Wang Chonggu returned home from the side hall of Wenhua Hall and sat in the main hall with his brows furrowed, somewhat lost in thought.
"Father, is your Majesty not to blame?" Wang Qian was very worried about the trouble he had caused. Uneasy, he waited until his father came back and immediately went to ask.
Wang Chonggu ignored his son's inquiry and was still lost in thought. He was thinking about a question.
"Father?"
"Son, do you think His Majesty knew from the beginning that the price of worsted wool would skyrocket?" Wang Chonggu asked a terrible question. In fact, he already had the answer in his heart, that is, His Majesty had known about the worsted woolen fabric for a long time. Woolen will definitely become what it is now.
Your Majesty started discussing this issue from the use value of worsted wool.
Worsted wool is a rare fabric. Like satin, it is a top-notch luxury item. Even though the official factory of woolen wool only has only 5,000 pieces a year, it is destined to be rare. It is also highly pigmented and bright in color. Wool is slender, comfortable to wear, stiff, wrinkle-resistant, wear-resistant, and has excellent warmth retention properties. In addition to being easy to be eaten by insects, it is a top-quality product.
Symbols of wealth and status are most easily sought after by people, and it becomes natural for powerful people to pursue them.
Wang Chonggu asked His Majesty whether the sale of worsted woolen cloth was directly prohibited like satin. His Majesty said that the priority was to ensure the palace's expenses and to allow private use. In terms of etiquette, worsted woolen cloth was not classified as a transgression. .
There aren't many pieces of worsted woolen fabric in this house, so how dare you say that you are powerful?
Under the theory of supply and demand, it has become inevitable that the use value of worsted woolen fabrics is ignored and exaggerated by speculative merchants. It will become inevitable from popularity to craze, and His Majesty seems to be deliberately condoning this exaggeration. His behavior made Wang Chonggu shudder.
If His Majesty had thought of today, it would be really terrifying.
"What do you mean, father, is this a deliberate trap set by His Majesty?" Wang Qian swallowed his throat and said in horror.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it." Wang Chonggu waved his hand feebly. He didn't want to maliciously speculate on the holy intention, but based on past experience, the price of worsted woolen fabrics may have been expected by His Majesty.
Wang Chonggu's guess was correct. When the worsted woolen cloth appeared, Zhu Yijun discussed with Zhang Juzheng why the sale of satin should be banned, and even its use by the people was regarded as transgressive. Even so, the worsted woolen cloth still flowed into the market.
On December 28, the fourth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng and the young emperor had a fierce quarrel in the side hall of Wenhua Palace. The content of the quarrel was related to the price of worsted woolen cloth.
Zhang Juzheng's opinion is to immediately restrict it and completely prohibit its flow into the market. Its use by the people will be regarded as arrogance. In this way, there will be no poison caused by strange goods. In order to keep the powerful rightists in the hands of the emperor, Zhang Juzheng, Already tried my best.
Zhu Yijun disagreed with Zhang Juzheng's idea and insisted on continuing to sell like this in order to seek huge profits and amass profits. He found out the money buried by the landlords in the pig pens and let the money join the market circulation to regulate the Ming Dynasty. Money shortage.
The money shortage in the Ming Dynasty, or the Central Plains Dynasty, is a fact that has existed widely since ancient times.
Since the Han Dynasty, a large amount of flying coins and iron coins have been used. By the Song Dynasty, even if five billion copper and iron coins were minted a year in the Song Dynasty, they still could not meet the needs of regular circulation, and they had to start issuing money to attract money. , Jiaozi, and Hu Yuan, in order to solve the money shortage, Baochao officially appeared, and then quickly went bankrupt.
A piece of paper can represent one tael of silver. This is completely plundering. Therefore, the price of treasure banknotes has been falling continuously since it was issued. When the price of treasure banknotes is no longer paper, new treasure banknotes will replace it and replace it. , continued to be issued, even so, every time Hu Yuan's emperor used this clumsy method, he could defraud money.
