800,000 acres of land were redeemed, 42% of the dry shares, and 4.2 million taels of silver on paper were also paid, of course, to pay next year's interest.
If something happens overseas at this time, Zhu Houzhao decides to build big ships and naval forces to deal with the small countries in Southeast Asia and the Portuguese who come from afar. I wonder what the reaction will be in the court?
In fact, Zhu Houzhao was somewhat curious. This scene should have never happened in the history of the Central Plains Dynasty.
Will the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty still think that it is militarism?
It’s hard to tell.
Anyway, this is how things have been done now. After all, the average land price is less than five taels, which is a bit of a pitfall, but Mei Kejia has no choice. The emperor is unwilling to reduce his shares to less than 50%, so as he goes to the back, he There are fewer 'goods' in hand, so the price has to be reduced, but even so, some people are still willing.
Especially if someone is caught somewhere, the business will get much better that day.
In April of the second year of Zhengde, according to the emperor's decree, the Ming Nanyang Company established its headquarters in the capital. The sign on the wall of Zheng'er Ba Jing had three more words in its name: joint-stock system.
The writing is very clear. This is a new type of company based on the system of multiple people owning shares.
The location is right next to Zhengyang Gate. Inside Zhengyang Gate, it faces the Evernight City across Zhengyang Gate.
Afterwards, Mei Kejia seemed to have some magical powers and kept posting notices at the door to announce some systems.
First, all persons who own shares in a joint-stock company are called company shareholders. If they hold more than 1% of the shares, they can submit suggestions to the company's board of directors, and the board of directors must give a written reply. Members of the Board of Directors are appointed by the Emperor.
Secondly, as the prime minister of this joint-stock company, Mei Kejia is responsible for all daily affairs and reports to the board of directors every year.
Just as officials from various places reported their duties to the emperor, Mei Kejia also had to report his duties now.
The work report should clearly state the achievements and problems of the past year, as well as future worries and countermeasures.
Third, within three years, the shares between shareholders may not be sold or traded with each other, and they are allowed to give up.
In this way, Zhu Houzhao actually did an important thing without knowing it, which was to successfully introduce joint-stock enterprises into the Ming Dynasty of this era. While solving old problems, he also opened up a new direction.
In the future, smart businessmen will inevitably imitate this model to establish private companies. At that time, the government can follow up and formulate some corresponding laws, mainly to encourage and regulate.
Under this situation, when the emperor set an agenda to discuss how to further expand maritime trade, hey, everyone in the court became concerned.
For example, there are only three offices in the Municipal Shipping Department. Do we need to add more?
In addition to silk and porcelain, do Western countries want anything else? Ming Dynasty is rich in products, what good things are not there?
Just like silk, can there be more mulberry fields and can raw silk be more productive?
Extending it further, and borrowing the original example of merchants establishing trading villages on the frontier, can we go to Nanyang to find a piece of land, buy mulberry fields, raise silkworms and reel silk, and then save the freight and sell it directly to them?
So the question is, where did that land come from? Rent, buy or...?
"...Can the loom be improved?"
Zhu Houzhao stood above the main hall and asked this question loudly.
"Loom improvements?"
"How to improve it?"
…
The voices below were whispering and discussing non-stop.
"I'm just giving a direction. For example, the original loom can weave 500 pieces of silk a day. After improvement, can it weave 600 pieces? I don't know the specific number. I'm just saying this. In addition to silk, other things can also be used. So on and so forth."
"Furthermore, can merchant ships be built larger? Or is there a shipwright who can improve the sails to make them travel faster? This is also a way to reduce the cost of transportation."
After all, the costs of floating at sea for one month and two months are completely different.
The emperor's formulation is very enlightening,
Yes, there are many ways to do business.
For example, can silk be sold more expensively? Let’s not talk about poor silk, but the price of high-quality silk will increase.
In short, Mei Kejia is in trouble now. Many people will have to look at him to see if he will live a cool life next year. It is estimated that people will inevitably give him advice.
"Your Majesty, there is such a system of rewards and punishments within the company. I have issued an internal reward order. As long as a ship with eight hundred or one thousand materials can be built, I will not be stingy, and I believe that your Majesty will not be reluctant to give up some bonuses. . As for the loom... I ignored it before, but after I get down, I will also remind the craftsmen."
"Prime Minister Mei, this cannot be ignored. The third year of Zhengde is the year of reunification. Without the money from sea trade, how can your Majesty's national policies be implemented?"
Zhu Houzhao couldn't laugh or cry.
Oh, now I started to use this reason to urge Mei Kejia to work hard.
