People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 724: Encouraging trade is fine! But monopoly must be eliminated!!

Chen Han did not help him. The charcoal pencil turned in a circle between his fingers, and the small words "Supervised by the Institute of Physics" on the pen were faintly visible in the firelight.

He looked out the window at the endless stream of carriages and horses, and suddenly whispered, "Master Zheng, do you know the latest data reported by the Ministry of Industry yesterday?"

Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "Since the circulation of the vouchers, there have been 37 new paper mills, 68 improved farm tool workshops, and 105 new loom rooms..."

After a pause, he said, "All of these are taxable."

Doctor Wang suddenly rushed to the window.

On the distant dock, a group of porters were shouting as they carried the newly arrived Ryukyu sea sand - that was the raw material used by the School of Physics to upgrade the anti-counterfeiting of vouchers.

The old doctor looked along the canal boat to the distance, where there were more ships loaded with cargo heading towards Jinling.

"I finally understand..." he murmured, "Master Chen, what you want is not copper coins, but to make money come alive!"

The young clerk suddenly jumped up, grabbed a brush and drew a crooked curve on the wall.

That was the "growth chart" he had secretly learned from the female workers in the workshop. Although it was drawn ugly, it clearly showed the trend of tax revenue after the circulation of the vouchers - an upward arc, which looked very much like the outline of a new plow in a farmer's hand.

Manager Zheng finally stood up shakily.

His official hat tilted at some point, revealing the yellowed collar of his inner garment. The old man's trembling hands reached for the "Hongwu Zhengyun" on the desk, but suddenly retracted when he touched the spine of the book - the record of "one two three" in the book seemed so pedantic and ridiculous at this moment.

"Master Chen..." He took a deep breath, suddenly took off the ivory plate from his waist and presented it with both hands, "This old subordinate is at your service." The gilded words "Ministry of Revenue and Li Li Division" flickered in the firelight, reflected in his turbid tears, "You tell me how to change it, and this subordinate... this subordinate will not say a word!"

Chen Han finally smiled.

He took the ivory plate, but just gently put it back on the desk. "Master Zheng, this is not what you should really hand over." He took out a brand new "Detailed Rules for the Circulation of Vouchers" from his sleeve. The words "Trial" written in red on the title page were as bright as blood. "Starting next month, please go to Songjiang in person to supervise the new account books - using Arabic numerals."

The door of the duty room was suddenly kicked open. Li Zhen rushed in with a half-broken hemp rope hanging from his mace: "Sir! The young master of the Xu family has kidnapped the prefect of Songjiang and is going to file a complaint with the emperor! He said that our vouchers have caused their cloth shop to lose business!"

Before anyone could exclaim, they saw Chen Han calmly taking out an indigo hard card from his pocket.

The card glowed with a strange rainbow under the reflection of the charcoal fire, and the steel stamp "Supervised by the Institute of Physics" on the back was clearly visible.

"Tell the Xu family," he slapped the card on the table, shaking the teacup, "the court can use vouchers to buy the 100,000 rolls of 'outdated cloth' they have hoarded at market price." A meaningful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, "It just so happens that the Northern Frontier Guard is in need of winter clothes."

Zheng Zhushi suddenly laughed out loud, his beard trembling and tears streaming down his face. He grabbed the "Hongwu Account Book" soaked in tea and threw it into the charcoal basin, and the flames jumped up high.

"Well done!" Doctor Wang clapped his hands in admiration and threw his old account books in. "To hell with those moldy old accounts!"

The firelight illuminated everyone's face. The young clerk suddenly hummed a tune, which turned out to be the "Voucher Ballad" sung by street children: "One voucher, two coins, my wife buys a machine to spin cotton..."

Outside the window, the lights of Jinling City were lit in the twilight. Countless carriages loaded with goods were still flowing, and the sound of wheels rolling over bluestone merged into a torrent, like the beating pulse of the entire empire.

