There is no doubt that tea, silk and porcelain brought extremely huge profits to the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty.
In addition to extremely generous customs taxes, the trade itself also made a lot of money for the Southern Song Dynasty court and the Southern Song Dynasty dignitaries.
However, the producers themselves did not gain many benefits. The so-called silkworms were not sericulture farmers. They were exploited miserably. Their income was meager and it was not easy to make ends meet.
This is true for tea workers in tea gardens, weavers in textile factories, and porcelain craftsmen in folk kilns. They do the hardest and most tiring work, and they have very exquisite skills, but they don’t get the work they need to meet their workload. income and corresponding status.
They are workers, and their status in the eyes of the ruling class is not as good as that of farmers. Their status is humble and they have no need for courtesy.
Although they produced extremely exquisite handmade products, they could not even obtain personal freedom. Not only did they have to work, but they also had to endure the brutal exploitation of the operators and the occasional harsh administrative orders from the court.
When there is work, they work day and night, with very short breaks. When there is no work, they have to do odd jobs to earn extra money because they don't have much income.
Although it is said that due to some special reasons during this period, professional silk workers [machine households] who were completely divorced from agricultural production appeared in some central cities with developed industry and commerce, but this was only an isolated phenomenon, and they could make a living through their own labor. Having a full stomach is still not easy.
Survival is already a problem, let alone anything else.
In their view, the arrival of officials from the Ming Dynasty was just a change of employer, and their lives would not change much. However, when the change really came, the workers still felt huge discomfort, doubt, and even self-questioning.
It is the instructor's job to guide the workers' emotions. The economic staff does not care about this. What they need to do is to pull up the system as soon as possible and integrate it into the existing overseas business system to start earning huge profits from maritime trade for the Ming Dynasty.
Faced with the turbulent actions of Ming officials, the Southern Song Dynasty court in Lin'an was not without any reaction.
Throughout the first half of the sixth year of Hongwu and the seventh and eighth months of the second half of the year, there was always a voice within the Lin'an court.
That is to say, the Ming Dynasty intervened in the economic system of Jiangnan on a large scale and plundered a large number of high-quality commercial assets through war dividends. This was definitely not a good thing for the Lin'an court.
For this reason, the Lin'an court lost many high-quality commercial assets that could have been brought under their control. The losses were heavy. The Ming Dynasty used this to intervene in the daily production activities of Jiangnan. How could this not be considered an act of aggression?
The political forces headed by Zhou Linzhi were frightened after seeing the Ming Dynasty's liquidation of royal children and war criminal families, and realized that the Ming Dynasty was still the same Ming Dynasty, and it was still the terrorist regime that valued revolution and liquidation above all else.
Not only do they have to kill people, but they also have to kill people, and they have to torment everything. Just like the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan Kingdom will become a piece of meat in their mouths sooner or later.
Even if they can't yet see their comprehensive actions to liquidate Jiangnan Kingdom, Ming Dynasty's large-scale intervention in Jiangnan's economic system is not what they want to see.
Because this should have been their interest, but now it was taken away by the Ming Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, pure businessmen only do small businesses, open small restaurants and hotels, etc. It is impossible to get involved in large-scale businesses.
As long as the large-scale business is profitable, even if it is started from scratch by a businessman relying on the miracle of cheating, he will definitely find a backer in the Lin'an court.
Back then, the Su family had to find a backer in the court to sell private salt, let alone other businesses with huge profits?
Since the royal family can intervene, it is impossible for the powerful Lin'an bureaucrats not to interfere.
Therefore, on the surface, the Ming Dynasty was dealing with Jiangnan merchants and seizing their high-quality assets, but in fact, it was poaching the lifeblood of Jiangnan's ruling class and competing with them to have their cake and eat it. Moreover, in the fight, Jiangnan also faced A crisis situation that cannot be overcome.
So at the beginning of the sixth year of Hongwu, when the Ming Dynasty was at the peak of liquidating Jiangnan's high-quality commercial assets, Zhou Linzhi went to Shen Gai to discuss these matters.
"Most of the properties controlled by the clan members and those controlled by criminals fell into the hands of the people of the Ming Dynasty. We only got a small part. Even if all the properties originally run by the government could be recovered, it would still be of great benefit to us. hidden dangers.
The tax revenue received through the Shipping Department every year amounts to millions of dollars, not to mention the huge profits from directly selling goods to foreign countries. This is a source of money that the court must not lose. If this money is lost, what can the court still get? What kind of military service?
Sir, I know that the imperial court now relies on the Ming Dynasty for its affairs, but it cannot hand over all the vital things that the imperial court relies on for its livelihood to the Ming Dynasty, right? For us, isn't that the same as surrendering directly to the Ming Dynasty and handing over the entire Jiangnan to the Ming Dynasty? "
Shen Gai was not surprised by Zhou Linzhi's view. It would be more surprising that he didn't say so.
Because such things were accompanied by the Ming Dynasty's large-scale activities in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhou Lin was no longer the only one to have such views. Several people came to Shen Gai to talk about this matter.
On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty imposed tariffs on Jiangnan products, which forced Jiangnan products to raise prices, causing dissatisfaction among many foreign businessmen.
On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty controlled and rectified the industries in Jiangnan Kingdom on a large scale, and some places had even resumed production. This seemed to be an attempt to seize the market.
This sinister intention was so obvious that many officials could no longer stand it.
Zhou Linzhi's family is already relatively clean. He focuses on the land and property and does not involve these commercial matters. However, many officials in the court really rely on this to make money, and many powerful officials have the support of businessmen.
Then the commercial profits obtained are usually more for officials and less for businessmen. A draw of 46 is considered a favor, and a draw of 37 is normal. Shen Gai also knows about the draw of 28 and 19.
So Shen should see this more clearly.
"I said it was for the country, but in fact it was because my family's industry was affected by the Ming Dynasty and I felt unsafe, so I acted like this. Maozhen, am I right? But as far as I know, you There is nothing like this at home. If you come to tell me about this matter like this, could someone ask me for help?"
Seeing that his purpose was exposed by Shen Gai's words, Zhou Linzhi stopped beating around the bush.
He nodded.
"My lord, to put it harshly, we are grasshoppers on a rope. We all know how many people inside and outside the court rely on sea trade to make a living. We all know in our hearts that the Ming Dynasty's move to drain wages from the bottom of the cauldron has made many people wail. We don't know how many people are crying. ?"
"Of course I understand, but this is the request of the Ming Dynasty, what can we do? It is written in black and white on the treaty, clearly! And don't say it is so serious, I don't believe that without making money from sea trade, their lives will be difficult. , will starve to death! Who believes this nonsense?"
"This is the most important thing!"
Zhou Linzhi said in a low voice: "They are not civilians. They just need to eat enough. This is like killing their parents. If the Ming Dynasty did this, it would not only have a great impact on the national treasury income, but also the personal income of officials!"
At that time, the court officials will be dissatisfied with your actions, dissatisfied with your compromise to the Ming Dynasty, dissatisfied with you, and will not listen to your orders. How can you preside over the government? How to secure the position of Pingzhangjun and state affairs? "
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