I'm really not doing business

Chapter 746 Market for Technology

Pedro stood up and said loudly: "I can't refute your free trade theory, but we know deeply that this is wrong. Wealth is slipping away, and we can feel it!"

"Our workshop is closing down due to the impact of Ming Dynasty goods. The workshop where the craftsmen have worked for 20 years has lost orders and is no longer in business. The craftsmen have no jobs and can only become homeless. They are extremely skilled craftsmen, but they can only wander!"

"Before the influx of goods from the Ming Dynasty, a craftsman who scraped sheepskin fat could earn fourteen riyals a year! His craftsmanship was praised, but he couldn't find a job because all the workshops were closed. No matter how good their skills were, they couldn't find work. They wandered the streets and begged for a living."

"Our herders put all their energy into herding, but they can't sell the sheep at a suitable price because the demand for wool is decreasing. They can only add the profits from wool to mutton, but this has caused an even worse result, that is, people can't even afford mutton."

"After people stopped buying mutton, herders couldn't raise more sheep because they would lose money if they did."

"Many children as young as 14 or 15 took to the streets and stood in the cold wind to solicit customers, just for a mere 20 copper pesos. Even with such a low price, they could not attract enough customers."

"Seville, the trading house of the New World, the distribution center of goods for the entire New Spain and the New World, has seen the most refugees, prostitutes, beggars, and thieves in the past three or four years!"

“We can feel that life is becoming increasingly difficult!”

Being entrusted with an important task by Felipe II and sent to the Ming Dynasty, Pedro, the court secretary, is obviously not a good-for-nothing. While in Taixi, he was thinking about one question: what happened to Taixi? !

Pedro has read the logic of the Ming Dynasty's free trade theory. Theoretically, there is no problem. The regional division of labor seems very reasonable. Producing goods with low local costs and exchanging goods with high local production costs. Each region has a division of labor, but Spain is getting worse.

Pedro took a deep breath and said, "The saints of the Great Light Church told me that the Great Ming Emperor, the embodiment of wisdom, has eight virtues, namely: frugality, fairness, justice, humility, prudence, honor, sincerity, and mercy! I pray for your Majesty's mercy."

In fact, Gao Qiyu can answer Pedro's doubts. The discussion on the theory of free trade in the Ming Dynasty was more in-depth. Many people have refuted the theory of free trade based on the theory of regional division of labor and the theory of absolute cost.

There are two biggest problems with the free trade theory.

The first question is, if a region does not have an absolute advantage in any commodity, should it participate in the international division of labor and international trade?

The answer is obvious. If a region does not have an absolute advantage in any commodity, it will definitely refuse international division of labor and international trade and will be slaughtered like a weed. However, closing the country to the outside world will only make things worse.

Because wealth, or precious metals that can serve as currency, such as gold, silver, copper and iron, will disappear very quickly. A country without any cost advantage will not gain any benefits from international trade, but only harm.

In this era of general currency scarcity, precious metal currency is the only general equivalent, and currency is completely equal to wealth.

The loss of a region's overall wealth is bound to endanger everyone in the region, and this is the situation Spain is facing now.

The second question is, if a region has absolute advantages in any commodity, what role does it play in participating in the international division of labor and international trade?
When this region has an absolute advantage in any commodity, it will become the ultimate predator and will unreasonably plunder all wealth. As long as roads and rivers can reach, it will be the hunting ground of this ultimate predator.

Just like the Ming Dynasty today.

The two questions about the free trade theory were raised by Li Zhi, a limited liberal, and the person who answered these questions was Huang Zhongxing of the Penglai Huang family, that is, Your Majesty.

In the capital, all officials above the fourth rank know that the noble young master of the Huang family of Penglai is none other than His Majesty himself.

If His Majesty wants to play, everyone can only cooperate. For example, Zhu Zhongxing in the official gazettes and miscellaneous newspapers, and Huang Zhongxing who likes to go to restaurants to watch gatherings and chats, this is a clear indication that when it is time to cooperate with the performance, the ministers cannot turn a blind eye.

