I'm really not doing business

Chapter 704: A difficult decision that goes against the ancestral law
Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with his trip to Qiantang Yao family. Compared with the powerful and wealthy who only knew how to collect rent, Zhu Yijun preferred these profit-oriented emerging bourgeoisie. For the emperor, the emerging bourgeoisie was undoubtedly very dangerous, because they would definitely demand social status and political power from the old aristocracy, and the outbreak of conflicts was inevitable.

But for the Ming Dynasty at the current stage, the most dangerous is not the emerging bourgeoisie, but the corrupt, outdated, unenterprising local gentry whose production relations are still based on strong personal dependence.

The national, emerging bourgeoisie will certainly sound the death knell of the feudal monarchy, but these local elites and gentry will sound the death knell of the Ming Dynasty. Faced with the imminent crisis, Zhu Yijun did not choose the conservative local elites and gentry. This is not a question of choice. The logic of politics has always been like this, and it only cares about the present.

It is already very good to be able to take care of the present. More often than not, even the current situation is difficult to handle.

When Zhu Yijun returned to West Lake Villa, he summarized the investigation. He suddenly looked up and said, "Boss Yao is not honest. He is hiding something."

"He actually dared to deceive the emperor!" Feng Bao's face changed drastically and he said sternly, it's time for Yao Liyan to taste the iron fist of feudal autocracy!
Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "It's far from the level of deceiving the emperor. He was probably too nervous to remember that his personal shares and individual shares kept expanding, while his silver shares kept shrinking. In the end, all the workshops he invested in were not named Yao. In fact, Boss Yao, you have said one less thing. There are benefits to doing this."

"Benefits?" Feng Bao looked confused. He had worked so hard to start his business and finally expanded the scale smoothly. He saw more and more returns, but in the end he lost the ownership. His Majesty actually said there were benefits?
This goes against common sense, but it is true.

Zhu Yijun wrote three words on the paper with a fountain pen and said to Feng Bao: "Yes, the problems of government-owned factories are also found in private factories. Moreover, without strong measures, the problems will be even more serious. What I am talking about is the deep-rooted bloat, rigidity and corruption of government-owned factories."

“This is actually a problem that will inevitably arise when a workshop expands to a certain size. But after a workshop expands to a certain extent, it will become a quagmire.”

There was also corruption in Minfang. When Zhang Siwei was checking the accounts, he was horrified to find that the actual operators such as the shopkeeper and the accountant had directly embezzled more than 50% of their family's profits, and used various means to suck blood from their business, and they could not investigate. As long as he dug a little deeper, he would find that his wife, concubines, uncles, disappointing brothers and sisters-in-law, and even distant relatives were sucking blood from them.

Bloat means redundant staff. These shopkeepers, second shopkeepers and big bosses also have their own relatives and friends, and they will place people in the company. Then these relatives and friends have relatives and friends. In addition to relatives and friends, the phenomenon of drawing salaries without working is also common, and they cannot be laid off. Those with connections will not be laid off.

The result is that the more employees are laid off, the greater the proportion of "redundant employees" who are just sitting around doing nothing will be.

But these are minor issues in the redundancy problem.

In order to prevent corruption and ghost employees, it is necessary to maintain a large administrative staff, which is the hardest hit area for redundancy. These administrative, accounting, personnel, auditing and other personnel often exceed the number of producers, and the desired results cannot be achieved. These unproductive people will instead collude with each other, become corrupt, and work together to exploit those below them.

Bloated organizations are bound to become rigid. Once the boss makes a decision on something, a month later, when the boss asks again, the thing has not been done yet, because there are procedures to follow, but no one knows where the procedures are. Moreover, bloated organizations will inevitably lead to nepotism and indulgence. If you have someone above you, but I don’t have anyone above me, then internal fighting will begin.

At the end of the year, the boss looked at everyone's test results, all of which were excellent, but when he looked at the treasury, he found it was empty.

The dilution of Yao Liyan's silver shares, on the contrary, effectively avoided the harm of this "big workshop disease". It was not that the disease did not exist, but that Yao Liyan had already made enough money during the rising period and ran away!

This is an invisible benefit of Yao Liyan's personal shareholding method. In fact, the paper mill in which Yao Liyan first invested has already exposed similar problems. The master craftsmen who ran away with Yao Liyan to open the paper mill have already formed cliques and factions in the paper mill, but Yao Liyan no longer has any silver shares in that paper mill.

The silver shares are continuously diluted and finally sold at a suitable price. This is Yao Liyan's way of playing in recent years. What he pursues is profit maximization, not the so-called eternal succession of the kingdom. The big workshop disease can't catch up with Yao Liyan's escape speed at all.

