I'm really not doing business

Chapter 462 Labor makes people free
Wang Chonggu was not a god, and he could not make something out of nothing. When the woolen official factory was first built, he fully studied Liu Bowen's military garrison system, and also the resident craftsman system formulated by Emperor Cheng Zuwen. The woolen official factory gradually changed. It has become the current official, factory and group-building method.

Lin Fucheng's appearance as an opposition member provided Zhu Yijun with a new perspective to observe the results of Ming Dynasty's New Deal.

The freedom theory of the Songjiang School is logically self-consistent. The government-factory alliance will inevitably fail because the return on assets will inevitably decrease. This is an inevitable market law, and the excessive interference of the Ming court will inevitably cause an inevitable problem. .

That is the liabilities of the Ming Dynasty. National bonds, ship certificates, and two new certificates of Suiyuan Chidao and Suiyuan Mining. Like banknotes, they are fundamentally debts. The debts borrowed by the Ming Dynasty from the private sector will increase with the return on assets. As the interest rate decreases, the court's debt will eventually turn into a spiral spiraling upward.

In Lin Fucheng's view, the official factory and group system had its own limitations. The original intention of the official factory and group system was to resettle gangsters and was a typical example of work-for-relief. It was not profit-oriented. However, the Ming Minfang was entirely based on profit. Therefore, under the premise that Ming Dynasty's overall liabilities will inevitably increase, it is more appropriate for Minfang to realize this practical issue of asset return.

To achieve this, it is very, very simple. All you need to do is set up a trading house in Songjiang Prefecture. Yanxinglou Trading House is in the capital and is completely controlled by the imperial court. The imperial court's control is too broad, and it is impossible for private households to have food on the table, or even There was great resistance from the imperial court and the Ministry of Household Affairs. After nine years of hard work, there were only three types of tickets.

By setting up a trading house in Songjiang Prefecture and allowing people to eat, the overall return on assets will be guaranteed.

Is Lin Fucheng’s idea a good idea? good. But it cannot be done now, because once it is established in Songjiang Prefecture, the trading house's speculative nature will be infinitely magnified, and the trading house's own purpose of promoting industrial and commercial development will completely become a big gambling house. The trading house will completely lose its rationality and become a trap for gamblers. Paradise, the sharp knife used by bankers to harvest the coolies of the poor.

Zhu Yijun leaned back on his chair. The Ming Emperor, who was busy with the expansion of Yanxinglou Trading House, had his dinner and while reviewing the remaining memorials, he picked up a miscellaneous newspaper. This miscellaneous newspaper was that This is a civilian newspaper that Zhu Yijun likes very much.

The content of the people's newspaper contains a lot of food, drink, entertainment, and a lot of excitement to watch. It uses common words and punctuation, which anyone who can read can understand clearly.

"Is this an advertisement? Chen Ji's bath beans?" Zhu Yijun opened it and was attracted by the advertisement in the corner of the People's Daily at first sight. It was a very simple painting of a flower with simple lines, and there was only a short sentence "Bath" on it. Advertisement for beans: Bath beans are better made by Chen Ji.

Zhang Hong said with a smile: "Chen Jiaqi's bath beans are really good, and we are planning to sell them in Huangzhuang."

This time, Wang Qian published his research results in newspapers under the pen name of Mr. Xuhuai.

While other miscellaneous newspapers are still publishing once a month, or even once a fortnight, Minbao has already published a daily publication, with detailed content and is widely liked by everyone.

"The People's Daily run by Geng Dingxiang has become the best-selling miscellaneous newspaper in the capital, and it is also the only miscellaneous newspaper published daily in the capital." Feng Bao delivered the Today's People's Daily to His Majesty.

Apparently the People's Daily has found a way to make money other than selling newspapers.

Zhu Yijun knew Wang Qian's vest very well. He had used this vest to write articles more than once.

Without chess, calligraphy and painting, it is impossible to retain high-ranking officials. To entertain people with sex, it cannot only be sex, but also some talent.

If you are pregnant, and the high official is kind-hearted, it would be better to give more. If the high-ranking official is cruel, and gives you a small reward, you have to pay for the wife herself, and the mother-in-law who takes care of her during the confinement period should also pay for the child. You have to spend your own money, and children are a bottomless pit, especially the children of high-ranking officials.