"Is this our Great Ming's problem? It's your own problem in Spain. You can't provide us with the goods we are interested in. It's not our fault. Shouldn't you try every means to produce the goods we are interested in?" Gao Qiyu said solemnly, "The Great Light Church did not lie. Your Majesty does have mercy, but your Majesty's mercy and kindness are only for the people of the Great Ming."

"That makes sense. Your Majesty is the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

Chen Xuehui immediately said, "As an envoy, I hope you won't speak nonsense. It is a serious crime to criticize the imperial carriage in the Ming Dynasty. If you say something stupid, Legashi will have to go to the west again."

Don't talk nonsense!
The envoy Sauron was killed by the Ming Dynasty.

His Majesty does have a good temper. Legazpi criticized His Majesty several times, but His Majesty chose to forgive him. However, as an envoy, Pedro spoke without restraint, which might cause a diplomatic dispute.

"In fact, we can't produce any goods that the Ming Dynasty is interested in." Pedro's mouth twitched, looking at the two Ming dukes, and said with certainty: "A court secretary suggested that Your Highness dump opium on the Ming Dynasty to prevent the one-way flow of silver to the Ming Dynasty, but the wise Your Highness scolded the secretary angrily."

"Your Highness said that competing with the Ming in farming is the most irrational approach. Dumping opium on the Ming has angered His Majesty the Emperor. I'm afraid that within three years, Ming cargo ships will bring hundreds of thousands of boxes of opium and destroy the entire Western world."

"The Ming Dynasty owns 13 million mu of land in Southeast Asia. In three years, I'm afraid that 20 to 30 million kilograms of opium balls will flood the West."

Pedro was the court secretary and he was deeply involved in the formulation of Spanish policies. Felipe was not a fool. It would be foolish to compare farming with the Ming Dynasty.

Legazpi talked with Felipe for fifteen days, and Felipe had a certain understanding of the Ming Dynasty.

Sweet potato is an inconspicuous crop in Western Europe and America, and is not even grown on a large scale in its place of origin.

However, after the Ming Dynasty, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty set an example and promoted the sweet potato with his own hands. In ten years, the planting area of ​​sweet potatoes had reached a terrifying scale of 20 million mu, and the annual output had reached 120 million shi (50% off the dry weight, the fresh weight of sweet potatoes was not counted).

Sweet potato cultivation requires pinching and withering, and requires cultivation in a fire chamber. Therefore, the imperial court knew exactly how many sweet potatoes were planted. The Ming Dynasty had 8.75 million hectares of farmland in its hinterland, and a planting scale of 200,000 hectares was not a lot, but this famine relief food was life-saving food.

Moreover, the per-acre yield of sweet potatoes has been increasing year by year, which is the result of breeding.

"We can choose not to increase tariffs, and we can also allow Ming cotton cloth to enter Spain! But we require Ming to transfer all the technology for producing these goods." Pedro said solemnly as he sat down at the table.

It's not that Felipe is without any rules and does not participate in any regional division of labor and international trade.

Without heavy investment in navigators such as Columbus and Magellan, Spain would not have become the first empire on which the sun never set.

Pedro's meaning is very clear: exchange market for technology.

Even if Ming Dynasty had lower production costs and a larger production scale, the risks of maritime trade and high freight rates would allow Ming Dynasty to gain a cost advantage as long as it acquired Ming Dynasty's technology.

The Ming Dynasty will gain the market. With its production scale, its technology will definitely be ahead of the West, and there is no need to worry about foreign goods impacting the local market.

Felipe reduced the demand from 6 million taels of silver to 2 million taels of silver, not to close the country to the outside world, but to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty.

"This is a serious matter. I will report it to His Majesty the Emperor." Chen Xuehui thought for a moment and knew that this was Felipe's bottom line. If the Ming Dynasty refused to transfer technology, it would face increased tariffs and goods bans. If there was a technology transfer, the market would still be as open as in the past.

