Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 216 The Ming Dynasty’s number one economist—Zhu Yuanzhang!

The amount of food is still the same.

After all, one person can't eat the food for two people.

But the more money I earn every day, the more food I can buy and the easier it is to support my family.

In this way, everyone's life will naturally be better.

But Lao Zhu always felt that there was something wrong with this logic.

If this is the case, why couldn't I achieve the same effect when I printed a large amount of treasure banknotes in the past?
Wasn't it said that prices were soaring and banknotes were depreciating rapidly at that time?

Thinking of this, Lao Zhu couldn't help but ask again: "Everyone's wages have increased, won't prices also increase? Are the new banknotes in your hands still valuable?"

A drunk laughed and said, "That's not the case."

He shook his head and said while drinking: "In the past, the imperial court printed money recklessly, causing the printed treasure notes to be worthless and become waste paper."

"The new banknotes nowadays are real money. They can be exchanged for silver at the Bank of Ming Dynasty, or they can be used to buy grain at the national treasury granary."

"We get paid more, so we can buy more food, but the price of food has not increased."

Old Zhu frowned deeply, he was a little confused.

After a little thought, I felt that the national treasury was losing money by selling grain.

This is the only explanation.

But doesn’t this pose a potential danger?
So, he asked again: "What are the prices of the other things?"

"What else could it be?" The drunkard laughed, "For ordinary people like us, the most important thing is to buy food, right? As long as the price of food doesn't go up, everything will be fine."

"Besides, other things didn't go up, and many of them even went down."

The drunk man counted on his fingers: "A kitchen knife used to cost thirty cents, and it's still the same price today."

"In the past, a large carp cost six cents per pound, and it has not changed now."

"White cloth used to cost 140 wen a piece, but now it has risen to 150 wen, an increase of 10 wen."

……

He counted them one by one.

The prices of most items have not changed much.

Only a very small number rose.

"Come to this restaurant and drink two taels of yellow wine and a plate of fennel beans, the total is only eight cents, which is two cents cheaper than the restaurant in my hometown. Also, the restaurant here is much more luxurious and grand than my hometown, hahaha."

……

Old Zhu was listening to him from the side, and the more he listened, the more confused he became.

This is really strange.

From what he calculated, it seemed that only the wages for labor had increased, while the prices of other commodities had not changed much.

This is unreasonable, absolutely unreasonable.

The night is getting darker.

The coolies who were drinking in the restaurant finally dispersed one by one.

They still have to work tomorrow and can't stay up too late.

When Lao Zhu saw the shopkeeper counting the bills, he walked over and asked in confusion, "If we go to a restaurant in other places to drink, it would cost at least thirty or fifty coins. You only charge eight coins here. Can we make money?"

Shencheng is a new city, and the decoration of this restaurant is very good, no less than the famous restaurants in Jinling City.

Although he became the emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang knew exactly how much a bowl of wine cost in the big restaurants in Jinling City.

With eight cents, you can’t even get into the big restaurant in Jinling City.

It was somewhat unbelievable that Lao Zhu could drink two taels of wine and eat a small plate of fennel beans in Shanghai.

The shopkeeper was looking at the account book and using an abacus while smiling and saying, "When we do business, we emphasize small profits but quick turnover. We certainly can't make a lot of money, but at least we can make a small profit, enough to support our family."

"Why don't you raise the price?" Lao Zhu asked back.

The purpose of opening a store and doing business is to make money.

Old Zhu doesn't believe that the store owner didn't raise the price because he was kind-hearted.

"There are so many shops around here, and I'm not the only one. If I raise the price, all the customers will leave." The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Old man, I see that you are also a businessman, a wanderer."

"Doing business now is not the same as before, and doing business in Shanghai is not the same as doing business anywhere else."

"In the past, only merchants could do business and open shops. It didn't matter if the price was raised a little bit, because no one would come to steal the business anyway."

"It's not possible now. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has reformed the system and relaxed restrictions on business. Anyone can open a store and do business."

"If I charge too high a price, others will take away my business."

