Yunxi hurried back to Xingzai, rested for a while in the dormitory, changed his clothes, and then went to the study to meet Xia Yuanji and Hu Guang, who were already waiting here.
When Yunxi saw them, he said without waiting for them to salute: "It's a private occasion, and there are only three of us, the monarch and his ministers, so there is no need to be more polite. Have you already contacted all the merchants in Hangzhou City?"
"Your Majesty, we have already contacted several major merchants in Hangzhou City. The Shen family that deals in silk and satin, the Lu family that deals in tea, the Zhou family that deals in embroidery, and other merchants that deal in 'high value' industries in Hangzhou have all been contacted.
They all also promised to move their industries to the park after it is officially established." Xia Yuanji said.
"That's good. I have told you about the rest of the arrangements. There are no other important points. Just follow them. There is just one thing to pay attention to. Be careful not to be hasty and impetuous. Don't be greedy for credit and don't rely on the government.
Forcefully suppress the merchants." Yunxi ordered again.
Xia Yuanji and Hu Guang agreed.
Yunxi gave them a few more words and said to them, "Do you have anything else to do?"
The meaning of Yunxi's words is very clear, which is to let them take the initiative to say goodbye, which is similar to the meaning of "if there is something to do, leave the court early, and if there is nothing to do", it is just a polite word.
But today, someone took this polite remark seriously. After Xia Yuanji bowed and saluted, he said: "Your Majesty, if I have any questions, I hope your Majesty will answer them."
Yunxi looked at his expression, which was very serious; and then looked at Hu Guang's expression, which showed some helplessness and fear, and he roughly understood what Xia Yuanji's doubts were about.
He cleared his throat and said to Xia Yuanji: "Xia Qing, if you have any questions, I will answer them."
"Your Majesty, I have carefully studied the historical data of Zhao and Song Dynasties recently, and I know that during the Zhao and Song Dynasties, the annual industrial and commercial tax plus customs duties accounted for nearly 70% of the tax revenue of the Zhao and Song Dynasties, and the country's annual tax revenue was enough to reach 70 million yuan, and
Although the Zhao and Song Dynasties first lost the Central Plains to the Jin Dynasty and then died at the hands of the Mongols, the people can still be said to be living and working in peace and contentment. Therefore, I agree with your majesty that you will re-establish the Shanghai Shipping Department and the Baoan Shipping Department.
Encourage commerce when it goes against the rules."
"But His Majesty has been on an eastward tour for more than a month. Most of the time, he has been thinking of ways to encourage business development. Isn't it true that he only pays attention to minor details?" Xia Yuanji said.
After hearing what Xia Yuanji said, Yunxi looked at Hu Guang and asked, "What do you think, Hu Qing?"
Hu Guang knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, I don't quite understand what your Majesty is doing. But I know that your Majesty must have deep meaning."
Hu Guang's answer was very cunning, but it was not beyond Yunxi's expectation. Similarly, Xia Yuanji's question was not beyond Yunxi's expectation. It is the 21st century, although no one thinks that what Yunxi did is trivial.
, but how many people think that this is what should be done first?
Yunxi sat down, asked Wang Xi to make a pot of tea, poured a cup and took a sip. Well, the authentic West Lake Longjing is still the Ming Dynasty West Lake Longjing produced in Shifeng, which was specially supplied to national leaders and foreign countries in later generations.
It was a stroke of luck that I was lucky enough to drink my friend's tea.
Yunxi put down the tea cup and said to Xia Yuanji: "What do you think is the biggest difference between the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty?"
Xia Yuanji thought for a while and replied: "Your Majesty, the Zhao and Song Dynasties abolished the civil and military forces, and the soldiers were all tattooed. The army had no fighting spirit and no generals had the skills. However, the Ming Dynasty had a balanced civil and military affairs. This is the difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Zhao Song Dynasty."
"Wrong! If it develops normally, in a few decades the Ming Dynasty will be like the Zhao and Song Dynasties, using culture to control military affairs, and the status of seventh-grade civil servants will be higher than that of third-grade commanders; although the soldiers are not people with tattoos, but the guards
The soldiers who have been farming for generations without food and pay will sooner or later become like ordinary farmers and know nothing about fighting."
"Let me tell you the difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Zhao Song Dynasty. Before the Ming Dynasty, commerce was suppressed. The status of merchants was extremely low, and there were no merchants. At the same time, commercial taxes were extremely low and almost non-existent. The national finance relied entirely on agricultural taxes; while in the Song Dynasty, commerce was extremely developed.
Commercial taxes are relatively moderate, and national taxes are mainly industrial and commercial and customs duties. This is the fundamental difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Song Dynasty."
There is another difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, which is the method of the imperial examination system. In the imperial examination system of Zhao and Song Dynasty, as long as you are not a Jinshi, you are not allowed to be an official, and there are no special privileges for the title of a scholar. Every time you want to take part in the joint examination, you must take the provincial examination again.
Waiting for the exam, the candidates in Zhao and Song Dynasty could not rely on the country's preferential treatment to have enough food and clothing to concentrate on the exam like in the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, although the Zhao and Song Dynasties advocated literature and suppressed martial arts, countless people who failed the imperial examinations could only engage in other professions to support themselves; at the same time, it was impossible for gentry to maintain order in the countryside, such as scholars and scholars in the countryside, and no one was an official in the court.
Under this situation, the people still have the final say who has the biggest fist, so the martial arts practice among the people in the Zhao and Song Dynasties was far better than that in the Ming Dynasty.
