I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1033 Yao Guangqi's Method: Distributing Houses
The most basic social unit in the Ming Dynasty was the household, which consisted of individual families. The common problems existing in each family were the common problems of society.

The Ming Dynasty was an imperial system based on prefectures and counties, and it also had to consider these issues. Some of these issues may seem new, but they are actually old, and very old.

For example, Yang Zhu once said, "If people do not marry and hold official positions, they will lose their desires; if people do not have food and clothing, the ruler and his subjects will not have a chance to rest." From a very early time, the issue of population growth had to be considered, since population is the foundation of everything.

In a poem he wrote to a friend, Bai Juyi mentioned that the story of children growing up before the elderly have grown old, and that as this expands from families to the whole society and becomes a common social phenomenon, it will cause a lot of trouble.

Yao Guangqi bluntly pointed out that the simplest and most effective way to get people to have children is through ignorance—ignorance, not religion.

He and Yan Shixuan were in Ryukyu, overseeing the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance. Within the world he observed, ignorance and fertility were perfectly correlated.

Luzon, the Yuanxu Islands, Chile, Peru, Mexico, San Francisco, Japan—the entire Pacific Rim—the more uncivilized and ignorant a place is, the more births it produces.

This pattern also applies to the Western and Atlantic Oceans, and the Western Ocean also exhibits this commonality.

Taixi has shown these characteristics.

In the Roman Empire, the Romans didn't have children, while the barbarians had them in abundance.

Rome was an advanced civilization, while the barbarians were backward and ignorant. Even today, the West is still building a new worldview centered on Roman culture, but the advanced and civilized Rome has ultimately disappeared into the long river of history.

Moreover, no figure like Zhu Yuanzhang has emerged out of nowhere and brought Rome back in a flash.

By reducing the implementation of the Dinghai education system, the majority of people will remain in a state of ignorance. Then, by taking advantage of the opening of the sea and the increase in productivity, the people's food needs can be met as fully as possible, which can increase fertility and solve the current and future manpower shortage problem.

There was a shortage of people for land reclamation in Liaodong and for development in the Western Regions. As the number of artisans increased, there was a shortage of farmers in the fields, and the number of artisans could not meet the needs of the workshops. Even local ruffians who cracked whips were in short supply in Southeast Asia.

However, Yao Guangqi also mentioned the hidden dangers of this seemingly simple and effective method, namely, the problem of "bad money driving out good money," which is the same problem that Jia Yi of the Western Han Dynasty raised: "the number of counterfeit coins increases daily, while the number of legitimate coins dwindles daily."

When Jia Yi of the Western Han Dynasty said this, he wasn't just talking about money; he was also talking about people, about the imperial court. More and more treacherous officials were in power, occupying high positions, while righteous officials were gradually decreasing, and the court was becoming increasingly corrupt.

The same applies to money, and the same applies to people.

The cost of producing bad money is far lower than that of good money. Money is essentially a commodity. When a large number of low-value goods flood the world, high-value goods are forced out of circulation.

Survival of the fittest, where the strong survive and the weak perish, is a positive selection mechanism; while the problem of bad money driving out good money is a negative selection mechanism.

At the human level, the proportion of educated, reasonable, ambitious, and capable people will decrease, leaving the Ming Dynasty with a rabble of unruly people.

In this way, talented individuals can easily be eliminated in large numbers through a reverse selection mechanism.

The inability to effectively select talented individuals resulted in the Ming Dynasty gradually becoming more barbaric.

Once this reverse selection mechanism is established, the overall development trend of society will no longer be a spiral of negation and further negation, but rather a continuous decline.

For example, if those who dare to sacrifice themselves die on the battlefield, the fruits of victory will be seized by scoundrels who dare not sacrifice themselves.

For example, if honest officials always fail, then corruption will run rampant, and those who waver in the middle will naturally join the ranks of the corrupt.
Similar things happen not only in the imperial court, but also in all groups.

Reducing the implementation of the Dinghai school system and the efforts to promote universal education are a short-sighted approach.

Yao Guangqi's words had become quite dangerous at this point. If a scholar who had received education on the distinction between Chinese and barbarians were to understand them, it would be very easy for him to discern the underlying meaning behind Yao Guangqi's words.

