Chapter 289 The gentry were completely defeated (two in one)
"... Your Majesty, Wang Shouren, is reporting to your Majesty that the Xuanfu government has been testing cannons recently. The gunpowder is mostly mixed with sand and needs to be replaced. Once there is an enemy situation, the consequences will be disastrous! And the officials in charge of gunpowder in Beijing must be corrupt. Please, Your Majesty." Investigate it strictly, otherwise it will destroy the foundation of our Ming Dynasty!
...In the Xuanfu area, everyone from the commander-in-chief down to the police concealed the information. I received a thousand gold coins to get the secret. I investigated the matter and it was related to the great official in the palace, Eunuch Wei. I did not dare to make rash speculations. I specially informed your majesty and asked your majesty to make a decision... …”
After Zhu Houzhao read Wang Shouren's secret performance, his expression became solemn:
"Wei Bin? This man is now in charge of the Gunpowder Bureau. I didn't expect that he would dare to collude with the generals of the border army to adulterate gunpowder!
In this case, there is no doubt that Wei Bin is a corrupt official. I have been in power for a long time, so it is inevitable that I cannot see the darkness under the lamp, and the ministers in the court are not aware of it? Why do they still recommend Wei Bin? ”
Zhu Houzhao had a premonition that he seemed to be being deceived by everyone, or that he was being used as a fool by everyone.
But no matter what, Zhu Houzhao felt that he had to at least adhere to the principle of employing people without suspicion and using them without suspicion. No matter who was more suitable to go to Songjiang Prefecture to open a new weaving bureau, Luo Xiang or Wei Bin, at least he could not change his generals on the spot now.
And the cabinet ministers used the reason of improper appointment to persuade themselves to replace people. Whether they are right or wrong, at least the Wei Bin they recommended does not seem to be a better candidate. This shows that these cabinet ministers either recommended unknown people, or they were It is unconscionable. In other words, the person who recommended Wei Bin is either stupid or bad!
Zhu Houzhao called Wen Zhengming from the attendant's room: "Draw up a decree and tell Luo Xiang that if he can't start a new weaving bureau before the Spring List of the 18th year of Zhengde is unveiled, let him hang himself! There is no need to return to Beijing to see me!" ”
Zhu Houzhao gave Luo Xiang an ultimatum. He believed that even if Luo Xiang was a pig, he would be forced to come up with a solution.
Emperor Zhu Houzhao did not replace Luo Xiang, but only ordered Luo Xiang to die. This surprised the chief minister of the cabinet Wang Qiong and others. They were a little disappointed. What was disappointing was that His Majesty did not follow the trap he set. , but they did not think of any way to stop the emperor, because they could only help the gentry in Songjiang Prefecture so far.
At the same time, they now had to seriously think about why the emperor suddenly changed his mind.
……
Songjiang Mansion at this time.
Luo Xiang also knew that if he delayed like this, it would not only cause Long Yan to be furious, but also give these gentry and the civil servants behind them the opportunity to frame him.
But Luo Xiang did not sit still and wait for death.
In other words, the current situation in the Ming Dynasty did not sit still and wait for death. The shape of the entire society was changing.
In order to expose the lies fabricated by the gentry to the people of Songjiang Prefecture, to completely separate the two forces of the gentry and the people, and to increase the credibility of himself as the imperial official, Luo Xiang took out 10,000 silver dollars and said that the top ten would be sold to the Weaving Bureau. Those who sell cotton and raw silk will receive a one-time reward of one thousand silver dollars.
In today's Ming Dynasty, there is not much difference in value between silver dollars and silver in the old days, and one thousand silver dollars is equivalent to a huge sum of money in this era, which can basically make people rich directly!
Under this temptation, people who dared to try naturally came to the weaving bureau with a cart of cotton and raw silk.
Luo Xiang paid the thousand silver dollars in full, and also gave them an extra silver dollar, asking them to spread the news about purchasing cotton at a high price for his weaving bureau.
Luo Xiang's method is quite similar to that of erecting trees at the city gate, but the effect of this is indeed very obvious. As long as they are really convinced that the inner court really wants to purchase cotton and raw silk at high prices, they will all flock to it. Regardless of whether Luo Xiang was a eunuch or not, he even rushed to bring his own cotton and raw silk overnight in order to get a thousand silver dollars as a reward.
besides.
Some common people who had already sold cotton and raw silk to the gentry, or had agreed to sell to the gentry, began to change their minds and demanded an increase in price or refund from the gentry who bought their own cotton and raw silk. The reason was that these gentry had cheated them! They were fooled into not believing that the Weaving Bureau purchased the cotton and raw silk from them at 50% higher than the market price.
