Chapter 117 Data is the other eyes and ears of the imperial court! (Please subscribe)
Zhu Yuanzhang’s tone was extremely determined.
He admitted that some of what Xia Zhibai said was indeed reasonable.
But don’t even think about letting him give up the governance system he worked so hard to build.
And what does Xia Zhibai know?
Now that he is aware of some situations, he will naturally take precautions against them.
The heart of an emperor is as solid as a rock.
Xia Zhibai was not surprised.
He never thought about letting Zhu Yuanzhang change it.
Zhu Yuanzhang would not admit that he was wrong. For an emperor who had made great achievements and looked down upon the world, it was simply impossible for him to admit that he was wrong and take the initiative to correct his mistakes. Not realistic.
His purpose was just to make Zhu Yuanzhang aware.
There is something wrong with the system he established.
Moreover, the system established by Zhu Yuanzhang was based on agriculture from beginning to end. Even the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang hated business so much was because he believed that business would lead to a decrease in the population engaged in agriculture, which would in turn lead to an overall decline in the number of people engaged in agriculture. It affects the food and clothing supply of the world.
So he adheres to the tradition: focusing on agriculture and suppressing business.
Even very eager to drive the merchants back to the fields.
As for why Xia Zhibai was able to think of Zhu Yuanzhang's plan to attack merchants so quickly, in addition to the conversation with Guo Huan, and his certain understanding of history, it was actually more due to the decree promulgated by Zhu Yuanzhang in the spring.
Since the tithe, ingenious craftsmanship has been developed, and then the farming and mulberry industry has been abandoned. One farmer is working on the weeds while hundreds of families are waiting for food, and one woman is weaving while hundreds of men are waiting for clothes.
Zhu Yuanzhang directly stated that he wanted to ban business.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, the reason for the lack of wealth in the world now is the "abolition of agriculture and mulberry industry". In order to solve the problem of abandoning the basic and chasing the weak in society, he wants to ban trade in the world and let all the people in the world have their own affairs. Keep your business and don't eat or swim.
Zhu Yuanzhang never considered that farming could not support his family.
He only saw too much business.
It has affected the people's normal food and clothing.
Xia Zhibai is engaged in business now, so he naturally opposes the 'ban on business'.
Xia Zhibai did not continue the previous topic, but changed the topic directly and said: "Since Your Majesty does not agree, and I do not know much about farming, maybe I have improper understanding, but as a As a business official, I know enough about business.”
“Your Majesty is wrong about business.”
"And this misunderstanding has always been with your Majesty."
"When your Majesty first started the army, he always advocated 'advocating the foundation and eliminating the end', and firmly believed that this would make the national economy sustainable."
"After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty's attitude was slightly slower, advocating 'Thick capital and suppressing weak', promoting the development of agriculture and suppressing commerce, coupled with the policy of frugality and thin taxation, so that 'farmers do not abandon farming, women do not Waste weaving makes all idle people use their land, and then there are more producers and fewer users, so that the world can have enough people and accumulate wealth."
"After more than ten years, His Majesty discovered that the world is prosperous. Wealth has not increased."
"On the contrary, more and more people are doing business."
"In your Majesty's view, the large number of businessmen has seriously affected the people's livelihood of the Ming Dynasty, and has also changed His Majesty's original idea to 'few producers, many users', and this is clearly competing with Your Majesty for profit, so His Majesty sees There is no room for merchants in the country."
"At the beginning of the new year, it was announced that merchants would be banned."
Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes slightly.
The disgust in his eyes was not concealed at all.
He just hates business.
He really couldn't understand why Xia Zhibai wanted to speak for the businessman. What was good about the businessman?
Not involved in production, only interested in squeezing the people.
Such a scourge should be completely eradicated from the world.
Zhu Yuanzhang said indifferently: "Businessmen? Do you know what the first thing that comes to mind when we mention businessmen?"
"What comes to mind is those tax collectors who rushed into our home back then. Businessmen, we have always remembered the ugly faces of those people and will never forget them.”
"You have experienced so little that you don't know the evil of businessmen."
"Do you think the businessmen you have dealt with during this period are real businessmen? They will be so kind to everyone?"< br>
"The reason why they treat you like this is because you are an official of our Ming Dynasty and our hand-picked number one scholar. These people are afraid of you and are afraid of you, so they are so kind to you. Without this level What does your identity mean to you, Xia Zhibai?”
