It’s no wonder that the two of them, two of Suzhou’s leading business owners, don’t have the same magnanimity at all. To speak in such frustration is because the restrictions on businessmen in Zhu Yuanzhang’s era were too great.
For Zhu Yuanzhang, punishing corrupt officials, dealing with underlings who deceive superiors and subordinates, and eliminating unkind businessmen who seek wealth are his three major pursuits in life. It is no exaggeration to say that most of Zhu Yuanzhang's energy was spent during his thirty-one years in office.
Dedicate yourself to these three things.
Among them, the luck of the merchants is better. After all, the wealth of the merchants is the hardest to check. Moreover, no matter how small a peasant economy the Ming Dynasty was, it still needed merchants. Daily necessities such as needles, threads, and brains were beyond the control of ordinary people. The Li family monk's family is in this small village.
He managed to survive in the small cracks and keep the family business.
But now, for some reason, the emperor suddenly took a liking to their property, which was very small compared to the imperial court. No wonder the two of them were so scared.
The agreed time today was at the beginning of Si Shi, but the two of them got up at the beginning of Mao today, and Shen Shichu came to the restaurant.
The two chatted here for a few words, and the more they talked, the more frustrated they became. Even if the emperor wanted to confiscate all their property, they had no choice but to give up their wealth with both hands in order to survive. The expressions of the two of them were better, and those who followed
The younger members of the family all looked sad and angry.
I don't know how much time passed, but laughter came from the door on the second floor and said: "The heads of the Li family and the Shang family came so early? It's my fault that they made the elders wait for me, a young man."
Li Yuanli and Shang Ming heard the noise coming from outside and knew that it was Yang Zirong from Zhongshushe who was going to talk to them today, so they stood up and waited.
As soon as the two of them stood up, they saw a handsome man in casual clothes, about thirty years old, walking in.
Li Yuanli and Shang Ming immediately knelt down and said, "I have met Mr. Yang." The younger members of the family behind them also knelt down.
Yang Zirong smiled and said: "Get up, you two are both gentry, how can it be like this?" All of their families are officials and officials, so even though they are merchants, they are still considered gentry.
Li Yuanli and Shang Ming felt a little relieved when they saw that Yang Zirong's attitude was not bad. However, they did not dare to make excuses, so they bowed again before standing up.
Afterwards, the three of them exchanged a few words. Yang Zirong was calm and unhurried, while Li Yuanli and Shang Ming were not in a hurry to talk and just chatted with them.
But then the two of them understood: they were businessmen, and their natural status was not equal to that of Yang Zirong, an official. How could it be reasonable for the official to speak first? So the two of them looked at each other, and Li Yuanli signaled Shang Ming with his eyes.
Shang Ming's family fortune was no better than that of Li Yuanli, so he had no choice but to say: "Yang Zhongshu, I don't know what you want to tell us when we are called here today? As long as we can do it, even if it means that our family's wealth is required to serve the imperial court, we are willing to give it.
."
Yang Zirong smiled and said: "How can I ask for your wealth of thousands of dollars? The sage said that it is the right thing for a businessman to pursue profits. Businessmen have a lot of wealth that they have worked hard to save. As long as it is not a swindle, the government will never ask you for nothing.
money."
Although Yang Zirong said that "sages have words", these words did not come from the sages. Besides the sages, who else could be called a saint by Yang Zirong? So Li Yuanli and Shang Ming were immediately relieved. Tangtang
Emperor, confiscating all their property is just a matter of words. How can he deceive them with false words?
Shang Ming thanked Tianen in his heart, and then asked: "Yang Zhongshu, if this is the case, what exactly does the imperial court want Caomin and others to do?"
Yang Zirong said: "That's right, the court has thought of such a thing..."
What Yunxi wants to implement in Suzhou is something similar to the 'high-tech industrial park' of later generations. Due to the limitations of technical conditions in this era, launching something similar to the 'industrial park' will not be of much use;
However, highly specialized and high value-added products such as silk and tea can still be produced on a large scale.
The general content is to set up a special "high-tech industrial park" in the city or suburbs of Suzhou. The imperial court will sell the land to them at an extremely cheap price and let them relocate the entire production and processing industry chain to the "park" and through large-scale production
Reduce costs and reduce the production rate of defective products.
At the same time, special tax rates are applied to industries in the industrial park. Overall, the tax rates will be lower than those outside the "park", assuming that they do not evade taxes outside the "park".
More importantly, the industries in the "park" can avoid fire damage, and can also avoid harassment by subordinate staff or Suzhou police in the future, which can save a lot of money.
Moreover, the taxes on industries in the 'park' are counted as part of Suzhou Prefecture's taxes, which can increase Suzhou Prefecture's annual taxes - in the feudal era, a local official asked the local government to pay taxes to the court without increasing agricultural taxes.
Increasing the endowment is definitely a great political achievement. In this way, local officials will not only not object, but will be willing to set up the park.
Moreover, the taxes in the 'park' were paid directly to the emperor's inner treasury instead of the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue, making merchants who set up industries in the park similar to imperial merchants, and local officials did not dare to touch them at will.
