1635 Han style rises again

On January 1663, 1, Jianye.

Zhou Yingping, the big shopkeeper of the "Zhou Ji" trading company, got off the carriage with the support of several guys, and then frowned as he watched a large section of the road ahead being cut off, and countless building materials piled up on the ground. Workers are busy laying pipes.Seeing that it is no longer possible to pass the carriage.

With a fat body and nearly sixty years of age, how can he walk through this section of the street full of roadblocks.Seeing this, an accompanying steward greeted the fellows immediately, found a chair in a nearby store, put on two wooden sticks, made a simple sliding pole, lifted the shopkeeper Zhou, and walked through the place carefully. section of street.

"The craftsmen of these construction companies don't have any rules at all." Zhou Yingping, who was sitting on the sliding pole, complained, "Look at them, there are tunnels dug everywhere in a good street, which is obviously a serious disturbance to the people. Jianye The officials of the government don't care about it, let them do whatever they want here!"

"What the big shopkeeper said is true." The steward smiled and agreed: "However, I guess that the craftsmen of the construction company must be worried about the coming rainy season, and they may want to complete the sewer network and water supply system in this block as soon as possible. If so, in February and March, when there is heavy rain, I am afraid that construction will not be possible.”

"If that's the case, why did you do it so early!" Zhou Yingping shook his head and said, "In the past few months, I didn't know how to get more coolies to build it. On the eve of the rainy season, I came to rush to work."

"The treasurer doesn't know anything." The steward said with a smile: "In the past few months, the coolies of Jianye Mansion were concentrated at the docks to expand the port, build warehouses, and strengthen the breakwater berm. Thousands of people Almost all the natives are transferred there, and they plan to increase the handling capacity of Jianye Port by [-]% on the original basis to meet the increasing number of merchant ships arriving at the port. "

"The port should be expanded. Otherwise, those merchant ships who arrive at the port will have to wait outside the port, which really delays things. A few days ago, the ship we came back from Makassar had to wait outside the port for two full days before it was released. It is allowed to enter the port and dock." Zhou Yingping said: "However, the manpower is so tight, and the government will not keep the tens of thousands of immigrants who temporarily stopped here last year, so it can speed up the construction of Jianye City, right?"

The steward just smiled and didn't answer.Naturally, the government has already made arrangements for immigration. How can they stop the immigrants who should be allocated just because some infrastructure projects are launched.Not to mention, disrupting the daily arrangements of the immigrant reception area, even if so many people were stranded in Jianye City, would be a big trouble.I heard that there are quotas at the beginning of the year for the amount of money that the governments of various places should spend each year. If so many immigrants are detained rashly, then they have to spend an extra sum of money to support them. Why bother!
This time Zhou Yingping was invited by the "Han Kee" trading company to participate in a fundraising meeting.Originally, with his status and status in Jianye City, except for the shopkeepers and important officials of several large trading companies, ordinary people could not invite him.However, this "Han Kee" business company has a royal background and has an energy that cannot be underestimated.

Zhou Yingping even knew that the owner of the "Hanji" trading company was the side concubine Bai Zhijun who was favored by King Qi.Three years ago, she took out tens of thousands of Hanzhou silver dollars to set up a cotton spinning factory and a food processing factory. In addition to recruiting a large number of women to work in the factory, she also introduced many people with disabilities into the factory. Doing some work within one's ability has really added a lot of extra income to those people from poor families.

Moreover, from Zhou Yingping's point of view, the two factories under the "Han Kee" trading company don't seem to care about how much money they make or how much profit they get, but rather do welfare.Not only is the treatment of workers slightly higher than that of the same industry, but the working environment is also slightly better, and there is also a free lunch at noon.This action caused many private workshops in Jianye Mansion to look sideways, and they were filled with slander.

In private, Zhou Yingping once asked the managers and shopkeepers of the two factories why they gave those workers that kind of treatment. You must know that this would seriously eat up the profitability of the factories.The answer he got was that the owner of the "Han Kee" trading company wanted to show a little warmth in this "capitalist socialism" full of cruel competition and harsh working environment, and seek a little bit of rights and protection for the disadvantaged factory workers.

Zhou Yingping didn't quite understand what kind of society a "capitalist society" was, but he knew to a certain extent that compared with those traders who earned huge profits, those workers who worked more than ten hours a day were indeed very hard.Although the monthly income they can earn is much higher than what they could earn in Daming before, it can only meet the living needs of a few families.