Under the same conditions, inferior races reproduce faster than civilized, progressive, advanced, and superior races, so the overall size of inferior races should be reduced.

In the end, we come full circle back to what Yin Zhengmao did in Luzon. All his policies, whether benevolent or tyrannical, ultimately aimed at reducing the population.

People like Ling Yunyi, Yin Zhengmao, Zeng Shengwu, and Yao Guangqi must have had a lot in common with Little Mustache.

But choosing another method seems too troublesome.

Yao Guangqi's memorial was clearly not intended to persuade His Majesty the Emperor to reduce the promotion of the Dinghai Education System; what he really wanted to suggest was a troublesome and dangerous solution.

"Tsk tsk, Yao Guangqi's map of the Yan Kingdom is a bit too long," Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao with a smile.

The true intentions were revealed when Yao Guangqi offered a seemingly easy-to-implement solution, but this solution was simply impossible to implement. The Ming Dynasty's passion for reading could not be explained in just a few words.

Fan Yuanshan might give up the Guojiao liquor for his father-in-law, but he would never give up his child's education.

The imperial court did not implement the Dinghai school system, but parents would try every means to get their children to study, no matter how small the opportunity.

Zhang Juzheng inherited the title of commander of a thousand households, Xiong Tingbi was a cowherd, Xu Chengchu had goiter, and Fan Yuanshan was a son-in-law who married into his wife's family; all of them passed the imperial examination and became Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations).

This is not Zhu Yijun simply generalizing from a single case; it was indeed the case in the Ming Dynasty. In the case handled by Songjiang Prefecture before, the Tianma Academy, which specialized in swindling money, was able to recruit a full number of students.

The Ming Dynasty's enthusiasm for education is boundless, especially when material conditions are slightly more abundant, this enthusiasm becomes even more apparent.

Since the imperial court did not implement the Dinghai school system, private schools, which were more expensive, naturally took their place.

There is never a vacuum of power. If the court doesn't do it, someone else will naturally do it and seize power.

The first solution Yao Guangqi proposed was not a solution at all.

From the emperor to the common people, the Ming Dynasty had long been imprinted with the ideology of political performance. The upright officials were expected to be capable and responsible, to take responsibility for everything, and if they couldn't, they should step down and be replaced by someone who could.

The imperial court chose to stop implementing the Dinghai education system and reduce the efforts to promote universal education. Zhu Yijun, this upright and just official, would be pushed down under the overwhelming momentum of the Wanli Reform, even though the Wanli Reform was led by the imperial court and Zhu Yijun was the backbone of the Wanli Reform.

Such is the ideological imprint of political performance; once the mandate of heaven is lost, there's no reason to blame the rise of numerous heroes.

“What Yao Yidao said makes a lot of sense.” Feng Bao felt that Yao Guangqi’s words were correct; the population of the Yi people should be reduced to prevent them from becoming too powerful and threatening the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yijun chuckled wryly and asked with a smile, "Yao Yidao?"

"That's Yao Guangqi's nickname, that's what everyone calls him," Feng Bao explained the origin of the name.

Yao Yidao refers not only to the scar on his face, but also to Yao Guangqi's style of doing things—he likes to cut through the Gordian knot. For example, in the case of the soul-calling, he directly gambled himself on the matter. If the soul-calling technique really existed, he would use it on him, and in the end, he was praised as a great benefactor.

All economic problems, in the final analysis, are population problems.

So, if the panacea for solving economic problems is childbirth, it naturally raises the question: could universal benefits for women, the main body of childbirth, increase the birth rate?
Yao Guangqi thought it was both yes and no. It's very simple. As he mentioned earlier, the more ignorant people are, the higher the birth rate will be. If you only look at the birth rate, this method really won't work.

Yao Guangqi cited the stories of many Tang Dynasty princesses who never married, explaining the matter in detail and hoping that the court would not repeat the mistakes made by the Tang Dynasty regarding "improper conduct among young women".

In the Tang Dynasty, marrying a princess was like marrying a living ancestor.

This has been the case since the early Tang Dynasty.

Fang Xuanling, known for his shrewd and decisive actions, had a son named Fang Yi'ai who married Princess Gaoyang. Princess Gaoyang had an affair with Bianji, a disciple of Xuanzang. This scandal spread throughout the land, and Fang Yi'ai was ridiculed for a thousand years for wearing this hat.

