I'm really not doing business

Chapter 699: Disappearing Empire, Disappearing Civilization

At the enlarged meeting on the return of land order, Wang Guoguang suddenly changed his mind and chose to support Zhang Juzheng's order to return one hectare of land, no longer demanding ten hectares.

Wang Guoguang had argued with Zhang Juzheng several times before about the specific decree on returning the land, but each time Zhang Juzheng agreed. However, he was always unwilling to relax the decree and did not explain the reason. It was not until he explained the matter in front of the emperor that Wang Guoguang finally understood the other purpose of Zhang Juzheng's harsh decree.

Wang Guoguang suddenly felt that it was okay not to change.

What? Violence? Harshness? It's no big deal. It doesn't matter if it's harsher. We must let the world know what the price of assassinating the king is.

The four cabinet ministers, Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, Wang Guoguang, and Wan Shihe, and Hai Rui who scolded Emperor Jiajing, were all old men of the Jiajing period and eyewitnesses. They could not understand at that time that the emperor who had worked hard and was full of fighting spirit 21 years ago, chose to exile himself 21 years later, staying in the Western Garden and devoting himself to practicing Buddhism.

The national situation was precarious, with invasions from the north and Japanese threats everywhere, but the emperor still kept himself in the Western Garden and did nothing.

The emperor is now too diligent, causing most people in the court to forget the terrible harm caused to the country when the emperor became discouraged.

The imperial system is like this, the emperor's will is the main thing, if the emperor is bad, the country will really be in ruins. Now, the conservative party who advocated returning the land order has become the Ming emperor Zhu Yijun.

"What do you think, Wang Ci Fu?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu, the leader of the Labor Party who had not made a clear statement.

Wang Chonggu had remained silent since the quarrel began, and Zhu Yijun, the serious advisor who pretended to be confused, asked for his opinion.

"Your Majesty, I have never been a loyal person to the emperor or the country." Wang Chonggu glanced at Zhang Juzheng and sighed sincerely.

The premise of being loyal to the emperor and the country is loyalty to the emperor. He was born a treacherous minister, so saying that he was loyal to the emperor was just a lie. This was also the biggest reason why he fought against Zhang Juzheng and was defeated repeatedly. It was not that Wang Chonggu was really incompetent, but under the imperial system, if you were not loyal to the emperor, no one would believe your loyalty even on the surface, and that was a natural disadvantage.

The dragon flag is a big banner. Whoever carries it has the reputation of being righteous.

"Your Majesty, I think it is better to reduce the rent by 375% for each family with 10 hectares." Wang Chonggu gave his own opinion, which was an unfaithful choice.

"Wang Ci Fu, it is very difficult to ask people to always remain rational, but state affairs require rationality and not emotionality. The standard of one hectare is still too strict and does not conform to current practice." Zhu Yijun agreed with Wang Chonggu's opinion because it was a rational choice.

Eliminating clans is not a matter of one or two government decrees, but the development of productivity. Only by transforming the closed peasant economy into a commodity economy can clans be completely buried in the ground.

In the entire Ming Dynasty, only Songjiang Prefecture was qualified to say that it had gotten rid of the small peasant economy and entered the commodity market economy. This was the result of the Ming Dynasty's nine provinces and huge scale of maritime trade. The wealthy places such as Zhejiang, Nanyang, Shandong, Guangdong, etc. were still dominated by the small peasant economy.

Inappropriate is inappropriate. A policy that is widely opposed must not be implemented.

"Your Majesty, how about this? Cut the number of Jinshi candidates in Zhejiang by ten, and don't give them to the Northern List and the Central List. Give five each to Songjiang Prefecture and Nan Ya. Songjiang Prefecture is becoming more and more prosperous, and there is also a Naval Academy. These five are really not too many." Wan Shihe thought for a while and came up with a compromise solution: cut the number of Jinshi candidates to punish the powerful and wealthy people in Zhejiang who tried to assassinate the king.

