I'm really not doing business

Chapter 687: Find out how much they owe me!
"The resentment of the craftsmen is like boiling water, and it cannot be concealed no matter what."

"When I arrived at the Southern Court, the craftsmen wanted to cry for me, but the powerful and wealthy thought that I was a high and mighty king who would not meet with the craftsmen. They were wrong, so wrong. Every year in the Northern Court, I would meet with foreign officials, craftsmen, soldiers, poor laborers, and ask about their difficulties and solve their problems in a practical way."

"We are indeed the emperor, but we are also farmers." Seeing that these craftsmen were still a little nervous, Zhu Yijun immediately told them to just think of themselves as farmers.

This statement seems a bit contradictory. The emperor and the farmers seem to be incompatible, or even have little connection. They are contradictory identities. The emperor has a court, and the court has government offices in various places. The court always seems to take money from the farmers to pursue pleasure. This seems contradictory, but these two identities are unified in Your Majesty.

"Your Majesty, I have grievances in my heart, but I am afraid I cannot express them clearly. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me." A craftsman who was in charge of the group finally couldn't help but speak.

Zhu Yijun still said gently: "Take your time, there is no rush, there is plenty of time."

This gentle attitude made the craftsmen less nervous, and they spoke fluently, pouring out the grievances in their hearts in a long-winded manner, just like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube.

The craftsmen spoke in a very convoluted manner, the information was very scattered, and the specific demands were not clear. They themselves did not even know what they wanted, but they just felt dissatisfied. Craftsmen are not scholars, so they cannot summarize so clearly, but Zhu Yijun is very good at summarizing the key to the problem from these scattered information.

Zhang Juzheng believed that Your Majesty was very politically talented because Your Majesty was good at summarizing phenomena based on the four-step analysis method of the theory of contradiction: phenomenon, problem, cause, and solution. Only by analyzing a thing around these four steps and combining things that are intricately linked and universally connected for analysis can one achieve political wisdom.

"I understand what I heard. Let me repeat it again. The three of you can listen to see if I am correct. Feng Daban, ask the eunuch to pass the message to the audience and ask them if what I said is correct." Zhu Yijun gave Feng Bao some instructions. The audience must listen, as it involves the emperor's face and the credibility of the court.

"Long-term workers need to sign contracts and report to the household registration offices of counties, states, and prefectures. However, the labor contracts of long-term workers have minimum labor remuneration standards. Therefore, the common practice in Jiangnan is to turn long-term workers into short-term workers. That is, instead of recruiting workers, they specifically look for brokers and compradors to recruit workers." Zhu Yijun began his retelling.

The three craftsmen who were in charge kept nodding as His Majesty spoke. His Majesty said that he was not good at writing, but the logic was very clear.

Since the imperial court began to implement labor remuneration protection, the corresponding powerful and wealthy people and workshop owners have also come up with their own solutions.

This is very convenient for workshop owners.

Hiring workers through brokers and compradors would be more flexible. Most of the work in handicraft workshops is affected by land output, which in turn is affected by the seasons. It is not necessary to be busy all year round. For example, the weavers are busiest before and after the spring silkworms spin silk, but in summer, autumn and winter, the workshop does not need so many people.

By hiring workers through brokers, there is no need to face the troublesome labor-capital conflicts. After all, all wages are negotiated with the brokers. If there is any problem, the craftsmen will go to these brokers instead of the workshop owners. Even if some labor remuneration is owed, they can hire workers through other brokers without worrying too much.

The biggest advantage and the most important reason for hiring through a broker is saving money.

Money saving is all-round. When the work is slack, labor expenses can be saved, and when the work is busy, production can be accelerated. The most basic labor remuneration for various types of work stipulated by the court does not need to be followed, after all, there is no labor contract. Moreover, the labor remuneration can be kept very low. The Ming Dynasty lacked everything except poor laborers. Moreover, it was easy to divide the spoils, and it was enough to just deal with the brokers and compradors.

"These powerful and wealthy people are bullying the hardworking people of our Ming Dynasty. The natives of Southeast Asia, the Japanese slaves, and the black foreigners imported by the Arabs will not work at all without a whip. They would rather starve to death than work. They are guarding such a good place, but they are unwilling to farm well. But the people of our Ming Dynasty cannot sit still. If they do, they will be anxious."

"We understand, just like we can't stand seeing land left uncultivated. It's a sin."

"But they just take advantage of the hard-working people of the Ming Dynasty to bully us." Zhu Yijun began to talk about the impact. He believed that this was bullying.

