I'm really not doing business

Chapter 632 Fairness is Freedom

Lin Fucheng bowed to the people around him and said, "There's a traffic jam again today. I'm a little late. Please don't blame me, please don't blame me."

Unlike when Li Zhi was standing on the stage and the audience was extremely lively, Lin Fucheng's apology caused waves of boos.

Lin Fucheng immediately said, "Of course the king is exploiting everyone in the world. It seems that everyone lives to repay the king's grace of rebirth. The king is supreme. The world is private, and the king controls all the people in the world."

"Master Lin, this is just talk. Who doesn't know what's going on in the Ming Dynasty? Do you want me to list them one by one again? Start from the first major case of the North and South Lists? Or start from the fire in the three main halls of the North Yamen when the capital was just moved?" Li Zhi immediately interrupted Lin Fucheng's spell, which was a struggle based on the desire to survive.

"Yes, you are right." Lin Fucheng did not let Li Zhi start from the beginning. If that were the case, it would probably take three days and three nights to finish.

Lin Fucheng admitted that the other party was right. The imperial power was never omnipotent. Even in the Ming Dynasty, sometimes the emperor himself was not the one who ruled.

"But what impact does this have? They are just fighting among themselves. What we are discussing is the exploitation of the lower classes by the political framework built around the emperor." Is Lin Fucheng talking about the evil of the emperor? It looks a bit like that, but he is actually talking about the hierarchical exploitation system with the imperial system as the core.

Although Li Zhi's counterattack was very clever, Lin Fucheng still successfully brought the topic back. What he wanted to criticize from beginning to end was not the king, but the entire system.

Li Zhi's face changed several times. Lin Fucheng was indeed a famous debater. When he attacked his own people, every move was bloody. After thinking it over, he immediately said, "Master Lin, what is the topic today? Master Lin, you won't have forgotten it, right?"

Lin Fucheng said calmly: "We are learning about literature and martial arts, goods and the imperial family. What we are discussing is the alienation of money from people. Labor is circulated as a typical commodity. The time and effort of poor people are monetized and commodified. This is the essence of the alienation of money from people."

"Master Lin is right." Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Master Li, don't be nervous. What's the difference between us and the old man in the field, who talks about the country under the old locust tree? What we are talking about is not worthy of being discussed in a high-class hall. The emperor in the deep palace may not be able to hear us. There is nothing wrong with talking about it."

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is indeed worthy of being the disciple of the chief civil servant Zhang Juzheng. Bullshit, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is standing right in front of him, how could he not hear it!
They are all good at telling lies with their eyes open, each one is better than the other!

Li Zhi's eyelids twitched and the corners of his mouth twitched. He never thought that his biggest role in coming to Beijing to be a source of opinion was to control Lin Fucheng and prevent him from talking nonsense. If he died, he would have to drag a lot of people with him to be buried with him!
If court officials said these things, they would immediately be accused of rebelling and thrown into the Northern Pacification Office for interrogation to see if they had any accomplices. This was also a huge drawback of combining the identities of officials and scholars. There were some things that they could not say, and dared not say.

Therefore, it is just right for people with different opinions like Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi.

"Let's go back to the topic at the beginning. How do meat eaters occupy and exploit the labor of their fellow humans?" Lin Fucheng said to everyone, "Money seems to have an omnipotent power. It can give prices to everything. It seems that there is nothing that it cannot measure."

“Money can make the strength and time of labor be traded as commodities. The producer is the master of labor and seems to be able to control everything. As a master, he can sell his labor at a fair price in a place called the ‘free market’ in exchange for labor remuneration.”

“There are two obvious fallacies in this.”

"Oh? Which two?" Li Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although Master Lin had turned the topic to the brink of death, they finally got down to business. Li Zhi immediately started to cooperate.

Lin Fucheng said with certainty: "The biggest lie here is freedom, and the second biggest lie is fair price."

"This market is not free, and the prices are not fair. Some of the liberal mouthpieces for meat eaters are widely deceiving producers. They talk about freedom first, as if as long as the market is completely free, meat eaters will have to pay a fair enough price to ensure that producers stay with them. After all, if they are not welcome here, they will find another place to stay."

"But if you look at this question from the other side, you will completely understand how ridiculous their lie is."

"Look at it the other way around, does that mean we should talk about fairness first, and then we can talk about freedom?" Li Zhi said in surprise, "Is it a fallacy that if the market is free, the price will be fair?"

