Chapter 459 Ye Li's Fourteenth Article
Profits tax, a 50% tax on the outflow of silver and brass. Zhu Yijun wants to encourage maritime merchants to go out, but he does not want them to take the silver and copper with them Therefore, the scope of profits tax is limited to the two precious metals of silver and brass.
It can be regarded as an ancestral law. After all, in the early Ming Dynasty, there was a very clear ban on gold and silver.
Once this regulation is announced, I am afraid it will arouse fierce opposition.
Because in the eyes of the widespread maritime merchants, this is another strong interference from the imperial court, which will make them very uncomfortable. This is to be expected. The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are not interested in the north because of the distance. They had no sympathy for the Japanese invaders, but they were frightened by the Japanese invaders in front of them.
The Songjiang School has a similar view. They believe that the imperial court is deceiving.
For example, in this crusade against Ban Sheng, according to the Songjiang School, the court used the broad concept of Han people to make you, who has nothing to do with this matter, hate people you have never seen. Beilu, living in the south, what is your specific connection with Beilu?
Then you have to feel proud and moved by achievements that have nothing to do with you. What's the use of this? It has no use other than to give you something to talk about while drinking, and part of the money for starting the war comes from you, who has nothing to do with it.
The freedom in the eyes of Ming Gong is completely different from the freedom of the Songjiang School.
The freedom of the Songjiang School is freedom that will not be interfered with at all and is completely centered on self-interest. However, freedom in the eyes of Ming Gong is freedom under reason, with restrictions and observing basic principles. The freedom of rules.
The Treatise on Public and Private Affairs can refute a similar point.
The Ming Dynasty's crusade against Ban Sheng is closely related to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty is the largest collective and the largest public among all the Ming Dynasty people.
If this greatest collective interest cannot be safeguarded, then the private relative to the public, that is, the small collective, cannot guarantee its own interests. This is a truth that even the Jin Party has understood. His Majesty and Zhang Juzheng said very clear.
The city built by the grassland people stands on the grassland like a pillar of shame. The left and right wings of the Tatars, Dongyi Jianzhou, Haixi wild people Jurchen, and the seven tribes of Outer Khalkha , will have doubts about the Ming Dynasty from the bottom of their hearts, and then their disobedience will gradually arise. In the end, they will come together to attack the Ming Dynasty.
Tan Lun, Qi Jiguang and others attach so much importance to the Great Xianbei Pass because they are afraid that the left wing led by Tuman Khan will merge with Dongyi.
The possibility of the Ming Dynasty going out and completely defeating the enemy is very small. The Ming Dynasty failed to defeat the enemies before they completed the merger. When the grassland tribes complete the merger and attack the Ming Dynasty together, even if the Ming Dynasty is undefeated, it will become Daming had an invisible scar on his body that was bleeding continuously.
At that time, the relationship will change from invisible to explicit, and it will really be closely related to the world, and a vicious circle will appear.
The Ming Dynasty needs to increase its power to resist the captives. To increase its power requires money and food, the court needs to increase its exploitation of the people. The meat-eaters who are good at cost transfer will make the most ordinary people bear the burden of tax increases. People cannot afford to cause civil unrest, which will further damage production and lead to more civil unrest. The Ming Dynasty will become weaker and more unable to resist the invaders. And the weaker Ming Dynasty will make more and more disobedient people outside the Great Wall. In this vicious world Under the cycle, barbarians finally entered the pass, and all life in the world was in ruins.
So, crusade against Ban Sheng, or safeguarding the interests of Ming Dynasty, the largest collective, is really closely related to everyone.
Qi Jiguang always advocated a decisive battle in the wild, beating the enemy to death, which was the only solution, but Zhang Juzheng knew that he could not do it. This was because Wen, Zhang and Wu Qi had different ways and did not conspire with each other.
At this time, Zhu Yijun proposed to Wang Guoguang to print a kind of treasure banknote that was difficult to counterfeit but could not be cashed. The intention was really obvious: seigniorage.
Seigniorage is called fire consumption in the Ming Dynasty. There is a fire consumption for stamping silver coins and casting Tongbao. This fire consumption is profit, minus a part of the silver and copper materials, mixed with lead and tin. , which is seigniorage.