Diligence is a relative concept. Compared with the lowly scholars of the Ming Dynasty who were used to getting something for nothing, the Annan people who entered Zhennan Pass and went to Guangxi and Guangdong to cut sugarcane are definitely hardworking. But if you compare them with the people of the Ming Dynasty, you will conclude that the Ming people are more hardworking.

The impact of employing workers through brokers is extremely bad.

The most direct impact is that the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty could not get enough remuneration for their labor and lived in poverty, and the indirect impact was extremely far-reaching.

Even if we do not look at this issue from the perspective of the victims, the poor and the laboring people, but from the perspective of the powerful and the wealthy, it is also very dangerous because times have changed.

In the past, meat-eaters could completely ignore the life or death, poverty or well-being of producers, and the emperor could rule the world together with the literati with peace of mind, because producers could only rely on their own enterprising spirit and creativity to obtain a little insignificant labor remuneration, and live on the basis of the meager remuneration provided by meat-eaters, and producers could only obey because they had no other choice.

This is the limitation of the small peasant economy. If you leave this piece of land, where else can you survive? The dialect is different every five miles, and the customs are different every ten miles.

But if workers cannot get adequate remuneration for their labor and cannot gain enough hope, they will refuse to make progress and refuse to accumulate themselves. Taking Nan Ya as an example, this method of employing people through brokers and compradors is beneficial in the short term, but once the timeline is extended to five or ten years, an inevitable problem will arise.

If this way of employing people is allowed to spread, there will not be enough skilled craftsmen in Nan Ya's workshop and it will always remain a handicraft workshop. The workshop will be full of short-term workers and no long-term workers. It is destined to be unable to complete the production of high value-added goods smoothly, efficiently and quickly, and the workshop will be eliminated.

Then these workshop owners would curse and rant about what a shitty world this is, what a shitty imperial court this is, and they would never look for the reasons within themselves, or ask themselves why they were eliminated by the market, never! They would think that it was all the fault of the emperor, the imperial court, the government, and the world, not themselves, and with the instigation of the cheap Confucian scholars, it would be even more serious.

Even if you look at this issue entirely from the perspective of a meat eater, you will find that not only will you be eliminated, but there is also a more serious problem, which is that labor is no longer cheap.

Abundant and cheap labor is never a good thing, because low labor costs will result in lower profits. The predators will only try every means to exploit downwards to the best of their ability in exchange for greater profits. Human resources are also a resource. When human resources are exhausted, all prosperity will collapse.

Zhu Yijun himself used the trick of confusing the family and brought out the contradiction. His view on issues was never based on a simple standpoint. He never concealed his sympathy for the poor and coolies, nor his partiality towards them.

Excessive working hours and lethal levels of exploitation must be strictly limited, not only to protect producers but also to protect meat eaters.

With the influx of large amounts of silver and the gradual transformation of the small peasant economy, this contradiction will become far more obvious and complex than before. The emperor and the court will lose the ability to regulate social contradictions and will be eliminated.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Then let's take a look at the most urgent matters now."

"The first thing to do is to simplify complicated things. We need to find a way to make these brokers and compradors disappear completely and deprive them of their living ground. This is the top priority. I do have a few ways. I will make these brokers and compradors disappear within a month."

Zhu Yijun wanted to solve the problem in a practical way. After stating the problem, he did not discuss specific policies in depth with the craftsmen. Instead, he made a promise that within a month, the broker-comprador employment system would disappear from the heartland of the Ming Dynasty.

"This is very difficult, Your Majesty. Without these agents and compradors, we won't be able to find work. If we are idle, the moment we open our eyes, we will see the whole family eating, drinking, defecating and urinating. Alas." A craftsman said earnestly.

Nowadays, most of the ways of working in Ming Dynasty are through mentoring and helping others, which means that people bring their workers from their hometown to Nan Ya and leave these brokers and compradors. The craftsmen are afraid of having no work to do.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Don't worry, I know very well that in order to make them disappear completely, we need replacements to appear. I will come up with a solution."

"The second thing is the issue of food, clothing, housing and transportation."

While the craftsmen were talking on and on, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty sorted out things according to their importance. The second thing was the daily necessities of life. The craftsmen worked in the workshop, and their wives cooked at home and brought meals to the workshop at noon. Food, clothing, housing and transportation were the biggest headaches for the craftsmen.

Everything in Nanjing is too expensive.

All the craftsmen envied the craftsmen who lived in the government-owned factories, because they had official residences to live in and a big canteen to eat. Although the meals in the big pots were not delicious, they would definitely be full and would not have any problems. Many people in the government-owned factories had stomach problems, and I was afraid that everyone from the general manager to the big boss would have to eat leftovers.