Chen Xuehui and Gao Qiyu wrote the memorial and submitted it to Wenyuan Pavilion. Soon, they took a train to His Majesty's Tonghe Palace.

"Your Majesty, we pay our respects to you. May your Majesty be in good health." Chen Xuehui and Gao Qiyu saluted.

"No need to be polite, sit down." Zhu Yijun put down the pen in his hand and motioned the two officials to sit down and talk. He looked at them and said affirmatively: "It is impossible to transfer the technology. If we transfer it to them, what will my people eat and drink?"

"Let Spain raise tariffs if it wants. Those profit-seeking smugglers will bring goods to every corner of Spain."

"If this One Whip Law is to be implemented, we must abolish labor service and distribute it among the land. If we calculate the labor service based on the number of people in the 13th year of the Wanli reign, the population of the Ming Dynasty will grow rapidly. I must find a way to ensure that the people of the Ming Dynasty have jobs."

The Single Whip Law was based on the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book. There must be a specific standard for collecting taxes. According to the tax law, the broad head tax was calculated based on the number of people living in the 13th year of Wanli, which represented the newborn population. Head tax was no longer calculated. With the promotion of sweet potatoes, population growth became inevitable.

As Han Feizi said, a man has five sons, five sons have five grandchildren, and the grandfather has twenty-five grandchildren before he dies. The production of the Ming Dynasty must meet the food, clothing, housing and transportation needs of these people. As for the life and death of Westerners, it has nothing to do with him, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

"The reason why Felipe II thought of using an open market to exchange technology was actually because he saw the vitality of Portugal, especially Lisbon." Gao Qiyu explained a situation. Felipe's policy was not something he came up with on a whim. Antonio made a fortune by reprocessing Ming Dynasty goods.

Portugal was not troubled by war and absorbed a large number of craftsmen from the Netherlands. Relying on the Ming Dynasty and relying on Ming Dynasty goods, it was steadily moving towards becoming the largest handicraft workshop production center in the West.

Obviously, Felipe II hopes that Spain can also use its own market in exchange for certain technologies to increase Spain's competitiveness.

Chen Xuehui immediately said, "The scale of cinchona plantations in Borneo and Java has expanded to 10,000 hectares, with a total of seven plantations, producing 550,000 kilograms of cinchona frost annually. Last year, Yunnan reported that after seven trials of cinchona planting in Yunnan, it was finally successfully planted in Lufeng Forest Farm, and this year there are 1,200 seedlings."

The cinchona tree originated from Peru. After it was brought to the Ming Dynasty by Antonio in the fifth year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty began to trial planting it. At that time, only 200 seeds were obtained. It was first successfully planted in Luzon, but it grew slowly. Later, it was brought to Java by Zhang Yuanxun. Java is a place naturally suitable for growing this thing. It grew into a forest and its scale continued to expand.

Quinine cream is the bark of the cinchona tree. It is dried, ground into powder and used directly. It is very effective against malaria.

When a person is diagnosed with malaria, only two coins of medicine are needed to basically save the patient.

Li Shizhen told His Majesty: In our Ming Dynasty, Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places have long been the home of malaria, and the epidemic is widespread, and there is an urgent need for medicine. Java has high skies and long rivers, and if Java is the only one that dominates and relies on overseas, there may be a disaster of leaking the cup. It is extremely advisable to be self-sufficient and try planting in Yunnan and Guizhou.

Under the call of Li Shizhen, the Ming Dynasty finally made a breakthrough in its trial planting in Yunnan. Now there are only 1,200 plants, but once the plant is tamed, the Ming Dynasty will plant cinchona trees all over the mountains and make them as common as tea trees. Chen Xuehui meant that Antonio was able to gain the support of the Ming Dynasty, the status of a vassal state, and the friendship of His Majesty because Antonio had been consistent for ten years, catering to His Majesty's preferences, and bringing all kinds of strange plants from overseas to the Ming Dynasty and giving them to His Majesty's Baoqi Division.

