The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 711

Throughout the journey, Wang Zhi secretly vowed that he would become the emperor in the future and die for Lord Zhou.

Wang Zhi's silver was not moved at the Tianjin dock. Instead, it was transported directly by waterway from the Tianjin dock to the dock closest to Shexian in Southern Zhili. When Wang Zhi arrived, he took the Embroidered Uniform Guard to retrieve it.

Regarding Wang Zhi's wealth, Jiajing had given special instructions and even arranged for the Embroidered Uniform Guard to guard it, for fear that someone might have ulterior motives.

This amount of money is beneath Jiajing's notice. Over the years, Wang Zhi has transported an enormous amount of silver from Japan to the Ming Dynasty. If all of this silver were to be released into the Ming market, its value would be greatly depreciated.

Therefore, Jiajing did not do that. Instead, he deposited a large portion of the silver into the Royal Bank's treasury, a small portion into the national treasury, and a small portion into his own private treasury.

Over the years, this silver has flowed into the market slowly through the Royal Bank. Originally, the amount of copper coins held in the Ming Dynasty far exceeded the amount of silver of the same value. However, through the operation of the Royal Bank over the years, the amount of copper coins and silver held in the Ming Dynasty is now basically equal. This is a relatively healthy financial system.

As for the remaining silver, following Zhou Chu's advice, Jiajing did not need to rush it into the market. Instead, he would gradually integrate it into the entire financial system of the Ming Dynasty through the Royal Bank.

Over the years, Wang Zhi captured nearly tens of thousands of Japanese to mine, and nearly half of the tens of thousands of Ming soldiers were used to supervise the work. One Ming soldier could supervise more than a dozen Japanese. Without caring about the lives of the Japanese, the mining progress was quite fast.

Of course, Wang Zhi also understood the principle of surrounding three sides while leaving one side unattended. In order to prevent these Japanese from rebelling, Wang Zhi would not push them too hard, so as not to let them starve to death. As for those who died in mining accidents, those were all accidents.

The remaining soldiers, under Wang Zhi's leadership, continued to expand outwards from Honshu Island. However, their forces were limited, and the scope of their expansion was also limited, mainly based on Honshu Island.

Afterwards, Wang Zhi established trade relations with the daimyo of Japan. Originally, the smuggling groups of the Ming Dynasty had been trading with the daimyo of Japan, but the trade was cut off after Zhou Chu defeated them. The daimyo were naturally extremely anxious to lose such a major source of income. When they learned that Wang Zhi was representing the Ming Dynasty to trade with them, they were overjoyed.

However, the situation is completely different now. Wang Zhi is fully representing the Ming Dynasty and is doing monopolistic business. There are many daimyo in Japan who want to do business with Wang Zhi, and the pricing power is entirely in Wang Zhi's hands.

Following Zhou Chu's instructions, Wang Zhi raised the price of the goods to about three times the original price. Even so, those famous figures still flocked to the market like sharks that had seen blood.

Goods from the Ming Dynasty are always in high demand. No matter how expensive they are, there is no shortage of buyers. The Japanese have no shortage of silver. For example, they used to buy a celadon bowl from a Ming Dynasty merchant for the equivalent of one hundred coins of silver. When they sold it to the Japanese people, they would mark up the price by ten times or even more.

Zhou Chu was aware of this, which is why he had Wang Zhi raise the price to three times the original price. Even if the purchase price was three times the original price, these daimyo from Japan could still make a fortune.

Of course, Wang Zhi wanted more than just silver in his trade with them; he also wanted grain, since both the tens of thousands of troops and the Japanese miners needed food.

Wang Zhi had considered sending his men to Annam to buy grain, which would be much cheaper. However, he believed that they could earn more by using those ships to trade with Japan or transport silver. Using them to transport grain to Southeast Asia would be a losing proposition for Wang Zhi and his men.