First Prince of Ming Dynasty Chapter 833

  Chapter 833 Business Strategy

   "The Chen residence closed its doors to thank guests, except for the embroiderers, no one will be accepted."

A middle-aged man wearing a fifth-rank official uniform patted the table angrily: ""Hmph, a woman's humble opinion, without our help, how could the Chen family be relied on by the crown prince alone? Let's see how the Chen family will be alone in the future! "

   "That is, we can represent the Jiangnan family together. The dignity of her son and granddaughter is also due to our efforts to make it what it is today."

   "Okay, what's the use of talking about it, the embroiderer has already taken away my two useless sons, and the disaster of ransacking the family and destroying the family will fall!"

A young boy was holding a string of silver-coated gold loofah beads in his hand, and couldn't help but said: "Then pay the business tax, people like us, maybe it's because of a little Did Duwu go through such humiliating things as ransacking his house?"

  The head of the other family flicked his sleeves: "I don't feel sorry for the boy, but with your body, can you get away from the so-called Aduwu?"

   "Chengyan is right. Lust for profit is a big taboo. No amount of money can compare to power. If the imperial court makes a decree, there will still be eagles and dogs attacking. Let's cut the flesh and protect yourself for now."

   "The uncle's words are reasonable, and I also think that we should avoid his sharp edge, and then try to find a way. For example, this Zhao Yan, the cruel official's method, should be punished by the emperor."

"Then let's do it like this. Everyone hurry up and make preparations. Don't delay or hide some small profits. Now that the matter has reached this point, it should be done beautifully, so that the court, the emperor, and the highness will know how good we are." Faithful!"

  The Jiangnan aristocratic family's attitude changed suddenly, which made the embroidered clothing even more aggressive. The scope of the investigation of commercial taxes also spread from the coast to the inland.

This made countless local wealthy merchants weep for it. Some fixed markets were broken. Keep in mind the tragic consequences of evading business taxes.

During half a year's time for the embroidered clothes to go south, north, west, and west, the treasury has been enriched to an unprecedented degree. Yes, now as long as you are pleasing to the eye, I will give it to you.

  The Ministry of Industry specially sent a servant and several doctors to squat in the yamen of the household department every day, serving the gods of wealth, big and small, with all their heart.

Fortunately, Zhao Wenjing, Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was still sober. He knew that floating wealth should not be relied on, and he could not develop the habit of being extravagant. He severely reprimanded his subordinates, and then went to several government offices in person, regardless of the dignity of his own officials and court officials. Some of the money was recovered.

In the Wenhua Palace, Zhu Biao smiled to appease the several ministers who came to his side and said: "The head of the family has its own difficulties, and the ministers should also be considerate of Zhao Aiqing. Although the household department has some family background, it is used by the court after all. If you live a long life, you still need to be more careful and careful.”

  Several ministers with gray beards showed aggrieved and pitiful expressions at the same time, and began to whisper about their own difficulties, especially the two ministers from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War.

The Ministry of Industry said that the registration of craftsmen is almost released, and now you can only hire craftsmen if you want to start construction. Construction Division…

The Ministry of War said that in some places, the food and payment of the guards were in arrears for more than a year. The soldiers barely survived by relying on self-sufficiency. , otherwise it would be impossible to open up wasteland to grow food, and suppress bandits...

  After hearing this, Zhu Biao also felt that the money and food could not be saved, so he had to look to the Minister of the Household Department: "Zhao Aiqing..."

Zhao Wenjing bowed and saluted with a cold face: "Your Highness, the Qian Liangchens from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War have not recovered all of them, and the remaining ones are completely enough for them to do what they said. Now they are still relentless, obviously wanting to get more money out of it." , I will impeach them tomorrow morning!"

The Minister of the Ministry of War immediately jumped up: "Well, you Zhao Wenjing, you dare to talk nonsense in front of His Highness, what proof do you have to slander this old man, the old man's sleeves are clean, even if the embroidered clothes come to the old man's house, you will have to Admire the honesty of this old man!"

  The Minister of the Ministry of Industry raised his beard and said: "You said that we are trying to get ink from it, but this official looks like someone wants to do the thing of guarding and stealing."