“These businessmen will only eat you up”
“Have you ever seen a businessman forcing you to sell your son or daughter? Have you ever seen an honest farmer being forced to death by a businessman? Have you ever seen a businessman forcefully evict him from his home? "
"We've all seen it."
"We've experienced it ourselves."
"You think we don't know how good business is and how much money it can bring to Ming Dynasty?"
“We know better than any of you, and we know better than any of you.”
“But we don’t want the dirty money.”
"These businessmen are not allowed to earn money."
"We want these businessmen to stay at the bottom of society all their lives, humiliated and trampled by the people of the world. We want them to do the heaviest labor in the world. We want them to do the heaviest labor in the world." We will work them to death, we will make them regret becoming businessmen forever, and let their descendants be humble."
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were red.
The hatred towards the merchants has almost turned into reality.
Xia Zhibai sighed in his heart, he could feel Zhu Yuanzhang's anger.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang's parents were the victims.
Just as an emperor, as the ruler of the world, you can't be so impulsive, let alone so self-righteous.
If you look down on business, you will pay a heavy price.
Zhu Yuanzhang may have known that from a tax perspective, doing business was much better than farming.
But he didn't care at all.
He hates businessmen from the bottom of his heart, and then outright wants to destroy business.
In order to avoid financial shortages after suppressing business, Zhu Yuanzhang also specially designed a series of policies to protect people's livelihood, aiming to ensure the normal operation of the Ming Dynasty's finances while focusing on agriculture and suppressing business.
Under Zhu Yuanzhang's management, it did not disappoint.
Just from the perspective of taxation, there is no way to shake Zhu Yuanzhang's steel-like thinking.
Xia Zhibai shook his head and said: "Your Majesty's understanding of business is too shallow."
"And His Majesty has always been contradictory."
"Economy is the basis of politics."
"Your Majesty suppresses business and at the same time imposes a sea ban on the coast."
" But at the same time, His Majesty has long welcomed diplomatic tributes from countries at home and abroad, and implemented a tax-free policy for additional goods brought into the country by tributary countries. Not only that, but also gave many rewards to these tributary countries. Under the governance of the Ming Dynasty, more than thirty countries, including Annam, Champa, Chenla, Siam, Kua Wa, and Ryukyu, frequently came to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that there was a constant stream of envoys and merchants. In short, under this situation, international trade should be booming, but in fact, this boom is one-sided.”
"Only for overseas countries."
"There is no real benefit to Ming Dynasty."
"Even Ming Dynasty will spend a lot of financial expenditures for this."
"On the one hand, we enthusiastically encourage overseas countries to engage in tribute trade, but on the other hand, they severely punish domestic residents to engage in overseas trade." "This kind of strange contradiction is rare in ancient times and modern times."
"In the final analysis."
"It is that your Majesty does not understand economics, nor does he understand the politics under economics."
"Your Majesty's views on business have always been superficial and vulgar. You think you can only get some business tax from it, but is economic and trade really that simple? "
"The answer is obvious"
"No. br>
"If I give other examples, His Majesty will definitely disagree."
"I will then take the salt industry as an example."
"In fact, there are many items displayed in the account books I submitted to Your Majesty. Data, to a certain extent, these data can be included in local data, which is different from the private data held by His Majesty. By comparing the sales of salt in a region in one year or in consecutive years, the actual development of the region can be understood. Make a certain assessment. "
"Salt is a necessity for people's lives."
"If it is a good year and the people are wealthy, their lives will naturally improve, and the demand for salt will. will increase to a certain extent, and in the lean years, the demand for salt will decrease significantly.”
“By comparing the historical data of salt, we can have a certain understanding of local production.”
“In addition.”
“Through the sales volume of salt, we can submit it to the local government. According to the data, everyone needs to eat salt. The sales volume of salt in a region is much higher than the national average, and the sales volume of salt is greater than that in regions with the same production conditions.”
"This can be concluded that there may be hidden populations in these areas."
"Or there may be large populations in some places, but the sales of salt are obviously inconsistent with the norm."
"That means there is a lot of smuggled salt in the local area."
"In addition to these obvious information comparisons, it can also be used to supervise local officials to avoid being deceived by local officials."
"The imperial court The information available from the local area is too scarce.”
