If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 334 Self-financing
After the court meeting was over, the civil and military officials naturally returned to their yamen to handle their official duties, while the emperor returned to Qianqing Palace.

As for the prince Zhu Gaochi, he returned to the East Palace and chatted with Zhu Zhanyu about opening the sea.

However, the topic that the two of them talked about most was not about maritime trade, but about craftsmen.

Now that we have decided to lift the maritime ban and develop overseas trade, the source of this goods has become an urgent problem that needs to be solved.

Most of the craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were craftsmen and were controlled by the government. Therefore, if the problem of craftsmen was not solved, the development of maritime trade would be greatly affected.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed the household registration system of the Yuan Dynasty and divided households into three categories: civilians, soldiers, and craftsmen.

Among them, the craftsmen are all handicraftsmen, and among the military, there are also many who serve in the weapons bureaus under the jurisdiction of the guards of various capitals, and are called military craftsmen.

In terms of legal status, these craftsmen and military craftsmen who were included in special household registrations had a lower status than ordinary civilian households. They had to inherit their crafts from generation to generation and were not allowed to be divided into households in order to facilitate compensation.

It is extremely difficult for those with craftsman or military status to leave their original household registration, and they must obtain special approval from the emperor.

And compared to farmers who can more or less cultivate land to support themselves, craftsmen's life is much harder.

Craftsmen households belong to the Ministry of Industry and are divided into two categories: shift craftsmen and live craftsmen.

In the early Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that shift craftsmen must serve in government crafts bureaus and courtyards in shifts every year or five years, with an average of three months per shift. Resident craftsmen were required to serve in government crafts bureaus and courtyards for ten days every month. If you don't go to work, you will have to pay one penny a month and the government will hire someone else.

When the craftsmen were on duty, they "entered the bureau very early every day" and made "Fang San" at dusk under the supervision of officials. The work was very hard.

Some of them have whole families who need to join the craftsmanship. Most of them are captured craftsmen or captives who were suppressed to become craftsmen. They have no other income except the salt and grain distributed by the government and the occasional clothing reward. Therefore, they live a difficult life and lack food and clothing. Yes, it often happens that one's children are pledged.

The other part is that the craftsmen themselves join the bureau and serve in the hospital, and get a share of salt and grain; after work, they can go home to work with their families and buy and sell on their own.

Most of them are craftsmen issued from the private sector, and their situation is better than the former.However, officials at all levels in the bureau and courtyard often use clever names to "catching on the wind and cannibalizing craftsmen's households to provide food and clothing."

Therefore, no matter which part of the craftsmen family suffered from heavy exploitation and oppression, the degree was just different.

Moreover, in terms of status, the craftsman family is the successor of the father after death, and the servants are always in charge. In addition to being exempted from some miscellaneous servants, the official servants and taxes and grains are not exempted.

"...Because of this, most craftsmen's households have a harder life than farmers. There are many runaway households, and they will refuse to tell the truth despite repeated detentions. More importantly, when they are serving as errands, they mostly cope with the errands and do it perfunctorily, which leads to the court's disobedience. The efficiency of the craftsmanship bureau is low, and the quality of the products produced varies." Naturally, Song Li, the minister of industry who was specially called by Zhu Gaochi, knew what the situation was like in the craftsmen's households. Knowing that the imperial court was about to lift the sea ban, he had no idea about the situation of the craftsmen. Because the household policy was bound to be adjusted, Song Li did not hide the situation of the craftsmen households from Zhu Gaochi.

Listening to Song Li's explanation, Zhu Gaochi's fat face also showed a hint of unbearability, and then sighed: "Even so, the court needs people to work to make weapons, armor, and weapons, but it cannot avoid the people being squeezed and exploited. It is difficult to do so." It’s the best of both worlds!”

In the feudal era with low productivity, if the country wanted to manufacture weapons, equipment or other things on a large scale, the existence of the system of craftsmen's households and craftsmen's bureaus was inevitable.

In other words, feudal society itself was based on the oppression and exploitation of ordinary people and the people. The so-called benevolent monarch only reduced the intensity of this exploitation and oppression so that the people could live their lives.

However, Zhu Zhanqi had a different view on this situation.

He asked Song Li: "Shang Shu, I wonder how my workshops outside Dinghuai Gate are operating now? How are the craftsmen in the workshops doing?"

