Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 267 The shock of luxury, Zhu Yunhuan’s philosophy!

It took a long time to visit the manufacturing bureau's factory.

That night, Lao Zhu did not enter Jinling City, but rested in a restaurant outside.

This restaurant is also operated by the Manufacturing Bureau and is mainly used to receive merchants who have business dealings with the Manufacturing Bureau.

The products of the factories under the Manufacturing Bureau will be marketed nationwide.

Naturally, it has to go through merchants.

So far, the Manufacturing Bureau has not established a nationwide direct sales network, but instead has private merchants do the sales on behalf of the company.

This group of people is huge.

Therefore, the Manufacturing Bureau built a special restaurant for them to stay in when they came to purchase.

Zhu Yunhuan is planning to establish a nationwide direct sales system for basic necessities.

By that time, the products produced by the manufacturing bureau can be sold directly.

The restaurant is not free.

On the contrary, the fees are very expensive.

Therefore, the guest room design is also very luxurious.

In particular, the room arranged for Lao Zhu was the best and most expensive room in the restaurant.

When Lao Zhu walked in, he was immediately stunned by the layout inside.

There are exquisite color portraits hanging on the walls. The colors are moderate and not too bright, but they are more lively and vivid than the ordinary black and white ink paintings.

The furniture in the room is very exquisite, the wooden carvings are lifelike, and there are a large number of ceramic products and glassware, showing a noble and elegant status.

Old Zhu watched outside for a whole day and it turned out that he was very excited.

At this moment, he couldn't help but frown.

The feudal etiquette has specific and detailed regulations on people’s food, drink and expenses.

No matter how rich a merchant was, he could not wear silk and satin clothes, and he could not even ride in a sedan chair.

Otherwise, it will be a violation of the rules and you will be held accountable.

There are relatively few specific regulations on houses. Only in the capital city, or where the Confucius Mansion is located, are there strict regulations prohibiting buildings from being over-height.

In ordinary places, no one will pursue the matter.

But as for carving on furniture and buildings, it is taboo.

For example, ordinary people’s furniture cannot be carved with dragons.

However, these etiquette regulations were often very strict in the early period of the dynasty, but later they gradually became formalities, and no one cared about them until the late period of the dynasty.

It is not uncommon to see that national regulations are one thing and folk customs are another.

But in the early days of the dynasty, the management was usually quite strict.

There is also a high-pressure crackdown on the extravagant tendencies among the people.

Except for the descendants of nobles who followed the emperor of the new dynasty to conquer the world, no matter how rich a businessman is, he will keep a low profile.

I dare not spend money even if I have it.

For fear of getting myself into trouble.

This is also true even within the scope permitted by court regulations.

Feudal dynasties ruled the world with "filial piety", "morality" and "ritual", but not with "law".

If a businessman is extravagant, wasteful, and ostentatious in his enjoyment, officials can find any excuse to convict him, even if he has not violated any regulations.

If the case is appealed to the imperial court, the court will support the officials in doing so.

The layout of this room is definitely not against the rules.

But it has already been done within the legal scope and is extremely extravagant.

"How can the guest rooms of a restaurant be so luxurious?" Old Zhu snorted with some dissatisfaction.

He walked in and was immediately attracted by the huge floor-to-ceiling mirror attached to the wall.

"This is a full-length mirror made by the Ming Manufacturing Bureau. You can see your entire body clearly in the mirror, making it easier to tidy up your clothes." The person who introduced Lao Zhu had changed from Zhao Rui to Zhu Gaochi.

Old Zhu looked in the mirror and saw that it was indeed extremely clear. He couldn't help but be amazed.

But it soon turned into anger.

"How much silver would it take to make such a big mirror? It's too extravagant!"

"There's nothing like this in our palace!"

"It's too much for a restaurant that serves as a place for merchants to stay to be so extravagant."

"Chi'er, is this the restaurant you built?"

"Don't learn good things, just learn some bad things."

"I thought you were focusing on the manufacturing of machines in the manufacturing bureau."

"I didn't expect you to put so much thought into your extravagant enjoyment."

……

Zhu Gaochi originally wanted to please Old Zhu, but he didn't expect to displease his grandfather. His face suddenly changed and he stammered, not knowing what to say.

After a long while, he finally said, "This restaurant was designed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself."

"The layout of this room was also arranged by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself."

"His Royal Highness also built a similar house in the East Palace, which is more luxurious and more impressive than this one."

