I'm really not doing business

Chapter 639 Shanghai is Shanghai, Pudong is Pudong

Power is always responsible only to the source of power. The source of power for Songjiang Governor Shen Shixing and Shanghai Magistrate Yao Guangqi was never from local gentry and powerful people, but from the imperial court. Therefore, when Shen Shixing and Yao Guangqi, who were in heaven, did things, they would only be responsible for the imperial court's decrees.

During the Yongle period, a system of inspecting the country headed by Hu Yi, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Rites, began to be established. Of course, there are always people saying that Hu Yi went around looking for Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen. Why should Zhu Di care about Hu Yi, a loser who could not even defeat Zhu Di for the throne?

During the Yongle period, 26 people including Shangshu Jian Yi toured the country with only one purpose: to tour the country and appease the military and civilians.

During the Hongxi period, the governor was mainly responsible for specific matters, such as inspecting salt, rivers, and customs. He would be dismissed upon completion of the task, and temporary assignments were not permanent.

By the third year of the Jingtai reign, the regulations for the governor were finally fully finalized. From then on, the governor, an inspector who toured the country as a vice minister or deputy censor-in-chief, became an extremely important tool in the game between the court and the local governments on the political stage of the Ming Dynasty.

Shen Shixing hung Yuan Shen on a long pole and paraded him through the streets. On the one hand, it was to fulfill the court's decree and explore the possibility of collective economic ownership. On the other hand, it was to warn the powerful and wealthy people in Songjiang Prefecture, Nan Ya, Jiangnan, etc. This was the result of not paying attention to the contradiction between labor and capital. The craftsmen started to riot for pay, and the court's position was very clear: stability was everything.

The process of the parade was entirely under the charge of Chen Tiande. Chen Tiande, along with several yamen runners, carried Yuan Shen around Shanghai for three rounds before letting him down reluctantly. Shen Shixing and Yao Guangqi also followed along, talking as they walked.

"It's decided. We will continue the parade tomorrow!" Chen Tiande said excitedly. Chen Tiande, who had no worldly desires, originally had the only ambition in his life to destroy the Japanese pirates. Now he had one more goal: to parade around with these powerful and wealthy people who oppressed the good people.

"If you want to parade through the streets, then go ahead. You can still parade for five or six days before the court takes the prisoner away." Shen Shixing considered it for a moment and agreed with Chen Tiande's idea. The parade through the streets was quite effective because Shen Shixing saw the reactions of the people with his own eyes. When there were no eggs, vegetable leaves or the like, most of the people would just spit and curse viciously.

In Shen Shixing's eyes, this means that the resentment in the hearts of the people is decreasing, which is a good thing.

"Okay!" Chen Tiande brought a group of yamen runners and found a lot of old wood from the warehouse of the Shanghai County Yamen. They were going to make a parade car to facilitate the next parade. The car was made to be extremely sturdy, what if it was needed in the future?

"Your Majesty once defined the standard of commodity economy, which is the establishment of large-scale free employment relationships. Now it seems that Your Majesty's standard is extremely reasonable. Songjiang Prefecture is now just one step away from success." Shen Shixing came to the West Flower Hall. Outside the West Flower Hall was a back garden of less than two acres. In Shanghai County, every inch of land is worth a lot of money, and a back garden of these two acres is already extremely luxurious.

"Your Majesty originally stated that within 20 years after the opening of the sea, Songjiang Prefecture should transform from a closed peasant economy and a small workshop economy to a commodity economy. Now it seems that the goal set by Your Majesty was still too conservative. After the employment contract is notarized and the collective ownership economy is confirmed, Songjiang Prefecture will achieve this goal five to six years ahead of schedule." Yao Guangqi said with a self-deprecating smile.

He is very familiar with this standard. When Your Majesty proposed the commodity economy, he gave a very clear standard.

At that time, he was still competing with Wang Qian in the capital. He scoffed at all of Your Majesty's propositions, including the theory of contradiction, the theory of public and private, the theory of production diagram, the theory of class, the commodity economy and other theories. At that time, Yao Guangqi was still the famous Young Master Yao in the capital. He was surrounded by a group of bad friends and was called the West City Boys.