As for giving these five extra staff to the Southern Yamen, the purpose is naturally self-evident. Cricket fighting requires straw sticks, and these five extra staff are the straw sticks. His Majesty is leaving, but the Southern Yamen is always there. The Southern Yamen in Zhejiang have always been united, which has made the court somewhat wary and caused the Southern Yamen and Zhejiang to become alienated. This ability to be calm and composed is the cultivation of the Minister of Rites.

Once the number of Jinshi candidates is reduced, it will be a permanent reduction, and the Songjiang Shilin and Nanya Shilin who have got hold of them will never let go.

It may not seem like a lot, but the two cuts totaled twenty-five people, which is a painful one.

Even Zhang Juzheng looked up at Wan Shihe in surprise. It was true that none of the officials in the court were easy to deal with.

The number of Jinshi candidates is a distribution of power. In the past, every Jinshi candidate meant the birth of a family. The distribution of power is the distribution of benefits. The permanent reduction of a total of twenty-five candidates means that Zhejiang’s influence in the court has been permanently weakened by one third.

"Grand Master, you are indeed a scholar." Zhu Yijun said sincerely. When it comes to cruelty, scholars are more cruel.

Which one is crueler, returning the land to the land or reducing the number of Jinshi? In fact, Wan Shihe is more vicious.

The order to return one hectare of land can be circumvented. The imperial court did not allow individuals to hold more than one hectare of land. Local gentry could distribute the land to their clansmen and then carry out substantial land annexation in the form of long-term leases. This was unavoidable because someone had to cultivate the land.

Under the small peasant economy, a large amount of land is abandoned. Because under the closed small peasant economy, the output of land is limited and the harvest is limited. People who really farm the land know it very well. Sometimes, they just can't bear to leave the land idle.

Farming is really not a particularly profitable business, and it is also very risky. If there is drought or flood, there is a possibility of no harvest, and it is even not that stable. Unless the imperial court abandons the Changping Warehouse and allows the price of grain to be raised and speculated, the grain price will soar, which will guarantee a high return on farming.

Farming cannot be too profitable, because that will intensify land mergers, but it cannot be too unprofitable either. If the returns are not as high as the investment, naturally no one will farm, and land abandonment will become the top problem.

With the continuous development of the commodity economy, the output of farmland seems even more useless. After working hard for a whole year, the profit may not be as high as that of a single day in the workshop.

Xu Guangqi's father was a typical example. He sold all his land, ran cotton spinning and silk workshops, became a maritime merchant, and even became one of the owners of an ocean-going trading company.

However, the permanent reduction in the number of Jinshi candidates means that people will have to eat less at the feast of power distribution. Zhejiang, which was originally hungry despite its prosperous culture and education, will become hungry.

"Tsk tsk, Grand Master, please don't come to Zhejiang again in the future." Wang Guoguang was amazed. Wan Shihe dug a bigger hole for Zhejiang without saying a word.

Wan Shihe said calmly, "They are all in the Southern List. They haven't gone anywhere else. There are only three lists in the Mingwen list: the Southern List, the North List, and the Central List, right?"

Wan Shihe also had something to say, vicious? Where is vicious? This is an adjustment that varies with the times and local conditions! And it is just spinning around in the South List, it is not vicious at all.

"So that's it?" Zhu Yijun looked at everyone and adjusted the policy to a 375% rent reduction for each family owning ten hectares. In addition, ten more Jinshi candidates from Zhejiang would be reduced, as well as a slight punishment.

"I obey your order." Zhang Juzheng approved the adjustment of the government order.

"I obey your order." Wang Guoguang also expressed his approval.

"We may argue, but now that we have reached a consensus, let's carry it out." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "This is all for the betterment of the Ming Dynasty. Don't hurt the harmony."

It's all for the good of the Ming Dynasty. Why should I, Zhang Juzheng, listen to you, Wang Guoguang? Why should I, Wang Guoguang, listen to you, Zhang Juzheng? This is the most troublesome part. As the referee, the emperor must grasp this degree. Once it becomes a dispute over the line, everything will go wrong and the new policy will become a mess.

The repeated changes in government orders will make the world tired.

Therefore, a court meeting is needed to work out a result that everyone can accept. Behind closed doors, there will be arguments, but once the door is open, everyone will work together.

