Chapter 86: Panic Zhu Biao

Zhu Biao's intention was very clear. If he wanted to convince Zhu Yuanzhang and the court officials to agree to the invasion of Japan, it was not enough to be completely sure. He had to have enough benefits to convince everyone.

These happened to be what Zhu Chong was good at. He did not keep anything to himself and told Zhu Biao that Japan was full of gold and silver mines.

When Zhu Biao heard what Zhu Chong said, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, but then his face was full of confusion.

"Second Brother, where did you hear that? I don't know anything about it. In all the records about Japan from the previous dynasties, there are no gold or silver mines like you mentioned."

Zhu Biao's words were within Zhu Chong's expectations. In the previous Yuan Dynasty, an envoy had written a travelogue about his visit to Japan, which contained a very detailed description of the Japanese culture.

But in Zhu Chong's view, the travel notes about Japan written by the former Yuan envoys did not cover everything about Japan, not even one-tenth or one-twelfth of it.

According to the historical materials that Zhu Chong knew, Iwami Ginzan in Japan was actually successfully mined at the end of the previous dynasty.

However, due to the poor conditions and underdeveloped publicity at that time, no one in the previous dynasty understood it clearly.

But Zhu Chong was very clear that the silver reserves in Japan would account for one-third of the world's silver production in the next three hundred years, and a considerable part of it was the Iwami Ginzan that was currently being mined.

Moreover, Japan has discovered not only silver mines, but also copper mines, iron mines and other rich mineral veins.

However, the language description alone could not convince Zhu Biao. In his opinion, could the mineral veins of an overseas island country be bigger than the silver mountains of the Ming Dynasty?

"Second brother, tell me the truth. As far as you know, how big is the silver mine in Japan?"

Zhu Chong knew what Zhu Biao was concerned about, and said calmly, "Brother, from what I know, if all the Iwami silver mines in Japan could be dug out immediately, it would be enough to support the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years to come."

"Hundreds of years?" Zhu Biao was shocked. "Second brother, this is not a joke."

"If you think I'm joking, you can send your trusted aides to ask. These are just conservative estimates. The actual situation might be even better than I said. There's nothing else in that place, but it has a lot of silver mines!"

Zhu Biao's face flushed red, and he took several deep breaths before he sighed, "According to what you said, I really underestimated the overseas areas. This will make things much easier."

After hearing what Zhu Biao said, Zhu Chong knew that the expedition to Japan was almost certain, and the next step was just a matter of time.

The Ming Dynasty was now in a state of disrepair, and due to years of war, its desire for real gold and silver had always been high.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very worried about this, and the Ming Dynasty Treasure Note came into being at this time.

However, for various reasons, the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes were completely restricted to circulation within the Ming Dynasty. Once outside the Ming Dynasty's territory, the treasure notes were almost indistinguishable from waste paper.

Outside the territory of the Ming Dynasty, gold, silver and copper were still the hard currencies. Zhu Chong had now given Zhu Biao enough temptations. The Iwami Silver Mountain alone was enough to make Zhu Yuanzhang determined to conquer Japan.

In the face of huge interests, it is enough for the Ming Dynasty to change its existing national policy and shift the focus of conquest to overseas. In this way, the time for the Ming Dynasty navy to show its power in the sea will be greatly advanced.

"Second brother, you solved a big problem for me!" Zhu Biao finally became excited and asked, patting Zhu Chong's shoulder.

"I can't believe that the things you're involved in now have all gone overseas. Compared to you, I'm really far behind!"

"It's such a waste for you to stay in this small courtyard. How about I talk to my father and ask him to come out and help me?"

"Actually, even though you didn't say it, I was planning to bring it up. How about you take me to the palace and explain the pros and cons to father?" Zhu Chong looked at Zhu Biao with a half-smile on his face.

"What do you want to do?" Zhu Biao suddenly started and reacted, looking at Zhu Chong with a strange expression.

He knew his younger brother well. Every time he showed this weird smile, it meant he was about to do something bad!

"What can I do? Help my elder brother and persuade our father to invade Japan." Zhu Chong laughed.

He did want to do something bad, but it was a great thing for the Ming Dynasty. However, this "great thing" was probably unacceptable to Zhu Yuanzhang and even Zhu Biao at the moment.

"Let me ask the Emperor first. If he's willing to summon you, we'll talk then."

The more Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Chong, the more he felt something was wrong, and he immediately changed his tone.

Zhu Chong didn't care and let Zhu Biao leave.

Zhu Biao left Zhu Chong's courtyard and went straight to the palace. Old Zhu felt strange about Zhu Biao's coming back.

"Prince, where are you coming from? Do you have something to ask us?"

"Your son has something important to tell your father!" Zhu Biao knelt on the ground and told Zhu Chong everything he heard from him, just like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

The more Zhu Yuanzhang listened, the more excited he became. He had never expected that his son had actually found out that Japan had a silver mine.

If he had known this earlier, he wouldn't have had to try so hard to get treasure notes. He could have just listed silver as the circulating currency!

The Ming Dynasty under his rule was extremely poor. The country's annual tax revenue was only a few million taels of silver, and this was only in good times.

However, the currency in circulation in the Ming Dynasty today is mainly copper coins, but the Ming Dynasty is short of copper, strictly speaking, it is short of copper mines.

Many people may not believe it, but the Ming Dynasty is vast and rich in resources, so there should be no shortage of copper mines. However, this is the fact, and high-value hard currency such as silver is even more scarce.

After Zhu Yuanzhang learned about the situation, he racked his brains and finally came up with the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes.

But in his eyes, the Ming Baochao he created had only advantages and no disadvantages. However, in the eyes of the officials below, it had only disadvantages and no advantages. Therefore, many censors and even senior officials of the Ministry of Revenue wrote to the emperor, begging him to abolish the Baochao.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not willing to do so. On the one hand, he relied on the treasure banknotes to reward meritorious officials, and on the other hand, the Ming Dynasty was currently running at a loss.

With wars and natural and man-made disasters every year, Zhu Yuanzhang's wallet could not hold up, so the treasure notes were his lifeline.

However, if there were silver or copper mines with sufficient reserves, Zhu Yuanzhang would be willing to try to abolish the Baochao system, but the prerequisite was that the mineral veins must exist.

"You mean, all these things you said were found out by the second brother? Is the information true?" Old Zhu was obviously interested, but seemed a little hesitant about the news coming from Zhu Chong's mouth.

"Your Majesty, why don't you summon my second brother to the palace and ask him? I can see that he still wants to serve the country and contribute to Your Majesty!" Zhu Biao spoke well of Zhu Chong in front of his father Zhu.

"The second brother is quite interesting this time, so let's meet him." Old Zhu nodded. Zhu Biao was happy, but at the same time, he felt a strange palpitation for some reason.