I'm really not doing business

Chapter 832 Look at this pair of colluded king and minister!

Zhu Yijun had a good idea. He felt that the plan of everyone becoming a shipowner would allow the Ming Dynasty to open up to the sea smoothly and withstand the initial pressure.

When the sea was first opened, there were pressures from several aspects.

The first was opposition from the smuggling gentry in the south. The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban had no binding force on these lawless smuggling gentry. Otherwise, Zhu Wan, the governor of Zhejiang who pacified the Japanese invasion in Shuangyu, would not have committed suicide.

The plan of making everyone a shipowner introduced the northern nobles as a balancing force to counter the southern smuggling gentry.

The northern gentry could also have a bite of the rice from maritime trade. This was the proposition of Wang Chonggu as a member of the Jin Party, and it also served as a balance between the north and the south.

The second pressure was mainly financial pressure. At that time, the imperial court was extremely poor. It was not until December of the first year of the Wanli reign that the 11 silver coins owed to the imperial mausoleum were paid off. At that time, Zhang Juzheng was so poor that he had his eyes on the emperor's gold and silver. However, the wealthy merchants in the north, led by the Shanxi merchants, still had some silver.

Wang Qian once said that you have to eat from whose money you take. The northern gentry of the Ming Dynasty jointly owned a number of shipyards. To this day, the northern gentry still have a strong influence on the five major shipyards, from shopkeepers and accountants to bosses and shipbuilders, in both the north and the south.

The third source of pressure came mainly from some stubborn and conservative scholars in the court. They were obsessed with the laws of their ancestors without regard for their own interests. They opposed the opening of the sea, not even because of vested interests, but because they thought everything their ancestors did was right.

Like Shen Li, they all thought that the little emperor was just fooling around and that Zhang Juzheng was abusing his power to satisfy the little emperor's selfish desire for rare treasures from overseas.

The fourth aspect is that the northern gentry could not share the benefits of opening up the sea, and the land annexation in the north had been completed, so the excess silver could only be kept in the pigsty. Wang Chonggu came up with the shipowner plan, which made the northern gentry willing to give it a try.

Excellent investment projects are rare in any era and at any time. Everyone knows whether maritime trade is profitable or not, but in the past, due to geographical reasons, we were unable to get involved.

Generally speaking, Wang Chonggu's plan at that time united the majority and ultimately laid the foundation for the brilliant results of today's opening of the sea.

After completing its historical mission, closing down Yanxinglou Trading House seemed to be a good choice. Moreover, many scholars and officials in the court disliked Yanxinglou Trading House as an office, which was considered a den of evil tendencies that neglected the main purpose and pursued profit.

Zhu Yijun thought that as long as Yanxinglou adopted a prudent closing policy and did not directly refuse to pay its debts like Felipe did, it would not cause too much trouble.

But both the emperor and Wang Qian were wrong. After Wang Qian's memorial requesting the closure of Yanxing Tower was sent from the Ministry of Public Administration to the Cabinet, it aroused opposition from cabinet ministers, the Six Departments' Secretaries, the Censors of the Censorate, and the ministers of the six ministries. This wave of opposition soon spread to the entire capital.

Ministers in the court did not dare to act and block powers. On ordinary days, they made a fuss, which was just an emotional outburst. But when widespread opposition formed, if they made a fuss again, it would be a rebellion.

Finally, the scholars and officials came up with a good idea and asked Zhang Juzheng to persuade His Majesty.

The scholars and officials sadly discovered that they could still find Zhang Juzheng now. If Zhang Juzheng was no longer around, who could they find to persuade His Majesty on such matters?

Zhang Juzheng felt that he might not have enough influence to convince His Majesty. The Emperor had grown up and had his own ideas. Zhang Juzheng was now relying on his achievements in the Reform Movement to frequently obstruct His Majesty's policies, which would arouse His Majesty's disgust. So he pulled Wang Chonggu in, but fearing that the situation would get out of control, he called Shen Li. The Grand Master of the Clan was now a jack of all trades, so calling the Grand Master of the Clan would at least keep the situation harmonious.

