Chapter 327 Zhang Juzheng Admonishes
Concubine Li’s father Li Wei for practicing a whipping method. Although he is only the father of Concubine Yu, most of the merchants who befriended him still call him Li Guozhang.
At that time, Concubine Li gave birth to his grandson Zhu Yijun, and the emperor issued a decree to reward Concubine Li's family with 50,000 pieces of silk. He also appointed Concubine Li's brother Li Changfeng as the royal guard of thousands of households. The Li family's favor was also famous in the capital.
However, the favor of the Li family has just begun. Although the Li family also does some royal business, the scale is not too large.
This time, he received a big deal from King Yu to buy nine-sided winter clothes. Li Wei immediately started to make big plans. This was something that would make his son-in-law look good! Once this is done, my daughter's position in Prince Yu's Mansion will be more stable!
The cowhide was blown away and he got a guarantee from his son-in-law, but when it came time to actually set up a textile and garment workshop, Li Wei understood the difficulty.
Raw materials can still be solved. In the Ming Dynasty, cotton cultivation in the north has already reached a large scale. Cotton in the south used to be supplied through the north.
All it takes is a decree to send all the cotton from the northwest region to the capital.
But the next steps of ginning cotton, removing cotton seeds, spinning, weaving, and then cutting cloth and making clothes. Although these processes are all written in "Tiangong Kaiwu", Li Guozhang really couldn't do it!
Technology is only one aspect. Organizing raw materials, decomposing processes, manufacturing looms, and managing workers are all extremely terrifying amounts of work. It is not as simple as Li Wei thought when he patted his son-in-law's chest.
After several days of work, although the loom was built, the whole workshop was still in a mess and not a single piece of cloth was woven.
There was really no other way, so Li Wei summoned his friends to discuss how to complete the supply and sale of Jiubian winter clothing this year.
Li Wei was born as a mason, but he had not been rich for a long time. His relatives in the Ming Dynasty were far less noble than those in the Han Dynasty, so his friends were only small businessmen in the capital or descendants of declining nobles.
This group of people drank, ate, and fought crickets in brothels. They were all good hands, but when it came to running a workshop, everyone kept their heads down and said nothing.
Really not!
If they knew how to open a workshop, how could they flatter Li Wei?
Li Wei looked around and was even more angry. These losers surrounded him every day, complaining that the government did not give them a chance! He said that he had no talent.
But when it came to business, everyone was like a dead dog, and no one could tell how to open a workshop!
At this moment, Li Wei's son Li Changfeng hurriedly came in from the door.
It seems that I can only rely on my own family!
These days, my son Li Changfeng is working hard inside and outside, and he is very busy every day.
After Li Changfeng finished drinking tea, Li Wei asked: "Son, how's it going?"
Li Changfeng calmed down and said: "Dad, there are no decent weaving workshops near the capital. This is from a wealthy family in the capital." All the money is in Zhuangzi, who is willing to take the trouble to build an industry!"
Li Wei's eyes darkened. He had originally hoped to acquire some workshops near the capital and set up a business as soon as possible.
Now, listening to my son's words, there are no cotton textile workshops near the capital, and there is no hope for this road.
But think about it, the cotton clothes sold in the capital now are all from Su Song Erfu. If the capital can make them by itself, why should they buy them from the south?
Li Changfeng's next words opened up a new way of thinking for Li Wei:
"I said, Dad, why do we have to weave the cloth ourselves? Can't we just buy it?"
Li Wei was stunned for a moment, and Li Changfeng continued: "I heard Those merchants from the south of the Yangtze River said that cotton and winter clothes are much cheaper in the south of the Yangtze River. The purchase price set by the imperial court, including shipping costs, is enough to make a profit. If so, why do you have to do it yourself?" Li Guozhang was suddenly shocked, and the people around him
also They all said:
"Master! You are right! Winter clothes in the capital are sold cheaply. Wouldn't it be cheaper to go to Jiangnan to buy them directly?" "It's better to set up your
own workshop and hire looms and hire workers. Just go buy it!"
"As long as the imperial court provides the money and Jiubian gets the winter clothes, the father-in-law will be able to do it!"
Li Wei listened to everyone talking and suddenly felt that it was too hard to organize the workshop. It took a lot of effort.
If you can really make money by buying winter clothes in Jiangnan, then there is really no need to set up your own workshop.
But at this time, Li Wei still wanted to work for his son-in-law. After all, his son-in-law, Prince Yu, was still just a prince, not an emperor.
He added: "Didn't the censor write to the emperor a while ago to ban sea transportation from Dengzhou? If we don't use sea transportation, the price of winter clothes transported by land must be high, right?" Li Changfeng immediately said in a foul language: "Banning the sea? Banning that shit
! "
Li Changfeng said: "With so many ports in Dengzhou and Laizhou, and so many merchant ships traveling to and from the south of the Yangtze River, can the court really ban them all?" "What is banned
now is just the grain trade leading to Jiubian!" "
Actually, this is There is a lot more to the matter!"
Everyone immediately started gossiping.
"Do you know Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaoyang?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Li Changfeng said: "The Li family in Liaoyang is a big family outside the pass. Under the leadership of General Li, Liaoyang is stationed outside the pass. The food for many military camps outside the pass is supplied by the Li family." "But the imperial court transported grain by sea from Dengzhou
. The price of food outside the customs has been lowered. I heard that the censor Lu Fengyi accepted bribes from General Li, and then he wrote a letter requesting to stop Dengzhou sea trade." Everyone shouted, it turned out that
there was such an inside story.
