Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1306 Xinzheng New Deal (Part [-])
Although being high-level and pragmatic has a strong high-level influence, after all, the actual political status of the individual is not high enough. It is okay to talk in general and influence the emperor's thinking, but it is more difficult to handle or even control certain things specifically.

The private military industry was created by Gao Gong, which laid the foundation for the weapons and equipment of the Ming army to far exceed the same period in history; "Shu Yi Lu Shu" not only borrowed the hands of Gao Gong, but also borrowed the momentum of Guo Pu's return to the court. In the end, it was fully completed in the "Guo Pu Era", which freed Daming from the first big burden and strengthened the station system. The subsequent Battle of Monan and Northwest War actually all contributed to this incident.

Of the major national-level events that he has managed by himself, the only one is the reform of the Beijing camp, and although the matter has been completed, it is still in the "consolidation period" and is not as unbreakable as the military industry and the post station.

But now, taking advantage of the limelight of being promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Gao Wushi not only intends to take the opportunity to stabilize the results of the reform of the Beijing government, but also intends to shake up the Ming Dynasty's financial system because he is finally in charge of one party.

Of course, for the time being, he does not dare to touch the basic financial system lightly. For example, if he is asked to directly change Ming Dynasty into Song Dynasty, then he will definitely not dare, it is unrealistic, and it is unnecessary.

If you don't dare to move the core for the time being, then try to find a direction that has both a "mass foundation" and others dare not move lightly.

For example: Fully recognize the reasonable social status of businessmen, but at the same time require businessmen to assume their social responsibilities.

The reason why this incident is said to have a "mass base" is not a joke. Farmers in this era actually know that businessmen are "powerful" than themselves, especially big businessmen.

The reason is simple, a big businessman is not only rich, but also must have some background in the officialdom.These backgrounds may have cultivated scholars and officials in the family, or they may have invested in a certain or certain officials—this has been mentioned in the previous article, so I won’t go into details.

In short, anyone who can be called a big businessman must have a government background behind him. The super rich businessman invests in the central minister, the big rich businessman invests in the governor and the governor, the small and medium-sized powerhouse invests in the government and the county, and even the lesser will invest in the county officials ——Even though officials are not even counted as officials, there are many positions in terms of real power, which are almost equivalent to the deputy county level in later generations.

And what about ordinary farmers?I'm sorry, he probably can't even get in the county government office, and he doesn't want to, dare not go in.

Merchants are only divided into big and small, but farmers are not. The "big peasants" are another class, the landlord class, and they don't regard themselves as farmers.

Therefore, in the eyes of farmers, merchants are better than them even if they are wandering peddlers carrying poles and wheelbarrows, at least they are well-informed-this kind of thinking existed in many rural areas at the beginning of liberation.

Therefore, the merchant class in ancient China was not easy. While being despised by some people face to face, and secretly envied by some people at the same time, the "some people" here sometimes overlap.

But in any case, the status of businessmen in the folk is not actually very low, which is certain, and their "low status" is mainly in front of the court and court officials.

However, this situation is not static. In fact, in the 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, this situation has been constantly changing, and the general trend is that businessmen are gradually being favored by the court-for Gao Yushi, this level is not enough. Far from enough, but the trend is still to be sure.

Even in the original history, since the completion of Alda's tribute, the status of merchants has improved significantly.

Why?Because since then, the Ming court has opened up trade on almost all borders (probably only except Chahar). Wei Yuan, a thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, commented in "Sheng Wu Ji" that this peace negotiation policy "opened 200 years of peace for the dynasty ( Because the Qing Dynasty continued the northern frontier trade).”

The policy of opening border trade was a very important turning point in the Ming Dynasty's international policy, and it was also an important business opportunity for Shanxi merchants.

Since then, Shanxi merchants gradually entered the grain industry, tea industry, cotton cloth industry, animal husbandry and other industries, and became the most important and most economically active border trade operators in the Ming Dynasty.Xie Zhaozhe, a famous scholar in the Ming Dynasty, said in "Wuzazu": "For the rich to rule the roost, Jiangnan will push Xin'an, and Jiangbei will push the mountain to the right." , and the north is Shanxi merchants. (Note: Many businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang went to work with or cooperate with Huizhou merchants.)
In fact, after Jiajing, the Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated when he founded the country: "Common people's houses are no more than three or five racks", which has long been left behind by the people of the time. Huizhou merchants, such as salt merchants, etc. Extravagant food, embracing Zhao's daughter", these wealthy businessmen's enthusiasm for wealth was far higher than that of any dynasty.