Generally speaking, outsiders can get two to three taels of silver per month, and the food, clothing, housing, and transportation, except for housing, everything else is included in these two taels of silver. Rouge and gouache require money, food and clothing require money, and music, chess, calligraphy, and painting require money. If the moonlight has these three kinds, it will cost as much as two taels of silver.

There is also an outhouse where no children can be born, but there is no money left.

It is already difficult to maintain one's own life in the outer room, but there is usually a maid in the outer room. The maid's expenses are paid by the outer room, and she can only rely on the two or three taels a month. Really Unable to maintain.

So, isn’t outdoor living great?
Wang Qian answered this question with a running account. The answer is no. Life in the outer chamber is usually not good.

Those high-ranking officials always say that buying a house for their foreign wife will make them feel at ease, but they almost never do it, because those who keep their foreign wife live in the city, and houses in the city are extremely expensive.

Living in the main house means that the wife is making things difficult, and she is not even a concubine. You can imagine how difficult life is, and it is even better to live outside.

In the eyes of high-ranking officials, the outer room is just an object, and even the concubine's room is just a familiar object. This status determines that high-ranking officials will not invest too much, so they rarely buy houses, and most of them are rented. Or simply keep them in the brothel.

The outer chamber is more stable than the courtesan in the brothel. Everyone is out to sell, but the outer chamber has a much more stable life than the courtesan in the brothel, because the customers are fixed. Serving one person is completely different from serving countless people, and the difficulty is completely different. Most of those who can afford to maintain an outhouse are high-ranking officials and high-quality customers.

Spending so much and still having to live, this is indeed asking for trouble for oneself, but Wai Shi's biggest wish is to live in the family of a high official, and then he will no longer be homeless.

Giving birth to a child is undoubtedly the best and fastest way. Some children born in an outer room are difficult to deliver and die, about 10% of them die. Some children are born in an outer room, and the children are taken away. They themselves are old and old because of the childbirth, and they are abandoned. For most of the children, less than 20% can live in the outer room where the child is born.

The emperor's preferences are also Ming Dynasty's secrets.

Su Shi was demoted to Lingnan because of the Wutai Poetry Case. Su Shi had a good friend named Wang Gong, who was demoted to Lingnan together. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Lingnan was still a wild and dangerous place. Wang Gong had a singer named Yu Niang who was very interested in the king. Gong never gave up and followed Wang Gong to Lingnan.

How much money can be left in an outer room after a year? The answer given by Wang Qian is: owe money.

If there is no rouge and gouache, the high officials will not like it and look down upon it. They will come less often and receive even less reward.

The Wang family's scissors, the Chen family's bath beans, the Liu family's fish oil, and the Wang family's furs, these are the advertisements in this newspaper, distributed in the four corners. It is obvious that Geng Daing's pace is not big, and there are only four small frames. This is a commercial trial.

In Wang Qian's big data, 80% of the wives live in rented houses, 10% are able to live in the main family because the main wife has no children, and the remaining 10% are even more miserable, living in a brothel.

Jiao Hong, the number one scholar in the fifth year of Wanli, was a doctor of the Imperial Academy of Research in the Ming Dynasty. Jiao Hong's teacher was Geng Dingxiang. Geng Dingxiang served as a tutor in Nanjing in the early years of Wanli. Later, he returned to Beijing and worked as a secretary of the Imperial College in the capital. He stayed here for four years. During these years, Geng Dingxiang was not very interested in official promotion. Instead, he was quite interested in the "Min Bao".

Wang Qian is also the censor of the capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He is a fourth-rank official and helps Hai Rui fight corruption. Wang Qian is responsible for finding the clues, and Hai Rui is responsible for cutting the mess quickly. Wang Qian is in the dark and Hai Rui is in the light. Wang Qian helps find the clues. The only way to solve the problem is to make a fuss about the outer room.

Those who couldn't pay back the money returned to the brothel. At this time, the flowering season had passed and the business was bleak. If they couldn't pay back the money, they had to find ways to accept customers who had not been accepted in the past.

