Xinshun 1730

Chapter 484
After reading it, I feel that it is the same thing, and the limitations are still too heavy.

But Liu Yu's foundation in Confucianism is too weak, thinking that stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade. Since Dazai Chuntai is a Confucian student, perhaps some "violent theories" can be used as the direction of Confucianism reform.

At that time, I took it back to Weihai and showed it to Kang Bushao. They were all written in Chinese. Kang Bushao also praised the writing style of "Chan Yu", saying that it was quite old-fashioned.

When Liu Yu asked whether it could be used as an argument for the reform of Confucianism, Kang Bushao laughed and laughed.

"This is Japan, where Confucianism is not flourishing, and when you see North Korea, you feel inferior to the culture. In our celestial dynasty, he can't even get out of the house if he can spray. It's not worth mentioning, not worth arguing."

"It's not that his idea is not good. Don't you have an idea, too?"

"The difficulty is that since he is wearing a Confucian skin, the great Confucianists have to examine and refute it with the Confucian bones. It doesn't matter if you say he is a legalist, a farmer, or other scholars. But if you say he is a Confucianist, there is no problem." People will recognize it."

"Just like the young master used the 'Western Regions' to solve the questions in the Martial Arts Palace exam. If you want to borrow the skin of Confucianism, you have to find the right place to solve the questions. However, I have thought about it for so long, and I have not thought of the point to solve the questions. The level of the young master, then Don't even think about it."

"Wang Jinggong did something like that. You said it was Confucianism. Do you really recognize Confucianism? But even so, didn't Wang Jinggong still hold high the "Zhou Li" and practice the spells of Shen Buhai, Shang Yang, and Guan Zhongzhi? How dare he not hold up the "Zhou Li" "?"

Kang Bushao agrees with some of the opinions in it, but feels that Liu Yu's idea of ​​"tampering" Confucianism is not feasible at all.The things inside are placed in Dashun. If it is not Confucianism, some people may read it as miscellaneous books.If you say this is Confucianism, you have to be beaten to death.

Randomly pick out a few of them, and Kang Buxie, who actually admires Huang Laozhuang, can refute them completely by citing scriptures, not to mention those real masters of Confucianism in Dashun.

Moreover, Kang Buxio felt that some things Liu Yu said were much clearer than this one.But why didn't Liu Yu dare to use it?Because Liu Yu knew that it was not Confucianism.

However, some of Dazai Chuntai’s remarks, which he considers to be Confucianism, are in fact clearly the study of Legalists such as Guan Zhong and Li Kui. In Japan, they may be able to fool some people, but in Dashun they are bald lice.

Moreover, Kang Bushi was influenced by Liu Yu, and he attached great importance to the term economic foundation.It is believed that the dispute between Dazai Harutai and Ogyu Sorai stems from Japan's economic foundation, and it is not applicable to Dashun's side.

Liu Yu also agrees with this point. After all, Japan has one less middleman, and there is no need to consider the exploitation of middlemen.The samurai have land rights in law, but in fact they don't, and the peasants and soldiers live separately in the castle town, which is not the same as the landlord.

Since then, Liu Yu has never paid attention to Dazai Chuntai again. She never expected to meet him on this occasion today, and in this atmosphere, Liu Yu really did not expect that this old man was him.

Officials from Dashun's imperial examinations also wanted to take this opportunity to discuss with Dazai Chuntai the issue of Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism.

Dazai Chuntai is anti-Song Confucianism and anti-magic. He claims that Confucianism has had two major destructions. One is that the First Emperor burned books to bury Confucianism, and the other is that Song Confucianism interpreted Confucian classics indiscriminately. Confucian orthodox system.

The problem is that he believes that the first emperor burned books to bury Confucianism, and the books were inexhaustible, and there are still many memorized by later generations.However, Song Confucians interpreted Confucian classics indiscriminately, which violated the meaning of Confucius and Mencius, but they were digging the roots of Confucianism.The first emperor was like cutting down branches, while Zhu Xi was digging out the roots and cutting off the trunk. It is self-evident which one is more harmful.The button on this big hat is a bit too big.

But at this time, facing these academic problems, he didn't pay much attention to them. Instead, he turned to Liu Yu and asked a question that had nothing to do with Confucianism.

Liu Yu was planning to form a drinking circle with the military officers on his side and the Japanese shogunate officials who were not very knowledgeable in Confucianism.

When asked by Dazai Harutai, he was stunned.