The execution of government decrees can never be one-sided. The policy revision of the "One Hectare of Land Returning Order" finally stopped the undercurrents in Zhejiang and even in the north and south of the Yangtze River. Zhu Yijun certainly now has the violence to thoroughly implement the "One Hectare of Land Returning Order", but if he were to fight the whole country again, there would be severe turmoil and the people would suffer.

This was a compromise made by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but no one would think that this was the emperor's weakness. Instead, they interpreted it as benevolence!

Zhu Yijun was holding a case file in his hand. The reason why Xia Anjie of the Renhe Xia family was forced to take the risk was that their family had lost money.

At the beginning, Lin Fucheng offended the Xia family of Renhe and was convicted in Hangzhou, and could never take the imperial examination again; later, when the Sanduao private market was held, 72 members of the Xia family of Renhe were arrested, and most of them were exiled to Java; these were the grievances and love-hate relationship between the Xia family of Renhe and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

But this kind of big clan is like this. When the head of the clan is arrested, the side branch becomes the head of the clan. Xia Anjie became the patriarch of the Xia clan in Renhe after the private market in Sanduao.

A centipede is still alive even after its death. After becoming a big shot, Xia Anjie did not learn from his mistakes but continued to do his old business of smuggling. However, with the continuous improvement of the Coast Guard Inspection Office, this job has become more risky and he has been caught red-handed several times. Resentment is one thing, and losing money is the other.

Without rice in hand, even if he called for chickens, no one would come. Xia Anjie had to find a way to make money. With the favorable conditions at sea, other people's businesses were getting bigger and bigger, while his was getting smaller and smaller.

The last straw that broke the camel's back was that Xia Anjie was badly cheated by his own boss. In one deal, he lost more than 20 taels of silver.

The Xia family in Renhe had never run a dyeing factory, but the dyeing business became more and more prosperous in recent years. Xia Anjie was jealous of the huge profits and began to set up a dyeing factory. His chief shopkeeper introduced a broker and bought a dyeing factory. No matter how you look at it, this dyeing factory is a lucrative business. Standing on the vent of the wind, even pigs can fly.

But when Xia Anjie took over the dyeing factory, he found out that he had been cheated. The dyeing factory was just an empty shell. There were no craftsmen, no stable supply of dyes, not to mention any unique secret recipes. Even the accounts were fake. The dyeing factory was established from the sixth year of Wanli to the twelfth year of Wanli, a full six years, and had not been in operation for a single day. However, according to the accounts, the business was booming.

Xia Anjie had investigated this big deal worth two hundred thousand silver coins more than once, but his big boss wanted to cheat him. Whenever Xia Anjie investigated, the workshop would hire a lot of people and pretend to be busy. The only dyed cloth in the whole workshop was the one that was dyed when Xia Anjie came to see it. It was worthless garbage.

When Xia Anjie went to settle accounts with the manager and the broker, he found that they had already disappeared without a trace.

This chief shopkeeper was originally a member of the Xia family's main branch. Now that he has become the new head of the family, he has no psychological burden at all when it comes to cheating people.

The deficit of 200,000 silver coins led Xia Anjie to start contacting some people from the Yuanxu Islands. Selling opium was undoubtedly the fastest way to make money.

Xia Anjie started selling opium, which destined him to a path of no return. Eventually, under the instigation of these traitors, he made up his mind to assassinate the emperor. As long as the emperor died, there would be huge political fluctuations, and at that time, no one would care about trivial matters such as coastal defense inspections.

"In other words, this fire should have started in Changxing, but the Ying family in Changxing did not dare to do so. When I arrived in Zhejiang, someone should have set fires in Changxing, Huzhou, and Deqing, but no one dared to do so. Only in Renhe did it, Xia Anjie did it." Zhu Yijun got an interesting piece of news from Xia Anjie's confession.

In fact, this fire should have been started when Zhu Yijun entered Zhejiang, but the Ying family of Changxing did not dare to do so.

The rebels held a rally on March 3rd in the name of a poetry lecture. At the rally, everyone swore a solemn oath, and Ying promised to make sure that the emperor would never return!

