Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 194 Opening up to the private sector

After Li Zhen returned to the mansion, he made a new decision. He wanted to learn Chinese. Not only that, but he also wanted to fully promote Chinese and Chinese characters in North Korea. Language and writing must not be an obstacle for North Korea to learn from Ming Dynasty. .

It has to be said that this decision of Li Zhen was very wise, because next, Daming opened up new imperial examinations to Koreans, that is to say, Koreans can come to Daming to become officials by participating in Daming’s imperial examinations. Study in a university in Daming.

Of course, although the Ming Dynasty opened the new imperial examination to North Korea, it did not force North Korea to comprehensively reform its own imperial examination system, and did not interfere with their domestic imperial examination system.

In other words, if North Koreans just want to be officials in their own country, they only need to continue to study according to their country's imperial examination system and take the exam.

But if you want to receive a higher-end education and learn more advanced knowledge in a university in Daming, then you have to learn the content of the new imperial examination of Ming Dynasty and take part in the new imperial examination of Ming Dynasty.

No matter what kind of place the "university" mentioned by Daming is, neither the Koreans nor the Korean monarchs have a clear concept. After all, the university in Daming has not yet been established.

But there is no doubt that this university in Ming Dynasty must be the largest and most advanced university in the world. As long as you can study in this university, you will have the opportunity to learn the advanced culture and technology of Ming Dynasty and become the top talents in the world.

Therefore, Li Jian still highly praised the new imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty. Although he did not intend to directly promote the new imperial examination in the country and carry out imperial examination reform, he encouraged Korean scholars to learn new knowledge and participate in the new imperial examination. It was even more mandatory for the children of the royal family. They were asked to learn the knowledge of the new imperial examination in the hope that they could go to Ming Dynasty to receive a better education in the future.

This situation is actually not an exaggeration at all, because the advanced culture of the Ming Dynasty has always been very attractive to the small neighboring countries. Not to mention the "university" that the Ming Dynasty is currently planning to build, it is the existing Imperial College in the north and south, also known as It is the largest institution of higher learning in the world, and there are many foreign students in it.

After sending Li Zhu away, it was already the end of the year again, so Zhu Tianqi wrapped up the things at hand and began to prepare for the New Year.

Since the Ming Dynasty's financial crisis has been alleviated, and the national treasury and internal funds have become increasingly full, the years in the palace have become more and more lively year by year.

The Crown Prince Zhu Ciyi has started to learn to walk, and Zhu Tianqi can also spend time with the Queen Zhang Yan and the Crown Prince Zhu Ciyi and his wife during the Chinese New Year!

After the Zhengdan Festival, the time came to the 11th year of Apocalypse (1631). Zhu Tianqi opened his notebook and prepared to start the new year's work.

The focus of this year's work is mainly to generate income and further improve the economy and productivity level of Ming Dynasty.

When it comes to generating income, the main focus is on navigation and foreign trade, which will continue the construction of Daming Maritime Affairs.

Now that water transportation has been improved, Zhang Guoji and Zhang Shili's maritime transportation has also been flourishing. It is time to start trying to form a royal merchant fleet to join the maritime trade in nearby waters.

Zhu Tianqi once again found Zhang Guoji and Zhang Shili and told him about his intention to engage in maritime trade. He mainly wanted to hear Zhang Shili's side of the story.

Zhang Shili was the first face saint. He was obviously very nervous and was trembling and speechless. Even if Zhu Tianqi asked him to get up, he didn't dare.

Zhu Tianqi was also a little dumbfounded, so he had to send Zhang Guoji and Zhang Shili away from the palace first, and then asked Zhang Guoji to ask Zhang Shili about the maritime trade situation around the Ming Dynasty, and then wrote a memorial and submitted it to him.

Early the next morning, Zhang Guoji presented this memorial. Zhu Tianqi took this memorial and compared it with his previous historical records. He found that the discrepancy was not very big, and that there were only a few main trade routes. .

And judging from the current trade situation, when foreigners come to Ming Dynasty to trade, the trade deficit is still very serious. To put it simply, the things foreigners can sell to Ming Dynasty are far less than the things they can buy from Ming Dynasty. Silver Or it flows into the Ming Dynasty like sea water pouring back.

