Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 244 Now we have money to fight!
"Report—the hidden storage has been identified!"

"It's full of silver! Silver!!"

Before an hour had passed, the Imperial Guards and the Taoist priest rushed back to Sihai Residence, their faces beaming with elation.

After hearing their description, Haiyue's gaze sharpened: "Is there silver stored in the secret vault?"

In the eighth year of the Jiajing reign, when the Ming court promulgated the Single Whip Law, it officially recognized silver as legal tender. Before that, copper coins or silk were the only circulating currencies.

The Single Whip Law failed because Gui E greatly overestimated the liquidity of silver among the people. The original purpose of the new policy was to reduce the burden of taxes and levies on the people, but because they had no silver, they were forced to sell their grain after the autumn harvest and exchange it for silver from wealthy households. The wealthy households naturally took the opportunity to lower the price of grain, which led to a sharp drop in grain prices. The practice of selling cheaply and buying expensively resulted in widespread suffering among the people.

This predicament, let alone in the early Jiajing period, was still unresolved even fifty years later during Zhang Juzheng's reforms; it was only alleviated to a certain extent.

Because the amount of silver in private hands is indeed increasing every year.

Despite the imperial court's strict enforcement of the maritime ban, the constant movement of Portuguese merchant ships in Guangzhou Prefecture, and the repeated petitions from Governor Lin Fu to reopen maritime trade, all indicate the undercurrents of private trade.

Through the Manila Galleon trade route, approximately fifty tons of silver flowed into China annually via smuggling channels. By the end of the Wanli era, this overseas silver had supported 60% of the Ming Dynasty's annual revenue, a truly astonishing figure.

The influx of silver from abroad has not yet reached that point, but the fact that the Liyuan Society's warehouses have a large amount of silver stored up is enough to make people think.

As Haiyue pondered, Fan Jing'an's arrogant voice rang out: "Well? Am I wrong?"

Yan Shifan and Zhao Wenhua exchanged a strange glance.

I've seen plenty of spineless prisoners, but this is the first time I've seen one who confesses so readily and even boasts about it afterwards.

"It seems you haven't wasted your time in the Liyuan Society all these years."

Haiyue nodded slightly in encouragement, but then added, "However, I never expected that Tian Shi Yuan would be so severely divided internally!"

Fan Jing'an was still smug when he heard the first half of the sentence, but his expression changed again when he heard the second half: "You! How do you even know this..."

"It's obvious that such a large amount of silver could not have been obtained by the Fan family alone. The families behind these two hidden warehouses must be connected to the coastal areas."

Haiyue pointed out: "Your Fan family has accumulated quite a few conflicts with those families over time, which is why you secretly kept an eye on things and remembered where your rivals' warehouses are, and now you're exposing them directly!"

Fan Jing'an remained silent.

The saying goes that those in the same trade are enemies. During the Ming Dynasty, merchants were extremely united by their regional ties, and when conflicts arose, they would not back down an inch.

For example, the competition between the North and the South over salt permits involved countless bloody battles both on and off the stage.

Based on the "Open Market Law" during the Hongwu era, Shanxi merchants monopolized salt permits in the north by exchanging grain for permits. However, after Ye Qi's reforms in the fifth year of the Hongzhi era, Huizhou merchants gained an advantage by exchanging silver for transport permits, and the salt permits of Lianghuai were monopolized by Huizhou merchants, which exacerbated the backlog of salt permits for northern border merchants.

In addition, there was the dispute between Huai salt and Guang salt over the sales rights in southern Jiangxi and southern Hunan, which triggered the "Huai-Yue Dispute". Fujian and Guangdong merchants used the Grand Canal to smuggle Guang salt northwards, and so on.

It's truly a case of one act ending and another beginning.

The Fan family's role was very clear: they were border merchants, only allowed to trade with foreign tribes. The goods they dealt with included horses, ironware, furs, and medicinal herbs. Decades later, they even dared to smuggle weapons, grain, and intelligence directly, but silver was not among them.

The Mongols had no need for silver; only the wealthy coastal regions craved this currency, which was much lighter than copper coins and more stable than paper money.

Give him paper and a pen!

In light of this, Haiyue waved her hand: "Write down all the merchants in Tian Shi Yuan that you know. The Fan family is finished, so there should be more to go down with them, right?"

Fan Jing'an was stunned as he looked at the paper and pen handed to him.

Isn't this too direct?
You're not even going to review it, you're just telling me to write it...

The key point is that he himself doesn't seem to want to resist anymore.

That's how the bottom line is broken step by step.

Having already revealed the location of the Heavenly Market Enclosure and the identities of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, why would they grit their teeth and endure the eighteen tortures in the Imperial Prison at this point?
But the problem is, even after explaining it this way, he still felt unsatisfied.

After hesitating for a long time, Fan Jing'an's eyes suddenly lit up, and he grinned maliciously: "Fine! I'll write it! I'll write it!"

As he spoke, he actually picked up his pen and began to write rapidly.

The sheet of paper was quickly used up, and the clerk offered another one.

And so, under everyone's watchful eyes, he wrote for more than a dozen pages before stopping, chuckling with a mocking smile: "I dare to write! Do you dare to investigate!"

"Shen Cangyuan of Zhouzhuang, also known as 'Haiyanke,' had a 'Guishui' tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. He used his connections with the Liyuan Society's grain transport guild to hide Zhouzhuang silk in the hull of a grain ship, which then traveled along the Grand Canal to Ningbo's outer harbor to exchange it for silver with the Japanese... Under the guise of a Buddhist ceremony, he smuggled 5,000 catties of pig iron into fake statues and transported them to Fujian to privately mint cannons..."

