Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 227 A Big Gamble! A New Problem!

"Today, most of the people in the Ming Dynasty live in thatched huts and mud houses. The grain stored in the homes is often damaged by rats and birds, or invaded by insects and ants, or soaked by rain, damp and moldy, resulting in a large amount of food waste."

"The imperial court sympathizes with the people's hardship and livelihood, so it has built large granaries, set up food bureaus, and opened food banks in various places."

"All the people of the Ming Dynasty can deposit their own grain into the Food Bureau, which will keep it for free."

"Write a guarantee and you can get the grain according to the guarantee later."

"Any loss during the storage period will be borne by the Food Agency and has nothing to do with the person storing the food."

"Take out as much food as you have stored. If there is any loss, the food agency will make up for it to ensure that the people who store food do not lose a grain."

“Those who are willing to sell grain can also convert it into money and issue a receipt to receive the money.”

"Food is the foundation of the world. The court hereby reiterates that food prices will never rise."

……

As soon as the food bank was established, it immediately sparked heated discussions among countless people.

Borrowing warehouses to store grain was not uncommon among the people at that time.

On the contrary, it is quite common.

But it mainly happens between neighbors in the countryside.

For example, if the house next door is relatively better and has a place to store grain, they can borrow their own grain from his house.

This kind of thing is very common in rural areas.

They are all from the same village, and most of them are relatives or cousins. Although there are many conflicts and contradictions between them, on the other hand, they will try their best to help each other in many things.

This is completely different from the highly atomized urban life in later society, where neighbors don’t even know each other.

But, storing one's own grain in the government warehouse?
Will this work?

Will the government take the opportunity to seize the grain?
"Do you think it is credible to store the grain in the official warehouse of the Food Bureau?"

"Yeah, I always feel a little uneasy."

"Yes, what if the government warehouse embezzles the grain?"

"I say, aren't you guys too worried? What's so unbelievable about this? When you deposited the silver into the Daming Bank, you didn't seem to be worried. Aren't grain and silver different?"

"That's true. I'm afraid that when I go to get the grain, they will say that my grain has been eaten by rats and I don't have much left. That would be a big loss."

"No, they've said that any loss during the storage period will be borne by the Food Agency, and we guarantee that you won't lose a single grain."

"Anyway, I plan to store most of the food in this 'food bank'. There are too many rats in my small, shabby house, and the humidity is heavy. Over the course of a year, a lot of food will be eaten by rats, and a lot of food will become damp and moldy. It's so heartbreaking."

"The conditions in the new granary built by the Food Agency are really incomparable to those at home. At home, we can't prevent rats, insects and ants, but they have a way. The grain at home is easily affected by moisture and mold, and if it rains and blows, it may get soaked by rain, but that won't happen to them. In my opinion, storing the grain in the Food Agency is really a good thing."

"But is it really our turn as ordinary people to have such a good thing?"

"It was definitely not possible before, but it's not certain now. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in power, and the good things of the past year have not been enjoyed by us ordinary people."

"Yes, His Royal Highness returned victorious from Japan and gave us common people a lot of rewards."

"Our reward is nothing. The compensation paid by the families robbed by the Japanese pirates in the past was much higher."

"It was also His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's idea to build a granary, set up a food bureau, and open a food bank. It was for the benefit of the common people and to do good things for us."

"When storing grain, grain coupons and money coupons are issued. You can withdraw grain or money at will. If it really doesn't work, you can take the coupons to the Daming Bank to withdraw money. There will always be enough money in the bank."

"Yes, the food is so stable, and the money withdrawal is the same."

……

There are all kinds of opinions among the people. Although many people are still not reassured, there are also a lot of people who come to store grain.

On the one hand, the storage conditions in ordinary people's homes are really poor. The food stored in their homes is eaten by rats, or gets damp and moldy due to rain... Every year, a portion of the food is wasted in this way, which is heartbreaking.

As for the breeding of insects, moths, flying ants, that goes without saying.

If you deposit the food with the WFP and have it keep it, it would be like making a huge profit out of nothing.