Naturally, the gentry would not agree and even took out the contract.
This suddenly caused cracks in the relationship between the gentry and the common people.
She Kaide also found Zhou Jiansheng and begged: "Mr. Zhou, please cancel my order and I'll return the deposit to you. Originally, you said you would suffer a loss by accepting my cotton and raw silk. Now, Since the Weaving Bureau really wants to collect cotton and raw silk at a price that is 50% higher than the market price, then it is better to sell these cotton and raw silk to the Weaving Bureau. They will suffer anyway, so you will not lose money. What do you think? ! ”
She Kai is now extremely regretting that she believed the words of this Zhou Jiansheng and agreed to sell her cotton and raw silk to this Zhou Jiansheng at a price that is half a percent higher than the market price. Now the Weaving Bureau is indeed selling it at a price higher than the market price. After the news of the 50% purchase spread, he naturally came to find Jiansheng this week.
However, he could not directly say that Zhou Jiansheng had deceived him. He could only beg Zhou Jiansheng euphemistically, hoping that Zhou Jiansheng would show mercy.
And how could Zhou Jiansheng give up the large quantity of cotton and raw silk orders that had already been signed, and he did not agree to this She Kaide:
"Uncle She, you signed both the white and black letters, and also took your fingerprints. You can't say you regret it, just regret it. You don't want Zhou to suffer losses because of your kindness, but the transaction must be in accordance with the contract!"
She Kaida knew that she could not offend Zhou Jiansheng alone, so she had no choice but to endure her anger and leave Zhou Jiansheng's mansion. However, she immediately brought a group of neighbors to the Zhou clan's ancestral hall to make a fuss, demanding that the Zhou clan members preside over the public discussion. Return the cotton and raw silk that were defrauded from your neighbors.
Naturally, the Zhou clan was unwilling to repay it. After all, they had a contract in their hands. They were busy trying to get the clan members together and even persuaded the magistrate of Huating County to bring people to suppress the troubled farmers.
Naturally, She Kaide and other farmers were not willing to give up, and came to the government one after another to complain, and they came to the Songjiang Prefecture Magistrate's Yamen.
Like farmers such as She Kaide, many common people and small landowners in other counties of Songjiang Prefecture who did not want their cotton and raw silk to be deceived by gentry with business backgrounds also fought with their local squires and even squires of the same ethnic group. Disputes occurred, and many even had direct fights with weapons, and some even resulted in injuries.
Of course, many people came to Songjiang Prefecture’s Yamen to complain.
For a while.
Because Luo Xiang's new weaving bureau purchased cotton and raw silk at a high price that was 50% higher than the market price, the relationship between the gentry and the common people in Songjiang Prefecture suddenly changed from incompatible to incompatible!
Suddenly, the gentry and the common people were divided.
Even the contradiction between the gentry and the common people became more and more intense. Some gentry relied on their clan rights to prohibit the common people and small landowners of the same clan from selling cotton and raw silk to the weaving bureau. The common people and small landowners were naturally unwilling to lose the opportunity to make money, so they naturally stood aside. Rise up against the clan.
In Songjiang Prefecture, where urbanization has been highly developed, most common people and small landowners have some traces of modern citizens. With the improvement of education, these common people and small landowners are no better than the gentry in fighting. The gentry can unite with the government to suppress They, and they could also force the government to suppress the gentry.
at this time.
The most troublesome one is Xiong Yan, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture.
Now he is in a dilemma. On the one hand, he is threatened by the six ministries of Nanjing and even the nobles and high-ranking officials, asking him to send troops to suppress some troublesome people. On the other hand, he is asked by the governor and even the capital not to provoke the uprising and to deal with it properly. strict order.
Xiong Bin did not expect that the relationship between the gentry and the common people would suddenly become so bad.
But he could only comfort both sides. On the one hand, he arrested the squires and common people who had committed criminal cases, and on the other hand, he strictly ordered the counties to release the common people and squires who were detained in the prison without any reason.
At the same time, Xiong Yan could only increase the strength of the police first, and set up additional police stations in every township in Songjiang Prefecture. Some big towns even set up two or three to maintain public order and avoid recurrence. Large-scale armed fighting occurred.
In this way, invisibly, the grassroots level controlled by the gentry clan was further returned to the hands of the imperial government, which strengthened the control of the imperial government at the grassroots level.
And because of their selfishness and profit-seeking in the commodity economy, the gentry group began to gradually lose credibility among the common people and the small landlord class, and gradually lost control over the grassroots, allowing the government to continuously strengthen its intervention in private control. power.