This matter cannot be argued about in the Wenhua Palace. After all, the Wenhua Palace is in public. If His Majesty is embarrassed, he will just carry out the decision resolutely until it becomes a mess. The emperor will not change for the sake of his own face, which will be detrimental to the government.

All in all, as a minister, Zhang Juzheng can no longer stop Your Majesty by taking advantage of Your Majesty's young age and ignorance.

"Sit down and talk. Sit down and talk. I have read all the memorials submitted by all the ministers." Zhu Yijun motioned the three ministers to sit down and talk. He said helplessly, "I have read all the memorials submitted by all the ministers. I have also made a choice after careful consideration and weighing the pros and cons."

The court officials submitted memorials to discuss the matter. There were three main opposing opinions, all of which were reasonable.

The most mainstream opposing opinion is that it was fine when the Yanxinglou Trading House was still around, but now that it is gone, there will be private trading houses all over the Ming Dynasty. By then, no matter how powerful the imperial court is, it will still cause more trouble. These trading houses without any supervision and the bosses who are in charge will probably do whatever they want.

The Yanxinglou Trading Company was in such a bad state that they could have executed Wang Qian to appease the public anger and make adjustments. But now it has closed down and is in a mess, and there is no scapegoat to be found.

Secondly, Yanxinglou Trading Company is in the process of developing some emerging industries, such as the mushroom factories that have been very popular recently all over the country, which require continuous capital investment to survive the most difficult times.

These mushroom factories are involved in the brewing and fermentation industry, including yeast, vinegar, soy sauce, wine, medicine, fresh salt, yogurt, fermented black beans, fermented bean curd, etc.

The emergence of this fungus factory is an important project to tame microorganisms after humans have tamed plants and animals. It requires continuous investment of silver. The Ming Dynasty court does have money, but the court's money is not endless and all of it is useful, so everyone needs to invest in it.

For example, the goat down, duck down, dodo down, etc. that the court has recently been producing also require heavy investments.

Finally, the ministers all believed that closing down Yanxinglou Trading House would not only fail to rectify unhealthy practices, but would also cause the court to lose an important means to control the direction of profits.

Profit has great power. It can drive people to all profitable places. Yanxinglou Trading Company is undoubtedly an important place to control the direction of profits.

In other words, the Yanxinglou Trading Company was completely controlled by the imperial court, which meant it had the power to interpret the scriptures, just like the King of Shang interpreting the cracks on a tortoise shell. The emperor and the imperial court could not just give up on this.

In addition to the above three reasons, there are also sluggish production, market disorder, hyperinflation, and sharp price fluctuations. Silver without restraints is like an unrestrained dragon, which will stir up trouble in the market, making the already broken market even worse.
Moreover, Yanxing Tower can be said to be a melting pot that restrains the evil of human nature. With such a thing, morality becomes extremely precious.

There are no morals in the trading world, only interests.

"Since Your Majesty has read it, my opinion is consistent with the opinions of the ministers." Zhang Juzheng breathed a sigh of relief. His Majesty just needed to talk to them. If His Majesty said that his will had been made up, the three cabinet ministers would probably have come here in vain.

"What the ministers said makes sense, but it also makes sense for me to shut it down." Zhu Yijun said very clearly: "We can't go on like this. I see that too many people treat trading houses as gambling houses, even after Wang Qian successively introduced the most stringent nine prohibitions and then banned short selling in an attempt to regulate the market."

"The ministers' reasons are all correct, but Yanxinglou cannot become a gambling house. If it does, it must be closed."

"We cannot look at problems from an abstract perspective. The imperial court is too far away from most people, whether in terms of lifestyle, living distance or ideas."

All the reasons for opposition were considered from the perspective of the imperial court, but no one looked at the harm of Yanxinglou Trading Company from the perspective of the common people. How many people had their families broken up and died, even if they had to borrow money from money houses at the risk of getting a bad ticket? Zhu Yijun had heard such stories too many times.

"The water that overturned the boat is the tears of the common people; you would not know it until you see it flowing horizontally." Zhu Yijun adjusted his sitting position and summarized his views again.

