Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 176 Leverage
Ever since he realized that if he wants to vigorously develop the domestic economy, he must first develop the handicraft industry in the south of the Yangtze River, promote the gradual development of its surrounding areas, and gradually get rid of the self-sufficient and backward small-scale peasant economy of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian began to think about the future What kind of ways to guide and participate in this reform.

It is no longer necessary to open the sea with great fanfare.The most important thing is to participate in it quietly and push it forward, and the form doesn't matter.

Now that the imperial court is declining and its authority is not as good as before, many of the original laws and regulations have long been useless.

The court's sea ban policy has long existed in name only, and there is no need to argue with courtiers anymore.

If we talk about opening the sea in the imperial court now, we will meet fierce opposition from the Donglin Party.

Because the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River they represent are the beneficiaries of the sea ban, and it is the spokesperson of this interest group in the court that bewitches the imperial court to ban the sea.

Commodities sold overseas and everywhere are produced by Jiangnan, and distributors, large and small, are the main components of this interest group.

With the official sea ban policy, Jiangnan merchants have reason to exclude merchants from other provinces who want to make money from maritime trade.

But if the imperial court loosened the sea ban, they would have no reason to openly keep others out.Monopoly is the source of huge profits. In order to maintain such huge profits, they will use various reasons and create various incidents to oppose the court's opening of the sea.

On the ocean near Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, tens of thousands of ships of all sizes travel between countries every year. According to the law, these scenes are impossible to exist.

In fact, most of these merchant ships were owned by Jiangnan gentry who opposed the opening of the sea.

However, more capital and personnel must be involved, and more efforts should be made to expand the market, so as to form a benign competitive environment and break the monopoly of a certain group. This will bring more vitality to the Ming economy and enable Reasonable business practices that benefit more people.

The emergence of Sihai Commercial Bank will break this monopoly behavior to a certain extent.Because the background is too deep, I believe that no one dares to set up obstacles for the involvement of the Universal Trading Company.If someone dared to do that, it would just give the Four Seas Trading Company a good opportunity to expand its power.

Only by increasing capital investment can we organize large-scale production and expand the scale and quantity of export products.Occupy as many emerging markets outside the territory as possible, in exchange for more real money.

Although there are many workshops in the Jiangnan area, they are all small in scale.There are dozens of people in the big ones, dozens of people in the small ones, and most of them are family workshops. In this way, they accumulate day and night like a tower, and finally they are collected by businessmen and sold overseas or to various places in Ming Dynasty.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon.

Awareness of the small-scale peasant economy, lack of openness of mind, small wealth means peace; local government does not support; lack of sufficient funds to expand reproduction; the money earned is not reinvested in the industry, but purchased into land, these are the most important constraints factor.

It is relatively easy to change other aspects. Zhu Youjian can solve it through investment guidance or mandatory orders.

But ideological confinement and lack of broad vision are the hardest things to change.

Today is different from the era of information explosion in later generations. People in this era are very resistant to new things and radical ideas.

This traditional and old-fashioned situation is mainly caused by the low literacy rate and the overwhelming majority of illiterates.

A person can acquire a lot of knowledge only if he reads well, and his vision and thoughts will change subtly.

It is still impossible to carry out literacy campaigns in the whole of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian can only use gradual methods to gradually change this situation.

Under the instruction of Zhu Youjian, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang took the lead in starting the literacy campaign in our department.

The movement was led by Wang Chengen and Luo Yangxing.Dongchang and Jinyiwei respectively hired a number of old students and failed scholars who had no hope in the pilot test and made a living by writing family letters to others and teaching a few children. They promised to use several times their annual income to force them Sexual literacy begins.

Zhu Youjian did not require these personnel to reach the level of a scholar, but he required that they must know more than [-] and less than [-] commonly used characters, and be able to recognize and write related official documents.

Those who fail to meet the standards will not be promoted and reused, and there will be no rewards for the year-end assessment.Those with more literacy and more familiarity with the format of official documents will be promoted and used.