Currently, the Ministry of Industry has more than 120 foundries, 10,400 coin minters are registered, and more than 600 million coins are minted annually. With the rapid development of Luzon's copper industry, the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty Coin making is also developing rapidly, and the people of the Ming Dynasty generally recognize Wanli Tongbao, but they are dismissive of privately minted flying coins. In fact, flying coins are small in weight and contain little copper, are not durable and have little exchange value.
It is said: Seeing the competition for profit, there are private coins every day. Although the death is endless, the money made is too thin and the copper is scarce, and it cannot be piled up.
The seigniorage from stamping silver coins and casting Tong Bao is already very generous, but it is definitely not as fast as printing Bao banknotes!
Baoqian has become a thing of the Ming Dynasty. Everyone does not approve of Baoqian, so it is a good idea to print money and send it overseas.
Xu Jiugao traveled around the world and saw the chaos of colonial currency in many colonies. The stamped silver coins were cut, pearls were woven into strips and regarded as money, and even tobacco company receipts and decent-looking stones , can all become currency colonies. There is no doubt that the Ming Dynasty banknotes that are difficult to imitate will have their own place.
"If this treasure banknote cannot be cashed, is it an act of losing the country's great trust?" Zhang Xueyan first raised his concerns. The step was too big, which was not a good thing for the Ming Dynasty. Wang Guoguang and Zhang Xueyan were both traditional Conservatives do not agree with issuing national bonds and borrowing money from the private sector.
Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "In the Ming Dynasty, even a seven-year-old child knew that treasure banknotes are useless."
Wang Guoguang still shook his head and said: "But it is against the law to not be able to redeem treasure banknotes. The ancestors established the law in the eighth year of Hongwu in the early years of the country. Each treasure note has the same value, one tael of silver, one thousand copper coins, and is used in common with copper coins. Forgers will be killed, and those who accuse the arrest will be rewarded with 250 taels of silver, and then give The property of prisoners and the law of currency exchange were established. In the 26th year of Hongwu, the law of currency exchange was abolished. ”
The Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes have their own complete system design, including cashing, death of those who print privately, heavy rewards for reporting and exposing, in addition to giving money, the family property of the prisoner is also searched, and there is even regular banknote exchange.
The Ming Dynasty Baochao has a very clear system design. It is not that Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his forehead and started printing money directly.
The Ming Dynasty also copied the work of the Yuan Dynasty. During the reign of Kublai Khan, Prime Minister Ye Li Ding's "Ye Li Fourteen Articles" reformed various shortcomings of treasure banknotes in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty.
Exchange means exchanging old and new banknotes for use together, and the old and new ones are replaced regularly; cashing means that each banknote is exchanged for a full amount of copper and silver, making it a cashable banknote; the punishment is death for those who print privately, and a heavy reward for those who report it, and they may also have to confiscate it. Household wealth; the official treasury gold and silver standard banknote law and the official treasury reserve system ensure that while exchanging gold and silver, the official treasury must also use gold and silver to purchase treasure banknotes from time to time to ensure that the treasure banknotes will not depreciate; multiple denominations, ranging from more than five cents Various denominations for easy use; currency and debt, Xu Heng revealed the basic fact that banknotes are national debt in "Chu Coin Notes"; making copper coins is based on the wing banknote method, which is to cast copper coins and silver ingots to maintain the banknotes from depreciation, etc. wait.
The Fourteenth Article of Ye Li can be said to be a very complete legal regulation for the issuance of banknotes. Kublai Khan issued a total of more than 36.18 million banknotes, which were eventually abolished. Kublai Khan never Being able to solve the problem of banknote depreciation, in the eighth year of Hongwu, Ming Dynasty banknotes also encountered similar challenges.
Neither Zhiyuan Tongxing Baochao nor Da Ming Baochao can solve the problem of rapid depreciation of banknotes. There are two main problems that cannot be solved by the system.
The first one is the private seal. Sometimes, the court receives a report and finds that the private seal is from a relative of the emperor, a prince, general, or minister. The Ministry of Revenue can only deal with the whistleblower, but cannot solve the problem. The person who raised the question has been dealt with. After the emperor, relatives, princes, generals and ministers were reprimanded, they asked the brokers and compradors to hold the private seal on their behalf. Should the Ministry of Household Affairs investigate or not? Laws without punishment and without enforcement are nothing.