From the perspective of the imperial court, closing the Yanxinglou trading house would do more harm than good. However, from the perspective of the people, whether the existence of Yanxinglou has affected the people's actual lives is a question that Zhu Yijun must consider.

"Your Majesty, there are still people supervising Yanxinglou Trading Company. No matter what Wang Qian does, he has to report to Your Majesty. How about letting the people do it?" Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said, "I have heard overseas merchants talking about the Lombard Street Bank in England. Since Minister William Cecil announced that he would no longer redeem it, these bankers have become even crazier."

"If we allow it to grow recklessly, the consequences may be even more harmful than the existence of Yanxinglou Trading Company."

Wang Chonggu and Shen Li looked at each other and neither of them spoke. The imperial study in Tonghe Palace was a little quiet. Recently, there had been a lot of and big disagreements between Zhang Juzheng and the emperor, which made the two of them worried. Some names kept flashing before their eyes.

Shang Yang and King Huiwen of Qin, Fan Zhongyan and Emperor Renzong of Song, Wang Anshi and Emperor Shenzong of Song, all ended up becoming strangers to each other.

Conflicts of interest, the game between the monarch and his subjects, and ideals and reality are all reasons for this phenomenon.

Now it seems that as the emperor is getting older and older, the relationship between the emperor and the gentleman as monarch and subject is also going to reach this point, which makes Wang Chonggu and Shen Li sincerely worried.

"What you said makes sense, sir." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "I just don't want to see the trading house become a gambling house. Do you have any good ideas, sir?"

"I really have a solution." Zhang Juzheng said immediately after hearing the emperor's change of attitude, "Your Majesty, Yanxing Tower does have the appearance of a gambling house, but the root cause is not the trading house itself, but the flow of silver like a wild horse without a rein. I once read "Salt and Iron Theory", and Sang Hongyang said: If the profits come from one source, the country will have enough money. If we abandon Yanxing Tower now, it will be like letting thousands of horses run wild in the wilderness, which will only make the gambling trend more rampant."

"How about this? I have a plan that can relieve your majesty's worries."

The emperor's closure of the Yanxinglou Trading House was equivalent to the imperial power loosening a rein on the right to profit. Zhang Juzheng did not want to see this situation happen. After His Majesty's attitude softened, Zhang Juzheng immediately began to check for loopholes and fill in the gaps.

Zhang Juzheng handed the memorial he had prepared long ago to His Majesty. The memorial was very long, but it boiled down to one sentence: The fact that Yanxinglou Trading House had turned into a gambling house was not the fault of the trading house, but the fault of those money houses.

The money houses knew very well where the high-interest loans they lent out went, but in order to kill three birds with one stone, they did not care where the money went. It was the irregularities in the money house business that led to the transactions, and no matter how much restrictions were imposed, it would be futile.

After analyzing the problem, we will find that when a money house lends money, it does not care where the money goes, or even whether the money can be recovered. From the very beginning, the money house was for collateral.

Many people thought that the money houses were after his interest, but in fact they were targeting his capital, in order to take over his ancestral property and family home.

Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, "My plan starts with limiting the interest rates of banks and ends with collecting taxes."

"The court wants to limit the interest rates of money houses. During the loan period, the annual interest rate cannot exceed 25%, otherwise it will not be protected. That is to say, if it exceeds 25%, the government will not support the creditor in collecting the interest. For the part exceeding 25%, the borrower can sue the government to recover the money."

"How can we be sure that the loan agreement is protected by law? Both the borrower and the lender must hold the loan contract and go to the government office for review. Only after the review is passed, the loan is considered established."

"We need to make a distinction here. Loans above 5,000 taels must be approved by the government, but loans below 5,000 taels can be approved by purchasing tax invoices, affixing them to the contract, and then stamping them to establish the loan."

"This tax should not be too high or too low, 0.03% is appropriate."

Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up, he read the memorial carefully, and said, "Sir, this idea is brilliant! As long as there are taxes, the Taxation Bureau can conduct tax collection."

