I'm really not doing business

Chapter 744: The snake swallows the elephant when people's hearts are not enough, the mantis catches the cicada at the end of the world

"Mir Mahma even refused to call me king and father!" Zhu Yijun pointed at the memorial and let out a breath.

Mir called Zhu Yijun the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which was not a problem in his expression. However, as the hereditary governor of Hami Guard, he did not even call him the emperor and father! This made the officials of the Ministry of Rites very dissatisfied. Theoretically, Hami Guard was one of the Seven Guards of Guanxi and the territory of the Ming Dynasty's real counties.

The Ming Dynasty lacked initiative in diplomacy and was always asking questions and answering them. Especially after the Zhengtong Change, it became more passive. It was always others who provoked the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty had to respond passively. Moreover, because Confucianism became Confucianism and appeasing foreigners became the general principle of diplomacy, the answers given by the Ming Dynasty always tended to be gentle and benevolent.

Only Mir Mahama dared to treat the Ming Dynasty as a sucker and had the courage to make such harsh demands.

The Ming Dynasty had to help him by giving him money, food, and cotton cloth to gain exclusive rights in the Western Regions. The Ming Dynasty spent a lot of time and effort, and finally gained the title of a suzerain state. In addition to obtaining this title, the Ming Dynasty also had to spend huge amounts of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to maintain the existence of Hami and resist the invasion of foreign countries in the Western Regions.

Is Daming crazy?!

Ever since Zhu Qizhen restored the throne and changed the reign title to Tianshun, the Ming Dynasty has become like this, always setting questions and answering them, very passive, and becoming more and more passive as time went on.

For example, during the Chenghua period, if the Jurchens outside the Great Wall such as Li Manzhu and Dong Cheng had not caused too much trouble, the Ming Dynasty would not have launched the Chenghua Rebellion; for example, the red-haired barbarians came and destroyed Luzon and Malacca, and the Ming Dynasty, as the suzerain state, would have issued an imperial edict.

This kind of good-tempered international image, to put it nicely, is of a modest gentleman as gentle as jade. Of course, in reality, he is essentially a sucker who always takes what he gets!

Zhu Yijun was never a gentleman. He was petty and calculative. Anyone who dared to defy the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli period would only be rewarded with an iron fist. For example, the Jianzhou Jurchens, Tuman Khan, Altan Khan, Toungoo Mangyingli, Japan, and Korea have all been hit by the young emperor's earth-shattering fist.

As the emperor, Zhu Yijun asked the King of Korea to come to the Ming Dynasty and kowtow and admit his mistakes, but Lee Sun refused. Did he still regard the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty as his father?
"Daydreaming." Zhu Yijun reviewed the memorial from the Honglu Temple with just these four words, telling Mir that the Ming Dynasty had to do it itself. This was the Ming Dynasty's Hami, not Mir's Hami, and the Western Regions could only be the Ming Dynasty's Western Regions!

The Ming Dynasty planned to abandon one route and use more gentle means to regain the Western Regions with the help of local forces.

Zhu Yijun picked up another memorial and read it for a long time before nodding and saying, "Very good, Governor Shen always gives me some surprises! Shen Shixing did a great job in returning the farmland to Zhejiang."

Since leaving Zhejiang and returning to Songjiang Prefecture, Shen Shixing no longer had to work in Hangzhou and no longer had to face Yan Shixuan. He could be said to be in high spirits and everything went smoothly.

Shen Shixing was overjoyed to receive the struggle scroll. He gained a very deep understanding of its contents, and then wrote a letter to his teacher Zhang Juzheng, exchanging his annotated struggle scroll with his teacher's annotated struggle scroll, and finally began to put it into practice.

He improved the policy of returning farmland to the people.

The improvement of the policy was very detailed, but Shen Shixing's method, in the final analysis, can be summed up in four words: mobilize the people.

Politics is a game of the majority. As long as a policy is recognized by the majority, it has the prerequisite for success.

However, during the execution process, the ability of the person in charge is still greatly tested.

For example, during the Jingnan Campaign, Zhu Di led an army of 800 people. If Zhu Yunwen had not cooperated so well with him and acted perversely, making everyone feel insecure and alienated, and the emperor, his subjects and the people distrustful of each other, Zhu Di would not have been able to obtain the throne even if he had great abilities.