The second one is cashing in. The gold and silver in the official treasury prepared by the Ming Dynasty were stable, but the reserves were small and corruption was extremely serious. The officials in charge of the official treasury often exchanged the gold and silver for their cronies, or simply used public money for personal gain. Royal relatives, princes, generals and ministers only need to privately print treasure banknotes to empty out all official treasury. This also leads to the fact that redeemable currency has always been irredeemable currency, further exacerbating the problem of devaluation of treasure banknotes.
The problems that Kublai Khan and Zhu Yuanzhang could not solve could not be solved by Zhu Yijun.
The Ming Dynasty implemented the Banknote Law. Empress Dowager Li's biological father and the emperor's grandfather Wu Qingbo Li Wei directly opened the seal. Zhu Yijun should kill or not. As an emperor and a political creature, Zhu Yijun could ignore the feelings of Empress Dowager Li. , killed Li Weiliwei, but he was just and impartial, and the officials in the Ming Dynasty officialdom protected him, could he kill him cleanly?
Money moves people's hearts.
So Zhu Yijun never had the idea of implementing the banknote method in the Ming Dynasty, so he could only suffer from the hardships of overseas foreign affairs.
"The laws established by our ancestors cannot be discarded." Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Guoguang and said with certainty.
Wang Guoguang understood.
Redeemable currency is an ancestral law, but it is also an ancestral law that promises to be fulfilled on the surface but is not actually fulfilled. After the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, the currency will no longer be exchanged, which is an ancestral law that will no longer be redeemed. The ancestors also changed it. Shaobing, this gave later generations a very flexible political and moral bottom line for formulating policies.
Will it really be honored? If redeemed.
“Our Ming Dynasty does not recognize treasure banknotes from top to bottom, so will the overseas Panyi recognize it?” Zhang Xueyan raised a doubt of his own.
The Ming Dynasty knew that treasure notes were worthless, so would the overseas Panyi be willing to accept it? This is something that must be considered.
"Change the version." Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "Most of the treasure banknotes will not flow back to the Ming Dynasty, which means that most of the treasure banknotes cannot be cashed. When Fanyi does not recognize the old banknotes, the old banknotes will They are all worn out, just change the version."
"The overseas tribes will recognize it, even the stones, because they have no better general equivalent to use."
Overseas foreigners are willing to accept the use of treasure banknotes, based on two points. First, they have to use it in reality because there is no better currency to replace it; second, it is a beautiful dream. In a distant place, treasure banknotes can be used in the heavenly kingdom. Cashable currency that can be exchanged for real gold and silver.
Wang Guoguang and Zhang Xueyan looked at each other, and after thinking about it, they agreed with His Majesty’s idea.
This is a very cruel method. When changing banknotes, because the banknotes will inevitably depreciate, the new banknotes must not wait for the denomination to be replaced. For example, the Zhiyuanbao banknote (new banknote) is exchanged with the Zhongtong banknote at a ratio of 1:5. The exchange of banknotes (old banknotes) represents the depreciation of Zhongtong banknotes, and it also means that the amount of new banknotes is enlarged.
The banknote itself is a kind of debt that relies on the reputation of the court. The banknote is an IOU. Exchanging 1 new banknote for 5 old banknotes will form a new four times debt to the people on the original basis. , which represents cruel expropriation.
As for the problem of silver waste, there is already a program of asset enhancement, and specific policies have also been piloted. Things such as profits tax, the number of workers and peasants, and the expansion of Yanxing Building are all centered on this issue. Expand.
"Your Majesty, Wang Yushi is here." Feng Bao whispered to His Majesty.
"Xuan."
Wang Qian saw the courtesy, and then sat aside obediently, listening quietly to His Majesty and the two Situ discussing how to solve the problem of idling silver.
Silver idling means that silver is controlled and circulated in the hands of a few people, which is a problem with barriers. The fundamental reason for idling is that money will only flow to places where there is no shortage of money. If you want money to open the door to the people, even a small window, it is extremely difficult.