"Yes! It should be. Only when prices are fair can the market be free." Lin Fucheng said confidently: "The mouthpieces are always reversing cause and effect, because they don't need to sell their labor at a fair price in the free market. The production diagram tells us that abstract labor and concrete labor are both labor."

"It is because of the fair price that the mouthpieces have freedom, but they shamelessly reverse the cause and effect. They are deceiving the world and stealing the reputation!"

"Just a bunch of lackeys of carnivores!"

The mouthpieces got a fair price because their absolute number is just a drop in the bucket compared to the huge producers. In this way, more mouthpieces will become supporters of market freedom and fair prices. But in fact, these mouthpieces are nothing more than dogs kept by the carnivores to deceive others, themselves and the world.

"What you said cannot convince me. I still don't understand." Li Zhi smiled and said, "I think everyone is the same, confused."

Those who came to the audience to talk, who could afford five taels of silver to come in and listen to the talk, were all from powerful and wealthy families? It was like everyone paid to listen to Lin Fucheng scolding them, but these people were talking in low voices and enthusiastically.

"Master Lin, please tell me in detail!" Yao Guangming shouted loudly. As Lin Fucheng's senior brother, Yao Guangming liked Lin Fucheng's research very much, because Lin Fucheng was right. Even the powerful and wealthy families had to cultivate virtue. Xu Youren's house was blown up to the sky.

Lin Fucheng then spoke up and said, "A free market means fair prices, but there is a contradiction in that. We all know that all commercial activities, including those of government-run factories, are profit-driven, because those who do not pursue profit cannot survive and will be eliminated by the cruel market. This is true for business gangs, business houses, chambers of commerce, peddlers, and hawkers. They all pursue profit."

"It can even be said that everything everyone does is for the pursuit of profit."

"This leads to a basic fact, that is, meat eaters will form a broad consensus that producers are better off without land, so that there is no way out, and producers do not have any production tools, so that they lose all bargaining power. In this way, producers will have no choice but to sell their labor for a living."

“And they sell their labor at extremely cheap prices.”

"When meat eaters organize production, they must ensure that the value created by producers is higher than the market value or commodity value, so as to ensure profits, right?"

"Profit is equal to the value of labor minus the compensation for labor."

Zhu Yijun immediately understood what Lin Fucheng was explaining, which was actually surplus value. This is perhaps what will inevitably emerge in the process of speculation after the birth of the production diagram theory and the contradiction theory.

"Freedom is fairness. This is a lie, because in this set of rhetoric, everyone seems to have been treated fairly. If you just think about it, you will get an obvious answer." Lin Fucheng drank a sip of water to moisten his throat, gave people time to think, and then said, "Has everyone been treated fairly?"

“Meat eaters have obtained sufficient profits without using coercion, deception, or robbery; producers have not been deceived, enslaved, or exploited, and have received sufficient remuneration for their labor.”

"If freedom means fairness, and the principle of the market is fair trade, then where does the value that constitutes profit come from? Out of nothing?"

It only costs one dollar to buy all-you-can-eat fried chicken, get delivery from the fried chicken shop, and in a few years you can buy a Grand Haus. This is a similar fallacy. Where does this value that constitutes profit come from?

"Master Lin, labor is a kind of commodity. When meat eaters organize production with money, they will establish a power that is almost dominating others based on the means of production!" Li Zhi said with certainty: "This is inevitable, because producers have no other choice but to constantly create conditions for others to dominate and enslave themselves through labor."

Lin Fucheng took over the conversation and said: "Then, the mouthpieces called this deformed production relationship freedom."

"The right to freely choose a job, the right to freely choose a job employer, the right to freely migrate, as if freedom means having everything, but when these meat eaters pay for labor, they are unwilling to pay even the most basic labor wages to sustain survival."

"I was already desperate, and after reading the production diagram, I was even closer to despair. It seemed that no one in this world could have freedom."

"But then I was shocked to find that I was wrong."

"Oh? Did you find that the emperor could be free?" Li Zhi asked.

Lin Fucheng sneered and said, "How can the emperor have any freedom? He has been talking about a southern tour for almost two years, but there has been no movement. Shouldn't he go on a southern tour? After a large amount of silver flowed into the Southern Court, various social contradictions are rife. If the emperor doesn't go, these contradictions will only lurk under the water, surging undercurrents, and finally become huge waves that overturn the sky."

