I'm really not doing business

Chapter 637: God Damn Beast

The West was experiencing the Renaissance and the Great Travel Movement, which excluded Spain and Portugal, two traditional religious countries. The Ming Dynasty was promoting a policy of allowing a hundred schools of thought to contend and a hundred flowers to bloom, and was recompiling and annotating the theories of the great sages and teachers, while also engaging in discussions.

According to Wan Shihe's description, the gatherings of the Ming Dynasty were just another manifestation of the nature of talking without doing anything, because all gatherings would ultimately focus on one thing, that is, the evolution of the political system. However, the wise Emperor of the Ming Dynasty required that all discussions on the political system be put aside from His Majesty.

The Ming Dynasty's trend of gatherings for talks was carried out with the tacit approval of the Ming emperor. However, once the emperor, or the ruling class, no longer needed the gatherings for talks, all the results of the gatherings would likely be shelved, or even labeled as heresy and completely destroyed.

When the ruler is wise, there is no need for gatherings for discussions; when the ruler is incompetent, there is no possibility of gatherings for discussions.

The Ming Dynasty's tradition of gathering and talking was entirely supported by the emperor's connivance. The extremely bold remarks made by Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi were the result of your majesty's connivance, otherwise they would have been labeled as disloyal and unfilial and beheaded in Caishikou as a warning to the public.

"Zhou Liangyin traveled for ten years, from the Da Ning Guard of the Beijing Xingdusi to the governor of Datong Prefecture. He began to make drastic cuts in local officials, and Wang Ci Fu seemed to disagree with this move." Zhu Yijun talked about Wang Chonggu's refusal.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Second Assistant Minister exchanged views on streamlining local government offices and laying off officials. Wang Chonggu expressed conservative opposition and did not intend to provide help to Zhou Liangyin, so Zhou Liangyin had to find a way out on his own. Zhu Yijun was not in a hurry to push forward this matter, but communicated again with Wan Shihe, the all-powerful man in the court.

Rigidity and bloat, the more rigid it is, the more bloated it is, and the more bloated it is, the more rigid it is. It is such a vicious cycle, and eventually it will be like a pool of stagnant water.

"Your Majesty, Wang Ci Fu's opinion is that we should not act too hastily." Wan Shihe briefly explained why Wang Chonggu was conservative and opposed. Now Wang Chonggu was on duty in Wenyuan Pavilion, and he talked about this matter with Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng, a radical who was in charge of official administration and came up with the performance evaluation system, was finally persuaded by Wang Chonggu.

In front of the gate of the county government office of the Ming Dynasty was a large archway with the words "Xuan De Jiao Hua" or "Chong Li Shang Yi" inscribed on it. On the left and right of the archway, there were two hexagonal pavilions called Jingshan Pavilion, where notices were usually posted about good deeds such as repairing bridges and roads, renovating official residences, and donating to the poorhouse. The other one was called Shenming Pavilion, where notices were usually posted about the emperor's edicts, the court's decrees, and some major cases of a serious nature.

The gate of the county government office is quite grand, with small doors on both sides. The gate is where the county magistrate and his superiors can go during inspections, and the small doors on both sides are for clerks to enter and exit.

Entering the gate, there is a rainwalk which is more than thirty meters long. On the left side of the rainwalk are the canteen and the outer prison. All the officials of the county government eat in the canteen. The outer prison is divided into three cells: the prison cell, the women's cell and the death cell. On the right side are the Yin Hotel and the yamen. The Yin Hotel is where the guests stay, and the yamen is where the three squads are: the station shift, the arrest squad, and the strong squad.

Taking Guangling County of Datong Prefecture as an example, there were 58 people in the kitchen, and the three shifts of yamen runners had more than 78 people working in the yamen alone, and the number of yamen runners not working in the county yamen exceeded .

After walking along the long rain path, you will arrive at the ceremonial gate. As soon as you enter the ceremonial gate, you will see a huge screen wall. On the left and right sides are the six rooms of the military, criminal, engineering, and official households. On the left of the six rooms is the official residence, which is the official residence where the clerks of the six rooms live; on the right side of the six rooms is the Dianli Yamen, which is where the Dianli Yamen is located. It is in charge of the clerks and miscellaneous officials, including tax collectors, iron smelters, inspection and approval, warehouses, storehouses, rivers and lakes, dams, and delivery officials.

