Chapter 270 Demolition in Daming
The public debt funds raised are still rising!
In less than three months, the entire Daming Stock Exchange raised more than five million silver dollars through the sale of public bonds!
Zhu Houzhao looked at the boxes of silver dollar bills shipped from Guangzhou, and couldn't help but ask Xia Yan: "This money must be enough for you to visit the Indian city of Goa three times. How do you plan to arrange this fund?"
"Back to Your Majesty, according to the budget of the minister and Wang Zhitai, and according to the Jin Yiwei's information, the Franco fleet in Goa now has 21 ships, 40 artillery pieces, 1,600 soldiers, and other non-combatants. There are 12,000 men and slaves; therefore, I plan to prepare a third-class battleship with 750 soldiers and three fourth-class battleships. The battleship is equipped with 350 soldiers, a total of more than 1,000 people, plus ten warships responsible for charging, burning, and landing, a total of more than 2,000 officers and soldiers, plus muskets, ammunition, divine fire, flying crows, etc. The salary and fees are about one million silver dollars! I haven’t decided on the remaining four million yet. Please tell me!”
Xia Yan replied.
Xia Yan really didn't think it through, because he never thought that issuing public bonds could raise so much money.
Officials from Guangdong and Guangxi didn't expect it, and they all looked at Emperor Zhu Houzhao excitedly to see how Emperor Zhu Houzhao arranged the funds.
Of course, because the Imperial Sea Trade Corporation is a state-owned company of the Ming Dynasty and was established by Xia Yan in the name of Nanyang Minister, these funds are public funds and not private. Therefore, they can only be arranged by the emperor Zhu Houzhao.
This is also a special feature of this colonial era. Large maritime trade companies are owned by the state or the royal family. Especially in a centralized empire like the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult for private capital, that is, merchants, to compete with the court in maritime trade. It can be said that the entire Ming Dynasty Almost all maritime interests are now controlled by the government and the court.
Zhu Houzhao was very willing to see this result. The public ownership of the economy was the mainstay, which was of great significance to maintaining the stability of the empire.
Whether it is banks such as the Royal Bank, the Central Bank of the Ming Dynasty, industries such as the Royal Industrial Company, or projects such as the Infrastructure Bureau, the royal family and the imperial court are the primary owners.
This can also be regarded as a characteristic of Ming Dynasty.
And now, when Zhu Houzhao wants to do something, how can he use most of the funds occupied by the Ming Dynasty to do things that are beneficial to the national economy and people's livelihood.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but think of what he met in Haitian Shengyuan a few days ago. He had to admit that with the rise of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty, the lives of the powerful officials in the Ming Dynasty were becoming more and more luxurious.
Now that the stock exchange has been established and there are more opportunities to make money by speculating in finance, it will be easier for these powerful officials who hold most of the interests of the empire to enjoy leisure and work instead of investing their funds in industry. This will not Promote the development of Ming's productivity.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao felt that as the emperor and the largest capitalist in the Ming Empire, he must first not let the empire's funds flow into the beds of the imperial nobles and turn into drops of semen.
"Tomorrow, I will convene the civil and military officials of the fourth rank and above in Haojing. I have decided to hold a court meeting to discuss in detail how to use these funds and how to use them for public use in the future. Let Mr. Jiao Ge, Han Wen, Shouning Hou, and Xiangcheng Bo also Come join us."
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao returned to his station in Haojing that night, and wrote down on paper his ideas on how to use the large amount of public funds obtained by the country to benefit the people without making the people lazy. After revising it several times into the final copy, Only on the second day did he mention it at the court meeting: "I wrote this all night last night. You can read it first, and then I will tell you how to arrange it."
Xia Yan and other officials quickly said yes and spread the news one after another.
After Zhu Houzhao waited for these people to pass it around, he said: "Recently, I came to Guangzhou and saw a lot of indiscretions among high-ranking officials. Even famous ministers who have served as chief ministers of the cabinet or even ministers are also deeply involved. It really makes me sad, I am Da Ming We are strong and foreign barbarians will naturally not be able to destroy us. If one day, the Ming Dynasty declines and is destroyed, not only will the emperor's self-destruction be one of the reasons, but the corruption of you princes and officials will also be one of the reasons!"
Zhu Houzhao's first sentence made all the officials present lower their heads, especially Jiao Fang, Han Wen and others.
Everyone knows in their hearts that what Emperor Zhu Houzhao said is right. Compared with before the early years of Zhengde, no one now has a more lovable wife and concubine, indulges in sex, and even builds a mansion, which is more luxurious than before. Although the court has issued repeated orders, it is still difficult to stop it, and even intensifies.
Everyone knows that this is not a good phenomenon, but apart from saying "the world is deteriorating, people's hearts are not as old as before", the rest can only comfort themselves by saying that it is a peaceful and prosperous time, so they can enjoy themselves. After all, as a minister and common people, how can I What to do. "I know that after the empire opens to the sea, when faced with the influx of large amounts of wealth, you will be confused and at a loss. You may even say that this is the disadvantage of the imperial court's emphasis on commerce and the opening of the sea. It is better to give up business interests if you want to teach the body and use it. , focusing on agriculture, but what I want to say is that we cannot stop pursuing a strong country and a prosperous people just because money can consume people’s will.”
