele would collect such priceless and rare items.

Ordinary Europeans have never even seen one.

Zhu Di reached out and picked up the blue-and-white porcelain vase, examining it closely.

Although he was not good at appraising jewelry and antiques, as a son of royalty, he received a very good education from a young age.

Despite not being good at it, his basic skills are still beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Zhu Di immediately recognized it as a blue-and-white porcelain vase from the Yuan Dynasty.

Both the Song and Yuan dynasties adopted policies that encouraged overseas trade and had very frequent exchanges with the West.

The Pu family of the Yuan Dynasty were large merchants who specialized in overseas trade.

Despite being of non-Han ethnicity, Pu Shougeng served as the Director of Maritime Trade in Quanzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty. Through developing overseas trade, he amassed a vast fortune, becoming one of the wealthiest men in the Southern Song. Later, when the Yuan army marched south, Pu Shougeng surrendered to the Yuan and carried out a large-scale massacre of the Song imperial family.

After that, the Pu family was entrusted with important responsibilities by the Yuan Dynasty rulers because of their great merit in "slaughtering the Song and surrendering to the Yuan". The Pu family's power increased even more, and their trade business even reached Persia at one point.

It was during this period that a large number of Chinese porcelains, unique to China, were sold to the West through overseas trade.

After Zhu Yuanzhang seized power, he hated the Pu family, a family that gained favor with the Yuan rulers by massacring Han people, to the core. He ordered the Pu family's property to be confiscated and all their assets to be put to public use. He also issued an edict to severely punish the Pu family's descendants, with the men to be slaves for generations and the women to be prostitutes for generations.

After that, the once prosperous Pu family completely declined.

It is precisely because of this period of prosperous trade between East and West that the Michelet family has their collection of porcelain.

It must be said that the craftsmanship of this blue and white porcelain vase is extremely exquisite.

In the past, even within the Ming Dynasty, this item could fetch a fairly good price.

Unfortunately, times have changed.

Zhu Yunwen single-handedly ushered in the era of industrialization in the Ming Dynasty.

The production of these blue and white porcelain vases has also changed from relying on the individual skills of craftsmen to using scientific methods, breaking down the process into different steps and processes, and adopting an assembly line approach to produce them using standardized techniques.

This results in a tenfold or even dozens of times increase in production efficiency.

The price of blue and white porcelain vases naturally decreased as a result.

Of course, this blue and white porcelain vase in front of us is made during the Yuan Dynasty, so it is estimated to be sixty or seventy years old. It still has a little bit of cultural relic value, so the estimated price will be relatively high.

However, Zhu Di automatically ignored this point.

Since porcelain is used to assess monetary value, these kinds of random things cannot be included.

"The price of a blue and white porcelain vase used to be around six thousand wen when it was exported from the Ming Dynasty," Zhu Di said with a smile. "However, since Your Majesty has taken the throne, the production of this item has increased significantly, and the price has naturally continued to decline."

Glancing at Michele, Zhu Di smiled and said, "Using this to measure the monetary value of both parties is a very difficult thing."

“I have a price list of tribute from the Ming Dynasty from the past, which may be useful for reference.”

"Although His Majesty is now implementing new policies and the original tributary system is no longer applicable, it can still be used to measure the value of goods."

As he spoke, he immediately ordered his men to fetch it.

When Zhu Di came to Europe, he brought many books with him.

This was also an essential item that many vassal kings took with them when they were exiled overseas.

You can leave everything else behind, but books are a must.

Otherwise, wouldn't it make them look like descendants of the royal family who are actually uncultured?
These books are not purely historical records, or poems and novels; many are also various classical texts and materials.

It covers everything from records of mountains and rivers to various foods, and even the regulations of the imperial court.

His men quickly brought it over, and Zhu Di opened it and looked at it. He said to Michele, "The writing in the Ming Dynasty is different from that in Europe. I'm afraid the Governor-General won't be able to understand it."

“I can explain it to you.”

"For example, the price of ivory is about six coins per pound. A 50-pound ivory tusk would cost about three hundred coins."

In reality, ivory was worth far more than that in the Ming Dynasty.

However, Zhu Di used the pricing system within the official tributary system.

The tribute system of the Ming Dynasty was ostensibly characterized by "generous gifts and meager returns".

After all, the Ming Dynasty was a land of propriety and righteousness, and it could not allow the countries that came to pay tribute to suffer losses. It had to demonstrate its generosity and magnanimity.

This is the official statement.

In fact, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty were afraid that the emperor would, like Emperor Yang of Sui, desperately try to put on a show of wealth in front of foreign tribes, so they developed a special valuation system for this purpose.

Goods like ivory, which were brought as tribute from abroad to the Ming Dynasty, were generally valued very little.

Conversely, goods produced in the Ming Dynasty are valued much more highly.

According to the prices set by the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty, the pepper imported from abroad cost more than 30 wen per catty, but the musk produced by the Ming Dynasty itself was valued at more than 18,000 wen per catty.

The waist knife presented as tribute by the barbarians was only worth a little over thirty coins.

An iron pot produced in the Ming Dynasty cost more than 1,800 coins.

The price of a single iron pot produced in the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to that of sixty foreign swords!

The price of a foreign bow was only a little over twenty coins, and it would take nearly eighty foreign bows to exchange for a Ming Dynasty iron pot.

And so on.

In any case, the Ming Dynasty decides how to value it.

The civil officials were quite shrewd in this regard, driving down the price of the other party's goods to the brink of collapse while desperately raising the price of their own.

First, establish this pricing system, and then demonstrate the "generosity" of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming emperors would usually reward foreigners with twice the value of their gifts.

For example, according to the price set by the civil officials, the barbarians presented eight hundred bows as tribute, and the Ming Dynasty should exchange them for ten iron pots.

However, the Ming Dynasty was a land of propriety and righteousness, and "give generously and receive sparingly in return," so it was possible to reward the barbarians with twenty iron pots.

In this way, His Majesty the Emperor's generosity is demonstrated, and the Ming Dynasty will not suffer any loss.

This is why Zhu Di specifically brought out a list of tribute prices.

Even though the original tributary system had already changed long after Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne.

Michele had no idea of ​​the intricacies involved, but after hearing Zhu Di's words, he began to ponder them.

A 50-pound ivory tusk can fetch around 300 ducats in Venice, and the price is still rising.

Based on this calculation, one copper coin in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to one ducat.
Michele felt the price was reasonable.

Of course, other items are needed for reference, such as ironware and food.

Zhu Di did not hide anything, and took out the iron swords he carried with him as examples to illustrate the price of ironware of the same quality in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, in order to increase the purchasing power of the Ming Dynasty's paper money, he intentionally quoted a slightly lower price for ironware in the Ming Dynasty.

……

(End of this chapter)