Zhang Pu remained silent, holding the tea cup noncommittally, and just sipped the tea silently, without even looking at the guest. Zhao Yiggong became uneasy again: Could it be that the other party refused his invitation? Suddenly he became alert, this
The other party must be testing him - Chinese leaders often like to play this kind of psychological tactic in order to show their "uncertainty" and express a kind of pressure.
The only solution is to completely ignore it and fight silence with silence.
After a while, Zhang Pu said again: "I heard that Mr. has a bookshop in Hangzhou?"
"Yes, Wanbi Bookstore is the industry of students." Zhao Yiggong thought that "Zuo Gu Yan it" is also one of the traditional discourse techniques, and he replied calmly and calmly without being arrogant or impetuous.
"The students learned a lot about the management of Wanbi Bookshop. The gentleman is very knowledgeable."
"Our ancestors have been doing business for several generations before they can earn their next share of the family business. Although students go to school, they dare not forget that their ancestors shouldered the burden of selling in the market." Zhao Yingong stood up and said respectfully.
This style made Zhang Pu nod his head. He had long heard Sun Chun, Fang Yizhi and other people in the society talk about Mr. Zhao and his Perfect Bookshop, and knew that although Mr. Zhao looked handsome, he was actually very rich.
I don't have much knowledge. In the classics and history collection, I know almost nothing except "history". When I talk about the history of the Song Dynasty, I am very knowledgeable. Many characters and events are commented on in depth, which seems to be very well-researched. But
Speaking of "Zizhi Tongjian", most of the original texts in "Song History" are unknown. But when it comes to "Miscellaneous Studies" and "Gewu", others are simply ignorant in front of him. Fang Yizhi wrote a letter
When I mentioned Zhao Yingong, I admired his miscellaneous knowledge.
All in all, Mr. Zhao's knowledge is very peculiar, and the origin of his reputation as a scholar is self-evident.
What’s even more intriguing is that most of the items sold in Mr. Zhao’s Wanbi Bookstore are “Australian goods”. Liu Shidou, who happens to be the magistrate of Taicang now, is from Nanhai County. He and Zhang Pu are in the same year, and they are members of Fushe. So Zhang
Pu knew a lot about the various behaviors of the "Australians" in Guangdong.
Zhao Yingong was obviously one of the local people in Guangdong who made his fortune from the Australians. Zhang Pu had such a judgment at the beginning, and now he is convinced of it.
The question is, why would a person with a strong Australian background want to save Sun Huodong's future? Although Sun Huodong is obsessed with Western learning, I have never heard of him having any interaction with Australians.
He asked: "Sir, what do you want to do to relieve the disaster in the east of the fire?"
Zhao Yingong was well prepared and immediately drew a cross on his chest. Zhang Pu nodded and said, "It turns out that Mr. Sun and Sun Huodong are from the same religion!"
He asked again: "Sir, since he has the art of Tao and Zhu, he must be proficient in economics."
Zhao Yingong thought that his divergent thinking was really behind him. He didn't know what he meant, so he said, "I know a little bit about it."
"My place in Taicang was originally a corner of Kunshan, Changshu, and Jiading. The terrain is high and high, and the people plant more flowers than grass. Every year, the autumn harvest of white grain must be purchased from other places. Not to mention the white grain transportation by canal.
The hardships along the journey of grain to Beijing are that every year after buying grain to pay taxes, there are often unscrupulous merchants who block grain merchants from transporting grain for sale, hoarding it, and selling a stone of rice for one, two, three, four yuan. The people are miserable and often lose their homes because of this. I don’t know, Mr.
What’s the answer to this?”
Zhao Yingong was stunned: Is this a test of his own economic skills? After thinking about it for a while, he finally understood. Zhang Pu was probably ready to agree to his request, but he wanted to take a look. Do he have the ability to deserve help?
Once you think about this, it is not surprising at all. The phenomenon of cheap specialty products and expensive food is not uncommon to Zhao Yingong. Most places where cash crops are mainly grown have similar problems, including Leizhou. But the situation in Taicang
Unlike Leizhou and other places, Jiangnan was a heavily taxed area in the Ming Dynasty, with a heavy burden of grain taxes, especially the transportation of white grain to the north, which was an even heavier burden on the local people.
The so-called transportation of white grains to the north refers to the transportation from 24 counties and 1 prefecture in the five prefectures of Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing and Huzhou in the south to the supply warehouse of the capital, Guanglu Temple, Wine and Vinegar Noodles Bureau, Zongren Mansion and Bailiang.
The official salary tax is more than 210,000 shi each year. The varieties include white-cooked fine rice, white-cooked japonica rice, white-cooked glutinous rice and other high-quality rice varieties. Because they are supplied to the six palaces and hundreds of officials for consumption, they have very high requirements for rice quality.
Therefore, the official calculation at that time showed that the difference between white grain and ordinary rice was very different. Not only that, the consumption of white grain tax was the highest among all kinds of tax rice tax. The five prefectures and the county chronicles all declared in unison that the consumption of white grain was the highest.
Those who were released from the labor force would lose their families. After Wanli, it became more and more serious. Because the road was very expensive, the grain chief had to subsidize the expenses himself, and non-rich people could not take the job. Therefore, until the Ming Dynasty, this battle had been a nightmare for local wealthy landlords.
He thought about the information he had read. Historically, Zhang Pu was very concerned about this matter - after all, it was a matter in his hometown. The method he proposed at that time was to allocate the rice from Taicang to the capital on the spot.