But the initial reason for all these changes was simply that Luo Xiang came to Songjiang Prefecture to open a weaving bureau and purchased Songjiang Prefecture's basic economic products, namely cotton and raw silk, at a price that was 50% higher than the market price. This caused the gentry to lose their market monopoly. power, and the common people had a better channel to sell the value of their surplus labor, that is, they could no longer rely solely on the gentry to obtain wealth.
However, now, Luo Xiang and his Weaving Bureau that caused all these changes have not been in turmoil again. They have successfully established the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, and officially started spinning and reeling using steam spinning machines. In just a few days, the entire Jiangnan Weaving Bureau began to spin new yarn and reel out new silk.
People nearby began to bring cotton and raw silk to the Weaving Bureau one after another, and some even came from Huzhou, Suzhou and other places. For no other reason than the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau's high purchasing prices.
The gentry also knew that they had lost the war over the market for textile raw materials. Even because of this war, the relationship between the gentry and the people of the same ethnic group or village began to deteriorate, which gave the court an opportunity to benefit.
But what they don't understand is why the New Weaving Bureau, which represents the interests of the royal family and the court, dares to purchase cotton and raw silk at a price that is 50% higher than the market price!
“Don’t their weaving bureau just want to make money?!”
Zhou Jiansheng had this question at this time. He didn't understand why the New Weaving Bureau should raise such a high price.
"These servants of your Majesty raise the purchase price of cotton and raw silk. They just want to take away the cotton and raw silk from the people's hands. From now on, the people will not live according to us, but live according to them. So As a result, the imperial government can naturally take advantage of us gentry!
However, this way, I don’t believe that our Weaving Bureau can still make more money. The price of exported cotton and silk will be reduced by half this year. I want to see if my Weaving Bureau dares to lower the export price. No! ”
At this time, Nanjing Ministry of Industry Minister Zhou Yongze sat in front of Zhou Jiansheng and sneered.
"As my brother said, their Weaving Bureau has raised the price of purchasing cotton and raw silk by 50%, and then lowered the export price by half a percent. Their Weaving Bureau is afraid of losing money to death! Even if His Majesty the Emperor does not pursue it, as His Majesty's How can the officials not pursue the case? When the time comes, as long as the elder brother asks the censor to check the accounts of his Weaving Bureau as usual, if he makes little or even loses money, he will take a copy of the Weaving Bureau and see what Luo Xiang will do! ”
Zhou Jiansheng also said with a sneer.
"I'm afraid there's no need to go to such trouble. The princes in the court have already persuaded His Majesty to transfer this Luo Xiang back to the capital. By then, the new palm seal of the Weaving Bureau will naturally be in the same league as us scholar-bureaucrats. Branches," Zhou Yong said.
"This is even better. If the new Zhangyin Dajuan comes, we will naturally have the final say on how the weaving bureau purchases cotton and exports it. As long as the new father-in-law is willing to be aware of current affairs, he will naturally understand that no matter how good the weaving bureau is, it will be From the emperor’s house, only what falls into his own pocket is real money!”
After Zhou Jiansheng said this, he said goodbye to his brother and immediately rushed back to Songjiang Mansion. By coincidence, Zhou Jiansheng also met the palace eunuch who had been passed down on his way back to Songjiang Mansion. He thought it was the imperial court's order to send Luo Xiang home, so he couldn't help but smile:
"It must be that the imperial court wanted to transfer Luo Xiang back to the capital. It seems that my brother's guess is right. The princes in the palace persuaded your majesty! Let this unhuman gelding go back to the capital! Let's go, Go to the Yamen of the Weaving Bureau and see Eunuch Luo’s disgraced look. It’s exciting to think about it, hahaha! Zhou has never seen a eunuch look disappointed!”
This week, the supervisor came to the Yamen of the Weaving Bureau, and at this time, the news he learned was that His Majesty the Emperor only issued an order to urge Luo Xiang to open the Weaving Bureau as soon as possible, and did not intend to transfer Luo Xiang back to the capital.
"How could this happen? The princes in the DPRK failed to ask His Majesty to transfer Luo Xiang back to the capital?"
Zhou Jiansheng felt very disappointed, and suddenly he was in a bad mood. He was so depressed that he just wanted to hit the wall three hundred times.
Luo Xiang was also in a bad mood at this time. Although Zhu Houzhao did not transfer him back to the capital as the civil servants wanted, he still felt the anger from Emperor Zhu Houzhao because he wanted to die as an apology for starting the business as soon as possible. He guessed that there was pressure from the princes of the court and that a group of civil servants from outside the court were secretly framed against him.