Of course, these workers are not without the opportunity to change their destiny. As long as their skills and experience are improved, or their craftsmanship is improved, their remuneration will also increase rapidly.If you can make some kind of technological change and process improvement in the factory, and obtain a patented technology, you can also get a large amount of government incentives and patent royalties, and jump into the "middle class".

This time, more than [-] merchants were invited by the "Hanji" trading company to participate in the fundraising meeting, basically including many well-known merchants and factory owners in Jianyefu.As for the purpose of soliciting donations, it is to establish a nationwide charitable mutual aid organization - Tongmai Association, and to build nursing homes in various places.

In fact, there have been various charitable relief organizations in the past dynasties, such as the Lonely Garden in Nanliang, Beitianyuan in Tang Dynasty, Anjifang in Song Dynasty, Zhongjiyuan in Meng Yuan, Nursing Home in Daming, etc., mainly used for Adopt orphans and widows who have no living security and poor people who cannot take care of themselves due to disabilities.However, these welfare relief agencies were established at the beginning of the dynasty, and in the middle and late stages, due to the turmoil and financial crisis of the dynasty, they gradually abolished and died out.

For example, in the 14th year of Yongle (1416) in the Ming Dynasty, "all the prefectures and counties in the world have Huimin pharmaceutical bureaus and Yangji homes", and in the 15th year of Hongzhi (1502), Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youtang even ordered " Ordered Yansui Town and other officials to set up a Yangjiyuan and a Louzeyuan in each Weiwei in Yanbian.” From then on, the Yangjiyuan began to expand from the inland counties to Yanbian Weiwei.But after Wanli, it was basically abandoned and it was difficult to restore it.

Under the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Qi State Cabinet, there is the Changping Department, which mainly implements some financial assistance and material subsidies for families in domestic and overseas territories who are in trouble due to illness or disaster, and guarantees the daily life of grassroots people to the greatest extent.

However, the government's limited fiscal revenue cannot cover all the people in the country and various relief situations, which necessitates the emergence of a number of non-governmental charitable relief organizations to supplement and improve the lack and gaps in the government relief level.

Surprisingly, Queen Qi brought the prince and other members of the royal family to the fundraising venue and announced that they would donate [-] Hanzhou silver dollars on behalf of the royal family.

Seeing this, many merchants who had little interest in this fundraising conference immediately became enthusiastic and active. You have one thousand, I have three thousand, and some people donated ten thousand Hanzhou silver dollars in a high-profile manner, competing to express themselves in front of the queen and the prince. generosity and love.

In the end, the newly established charity organization, Tongji Association, raised a total of 22 Hanzhou silver dollars for the first phase of operation, and planned to build the first batch of nursing homes in the prefectures of Hanzhou and several nearby overseas territories to adopt widows, widows, lonely elderly and disabled people. Poor people who cannot take care of themselves.

"Shopkeeper Zhou, I haven't seen you for a long time. You are getting richer and richer." Zhuo Zhenzong, the big shopkeeper of "Hanji" trading company, saw Zhou Yingping walking over with a shy stomach, and couldn't help but joked with a smile.

"No way, the water and soil of Hanzhou support people!" Zhou Yingping took a handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said with a smile: "Ten years ago, in the land of Ming Dynasty, not to mention big fish and meat every day, It was not short of fat and meat every day, but it was not so obese. However, it has been less than ten years since I arrived in Hanzhou, and you can see that my stomach is swollen. This shows that under the rule of the king, my country of Qi is What a peaceful and rich country!"

"Haha..." Zhuo Zhenzong and several nearby businessmen couldn't help laughing when they heard the words.This week's shopkeeper is really a wonderful person.He laughed at himself about his obese body, but he also flattered King Qi indirectly. He was knowledgeable and interesting, no wonder he had a huge net worth.

"Treasurer Zhou, just now we were discussing the matter of investing in the second railway planned to be built in Qi State." Zhuo Zhenzong said with a smile, "I don't know, are you interested in this?"

"Oh?" Zhou Yingping looked at Zhuo Zhenzong in surprise, "I am also allowed to invest in the construction of such a military weapon as the railway."