“Basically only the data submitted by the local government.”
“But if it is through companies like Kyoto Salt that are rooted in the local area. , but it is equivalent to the court having an extra pair of eyes and a channel to find out information, which makes it easier for the court to understand the local situation, and then has a horizontal comparison, which can also greatly reduce the situation where the court is deceived by the local area. "< br>
Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils narrowed when he heard Xia Zhibai's words.
There was a hint of surprise in his eyes.
What Xia Zhibai said was completely beyond his expectation, and it was also an angle that he had never considered. Zhu Yuanzhang had always tried to understand the bottom class, but the imperial court's finances were insufficient. There is no way to expand the scale of the government, so naturally there is no way to start.
But now.
Xia Zhibai provides a new idea.
Refresh him.
Zhu Biao's pupils also trembled slightly, his eyes full of surprise.
He had already read the memorial submitted by Xia Zhibai, and actually didn’t pay much attention to it. However, after Xia Zhibai said this, he was shocked to realize that there were so many things in this small account book. Contains so much information.
Even
it can be used as the eyes and ears of the imperial court to supervise the world.
Zhu Biao was at a loss.
Write this idea down secretly.
In your spare time, prepare to summon some ministers to discuss whether it is feasible.
Xia Zhibai looked solemn and continued: "Salt is only one aspect. In fact, when it comes to people's livelihood, the court should have a comprehensive understanding. But in today's Ming Dynasty, the court only controls the output, but Without any knowledge of the sales situation, this is undoubtedly a huge vacuum of supervision."
"Beyond that."
"It's a road, or a post station."
"The use of the post stations in the Ming Dynasty is too low."
"In addition to military use, it is also used to deliver government orders, which is basically not used. Any civilian use."
"This is also not advisable."
"This is actually a huge waste of resources."
"Inns occupy the best roads in the world and are also hubs for circulation in the world. However, they only play a very small role as road hubs. If some inns are converted into 'commercial use', it will be a huge improvement for the world."< br>
“It will also be a great help to the court.”
“The simplest.”
“It will promote business prosperity.”
"The inn is under the control of the imperial court. The imperial court can issue 'tickets' like 'salt importers' and then make profits from them. Furthermore, by counting the flow of goods in various places, it can understand the freight situation, quantity, and whereabouts of each region, etc. Then have a general grasp of the world’s economic situation.”
"At least we can have a general estimate of tax revenue."
"Avoid local tax evasion."
"And the more prosperous the flow of goods, it also means that that region is the most developed. "
"The imperial court can take the opportunity to pry into the general situation of the local area. If the tax revenue obtained by the imperial court from these areas is very low, it can basically be concluded that there is collusion between officials and businessmen, or that local tax evasion is serious, and the imperial court will We can take the opportunity to conduct a thorough investigation, or some officials may write a letter saying that the local area is in good governance, but the economy is not developed, which also means that these officials are lying, making false reports, and exaggerating the truth."
" Data on business transactions ”
"It's not just a number. If you look at it based on the local situation."
"That is the most basic information about people's livelihood."
"However, His Majesty ignored it from beginning to end, even They ignored it, and even wanted to completely destroy the data so that the court could cut off one of its eyes and ears. However, if there was no other way to find out the actual situation in the place, the court wanted to know the actual situation in the place. In addition to sending officials to make secret visits or sending people to investigate, We can only rely on local officials’ self-reports.”
“But can your Majesty trust local officials?”
Can he trust him?
Can't believe it.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s answer is absolutely certain.
He has never trusted local officials, and he has always felt that local officials were deceiving him. He just couldn't find any evidence, but now Xia Zhibai provided an innovative idea that made his brain tremble for a while. Somewhat confused.
Xia Zhibai stands tall and tall.
He glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao who were looking at a loss.
The contemporary use of data is too simple and too dismissive.
Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant boy who rose from humble beginnings, knew nothing about data-related things.
He had no chance to understand.
There are really no relevant channels.
Coupled with the living environment, Zhu Yuanzhang has a sincere contempt for the so-called data. Naturally, he does not understand the importance of data, let alone the fact that data is the imperial court's control of the world. , the most direct and convenient way to understand the world.
Xia Zhibai raised his head.
He stared at Zhu Yuanzhang and said calmly: "Your Majesty does not understand economics."
(End of this chapter)