Luo Xiang didn't hate Zhu Houzhao. What he hated was that the entire civil service group actually wanted to transfer him back to Beijing so that they could succeed in their conspiracy. Luo Xiang knew that the new weaving bureau he opened this time must be run well and must use steam engine innovation. The use of technology can achieve huge profits. Only in this way can His Majesty trust him and the civil servants who are trying to assassinate him will not dare to speak out even if their interests are harmed.
The depressed Zhou Jiansheng and other gentry were still unwilling to let Luo Xiang and his new weaving bureau stick to Songjiang Prefecture like a magnet and sucked in almost all the cotton and raw silk in Songjiang Prefecture. Therefore, they continued to weave. We are fighting with the new weaving bureau in the industry market.
Zhou Jiansheng and other gentry directly joined forces and directly cut the price of textiles shipped overseas by half, hoping to monopolize the entire export market through price war.
"Daddy, the prices of textiles exported to the sea trade company by the major trading houses in Songjiang Prefecture have been reduced by half compared to last year! They are deliberately targeting our Weaving Bureau!" Diao Yong hurriedly reported this phenomenon to Luo Xiang.
Luo Xiang looked at the roaring fire, boiling hot water and steam equipment in the entire workshop and said with a smile:
"How do these guys who only know how to make money, buy land and buy women know what the advantages of technology are? I have already calculated it with the business administration students hired from the Capital University. According to the level of the steam engine in our Weaving Bureau, even if we compare it with the export The price will be reduced by another 70% They are all profitable. This is the calculation result after we have increased the prices of cotton and raw silk and workers' wages. Please inform the sea trade company that the prices of cotton, silk and other textiles in our weaving bureau have been reduced by 20% compared to last year's export market price! ”
"What, cut it by 30%! What is Luo Xiang doing! Does he really want to fight to the end with us gentry in Songjiang Prefecture? Does he really deceive me that all the gentry in Songjiang Prefecture don't dare to fight? After all, so do we. A wealthy businessman! How can he be bullied by a castrated dog? Even if we don’t make a profit this year, we will fight to the end and continue to reduce the export price by 30%!”
Gentlemen like Zhou Jiansheng were completely angry. They did not expect that the Weaving Bureau would dare to play like this.
And Luo Xiang is now taking advantage of his technical advantage of steam engines to continue cutting prices, announcing that the export price will be reduced by 40% compared to last year!
The gentry had no choice but to grit their teeth and lower the price again, to 45%!
Luo Xiang already knew that his weaving bureau had a steam engine and could still make a profit even if the export price dropped to 70%. Therefore, he simply continued to lower the price to 50% of last year's export price!
Zhou Jiansheng and other gentrymen tried their best to further reduce the wages of workers in their own shops, and continued to reduce prices to 55%.
But Luo Xiang's Weaving Bureau also continued to cut prices to 60%.
At this time, the gentry did not dare to surrender at all, so they had to give up.
Luo Xiang's Weaving Bureau also won the price war.
but.
The gentry are all waiting to see Luo Xiang's jokes and the degree of Luo Xiang's losses. Some gentry have even contacted the censor to prepare to impeach Luo Xiang for his poor management of the Weaving Bureau, which caused the Weaving Bureau's losses.
But in fact, Luo Xiang's bottom line was that he could still make a profit if he dropped it to 70%. Now it has only dropped to 60%, and the profit is naturally still higher than the gentry's profit from exporting textiles last year.
certainly.
The gentry and civil servants were still unclear. They all thought that Luo Xiang dared to lower the price like this, and he must have done so at the cost of causing the Weaving Bureau to suffer huge losses.
then.
On the 15th day of the first lunar month of the 18th year of Zhengde, Hu Shi, the censor of Nanzhili, suddenly surrounded the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau! The reason is to check the accounts!
The patrol censor has this power. As long as it is within the jurisdiction of Nanzhili, he, the patrol censor, can investigate almost anything.
Luo Xiang did not stop Hu Shi from checking his account books. He only sneered and said: "Hu Shi is really brave. No matter what the Weaving Bureau says, it is a royal property. Dongchang didn't even check it. How dare you do it? ”
"I have also received reports that your people in the Weaving Bureau are running the Weaving Bureau indiscriminately, causing the Weaving Bureau to suffer huge losses. Precisely because this is a royal industry, I feel that this matter cannot be underestimated!"
After Hu Shi said this, he shouted: "Let me examine it carefully and see how much the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau is losing!"