On the other hand, over the past year, under Zhu Yunhuan's governance, the court established its credibility and the people's trust in the court was greatly deepened.

With the example of the Ming Bank in the past, people’s concerns about the grain stored in the bank being seized were reduced to a very low level.

soon.

The areas near the new granaries were crowded with people who went there to store grain.

Unlike when the Ming Bank first opened, people's enthusiasm for storing grain reached a climax right from the beginning.

In just a few days, the amount of grain stored by the people in the Food Agency exceeded the total amount of grain stored in the national treasury.

The craze for grain storage not only shows no signs of abating, but is still on the rise.

"I never expected that. I thought it would take a lot of effort to persuade the people to store their food in the food bureau."

In the study room in the Eastern Palace, Zhu Yunhuan was filled with emotion.

Yang Shiqi and Xia Yuanji were both sitting nearby, while Yang Rong was writing down what was going on.

After he came to Zhu Yunhuan's side to serve, his nominal official position was the historian of the Eastern Palace.

There was someone responsible for recording the emperor's every word and action, and his name was "Qiujiulang".

The crown prince’s words and deeds were also recorded by officials, the so-called Eastern Palace historians.

According to the rules, the attendant and the historian of the Eastern Palace should record everything that happened to the emperor and the crown prince, without leaving out any details.

That was just an external announcement.

In reality, of course, it is another matter.

In particular, the secret conversations between the emperor or crown prince and his trusted ministers and officials must not be recorded casually.

Hearing this, Xia Yuanji smiled and said:

"Storing grain in the grain bureau can reduce losses caused by pests and rodents, moisture and mildew, so the people are naturally happy about it."

Yang Shiqi also laughed and said, "This is because of the Ming Bank. People can deposit money and grain with confidence. In addition, it is also thanks to the publicity of the Ming Daily that the trend has been formed among the people."

Since ancient times, ordinary people have liked to follow the trend.

Storing food with the World Food Programme is no exception.

As long as there are people in the village who survive, there will be people who will follow.

If the neighbors save money, we will dare to save money too.

Behind this seemingly mindless following is actually a survival strategy that ordinary people have developed over a long period of time.

We advance and retreat together, and can handle anything together.

If you are the only one who is independent and self-centered, then when you encounter problems, no one will be able to help you.

The same is true for storing food.

They want to save the food for their own family, and they are worried that the WFP will embezzle the food and they are afraid that they will not be able to withdraw the food.

If everyone saves, this worry will disappear.

Because they believe that the WFP will not incur public anger and embezzle food from everyone in the world.

The publicity of "Da Ming Daily" also played a great role in promoting the development of the industry.

Today, the "Da Ming Daily" has a huge influence, and any article in it can shock the world.

"Although there are new granaries built with cement that can prevent rats, ants and moisture, grain is not as valuable as money after all. When stored in a granary, there will be some loss, not to mention the cost of storing grain itself."

"It's expensive to build a granary, and the salaries of the managers are also high."

"The imperial court needs to provide a large sum of money for subsidies."

"Also, if the people all want to take food, in the long run, I'm afraid the food in the granary will not be enough to cover the expenditure."

The WFP promised that its grain reserves would not be reduced at all, but in reality, there would be some loss of grain stored in the granaries.

This means that 98 kilograms of grain come in and 100 kilograms go out.

WFP will make losses.

In the short term, these were not a problem because new grain was constantly being stored, there was also the court's inventory, grain collected from taxes, and so on.

But after a long time, it won't work.

It's a bit like a Ponzi scheme, and it will collapse one day.

This is different from the logic of depositing money in a bank.

Banks collect deposits and then make loans, and can also earn the interest rate difference between deposits and loans.

WFP cannot operate like this.

Xia Yuanji was an expert in financial management and was well aware of the drawbacks, so he was very worried.

"As long as the grain production of the Ming Dynasty is higher every year, it will be fine for a few years." Zhu Yunxun said: "The 'grain bank' business of the Grain Agency will not last for many years. It will stop in one or two years at the fastest, and three to five years at the slowest."