Bloated, rigid, corrupt, the workshop is no longer mine, I don’t care what disease you have.

This disease is actually very simple. It is like one monk carrying water to drink, two monks lifting water to drink, and three monks have no water to drink. Yao Liyan ran away before the three monks ran out of water to drink.

"And Boss Yao seems to have forgotten to say one thing. His money is not just his own. The business group under his name has the money of many other Zhejiang merchants. He has the money of at least seventeen families, including Songjiang Prefecture and Nan Ya." Zhu Yijun also looked at a part of the general ledger and discovered Yao Liyan's other identity. He was still the broker and comprador, and the business group he controlled also had powerful people behind it.

The source of all discrimination, the main reason why Yao Liyan was excluded by the powerful and wealthy in Zhejiang Province, his identity is still that of a lowly businessman, broker and comprador. How can a lackey expect to have a seat at the table for dinner?
Yao Liyan only wanted to make money, instead of passing on the family tradition of farming and studying, and was instinctively rejected by the local gentry and powerful people.

"It can't get any bigger. If it gets any bigger, he'll be dead. Let's limit his scale." Zhu Yijun answered the question that Shen Shixing first raised. Whether or not to slightly limit the scale of Yao Liyan, Zhu Yijun gave the answer.

If the scale of Yao Liyan's business gang continues to expand, I am afraid that others will take advantage of it. The stone drum in front of the Yao family's gate is still the most obvious landmine. It is unknown whether there are deeper landmines that Yao Liyan has not seen. Obviously, he does not know how many pairs of eyes are waiting to harvest him. The one who kills pigs for the New Year may not be the emperor.

Yao Liyan should have some understanding of his situation, so when he got the Ming Emperor's cloak and the imperial edict, he cried with joy. It was basically a talisman.

"This research has a lot of inspiration for the next investment." Zhu Yijun finally finished writing the Yao family business research report and said with great confidence: "The investment of the Ming Dynasty's internal treasury and national treasury must account for more than 51% of silver shares. This is not negotiable. The investment of the dynasty is different from the investment of the private market. The investment of the private market is profit-oriented, while the investment of the dynasty is mainly oriented to power, supplemented by profit."

Zhu Yijun established the basic principles of investment for the emperor and the court: power = obligation. Gaining power means assuming obligations and responsibilities. Official factories and imperial farms must assume social responsibilities and obligations. However, Yao Liyan's investment is still very inspiring.

Because Yao Liyan’s investment method conforms to the basic logic of industrialization.

The basic logic of industrialization is clustering: large-scale production to obtain cheap goods, and then use cheap goods to attract more people to move in, further generate economies of scale, obtain cheaper raw materials, increase production, obtain more goods, and ultimately form a cluster effect, completing the establishment of large-scale free employment production relations and ultimately completing industrialization.

All the workshops invested by Yao Liyan do not emphasize strong personal dependence. Many former shopkeepers and bosses left to start their own workshops, and Yao Liyan not only did not stop them, but even provided help and investment, because a larger scale means more profits.

This is something that the Ming Dynasty should learn from when investing. For the Ming court, scale is more important, and profits must of course be pursued appropriately.

"Let's go to Songjiang Prefecture." Zhu Yijun set out for Songjiang Prefecture on July 17, the 13th year of Wanli. This time, Shen Shixing was with him. As the governor of Songjiang, he had never been to Songjiang Prefecture because he had too many things to do in Zhejiang.

A small episode occurred in the middle. Shen Shixing was the governor of Songjiang and the acting governor of Zhejiang. He had been acting governor for a long time and hoped that the court would send someone to take away the post of governor of Zhejiang. This was as it should be and was an emergency arrangement.

Zhu Yijun submitted a memorial to the Ministry of Personnel for inquiry, but no one accepted it and no one recommended anything. Neither the Jin Party nor the Zhejiang Party made any recommendations, and even Zhang Juzheng did not provide the emperor with any backup candidates. Everyone's opinions were surprisingly unanimous: since Shen Shixing was capable, let him continue to do his job and there would be no replacement.

The land of Zhejiang is somewhat evil. Many people have met with accidents while the governor of Zhejiang was in office. If each family and faction sent their capable generals, if they were killed, it would be a huge loss and they would not get much benefit. If they sent mediocre people, it would be like enfeoffing two pigs at the same time. They were in a dilemma and simply let Shen Shixing do it.

After Shen Shixing heard the news, he wanted to cry but had no tears. He actually wanted to say that after the mutiny of the nine battalions in Zhejiang and His Majesty's thundering measures, the ground in Zhejiang had been very clean and had been completely destroyed. After that, it would be the time to establish a great power. No matter who was in charge of Zhejiang, there would be no trouble.

