Chapter 283 Sir Zheng Guoben (Bapa) and the Killing Pig
"Thousands of horses are silent and all the wise men are silent. Could it be that the white disaster in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is not worth mentioning in your opinion?" Gao Pragmatic said coldly: "Or maybe you are ignoring the king's affairs and thinking that the disaster among the people has nothing to do with the country?"
These words were a bit harsh, and everyone in the meeting naturally said that they did not mean it, but disaster relief was not the focus of the court's work in the past, so it was difficult for everyone to have a proper plan. In the end, Shi Xing simply said: "Mr. Ge is both a big man and a big man. The post of Situ, the people's livelihood of the world depends on one shoulder, and now it is taken very seriously, why not first point out the key points for us to build a high-level building?"
Gao Pragmatic didn't know whether this group of people really didn't understand or pretended not to understand, but it was certain that they were suspicious of each other. Now it seemed that if he didn't draw a frame first, this group of people would not take it seriously. .
Having no choice but to say, Gao Pragmatic could only say: "Since Da Sikong has said this, I will start with some ideas and talk about how to do it in several ways."
He cleared his throat and said: "I think this white disaster in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is similar to the earthquake in Liaodong just now, which destroyed many houses and needs to be rebuilt. Due to the ice and snow, the agricultural production in the affected areas may be reduced this year." , pests have increased. Therefore, I plan to divide the disaster relief into the following items:
First, in-kind relief. This means that there may be food shortages in the local area this year, so the court needs to prepare some food in kind and put it in when there is a food shortage in the disaster-stricken areas. Why is this? First, this can ensure that the local people will not fall into famine. Secondly, it can also prevent unscrupulous and profiteers from hoarding and using the people as flesh and blood.
Second, seed relief. As I just said, during the White Disaster, a lot of the original grain crops may have been lost, resulting in a shortage of local seeds during spring plowing. Farming has been an important matter for people's livelihood since ancient times and must not be neglected. Therefore, it should be managed by the court in the local area. Provide grain seeds for free or at low prices to avoid missing the farming season.
Third, paid relief loans. Relieving the victims is certainly something that our court should do, but once the disaster area is too large and there are too many people affected, even the court may not be able to provide relief, otherwise it will cause a serious deficit, and the final problems may be will be more serious.
Therefore, although relief has to be set up, in addition to opening porridge shops to protect people's food, we must also consider post-disaster reconstruction and resumption of production. Some people may have lost their seeds, their houses may have collapsed, or their cattle may have froze to death. In short, they want to It will be difficult to resume production.
At this time, the imperial court can organize low-interest loans... Well, you must have heard this statement in recent years, right? What I mean is that the imperial court itself may not be able to provide so much cash to support the reconstruction of the disaster area, but the imperial court can Take the lead in gathering major banks, banks, etc., to provide the people in the disaster area with the loans they need to resume production according to the interest rates uniformly stipulated by the imperial court."
When Gao Pragmatic mentioned this, someone asked: "We all admire Situ's benevolence, but banks are originally in the business of profit-making. How can there be a bank that doesn't take heavy interest but responds to the imperial court's initiative to provide such low-interest loans?" A waste of your principal?”
Gao pragmatic took a look and saw that he was a member of the Ministry of Household Affairs. He was born with the same Jinshi in Zhejiang Province in Nanbang. Gao pragmatically couldn't judge his intention for saying this, but since he is from Zhejiang, he should always think of his hometown. , Gao Pragmatic therefore tentatively defined the intention of these words as discussing the matter as it happened.
"That's a good question. This question is to the point." Gao Pragmatic smiled slightly and said, "But I also have a question: In the disaster-stricken areas, there have always been generous gentry and wealthy businessmen. What are their intentions?"
The man who asked the question was silent. In fact, it was not that he didn't know what the gentry and wealthy merchants were "seeking", but he couldn't say it clearly - it couldn't be said that it was most likely the name of the picture, right? In the Ming Dynasty, the name of the picture was actually in the name of the picture.
Seeking profit, because fame and fortune can often transform into each other.
As the saying goes, "A house that accumulates good deeds will always be blessed; a house that accumulates evil deeds will always be in trouble." Your family has a good reputation. If you are a landlord, there will definitely be more tenants and long-term workers coming to your house.
, they also worked more diligently, which improved the input-output ratio per unit area;
If you join a wealthy businessman, there will naturally be more people willing to do business with you and take care of your business. In this way, your business will naturally run more smoothly, your career will prosper, and it will grow bigger and bigger.
.
Business in the Ming Dynasty was actually quite developed, but certain traditions were still deep-rooted, such as paying attention to word of mouth and focusing on credibility. These days, many businessmen are actually far more committed than officials. Sometimes they don't even sign a contract for such a large deal.