How many people have been fed by various sweet potatoes? How many people have been saved by quinine? Antonio just wants a throne and some silver. He doesn't want the Pope's head or the unification of the West.

Zhu Yijun sighed and said, "This cinchona is also extremely scarce in the Ming Dynasty. Peru is the place of origin. If Peru can do a good job in this, how much deficit can be offset in a year? At least it can offset a deficit of one million silver."

"It's not that I look down on the people of the West. Even if I gave them the technology, would they understand it? Breaking into other people's homes, killing the king, and only knowing how to burn, kill, and plunder, it's hard for them to understand the principle that robbing is not as good as planting."

Quinine is a life-saving medicine, and it is very expensive at the time. One or two ounces of the medicine cost more than one penny of silver to purchase. The Ming court had to pay 440,000 silver coins or equivalent goods to the Governor-General's Office of Jiugang every year to purchase 550,000 kilograms of quinine produced in Java. This was only possible because the national treasury and the internal treasury accounted for 60% of the plantation's shares, which gave it such a favorable price.

Seven out of ten Ming Dynasty people could not afford such expensive medicine. The high price was mainly due to the limited production. Javanese cultivation was being expanded, and the price would only drop when production increased further.

Peru is also a place where malaria is rampant. If the Spanish colonists had been more human and produced more cinchona, the price of medicine in the Ming Dynasty could have been reduced a lot.

The Spanish colonist, Count Juan Lopez, monopolized the cultivation of cinchona trees. He never told anyone that he packaged cinchona cream as a holy medicine and sold it at a high price. Antonio originally obtained the seeds of the cinchona tree from Juan Lopez's wife.

During the process of obtaining the seeds, Antonio used his handsome appearance and strong physique to win the lady's heart.

"Send some quinine to special envoy Pedro. Even if he doesn't understand, Felipe II will." Zhu Yijun thought about it again and again and made a decision.

Zhu Yijun was a very reasonable person, and he only needed a few kilograms of quinine to make the truth very clear.

"Your Majesty, I obey your order." Chen Xuehui and Gao Qiyu followed your order. If your Majesty does not allow it, the technological entities, craftsmen, production tools, and management models cannot be transferred to the West on a large scale.

The envoys who came this time came not only from Spain, but also from Portugal, France, England, and Tsarist Russia. The old Tsar of Tsarist Russia, Ivan IV, died, and the new Tsar succeeded to the throne and sent envoys to inform the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Xuehui and Gao Qiyu need to contact these messengers one by one to increase communication.

"Let's go, call Wang Qian and go watch the fun." Zhu Yijun changed into his casual clothes and turned into Mr. Huang. This time he went to watch the fun, not to watch a gathering, but to go to the Yongding Woolen Factory on the banks of the Yongding River to see Wang Chonggu's fun.

Wang Chonggu set up a trade union, but his first attempt ended in failure.

This lively event had only been going on for two months when it came to an end. Zhu Yijun went to the woolen factory today to witness Wang Chonggu's failure. Today, Wang Chonggu wanted to use violence and invoke the law to punish the yamen runners in order to forcibly dissolve the trade union he had established.

Zhu Yijun's carriage entered and exited the outer city from Xuanwu Gate, and met Wang Qian outside Xuanwu Gate. The carriage passed Xuanwumen Outer Street, turned into Caishikou Street, and left the city from Guangning Gate. After traveling for twenty miles, it arrived at the Yongding Woolen Factory.

The scale of the Yongding Woolen Factory has expanded to nearly 2,000 acres, which is approximately the size of two imperial palaces. It has 47 workshops including cleaning, combing, spinning, warping, and weaving. Seven of them are mechanical workshops, which are powered by iron horse steam engines.

Around the Yongding Woolen Factory, there were more than thousands of private households that relied on the government-owned factory for survival.