According to the personal accounts of these craftsmen, only the craftsmen who live there can be considered craftsmen, while the craftsmen in the folk workshops are treated like slaves.

Zhu Yijun said solemnly, "This problem will be alleviated as the brokers disappear, but it will only be alleviated, not solved. The coal market, vegetable market, grain, oil, rice and noodle shops in Yingtian Prefecture and Nan Ya are all controlled by some people. We in Bei Ya will make the coal market government-run, and we will also ensure that the Nan Ya can be government-run. As for the vegetable market and grain, oil, rice and noodle shops, the court will also find a way."

"The government treasury and the granary were both burned down some time ago. The governor of the sea has rectified the government treasury, and the granary should also be allowed to play a role."

“When grain is cheap, increase the price and buy it; when grain is expensive, reduce the price and sell it.”

Millet is bought when the price is low, which is called "Lian Bian". Millet is sold when the price is high, which is called "Lian". The Changping Warehouse is used to stabilize grain prices, but this function has become ineffective. Now the court needs to find a way to give full play to the role of the Changping Warehouse.

The problem of the Southern Court's Changping Warehouse was the most serious, because Nanjing was the capital and the thirteen prefectures of the Southern Court were in Southern Zhili. The governors, inspectors, censors, and household officials sent by the court were all useless, because the basic framework of the Ming Dynasty court was only pieces but no rules, so the situation was so corrupt.

"The third thing is about going to school. To be honest, we don't have a good solution." Zhu Yijun sighed. He was a human being, not an omnipotent god. Facing the third thing that the craftsmen were most concerned about, the Ming Emperor expressed his helplessness.

As a general rule, meat eaters should hope that producers are literate, flexible, disciplined, abiding by rules, and able to cooperate, because only in this way can they be competent for the job. For example, how can the captain of this ship learn the art of crossing the ocean if he is illiterate?
But the meat eaters in the Ming Dynasty seemed to have a natural fear of the producers' literacy, and it would be best if every craftsman was illiterate.

This fear is the same as the reason why Chen Wuyin wanted to set a very high threshold for soldiers to register as citizens, and why the officials of the Southern Court wanted to take away the monthly food rations of the wives of the Zhenwu Camp. It is due to the demand for monopoly of political power.

Apart from the desire for monopoly power, illiterate producers are easier for meat eaters to control.

The official schools of the Ming Dynasty always instilled in students a collectivism that worries about the world first, while private schools were more inclined to rootless individualism. Man is the sum of social relations, and all social relations constitute man. There is no absolute individual, so this extreme individualism is like a tree without roots and water without a source.

Now, all Zhu Yijun could do was to set up schools for official factories, and mainly train craftsmen. Being able to do this was already the limit for an emperor.

Since he can't do it, he won't make a promise easily.

But just because he can't do it now doesn't mean he can't do it in the future. He will make a note of this matter. Once the investment in public education is started, it will be an expenditure even larger than military spending. The Ming Dynasty has to be richer and have more material wealth before it has a chance to implement it.

"The last thing is the same as the first one. Within a month, we will clean up all these vagrants and send them all to Java to open up the country." Zhu Yijun gave a positive response to the fourth question that the craftsmen were most concerned about.

The craftsmen all lived relatively close to each other, so some lawless elements set their sights on them. Vicious incidents such as theft, robbery, gambling, kidnapping, etc. occurred frequently. This is why a weaver was recommended, because many of the weavers' children were kidnapped.

The craftsman talked about many things, such as stealing. Obviously, the craftsman was also poor, so why did he steal and rob the craftsmen? Because the big families all had servants, and if they were caught, they would be hung up and beaten. If they were beaten to death, the government would not care. If they broke into the house, they would be beaten to death. This was a clear provision of the Ming Dynasty law, and the risk was smaller in the craftsman's home.

Gambling houses are even more rampant, which is part of the labor remuneration recovery plan.

"Your Majesty, something happened." Zhang Hong hurriedly ran to the emperor and whispered the details of the situation. Zhu Yijun frowned, and then relaxed.

When the emperor met the chief craftsmen, bloodshed occurred. Fortunately, the Beijing troops and the yamen runners were all there, so there were no more serious casualties.

"As long as no one is killed, it's not an accident. Since you dared to instigate the craftsmen to come to Fuxi Tower, you must be prepared to pay the price. Convey my order and have the bailiffs release them." Zhu Yijun spoke loudly. After giving specific instructions to Zhang Hong, he explained what had happened to the three craftsmen.

