Taoism emphasizes a small country with few people.
Just like Lao Tzu's chickens and dogs hear each other, the village exists by itself and does not interact with others.
In fact, this is the same as Confucianism's self-denial and restoration of etiquette. It is a typical state of a slave society. A village or a town can be isolated from the world, free from competition and contentment, and can be leisurely and contented.
But this was established in a country where productivity was underdeveloped, and it was common for ordinary villages to be separated by dozens of miles, and for townships to be hundreds of miles apart.
Therefore, during the Spring and Autumn Period, two armies separated by several countries could fight each other without fear of being stolen.
With the development of productivity, the distance between villages has been shortened, cities have become closer and closer, and the population has continued to multiply.
China has been a populous country since ancient times. With tens of millions of people and millions of square kilometers of land, the existence of roads has become inevitable.
The Ming Dynasty's road guide system required road guides as long as you left the county to prevent blind migration and fugitives.
Just like in TV dramas, the emperor issued an imperial edict to exile or punish three tribes. Why didn't those criminals just escape?
It is really because of the restrictions of the road guide system that there is no way to escape.
Of course, under extreme operation, as long as you don't enter the county town or checkpoint, the vast rural areas do not need road guidance.
But in this era where poverty breeds evil, bullying outsiders is the norm. Comparatively speaking, the county is dozens of times safer than the countryside.
In the feudal era, ordinary farmers could meet their daily needs by going to the market in addition to collecting taxes and going to the county town. Most of them were bartering, and there was no need for road guides at all.
At the same time, there are scholars who need to travel, people to be promoted, and businessmen who trade. They are rich and powerful, and getting guidance is not worth mentioning.
However, during the Shaowu period, corvee was lightened and taxes were lightened, and commercial taxes were emphasized, so that the rate of population migration increased greatly.
Like sailors.
Then why was water transportation not needed before?
That's because although water transport was actually a democratic movement, it was under the jurisdiction of the governor of water transport. The boatmen were originally from military families, and they had official skin and were working for the imperial court.
Maritime transportation was different. The imperial court contracted the task of transporting money, grain and taxes to those fleets, and only paid the money and did not care about escorting.
In this way, you only have to pay, saving time and effort, and easily eliminating corruption.
Once the money and goods are wrong, it will be much easier to deal with the boatmen than the officials.
"This road is really annoying." The captain sighed.
The tax collector shook his head and whispered: "I will introduce you to a good way, which can save a lot of effort and take advantage of it."
"oh?"
"But I need this number."
A thumb was raised, and the captain was frightened.
One hundred dollars is really terrible.
But the road guide thing is too annoying. Whenever there is a checkpoint port, it has to be bothered again. He gritted his teeth:
"OK."
"Sea transport, you know that, right?"
"Of course, in the early years of Shaowu, water transportation and sea transportation went hand in hand, and now 90% of it relies on sea transportation."
The captain nodded hurriedly.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the four million shi of grain that arrived in Beijing actually transferred 12 million shi, of which 8 million shi of grain were stolen.
When contracted to the fleet, four million stones arrived in Beijing for only 400,000 silver yuan, and the shipping price was about one-fifth, which can be said to be extremely cheap.
At the same time, the huge Cao army was also abolished, avoiding exploitation, abandoning the burdens, and smiling happily.
He was one of them, switching from canals to shipping.
"The quota for sea transport is four million shi. Even if it is a large ship with a thousand materials and 1,500 shi, it will be close to 3,000 ships. Even if the ten largest ship gangs add up, they cannot number 3,000."
The tax collector laughed and said: "So, they have to recruit soldiers and horses, and hire some white boats when transporting grain."
"As long as you carry five hundred stones, you will be given fifty silver coins. At that time, you were transporting official rations. Who would check the road guide?"
"Isn't that a waste of money?" The ship owner calculated that the four million was only 400,000 yuan. If it was divided among those white ships, wouldn't it be a profit?
"Are you really not understanding or are you pretending not to understand?" The tax collector rolled his eyes and said, "It's a trap!"
Only then did the captain suddenly realize.
This is the traditional skill of water transportation.
Since we are transporting official grain, there are basically no tax collectors to collect taxes. When the time comes, we can load half a ship of grain and then half a ship of cargo. We can make a lot of money just by saving taxes in one round trip.
"However, there is a limit to the white ship levy. The imperial court has set a limit of four million, and the excess will not be ignored."
The tax collector shook his head and said: "I have a cousin who happens to be working in the Flying Whale Gang. When the time comes, I will let you take up a spot. I don't get my money for free, I have to share it with others."