A huge woolen industry group has been formed on the banks of the Yongding River, with more than 400,000 people living here, while Seville, the pearl of the Atlantic, the trading home of the New World of the West, has a maximum population of only 150,000.

Zhu Yijun stood by the Yongding River, looking in the direction of the woolen factory. He smiled and said to Wang Qian beside him, "Wang Cifu has just shot himself in the foot."

"I have tried to persuade him, but he is too old to listen to advice. He insists on doing it, thinking that as long as the system is designed well, it will work. It's only been two months and it has come to a standoff." Wang Qian sighed. He really had tried to persuade him, but Wang Chonggu insisted on having his own way.

Zhu Yijun stood with his hands behind his back and said comfortingly, "Your father did it for the Labour Party, not for himself. With the previous case, he could never become the Prime Minister, nor could he go any further. Your family has so much money that you won't have to worry about food and drink for several lifetimes. He just wanted to improve the government factory system, but he was a little too hasty in the end."

"I thought I could hold out for a few years, but I didn't expect it to come to this in just two months." Wang Qian looked at the entrance of the workshop.

Wang Chonggu and the runners from the Law Office stood in front of the workshop, while several big bosses selected by Wang Chonggu himself, with a group of craftsmen, confronted the runners with various weapons in the workshop.

Wang Chonggu made a mistake, it was just wishful thinking on the part of a meat eater.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid that my father's integrity will be ruined in his later years." Wang Qian's tone was slightly teasing. His status as a juren was problematic. Although Your Majesty was particularly lenient and did not punish him, he would only be a fourth-rank Censor-in-Chief for the rest of his life and there would be no possibility of promotion.

Zhu Yijun did not intend to care about the fatherly love and filial piety between Wang Chonggu and Wang Qian, as they had family affairs that could not be settled clearly.

Zhu Yijun stood by the Yongding River and said with emotion: "The wishful thinking of meat eaters is childish. The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty could not read a single word and were not well-educated, so they were fooled by these scholars."

"I saw an old man who collected waste paper at Chaoyang Gate a few days ago. He was selling waste paper. In order to get more weight, he sprinkled water on the waste paper, let it dry a little, sprinkled it again and let it dry again, repeated this process several times, and then put it in a cool place and waited a few days before selling it."

"After being fooled twice, the owner of this waste paper collection place has learned his lesson. He will tear the paper open to see if it is wet. If it is wet, he will deliberately pay less."

"When the old man saw this, he only soaked the paper in the middle, and the outside looked intact. This owner collects so much waste every day, can he check them one by one?"

"Hey, after being fooled twice, the owner of this den immediately found a way to deal with it. Just pick out a random card and light it. If it burns quickly, it is dry. If it burns slowly, there must be a problem. Open the package and check."

Zhu Yijun told a little story. He often observed the lives of the people at Chaoyang Gate, and this was what he saw.

"Uh, this old man and the owner of this nest are so petty?" Wang Qian was stunned for a moment and asked dully. The paper he used was the best Gutian Xuan paper. Sometimes the palace would reward some Goryeo tribute paper, and Wang Qian would also use it.

Zhu Yijun replied, "That's right. When the old man saw that sprinkling water didn't work, he started adding soil, not much. But after the owner of this nest collected the waste paper twice, he would stir it a few times when collecting waste paper. As long as there was a little soil, he would take the opportunity to charge less money."

"After all this, a piece of waste paper costs only five or ten cents if you buy more and sell less."

"Wang Ci Fu is the deputy minister of our Ming Dynasty. He was just a little wishful thinking. He thought that setting up this union was for the benefit of the craftsmen. It has only been two months, and he has brought the gambling business back to the official factory."

This was the reason why Wang Ci Fu made up his mind to abolish the trade union he had set up, even at the cost of slapping himself in the face.

He thought that by limiting the term of office to three years, many problems could be avoided. However, he did not expect that it would make these big bosses even worse.