To solve this problem, the court's investment became a non-solution. Through various means such as national bonds and trading houses, the silver was concentrated in the hands of the court, the investment was completed, and then the interest and dividends were paid. In the form of silver, it is returned to the owners of silver, hoping for a virtuous cycle.
But there is a very fatal problem. At present, the trust between the emperor's court and the borrower is completely based on His Majesty's personal credibility.
This is very dangerous. Once the emperor's personal credibility collapses, or the emperor has an accident, all the systems built around the emperor's credibility will collapse, including the tax bureau, trading houses, national debt, etc. It will have a profound impact on the country.
"What did you say, sir?" Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Juzheng what he thought of this deep binding. Wang Guoguang said helplessly: "Yuan Fu said, this is good."
What else can Zhang Juzheng, a die-hard royalist, say? Zhang Juzheng is happy to see this happen. His Majesty is supreme, but he is also a human being in a physical sense and will be in danger. The more interests tied to His Majesty, the more safety he can ensure and his wide support.
Zhang Juzheng placed all his trust in the emperor for the Ming Dynasty's New Deal and the Ming Dynasty's reforms.
Zhang Juzheng has a way, but he won't say it. Besides, he doesn't have any good way.
Wang Guangguang and Zhang Xueyan reported on the compilation of "Wanli Accounting Records" and chose to leave. Wang Qian finally survived the more serious atmosphere of this round of small meetings.
"We are all discussing important affairs of the country. I have come unexpectedly. Please forgive me for your majesty's sin." Wang Qian took a few deep breaths. The adults were talking about big things, but his trivial matter was really not on the table. .
"Yanxinglou Trading House is in charge of you. How come Wang Yushi, a busy man, has time to come to my study?" Zhu Yijun asked Wang Qian's purpose.
Wang Qian shook his sleeves, kowtowed five times and said: "I have come to apologize for the pearl incident."
"Daddy asked you to come." Zhu Yijun took a sip of water and said with a smile: "Get up and speak."
"Yes." Wang Qian did not make excuses and chose to tell the truth. Lies cannot be hidden from His Majesty.
Zhu Yijun asked: "What crime do you think you are guilty of?"
"I think I am right!" Wang Qian answered this question very clearly. Wang Chonggu, an old man, simply I don’t understand, carnivores also have to survive and eliminate. If they can’t even control their own greed, they are irrational, let alone Hongyi.
Zhu Yijun waved his hand, shook his head and said: "You, you still don't understand your father's worries. Wang Cifu knew what he was saying, and you couldn't listen, so he asked you to come over."
"Wang Cifu is getting older. He is afraid of this and that. It's not that he is corrupt or that he can't accept it. He is worried about you. You are hoarding goods now, and all you want is pearls. Pearls are something that only Zhongmingding Food House can use. If you do it, you will do it, but in the future if you waste money on food, clothing, housing and transportation, you will definitely die."
"Human greed is amplified little by little in the constant pursuit of profit, and rationality disappears little by little. Controlled by greed, he was eventually punished and regretted it. Wang Qian was stunned for a moment, thought for a long time, and then bowed his head and said, "Thank you for your teaching."
There are some things that Wang Chonggu, as a father, would not be able to say clearly in front of his son. He was not aware of the transgressions he committed before the second year of Wanli. Every wrong step leads to wrong steps, and Wang Chonggu is right about He told his son about the wrong things he had done in the past, which undermined his father's dignity.
Wang Chonggu saw his past self in Wang Qian, so he took the seven-star ring-headed sword to clean up the door.
"Your Majesty, speculation cannot be banned, because speculation comes from human greed." Wang Qian talked about why he did not think he was guilty. After the influx of a large amount of silver, speculation would In the face of the powerful power of money, it becomes common practice.
Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and asked: "So you are also a Confucian scholar under Xunzi's sect. Do you believe that human nature is inherently evil?"
"Human nature is...evil!" Wang Qian used a lot of courage, Having said these words, he is a traditional Confucian scholar, the kind who has passed the exams for fame. Originally, the Confucian sages’ thoughts of human nature are deeply rooted, but in the past few years of serving, he gradually discovered that the classics are not perfect. Yes, of course there is good in human nature, but there is also evil.