"This set of rooms is based on the room where His Royal Highness lives, but it has been simplified."

When the sky falls, it has to be held up by tall people.

When the Emperor asked for accountability, he of course pushed Zhu Yunhuan out without hesitation.

When Old Zhu heard this, the expression on his face changed again and again.

After a while, he changed his tone and said, "Huer is really talented. This kind of arrangement is both exquisite and grand, luxurious and yet elegant. Only he can come up with it. Ordinary people can't come up with it even if they rack their brains."

Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment, and his pupils suddenly dilated.

He looked at Lao Zhu with some disbelief.

Praise him?
Weren't you scolding me just now?

How come in the blink of an eye, hearing that the room was designed and decorated by Zhu Yunhuan became a compliment?
Grandpa Emperor, you are so unfair.

Zhu Gaochi was full of grievances.

Very angry.

Fortunately, Lao Zhu did not continue to blame, but continued to visit the room.

This client's apartment is very large. In addition to the master bedroom and living room, there are also small bedrooms for servants and attendants, as well as a dedicated bathroom.

Zhu Gaochi also hurriedly introduced the tap water, washbasin, and bathroom to Old Zhu.

"The running water in the restaurant is pumped to the water tank on the top floor by a steam engine, and then lowered from there. This is the only practical place for steam engines at present."

"It is very convenient to use a special tap to drain water."

……

"This is the toilet. His Royal Highness named it 'bathroom'."

"Unlike the original toilet, it uses a special flushing design and sewer system to make the original dirty and smelly toilet very clean and sanitary."

……

Lao Zhu had also seen the bathroom when he was in Shanghai.

The difference is that Shanghai does not have running water, and the water needed to flush the toilet is brought into the room in buckets by hotel waiters.

The other settings are basically the same.

All the materials used are made of fired ceramics.

But it is obviously more convenient and faster to use tap water directly here.

"His Royal Highness said that the entire Jinling City will be connected to tap water in the future."

"The water we need will be taken from the reservoir on the mountain outside the city."

"This project is currently under construction."...

After listening to him, Lao Zhu nodded slightly and sighed, "That's a good idea. The toilet is also clean. It's really a pleasure."

"But how much silver will this cost?"

"It doesn't matter if the toilet stinks a little. Hasn't the toilet always been like this for thousands of years?"

"Do we have to change now?"

"Clothing and food for the common people are the top priorities."

"With this money, wouldn't it be good to build more houses for the people to shelter them from the rain, smelt more steel to equip the court's army with armor and weapons, and make hoes, plows, kitchen knives and other daily necessities for the people?"

Old Zhu talked on and on.

Zhu Gaochi could only bow his head and listen to the lecture.

After talking a lot, Lao Zhu asked, "Just the decoration of this room, I think it will cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver, right?"

After all, as an emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang had certainly seen the world and knew the value of many things.

The calligraphy and paintings hanging in the room were all written and painted by people of the time, and are not authentic works by famous historical artists.

But without exception, they are all well-known figures.

The price they charge for painting is not low.

Calligraphy and painting are only a small part of it.

The other furniture, silk mosquito nets, copper pendants, glass pendants, mirrors... everything was beautiful and obviously worth a lot of money.

The most important thing is that the area is so large.

The larger the area, the more things there are.

All together, the price is naturally expensive.

How extravagant is it to spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver to build a restaurant's guest rooms?

You have to know that just two years ago, the annual tax revenue of the entire Ming Dynasty was only tens of millions of taels of silver.

This is the result after taking into account the discounts on food, cloth and other supplies.

How much does it cost to stay in a room like this for one night?
I'm afraid it would cost hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver.

How many poor people can be fed and clothed with so much silver?

Old Zhu felt uncomfortable whenever he thought about it, and of course he didn't like it.

Zhu Gaochi raised his head suddenly when he heard this: "Ah... No, Grandpa Emperor, this guest room has seven bedrooms in total, and all the decorations cost less than three thousand taels of silver in total."

There were no outsiders in the room, so Zhu Gaochi also changed his address.

Old Zhu was stunned for a moment, then angrily said, "Nonsense, just that huge dressing mirror alone is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. How could the whole room only cost three thousand taels of silver?"

"Grandpa Your Majesty, that mirror only cost fifty taels of silver." Zhu Gaochi argued and explained, "The mirror was made by the factory of the Daming Manufacturing Bureau. If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, you can ask someone to fetch the factory's account book and you'll know for sure."

