I'm really not doing business

Chapter 845: A theoretical way to make the Ming Dynasty last forever: giving out money
Zhu Yijun looked at the title in front of the Taibai Tower. The topic of today's gathering at Taibai Tower was, how about distributing twelve strings of treasure notes to the people of the Ming Dynasty every year?

"Feng Daban, I am usually too kind. Look at these scholars and officials who are eyeing my treasury!" Zhu Yijun sighed. He never expected that the Ming Dynasty scholars and officials would be so bold! Wanli Baochao is Zhu Yijun's gold bond. This year's twelve strings of cash must be paid by Zhu Yijun, the emperor and father.

Feng Bao counted on his fingers for a long time and whispered, "Your Majesty, I can't afford it. I simply can't afford it."

There are now 15.6 million people in the Ming Dynasty. If each person is issued 15.6 strings of treasure notes a year, that means 3 billion strings of treasure notes a year, or 1.16 billion taels of silver and more than million taels of gold, or tons of gold.

These scholars really didn't know any math. If they had known a little, they would have known that the emperor couldn't get 1.16 tons of gold in a year. Not to mention 1.16 tons, even 0.06 tons was not something Zhu Yijun could get.

"You think highly of me, but where can I get hundreds of millions of taels of gold in a year?" Zhu Yijun shook his sleeves and walked into Taibai Tower, waiting for the gathering to begin.

Zhu Yijun met an unexpected person in Taibai Tower, Ningyuan Hou Li Chengliang, who was also there, and the emperor summoned him directly to the Tianzihao box.

"Marquis Ningyuan also likes to listen to the gathering?" The Ming Emperor signaled Li Chengliang not to be polite and let him sit down and talk.

Li Chengliang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I am just joining in the fun. Listening to the gathering is fake. I am here to see which cheap scholar is blind and talking nonsense, and give him a beating."

Li Chengliang feels that his retirement life is really great!
I eat and drink well every day, and when I wake up, I look for cheap scholars everywhere. I have been bullied by scholars for so many years! Finally, I have a chance to vent.

For the Ningyuan Marquisate, the more lowly Confucian scholars Li Chengliang beats, the safer the Ningyuan Marquisate will be. Doing so is a separation between military honors and civil officials. Especially for Li Chengliang and Li Rusong, two generations of military honors who are both very good at fighting, they must be extra careful.

However, according to the observation of the Dongchang men, Li Chengliang beat the lowly scholar not to protect the safety of Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion, but more to vent his anger. Li Rusong had made great military achievements and Your Majesty is in the prime of his life. There is no reason for Your Majesty to get rid of him.

So it's purely a personal grudge.

"So that's how it is." Zhu Yijun and Li Chengliang talked about the war situation in Japan, especially Qi Jiguang's siege of Nagato, Iwami and Izumo.

As the Marquis of Ningyuan, Li Chengliang should have attended court meetings in Wenhua Hall every day, but he refused to do so on the grounds of old age and illness, just like Wang Chonggu who became the second assistant but never sat in the Wenyuan Pavilion.

Li Chengliang's purpose of not going to the Wenhua Hall for the court meeting was quite simple. He wanted to stay away from the right and wrong in the court and pass on the title of Marquis of Ningyuan that he had earned. He also did not go to the Wenhua Hall for the sake of Li Rusong's future career.

If he goes today, Li Rusong will not be able to go to Wenhua Hall in the future. He has to be on guard against the past events of Yan Song and Yan Shifan.

Li Chengliang was not aware of Qi Jiguang's plan. After hearing the emperor's words, he added his own views from both military and political perspectives.

Militarily, this long and narrow coastal territory can be easily cut off and defeated one by one, so the navy is needed. If the navy rescues properly, it can greatly change this predicament.
In politics, Li Chengliang felt that the Ming garrison should strictly abide by the prohibitions and leave the evil deeds to the Japanese brokers and daimyo. The Ming should not interfere too deeply in these dirty matters. This would, on the one hand, prevent the moral decline of the Ming army, and on the other hand, reduce the Japanese resistance to the Ming army's garrison.

"Let the Japanese hate the Japanese, let the Japanese fight the Japanese. Only in this way can it last long. I still think that the Ming Dynasty should not impose heavy taxes and levies too hastily to prevent the same incident as in Annan." Li Chengliang summed up his views.

Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment, then asked with a smile: "To make the Japanese hate the Japanese, is this what Ningyuan Hou did in Liaodong as well?"

"This is the only trick I have that is not very presentable." Li Chengliang admitted that this was how he dealt with the seven tribes of Haixi, barbarians, Jianzhou Jurchens, and Outer Khalkha in Liaodong, letting them kill each other. This was a relatively cheap way of ruling.

The only disadvantage of doing this is that it would raise a Gu. If a Gu King that the Ming Dynasty could not handle was raised, it would be very difficult to end the situation. However, the Ming army had already entered the era of all-firearms.

The tactic of 'shooting in a line' coordinated by the linear formation, artillery formation and light cavalry formation has become very skilled. There is no Gu King that cannot be dealt with by artillery. If there is, it is because there are not enough artillery.

"These Confucian scholars have not been arrested. The Ming Dynasty is still too free." Li Chengliang looked at the Confucian scholars who entered the venue. He was extremely dissatisfied with many remarks made by these despicable Confucian scholars. The main reason was that some of these despicable Confucian scholars still had not learned how to speak in a contradictory way. They would always talk about castles in the air.

These people sat in the warm room of the capital, pointing fingers at things happening outside the Great Wall. They always said that the border generals were harsh on the barbarians, and that we should cultivate culture and virtue and be gentle to the foreign people. They had obviously never seen many barbarians, but they were full of fantasies about them.

Only when you really arrive in Liaodong will you realize how rampant these barbarians are. To be gentle to the foreigners? Planting these barbarians in the soil and composting them is the greatest kindness.

"Thank you all for your kindness. I will be the speaker at today's gathering. My name is Cai Xianchen, and I am from Tongan County, Fujian Province. It's a poor and remote place, and I don't speak Mandarin fluently. I hope you can forgive me." Cai Xianchen bowed to all the people. He was from Fujian and spoke with an accent, and was often laughed at because of his accent.

But it takes time to become proficient in Mandarin and elegant Chinese, and the accent is indeed difficult to change.

The men from the Eastern Depot have already investigated the entire 18 generations of ancestors of the speaker, Cai Xianchen, and compiled them into a memorial, which they placed next to Your Majesty.

Cai Xianchen passed the imperial examination in the 13th year of the Wanli reign, and went to Beijing to take the imperial examination in the 14th year of the Wanli reign, but failed. He then became a disciple of Wang Yuanmei in the capital, and was actively preparing to take the imperial examination in the 17th year of the Wanli reign. This gathering was also because Wang Yuanmei asked Cai Xianchen to come to Taibai Tower to talk about his views on Baochao.

Wang Yuanmei felt that studying hard was not a good idea, so he asked Cai Xianchen to go out for a walk. Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles.

"The worst evil in the world is annexation. In the sixteenth year of the Wanli Restoration, the output of farmland can no longer satisfy the appetite of the powerful and wealthy. Therefore, annexation means monopoly." Cai Xianchen began his discussion.

Zhu Yijun found it interesting that Cai Xianchen had at least read Theory of Contradiction and Theory of Class, because the second volume of Theory of Class was the volume on distribution.

Under the small peasant economy, the country was plagued by annexation, land was concentrated and abandoned, and grain production was insufficient. The slightest natural disaster or man-made disaster would cause unrest, and the people had no choice but to rise up in rebellion.

After the small peasant economy transformed into a commodity economy, the word "merger" became a complex distribution issue, and eventually evolved from a distribution issue into a monopoly.

The specific manifestations of mergers in the commodity economy are: monopolizing the means of production and production tools; converting physical land deeds into equity certificates; turning people into slaves through debt, just like the forced personal dependence of hired servants and tenants in the past; highly concentrating market share, technology, capital, industry, etc.; transferring one's own risks to the majority to bear, etc.

To solve the monopoly problem, we must solve the distribution problem. At least Cai Xianchen’s discussion is not the empty words of a lowly Confucian scholar.

Cai Xianchen continued, "Merger means monopoly. How to solve the monopoly? Naturally, we should work hard on distribution. Let's take a look at this sentence. How about giving 12 strings of treasure notes to the people of Ming Dynasty every year? This sentence contains several premises."