Haiyue took them and unfolded them one by one to examine them closely.

"The Shen family of Zhouzhuang, the Hua family of Wuxi, the Cheng family of Huizhou, the Pan family of Huizhou..."

Yan Shifan and Zhao Wenhua approached from either side, their expressions turning extremely grave as they looked at the shocking names on the list.

These powerful families had long surpassed the category of ordinary wealthy households; each of them was a behemoth that dominated their respective regions.

Even seemingly lowly merchants, through marriage alliances with officials and the scholars they sponsored, forged solid political networks, intertwined with each other, spreading like a spider web throughout the court and the country. Zhao Wenhua, born into a wealthy family in Zhejiang, had previously considered resigning from his official post to return home and live a life of leisure as a rich old man. Even with such a background, he was nowhere near comparable to the families mentioned above.

He immediately understood the source of the sarcasm in Fan Jing'an's expression—

Regardless of the veracity of this confession, even if they possess irrefutable evidence, how could these deeply entrenched powerful clans be shaken by officials like themselves?

Zhao Wenhua was the first to pull his head back, and Yan Shifan's eyes darted around, wanting to follow suit, but he saw Haiyue looking on and sighing, "The national treasury is empty, yet these parasites do whatever they want. When will the world be at peace and we be able to establish unparalleled achievements?"

"what?"

Yan Shifan's eyes flickered, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

silver……

National Treasury...

Making contributions...

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He couldn't hear what Haiyue and Fan Jing'an were saying next, but he read the testimonies several times to make sure he understood them. Suddenly, he leaned over and said, "Mingwei, I have some things to take care of. I'll go back first!"

"it is good!"

Haiyue nodded, a slight smile playing on her lips, while Zhao Wenhua watched her hurried departure with a puzzled expression.

Meanwhile, Yan Shifan hurriedly rushed home and went straight to his study.

Fortunately, the elderly father, Yan Song, is taking a break today.

Unfortunately, when Yan Song saw him panting, his face darkened again, and his hands began to itch: "You were nowhere to be seen early this morning, and now you're acting so rashly, what kind of behavior is this?"

"Father, today is the first day that I have wiped out the White Lotus Sect traitors of Li Yuan!"

Yan Shifan first triggered the passive state, and then immediately said, "That's not the most important thing. The important thing is that I have an idea, a good solution for the empty national treasury!"

"Oh? Tell me in detail!"

Yan Song narrowed his eyes slightly, picked up his teacup, and began to listen.

As Yan Shifan recounted his story, especially as Fan Jing'an confessed to numerous crimes committed by wealthy merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Yan Song's expression grew increasingly grave. Finally, he asked in a deep voice, "You want to confiscate their property?"

"Yes!"

Yan Shifan nodded repeatedly: "The national treasury is empty now. Grand Secretary Zhang and his colleagues have been implementing new policies for several years, but they have not been able to turn the tide. That's why the war in Annam was fought so hastily. They wanted a quick victory and dared not delay! Originally, there was no way to solve this problem, but now those powerful families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been implicated in the treasonous crime of Li Yuanshe. They have walked right into the line of fire. We only need to confiscate a few of their property to provide the soldiers' pay at the front."

"You're oversimplifying this..."

Yan Song slowly shook his head. This kind of thing, which involves confiscating property and exterminating clans, is ultimately against the will of Heaven and the people. Civil officials and upright officials have always disdained to do it—after all, they are not the lackeys of those Embroidered Uniform Guards.

The key question is: will the instigator have no descendants?

If you go too far today, who knows if your own relatives will also be accused of treason in the future?

When serving in the same court, it's like being on the same boat; one should always leave some room for maneuver.

Yan Shifan had actually considered this point, but he also thought of another aspect: "Father, what will Grand Secretary Zhang do once he finds out about this?"

"Well!"

Yan Song paused slightly in his teacup, the porcelain surface reflecting his inscrutable expression.

Yes!

I overlooked something earlier: Zhang Cong will definitely do it!
This was a tough chief minister who dared to target the Beijing officials. In his eyes, there was only the success or failure of the new policies, not personal reputation.

Zhang Cong is now just eager to get some military funds to support the front lines. Once the evidence of Li Yuanshe's crimes is presented, it will be a godsend. He doesn't care about the principle of leniency.

The key point is that the conflict between Zhang Cong and himself has now become public.

Once Zhang Cong takes action against these wealthy Jiangnan and Zhejiang merchants, replenishes the national treasury, and conquers Jiaozhi, with this achievement of territorial expansion, let alone wanting to replace them as prime minister, their first condition will probably be for him to be removed from the cabinet.

When that time comes, His Majesty will definitely agree. At worst, he can just support another important minister to enter the cabinet and keep him in check.

"Once again, I'm caught in a dilemma..."

Yan Song tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, his brow furrowing even deeper: "It's difficult to contend with someone like Zhang Luofeng!"

Seeing his father looking somewhat discouraged, Yan Shifan quickly encouraged him: "Father, the political arena is always like rowing against the current. Now we are only one step away from becoming the Grand Secretary. We must not miss this opportunity!"

"Look! Urgent again!"

Although Yan Song still felt his son was impatient, he ultimately gave him a friendly look, stroking his beard and smiling: "I will give this matter some more thought. However, Qing'er, you are right about one thing: this money must be fought for by the soldiers at the front so that they can fight Annam with all their might!"

(End of this chapter)