"Besides, construction is underway everywhere in Shanghai right now to build roads and houses. Those who come here are all laborers."

"The rest are the coolies who load and unload goods at the docks. They don't have much money and can't afford expensive alcohol."

"If we sell wine like we do in Jinling City, who can we sell it to?"

"I won't say more. You can figure it out on your own."

Every store has its own business secrets, which can be considered a "little secret" and will not be easily revealed to outsiders.

It was extremely difficult for the shopkeeper to say so much to him.

Old Zhu fell into deep thought.

Although he didn't understand many economic principles, he still understood the principle of "small profits but quick turnover".

The restaurant is doing good business, with many people coming to drink.

If it were opened in Jinling City, it probably wouldn't be so popular.

"Your Majesty, where are we going tomorrow?"

Back in the guest room, Yoshigaki brought some footbath water and asked softly while washing Lao Zhu's feet.

He needed to inquire about tomorrow's schedule before he could inform Jiang Li to make arrangements.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was traveling incognito, he was the emperor after all. For his safety, the Embroidered Uniform Guard arranged nearly two hundred people to accompany him for protection.

But with so many people all squeezed together, it would seem too crowded and inconvenient to move around.

It also goes against the original intention of incognito visits.

So later, Lao Zhu asked everyone to disperse.

Only a dozen smart and capable ones were left to follow closely behind His Majesty the Emperor.

The rest of the people were in disguise, standing guard in the surroundings and at a distance.

Or send someone ahead to find out the situation and eliminate possible dangers.

Therefore, you need to know the itinerary in advance.

"I'm not going anywhere." Old Zhu said, "Didn't you say that we are not as good as that 'rebel grandson' in governing the country?"

"This Shen City was built by that 'Ni Sun' at a huge expense."

"We want to take a closer look to see what the mystery is."

"How does our 'rebel grandson' govern the country? Is he really better than us?"

At this point, his voice slowly lowered, and he muttered in an unclear voice that no one else could hear: "I don't believe that I can't understand his strategy for governing the country."

Old Zhu is getting more competitive.

I was thinking about teaching my grandson how to govern a country.

But now he has been surpassed by his grandson and has become the person who cannot govern the country.

He is not convinced!
But looking at the lives of the people in Shanghai, Lao Zhu began to feel confused again.

I don’t understand. I totally don’t understand. What is going on?

Why are people’s incomes inexplicably increasing?

Why didn’t prices rise as well?
Mr. Zhu will not be able to sleep or eat well until this issue is clarified.

Of course, there is another thing, which is how the new army used 6,000 soldiers to pacify the grassland and forced Enke to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

I'm afraid I can only truly understand this after returning to Nanjing and waiting for Zhang Fu and Zhu Neng to return to the court.

Let’s first find out all the secrets of Shencheng.

After washing his feet, Lao Zhu walked to the window and opened the curtains.

The guest room they stayed in was on the second floor.

It is also known what material the floor is made of. It is extremely hard. When you step on it, it does not make a "creaking" sound like a wooden floor, but it is just like stepping on a concrete floor on the ground.

The windows are all made of clear glass.

When he first arrived in Shanghai, Lao Zhu was deeply shocked by the unique architectural style here, especially the materials used.

However, because of the news that the Ming Dynasty had won the expedition against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and because he was worried about whether his ability to govern the country was good enough, he temporarily ignored all of this.

Now when I take a closer look at everything in Shanghai, I suddenly feel like a "curious baby".

"How did that 'Ni Sun' come up with these things and how did he create them?"

Old Zhu murmured, "He has a beautiful baby but he doesn't know how to be filial to his grandfather. He even secretly created a new 'Shencheng' from us. Humph..."

He stroked the clear window glass with his hand.

In fact, when he was in Nanjing, Lao Zhu had seen this thing before.

However, in Lao Zhu's opinion, although this kind of thing is good, such a rare treasure must be very expensive.

Therefore, when someone suggested replacing all the windows in the palace with transparent glass, Zhu refused without hesitation.

How can you enjoy such extravagance? It's totally wrong!
As an emperor, you should be a role model for the world and a role model for all people in the world, and you should live a simple life.

