Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1153 Resume production and encourage handicraft industry
Today the world is divided into three parts, and all parties have an advantage. Although the power of the Jin Kingdom is weak, it occupies Guanzhong, has the strength of Hangu and Tongguan, and has the advantage of geographical advantages.

Although it is not enough to swallow the world, but defending Guanzhong and Hanzhong, and managing the Western Regions, life is not bad.

After the failure of the conquest of Shu, the whole Kingdom of Jin probably realized that fighting for the world was not suitable for them. They just wanted to do a good job in Guanzhong, Xu Tu went west, and separated the northwest.

The Qing Dynasty stood in the north and the Central Plains, and was the center of China in the traditional sense, with the northern horse grazing land and the fierce Manchu and Mongolian cavalry.

Strictly speaking, Qing is not a healthy country, because he did not think about improving the lives of the people under his rule, nor did he think about bringing anything to the world. His purpose is to plunder, which is not a healthy country. The country, he is actually an army that owns the country, and it is a military colonial regime established by the Eight Banners.

In the Qing Dynasty, everything he did was based on military conquest, so everything he did was to satisfy the Eight Banners and other armies first. Their goal was not to rule the world, but to colonize the world.

It can be said that this is a kind of army-first politics. The whole country is controlled by the Eight Banners nobles, rather than the country owning the Eight Banners nobles.

Because he has no intention of governing the country, fighting wars has become their main task, so the Qing Dynasty is full of aggressiveness, and only by continuously expanding its military colonization can it satisfy the expanding desire of the Eight Banners nobles.

The Ming Dynasty occupies the southern half, is an orthodox dynasty, and has the hearts of the people.

Compared with the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was an orthodox dynasty, and fighting wars was only one of the tasks of the Ming Dynasty. The army was under the control of the Ming court. In addition to recovering lost land, Wang Yan also had the responsibility of governing the world and restoring people's livelihood.

Since the fall of the Hongguang Dynasty, the world has been corrupted, and the people's livelihood has declined, the Ming Dynasty has only a few provinces in the southwest, and now it occupies half of it.

When Wang Yan cleaned up the old rivers and mountains, he not only restored many territories, but more importantly, he restored the people's livelihood that was destroyed by the Manchu Dynasty. This is the huge difference between an orthodox dynasty and the Manchu Dynasty.

Dorgon could not use the newly recovered people's strength in the north, expropriate and extort violently to launch the southern invasion war, but as an orthodox dynasty, Wang Yan's first concern must be the livelihood of the people.

After returning from Wai Guo, Wang Yan went directly to the cabinet and convened the ministers of the seven countries to discuss.

Due to the strengthening of the power of the cabinet, the original small office space is no longer sufficient for the normal operation of the cabinet.

In order to enhance the efficiency of the imperial court’s operation and handling of affairs, the six ministries plus the Dali Temple were all gathered around the cabinet, forming a building complex dominated by ten halls including Wenyuan Pavilion, the Assembly Hall, the Mansion of the Governor of the Five Armies, the Hall of Soldiers, and the Hall of Officials. , covering a total area of ​​[-] mu, with more than [-] large and small buildings, and each department has a designated pavilion, so that people who can handle affairs can be found in time to improve efficiency.

The state affairs of the Ming Dynasty, except taxation, war and other major events, as well as the distribution of funds by various ministries at the beginning of the year, were authorized by the meeting hall, and general specific matters were handled and implemented by the cabinet.

The seven academicians in the cabinet actually exercised the powers of the prime ministers in ancient times, similar to the system of group ministers in the Song Dynasty.

In the cabinet, a deliberation and voting system is implemented. For general matters, a majority of Grand Scholars agree to pass them. However, when it comes to major events, five Grand Scholars must pass. If the standard is not met, the Prince Regent must decide. If there are more than five grand scholars objecting to the proposal, the cabinet may disobey the Prince Regent's order.

The state affairs of the Ming Dynasty, first of all, are controlled by the Chamber of Commerce. Major events such as taxation and war, as well as the annual budget of the Ming Dynasty, are all controlled by the Chamber of Commerce.