Although this requirement is difficult, it is not impossible. It depends on whether you use your heart or not.

As long as it is linked to personal interests, I believe the captains will have sufficient motivation.

Normal people in later generations can basically read more than [-] characters, and more than [-] characters are not too many.

In Zhu Youjian's plan, the next step is to extend Jinyiwei's power to every prefecture and county. While collecting intelligence and preventing emergencies, he will also strictly supervise the prefectural and county governments.

In the future, the safety of the capital city will be mainly borne by Dongchang, and Jin Yiwei's supervision will be aimed at the local government of Ming Dynasty.

The literacy method of Dongchang and Jinyiwei is not suitable for spreading in Daming, not only in the north where wars and famines are raging, but also in the relatively prosperous Jiangnan.

The organizational capabilities of the Ming government cannot be compared with those of later generations, and the vast majority of the people are more concerned about food and interests.

Let's wait until the conditions are met.

Since this era cannot take the initiative to move forward, let me push and drive it.

Although Zhu Youjian has little knowledge of economics, he still has the most basic understanding: investment stimulates demand, and tax reduction stimulates production. These two points are the simplest and most effective.

Now that it is decided to use Jiangnan as the leader to drive the economic development of Ming Dynasty, it is necessary to formulate corresponding measures and methods.

Sihai Commercial Bank will play an important role in it.

Whether the reform is implicit or explicit, it will touch the interests of some people, and will be opposed openly or secretly by those with vested interests. They will use various means to defend their own interests.

In order to prevent possible unrest, the use of force as a means of suppression is indispensable.

Under Zhu Youjian's instructions, the Ministry of War moved Mrs. Guo's Xuzhou camp to Hangzhou, the reason being to prevent pirates from invading Jiangnan.

Although there were only 3000 people who participated in the Battle of Shouzhou, they had an overwhelming advantage over the long-rotten Jiangnan Guards.

The Jinyiwei Hangzhou Mansion and the Ningbo Mansion Thousand Household Office were also established one after another, and the two Thousand Household Offices were drawn from Jinyiwei's elite forces.

The Jinyiwei Hangzhou Qianhu Office has jurisdiction over the three prefectures of Hangzhou, Jiahu, and Ningbo. The Ningbo Qianhu Office is responsible for handling emergency incidents in the three prefectures of Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Jinhua.

In addition to [-] school lieutenants and wrestlers in each of the two thousand-household offices, they were also equipped with [-] Tiqi from Beizhen Fusi as mobile weapons.This kind of staffing is enough to suppress possible small-scale civil upheavals or turmoil, plus the soldiers of the Xuzhou camp, even if large-scale turmoil occurs, they will be easily subdued.

This is mostly just in case.In the Jiangnan area, which has been at peace for a long time and has been prosperous for more than 200 years, it is difficult to have many passionate men.

The governor of Zhejiang must be replaced, otherwise it will become a major obstacle.

Under Zhu Youjian's instruction, Zhejiang governor Zhang Bingzhen was promoted to the right servant of the Ministry of Rites. In the case of bringing down Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen, Chang Ziyu, who was generous in military affairs, became the new Zhejiang governor with the title of Yushi of Youqian Capital.

Chen Liangmo, the imperial censor of Fengyang and Chen Zhizhong, the imperial censor of Zhejiang, exchanged positions. This is a normal personnel adjustment, and no one can say anything else.Both Chen Liangmo and Chang Ziyu came from Baitai. They have a good relationship in private, and they are both upright and outspoken people. They are in the same province, which is more conducive to controlling officials at all levels in Zhejiang.

The Ministry of Rites is a noble yamen, and there were already left and right servants. The sudden addition of a right servant surprised the courtiers. Some puzzled people asked the emperor, and the answer they got was to better educate the world, so the power of the Ministry of Rites was specially strengthened. .

This answer makes it difficult to find fault.

Could it be that you oppose the great event of enlightening the world?