Now, Yao Guangqi only feels that he was a bit naive at the time. Of course, if he had the chance again, he would probably still make the same choice.

Large scale, freedom, and employment relationship, these are the three conditions. First, it must be large-scale. The production relationship of tenants and landlords who are strongly dependent on each other must be eliminated. At least more than 80% of the employment relationships are relatively equal. This is large-scale; freedom does not only mean that meat eaters can freely employ producers, but also that producers can choose meat eaters. Producers are free people;
The employment relationship is a relatively equal production relationship.

It was relative equality, not complete equality, because employers had greater power, so in order to maintain balance, the imperial court had to provide support to the poor and laboring people. But it was still unequal, but compared to before, it was progress.

"Your Majesty is a little conservative." Shen Shixing smiled. He still remembered that in January of the first year of the Wanli reign, after the assassination of the prince, His Majesty bumped into something and had a bump on his head. At that time, His Majesty was really walking on thin ice. It was also from then on that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty finally realized clearly: Whatever anyone promised you is not counted, only what you can decide on your own counts.

Your Majesty has worked really hard over the years.

"Is your majesty really as frugal as the rumors say?" Yao Guangqi had only met the emperor once, and he was very curious about this matter. In Shanghai, he had seen endless luxury, but your majesty, as the supreme ruler of the world, maintained the noble character of frugality, which was really incredible.

Shen Shixing frowned and said, "This is not a rumor. Even Hai Zongxian advised Your Majesty to be less extravagant. Your Majesty's... frugality is unbearable even for Hai Zongxian. After all, it concerns the reputation of the Celestial Empire."

"This spring, the Imperial Clothing Supervisor requested permission to weave the imperial robe again, but Your Majesty did not allow it, saying that the teacher once said that if there is a limit to what is taken and if there is a limit to how much is spent, there will be plenty. An 18-year-old can still use the imperial robe, so it is not allowed to be woven."

"The Yuanfu, the Cifu, and the Haizongxian jointly reported that the imperial robes woven when I was eighteen were already too small."

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not wear purple clothes but blue clothes because the dye for blue clothes was cheap. In the end, Empress Dowager Li asked the cabinet why they were so harsh on the emperor, which caused Zhang Juzheng to write a series of letters to apologize. However, the matter ultimately ended because the emperor insisted on wearing blue clothes.

The reason for reweaving it is that Your Majesty has grown stronger and taller, so another one needs to be woven.

"This is the imperial robe." Yao Guangqi said in a daze. This is the ceremonial dress that the emperor wears when meeting foreign ministers, envoys from foreign countries, and in grand ceremonies. The fact that he had to be frugal was something Yao Guangqi had never expected.

Shen Shixing frowned and asked, "I recently heard that someone in Shanghai County complained that Shanghai is becoming more and more inland, and all the clerks in the government offices are country bumpkins. No matter what they do or what they buy, they have to speak Mandarin."

Yao Guangqi said with an extremely embarrassed look: "It is true. I, Yao Guangqi, am the country bumpkin. They were scolding me, as well as the clerks and runners in the county government, and the refugees who moved to Shanghai."

Even Yao Guangqi was called a country bumpkin, a fool, and a pig by these locals. Yao Guangqi heard it with his own ears. It was a local clerk and another local clerk who mocked the scar on Yao Guangqi's face during a casual chat.

Yao Guangqi did not make things too difficult for the two clerks. He just asked them to leave the county hall.

Yao Guangqi curled his lips and said, "Your Majesty is wise and far-sighted. Seeing that the Japanese threat was gradually fading, the high profits from maritime trade could also supplement the national expenditure, so he set up the Songjiang Maritime Customs Office to manage all maritime trade matters, and gradually lifted the policy of maritime ban. He used the capital's military pay station as a capital pay station, and changed the ship's guide to a ship. Since then, trade has flourished. Songjiang Prefecture is located on the Yangtze River and connects to nine provinces. For a time, merchants from all over the world gathered here, and the sails covered the sky. In a few years, silver flowed in, and the city was prosperous."

"People today are proud of their prosperity, but they do not think about the source of the pure spring."

As Young Master Yao, if he was not wearing this official uniform, he would have to have some nice talks with these locals. But with this official uniform, he, Yao Guangqi, could not do anything. He had to pay attention to the impact. If he made a mistake, Wang Chonggu would be implicated.

