Although Gao Xian was pragmatic and had strong high-level influence, after all, his actual political status was not high enough. It was okay to talk in general terms and influence the emperor's thinking, but it was more difficult to handle or even control certain things in detail.
The private military industry was founded by Gao Gong, laying the foundation for the weapons and equipment of the Ming army to far exceed those of the same period in history; "Yi Yi Lu Shu" not only borrowed Gao Gong's hand, but also borrowed the momentum of Guo Pu's return to the dynasty. It was finally completed in the "Guo Pu Era", which freed Ming Dynasty from its first big burden and strengthened the post system. The subsequent Battle of Monan and the Battle of Northwest actually all contributed to this incident.
The only major national-level event that he has accomplished by himself is the restructuring of the Beijing camp, and although the matter has been completed, it is still in the "consolidation period" and is not as unbreakable as the military industry and the post station.
And now, taking advantage of the limelight of being promoted to Minister of Household Affairs, Gao Pragmatic not only planned to take the opportunity to consolidate the results of the Beijing-based restructuring, but also planned to shake up the Ming Dynasty's financial system because he was finally in charge of one party.
Of course, he does not dare to touch the basic financial system easily for the time being. For example, if he is asked to directly transform the Ming Dynasty into the Song Dynasty, he will definitely not dare to do so. It is unrealistic and unnecessary.
If the core doesn’t dare to move for the time being, then let’s try it out first and find a direction that has a “mass base” and that others don’t dare to move lightly.
For example: fully recognizing the reasonable social status of businessmen, but at the same time requiring businessmen to assume their due social responsibilities.
The reason why this matter is said to have a "mass base" is not a joke. Farmers in this era actually know that businessmen are "more powerful" than them, especially big businessmen.
The reason is simple. Not only are big businessmen rich, they must also have some background in official circles. These backgrounds may have produced scholars and officials in the family, or they may have invested in certain officials - this has been mentioned before, so I won't go into details.
In short, anyone who can be called a big businessman must have a government background behind him. Super wealthy businessmen invest in central ministers, big wealthy businessmen invest in governors and governors, small and medium-sized powerful people invest in prefectural officials and county officials, and even the less fortunate ones will invest in prefectural and county officials. ——Although civil servants are not even considered officials, there are many positions that are almost equivalent to the deputy county level in later generations in terms of actual power.
What about ordinary farmers? Sorry, he probably can't even enter the county government office, and he doesn't want to or dare to go in.
Businessmen are only divided into big and small, but farmers are not. The "big farmers" are another class, the landlord class. They do not regard themselves as farmers.
Therefore, in the eyes of farmers, even if a businessman is a wandering salesman carrying a pole or pushing a wheelbarrow, he is better than them, at least he is well-informed - this kind of thinking can be found in many rural areas in the early days of liberation.
Therefore, it was not easy for the merchant class in ancient China. On the one hand, they were despised by some people in person, and on the other hand, they were secretly envied by some people. The "certain people" here sometimes overlap.
But in any case, the status of merchants among the people was not actually very low. This is certain. Their "low status" was mainly in front of the court and court officials.
However, this situation is not static. In fact, during the two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, this situation has been constantly changing, and the general trend is that merchants are gradually being treated by the court - for Gao Pragmatic, this level is still It is far from enough, but the trend must still be affirmed.
Even in the original history, after the completion of Anda's tribute, the status of merchants has been significantly improved.
Why? Since then, the Ming Dynasty has opened up trade on almost all borders (probably except for Chahar). Wei Yuan, a thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, commented in "Shengwu Ji" that this peace policy "brought two hundred years of peace to this dynasty." (Because the Qing Dynasty continued the border trade in northern Xinjiang)."
The policy of opening up border trade was a very important turning point in the Ming Dynasty's international policy, and it was also an important business opportunity for Shanxi merchants.
From then on, Shanxi merchants gradually entered the grain industry, tea industry, cotton industry, livestock trading and other industries, and became the most important and economically active border trade operators in the Ming Dynasty. Xie Zhaozhe, a famous scholar in the Ming Dynasty, said in "Wuzazu": "The wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River are in Xin'an, and in the north of the Yangtze River are Shanyou." In other words, among the richest merchant gangs in the Ming Dynasty, Huizhou merchants were the richest in the south. , and in the north were Shanxi merchants. (Note: Many businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang went to join or cooperate with Huizhou businessmen.)