"First, it is regular, every year; the target is individuals, everyone in the Ming Dynasty; the amount is twelve strings of cash, which is the basic living guarantee; finally, there are no prerequisites, regardless of age, as long as you are a Ming Dynasty citizen, you will get it."

Twelve strings of coins is twelve silver coins, which is the median income of a strong laborer in Ming Dynasty for one year's work.

In other words, Cai Xianchen wanted the Ming court to provide basic living security to every individual unconditionally and every year.

What Cai Xianchen wants to talk about is universal, basic, regular, unconditional, and personal, a social safety net mechanism.

Cai Xianchen continued, "Admittedly, this seems a bit far-fetched. Even if we print money, 1.5 billion guan of banknotes and 300 million taels of gold a year are impossible to achieve anyway."

"But we should note that the anchor of Baochao is now gold, but not just gold, but also the goods of Ming Dynasty. With the continuous improvement of productivity, the Baochao that Ming Dynasty can issue is definitely not 6 million or 60 million per year, but 600 million or 6 billion."

Cai Xianchen had already noticed the problem, which could be seen at a glance. The current productivity was simply not capable of achieving this. The anchor of the Wanli Baochao was only gold, but it could be goods in the future. Three hundred million taels of gold were not easy to find, but it was still possible to produce goods worth three hundred million taels of gold.

The purpose of raising this topic is simply to discuss the future of credit currency. In the future, under the premise that productivity is high enough and material is abundant enough, can we maintain basic social fairness by issuing banknotes to everyone?

This is the issue that Cai Xianchen discussed.

"If we stand on the court's side and provide basic economic security, we can effectively reduce dissatisfaction and prevent people from rising up. The Ming Dynasty will naturally last forever." Cai Xianchen said with a smile on his face: "Gentlemen, we seem to have found a way that will last forever. At least it is feasible in theory."

"It is worth noting that this method of distributing money is a very effective way of distribution because it does not require cumbersome and troublesome reviews and can significantly reduce administrative waste. In particular, when people have money, they will buy various goods, thereby promoting the prosperity of commerce."

A method that could theoretically keep the Ming Dynasty forever is to give out money.

Zhu Yijun lazily leaned back in his chair, looking at Cai Xianchen without any intention. This kind of talk seemed very wonderful and had great appeal to the emperor, but Zhu Yijun knew clearly that it was impossible to give out money forever.

A Confucian scholar stretched out his hand, then stood up and said with a puzzled look on his face: "You said it very well, but if everyone gives out money, doesn't that mean no money is given out? Because if everyone gives out money, the total amount of money will increase, and the Sun Shangli Index will continue to increase. The more money is given out, the more it will increase."

The Sun Shangli Index mentioned by this Confucian scholar was proposed by Yao Guangming, the magistrate of Shanghai County. It is divided into two types: one is the price increase of cheap necessary goods, and the other is the price increase of more expensive non-essential goods.

The increase in the total amount of money will inevitably cause the Sun Shangli Index to soar. The more it is issued, the more it will rise.

"You asked a good question." Cai Xianchen nodded and said, "If we simply distribute money, it will definitely cause the Sun Shangli Index to soar, because the goods available on the market will not increase accordingly. Therefore, we cannot simply distribute money. This is the issue I have been emphasizing. What we need to do is to distribute it."

“This money must not be created out of thin air. Once it is created out of thin air, it is no longer a basic guarantee, but a debt.”

"Xu Heng said in his "Paper and Coin Notes": With the money of a few coins, paper and ink, one can exchange for the goods of the people of the world; since printing is easy, there is an endless supply. The so-called immortals' art of turning rubble into gold is nothing better than this."

"Paper money is a debt. As long as it is a debt, it must be repaid. If the Ming Dynasty ignores the anchor and issues a large number of banknotes, the fate of Wanli Baochao and Hongwu Baochao will be the same, which means that the Wanli Banknote Law has failed again."

Zhu Yijun agreed very much with Cai Xianchen's words. If banknotes were issued arbitrarily without an anchor, the Ming Dynasty itself would be the victim in the end.