During the Hongwu period, the Ming Dynasty's treasure banknotes had become waste paper, but the Ming Dynasty still insisted on issuing two hundred years of treasure banknotes. It couldn't make money, and there was no gold, silver, and copper. How to make money.
After the Ming Dynasty Baobao became waste paper, the currency of the Ming Dynasty was actually Yanyin. However, as the two relatives of the Xiaozong Dynasty completely destroyed the Yanyin system, the value of Yanyin dropped significantly. Even so, Yanyin still has uses. Value and exchange value are the substantial paper money of Ming Dynasty.
In the eyes of the little emperor, powerful rightists are like silver mines. It is inevitable to dig out their silver and put it into circulation in the world. Searching their homes will only make the powerful rightists bankrupt, but they can be deceived. They are heavily in debt.
Worsted wool has become a very good tool for collecting silver.
The influx of silver from overseas is still too slow. Mines still need to be opened, and the humanoid silver mines need to be opened with great potential.
Zhang Juzheng finally chose to compromise and agreed to your Majesty's mining method, because the Ming Dynasty really needed silver. After clearing the land, returning the land, and inspecting the land, a whip method was to be implemented, and the core driving force of the whip method was silver. How to make silver available? Circulation instead of piling up under the pig pen is an inevitable problem that Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant, must face.
His Majesty's methods are disgraceful, but they are effective.
"They said I was tyrannical during the house raid. In this way, everyone will be better off, and I will keep my reputation. If I want to be powerful, I don't have to be afraid of God's power and dare not do anything." Zhu Yijun stood up and said with a smile: "Sir, let us go. Want to see the fun?"
"Watching the fun?" Zhang Juzheng discovered that the little emperor really liked watching the fun.
Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Sir, come with me."
Worsted woolen trade needed a trading place, and the wealthy merchants of the Ming Dynasty chose this place as Yanxing Tower. On the way to watch the excitement, Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Hong to call Wang Chonggu to come and watch the fun together.
When Wang Chonggu stood in front of the Yanxing Tower, he clearly knew that the person in charge was not him or Wang Qian at all, but the Ming Emperor.
The layout of Yanxing Building is different from other places. As soon as you enter the building, there is a lot of people and excitement. You can see a long counter. Inside the counter, there are more than a dozen boys running around.
The transaction of worsted woolen cloth needs to be weighed at the counter, mainly to check its weight. After the appraisal, each foot of cloth must be printed on a piece of white paper that has been appraised, with the seam under the seam, and only the paper The worsted wool can be traded in Yanxinglou if the seals on it and the cloth match.
Behind the counter, there is a board hanging. The purchase price, sales price and quantity for sale are written on the board. If you want to sell worsted wool, you can register at the counter, and then list the number on the appraisal certificate and the listed price. It is the selling price of the consignor.
All these services are not free. Three thousandths of the transaction amount will be charged. This service fee will maintain the operation of Yanxing Tower. It is also a tax for the imperial court and will be divided into half of the national funds.
This is entirely a business of the Imperial Manor, why should we give a share of national funds? If the emperor controls more silver, doesn't he have more power? Wouldn't this kind of tax and court sharing break one's own legs? It's just stupid!
Zhu Yijun was just trying to cheer up the Ming Dynasty.
He could gather silver into his own hands, but he could not send the silver into the hands of the poor coolies. Under the political correctness of Zhang Juzheng's portrayal of the hard-working tycoon and the rescue of the head of Guizhou, the court could send silver to the poor through spectacles and large-scale construction. It is in the hands of the people's coolies, so money must be allocated to the national fund.
Wang Chonggu felt dizzy as he looked at the busy counter. As expected, the emperor was the biggest trader, because the biggest consumer of worsted wool from the official woolen factory was none other than His Majesty himself. Worsted woolen is the most common.
Zhu Yijun took Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu to the private room on the second floor.
The second floor of Yanxing Building has also been renovated. A famous Jiangnan prostitute is playing and singing. If Luo Bingliang were here, he would find that this woman was the oiran on Sun Keyi's boat. Sun Keyi sent this oiran to the capital to make money.