Meetings in the council hall are infrequent, generally only at the end of the year and at the beginning of the year, or if there are officials in the council hall who are dissatisfied with the cabinet and reach a certain number, they can apply for a meeting of the council hall to question the cabinet. Convene a council meeting.

The specific affairs of the Ming Dynasty were handled by the cabinet within the budget given by the meeting hall, and the entire Ming Dynasty was governed.

There are generally two types of cabinet meetings, one is a daily regular meeting, and the other is an impromptu meeting proposed by the Prince Regent.

In Wenyuan Pavilion, Wang Yan sat down with the seven senior scholars in the consultation hall, and the junior officials prepared tea and pastries, and then gave each of the seven prime ministers a dossier.

This is the information on Waiguo that Wang Yan asked Zhuang Wenlie, the magistrate of Yingtian, to copy for him.

"Today's discussion in Wenyuan Pavilion, I just want to discuss with the ministers the resettlement of the poor in Nanjing's Waiguo City. The imperial court also injected funds or gave preferential policies to help workshops resume production and encourage the opening of more workshops to solve the problem of civilian livelihood. Sitting in the middle, Wang Yan spoke directly to the crowd and said in a deep voice, "The situation in Wai Guo is on the files. There were more than 20 workshops of various kinds in the past, but now only a hundred or so have resumed work. There are [-] workshops in Wai Guo City." The common people have no livelihood. We are only now noticing such a serious problem. This is the dereliction of duty alone, and it is the dereliction of duty of the court and the cabinet!"

Seeing that Wang Yan's face was not looking good, several people quickly browsed the file aside, and the paper rustled as they flipped through it.

"Your Highness, these days, the cabinet and His Highness have been busy taking over the affairs of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces. They have not paid attention to the situation in Nanjing Wai Guo, but they are suspected of dereliction of duty!" Chen Bangyan stood up and said: "Since Your Highness has proposed This issue, our cabinet should quickly discuss it, deal with it as soon as possible, and make up for it, it’s not too late! Your Highness, don’t blame yourself too much!"

Now that Tang Lu Fang is down, Wang Yan Fang is victorious, and several senior scholars in the cabinet naturally dare not go against his will.

Wang Yan sat upright, his expression relaxed a little, "The rebellion between Tang and Lu vassals this time caused great harm to the people, not only Nanjing, Nanzhi, and even Zhejiang and Fujian were affected. Before the wealthy clan encircled land, a large number The common people lost their land, so they relied on the workshops in various places and the rise of all walks of life to find a living."

Wang Yan glanced at a few people, and then said: "After all, there are only a few people who can be hired by restaurants, shops, and shops in the city, and most of them require skills. These poor people who have lost their land mainly work in various workshops. With so many people, if If they cannot be resettled, as long as someone instigates them, it will be a catastrophe! In order to resettle as soon as possible, the lonely king decided to fund some workshops from the government to tide over the difficulties, and then give a certain tax reduction policy to encourage gentry and merchants to open workshops. Resettle these people as soon as possible and restore the stability of Nanjing!"

Du Yinxi, who was new to the cabinet, nodded after listening to Wang Yan's words, "If the production of workshops in various places does not resume, the folk gentry and the people who grow cotton and mulberry seedlings will also suffer great losses. I agree. His Majesty's opinion."

If the workshop closes down, folk raw materials will accumulate, and the price will inevitably drop, making the people who grow cotton and mulberry lose their money.The economy of the Ming Dynasty has formed a system, and if there is a problem in one place, bigger problems will also appear in other places.

Wang Yan nodded slightly, feeling that what Du Yinxi said was reasonable, but Du Yinxi said: "However, I think it's inappropriate for Your Highness to let the imperial court inject money. From this year to the end of the year, the imperial court's budget has already been used up, besides Huguang and Huainan are still at war, and the imperial court does not have the budget. I looked at the file and said that many workshops stopped production because of Wudehao’s debt collection. I think the Wudehao court should take care of it. Affect the overall situation of the court and cause trouble for the court!"