The flames in the charcoal basin gradually dimmed, but the tears on Zheng's face still sparkled in the light. He suddenly grabbed the "Voucher Circulation Details" on the desk, and rubbed the red-lettered title page with his skinny fingers, as if he was touching a life-saving straw.

"Master Chen, I have an idea." His voice was still trembling, but he had straightened his back. "The cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture are most afraid of having their goods stuck in their hands. If we can print a line of small words on the back of the voucher, stating 'This voucher can be used to offset 30% of the commercial tax'..."

There was a sudden gasp in the duty room. The young clerk's brush fell onto the inkstone with a "click", and the splashed ink spread on the remaining pages of the "Hongwu Account Book" like a blooming flower.

"Great!" Doctor Wang slammed the table and stood up, the wings on his official hat trembling. "Those profiteers who hoard goods and make a profit are most worried about not having enough cash to pay taxes at the end of the year. If we can use vouchers to offset taxes, why should we worry that they won't rush to sell their goods?"

Chen Han tapped the charcoal pencil on the inkstone with his fingertips. He looked out the window at the endless stream of carriages and horses, and suddenly remembered what Zhu Youwei said last night - she was cutting a piece of dark-patterned satin with a silver scissors, and the wooden hairpin in her hair was stained with fine scraps of Liaodong sable velvet.

"My dear husband, do you know?" She picked up the golden satin thread with the tip of the scissors, "The Xu family's accumulated old cloth actually just needs a reason to sell it."

The charcoal pencil drew several arcs on the paper, gradually forming the outline of the canal boat. Chen Han suddenly said, "One more thing - merchants who use vouchers to purchase war preparation materials in the northern border can enjoy tax exemptions."

"This..." Zheng twisted his beard and pondered, "Will it be too cheap for those profiteers?"

"Master Zheng, you are worrying too much." A clear voice suddenly came from the corner. Everyone turned around and saw Yang Kuang, the Minister of Rites, standing by the door holding a teacup, tapping the lid with his bamboo-like knuckles. "When I was in the Hanlin Academy, I read the "Salt and Iron Theory". When Sang Hongyang promoted the equalization of transportation, he also gave sweet things first and then took the bait."

When he walked in, half of his worn-out book bag was exposed from his official robes—it was the handwritten copy of Zhenguan Zhengyao that he carried with him every day. Chen Han remembered that this Lord Yang was from an orthodox Confucian family and had impeached the Institute of Physics for "deviating from the orthodoxy."

Yang Kuang put the teacup on the table and shook out a roll of yellowed silk from his sleeve: "I reread the "Book of Zhou: Quanfu" last night, and I figured out a way." Unfolding the silk, it turned out to be a hand-painted "Map of the Circulation of Goods", with cinnabar lines connecting the prefectures and cities, and words such as "Shibosi" and "Changping Warehouse" marked at the nodes.

"What a great phrase 'using coupons to get around the world'!" Doctor Wang came closer, his presbyopic eyes almost sticking to the silk cloth, "Lord Yang's picture actually coincides with Lord Chen's coupons."

Yang Kuang smiled slightly, and touched the location of Songjiang Prefecture on the map with his fingertips. "The Great Learning says that 'there are great ways to make money'. In my humble opinion, we can set up 'voucher offices' in major commercial ports. Merchants can exchange vouchers for 'cargo vouchers' and transport goods according to the time and route specified in the voucher. All checkpoints along the way are tax-free."

The duty room was suddenly quiet. Amid the crackling sound of the charcoal fire, Chen Han saw that Zheng's pupils slightly dilated - the plan proposed by the old-school Confucian scholar was more dynamic than the beads on the abacus of the Ministry of Revenue. "Lord Yang, that's a good idea." Chen Han suddenly clapped his hands, and the charcoal pencil made a clear sound on the inkstone. "But the anti-counterfeiting pattern of the 'cargo certificate' must be made of the Ryukyu sea sand newly developed by the Institute of Physics, the kind that changes color when it comes into contact with water."