If a high-ranking official is kind-hearted and a banker comes to ask for money, the high-ranking official will return the money. But most high-ranking officials are not so kind-hearted, and most of them will directly drive away these bankers begging for money.

The content of the People's Daily is closely related to the people, which is why the People's Daily is so popular.

And today's content also made Zhu Yijun's eyes light up.

The People's Daily was very popular. This was not Zhu Yijun's fault. What was good for the superiors would be the same for the poor. As a result, officials in the Ming Dynasty had a share of the People's Daily so that the People's Daily could maintain their livelihood. Zhu Yijun only liked to read the People's Daily, and only Feng Bao and Zhang Hong and several eunuchs knew that there was someone specifically responsible for purchasing.

Even the concubines brought into the house can be given away, let alone the concubines raised outside.

After telling the allusion, Wang Qian changed the topic and talked about the living conditions of the outer chambers of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Qian has a large number of samples.

The content of the people's newspapers rarely involves politics, and most of them discuss people's livelihood.

There are special banks that lend money to these outhouses, and those women who walk around the streets sell this information and take a cut of the profits.

Why don't high-ranking officials want to buy a house when they keep an outhouse? If you don’t have money, what kind of outhouse can you keep? ! Because high-ranking officials usually have more than one outhouse, and many times, high-ranking officials often give away outhouses to each other. Even if they live in the main family and offend the head wife, the head wife will make the family uneasy.' Concubine's house.

The front page content is a piece of content published by Wang Qian under the pseudonym Mr. Xuhuai, and the content is quite sharp, "This is my hometown where peace of mind is", and the subtitle is: On the outer chamber.

There are also some outhouses that do not have children. What they fear most is being taken out by high-ranking officials to participate in arty gatherings such as poetry gatherings, because this means that they are likely to be exchanged out. This means that the high-ranking officials are tired of being taken away. After moving out, you may even have to pay for the rented house.

Many years later, Su Shi and Wang Gong met again. Wang Gong asked Yu Niang to pour wine for Su Shi. Su Shi asked Yu Niang if Lingnan was bitter?
Yu Niang replied: This place of peace is my hometown.

The outer chamber rarely goes to the mansions of high officials to cause trouble, because there are only a few concierges and domestic slaves in the mansions of high officials. If the outer chambers go to make noise, the result may be a mass grave.

In contrast, the weavers in the official woolen factory were able to keep two or three taels of silver throughout the year, and they could even find a good match, so they had hope for life.

This place of peace of mind is my hometown. Most of the outsiders have no peace of mind in their lives, let alone the beginning of peace of mind. They can't even leave much money. Their wandering life is a true portrayal of them.

This is the case in the outer chamber, and even more so with most of the girls in the brothel.

Wang Qian's article is not too loose. There are only two main contents. The first one is to rely on "big officials" to survive like a slave. It is a relationship of strong personal dependence and cannot lead a stable life. All by others;
The second is that labor makes people free. Zhi Niang’s experience and labor ability are Zhi Niang’s fixed assets. Only through continuous labor can one be free.

Even if a large amount of silver flows into the Ming Dynasty and material desires are rampant, the best choice for most poor coolies is not to work as cattle or horses for others and establish strong personal dependence production relationships such as tenants, servants, and wives. Rely on your own hands to make money, the production relationship of employment.

"Wang Qian's article is very good. It should be chosen above Dibao." Zhu Yijun spoke highly of this article because it was meaningful, detailed data, and gave an exact point of view. The labor force used People are free.

Zhu Yijun finally finished reading the miscellaneous newspapers, and looked at the memorials divided into categories. The emperor also wanted to see the memorials, and no one would stop the memorials from coming to His Majesty. The happy days were quite short, until Zhu Yijun saw the willow branches above the moon. Finally finishing today's memorial and reply, I stretched my body.

Today's memorial mainly focuses on Suiyuan Chidao and Suiyuan Mining. The land will attract the Qin army, the fertile land will attract the Han army, and the horses will attract the Tang army. Now, the mineral veins will attract the Ming army.

Qi Jiguang's small steps and quick steps, taking each step carefully, aroused criticism from the Dao Mingke Taoist officials. This group of traditional conservatives now believed that Qi Shuai was too conservative.