In Guangling County of Datong Prefecture, there are 272 officials of various kinds in the second row alone. The key point is that among these 272 people, 250 do not work in the yamen, but only receive the yamen's salary. Only 22 clerks work, doing the most tiring work and getting the least salary. Because they are too busy, they can only eat in the county yamen, and the food in the county yamen's canteen is no different from pig food.

After passing six rooms and walking a few dozen steps, you will arrive at the platform. On the platform is the county hall. All trials and judgments are done in this hall. Behind the hall is the third entrance of the county government.

On the left side of the third entrance is the chief clerk's office, which has a total of seven rooms, and on the right side is the county magistrate's office, which has eight rooms. The people living here are all the chief clerk and the county magistrate's clerks, which is roughly equivalent to the role of staff and secretaries, and they are in charge of various matters.

In the county hall of Guangling County, Datong Prefecture, the chief clerk and the county magistrate had a total of 74 staff members. Except for those who took turns serving under the chief clerk and the county magistrate, the rest worked in shifts.

The fourth entrance is the inner residence, where the county magistrate lives. On the left side of the county magistrate's inner residence is the tax treasury, and on the right side is the silver office. The silver office has a small kitchen that can accommodate four to five cooks.

The fifth entrance is the back garden. On the left and right sides of the door are the West Flower Hall and the East Flower Hall. The back gardens in different places are different, some are big, some are small. For example, the back garden of Guangling County Government is as large as 160 acres. There are 27 people in gardening alone, who are responsible for the rockery, flowers, trees, and the salvage of fallen leaves and garbage from the artificial pools, etc. There are also four monks. These four monks worship Buddha in the pagoda and occasionally talk about Buddhism with the magistrate.

In addition, there were dozens to hundreds of people including coroners, jailers, doormen, patrolmen, archers, sedan chair bearers, umbrella and fan bearers, gong bearers, drummers, lamplighters, night watchmen, grooms, etc.

Anyone working in the county government office receives a salary.

Guangling County was a county town with a population of only 100,000 people, and the county government had nearly 3,000 officials. Zhou Liangyin wanted to take action against this, and the emperor supported him, but no minister in the court supported him.

In fact, having the emperor's support is enough. If you really want to do something drastic, that's not impossible, but it's better to have the support of ministers, such as the leader of the Jin Party, so that the policy can be implemented smoothly and stably.

"Your Majesty, I also don't want to do anything." Wan Shihe knew the emperor's intention very well. What did Elder Wan think of this matter? If he agreed, he would lobby Wang Chonggu to get it done.

Wan Shihe did not hide anything and told the emperor directly that Zhou Liangyin had good intentions in doing things, and everyone in the world knew that the country was bloated and rigid with redundant staff, but Wan Shihe meant that no action should be taken.

"Why?" Zhu Yijun asked with his hands spread out. Wan Shihe, as the leader of the Imperial Party, actually disagreed with the emperor.

"Your Majesty, what is the court?" Wan Shihe asked after careful consideration.

"The imperial court is the imperial court. It is the government office that governs the local area on behalf of the emperor. All the various pieces make up the imperial court." Zhu Yijun answered the question according to his own understanding. The imperial court is the tool used by the emperor to govern the world.

"Your Majesty, the yamen is the court that the local people can see." Wan Shihe answered the question concisely.

The people of all directions would like to ask, where is the imperial court? The imperial court is the government office, and the government office is the visible imperial court and the visible order.

"The Wanli Reform is like a huge wave, surging and rolling forward. We cannot expect the local government offices to do their work while reducing their size. Someone has to do this new policy. It is true that the local government offices are bloated and rigid, making them very inefficient, but it is also this bloat and rigidity that ensures that the class of government-selected officials is superior to that of the powerful, wealthy, and local gentry." Wan Shihe chose to tell the truth.

As a member of the imperial party, Wan Shihe had different opinions from the emperor, so naturally he had to make it clear.

All matters related to the Wanli Reform had to be done by these bloated officials. This was the current situation. In the local game, the huge scale and various rules were part of the imperial court.

