I'm really not doing business

Chapter 858: Beware of conservatism and beware of being too radical

In Zhang Juzheng's view, the reduction of land tax and the increase of business tax and commercial tax ratio are all good things, but the gold and silver of the Ming emperor have not been touched for so many years, which is not good for the country.

All officials in the Ming Dynasty had fixed salaries every year, and their salaries would increase every year. However, the salary of his supreme emperor had not increased since it was increased by 20 silver coins in the third year of the Wanli reign.

If Your Majesty cannot get the benefits of the Wanli Reform, how can we expect Your Majesty to continue to support the Wanli Reform?

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng wanted to increase the emperor's salary, and directly double it from 120 million silver to 240 million silver. This is a typical feudal bureaucratic way of thinking, and politics is achieved through bribery.

"There is still silver in the treasury. I have income from overseas plantations, half of the income from customs duties, etc. Although the silver in the treasury in one year is not as much as the national treasury, it is still as much as 13 million silver." Zhu Yijun did not immediately agree to the salary increase.

Zhang Juzheng immediately said, "Your Majesty has to use the money from the treasury for dividends and to store gold. It is a fact that there is not much money left in the palace throughout the year."

"Last time, the palace saved 30 million silver coins, and all of them were given to Longguan Road. I'm afraid it will be difficult for this road to make a profit. It is a distribution of silver to the interior."

"Since then, the palace has been a little short of money."

"Before I came to Tonghe Palace, I had discussed this with the Grand Tutor, who agreed that if the annual revenue continues to grow in the future, it would be appropriate to increase the gold and silver to 800 million silver in five years, and eventually to 1200 million silver."

"Your Majesty, 1200 million silver is exactly the amount of money Ming Dynasty spends on military affairs every year."

Zhang Juzheng almost stated the purpose of this silver directly. It was to be used at certain times, such as when His Majesty needed to directly control the army. To put it more simply and bluntly, it was to quell rebellions.

If you don't have rice, even chickens won't come. If the emperor wants to mobilize troops but has no money, there will be huge hidden dangers. From the perspective of government stability, it is worthwhile to give this money to Your Majesty. Your Majesty is the final stabilizer of the Ming Dynasty.

Anyway, Your Majesty is frugal, and if we give you the money, you will only use it for state affairs.

According to feudal etiquette, ministers were all slaves of the emperor, the whole world belonged to the emperor, and the national treasury was also the emperor's purse. However, the reality was often not so. When Emperor Jiajing wanted money, he only had 200,000 taels of silver. When Emperor Longqing wanted money, he asked for 300,000 taels and was given 100,000 taels.

"Your Majesty, I am worried about the old incident of using the emperor to control the princes." Zhang Juzheng looked around and saw that the Secretary of the Central Secretariat was not there. There were only Feng Bao, Zhang Hong and the Imperial Guards. Zhang Juzheng immediately became bolder in his words.

"During the Southern Song Dynasty, after Emperor Xiaozong, the Southern Song emperor could do nothing. The Southern Song Dynasty had 30 million strings of cash a year, but where was the money? It seemed to have somewhere to go, and the emperor could not move."

Zhang Juzheng was straightforward and asked the emperor to pay attention to the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties. The commerce in the two Song Dynasties was highly developed, the commercial tax ratio was extremely high, and the annual income of the court was also high. However, the court was still very, very poor because all the expenses were fixed and could not be moved. If there was any movement, someone would get angry.

Whatever you want to do, you can't do it.

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the emperor couldn't even struggle because he had no money.

This is completely different from the situation of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, the Ming Dynasty has always been very poor. After the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, land tax was basically eliminated. The court was extremely poor and even owed the clan salaries.

In Zhang Juzheng's view, the emperor is the final certainty of the Ming Dynasty.

Because of the hereditary nature of the empire, the emperor could not sit idly by and watch the Ming Dynasty perish, so it was very reasonable to allocate a piece of land to the emperor that was enough to cover one year's military expenses.

"Okay." Zhu Yijun no longer objected. He was well aware of Zhang Juzheng's concerns. The evil spirits hiding in the shadows were still very powerful. They were eyeing all the achievements of the Wanli Reform, waiting for the opportunity to swallow up all these achievements.