A general who is currently fighting abroad, leading the Beijing camp to restore the rule of the Peking capital and Hetao, a general who must fight with a dignified plain and a short sword, and then surrender to the enemy after being defeated, is actually criticized for being conservative. This can also be regarded as a manifestation of Ming Dynasty's current predicament. The Ming Dynasty lacked gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal. Now Suiyuan's development has made the conservatives of the Ming Dynasty become more radical than the radicals.

A long time ago, when Zhang Juzheng was discussing silver, he mentioned the dangers of relying entirely on other countries for silver. Once overseas silver stops flowing in, it will cause a lot of problems. But now, on land, within reach of the Ming Dynasty, Womagang appeared in everyone's sight. Compared with overseas inflows, onshore silver mining seemed more reassuring.

Conservatives believed that the imperial court should immediately make plans to attack Mobei.

"Take the road step by step, eat the food one bite at a time, and it will last them to death." Zhu Yijun rubbed his brows helplessly. These Confucian scholars are always jumping back and forth between the two extremes, building roads, prospecting, and mining. Everything takes time. Qi Jiguang's conservativeness is just for safety and blind pursuit of speed. On the contrary, his foundation is empty, just like practicing martial arts without standing, and he cannot stand firmly, let alone fight.

Zhu Yijun admitted that he was indeed not as patient as Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng always took the trouble to explain why he did what he did, explaining to the emperor, courtiers, and foreign officials, with the intention of convincing everyone, even if the results were unsatisfactory.

Zhu Yijun is not as patient as Zhang Juzheng.

An autumn rain and a cold. When I woke up in the morning, the sky was gray. An autumn rain came unexpectedly and soaked the streets. After the baptism of the autumn rain, the capital became a little clearer. The soot that had been diffused all day finally disappeared. Washed by the autumn rain, it became a little clearer. Ming Gong's car stopped at Zuoshun Gate, and Ming Gong one by one walked into the side hall of Wenhua Hall, waiting for the court meeting.

Wang Daokun's face was solemn. Looking at Wang Guoguang and Zhang Xueyan with unkind expressions, he shook his sleeves vigorously and said, "Big Situ and Young Situ are really clever. They are taking advantage of the profit tax report to make noise about the banknote law again." Yes, I actually convinced His Majesty."

"Overseas! Overseas!" Zhang Xueyan took a step forward and argued loudly.

Wang Daokun looked at Zhang Xueyan and said very angry: "Young Situ! Overseas? To put it nicely, speculators can speculate on anything. Do you think they will send it overseas or go to the countryside after they get the Wanli treasure banknotes? The imperial court The prestige he had just established was immediately wiped out!"

The dispute between the Banknote Law and the Money Law is the conflict between the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs, and now this contradiction is even more obvious.

In Wang Daokun's view, what Wang Guoguang and Zhang Xueyan did was a violation of the originally agreed rules, which stipulated that major matters must be discussed by the court. As a result, the Ministry of Household Affairs meeting bypassed the cabinet and was sent directly to the emperor.

Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu both said nothing. Obviously, they strongly disagreed with the banknote method.

Wan Shihe frowned and said, "It's better not to have this treasure in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty."

Except for the fact that the Ministry of Revenue has been promoting it, neither inside nor outside the Ming Dynasty recognized the banknote method very much, which would evoke painful memories of their past.

Before the third year of Wanli, the salaries of all officials in the Ming Dynasty were reduced by 70%, which was 30% of the actual salary. This was the result of the huge financial losses of the imperial court. This kind of salary reduction began in the Yongle period. Emperor Chengzuwen Zhu Di Pepper was once used as salary.

Starting from the sixth year of Yongle's official ship and official trade, spices began to flow into the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning, the price of pepper was still expensive. However, after many official ships and official trade, the price of pepper plummeted. However, Emperor Cheng Zuwen still paid the original discount. This was completely Forced buying and selling.

Three years after Wanli, the Ming Dynasty finally began to issue real salaries, and the real salaries were also the beginning of the anti-corruption campaign. The court fixed salaries every three years, and issued them with silver coins stamped by the Bureau of War and War. After Hai Rui began to fight against corruption, he could no longer say anything. If you are not corrupt, you will not be able to make a living as an official, which is completely unfounded.