It's good to have money, but it's more uncomfortable when they have to meet officials-you have to change these costumes and wear coarse clothes to visit, and you are obsequious and submissive.Even if you are the official's "funder", sometimes it can only be like this.

Is there a way to change this?You can't say no, for example, if you are very rich, but you are really not the material for studying, then you can find a way to donate a supervisor—that is, the status of a student of the Imperial College.

It doesn't matter how valuable this status is, after all, it is just equivalent to "I am studying at the Imperial College", not even "studying", but "student".But Guozijian doesn't care whether it graduates or not, because it is only a school for imperial examinations, and it is nothing more than a higher grade.

Then by analogy, the donated supervisor is actually like the "Guozijian Correspondence Class" - whether you have read it or not, only God knows if you have read it well.

But don't worry, "reading" Guozijian itself is very powerful, because the political status of supervisors is basically analogous to that of students. With the title of "supervisor", you will no longer be despised everywhere A copper-smelling merchant is equivalent to a scholar.

However, that’s all there is to it. The social status that a businessman can “get” basically comes to an end when he is a student supervisor. The pinnacle of your political status.

If this status is only at the county or prefecture level, it may be okay: there is a seat in the county yamen, and there is a place for you to stand in the government yamen, but if it goes higher, then I'm sorry, you should kneel, you I have to kneel.

But in the current Ming Dynasty in this world, due to the dominance of the Practical School that has lasted for nearly 20 years, the status of merchants is even higher than in the original history.

This is not surprising. In his early years, Gao Gong wrote a book about "the distinction between righteousness and benefit." As Gao Gong continued to be in power, the reform of the Real School continued to advance. The influence of this view on the people and even the government is immeasurable.

Moreover, Gao Yushi himself has set an example: Wen is the number one scholar, and business is the richest man.

Although it is limited to "ancestral law", all parts of his name have clansmen and servants acting as white gloves, but does anyone in the world know that he is the real boss of Jinghua?
And what kind of existence is Jinghua?It’s not about scale, it’s about social contribution: Jinghua’s various industries in Daming paid 1703 million taels of various taxes last year, of which 59 taels were finally able to receive the central government, which is close to the annual total of Daming’s household department. one-tenth of income.

With such a large social contribution, you say that the "businessman" Gao Pragmatism is a bad guy?

This is true at the civil level, but also at the official level.Needless to say, the Practical School has always advocated improving the status of businessmen; the Heart School is actually consistent with the Practical School on this point-there are more big businessmen behind the officials of the Heart School!
From the perspective of court officials, the most influential people, such as Qiu Jun, Wang Shouren, Wang Tingxiang, Gao Gong, etc., all supported the improvement of the status of merchants. Come play this hand.

Here is a question: Since so many bigwigs support the improvement of the status of merchants, why hasn't it been done yet?

The answer is not complicated: social status must be linked to social contribution, and the court or the emperor may accept it.

You only asked for a higher status, but my emperor and the court didn't see any benefits, so why should I agree to you?I'll help you reform this thing, do you think there is no cost?I have to consider whether the diehards will be the best, I have to consider the shake of "orthodoxy" brought about by changing the ancestral system, and other aspects must be taken into consideration.

I'll do it for you as long as you move your lips. Where do you have such a beautiful face?

However, the problem is stuck here, because before the emergence of high pragmatism, almost no businessman is willing to assume any "social responsibility".

Or in other words, today's businessmen feel that they have taken on a lot of social responsibilities.

What?You don't even want to pay taxes, what kind of bullshit responsibility do you bear?
There is a bit of a misunderstanding here.

In Gao Pragmatic's eyes, paying taxes is almost the most basic item of social responsibility, because taxation is in principle "taken from the people and used for the people". Does not match.

The mainstream view is: the world belongs to the emperor, so people in the world provide money to the emperor.