, as long as there are respected witnesses present and both parties make a promise to each other, the agreement is reached. Even if there is an accident later, one of the parties will not default on the debt even if it loses its capital.
Although this situation has a role in the traditional sense of morality in Chinese society, the more direct problem is undoubtedly the issue of reputation and reputation. It doesn’t matter if your business fails today, as long as the reputation is still there, there will be people willing to help you make a comeback. On the contrary, if you
If your reputation as a businessman is ruined, then you are really unjust and have few helpers, and there is a high probability that you will be dead.
However, although it was difficult for everyone to refute what Gao Pragmatic said, it was not enough on its own, so Gao Pragmatic continued: "In addition, there happens to be something that I have imagined for a long time, and I will take this opportunity to think about it today.
Speak up and discuss with everyone: the imperial court can issue a separate new regulation to reward these righteous deeds."
When everyone heard this, they immediately became energetic, but everyone still had a lot of doubts, so someone asked: "I wonder what kind of reward Mr. Ge thinks?"
Gao Pragmatic smiled slightly and said: "As for rewards, they naturally have to be divided into several levels according to the impact of their righteous deeds on the local area. My current opinion is that there are at least three levels:
At the first level, an honorary title, such as being called a knight, is granted. It is allowed to have higher-level clothes, higher-level door lintels, higher-level driving, and is allowed to build a self-made memorial arch. Those below the third rank will not be worshiped by officials. This honorary title is not a royal title of the imperial court, and cannot be
If there is a grade, it cannot be hereditary, transferred, sold, etc., and will be extinguished upon death;
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The second level is to give the name of a wise man in a certain house, such as a so-and-so wise man in Hangzhou, who is allowed to be in the fifth rank and below without worshiping an official, and if there is a lawsuit
If there are other matters, the Yamen must accept it immediately. The name is valid for ten years and cannot be transferred, sold or sold. It will be extinguished upon death;
The third level is to give the name of a good gentry of a certain county, such as a good gentry of Qiantang, who is allowed to be in the seventh rank or below without becoming an official. If there are lawsuits and other matters, the yamen must accept them immediately. This name is valid for five years.
It cannot be transferred, sold or sold, and it will be extinguished upon death."
As soon as this statement came out, everyone was in an uproar. Everyone's first thought was - this is changing the ancestral system!
However, after everyone thought about it, it seemed that Lao Gaoge had changed the ancestral system not just once or twice, but this time... it seems that we can't say that he had changed the ancestral system, because even the "sir" who shocked everyone the most clearly said that
"This honorary title is not a royal title, has no rank, cannot be inherited, transferred, sold, etc., and will be extinguished upon death."
In other words, apart from being a so-called "title" in name, this thing was actually completely "out of the ordinary" in the imperial court. Of course, it still had some uses, such as "allowing for higher-level clothing, higher-level lintels, higher-level driving, and accurate
Build an archway by yourself, and those below the third rank will not be worshiped by officials."
The reason for skipping the level of uniform color is that Emperor Taizu had clear and very strict regulations on what colors people of different statuses could wear.
For example, in February of the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to "return to the same clothes and hats as in the Tang Dynasty". At the same time, it was stipulated that all the people should have their hair tied on the top of their heads, officials should wear black gauze hats, round-collar robes with belts, and black boots;
Scarves and variegated collars are not allowed, black or yellow are not allowed; musician crowns are crowned with green scarves, tied with red or green silk belts; concubine wives are allowed to use silver-plated jewelry, earrings with gold beads, bracelets with silver, and wear light-colored clothing
, the tunic shirt is made of silk, silk, thick silk...etc.
In the fifth year of Hongwu's reign, an order was issued: folk women's attire should only be made of purple, without gold embroidery. The robes should only be purple, green, peach red and other light colors, not bright red, crow green, yellow, and blue silk cloth should be used for belts.
In order to implement this system, Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the regulations on "submitting clothes and violating the style" in the "Da Ming Code" to severely punish the behavior of arrogant clothing.
But there is a problem here, which this book has mentioned a long time ago, that is, the clothing rules of the Ming Dynasty, like many other systems, have long since been abolished more than 200 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Let's put it this way, unless you wear a dragon robe to show off in the market, or wear python robes, unicorn suits, bullfighting suits, flying fish suits, etc., otherwise it is just the color of the clothes that is illegal (note: bright yellow is excluded), generally not
People will give you trouble - even if you wear red, that is, bright red, it usually doesn't matter.
However, this does not mean that the "leapfrogging service color" given by Gao Pragmatic is unattractive, because the reason is very simple, there is still a big difference between violating the rules and not violating the rules. What's more, in addition to serving
In addition to sex, Gao pragmatism also gives privileges such as door lintel, car driving, etc. that can leapfrog the next level.