Victory cannot be achieved by blindly mobilizing the majority, because most of the time, the anger of the people is disorderly violence and cannot promote the reconciliation of social contradictions. How to make good use of this very chaotic and disorderly violence tests the wisdom of those in power.

The struggle volume talks about how to turn disorderly violence into order.

Tell the majority what to do, what to do mainly and what to do secondary; what to do first and what to do later.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty implemented the Order to Return Land to the People in Zhejiang Province in order to give land to the common people. For the common people, they had not distributed land in the Ming Dynasty for ten lifetimes. The sudden distribution of land was like a pie in the sky, which provided the prerequisite for the success of the Order.

Shen Shixing’s execution was very good.

For example, Article 7 stipulates that if someone uses long-term leases instead of land to acquire land, and the people who have lost their land report it to the authorities, the property of the gentry who has acquired the land will be immediately confiscated and they will be exiled to Java. All the confiscated property will be confiscated and the land that has been seized will be returned.

The Ming Emperor led troops to suppress the rebellion in Zhejiang.

Anyone who dared to set fire to the place where the emperor stayed during his southern tour would be punished by the Ming Emperor. The number of Jinshi candidates in Zhejiang would be permanently reduced, and Zhejiang students would not be allowed to take the imperial examinations for ten years and their land would be returned.

During the mutiny at Luomu Camp and the mutiny led by the nine camps in Zhejiang, the local officials in Zhejiang had been replaced, and most of them were officials from other provinces. After the emperor's southern tour caused a fire in the government office, the deep-rooted local gangs in Zhejiang had been completely eliminated.

The local government offices were suffering from heavy deficits and were all tightening their belts to make ends meet, so there was no need to mention their enthusiasm for confiscation of property. After all, the Ming court only wanted 30% of the property after the confiscation, and 70% was retained by the local governments.

"It's not that Governor Shen is so powerful, because the people have a way out." Feng Bao certainly didn't say anything good about the civil servant.

He felt that this was not Shen Shixing's credit.

Zhu Yijun smiled and asked, "Oh? What do you think, Feng Daban?"

Feng Bao bowed his head and said, "I dare not say that I have a profound opinion. I can only say that it is the time, the luck, and the situation. It was Shen Shixing who caught the right time and was able to do his job. Otherwise, not to mention one Shen Shixing, even if there were ten thousand or one hundred Shen Shixings, it would be in vain."

"From the perspective of the people, they have two options: the first is to work in these workshops, and the second is to go out to sea."

Zhu Yijun tapped his fingers on the table, nodded and said, "You make sense."

"Fujian has a large population and a small land area, with eight mountains, one river and one piece of farmland. However, Fujian still has a population of 1130 million. This is the number after the revision of the Yellow Book. It is really a lot. For a place like Fujian that is not contested by military strategists, it is a miracle that it can have such a large population."

"And 95% of the food that feeds these people is produced in Fujian itself, while less than half is imported from foreign countries."

"To put it bluntly, Fujian's population has reached the upper limit of its land use."

"The people of Ming Dynasty were hardworking enough. Even if there was only a foothill the size of three tiled houses, as long as the slope was suitable, the hardworking Fujianese would open it up into terraced fields. Behind the word hardworking is the shortage of resources and the bitterness."

"Who would want to cultivate terraced fields if they can grow crops on the plains? Even watering these terraces requires people to carry water up there."

"Before the opening of the sea, Fujianese people would kowtow to Mazu and then board the ship to seek a way to make a living. After the Wanli Emperor opened the sea, Fujianese became the main force of the Ming Dynasty's voyages. In fourteen years, more than 1.4 million people went to the Danshui Town of Keelung Island, Xinglongzhuang, Luzon, Borneo, and Java."

Zhu Yijun first talked about the choice of Fujian people after the opening of the sea. Fujian's terraced fields are too difficult to grow! If it is a high value-added economic crop, such as tea, coffee, etc., it is better, there is money to be made, but if it is a terraced field to grow food, it is easy to lose more than the gain.

The land in Java where crops grow nine times a year is the hometown that Fujianese have never seen.

