Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1845 Westward Journey ([-])

"The only thing that is rare in the world is interest. Interest is like the color on the mountain, the smell in the water, the light in the flower, and the attitude of a girl. Although a good speaker can't say a word, only a person who knows it will know it."

"The man's interest is deep in nature, but shallow in learning. When he is a boy, he doesn't know what is interesting, but there is nowhere to go, but it is not interesting. His face has no reason to look, his eyes are not fixed, his mouth is murmuring, and his feet are jumping. Uncertainty, the happiest life in life can never be surpassed by this moment."

As soon as you step off the wharf in Baling County, you can hear the ups and downs of moaning.Jiang Yunfan was surprised, in this complicated place on the wharf, there are actually people reciting poems and books?He looked around, but couldn't help laughing. It turned out that it was a gazebo by the pier, and there were more than a dozen young people who looked like scholars gathered in the pavilion, all of whom were blushing.

Jiang Yunfan is also aware of the few sentences just now. They are part of the articles written by the famous Hubei scholars and public security officials (Yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao, and Yuan Zhongdao). This can be seen from the fact that they created a large number of landscape prose works that are different from the traditional style, which fully demonstrates their ideal of pursuing individuality, which is similar to Li Zhi's thought of "childlike innocence".

The ideas of San Yuan and Li Zhi have been popular for a long time in Dashun, which is considered crude by traditional scholars, and they have received the attention and protection of the upper ruling class, which is a treatment they did not enjoy in the Ming Dynasty.At that time, thinkers such as Li Zhi struggled with traditional ethics for a lifetime, but their voices were still firmly suppressed by others and failed to become the mainstream. It is a pity that China lost the opportunity for ideological baptism and Renaissance, although this opportunity It was very slim.

Fortunately, they are unbroken.As the saying goes, the east is not bright and the west is bright. I didn't expect that the mud-legged regime of Dashun would have no sense of discrimination against them. On the contrary, they would treat them differently because they received funding from some enlightened businessmen, and whip them in traditional Confucian ethics. It is an odd number to say that it is protected at the right time.

The reason is probably because of the frequent exchanges between Dashun and the East Bank, which has changed the social atmosphere over the past few decades, as the saying goes, learning from the East and learning from the West!With the bright light of the East Bank in front, the upper-level rulers of Dashun who have no rules and regulations don’t mind the idea of ​​Dongxue entering their country, so that the traditional gentry feel ashamed: a group of people who have lived overseas and have not accepted fame for hundreds of years The Miao descendants of the former Song Dynasty who taught the baptism to pay homage, completely lost their sense of pride as a Chinese, pitiful and pathetic!

Jiang Yunfan naturally scoffed at the various views and conclusions of these traditional gentry.The deepening of the social level of commercial capital and the baptism of the ideological field are two invitations to modern society, and one cannot be separated.The enlightenment of the Ming Dynasty in the second half of the ideological field failed, and there was still no improvement until the end of the Ming Dynasty. How similar to some European countries struggling on the edge of modernization at this time!The difference is that the strength of the conservative church, which restrained the development of European social thought, has declined after 30 years of war. Except for a few countries with a strong religious atmosphere, the rest of the territory—whether it is Catholicism or Protestantism—controls Greatly weakened, laid the foundation for the further development of social thought.But in China at present, although years of wars have relatively weakened the power of conservative forces (because troubled times need warriors, craftsmen, businessmen, and talents who are practical in the world, on the contrary, those who understand the sages are not so urgently needed ), but the extent is still not enough, and more in-depth reforms are still needed.

The current situation in China reminds Jiang Yunfan of Russia, which is located in a place of bitter cold.In fact, that country is somewhat similar to Shun Country today, but there are also differences.Russia is a top-down reform. Every tsar in the past six to seventy years has been committed to introducing Western technology, weapons, and military ideas, sending people to the West to copy books, and in order to introduce Western talents, he will not hesitate to award high titles and huge rewards At the same time, Jin also reformed his own political and economic systems, mobilizing the cheese of many nobles. This kind of courage, boldness and vision are indeed extraordinary.