"Zhou Liangyin's idea is very good. There are 272 clerks, 22 of whom are on duty, and the rest are just sitting there doing nothing. This part needs to be streamlined based on performance evaluation. But according to Zhou Liangyin, if the number of yamen runners is reduced to about a hundred, the imperial officials will have no choice but to collude with the local powerful and wealthy people." Wan Shihe repeated the conversation between Wang Chonggu and Zhang Juzheng.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "So, the cabinet's opinion is that we should not streamline the staff, but investigate the empty salaries and get rid of those who are not paying the salaries? Last time I talked to the deputy assistant about this, he was hesitant and refused to explain himself clearly. Now that you've said this, don't I understand now?"

"Let's follow the cabinet's advice and send Zhou Liangyin, the governor of Shanxi."

Zhu Yijun realized that he had oversimplified the matter, so he accepted the good advice and chose to agree with the cabinet's opinion. Wang Chonggu's hesitation was actually easy to understand. The emperor personally went to the Quanjin Guild Hall to invite Wang Chonggu back to the court. As soon as he returned to the court, the first thing the emperor entrusted him with was objection. Naturally, he couldn't be too direct in his words.

As the emperor's tutor, Zhang Juzheng could not preach to him because the emperor had grown up. He was 22 years old and no longer a child. The emperor would get bored if he kept preaching to him.

On the contrary, it was most appropriate for Wan Shihe to say this matter, because Wan Shihe was a member of the imperial party and was one of the emperor's own people.

Hai Rui's anti-corruption efforts did not even extend to the county government. The salaries of officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty were not very high, and they mainly relied on corrupt practices to become officials. The annual salary of a county magistrate was generally around 1,000 taels, the salary of a county magistrate's chief clerk was around 700 taels, and the salary of the head clerk, who was the head of the official staff, was only 110 taels.

If the anti-corruption efforts were carried out with the force of "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions" and "Great Edict", the county magistrate would have been skinned twenty times.

"Your Majesty, here is an obituary." Wan Shihe said in an extremely sad tone, "Xia Zhijie, the magistrate of Yongji County in Jilin, led his troops to fight against the Jiannu in early July of the twelfth year of the Wanli reign. He was unfortunately killed in the battle to protect the farmland. Hou Yuzhao, the governor of Liaodong, requested that the court bury him and enshrine him in the Temple of Loyalty and Bravery."

In the wars for the country, soldiers who died in the wars would build a Temple of Loyalty and Bravery. The Temple of Loyalty and Bravery appeared in the late Jiajing period and was set up every time there was a war. Now a civil servant appeared in the Temple of Loyalty and Bravery, Xia Zhijie was a juren, because he failed the jinshi examination three times, he reported to the Ministry of Personnel, although Liaodong was hard, there were many positions in Liaodong.

If Xia Zhijie had any other ideas, he would not lead the soldiers to fight personally, just like when Tan Lun was in Taizhou, he led the soldiers to fight the Japanese pirates desperately, because if he took another step back, there would be the people behind him.

"Marquis Ningyuan used the excuse that the Jiannu had killed officials as an excuse to clear out the Jiannu south of Jilin and east of Fushun, killing more than 3,400 of them in revenge for Xia Zhijie." Wan Shihe added some details about Marquis Ningyuan Li Chengliang's reaction.

It was not that Li Chengliang thought Xia Zhijie was an eyesore and asked the Jiannu to kill him.

Li Chengliang valued Xia Zhijie very much because he was a scholar willing to serve as an official in the cold and bitter Liaodong. Even if Xia Zhijie was upright and righteous, he could not interfere with him, a marquis.

After Xia Zhijie died at the hands of the Jiannu, Li Chengliang went crazy and even fought to the territory of Korea. He was indeed bloodthirsty. For the past twelve years, Li Chengliang's policy in Liaodong was to promote peace through war, forcing the Jiannu Jurchens, Haixi Jurchens, Wild Jurchens and Outer Khalkha to submit to the Ming Dynasty, and the king and his ministers complemented each other.

This time, Li Chengliang really raised the butcher knife, and his slogan was "I would not be a human being until I avenge my blood feud." It can be seen that he was really angry. As the local emperor of Liaodong, the increasing proportion of Han people meant that Li Chengliang's position as a Han marquis would become more stable. If anyone dared to kill an official, Li Chengliang would conquer and take revenge.