"Your Majesty is wise, this is exactly what I mean." Zhang Juzheng said with his head bowed.

Wang Chonggu and Shen Li looked at each other again. Their previous worries were totally unfounded. Look at this pair of kings and ministers who are in cahoots with each other!

What sin had the powerful and wealthy gentry of the Ming Dynasty committed to deserve to encounter this couple of monarch and minister? It could be said that they were unlucky for eighteen lifetimes. These old and young foxes came up with an idea as soon as their eyes rolled!
The system design here is actually to introduce intervention from a powerful government agency like the Tax Inspection Office. Everything else is fake!

Without the interference of powerful government agencies, no matter how good the system design is, it will be useless. With the intervention of powerful government agencies, no matter how superficial the system design is, it can be improved through continuous practice.

For ordinary people, they may never have to deal with taxes in their entire lives, but these money houses, for the loan contracts signed, large loan contracts exceeding five thousand taels, must be reviewed and taxed by the court. Small loan contracts below five thousand taels must also be purchased from the Tax Inspection Office to purchase tax stamps and affix them to the contracts, otherwise they will be regarded as tax evasion by the Tax Inspection Office.

If you are targeted by the Tax Inspection Office, you will be skinned alive even if you don't die. The collection notice from the Tax Inspection Office is a real death warrant.

In this way, the money houses could no longer use the IOUs to do whatever they wanted. In the past, the reason why the money houses were able to keep an eye on the capital of these people's property was because the interest was extremely high. As long as they could not pay the interest, they would have to pay the principal and interest, as well as their wives and children, to the money houses.

According to Zhang Juzheng's method, now, if someone defaults on a debt, the money shop can only take the loan contract to the government office to sue, otherwise the ancestral home and land will still belong to the borrower, because the memorial clearly mentioned that any change in ownership of these houses and land, large amounts above 5,000 taels must be approved by the government, and amounts below 5,000 taels now also require tax invoices!
Otherwise, the household registration offices of the prefectures, states, and counties will not change the ownership of the property to them, and whoever is written on the title deed owns the property.

When the money shop returns to its original state and can only rely on interest to make a living, it has to become cautious. After all, if it cannot recover the capital, it will have to take the IOU to the government to sue. Even if the lawsuit is won, it will still take an extremely long time, and the time cost is also a cost.

"Your Majesty, the standardized operation of money houses cannot be accomplished overnight or with a single decree. It takes some time and some institutional improvements. We can have a prototype in three years and hope to popularize it in five years. We can start from the capital." Zhang Juzheng talked about the process of forming the decree.

It takes at least five years for a policy to be effective, because it needs to be constantly revised in practice.

Zhang Juzheng did not guarantee that this policy would change the status quo in the short term, but what he could do was to standardize the money houses as much as possible and implement it continuously.

Zhang Juzheng's method was to impose stamp tax, which was to affix stamps or tax stamps on legal securities, negotiable instruments, contracts, loan agreements and other documents to indicate payment of taxes. Thus, the contracts would have legal effect.

The Ming Dynasty Code has been revised and the tax law has been attached to it, but that does not mean that the tax law will not be further improved.

"Then let's do as you say." Zhu Yijun agreed to this method and said with a smile, "What do you two think?"

"Your Majesty is wise." Wang Chonggu and Shen Li bowed their heads and said. They followed Zhang Juzheng into Tonghe Palace, but they did not say a word about the closure of Yanxing Tower, because what they wanted to say had already been written in the memorial. His Majesty read the memorial carefully and after synthesizing the opinions of all parties, he still wanted to close it.

This is already within the scope of my decision.

Wang Chonggu talked about how Wang Jiaping promoted trade unions in state-owned factories after returning to Beijing. The situation was more optimistic than expected. The problem with state-owned factories was that they were too closed. This basic background would cause trade unions to quickly alienate.

How can the water be so clear? Because it comes from a source of fresh water. Ever since Wang Jiaping took charge of the state-owned factory and started a new round of elimination and renewal, the state-owned factory has become more vibrant.

Even in Wang Chonggu's view, clearing out state-owned factories and bringing in new employees is more important than establishing trade unions in state-owned factories.

