Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 2023, mining franchise?
In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Hongzhi was summoning his ministers to give lectures to him.

This is also one of the emperor's daily compulsory courses. Usually, he summons the lecturers of the Imperial Academy to teach him some history, emperor's art, classics and so on.

It is an important way for the emperor to learn, because generally those who can give lectures to the emperor are quite high-level academicians of the Imperial Academy, not to mention astronomy and geography, at least they are full of knowledge and talent.

Those who can enter the Hanlin Academy are all high-ranking talents in the imperial examinations, so there is no need to doubt their talents.

"The ancient emperors paid attention to diligence, thrift, study and deep thinking, and governed the country with benevolence, righteousness and morality to rule the world, and filial piety to rule the world, not to compete with the people for profit, to teach farming and mulberry, and to rest with the people, and they can become the master of a generation of sages!"

Emperor Hongzhi was also thinking about it in his mind as he listened to the scholar general's way of governing the country.

If this has been done in all dynasties, why do dynasties change?
If benevolence, morality, and filial piety can really rule the world, then why do we need to use the law?
In the final analysis, these are just things that Confucianism has been using to fool the kings in the past dynasties.

It is still true what Liu Jin said at the beginning. The most critical and core factor in the change of dynasties is the issue of land annexation.

The land and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few people, and the life of the people at the bottom is becoming more and more difficult. Once there is a disturbance, natural disasters and man-made disasters, these people will not be able to survive immediately, and naturally it is time to change the dynasty.

What kind of benevolence and morality, filial piety, etc., are all nonsense in front of people who don't have enough food and clothing.

Only when ordinary people can eat enough and wear warm clothes can they talk about benevolence, morality, propriety, righteousness and shame.

At the beginning of each dynasty, the people still had their own land, and the land was not concentrated in the hands of a few people. At this time, the people's life will naturally be stable and prosperous.

However, with the merger of land and the growth of population, the land of the common people is getting less and less, and the taxes are getting heavier and heavier. This dynasty slowly began to decline, and it is inevitable that there will be a change of dynasty.

Daming was able to achieve its present status because it really relied on foreign colonization and expansion, and relied on the development of industry to improve labor force and production efficiency, so it was able to change its fate against the sky and become prosperous and strong.

As for the Confucianism, it is outdated and no longer suitable for this era.

"The so-called competing for the interests of the people means that the emperor and the royal family should not compete for the interests of the common people. The world itself belongs to the emperor and belongs to the royal family. How can they compete with the common people for profit?"

"Only by giving benefits to the people and giving them a bite to eat can the people become richer, and the emperor can collect more taxes."

As the other party talked and talked, Emperor Hongzhi heard something was wrong.

What does this mean?
Is this saying that he is competing with the people for profit?
What interests are you fighting for with the people?

Could it be that the industries under his command are all managed by Liu Jin, and he is only investing in shares.

Besides, would the common people do business?

I didn't compete with the people for profit, so the so-called people are not the people at all.

In addition, in Liu Jin's words, in the past, when those salt merchants mastered the Daming Salt Industry, a catty of salt could be sold for tens of pennies, and they would also infiltrate sand for you.

Now that the Changlu Salt Farm has mastered the Daming Salt Industry, the salt worth a few pennies per catty is still high-quality snowflake eyes. Who is fighting for profit with the people?
These industries under his command are really doing things for the common people. Although money is making money, it is money made by ability.

You've been talking non-stop here about competing with the people for profit, with a lot of truths, if you really listened to your flicks like before, you probably won't know when you are sold.

Emperor Hongzhi had tasted what it was like to have no money, and he was very uncomfortable. He couldn't do anything he wanted to do, and he could only sulk in the palace because he was bullied by those ministers every day.

Now this is teaching myself a lesson, saying that I am competing with the people for profit, and when the time comes, do I want to say that I should not compete with the people for profit, and that I want to give up the property under my command to you people?
Thinking of this, Emperor Hongzhi frowned.

Things are getting more and more interesting.

There are more and more memorials in front of me, and the ministers are constantly instilling in themselves the thoughts and concepts of not competing with the people for profit, instilling the emperor's concept of governing the country with diligence and thrift, and ruling the country.

This is to brainwash myself again.

These ministers, none of them know how to do anything, they only think about fighting for power and profit, and they also calculate everything about themselves.

As soon as Liu Jin and Wang Shouren left, his good life was gone, and his troubles suddenly became more, and he even thought about making plans for his own property.

In the past, I might really believe you.

