Chapter 192: I am among you, and you are among me!
Zhu Biao's face was as black as ink.
He looked at Xia Zhibai and asked: "How did you think of it?"
Xia Zhibai shrugged and said calmly: "Jiangnan has a more prosperous economy and the integration of government and business. It is more obvious that the conservative gentry in Jiangnan were so interested in it because it was profitable. In addition, Li Sheng was arrogant at the time and felt that staying in the salt industry in Kyoto was a bit insulting to him. If I were a gentry in Jiangnan, I would also think Give it a try.”
“Let’s get the drawings of the steam engine and see the impact on the Jiangnan region.”
"Secondly, I want to use this to target me, so that I don't get too proud, and to warn me not to extend my hand to the south."
"Secondly, I want to use this to enrich myself."
"In addition."
"After Li Sheng's accident, they will continue to take action, because the Ming Dynasty implemented a semi-rationing system, and the annual salt and iron production was regarded as a quota, so the salt production in Jiangnan was considered sufficient. After the salt enterprise is established, it will naturally take over these productions.”
“If I were them”
"As a money-grubbing official."
"I will hand over the salt production to the salt companies, but I will not let the salt companies produce it. Instead, I will continue to hand it over to outside kitchen households. In this way , the salt enterprise is not in operation, and the salt enterprise in Jiangnan is different from the Jiangdu Salt Industry. It belongs to the imperial court, which also means that the imperial court has to spend money to support it."
"The salt introduction implemented by the Ming Dynasty. "
"Salt companies are only qualified to produce salt, not to sell salt."
"The salt tax collected by the court will not be reduced, but in fact the salt companies have no orders. , there is no way to start work normally. Without output, there will be no income, and local salt enterprises will always be in a loss situation.”
"At that time, local officials went to court and said that the salt enterprise was a loss-making business and the court should not continue it."
"At the same time, he told the court that doing business should not be done by the court, but should be left to the businessmen, and the court would do it. After reading the data of some salt companies, it was easy to be fooled into reselling the salt companies at low prices. The iron provided by the imperial court to the localities, as well as these steam engines, were all bought by 'merchants' at a low price. When they were bought by merchants, After that, these merchants got the salt production order from the government and started working with full firepower. Everything seemed to be getting better."
"But"
"Those kitchen households who were taken advantage of. But they were abandoned."
"Indeed, the number of kitchen households in Zhejiang, Lianghuai and other Jiangnan areas currently reaches hundreds of thousands, but the number of people who can be used by salt companies is only a hundred thousand at most. Hundreds of thousands of people have become unemployed. Because they have no land, they can only become long-term workers or slaves.”
"The Kyoto Salt Industry is sound in terms of management..."
"But the salt companies in Jiangnan are not. They are taking advantage of the imperial court's loopholes."
"I start from the salt industry and give it to His Highness By giving these examples, I want to tell His Highness that if the local government really wants to take action, there are many ways. However, with the current ability of the court, it is simply impossible to supervise it. Even if the court finds out in the future and kills many people in the Jiangnan area, what will happen? Use it?"
"Is the imperial court really bold enough to take drastic measures?"
"The situation will become more difficult as time goes by. By then, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River will unite, and there will be millions of water workers in northern Xinjiang. Smuggling and collusion with Japanese merchants along the coast will gradually expand.”
"The Ming Dynasty's current understanding of the economy is abnormal. It only walks on one leg. Once it is coerced or framed, there are no countermeasures at all, not even a chance to adjust."
"Da Ming must have options for himself."
"Otherwise, when the moths spread all over his body, Da Ming won't even be able to move."
"Because it's all about profit, and if you move, you'll be 'hundred' Wan Cao Gong' was clamored to "subjugate the country" as soon as he moved, and the money collected by the court from the local areas would become less and less. In order to maintain the normal operation of the court, in the end, it could only tax the people and suppress the people's livelihood. When you don’t go down, it’s time to rise up.”
“This is how the world has always been.”
Zhu Biao was silent.
His face turned a little pale.
Xia Zhibai's words made him a little panicked.
Because the ministers of the Ming Dynasty can really do these things.
Otherwise, in the Guo Huan case, more than 20 million shi of grain would not have been recovered. This was the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the past year.
And what Xia Zhibai said is right.
Da Ming cannot walk on one leg.
There must be a way out.
Otherwise, once you are coerced, you will have no choice but to let it go and be a coward, hoping that the world can hold on for a while longer, but how long can such a Ming Dynasty last? How long can it exist?
Zhu Biao doesn’t know.
But he knew that Daming couldn't do that.
A long time.
Zhu Biao raised his head.
A helpless smile appeared in his eyes.
Xia Zhibai's speaking skills are still so good. In just a few words, what he said can't be refuted.
He looked at Xia Zhibai deeply and sighed: "Tell me, what thoughts have you thought about and what do you want to do?"
Xia Zhibai smiled, cupped his hands and said: "Da Ming wants to truly To govern the world well, you have to cut down the vassals. At present, the Northern Yuan Dynasty is still there. Naturally, the military vassals cannot be cut down, but the economic vassals must be cut down. Otherwise, if the Jiangnan Group is allowed to grow, sooner or later the power will be overwhelming and no one can System."