Shen Li introduced the plan for the International Congress in Guangzhou and Songjiang prefectures.

"This World Congress is a great idea. Let's hold more of them and bring all kinds of rare items for people to see." Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "As for what Li Yashi said about the Ming Dynasty eating alone, I have no good solution. We can't out-farm the Ming Dynasty, so it's not the Ming Dynasty's fault."

Li Yashi said that the Ming Dynasty was too cunning in its business and wanted to monopolize the market. Sometimes, it was not the Ming Dynasty's fault, but their own failure.

When Wan Shihe was still alive, he once tried to classify countries in the world, which was the time when global division of labor was being discussed.

He planned to transfer some industries that were not needed by the Ming Dynasty, low-profit, labor-intensive industries, overseas.

The processing and innovation of high value-added goods are done in the heartland of the Ming Dynasty; the processing of low value-added goods is handed over to the overseas governor-general's office; the primary processing and raw material supply are handed over to overseas countries; and high-risk jobs such as miners are handed over to the barbarians.

There are four classification standards: hinterland, four directions, six directions, and eight wildernesses.

In Wan Shihe's plan, it would be best if all the lands that did not belong to the Governor-General's Office of the Ming Dynasty were used for farming to support the Ming Dynasty, and there should be no military forces overseas that could threaten the Ming Dynasty.

But in the end, Wan Shihe gave up this plan and turned to the way of eating alone as it does today.

Wan Shihe discovered that even in the West, most people did not understand how to farm and it was difficult for them to undertake this kind of division of labor in planning. Since there were many people in the Ming Dynasty anyway, they might as well do it all themselves.

The emperor withdrew the order to close Yanxing Tower, and everyone in the capital cheered. Countless scholars and officials regarded it as a great victory, and once again stopped the emperor's small willfulness;
Wang Qian was scolded again. It was obvious that he was incompetent, but he insisted on lobbying His Majesty to close Yanxing Tower. He was simply relying on his father being the Second Prime Minister to do whatever he wanted!
Of course, the hard times for the money houses came all of a sudden. As the capital was the pilot city for the stamp tax, it was like the sky falling for the money houses.

Just as Shen Li said, the wealthy businessmen who stepped onto the historical stage divided the society into pieces. The imperial court could not control the people of the Ming Dynasty, so how could it control these wealthy businessmen?
When the owners of money shops heard that if they did not attach tax stamps to loan contracts, their doors would be kicked down by the Tax Inspection Office and that inspections would begin on June 1st, they were so scared that they immediately began to learn the new tax law.

The regulated operation of the emperor and the Grand Tutor actually means that the money houses can make profits by relying on the money houses, rather than relying on confiscating other people's property to make profits.

The inspection will not begin until June 1st. Before June 1st, the old methods apply to old matters, while after June 1st, new methods apply to new matters, giving an adjustment period to adapt to the policies.

The policy continued to grope forward amidst the setbacks, and the Ming Dynasty's sixth caravan sailing around the world arrived at the Naha Port of the Ryukyu Governor-General's Office.

Today, Naha Port is no longer the small fishing village it once was. The entire Shuri Prefecture has a population of 730,000, and Naha Port has more than 400,000 of them.

The Port of Naha, with a population of 400,000, was a large county even in the Ming Dynasty. Almost all merchant ships bound for the Ming Dynasty had to stop at Wanguo Hailiang. The large sailing ships from the West, the three-masted plywood ships bound for Japan, the slave ships from Japan to Ryukyu and then to the Ming Dynasty or Luzon, and the cargo ships from Southeast Asia to the Ming Dynasty, all the ships had to stop at the Port of Naha.

Liu Ji, wearing a cloak, stood at the bow, looking at the port, feeling deeply moved. He first came to Naha Port in the fifth year of Wanli. He was from Mizhou, Shandong, and was a desperado, or to be more precise, a fourteen-year-old bandit.

A fourteen-year-old bandit is somewhat ridiculous, but in Shandong, which is located under the Confucius Mansion in Yanzhou, not being a bandit means death.