However, due to the limitations of navigation technology in the past, the risk of going to sea was too great. But with the vigorous development of shipbuilding technology and astronomy in the Ming Dynasty, traveling to Java is no longer so dangerous, at least the benefits far outweigh the risks.

This is only the number of people who went to sea from Fujian. During the 14 years of continuous opening of the sea, a total of more than three million people from the Ming Dynasty went to sea to make a living. The entire Nanyang is filled with people from the Ming Dynasty, and the number is still increasing.

Feng Bao hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, going to sea is only one way to survive. Another way is to work in government factories or private workshops."

"Thanks to the prosperity of overseas trade and the large amount of silver invested by Your Majesty, all the coastal provinces of Ming Dynasty have various handicraft workshops. The work in these workshops is a bit hard, but it is better than starving to death."

"The people of our Ming Dynasty are hardworking. What they fear most is being idle. Once this person is idle, he will be idle."

Feng Bao raised a teacup and said, "The workers in the workshop are the tea seats, and the workers out to sea are the tea covers. In between are the powerful and wealthy, the local elites and the gentry, who are the meat eaters. Once the people have a way out, the old production relations will gradually disintegrate, and the powerful and wealthy, the local elites and the gentry will no longer be able to take whatever they want."

"There is only one way to keep the people on the land, and that is to reduce the rent. If you don't give them a profit, the people will leave. Reducing the rent means less output from the land, and it takes too long to recover the cost of the acquired land."

Feng Bao expressed his meaning clearly. Shen Shixing was capable and a very capable and honest official, but it was mainly the times that made heroes.

The old production relations were collapsing, starting from Songjiang Prefecture, spreading to Zhejiang and Nan Ya, and spreading from the coast to the inland. This was the result of the Wanli Reform.

If the emperor had not led the Ming Dynasty and revitalized it and created the conditions, Shen Shixing really would not have been able to do it.

Gradually, the conservative landlords realized that they could no longer tyrannically bully their tenants, exploit them like slaves, or reach out to get the last handful of rice in the people's rice jar.

Because the tenants were determined to board the ship to Southeast Asia, the landlords lost a tenant and a labor force forever, the land began to be abandoned, and the annexed land became wasteland.

Even reducing the rent and abolishing slavery could not stop these tenants from taking risks.

Because as long as you get on the ship and go to the Governor's Mansion and follow the Governor's orders, you can get the land you have always dreamed of.

The Ming Dynasty opened up the sea not only for the silver, but also for the land.

Once the rent is reduced, it means that the income from land will decrease, which means that it will take too long to recover the cost of mergers. The motivation of gentry to merge land will be reduced, and the resistance to the promotion of the land return order will be greatly reduced.

Zhu Yijun wrote and drew on the paper, nodded and said: "The old production relations have collapsed, and these local sages have the loudest voices. If we only listen to what they say, the Ming Dynasty is in decline and will soon be destroyed. How did the world become like this? The environment is getting worse and worse. If we don't let them bully the people, will the environment become worse?"

"You are right. The smooth implementation of the Zhejiang Land Return Order is the result of the collapse of the old production relations. However, what I want to say is that being able to act according to the times and follow the trend is already a rare example of a law-abiding official."

"If all my subordinates were such honest officials, I could rest easy. Unfortunately, honest officials and plain-clothed censors are a minority in the court."

Times create heroes, heroes create times. This is a mutual relationship, not black or white.

If it weren't for Shen Shixing, the return of land to Zhejiang would not have been so smooth, and there was even a great possibility that it would have failed.

Zhu Yijun approved Shen Shixing's memorial and approved his perfected order to return the land. In addition to confiscating the property, Shen Shixing added seven more clauses to the order, namely: granting land, reclaiming wasteland, searching for evidence, arresting thieves, permanent employment, prohibiting changes, and confiscating property. Reclaiming wasteland here means that the reclaimed wasteland belongs to the reclaimer, instead of the local sages in the past;
The Da Suo Mao Yue system was established in the Sui and Tang dynasties to prevent powerful people from hiding their identities and not reporting them. It had been in place since the Sui and Tang dynasties, and it was also in place in the Ming dynasty.
Permanent ownership: all land granted in the countryside would be granted permanently and would never be taken back. History has also proved that once the land was distributed, it could never be taken back. However, land in cities, prefectures, counties and suburbs was not granted and remained government land. There were many people in cities, and the government did not have enough government land to support so many people.