Xu Heng has discussed in detail the relationship between currency and debt in "Paper Currency Notes". Paper money is debt, and debt is paper money. They are essentially the same, and it is also the basic principle of the Ming Dynasty's banknote issuance. The court wrote an IOU and borrowed gold from the palace, but what was borrowed was treasure banknotes.

As long as it does not deviate from this basic relationship, the Ming Dynasty can maintain the amount of treasure notes without excessive issuance.

This system is designed to protect the bottom line of the empire.

Cai Xianchen was going to give a keynote speech at a gathering, but he knew nothing and was laughed at when he got on stage. He was really well educated and had a very thorough understanding of paper money.

The scholar frowned and said, "You also said that to issue twelve strings of treasure notes a year, at least three hundred million taels of gold are needed. Even if the Wanli treasure notes are anchored by goods, they can't support such a scale."

"What should we do to ensure that the treasure notes do not appear out of thin air? To put it more simply: where does the money come from?"

Cai Xianchen said confidently: "There are many sources. We can increase taxes on the powerful and wealthy, levy taxes on inheritance, increase capital gains tax, take out a portion of the profits handed in by government factories, or invest this huge amount of money in trading houses or overseas plantations, and distribute the profits to the people."

"In any case, this money cannot be created out of thin air, otherwise it would be better not to issue it, as it would cause greater harm."

Cai Xianchen fully affirmed the Ministry of Rites' statement that as long as it was a debt, it had to be repaid. If not the wealthy and powerful had to pay it back, then the poor and hard-working people had to pay it back. This was often the case in reality. The gentry's money had to be repaid in full, and the people's money had to be divided 30% to 70%.

The banknotes that appeared out of thin air were like boomerangs, hitting everyone right between the eyebrows. "Naive." Li Chengliang pondered for a moment, sneered, and leaned back in his chair. This Cai Xianchen was not a cheap scholar after all, but he was a little ignorant of the world and his ideas were a bit simple.

Zhu Yijun asked curiously, "Oh? Ningyuan Hou has another opinion?"

Li Chengliang shook his head and said, "It's not a brilliant idea. The biggest problem with this Confucian scholar is that he thinks the court is too omnipotent. If the court is so powerful, how can there be any change of dynasty?"

"Moreover, money is something that will always be stained by your hands. Your Majesty has given 15 billion strings of cash, but it may not even reach the hands of the people."

"Money is like water. It always flows to where there is plenty of money."

The imperial court is not omnipotent. It is a mistake to regard the imperial court as an omnipotent god. The imperial court is also made up of individuals, not a god who possesses absolute fairness and handles all matters impartially.

Moreover, as long as the imperial court distributes money, it will breed corruption. It is not known whether the money will eventually reach the hands of the people, but those who are not short of money will definitely become richer, causing the poor to become poorer and the rich to become richer.

That is why Li Chengliang thought Cai Xianchen was childish. This kind of childishness is easy to cure. As long as you really do something, you will know how difficult it is to realize such an unrealistic fantasy.

Zhu Yijun sighed and said, "I have imported some Artemisia argyi from Russia. The flowers of Artemisia argyi can be used as medicine. Whenever the flowers bloom, all kinds of thieves will rush into the fields."

"Most of these thieves are elderly people and children. They rush into the fields like crazy and snatch the artemisia flowers."

"These thieves are all drug dealers who are looking for some vagrants and encouraging them to enter the garden. Their purpose is simple: to destroy the farmland so that the drug dealers can continue to sell their arsenic instead of pagoda candy."

"What do you think the Agricultural College can do?"

"When the Minister of Agriculture told me about this, he was deeply distressed, because these wandering people had no idea how to pick the grass, and often messed up the grass fields. The production of Artemisia scoparia is increasing, and this destructive picking brings a lot of trouble."

"They are all old people and children. They cannot be beaten, scolded or punished. The local government can only give them advice. They are like locusts. No sooner have they been driven away than they come back again."

"The key is that these drug dealers did it on purpose, allowing these thieves, mainly elderly people and children, to trample and destroy the fields, so that the scale of Artemisia annua could not increase."

Li Chengliang asked curiously, "How did your majesty solve it?"

