To avoid any unforeseen complications, Luo Fangbo and Jiang Wubo meticulously organized the fish scale registration books and tribute items for the court, departing as dawn broke.
However, in contrast to Luo Fangbo’s excitement, Jiang Wubo expressed his concerns, "Grand Chief, do you think the Ming Emperor will even deign to look at the tribute items we are offering?"
"Wax cloth, this sort of thing might be good enough to fool those European barbarians. The silk produced by our Central Plains workshops is thousands of times better than this!"
"And the silverware, wood carvings, and spices – will the Ming Emperor even care for these things?"
After reviewing everything back and forth, Jiang Wubo’s worries only grew. "Looking at it now, only this ginseng, bird's nest, and shark fins are barely presentable."
Luo Fangbo smiled and shook his head, saying, "As the saying goes, 'A goose feather sent from a thousand miles away is light, but carries profound meaning.' Tribute items are called tribute items not because they are precious, but because of the sentiment behind them."
"For example, things like ginseng, bird's nest, and shark fins might be considered good things by others, but for an emperor who possesses wealth across the seas, even the best ginseng and bird's nest are merely like mouthwash. Perhaps they aren't even as interesting as a fun and engaging wood carving."
Jiang Wubo was then able to somewhat put his mind at ease.
However, after less than three minutes of quiet, Jiang Wubo began to worry about another issue. "What if the officials sent by the Ming Dynasty are solely focused on profiting and disregard our well-being... And there's the old saying, 'When bandits pass, they comb through; when soldiers pass, they..."
A messenger previously dispatched by Luo Fangbo to the Ming Dynasty chuckled, "Vice Chief, you worry too much."
"The Ming Dynasty offers extremely high salaries to its officials, and its punishments for corruption are extremely severe. Those involved in cases exceeding sixty taels of silver face immediate skinning and uprooting of their families, or even implication of their entire clan. For those under sixty taels of silver, even if it's just a single coin, their entire family will be exiled three thousand li."
"The 'Great Ming Statutes' stipulate that if an official's corruption harms the populace, the local people can directly tie up the official and report to the capital. The Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Heaven and Earth Society are responsible for escorting them, and no government office may obstruct this."
"And concerning your earlier statement about soldiers passing through like combing... When I was in Jinan Prefecture, I saw many soldiers moving through the streets, but the Ming people were not afraid of them. This suggests that the Ming soldiers should be different from the Qing soldiers."
Luo Fangbo and Jiang Wubo exchanged a glance, neither of them speaking.
To be skinned alive and have their families uprooted for embezzling sixty taels of silver? Allowing the populace to tie up officials and report them to the capital?
The laws were written quite well, but in the Hongwu era, similar regulations existed, and what was the outcome in the end? The Ming officials still engaged in corruption, the people still had nowhere to turn for justice, and even Emperor Hongwu was thoroughly slandered! As for the common people not fearing soldiers... are you truly certain that the soldiers and common people you saw were genuine commoners and soldiers, and not what the Ming court wanted you to see?
For a moment, the cabin fell silent again.
It wasn't until they reached Jinlan Port that Luo Fangbo and Jiang Wubo discovered the world had transformed – Outside Jinlan Port, merchant ships were queuing up to pass through customs, whether flying the French flag, the English flag, or the flags of the Dutch East India Company, all were patiently waiting in line. Ramming the blockade? Breaking through? In Jinlan Port, such events occurred daily. Even when the Great Qing was still in existence, these European barbarian merchant ships would never have been so well-behaved.
Luo Fangbo stood at the prow of the ship, watching the merchant ships in the distance queuing up, and couldn't help but marvel, "It seems the Ming is truly different from the Great Qing."
Jiang Wubo also nodded, saying, "I never thought these barbarians could be so well-behaved."
Ahead of the Lanfang fleet in the queue was a merchant ship flying the East India Company flag. Through the telescope, it was evident that the Dutch barbarians, usually arrogant and overbearing at sea, were all respectful when dealing with the Ming tax officials boarding for inspection, showing none of their usual swagger.
When it was the Lanfang fleet's turn to pass through, Luo Fangbo and Jiang Wubo felt as if they had gone through a different era. Whether sailing out from Guangdong or returning to Guangdong, the Qing naval officials and their subordinates would bow their heads to foreigners, look down on their own people with disdain, and their attitude towards "overseas castaways" like Luo Fangbo was even more egregious.
On the Ming side, the tax officials and Embroidered Uniform Guard members conducting the boarding inspection, although expressionless and purely business-like at first, broke into smiles upon discovering that everyone on the fleet had the faces of Ming citizens.
"Off to make money?"
"How was it, did you encounter any trouble at sea?"
"Do you have enough water and food? Do you need to resupply at Jinlan Port?"
The entire process of entering the port, registering, inspecting, resupplying, and clearing was completed almost as if they were having a casual chat.
Jiang Wubo couldn't help but sigh, "For the first time in my life, I know what it feels like to stand tall and live as a human being."
Luo Fangbo gazed thoughtfully at the flag on the mast and said, "If, one day, we could openly fly the Ming flag on our ships, I wonder what that would be like?"
...
While Luo Fangbo and Jiang Wubo were traveling to the Ming Dynasty by ship, Zhu Jinsong, the Ming Emperor, and Liu Huaiwen, the Ming Minister of Revenue and the guardian of the national treasury, were glaring at each other.
As is widely known, Heshen, the Grand Chancellor, was undoubtedly the foremost official of the Great Qing. The houses, land, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, shops, gold, silver, and jewels he had accumulated over the years were estimated to be worth eighty million taels of silver. In Ming dynasty banknotes, this would be eight billion Long Yuan.