The singing party is actually an auction. Starting from the ninth year of Emperor Gaozu's reign in the Tang Dynasty, the auction extended from the temple's handling of the belongings of deceased monks has become more and more complete. In the second year of Chongning, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the Zen Garden Qinggui described The process of singing concerts, including posting posters, displaying pre-sold goods, evaluating singing, drawing points, etc., is already very complete.
The excitement that Zhu Yijun took Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu to see was the singing party, or bulk trade. What was sold on the second floor was not the bulk goods on the first floor, but sold in pieces.
The sound of silk and bamboo gradually stopped, and everyone began to take their seats. The oiran stood up, came to the front of the stage, and said with a smile: "Everyone, we are all gathered here today. We are all destined people. The owner of Yanxing Tower has great eyes and hands. Find I have collected all kinds of rare treasures from all over the world for you to appreciate. The most precious thing today is the 137 kilograms of ambergris, but the one that attracts the most attention is the worsted wool."
"How many big cloths are there in Yanxing Tower?"
The oiran walked up to a card number, pulled off the red silk cloth to reveal the number inside, and said with a smile: "Fifteen hundred horses."
After this number was announced, everyone exclaimed. You must know that even the wool that flows into the market is rarely a whole piece. It is calculated in feet, and this one is fifty feet, one thousand five hundred pieces. , the price is 615,000 taels based on eight taels. Not counting other rare treasures, just like a big cloth, it has exceeded Qi Jiguang's military expenditure for one year of training in Jizhen.
Wang Chonggu asked in a low voice with some confusion: "Your Majesty, I am confused, why did your Majesty release so many at once?"
Wang Qian held 600 horses and smashed the plate, but before it fell, the emperor directly took out 1,500 horses, which would definitely have an impact on the price.
Zhu Yijun said with great certainty: "I am smashing the market. I hope that the power of the Ming Dynasty will wake up the powerful people. Pies will not fall from the sky, and wealth will not fall from the sky. With so much money, even if it is to build handicrafts, A factory is better than buying these.”
Zhang Juzheng finally sighed and said: "Your Majesty, is it possible that they actually know that this is a big gamble, and they are just betting that they will not be the last one to take over? It's just like in a casino, thinking that they will not be the unlucky one. .”
"Then there's nothing we can do. We've already smashed the market and they still refuse to wake up." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said.
The oiran waited until the crowd gradually became quieter, then showed an extremely peaceful smile and said, "Even if I haven't gone to the grassland to do business, I have heard others say that the water plants on the grassland are not lush and they are constantly conquering each other, so we must maintain A certain number of horses are used to attack each other.”
"Some people may ask, why don't we herd sheep in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty to obtain wool? Because there is not enough land in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty to cultivate, let alone raise sheep."
"It is destined that the quantity of wool and worsted wool is limited and very small. Even the noble nobles in the palace cannot use it as they wish."
The oiran was telling a story according to the language, and it was about scarcity. There are only so many aquatic plants, only so much wool, and only so much worsted wool. The more scarce it is, the more precious it is.
Zhu Yijun was sitting on the Taishi chair and suddenly said loudly: "If you can't graze cattle in singing clothes, you can also grow pasture to raise sheep. Why is the number limited?"
The oiran was angry for a while, who was causing trouble!
But in the private room, no one can be seen at all, but this question must be answered.
“The land and water support the people and the lambs. The fur of the sheep raised in this hinterland can only be used for woolen spinning, not worsted spinning. Even the wool from the grassland is rarely used for worsted spinning. ." The oiran was annoyed, but still answered the question with a smile on his face.
"That's it." Zhu Yijun finally agreed with the answer.
Antonio brought a kind of grass seed called corn grass. It is a high-quality grass. One acre of land can cut more than 10,000 kilograms of grass every year. However, this kind of grass grows in the north and requires a lot of irrigation. , Irrigation is a big problem these days.