This is very impressive, and is equivalent to actually allowing a person to complete a "class jump." Take the "lintel" as an example. The so-called "lintel" here actually refers to the architectural shape of the home.
The regulations from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty were: the first and second-rank official halls had five rooms and nine shelves, and the ninth-rank official halls had three rooms and seven shelves; the common people's houses should not exceed three rooms and five shelves, and Dougong and colorful were prohibited.
Customized in the 26th year of Hongwu: the official halls of the sixth to ninth ranks have three rooms and seven bays, and the main entrance has one room and three bays; the common people's main hall must not exceed three bays and five bays. In the 30th year of Hongwu's reign, it was reiterated: the number of houses can be one or twenty, but
The number of racks cannot be increased. In the twelfth year of Zhengtong, the court made some adjustments and changed the number of racks to more, but the number of racks could not be changed.
Some people may not know what "jian" is. Here is a brief explanation. The space between beams is called "jian", and the space between trusses is called "jia". Jian is the unit of measurement on the building plane; jian,
It is a unit of measurement on buildings.
In short, to put it simply, it is actually very simple to check the social status of a family. You just need to find a high place outside his house and take a look at the main hall of his house.
For example, the main hall of the highly pragmatic Nanning Marquis Mansion has five bays and nine bays. Even if you don't look at the plaque on the door of his house, just by looking at the bays in the main hall, you will know that the owner of this house is at least a second-rank official of the imperial court.[
Note: The Rixin Building is a regulation authorized by the emperor, and it is not the main hall of his residence.]
So according to the "leapfrogging" given by Gao Pragmatic here, it means that even if your family is just a commoner, if you are awarded the title of "Jazz", then the main hall of your home can be upgraded from three rooms and five shelves to three rooms and seven shelves. In
In the Ming Dynasty, where the etiquette system was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, this was a great grace!
However, as Gao Pingjing expected, his words immediately aroused great controversy, and it was obvious that there were few in favor and many against.
This is not surprising, and it is completely within Gao Pragmatic's expectations. The reason is obvious. I have gained the social status with great difficulty after ten years of hard work. How can you, a bunch of rich people, spend a little money to be on an equal footing with me?
Gao Pragmatic took his time and watched everyone arguing with a smile.
At this time, Chen Yubi was also a little restless. He leaned over again and asked in a low voice: "Rixin, I don't think it will be easy to implement this strategy. You may even be impeached, saying that you are belittling the famous weapon of the imperial court."
'!You don't really want that, do you?"
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious." Gao pragmatically comforted Chen Yubi, and then without waiting for him to say anything else, he suddenly clapped his hands to calm everyone down, and then said: "Donate one hundred thousand taels of silver during the disaster.
After the local chief official reports to the court, the court will appoint the provincial inspector to personally review and determine that the person has indeed served the public and abided by the law, and can be granted knighthood."
How much? One hundred thousand taels? Everyone present was shocked.
No, your hometown in Gaoge does not run a slaughterhouse. How come you are so skilled at killing pigs?
Are you always worried about having too much money at home and no longer know the value of silver? One hundred thousand taels, do you always know what the concept of one hundred thousand taels is?
Even in the capital, the average price of a pig is only one and a half taels of silver. One hundred thousand taels of silver, that's 66,666 pigs! You can kill more than 60,000 pigs with one blow!
Is there such a good deal in the world? You are willing to sell it, but is anyone willing to buy it?
Seeing that everyone was dumbfounded and silent, Gao Qingshi smiled even more kindly and continued: "Sir, it's more expensive... No, it's reasonable to have higher requirements. The next two levels will naturally wait - a certain mansion
A wise man, thirty thousand taels; a good gentry of a certain county, ten thousand taels."
It's better to wait and wait, it's better to wait and wait! A wise man is equal to 20,000 pigs, and a good gentry is equal to 6,600 pigs... The famous utensils of the Ming Dynasty are now measured in terms of how many pigs they have, right?
Almost everyone began to fall into a trance, so much so that they did not listen to the disaster control and relief measures that Gao Pragmatic continued to talk about later. Regarding tax exemptions and reductions in corvee, the establishment of disaster relief agencies, the establishment of charity warehouse systems, etc., everyone was basically left-eared.
Enters the right ear and exits.
Everyone felt that their ears were buzzing, and their minds were filled with pigs all over the mountains and fields...
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Thanks to book friend "I am Liao Zhenxin" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!
ps: I always felt that I couldn’t afford an update. Although I had been squinting for more than two hours, I didn’t sleep well, so I just washed my face with cold water and finished coding this chapter. Now that I feel at ease, I went back to sleep.