With the capture of the old dog Qianlong and Grand Chancellor Heshen, this fortune worth eighty million taels of silver naturally fell into Zhu Jinsong's hands.
Upon receiving such a windfall, Zhu Jinsong was so excited he wanted to sing – "I'm making money, making money, I don't know how to spend it, holding a Nokia in my left hand, a Motorola in my right..."
The key thing was, before Zhu Jinsong could celebrate for two days, Liu Huaiwen, who had received the news, came knocking. Liu Huaiwen believed this money should belong to the Ming national treasury, as it was all from the people's labor and sweat. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's finances had always been tight, and with these eighty million taels of silver, the Ming treasury could be somewhat relieved, and the progress of many projects could be accelerated. For example, community schools, railways, roads, river and bridge projects in various regions, and the continued calls from the Five Chief Military Commissions for army expansion.
Besides, what does the Ming Emperor need so much money for? You're not building gardens, nor are you keeping concubines, nor are you traveling south of the Yangtze. If you hold onto these eighty million taels of silver, can you make it reproduce, can you? But if it's placed in the national treasury, it's different. These eighty million taels of silver can truly reproduce, perhaps giving birth to hundreds of thousands of soldiers, allowing you to take them out to cause trouble. In short, it boils down to two words: "Pay up."
However, Zhu Jinsong was also reluctant to part with these eighty million taels of silver. Although Zhu Jinsong didn't like building gardens or keeping concubines, he did have the Royal Academy, which was a veritable black hole for money. To put it this way, the national treasury allocated a hundred million Long Yuan in funding to the Royal Academy annually, approximately equivalent to ten million taels of silver. Emperor Zhu Jinsong himself still subsidized an additional thirty million Long Yuan in funding, about three million taels. Thirteen million taels of silver, if thrown into the water, would at least make a sound, right? But thrown into the Royal Academy, not only would no sound be heard, but it wouldn't even be enough to burn! Eighty million taels of silver seemed like a lot, but if the Royal Academy were allowed to burn through it freely, it would likely be gone in two to three years, leaving not a single cent. Therefore, Zhu Jinsong did not want to hand over these eighty million taels of silver to Liu Huaiwen; instead, he wanted to use this eighty million taels of silver to make money from money. For example, rebuilding the Western Fleet, purchasing five million taels of silver worth of goods from the Ming, and exchanging them for ten million taels of silver in Europe.
The current situation is that the national treasury wants this money, but Zhu Jinsong does not want to give this money to the national treasury. Therefore, Liu Huaiwen cornered Zhu Jinsong in the temporary imperial palace, "Your Majesty, I will not tell you how empty the national treasury is, as you know it yourself. However, the national treasury truly needs this money desperately!" Liu Huaiwen wiped away a tear, "Regarding the Department of Benevolent Aid, the national treasury's expenditure last year was 3,530,000 taels and seven fen and six li, and this year it is estimated to increase to over five million taels. For the Orphanage, the national treasury's expenditure last year exceeded ten million taels, and this year it is unlikely to be any better. And then there are the relief homes; these are all money-devouring beasts."
"Also, the Royal Academy, the national treasury allocated ten million taels to the Royal Academy last year, and in less than half a year, it was all spent. This year, it is estimated that eighteen million taels will need to be allocated. And the Five Chief Military Commissions, the ten million taels of military expenses allocated last year were all spent by the end of the year, with an additional three million taels temporarily allocated due to the Shenyang incident. This year, the Five Chief Military Commissions need to expand their forces, requiring even more military expenses."
"Oh, and let's not forget the river and bridge construction and community school projects across the Ming Dynasty. Last year's expenditure exceeded thirty million taels, and this year, without fifty million taels, it will definitely not suffice."
"If it weren't for these eighty million taels of silver, the national treasury would truly starve the rats to death!" Liu Huaiwen cried and lamented, his misery so profound that even Zhu Jinsong couldn't stand it – If you put less gold and silver in your national treasury and more grain, the rats wouldn't starve to death! Besides, Zhu Jinsong didn't believe a single word of the figures Liu Huaiwen reported. Halving all the numbers would be closer to the actual figures. After all, the Ming Dynasty's entire fiscal revenue for the previous year was only around thirty million taels. As for infrastructure projects like rivers, bridges, and community schools, although Liu Huaiwen spoke of them as if money flowed like water, in reality, they didn't cost much, because building materials such as cement, steel, and lumber were basically provided at cost by the workshops or companies controlled by the court. Therefore, Liu Huaiwen's figures regarding finances had to be interpreted dialectically. If he stated the national treasury had a surplus of so much money, the actual surplus would be about three to five times what he said. If he stated how much money the national treasury had spent, even halving it would be too little; removing a zero would be nothing unusual. After staring at each other for a long time, Liu Huaiwen tentatively suggested, "How about a two-eight split?" Zhu Jinsong shook his head and said, "At least a three-seven split, with me taking seven and the treasury taking three." Liu Huaiwen immediately became angry, "Your Majesty, let me tell you, my youngest daughter is seventeen this year and will be married off next year." Zhu Jinsong remained unmoved, "Tell that to Er Dan, and see if he'll abduct little sister?" Liu Huaiwen calculated and then shouted, "A four-six split! The treasury gets six, Your Majesty gets four!" Zhu Jinsong also calculated and then stated with finality, "A fifty-fifty split! If you agree, I'll tell you where there are silver mines – not the Iwami Ginzan in Japan, nor those in Burma, but a silver mine overseas." "Oh, and there are several gold mines. One is in the Ming, and the others are overseas." "Four hundred million taels of silver in exchange for several gold and silver mines, your national treasury will definitely not lose out!" Liu Huaiwen scoffed, "Do you think I'm stupid?"