"It would be great if all Ming Dynasty officials were like Xia Zhijie." Zhu Yijun's heart bled as he read the obituary.

Another upright minister sacrificed his life on the road to the revival of the Ming Dynasty. Xia Zhijie was not the first nor the last. The Ming Dynasty lost a warrior who was willing to fight for the people. If he took a step back, he would have the people behind him. Tan Lun did not die at the hands of the Japanese pirates, but Xia Zhijie died at the hands of the Jian Nu.

"Send a memorial to the Liaodong Military Commander to commend the Liaodong soldiers for their bravery in battle, withdraw 150,000 silver coins from the imperial treasury as a reward, and order Xia Zhijie to be enshrined in the Temple of Loyalty and Bravery, and hold official sacrifices every year." Zhu Yijun wrote a large calligraphy and sent it to Guixi County, Guangxi Prefecture, Guangxi. This is Xia Zhijie's hometown. Whether Liaodong will forget Xia Zhijie's loyalty and bravery or not, Xia Zhijie's hometown will be passed down from generation to generation.

"The Imperial College accepts Xia Zhijie's three sons as students to reward their loyalty and bravery." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and added another grace. Xia Zhijie's three sons could all enter the Imperial College as students, which was considered a grace from the imperial dynasty.

"Your Majesty, is the burden on Songjiang Governor Shen Shixing too heavy?" Wan Shihe hesitated again and again and said something fair. Shen Shixing had just finished the One Whip Law and had not had a chance to catch his breath when another mountain suddenly fell on his shoulders. Songjiang Prefecture wanted to notarize the contract to establish the employment relationship, which was not easy to do.

"He is going to join the cabinet. Since he wants to join the cabinet, he has to make some achievements to stop people from gossiping and to convince the people. In fact, the pilot project can be placed in Guangzhou. Songjiang Prefecture is the pioneer in opening up the sea, so isn't Guangzhou Prefecture a bridgehead?" Zhu Yijun actually had a choice. He wanted to let Shen Shixing take a breath and add some responsibilities to Wang Jiaping.

But Shen Shixing was going to join the cabinet eventually. He couldn't rely on his ability to keep things balanced to become the prime minister. He could only go through 81 difficulties to achieve the desired result.

No one doubted that Shen Shixing could enter the cabinet and even become the prime minister, but only Shen Shixing himself had doubts. At this time, Shen Shixing in Songjiang Prefecture was already a little overwhelmed. He looked at the imperial edict from the court and became genuinely confused.

Shen Shixing even suspected that he had made some unforgivable mistake like Gao Qiyu and hated Zhang Juzheng, which was why he was treated so badly.

After climbing over a mountain, there is a higher mountain in front of us.

The days are hopeless!

"Governor, Sun Kehong, the general manager of Songjiang Ocean Trading Company, has delivered a visiting card." The doorman hurried in with a visiting card.

"Please." Shen Shixing was a little confused as to why this businessman who had already entered the monopoly class suddenly came to visit him.

"Sun has come to see the governor. I have a disability, so it is not convenient for me to perform the grand ceremony." Sun Kehong was a juren, so he did not have to kneel when meeting an official. In addition, the emperor had granted him a family of poetry, literature, rituals, and music. In fact, Sun Kehong did not have to perform the grand ceremony. In addition, he had a disability. However, every time Sun Kehong met the governor, he would mention it to prevent the governor from being unhappy.

If Shen Shixing became the Prime Minister in the future and held a grudge against Sun Kehong for his disrespect, even if his Sun family had the power of Sun Wukong, they would still be torn to pieces.

"Mr. Sun Shang, thank you for your courtesy. Have a look at the tea." Shen Shixing stretched out his hand and signaled Sun Kehong's butler to push Sun Kehong to the coffee table to drink tea.

"The reason I've come here this time is actually just one thing. I heard that the court requires the labor contracts of the civilians to be notarized into contracts. The Sun family has expressed its full support for this matter. Songjiang Ocean Trading Company, Sun's Cloth Shop, Cotton Spinning Workshop, Seafood Shop, Garment Shop, Tea Shop and other 342 shops will complete the notarization within three months and convert the deeds into contracts." Sun Kehong went straight to the point and expressed his active support for the court's decree.

