Chapter 36 Economic Problems
"Father, please walk slowly? Come here often when you have time."
Liu Yishou stood at the intersection of Liulichang and expressed enthusiasm to Meng Chong who was carrying the box back. shouted.
Meng Chong was holding this small wooden box, his heart was bleeding, it was too expensive.
Normally, Meng Chong would not find this expensive, but after Zhu Zaijing rewarded Li Shizhen with a thousand taels of silver without any idea, Meng Chong, the chief steward of the palace, felt it instantly The pressure of being in charge.
There are more than a hundred people living in the house who eat horse chews, plus the monthly money for the servants, the money in the palace flows out like running water.
Furthermore, Zhu Zaijing was not a feudal prince from a foreign vassal. He had no corresponding fief income, so he relied on allocations from the palace and the Ministry of Household Affairs to live on.
To be honest, every penny was calculated as a benefit, but suddenly there was such a big gap, and Meng Chong finally realized the difficulties of the housekeeper's wife.
"Be careful, be careful, don't be so reckless, you know."
Meng Chong, who came out with the box in his arms, put the box on the carriage and warned the coachman carefully.
It can be seen how much Meng Chong cares about these ten glazed bottles.
Hearing what Meng Chong said, the driver quickly obeyed for two days, and then he drove the carriage carefully and took Meng Chong back to the palace.
After arriving at the palace, Meng Chong carefully carried the box containing ten glass bottles down. He was so careful that he did not dare to borrow help from others along the way.
Zhu Zaijing looked at Meng Chong who came back with the box, and also stopped and put down the "Gaogong Notes" in his hand.
Zhu Zaijing asked: "Is it done?"
Meng Chong carefully placed the box on the stone table in front of Zhu Zaijing and said carefully: "Yes, Your Majesty."
Zhu Zaijing couldn't wait to open the box. Meng Chong looked at Zhu Zaijing like this With his excited movements, he was afraid that Zhu Zaijing would accidentally knock over the box, so he quickly said: "My lord, be careful, let your servant come."
But how could Zhu Zaijing give Meng Chong a chance?
This feeling of unpacking the "express delivery" is so exciting that Meng Chong can't understand it.
Zhu Zaijing said directly: "Open it, can't I even open a box?"
Zhu Zaijing scolded Meng Chong aside with just one word, and then he started to open the wooden buttons on the wooden box.
At the moment when he opened the wooden buckle, Zhu Zaijing was in an extremely beautiful mood.
He took off the lid of the wooden box again, and then peeled off the shockproof straw covering the glass bottle. Looking at the exquisite and beautiful glass bottle inside, Zhu Zaijing directly took out one in his hand. Play around.
Looking at the elegant pattern on the glass bottle and the ingenious pattern on the wooden stopper, Zhu Zaicheng bared his teeth and smiled and said: "Not bad, not bad, you did a good job on this trip."
Hearing Zhu Zaijing's praise, Meng Chong's mood instantly became cheerful.
Meng Chong said: "Go back to the prince, 750 yuan a piece."
Zhu Zaijing now has a preliminary understanding of the value of money in the Ming Dynasty. The value of 750 yuan is converted into the salary of an ordinary laborer in the capital today. , it may take about ten days to earn 750 Wen.
So if we convert it to the ordinary salary standard of three thousand per month in later generations, this seven hundred and five cents is almost equivalent to a thousand pieces in later generations.
When I think about this, I don’t know whether to lament the low value of labor force in the Ming Dynasty or the happiness of people in later generations. Maybe this is life.
Whether you are willing to do so or not, the money you can earn is almost just enough to cover your food and clothing.
No matter how much you want to earn, you either need luck, courage, or you don't regard yourself as a human being. Otherwise, it will be difficult for ordinary people regardless of era to break through the average income line.
But Zhu Zaijing did not do these things to make money from these poor people. He wanted to make money from high-ranking officials.
These dignitaries are not short of money. I don’t know how many silver vaults have been excavated from the cellars of many houses. Some of the silver and copper coins in them have probably not seen the light of day for a hundred or two hundred years.
Such a huge amount of wealth sitting in the cellar, unable to produce any economic value, is simply a serious damage to the current economy.
You must know that wealth needs to flow like water to make the entire economy active.
If too much wealth is deposited, it will lead to a shortage of silver and money in the market, which will force the court to invest more real gold and silver into the market in order to maintain the operation of the economy. However, these Before the money was heard, these wealthy people took it to their cellars and deposited it.
The common people who have been paying taxes to the court in the long run cannot get any feedback from the court, and have to bear more taxes. It would be strange if this economic model does not collapse.
So if you want to make the economy active and free up more labor force, you have to find a way to move the money stored in the cellars of these big households and circulate it in the market.
This will not only stabilize and stimulate economic improvement, but also greatly mobilize the people's enthusiasm for production. By then, various handicrafts and art forms will sprout like bamboo shoots after a rain.
At the same time, ordinary people can also obtain more production value through their own active labor, so that whether they are farming or working, they will also have huge enthusiasm.
This is a healthy market.
So in order to make the future of Ming Dynasty more brilliant, Zhu Zaijing decided to develop streamlined and branded luxury goods and pry out all their money!
It can be said that at this moment, Zhu Zaijing, who was trying to make money, felt that he was going to have a holy light.
"Go and carefully clean these glass bottles, and then put our treasures in them. From now on, whether our palace will be popular or spicy will depend on it."
Zhu Zaijing was in a good mood and put the glass bottle into the wooden box again and said to Meng Chong.
After Meng Chong heard what Zhu Zaijing said, he quickly took action, carried the box and went to the small courtyard of the back house, and did not allow anyone to get close to follow him.
After all, not everyone in this palace is loyal. No one can be sure whether many people's hearts are black or red.
So when it’s time to be careful, you still have to be careful.
Otherwise there would be no secrets in the palace.
Meng Chong happily went to pack the sugar according to Zhu Zaijing's instructions.
Zhu Zaijing also happily picked up "Gao Gong's Notes" and looked at them again. Gao Gong's notes are so detailed. Just looking at them makes people gain knowledge. It can be seen that Gao Gong is not only A highly knowledgeable person is first-class even when it comes to bottoming out, otherwise his notes would not be so readable.
"I will have Mr. Gao tell me about the current situation in the DPRK and the 'international situation' another day, but the most important thing right now is the issue of food. Hey, I didn't expect that I would still worry about money now that I am a prince. I really don’t know how the Ming Dynasty’s finances were managed.”
Zhu Zaijing rubbed his chin and thought about the future. If he remembers correctly, there will be a war that will almost overturn the Ming Dynasty in the near future. Shocking changes!
(End of this chapter)