The oiran breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "Big cloth is actually a kind of silk coin. No one can control its quantity. Even the official factory that weaves it depends on God's face. There is a drought in the grassland this year. The sheep The number of sheep has dropped sharply, and the cloth is scarce. If the weather is good in the grassland, no matter how many sheep there are, the number of woolen materials for weaving and spinning will increase, but the output of the official factory will only be so small."
"And Dabu is being widely recognized."
"From the moment big cloth appeared, the price of big cloth has risen from seven silver coins to eighty-two coins, and will continue to rise. In addition to being used to make ready-made clothes, it can also be used for bulk transactions..."
The oiran is still blowing the worsted woolen cloth, that is, the big cloth.
Zhu Yijun shook his head while the oiran was telling a story.
He tells a great dream in the Spring and Autumn Period that everyone can get rich, and confuses the powerful people sitting in the audience to enter the scene and fight.
"Sir, you will not deceive me." Zhu Yijun looked at the people outside the box. Their eyes had become eager. When the price of woolen goods was soaring, everyone was blinded by the huge profits, just like losing a red-eyed bet. I always think I am the winner.
The Wool Factory is already an extremely profitable industry, but its profit margin is only 35%. However, it only took ten days to increase from 7 qian per square foot to 8 taels per square foot. If you invest money in it, you only need In just ten days, it can be doubled tenfold. What a terrifying wealth myth is this?
"Now, let's start bidding. Each piece of cloth is five hundred taels." The oiran finally finished telling the story and started the bidding process. A piece of cloth was fifty feet long, and the starting price was ten silver dollars per foot. It was much more expensive than what was sold outside, but They are sold here by pieces, not by feet, so the price is destined to be higher than outside.
The gentry were betting that prices would soar.
"Five hundred and twenty liang, I want five hundred!" A man with a slightly rich body stood up and shouted with a ferocious expression.
The crazy bidding started. Zhu Yijun looked at this scene and the crazy looks of those people and could only shake his head. He actually arranged a few bids. In case no one bought, he would also ask people to shout out the price. The left hand was the right hand. , just posting.
But the child care arrangement arranged by the little emperor did not work at all, and there was no need to warm up the scene at all.
One thousand five hundred pieces of worsted cloth were sold for 820,000 taels of silver, which completely exceeded Zhu Yijun's expectations. The average price per foot exceeded 11 taels of silver. In other words, the powerful people believed that the price of worsted cloth would rise. Over 11 taels.
The auction later became boring. The ambergris was not for sale. It was just to show off Yan Xinglou's ability to know everything. This piece of ambergris would be processed and sold in Huangzhuang at a price of fifty silver per tael. Zhu Yijun also bought a good thing.
Qiu Ying's version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is a painting that Qiu Ying imitated Zhang Zeduan's painting structure of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and based on Suzhou City in the Ming Dynasty. The suburbs - Hongqiao - outside the city - inside the city, and Qiu Ying added palaces In the garden part, Zhu Yijun spent 1,500 taels of silver to acquire this object.
Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was stored in the internal funds. During the Jiajing period, Yan Song obtained the original copy. After Yan Song's downfall and his house was confiscated, he entered the palace. Zhu Yijun even went to see the original copy.
The oiran began to toast one by one, thanking the wealthy and powerful people for their sponsorship. She smiled very sincerely and from the bottom of her heart. In this auction, the oiran earned enough money to redeem her life in one go.
Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng were communicating about the official post road of Daningwei. The post road from Daningwei to the capital needs to be fully hardened. In order to transport goods more conveniently, Zhu Yijun believes that a concrete sleeper can be built. , horse-drawn carriage track of railway track.
Horse-drawn carriage tracks are not a rare thing. They were called Chi Dao in the Qin Dynasty.
The reason why such a road was built was naturally for military needs, but also for economic needs. The expansion of the official wool factory led to a surge in the use of white clay, and the wool from the barbarian tribes also needed this road to be transported to the capital.
"The wooden rails are not durable and easy to break, and they cannot be repaired very long. Due to the influence of the terrain, they are only a few miles long at most, that is, from Xishan to Gyeonggi, this time from the capital of the Ming Dynasty to Daningwei. , Let Guo Chaobin, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, supervise it." Zhu Yijun decided to repair it after much thought.
