My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 25: Carrying the burden forward, Lao Zhu learns about trade
"Seeing this, Lao Zhu, you must be furious, right? I know you are anxious, but don't be anxious yet.

Although China's road ahead is full of thorns and bumps, in every era, there are people who carry the burden and move forward!

I can tell you that even when the Chinese nation was in the most dangerous time, there were people trying to save the nation!

They tried many methods, took many detours, and made great sacrifices, but in the end they found a path that suits the Chinese nation!
That is the mission entrusted to them by the times, and they have lived up to the call of the times!

In the Ming Dynasty, will you, Old Zhu, be the one who carries the burden forward?"

Am I?
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang actually hesitated.

At this moment, a young man with ragged clothes and a hunched back emerged in his mind.

The young man's father, mother and older brother died in a severe locust plague and epidemic, leaving only the young man and his second brother, who didn't even have land to bury their parents and older brother.

In order to survive, the young man picked up a broken bowl and started wandering around begging for food.

In that terrible time, even if you begged for food, you could starve to death at any time. In order to survive, he ran to the temple and became a monk.

But when he finally got a chance to eat a meal, famine came again. He had no choice but to pick up the broken bowl and continue wandering.

He went wherever there was food to eat, traveling all over the country, seeing the world and broadening his horizons.

Finally, at the age of twenty-five, he was invited by his childhood friend to join Guo Zixing's Red Turban Army.

He was smart and capable, fought bravely, and quickly grew strong in the Red Turban Army!
He recruited wise men from all over the world, he decided to store up grain and slowly declare himself king, he divided the world with the most powerful people in the world, and finally the world was in his pocket!
He established the Ming Dynasty, invaded the Yuan capital, drove out the Mongols, and finally, he unified the country from north to south and rebuilt China!
At this moment, the almost joking words appeared in his mind again:
Now you have a broken bowl in your hand. Go, drive out the Tartars, restore China, and restore the glory of the empire!

"It's really a one-bowl start..."

His eyes were moist. At this moment, he seemed to have some kind of wonderful connection with Li Han that transcended time and space.

"Old Li, you chose me, and the times chose me. I am the one who carries the burden and moves forward!"

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer hesitated. He believed that he could change that dark future and make China stand at the top of the world forever!

"Having said so much, in short, there are many reasons why China has fallen from the top of the world to the bottom of the valley, allowing any monster to come and step on it.

But the fundamental reason is that we lost the ocean because we did not gain sea rights!

To talk about sea power, we have to start with trade.”

Is it finally time to explain what trade is?
Zhu Yuanzhang was alerted, and at this moment, he seemed to no longer reject the word trade.

What kind of magic does trade have that can enable a country to develop rapidly?
"The basis of trade is exchange. For example, Village A has grain but no vegetables, while Village B has vegetables but no grain. What should Village A do if they want to eat vegetables and Village B wants grain? It's very simple. The two villages can exchange grain and vegetables.

In this way, Village A got vegetables and Village B got food. Both villages got what they wanted and everyone was happy.

This example lets us understand that the basis of exchange is demand.

Easy to understand, right? "

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded unconsciously. It was indeed easy to understand. When he was a child, he often exchanged fish caught in the river with his friends for maltose.

At this moment, he suddenly had a feeling of attending private school as a child, but what Li Han taught was far beyond what the old-fashioned old man in the private school could teach.

Besides, it’s much more interesting than what the old man said!

“Then our course will begin to advance.

There are two villages, Village A that grows grain and Village B that grows vegetables. To the north of the two villages is Village C that slaughters pigs. Village A wants to eat pig meat, so it wants to exchange grain for pig meat in Village C. But Village C doesn't need grain. What should it do now?

Yes, what should Village A do?

Zhu Yuanzhang was also puzzled, but at the same time he was grateful to Li Han, who knew the taboo of his Zhu family and used the word "豚" instead of "猪". However, in fact, Li Han did not need to be so taboo, as Zhu Yuanzhang was not so stingy.

"At this time, if Village C wants to eat vegetables, Village A will exchange grain for vegetables, and then use the vegetables to exchange for pork.

But the question is, what if Village B doesn’t need food either?

Then, Village A must find something that Village B and Village C can both accept to exchange. "

Ah, yes, yes!

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded repeatedly, as if he understood something, but still felt that something was missing.

"Now, the clever village A discovered that both village B and village C liked a kind of seashells on the beach, so village A used food to exchange for the seashells.

With shells, Village A can use shells to exchange vegetables and pork at will, and Village B and Village C can also use shells to exchange pork and vegetables.

So the three villages agreed that from now on, they would exchange shells with each other. "

Zhu Yuanzhang clapped his hands, yes, that’s right, that’s right. At this moment, it seemed as if he remembered something in his mind, but he just couldn’t make it concrete!

Oh, my brain is itchy!

"This shell, which can be used to exchange for food, vegetables and pork, is called a general equivalent. Of course, it also has a more popular name, currency!

To make it easier to understand, Lao Zhu, you can also call it money, or treasure note!
Of course, money is not naturally equivalent to a general equivalent, but the relationship is a bit complicated, so I won’t go into details here. You just need to understand what money is.”

That’s it, that’s it!
Zhu Yuanzhang was suddenly enlightened. Although he dealt with money all the time, he had never thought about where the money came from.

It seems that no one in the entire Ming Dynasty has ever thought about this issue.

“Initially, people discovered the value of precious metals such as gold and silver and used them as currency. However, as trade gradually expanded, gold and silver were limited. What should we do if they ran out of them?
So they used other items as substitutes, such as knife coins, copper coins, etc. However, knife coins and copper coins themselves do not have the value of gold or silver, so why can they be circulated? "

Yes, why? Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but think about it.

"There is a saying that goes, gold and silver are naturally currencies, but currencies are not naturally gold and silver. This leads to another concept, exchange value!"

“Currency is the same thing that everyone recognizes. Its essence is that it has exchange value!”

Exchange value?
Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to understand this concept, but after thinking about it, he found it easy to understand, that is, everyone can use currency to buy various things.

To put it in Lao Li's words, if currency can be used for various exchanges, then doesn't it have exchange value?
"But unlike gold and silver, currency itself does not have value. So where does the exchange value come from? It's simple: the credit of the court!
The reason why the people are willing to exchange currency that has no value is because the currency is backed by the credit of the court! "

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang got goose bumps all over his body, and he thought of Baochao!

If the Ming Dynasty court lost its credibility, wouldn't the treasure notes become just a piece of waste paper?

It seems that I have to ask Lao Li carefully about the treasure notes.

"So back to the original question, the act of using currency for extensive exchange is trade!"

I, Zhu, understand the concept of trade. In this sense, trade is indeed very important to a country, because without exchange, no one can get what they want.

"This leads to a new question: the most important responsibility of the imperial court is not how much money it can earn, but to ensure the full circulation of currency!"

What is the meaning of this statement?

Zhu Yuanzhang was confused again.

(End of this chapter)