It is nonsense to say that officials have to be corrupt to earn a living. During the 170 years of the Ming Dynasty, only a few officials were able to maintain their integrity. Most officials, both upper and lower, did not starve themselves.

"Everyone, do you really think that the silver, Japanese silver, and the newly discovered Wo Ma silver brought by the galleons can meet the demand for silver in the Ming Dynasty?" Wang Guoguang looked at everyone and said, "The Ming Dynasty is too big, and the silver is too big. No matter how much red copper flows in, it is actually not enough to meet the needs of the Ming Dynasty. In the nine years since the sea was opened, the total amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty was only 5400 million taels. "

"It sounds like a lot, but how much does Ming Dynasty need? Ten and 5400 million taels are not enough."

Only the Minister of the Ministry of Finance knows how big Ming's appetite is. He can't feed him enough, and he can't feed him enough at all.

"Isn't it enough?" Zhang Juzheng asked with some doubts.

Wang Guoguang said: "Yuan Fu, most of the 5400 million silver is still in the metropolis. However, in the first year of Wanli, the price of grain in the capital was one stone and five coins of silver. Now one stone is still five coins of silver, and it is not moving at all."

Zeng Shengwu was stunned and asked doubtfully: "Isn't this a good thing?"

"The price of grain has not moved at all. This is indeed bad news." Zhang Juzheng looked solemn. He was very clear about the price of grain in the capital, but he did not connect the price of grain with the flow of silver into the dam. Wang Guangguang mentioned this matter, Zhang Juzheng realized the seriousness of the problem.

Zhang Juzheng has been mentioning a whip method since the first year of Wanli, and his new policy will end with a whip method, but now it seems that the amount of silver is not enough to support a whip method.

With the sound of the whip three times, the courtiers walked into the main hall of Wenhua Palace. The courtiers greeted them and the emperor waved his hand to sit down.

"Why do everyone look so serious?" Zhu Yijun asked a little strangely: "The news of the profits tax has just been spread, and it has not yet been written down. The major shipping companies have not yet made it. Is this opposition voice making it so difficult for Ming Gong? ?”

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, it's not about the profits tax. The profits tax only prohibited the flow of silver and red copper out of the Ming Dynasty. Yesterday I went to Gewuyuan to ask Xu Jiugao and others. The same is true for the red-haired fans and golden-haired fans in Taixi. According to the law established by Felipe II, the colony was not allowed to establish a mint affiliated with the Governor's Palace, and metal coins were prohibited from flowing into the colony. "

Zhang Juzheng also specifically learned about the practices of other countries, especially the West, which has colonized the sea for nearly a hundred years. All countries in the West prohibit the flow of their own coins and precious metals overseas, and the galleon trade is essentially Felipe II's. Official ships and official trade ships would only carry silver for trade with special permission.

Franchise rights are the only way for the Thai and Western royal families to seek benefits.

Banning the outflow of gold, silver and copper will not affect the enthusiasm for opening up the sea, because the goods can also serve as currency.

Zhang Juzheng has already written a memorial, discussing in detail the types and development of currency, and explaining the rationality of profits tax. He told His Majesty the debate in the side hall just now.

"Is the Ming Dynasty so short of money?" Zhu Yijun is tired of hearing about the liquidity of silver these days. Relationships are not a simple liquidity problem, but a lack of quantity.

Wang Guoguang immediately took out three volumes of books and said loudly: "The inflow of 5400 million taels of silver did not cause much fluctuation in the prices of the capital and Nanya of the Ming Dynasty. I have three volumes of "Wanli Accounting Records" to submit."

It is mainly a comparison of the prices of three commodities: grain, firewood, and oil.

Firewood mainly refers to coal. Some of the coal from the Xishan Coal Bureau goes southward along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Zhang Xueyan calls it the north-south transportation of coal. The silver going north along the canal is called the south-to-north transportation of silver, and the south-to-south transportation of silver. New convection is forming in Beimei, and coal-silver convection is replacing salt-induced silver convection as the most important economic cycle in the Ming Dynasty.