Beilu Dongyi outside the Great Wall and Fanyi overseas have no education and are no different from wild beasts. If human nature is good, how can they be the same as wild beasts?
Zhu Yijun looked Wang Qian up and down, nodded and said, "I'll leave the affairs of Yanxinglou Trading Company to you. I'm very relieved."
Wang Qian is a dandy and a speculator. The originator of evil is also a bad person. The only way to control the gap between human nature and evil in trading is to hand evil people over to be tortured, and to use evil to fight evil.
“Be careful of private trading meetings.” Zhu Yijun talked about the specific contents of trading houses. These private trading meetings will become bookmakers, thereby draining all the credibility of trading houses.
“This minister has done this before.” Wang Qian said with a slight embarrassment: “Actually, it’s easy to find. Speculators like to have private banquets and gather at someone’s home. It’s not very appropriate to completely ban speculation. It’s easy, but we can use many means to monitor their speculative actions to see if there is any risk of spreading downwards. This is the bottom line that needs to be strictly guarded and adhered to.”
“Your Majesty, I am humble. In my understanding, the main contradiction of the current Ming Dynasty economy is the chaos caused by chaotic currency. Feiqian, salt currency, acceptance bills, Wanli Tongbao, silver coins, and silver are all currencies. They have established a reputation in the shortest time. With a good and unified money supply system, currency values are no longer as volatile as before. ”
Wang Qian does not advocate a complete ban on speculation. In his opinion, this is the best way to eliminate meat-eaters. Anyone who loses rationality will lose everything in the trading house. It is also the only way for producers to completely change the class. Perhaps, in Wang Qian's view, the expansion of trading houses is a window that money opens to the poor.
Ship tickets are held for a long time to receive dividends and then exchanged for more tickets. This kind of ticket is also a kind of currency and a method of distribution.
Wang Qian put forward his understanding of state affairs for the first time. He felt that the main contradiction of the Ming Dynasty's economy is that trade and the economy are becoming more and more prosperous, and exchange is accelerating, but the currency that serves as a medium is extremely chaotic. , and cannot be adequately supplied.
"Da Situ and Young Situ have already talked about this. About five years ago, you had not yet passed the Jinshi exam." Zhu Yijun nodded, the money shortage was terrible, Wang Guangguang five years ago It has been explained repeatedly.
It’s not that the Ming Dynasty didn’t want to solve the problem. It opened the sea just for the inflow of silver. It’s not that the two Situ were incompetent. It was because the Ming Dynasty was too big. No matter how many silver coins or copper coins, they couldn’t fill this big hole. The demand for money was so shocking that Zhu Yijun even suspected that the reason why the Central Plains could not transform from a small peasant economy to a commodity economy was due to the money shortage.
I am really short of money.
The Ming Dynasty was like a glutton, swallowing up all the silver and brass that flowed into the Ming Dynasty, and was greedy.
"I'm being rude." Wang Qian quickly bowed his head and said. It turns out that the ministers in the imperial court had known about it for a long time and reported to His Majesty.
"I am very satisfied with your willingness to share the country's worries." Zhu Yijun encouraged: "You just need to manage the trading business well. With more practice, with your intelligence, you may not be able to do it in the future. "I hope you will succeed."
"I will obey your Majesty's holy teachings."
Zhu Yijun has always disagreed with Wang Chonggu's way of training Wang Qian. Wang Chonggu wanted Wang Qian to be a dandy who would eat and die and wait for death. However, Wang Qian, who was proficient in the theory of contradictions, arithmetic, public and private discussions, and class theory, was the top meat of the elected official class. Or, he stands high enough and has a very clear understanding of the basic logic of social operation. It is really a waste of talent to wait for death like this.
Zhu Yijun reminded Wang Qian not to lose his rationality, and it was not empty talk. Yan Song’s son Yan Shifan was such a smart man. However, in the process of rising step by step, he finally lost his rationality. The Yan Party collapsed completely, and Yan Shifan Asking for bribes has a great relationship with Prince Yu's palace.
Yanxinglou Trading House is preparing to issue two tickets, Suiyuan Chidao and Suiyuan Mining. These two tickets total two million copies, each worth five silver, and will be issued in three years. There are great risks involved in the construction of Suiyuan Chi Road and the money needed to open the mines in Suiyuan. If there is a defeat, natural disaster, or domestic demand is not strong enough, dividends will not be as stable and profitable as national debts and must be repaid. After all, doing business requires There is profit and loss.