  Officials from the Ministry of Education and several other ministries did not think it was a big deal to watch the excitement, and they also felt that the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs was a little too stingy, so they also made a fuss.

  Zhu Biao knew Zhao Wenjing well, so he naturally knew that he was not such a person, but in front of so many veterans, he shouldn't be too partial.

   "Does Zhao Qing have any plans?"

  Zhao Wenjing originally didn't want to pay attention to their intentions, but he couldn't respond to the prince's question: “His Royal Highness, the household department is suddenly rich, and the bulk is actually obtained from house raids. The commercial tax for several years is only part of it.”

   "It is impossible for the imperial court to dispatch embroidered clothes every year to confiscate the house. It will definitely cause an uproar in the court and the wild, and it will not be conducive to business development. It is tantamount to killing chickens and extracting eggs. Once in a few decades is fine."

   "Ahem!" Zhu Biao covered his sleeves and coughed, which is not easy to say outright.

"Many of the proceeds from ransacking are local dyeing and weaving shops, and there are also many male and female workers who have signed annual contracts. In addition to the original Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln, can it be integrated and opened to reduce the price of goods purchased in ocean trade? , to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.”

  Is it a state-owned enterprise? Sure enough, there is nothing new in the world, and what happened has been repeated many times in history.

  The advantages and disadvantages of state-owned enterprises are very clear to Zhu Biao. They can integrate resources to the maximum extent, but it is also easy to attack the existing business ecology, and it is easier to form a monopoly.

  The Minister of the Ministry of Officials frowned and said: "Competing for the interests of the people is not what the imperial court does."

  Zhao Wenjing immediately retorted: "The operation of the imperial court requires a huge amount of money and food. The agricultural tax alone is not enough, and the commercial tax is also insufficient. If you don't want to find ways to increase income and reduce expenditure, how can you maintain order?"

  "There are barbarian countries overseas, Tatar Wara in the north, and Luchuan's military disaster in the southwest. There are disasters in the sky and disasters in the earth. If they happen one after another, but the treasury is empty, how should we deal with it?"

Facing the direction of the Jinshen Hall, he cupped his hands: "When the Holy Son of Heaven is here, there are no ministers. The Holy Prince sits in the East Palace and returns to the world. The place is like a finger. But if there is no hero in the future, the court will not form an overwhelming influence on the local finances. advantage, the local forces swelled up and rebelled, how to suppress it?"

Several Shangshu were speechless, Zhao Wenjing said to Zhu Biao: "Sang Hongyang's political actions in the Western Han Dynasty, there are several policies such as the policy of equalization and equalization of people's land, immigration, reclamation, and equalization, all of which can be slightly changed to apply to the present. , so that the people don't benefit from gifts and the world uses them.”

  False people's common land refers to the court's public land or royal farmland, the land of officials who committed crimes and merchants, and rented it to the poor and refugees for free, so that they can support themselves.

  Nowadays, Ming people don't need these, because the current land is vast and sparsely populated, but those refugees who migrated from Yunnan, Guizhou, Liaodong and Mongolia can be resettled in this way first, and finally they can reward the land with the method of rewards, which is better to win the hearts of the people.

  The meaning of equal loss means that the items paid by the local government to the imperial court are converted into local special products according to the local market price and handed over to the imperial court. For example, Jingdezhen and other places that do not use farming and mulberry can be used to offset taxes and corvees.

The policy of leveling is complementary to the policy of equalization. The imperial court collects a large amount of materials by equalization. When the price of a certain commodity rises too much, it sells it to the market at a par price to make its price drop; on the contrary, if the price of a certain commodity is too low , to buy in large quantities, prompting prices to rise.

  This is a policy that has been implemented, and the disadvantages caused by it are also clear to everyone present, and they all looked at the frowning Crown Prince in unison, thinking that there is one thing in their hearts.

  At least when these two are around, these things can be controlled. If they can be carried out as expected, even if it is only 50 or 60 years, it will be enough to accumulate great wealth. The country is rich and the people are rich.

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end