"Just now, there was a small incident on the street. Some slaves of workshop owners tried to disguise themselves as craftsmen and attacked the yamen runners. They wanted to muddy the waters and fish in troubled waters. But as soon as they made their move, they were caught by the craftsmen. Everyone, our hands are from farming and are covered with calluses. These slaves don't work and were recognized at a glance."

"My goodness, that scene, a fight broke out immediately, the yamen runners had a hard time separating these people, and these servants were beaten black and blue."

Zhu Yijun's hands are covered with calluses, and some are even deformed. His palm lines are also quite deep, and there are some scars. These scars are mainly caused by accidental injuries when practicing martial arts, or by bumps and scrapes while practicing martial arts. These are all normal. Zhu Yijun also has frostbite on his hands, which was caused by frostbite when he went to watch the ice harvesting in the Yongding River last winter and personally participated in the ice harvesting.

The servant was sent to Huimin Pharmacy to treat his injuries. The yamen runners arrested the craftsman who beat the servant. A violent mood was spreading, but Zhu Yijun chose to let him go. This was a group incident and could not be treated as a fight. However, if it was not handled in time, the violent mood would become more intense, which ran counter to Zhu Yijun's original intention of personally coming forward to appease the people.

His Majesty made promises on three of the four things that the craftsmen were most concerned about, and also gave deadlines. His Majesty recorded one of the things in a small notebook.

The craftsman, who had been silent all this time, looked around and said with an embarrassed look, "Your Majesty, I have another matter to ask for your help. The Hai Zongxian said that the taxes and labor service of a county should be collected in silver, measured by land and counted by people. The officials should divide the tax and labor service, and hired labor service should be paid. In other words, the labor service should be distributed among the fields. Songjiang Prefecture has implemented the Yitiaobian Law, and later the Nan Ya also implemented it."

"If I understand correctly, then we, the landless craftsmen, do not have to pay silver for this labor service?"

"That's right." Zhu Yijun frowned and said with certainty.

This is what the Single Whip System was all about. All the labor in a place was counted as part of the land, and when labor was needed, it was hired with money. This was the true nature of the Single Whip System. The Single Whip System was a transition from tax in kind to tax in money, and it also put all the numerous types of labor on the land.

"But why do craftsmen like us who have no land have to pay this labor service? It costs seven cents of silver a year." The craftsman asked boldly.

"We never said we would charge four times the standard of silver to people without land." Zhu Yijun sat up straight. He looked at the craftsman with some doubt and asked, "Someone is carrying our dragon flag and asking for this money?"

The craftsman hurriedly said, "Well, they said it was the imperial tax. Seven coins of silver can buy two dan of rice, which is enough for a child to eat for a year."

"We have never had anyone collect our money." Zhu Yijun said very seriously, "The Single Whip Law was originally proposed by Gui'e to solve the problem of the people being trapped in labor service. It has been so many years, and it seems that there are problems in the implementation. In addition to this labor service silver, do we have to pay any other money?"

"Yes!" The craftsmen also realized that there was a 99% chance that the silver did not go into the emperor's pocket, and someone was playing tricks.

There is a phrase called "serving a tiger as an accomplice", which means that the souls of people killed by tigers will become accomplices, attracting people to the tiger's territory and being killed by the tiger. The Ming Dynasty court was the tiger, and the powerful and wealthy, local celebrities and gentry, yamen runners and cruel officials were all accomplices.

But now, the craftsmen suddenly discovered that tigers don’t have such a big appetite at all!

He didn't know what was going on until he checked the accounts. Zhu Yijun was shocked to find out that the craftsmen were subject to so many taxes under various names!
These craftsmen could only work in the outer city. Once they entered Nanjing City, they had to pay a city entrance fee of five cents for each day they stayed there. They had to pay it every day, and the five cents was directly deducted from their wages. Of course, they could also pay it themselves at the city gate. The craftsmen paid the full amount, and they guessed that meat eaters might pay less.

Reeds, tea, and minerals were all subject to taxes. In addition to storing coal, the people of the Ming Dynasty stored grass for the winter. After drying them in the autumn, they spread them on the beds and used them as a cover to keep warm. Reeds were the best grass. When buying grass, if you stored grass at the market, you had to pay money to the servants sitting in front of the market gate. The mining tax was mainly on mines. Gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, tin, mercury, alum, cinnabar, etc. had to be paid, and no physical objects were accepted, only silver.

Sometimes the kiln owner delays paying the workers, and the craftsmen actually pay for the work.

In addition to taxes on entering the city, reeds, tea, and mines, there are also numerous other taxes on door stalls, shops, house numbers, etc. These are not regular taxes and are not on the list of taxes levied by the court.