"I had no choice but to arrest a group of people and find the drug dealers. But that wasn't enough. We also caught the boss behind them and hung him in the grass field. After that, no one stepped on the grass field anymore."

Zhu Yijun said helplessly: "I don't want to do this either, but I don't have a good solution. If I don't punish them with thunder and lightning, these bosses will let these drug dealers go around and deceive the vagrants and destroy the farmland."

Zhu Yijun hired several bosses and hung them up in the fields. From then on, no one destroyed the fields anymore.

Using this word means killing people for sacrifice, such as the King of Shang using Qiang.

The reason why Zhu Yijun killed people was that these bosses deserved to be put to death. The pharmacies of these bosses sold fake medicines and they were full of bad things. They even dared to challenge the imperial power in agricultural and sericulture matters that were personally led by the emperor. They were just seeking death.

These bosses were hoping for the best, thinking that they would not be caught if they instigated the vagrants, but they seriously underestimated the ability of the imperial guards to handle cases.

The process of investigation was very tortuous, but these Tiqi, who came from the Duntai Yuanhou family, were best at finding the culprit from clues.

This is the reality. Everyone has their own interests. Even some couples have different dreams and can still be estranged while sleeping in the same bed.

"Isn't this seemingly absolute fairness unfair to the hardworking people?" A famous scholar stood up and asked loudly. He soon realized the big problem behind this seemingly reasonable system, which was: this imaginary system was actually supporting lazy people.

Absolute fairness is often unfair. It is an oppression of the hardworking and capable people. The more you work and the more you earn, the more injustice you suffer.

Because these hardworking and capable people become the providers of the lazy, in the long run no one will be willing to work hard and the entire Ming Dynasty will lose its vitality.

Cai Xianchen smiled and said, "You are right. Therefore, twelve strings of cash is still too much. So we have to cut it in half. We can only barely survive, and will suffer at the slightest disturbance."

Twelve strings of cash is the median salary of a strong laborer in a year. Half of half is one quarter, and three strings of cash is just enough to eat a bite without starving to death. This reduces the number of lazy people.

The scholar disagreed and said, "This is not a question of quantity, but a question of supporting lazy people. Even if you reduce it by half, what will happen? I'm afraid the vagrants will do evil everywhere, forcing and robbing the newly issued treasure notes."

"Let's not talk about the problem of breeding vagrants for now. You still haven't solved the problem of not having enough but having unequal distribution. Why should I support a lazy person like him?"

After the Confucian scholar finished speaking, he stood up and chose to leave. Cai Xianchen's prepared speech could not convince him. Then more than a dozen Confucian scholars chose to leave, expressing their disagreement with the content of the conversation.

People with different ideas cannot work together. There is no need to argue too much. Just leave. Arguing is disgraceful.

"It's fine to give out twelve strings of cash, but why not just give out ten thousand strings? In this way, everyone will be wealthy." A Confucian scholar stood up, spread out his hands, and asked everyone.

He raised a more pointed question: directly giving out a fortune can better achieve the so-called fairness. If everyone is rich, there will be no poor people.

"Of course this is not possible. If we give out 10,000 strings of cash, how much will the price of rice, flour, grain, oil and coal increase? No, no, no." Cai Xianchen waved his hands and said.

The Confucian scholar looked at Cai Xianchen seriously and said, "So, I don't agree with your statement. Giving money cannot solve injustice, but creates greater injustice. This is why I oppose it."

After calmly stating his reasons, the Confucian scholar left Taibai Tower. Dozens of people left with him, leaving less than fifty people under the stage.

Another scholar stood up and asked with a frown, "I have a question. When you are starving and cold, can you survive by eating your own flesh?"

"Of course not. You will only die faster." Cai Xianchen did not ramble on, but answered the question directly.

The scholar shook his head and said, "Your Majesty's annotations to the Theory of Contradiction say: One yin and one yang is the way. The infinite principle of all things is one body and two yin and yang. If you gain something in the east, you must return it in the west. If you take a jade pendant, you must give up a jade pendant. The sun and the moon alternate between brightness and darkness, and the seasons change with prosperity and decline."

"You want to give money to everyone, so what is the cost? This is what we must consider. History tells me that it is often the poor and the hardworking who bear the cost, not the powerful and the wealthy."