Yan Shixuan was ecstatic because Shen Shixing was different from Wu Shanyan. Shen Shixing had his own options. He was a man from heaven. With Shen Shixing around, the highway leading to Nan Ya, the highway to Suzhou, and the canal to Ningbo would be much smoother. If someone else came and went along with the local corruption, and the highway and the canal were not repaired, how many heads would Yan Shixuan have left?
This is indeed the case. On Shen Shixing's list of actions, there was no option of colluding with local gentry.

Zhu Yijun's carriage arrived in Suzhou slowly, and then took a stroll in Taicang. It did not go to Huating County, the seat of Songjiang Prefecture, but went to Shanghai County, because the Yanzihao Restaurant was opened in Shanghai County, not Huating County. When it arrived in Shanghai County, it was already August.

Due to geographical reasons, Shanghai County gradually became the economic center of Songjiang Prefecture.

Originally, according to the planned schedule, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty should have been on his way back to the Northern Yamen at this time. However, because he wasted time in Zhejiang, his return to Beijing was delayed by one month.

"Why is the situation in Spain so bad?" After settling down in Shanghai County, Zhu Yijun began to deal with state affairs. There was always more news from Shanghai County than from the mainland, and Zhu Yijun's arrival time was very unfortunate. It was the time when Shanghai County had four rains a day and typhoons came as punctually as meals. Therefore, he could only read some newspapers from Songjiang Prefecture to pass the time.

The sources of these reports are very complex, including searches by coastal defense inspectors themselves, word of mouth from sea merchants, personal interviews with sailors on large sailing ships, and eyewitness accounts from Ming Dynasty global trade. However, all of these pieces of information are mutually corroborated and can be basically confirmed to be true.

And the Ming Dynasty needed to respond to this news.

Philip II was in a very difficult situation. On the one hand, the rebellion in the Netherlands caused Philip's prestige to plummet and people were restless. Philip urgently needed a big victory to consolidate his position.

Unfortunately, Felipe failed. He formed an expeditionary force with only ten ships and only 800 people. It set out from the leased port of Porto and headed towards England for a tentative attack.

When the fleet entered the English waters, it encountered the English navy. The eight hundred brave warriors defeated the Queen of England's army, but were defeated by the violent waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Three of the ten ships returned. Although the entire army was not wiped out, the losses were extremely heavy.

The waves of the Atlantic, the divine winds of the Pacific.

There must be a reason why England and Japan dared to offend such a powerful land power.

This was a tentative attack, and Felipe had to seriously consider the opinion of the Ming emperor and investigate the hydrology before attacking. Felipe's idea of ​​solving the problem was fine. The problem in the Netherlands needed to solve the troublemaker England to be completely solved, but when executing it, he could not pursue victory in one battle.

There was another reason why Felipe was upset. He had a falling out with the Vatican, not because of Galileo. Galileo was not even a fuse. The reason why Felipe, a defender of religion, had a falling out with the Vatican was that Felipe wanted to completely take back the jurisdiction of all the Inquisition on Spanish territory.

The Inquisition was a religious court established by Pope Gregory IX in 1231 and has been controlled by the Dominican Order ever since. The Dominicans are a sect within the church that calls themselves the Lord's watchdogs, with the main duty of stamping out heresy and ignorance.

The Dominican sect controlled the Inquisition and was still a very powerful force in that era. The Inquisitions spread all over the Spanish territory were all in the hands of the Dominicans. At the beginning of the 13th year of the Wanli reign, Philip suddenly announced: The widespread opposition to Spanish rule in the Netherlands was due to the cruel oppression of the Inquisition, and the Dominicans were responsible for this. As king, he would take back the jurisdiction of all Inquisitions.

This was the first decision Felipe made after hearing Legazpi's speech on the 15th.

This was not a sudden idea of ​​Felipe, nor was it a spontaneous act after hearing about the deeds of the Ming Emperor. He thought that if the Ming could do it, so could I. Instead, it was a long-planned move. The Marquis of Santa Cruz, the inventor of the Spanish Grande, the father of soldiers, and the founder of the navy, immediately chose to respond to the king's call, loudly supported it, and took action.

Alvaro de Madrid summoned all the nobles, and in front of the King's Square, with his old body and a firm tone, he said to everyone: Spain used to be the Spain of the pagans (Arabs), then it was the Spain of Isabella (Queen of England), and later it was the Spain of God (the Roman See), it has never been the Spain of the Spaniards. From today, Spain belongs to the Spaniards!
The deafening slogan of the Marquis of Santa Cruz inspired everyone and made the nobles, businessmen and civilians all agree. The process of taking back the power of the Inquisition was smoother than expected. Soon after, Philip II promulgated the law, which was called the Code of Philip.