Liu Qinniang, the courtesan of Yanxinglou, who wanted to have sex with the emperor, entered the woolen factory. In the seventh year of Wanli, Liu Qinniang said that there was a gambling house in the factory. Zhu Yijun asked Wang Chonggu about it, and Wang Chonggu worked very hard to ban gambling in the factory. Seven years later, the bosses brought the gambling business back to the factory.

"Your Majesty, I expected that something unexpected would happen, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon." Wang Qian looked at the crowd in front of the official factory with a sigh.

In just two months, these top craftsmen selected from the craftsmen have reached this level, which is beyond Wang Qian's expectations.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "Everyone is selfish. If they have a little power, they will want to cash it in."

"Wang Ci Fu thought that the government's ban on gambling was what the people wanted, but the craftsmen might think that Wang Ci Fu was too lax. This is the case with all things in the world. People have different opinions from different standpoints. There are really many different aspects of life."

"But these big bosses were also fooled. Many gambling house owners were eager to see the money bags of more than 30,000 craftsmen in the government factory. They got in through a loophole, and the big bosses were selected. The guys in the gambling houses outside took them out for a drink."

"The endless flattery made these bigwigs dizzy. After swallowing three or five pounds of horse urine, they felt so proud that they didn't know where they were. They took on a lot of promises and had to do it for the sake of face when they returned to the government factory. This is how the gambling business was brought back into the government factory."

"The fight started."

Wang Chonggu did not hide behind the yamen runners. He talked to those big bosses for a long time, but when he couldn't continue talking, he took two steps back. The yamen runners from the Legislative Affairs Office rushed forward and a fight started.

The Legislation Office was composed of retired soldiers. The Ministry of War arranged old, injured and sick soldiers to work in government factories to enforce the laws of the factories. Although these craftsmen were armed, they were ultimately no match for the yamen runners and were completely defeated by them in no time.

The runners from the Legislative Affairs Office rushed into the official factory and searched everywhere. Soon, they pinned a group of craftsmen in front of the factory gate and threw more than a dozen different gambling tools in front of them.

"Gambling is a serious crime! Take you to the Ministry of Justice and sentence you according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Each of you will be beaten with 80 strokes of the cane! One hand will be chopped off!" Wang Chonggu's voice sounded furious. A total of 74 gangsters and gamblers were arrested, and all of them were pinned to the ground by the bailiffs, unable to move.

Anyone who gambles for money will be punished with 80 strokes of the cane and one hand will be chopped off. The money and property of the gambling house will be confiscated by the government. The person who runs the gambling house will be punished as well. The official will be punished one level higher if he is found guilty. If he gambles for food and drink, no punishment will be imposed.

In order to ban gambling, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a very strict ban, but it still could not curb it. The judicial practice of the Ming Dynasty law on gambling was to be punished with eighty strokes of the cane, and generally not to chop off the hands. If you gamble for food and drink, no one will be punished, so many people use food and drink instead of money, and settle the bill in the end.

Now, the gambling business in the official factory has been replaced by food and drink. When they leave the factory during holidays, they settle the bill outside the factory. Wang Chonggu has many spies in the official factory. When they find out, they will arrest people directly. If they are arrested after the bill is settled, Wang Chonggu will not be able to save them even if he wants to.

"Why did I choose you guys? So that the craftsmen can tell you what they dare not say to me! But you guys have brought the bet back to me, which makes me so mad!" Wang Chonggu looked at the big man in front of him and was so angry that he kicked the craftsman. Because he was old, the kick was not very heavy.

Wang Chonggu kicked and looked at the seventy-four craftsmen with a somewhat desolate expression. He waved his hand and said, "Pack up tomorrow and leave. I will give each of you twenty silver coins as a settlement fee."

There are several old faces here. They had already joined the government-owned factory when the woolen factory was still an empty lot. They have been working there for fourteen years. The factory is as big as the government-owned woolen factory.

(End of this chapter)