The prohibition on land changes means that land cannot be bought or sold, but the court does not prevent leasing. The lease term is five years, and the lease must be approved every five years.
"Ah! How come this Wang Jiaping is just like Zhou Liangyin, following behind Shen Shixing to pick up leftovers!" Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial of Wang Jiaping in his hand and marveled at it!
Wang Jiaping started the land return program in Guangzhou Prefecture. It was not in Guangdong and Guangxi, but only in Guangzhou Prefecture, as a small-scale pilot project.

Zhou Liangyin followed Hou Yuzhao every day to pick up leftovers. Whenever Hou Yuzhao said something, Zhou Liangyin would not feel embarrassed at all and would say: Me too.

Now Wang Jiaping copied Shen Shixing's homework. Returning the land to Guangzhou was much simpler than in Zhejiang. Yin Zhengmao and Ling Yunyi had trained these wealthy families in Guangdong and Guangxi into obedience. Wang Jiaping was not a pushover either. The powerful and wealthy people in Guangdong and Guangxi all missed Yin Zhengmao and Ling Yunyi.

Feng Bao found three other memorials and placed them in front of His Majesty, saying, "Not only Guangdong and Guangxi, but also Fujian, Jiangsu, and Shandong are trying to implement the memorial to return the land because the workshops need people."

The craftsmen and apprentices in the workshop who do not farm the land need to eat, so they must return the land. If they do not, the land will be abandoned in the hands of the landlords, the tenants will not be motivated to produce, and agricultural output will not be enough to support the development of the handicraft industry.

The workshop requires a large population, and the five coastal provinces are the bridgeheads for opening up the sea, so a large population is needed for construction.

For the five coastal provinces, the biggest challenge at the moment is to turn more people into craftsmen and engage in commodity production while ensuring sufficient agricultural output. After looking around, the governors of the five coastal provinces of the Ming Dynasty all gave the same answer: return the land to the fields.

Returning farmland to the land can save labor in farming and allow more people to engage in handicraft workshops and produce goods.

Those who have constant property have constant perseverance. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty wants to make the Ming Dynasty great again. This requires the hard work of all the people of the Ming Dynasty. It is not something that can be achieved by just working like a slave. Instead, they have to work hard for their lives to succeed.

If the emperor did not give enough benefits, why would the people fight for you? Therefore, returning the land to the people became the only answer for the five coastal provinces. They gave the people permanent property and means of production in exchange for their farming, having children, and working in workshops.

Build more highways and manufacture more iron horses to get the goods of the Ming Dynasty moving, and allow the Ming Dynasty to move into the commodity economy in small steps and at a fast pace.

"Even female workers have appeared." Zhu Yijun noticed that even in Shandong there were female workers in varying numbers, and they were not weavers. Being a weaver was already a very good job.

Female workers appeared in kelp factories, tobacco factories, sugar factories, construction, post station distribution and other industries, and even in coal mines and iron smelters.

Iron smelting requires heavy labor, but there are still female workers.

The emergence of female workers is a typical manifestation of labor shortage, which means that there are not enough adult male workers in the Ming Dynasty to support production activities.

The Royal Institute of Gewu once calculated that the working capacity of a 1.25-year-old strong laborer was horsepower. This was the final result obtained after a long comparison between strong men in their twenties and horses.

The fact that labor was too cheap in the Ming Dynasty once became a major concern for the emperor, because the essence of cheap human resources was that human resources were too abundant, and excessive human resources would definitely hinder the Ming Dynasty's transformation into a commodity economy.

Goods need consumers to be produced.

The local gentry, powerful officials and wealthy people who occupy a minority in society are wasteful without limit, but still cannot consume enough goods to promote economic development.

The economy will not change because of human will. Policies can only make adjustments. The invisible hands of supply and demand will cause the economy to fall into a cyclical cycle. If there is insufficient demand, the economy will really die.

