Xinshun 1730

Chapter 239
I don't care, I really don't care.

After that, Liu Yu didn't bother with the trading company anymore.Whether they are short-sighted, whether they know what goods to ship, ordinarily they still have this brain.

As long as you don't pack gold and go to Europe to exchange for silver, the Swedes can pack whatever the rest of the goods are.It is too late for the Swedes to order fired porcelain, so they can order more ordered fired porcelain for the Dutch and British.

Liu Yu, who didn't care about the trading company's affairs, made up his mind and concentrated on preparing for the flicker at the banquet.

This time the banquet was held in a grand and bright manner, and all the big business people around Songjiang Mansion came to join in.

It was no different from previous banquets, except that beside each table, there were more exhibits such as glass and cigarettes.

Songjiang, a place with frequent foreign exchanges, is not comparable to the north.

These businessmen have all seen glass. Although cigarettes are not popular at this time because of matches, they have also seen cigars rolled with tobacco leaves in Luzon.

I clicked two out of curiosity and smoked. I was full of praise for the kind of matches that ignited as soon as I rubbed them.

After everyone was seated, Liu Yu reassured everyone.

"If you are willing to come today, you can trust me. If you think that Liu Yu is here to beg for food, I'm afraid you will definitely not come."

Everyone smiled awkwardly.

Begging means not begging for food, but the court or local officials asking businessmen to donate.

It is the ultimate dream of Neo Confucianism to emphasize agriculture, suppress business and suppress mergers, and keep the whole country a large rural area.Returning to the well field and enforcing enfeoffment is the dream of northern Confucianism after the disintegration of Neo-Confucianism ideology.

But no matter what, the attitude towards businessmen is not very good.

There is the correct thinking of maintaining stability and the unity of the North and the South. The speed at which businessmen enrich wealth is too fast, while the progress of productivity is slow, which simply cannot keep up with the speed of wealth enrichment.

If the merchants are as rich as an enemy, and the land is allowed to be traded, it will indeed have a serious impact on the world.

If other officials treat guests like this, these people are definitely unwilling.Maybe because of the official authority, I have to come, and I must be nervous when I come.

A few years ago, due to the climate change, Songjiang also suffered a certain famine. Local businessmen donated more than 2 taels of silver to relieve the victims. The money was not donated voluntarily.Rather than saying it is a donation, it is better to say that it is spending money to buy a government office to save trouble.

For this reason, the imperial court gave many false titles to nine-rank officials. The etiquette system under the feudal system is different even for nine-rank officials.

It's like the vermilion gate of Liu Yu's house, the gold-plated animal ring, and the main hall of the seven big houses.

As far as money is concerned, some businessmen in Songjiang can build them, but no matter how rich they are, they are not allowed to build them if they are not high enough. This is arrogance and etiquette.

Before, 2 taels could be donated, but if you want to invest in shares, you can easily use the amount of [-] taels. If it weren't for the fact that there are thousands of gold and bones in front of you, it is impossible for too many people to come this time.

A few quick-witted people saw the cigarettes and glass on the table, and wondered if this was the kind of business Liu Yu wanted to do.

I thought about it secretly, and said in my heart that this is a great deal.

But there are still many people who still have doubts in their hearts, and always feel that something is not right.

It's like trade with Japan, which is the reverse monopoly brought about by Japan's seclusion of the country. This kind of business fools know how to make money, so why would they take the initiative to distribute it to others?
Or thinking, are you putting a long line to catch big fish?
Now that Liu Yu said that he didn't come to beg for food, many people secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The dishes on the table were very rich, but none of the people who were able to come here for the banquet today could eat as much as this one, and all of them had their ears pricked up, wanting to know what Liu Yu was going to do.

But Liu Yu didn't speak, but clapped his hands, and a few servants came out from behind, holding a thick stack of papers and handing them out to everyone.

Most of the businessmen are literate, and a few are not very literate, but after a glance at the content on the paper, they are all in vernacular, which is easy to understand.

Soon, the noisy hall became quiet.

All the people attending the banquet looked at the contents of the paper with their heads sullen, some were gasped, and some were secretly surprised.

It's all about business.

Some set up iron smelting workshops in central Liao, and some assigned various places to set up workshops for glass, cigarettes, matches, etc.

There are not only market expectations, but also the possible rate of return on investment, as well as various advantages.

It seems that they are all profitable transactions.

It is also clearly written in the above, as long as everyone contributes the share capital, there will be a special person in charge of the operation and start-up.

After these people have seen it all, Liu Yu said: "I have long heard that Songjiang's textile industry is well developed. As early as the previous dynasty, there was a saying that 'machine households contribute capital, and mechanics contribute effort'."

"The things I wrote are slightly different from the investment of this machine owner, but they are actually similar. It is nothing more than money and strength to contribute."