What is the situation in Shunguo?Of course, their rulers are also willing to learn from the excellent places on the east coast, because the cruel situation forces them to do so.In addition, because of their "inaction", the influence of the traditional gentry was relatively small, because they did not prevent the ideas of the East from entering the country, especially the deep-seated trade complex of the people on the East Coast, which made the business in Dashun develop rapidly, resulting in There are many powerful wholesalers and manufacturers.

These people cherish their hard-won social status and power very much, so they are closely integrated with the Dashun warlords, and they support the new Confucianism, combat the power of the traditional gentry, and make the country better adapt to their own behavior patterns.Their thinking is actually very simple. Within the regime of Dashun, there is probably no future for learning stereotyped essays. It's better not to let those scholars completely take power, otherwise I will definitely not have such a high status now.One must know that even the generals of Dashun, when negotiating with themselves for the provision of food, ordnance, and clothing, were very considerate, completely different from the feeling of superiority of those scholars.Therefore, for any thought that conflicts with traditional Confucianism, they have the instinct to fund, and they also have vague ideas about the transformation of social order, and some smart people have begun to silently read many books on the East Bank. Putting it into practice, it can be regarded as an anomaly.

Therefore, in Shunguo, a country that was born after various chances and coincidences, a social order that was very different from that of Nanming and Qing was slowly formed in some large commercial cities, and then began to infiltrate into small cities and villages.This infiltration process is destined to be slow and painful, but it seems to be irreversible at the moment. When Jiang Yunfan was studying the materials, he was very interested to know how far this social change will lead to attracting traditional forces. big counterattack.He doesn't think that the traditional gentry will be captured now. In fact, they are still very powerful and control a larger population, but they are relatively weak in commercial cities.I believe that once the upper echelon of Shun Country changes course and favors traditional Chinese mainstream culture more, I believe that these gentry will soon defeat those big businessmen who "make waves" in the city, there is no doubt about it.

Jiang Yunfan and his entourage did not stay long on the pier. In fact, outsiders like them in shirts, trousers, top hats, and short shaved hair have always been very eye-catching, and they are easily attracted by some who think they are The insults, accusations and even attacks of traditional Chinese people who have been hurt.Fortunately, Baling County and Yuezhou Prefecture knew how powerful they were, so they sent yamen servants to meet them at the pier in advance, and quickly took them to the government yamen to arrange accommodation.

Jiang Yunfan and other guests did what they wanted without raising any objections.However, they did not stay in Yuezhou Mansion for long. They only rested for one day, and on the third day (October 1681, 10), they headed for Changsha by land under the escort of a troop of Shunguo cavalry.And as if to show his importance, Emperor Shunguo Li Laiheng also sent a special envoy to set off from Changsha Xingye to meet them halfway, and chatted with Jiang Yunfan and others on the way.

Jiang Yunfan chatted a few words casually, and only said that he was the special envoy of the East Coast Republic of China. countries to open up their financial markets and so on.While talking, Jiang Yunfan paid attention to the expression of the special envoy of Shunguo. When he said the last item, he found that the expression of the special envoy still remained the same, and he had a guess in his heart. Can.But all of this doesn't matter anymore. When he arrives in Changsha to meet Li Laiheng, he will make this request in person and see if he agrees.

A few days later, the group finally arrived in Changsha, the capital of Dashun.The situation in Changsha, to be honest, has not changed much compared to many years ago.However, the "hardware" has not changed much, and the "software" has changed a lot!Jiang Yunfan and others took a quick look at the flowers along the way, and found that the commerce here was extremely developed, not only derived various professional markets, but also naturally produced many guilds, such as salt shops, tea shops, grain shops, oil shops, medicinal materials line, cloth line, cotton line, etc.

Jiang Yunfan has vaguely heard of these organizations, and knows that they are huge in power, strict in management, good at management, and have homogeneous competition with some products in Ningbo. In recent years, they have been criticized by many Ningbo businessmen—the current Ningbo Merchant Group (They call themselves the Merchant Gang), and are increasingly dissatisfied with the trade with overseas merchants organized by the local government. What they are thinking now is how to sell more of the goods they produce to mainland China go.In particular, it is no secret that it is no secret to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty, and the Yangtze River may also be reopened, so when not to go now?