In fact, after Jiajing, the stipulations of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang when he founded the country: "The common people's houses are no more than three rooms and five racks" had long been forgotten by the people of the time. Huizhou merchants such as salt merchants and other "prosperous palaces, beautiful clothes, "Eating extravagantly and having daughters", these wealthy businessmen's enthusiasm for pursuing wealth was far higher than that of any dynasty.
It's nice to have money, but it's not so nice when they go to meet with officials - you have to change out of these fancy clothes and put on coarse clothes to visit, and be humble and submissive. Even if you are the official's "funder", sometimes this is all you can do.
Is there any way to change this? It can’t be said that there is no such thing. For example, if you are very rich, but you are really not good at studying, then you can find a way to donate to become a prison student - that is, as a student of the Imperial College.
It is not certain how valuable this status is. After all, it is just equivalent to "Student in the Imperial College", not even "currently studying", but "formerly studied". But it doesn't matter whether the Imperial College graduates or not, because it is only a school preparing for the imperial examination, and it is just of a higher grade.
By analogy, the donated supervisory students are actually like the "Guozijian Correspondence Class" - you have read it, and only God knows whether you have learned anything famous.
But don't worry, "having read" the Imperial College is very powerful in itself, because the political status of the Imperial College students is basically analogous to that of the Imperial College students. With the title of "Graduate Imperial College student", you are no longer someone who is looked down upon everywhere. A businessman with a bad reputation is equivalent to a scholar.
However, that’s where it ends. The social status that a businessman can “obtain” basically ends at the supervisory level. Beyond that, unless you study and take the imperial examination and win the title of Juren or Jinshi, the “analogous student” is The pinnacle of your political status.
If this status is only at the county or prefectural level, it may be okay: you can sit in the county government office, and there is a place for you to stand in the prefectural government office. But if it goes higher up, it will be embarrassing, and it is your turn to kneel down. Still have to kneel.
In today's Ming Dynasty, due to the dominance of the Practical School that has lasted for nearly twenty years, the status of merchants is even higher than in the original history.
This is not surprising. In his early years, Gao Gong wrote a book specifically about "the difference between justice and benefit." As Gao Gong continued to be in power, the reform of the Practical School continued to advance. The influence of this view on the people and even the official government was immeasurable.
Moreover, Gao Pragmatic himself also set an example: literature is the number one scholar, business is the richest man.
Although it is limited to the "ancestral laws" and each department under his name has clansmen and servants acting as white gloves, doesn't anyone in the world know that he is the real boss of Jinghua?
And what kind of existence is Jinghua? It’s not about scale, it’s about social contribution: Jinghua’s various industries in the Ming Dynasty paid 1.733 million taels in various taxes last year, of which 590,000 taels were finally able to be received by the central government, which is close to One-tenth of the total income of the household department in the Ming Dynasty.
With such a huge contribution to society, do you think Gao Pragmatic, a "businessman", is a bad guy?
This is true at the civilian level, and the official level has also changed. Needless to say, the Shi School has always advocated improving the status of businessmen; the Xin School is actually consistent with the Shi School on this point - in fact, there are more big businessmen behind the officials of the Xin School!
From the perspective of court officials, those with the greatest influence, such as Qiu Jun, Wang Shouren, Wang Tingxiang, Gao Gong and others, all support the improvement of the status of businessmen. The foundations of various theories have been laid and completed, and they are just about to finally come true. This is not something Gao Pragmatic can do out of thin air. Let's play this game.
Here’s a question: Since so many big guys support improving the status of businessmen, why hasn’t it been done yet?
The answer is not complicated: social status must be linked to social contribution before the court or emperor can accept it.
You only ask for an increase in status, but I, the emperor, and the court don’t see any benefit at all. Why should I agree to it? Do you think it’s free for me to help you reform this thing? I have to consider whether the die-hards will back up the bullshit, the shake in "legitimacy" caused by changing the ancestral system, and other aspects.
You just talk and I'll do it for you. Which side of your face is so beautiful?
However, the problem is stuck here, because before the emergence of high pragmatism, almost no businessman was willing to take on any "social responsibility."
Or in other words, today's businessmen feel that they have already shouldered a lot of social responsibilities.
What? You don't even want to pay taxes, so what kind of bullshit responsibility do you have to bear?
There is really a bit of a misunderstanding here.