After that, it became very difficult for princesses of the Tang Dynasty to get married.

When Emperor Xianzong of Tang was selecting a husband for his daughter, Princess Qiyang, everyone declined, citing illness. When Emperor Xianzong was choosing a husband for Princess Guangde, it became a situation where "most officials avoided him." Emperor Wenzong of Tang's four daughters were unable to marry and instead became nuns.

The emperor wanted to form marriage alliances with prominent families, and marriages throughout the land emphasized matching social status. In this matter, the royal family, prominent families, and ordinary people were all treated the same.

The Tang Dynasty called this phenomenon "disrespectful behavior in the inner quarters," meaning that once a woman enters the home, she becomes arrogant, domineering, unreasonable, and undisciplined in her lifestyle, yet she feels it is perfectly acceptable. This is unacceptable to the emperor and noble families, but acceptable to ordinary people.
If the Ming Dynasty were to descend into chaos, it would be forced to repeat the same mistake of morally questionable conduct among young women.

There's no need to take any more detours. When productivity is insufficient, engaging in these pointless endeavors will only lead to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty.

Yao Guangqi wrote a lot, such as on the ownership of the means of production and the change of production relations, which were all issues that the Wanli Reforms were constantly addressing.

Wanting to have more children is easy: redistribute the means of production, make production relations more equitable, and make the distribution system more reasonable. Let people have hope for the future, and that will be achieved. However, this will take a long time to build the system bit by bit, which is far less direct and quick than keeping the people ignorant.

It's troublesome and dangerous, and those with vested interests are difficult to deal with. If it were so easy to control, reforms throughout history wouldn't have mostly failed.

Chanting scriptures won't solve the problem, and many scriptures are dangerous for individuals to chant. For example, the scripture on the struggle in the third volume of "The Theory of Classes" is something that Yao Guangqi, given his status, cannot chant for the time being.

Besides chanting scriptures, Yao Guangqi offered a very interesting specific solution: distribute houses.

Officials like Yao Guangqi, Wang Qian, Li Le, and Shen Shixing, who all came from Songjiang Prefecture, shared a common characteristic: they tended to think about issues from a material perspective, focusing on basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.

Shen Shixing and Wang Qian wanted to use food, clothing, housing, and transportation to combat the alienation of bureaucrats by power and money, and to use the Songjiang Cotton Mill to fight against the behemoth of monopoly capital in the cotton textile industry.

Solve problems from a material perspective, rather than from a psychological or moral perspective.

The distribution of houses was first piloted at the government-owned factories, which were originally designated for distributing residential properties, but the distribution process lacked any particularly good regulations.

No house is given to those who are not married or newly married. If they have two children, they are given a room, but the relationship is a rental. If they have three children, the rental is free. If they have four children, the house deed is given to the craftsman couple.

"Give them houses." Zhu Yijun raised an eyebrow as he looked at the memorial in front of him. Yao Guangqi's move was clearly a dirty trick.

The allocation of official residences in the Ming Dynasty's official factories caused a lot of trouble. Wang Chonggu, Wang Jiaping, and other members of the Workers' Party built many "Ten Thousand Household Gardens" in various official factories, specifically to provide housing for residents, but there was never a clear rule on how to allocate them.

Now, Yao Guangqi has proposed a set of rules: artisans with two children will be given priority for housing, while those with four children will receive the house deed.

The reason for promoting this policy in government factories is actually to ensure its smoother implementation.

The purpose of providing government-owned houses to government factories was primarily to incentivize production. For government factories, the houses mainly represented construction costs, which were not particularly expensive at the time. The construction cost of a small courtyard was less than three taels of silver.

Yao Guangqi's reasoning for this solution was very simple: welfare should be given to those who are willing to take on social responsibility, rather than to a group of scoundrels who do not engage in production but only want to embezzle public resources.

Being willing to be a parent of multiple children is a manifestation of a group's willingness to take on social responsibility.

Zhu Yijun suddenly thought of Xu Bangrui, the Duke of Wei, and proposed to provide monthly rations for the wives and children of the soldiers in the capital garrison and navy.