"Don't feel bad, this is using your money to do your business."
"understand."
The captain was overjoyed.
In a few days, he unloaded the goods at the port, and naturally a caravan came to buy southern goods.
Although there is a 30% to 40% difference in the price of goods from Tianjin to Beijing, it is difficult to travel several hundred miles and wastes time, so the ship owner did not do it.
Not everyone can make money in all the business in the world.
When I came to Tianjin City again, it was still as prosperous as before. Several long streets were crowded with people, there were constant hawking sounds, there were countless shops, and there were people wandering everywhere.
The intersection of sea, land and river has allowed Tianjin to continue to prosper for more than ten years.
However, the sound of machines in Tianjin that can be heard all over the city is unique in the world and can only be compared to Suzhou and Songjiang.
Along the way, countless horse-drawn carriages and mules carried cotton from generation to generation to the weaving yards.
Then a large amount of cotton cloth is sent to the dyeing house for dip-dying, and then embroidered with patterns and clouds.
Even in Tianjin Prefecture, there is a dyeing street, a cotton street, a dye street, a spice street, etc.
The city could no longer accommodate those looms, so many weaving yards were moved to the outer city.
However, in the past, the weaving fields were all female workers, but now there are many male workers.
Due to the distinction between men and women, some weaving yards erected walls, while others just added a curtain.
"How come there are so many male queens?" The captain was curious: "Isn't weaving something that abuses the family?"
After catching a passerby, he said: "All the female workers in Tianjin Prefecture are in the city. Women of thirteen or fourteen years old weave after two or three years to save enough dowry and return home. There are more and more weaving yards, and women in the city are also entering the weaving yards."
not enough."
"As a last resort, only male workers are required."
"The greater the shortage of workers, the higher the price of weavers, and the men will risk their lives."
"Labour shortage?" This word suddenly appeared in the captain's mind.
This is a rare word in the entire Ming Dynasty.
After all, the Ming Dynasty, with its vast land and abundant resources, had no shortage of people. It even seemed like there were more people than the ants on the ground.
But it just happened to appear.
"This is a matter in Suzhou and Songjiang. I never thought it would also appear in Tianjin."
The ship owner lamented: "But in Suzhou, what is lacking is the best weavers, not female workers. This is the first time in Tianjin."
The emperor, who was far away in Beijing, naturally knew a thing or two about the situation in Tianjin.
However, the way he learned about it was not from Jinyiwei or Dongchang, but from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
As the emperor's royal agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not only responsible for the royal adoption and purchase, but also has a large number of imperial merchants who specialize in business and earn a lot of wealth for the emperor.
Although there were many monopolies and forced buying and selling, the population base of merchants was so small that even if there were gentry behind them, it would not be a concern.
Therefore, the imperial merchants made a fortune and basically monopolized sugar, silk, horse trading, spices and other high-profit businesses. To a certain extent, they could be considered state-owned!
Zhu Yixi turned a blind eye to the behavior of the imperial merchants in enriching their own pockets, and basically ignored them as long as it was not too excessive.
And once it goes too far, or the emperor is short of money, it is normal to buy as many fat pigs as possible to replenish the internal funds.
This is much better than expanding the Imperial Palace.
There were hundreds of royal merchants, some of whom were responsible for the palace's food, some were responsible for jewelry, and some were responsible for clothing.
Naturally, the weaving field is involved.
These people do not hesitate to exaggerate for their own benefit:
Because of the lack of female workers, some profits have been weak, etc.
If it were any other emperor, it would have passed almost in the blink of an eye, but who made Zhu Yixi the time traveler?
He saw the underlying meaning at a glance: urbanization.
The so-called urbanization is due to the prosperity of the commodity economy, which has led to a large number of handicraft workshops or factories that are short of workers, thus requiring everyone's labor force.
In Britain, due to the lack of population, the new aristocrats occupied the public land and drove the peasants to the cities, letting them work in their factories.
In the United States, the arrogant white people had to hold their noses to let black people enter the factory because of the lack of labor in the factory. They resented the farmers who owned a large number of black people, which triggered the Civil War.
France is similar to China. Its population has always been at the forefront of Europe and its labor force is abundant, so there is no need for sheep to eat people or to free slaves.
What it does is let farmers go to cities because of profits.
Today's Ming Dynasty is the same.
By weaving for several years, a girl can save her dowry, subsidize her family, and even make men put aside their dignity and work in the weaving field.
But men are not half as efficient as women. With the same salary, men are not as efficient as women.