The Wanli Reform achieved many results, including the coke and steel plant of the Xishan Coal Bureau, the Yongsheng Yongding woolen cloth factory, the Lanzhou woolen cloth factory, the Womagang Shengzhou coal factory, the Foshan iron pot factory, the five major shipyards, and the iron smelting plant built by the Daming government.
Official fields and camps set up by military camps scattered across the country that were seized for various reasons; huge plantations and copper towns overseas;

The Ming controlled the needle maps, star maps, shipping routes, built ports, and huge profits from official ships and official trade;
The Ming Dynasty built Kowloon University, Maritime School, Normal School, Medical School, etc., which attracted talents;

These means of production are all the targets of these evil spirits.

Just like the feast that the landlord and bureaucratic class held after Emperor Chengzu Wen passed away, dividing up all the inheritance from the Yongle period.

"Why are there three million silver coins more this year?" Zhu Yijun was a little curious. The experts in the Ministry of Revenue had expectations for the growth of the Ming Dynasty, and the additional income of three million silver coins made people a little confused.

Zhang Juzheng sat up straight and said solemnly, "This year's sugar production in Guangdong and Guangxi is the main reason for this unexpected growth. Last year, a total of 200 million dan of sugar cubes and white sugar were sold, and the profit exceeded million silver coins, which is simply shocking."

"The second is opium and tobacco. Huimin Pharmacy uses opioids for pain relief and surgery, and tobacco growth has also far exceeded expectations. The second is the production of cinchona cream at the Governor's Office in Jiugang this year, which has reached a new high. These three items have increased by 600,000 silver. This year's tobacco tax profit is 1.8 million silver."

"The last part is the customs duties. With the full maturity of the shipping route, the customs duties of the five major customs offices and the four governor-general's offices will be escorted to Beijing this year, with a scale of 12 million silver coins. The national treasury and the private treasury will each receive 6 million silver coins."

The account books for the 16th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty would be sent to the emperor after being audited again by the Ministry of Revenue. Zhang Juzheng entered the palace to explain the situation in advance, including tariffs, tobacco and sugar.

What surprised the Ministry of Revenue the most was the huge profits from the sugar business.

The scale of sugarcane cultivation in Guangdong and Guangxi has expanded again. The two provinces now have 3 million mu of sugarcane planted. Coupled with the influx of sugar raw materials from Southeast Asia, the output of sugar cubes and white sugar has exceeded 1.5 million dan this year. Everyone knows that selling sugar can make money, but even the Ministry of Revenue did not expect that selling sugar would be so profitable!

The people who sell smiles cannot sell as much as the people who sell medicine, the people who sell medicine cannot sell as much as the people who sell drugs, the people who sell drugs cannot sell as much as the people who sell sugar. The scale of the sugar sellers is larger, and the profit from one stone of sugar is more than one silver and five cents, which is an astonishingly high profit.

What is more interesting is that the new Guangdong Governor Liu Jiwen came up with a more interesting indicator. The situation in Annan is measured by the number of laborers who enter Guangdong and Guangxi from Zhennan Pass every year to cut sugarcane.

The more forced labor Annan brought to the Ming, the worse the situation in Annan became.

Cutting sugarcane is a hard and tiring job, but anyone who does it does it to survive.

The people of Annan would go to Ming to cut sugarcane during the sugarcane harvest season, just like the geese. In the past two years, as the situation in Annan deteriorated and the four major families fought among themselves, the number of Annan people entering Guangxi increased sharply, from 30,000 to 70,000.

This is also the reason why sugarcane fields continue to expand.

Liu Jiwen increased the import price of imported grain and encouraged more sea merchants to go to Da Nang, Annan to buy grain, which further catalyzed domestic conflicts in Annan. Food shortages, floods, infighting among the four major families and many other reasons led to the chaos in Annan. The increase in forced labor in the Ming Dynasty was the result of multiple conflicts.

These laborers were not only in the sugarcane fields, but also participated in the construction of roads, bridges, dams, and ditches. However, when they returned, they would be urged by the government to return to Annan. The leaders and thugs of these laborers would be responsible for calculating their entry and exit from Zhennan Pass.