"But his majesty he can't move, he can't move."

"Your Majesty, are you free? You can't discuss something that doesn't exist."

"I discovered that freedom equals fairness is a fallacy, and soon found that fairness equals freedom, which is the answer. This is my greatest discovery."

"Oh?" Li Zhi took a sip of water. The alienation of money to people and the flow of human labor as a commodity have already been discussed in the first half. Freedom and fairness are lies, and the real situation is the opposite.

Fairness is freedom.

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi gave everyone ample time to discuss, and they were not in a hurry. Forming a consensus required extensive discussions.

"Lin Fucheng's explanation is very good." Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Qian and said, "Li Zhi is also born to be a voice, not an official. If you let him do things, he will mess up the job, but if you let him give instructions, he will be very professional. Since the birth of the Production Diagram, it has finally made a step forward."

"As the owner, I am very happy to see that they have something to say and make sense."

Wang Qian said sincerely: "Your Majesty, in fact, I used to agree with freedom and fairness, but now I think about it carefully, it is really nonsense. For the powerful and wealthy families, this is also very meaningful, so that they will not destroy themselves in the endless exploitation." "This destruction may be a top-down judgment from the upper class, or it may be a bottom-up anger from the poor and desperate coolies. I think that in a healthy Ming Dynasty, the top-down judgment should be faster and more direct than the bottom-up."

Wang Qian and Wang Chonggu were both extreme worshippers of authoritarianism. They never believed that anger from the bottom up was part of justice. They believed that forcing the poor and the hardworking people to this point was a reflection of the incompetence of the authority. Moreover, anger from the bottom up would only arise when the situation deteriorated to the point where it could not be managed.

This is Wang Qian's logic. The emperor and the court should fulfill their duties earnestly, clear up the social atmosphere, and ensure the interests of the vast majority of people, instead of using the four words "ruling by inaction" as a shield. Hai Rui's public security memorial actually keeps saying one thing: what a bullshit "ruling by inaction", it is nothing more than a way to gain comfort.

What kind of authoritarian figure is this? What kind of emperor is this?
"Some time ago, Wang Ci Fu was assassinated. Li Sanhu rushed towards Wang Ci Fu's carriage with gunpowder. The explosion could be heard clearly even in the outer city. Wang Ci Fu's brother Wang Chongyi was killed on the spot." Lin Fucheng talked about the most vicious case in the capital recently, the assassination of Ci Fu.

Li Zhi whispered, "Some people say that karma pays back. Wang Ci Fu's nephew Zhang Siwei assassinated the emperor, and now Wang Ci Fu has also been assassinated. Evildoers will be punished."

"Bullshit!" Lin Fucheng and Wang Qian blurted out almost in unison. When Wang Qian heard this, his face turned red and he even jumped out of his chair. Whoever dared to say this, Wang Qian had to let him see what the little willfulness of power is!
Lin Fucheng looked around and said, "Why is Wang Cifu hated?"

"Because he guaranteed the profits of the government-run factories, he also gave the craftsmen enough respect, a very high status, a relatively safe production environment, adequate labor remuneration, and a guarantee without worries. The three-level schools, the government-run pharmacies, etc., were the reasons why the second assistant was hated."

"According to Wang Cifu himself, he simply distributed 30% of the profits to lower-level employees."

“Because of the government-run factories, I saw fair remuneration for my work, which was the hope for achieving freedom.”

"The little grandson of Wang Ci Fu had both arms burned and had a fever for seventeen days before he was able to sleep well. If Wang Chongyi had not taken the carriage, I'm afraid Wang Ci Fu would have passed away by now." Li Zhi admired Wang Chonggu very much, and because he himself was not very capable, he envied those capable and law-abiding officials.

"And Wang Ci Fu also agreed to return to the court to work tomorrow. What courage does this take? Heaven is vigorous and a gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement." Li Zhi announced a piece of news to everyone that the news that Wang Chonggu's recuperation was over and his return to the court needed to be leaked by an insider, and this insider was Li Zhi.

Li Zhi heard this from his boss Wang Qian.