Yang Kuang actually took out a piece of indigo hard card from his book bag: "But this kind?" The moment the card was dipped into the teacup, fine dark patterns of "Hongwu Tongbao" appeared on the water surface, shocking the young clerk so much that he knocked over the inkstone.

"You..." Zheng's Adam's apple rolled, "When did Lord Yang..."

"I learned this last month when I accompanied His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to inspect the Institute of Physics." Yang Kuang slapped the wet card on the table, his elegant face showing a rare cunning look. "Confucius said, 'When three people walk together, there must be one person who can be my teacher.' I am learning some new anti-counterfeiting techniques, is it not considered heresy?"

As everyone laughed, the sound of wheels rolling over bluestone suddenly came from the window. In the prisoner car escorted by the Five Cities Army, the young master of the Xu family was clinging to the railing and yelling: "Vouchers are competing with the people for profit! You are going to cut off the livelihood of merchants!"

Chen Han pushed open the window, and the spring breeze, wrapped in the hustle and bustle of the street market, blew in his face. In front of the grain shop across the street, several merchants were pointing and talking about the new notice posted by the Ministry of Revenue. Among them, the fat man wearing Hangzhou silk suddenly clapped his legs and laughed: "Great! Using coupons to pay taxes, I can finally sell the old tea in my warehouse!"

"That's not all." Yang Kuang stood by the window without him noticing. He pointed to the grain ships that were unloading in the distance and said, "When I was working in Songjiang, I found that merchants hoarded goods because of poor transportation. If we use vouchers as an inducement to encourage merchants to form a 'joint freight team'..." He suddenly took out a copy of "Grass Transport Records" from his sleeve, with dense annotations between the pages.

Zheng Zhushi suddenly grabbed the charcoal pencil and drew a crooked curve on the wall: "I have been in the Ministry of Revenue for forty years, and I know how difficult it is to collect commercial taxes. If we follow what Lord Yang said, why not divide the 'cargo vouchers' into three categories? The best vouchers are used for grain transport, the middle vouchers are used for official roads, and the worst vouchers are used for private roads - isn't it clearer to collect taxes based on vouchers than on goods?"

"Sir Zheng, this is the wise advice for the state!" Doctor Wang was so excited that his beard stood up straight. He suddenly took off the abacus from his waist and threw it to the ground. "I will write a letter tomorrow, asking you to set up a 'Voucher and Tax Department' to take charge of this matter!"

The sandalwood beads bounced and rolled to the door, and Zhu Gaochi, who had just entered, bent down and picked them up. The chubby grandson of the emperor held the abacus beads, his eyes brightening amazingly: "Uncle! The students of the School of Engineering have calculated that if we follow Lord Yang's method, Songjiang Prefecture alone can save 300,000 taels of transportation losses every year!"

Zhu Yunhuan, who was following behind him, suddenly unfolded the scroll, which turned out to be a "Land and Water Map" with the circulation routes of various vouchers marked on it. The most ingenious part was that the freight cost written in Arabic numerals was marked next to each route.

"Your Highness is even using the new numbers?" Yang Kuang raised his eyebrows.

Zhu Yunxun raised his chin proudly: "I just learned this from the female workers in the Women's Workshop yesterday!"

The flames in the charcoal basin gradually turned into ashes, but the discussion in the duty room became more and more heated. Chen Han looked at the increasing number of sketches on the wall, and suddenly remembered Zhu Yuanzhang's crude but insightful metaphor - "Governing a big country is like stewing a potpourri, all the ingredients must be mixed well."

When the evening drum sounded outside the window, the plans had already piled up half a foot high. On the top page was the "Three Classes of Voucher" written by Zheng Zhushi with trembling hands, and the old-fashioned official script was neatly marked with Arabic numerals next to the tariff.

"What you have discussed today should be recorded in the Records of Food and Goods." Yang Kuang suddenly bowed to the crowd, not caring that the cuffs of his scholar's robe were stained with charcoal dust. "The Book of Changes says, 'When you are in trouble, you must change; when you change, you will be successful.' The ancients were not deceiving me."