Xia Yuanji was stunned. Yang Shiqi explained: "Once the people develop the habit of storing grain at the Grain Agency, even if the Grain Agency no longer opens grain banks and no longer provides free grain storage services, the people will spontaneously sell grain to the Grain Agency."

Xia Yuanji thought for a moment and said, "That being said, if there is no free grain storage service, many people will still store the grain they grow themselves."

"Although there will be some losses, it will save us the trouble of storing and retrieving food."

“Only those who used to buy food in bulk may buy on a monthly basis in the future.”

"Otherwise, any surplus food will be stored in the Food Agency."

Zhu Yunxun smiled and said, "It depends on the speed of grain production in the Ming Dynasty. If the people have more grain than they can eat, they will naturally sell a large amount to the Grain Agency."

"This... this is a bit of a gamble." Xia Yuanji said in a lost voice.

Yang Shiqi nodded and said, "Yes, this is indeed a bit risky."

"To be on the safe side, the imperial court has already imported a large amount of grain from Japan. You are also aware of this."

"Add to that the reduced loss in the new granary, and Ming's grain supply has increased significantly out of thin air."

"It's just that now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in charge of the country, the people are eating more and more, and the food consumption has increased sharply, which is why there is a food shortage crisis."

“Further increase in production depends on water conservancy project construction and land reclamation.”

Xia Yuanji let out a long sigh and said, "Right now, reservoirs are being built all over the country. Once completed, they will be of great help in increasing grain production."

"But with so many migrant workers being recruited, food consumption will increase significantly this year, and the risks will be greater."

That's the two sides of the same coin.

The construction of the reservoir will indeed increase grain production next year.

However, in an era without large-scale machinery and equipment, reservoir dams had to be built manually one load at a time on their shoulders.

Migrant workers who work every day will also consume more food.

"This is the role of granaries and grain collection." Zhu Yunhuan said with a smile: "Nowadays, not only ordinary people, but also wealthy families store more grain in granaries."

"There is also a lot of food among them, which they have saved for many years."

"Now that all the grain has been stored in the grain storage of the Food Bureau, the imperial court can centrally allocate it."

"With these grains, the Ming Dynasty will never face a food shortage crisis before the autumn harvest next year."

Zhu Yunhuan was very sure about this.

The amount of grain stored by large and wealthy households is actually very large.

But in the past, no matter how severe the famine, natural disaster or man-made calamity occurred, they would keep the money hidden tightly and would never use it to help those who had no food to eat.

On one side, there were starving people everywhere, while on the other side, the granaries of the rich were filled with grain.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in history.

Now, seeing that it is profitable to store grain in the granaries of the Food Agency, the rich and powerful families also started to store grain there.

Once the grain arrives at the granary of the Grain Agency, the imperial court can allocate it uniformly to prevent such a situation from happening.

With this amount of stored grain, even if the Ming Dynasty's grain consumption increases greatly this year, there will be no shortage of food.

As for the increase in grain production next year, Zhu Yunhuan is even more confident.

It is not certain whether the Academy of Sciences can develop effective pesticides.

But the large number of reservoirs built this year were not built in vain.

With the water supply from these reservoirs, many areas that were previously unsuitable for farming can now grow crops.

After all, there are only two ways to increase grain production.

One is to increase grain production per unit area.

The second is to expand grain planting area.

Building reservoirs can not only increase the yield per unit area, but also greatly increase the grain planting area.

The land that was previously unable to be cultivated due to water supply and irrigation problems can now be reclaimed and planted after the construction of the reservoir with water irrigation.

Not only that, the land that previously had low per-acre yield due to insufficient water supply will also see a significant increase in per-acre yield after the water supply increases.

Irrigation plays a vital role in the impact of food production.

Other sources of confidence come from the current population of the Ming Dynasty.

After experiencing the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty was still small and the per capita arable land area was large.

With the same amount of arable land, as long as it is used well, it will not be a problem to feed two or three times more people.