But the Ying family did not have the courage to do so. Neither the Shen family of Deqing nor the Tan family of Huzhou dared to take action. It was really that the emperor's imperial cavalry, the elite soldiers of the Beijing camp, and the elite navy were too scary.

Xia Anjie was really desperate. He needed the huge profits from maritime trade, especially the huge profits from opium, but the Ming emperor was too controlling. Feng Bao sneered and said with some disdain: "In the end, it was the court that opened the sea, which delayed their business. They couldn't do legitimate business, so they did this kind of business that would destroy their family. When they were caught, they blamed the court for being unkind and unjust. Even if he had been doing tobacco instead of opium, he wouldn't have ended up like this."

A county has at least two or three large clans with a size of half a county. Renhe has not only the Xia family, but also the Cai family. The Cai family really caused an unexpected disaster. After a fire burned down the government office, the Cai family was also thrown into prison, and the whole family was exiled to Java, or migrated to Java to become a noble family.

Who would want to go to a place like Java where huge crocodiles are baring their teeth?
All the large clans in Zhejiang with assets exceeding one hundred hectares suffered. This is how suppressing a rebellion works. If you don't distinguish right from wrong, innocent people will definitely be harmed.

The emperor set a one-month blockade. Before the end of the one-month deadline, Renhe, Hangzhou and Zhejiang completed the "suppression of rebellion". The official roads were unblocked under the emperor's decree, and Zhejiang burst into greater vitality.

Zhu Yijun also left the ruins of the Renhe government office and went to the West Lake Villa on the edge of West Lake in Hangzhou.

"Ye Yongchang has been dismissed from his post. If there is a vacancy in the future, you can fill it." After Zhu Yijun arrived at the West Lake Villa, he issued an order and made the final punishment to the magistrate of Renhe County, dismissal from his post. Although it seemed like a punishment, it was also an official statement from the emperor. There should be no double punishment for the same crime. Ye Yongchang would not die. The moment he caught Xia Anjie, he had the qualification to live.

This qualification to live was something Ye Yongchang had fought for himself. Of course, now that Ye Yongchang was dismissed from his post, no one in the officialdom would force him to die in the name of loyalty.

"I obey the order." Zhang Juzheng obeyed the leader's order.

"Xia Anjie was sent to the execution hall, the Xia clan was executed, the patriarchs of the Ying, Fei and Cai clans were beheaded in public as a display of justice, and all the powerful and influential people captured in Zhejiang were relocated to Java." Zhu Yijun made the final judgment. He fulfilled his promise and did not kill anyone indiscriminately.

The Ying, Fei, and Cai families were all traitors who clearly stated at the meeting that they would assassinate the king, and they were all involved in opium smuggling.

After investigating and punishing these traitors, Zhu Yijun also understood why Yin Zhengmao relaxed the control of tobacco and specifically targeted opium. He really had limited energy and could only focus on opium, which had a more serious impact.

"Your Majesty is merciful." As the Minister of Justice, Wang Chonggu chose to follow the emperor's orders. He said that Your Majesty was truly merciful and merciful. If Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Chengzu Wen were to do it, there would probably be rivers of blood in Zhejiang, and pestles would float on the water. This would let the world see what it means for the emperor to be angry.

Your Majesty has a strong army, but in the end he only killed the main culprits and sent the rest to overseas development and make good use of them.

This was truly merciful. A total of 821 people were beheaded in public. Moreover, all of these 821 people were conclusively proven to be traitors. Most of them were convicted of smuggling opium. But if their families only smuggled tobacco, they would be exiled to Java. The scale of exile was only 13,000 people. If the Confucian scholars continued to say that the emperor was cruel, the emperor would take out the "Great Edict" and these Confucian scholars would know to repent.

"The total amount of confiscated property is over 8.46 million silver coins." Wang Guoguang reported the results of the confiscation.

"How much silver is needed for the canal from Ningbo to Hangzhou?" Zhu Yijun asked about the canal's finances.

"Three million and two hundred thousand silvers." Wang Guoguang gave a number. It was just an approximation, but the fluctuation would not exceed fifty thousand silvers.

