There are many ways to increase your financial resources.
But in Zhu Youxiao's view, opening government-run businesses was more in line with the long-term development needs of the Ming Empire.
After all, it is a fact that the new social wealth of the Ming Empire has been concentrated in business.
Because the current Ming Dynasty is not the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the 19th century that lagged behind the world's advanced countries.
Today's Ming Dynasty is still the most advanced country in the world, with the most advanced productivity in the world.
Because after all, the Ming Dynasty has thousands of years of technology accumulation. Before the emergence of the industrial revolution, it was the representative of advanced productivity in the Iron Age!
Therefore, after the great geographical discovery, global trade opened up, and almost all the world's silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty.
As far as Zhu Youxiao knows, some historians have said that Western colonists took almost all the silver they stole from the Americas to China in exchange for Chinese products such as silk and porcelain.
Because of this, it can be said that because of globalization, Ming Dynasty has made a lot of money.
Like the developed countries in later generations, they have made huge fortunes by taking advantage of the spring breeze of globalization because they occupy the upper reaches of productivity.
But unfortunately, most of the money earned by the Ming Dynasty was privately owned and concentrated in the hands of the powerful gentry.
However, these powerful gentry are exempt from taxes and evade taxes.
Therefore, the Ming court did not enjoy this benefit at all.
Naturally, the common people would not be able to enjoy it even more, and they would even be forced into further desperation by the more wealthy and powerful gentry through annexing their fields.
As the emperor, if Zhu Youxiao wants to make the court more dominant and make the distribution of Ming's wealth and interests fairer, he must seize the benefits after the start of global trade.
In addition, although the main income of the Ming court was agricultural taxes, it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to increase its agricultural income significantly.
Because Ming Dynasty’s fields were limited, and agricultural technology could not be improved overnight.
Moreover, agriculture is greatly affected by climate, but for a long time to come, the climate will be unfriendly to agriculture.
What's more, as the Ming Dynasty's empire continued, there were more and more dignitaries and gentry with tax-exempt status, and they occupied more and more fields.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the Ming Dynasty's agricultural taxes can only become smaller and smaller. Unless agricultural taxes are levied, if they continue to be levied, the people of the Ming Dynasty will rebel sooner or later, and the ruling system of the Ming Dynasty will collapse sooner or later.
therefore.
If the Ming Dynasty wanted to survive and continue to be strong, it could only develop financial resources through business.
There are two ways to develop commercial financial resources, one is to increase business taxes, and the other is to engage in government-run business.
Wanli has already implemented commercial taxes, and sending eunuchs to various places to collect mining taxes is an example.
However, the opposition was so great that after Taichang came to power, the Donglin Party immediately encouraged Taichang to abolish this system.
Of course, it is true that because eunuchs were not professional tax collectors, they did cause many problems in the tax collection process.
Moreover, the eunuchs themselves were also vested interests, so in many cases the additional mining taxes were transferred to ordinary workers, making the conflicts at the bottom even more acute.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao did not plan to restore the mining tax or increase the commercial tax from the beginning. After all, this requires a large number of professional tax personnel and the establishment of a complete tax system before the tax can be collected from the gentry and the powerful instead of being taxed by the gentry and the powerful. Take this opportunity to exploit the people.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao chose the second option, which was to engage in government-run business.
This is also the one suggested by Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi.
It can be seen that Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi also knew the pros and cons of increasing commercial taxes, so they did not directly advise Zhu Youxiao to ask the court to increase commercial taxes.
Of course, Zhu Youxiao didn't know whether Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi did not want the court to impose commercial taxes because they were also members of the powerful gentry, and only accepted the method of making money for the court and their own families.
Originally, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to let civil servants such as Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi do business for him, but directly asked eunuchs and clan nobles to do it.
However, after careful consideration, Zhu Youxiao had to admit that if he wanted to engage in government-run business, he could really only let civil servants such as Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong do it.
Because the eunuchs grew up in the inner court, they don't know much about industrial management. Even if they are involved, they act as a shield for others and participate in dividends or hire professional managers to run it for themselves.
The same goes for the clan nobles. The clan nobles of the Ming Dynasty were almost useless because they had an iron rice bowl.
But civil servants such as Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi were different. They had a network of connections based on clan-teacher-student relationships. They could recruit talents and organizations who were good at business and recruited various craftsmen. They also had their own in areas along the Jiangnan coast where commerce was launched. fields, and their own intelligence and abilities are selected through various assessments.
Therefore, if Zhu Youxiao wants to do a good job in government-run business, he can only rely on mobilizing some enlightened and loyal civil servants.
This is the same as the Westernization Movement in history, which was basically completed by Han literati.
Zhu Youxiao admitted that he had to rely on some civil servants to compete with other interest groups.
Therefore, after Zhu Youxiao adopted Sun Chengzong's suggestion of engaging in government-run business to develop financial resources, he still asked him to do this.
Originally, Zhu Youxiao preferred Xu Guangqi, who was a wealthy businessman in Jiangnan, but because Xu Guangqi had a more important task, he could only let Sun Chengzong, who took the initiative to make this suggestion, come.
In addition, Zhu Youxiao also asked Wei Zhongxian to strengthen the power of Dongchang and through Dongchang, he found out that Sun Chengzong's family was a large cotton grower and seller. Therefore, he simply asked Sun Chengzong to open the first official cotton yarn mill in Ming Dynasty. .
Of course, if Zhu Youxiao wants the human resources and land of Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi and wants them to work loyally for him, he cannot directly raid their homes and confiscate their property.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao thought of a way to give Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong a small share of government-owned industry shares.
Let Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong participate in their own fields as equity capital. This can be regarded as a business model that revolutionized Ming society.
At the same time, this was Zhu Youxiao's conspiracy to tie the families behind Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong to the Ming royal family.
Zhu Youxiao knew that it was impossible for him, the emperor, to fight against the entire vested interest group alone, nor to successfully transform the Ming Dynasty.
Maybe even before the reform is completed, the whole country will rebel and even die without knowing it.
Therefore, in Zhu Youxiao's view, he needs to win over a group of people who are motivated to reform the Ming Dynasty with him.
In addition, Zhu Youxiao had to admit that the reason why the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were more comfortable than the emperors of the Ming Dynasty was that if they wanted to go to Jiangnan, they could go to Jiangnan, if they wanted to build a palace, they could build a bank, and if they wanted to kill the gentry, they could even be directly appointed as officials. The gentry all received food because the emperor of the Qing Dynasty was a foreign emperor. There was a Manchu military aristocratic group behind them. Because they wanted to exploit all Han people, their interests were consistent with the emperor's, so they supported the emperor unconditionally. This allowed the emperor of the Qing Dynasty to kill Han officials and gentry unscrupulously. , and the Han officials and gentry had absolutely nothing to do with these Qing emperors.
But Zhu Youxiao was not an emperor of a foreign race. Naturally, he did not have any power group that absolutely supported him but was different from most human races. Therefore, he could not be as powerful as the emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao is determined to organize a group of cronies who are absolutely loyal to him, using the method of bundling interests and strengthening ideas. Bundling interests is the basis. After all, human nature is to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and ideas are theoretical means. After all, we must ensure People who are loyal to themselves are people of absolutely excellent character and ability.
Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi are the kind of people Zhu Youxiao wants to win over and tie up.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao took the initiative to give these two families wealth and honor.
Zhu Youxiao hopes that one day he will also have an imperial party group strong enough to check other power groups and maintain his power.
In that way, he, the emperor, could go to Jiangnan whenever he wanted, go to Chengde to escape the summer heat when he wanted, or go hunting outside the Great Wall, and no one would dare to stop him.
