Chapter 61 The initial development of industry and commerce
Looking at Zhu Di kneeling on the ground.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao looked at each other and smiled.
"Fourth brother, we are all part of the same family, how can I still not trust you?"
"Why so!"
"Get up quickly!" Zhu Biao pulled Zhu Di up from the ground.
"Fourth, it seems that you have not disappointed us, nor have you been blinded by the idea of being an emperor!"
"Follow your elder brother and work well. There will be something better for you in the future than this throne!" Zhu Yuanzhang's tone of voice rarely softened a little.
It can be seen that he is still very satisfied with Zhu Di's choice.
After saying this, he even stood up and patted Zhu Di on the shoulder.
Just such a simple action made Zhu Di, who just turned twelve this year, couldn't help but feel a slight redness in his eye circles.
When Zhu Di also left, only Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang were left in the hall.
Zhu Biao pondered for a moment and then said: "Father, I heard you talking to Mr. Liu before. Do you want to strictly investigate corrupt officials in the future?"
"That's right!"
"What we hate most since childhood is corrupt officials. If you have never suffered, you don't know how much harm these officials will cause to the people if they become corrupt, or even engage in collusion between officials and businessmen."
"I have also seen the history of this side of the world during this period. Except for the Hongwu Dynasty, corrupt officials were rampant throughout the whole Ming Dynasty. The entire Ming Dynasty was ruined by these corrupt officials. If we don't punish them, who will we punish?"
"Not only do we need to discipline officials, but we also need to continue to intensify our efforts."
Zhu Biao couldn't help but sigh after hearing this: "But there is one thing, Father, have you ever thought about it? If the salary of officials is set too low, it will be easier for them to lose control when faced with temptation."
"After all, they hold great power and manage the entire empire for you. The bigger the official, the more temptations he will face. For people like them, it is too easy to be corrupt."
"After reading the history of the Ming Dynasty, I discovered that there were no officials in the Ming Dynasty who were not corrupt, even Zhang Juzheng. Because if he did not accept bribes, although others would respect him, they would also be afraid of him, stay away from him, and dare not interact with him.
He worked with him, and in the end he couldn't get anything done."
"On the contrary, honest officials like Hai Rui are rare."
“So Zhang Juzheng’s reforms failed!”
"If your body is not upright, your foundation will naturally be unstable."
Zhu Yuanzhang commented sharply. When he said this, he couldn't help but snorted loudly: "Besides, we have carefully calculated for those officials. Their salary is enough for them to eat and drink, and even hire a few servants to take care of the whole family."
Well, compared with them, our Ming Dynasty had more people who had no food to eat. They didn’t have to work with their backs to the sky, let alone the wind and sun. They could enjoy endless things after a lifetime of hard work, so what else could they complain about?
.”
"As for those who dare to reach out for greed, we will chop off their hands and kill their heads."
"Biao'er, you still worry too much. Let me tell you a truth. Civil servants are like leeks in the field. If you cut off one stubble, another one will appear immediately. You don't have to be afraid that no one will manage it for you.
this country."
"It would be bad if you were too kind to them."
Zhu Biao: “……!”
He found that he could never convince Zhu Yuanzhang when he spoke of great principles.
Seeing that Zhu Biao seemed to be very shocked, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help laughing and said: "Biao'er, we know what you mean, how could we not understand the principle of high salary and high integrity, but now the country does not allow it!"
"Now that the country has just been established, it is a time when all kinds of waste are waiting to be revitalized and people need to cultivate themselves and recuperate. We cannot charge too heavy taxes, whether it is commercial taxes or agricultural taxes."
"The current tax revenue is barely enough. The extra money should be used for emergencies to provide disaster relief and rescue the people. But there is no way to increase official salaries."
Zhu Biao nodded after hearing this.
To be honest, this question is quite unanswerable.
To put it bluntly, it is still a matter of productivity. If productivity is not improved, the country will be poor. If the country is poor, officials' salaries will naturally be low. If officials' salaries are low, officials will naturally be greedy, and then the country will become poorer.
This is a curse.
This is the fundamental reason why most feudal countries in ancient China did not last more than three hundred years.
"I have a suggestion!" Zhu Biao suddenly said.
"What?" Zhu Yuanzhang showed a look of interest on his face.
"I want to establish several more government-run trading houses, including papermaking, sugar refining, textiles, and other industries with technological improvements in the late Ming Dynasty, and then establish workshops in the early Ming Dynasty."
"The specific operations of these workshops require suitable merchants to run them. The imperial court does not interfere with specific internal affairs, but can send people to supervise them. At the same time, it will pay these merchants a portion of the net income as remuneration every year."
"Part of the remaining profits can subsidize the country, and part can be used to continue expanding production. What do you think, father?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this.
Two years ago, Zhu Biao suggested the establishment of the Royal Iron and Steel Company.
After two years of development, this trading company has established twelve large-scale smelting workshops across the country.
On the one hand, the iron pots, farm tools and other appliances smelted in the workshop have greatly alleviated the scarcity of folk iron products, and because of the use of new steelmaking methods, these iron products are of better quality and cheaper, which greatly makes people
The common people have benefited.
On the other hand, two newly built workshops were located where natural disasters occurred last year. Through Zhu Biao's coordination, both workshops recruited a large number of refugees to work in the factories, which greatly alleviated the local disaster situation.
There is also profit.
Despite Zhu Biao's instructions to Shen Wansan, the company's farm tools deliberately lowered prices, but last year Royal Iron and Steel Company still showed its terrifying ability to attract money. Last year's net income reached three million taels of silver.
You must know that this is three million taels of silver in the early Ming Dynasty, not the silver in the late Ming Dynasty when the price of silver depreciated after a large influx of overseas silver.
The purchasing power of three million taels of silver was terrifying in the early Ming Dynasty.
The most critical point is that the three million taels of silver earned by the Royal Iron and Steel Company were not earned by buying high, selling low, or hoarding goods. They were actually engaged in material production.
Just as farmers obtained food from farming, the Royal Iron and Steel Company also smelted iron pots and farm tools.
Just like people must eat food, people also need to use iron pots and farm tools.
You can't cook without an iron pot, and you can't farm without farm tools. Why didn't Zhu Yuanzhang understand this truth?
Therefore, he knew very well that Zhu Biao's suggestion to establish this royal steel firm was indeed a good thing that would benefit the country and the people.
It was precisely because he was aware of this that he was so fond of Song Yingxing.
The industrial system mentioned in Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Kaiwu" and Zhu Biao's proposal to establish the Ming Dynasty National Commercial Guild and build a large number of government-run workshops are actually quite similar.