Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 1185 In the entire Ming Dynasty court, am I the only good person?

Seeing Yang Siyi's increasingly erratic behavior, Li Shanchang unconsciously shielded Liu Bowen in front of him, while Yang Shaofeng hid directly next to Li Wenzhong, and then moved behind Hu Weiyong with a look of disgust.

Xue Xiang was completely stunned.

Let this old man figure out a way to solve the shortfall of 30 million strings of cash?

No, I was originally just the Minister of Works, and all I knew was how to write budgets and ask the national treasury for money. How would I know how this thing called paper money actually works!

So, I only used one sentence to drive that old scoundrel Yang Siyi crazy?

Xue Xiang looked at Yang Siyi suspiciously and tentatively said, "If all else fails, let the government-run workshops smelt more steel, or let the salt fields produce more salt, and then issue more paper money based on the value of the salt and iron?"

Yang Shaofeng felt that Xue Xiang's words made some sense, but he also vaguely felt that something was not quite right.

Yang Siyi sneered and said, "It seems that your brain, Minister Xue, is not as good as this old donkey's."

"However, I was indeed foolish to ask you this question."

"I'd rather go ask a carpenter!"

Yang Siyi passionately launched into a speech, leaving Xue Xiang speechless and questioning his existence. Emperor Zhu and Li Shanchang, among others, were happy to watch the drama unfold.

But while watching the show is one thing, the questions raised by Yang Siyi still need to be addressed.

After Yang Siyi finished criticizing Xue Xiang, Emperor Zhu looked at Yang Siyi and said, "What are your thoughts on the outflow of the precious paper money?"

Yang Siyi bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, I believe the biggest problem with the outflow of paper money is that merchants in various vassal states have become accustomed to using Ming paper money as their currency. They bring the paper money back to their vassal states for the convenience of using it."

"Secondly, the various vassal states also need to stockpile a large amount of paper money, since the Dengzhou border market only recognizes paper money, not gold and silver."

"To solve the problem of the outflow of paper money, we need to address these two aspects."

"First, we summoned the envoys of various vassal states and asked them to establish a complete system of paper money reserves, which is the same system that the Prince Consort had previously allowed the vassal states to use gold and silver to exchange for Ming Dynasty paper money as reserves."

"How much paper money each vassal state needs to reserve, how much paper money the Ming Dynasty allows them to reserve, how each vassal state can exchange gold and silver for paper money, and how paper money can be exchanged for gold and silver—all of these should be standardized."

"Secondly, each vassal state should establish a complete system for managing paper money, prohibiting merchants and common people from using paper money privately. All paper money can only be used for trade between each vassal state and the Ming Dynasty, and between vassal states themselves."

"Such a two-pronged approach is certainly troublesome, but the amount of paper money that flows out is limited and will not circulate among the people, so it will not affect the Ming Dynasty."

"Of course, dealing with the envoys from various vassal states will require a lot of trouble from the Prince Consort and his colleagues at the Court of State Ceremonial."

"..."

Yang Siyi spoke eloquently, while Yang Shaofeng listened with a sense of existential unease.

Xue Xiang planned to lock down the civilization process of various vassal states and even any other barbarian country at the level of language and writing, thereby preventing the downward spread of technology.

That old scoundrel Liu Bowen was even more wicked, with pus dripping from his head and sores on his feet. He actually created the list of fat sheep hundreds of years ahead of time.

In retrospect, Yang Siyi, who is relatively better off, is not actually much better off.

Yang Shaofeng did indeed suggest to Emperor Zhu that the government could issue more paper money to each of the vassal states, allowing them to exchange real gold and silver for paper money reserves, thereby using the paper money to control the economies of each vassal state.

But who could have imagined that Yang Siyi would go even further and try to create a complete system for the reserve and management of vassal state paper money?

If this approach were followed, it would be possible to perfectly control the treasuries of various vassal states through paper money, and incidentally solve the problem of whether more paper money would need to be printed after it flows out of the country.