"The sugarcane plantations in Southeast Asia are still expanding and will soon surpass those in the heartland of the Ming Dynasty. The raw materials will be brought to Guangzhou for processing into sugar, and the profit growth may far exceed the expectations of the Ministry of Revenue." Zhang Juzheng talked about the development of the white sugar industry.

The processing of white sugar is somewhat similar to that of salt, including washing, juice extraction, purification, filtering, centrifugation, steaming, crystallization, drying, crushing, etc. Because Nanyang does not have the ability to process white sugar, all incoming materials are produced in Guangzhou.

A skilled sugar maker's annual labor remuneration is 17 taels of silver, not counting the start-up salary (profit dividend). This remuneration for a sugar maker is already very high. You should know that Qi Jiguang's way of maintaining the combat effectiveness of the southern soldiers was 18 taels of silver a year.

"Your Majesty, can sugar become the next global commodity?" Zhang Juzheng held up one hand and said eagerly, "With more global commodities, there will be more profits, and the Dinghai school system can be implemented."

Zhang Juzheng was eager for more profits. How many tea farmers in Zhejiang and Fujian were supported by the tea industry alone? Those rotten tea leaves that no one wanted were fried, chopped into foam, put into bags, and shipped to the West. Even if they were moldy, people would still rush to buy them.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty had a tea box similar to the Taiyue box, which held 120 kilograms and was specially designed to transport tea and would not get moldy.

The Ming Dynasty had six major world commodities: porcelain, tea, silk, ironware, cotton cloth, and spices. If sugar could become a world commodity, it would undoubtedly be a shot in the arm for the Ming Dynasty's economy.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "How about selling sugar together with salt? Markets are all developed."

If there is a country that does not allow Ming ships to sell global goods, Ming's powerful ships and guns are not used for fishing. No one can undermine free trade. Rejecting the Ming is rejecting freedom and civilization!
The Ming Dynasty is now practicing gunboat diplomacy. For the sake of the Ming Dynasty's development, the barbarians have to suffer. Anyway, the emperor doesn't care about such things as bad reputation.

"Your Majesty, what you said makes sense. Let's sell them together first and make sugar a global commodity." Zhang Juzheng raised his eyebrows. The salt road can also be the sugar road.

The sugar production in the Ming Dynasty was still very low, with the per capita possession being less than five taels. Sugar was mainly used to save lives.

There is huge demand overseas. We use the huge profits from overseas demand to expand local production, and ultimately use the production scale to meet domestic demand. This is the successful experience of the Ming Dynasty's opening of the sea, and it has been successfully practiced for sixteen years.

The reason for this path is that domestic demand has low profits. The Ming Dynasty does not produce gold and silver. Only a little Yunnan copper is being mined. There is a severe shortage of money, and the domestic copper cannot be sold at a high price. The low profits mean slow expansion of production.

"Wang Jiaping, the former governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and now the Minister of Justice, dealt with a large number of Guangxi officials when he was in Guangdong and Guangxi, about 120 people. After the treatment, Wang Jiaping reported the details to the court. The main problem of this group of officials was that they blindly expanded sugarcane production, which caused an increase in local grain prices. Wang Jiaping dismissed all of them."

"After Liu Jiwen arrived in Guangdong, another group of people blindly expanded production and were investigated and punished by Liu Jiwen. This time there were only about thirty officials, but the property of three powerful and wealthy families was raided." Zhang Juzheng talked about the administration of officials in Guangdong and Guangxi.

This seems to be a blind production, but Wang Jiaping and Liu Jiwen both think that this is basically a rebellion, which is double the result.

When you want to oppose something, you have to double the execution. Excessive execution means full opposition. This is a way of expressing opposition from the bottom up. Beizhi was identified as a rebellion a long time ago, so Liu Jiwen started to search the house directly this time.

"Before, it was Guoxing Zhengmao who demolished the family, then it was Lingbutang who killed people, and when it came to Wang Jiaping, he pretended to be confused. Now, Liu Jiwen has started to confiscate the property again. Our Guangdong and Guangxi nobles are really in trouble." Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said helplessly: "Analyze the specific cases specifically. Liu Jiwen is a new official. This time, I approve of the confiscation of property."