The closer you are to Lingshan, the more hellish it is.

When the Maritime Academy was founded, he was admitted as an exception because of his good swimming ability. He became one of the first boat masters of the Maritime Academy and came to Ryukyu.

At that time, the Shimazu family of Kyushu Island in Japan aggressively demanded that the Ryukyu royal family send hostages to the Shimazu family as hostages, and also demanded that the old king's son-in-law succeed to the throne, and not let Shangjiu succeed to his younger brother.

After repeated considerations, Shang Jiu decided to go all out and went straight to Daming to become the offline king.

Shangjiu left Ryukyu and Ryukyu officially established the Governor's Office. With Shangjiu's departure, Ryukyu ushered in a new life.

More than ten years ago, Naha Port was just a fishing village. There were no berths along the coast, only fishermen drying their fishing nets.

Today, the Naha Port is shrouded in countless sails, with cast iron cranes several meters high piercing the morning mist, and the curved concrete breakwaters extending east and west like a giant whale guarding the harbor.

Six granite berths jut into the blue water, with two clipper ships moored next to Pier No. 3.

One of them was sounding the whistle. It was the Feiyun, a fast sailing ship with four Shengping No. 4 iron horses and propellers. The white steam spewing out of the chimney startled flocks of seabirds. The other ship was a warship sent to garrison in the Yehai City naval port of the Governor of Jiugang. It had three layers of plywood and densely packed artillery, which made people shudder.

There is also a very special ship in the port, which is being pulled away from the port by a barge. This is an observatory ship that has just returned from the central New World and is responsible for surveying the feasibility of the New Sun Canal.

The result was not good, it could be said to be very bad. It would be difficult to succeed with the technology of the Ming Dynasty. Even with a construction period of 50 years, the lock-type canal was still too challenging for the Ming Dynasty. However, a flat straight-through canal was feasible, but it would require a lot of hard labor.

This will further damage the reputation of His Majesty the Emperor.

Behind the port, there are dozens of streets. The streets are very neat and wide, with a constant stream of traffic. These are all shops serving the large ships that come to the port. There are a wide variety of goods. There are many brothels here. Because of different regions, the streets are divided into different styles, and there are even red-haired and golden-haired foreigners.

As far as Liu Ji knew, the owners of the brothels here were all Ming Dynasty businessmen from Zhejiang and Fujian.

During this voyage, Liu Ji sowed a lot of seeds and established the Mingguan that Your Majesty needed in many ports. The establishment of the Mingguan was very smooth. One only had to bribe the local governor or city lord, and then one could directly purchase a house and set up a Mingguan.

The reason why the establishment of Mingguan was so smooth was not because the city lords were not afraid of the Ming Dynasty, nor because the city lords felt that the Ming Dynasty was harmless, but because there were more and more believers of the Great Light Church in the city. Even if these city lords opposed it, the Ming Dynasty's global trade fleet could still use the influence of the Great Light Church and be established secretly.

There are seven Mingguans, which are built in the House of Wise of the Great Light Church and act as the Holy Fire Envoys of the Great Light Church.

The Holy Fire Envoy is the subordinate of the Left and Right Envoys of Light, an honorary position established by the Great Light Church specifically for the Great Ming Envoys, and does not participate in the sectarian affairs of the Great Light Church. In the structure of the Great Light Church, the Left and Right Envoys of Light are on the same level as the Patriarch, and the Holy Fire Envoy is on the same level as the Archbishop, but in actual operation, they are not subordinate to each other, and do not influence each other, they can only be said to be in the same camp.

The current Naha Port is what Mingguan will look like in the future, and Liu Ji sincerely hopes so.

Liu Ji has led the Ming fleet on six global trade trips. As the number of voyages increased, he became increasingly aware of a fact: if the Ming did not occupy the vast ocean, the red-haired and golden-haired barbarians would occupy it.

In this great navigation competition, the Ming Dynasty must win, no matter what means or what the cost.

The winner will not be judged, at most he will be morally accused, while the loser will only sink into an endless hell.

(End of this chapter)