This month's grain was divided into four levels: one level for those with wives, and another level for those with two, three, and four children. Those with wives received one qian of silver per month, while those with four children received four qian of silver per month.

The implementation of the preferential treatment policy, which included four levels of benefits, immediately triggered a wave of marriages among the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison and the Navy. This trend continued for several years and remains vibrant to this day. Yao Guangqi's solution was similar: to provide his mother with even more benefits.

"Let's try it out in the capital and Songjiang Prefecture first. If it works well, then we'll extend it to the government factories. If the government factories implement it without problems, then we'll promote it widely." Zhu Yijun approved the memorial in his imperial edict, then sent a letter to the cabinet to ask for the ministers' opinions.

It is difficult to achieve absolute fairness and impartiality in distribution. Since there must be a standard for distribution, it is clear that the distribution standard mentioned by Yao Guangqi is not a proper solution.

This is considered two ways to eat a fish.

The Ming Dynasty encouraged childbirth and military service, expanding this practice to include government factories; incidentally, this also solved the problem of allocating government factories and residences.

The Songjiang Shipyard has 36,000 shipwrights, but only 21,000 official residences. The allocation of the newly built Wanhu Garden has not yet taken place.

Zhao Shizhen, the general manager of the shipyard, was also in a dilemma. The shipyard held several meetings of craftsmen, but they could not come up with a solution.

Even in government-run factories, there are lazybones and those who hold positions without doing any work, based on seniority and years of service. It may seem fair, but it is unfair to the hardworking ones.
Based on shareholding, some newly recruited craftsmen don't know when they'll be able to join the factory, which affects the production enthusiasm of new craftsmen and apprentices.
If we divide people by age and seniority, it will be even more detrimental to productivity and the improvement of production techniques. Everyone will just coast along and get what they deserve once they reach a certain age.

The shipyard is also in a very difficult position regarding how to divide the assets.

This division by child is quite subtle.

In essence, the housing allocation policy expands the overall scale of artisans. The more people there are, the greater their power, and it does indeed protect the collective interests of the artisan group.

After receiving the emperor's decree, Zhao Shizhen immediately convened a meeting of craftsmen at the shipyard to announce the new division of labor.

If a craftsman is unable to have children due to a production accident or congenital reasons, or if he has only one child, wouldn't he be unable to receive a house from the government-owned factory for the rest of his life? Of course not, because adoption also counts.

This is similar to how the Duke of Wei provided monthly rations and allowances to the wives and children of his soldiers. If a soldier was willing to adopt four children, he could receive four coins of silver per month.

Whether it was the Duke of Wei's provision of monthly stipends to his wives or the allocation of official residences to government factories, the fundamental purpose of these two policies was to expand the collective size. Adoption was also a way to expand the collective size.

The artisans' assembly ultimately approved this method of division, with approximately two-thirds of the artisans in favor and less than one-third abstaining or opposing it.

The voting at the Ming Dynasty's artisan conference was quite interesting. Abstention was considered a form of opposition because, in practice, it was found that some people were reluctant to express their opposition, and abstention was a form of silent opposition.

The craftsmen abstained or opposed for a simple reason: some felt that four children were too many. With the wages of craftsmen in the official factories, four children would have to be left to their own devices. The good private schools in Songjiang Prefecture were not cheap, both in terms of enrollment and tuition.

But the artisans' conference has already approved it, so this is the only way to proceed.

Zhu Yijun carefully observed the allocation process of the official residences and discovered that Zhao Shizhen and other chief and deputy officials had ulterior motives for approving the decree.

Zhao Shizhen's purpose was to create vulnerabilities for craftsmen. Family, wife, and children were all vulnerabilities for craftsmen. The more vulnerabilities a craftsman had, the more shackles he had, making him easier to control and more likely to obey orders.

The three systems of shareholding, labor alliance, and artisan assembly elevated the status of artisans in government factories, making them more difficult to manage for officials such as the general manager, co-manager, and agent.

But then again.

With official factories now allocated housing and having their own three-tiered schools, Zhao Shizhen's ill intentions seem insignificant in comparison.