"Go and get the Longfeng Tuanbing Tea that His Majesty awarded as a reward." Shen Shixing didn't really know much about tea. He only knew that it was a tribute tea. In Shen Shixing's view, tea, like wine, mainly had emotional value. Wouldn't everyone still flock to a bottle of sweet potato tea from Guojiao?

Shen Shixing really didn't expect that Sun Kehong would stand up and support the court's decree at the first opportunity.

This directly reduced the difficulty of the matter to a very easy level. Once the most difficult to deal with monopoly class was dealt with, those small fish and shrimps below would be in easy hands. Shen Shixing didn't even need to step forward, as all the business gangs and companies would move as soon as they heard the news.

"To be honest with you, Governor, I'm old too. My brother just won't come back because of his cheating and deceiving people. The Sun family has grown rapidly because of the strong wind that opened the sea. Now it has grown to such a large scale. While I'm still alive, I can manage things and keep things in check. Once I'm old and senile, I'm afraid our Sun family will change from a family of poetry, books, rituals, music, and nobility to a family of termites. That's not what I want to see, nor is it what the court wants to see." Sun Kehong truthfully stated the reasons for his support for the continuation of the old Sun family.

Sun Keyi, this guy, just refused to come back from outside! Sun Kehong even thought of a trick to make himself seriously ill, but it was of no use.

Sun Keyi didn't come back, Sun Kehong was getting older, and the people under him started to have all kinds of messy thoughts, so Sun Kehong had to be on guard.

A deed is different from a contract. A deed is signed by both parties, while a contract needs to be witnessed by a witness. This witness plays a certain guarantee role. Once problems arise between the two parties of the contract, this witness must have a certain ability to guarantee the performance of the contract. Sun Kehong has been in business for many years and immediately noticed the difference. Upon hearing the news, he rushed over as soon as possible.

"The Sun family is hated." Sun Kehong was somewhat helpless. Their family earned too much money. They donated as much as 1.5 million silver to the Maritime Academy alone. The fact that Songjiang Maritime Academy can reach its current scale has a lot to do with the donations from the Sun family.

In the 12th year of the Wanli reign, the Sun family purchased a five-masted ocean-going ship that had sailed in the 4th year of the Wanli reign and donated it to the Songjiang Maritime School as a teaching aid.

"That's true. The policy of opening up the sea is there, and the Sun family hasn't taken more than their share. It's no accident that the Sun family has grown to its current size." Shen Shixing affirmed that the Sun family, led by Sun Kehong, had indeed contributed to the country's cause of opening up the sea.

"I can't understand. Isn't Your Majesty the most sympathetic to the poor and laborers? Why did you only establish an employment relationship? Why didn't you further restrict the behavior of these beasts?" Sun Kehong questioned the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, believing that the protection provided by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was too weak.

"Beasts?" Shen Shixing frowned.

Sun Kehong's self-restraint was all thrown away to Java. He gritted his teeth and said, "Let's put it this way. The treatment of the craftsmen in some workshops is not as good as that of the girls on the painting boats. At least the girls on the painting boats have three full meals a day."

"I have personally seen a dyeing factory that provided meals. At noon, they put rice, burnt rice, broken rice and some pig bran in a lead bucket. They made a pot of something that could not be called porridge and fed it to the craftsmen. The craftsmen did manual labor, but in order to save money, they had no choice but to eat like this."

"The owner of the dyeing workshop proudly shared with me how to save costs! They said that accommodation was included, a large townhouse with seven rooms in total, two layers of bunk beds, people sleeping on top of each other. The prisons in the county offices of Songjiang Prefecture are much better than this!"

"He always beats and scolds people, and calls them outsiders, country bumpkins, reed sticks, and pigs. He doesn't even take a piss to look at himself and see what he looks like!"

"That's not the most hateful thing. What's even more hateful is that these workshop owners smugly told me that when it comes to distributing money, they delay it as much as possible, and don't pay it at all. When they really have no other choice, they give less money with various excuses to appease the craftsmen. Anyway, if these people don't work, there are plenty of people who will."

"Craftsmen are all from different walks of life, coming and going all the time. How can they afford to argue with these local workshop owners for years? In the end, they can only suffer in silence."

"God damn beast!"