"Distributed according to capital."

"With the pearls and jades of this trading company in front, I think everyone still trusts me. After that, we can also use this method. You contribute money, craftsmen contribute, and the start-up and operation are like maritime trade. The bow and the big class are responsible for each, and they receive Salary, you share dividends according to your salary. Wouldn't it be beautiful in this way?"

"Any questions, but it's okay to ask."

After speaking, but it’s okay to ask, these people fell silent.

It’s okay to come to the banquet, and it’s not impossible to think about investing, but after all, they are just businessmen, and the gap with officials is too big, and the gap with knighted people like Liu Yu is even bigger.

Even if there is something in my heart, I really dare not ask.

Liu Yu waited for a while, then glanced at Lin Yunwen.

Lin Yunwen waited for a while, and after confirming that no one got up to ask, he asked himself: "My lord, I have something to ask, and the villain has the courage to ask. These transactions, according to what the lord wrote, must be profitable."

"If you talk about capital, it's not that much. Your family's wealth is several times that of mine. Why don't you do this kind of profitable business yourself? Why do you want to share the profits with us?"

"To put it bluntly, they are all business people. Everyone in the world says that businessmen like me have the intention of cheating our fathers and mothers. Although this statement is a bit biased, it is indeed a bit of a scum, but if you can make money by yourself, you will not find others. .”

"One is hard to trust, and the other is that the responsibilities are unclear. If he commits a crime and I walk with him, I'm afraid it will also implicate me."

Two sharp questions were placed in front of Liu Yu.

Although everyone present knew that this was just a double reed.

Lin Yunwen is Liu Yu's man, he climbed Liu Yu's high branch and turned over.But even so, the two questions Lin Yunwen asked were exactly what they wanted to ask.

Whether it is a double spring or not is really not important.

It's all a profitable business. It's not that you don't have money, and it's not that you don't have connections. Why don't you do it yourself but share the benefits with us?

Does the imperial court have a policy to guarantee this limited liability?
If other shareholders commit crimes, will we be implicated?
When raiding the chamber of commerce, is it only copying the offender's shares under limited liability?Or will it trap all the shareholders in the entire chamber of commerce?

The former may or may not be explained.Maybe you don't feel at ease in your heart, but if your credibility is there, who would refuse real money?
The latter is the knot that has been hanging in everyone's hearts and cannot be solved.

The premise of the shareholding system is that the merchant's property is inviolable.

Since ancient times, the tradition of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business has made merchants have no resistance at all, and naturally there is no merchant's property that is inviolable.

In particular, the more people who participate in the shares, the more likely someone will commit a crime, and the more people will be implicated if something happens in the future.

Trust, they belong to Liu Yu who trusts.But beyond trust, they hope to have an institutionalized explanation or decree.

However, it did not.

Besides, are businessmen not breaking the law?Is there any tax evasion?Everyone evades taxes and breaks the law. If you are not breaking the law, how can you compete with others?

It is generally illegal, and generally has no good reputation under Confucian-Legal values. Naturally, it is a group of big fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Now that Lin Yunwen spoke out everyone's doubts, the hall was silent, and everyone wanted to hear Liu Yu's answer.

"The first question is a good one. I don't think this is Lin Yunwen's idea alone. There are probably quite a few of you here who think so."

"Actually, this question is very simple. Why don't I make money myself? Does anyone in the world think there is too much money?"

"Yes, I think it's too much money."

"The way of heaven is to make up for more than enough damage. It is also said: when the moon is full, it will lose, and when the water is full, it will overflow. I have too many ways to make money, and my ability is too great, so I don't want to be too rich, just about it. Do you have any questions? ?"

This answer was too presumptuous, but it was impossible for everyone to refute.

Apparently, this is indeed the case.

Regarding the trade with Japan, no one knew what Liu Yu and the Japanese shogunate said or did. After all, they had the ability to get almost all the Chinese merchants' trade cards.

The businessmen present, who had participated in the trade with Japan, were actually powerless to "traitor the country".

At the beginning, Nagasaki wanted war horses, art of war, samurai, armament materials, customs and defense maps, etc., and everyone was tempted.It's just powerless, can't get it.

Whoever can get contraband and go to Japan to exchange for a trade letter card, no businessman will yell at a traitor, but will give a thumbs up and say: This person is really capable!

Regardless of how Liu Yu got the trade letter card from Japan, or whether there was any traitor transaction, these businessmen don't care, they can only convincingly say that they have the ability.

These people certainly know how profitable the trade with Japan is.

Most of the industries in the hands of workshops such as military factories, shipbuilding, glass, iron smelting, and matches are also profitable.

If someone else said "I hate too much money", some people would naturally think that boasting is too much.

