When Lao Hongtou walked out of the small courtyard beside the Qinhuai River, he seemed to be a different person for a moment.
The wet tears in the corners of the eyes, the sadness, bitterness, and loneliness in the eyes all disappeared.
Instead, he is as sharp, majestic, and domineering as ever!
In the small courtyard, he can be an old man, or a poor old man with white hair who gives a favor to a black-haired man.
But outside the courtyard, he can only be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty!
The emperor who shoulders the hopes of millions of people!
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Yuanzhang looked behind him.
The commander of the Jin Yiwei, Jiang Wei, followed him like a ghost.
"Let us check this child Zhu Jin carefully."
"Life experience, experience."
"Check it all out."
"Have a good time checking, check carefully, don't miss even a small thing."
"Tell us tomorrow morning."
Zhu Yuanzhang said expressionlessly.
"According to the order!"
Jiang Wei turned around and disappeared into the crowd.
After Jiang Wei disappeared, Zhu Yuanzhang looked back at the misty and rainy small courtyard beside the Qinhuai River. His heart was filled with mixed feelings and his eyes became complicated.
If all this is true.
What kind of fate is that?
Zhu Yuanzhang was very scared.
Afraid that all this is true.
But I'm even more afraid that it's all fake.
…
Zhu Jin felt very unhappy after seeing off Lao Hongtou.
He and Lao Hongtou have been together for two years, and their relationship has long been no different from that of his own grandparents.
Witnessing the old man going through such a catastrophe in life, and having to give away a gray-haired man to a black-haired man at an old age, Zhu Jin felt more and more sad the more he thought about it.
He silently put away the food on the table. After something like this happened, he had no intention of eating.
Right now, his top priority is making money and surviving.
Although Lao Hongtou helped him solve the problem of household registration and residence, and also brought him some good things from time to time, it was enough for him to have enough food and clothing.
But he is a man with hands and feet after all.
You can't keep chewing on your old age, right?
That's too unpromising.
And even though they have traveled through time, they still have to leave something behind in this era.
Otherwise, it would be a waste of time to wait for death, which is not what Zhu Jin wants.
"The agricultural registration that the old man helped me get cannot be used for business. Let's change it to a business registration..."
"Although my social status is not as good as before, I can still make money!"
"If you have money, you can do a lot of things that benefit the country and the people."
With twinkling eyes, Zhu Jin made up his mind.
He had long wanted to change the agricultural registration that the old man helped him apply for to a business registration.
But he didn't take action for a long time, mainly because he was afraid of making the old man angry and making him physically angry.
After all, not everyone has a rural background. They are relatively tall and have a high social status.
But business registration is the most looked down upon.
As mentioned earlier, the class divisions in the Ming Dynasty were extremely serious.
Scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants were the four major classes, which were difficult to transcend.
Among these four major classes, merchants ranked last, only slightly better than refugees.
Everywhere I went I was looked down upon and rolled my eyes at.
Perhaps from the perspective of future generations, this policy will be considered unreasonable.
But in ancient times, this policy could not have been more reasonable.
Because only by focusing on agriculture can people all over the world be able to fill their stomachs.
If we focus on business, then everyone will be engaged in business. By then, there will be tens of millions of acres of fertile land, and who will plant it?
Once fertile farmland turns into wasteland, what's the use of having more money in the treasury?
People regard food as their top priority, and food is the top priority.
And this is just one of the reasons for favoring agriculture and suppressing business.
More importantly, businessmen have been profit-seeking since ancient times.
This is the nature of a businessman and cannot be changed.
Just like food, sex, and sex are human nature.
For the sake of profit, businessmen will do anything.
A very good person in later generations once said:
"If there is a 10% profit, merchants are guaranteed to be used everywhere."
"With 20% profit, he becomes active."
"With 50% profit, businessmen can take desperate risks!"
"For the sake of 100% profit, businessmen dare to trample all human laws and morals!"
"Once there is a 300% profit, businessmen will dare to commit any crime for profit! Even risk hanging their heads!"
"If unrest and strife can bring profits, businessmen will encourage unrest and strife, as evidenced by smuggling and the slave trade!"
These words well summarize the nature of most businessmen in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad.
Of course, you can’t kill everyone with one stick. There are still conscientious businessmen in this world.
But that was ultimately too little.
Therefore, it is necessary to focus on agriculture and suppress business!
Once a businessman rises up and controls a huge amount of wealth while also holding a very high social status, then this society is bound to be in chaos!
In later generations, there have been too many lessons of blood and tears to prove this point.
This is also the reason why businessmen have such a low status in today's society.
But now, Zhu Jin has to take the initiative to apply for business registration.
If the old man knew about this, he would definitely be angry.
But there is no way.
Zhu Jin wants to do something.
And to do things, you need money.
He couldn't make much money from farming, so he couldn't realize his ambition.
More importantly, he wanted to repay the old man's kindness.
No matter how much effort the old man put in helping him apply for household registration.
The courtyard by the Qinhuai River alone requires at least three to five hundred taels of silver.
In addition, the old man brought him good things every now and then.
Without taking out two or three thousand taels of silver, he would never be able to repay the old man in his life.
Do you expect to earn two or three thousand taels from farming?
Even if he swings the hoe away, there is no chance at all.
After thinking this, Zhu Jin took a deep breath, held up the oil paper umbrella and walked out of the small courtyard without hesitation.