Naturally, the most popular products are ceramics, silk, tea and other oriental items. Therefore, if you want to engage in foreign trade, you must not only think about shipping overseas, but also work hard on products.

This also involves some things that Zhu Tianqi planned to do during the tax reform but had not yet had time to do it. Now the internal situation in Ming Dynasty is getting better and better. Those things that were not able to be done at that time are now just in time. timing.

Zhu Tianqi planned to get involved in high-profit industries such as salt, iron (ore), wine, tea, sugar, etc., abolish the state's monopoly on the industry, open up the private sector, reasonably tax, and at the same time build state-owned factories and join the market competition.

Take salt as an example. Although the country still maintains a monopoly on salt and explicitly prohibits the sale of illegal salt, due to official corruption and numerous ills, the price of official salt is high and the quality is poor. Therefore, illegal salt has become popular and the government controls it. I can't control it anymore.

Therefore, the revenue from the salt administration has been declining year by year. Instead of doing this, it is better to liberalize the private sector and obtain revenue through taxation. At the same time, we must also build state-owned salt plants and join the market competition to provide excellent quality and more reasonable prices. price to achieve a monopoly position.

The same is true for several other industries, such as wine, tea, sugar, etc., are all profit-making industries. Although they are not as profitable as salt, they are monopolized by the state and prohibited from smuggling, but they still need to further regulate various industries. Taxation to regulate the industry.

At the same time, it is also necessary to build a state-owned factory, relying on production capacity and quality to obtain profits.

Especially for things like ceramics, tea, silk and sugar, the sales volume not only domestically but also in foreign trade has always been very good. Therefore, after the construction of a state-owned factory, higher production capacity and better quality will inevitably Can earn more silver for Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Tianqi explained to Zhang Guoji and asked him to go back and discuss the maritime trade with Zhang Shili, especially asking Zhang Shili where to start if he wanted to carry out maritime trade.In the end, it is necessary to choose a suitable place for them to become the "No. [-] Import and Export Trading Company of Ming Dynasty".

Zhang Guoji may not be clear about what a "company" is, but Zhang Shili can understand it. After all, he often goes overseas to do business, and what those Europeans did in the colonies was the "company" thing.

Zhu Tianqi originally wanted to change the current shipping governor Zhang Guoji and Zhang Shili were responsible for to the "First Shipping Company of the Ming Dynasty", but considering that the nature of shipping and maritime trade is still different, it is not only to make money, but also to make money. It will bear the obligation of transportation for the imperial court, and in order to ensure safety, it may also be equipped with a navy in the future, giving Zhang Guoji certain military power.

Zhang Guoji does not necessarily have to be the top leader in shipping. If he really changes the shipping governor to a shipping company, once the leader is changed, it is likely to cause the military power to lose control and cause other troubles.

Therefore, when it comes to military power, Zhu Tianqi still needs to be more cautious, and still maintains the governor's office of shipping, allowing the court to firmly hold shipping matters in his hands.

If you want to make money through shipping in the future, you can set up a shipping company to undertake private maritime transportation business, but that is a thing for later, and you can’t think about the money from those three melons and two dates now. You need to hire a ship these days. It is estimated that there are not many people who carry out sea transportation.

After Zhang Guoji and Zhang Shili's work was arranged, Zhu Tianqi summoned the cabinet again for a meeting to discuss opening up the private sector of salt and iron, reforming tax standards for salt, iron, wine, tea, sugar, ceramics, silk and other industries, and building a state-owned enterprise. factory for production and operation.

In this regard, Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua first expressed their agreement, because anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is meaningless to continue to maintain a monopoly on salt, iron and other industries unless an in-depth anti-corruption campaign is carried out and both the salt and mining administration are investigated. Otherwise, it will be difficult to save the declining income of salt administration and mining administration.

Lai Zongdao and Zhou Daodeng also silently voted in favor. In fact, up to now, the two of them have become less and less careless.

Moreover, the two of them have long seen that the reason why the emperor asked them to come back to the cabinet to participate in politics is entirely to check and balance the Donglin Party. Now that the emperor has taken control of the cabinet, they all want to retire early and go home to take care of themselves. There have been several memorials for resignations.

Zhu Tianqi didn't want to force them to stay, but now he didn't have suitable replacements, so he could only appease them and let them stick around for two more years.