"But the Imperial Censor keeps nagging. How about this? Return half of their property to them and exile them all to Java and Yuanxu Islands. Don't they like growing sugarcane? Go and open up sugarcane plantations overseas. If they succeed, they can receive the title of pioneer lord from me, which will bring honor to the family."

Zhu Yijun approved of Liu Jiwen's handling of the case because the bureaucrats investigated this time were different from the last time. This time they were destroying rice and replacing it with sugarcane. That's why Liu Jiwen completely broke off relations with them and arrested them and raided their homes. He really went too far.

Converting rice fields into sugarcane fields, isn't this ridiculous?!

The reason why this case is controversial is that the imported grain is increasing. Guangdong and Guangxi do not seem to be short of grain, and they are indeed not short of grain. Under the influence of the invisible big hand, these three powerful families destroyed rice and replaced it with sugarcane, which is also the pursuit of economic interests, and does not fully meet the definition of doubling. The definition of doubling is very strict. First, it must meet the requirement of doubling the execution, and second, it must be opposed for the sake of opposition. Obviously, these three powerful families do not meet this definition.

It seems that there is not much of a food shortage, but once the imported food is insufficient, a great famine in Japan may occur in Guangdong and Guangxi. This is something Liu Jiwen will never allow. This is not a matter of official hat, but a matter of brains.

The head should be on the neck!
Zhu Yijun certainly did this not to smooth things over, but also to support Liu Jiwen's work in Guangdong and Guangxi. According to the censors, Liu Jiwen was a bit overreacting and pushing too hard, and he should return all his property.

Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng and other people who raised their hands in the Wenhua Hall were not afraid of the censors, but Liu Jiwen was. In order for Liu Jiwen to continue to make progress, Zhu Yijun returned half of his property and exiled him to the Yuanxu Islands to open up a sugarcane plantation. This appeased the censors and gave Liu Jiwen room to continue to make progress.

These three families also changed from criminals to pioneers of development. In the process of development, they could get the support of the Governor's Office. This was already the best outcome. If they asked again, Zhu Yijun would revoke his order.

The national policy of the Ming Dynasty was to prevent conservatism, but mainly to prevent excessive radicalism.

"Sir, please arrange that the sugar technology is prohibited from flowing out." Zhu Yijun thought about it and added an item to the list of technologies that were prohibited from flowing out of the Ming Dynasty.

Antonio once presented sugar cubes to the West as tribute. They were the kind of brown sugar cubes that were very sweet, but contained a lot of impurities and were sour. Not to mention Zhu Yijun, any wealthy family was not very interested in sugar cubes.

The white sugar of the Ming Dynasty is granulated sugar. It is crystal clear, snow-white, free of impurities, and has a sweet taste. Zhu Yijun didn't like it very much. He liked to eat sweet potatoes with sweet core. After all, he participated in the cultivation of sweet potatoes with sweet core, which was a strong proof of the success of agronomy.

"I obey your order, Your Majesty. This is what I meant when I talked about the sugar industry in Guangdong and Guangxi. The planting, harvesting, rough pressing and refining of sugarcane support nearly 400,000 households. As the industry expands, it will support even more people." Zhang Juzheng once again expressed his agreement. The sugar industry technology is a big industry that can support millions of households.

This industry supports households, not individuals. How many households depend on this for their livelihood. If technology leaks out and causes these people to lose their livelihood, that would be a sin. Since the imperial court has a list of restricted outflows, it must be strictly enforced. Relying on coastal defense inspections and the Ming Dynasty's control over various ports, we must guard against the outflow of technology.

"What has Wang Qian been doing recently? Is he resentful because he was not promoted to the Chief Censor of the Censorate last time?" Zhu Yijun talked about Wang Qian's situation. Wang Qian himself submitted a memorial to the emperor, declining the recommendation on the grounds that he was young, and was not promoted to the Chief Censor. He has not come to the palace in recent days.

A eunuch at the door heard the emperor's question and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, Censor Wang is outside the palace asking for an audience. When you arrived, Censor Wang arrived right after you, but he thought your business was more important, so he is waiting in the West Flower Hall, waiting to be summoned."