Another key point here is that due to limited medical conditions, the survival rate of infants and young children in the Ming Dynasty was not high, and the population would not grow explosively in a short period of time.

The situation from the late Qing Dynasty to the founding of New China was very special.

Although it has experienced many years of war, unlike the sharp decline in population caused by war in history, the population has been growing steadily during that period.

At its root, the most important thing is the improvement of medical and health conditions, which has brought about a qualitative change in the survival rate of infants and young children.

At the same time, food production and land utilization have not changed much.

As a result, we fell into a vicious circle where the population grew rapidly while the people became increasingly poorer and less well-fed.

This is unique in the entire history of China.

After the founding of New China, this contradiction became more prominent.

The speed of improvement of medical and health conditions is much faster than the speed of building reservoirs and reclaiming wasteland.

The increased food production was consumed by the additional population.

Although the grain harvest is good every year, the cultivated land area continues to expand, and countless reservoirs have been built, it is still difficult for the people to fill their stomachs.

Because the population is growing faster!
But the situation in the Ming Dynasty was obviously different.

Given the current medical and health conditions, it is impossible to make a qualitative leap in a short period of time.

Penicillin and the like had not yet been invented.

Although the population has been growing, the rate of increase is not particularly fast.

At this time, we should vigorously build reservoirs and reclaim wasteland, increase grain yield per mu and expand the area of arable land. Their growth rate can far exceed the population growth rate.

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince, is in control of everything. I admire you." Xia Yuanji bowed and said, "At present, the Bank of Ming has sufficient funds, and there is a large amount of silver from Japan as collateral. The money needed for construction can be provided by the Bank of Ming."

Zhu Yunhuan nodded slightly.

This is also where his confidence lies.

With money and food, you don't have to worry no matter what you do.

Yang Shiqi said, "There is a new problem right now. According to reports from Suzhou Prefecture, many people deposited their money in the Ming Bank and their grain in the granaries of the Grain Bureau. In this way, they appear to be penniless, thus avoiding taxes from the court."

The Ming Dynasty did not have a mature identity system. Ordinary people would carry a "road pass" issued by the government when going out, but a road pass was not an ID card, and there was a huge difference between the two.

The officials' ivory cards are very similar to the identity cards of later generations.

Because of this, whether it is depositing money in the Daming Bank or storing grain in the Grain Agency, although there are registered identities, it is entirely up to the customers to fill in the information at will without any verification.

The credentials for withdrawing money and grain shall be the deposit certificate issued by the bank or the grain coupons issued by the Food Agency.

Real-name deposit system is not an easy thing.

The implementation of real-name deposit system was only gradually realized in the 21st century.

Without the assistance of computer networks, the real-name deposit system would be impossible to implement.

Not to mention the problem of not being able to verify authenticity due to the lack of photos, even if there is corresponding real-name information, it is not an easy task to retrieve it from the database without computer search.

What's more, if the deposit and withdrawal are not made at the same branch, the withdrawal branch will not have the customer's identity information at all, so how can it be verified?

This is obviously unrealistic.

The same is true for the issue of food storage.

Only by using food coupons to collect food and exchanging the coupons for food can we carry out our work normally.

The disadvantage of this is that it will become very easy for someone to hide their assets.

Suzhou had been in tax arrears for many years because of its heavy taxation.

Last year, with Zhu Yunhuan's opening up to business and the establishment of banks, the Suzhou area, which has always been very talented in business, began to prosper again.

Upon seeing this, the government immediately stepped up to collect the outstanding taxes from previous years.

"Using banks and food agencies to evade taxes has become a common practice in Suzhou Prefecture."

"Suzhou Prefecture has submitted a petition to the court, requesting that it be allowed to severely pursue tax collection, severely punish those who wantonly evade and evade taxes, and behead and confiscate the property of those who refuse to change after repeated admonitions!"

"At the same time, we also request the court to dispatch troops to garrison Suzhou Prefecture to prevent any unexpected events."

……

(End of this chapter)