Li Zhi, who had to retire because of his incompetence, admired Wang Chonggu very much. What surprised Li Zhi even more was that Wang Chonggu did not retire but chose to continue working. This meant that the risk of assassination was still there, and it took great courage!
"As soon as His Majesty's carriage left, my father regretted his decision and cursed himself for losing his mind when he saw His Majesty coming in person and actually agreed to return to the court to work." Wang Qian added a small detail: when Wang Chonggu saw His Majesty, his blood rushed to his head and he forgot all about weighing the pros and cons!
As soon as his majesty left, Wang Chonggu cursed himself in the Quanjin Guild Hall.

"Wang Qian! You are truly a filial son to your father! How can you say this to me?!" Zhu Yijun held his forehead with his hand. There was a reason why Wang Chonggu chased Wang Qian with a ring-handled knife. His image as a loyal and tough minister was ruined by Wang Qian just because of this regret.

"My father said the same thing! Hahaha." Wang Qian said with a smile without caring at all. His father is a human being, a human being in the biological sense. Although he is old, he is still impulsive and will regret after being impulsive. This is a real human being.

"Your Majesty, my father also said that Your Majesty is so diligent, just like Emperor Taizu Gao. My father solemnly told me: No matter how you live, it is a lifetime, so you need to have some relaxation!" Wang Qian mentioned Wang Chonggu's admonition again. (Chapter 610)
"I can't relax at all." Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said, "Watching the fun is the only time I can relax."

"Is this relaxation? This is about rectifying the unhealthy trends, this is about observing the urgent needs of the people. This is not relaxation." Wang Qian whispered to a eunuch, and the eunuch called the waiter from Taibai Tower over.

"Order a hundred flower baskets and send them to the girls downstairs. Ask them to shout loudly a few times. When the gathering is over, please entertain Master Lin well." Wang Qian spent 11,000 silver coins at once. Each flower basket cost 100 silver coins, and the more you buy, the more expensive it will be.

"Your Majesty, this is what relaxation feels like."

"Relax, what the hell." Zhu Yijun said angrily, "You spendthrift! Your father has worked hard all his life, and all the money he earned will be squandered by you sooner or later!"

The girls' screams were heard downstairs. If there hadn't been a waiter in front of the door, these girls would have stepped on each other to rush into the Tianzi box and beat Wang Qian to death.

After the excitement gradually subsided, Lin Fucheng spoke up, "Fairness means freedom. Only fair wages can guarantee the right to freely choose a job and the employer of a job. Only then will the employer not dare to exploit excessively, and everyone can be free."

"We must first make one thing clear: the relationship between meat eaters and producers in the process of organizing production is a class relationship. Only when we acknowledge the existence of class and exploitation can everything make sense. To say that local sages and gentry are all kind-hearted people and that every penny they give to poor people and coolies is a reward is to deny the real existence of class and exploitation."

"Then, all class relations must be intervened by the court and the law as arbitrators, supervisors, and law enforcers, and they must intervene forcefully. Only then can the court be considered to have fulfilled its obligations."

"Producers will fiercely resist exploitation in order to get more rewards, while meat eaters will exploit more cruelly in order to make more profits. Violent conflicts are inevitable. In order to prevent producers and meat eaters from destroying each other in fierce conflicts, the transcendent power of the court is needed."

There is a reason why Lin Fucheng went from being the standard-bearer of autocracy to being criticized as a traitor to liberalism and a running dog of authoritarianism. It would be strange if he was not criticized for saying this.

Li Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Since it is mentioned that producers and meat eaters conflict over exploitation and destroy each other, then the harder and more successful the meat eaters are in dealing with producers, the greater their profits will be, and the more successful the producers are in resisting exploitation, the lower their profits will be?"

"On the contrary." Lin Fucheng waved his hand and said, "It seems to be the case when producers and meat eaters are viewed in opposition."

"But in fact, the class relationship between producers and meat eaters is a unity of contradictions. They are both antagonistic and interdependent. If the government-owned factories are not efficient and cannot distribute profits downward, producers will not be paid, so they will find ways to earn labor remuneration and leave the government-owned factories."

"With fair labor remuneration, producers will not leave, but will save themselves, improve productivity, provide better goods, reduce costs, and increase profits."

"To some extent, if one prospers, all prosper, and if one suffers, all suffer. When the nest is overturned, no egg can remain intact."

Lin Fucheng changed the subject and said, "So, I said that the relationship between the monarch and his subjects is also a class relationship, and also a process of exploitation and usurpation of the labor of others."