Compared to Yang Siyi's expertise in paper money, Yang Shaofeng felt that his skill in operating paper money was about the same as that of a carpenter.

So, in the entire Ming Dynasty court, am I the only good person?

No, twelve out of ten are incorrect.

In the past, it was I who would torment the officials in the court to death, but now that old scoundrel Yang Siyi wants to order me around.

It is simply a rebellion against Tiangang!

……

Even after finishing their meal in the palace, Yang Shaofeng, along with Jin'er and Yu'er, carried Yang Baobei back to the Prince Consort's residence, Yang Shaofeng was still questioning his life.

"Have I been too good-natured lately, making everyone want to bully me?"

"Have I forgotten the fear of being controlled by me since I haven't bothered them lately?"

"How can I, a man of such pure and virtuous character, allow them to bully the various vassal states like this?"

After completing his daily self-reflection, Yang Shaofeng sighed and instructed Chang Xiaojiu, "Have someone summon Park Sung-hwa from the Korean family and Kikuchi Yoshimasa from the short and ugly family."

When Park Sung-heon and Kikuchi Yoshimasa hurriedly arrived at the Prince Consort's residence, Yang Shaofeng immediately asked them, "Have the warriors I asked you to prepare been ready?"

Kikuchi Yoshimasa quickly bowed and replied, "Your Highness, rest assured, Japan has already dispatched five thousand brave and valiant warriors. They are ready to go through fire and water for Your Highness at your command!"

Park Sung-sung glared fiercely at Kikuchi Yoshimasa, then bowed and said, "Five thousand brave and daring warriors from Goryeo have been selected and are currently waiting for Your Highness's orders in Dengzhou Prefecture!"

Yang Shaofeng smiled and nodded, saying, "I already told you that these warriors will be going to Xinming Island with the South China Sea Fleet."

Park Sung-hee and Kikuchi Yoshimasa's hearts pounded wildly.

As I said before, it doesn't matter whether they are samurai or not, it doesn't matter whether they receive military pay or not. Even if they bring their own rations, even if all five thousand samurai die, as long as they can get a chance to become an official in the Ming Dynasty, it will all be worth it!

Yang Shaofeng picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said with a smile, "The South China Sea Fleet is not ready yet. These warriors can take advantage of this time to train in Dengzhou. The Ming Dynasty can cover their military pay, provisions, and equipment. You can rest assured about that."

Park Sung-sung quickly bowed and said, "We will obey Your Highness's orders without question!"

Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "I've called you here today not just for the warriors I mentioned last time, but because I have another good thing to tell you."

After a slight pause, Yang Shaofeng put down his teacup and said, "The Ming Dynasty is currently short of laborers, as you should know."

Park Sung-sung's heart tightened, and he tentatively asked, "Does Your Highness require Goryeo to transfer more laborers?"

Yang Shaofeng waved his hand with a smile and said, "If we keep drawing laborers from Korea, will Korea still be able to cultivate its fields? Will Korea still be able to defend its borders?"

"No matter how much the Ming Dynasty lacks labor, it cannot ignore the farming of the various vassal states."

"Of course, the problem of labor shortage in the Ming Dynasty cannot be left unresolved."

Park Sung-heung and Kikuchi Yoshimasa became increasingly uneasy after Yang Shaofeng spoke to them.

The Ming Dynasty could not ignore the agricultural activities of the various vassal states.

The problem of labor shortage in the Ming Dynasty also needs to be solved.

So, how exactly do we solve this?

Yang Shaofeng glanced at the two men and said, "At today's court assembly, the Minister of Railways proposed that the court could purchase some laborers from the Timurid Khanate. I thought to myself, if the Timurid Khanate can sell laborers, why can't you sell laborers?"

Park Sung-hee and Kikuchi Yoshimasa felt even more uneasy, but Yang Shaofeng smiled and shook his head, saying, "Of course, things like what you did before, where Korea forced Japanese people to work as laborers and Japan forced Korean people to work as laborers, are definitely not acceptable."

"I've come to you to ask if you're interested in sending more warriors overseas to capture laborers for the Ming Dynasty?"