"In this case, Songjiang Prefecture is not allowed to recruit local officials and yamen runners in the future." After Shen Shixing learned about this situation, he made it clear that this unwritten rule has now been made into a written document.

This is not because the locals are impolite, but because of the game between the imperial court and the local authorities.

The locals are rich and powerful, and if they control the officials to gain power, then Songjiang Prefecture is no longer the Songjiang Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty, but the Songjiang Prefecture of the powerful and wealthy.

"It should be so." Yao Guangqi agreed to this local decree. To ensure the centripetal force of Songjiang Prefecture, not only the court but also the local governments need to work together.

"The highway to the four counties of Huating, Qingpu, Shanghai and Pudong has been approved by the imperial court." Shen Shixing told Yao Guangqi the good news.

The construction of a high-speed highway has played a valuable role in promoting the economy of Songjiang Prefecture.

It is true that Songjiang Prefecture has many waterways, but not all goods have to be transported by water. Governors from all over the Ming Dynasty have petitioned the court to build highways. After all, if the project is so huge, everyone can get rich together, but it has never been approved. Songjiang Prefecture was the first place to receive approval.

This was also the first highway built under the auspices of a local government.

"Building a highway will benefit the country and the people, but it is difficult to do." Yao Guangqi frowned and said, "The court can build a highway because it has 100,000 elite soldiers in the capital camp."

"Songjiang Prefecture has 100,000 naval forces!" Shen Shixing stood up and said, "If it's difficult, then we won't do it? Even if it's difficult, we have to do it. We have to complete it no matter what."

Shen Shixing was certainly aware of the difficulty of building a highway, but he still had to do it, regardless of all difficulties. He had to show achievements when he entered the cabinet to avoid being accused of being favored and having nepotism.

"The first difficulty is to convince Xu Bingzheng, the magistrate of Qingpu County who is from the Zhejiang Party. He is a man of Grand Marshal Wang Daokun." Although Yao Guangqi did not mention himself, Shen Shixing also had to convince Yao Guangqi, who was a member of the Jin Party.

The Chidao was the territory of the Shanxi Party and the Zhejiang Party. Wang Chonggu was the general manager of the official factory, and Wang Daokun led the Ministry of Works and was responsible for the construction of the Chidao. The interests of this area had long been divided up. The power of the Zhang Party was mainly concentrated in the officialdom and administration. There was no doubt that the construction of the Chidao in Songjiang Prefecture was an attempt by the Zhang Party to seize the Chidao and the official factory.

As the Jin Party and the Zhejiang Party, they will probably not give up until they get enough benefits. From the court to the public opinion, everyone will teach Shen Shixing a lesson.

Even though Shen Shixing was a man from heaven, appointed by the emperor to come to Songjiang Prefecture for gilding, he would still face numerous obstacles.

You know, every large-scale construction project is a feast of dividing the spoils. Even if there is no corruption, the subcontracted work orders will make people burp.

"If you don't agree, I will go find the master." Shen Shixing said very calmly.

After arriving at Songjiang Prefecture, Shen Shixing brought Zhang Juzheng out for the first time. People must learn to borrow strength and take advantage of opportunities. When they cannot accomplish something on their own or give up too much benefit, they have to rely on their teacher.

Yao Guangqi held his forehead with his hand, then spread his hands and said, "You are just playing tricks, you brought up the master, then everyone can only hold their noses and accept it."

What can he do if he refuses to admit it? Ask Wang Chonggu whether he is happy to go against Zhang Juzheng. Wang Chonggu would rather run away than face Zhang Juzheng. The fact that he cannot fight is the current situation. It is not that Wang Chonggu has not struggled.

"So don't ask for too much." Shen Shixing said with a smile: "If you ask for too much, then we really need to ask the West Mountain Patriarch to come forward."

The Old Ancestor of the Western Hills was a nickname given to Zhang Juzheng by the Emperor. Although he had never called him that publicly, Journey to the West was very popular in the Ming Dynasty. When the Emperor was still a young man, whenever he encountered a problem he couldn't solve, he would go to the Western Hills to ask Zhang Juzheng for help. People jokingly called him "Go and ask the Old Ancestor of the Western Hills."