"Returning to Your Highness Prince Zheng, your workshop outside Dinghuai Gate has been expanded under the emperor's order. It is now one of the most important craftsmanship workshops in the Ming Dynasty. All the weapons and armor of the new army depend on it. Produced everywhere." Song Li is also very concerned about the workshop outside Dinghuai Gate. After all, this is the most efficient workshop in the Ming Dynasty, produces the best quality weapons and equipment, and is also the most technologically advanced workshop. He, the Minister of Industry, cannot help but Don't care.

Especially for advanced firearms such as artillery, muskets and paper-cased fixed bullets that the Ministry of War urgently needs now, only this workshop can produce qualified products in large quantities to supply the Ministry of War.

Because of this, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and even Zhu Di himself are keeping a close eye on this workshop. In addition, the owner of the workshop is still Zhu Zhancheng, and the prince is secretly paying attention to it. It can be said that the level of attention is considered to be the highest in the world. First.

As for the living standards of the craftsmen, Song Li didn't realize why Zhu Zhanchen asked this for a while, but he quickly thought about it and said: "Because the workshop here does not belong to the Ministry of Industry, every time the court has an order that needs it , all in accordance with the rules set by the prince before, first place an order with the workshop and pay a [-]% deposit. After the workshop completes [-]% of the production, the subsequent [-]% will be allocated. When [-]% is completed, [-]% will be paid. Finally, [-]% of the total amount and [-]% of the balance must be paid in person upon delivery, and no arrears are allowed.

Therefore, the workshop can receive sufficient funds every time, and with the attention of Minister Xia of the Ministry of Revenue, the allocation of corresponding materials is also the fastest. The workshop is the best in terms of efficiency and the quality of the weapons and armor it produces.

As a result, the craftsmen in the workshop received full salary payments every month, and there was no such thing as arrears. I think the craftsmen must be living a pretty good life. "

Regarding Zhu Zhanqun's workshop outside Dinghuai Gate, Song Li naturally understood the benefits of this system, but it was obvious that it was impossible for all the imperial workshops to follow this model.

The reason is also very simple, that is, the court's workshops do not need to pay the craftsmen wages, because they serve as corvees. This is the work that the court law stipulates that they have to do for the court, and naturally there is no need for the court to pay additional wages. They are paid.

But in this way, the enthusiasm of the craftsmen to work is naturally low. It is a rare diligence to be able to complete the work for you according to quality and quantity.

Otherwise, why would the Craftsmanship Bureau set up officials to supervise the work of craftsmen?
It is still the early Ming Dynasty, these systems are still relatively complete, and officials are not too afraid to cheat.If in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Jiajing and Wanli emperors combined did not go to court for decades, and the Wanli emperor even failed to deal with government affairs for many years, when these systems were rotten to the core, this craftsmanship system It's too bad to watch.

Although the imperial court was still able to manufacture large quantities of swords, armor and firearms every year, let alone the quality, whether production could be completed on time and in quantity, and how much waste was caused by production, these were issues that could no longer be covered up at the time. .

Therefore, although he understood that the craftsmanship system was a necessity in the feudal era, Zhu Zhanquan still lamented: "With sufficient salary, craftsmen are naturally willing to work hard and even take the initiative to improve production technology and crafts so that they can produce faster and better products." Production, but if they only serve as corvees for the court, it will be difficult for craftsmen to work seriously.

It is okay to say that the majesty of the imperial court is still there. If the imperial court declines in the future and the majesty of the imperial court is no longer there, corruption will inevitably occur in which substandard things are passed off as good ones and profits are made from them. "

"Although this is the case, it is impossible for the craftsmanship bureau of the imperial court to pay wages to craftsmen. They serve as corvees, which is part of the imperial tax. If they pay here or elsewhere, it means that the imperial court has to pay twice the wages. This is for As far as the court is concerned..." Of course Song Li could understand what Zhu Zhanquan meant, but this kind of thing is not easy to change.

These craftsmen were originally here to perform corvee work, which means that their work for the imperial court was also part of the imperial court's fiscal revenue. If they were required to serve and work for the imperial court and still receive wages, it would mean that the fiscal revenue that the imperial court was supposed to receive would be gone. Said that an additional fee was required, which was equivalent to the court paying two prices for the craftsman's service this time.