After Xu Fan got the new code, he immediately scolded Felipe for being a thief. He simplified the Ming Dynasty law, modified several articles, and used it directly! There was no repetition, but the shadow of the Ming Dynasty law was everywhere. For example, if someone broke into a house at night, the owner would be killed immediately without guilt, but Felipe copied it.

"I don't understand. As a king, Felipe announced that he would take back all legal jurisdiction within his territory? Is this something worth celebrating? Those maritime merchants are all excited. Isn't this natural?" Zhu Yijun frowned as he looked at the newspaper in his hand and asked Grand Master Wan Shihe.

Regarding the issue of etiquette and law, of course, we should ask about the etiquette and law, the origin of which is the harmony of all people.

Zhu Yijun was puzzled by this report. He continued, "I may not be able to express myself clearly. What I mean is that before this, the laws of Spain have always been in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, or more precisely, in the hands of this group of priests called the Dominicans? Is being a king just a game? Just a joke?"

To put it another way, the laws of the Ming Dynasty were controlled by lamas, monks, and Taoists. This was too outrageous. Zhu Yijun could not accept it no matter what. The laws were controlled by charlatans? That was simply too disastrous!

"Your Majesty, this is already a huge victory." Wan Shihe said with a smile: "Others say that Antonio is not suitable for the king because he drove away the Portuguese cardinal because of personal grudges. Maybe he did act on impulse, but he had just conquered Lisbon and re-entered the palace to become king. Should he be nice to the enemies who exiled him in the past?"

"Antonio can accept it, but his group of pirates can't accept it."

"He seemed to have many choices, but in fact he had no choice. If Portugal was to belong to the Portuguese, the cardinal had to be expelled. Fortunately, Xu Fan was a very good storyteller. He told the story of the Great Light Cult, and there were many more people who perfected the story."

Wan Shihe thought Antonio was quite suitable to be king. If you don't take this lead as a king, what kind of king are you? Antonio made the decision to expel the archbishop, which required political determination, regardless of his original intention, so he was very suitable to be king.

"So, Felipe introduced the Great Light Church and let religion fight against religion." Zhu Yijun let out a breath. The development of the West was beyond Zhu Yijun's expectations, especially the emergence of the Great Light Church. The speed of the Great Light Church's expansion was far beyond the imagination of the Ming Dynasty.

After Felipe took back the power of the Inquisition, renamed it the Tribunal, and promulgated a new code, he immediately announced that believing in the Great Light Church was not illegal and would not be tried as heresy.

This was a combination of punches that attacked the Roman Curia. The Inquisition was an important force in combating heresy, and Felipe's announcement that believing in the Great Light Church was legal meant that the priests of the Great Light Church could operate openly in all Spanish territories.

The reason given by Felipe was: In order to obtain the goods of the Ming Dynasty, we have to re-examine and reassess the harm of restricting the Great Light Sect. If we arouse the anger of the Eastern Emperor, we will have to pay too much unnecessary cost.

Translation: No one can resist money. In order to do business with the Ming Dynasty, they could only "reluctantly" allow the spread of the Great Light Sect.

"Your Majesty, this is a wise decision." Wan Shihe quite agreed with this approach. As a mature politician, he should use all the power he can to achieve his goals, unite all those who can be united, seek common ground while reserving differences, and free Spain from the shackles of religion.

Chinese Buddhism has become very mild, but there are still evil customs such as using iron bars for initiation, artificially creating golden bodies, and promoting Buddhahood.

"Your Majesty, the Great Light Religion is not a religion. There is no concept of God in its teachings. Wisdom belongs to heaven and earth, and also to everyone." Wan Shihe was not quite sure why the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was so resistant to the Great Light Religion. In this era when culture and education were not particularly prosperous, religion was an effective tool of rule.

The Great Light Sect is a narrative that takes Ming culture as its core, the theory of contradiction as its skeleton doctrine, and Ming methodology as its flesh and blood. It is a narrative that most people can understand, and it depicts the Ming's way of thinking and logic of doing things.

Zhang Juzheng was going a bit too far. Your Majesty believed in all religions as heresy from the bottom of his heart. If those saints had not been willing to pay 50,000 taels of silver each to come to the Ming Dynasty to pay homage, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would never have allowed these so-called saints to make the pilgrimage.