"The Shanghai County and Pudong County sections will both be built by the Shanghai County Government." Yao Guangqi put forward his own conditions: the Shanghai section and the Pudong section will be built by the Shanghai County Government and the Jin Party.

Shen Shixing's mouth twitched, and he said sternly: "It's noon now, County Magistrate Yao, are you daydreaming? At most, you can give the government factories needed for the construction of the highway to Shanghai County. You are overreaching, and Pudong County is not under your jurisdiction!"

Pudong is located east of the Huangpu River, so it is called Pudong. Pudong County is a newly established county reported by Songjiang Prefecture to the imperial court. Now it has been reported to the imperial court, but it has not been officially established and the county government has not been built, so it is under the management of the Shanghai County Government. However, management is management.

Yao Guangqi stretched out his hand, but Shen Shixing was determined not to accept it.

Shanghai is Shanghai, and Pudong is Pudong. "At least the Shanghai section must be returned to Shanghai County Construction, otherwise forget it, go find the master, and if you can't win the argument, find the master, or others will laugh at you, Shen Shixing, for being a baby who has not been weaned." Yao Guangqi's face changed several times, and he kept counting with his fingers in his sleeves. In the end, he gave up his request for the Pudong section, but he was determined not to give up the Shanghai section.

Yan Shixuan, the magistrate of Shanghai, fled to Hangzhou to serve as the prefect, as he was unwilling to fight with the people in heaven in Songjiang Prefecture.

Yan Shixuan was terrified when facing Shen Shixing. He was scolded like a grandson by Shen Shixing's master Dong Wei every day. Yan Shixuan was not allowed to ask whether the Hailong Gang was Shen Shixing's minions.

But Yao Guangqi, who was also a heavenly being, dared to call Shen Shixing a weaned baby in front of him.

You, Shen Shixing, are just a disciple of Zhang Juzheng, but he, Yao Guangqi, is the son-in-law of the Wang family, a son-in-law who was actively accepted by the Wang family. In terms of closeness, Yao Guangqi is part of the Wang family party!

"What's wrong with a baby who hasn't been weaned?" Shen Shixing shook his sleeves and nodded, saying, "Okay, then the Shanghai section will be yours, but half of the construction costs for the Shanghai section will be paid by the Shanghai County Government. The Shanghai section is a total of 7500 li, 60 silver per li, a total of 75 to silver. The Shanghai County Government will have to pay silver."

"Three hundred and fifty thousand silver? Governor Shen, you can either chop me into pieces and sell me by the pound to see if you can get that much silver. Governor Shen is really arrogant. He wants three hundred and fifty thousand silver right out of his mouth! Three hundred and fifty thousand silver is more than half of the mausoleum of the late emperor!" Yao Guangqi stood up suddenly and said, "No, absolutely not."

"How much can the Shanghai County Government give? If you are not willing to give, then the Shanghai section will be given to Songjiang Prefecture." Shen Shixing said calmly, "Without even money, how can we build a highway, a golden bridge, or a silver road? Is this something a poor man can touch?"

Yao Guangqi scolded Shen Shixing for not being weaned, and Shen Shixing scolded Yao Guangqi for being a poor guy. They were particularly childish in hurting each other.

This is the significance of closed-door talks. After a big argument inside, we reach a consensus, and when we go out, everyone is still the gentle and elegant Confucian scholars.

"At most 250,000 silver coins, no more!" Yao Guangqi calculated it and gave a quote.

"Okay." Shen Shixing nodded without hesitation.

"Ok?"

The veins on Yao Guangqi's forehead were throbbing. He knew that the price he asked for was too low. This old fox! I'm afraid Shen Shixing didn't even think about squeezing money out of him before he came.

Two hundred and fifty thousand silver coins were half of the former emperor's mausoleum. Shanghai County did not have a customs office, but it had a banknote customs office, and was considered a wealthy place. However, these two hundred and fifty thousand silver coins were also part of his savings.

Shen Shixing said calmly: "Then we come to the second difficulty, land acquisition."

"This is indeed difficult." Yao Guangqi's brows were knitted into knots, and he whispered, "Why not just not enter the city? You see, the highway to the capital doesn't go into the city."