These three types of commodity prices that are closely related to the people were stable from the first year of Wanli to the ninth year of Wanli. Although there were some short-term changes due to various reasons such as weather, they were extremely stable in the long term and in terms of average and median prices.

"The price of food in the capital has even dropped." Zhu Yijun looked through it and found that the number of Dingkou in the capital has exceeded 200 million. However, the price has not soared with the concentration of the population. Instead, it has shown a downward trend. Zhu Yijun doesn't think so. This is a good thing. Silver is expensive and rice is cheap, which means that the inflow of silver since the opening of the sea in the Ming Dynasty means that there has been no inflow.

Wang Guoguang said helplessly: "Your Majesty, when necessary, we must also consider the Ming Dynasty's banknote method instead of the money method. If there is a way, I don't want to use the banknote method in the hinterland."

When promoting the banknote method in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Guoguang was afraid that someone would dig up his ancestral graves, but looking around, he really didn't have a good solution.

In fact, there is another way, which is to completely take over the huge silver mountains of Japan and Spain in Peru, and then add the Womagang Silver Mine. A three-pronged approach may be able to resolve some of the money shortage.

What Wang Guoguang actually wants to say is: financial institutions and banks that issue redeemable banknotes.

In fact, the Civil Credit Bureau established by the Ningbo Gang of the Ming Dynasty and the acceptance bills of the Jiulong Station of the Ming Dynasty have certain paper currency functions.

"The banknote method is not feasible." Wang Daokun immediately objected loudly: "Your Majesty, if we really want to use the banknote method, we have to wait until the Ming Dynasty has more silver."

There must be a certain ratio between the official banknotes and the issued banknotes, otherwise there will be another credibility crisis.

In politics, sometimes it is wise to do nothing at all, because in many cases, it will go round and round and go back to the starting point. Countless people have taken advantage of the boomerang in ancient and modern times.

"It's difficult, it's all difficult. Everyone, just try to make it difficult." Zhu Yijun closed three volumes of accounting records. He could only learn from Wan Shihe and Xini. The money handling method was immature, so he could only continue to stumble forward in the money method.

"The Ministry of Household Affairs will show you the newly printed treasure banknotes." Zhu Yijun chose to put aside the dispute and try it out in the colonies first to sum up the experience. After many failures, he accumulated enough experience with this banknote method to explore the Ming Dynasty's money. The road to treasure money.

Wang Guoguang took out two small boxes, which contained treasure notes poured out by the Ministry of Revenue. One box was sent to the imperial court, and the other was placed on the long desk.

"There are a total of four denominations of treasure banknotes: one hundred, fifty, ten, and five." Wang Guoguang opened the box, and the smell of ink came to his face. The Wanli banknotes were eight inches and one cent (27cm) long. , two inches and seven cents (9cm) wide, is a horizontal banknote, with dragon patterns around it, a Ming Dynasty currency note on the top, the face value in upper and lowercase letters on the left side of the middle, a landscape on the right side, and a seal on the back and number.

Wang Guoguang said: "Five aspects of banknotes, pictures and texts, seals, ink pads, and numbers have been protected against counterfeiting. The paper of banknotes is tissue paper, and the ink is pine bean ink. The pictures and texts are even more complicated, mainly the numbers. Each one is different.”

Since the beginning of the People's Republic of China, the anti-counterfeiting of Ming Dynasty banknotes has been in these five aspects. The banknotes used in the early days of the Republic of China were made of mulberry paper, which was already very expensive, and tissue paper was even more expensive. If only five characters were printed, the Ming Dynasty Banknote Bureau would even lose money. , horizontal banknotes are used to facilitate ink printing and to save costs.

The new banknotes are extremely exquisite, and the Ministry of Revenue has tried its best to compete for the right to issue them.

The issue of treasure banknotes has never been about anti-counterfeiting, but about private printing. In order to reduce private printing, the Ministry of Revenue even lowered the face value of treasure banknotes to one hundred yuan, instead of the usual practice before.

No one would have the courage to print privately if the profit was so small.

"This banknote is excellent." Zhu Yijun affirmed the efforts of the Ministry of Revenue. The only thing left was how to get the overseas colonies to accept the banknote.

The best testing ground for this thing is the Nagasaki Governor's Palace.

(End of this chapter)