The only disadvantage is that the industries in the park are exposed to broad daylight. If the emperor has other thoughts in the future, he will not be able to escape.
There are pros and cons to this matter, but Li Yuanli only thought about it briefly and said immediately: "The common people will definitely support the imperial court's move. Once this park is established, the common people will immediately move their silk industry to the park."
"The common people would like to thank Tianen for treating us and other merchants so kindly," he knelt down and said.
Yang Zirong said with a smile: "Mr. Li, please get up, it doesn't have to be like this."
But Shang Ming was hesitant. The Shang family was different from the Li family. Although the Li family was mainly engaged in silk, silk only accounted for 50% of the Li family's industry. The Li family privately took over the sales and management of tea in Suzhou City.
There are several jewelry stores, and there is even a branch that is also engaged in the salt industry. It operates both official salt and ordinary salt. Even if the silk industry is lost, it is still one of the largest merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
But the Shang family cannot. Ninety percent of their Shang family's income comes from the tea industry, and their family can only be engaged in the tea industry. If they lose this business, they will have to rely on the fields that the family has bought in the past few years.
However, Shang Ming secretly raised his head and glanced at Yang Zirong. Can he say no now? No, he can only agree. So Shang Ming also knelt down and said: "The common people also support the court's measures. The common people will wait until this park is established..."
Yang Zirong smiled and said: "Since both gentlemen agree to move into the industry after the park is established, the matter is settled and I will go back to resume my life."
Li Yuanli smiled and said: "Yang Zhongshu, it is already early noon. Common people know that the roast goose in this store is very good. Why don't Yang Zhongshu stay and try the roast goose before going back."
Yang Zirong hesitated for a moment, but still said: "No need, I will come back to eat the roast goose here when I have free time another day. Gentlemen, please say goodbye." With that, he walked out of the restaurant.
Li Yuanli and Shang Ming said a few more words and then went home.
…
…
"Although they have said that they will move industries to the park, it is hard to say how much they will move. It also depends on how well the policies I mentioned are implemented." Yunxi thought for a while and said: "Yang Zirong, you stay in Suzhou for the time being.
As the magistrate of Wu County and the 'Superintendent of Suzhou Park', I will write you a hand-written edict that you will transfer some people from Suzhou Guard to form the 'park police' to manage the order of the park and collect taxes."
Yunxi casually appointed Yang Zirong to temporarily act as the magistrate of Wu County and hold an official position he had just established.
Yang Zirong was also mentally prepared: none of the officials in Suzhou are suitable now. The person around Yunxi who is most suitable for this position is Yang Zirong, so at this time he calmly bowed and said: "Yes, Your Majesty."
After that, Yunxi looked at the map of Suzhou and thought: 'After establishing the 'High-tech Industrial Park', as long as the policies I mentioned can be implemented, the products produced by the industries here will be far more advanced than those produced elsewhere.
competitive.'
‘Afterwards, similar industries in surrounding Changzhou, Huzhou, Songjiang, Yangzhou and even Hangzhou will have to move to the ‘High-tech Industrial Park’ in order to be competitive. As for those further away, it will be impossible.’
'However, a flower blooming alone is not spring. Spring is full of colorful purples and reds, so why should we only set up a garden in Suzhou?'
Yunxi thought for a while and ordered people to call Zeng Guoyong, the commander of the Suzhou Guard, and told him that the disabled soldiers on the battlefield and a few healthy soldiers from the Suzhou Guard would be selected as the park police.
Zeng Guoyong didn't know what a 'park' was, but he knew that the police set up in the capital a while ago to replace subordinate officials could give disabled soldiers on the battlefield a place to live, which was also good for him. So he did not resist the establishment of police.
, said: "Yes, Your Majesty, after I return, I will count the disabled soldiers of my guard and the literate people of my guard."
Yunxi said a few words to him again and asked him to leave.
…
…
When Li Yuanli returned home, his second son Li Xiaoming, who was not with him today, came up and said, "Dad, what exactly did the emperor ask our family to do?"
Li Xiaoxing, the eldest son who had just returned from following Li Yuanli, scolded: "Didn't you see that dad just came back!"
Li Xiaoming hurriedly knelt down to apologize. Li Xiaoxing scolded him a few more times before letting him stand up.
After a while, the people in charge of each house in the Li family came to the family meeting hall. Dozens of pairs of eyes looked at Li Yuanli. Although they did not speak due to family rules, they all wanted to know what Yang Zirong said today.
Li Yuanli took a sip of tea, glanced around and saw that everyone in the room was coming, and said, "Since everyone is here, I will say it." Then he told what Yang Zirong said today.
There was a low-pitched discussion below. Everyone had different reactions. Some were worried, while others thought this was a very good opportunity.
After a while, Li Yuanli coughed, and the hall immediately became silent. He said: "No matter what, since the orders from above have come down, we must follow them. In the third room, first move the silk reeling factory and knitting machine room in your room to
In the park, let’s see if what Yang Zirong said can be implemented. We’ll talk about the rest later.”