The imperial road of the capital does not enter the city because it is too expensive to enter the city. The east and west cities and the outer city of the northern government are all occupied by the masters of the Zhengyan Banner who followed Emperor Chengzu Wen to quell the rebellion. How could these masters agree to sell their ancestral land? If the emperor forcibly demolished it, the military heroes would probably feel sympathetic. The court's solution was not to enter the city.

"We still have to go into the city." Shen Shixing shook his head and said, "The imperial road will also enter the city."

The original attempt to save effort has been proven to be a lazy approach that is not advisable. The poor traffic situation in the capital has caused Wang Xiyuan, the Chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture, a lot of headaches. He has been studying whether to build a highway in the city to prevent the problem of traffic congestion.

"It still has to be demolished." Yao Guangqi agreed with this, and then closed his eyes for a long time before saying: "But it is difficult to demolish. This is not a matter of money."

"How about keeping Yuan Shen hanging for a few more days and going to Qingpu and Huating for a stroll?"

Yao Guangqi thought of a good idea. After Yin Zhengmao demolished the door, Ling Yunyi killed people, Wang Jiaping was confused, and Wang Yi'e erected a monument, Songjiang Prefecture also had its own unique way to embarrass the powerful and wealthy: parade through the streets.

You have to find a way to deal with these powerful people in order to push your policies forward.

Demolishing a house is always a very difficult task. It requires the elected officials to stand together with their backs. If the officials are fighting among themselves, nothing will be accomplished.

So Shen Shixing had to persuade Yao Guangqi and Xu Bingzheng, the magistrate of Qingpu.

It is definitely wrong to hang people on long poles and parade them through the streets. Killing people is not enough, but killing them and parading them through the streets to humiliate them is actually a bit too much.

But Shen Shixing didn't care about these things. As for the bad influence caused, Shen Shixing didn't care at all. In fact, Confucius made the basic principles of political activities very clear: don't talk about things that have been accomplished, don't advise on things that are happening, and don't blame the past.

What this means is that don't talk about established facts, don't give advice on things that have already passed, don't pursue past mistakes, the present and the moment are the most important, and this is why meat-eaters are generally despicable.

Shen Shixing's top priority was to thoroughly implement the court's decrees. Being able to implement the court's decrees was already a very difficult task. As the governor of Songjiang, Shen Shixing bore tremendous pressure and had a heavy burden.

The most important thing for the court to build a highway is to solve the source of funds. With money, the court can use administrative power to implement it. However, Songjiang Prefecture is a local government office. When a local government office builds a highway, the issues to be considered will be much more complicated.

Shen Shixing specially invited a doctor of the Five Classics who was good at mapping and surveying from the Imperial Academy of Gewu in the capital, and equipped a surveying team of 50 people to survey the route, determine the route, determine the number of bridges to be built, and determine the stations and currency gates along the way. The progress was very fast.

The action was extremely swift. On the seventh day after the imperial edict arrived in Songjiang Prefecture, the Five Classics Doctors arrived. After a day of rest, they began the survey.

The news of building a highway quickly spread throughout Songjiang Prefecture, and Shen Shixing was scolded again.

This time, almost all the local newspapers in Songjiang criticized Shen Shixing in successive chapters. There were two contents of the criticism.

One is naturally Yuan Shen being paraded through the streets. You, Shen Shixing, will always have to retreat. Today Yuan Shen is paraded through the streets, and tomorrow your son and grandson will suffer the same punishment. The initiator of this will have no descendants!

The second one is the doubt about the construction of the Chidao. This doubt mainly includes three aspects. All the materials, construction, etc. for the construction of the Chidao were presided over by the Songjiang Prefecture Government. The Songjiang Prefecture Government ate the meat but did not give any soup to outside, and ate all by itself!

Is it really necessary to spend 240 million silver on construction? Songjiang Prefecture has abundant waterways, which are completely sufficient.

In addition to the expensive construction costs, the biggest question is corruption. I don’t know how much money went into Governor Shen’s own pocket!
"No, the other doubts are fine, as they all have some clues. But what does it mean to destroy the earth's energy and dragon veins?" Shen Shixing said in disbelief as he looked at a miscellaneous newspaper in his hand. Shen Shixing really didn't understand this. According to this miscellaneous newspaper, mountains are the dragon's power, water is the dragon's blood, and mountains and waters are dragons. Opening mountains, building bridges and paving roads is to destroy the earth's energy.