Civil servants began to care about the profitability of the industries under Emperor Zhu Houzhao's name. This was a strange phenomenon, but in fact, it just happened. The censor Hu Shi now seemed to be the most loyal to Zhu Houzhao.
However, at this time, Hu Shi's staff came over: "Master, we have found out the results. The export profit of Jiangnan Weaving Bureau is 800,000 silver dollars. This is only calculated from December last year to February this year! This profit has exceeded It accounts for half of the total value of Songjiang Prefecture’s textile exports”
"What! How can you make so much? This is impossible, this is impossible!"
Hu Shi originally thought that the loss of the newly established Weaving Bureau was undoubtedly a matter of solid evidence, otherwise he would not have dared to lower the export price, and had also raised the price of cotton and other purchases before that. Therefore, after getting help from Nanjing Ministry of Industry Minister Zhou Yong and others After receiving instructions from the bosses, he hurried over to search the Weaving Bureau.
But what Hu Shi didn't expect was that the Weaving Bureau did not suffer a loss, but made a huge profit! He made so much money that he couldn't believe it was true.
"Go and check quickly, keep checking again," Hu Shi roared hysterically.
After a while, the results of another calculation came out. The new Weaving Bureau still made a profit of more than 800,000 silver dollars from December last year to February this year!
"Why is this happening?" Hu Shi said dejectedly.
"This is a secret. We can't tell you without His Majesty's permission. However, if Hu Xunqian still doesn't believe it now, we can take you to see the cash and silver dollars that the New Weaving Bureau has recently earned!"< br>
Luo Xiang naturally guessed that Hu Shi must have been instigated by the entire civil service group behind the scenes to suddenly investigate his weaving bureau. Therefore, when he saw that Hu Shi failed to find out that his weaving bureau was suffering from losses and was in a state of collapse, he I couldn't help but feel happy.
but.
Hu Shi, the patrol censor, could only leave the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau in despair.
"Strange, how did the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau achieve so much profit! What do they rely on to be so confident!" Zhou Jiansheng and other gentry had also learned about the soaring profits of the Weaving Bureau at this time, but because of this, they were also in a bad mood. It was getting worse, but what he didn't expect was that something bad was happening.
The gentry of Songjiang Prefecture wanted to fight a price war with Luo Xiang and seize all the textile markets in this way, but they themselves were unwilling to lose too much, so they transferred the shrinking profit margins caused by lowering prices to their own workers. body.
As a result, some workers began to go on strike or even stage petitions to demand that these gentry bosses pay them back wages.
For a time, the entire gentry in Songjiang Prefecture had to be harassed by the workers after they had just been harassed by the common people.
And the prefect Xiong Ban had to work hard for these things.
On the contrary, Luo Xiang has now completely established the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau's leading position in the textile industry in Songjiang Prefecture. By raising the price of raw materials such as cotton, the people have profited and then monopolized the upstream raw material market. And then because of the high-efficiency steam engine, and the inexhaustible Machinery that requires too much manpower has almost completely monopolized Songjiang Prefecture's textile exports.
"Bastard, what kind of wages do these workers need? A few years ago, they could only be regarded as serving as corvees now. They still want wages after serving as corvees. This is simply a delusion! Give me the leader of the workers and beat him to death!"< br>
Zhou Jiansheng was completely angry when he saw the workers of his company making trouble. He did not expect that the workers under him would be so restive, so he could only scold him a few times.
……
As expected, Zhou Jiansheng had the leading worker beaten to death, but the situation did not stop and became even more intense.
The contradiction between the gentry and the common people intensified again, and the contradiction between the citizens and the aristocracy began to manifest in a concentrated way.
But these have nothing to do with Luo Xiang now. Now Luo Xiang is relying on his own steam power to expand the scale of production crazily, occupying the entire sea trade textile market, trying to transport more silver coins to Beijing to make His Majesty happy. At the same time, he severely slapped some people in the DPRK who slandered him in the face.
This is Luo Xiang's purpose.
But maybe the steam industry can really bring about revolution. Now Luo Xiang is relying on this to trick the gentry in Songjiang Prefecture, making the gentry in Songjiang Prefecture hated by the common people.
In fact, this chapter mainly wants to write about the changes brought about by the application of steam engines in detail. Because it is the government-owned enterprise of the imperial court, that is, the Weaving Bureau in the article, that has mastered advanced technology, it can win the price war with the gentry. Thank you 20171129111609370 for the 10,000 reward! I haven’t had a ten thousand reward for a long time, and finally I have one! Thank you to book friend Mo Shi for the 500 starting coin reward.
(End of chapter)