The purpose of doing this, Zhu Youjian knew: Aren't you the spokesperson of the Donglin Party?Then come to me, I will find a place to hang you up first.In the future, some important ministers in the south of the Yangtze River will come to the capital under this name. This is the promotion and affirmation of you by the imperial court. The important task of educating the world belongs to you.

Not only the high-ranking officials in Jiangnan, but the transfer of prefectural and county officials is also in Zhu Youjian's plan. In the future, things like the swap of Fengxiang Mansion and the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture will happen from time to time.The relevant regulations issued by the Ministry of Officials last time were born to prevent disobedience to the imperial court's orders.

Since Jiangnan is the stronghold of the Donglin Party, it is better to disintegrate it fundamentally.

Is that what it means to vacate the cage and change the bird?The word is a little familiar.

Chang'an Town is located in the northeast of Hangzhou Prefecture. It is a prosperous town under the jurisdiction of Haining County, more than [-] miles away from Hangzhou.

There are more than [-] households in this little-known small town in the south of the Yangtze River, among which weavers account for more than half; there are dozens of shops in the town's silk market street, which are specially used to buy and sell the silk produced by weavers in this town. , the locally produced long yarn, small cloth and satin are well-known and very popular.

Huang Bin is a native of the country. He is in his early 20s and has a wife and two sons in his family. Both his parents are still alive.Huang Bin has been raising silkworms and reeling silk with his parents since he was sensible. At the age of 14, he entered the workshop in the town and learned the silk weaving skills.Two years later, Huang Bin, who was ingenious and handy, became more and more mature in his craft, so he came up with the idea of ​​opening his own workshop.Under his repeated persuasion, the family bought a loom with the money accumulated over the years, and Huang Bin quit his job in the workshop and went home to weave silk by himself.

Huang Bin's family has five acres of mulberry fields, and there are more than ten baskets of baby silkworms in his home, so he doesn't have to worry about the source of raw silk; coupled with his talent in weaving silk, the silk weaves is smooth and moist, and it becomes a sought-after item in the market.Several merchants who sell silk all the year round rushed to buy his silk and satin, and a relatively large merchant directly paid him a deposit in advance and covered all his output.

Shi Huang Bin married his current wife with the money he earned from weaving silk, and used the spare money to buy another loom. He and his wife, who knew how to use looms in their boudoirs, each had a loom, and worked from morning to morning. In the evening, at You hour, except for eating and relaxing in the middle, I spent almost the whole day on the loom.

Although it is very tiring to carry the pedals all day long, when I see the money in exchange for silk and satin, all the tiredness is swept away.

With the accumulation of original capital and his wife's pregnancy and childbirth, Huang Bin bought several machines one after another, and hired several workers from the town to help him do the work.He himself has multiple jobs, not only helping his parents raise silkworms and reeling silk, but also replacing the loom when workers cannot come to work because of something at home, repairing the loom by himself when something breaks down, and not being able to produce enough silk at home. When purchasing and preparing materials in advance, they are busy all day long, but the small days are getting more and more prosperous. The whole family is full of expectations for the future.

While being satisfied with the fact that the five looms brought him dozens of pieces of money each year, Huang Bin also had a vague ambition in his heart——if he could buy a piece of land, build a larger workshop, buy Dozens of looms and hundreds of workers are hired to help him weave silk. How much money will he earn a year?
Unfortunately, this idea is also in my heart.How much money do you need to buy land to build a house, buy looms, hoard raw silk, and pay workers daily wages and manage two meals?It can't be done without a few thousand taels.

"Abin! There are guests coming to see you!"

Daddy's cry interrupted Huang Bin's thoughts.

guest?It should be a merchant who purchases silk and satin, right?My family's silks and satins have been fully covered by Zhang Yuanwai, and it's not like my father doesn't know about it, so just resign.

Huang Bin put down a handful of raw silk in his hand, turned around and walked outside the house.

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(End of this chapter)