Li Zhi suddenly turned his head and looked at Lin Fucheng. Today's gathering was almost over. Li Zhi thought he had escaped, but he didn't expect Lin Fucheng to bring up the old matter again! Such a taboo topic was actually brought up again!
I'm afraid my name is flashing in front of the King of Hell again.

"But your majesty has given sufficient and fair labor remuneration, so there will be no problem." Lin Fucheng said sincerely: "Your majesty is clear about rewards and punishments, Fengguo Gong, Zhangping Hou (Yu Dayou), Ningyuan Hou, Yicheng Bo, Taigu Bo, Shuri Hou, Sishui Hou, Yingyang Hou, Shilong Bo, Yingchang Bo, Jiang'an Bo."

"These civil and military officials who have fought for many years for the Ming Dynasty's revival have all received fair compensation for their labor, Your Majesty."

"That's what I want to say. In the short term, exploitation is unlikely to disappear, and classes will not disappear. Exploitation exists for a long time. It seems that this is caused by material scarcity, but in fact, even after material abundance, people still have the need to enslave others. In that case, exploitation will not disappear, and classes will not disappear."

“After material abundance, the disappearance of classes is just a distant pursuit. The tireless pursuit of this distant dream may seem a little foolish, but at the same time, this is human rationality, the pursuit of all progress, and the key and romance to defeat the evil of human nature.”

“As long as classes do not disappear, fair remuneration for work can allow people to gain limited freedom.”

"Master Lin, what you said is great!" Zhu Yijun, as a representative of the powerful and the right-wing, stood up and applauded Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi for their discussion today. They were creating public opinion to change the consensus and shape public order and good customs.

There was thunderous applause. The conversation between Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi was very meaningful. Even people with different positions would not gain nothing after listening to it.

Lin Fucheng waited for the applause to subside before he said with a complicated expression: "In fact, we have said so much, but it is nothing more than what Yuanfu Imperial Master said, that is, believe in rewards and punishments. Such a long speech is not as good as Yuanfu Imperial Master's three words."

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi climbed the stairs. Those who knew Master Huang's identity knew that the two scribes were going to meet the emperor, while those who did not know Master Huang's identity also knew that Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi were protected by Master Huang. The Chief Justice Chen Mo, who was protecting their safety, was the ironclad evidence.

"Master Lin, you are too modest. Zhang Juzheng's belief in rewards and punishments is actually not as specific as what Master Lin said. It is more for the purpose of strengthening the army and invigorating the military." Zhu Yijun said with a smile on his face when he saw Lin Fucheng. Zhang Juzheng's belief in rewards and punishments is actually rather one-sided. It is mainly for the purpose of invigorating the military. It is completely different from what Lin Fucheng said about hard work and rewards.

"We, the ones who have opinions, can only offer suggestions. The ones who do the work are still the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. But has Mr. Huang also become a disciple of the Prime Minister?" Lin Fucheng was extremely relaxed. It was a little surprising that Mr. Huang was actually a disciple of Zhang Juzheng.

I thought that after You Qi asked for Qi Jiguang's Quan Chu Guild's badge, the General's Mansion and the Quan Chu Guild had no further dealings.

Li Zhi's eyes really went dark. You say Lin Fucheng is stupid, but he guessed from the word "Sir" that Mr. Huang became Zhang Juzheng's disciple. You say he is smart, but he didn't expect that the Huang family of Penglai, the emperor of heaven, was so direct and obscure.

Of course, it was not Lin Fucheng's fault. How could an emperor pretend to be a minister's family member and go around? Lin Fucheng had never seen such a scene before.

"Well, since we have proposed that workers should be paid for their work, we must find ways to ensure that producers are paid for their work and receive fair labor remuneration. So, do you two masters have any good ideas?" Zhu Yijun asked with a smile.

"No." Li Zhi answered very clearly.

"We don't do any specific work and don't know the contradictions. It's enough for us to be a basket of opinions. If we insist on being a teacher and teaching the emperor and the ministers how to do things, isn't that nonsense?" Lin Fucheng told the emperor very clearly that he had no specific ideas.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "I do have an idea. Recently, Gansu has set up a notarization in the mutual market to notarize the contracts between merchants to ensure the interests of merchants from the Western Regions and hinterland, and to ensure the prosperity of the Silk Road."

"We think this is a good idea. We can also do similar notarization in local areas to ensure fairness between producers and meat eaters."

Signing a labor contract is the first step to ensure fair labor remuneration.

(End of this chapter)