unclear

Chapter 336 Maritime Traders and Factories

"Leaving aside smuggling, both Guangdong and Fujian now have open ports, and merchant ships entering and exiting the two places will definitely have to draw points. In my opinion, the more merchant ships and goods come and go, the more points should be drawn.

Part of the money from the Shipping Department and the Governor's Pay Office went into the local treasury, and another part was sent to Taicang and the inner treasury. Why did Xu Aiqing call these maritime merchants who paid the same amount of money and food as the farmers as those who disobeyed the court's orders, and turned a blind eye to the bullying they suffered outside?

Who among you here dares to say that there are no corrupt officials in Ming Dynasty? Who dares to say that the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were not involved in smuggling into the sea? Why are corrupt officials able to sit comfortably in court, while businessmen who sail ships to the sea to fill their treasury die without a burial place? Did all those so-called sages’ books end up in dogs’ bellies?

Xu Aiqing also said that the Fo Langji people were barbaric in nature and did not want to be enemies with them. I still don’t quite understand why civilized people fear barbaric people? Could it be that being unreasonable is more fearful than being reasonable? Although I have not read many books by saints and sages, I also understand the principle of repaying evil with kindness and repaying kindness with kindness. "

The ancients said that reason can travel all over the world. This sentence is actually incomplete. It may be that part of it was left out due to word of mouth. According to Hong Tao's understanding, this sentence should be: Only with a big fist and reason can you travel around the world.

Take today's imperial meeting as an example. If you don't have soldiers, you can't get money, you can't win over nobles, you can't divide the civil service group, no matter how reasonable you are, it's all in vain. Even half a word of the imperial edict can't leave the palace, and no one wants to implement.

But when the emperor had the biggest fist and paid the most money, even if he pointed his nose at the officials and scolded their eight generations of ancestors, no one would dare to reply. They would tolerate their opinions, whether they were reasonable or not.

Xu Honggang, the censor of Zuodu, was scolded by the emperor, but he was still reasonable. For a while, he couldn't think of a reason to respond, so he could only lower his head and remain silent. The officials present either had nothing to do with themselves and were thinking hard about how to refute the emperor's theory, but they were all silent.

"I wonder what your Majesty wants?" But keeping silent was not a problem. As one of the oldest elders of the dynasty, Zhao Shiqing, the Minister of Household Affairs, had to step forward to resolve the embarrassing situation. Otherwise, the emperor would be really offended, and the censor of Zuodu would probably have to be replaced by a younger and more radical one.

"Killing to pay for one's life and debts to pay back money are perfectly justified. What does Zhao Aiqing think?" At this point, Hong Tao stopped pretending. The fat on his fat face twitched and he showed a toothy smile to the Minister of Revenue.

"But the road to Luzon is far away and the sea is unstable. The Yuan Dynasty once went on an expedition, but the gains outweighed the losses and the national strength was greatly damaged. Although Taicang was no longer stretched due to His Majesty's new policy, it could barely support the expenditure of the army. If the Northern Captives build up the captives again and take advantage of the situation, If they enter, the Ministry of Household Affairs will have nothing to do."

He is worthy of being a veteran in officialdom, always sitting in the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and standing tall. Zhao Shiqing's speech was much more skillful than Xu Honggang's. Although he was also trying to persuade the emperor not to send troops lightly, his words were well-founded.

"...Zhao Aiqing, has your family ever invested in a factory?" The emperor seemed to have listened, stroking a few sparse beards on his chin in deep thought. After a moment, he suddenly changed the topic, from discussing national affairs to domestic affairs. Small talk.

"I have obeyed the Holy Order and allowed my family to invest in a carriage factory and a glaze factory in Beizhili for five years after I was in Jingyang for five years. The annual dividends are far more than my salary." Although he didn't know what the emperor meant by his question, Zhao Shiqing still answered fluently, I would rather blow my income than be found guilty of anything.

"Well, very good. If all the civil and military officials in the dynasty have the consciousness of Zhao Aiqing, I won't have to worry about not being able to support the border troops every year. But if one day the goods in the factory in which your family has a stake cannot be sold, can you still get dividends? ?”

Does business involving an official's family violate Ming law? It is definitely not violated. The Ming Law only stipulates that officials of fourth rank and above cannot do business, but it does not say that his seventh aunt and eight aunts are not allowed to do business either.

In fact, the main body of commercial activities in the Ming Dynasty were officials, or bureaucratic capital, and the scale of real private commercial activities was very small. Many of the members of the so-called Qingliu Donglin Party run various businesses along the southeast coast, including smuggling and land annexation. The reason why they want to fight the eunuchs endlessly is not for the prosperity of the country, but to prevent the emperor from infringing on the interests of his family. The reason they shout out on the surface is just that it sounds more noble to ordinary people.

This is the same as the interest groups in later generations lobbying the government desperately, trying every possible means to guide policies in a direction that is beneficial to them, but they cannot publicly state the reasons and have to find all kinds of colorful reasons to whitewash them.

"This... a rising tide lifts all boats. If the factory has no income, the Chen family will not only lose dividends, but may not even be able to recover the capital."

The emperor's question was not complicated, but Zhao Shiqing hesitated. This question sounds irrelevant to today's topic, but since the emperor asked it, it was definitely not a casual conversation, and he had to think carefully before talking about it.

"As the initiator of the New Deal, I can tell you very responsibly that if there is a lack of coastal merchants going to Nanyang, half of Ming Dynasty's factories will be unsustainable within two years. Even the factories that mine, smelt, and burn kilns, They will follow in three or four years.

This is not alarmist. My original intention in setting up the factory was not to make money from the people of Ming Dynasty, but to exchange its products for goods from neighboring countries for the use of our country.

The Mongols, Jurchens, and Koreans in the north and east have little property and nothing to show for it. However, Japan in the east produces gold, silver, and sulfur, while Nanyang has rice, wood, spices, copper ore and other products, all of which are needed by our court.

Please think about it carefully, if you can use our country's high-yield and low-price goods in exchange for useful things from foreign countries, will it not only make money for the factory shareholders, but also benefit the people of this country? Zhao Shangshu, how much does a set of transparent glass wine vessels cost in the capital at this time? "

Why did Hong Tao talk about the massacre of Chinese in Luzon Island and then suddenly started talking about the New Deal and factories? The reason is very simple. He wants to convince people with virtue and use reasonable methods to let the important officials of the court have a general understanding of the national economy from the bottom of their hearts.

With this layer of foreshadowing, it is possible for the following series of operations to gain the understanding and support of more officials. Instead of always relying on your big fists to force others to accept your ideas.

At this time, almost all the cabinet's bachelors and six ministries and nine ministers had been replaced. Even if they were not hand-picked, there were no ambitious ones or those who were too enthusiastic about power. Although they still can't keep up with their own ideas and still have many problems developed in official circles, it is not impossible for them to cooperate at all.

The reason why I oppose some of my own policies is not because I think there is anything wrong, but because I simply don’t understand them. The safest way is not to touch something you don't understand. This is human nature and nature.

As long as the most basic concepts are explained clearly and let them understand them, they will definitely play a role in the future governance process. As for what to do if it doesn't work, Hong Tao thinks it won't be tiring to spend a few more hours trying to reason. If you can understand something, you can make money, and if it doesn't work at all, you won't lose. Who needs these few hours?

(End of this chapter)