As for whether Lai Zongdao and Zhou Daodeng work during their tenure, it doesn't matter. Anyway, the people under them can figure things out, and there is no need for them to do anything personally. It is right to assume that they have already started to retire. .

Lai Zongdao and Zhou Daodeng also tacitly understood this. Anyway, as long as they voted for the emperor every time he held a meeting, there was no need to worry about other things.

This resulted in that every time Zhu Tianqi convened a meeting, it was actually a formality. The cabinet could no longer interfere with the emperor's decision. After all, even if Qian Longxi and Liu Hongxun both held opposing opinions, it would be meaningless. Every meeting was a formality. In the beginning, it was supported by four votes, and then there was no more.

However, Zhu Tianqi is still willing to listen to Qian Longxi's opinions. After all, Qian Longxi is a very smart person, and the opinions he expresses every time are indeed of great reference value.

But this time, Qian Longxi did not express his objection, but remained silent. His unusual reaction made Liu Hongxun on the side swallow his words and did not dare to speak out.

Qian Longxi's idea was rather simple, because the last time he and Sun Yuanhua went to Li Banghua's place to inspect the newly built sailboat for the imperial court, they were greatly shocked, which also led him to realize some of his own shortcomings and problems.

So now he did not dare to easily rely on his previous inherent knowledge to deny some of the ideas and decisions proposed by the emperor. Instead, he had to carefully think about the profound meaning of the emperor's move.

This time the emperor plans to open up the private sector of salt and iron, which means that in the future, ordinary people can sell private salt and mine privately. This matter sounds like complete nonsense at first glance, because if this happens, won't the world be in chaos?
However, the emperor said again that reasonable taxes should be re-established and management should be strengthened in these industries, so the secret should be in what he said later. Therefore, Qian Longxi remained silent. He wanted to hear the emperor's "high remarks" later.

Zhu Tianqi glanced at Qian Longxi and Liu Hongxun specifically, and seeing that they were silent, he directly stated his detailed plan: "Although the imperial court wants to open up the private sector, the management of these industries must be very strict. Practitioners operating in these industries or related industries must register with the government and obtain legal documents before they can conduct business activities.

Industries such as salt and iron, which are currently banned by the Ming Dynasty, will be strictly managed in the future. Anyone who wants to make salt or open a mine needs to be approved by the imperial court. However, he also cannot use the same court-approved document to open multiple salt farms and mines in multiple places. Every time he sets up a mine, he must apply for approval again.

Through the above registration and approval measures, the imperial court can fully control the situation of relevant practitioners across the country, and at the same time facilitate the subsequent tax collection work of the imperial court. This tax rate is naturally higher than other industries. After all, these are all Profits industry. "

After listening to what Zhu Tianqi said, Qian Longxi couldn't help but nod secretly in his heart. Sure enough, every new measure proposed by the emperor was not a random decision made in the heat of the moment. It was carefully considered and carefully planned.

Zhu Tianqi continued: "As for why the imperial court does this, it is naturally for money. Everyone knows what the current situation of salt administration and mining administration is, especially the salt administration. Over the years, the reputation of official salt has It has stunk to such an extent that I estimate that even if the court vigorously rectifies it, it will be hopeless and the only option is to find another way to make money.

Everyone knows about the huge profits of salt and iron. I am sure that once the court opens up the private sector, it will definitely attract a large number of businessmen to enter these industries. The country is so big and there is an inexhaustible supply of salt and iron. The court alone cannot exploit it. After all, the restriction is on the production capacity and potential of salt and iron. It is better to let the common people mine it, and the production of salt and iron will definitely increase dramatically.

The surge in salt, iron and grain production will first drive the domestic salt and iron trade volume and provide tax revenue for the court;
Secondly, with the legalization of the salt and iron industry, the demand for employees will also increase dramatically, which can create many jobs, solve people's employment problems, and increase people's income levels. "

Hearing this, Qian Longxi was even more shocked, secretly shouting "Brilliant!"

In fact, people in this era lack awareness of the importance of the country creating jobs for the people and solving the employment problem. Qian Longxi is not exempt from this. In his consciousness, the people should farm honestly and produce more for the court. Food and crops are coming.

(End of this chapter)