Mei Kejia was not shy, and said in court: "I ask the court to allocate money to replenish ships and build a navy! I am a merchant, and when I do business on land, I occasionally encounter bandits robbing goods. At sea... there are also... Bandits, these people are committing evil crimes. Since we want to build bigger ships in the future, we can’t afford to lose. One ship’s cargo worth a million taels, if it is robbed, I will never be able to atone for my sins by dying.”
Zhu Houzhao looked relaxed, "What do you all think?"
Many people hesitated, mainly because some of them had previously opposed it. You can't say the opposite right away, right? People always want to have a face.
But there's no rush.
After waiting for a while, officials began to come out and say: "The Ming Dynasty is the kingdom of heaven. How can the majesty of the kingdom be violated by others?"
"I agree, if those goods are robbed, the imperial court can still bear it, but tens of millions of people can't see the money back for the silk they have worked so hard to reel, so what should we do?"
"Yes, whether they are mountain bandits or sea bandits, we must make them fear the imperial army!"
…
Zhu Houzhao held back his laughter. Under this situation, once the money was really distributed to them, Ming Dynasty would probably turn into a powerful ghost in the world of the 16th century.
"In this case, let the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Cabinet discuss a way to see how much money will be allocated this year. I just remind you that you must have a long-term perspective when doing things. For example, this year is this goal, next year, what will it be? What about the year after tomorrow? ?correct……"
Zhu Houzhao thought of something, "The navy was built for the Nanyang Company. It protects not only the interests of the court, but also the interests of other shareholders. Prime Minister Mei, the company also has to pay part of the money."
Mei Kejia had no objection to this, "Wei Chen accepts the order."
There was a lot of excitement in the court hall.
As for the Baoguo Gong who had made the emperor angry before, no one cared about him. Civil servants are not interested in nobles and nobles.
People would rather study why the emperor asked the company to spend money on the navy.
But this is also everyone's own opinion.
Xing Guan, a new scholar in the first year of Zhengde, was originally appointed to oversee the government and punishment department. Later, he asked Gu Zuo to go to the Shaofu to observe the government. Now that the incident in Beijing has happened, he can no longer support so many idle people, let alone They had enough time to watch the government.
The cabinet and the Ministry of Rites jointly issued an order.
Xing Guan set off for Wanping County.
In April, the wild flowers on the roadside have bloomed. For more than a month, the countryside has been celebrating New Year's Day, with joy everywhere. The number of people begging for food has visibly decreased. Although everyone is still living a miserable life, in the future, when food is grown in the fields, I hope that every day will be white. It is even more impossible to have enough rice and enough meat and eggs.
But with three acres of land per person, as long as they are well taken care of, at least people will not starve to death. They can still make a living by drinking some porridge, catching some fish and shrimp in the river, and catching some game in the forest.
If this is true, it will be a peaceful and prosperous era that has not been seen in a hundred years.
"Does the Master just think that His Majesty asks other shareholders to contribute money because it is fair?"
Xing Guan was assigned to Gu Renyi's subordinates and went to Wanping with him this time. The two were walking on the road and taking a break to drink water when Xing Guan asked.
Gu Renyi was so busy that she really had no time to think about anything else, "What else? The naval construction consumes a lot of money, so naturally we ask the company to pay some."
"The construction of the navy is a huge expense, and the maintenance is even more expensive. If only the national treasury pays for it, within a few years, everyone will stop His Majesty from spending money."
"Isn't it right? Since it costs a lot, asking the company to pay will make those people even more reluctant?"
"What can I do if I don't want to? Who will protect the goods of each ship?"
…
…
Zhu Houzhao was also explaining this truth to Mei Kejia.
"...So, they will require that the expenses spent on maintaining the navy should also generate profits and returns."
Mei Kejia's face turned pale, "There is so much money, no matter how talented I am, I am afraid that one day I will not earn enough."
This is indeed the case, Zhu Houzhao knows.
But why they insist on doing this is probably beyond the understanding of businessmen like Mei Kejia.
But in fact, it is not difficult to imagine that the cost of maintaining an army is very huge. Generally speaking, the simple way is to disarmament. But real interests will prevent them from disarming. After all, this army is protecting their interests. At this time, it will go in another direction: now that they have strong force, they will rely on war to plunder.
This path is very immoral and very bad. But for the next five hundred years, the West will dominate the world. If you don’t rob it, it will rob you. And how well have these bastards lived in the past five hundred years? The most important thing is that people don’t listen at all when we talk about benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom and trust. No matter how much etiquette you talk about, they will just say: How many warships and soldiers do you have?
There was nothing Zhu Houzhao could do about it. Even if it was immoral to bully other countries, he could still plant this seed with peace of mind. This is called a crime in the present but a merit in the future.
(End of chapter)