The people who follow the geese migrate like migratory birds, which means they are very mobile, coming and going, and working hard all day long. This is the fundamental reason why these local workshop owners dare to be so unscrupulous.

Sun Kehong was obviously very angry. He continued, "We are all doing business. How much cost can be deducted by deducting the rations of the craftsmen? Not even a single cent can be deducted, but these beasts did it, and they feel at ease. Since the court wants to intervene, it should intervene to the end."

"We live our lives as human beings, not as animals!"

"I saw with my own eyes a weaver girl who was sick and wanted to take a day off. The foreman yelled, "You're faking it, I'll cure you!" Then he grabbed the weaver girl's hair and threw her against the wall. The foreman was tall and strong, as strong as an ox. He threw the weaver girl to the ground, and he didn't stop there. He kicked her again and again!"

"Until he kicked until he was breathing more than he was breathing in, the foreman still hadn't finished his temper. He picked up a basin of cold water from the table and poured it on his head. It was winter! The winter in Songjiang Prefecture is also a freezing winter!"

"Governor Shen! Are the poor and the coolies His Majesty's subjects? Or are only the powerful and wealthy like me His Majesty's subjects?"

"These bastards who are ripping the people dry are giving money to the craftsmen. Damn them!"

Sun Kehong shouted out these five words almost with gnashing teeth, because he, the president of Songjiang Ocean Trading Company, a powerful and wealthy member of the monopoly class of the Ming Dynasty, with industries spread throughout Songjiang Prefecture, was the biggest local tyrant in Songjiang Prefecture, and had been beaten like that before. His leg was completely broken in this way. When Xu Jie's minions took action, the scene was almost exactly the same as this, which directly awakened the most painful memories deep in Sun Kehong's heart.

Sun Kehong was the master, and he really couldn't bear to see these sufferings, so he squeezed out the dyeing factory he saw to the point where it could no longer survive, and eventually closed it down.

But as a businessman, Sun Kehong could only do so much. When the imperial court finally remembered to protect the interests of the poor and coolies, Sun Kehong responded positively. Of course, when he was extremely emotional, Sun Kehong said some treasonous words.

It’s not enough. Your Majesty has done a good job, but it is far from enough. There are still too many people in the Ming Dynasty suffering.

"I don't know anything about what you said, let alone Your Majesty who is far away in the Northern Yamen." Shen Shixing answered this question very clearly. Your Majesty lives in the deepest palace and knows little about these things.

If he knew, His Majesty would really pick up the Qi family knife, rush to the south of Songjiang Prefecture, and kill him directly in the street. Shen Shixing saw it with his own eyes, and His Majesty would definitely do so.

"The prosperity of Songjiang Prefecture, the extravagance of Songjiang Prefecture, and the luxury of Songjiang Prefecture, which is second to none in the world, are only enjoyed by a few people. All these prosperous scenes were created bit by bit by the poor laborers who came to Songjiang Prefecture with their own hands. Can we, the powerful and wealthy, have a little conscience while enjoying it? Just a little bit!"

"Even if we don't have a conscience, can the court force us to have a conscience?"

"At the very least, they shouldn't be exploited to the point of sucking the marrow out of their bones! People are human beings, and they shouldn't be treated like pigs and grass!" Sun Kehong clearly expressed his dissatisfaction with the court, saying that the court did too little and was too lax.

When discussing the alienation of money on people, Li Zhi said: When meat eaters use money to organize production, they will establish a power that is almost dominating the producers based on the means of production! Because the producers have no means of production and no production tools, they can only use their labor to constantly create conditions for others to dominate and enslave them.

Sun Kehong saw with his own eyes the insults, beatings, accommodation worse than a prison cell, food worse than pig food, and the power of domination that was almost enough to decide life and death. These were all vividly demonstrated. This kind of production relationship is abnormal.

"Governor Shen is a temporary official and will eventually serve in the court, but I am a native of Songjiang Prefecture, and I cannot watch my hometown being ruined to such an extent by these beasts. If this continues, the poor and laboring people will not be able to bear it, and when they rise up, they will just rush into my house and kill everyone inside and outside." Sun Kehong explained why he was so excited.

The Holy King is at the peak of his powers. This world shouldn't be like this.

(End of this chapter)