Shen Shixing is a traitor! He wants to destroy the Ming Dynasty and overthrow the imperial court! Building the Chidao is a rebellion.

If building a highway is considered a rebellion, then after Your Majesty built the Wulong Post Road, you also built the Suiyuan, Jingkai, and Jingmi Highways. How many times did Your Majesty rebel? Did Your Majesty rebel against yourself?
"When the imperial court was building the highway, everyone was holding their breath and dared not speak, because they knew that talking nonsense would bring down His Majesty's wrath! Now that it is our Songjiang Prefecture's turn, it will destroy the local energy. Am I, Shen Shixing, going to ruin the Ming Dynasty?! I bully the weak and fear the strong!" Shen Shixing said angrily.

Master Huang Zhenlin took the newspaper and read it for a long time, then flipped through the memo and whispered, "Governor, if you use their Feng Shui masters, they will shut up. This newspaper is run by a few Feng Shui masters, and they usually write articles about Feng Shui houses. Now that they have finally found a great engineer, they come here to join in the fun."

"Are you here to ask for money?" Shen Shixing took the memo from his master and read it for a long time before he realized that it was true.

The four people behind this magazine are all Feng Shui masters. Whenever someone breaks ground on a project, they will invite these four people to take a look. As long as they come to see, everything will be fine. If they are not invited, they will speak weirdly and say things like there will be bloody disasters. Some people ask them to go and take a look just to bring good luck, and some really believe in this.

Over time, these four Feng Shui masters have gained a large number of fans who believe in their effectiveness.

"How dare you blackmail me?" Shen Shixing was furious. He felt that he, a master of keeping things balanced, was easy to bully. Even the swindlers and sorcerers had bullied him.

"Governor, please calm down and be patient. You seldom deal with people from all walks of life. Just ignore them. These people specialize in this. If you pay attention to them, they will stick to you like a dog-skin plaster and won't stop until you die." The lawyer Huang Zhenlin hurriedly advised Shen Shixing not to bother with these people. This is their way of survival.

Huang Zhenlin thought about it and whispered, "It's just like when people used to be beaten with a stick in the court just to win fame."

This example is very intuitive. Shen Shixing immediately understood the purpose of these people, which was to make the court pay attention to them. As long as they paid attention to them, their reputation would be known. For a Feng Shui master, reputation is money.

Shen Shixing chose to... endure and not bother to pay attention to these quacks.

"How are things going at Hongyuan Dyeing Factory?" Shen Shixing asked about the progress of Hongyuan Dyeing Factory's exploration of collective ownership.

"It's very bad. There is no work." Huang Zhenlin said helplessly: "After Yuan Shen was paraded through the streets, Hongyuan Dyeing Factory had no work at all. The workshop is not afraid of losing money, but is afraid of having no work."

The business of the workshop has peak seasons and off-seasons, especially during the off-season, when the main thing is to support employees. They have to work overtime in the peak season and work less in the off-season, but they cannot be idle. As soon as the workshop is idle, it will be close to closing down, because most craftsmen will have no work for a few days and their livelihood will be in jeopardy.

"Didn't Yuan Shen just take on a big job, but because he was pressed for deadline and didn't want to pay the workers, he had a quarrel with the craftsmen? What about this big job?" Shen Shixing frowned. After asking this question, he actually already knew the answer.

This road of exploration is full of thorns.

We had just set out when we encountered huge difficulties.

There is a general tacit understanding among the meat eaters. It is not that they do not need the Big Dyeing Workshop to dye cloth, but that Yuan Shen was arrested, the Yuan family collapsed, and the Big Dyeing Workshop had no work to do. This is the resistance of the meat eaters, and they do not even need people to join forces to resist the emergence of a model of collective ownership. This is the common tacit understanding of all meat eaters.

Of course, the government-owned factories could allocate a batch of cotton cloth to the large dyeing workshops to work on it first, but this could only provide temporary help, not permanent help.

(End of this chapter)