"There are 5.2 million silver coins left. You can use some more land in Zhejiang to build a highway from Hangzhou to Nan Ya. I don't need this silver. I think it's dirty." Zhu Yijun once again fulfilled his promise. He made money in Zhejiang and spent it in Zhejiang. He didn't take a single cent of the silver away. All of it was used to build canals and highways to stimulate Zhejiang's economy.

"I obey your order." Wang Guoguang bowed his head and accepted the order.

"The situation in Zhejiang is better than I thought, at least better than Xuzhou." Zhu Yijun spent a month in the Renhe County government office and found that the situation in Zhejiang was much better than he thought. Although the rebels were more daring, the overall situation in Zhejiang was still better than that in Xuzhou.

In terms of economy, culture and military, it is much stronger than Xuzhou.

"Flowers bloom along Qiantang Road, the sound of tea frying can be heard around Grain Rain, kiln dwellers in Xuzhou sell their children, and tea growers in Zhejiang have enough food and clothing." Zhu Yijun was not comparing the lives of the luxurious households. In fact, most of the luxurious households had no worries about food and clothing. What he was comparing was the lives of the poor and laboring people.

The land distribution in Zhejiang was very good. At least the tea farmers who planted tea trees on the mountains could send their children to school. This was what made Zhu Yijun very emotional. The kiln workers in Xuzhou were obviously more miserable, but their labor remuneration was lower.

There are 12,000 tea farmers in Hangzhou alone, and in Chun'an, where Hai Rui was the county magistrate, there are 8,000 tea farmers. There are more than 80,000 tea farmers in Zhejiang Province as a whole. Although we cannot say that every one of these 80,000 households has enough food and clothing, they can definitely be said to have enough food and clothing.

"The pit dug by the four prefects of Xuzhou is really too big." Zhang Juzheng agreed with His Majesty's comments. Although Zhejiang has experienced many political turmoil in the past two years, most of them have not caused a larger social impact.

"Sir, what do you think caused this difference? Local customs and practices?" Zhu Yijun asked uncertainly.

There are more than 800 tea houses of various names in Zhejiang, but these 800 companies have not formed an oligopoly, and the tea farmers can actually get sufficient and fair labor remuneration. This surprised Zhu Yijun and it was a result of good distribution.

The good distribution must have been done right, and Xuzhou must have done something wrong.

"Your Majesty, this question may be difficult for you to answer, but I do have some answers. Your Majesty, during the Jiajing period, the Japanese invasion broke out. For the people of Zhejiang, my life can be used to fill the battle line, but it cannot be used to fill the mass graves. This is why the sea waves can be calmed." Qi Jiguang spent a longer time in Zhejiang, and he actually knew Zhejiang very well.

"I understand." Zhu Yijun suddenly realized and nodded in agreement with Qi Jiguang's statement.

Was the suppression of the Japanese invasion during the Jiajing period really as simple as suppressing the Japanese invasion? The main force behind the Japanese invasion was the powerful and wealthy people in Jiangnan who were dissatisfied with the court's interference in maritime trade. Suppressing the Japanese invasion was not only about suppressing the Japanese invasion, but also about resisting the exploitation of the people by these powerful and wealthy people.

This resistance was ultimately successful, making Zhejiang's distribution more reasonable.

Why did the mutiny in the 9th Battalion of Zhejiang quickly expand from Luomu Camp to the entire 9th Battalion? It was because the original resistance force was still there, and the representative of this force was Qi Jiguang himself.

Fair distribution has always been achieved through struggle.

On the third day of July in the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign, the Ming Emperor stayed at the West Lake Villa, announcing that the turmoil of the assassination of the Zhejiang Prince had come to an end. The Minister of Rites Wan Shihe completed a new book on overseas countries and presented it to His Majesty.

There are three best-selling books in the Ming Dynasty at that time. One is "Journey to the West" which is suspected to be written by Li Chunfang, the former chief minister of the cabinet, based on the experience of Emperor Jiajing and combined with the legendary storybooks of previous generations. Another is the 32-volume "Brief Edition of Yongle Encyclopedia", which is an encyclopedia. The last one is "Records of Overseas Foreign Countries" compiled by Wan Shihe.