This kind of Chi Dao is very expensive, but the expense is not a shortcoming of Chi Dao. It is because Ming Dynasty is short of money. It doesn't matter if it can't be repaired well. Quan should just accumulate experience. Anyway, the cost of Chi Dao from the capital to Daningwei is determined by the power of the capital. We need help from the right people.
"Silver must be distributed to the hands of ordinary people, to the hands of craftsmen, to the hands of kilns, blacksmiths, plasterers, and woodcarvers. If this road to Liaodong can be fully connected, it will be the Ming Dynasty." The greatest blessing." Zhu Yijun once again clarified the purpose of building this road, exploring the logic of redistribution in the Ming Dynasty, and creating a class that supported the New Deal.
"If this road works, it will work." Zhu Yijun finally said a very strange concluding sentence. This road is naturally the Jingliao Chi Road, and it is also the Tongtian Avenue of the Ming Dynasty's New Deal.
"The World is Trapped in Merger and Relief the Rogues" is an ancient memorial written by Wang Chong, and Zhu Yijun highly agrees with it.
Zhu Yijun's methods were ruthless and merciless.
The oiran quickly made a toast to Zhu Yijun's private room. As a result, when she entered, it was already empty. After Zhu Yijun saw the excitement and talked about things, he naturally left. As for the oiran, if they meet, Feng Bao should The people were thrown into the Yongsheng Woolen Factory for resettlement.
There's no need to go to such trouble, I'll just see you.
On New Year's Eve, Zhu Yijun met Chen Siliu, the same Chen Siliu in the story told by Wang Chonggu in his 50,000-character memorial.
Chen Siliu is already twenty-two years old. He is not tall, that is, he is about the same height as the little emperor who is about to be fifteen years old. He is very thin and has dark skin. When he saw the emperor, he knelt on the ground and did not dare to get up. Finally, he was helped up and sat on a stool before he stuttered and said clearly what he wanted to say.
Mining in the Xishan Coal Kiln is very hard, and you need to go down the well. The well is more than twenty feet deep. It is not an open-pit coal mine, nor is it the kind in England where there is coal under one foot. The Xishan Coal Kiln in the Ming Dynasty is all a kiln shaft, with the lowest It was also twenty feet deep. Mining accidents happened from time to time, and water leaks, collapses, and explosions were also common. Chen Siliu had no idea why His Majesty the Emperor met him.
But Chen Siliu could answer all the questions His Majesty asked. His Majesty asked how many people there were, whether they had a mother-in-law, how many children they had, whether they used two feet of cloth to make new clothes during the New Year, etc. These were all common questions. Chen Siliu answered truthfully and did not dare to lie in any way.
The story of Chen Siliu is the core story of "Rescuing Hooligans". When Chen Siliu smiled and said that he cut five pounds of meat this year to celebrate the New Year, both Zhu Yijun and Chen Siliu smiled brightly.
After Chen Siliu left, he met farmers from all over the world, including one of the landless farmers resettled by Wang Chonggu in the northwest, farmers in Daningweixin, farmers in Shaanxi, etc. Zhu Yijun asked them about farming matters , a born noble man spoke clearly and eloquently about farming matters, which surprised all the farmers.
After the farmers left, the generals and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty came from Jiubian and Jingying. These generals and soldiers talked about their lives in detail. The program for reorganizing the soldiers of Jingying was to save the people. The soldiers in Guizhou and border military towns mainly talked about the hardships of life.
Thanks to the in-kind military pay implemented by Wang Guoguang, the border military towns can finally fight without hunger anymore. Even if the salary given is not enough, they can still grow some sweet potatoes to survive. If they can eat, they can survive. This is What Qi Jiguang said when he met the saint for the first time was that the soldiers were particularly grateful for the salary in kind. They had to eat first before they could concentrate on fighting.
After the generals and soldiers left, Zhu Yijun finally met the foreign official.