"Guilds or gangs, this kind of organization is indeed the most powerful weapon against the invasion of foreign goods. They borrow funds from each other, centralize purchases, and orderly sales. Although there are suspicions of monopoly, they are important for protecting weak local industries and businesses. , but quite good.” While looking at the shops on both sides of the street, Jiang Yunfan thought about the problem: “This time, the task Captain Ma gave me is to increase the development of trade with Shunguo, and take the opportunity to infiltrate more and master other The lifeline of the economy, it is good to have some countermeasures in the future. Especially the important mention of opening a bank at an important port in Shunguo. Grabbing the huge profits brought by the monopoly financial business, this is what we should do, as long as Li Laiheng agrees to this, so many years of investment can be recovered slowly."

In fact, compared with other businesses, controlling Shunguo's financial industry is the most important goal of the people on the east coast, and it is also a new goal that has been added with the changes in the current situation in the past year.In this matter, the local businessmen in Ningbo and the Bank of Taiwan have contributed a lot, and Ma Wenqiang is just pushing the boat along.

The reason why they took finance as the main breakthrough was because Shunguo business had just developed to a certain scale at that time, and there was a huge demand for financing from banks and bank offices.For example, in Baling County, an important port, there are seven banks in the local area. The capital they control ranges from 6000 taels to 2 taels. They often provide financing for some tea shops, paper shops, cloth shops, etc., which greatly promotes local business. and the development of handicrafts.

Of course this is at an important port.In some small counties, the capital of banks and ticket offices may only be a few hundred taels to a few thousand taels. They provide loans to some smaller tea farms, weavers, and handicraftsmen to help them produce various commodities. Slowly developed over 20 years - on top of the ruins of war.

Sometimes, Jiang Yunfan also had to marvel at the creativity and savvy of these Chinese businessmen.The owner of some banks may have been just a salesman or an individual weaver in the past 30 to 100 years. After accumulating capital, he gave loans to other weavers and grew bigger step by step.If they can increase their capital from 1000 taels to 1 taels, they will surely be able to continue to expand the capital of the bank to [-] taels or even tens of thousands of taels in the future. The rapid development is amazing.

At this time, if the relatively modern bank capital on the east coast enters the Shunguo market, it should be the right time.If it was too early, the banks and bank accounts in Shun Country hadn't fully developed yet, and the people on the east bank would still have to shoulder the heavy responsibility of opening up wasteland, which was not worth it.And if it is too late, when a big bank with several 10 taels of capital appears in Shunguo, the East Bank financial capital will encounter considerable resistance, so now is almost the most suitable time.

Jiang Yunfan believes that once Dongan Financial Capital controls the banks and bank accounts in Shunguo, it will actually control the country's industrial and commercial production and operations.At that time, the Bank of Taiwan and the like can use relatively abundant capital to train some well-connected people to act as compradors, and use loans to sell goods on the east coast as bait to encourage them to continue to develop their own markets for the people on the east coast. Wouldn't it be more effective than pure military aid or other means to reshape the industrial production pattern of Shunguo, make it complementary and complementary with Ningbo and other places, and completely control the lifeline of the peasant regime in this land with several provinces in the central part?

Of course, not all the people in Shun Kingdom are fools, maybe some people with insight will see the disadvantages.But so what?You Shun Country has just gone through a war that lasted for several years, and your savings for many years have been emptied. The front line in Hubei is still facing fierce attacks by 20 Qing troops. How great is the pressure!Is there no need for the horses, muskets, cannon, armor, arrows, and other baggage of the East Coasters?How can it be!

Therefore, Jiang Yunfan felt that there was a high possibility that Li Laiheng would agree to allow Dongan financial capital to enter Shunguo, and at least would agree to open banks in some ports.And this is actually a test for them by the East Bank government to see if they are still tame, which has a strong guiding significance for future work.

(End of this chapter)