But Liu Yu has done so many great things, and it is true to say that he dislikes too much money.

Why share profits with others, because too much money is disliked.

Why do you dislike too much money? This is another question.

There is no need to explain this other question.

All businessmen present here know everything.

To be as rich as an enemy...is really not a good thing.

There are some questions that you dare not ask and cannot ask, and of course you don’t need to ask them. There are many things that cannot be said in the open.

This reason seems to have already been said, but Liu Yu did not stop there.

"There is a saying that a villain is a metaphor for profit, and a gentleman is a metaphor for righteousness. There is also a saying that in doing things, a villain should be first followed by a gentleman."

"Guochao regards the Yongjia and Yongkang schools as the orthodox Confucianism. Although I don't read much, I know there is a very important point in it, that is, righteousness and benefit are not fish and bear's paws, nor right and wrong. His opposition."

"Dong Zhongshu said: Righteousness does not seek profit."

"However, Yan Yuan, a great Confucian of the Northern School, said: Correct the righteousness to seek one's own benefit, understand one's way and count one's merits!"

"The Yongjia and Yongkang Schools of the Song Dynasty said: Harmonize righteousness with profit, not suppress profit with righteousness."

"Without benefits, how do you know if what you do is meritorious? Without merit, how do you know whether what you do is righteous? Some people in the north say that empty talk has made the whole world look like a woman since the Song Dynasty. After that, it is even more empty talk. .Then how does this righteousness manifest itself?"

"If a trading company transports rice, the price of rice will become more expensive during the Jiaoliao Great Desolation. If the rice is transported from Siam, will the merchants benefit? Of course they will."

"However, if the businessman benefits, does the starving people benefit? If the hungry people also benefit, then how can it be said that righteousness and benefit are contradictory?"

"The name of a businessman is extremely bad. Therefore, I hope that this time, I will point out a clear path, so that doing business will be beneficial and more righteous."

"If it's like glass, if we open glass workshops, we don't need to buy glass from Westerners, and the price of glass drops to a tael of silver, so that everyone can use light-transmitting glass. Isn't that justified?"

"If iron smelting workshops are set up in Liaozhong, so that those who reclaim wasteland can use high-quality iron, which is no less than that of Foshan, Guangdong, is it not righteous?"

"If investing in military industry allows us to have high-quality guns for our soldiers, which are not in vain in the West, isn't that justified?"

"Of course I can do it myself, but I still hope that more businessmen will do it together, to justify the name of the businessman, this is the right way."

"What I said earlier that I don't want to be as rich as an enemy is just the words of a villain."

"These words are the words of a gentleman. My way, scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen are all in one. So where the way is, even if there are thousands of people, I can still go, let alone the mere money?"

Many things have limitations. In his previous life, Liu Yu was not interested in those big businessmen, because they had already hindered the development of the times in some places.

But now, in the feudal era, those things that were regarded as obstacles in the previous life are now like the light of the righteous way, leading the trend.

If the distinction between righteousness and benefit becomes the same as that of other schools of thought, that is to declare war on Confucianism.

Reformation, Renaissance, Protestantism and Reformation can be practiced, but Catholicism cannot be said to be bad, let’s all believe in Islam.

In Dashun, it is similar.

Even if some of the saint's words are farts, it is necessary to find evidence of "heresy and reasonableness" in the pile of old papers, rather than overthrow it and start over.

The chaos of thought and the prevalence of hedonism in the late Ming Dynasty can be regarded as the Renaissance.

After more than 80 years of speculation and the collapse of Neo-Confucianism, and Dashun’s support of the Yongjia Yongkang School in the official ideology, it can be regarded as the starting point of the religious reform.

It is necessary to describe everything that businessmen do for "self-interest" as "righteousness".

Like the Protestant Reformation of the Reformation, wealth was seen as proof of God's will and faith.

Liu Yu wanted to overthrow and start over, but Dashun hadn't reached the point where even the country gentry and landowners couldn't get along under external shocks and wanted to vote red. Without a foundation, it would be a castle in the air.

Fortunately, there seems to be a basis for religious reform now, so we can try it.Even if you don't have so much righteousness, you have to say a lot of righteousness.

Liu Yu is definitely not good at interpreting scriptures.But for a start, it is okay to spend money to invite great Confucians to explain the scriptures.Since it is possible to supplement Confucianism with Christianity, it is absolutely necessary to make Confucianism "harmonize righteousness with benefit and not suppress benefit with righteousness".

Liu Yu is reminding these businessmen, don’t just know how to make money, you have to spend money to find someone to explain the scriptures.Wouldn't it be stupid not to spend money on this, and not to take advantage of Dashun's atmosphere of encouraging associations to discuss politics?You are not short of money, are you afraid that you will not be able to buy good things?

(End of this chapter)