In the summer of the 16th year of Hongxing, at the beginning of June, I lived in Suzhou for a long time. I only went to Yingtian Mansion every December to celebrate the birthday of my son-in-law, Emperor Chongzhen. By the way, Zhou Kui, the overdue state leader who was celebrating the New Year, suddenly took over. The old eunuch who arrived at Renshou Palace brought an oral instruction from the emperor, ordering him to go to Laoshan Palace to have an audience on the same day without delay!
What's going on?
The seventy-four-year-old Zhou Guozhang was shocked by this sudden emperor's decree. This was something that had not happened in nearly twenty years!
He, the emperor's father-in-law and the emperor's grandfather, had already lost his temper in the year of the Jiashen Disaster. Not to mention Zhu Cixiang, the grandson, who did not want to see him, even Chongzhen, the son-in-law, and Zhou Hou, the daughter-in-law, resented him for being at the critical moment when Li Zicheng's troops were approaching. He refused to take the lead in donating military pay, and also took the lead in sabotaging the fundraising plan. So after arriving in Jiangnan, he abandoned him.
Among the group of pro-ghost ministers who followed Zhu Cixiang southward, he was definitely the coldest one. He didn't even have a share of the house or homestead in Yingtian Mansion that everyone owned, let alone adding one before his Jiadingbo. The word "overcoming difficulties" comes to mind.
Fortunately, Zhou Guozhang was originally from Suzhou. He had a family, business, land and property in Suzhou, and he was considered to be rich. Although he was not subject to the price of his son-in-law, daughter, and grandson, no one gave him money or gifts anymore. Even the landowners who had originally protected him redeemed their land one after another, and all the government and military fields that he had occupied were returned to their original owners. But after all, Zhou Kui was still a relative of the emperor, the biological father of the emperor and empress, and the biological grandfather of Zhu Cixiang.
As long as Zhu Cixiang doesn't say anything, no one will dare to kill him like a pig... The emperor's kindness and power are unpredictable! Who knows what day this cold stove will light up again?
Besides, there are a lot of people in Suzhou who don’t like Zhu Cixiang! Zhu Cixiang originally planned to use the northern army to control the southern gentry, using the exiled military aristocrats from the north to pressure the southern landlords and wealthy businessmen to contribute money and effort - this approach sounds bad, but it is very effective in practice!
How else could it be done? Is it possible to rely on the southeastern gentry? Who would be willing to pay without a knife to their neck?
Of course, Zhu Cihong didn't kill the goose to get the eggs. He wants to release the water to raise fish and continue to search for it.
Therefore, while depriving the southeastern gentry of their political and economic privileges, they also paid great attention to protecting their legitimate interests. They also lightly let go of the extravagant wealth they had obtained by relying on their privileges, basically preserving their vitality.
And this group of Jiangnan landlords and profiteers who lost their privileges but maintained their vitality (without their privileges, of course, they are no longer true gentry), later hit the rapid economic development period from the end of Chongzhen to the present!
This is a super outlet! The external environment is that of the Age of Discovery, while internally there is Zhu Cixiang who stimulates industry and commerce, develops finance, and decentralizes power to local governments - to sum up, it is almost these three things. It looks simple, but the effect is just right!
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the approach has always been to suppress business. Although it later relaxed a lot, there was no high-profile encouragement after all. Therefore, after profiteers made a fortune, it was like squeezing into the gentry, and not many continued to grow in size.
In addition, because of the privileges of the gentry, rural areas in the Jiangnan region have always been stuck on the threshold of capitalism, unable to go any further.
People of later generations may not be able to understand the important position of agriculture on the road of capitalism, but Zhu Cixiang, who was troubled by the problem of feeding more than 100 million to 200 million people in the 17th century, knew all too well the principle of "food is the most important thing" - rice. If you don’t even have enough to eat, how can you still use capital?
Moreover, the raw materials for capitalist industry and commerce in this era are mainly supplied by agriculture! The production of cotton, silk, wool, etc. will occupy the land for food production!
And a rich farmer or landlord who provides a large amount of raw materials for the handicraft industry is actually no longer a simple farmer (the concept of strictly separating agriculture from industry and commerce is probably only found in China, right?), but an industrial and commercial landlord or rich farmer.