In Gao’s pragmatic view of social responsibility, tax payment is almost the most basic one, because taxation is in principle “taken from the people and used for the people.” However, the problem is that this view is not the same as the mainstream view of the Ming Dynasty today. Does not match.
The mainstream view is: the world belongs to the emperor, so the people of the world contribute money to the emperor.
Not to mention that the public thinks so, in fact, even many officials see it this way, which is terrible.
All the people in the world support your family. We are all the ruled class and the ones who suffer, so of course the less we pay, the better!
If this issue is to be carried out and comprehensively reformed, the emperor must restrict the financial power of the Ministry of Revenue, because only if the emperor cannot use the money of the Ministry of Revenue for personal use (such as rewarding King Lu), people in the world will not feel that this money It's all up to the emperor personally, but Gao Pragmatic obviously can't handle this yet.
However, we cannot always expect the emperor to compromise on this matter first, otherwise it will not be solved until today is delayed, tomorrow is delayed, and tomorrow is delayed until the end of time.
The power is limited, so we should deal with the merchants first.
Why do businessmen not pay much tax but still think they have assumed social responsibility?
This is because they often do some "righteous deeds" of building roads and bridges for the sake of reputation in their hometown, and also provide money for disaster relief like Gao Pragmatic did back then. This is what businessmen often do, and what they think I am actually the main reason for assuming social responsibility.
In addition, for example, when the Japanese pirates were very active in those years, many businessmen would donate silver (or be forced to donate) to strengthen local defense.
In addition, there are many other things. Whether it is construction or defense in the local area, businessmen are often summoned to "pay donations" and "please donations." Whether the businessmen are sincere or fake, they have little to do with the local officials. If you have the confidence to say no, then...don't you assume social responsibility?
But Gao Pragmatic believes that this kind of "responsibility" is very distorted, and as far as the court is concerned, this thing is completely uncontrollable!
Historically, Emperor Chongzhen himself was so poor that his dragon robes had to be patched, and the concubines in the harem had almost run out of jewelry donations. How much silver did the merchants in the capital donate? Yes, but not much. Even the officials in the capital were even more cruel: I am an upright official and I have no money to donate!
Then when Li Zicheng came, he immediately found out more than 20 million taels.
Gao's pragmatic point of view is very simple. Your money is legal income. No matter how much you have, it doesn't matter. The court should not take advantage of your money, but you have to pay the taxes you should pay. As for making donations, if you are willing and willing to contribute, of course it is good; on the other hand, if you are unwilling to make donations, there is actually nothing wrong with it, and you cannot engage in moral binding.
(The following 500 words are for anti-theft, repeated content, and will be updated with real content after half an hour)
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However, we cannot always expect the emperor to compromise on this matter first, otherwise it will not be solved until today is delayed, tomorrow is delayed, and tomorrow is delayed until the end of time.
The power is limited, so we should deal with the merchants first.
Why do businessmen not pay much tax but still think they have assumed social responsibility?
This is because they often do some "righteous deeds" of building roads and bridges for the sake of reputation in their hometown, and also provide money for disaster relief like Gao Pragmatic did back then. This is what businessmen often do, and what they think I am actually the main reason for assuming social responsibility.
In addition, for example, when the Japanese pirates were very active in those years, many businessmen would donate silver (or be forced to donate) to strengthen local defense.
In addition, there are many other things. Whether it is construction or defense in the local area, businessmen will be summoned to "pay donations" and "please donations" at every turn. Whether the businessmen are sincere or fake, they have little to do with the local officials. If you have the confidence to say no, then...don't you assume social responsibility?
But Gao Pragmatic believes that this kind of "responsibility" is very distorted, and as far as the court is concerned, this thing is completely uncontrollable!
Historically, Emperor Chongzhen himself was so poor that his dragon robes had to be patched, and the concubines in the harem were almost out of jewelry donations. How much silver did the merchants in the capital donate? Yes, but not much. Even the officials in the capital were even more cruel: I am an upright official, and I have no money to donate!
Then when Li Zicheng came, he immediately found out more than 20 million taels.
Gao's pragmatic point of view is very simple. Your money is legal income. No matter how much you have, it doesn't matter. The court should not have any idea of your money, but you have to pay the taxes you should pay. As for making donations, if you are willing and willing to contribute, of course it is good; on the other hand, if you are unwilling to make donations, there is actually nothing wrong with it, and you cannot engage in moral binding.
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