Zhu Houzhao continued: "I have already written on how to arrange the public interests of the Ming Dynasty. Now I will briefly say that the purpose of making money for the court is to strengthen the country and enrich the people, and a strong country is naturally easy to understand, and it is undoubtedly the result of practice. Soldiers, well-made ordnance and warships, but to enrich the people, we cannot simply give money to the people. That will only allow the people to enjoy the favor of the court and stop working hard. That will only destroy the country and destroy the nation!”
"Therefore, I believe that the public interests of the court should be mainly spent on things that are conducive to the prosperity of the country and the common interests of the people all over the world, such as building government-run hospitals for the poor, building schools, and even building some institutions for consultation between the government and the people, such as legal consultation institutions. , there are also policy advisory agencies, and the other is the nursing home to increase pension benefits! ”
"For example, with the remaining four million silver dollars this time, after the new route is opened, the sea route from Haojing to Guangzhou will also flourish. Your Guangzhou officials can first use this fund to build a better port along the coast of Guangzhou ;
In addition, once a port is built, the surrounding poor people will have to be relocated. At that time, the government will directly pay huge sums of money, and even issue a relocation notice half a year or even a year in advance, so that the people have more time to prepare, and naturally You can spend this money in the best way. ”
Zhu Houzhao said this, and Zhang Run, the governor of Guangdong Province, couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, the people have always been cunning and cunning. If the government issues a relocation notice in advance, I am afraid that these cunning people will take the opportunity to build more houses, and the relocation compensation from the government will be even greater." ”
"What I mean is to give these common people the opportunity to take advantage. Instead of giving the large amount of funds obtained by the court to the wealthy gentry through sharing shares to let them pursue pleasure, it is better to let these ordinary people get it. Although they are cunning, they are still hardworking. , sharing the public benefits with them will not make them become idle and idle all of a sudden;
Moreover, they will definitely need a large amount of bricks, tiles and mud to build new houses. This can increase the income of brick-burning and tile-making workshops. You can even ask the Guangzhou government to compensate only for cement brick and tile houses. This will also encourage Daming Cement Workshop to find ways to improve Cement production! ”
"In addition, you can also concentrate the best doctors, the best schools and even the best welfare in Guangdong in urban areas near the relocated people, and also build the best houses for sale in urban areas near the relocated people. The houses are concentrated into one The square is equipped with gardens, guards and even an organization dedicated to working for the people of the square. Do you understand? ”
"In this way, you can raise the price of houses here, and you can directly let some businessmen develop it. You only sell government land, but at a higher price, so that the people have to spend all the demolition money that your government compensates them for. Go in, so that they can live in the best house and have the most peace and tranquility life, but there is no money in hand. If you want to pursue pleasure, you can only continue to work, continue to farm, or fish. In short, as a government, we must prevent the rich from becoming rich and the poor from being poor. In the end, it may The result is that all the people of Ming Dynasty will become rich!”
When Zhu Houzhao said this, the officials present looked at Zhu Houzhao with astonishment as if enlightened. They seemed to begin to understand the benefits of controlling the most profitable industry in the hands of the court.
Most of the officials present were also officials who were deeply educated in Confucianism, and they all had a longing for the ancient Datong society. Now that they heard that Zhu Houzhao finally made the Ming Dynasty come true and made everyone rich, they all looked forward to it.
Xia Yan couldn't help but laugh at this time, and thought to himself: "Let everyone get rich. In the past, I only thought that this was just a fantasy of the world. Now, listening to what Your Majesty said, it seems that it is possible to realize it. In any case, I Xia Yan must follow your Majesty and try to do this once, so that the imperial court can control the interests of the world, so that the rich cannot be too rich, and the poor cannot be too poor.”
"Of course, this is difficult to achieve, at least in the short term, but no matter what, people cannot be forbidden to want what they want. As long as people are not absolutely richer than others, they will not be satisfied. Therefore, we cannot let the scholars and the people have Too much spare money can make their houses better and better, make their roads better and better, make their parents, that is, you, cleaner and cleaner, make them travel more and more convenient, and make their food better and better. , but we can’t let him become more and more idle!”
After Zhu Houzhao said that, he asked: "Do you understand everything?!"
"I understand!" All the officials present stood up and responded in unison.
then.
Three days later.
Zhang Run, the governor of Guangdong, issued a notice to prepare for the construction of Guangzhou Port, and some coastal fishing villages in Guangzhou need to be relocated. The government will compensate at 50% of the par price, and for houses, the compensation price will be doubled for cement brick houses. Compensation for house prices is calculated based on three feet square, and areas less than three feet square are not counted.
Some coastal people in Guangzhou started building houses after hearing about it. For a time, cement workshops and brick and tile workshops sprung up in Guangzhou.
(End of chapter)