"No, why are we asking the weaver girl to collect taxes? For a girl who is over 15 and does not marry before 30, she will be charged two cents of silver. If she is over 30, she will be charged three cents of silver?" Zhu Yijun was frightened by the numerous taxes, especially the fact that if a girl is over 15 and does not marry, she will be charged two cents of silver every year.

"Wait a minute, this money won't be collected only from Zhiniang, right?"

Zhu Yijun ascended the throne at the age of nine and has thirteen years of work experience. How strong a grassroots executive force is needed to collect such an outrageous tax? He soon realized that this silver could only be collected from Zhiniang, where the women were most concentrated.

"Yes." The weaver said with a painful look on her face, "Those yamen runners had to go to the weaving bureau to collect this money every year. Later, the weaving bureau collected it on our behalf. We only had to pay one penny for every two pennies. But weavers who were not from the weaving bureau were not so lucky."

The Weaving Bureau was a government-run factory and most of the weavers worked there. In order to save face, the Weaving Bureau had to come forward to negotiate. In the end, the Weaving Bureau took on half of the responsibility and managed to get away with it.

Zhu Yijun took a deep breath and said to Feng Bao, "Tell the Grand Tutor how much silver there is in the treasury. You must make sure it's clear! They levied heavy taxes in my name and put all the money into their own pockets. They dared to touch my silver. I will ask them for an explanation!"

"Figure out how much they owe me!"

"I obey your order." Feng Bao bowed his head and accepted the order. Even if the local government said they wanted to collect it, they had to do it in the name of the emperor!
The emperor was famous for his frugality. If you touch the emperor's money, wouldn't that be like taking advantage of the emperor's heart and stomach? A famous Jiangnan actor had connections with the Duke of Wei's mansion. The Ming emperor listened to a song and gave him ten pieces of silver!

Even if it is just nominal silver, it belongs to Your Majesty!
"Once we have investigated this matter thoroughly, we will definitely post a notice to prove that taxes are being collected indiscriminately in my name. This matter will not take more than a month. An imperial decree will be issued within three days!" Zhu Yijun made a specific promise.

"It's good that you are the way you are now. When you encounter unfair treatment, you have to stick together for warmth and make some noise. Only by making some noise will these powerful and wealthy people know how to be afraid. Otherwise, they simply won't see your strength. Strength needs to be shown! If you don't stick together, they will bully you." Zhu Yijun once again affirmed the actions of the craftsmen this time.

This behavior was in accordance with etiquette. If anyone said it was not, Zhu Yijun would take out the "Great Edict" and smear it on his face, and at the same time activate the ancestral law.

Anyway, it was Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di who did it first.

As the sun set, the negotiations in Fuxi Building ended successfully. Zhu Yijun promised a deadline of three days and one month. Even earlier than the promise was fulfilled, a new imperial edict was posted on the imperial edict in the early morning of the next day.

"The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, proclaims: Let the people of the world know that if these gentry continue to use our name to oppress you, withhold money, delay payment, or even refuse to pay, you should unite and escort them to the authorities. If the authorities do not care, escort them to the capital and we will personally deal with it. I decree this."

This was a vernacular imperial edict, an imperial decree issued to the common people. In order to prevent anyone from levying heavy taxes in the name of the emperor, Zhu Yijun flipped through the "Great Edict" and issued a similar imperial edict in a similar format.

It is worth noting that the imperial edict was sent to the imperial cabinet, and then posted on the streets of Nanjing by the six imperial censors of the imperial cabinet. This imperial edict was not issued by Zhu Yijun bypassing the elders of Wenyuan Pavilion and asking the imperial guards to issue it. Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu and Wan Shihe all agreed to this imperial edict.

This is a collective decision.

Grand Tutor Wang Guoguang was busy checking the accounts and was too lazy to understand the whole story, so he just stamped his approval on the float.

Wang Chonggu was the leader of the Labor Party. He naturally agreed with the policy of expanding the interests of craftsmen. Wan Shihe was a member of the imperial party. He agreed with whatever the emperor said. He also specifically studied the edict and blocked some dissenting voices.

The reason why Zhang Juzheng agreed is quite interesting. In his opinion:

Only when contradictions are resolved one after another can the cycle move forward. Only when the poor and laboring people are oppressed and one side is too strong, the contradictions cannot collide to produce sparks. Naturally, it is impossible to form a state of harmony that everyone can accept in the constant conflicts. The Ming Dynasty has no way to move forward, so it is better to have some trouble.

(End of this chapter)