"Liu Jun, how much is the rice in Songjiang, Ningbo and other places in your country, how much is it per stone?"

"Uh...about one, two, seven, eight, one stone? About one, two, four, five, or more. If there is a bad year, two, two, three, two, five, or if there is a good year, one, two, two, three? The stones of the Celestial Dynasty are different from the stones of Japan, about five stones." Two stones off in Japan? But the price of rice in Songjiang is based on polished rice. Similarly, according to the capacity of one stone here, polished rice is 320 catties, and brown rice is only 280 to 300 catties. One stone in China, polished rice 120 catties, 110 catties of brown rice is more, right?"

The currency units on the two sides are different. Dazai Harutai knew about this, and he calculated it in his heart. Whether it is Kansai with silver or Kanto with gold, except for the deflationary period before the famine, the price of rice is still higher than that of Dashun. It's lower over there.

Before the war, the price of a stone of rice in the Xiaguan rice exchange was about 50.

Because of the previous minting reforms in response to deflation, the silver content was reduced from 80% of the silver content of Zhengde coins to about 45%.

Calculated from this, 1 piece is 3.75 grams, and 50 pieces is converted into the silver content of the new money. Calculated according to the weight of Dashun's stone rice and Kuping silver, it is about 9 qian Kuping silver a day toward stone rice.

This must be cheaper than the price of rice in Dashun. Of course, the price of Songjiang and other places must be considered, but Dazai Chuntai reckons that it should not fluctuate too much. As long as it is not a disaster year, when it is between 1.5 and 2 [-] float between the two.

After calculating the account, Dazai Chuntai bowed to Liu Yu and said: "If so, Liu Jun has saved Japan again. The last time the sweet potato famine was promoted, but if Liu Jun hadn't sent several ships With sweet potatoes as seeds and the "Sweet Potato Relief Book" as a technique, the famine may affect millions of people."

"I once thought about the Chinese Changping Warehouse and Ping Tiao method to stabilize the price of rice in Japan. Cheap rice hurts farmers, hurts soldiers, soldiers, and farmers. The foundation of Japan must not be hurt."

"It's just that I want to follow Wang Jinggong's teachings of Changping, Pingtiao, Shiyi, and Qingmiao. However, no one is willing to use them because they are soft-spoken and have the reputation of being a madman."

"Now that the port is opened, the two countries can communicate with each other. The Changping warehouse cannot be built, but the two countries can use each other's Changping warehouse to balance the price of rice, so that the soldiers and farmers will not be hurt by the low price of rice."

Dazai Harutai is also full of resentment, now that he is nearly sixty years old, his political ambitions have nowhere to go.Japan doesn't even have a permanent warehouse and a peace-making method. When the price of rice rises, it is scary, and when it falls, it is shocking.

After running around for several years, no one listened to his nagging about "Chang Pingcang", "Ping Tiao Law", "Market Yi Law", "Young Crop Law", and thought it sounded good, but within his own domain What's the use of doing it?

The rice in each feudal domain is commercialized, and if it is to be sold in rice exchanges such as Shimonoseki and Osaka to subsidize the finances, the shogunate has to come forward.

Otherwise, it would be useless for this feudal clan to build a Changping warehouse, but it would not be able to stop the rice from other feudal clans from entering the field.

But the official Confucian ideology of the shogunate is Zhu Zixue. The shogunate has heard of the name of Dazai Shuntai, and this time he was also recruited, but he didn't want to use this Confucian who was not Zhu Zixue.

Since Changping, Pingtiao and other methods are useless, after Dazai Harutai inquired about the price of Dashun, he thought it was a good thing to open the port.

Although he has certain economic ideas, he still thinks within the framework of feudalism, and still recognizes the stability of warriors and peasants as the first priority.He is not opposed to doing business, but believes that agriculture is still the foundation of all things.

If Japan can export rice, as a ballast stone, at least it can gradually equalize the price of rice to a level similar to that of Dashun.From 9 coins of Kuping silver to one, two, four, five, the lives of samurai and farmers will be greatly improved.

Liu Yu had read his previous books before, and felt that although the limitations were great, it was rare to have an economical vision at this time.

And as far as the Japanese Confucianism circle is concerned, the big guys who argued with him and sprayed each other at the beginning are basically dead.The young people have not yet grown up, and now this is the most talked about in Japan.

Basically, in terms of this era, in terms of economics, this person can be regarded as No.1 in Japan today.

Even if some economic theoretical ideas are somewhat limited, they are better than the group of people who can only tinker.

