Chapter 192 Return Gift Amount
A higher-ranking official can crush a lower-ranking official! Never mind that Zhu was the emperor himself, he had no choice but to accept the heavy responsibility at his command.
But Zhu Chong was not completely without means of countermeasure. He turned around and immediately threw a difficult problem to Zhu.
"Father, even if we want to issue new banknotes immediately to stabilize the market price of banknotes, I'm afraid that just an imperial decree from you won't be enough."
"If those vassal states take advantage of this opportunity to exploit the loophole, how should I respond? Can you give me some clues?"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard what Zhu Chong said, he immediately felt overwhelmed. The return gifts from the vassal states to the Ming Dynasty were indeed a big problem.
He is not a fool. He specifically asked to use treasure notes to offset the return gift, which clearly shows that he has ulterior motives. It is difficult for me to refuse, so I let Zhu Chong take on this hot potato just to see if Zhu Chong has any good ideas.
But this guy came directly to me to ask for power. It seems that he is planning something bad.
After much deliberation, Old Zhu simply waved his hand and said, "As for the affairs of a vassal state, you can do what is convenient for you. After all, you are the King of Qin of the Ming Dynasty, so you cannot weaken the prestige of the Ming Dynasty. Do you understand?"
"Your son obeys your order!" Zhu Chong got what he wanted and quickly left the palace.
He decided that after finishing this matter, he would leave the capital immediately. He really couldn't stay in this troubled place any longer!
As Zhu Yuanzhang issued the imperial edict, the people's enthusiasm for speculating on the new treasure notes suddenly cooled after hearing about the new policy on the new treasure notes.
From this we can see that the people were quite willing to listen to Zhu Yuanzhang's words. After all, the Ming Dynasty had just been established, and everyone would give Zhu Yuanzhang face. Since he said that the new treasure notes would be issued soon, the people certainly knew that if they continued to speculate, there would be no good end.
After all, everyone knows that things are valuable because they are rare. With the new banknotes about to be issued, more and more new banknotes will flow into the market. It is definitely impossible for the price of new banknotes to be like today. It will definitely drop 100%.
Zhu Yuanzhang's edict was written very clearly. The face value of the new treasure notes was what it was. In the future, no matter how much money you spent to buy the new treasure notes, the court would only recognize the face value of the notes.
In this case, no one is willing to be a sucker, so the number of people who buy the new treasure banknotes at high prices began to decrease sharply, and the value of the new treasure banknotes in the market also dropped rapidly, which effectively curbed the negative upward trend of the new treasure banknotes.
However, because the new banknotes were not immediately put on the market, the people were still quite enthusiastic about the issuance of the new banknotes.
From the royal family to the common people, many people talk about the new banknotes after dinner every day.
But these have nothing to do with Zhu Chong. He is now worried about the matter of the vassal state that Zhu had assigned to him.
This time, the vassal states wrote to Zhu through the Ministry of Rites, requesting that the new treasure notes be used to offset the gifts given back to their countries. Therefore, Zhu Chong also met with the envoys of the vassal states through the Ministry of Rites.
After receiving the news, envoys from several vassal states such as Annan, Zhenla and Goryeo immediately came to the Ministry of Rites to pay a visit to Zhu Chong.
After exchanging pleasantries, the envoys knew that Zhu Chong was now the official responsible for returning the gifts to them, and that the other party was a prince of the Ming Dynasty. Their attitude towards Zhu Chong suddenly changed.
The Goryeo envoy immediately inquired, "Your Majesty, the Emperor has been benevolent and has promised to give new banknotes to our vassal states as a return gift. I wonder when you will fulfill your promise?"
The words of the Goryeo envoys made the officials of the Ministry of Rites present feel proud. What they thought and saw was the vassal state's yearning for and respect for the Ming Dynasty, the Celestial Empire.
After all, in the past, when the Ming Dynasty gave gifts to its vassal states, it would simply give them money and let them go to the people to make the purchases themselves.
Like now, they took the initiative to ask for return gifts from the Ming Dynasty court, which shows the shock that the new Ming Dynasty treasure notes have brought to them!
Such things that demonstrate the majesty of the Ming Dynasty should of course be agreed to. Since the other party needs it, just give it to them directly.
It just so happens that Zhu Chong is the director of the Baochao Tizhusi, which makes things even more convenient.
However, Zhu Chong's attitude made the officials of the Ministry of Rites somewhat confused, because several envoys asked questions one after another, asking Zhu Chong when he would fulfill his promise to them, but Zhu Chong just smiled and said nothing.
After a long while, Zhu Chong said calmly: "My emperor is so famous that he has promised to exchange the tributes from the envoys for banknotes, so of course he will honor it!"
Upon hearing the promise made by Zhu Chong, the envoys were immediately overjoyed. Thinking that they would bring back the new treasure notes, the king would definitely praise them greatly, and the envoys became even more excited.
"But..." Zhu Chong's next words suddenly made the envoys' faces serious.
"I am still determining the value of the treasure notes I will give you as a return gift for your tribute, so you will have to wait for a while."
After hearing what Zhu Chong said, the envoys looked at each other, all of them were somewhat confused about what Zhu Chong's intention was.
Why is this being drafted? Conventionally, wouldn't it be enough to just return the tribute three times its value as usual? So why is this even being drafted?
Zhu Chong looked indifferently at the Goryeo envoy who had just spoken. "I heard that Goryeo sent quite a lot of tribute to the Ming Dynasty this time, but I wonder what it is?"
The Goryeo envoy frowned, but said nothing. He immediately stood up, bowed, and replied, "Your Highness, the tribute that Goryeo has presented to the Emperor this time contains our most precious items, including..."
"I'm afraid the envoy has misunderstood." Zhu Chong didn't wait for the Korean envoy to argue with him and interrupted him directly, "I mean, how much is the tribute from the Korean Kingdom worth this time?"
As Zhu Chong said this, he looked at the Minister of Rites Zhao Mao who was present.
Zhao Mao also frowned at Zhu Chong's question, feeling quite disapproving. In his opinion, why would His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin of the Ming Dynasty be so mercenary?
What's the point of asking how much the tribute gifts from vassal states were worth? It's whatever they say it is, and it's not worth much anyway.
After all, he is a minister, and the emperor has already asked Zhu Chong to do something. It is just a formality. Why should he be so serious?
But Zhu Chong was the chief officer at the moment. He was the person designated by Zhu to handle this matter, and he was also a prince. Even though Zhao Mao was the Minister of Rites, he did not dare to act rashly in front of Zhu Chong.
Seeing the Minister of Rites remained silent, the Goryeo envoy knew he had to answer Zhu Chong's question, so he could only reply with a slightly awkward tone, "I'm not entirely sure of the exact figure, but it's certainly no less than 10,000 strings of cash."
"Ten thousand strings of cash." Zhu Chong nodded. "Minister of Rites, how much should the court give them in return?"
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