Wang Qian was in Tonghe Palace.

"Come and see the emperor." Zhu Yijun said with a smile on his face. Since he was willing to come, it meant that he didn't have much resentment in his heart.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live Your Majesty." Wang Qian bowed his head in greeting. He looked very happy, as if he had accomplished something. He was in a very good mood and did not feel any resentment at all for being suppressed and unable to move forward.

"No need to be polite, sit down and talk. What good news does Censor Wang have?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

Wang Qian pulled out a book from his sleeve, bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, the 'Romances of the Eminent Scholars' in the 16th year of the Wanli reign has been compiled. Those who are unruly, undisciplined, and want to be called 'Eminent Scholars' should have their bad behavior known to the world! Everyone should despise their behavior."

It would be a lie to say that he had no resentment, but Wang Qian also knew that was the reason why his father was still in the court. Only after his father retired could his path to promotion be smooth. He vented his resentment on these famous scholars.

Wang Qian, who controls the intelligence network of gossip girls in the capital, has updated "Romance Affair" again.

"It's simply, disgusting!" Zhu Yijun flipped it open, took a look at it, and handed it to Zhang Juzheng. It was really unbearable to look at.

There was a famous Confucian scholar, the principal of the Imperial Academy with many students, and Xu Chengzhou, who became a Jinshi in the second year of the Longqing reign.

Two years ago, Xu Chengzhou took a concubine in the name of having no children. As a result, the concubine became pregnant. The concubine was sixteen years old. Her mother said that she would come to take care of her. Not long after, the concubine became pregnant. Both mother and daughter lived in Xu's house.

The concubine's father asked for some silver and went straight back to his hometown in Shanxi.

There is also the upright Li Shangmo, the censor of the Hanlin Academy. This man kept a concubine named Hu. As a result, Hu, because of her son's status as a mother, was able to enter the house and not only live with him, but also made his original wife so angry that she went back to her parents' home. This has caused a lot of uproar.

This evil book, Romantic Affair, records the messy deeds of seventy-two famous scholars of the Qing Dynasty.

"I won't read it anymore." Zhang Juzheng took a look at the evil book and handed it to His Majesty. Zhang Juzheng was not surprised by these bad things.

"Print it into books and distribute it for sale." Zhu Yijun handed the evil book to Feng Bao and asked Feng Bao to take it to Sanjing Factory for printing. "Romance Stories" has been updated several times. If any one thing in it is false, Wang Qian would have been imprisoned for false accusation.

Wang Qian did not write about those groundless stories; there was solid evidence for each one.

"I have done something else, Your Majesty." Wang Qian took out a memorial and handed it to Feng Bao.

Zhu Yijun picked it up and looked at it for a long time, reading the memorial while looking at Wang Qian. The emperor did not comment and handed the memorial to Zhang Juzheng.

After the emperor and the prime minister finished reading the memorial, they kept looking at Wang Qian, which made Wang Qian feel uneasy!
"Your Majesty?" Wang Qian said tentatively: "If Your Majesty feels that it is not possible, then don't do it."

"No, I think your idea is very good. What do you think, sir?" Zhu Yijun waved his hand and asked Zhang Juzheng for his opinion.

Zhang Juzheng said to Wang Qian with some emotion: "I have to say that Wang Yushi is extremely talented in economics. Your plan is very good. I remember you said before that good things are not circulated. It is true."

"Thank you for your praise, Prime Minister." Wang Qian hurriedly replied very modestly.

Wang Qian was doing a job of accumulating wealth, that is, he planned to set up Tongji Money House.

All the deposits of Tongji Money House will be invested in Yanxinglou Trading House to make profits, and half of these profits will be distributed as dividends, and the remaining half will be mainly used for storing gold, supporting poor disciples, disaster relief, and passing on skills.

The source of funds was completely secret. It mainly came from subscriptions from merchants from the Labor Party, Zhang Party, and Zhejiang Party. The starting price for subscription was 100,000 silver coins, and no fundraising was allowed. Only funds that belonged entirely to one's own were allowed to enter this threshold.