But sometimes, we still have to look at the problem in a contradictory way. It depends on productivity. In some places, poverty, barbarism, and real suffering make it impossible for people to escape from religion.

Zhu Yijun waved his hands repeatedly and said, "What a mess! The Roman Catholic Church and the Great Light Church are not allowed to spread in Ming Dynasty."

"I obey your order." Wan Shihe could not convince the emperor on this matter. The spread of the Great Light Sect was illegal in the Ming Dynasty, and His Majesty was very persistent in this regard.

"The Queen of England announced that she would continue to issue privateering licenses, and Spain and Portugal immediately responded by issuing more privateering licenses. Robbery is not a crime?" Zhu Yijun slammed the table, very angry.

The Ming Dynasty opposed privateering licenses and demanded that England withdraw the decree to maintain an orderly maritime trade environment. However, England has now increased the issuance of privateering licenses even more, and Spain and Portugal have also increased the issuance of privateering licenses.

What the Ming Dynasty was most worried about happened. The problem of widespread piracy had already shown signs of happening. In the next few decades or even hundreds of years, any ship seen on the sea could be an enemy.

"This is something we need to pay close attention to, Your Majesty. Davao City in Mindanao and Malacca City in the Old Port Xuanwei Office should also begin to trial allowing armed merchant ships to go out to sea and enter ports. However, after entering the ports, they must conduct a comprehensive inventory of weapons and also provide a certain amount of weapons leasing. If they do this and we don't respond, the Ming Dynasty's merchants will not be able to go out to sea." Wan Shihe put forward his opinion as the Ministry of Rites.

Allowing merchant ships to be armed is completely different from allowing privateering. This is to allow merchants to travel with swords, but once this decree is issued, it is actually equivalent to legalizing privateering, because the Strait of Malacca and Davao City are not actually the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, the effectiveness of the law is very low, and the implementation of the policy will inevitably be distorted.

In areas outside the Strait of Malacca and outside the city of Davao, privateering has become legal, and the activities of armed merchant ships are still prohibited within the Ming Dynasty's maritime borders.

As for the weapons lease provided, it is equivalent to selling weapons to merchant ships.

This was undoubtedly a difficult decision that went against the ancestral laws, but if it was not done this way, the Ming merchant ships would be stuck in the Strait of Malacca, unable to move forward.

"Oh, this is such a stupid decision, it's really disgusting. The sea is violent enough, and it has to be like this." Zhu Yijun sincerely worried about the maritime trade environment in the next few decades. The risks of maritime trade are already high, and with this, maritime trade has become even more dangerous.

It is impossible to go out during typhoon days in Shanghai. Fortunately, the special house where Zhu Yijun lived was strong enough, otherwise the wind would have blown the roof off. This was a typhoon that had been weakened after a long journey and passed through Jilong Mountain. The weakened typhoon was still so violent, and one could imagine how violent the sea would be.

The Queen of England set a bad example. After London was captured by pirates, the Queen did not learn from the lesson, but instead relaxed the threshold for privateering licenses. Portugal and Spain immediately followed suit and competed for pirate ships. All of a sudden, pirates became popular.

In these newspapers, Zhu Yijun saw four words: demons dancing wildly.

"Just do as the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan said, open the entry of armed merchant ships and provide weapons leasing." Zhu Yijun sighed. Even as an emperor, not everything can go as he wishes. Zhu Yijun did not want the maritime trade environment to deteriorate, but things did not go as he wished. The maritime trade environment continued to deteriorate.

A shit stirrer is like this, it may not gain any benefits, but it will definitely make everyone sick to the point of vomiting, it harms others and does not benefit itself, its main purpose is to muddy the water so as to find opportunities to fish in troubled waters.

The rest of the news in the newspapers were all gossip, such as some illegitimate children inherited the title, which noble lady became whose mistress, and a palace assassination happened again. One thing that Zhu Yijun was more concerned about was the handicraft workshop in Lisbon, which had more than doubled in size compared to last year.

"Lisbon's handicraft workshops include textiles, ceramics, metal processing, food, wooden shoes, cheese, shipyards, wax and so on. The number of these workshops has exceeded 3,000, and the number of craftsmen has reached 50,000. Wow, they are very successful." Zhu Yijun sincerely affirmed the development of Lisbon over the years.

Last year, there were only 1,500 workshops in Lisbon, but now the number has exceeded 3,000. Compared with the production scale of Ming Dynasty, it is not worth mentioning, but it is already a pearl in the West. Including the old, the weak and the children, Lisbon has less than 250,000 people, and it is well managed. In the process, the Portuguese made money, and the huge military expenses were balanced for the first time.

Portugal is thriving.

(End of this chapter)