Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 489 I am willing to borrow

Good question!If Zhu Zaiyu didn't ask, Gao Yushi would not know how to continue the next topic.

However, this is not really one problem, but two.

So Gao Wushi smiled and said: "Mr. Jiufeng, these are two questions, but it doesn't matter, the students will answer them one by one."

"First of all, where do the local government offices in Huguang get the money to build water conservancy projects?" Gao Wushi said: "Usually when we build water conservancy projects in various local government offices, they either have a slight surplus and start work on their own initiative, but generally speaking...well, Mr. I know that most of the local government departments don’t have much money. Even if they build water conservancy projects, they can basically only repair and fix it, and they can’t make a name for themselves. If you really want to start a larger project, you can only apply to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Ministry of Household Affairs They are not rich, unless the local disasters are too frequent, they will try to make up for it, not to mention the drop in the bucket, the time is still too long, and the efficiency is extremely low.”

"There is another kind, which is led by the yamen, contacting the local wealthy gentry and big businessmen to contribute to the construction of water conservancy. In this case, more funds will be raised, and the scale and quality will be relatively more secure. But at the same time, this This method of construction often causes some troubles, and the biggest problem lies in the 'one site only one site'."

"Since the local rich gentry and big businessmen paid the money, their main consideration must be for their own interests, and they don't care much about neighboring prefectures and counties. For example, the rich gentry and big businessmen in County A raised funds to build an aqueduct Nine out of ten, they will not consider whether the adjacent County B will be short of water after their aqueduct is completed. In many cases, this will cause conflicts between the two counties, and at the same time make the aqueduct Engineering isn't really working to its fullest potential."

Zhu Zaiyu secretly marveled: Over the years, many Beijing officials have secretly called this young man Xiaoge Lao. They originally thought that he was just like Yan Shifan, just relying on the power of his parents to do things wrong.But only after seeing his true face today did he know that this young man is really serious about how to govern!This is amazing, how old is he, fifteen or sixteen?Are you thinking about all these things?It seems reasonable for Gao Xinzheng to train him as a successor.Well, it seems like a good move for the late emperor to ask him to accompany Jinshang to study.

Gao Wushi didn't know that Zhu Zaiyu was a little distracted, and continued to analyze: "So, there are problems with these two construction methods. One is that there is insufficient funds to start large-scale projects, and the efficiency is still low; the other is that they are not well thought out and limited to One city, one place, did not maximize the effect of water conservancy facilities."

Zhu Zaiyu became interested and asked, "Gao Longwen's analysis is indeed thorough, so how can we solve these problems?"

Gao Wushi smiled and said: "If someone is willing to lend money to the local government and plan these water conservancy projects in a unified way to achieve the effect of 'one project benefits many places', all these matters will be resolved."

Zhu Zaiyu was stunned for a moment: "Who can lend money to the Yamen?"

"Why can't you lend money to the Yamen?" Gao Wushi laughed: "Mr. Jiufeng is worried that the Yamen won't pay back the money?"

"Uh, this..." Zhu Zaiyu was a little astonished, but hesitantly said: "The Yamen should pay back the money... right? However, even if the Yamen is willing to pay back, what if they have no money to pay back? "

"It's easy." Gao Wushi smiled and said, "It's good to mortgage the banknotes and customs tax—if they can't afford the money for a while, they will mortgage the commercial tax to the person who lent them the money, and repay part of it every year until it is fully repaid." Of course, these commercial taxes do not need to be mortgaged in full, but can also be mortgaged in part, such as half of the mortgage, [-]% of the mortgage, etc. The specific situation can be discussed in detail.”

"This... lending money to the Yamen seems a bit..." Although Zhu Zaiyu is a great scientist, he obviously never considered that he could still play like this.China's past dynasties have been authoritarian politics, not merchant politics, so Zhu Zaiyu was a little bit at a loss for a while: How could the yamen owe money to individuals?
If he did this, wouldn't the person who was willing to borrow money become a creditor of the Yamen!Where is the Yamen's face?
Gao Wushi asked with a smile: "Mr. Jiufeng thinks it's shameful for the Yamen to ask someone to borrow money?"

"Uh, this... is a bit, a bit embarrassing." Zhu Zaiyu couldn't find any suitable words for a while, so he could only make do with "a bit embarrassing".

Gao Wushi shook his head and said, "Actually, there has been a history of individuals lending money to yamen."

Zhu Zaiyu asked in surprise, "Really? Is there an example?"

"Of course." Gao Wushi smiled and said, "For example, it is recorded in "Historical Records" that in the three years of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, in order to quell the rebellion of the princes, a lot of money was needed. The leading generals of the Han Dynasty had to borrow money from merchants, and it was Usury loans. However, many merchants are reluctant to borrow money because they are worried about whether the great rebellion will be quelled."

Gao Wushi paused and blinked: "However, there is a Wuyan family who is willing to lend money to the court, but this person asks for a very harsh price, and he wants ten times the interest! In order to suppress the rebellion, the Han court finally had to I did not borrow this money, but three months later, the Wu-Chu rebellion was put down, and the Wuyan family recovered the principal and interest as scheduled, and became a rich man in Chang'an in one fell swoop. As a result, lending even became a means for the high-ranking official families of the Western Han Dynasty to obtain wealth. One of the main ways."

After saying this, Zhu Zaiyu immediately understood, and said: "This is the 'Ziqian family' (usury merchant) in the Han Dynasty! If you say that, there have been such people in all dynasties, for example, there was a 'Xingqian' in the Song Dynasty. ; In the Yuan Dynasty, there was "lamb profit". Guan Hanqing's "Saving the Wind and Dust" said that "the dry man is exhausted, and the one who buys something is worth the lamb profit." The profit of the lamb is more than the capital'."

Gao Wushi nodded: "Well...somewhat similar."

Zhu Zaiyu said urgently: "But this court is not allowed! Our court's "Da Ming Law" has a clear regulation: Anyone who privately lends money, debts and pawns can not exceed three cents of the monthly interest. Although there are many years and months, it is only one One profit. Offenders will be punished with forty floggings, and the remaining profits will be counted as dirty, and those who are serious will be judged as dirty!"

Gao Wushi smiled: "So what the student said just now was 'somewhat similar', not the same!" He stretched out three fingers: "If you lend money to this person in the government, you only charge [-]% of the interest? Even, Maybe it can be less? It’s not against the law, is it?”

"Uh..." Zhu Zaiyu was stunned for a moment, and said hesitantly, "This should not break the law." But he thought of a big problem again, and opened his eyes wide and said, "But we are talking about major water conservancy repairs. The money needed is not a small number! The money that the Wuyan family lent to the court of the Han Dynasty was only a mere thousand gold, but this... the construction of water conservancy in Huguang, how can one thousand gold be worth it? Ten thousand gold cannot be paid Live, maybe even a hundred thousand gold! Who is willing to borrow such a large amount of money? And who can borrow so much money?"

"Mr. Jiufeng, that's a good question!" Gao Wushi laughed: "Gao is a mere new Zheng, but he is not talented. He is willing to borrow this money, and... he can also borrow it."

　I received a notice yesterday that today a large part of the community will experience a power outage due to a certain project. The expected power outage time will be from 7:8 am to 1:2 pm, so this chapter will be released regularly, and there may be [-]-[-] chapters to follow. Published.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)