The artisans didn't live in seclusion. They were very familiar with the world outside the official factories. The harsh terms set by the private workshop owners were astonishing. Paying wages was like borrowing money, leaving meant repaying the debt, and working meant paying compensation. It was simply outrageous!

Official factories were an important tool for the imperial court to regulate labor-capital conflicts, and they played a crucial and leading role in changing the production relations of the Ming Dynasty.

In June, the galleons from the West returned to port. This time, the galleons were no longer just Portuguese ships, but a fleet from Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and England.

Fleets from the Netherlands and England passed through the Strait of Malacca from the west, while fleets from Portugal and Spain came from the east.

The English fleet was blocked in Okinawa, while the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish fleets were allowed to enter the new port of Matsue Prefecture.

The English envoys made a sharp, explosive sound! They had finally opened up a sea route and crossed the ocean, but due to outdated pilotage technology, it took them a full year to reach the Ming Dynasty, only to be turned away by the Ming.

This allowed the English envoy to understand the reason only after careful communication with the Ming Dynasty.

The issue remains the same: the Ming Dynasty will not trade with England until the licenses of privateering are revoked.

Logically, the three English galleons should have been stopped in the Strait of Malacca, but since this was their first time there, they were allowed to come to Ryukyu to use their onboard supplies to purchase a batch of goods, including spices, iron pots, porcelain, tea, and so on, before returning home.

The English fleet started with six ships, but by the time they reached the Cape of Good Hope, only four remained, and by the time they reached the Strait of Malacca, only three were left. The last one had gone astray and its whereabouts were unknown.

Buying in Ryukyu is more than 30% more expensive than buying in Matsue Prefecture. In fact, some goods cannot be provided by Shuri Port in Ryukyu. For example, England wanted to buy a batch of old brine and quinine, which the merchants in Shuri Port in Ryukyu could not provide.

The Ming Dynasty did indeed open its doors to business, but it didn't do business with just anyone.

Moreover, the next time the English fleet came, they could only return via the Strait of Malacca, where they could buy even fewer things, mainly spices.

"Like Spain, Portugal is losing its seas." On June 17, after reading all the letters from the West, Zhu Yijun summoned Gao Qiyu and inquired about foreign affairs.

"Your Majesty, Diu Fort has fallen into the hands of the Dutch." Gao Qiyu stood in front of the map and pointed to the location of Diu Port.

The Governor-General's residence of Diu is located in Gujarat, the westernmost state of the Mughal Empire.

In the fourth year of the Zhengde reign, the Portuguese seized Diu from the Gujaratis and began to build Diu Fortress. Diu Fortress was very small, with walls covering no more than four li (approximately 2.5 kilometers). Zhu Yijun could walk around the fortress ten times during a morning exercise, and his heart rate would not even exceed 160.

However, Diu Fortress was very sturdy, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was a typical irregular bastion. After the two city gates were closed, there was only one water gate for entry and exit. Akbar suffered a great loss when he personally led an expedition against Diu Fortress.

In the sixty years following the construction of Diu Fort, Portuguese castles sprang up all over the country, from Diu Fort to Cochin, and a total of sixteen castles and ports formed the Diu Governor's Palace.

But today, news from all sides confirms that Diuburg, which was supposed to be impregnable, has fallen.

It was not the Gujaratis who recaptured the castle, but the Dutch who conquered Diu and gained control of the port. This meant that the Dutch had acquired the ability to travel from the east to the Ming Dynasty.

The Spanish were losing the sea, and the Portuguese were losing the colonies they had previously established.

The man who conquered Diu Fort was Cornelius de Hautmann. Hautmann, as a special envoy of the Netherlands, also came to the Ming Dynasty to discuss the trade of spices in Malacca.

This Hultman was also the founder of the Dutch East India Company.

Zhu Yijun looked at the geomantic map in front of him, pondering how to deal with this new change. Western colonists were using a more efficient method to expand their overseas colonies and plunder wealth.

The Wanli Emperor's opening of the seas and the Yongle Emperor's opening of the seas had different directions. The Wanli Emperor's opening of the seas mainly focused on the Pacific Ocean, while the Yongle Emperor's opening of the seas mainly focused on the South China Sea and the Western Seas.