The root cause of the phenomenon of insufficient demand is the sharp contradiction between labor and capital. Human resources are too abundant, and it is difficult for the court to regulate the contradiction between labor and capital.

The law cannot be implemented without sufficient soil and environment.

Time flies, and with the rapid increase of workshops, human resources are finally insufficient.

The Ming Dynasty was still an agricultural country, and a major agricultural country at that. Not everyone was willing to leave the land that raised them and enter the workshops. The shortage of human resources was concentrated, mainly in coastal areas and areas where handicrafts were developing rapidly.

This shortage of human resources concentrated in coastal cities had positive implications for the Wanli Reform.

"Good news. The Labor Party and local gentry are competing for population. The poor and coolies who are being robbed will gain some bargaining power, even if it is insignificant, and can sell themselves at a good price. For the people, life will be a little better." Zhu Yijun reviewed several memorials in front of him and confirmed that the order to return land would spread from Zhejiang to the five coastal provinces.

Liaodong is also a coastal province, but Liaodong is a newly developed area of ​​the Ming Dynasty. Even the governor has not figured it out yet. The land is newly reclaimed, so naturally there is no need to return it to farmland.

"Your Majesty, there is another good news. The route to Pengju Port has been completely opened." Feng Bao found a memorial and placed it in front of His Majesty. He said with a smile on his face: "Da Ming Ocean Trading Company has opened up this route and made it a stable route."

It took the emperor a long time to fall in love with the Pengju port city. In fact, Xu Fan had been looking for a suitable location since the first time he went on a diplomatic mission to the West as an envoy of the Ming Emperor. The emperor could see it, and naturally the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants could see it too. The silver from the New World also had great appeal to the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants.

As long as the Ming Dynasty opened up to the sea, it would inevitably take this path and continue to expand, whether in an orderly manner or not.

The company that completed this route was not the Songjiang Ocean Trading Company that Zhu Yijun had high hopes for. Sun Keyi was awarded the third-class pioneer marquis for his contribution in pioneering the route. Songjiang Prefecture was the bridgehead for opening up the sea, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty originally hoped that the Songjiang Ocean Trading Company would explore eastwards.

But Songjiang Ocean Trading Company preferred to go to Southeast Asia and the West, to obtain plantation products in Southeast Asia and to obtain enough cotton in the Mughal Empire.

The people who completed the development of the route were Fujian Yuegang, Guangzhou Ocean Trading Company, Tang Zhihan and Bai Jingrui of Guangzhou Ocean Trading Company. They completed the exploration of navigation needle (compass needle) map, star-pulling ocean crossing map, supply islands, island barbarians, trade winds, etc., and all these explored sea charts were presented to the court by Wang Jiaping.

"You can go to Pengju Port twice a year." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in his hand and said with a smile: "Spending a thousand gold coins on horse bones is still effective."

Feng Bao said with emotion: "That's right. The Songjiang Sun family is indeed a wealthy family, but they were suppressed by Xu Jie and couldn't raise their heads. Since they were determined to follow the court, they have become the richest people in the Ming Dynasty. Tang Zhihan and Bai Jingrui were naturally very envious when they saw this, so they donated all the sea charts."

"I didn't expect that, in the past, the imperial court and the local governments had many conflicts over maritime trade, and even to the point of Japanese invasion, but now it is a win-win situation and they are working together."

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "Unity is good for both sides, while separation is bad for both sides. I understand this principle, and the sea merchants also understand it. I hope they can always remember that they are also part of the Ming Dynasty, but it is unlikely that they will not be blinded by interests and always understand it."

"Now, they are begging the court and bowing their heads to it. I just hope that the time when cooperation is greater than confrontation can last a little longer."

Zhu Yijun was still extremely wary of these southeastern maritime merchants. The Japanese threat in the southeast that had lasted for more than 20 years was caused by smuggling merchants who had gone too far under the sea ban and created a huge mess. If he was not vigilant against them, the Japanese threat might come again before long.

The conflict between the imperial court and the southeastern maritime merchants began in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty. This is a contest between centrifugal force and centripetal force. It was originally thought that the confrontation would always be greater than the cooperation, but unexpectedly, now the cooperation has become greater than the confrontation.