This year's foreign official is Shi Maohua, the governor of Shaanxi. Shi Maohua strongly expressed the beautiful vision of reintegration, and also expressed his worries about not reintegrating. If the three sides encounter successive droughts, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty will be overthrown, because Shaanxi With less food and more soldiers, and successive years of severe drought, civil unrest will inevitably arise.
Zhu Yijun made it clear that it must be repeated, but now is not the time.
Shi Maohua asked to go to Baoqisi, not to see where the emperor lived, but to see sweet potatoes, to be precise, potatoes. Shaanxi is not suitable for growing sweet potatoes, but it is very suitable for growing potatoes. Shi Maohua was grateful to His Majesty for his marriage to Nongsang. There was no snow in Shaanxi last winter, and this spring was cold and severe, and there was a severe drought. If we hadn't stocked up on some potatoes, we might have been in big trouble.
Shi Maohua looked at Baoqisi and finally bid farewell to His Majesty with satisfaction.
After meeting with craftsmen, farmers, soldiers, and foreign officials, Zhu Yijun took his seven windows to the Ancestral Temple to worship his ancestors and made a report on what he had done this year.
The biggest thing they accomplished was to liquidate the clan party headed by Zhang Siwei and prevent the further deterioration of the feudalization of the northwest.
Zhu Yijun talked for a long time, especially about the book "Resettlement of Gangsters". The emperor even had a copy copied and burned to his ancestors.
On the last day of the fourth year of Wanli, the minister of Honglu Temple went to the Taoist temple and sent a memorial to the palace asking for an official appointment.
Zhu Yijun took the memorial and said helplessly: "Didn't Da Sikou already send a letter to the northwest, asking Sanniang to send her cousin and child back? Sanniang also agreed, does Sanniang want to break the appointment?"
"I have heard from you at the border that I have entered the border and you will be able to arrive in Beijing after the new year." Zhang Hong replied quickly.
"Let's discuss it after the New Year." Zhu Yijun still didn't want to deal with Chen Xuexue. After all, Chen Xuexue was really easy to use. He wanted to wait until after the New Year to discuss it. Zhu Yijun came up with the procrastination strategy to deal with it.
But obviously, the officials of the Department of Science and Technology did not intend to delay the emperor. On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, just after the rest, the memorials of the officials of the Department of Science and Technology floated into the cabinet like snowflakes.
Zhang Juzheng posted a floating ticket in his memorial, thinking that this matter could be punished to a certain extent to calm public opinion, and a fine of half a year would be appropriate.
However, Zhu Yijun rejected Zhang Juzheng's proposal and still insisted on his own opinion. He did not take any measures and did not allow Chen Xuexue's official memorial. He thought that Chen Xuexue's concubine ran away with his son, thinking that he was going home to visit relatives, and insisted on his own opinion.
Zhang Juzheng wanted to compromise and ease the conflict, but Zhu Yijun refused to give in even a step and wanted to intensify the conflict.
Originally, according to Zhu Yijun's expectation, the officials should show up to show their prowess to the emperor. Zhu Yijun was ready to prepare, but in the end, he did not wait for the courtiers to show up. The matter that Chen Xuexue had learned seemed to have become a trivial matter. The focus of attention immediately turned to the worsted wool, whose price had increased to 11 taels of silver per foot.
As soon as the market for this worsted woolen product opened, the price began to soar again at a terrifying speed to a high of 11 taels.
The requests of the officials coincided with Zhang Juzheng's ideas. They all asked the emperor to set the worsted woolen cloth as a royal exclusive and prohibit the sale of worsted woolen cloth. They said the same thing as before. When a ruler loses the support of the people, he will always be in trouble. When gathering begins, if it is covered to facilitate gathering, then the ministers who are interested in profit will cater to the superior's will and carve out the people's wealth. This person's heart is full of resentment, and the world is impoverished.
If the emperor likes to amass money, then the ministers who seek profit will expropriate the people's wealth, people will be resentful, the world will be poor, and the emperor will lose the support of the people.
And indeed it is.
Please give me a monthly ticket, wow! ! ! !
(End of chapter)