Both the original and the abridged versions of the Yongle Encyclopedia were very popular, but the popularity of the Overseas Chronicles was quite surprising, because the opening of the sea created countless wealth myths and made more people turn their attention to the ocean.

The Chronicles of Overseas Foreign Countries can be said to be the most authoritative book for understanding the situation of overseas foreign countries.

Zhu Yijun flipped through the volume in his hand, then thought for a moment and said, "This volume is called the Inca Volume, which is a bit too simple. It would be better to call it "The Lost Empire, the Disappeared Civilization."

"Your Majesty, it is better to be serious about this overseas foreign branch secretary." Feng Bao knew very well that Your Majesty was good at naming books, but this was a chronicle, so he should not deliberately give it some weird names just to attract attention.

Title party is not desirable.

Zhu Yijun said with certainty: "No, this name is very serious. Why did the empire disappear? Why did the civilization dissipate? This is a question that we in the Ming Dynasty need to pay attention to. Although the Roman Empire was destroyed, the civilization it created did not disappear, but the Inca civilization did disappear. This is worthy of vigilance."

In the tenth year of Jiajing, the Spanish colonist Francisco Pizarro led an adventure group of less than two hundred people to capture the king of the ancient Inca Empire. The Inca king had an army of 40,000 people. During the negotiations, the king was captured alive and then executed.

The ancient Inca Empire did not disappear. The resistance movement lasted for nearly forty years until the sixth year of Longqing, when the last Inca king Tupac Amaru was captured and executed. The Spanish colonists completely occupied the ancient Inca Empire and carried out cruel colonial rule.

Even civilization has died.

"Your Majesty, according to the Grand Master's research on the ancient Inca Empire, they are still using stone tools and making various weapons out of obsidian. Your Majesty, this does not seem to have much reference value for the Ming Dynasty." Feng Bao did not know why His Majesty attached so much importance to the demise of the ancient Inca Empire and Inca civilization.

Zhu Yijun sat up straight, thought for a moment and said, "Why do you think their transportation vehicles don't have wheels?"

"Well, the Grand Master said it was because there were no livestock." After reading this volume of the book, Feng Bao had some understanding of these issues.

"No, because of the isolation." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "I attach great importance to the demise of this civilization because the Ming Dynasty almost made the same mistake. The connection between human civilizations is much closer than we imagine, but the ancient Inca Kingdom was isolated from the world. They had no communication with the world, so they could only use stone tools to face the opponent's firearms."

"The Grand Master said: In a closed environment, due to the lack of effective communication with other civilizations, smaller groups cannot maintain existing civilizations and technologies and will gradually degenerate or even disappear. Larger groups will also stagnate. In the murals of the ancient Inca country, we see wheels, proving that they once invented the wheel."

“But it has not been used on a large scale.”

"Your Majesty is wise." Feng Bao bowed his head again. Although he said that he was wise, he did not care much about it. Feng Bao really could not see anything to learn from the Inca civilization. The popularity of this volume was more due to consumer inertia. Some people even bought it to read as a collection of strange stories.

"Feng Daban, you must not be arrogant." Zhu Yijun exhaled and said, "Don't you think that the Ming Dynasty and the ancient Inca Empire are very similar in some ways? The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban has locked itself up and refused to communicate with the world."

“Stagnation, degeneration, and finally, extinction.”

Zhu Yijun spoke the last sentence slowly but firmly.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! The Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty. How can the ancient Inca Empire, a group of guys holding stone tools, be compared with the Ming Dynasty! The Ming Dynasty is the Celestial Empire!" Feng Bao said loudly in panic. As a favorite of His Majesty, this was the first time he was so rude.

How could the Ming Dynasty, a great country, learn from the ancient Inca Empire!

Why was Feng Bao so excited? Because he believed in the prophetic words of the Great Light Church. Because he was closer to His Majesty, Feng Bao understood His Majesty better. Many of His Majesty's decisions were as profound as seeing through the long river of history.

What His Majesty said made Feng Bao genuinely frightened.

Zhu Yijun said indifferently: "Because it is possible, you are so excited. It is nothing. The teacher said: The Han Dynasty has loyal people in every generation."

(End of this chapter)