"The cabinet intends to extend the construction (industrial) new (Huai'an) railway to Yongxing (now the small town of Adelaide River in northern Australia), which will cost a lot of money and make the financial burden extremely heavy. Banshi) to Chang’an (today’s Toowoomba, Australia) section of the railway intends to operate through the market, attracting private capital like me to participate in it.”

"My country of Qi is going to move the capital to Chang'an?" Zhou Yingping asked tentatively as if he heard something from it.

"Given that the construction progress of Chang'an City far exceeds the expected plan, it is estimated that within five years, some cabinet departments will begin to move to Chang'an." Zhuo Zhenzong said in a low voice: "Within eight to ten years, the royal family and all important The cabinet structures will all be moved over."

"In this case, this railway is a way to make a fortune!" Zhou Yingping said excitedly: "Are the officials planning to introduce all of our private capital? At that time, after it is completed, will it be operated by the officials, or will it be formed by merchants such as me?" The railway business company operates on its own?"

"The length of this railway is more than 130 kilometers, and the construction budget is 80 Hanzhou silver dollars. The cabinet government will invest [-] yuan, Daxing government will invest [-] yuan, and the rest of the funds will be raised from private capital in the form of shares. Just as As shopkeeper Zhou said, the railway is the military weapon of our Qi State. To prevent various accidents, the railway is still operated by the Ministry of Communications, and the participating companies and individuals receive dividends every year. To build a new railway operation Judging from the situation, I estimate that the annual dividends will reach at least [-]% of the profit, and if the relocation of the capital is completed, the annual profit will be even more."

"Although the dividends are not much, it is a long-term business." Zhou Yingping nodded and said: "If the government issues shares to the market, you can buy some as one of the safe means of asset protection."

"That's true. Although sea trade is very profitable, it is extremely risky." A merchant echoed: "Two months ago, I lost news of a [-]-ton ship in the eastern waters of Hanzhou. The ship hit a rock and sank. Although Hanzhou Insurance Company paid part of the compensation, various aftermath matters still cost a lot of money."

After hearing this, several sea trade merchants nodded with deep emotion, and sighed with each other.Not to mention the giant maritime trade groups such as Indian Trading Company and Nanyang Trading Company, there will be shipwreck incidents every year or every few years. It is these small and medium-sized maritime merchants who dare to say that they have not encountered various maritime accidents.As long as a shipwreck occurs, the loss of cargo and personnel will swallow up their profits for several years, which makes people feel sad.

"From this point of view, it is safer to set up a factory in China." A businessman in his fifties said: "As long as you can produce something, whether it is to meet domestic needs or ship it to overseas markets, basically you will not worry about sales. Even though Lilan is much less than sea trade, it is safe and stable, and can continuously obtain sustainable income.”

"Why, Lao Fang is planning to invest in the establishment of a factory?" Zhou Yingping asked.

"Yeah, I'm an old bone, and I can't continue sailing on the sea." The businessman called Lao Fang said: "I heard that in March, a patent technology award conference will be held in Montenegro. I'm thinking, Find a good technical project, invest in the establishment of a factory, and slowly transfer the business to the industry."

"Recently, the government established a Hanzhou Industrial and Commercial Bank, which is said to be dedicated to supporting the establishment and development of local factory manufacturing. As long as you have a good project product, even if you don't have valuable collateral, people can lend you money , to start the factory. As for the labor demand in the factory, it will be given priority by the Immigration Department." Zhuo Zhenzong nodded and said: "In addition, most of the various taxes and fees that the Ministry of Households has successively levied in recent years It is aimed at the maritime trade and domestic financial lending industries, but it has promulgated a variety of preferential policies for the factory manufacturing industry, and it is second only to agriculture.”

"My country of Qi is going to imitate the policies of previous dynasties, and is going to... suppress business?" Zhou Yingping's eyelids twitched, and he asked worriedly.

"Restraining business?" Zhuo Zhenzong couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "How could shopkeeper Zhou have such an idea? Our country of Qi is based on agriculture and established by industry and commerce. How can we implement a policy of suppressing business? Encouraging the development of factory manufacturing is for the sake of Consolidate the domestic industrial foundation and develop the hard power of our country. As for the increase in overseas trade and domestic trade, as well as part of the tax on bank loans, it is just to adjust and neutralize the excessive profits of these industries. Well, it should be regarded as the kind promoted by the government. Social transfer payments. Generally speaking, compared with previous dynasties, Qi State has taken great care and maintenance of me and other merchants."