Installing transparent glass on the windows instead of the original paper or cloth can make the room brighter and more comfortable to live in.

But it costs a lot of money.

It would definitely be a huge expense to replace all the windows in the palace with glass.

And when officials, especially those who have made great contributions to the country, see this, won’t they follow suit and install glass in their own windows?
The trend of extravagance and waste began from then on!

Therefore, Lao Zhu resolutely refused to pretend.

However, in Shanghai, all the windows of the newly built rooms were made of transparent glass, which immediately made Lao Zhu feel indignant.

Our great Emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not have any rare treasures to use, but ordinary people among the people got to use them first. This is simply going against the will of Heaven.

It would be strange if Lao Zhu felt comfortable.

At this time, he had long forgotten that he was the one who had explicitly refused, and even said that anyone who dared to suggest installing glass in the windows of the palace would be executed without mercy.

"I wonder how much this glass costs?" Old Zhu calculated silently.

It shouldn't be too expensive.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be installed in all the houses in Shanghai.

In this case, the windows of the palace should have been replaced long ago.

"It seems that I should go to the Daming Manufacturing Bureau more often when I have time. They make a lot of great products."

Old Zhu thought to himself.

He had previously received a lot of information about the Ming Manufacturing Bureau.

I also saw with my own eyes the cement, guns and cannons produced by the Ming Manufacturing Bureau.

But as people get older, their curiosity about new things will naturally decline.

If it were when he was young, Zhu would probably run to the Ming Manufacturing Bureau every few days.

But now, no matter how many times others talk about it, he has little interest and has never paid too much attention to it.

What he saw and heard in Shanghai today had a huge impact on Lao Zhu. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have overlooked something in the past.

"Are the firearms made by the Manufacturing Bureau really that powerful? They pacified Japan without much effort, and now they have conquered the Northern Yuan Dynasty." Old Zhu thought of this and suddenly asked.

"That's really amazing." Yoshigaki said with a smile, "It's because of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that he opened a manufacturing bureau and was able to produce such amazing firearms. Your Majesty, haven't you seen those guns and cannons? They are truly powerful!"

Old Zhu glared at him and said, "Stop praising that 'rebellious grandson' all day long. If you keep going like this, I will drive you away from me and let you stay with him to cool off."

Ji Yuan said hurriedly: "That won't do. Since I followed Your Majesty, I have never thought of following anyone else. Your Majesty, please don't joke with me like this."

Old Zhu snorted coldly and said, "I have seen the guns and cannons of the Manufacturing Bureau, but I never thought that they were so powerful."

"That 'rebel grandson' spent thirty million taels of silver on the manufacturing bureau. It seems that the money was not wasted."

He paused, and then said, "When we return to Jinling, we should visit the Manufacturing Bureau more often. I underestimated it in the past."

"Your Majesty is very busy, so it's impossible for him to take care of everything." Yoshigaki smiled and said, "It's all our fault for not reminding Your Majesty earlier."

Old Zhu didn't respond. He stared out the window and said, "It's rare to have a city without city walls. There's not even a curfew, and people are allowed to move around outside at night. Is he so sure that there won't be bandits coming to rob people at night?"

Yoshigaki smiled and said, "Now our Great Ming is thriving, and the Japanese pirates and bandits have been wiped out. No one picks up things on the road, and no one locks their doors at night. How could anyone come to rob our houses?"

Old Zhu said nothing and continued looking outside.

After a long time, he suddenly spoke.

"Let the Jinyiwei take turns to rest, and send some people out to investigate the situation at night and come back to report to us."

Since we have decided to find out the secrets of Shencheng, we must find out all of them.

Jitan immediately went to pass on the order.

The next morning, Lao Zhu came to the restaurant lobby.

He never has the habit of sleeping in and always gets up early no matter what time it is.

The Imperial Guards have been sent out to track where the shopkeeper is buying the goods and what the price is.

Lao Zhu himself went to the lobby to observe the guests coming to the restaurant and how much money they spent.