At present, is the Ming Dynasty not substantially developing the Western Ocean (Indian Ocean) and just watching the Dutch East India Company expand its territory in the Western Ocean, or should it shift its focus and increase its efforts to explore the Western Ocean?
"What does Gao Zongbo think we should do?" Zhu Yijun's hand slid across the geomantic map.

The Ming Dynasty is now shifting its focus to opening up the seas and increasing its efforts to explore the Western Ocean. The first thing to do is to attack Annam and re-establish Annam as a prefecture and county, so that merchant ships heading west can travel freely.

If we don't shift our focus and continue developing step by step, by the time the Ming Dynasty has tamed the entire Southeast Asia, we might find ourselves surrounded by hostile guests.

"The most important thing is still Southeast Asia." Gao Qiyu looked at the geomantic map in front of him and said with a solemn expression, "The Kingdom of Jinshan and the Governor-General's Office of Jinchi are, for the Ming Dynasty, a matter of fortune if we gain them and fate if we lose them, but Southeast Asia is something we cannot afford to lose."

Gao Qiyu reminded His Majesty that the most important benefit of Wanli's opening of the seas was Southeast Asia, and that everything else could be compromised in the face of this core interest.

The formulation of the Ming Dynasty's national policies must revolve around this core interest.

"Does Gao Zongbo mean that I'm being greedy, wanting more than I have?" Zhu Yijun asked with a smile.

Gao Qiyu thought for a moment and said very seriously, "That's how it should be."

A monarch who doesn't want to expand his territory, yet still wants to be a tyrant?

Every tyrant is pioneering; as emperor, he will inevitably be both praised and criticized, and it is impossible for him to please everyone.

Since the Wanli Reforms, the Ming Dynasty has grown increasingly powerful. It is perfectly reasonable that His Majesty has his sights set not only on the South Seas, but also on the Eastern Pacific and the Western Seas.

Otherwise, what would be the point of wasting so much money to maintain 100,000 troops in the Beijing Garrison and 160,000 naval troops?
"I want them all" is not out of greed, but because Your Majesty has the power to have them all.

“In that case, we will deny the request of the Dutch envoy, Hotman, and will not allow Dutch merchant ships to purchase spices in Malacca,” Zhu Yijun decided.

This decision could not completely prevent the Dutch from obtaining spices, and the Ming Dynasty's control over the Strait of Malacca was not strong enough to prevent even a single ship from going to sea.

The fundamental purpose of this decision was to increase the price of spices for the Dutch, reduce the profits from ocean voyages, slow down the Dutch East India Company's acquisition of profits, and give the Ming Dynasty more time to adjust its policies.

"Your subject obeys the decree." Gao Qiyu bowed his head and accepted the order.

The Ming Dynasty also had a great demand for spices. For example, five-spice powder required a lot of Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and fennel seeds. Some also added dried ginger, cardamom, pepper, and dried tangerine peel.

The Ming Dynasty had a very mature spice processing industry, and the competition was fierce. Each company had different spice recipes and proportions, resulting in different flavors.

The large quantities of spices produced in Southeast Asia were far from enough for the Ming Dynasty to consume, and the Governor-General's Office even had to establish plantations to grow them.

Your Majesty personally sympathizes with the plight of the Dutch and acknowledges their courage in resisting tyranny, but this does not mean that Your Majesty will make further concessions on national interests in exchange for such sympathy and recognition.

His Majesty's greatest asset, a total of 150,000 hectares of land, is still in Southeast Asia.

"Your Majesty, the Great Light Cult founded by Marion has made new progress." Gao Qiyu reported an unexpected piece of news with a strange expression.

The Ministry of Rites believed that Marion and her Great Light Cult, who had been out of contact for two years, might have become an insignificant footnote in history with the end of the War of the Three Henrys.

But the Ministry of Rites was clearly wrong; the Great Brightness Sect was bursting with unprecedented vitality.

The Church of the Great Light no longer sought to enter Paris, but instead preached in the vast, unnoticed countryside, and made very good progress.

The War of the Three Henrys, which determined the succession to the throne, was mainly fought near Paris, while the vast countryside went unnoticed, giving the Church of the Holy Light the opportunity to grow unchecked.

The Great Brightness Sect proselytized in a very violent manner, which the Ministry of Rites called the Huang Chao-style proselytizing method.

(End of this chapter)