If this person's views on the economy are basically in line with Liu Yu's expectation of squeezing Japan, and he can't see any major problems, then he is basically stable.

Interested to see his views on the economy after the opening of the port, he said with a smile: "I also have the same intention. The saying that the two countries will keep each other's open warehouses is just an act of benevolence in the suzerain-vassal system in the future."

"Cheap rice hurts farmers, and this matter must be investigated. Rice is too expensive, and it hurts the people even more. It is best to let the price of rice reach a balanced value."

"Mr. Chuntai is more optimistic about the opening of the port? Or is there more negative direction?"

Dazai Harutai had considered this matter a long time ago, and said: "In general, I think it is good to open a port."

"The way to govern the country is to make rice expensive and things cheap. If rice is expensive, the scholars and farmers will have money to buy goods; if things are cheap, the more goods the scholars and farmers will buy, and the more it will promote the development of industry and commerce. .”

"The price of goods from a big country is not high. If the big country is also produced in Japan, the necessary price is low and it may be sold in Hong Kong. Now, Japan's prices will also be reduced."

"As for rice, the price of rice in a big country is about twice as expensive, which can drive up the price of rice in Japan. When the price of rice rises, there will be more surplus money for scholars and farmers. This is a good thing."

"Rice is expensive and goods are cheap, and that is the future of Japan."

If this statement is put in later generations, people will definitely be scolded and feel that it is completely nonsense. How could the skyrocketing food price be a good thing instead?How could there be a situation where food prices are high and other prices are low?
But in this day and age, even after 60 years of great British debate around the Corn Laws, this idea is still the mainstream.

It can be said to be a brain problem.

It can also be said to be a butt problem.

Although the form is different from the British "Corn Law" decades later, the essence is not much different.

Formally, the United Kingdom has already started the industrial revolution, which has caused the price of food to soar, so the local landowners and nobles put pressure on not to import to protect their interests.

At this time in Japan, the shadow of the industrial revolution is still invisible, and because of the disappearance of the industrial revolution, the price of food is too low, so the local landlords and nobles think that exporting food is a good thing to ensure the price of food, so as to ensure their interests.

Liu Yu could understand their butts, but he was a little puzzled by the phrase "rice is expensive and things are cheap", so he asked.

Dazai Chuntai also had the intention to explain clearly, and then said: "The benefits of expensive rice benefit scholars, farmers, businessmen, and not just scholars and farmers."

"If rice is expensive, I don't know that there are a lot of surplus profits for scholars and peasants. In order to ensure that they can afford rice to live, in terms of gold and silver, is the salary for them high?"

"After the opening of the port, goods flooded in, and the goods in big countries were cheap. With the rise of rice prices, it is not necessary to mention the peasants, but the laborers for the merchants. Because the gold and silver salaries have increased, the money for buying rice is removed, even if it is the same as before. The money is the same. But because of the influx of goods from big countries, the prices of things other than rice and grain have dropped, so with the same money, can’t they buy more things?”

"Isn't this benevolent government?"

Liu Yu struggled to understand for a while, and suddenly realized, what is the logic in his heart?No wonder I haven’t been able to understand that the east side also says that “rice is expensive and things are cheap to benefit the common people”, and the west side also says that “rice is expensive and things are cheap and benefits the poor”, so here it is…

If the development of industry is completely ignored, and the fierce competition in import and export of neighboring countries in the same industry is completely ignored, it seems... There is indeed some truth.

The general logic is that with gold and silver as the world currency, the higher the price of food, the higher the wages of the hired people, in order to convert the same food as before.In this way, because the price of food in neighboring countries is low, the cost of goods produced is also low, and gold and silver can buy more low-priced goods in neighboring countries, which will help improve the life of the bottom?

Straightening out the logic inside, Liu Yu was extremely happy, nodded again and again, and his heart was settled. I will write a letter of recommendation, and I guarantee that you and Abe Masaoku will never meet again.

…………

PS: PS: Some views on mercantilism are not the thoughts of Dazai Harutai, but the thoughts of Dazai Harutai and his nephew.It can be understood as the butterfly effect feedback of Nagasaki Trading under the influence of Liu Yu's policy of "the number of trust cards remains unchanged and the ship becomes larger", as well as Dashun's abandonment of Zhu Zixue and the utilitarianism that has not yet been fully established.There is also a very embarrassing place. When calculating the price of rice in the previous chapters, the decimal point was miscalculated by one digit, which is embarrassing.

(End of this chapter)