The background of the Wude is too complicated, and the interests involved are too wide. The Wuzhong Army, the Wang family, the He family, the Huguang gentry, the Guangnan maritime merchants, and military workshops in various places are all involved in their interests.

Wang Yan has too many things to do recently, integrating the forces left by Tang Lu, and dealing with the war with the Manchu Qing. He calmly thought about it, and didn't want to deal with the issue of the Wude at this time.

At least half of the great scholars sitting here are also related to the Wudehao. Du Yinxi naturally knows this, but if the imperial court injects money, it is impossible for the first imperial court to charge too high interest. The loan from the Wude Company was a loss-making business from the very beginning. The second company made profits and lost money, and the imperial court assumed the risk. The third imperial court also injected money through the Wude Company, which equaled the risk. , and can lie down and make a fortune.

Du Yinxi was very dissatisfied with the Wudehao, a monster that sucked the blood of the imperial court and helped the Wang and He families to collect money.

Wang Yan frowned, knocked a few times on the chair with his hands, and suddenly said: "The new thing of the Qianzhuang has a great influence on the court, but my court's laws and regulations have not made relevant regulations on the Qianzhuang. You need to be vigilant!"

Wang Yan rolled his eyes and blocked Yinxi, "The Duge Department is right. This time, a large number of workshops have closed down. It is indeed related to Wudehao's rush to collect accounts. Wudehao really needs to bear certain responsibilities. Lonely The opinion is that all debt-debt workshops sealed up by Ying Tianfu in the Wude lawsuit will be unsealed!"

"Your Highness, these workshops owe Wudehao money. Wudehao's behavior does not violate the court's laws. Besides, Wudehao also needs money to circulate. Is it against the law and unfair for the court to issue such a direct order?" Yan Qiheng stood up. Said, Chen Bangyan and Wang Fuzhi also frowned tightly.

Wang Yan waved his hand, "The influence of the bank is very great, so we can't take it lightly. The loan between the bank and the workshop should not be regarded as an ordinary loan. The loan cannot be recovered as soon as it is recovered, and the law must be re-enacted. Seizure, but it does not mean that the debt of the workshop is exempted, but that the workshop is allowed to resume production, as long as the workshop is revived, this is also good for the bank!"

"Your Highness, even if Ying Tianfu lifts the seal, these workshops will not be able to survive every time a sum of money is injected to start production. The Qianzhuang has the rules of the Qianzhuang. Without a mortgage, the Qianzhuang will not be willing to take risks and inject another sum of money to start the workshop. Yes!" Wang Fuzhi said.

Wang Yan's opinion is indeed good. The bank will seize the assets of the workshop and resell it, and it will not be able to recover the full amount of the loan. Only if the workshop survives, will it be possible to repay the bank's money.

After thinking about it, Wang Fuzhi and others thought it was acceptable, but the key depended on whether it would work.

"I've thought about it for a while. Let these workshop owners give up part of the shares at a low price, recruit wealthy businessmen and gentry to form a partnership, let the partners inject a sum of money, and restart the workshop. There should be no problem!" Wang Yan Said: "In the current market, the prices of cotton cloth and silk are rising. I believe that many people will be willing to participate in the stock and join the workshop."

After finishing speaking, Wang Yan looked at the crowd, saw that they were silent, and there was a moment of silence in the hall, then Wang Yan waved and said, "Get ready to vote!"

Several senior elders glanced at each other, Du Yinxi raised his hand first, and then Su Guansheng and Zhang Kentang also raised their hands, surpassing the three bachelors, and the rest raised their hands only after seeing each other.

Wang Yan nodded, "Since it has been unanimously passed, the case can be formally implemented after the cabinet signs and the lonely king seals it."

As he said that, he looked at Wang Fuzhidao: "Chen Yonghua, the chief treasurer of Wudehao, will come to the palace later, and the Wangge department can come together."

"Your officer obeys!" Wang Fuzhi cupped his fists.

At that moment, Wang Yan looked at the crowd again, and said with a smile: "The next thing to discuss is another important matter, which is about the imperial court's strengthening of local control, prohibiting the private establishment of torture halls, and cracking down on evil gentry gangs!"

(End of this chapter)