This made the capitalists unbearable. They eagerly wanted a large number of female workers to participate in the weaving field, so that they could exchange cotton cloth for a large amount of silver coins.
After all, making less means losing money.
"Before, I abolished the restrictions on the use of roads between prefectures, thus allowing Tianjin Prefecture to develop rapidly. Now with its vigorous development, just one Tianjin Prefecture is not enough, and the entire Hebei Province needs to be provided."
Putting down the secret fold in her hand, Zhu Yixi cooed softly.
In this huge empire, the existence of road guides is very necessary. If hundreds of millions of people wander around without road guides, the consequences will be disastrous.
Therefore, facing the mixed city of Beijing with a population of one million, Zhu Yixi adopted a temporary residence permit policy.
Without a temporary residence permit, you cannot enter the city at all and can only stay outside the city.
Also for the sake of stability, other cities do not have curfews, but Beijing does. Although it will inevitably have some impact on the economy, this is a political demand.
"This time it's the government, next time it's the province?"
Returning to the Luyin system, Zhu Yixi felt a headache.
The development of the economy and capital requires liberalization, while stabilizing the empire requires guidance.
If the government is expanded to the province, the road guidance system will be ineffective and the control intensity will increase sharply.
Suddenly, Zhu Yixi thought of the Southern Jiangsu Railway.
The hundreds of miles of railway tracks from Nanjing to Songjiang Prefecture were almost entirely self-financed by businessmen and were the result of their earnest expectations.
Although there is a need to promote the circulation of goods, I am afraid that its biggest role is the agglomeration of the population!
Whether in Suzhou or Songjiang Prefecture, the textile industry is the largest industry, and the demand for workers is extremely strong.
The establishment of railway tracks will naturally help the two places absorb the population, allowing capital to continue to develop, and the gentry and businessmen to make a lot of money.
"I'm afraid that in Jiangsu, the road guide is useless!"
Zhu Yixi shook his head.
In the face of such huge interests, local governments dare not stop them because they themselves are vested interest groups.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yixi couldn't help but want to leave the palace and go to Tianjin, even Suzhou and Songjiang.
In recent years, he has basically been wandering around Beijing and Yuquan Mountain. He has not been to Tianjin for several years.
With a plan in mind, even if nine cows come over, they can't stop him.
Not to mention the cabinet.
In this way, the emperor's inspection of Tianjin Mansion was launched.
After more than ten days of preparation, the driver set off.
For safety reasons, Yu Jia did not take the railway track, but took the official road. It took him six days to reach Tianjin Prefecture after walking three hundred miles.
The broadness of the official path made Zhu Yixi nod.
If even the official channels close to Chi Chi are in dilapidated state, then it is conceivable that other official channels in the world will be in ruins.
On this tour, the emperor did not bring any concubines, but only a few plump maids to serve him.
At the same time, six princes, including the King of Liao, King of Yue, King of Wei, King of Fu, King of Zhao, and King of Xiang, accompanied him.
For these princes, being able to leave Beijing is their greatest happiness.
Under the leadership of the King of Liao, everyone mounted their horses and followed the team leisurely, which was very lively.
However, in less than half a day, blood was drawn from the inside of both legs, and they withered immediately.
Only the King of Liao remained unchanged, carefree and uncomfortable.
"Fourth brother, why are you okay?" said the chubby King Fu.
"I went to Chahar and then Horqin back then. After riding for several months, I had already worn out my calluses. What does this mean?"
The King of Liao looked proud.
Zhu Yixi smiled and said: "I don't know the importance."
When it comes to experience and experience, the King of Liao is indeed superior to these brothers.
When I sent the princess to Kang State, she traveled thousands of miles and stayed in the snowy area for a long time, suffering a lot.
After that, Chahar and Horqin were both experienced.
The other princes only trained in the Eight Departments of the capital and made progress in government affairs, but their knowledge was indeed not as good as that of the Liao King.
"It seems we have to let them go out for a while."
The emperor's heart moved: "It's not enough to just observe the government, you have to actually practice it."
He had no worries about the practical content.
The Ming Dynasty was really huge, with tens of millions of square kilometers and 200 million people. Disasters hit places every month. It was normal to send a prince there to visit and provide relief to the victims.
Thinking about it like this, Zhu Yixi suddenly felt that it would be good to treat the prince as an imperial envoy, and he could also leave it to them to patrol the river embankment and inspect corrupt officials.
Only when they are tricked by officials can they truly understand what is inside the bureaucracy.