But now I have not been the emperor in vain for decades, not to mention people like Liu Jin and Wang Shouren who have said these things to me.

Having figured this out, Emperor Hongzhi remained calm, ready to see what these people wanted to do and what they would do next.

Another early morning, inside the Golden Luan Hall.

"Your Majesty, I have something to announce!"

A minister stood up.

"Hmm~"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly, motioning for him to continue.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen~"

"I have a letter from the people in Yulin, Shaanxi Province. The people in the book describe the many problems caused by oil exploration in the Yulin area."

"Some oil mining businessmen wantonly excrete oil waste, which leads to the pollution of water sources, the death of fish and shrimp in rivers, and the inability of cattle, sheep and livestock to drink."

"There are also oil merchants who wantonly ruined good land in order to exploit oil, and the number of them reaches hundreds of thousands of mu."

"There are also oil merchants who, for their own sake, seize fertile land, buy and sell by force, bully men and women, and do all kinds of evil."

The minister came forward and complained about many things that happened because of the oil extraction.

Hearing the minister's words, Emperor Hongzhi frowned immediately.

The matter of oil extraction is so huge, such as polluting water sources, destroying fertile land, seizing fertile land, etc., but it is normal to think about it carefully.

Where there are interests, there will be battles, not to mention that the price of oil has always been very good, and the market demand for oil is getting stronger and stronger.

"My dear friends, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

Emperor Hongzhi thought about it and asked.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the exploitation of oil should be regulated, the disturbance to the environment should be reduced, the occupation, destruction, and pollution of good land should be strictly prohibited, and those profiteers and bullies who seize good land, buy and sell by force, and bully men and women should be severely punished. "

As the current chief minister of the cabinet, Han Wen was naturally the first to stand up.

The meaning is also very simple, the standard should be regulated, and the severe punishment should be severely punished. This is not a special thing, and such things will happen in all walks of life.

As long as there are interests, there will be rivers and lakes, fights, and various things. What the court has to do is to regulate and guide, and punish those who do not obey the rules.

"Hmm~"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly. In fact, this kind of matter should not be brought up in the court. Local officials should act in accordance with the laws of Ming Dynasty and solve this problem.

"Your Majesty, I think that the reason why there are so many chaos is entirely because the interests involved in oil are very large."

"Now the price of oil has remained high, and the market demand is very strong, which has greatly stimulated businessmen to mine and compete for oil."

"To obtain oil is also completely unscrupulous. Regardless of everything, polluting water sources and destroying fertile land are nothing to them. Buying and selling by force, bullying men and women are also commonplace."

"As long as there are huge profits to be made in oil, things like this are bound to happen."

"I believe that the imperial court should monopolize oil and strictly prohibit private oil exploitation. All oil, gold, silver, iron, copper and other resources should belong to the imperial court and should be monopolized by the imperial court."

"The imperial court set up a special mining office to conduct unified mining and standardize mining, which can also reduce competition among merchants, and at the same time increase the income of the imperial court."

Yang Tinghe stood up and took out the memorial that had been prepared a long time ago.

"Is the imperial court monopolizing the mining industry?"

When Emperor Hongzhi, Han Wen, Zhong Fan and others heard this, they frowned deeply.

This mining franchise seems to be very good, reducing competition, increasing court revenue, regulating the market, etc., with many benefits.

But when things really work, I'm afraid it will be a different scene.

Look at the salt industry in the past, which was exclusively operated by the imperial court. What happened?

The imperial court could not receive any money, and the salt cookers were poor and tired, and the common people ate extremely expensive salt. In the end, it was the salt merchants and the officials who did it.

The monopoly of the imperial court finally turned into those officials relying on this monopoly system to turn salt into a tool for their own profiteering. This is how the salt merchants became rich.

Don't think that these salt merchants are really capable and able to operate, but they just rely on the monopoly policy to become the moths of Ming Dynasty.

Now you want to play this game, oil, gold, copper, iron, silver, etc. all have to be monopolized by the imperial court, Nima, the benefits here are so huge, if you really have a monopoly, you don’t know how to be rich by then How many moths.

It is estimated that ordinary people will not even think about using cheap oil in the future. These people's urination, they can do anything.

"Your Majesty, I think that what Duke Yang said is true. The mining industry will be monopolized by the imperial court. It will not only regulate mining and the market, but also bring a lot of income to the imperial court. It will serve multiple purposes."

"Yes, Your Majesty, what Duke Yang said is true, the mining industry must be owned by the imperial court and be monopolized in a unified way!"

"."

(End of this chapter)