Fortunately, once or twice, it was not uncommon for the imperial court to pay wages to craftsmen sometimes in order to meet deadlines or build particularly important projects, or for extra recruitment beyond the craftsmen's service period.

But if it happens too often, it will inevitably affect the court's fiscal revenue and balance of payments.

You must know that in the feudal dynasty, in addition to the money and various materials handed over by the people, taxation and taxation were also one of the important sources of fiscal revenue for the imperial court.

Otherwise, with the productivity of the feudal dynasty, how could it be possible to build those projects that are incredible in modern times?

It was not that the imperial court did not understand the benefits that reforming the craftsman household system could bring, but these benefits were not worth the huge risks that the imperial court would take to overthrow the original system.

Regarding this kind of thing, even Zhu Zhanyu couldn't help but feel helpless.

"Zhanju, I know you want to reform the inefficient system of the imperial court, but some things can affect the whole body. All we can do is make small repairs. If it really makes a big difference, it will be devastating. It's a disaster." Zhu Gaochi warned his son with a serious tone.

As a prince who has overseen the country for many years, how can he not know about the ills in the court?It's not like he hasn't thought about how to solve these problems, but the impact and consequences are too serious.

As a result, Zhu Gaochi never found a suitable solution. He could only make minor improvements in policies and solve the exposed problems as much as possible.

As for the deeper issues, Zhu Gaochi still lacks the determination and courage to break the boat.

After all, this concerns the entire country and millions of people, and it is definitely not something that can be done in a flash.

Zhu Zhanjun had nothing to do about this. After all, not everyone has the courage and courage to change the sun and moon to a new sky, so he could only say: "Major changes cannot be made, but small adjustments can still be made." Yes, this time the imperial court opens the sea, it will have a big impact on our Ming Dynasty. The imperial court can also take this opportunity to make some repairs and adjustments to some untimely policies.

Policies for governing the country should be adjusted and modified in a timely manner based on the actual situation, rather than blindly remaining conservative.It is too pedantic to know clearly that the policy is out of date and yet not change it because of some ancestral system. "

Zhu Gaochi and Song Li were naturally able to understand what Zhu Zhanchun said, so they didn't say much on this matter.

"The problem of the craftsmen is of great importance. It cannot be changed in a short time. Even if we want to make some changes, it will not happen overnight." Zhu Gaochi finally persuaded Zhu Zhanqi after weighing it. However, he also knew that the policy did need to be adjusted based on the actual situation, so he said to Zhu Zhanqi: "Now we can make some adjustments to the craftsmen's policy based on the needs of maritime trade and sea opening. If the effect is good, we will Consider doing more, Zhanju, what do you think?"

"Dad, you've already said that, what else can I say? I'm indeed a little more radical." Seeing that his goal was achieved, Zhu Zhanjun stopped worrying about the craftsman's business and turned to talk about himself It has already been considered: "The imperial court can open up some craftsmen's workshops such as silk and porcelain, and allow them to take orders from the private sector without affecting the production of imperial orders.

However, the court did not allocate any money or food for this part of the order, and the profits earned were freely disposed by each craftsmanship workshop, leaving each craftsmanship workshop to be responsible for its own profits and losses.

After a period of time, the self-sufficient workshops will definitely be more motivated to produce than those that cannot make any money.

After all, businessmen are not fools. They are chasing profits. If this product is of good quality and has sufficient supply, they will naturally be willing to buy it from a good craftsman's workshop.

As for the things made by craftsmen's workshops with poor quality, low efficiency and high cost, naturally no one will buy them.

At that time, the imperial court can also, based on the conditions of these workshops, abolish and eliminate some poorly run workshops, transfer some experienced managers from well-run workshops to build new workshops, and promote good experience, thereby improving the quality of the workshops. Overall efficiency of all workshops. "

Zhu Zhanquan was not the kind of fool who thought that the imperial government could implement 100% of its decrees, so from the very beginning his purpose was to adjust the imperial government's policies from a small start, rather than to carry out drastic reforms.

Just considering that people are all harmonious, it is impossible for him to come up and say that each workshop should be responsible for its own profits and losses, and eliminate the weak and keep the strong. In that case, even if the policy can be passed, it will probably be implemented with some discounts.

But now he first said that he would change the entire craftsmanship system, and then came up with a compromise plan to let each workshop take responsibility for its own profits and losses and compete in the market. This is obviously much easier to pass.

(End of this chapter)