Taicang Guard and Zhenhai Guard's military rice. This eliminates the huge expense of transporting rice by water. It is a good way to reduce the burden on the people, and it has certain operability. Zhao Yiggong believes that from Zhang Pu's proposal
Judging from this approach, he can still grasp the essence of the problem.
Judging from the phenomenon alone, in the process of buying grain at Yihua, someone manipulated the grain channels, resulting in a situation where the grain was cheap and the grain was expensive, which increased the burden on the people. The problem should be solved through grain circulation channels. But Zhang Pu saw clearly that the root cause
It's not about the price of grain, but the huge losses in the water transportation process - especially white grain.
The transportation of white grain to the north adopts the so-called government-supervised and democratic movement method. The grain captain hires ships, prepares materials, and transports grain from the canal to Beijing. It starts from receiving subsidies for transporting grain in the countryside to negotiating customs along the way.
From the gate to the capital, you have to pay endless fees at every step.
A grain captain unloaded less than 500 shi of white grain, but the shipping cost per shi: in Xuande, it was about 3 shi per shi, and by Chenghua, it had risen to 34 shi; in Zhengde and Jiajing, it had risen to 45 shi.
By the time of Wanli, five or six shi were common, and some even soared to 8 shi. By the time of Chongzhen, the price of silver for one grain settlement could reach 1,500 taels.
If the normal consumption and "expenses" are added together, the shipping cost of one stone of white grain is several times or even more than ten times that of the normal tax. In order to complete the food supply, the people have to prepare a large amount of excess rice grain, and the demand for foreign grain has greatly increased.
This will intensify the further rise in grain prices.
Only by trying to eliminate this excess "loss" can we truly reduce the burden on the people. Zhao Yingong thought that for Zhang Pu's era, this was the simplest and most effective method under the existing system.
However, Zhao Yingong knew that this highly feasible approach ultimately failed due to opposition from the water transport sector. Not only that, even Liu Guangshi, the prefect who reported the matter, was demoted and transferred.
At the end of every dynasty, vested interest groups will stubbornly insist on their own gains, and any slight improvement will not be implemented. Eventually, it will lead to a situation that is difficult to recover from. Compared with the water transportation organization of the Qing Dynasty - the water transportation of the Qing Dynasty is also excellent.
It was inefficient and wasteful, but it was finally changed to official transportation, which liberated the people in the south of the Yangtze River who struggled to transport grain to Beijing under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. The transportation efficiency was greatly improved, and compared with the water transportation of the Ming Dynasty, it was much better.
During Zhao Yingong's one year in Hangzhou, in addition to completing the Bi Bookstore, another thing he did was to conduct an extensive inspection of the people's livelihood economy in Jiangnan. He especially noticed the quite developed civilian shipping industry in Jiangnan: not only the inland waterway shipping industry has developed greatly
On the coastal routes in the outer sea, the shipping industry in Jiangnan is also very developed. Especially in Shanghai County and other places, large-scale shipping owners have appeared. These shipping owners have dozens or even hundreds of ships.
The sand ships go north to Shandong, Tianjin and even to Liaodong, transporting goods from the north to the south. Of course, these shipping owners are still relatively junior: most of them are cargo owners themselves, and they did not just become shipping companies later, but they also handle freight on behalf of themselves when taking into account their own needs.
The famous Shachuan Gang in Shanghai County during the Qing Dynasty developed on this basis.
In Zhao Yingong's view, the Ming Dynasty could completely change water transportation to sea transportation, which would not only save huge water transportation costs, directly reduce the burden on the people, but also avoid the huge administrative costs of maintaining water transportation. In terms of comprehensive return rate, it is far more cost-effective than cutting down the inns.
.
He has been planning to set up a shipping company to carry out north-south cargo transportation. Dayou, a branch of Shanhaiwu Road in Shanghai, rents local sand ships to carry out north-south cargo trade and makes a lot of profits. If he sets up a shipping company again, he can
Due to the excellent performance of the h800 built by Lingao, the profits are not rolling in yet.
If it could carry the Ming Dynasty's water transport, Zhao Yingling would laugh out loud in his dreams. Such a profit!
Of course, if you want to do big business in the Ming Dynasty, big business can't be done without the support of the Jin gentry. He had been planning on Xu Guangqi's family, but now that he heard Zhang Pu asking about it, he suddenly felt that the opportunity had come.
If both Zhang Pu and Fu She realized the benefits of changing water transportation to sea transportation, then their plan to undertake water transportation would have a high chance of success.
Zhao Yingong said slowly: "Students think that when flowers are cheap and food is expensive, it's just a minor illness, but a serious illness is more serious than water transportation!"
For a moment, he saw a look of admiration in Zhang Pu's eyes. This was not only because his view was unique, but also because it suited the other party's appetite.
Zhao Yingong thought to himself: Shame! Another cheating device!
He then straightened out his thoughts and began to talk, starting with the water transportation issues of the Ming Dynasty, and then talking about the various bad regulations and demands for white grain. He said that the burden of the people did not lie in the official wealth, but in the endless "consumption of rice".
Seeing that Zhang Pu listened carefully, he gradually turned his attention to the water transportation system.
Because he is always ready to "stop water transportation to the sea", he has a lot of dry information about the shortcomings of water transportation in his belly - all black materials - and now he throws it out one by one, actually making the Ming Dynasty's water transportation completely useless and misleading the country and the people. (Unfinished)
to be continued..)
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