In Jiangnan, where the handicraft industry is highly developed, industrial and commercial landlords and industrial and commercial rich farmers have sprung up in large numbers since the end of Chongzhen.
Because during this period, the rapid development of the handicraft industry provided a large demand for cash crops, and at the same time, large farms appeared in Huguang, Lianghuai, Jinou and Jinghai, etc., which could provide sufficient and cheap food supply to Jiangnan. In addition, the popularity of exotic crops such as sweet potatoes and potatoes has also provided farmers in the southeast with additional cheap food.
Therefore, landowners and profiteers who are both farmers, commerce and workers began to appear in public.
And Zhou Guozhang was actually one of them!
This father-in-law is not a man who does big business, but he is definitely an unjust man who can manage money!
Stingy, shrewd, frugal, he has some background and capital, and he has been doing business quietly.
So after completely losing his political privileges, he naturally turned to business.
It is said to be a business, but in fact it is a combination of agriculture, industry and commerce, and it is just operated and managed according to a commercial model.
Guozhang's main business was mulberry fields and sericulture. In the last years of Chongzhen's reign, he took back the land rented by his family in Suzhou, converted it from rice to mulberry, and planted tens of thousands of acres of mulberry trees. After the mulberry trees grew, he began to raise sericulture and sheep on a large scale. (Sheep also eat mulberry leaves).
And it’s not just blind breeding. The old man got inspiration from the Laoshan Racecourse and began to select seeds in his own silkworm house to eliminate the sick and weak while retaining the strong. After more than ten years, the brand of Suzhou Guozhang Silkworms has been established!
After successfully running the mulberry field, the old man led his sons to open a bank - the so-called bank was actually a small bank. After the success of Maritime Commercial Bank and Salt Commercial Bank, many big businessmen found that this business made a lot of money quickly, so they invested in it. If big banks could not open, they opened small banks.
Zhou Guozhang set up a bank that only operated deposits, loans and remittances in Suzhou (remittances had to go through the channels of Haiyan Second Bank, and the handling fee was divided with Haiyan Second Bank).
Needless to say, it must be doing well!
He even refused to lend money to Emperor Chongzhen. How could the asset quality of this bank be so bad?
So in the 16th year of Hongxing's reign, Zhou Guozhang, who had long lost most of his privileges, was actually richer than when Chongzhen was in power...
This father-in-law, who made a fortune because of his own efforts, "loved" Emperor Chongzhen even more than when he made a fortune from his son-in-law.
Money earned through hard work is precious! And I am even more afraid of losing!
Zhou Guozhang knew that Zhu Cixiang hated him, so the reason why he didn't touch him was probably because of his daughter and son-in-law... If the son-in-law was gone, would his net worth be confiscated by his grandson?
When he became powerful, he took a lot of bribes. Later, the process of doing business and making a fortune was impossible to be clean. If the censors came to investigate, there would be no end.
So now that he received Chongzhen's oral instructions, he immediately thought that his dissolute and mediocre son-in-law might die...
Zhou Guozhang didn't dare to delay, so he quickly rented a speedboat and went straight to Pukou. After arriving at Pukou, we went straight to Laoshan Renshou Palace without stopping. When we arrived outside Renshou Palace, we found that the place that used to be deserted was now crowded with people!
But it doesn't look like they are here to visit a doctor, but more like they are here to visit a temple fair... Judging from the dress and behavior of these people, they should all be businessmen from Nanjing and Pukou.
How is this going?
"Old man, you really don't know? The Supreme Emperor is setting up a stall outside Renshou Palace to do business!"
Soon someone told Zhou Guozhang what was going on.
"What! The Supreme Emperor is setting up a stall? Is it real or fake? What are you selling?" The old abbot was stunned for a moment after hearing this.
"Sell good things!" the man replied, "silks and satins, jade treasures, jewelry, Western clocks... they are all gifts and tributes that the Emperor has received over the years."
"Gifts and tributes? Can those things be sold?"
"I have no money!" The man said, "Don't you know, old man? Now there is a big-money deal coming out of Yingtian Mansion, and the Supreme Emperor also wants to get involved. What should I do if I have no capital? I have to sell things!"
"What kind of deal is this?" Zhou Guozhang continued to inquire.
"It's a business of investing in the founding of the country!"
