Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 78: Government doing business and establishing state-owned enterprises! (Subscription required)

Zhu Biao was not surprised by Xia Zhibai's request for a meeting.

Xia Zhibai spoke so earnestly and righteously in the Fengtian Hall. He would never give up so easily and would definitely do it.

Side hall.

Zhu Biao and Xia Zhibai sat facing each other.

Zhu Biao asked someone to make a pot of tea and scolded him coldly: "Xia Zhibai, you are so bold, do you know what you are doing today?!"

Xia Zhibai was silent.

Zhu Biao snorted coldly, his eyes flashing with anger and displeasure: "My father works day and night for the country and only sleeps two or three hours a day. How can you allow me to point fingers at you?"

"You are a useful talent."

"I agree."

"But that's all."

"My Great Ming controls the whole world, and we have tens of millions of people. We have no shortage of talented people, and you are not irreplaceable."

"People should know themselves!"

Zhu Biao looked at Xia Zhibai and said, "The household registration system of our Ming Dynasty is strict. Citizens are citizens, craftsmen are craftsmen, and merchants are merchants."

“Everyone does his job, and only genius can live in peace.”

“You’ve read the wrong book.”

Zhu Biao criticized without any mercy, and he didn't need to give Xia Zhibai any face. Xia Zhibai provoked Zhu Yuanzhang again and again, which made Zhu Biao very annoyed and dissatisfied.

Xia Zhibai listened quietly.

However, he seemed absent-minded and poured a cup of tea for Zhu Biao with great interest, as if he was worried that Zhu Biao would talk too much and affect his throat.

Zhu Biao glared at Xia Zhibai.

His face became more angry.

Xia Zhibai pushed the poured tea in front of Zhu Biao and said calmly, "Your Highness's kindness, I understand and comprehend it."

"I'm sorry I can't obey your order."

Seeing Zhu Biao was about to get angry, Xia Zhibai still spoke slowly: "Your Highness, please don't be angry yet. I have my reasons for doing this."

“Doing business is imperative.”

"Your Highness has lived in the palace for a long time. How long has it been since you truly experienced the lives of ordinary people? Do you know how much a pound of salt costs now?"

Zhu Biao frowned.

He sneered, with a hint of coldness in his eyes. He had indeed lived in the deep palace for a long time, but he was not unfamiliar with the local conditions.

He understands.

And I know a lot.

As Zhu Yuanzhang's son, he had no choice but to understand the actual situation in the local area. This was what Zhu Yuanzhang had repeatedly asked him to do since he took office.

It is necessary to know the local realities.

Zhu Biao said calmly: "In Yingtian Prefecture, a pound of salt costs about 15 wen. In other provinces and prefectures, the highest is 25 or 26 wen, and the lowest is only 7 or 8 wen."

Xia Zhibai nodded.

He took a sip of tea and asked, "How much is the salt tax in the Ming Dynasty in a year?"

Zhu Biao frowned and looked at Xia Zhibai suspiciously, but did not say anything. He naturally knew how much salt tax the Ming Dynasty could collect in a year.

But how can this be said to others?

"Why are you asking this?" Zhu Biao looked at Xia Zhibai solemnly, trying to see some clues from Xia Zhibai's face.

"A little over 1.2 million." Xia Zhibai said.

Zhu Biao was shocked.

This data is actually very close. The salt tax in the Ming Dynasty has been very stable in recent years, just over one million. But how did Xia Zhibai know it?
Xia Zhibai added: "The Ming Dynasty implemented the salt permit system. One permit was 200 kilograms of salt, and the government was responsible for production and sales."

"The government collected salt from the people and then sold it to merchants through salt permits in exchange for food, ironware, horses, silver, etc."

"The government sold salt to merchants for six cents per ton, but after the merchants transported and sold the salt themselves, the price dropped directly to four ounces and five cents."

“It’s almost eight times more!”

"The government's tax is one in twenty."

"I'm right."

Zhu Biao nodded and said in a deep voice: "This account cannot be calculated in this way. The court is not actually responsible for sales, but only for collection and distribution."

"The final result will fall on the merchants."

"You only noticed the skyrocketing salt prices, but overlooked one point, which is the transportation costs. Merchants pursue profits. If there is no profit, why would they sell salt for the court?"

"And the court also made a lot of profit from it."

"In remote areas, the imperial court used the Kaizhongfa to exchange salt vouchers for food to ensure the daily supply of soldiers on the frontier and their demand for ironware."

“None of this can be reflected in numbers.”

"You don't understand."

Xia Zhibai shook his head and said coldly: "It's not that I don't understand, but Your Highness underestimates the profits."

"One ounce and five cents is enough for a family of three to live on for a year, but a pound of salt is sold for more than ten or twenty cents, which is too much profit."

"It seems that the imperial court got the upper hand. Not only did it obtain the resources it wanted, but it also passed the cost of sales and transportation to the merchants."

"But in reality, both the court and the people suffer."

"It only enriches merchants."

"Merchants in the Ming Dynasty do have a low status, but the current system of the Ming Dynasty is full of rent-seeking, selling the power of the court to merchants through these 'tickets'."

"Let merchants take charge of the power!"

Zhu Biao's expression changed slightly.

Xia Zhibai continued: "Merchants have been making fortunes quietly, and the reason why the Ming Dynasty can still maintain a certain degree of clarity."