The Japanese invasion was the biggest variable. These pirates burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of evil, forcing the maritime merchants to surrender to the imperial court. After more than 20 years of fighting against the Japanese, the maritime merchants in the southeast finally realized a fundamental fact.

Without a country, there is no home; without public interests, private interests cannot be preserved.

Now that Ming Dynasty merchants go to Japan to do business, which Japanese pirates dare to rob Ming Dynasty merchants? Thirty-six-jin naval cannons are directly stuffed into the mouths of Japanese pirates!

The Japanese invasion that had plagued the southeast for more than 20 years was finally pacified by the imperial court. All coastal provinces had their own Maritime Customs Offices, and with the sea open to the public, the Ming navy became the biggest source of confidence for maritime merchants to run rampant.

Tang Zhihan is still in the capital, and his case is still undergoing the second review of the death penalty. There is still a process to go through. Yuegang Ocean Trading Company handed over the nautical chart, which is somewhat like bribery, an idea of ​​bribing the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It is hoped that the court will not jump back and forth during the review process.

Even though the Ming Emperor personally met with Tang Zhihan and clearly informed him of his attitude, and the case had been thoroughly concluded after a three-judge trial, the ship owners of Yuegang Trading Company still felt that the power of heaven was unpredictable and offered some auspicious signs to please the emperor.

The Bai family of Dianbai Port was a wealthy family in Guangzhou. They were willing to give up some of the sea charts they controlled because they hoped to gain more support from the court.

Near-sea trade and ocean trade are completely different.

For example, ocean-going insurance was completely government-run. The emperor didn’t want to share the cake with anyone, so the Insurance Regulatory Bureau directly cut off their insurance. They were not even eligible to eat meat or add to the bottom of the bowl. Ocean-going trade was too risky. Without insurance to back it up, if the ship sank, they would have to pay off their savings of several years or even decades.
For example, weapons. All ocean-going companies are armed merchant ships. If you want to obtain sufficient and powerful weapons, you can only get them from the court. Armor, reliable firearms, and brown gunpowder are all good things that only the court has. In addition, the Ming navy has expanded by 30,000 troops. In the future, you can let the navy escort you, and you can rest assured.
For example, high-end silk, bone china, jade, colored glaze, porcelain, fine woolen cloth, etc. are high-profit commodities, and the official kilns are all the best quality and most profitable commodities;

For example, the navy officers of the Ming Dynasty Maritime Academy were snatched away one by one. In many cases, the destination of the navy officers was recommended by the Maritime Academy. The navy officers must not be offended, otherwise there would be no navy officers on the sea, and going to Ryukyu would result in you drifting to Qiongzhou.

Without the support of the imperial court, ocean trade would be risky. Even those adventurous navigators in the West had to rely on the sponsorship of the Spanish royal family.

Cooperation is greater than confrontation, which is the situation Zhu Yijun wants to see, but he is not optimistic about how long it can last.

The human heart is not enough for a snake to swallow an elephant, and the end of the world is to catch a cicada.

Greed is the evil side of human nature. If one is insatiable, he will bring disaster upon himself. Now the maritime merchants are weak and have requests from the court, and they appear to be obedient. But when they become bigger and stronger and have fully fledged wings, driven by interests, confrontation will once again be greater than cooperation.

"Your Majesty, the students of the Imperial College and the students of the Royal Institute of Technology had a fight." Feng Bao talked about a lively incident in the capital yesterday.

"Who won?!" Zhu Yijun raised his eyebrows and asked immediately.

Feng Bao quickly said, "The students of the Imperial College are all weak scholars, so naturally the students of the Polytechnic Institute won."

After hearing this, Zhu Yijun continued to ask: "It's good that we won, but is there anyone dead?"

"That's not possible. Fighting is fighting, but no one is killed." Feng Bao replied quickly.

"What did the fight start with?" When Zhu Yijun heard that no one was killed, he just treated it as a spectacle. If this young man wasn't angry, how could he still be a young man?

Feng Bao thought for a moment and said tactfully, "The students of the Institute of Technology were surveying the West Mountain. The supervisors took the initiative to provoke them, found an excuse, and pushed the surveying telescope into the water, which led to the fight."

Feng Bao has already given a lot of face to these students.

(End of this chapter)