Although the Song Dynasty also had many problems, if the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty in history are put on the same plane, the Song Dynasty is stronger than the Ming Dynasty in most aspects. I won’t say much else, but when it finally fell, the Southern Song Dynasty was stronger than the Ming Dynasty in Jin Dynasty.
After the fall of the country, they had to contend with the world-invincible Mongols for more than 40 years. However, the Ming Dynasty was completely destroyed only eighteen years after the Manchus entered the customs. What’s funny is that Li Dingguo, Bai Wenxuan and others who finally supported the Ming Dynasty were all
The former rebels, the Zheng Group, were an international pirate (maritime merchant) group dominated by Han people. As for the former government forces of the Ming Dynasty, they had long surrendered to the Manchus.
And what kind of bullshit regime is the Manchu Qing Dynasty? What kind of strength does it have? During the Kangxi period, they still had combat effectiveness. The banner soldiers who stayed in the northeast defeated the Russians with twenty times the strength. When the Mongols conquered Eastern Europe, they often defeated the Slavs with 20,000 to 30,000 people.
There are hundreds of thousands of people.
Therefore, the system problems of the Ming Dynasty are very big. If there is no reform, even if it is a small reform, the final outcome will not be much different from that in history. Even if it is not Huaxia Lu Shen, the Zhu family's regime cannot be maintained.
But Yunxi had no way to talk to them about many issues, so he could only talk about financial issues that he could talk about.
And the financial problem is indeed a big problem.
"When any dynasty is about to perish, its various problems will be concentrated on financial problems. Zhao and Song resisted Mongolia for more than 40 years, and in the end the financial revenue could not cover the frontline military expenditures. The government had to increase taxes to maintain military expenditures. But
At this time, all the energy of the Zhao and Song Dynasties was spent on fighting the Mongols, and they were somewhat lax in other aspects. Therefore, these taxes were imposed on the powerless people. This caused the people to be in chaos and eventually the Zhao and Song Dynasties were destroyed. In the future,
If the Ming Dynasty has such a day, it will probably be the same."
"Your Majesty!" After hearing Yunxi's last words, Xia Yuanji and Hu Guang hurriedly knelt down and said.
"You don't have to say anything. If the current tax collection system continues, sooner or later the court will be in a serious financial crisis. Therefore, I must open a shipping department to encourage commerce, so that the Ming Dynasty, like the Zhao and Song Dynasties, will focus on commercial taxes and customs, and agricultural taxes.
Supplemented by taxes.”
"And all of this must be reformed without delay. When everything in the imperial court is customized in a few decades, it will be difficult to return. Maybe by then the shipping department will only be able to collect a few thousand taels of customs duties a year; even if
If we want to encourage business, I'm afraid it won't be of much use under the shackles of layers of officials."
"Your Majesty, this is definitely not the case." Hu Guang said.
Yunxi looked at their backs, didn't say anything and just laughed twice. Historically, the customs duty in Longqing was only a few thousand taels of silver a year after opening the sea. This is recorded in history books.
Therefore, carrying out these system reforms now is more important than how much land has been captured and how many countries have been conquered. If China still has a system that does not conform to the times, no matter how much land is captured now, sooner or later it will not be able to hold it and let outsiders take it away. Tang Dynasty
At one time, the sphere of influence was extended to the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, but later on, the Western Region was also lost?
Yunxi said a few more words and said to them: "Whether you understand it or not, I can only say so much. But," he said in a stronger voice: "Whether you understand it or not, you must carry out my instructions.
Will."
Xia Yuanji and Hu Guang understood the reason why Yunxi had been busy with business recently, but they only half-believed Yunxi's words. They felt that what Yunxi said was reasonable, but it seemed a bit absolute.
However, they will not ask any more questions from His Majesty, and will carry out Yunxi's will without any slack.
Before they went out, Yun He warned: "Except for what I just said, you can say it to Lian Zining, but you must not say it to anyone else, especially your family and servants."
Although the two of them were surprised, they still agreed and bowed down.
Yunxi fell down on the chair and stretched out his hand to wipe his sweat. Although it was not a physical labor, his forehead was still covered with sweat.
He drank up all the tea in the teacup in one gulp. Feeling that his thirst was not quenched, he drank half a pot of water at the spout to stop feeling thirsty.
Wang Xi ran in at this time, and when he saw Yunxi's appearance, he hurriedly served Yunxi, ordered someone to replace the ice cubes that had completely melted, and asked the maid to fan him.
Yunxi looked at Wang Xi and suddenly said: "If only the ministers were like you and just worked hard without asking why, I wouldn't have to bother answering questions."
Wang Xi didn't know the meaning of Yunxi's meaningless words, but it sounded like he was praising himself, so he smiled and said: "Thank you for your compliments, Your Majesty."
Yunxi laughed but said nothing.
…
…
At the same time, Zhou Zhibao, the head of the Zhou family who runs an embroidery business, ordered at a meeting of the entire family: "Fourth brother, your industry should be put into the industrial park first."
"Yes, brother." Lao Zhou Zhifu agreed. They didn't have the best embroidery skills, so naturally they wanted to move their property in. Zhou Zhibao also discussed it with him in private.
"Although I am so cautious, our embroidery business is special, so we should be fine," Zhou Zhibao said.
"But in order to add an extra layer of insurance, every room, remember that from now on, if you embroider the best embroidery, whether it is a screen or clothes, whether it is customized by an official or not, you must keep it and not sell it. During the New Year