"To cut down the vassal, we can't just cut it down."
"There are many people in the south of the Yangtze River, and the waterways are convenient, and trade is smooth."
"Rely on the so-called conquest. Heavy taxes or crackdowns on business are unlikely to achieve substantial results. Instead, they will intensify the dissatisfaction with the imperial court in the Jiangnan region. Therefore, if the imperial court wants to reduce the economic power of the vassal, it must develop the north, or revitalize the economy of other regions in the world, so that Jiangnan cannot As for one family being the only one?”
"Break the economic barrier in the south of the Yangtze River!"
"The easiest thing at present is to open sea transportation." "There is a more convenient way for economic exchanges between the north and the south."
"However, for now, this method will unilaterally benefit the South. The South's goods will also be dumped in the North, and the northern market will be overstocked. Therefore, sea transportation alone is obviously not enough, and the court has not yet made a decision to cooperate with the North. To make good friends, or even to make good friends, you have to pay a big price.”
“I don’t want to do that at the moment.”
"The salt market and coal factory in the north will definitely be opened."
"There will also be textile factories."
"When I come back this time, I want to make a textile machine. Promote it in the north. The population in the north is sparse, and land is not as tight as in the south. There are more fields to grow other cash crops. This is the advantage of the north. "
"So the advantages of the north are coal and iron. , Textile.”
“But these are still not enough.”
"And with the emergence of salt enterprises in Jiangnan, the living space of kitchen households will inevitably be squeezed. Hundreds of thousands of kitchen households will lose their livelihoods. Even if they want to farm for others, there will not be so much land to farm. Therefore, I also want to It’s difficult to divert the population from the south to the north.”
“No matter how bad the south is, it’s still better off than the north.”
“So it has to be opened. There are other reasons that people cannot refuse.”
“I decided to go to the imperial court and implement the establishment of a career department in the north.”
"All workers and miners who work in the salt industry and textile industry in the north can obtain establishment, and after obtaining establishment, they will always be on the job without the risk of being dismissed. Even if they become old and can no longer work, the factory will still They will be provided with a certain amount of living expenses.”
“Not much, but barely enough to survive.”
“And they will be placed as far away from the battlefield as possible.”
< br>“Even.”
“I will promote it directly.”
"The millions of soldiers of the Ming Dynasty will never let the northern border become a battlefield. The battlefield will only be outside the territory of the Ming Dynasty."
"With the pressure of the south and the propaganda of the north, in the next few days In the next year, many northerners who could not escape in the past will return. According to my estimate, there will be about two to three million people. Although it is nothing compared to the population in the south, it is very important to the north. "< br>
"In addition."
"Because the population in the north is sparse."
"It is inconvenient to transport many materials, so the inn will be restructured."
"The function of the post station is divided into two. In addition to maintaining the previous function, it also has the ability to transport civilian supplies."
"Speed up the delivery of supplies."
"Let the manpower be used as little as possible. Wasted.”
“It is necessary to bridge the north and the south, and the current separation between the north and the south is of great convenience to the government. The court can make use of the differences between the north and the south to make decisions about the situation in the north and the south. Different measures can be taken to adapt to local conditions."
"With the frequent commercial exchanges between the north and the south, the gap between the north and the south will become smaller and smaller."
"The most important thing in bridging the North and the South is that you have me, and I have you."
"At the same time, through shipping and other commerce, the isolation of the Jiangnan region is forcibly opened. In terms of the system of the north, under certain circumstances, it is better than By then, the south will also force the Jiangnan region to make changes. At that time, the imperial court will also be able to use the public opinion in the Jiangnan region to place northern officials in the south to help Jiangnan make changes. "
“Completely break the Jiangnan gentry’s monopoly on officialdom in Jiangnan.”
“When the economic ties between the north and the south become closer and the monopoly of officialdom is broken, Jiangnan’s strong position will also be undermined again and again.”
>
“At that time, Jiangnan was the land of plenty and plenty for the Ming Dynasty.”
"Only can the imperial court really extend its hand into the depths of Jiangnan."
"Instead of like now, we can only rely on power to kill a wave of officials in the Jiangnan area, and then we can never do it again. There is no real meaning in letting Jiangnan gentry fill the vacancy."
"Hitting the snake seven inches away"
"Violence cannot solve all problems. "
"Political problems can only be solved through political means."
Zhu Biao's eyes were slightly strange.
Xia Zhibai’s views are indeed very different from ordinary people.
When other people saw that Jiangnan was indeed economically prosperous, and that there was a vague situation where a needle could not be inserted or water could not be poured in, they all thought of using violence to cut it open, but Xia Zhibai was different. , His method is, isn’t Jiangnan prosperous in commerce?
Yes.
I make you more prosperous.
Through doing business, you will have direct contact with me (shipping).
By integrating the northern business system, a more efficient system will be built to attract more southerners to go north, which will then put pressure on the south. When there are internal differences in the south, the court will take the opportunity to send other Regional officials began to intend to rectify the southern forces, so as to make Jiangnan completely honest.
This idea is genius.
Zhu Biao thought for a while and nodded secretly.
(End of this chapter)