Not to mention that the common people think so, in fact, even many officials think so, which is bad.

All the people in the world support your family and surname, we are all the ruled class, and we are all people who suffer, so of course the less we pay, the better!
If this issue is to be carried out and comprehensively reformed, the emperor must restrict the financial power of the household department, because only the emperor cannot use the household department's money for private use (such as rewarding King Lu), and people in the world will not think of this money. It's all left to the emperor himself, but Gao Yushi obviously can't handle this.

However, we can't always think of the emperor to compromise on this matter, otherwise today it will be delayed tomorrow, tomorrow will be delayed the day after tomorrow, and it will not be resolved if it is delayed until the end of time.

With limited power, we should deal with the businessman first.

Why do businessmen think they are socially responsible without paying much tax?
The reason is that they often do some "good deeds" to build roads and bridges for the sake of their reputation in their hometown, and they also donate money for disaster relief like Gao Yushi did in the past. This is what businessmen often do, and it is also what they think I am actually the main reason for taking social responsibility.

In addition, for example, when the Japanese pirates were rampant in those years, many businessmen would donate silver taels (or be forced to donate) to strengthen the local defenses.

In addition, there are all kinds of other things, whether it is any kind of construction or defense in the local area, businessmen will be called to "collect donations" and "pledge donations" at every turn. Say no with confidence, so...don't you assume social responsibility?
But Gao Yushi thinks that this kind of "commitment" is very distorted, and as far as the court is concerned, this thing is completely uncontrollable!
In history, Emperor Chongzhen himself was so poor that his dragon robes were about to be patched, and the concubines in the harem almost ran out of jewelry. How much money did the merchants in the capital donate?Yes, but not much.Even the officials in the capital were more ruthless: I am an honest official, I have no money to donate!

Then when Li Zicheng came, the number directly confiscated exceeded 2000 million taels.

Gao Pragmatic's point of view is very simple, your money is legal income, no matter how much you have, the court should not have any idea about your money, but you have to pay the taxes that should be paid.As for donations, if you have the heart and strength, it is good if you are willing to contribute; on the contrary, if you refuse to accept donations, there is nothing wrong with it, and you cannot engage in moral bondage.

(The following anti-theft paragraph has been updated and can be read normally. It was supposed to wait for half an hour, but I was sleepy...)——
But this matter is not easy to handle. Although there are many merchants that Gao Pragmatism can influence, they are mainly northern merchants. Apart from Jinghua itself, the core is the Shanxi Merchants.

For Shanxi merchants, Gao Pragmatism is more confident that he can persuade. The reason is not only that Jinghua has actually become the leader of the northern shopping malls, but also a key factor is that Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei are still alive.

Although Wang Chonggu has retired, he is in good health, Yuan Shi will not die until next year; although Zhang Siwei is in poor health, but the world has changed, Li Shizhen has been paying attention, and he does not seem to be in danger for the time being.

The promotion of Shanxi merchants' status was originally due to the wave of Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei. After their death, Shanxi merchants lost control, and later developed to dare to do any business, and eventually became one of the important gravediggers of Ming Dynasty.

However, not to mention the highly pragmatic guidance now, and both Wang and Zhang are still alive, Shanxi merchants have not lost control, and are still within the scope of management.

Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei are not only the leaders of Shanxi merchants, but also the leaders of the Jin Party. It is impossible for them to only consider business issues. Gao Yushi has the confidence to persuade them.

The reason is not difficult: before the two of you turned out to be born, although you two were rich, did you have any status?Don't you want to change this phenomenon?

Think about it, Gao Yushi's mother was born in Zhang's family in Puzhou, a wealthy family in Northland. When she was born, the Gao family was not very satisfied with her at first.

Why?You are from a businessman background, if you can marry into the Gao family, that is Gao Pan - even if Gao Cai was just a student at the time, that is Gao Pan!

If the status of businessmen can be improved and they are no longer regarded as lowly people, how can Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei refuse?

It's just that the northern businessman is easy to deal with, but the southern businessman is not so easy to handle...
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Thank you book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your support, thank you!
Thanks to the book friend "Zonglang" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
(End of this chapter)