“It’s not that the system is perfect.”

"It's just that your majesty's methods are too cruel."

"It just makes the local officials dare not be too blatant."

"But can the imperial court really always maintain such strong control over the local areas?" Xia Zhibai smiled contemptuously and shook his head, "Impossible." "Because interests move people's hearts."

"Seeing these merchants making a fortune, do you think local officials can resist greed?"

"Your Majesty is right to be wary of the literati. The vast majority of the literati today are not worthy of their positions, and many of them harbor selfish motives."

"It is precisely because of this selfishness that many of the Ming Dynasty's systems are actually problematic. They appear to be doing well now only because there is a strong and strict emperor."

"The court restricts merchants."

"In fact, we have always been giving profits to merchants."

"In the eyes of powerful officials, merchants with no status are like children holding a treasure. Eventually, they will either become the private property of the officials or they will be the result of collusion between officials and merchants."

"The Ming Dynasty has gone in many wrong directions!"

"Your Majesty is used to being vigilant and cautious about the scholars and officials, and is used to learning lessons from history books, but you have forgotten this."

"Books are dead, but people are alive."

"There are policies and measures to counter."

"In the highly profitable salt business, annual sales reach tens of millions, but the court only makes a profit of one million taels."

“This isn’t a tax, this is a handout.”

"In addition to salt, there are also tea, grain, and so on. All industries related to people's livelihood are actually making huge profits, but the Ming Dynasty handed over these huge profits to merchants."

"It comes down to it."

"There is something wrong with the Ming system."

"The court was too calculating. In order to reduce the burden on the people, it sold many of the responsibilities that should have been borne by the court to merchants."

"That's also the problem, Your Majesty."

"They are only good at calculating small accounts, but always ignore the real big accounts. They are played around by those shrewd officials without realizing it."

Xia Zhibai sneered, feeling quite helpless.

Zhu Yuanzhang's success and failure were due to his being a commoner.

He wanted to take precautions, but didn't know how. In the end, he arbitrarily chose a one-size-fits-all approach and made policies based on his understanding of business.

The situation after implementation was not considered at all.

Zhu Biao's eyes were uncertain. He looked deeply at Xia Zhibai and asked in a serious tone, "Can you explain it more clearly?"

He still didn't understand.

Xia Zhibai said: "Since the Song Dynasty, commerce has gradually prospered. Merchants can take part in the imperial examinations, and officials can also engage in business."

"At that time, collusion between officials and businessmen was very serious."

"Your Majesty has learned from the Song Dynasty's experience and lessons, and has chosen a one-size-fits-all approach, completely suppressing the status of merchants to the lowest level, and at the same time strictly prohibiting officials from engaging in business."

"What's the problem?" Zhu Biao wondered.

Xia Zhibai took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and continued: "Yes, and it is a big problem, because before the Ming Dynasty was the Yuan Dynasty."

"The Yuan Dynasty implemented a tax farming system throughout the country."

"It's basically like a hands-off boss. As long as the quota is paid on time, the Mongolians basically don't care about local affairs."

“This also means that the collusion between officials and businessmen is more serious.”

"It has been more than a decade since the Ming Dynasty expelled the Tartars and restored China, but the scholars and officials in this land have long been spoiled by the Yuan people."

"They are greedy for money and profit right now."

"That's why, after the Ming Dynasty drove out Emperor Shundi of the Yuan Dynasty, so many scholars in the world cried out for the Yuan Dynasty and attacked the Ming Dynasty."

"Because what the Mongols gave them, the Ming Dynasty could not and would not give."

“They are dissatisfied.”

"The Ming Dynasty originally allowed such a group of scholars to formulate policies. As you can imagine, the result was definitely biased towards themselves."

"Many of them have vested interests in some way, so why would they give up the benefits they have obtained?"

"The more the imperial court blocks and defends itself, the more these vested interests feel at ease, because the imperial court has no chance to learn the truth."

"The court sees what they want it to see, and hears what they want to tell it, but what about the truth? The court has no way of finding out."

"Because it is not under the control of the court."

Zhu Biao's expression changed slightly.

He thought of something. The salt tax collected by the Ming Dynasty in recent years was indeed too stable, just like the tax quota set by the Yuan Dynasty.

even so.

Some officials still complain.

The salt production was too small and the price of salt remained high. Merchants were unwilling to buy salt permits and wanted the government to further lower the price of salt permits.

Think of this.

A fierce look flashed in Zhu Biao's eyes.

Then, Zhu Biao showed a look of confusion again. Since neither blocking nor releasing worked, what else could the court do?
You can't just watch.

He looked at Xia Zhibai and asked with a humble attitude, "Then according to your opinion, what should the court do?"

Xia Zhibai smiled.

He said: "We will take the Song Dynasty one step further, strengthen supervision, centralize power, and take back the rights that were delegated to merchants one by one."

“This is also the purpose of my trip.”

"Officials do business!"

"Impossible." As soon as Xia Zhibai's words came out, Zhu Biao directly denied it.

The government’s involvement in business is extremely harmful to the world.

This opening cannot be opened.

He can't drive either.

Zhu Biao looked at Xia Zhibai coldly and said, "Xia Zhibai, I know you have a lot of ideas, but I will never agree to this."

Xia Zhibai said: "Your Highness, did you really listen carefully? I am not talking about officials doing business, but government doing business."

(End of this chapter)