"The purchase price of yellow wine is 16 wen per jin, and the price of fennel beans is 8 wen per jin."

"Hire six helpers, the total monthly silver is six taels."

"The rent for the restaurant is ten taels a month."

"A pound of yellow wine costs sixteen ounces, and the cost price is one coin per ounce. The cost of fennel beans is two ounces, which is one coin."

"Two ounces of yellow wine, two ounces of fennel beans, the purchase price is three cents, the selling price is eight cents, and the gross profit is five cents."

"The restaurant has guest rooms..."

……

"Based on the number of customers today, after deducting various costs, the restaurant can make a profit of about one or two taels a day."

After settling the bill, Lao Zhu was stunned.

I originally thought that this restaurant wouldn't make much money, but unexpectedly it would have such a high profit.

If you earn one tael a day, you can earn more than three hundred taels a year.

This income is much higher than the salary of a fifth-rank official in the Ming Dynasty.

Running a restaurant is so profitable?

Next, Lao Zhu began to calculate the income and expenditure of the surrounding restaurants, teahouses, cloth shops and even vendors.

And summarize the statistics.

In addition to the merchants who opened shops, Lao Zhu also calculated the financial expenses needed to maintain the normal operation of Shencheng, from the cost of street lighting to the expenses of security patrols and so on.

How much money will the court spend on Shencheng and how much income can it get?

The more I calculated, the more frightened I became, and the more surprised I became.

"It turns out that the cost of street lights is far less than the income they bring in at night."

"It turns out that demolishing the city wall can make traffic smoother, reduce the consumption of people on the road and reduce costs."

"The more customers a restaurant has, the more prosperous its business is, and the lower the store's costs are, because more customers spread the costs."

"The higher the sales volume of rice wine, the more it is produced, the lower the production cost, and the lower the price of rice wine."

……

Lao Zhu was like a child who had discovered a big secret. He kept calculating costs, expenses, production efficiency, and analyzing the reasons.

At first, he just wanted to compete with the "rebel grandson" and find out the mystery of governing the country hidden in the new city built by the "rebel grandson".

But later on, the more he studied it, the more interesting it became. A new world that had never been discovered before slowly opened its doors before Lao Zhu's eyes.

How to improve production efficiency, how to reduce the cost of production and operation, how the scale effect of the city helps everyone increase their income...

All these things are recorded and analyzed one by one.

“There is a lot of knowledge involved here!”

Lao Zhu made records and analyses on paper, and wrote down his own thoughts from time to time.

The expansion of production scale has brought about an improvement in production efficiency, and a worker can produce more things per unit time.

In this way, even if the product is sold at a lower price, the profit earned will not decrease but increase.

This encourages bosses to hire more people in order to make money.

In order to recruit enough people as quickly as possible, we had to resort to increasing wages.

Workers who received higher wages also had spare money to spend, which led to an increase in sales of goods.

This further stimulates the expansion of production...

This completes the cycle.

The reason why prices have not risen is that the scale of production has expanded, production efficiency has improved, and supply has increased.

Not only that, there is also an improvement in technical level.

They developed better ways to spin cloth, cast iron, brew wine, and make all sorts of things…

Most of these new technologies were learned from the journal Science.

Old Zhu analyzed it carefully.

Counting the accounts one by one.

He is very good at settling accounts.

If Zhu Yunhuan saw what Lao Zhu wrote here, he would be shocked.

Because what Lao Zhu recorded, wrote and thought seemed to be just accounting, but in fact he had already begun to touch upon a completely new subject - economics!

To be more precise, it is national economics.

That's right.

In order to compete with the "rebel grandson" and vow to dig out the secret of the "rebel grandson"'s governance, Old Zhu has unknowingly conducted a fairly in-depth study of the national economy.

Production efficiency, production cost, scale, profit... the relationship between physical objects and money, the relationship between production, distribution, circulation and consumption, etc...

The first emperor of the Ming Dynasty became the first "scholar" to systematically study the national economy of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the number one economist of the Ming Dynasty, is born!
……

PS: Just like yesterday, both chapters are posted together.

(End of this chapter)