The gold collected and stored will be sent to the Tonghe Palace Treasury;
If a poor candidate fails the exam, he may need to stay in the capital to prepare for the exam. If he is from a poor family, he cannot receive the silver of less than six silver coins a year. Only those from poor families can receive it.
Disaster relief and poverty relief were mainly provided by the poorhouse and Huimin Pharmacy;

The art of passing on skills was given to the official factories as rewards to the great craftsmen for teaching and learning, and the number of apprentices trained and their performance was calculated.

Wang Qian stood in front of the feng shui map, picked up a long pole, pointed at the northern and southern capitals, Songjiang Prefecture, Guangzhou Prefecture and other places on the feng shui map, and said, "Your Majesty, the silver of the Ming Dynasty looks very contradictory."

"On the one hand, silver is stuck in big cities, and people can't spend money. On the other hand, silver is very scarce in the hinterland and the countryside, even copper coins are rare. There are big markets in the countryside, and people even barter."

"The reason why the silver in the Ming Dynasty is so contradictory is entirely because the silver cannot be circulated. On the one hand, the powerful and wealthy families can only save silver, and they don't know what to invest in or what they can invest in; on the other hand, the hinterland lacks silver and industry, even if there are highways and waterways."

"Money always flows to where there is no shortage of money."

The development of the Ming Dynasty was extremely uneven. The rich areas were extremely wealthy, while the poor areas were extremely destitute. The coastal areas developed rapidly due to maritime trade, but the hinterland did not profit from it, and even regressed due to population loss.

The Dukedom of Qian, Yunnan, Sichuan and other places tried their best to fight against Toungoo, and they were more or less eyeing the seaport. If they could conquer it and gain access to the seaport, generations to come would benefit from it.

Wang Qian continued, "In addition, these wealthy places along the coast have a lot of industries, which has led to vicious competition. Governor Wang is in Guangdong and Guangxi, and in Foshan, all the ironworks, big and small, are viciously cutting prices to sell iron pots, squeezing labor remuneration, and cutting corners in exchange for profits."

"If Governor Wang hadn't built the official iron pot and used good money to drive out bad money, I'm afraid this iron pot would have really become a thin profit."

"This phenomenon is not only seen in Foshan, nor is it only seen in iron pots. It can also be seen in kelp and refined salt in Shandong, cotton cloth in Suzhou and Songjiang, and tea in Zhejiang and Fujian."

"This phenomenon occurs because money is concentrated in these places. As long as there is an industry that can make some money, money will flock to it."

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wang Qian in surprise. After Shen Shixing returned to Beijing, he visited Zhang Juzheng's house and talked about this issue. Although Wang Qian was not in Songjiang Prefecture, he saw the phenomenon, summarized the problem, found the cause, and gave a seemingly feasible solution.

Wang Qian continued, "The economy is extremely complex. Even if you study it for a lifetime, you may still not be able to understand its truth. However, the best way for the court to intervene in the economy is through currency. This is the purpose of my Tongji Bank, which collects currency, to reduce the surplus and supplement the deficit."

"Why should the industry move to the hinterland?" Zhu Yijun asked a question that concerned him.

Wang Qian hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the workshops in Daming are not mechanical workshops, but manual workshops. The people in the hinterland are cheap, and the raw materials are also cheap. As long as the hinterland is not on the coast, the manpower in the hinterland has always been an advantage."

Zhang Juzheng frowned and asked, "Censor Wang, I have a question. Why would others give you money? And you set such a high threshold."

"Sir, what do you think people fear the most?" Wang Qian asked back with a witty question.

"It's hard to realize one's ambitions." Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment and replied, "It's a great regret in life that one's ambitions cannot be realized."

"Sir, you are so righteous." Wang Qian was choked. Zhang Juzheng was telling the truth. For Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang and others, this was the biggest regret in their lives.

Zhang Juzheng asked curiously: "What is your answer?"

Wang Qian said quickly: "I think what people fear most is that their descendants are unfilial. The family property that they have worked so hard to accumulate is squandered by their descendants. Therefore, for many powerful people, it is better to hand over the silver to the reliable Tongji Bank than to hand it over to their descendants."

"What you said makes sense." Zhang Juzheng thought about it and agreed with Wang Qian's statement.

(End of this chapter)