As everyone was returning the greeting, the bell for closing time of the "Women's Workshop" rang from across the street.

The female workers were walking down the long street, chatting and laughing. A girl with two buns on her head suddenly waved the voucher in her hand: "Sisters! The shopkeeper said that this voucher can advance half a year's wages to buy a new spinning machine--"

Her voice floated into the window, echoing with the night watchman's clappers, startling the sparrows under the copper bells on the eaves. Those birds fluttered over the lights of Jinling City, with countless lives connected by vouchers under their wings, like a web that was getting denser and denser, quietly changing the veins of this ancient empire.

The sound of evening drums echoed over Jinling City, but the candlelight in the Ministry of Revenue's duty room grew brighter.

Chen Han tapped the stack of voucher circulation ledgers on the table with his fingertips, and suddenly pushed one of the pages in front of everyone - on the purchase order of Xu's Cloth Shop in Songjiang Prefecture, three places where the purchase volume had doubled were circled in red ink.

"Look everyone, the Liaodong sable wool purchased by the Xu family in the past half month is equivalent to the total of the past three years." Chen Han dipped his finger in tea and drew a circle on the table. "The circulation of vouchers is like running water, but if one family monopolizes the water source..." The tea stains left deep marks at the location of Songjiang Mansion.

Yang Kuang, the Minister of Rites, slammed the table and said, "Last year, the grain market in Northern Zhili was taken over by the Shanxi merchants..."

"That's exactly the point." Chen Han interrupted and shook out a volume of "Shipping Records of the Women's Workshop" from his sleeve. Next to Zhu Youwei's beautiful annotations, there were densely marked records of voucher transactions of more than 30 small weaving workshops.

"Why did the young master of the Xu family become so desperate?" He pointed at five of the red-lettered comments, "After these workshops used the vouchers to purchase six spinning wheels, the selling price was 20% lower than Xu's."

Suddenly, the sound of a loom was heard outside the duty room.

Everyone turned their heads and looked. Under the moonlight, a dozen female workers from Xuanwu Lake were pushing a modified spinning wheel past. The gears on the front of the wheel reflected the cold light. Zhu Gaochi was thoughtful: "The day before yesterday, Songjiang Wharf reported that some cloth merchants were jointly buying vouchers at a lower price..."

"So I propose." Chen Han suddenly raised his voice, startling the birds sleeping under the eaves, "Anyone holding a voucher worth more than 10,000 taels must register the destination of the goods at the Voucher Office."

He grabbed the abacus and clattered it. "For example, the 100,000 rolls of Songjiang cloth that the Xu family has hoarded can be purchased at market prices in the form of vouchers. These can then be distributed to the Northern Frontier Guards, Guanglu Temple, and affected counties and prefectures. This will both stabilize prices and prevent profiteers from taking advantage of the situation."

Zheng Zhushi said: "Mr. Chen said it lightly, those gentry——"

"Gentry?" Zhu Youwei's voice came from the corridor. The sandalwood box in her arms "clicked" open, revealing half of a copper ruler engraved with ripples, "The new 'coupon verification ruler' made by the Institute of Physics will be sent to the taxation offices of various prefectures tomorrow."

When the ruler passed over the candle flame, the two characters "Jinguo" were faintly visible. "If anyone hoards excessive amounts of coupons, a cinnabar mark will appear on the ruler."

You could hear a pin drop in the duty room. Chen Han suddenly poured the teapot onto Yang Kuang's "Cargo Circulation Map", and the tea flowed along the lines of the canal. "Please see, gentlemen, if we compare the vouchers to the canal, what we want is a thousand sails competing." He dipped the water and drew a cross at the location of Songjiang Prefecture, "rather than letting a few ships block the gate."

Doctor Wang suddenly stood up, and his official hat almost knocked over the candlestick: "I will draft the "Purchase Restriction Ordinance" right away!"

(End of this chapter)