"It's not the same as before. The Daming Manufacturing Bureau has used scientific methods to significantly reduce manufacturing costs."

Old Zhu's expression froze for a moment.

Suddenly I remembered what I learned about production costs and efficiency during my previous factory visit.

It seems to be completely different.

And he is still substituting his original ideas.

But they forgot that before this, it was impossible to make such a large mirror with glass.

But only fifty taels of silver? This price is really unbelievable.

In the palace, a beautifully crafted bronze mirror the size of a human face would cost hundreds of taels of silver or even more.

Zhu Gaochi also reacted.

It turns out that the key reason why Lao Zhu was angry was that he misjudged the construction cost?

He quickly continued to introduce: "Although the paintings in this room are painted by famous artists, they are just prints. The price of each painting is less than one tael of silver."

"This wooden cabinet looks exquisite, but it actually cost more than five taels of silver."

"This table was also made by the furniture factory of the Daming Manufacturing Bureau. It was mass-produced using an assembly line process with division of labor. One piece cost five taels of silver."

"This copper candlestick is also mass-produced, and each costs one ounce of silver."

"That wind chime is made of glass, very cheap..."

……

Zhu Gaochi explained and introduced them one by one.

Things that look beautiful are all industrially mass-produced and of course very cheap.

People in later generations can tell at a glance that it is worthless.

But for the people of the Ming Dynasty, these were "treasures" they had never seen before, so they seemed very expensive.

Just like when aluminum was first invented, it was more expensive than gold!
Old Zhu's expression kept changing from gloomy to bright.

The shock in my heart grew deeper and deeper.

If his previous visit to the factory gave him the shock of large-scale production.

What we feel now is the results of production and the changes it has brought to people’s daily lives.

Things that look luxurious and expensive become incredibly cheap once they are industrially produced.

Glass products are the most typical representatives.

For the Ming Dynasty, which had always lacked glass products, embedding exquisite glass products in the room immediately made people feel extremely beautiful.

Brings a huge visual impact.

I also naturally thought that it was very expensive.

In fact, the prices of these things made by the Ming Manufacturing Bureau are very cheap.

This is especially true for printed products.

Although printed books have long been popular, there are not many printed copies of paintings, especially those of large areas.

Not to mention it is printed so beautifully.

How can anyone who hasn't seen it tell the difference?
Even the price of wooden furniture dropped significantly after mass production.

Because the speed of production using the assembly line method is much faster than before.

The speed is fast, more things can be produced per unit time, so the price is naturally lower.

After listening to Zhu Gaochi's story, Zhu's anger had basically dissipated, leaving only extreme shock and emotion.

But he couldn't admit his mistake in front of his grandson for the sake of face, so he could only say: "After all, they are just some strange and lewd skills. We should still focus on the right path. The Ming Manufacturing Bureau can't always think about making these, we should make something useful for the people."

"If we can produce tens of thousands more hoes and rakes, that will benefit the local people."

"After all, prints are only for decoration, and they are no more useful than hoes and rakes."

Zhu Gaochi said hurriedly: "Grandpa Emperor, our Daming Manufacturing Bureau has been producing so many hoes and rakes that we can't sell them all or use them all."

Old Zhu was stunned.

I am reminded again of the terrifying production efficiency of the Ming Manufacturing Bureau.

One year is equivalent to the past ten years.

If we only produce the original things, we will definitely not be able to use them all.

"His Royal Highness said that the purpose of producing these furniture decorations is to recycle money, and it is also a vital means to ensure the stability of prices in the Ming Dynasty."

"Since the establishment of the Ming Bank, the amount of silver and money circulating in the market has increased by dozens of times."

"If the products produced by the Daming Manufacturing Bureau were not sold to the people, especially to the rich, and the money was collected from them, then the money would flow into the basic living materials of the people."

"The prices of food and cloth will skyrocket. The new Ming banknotes will quickly depreciate and become waste paper, and ordinary people will not be able to survive."

"His Royal Highness also said that the Ming Dynasty does not have enough cotton and wool for large-scale industrial production. We can only rely on the production of iron products, glass products, printed materials and other items by the Ming Manufacturing Bureau to recover the silver."

"Many things are indeed luxuries that ordinary people cannot afford."

"But it is better to spend the money of the rich on this than to let them use the money to rob the common people of food and ordinary cloth."

……

(End of this chapter)