"So, I don't agree with what you said. Your idea is good, but the final result may be completely different from what you imagined."

After the famous scholar finished speaking, he left Taibai Tower, and several other people followed him.

"Have I ever annotated this sentence?" Zhu Yijun asked Feng Bao as he looked at the Confucian scholar who was leaving. It had been a long time since the contradiction was discussed, and he didn't even remember saying it.

Feng Bao did not even look at the memo. He bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, of course there is. I can recite this paragraph as well. The following is: The wise observe changes, the wise keep to the middle, and the excessive and the insufficient should be balanced."

A wise person is good at discovering and perceiving the changes in everything; a wise person will stick to the middle way. Both excess and deficiency are useless. We must grasp the two extremes and take the middle way.

The phrase "holding both ends in moderation" comes from The Book of Rites: The Doctrine of the Mean. It is Confucius' praise for Shun and is also the core idea of ​​the Doctrine of the Mean.

"Sir, your theory of contradiction is too obscure and difficult to understand. When people study the theory of contradiction, they all refer to your majesty's annotated version." Feng Bao explained why he memorized this passage. It was not for the convenience of flattering the emperor, but mainly to understand the theory of contradiction.

Zhang Juzheng was a great scholar. When he wrote about the theory of contradiction, he was very frugal with words. Some logical changes are confusing. But your Majesty's annotations are from the perspective of a child or student, so they are very easy to understand.

"So that's how it is. The Master said: Review the old to learn new things. I still have to open some old books to read when I have nothing to do, so as not to forget them." Zhu Yijun felt somewhat emotional. The understanding of the theory of contradictions among some scholars and officials was almost surpassing that of him, the emperor.

Reviewing the old to learn the new is indeed an excellent way to learn.

"Your Majesty has said that if the plan does not promote the way of livelihood, the people will be troubled; if the plan does not change the system of labor, the work will be in vain." A Confucian scholar stood up and shook his head and said: "Any plan that cannot promote the change of production relations and increase productivity is vain, and in the end it will only trouble the people, and the people will definitely suffer."

"I don't agree with your idea. Goodbye."

After this Confucian scholar left, there were only a few people gathered under the stage in Taibai Tower.

"I think what Cai Xianchen said is very good. Although I really cannot afford to support all the people, I can give some treasures to the widows, widowers and the lonely so that their lives will not be so difficult." Zhu Yijun looked at Cai Xianchen on the stage. He had an anxious and confused look on his face. His views did not seem to be recognized by most people.

Zhu Changzhi had a sparring partner named Qian San, who had only one eye and was bullied in the orphanage. Zhu Yijun arranged him to be with Zhu Changzhi, and Zhu Yijun gave him the name Qian Zhizhong.

Feng Bao whispered, "Your Majesty, widows, widowers, and orphans are a minority after all, and these banknotes are likely to be misidentified."

"You are right. The Ming Dynasty is still not strong enough." Zhu Yijun said with great approval. The five large tiled houses during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty had not even had their foundations dug. This was not the time to slack off.

Li Chengliang glanced at His Majesty. In fact, His Majesty was completely unaware of one thing: distributing money was not particularly important to the country. What seemed most terrifying to Li Chengliang was that His Majesty used the theory of contradiction to kill a large number of Confucian scholars who should have become lowly Confucian scholars.

Because of the imperial examination, these Confucian scholars had to read the Theory of Contradiction, but once people learn to look at a problem from both positive and negative perspectives, they can no longer be a lowly Confucian scholar.

The theory of contradiction is completely different from the class theory. The theory of contradiction is a way of thinking about problems.

Li Chengliang had been watching for so long that he knew very well that whenever these scholars and officials gathered together to talk, they would always discuss contradictions. This would ensure that the entire discussion would not be out of touch with reality and at least make their remarks meaningful.

This is a very scary phenomenon, because these literati are the future ruling class of the Ming Dynasty, the class of elected officials.

At least for the next twenty or thirty years, the imperial examination system will remain the most effective means and method for the Ming Dynasty court to select talents. The young scholars and officials, who are still a little green and immature now, will be the ones who select officials in the future and decide the fate of the empire.

At least it is much better than those despicable Confucianists who talk about human nature with nothing to do.

(End of this chapter)