But even so, those speculators and brokers and compradors who are familiar with the risks are eager to try and seek opportunities to make money, because these new tickets are by no means just top-down administrative bills like the Ming Dynasty Baochao. , as well as physical roads and minerals from the bottom up.
These new tickets are safe in their eyes and will not fall significantly. They are issued, circulated, and increased in value in a very stable manner, while the main body of Ming Dynasty is changing at a rapid speed, innovating and innovating.
No one will doubt the solvency of the new notes. Ming’s Zhashe households also understand His Majesty’s bottom line. The collapse of silk coins is due to the downward allocation of risks and the cutting of the smallest trading unit of silk coins. It triggered His Majesty's thunderous wrath.
These people are ready, they are willing and able to provide the silver needed for the development of a trading house.
Zhu Yijun held a memorial in his hand. A conservative group represented by Wang Guoguang was very worried about the expansion of Yanxinglou Trading House. The sky has been filled with controversy. There are all kinds of people who come to the trading house, including speculators who dream of getting rich one day, investors who are worried about the depreciation of silver caused by silver dams, and bookmakers who maliciously manipulate the market.
Wang Guoguang tried to distinguish these people on the basis of good and evil. For these people participating in the game in the gap between human nature and evil, Wang Guoguang tried to find a limit.
Zhu Yijun held the memorial in his hand, looked at Feng Bao and said: "Da Situ's worry is not unreasonable. The reason why Wang Qian was able to make a lot of money and harvest other people in the Pearl Case is Because he knew exactly that the matter would be discussed in the court, and the time of the discussion was easy to confirm, he remained rational and did not sell after getting the result, but realized profits before the court meeting.”
"The first thing that Da Situ is worried about is that the Ming Gongs of the Ming Dynasty will use their power to obtain information that only Ming Gong can get and conduct transactions."
"Officials and businessmen collude together, which will cause endless harm. Feng Daban, you What do you think?”
Feng Baoliao said helplessly: “Your Majesty, I am just a eunuch. The Ming Dynasty needs to mobilize the sleeping silver to promote the exchange of commodities. The expansion of Yanxinglou Trading House is imperative. Your Majesty, I believe that anyone who colludes will be severely punished to have the effect of intimidation. They can neither stop eating because of choking nor turn a deaf ear. "
"If they collude together, it will inevitably cause panic, and the court should also have an official treasury to deal with it. For this situation, someone must be responsible for it, so that the country will not lose its trust."
For many years, Feng Bao has seen many eunuchs, and he feels that it is not terrible to solve a conflict if there is a problem. , there will inevitably be two contradictions. When problems arise, but they do not solve them or cannot face them, and no one takes responsibility for them, this is the most terrible loss of national trust.
The concerns of conservatives are not empty talk, but the test that Ming Dynasty will inevitably face in the future.
"You are right." Zhu Yijun reviewed Wang Guoguang's memorial and gave specific instructions. At present, the Ming Dynasty has a very suitable person to do it, and that is Hai Rui, as the Ming Dynasty's anti-corruption chief One person, it would be most appropriate to leave this matter to Hai Rui.
In this chasm between human nature and evil, finding the boundary between good people and bad people is a long-term task. Zhu Yijun expected the difficulty of this matter.
Zhu Yijun next chapter, the governor of Songjiang and the governor of Yingtian, the next chapter, the five major shipping departments and the three major overseas shipping departments asked the city shipping envoys about their opinions on the profits tax. Before the formal implementation of the profits tax, the court also needed It was confirmed that the specific thoughts of all parties on profits tax must first be unified internally before the executive order can be formally implemented.
The two governors responded quickly to the court's news. Shen Shixing's opinion was to completely ban the outflow of silver and brass. This was his practical experience. In his opinion, 50% was too little. , as the bridgehead for opening up the sea, Shen Shixing met many such people, and his opinions were quite radical. He also suggested issuing tickets for overseas development to raise sufficient funds for overseas development and also reduce the risks of the court.
(End of this chapter)