However, among Li Guozhang's gang of friends, there are also people who are familiar with the situation in the Ming Dynasty. Someone asked: "
This Li Chengliang is just the commander-in-chief of a town, how can he still make friends with the gossip officials?"
Li Changfeng said: "This is because you don't know what's going on outside the customs. The situation has changed. Although Li Chengliang is only the commander-in-chief, the elites in the Liaoyang Guard are all his servants, and the Jurchens outside the Pass are all driven by him. However, he monopolizes the business outside the Pass and is also a big shot in Jiliao!" Everyone looked at each other in shock
! , didn’t even know there was such an inside story.
Li Changfeng said: "In fact, Dengzhou merchants did not dare to go north. The first few times they transported food, they encountered Jurchen 'robbers' outside the customs. Several business groups were wiped out." "Now the northern route in Dengzhou is prohibited
. It can be regarded as an explanation to the court, but the private transportation of ships from the south is smooth. Nowadays, southern goods are very easy to sell in the capital!" When everyone heard this, Li Changfeng's statement was correct. Nowadays, the market in the capital is full of goods from
Jiangnan. product.
Winter clothes, whale oil lamps, soap, dyes, wine, sugar.
These goods flowed unimpeded in the capital, and even Jiangnan's "Jingshi News" was bundled into five and ten issues by these merchants and brought to the capital for unified sale.
In this way, the court's ban has no effect at all!
At this time, Li Changfeng pulled Li Wei aside.
"Dad, with the purchase price of the imperial winter clothes, buying them from Jiangnan is a sure-fire business."
But Li Wei still said hesitantly: "But what if it is like this? If it is found out that we bought the winter clothes from Jiangnan, wouldn't it hurt His Highness?" King Yu reported to the court and handed over the purchase
of winter clothes to the Li family, using the reason The Songjiang Prefecture is currently in the area occupied by the Soviet thieves. Although the shipping route is not blocked, the purchase of winter clothes from the Songjiang Prefecture is suspected of supporting the enemy.
The Xu family's production in Songjiang Prefecture is considered an enemy, so what does it mean to go to Jiangnan to buy winter clothes? Doing business with the enemy? Collaborating with the enemy?
Li Changfeng suddenly said: "Dad, you are confused!"
"Do you need to go to this business in person? Do you, the future father-in-law of the country, need to go to Jiangnan to buy winter clothes in person?" Li Changfeng said: "The imperial
court asked our Li family to organize it. Winter clothes, Dad, you can divide this batch of winter clothes." "
We just need to set a purchase price and let the people here make arrangements." "
This price difference is a guaranteed profit for our Li family."
" And whether they spin, weave and tailor their own clothes, go to Jiangnan to purchase them, or use some other method, our Li family doesn’t know and we don’t have to be responsible." "And my son has just told them the way
. Don't they know how to make money?" Li Wei was delighted when he heard this. According to his son, his purchase of winter clothes this time was a business that was sure to make a profit!
Li Wei suddenly felt that he was also the grandfather of the emperor's grandson, and he might even be the emperor's grandfather in the future.
Li Wei thought of the phrase in the play "Those who work hard govern others", and suddenly felt that his son's method was appropriate.
Why should I run my own workshop and work hard to make money? I am also a "hard worker", so I can just leave it to the people below.
Li Wei and his son returned to the house and immediately told his son's plan.
People present can contract corresponding shares according to their abilities.
Li Wei reported the price, and everyone became interested.
Many of Li Wei's friends are doing small business in the capital.
This price is not a loss even if you buy winter clothes in the capital market. If you are bolder, you can definitely make a profit by going directly to Jiangnan to bring a boatload of winter clothes.
And this is considered a capital-free business, and there is no need to invest in a workshop or anything like that. All you need to do is rent a boat and go to Jiangnan.
Buy winter clothes and get money for shipping them back. Is there any business that is more guaranteed to make a profit than this?
The atmosphere in the room immediately became lively, and everyone gathered around Li Wei, demanding more shares.
Li Changfeng stopped everyone and said: "Everyone go back first and send the share you can bear and the deed to ensure the completion of the purchase to the house tomorrow, waiting for my father's decision!" Li Wei looked at these flattering friends
, Finally realized what it means to be a master!
Everyone also dispersed, rushing to raise funds to go south to buy winter clothes.
September 30th.
South Zhili, Anqing Prefecture.
After leading the left and right guards of Nanjing to move to Anqing Prefecture, as expected by Zhang Juzheng, the Zhejiang New Army led by Lin Deyang did not enter Huizhou Prefecture.
Judging from the news in the "Jingshi Bao", Lin Deyang is recruiting local kiln workers and ceramic craftsmen in Jingdezhen. He said he has established a ceramic craftsmen's guild to encourage craftsmen to set up their own workshops.
What made Zhang Juzheng even more incredible was that Lin Deyang actually led the army to dredge the water system, trying to open up the old route of porcelain exported from Quanzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty.
From the Southern Song Dynasty to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, Jingdezhen was the center of porcelain. At that time, the porcelain in Jingdezhen was transported through the Poyang Lake waterway, passed through Fuhe, Guangchang, Ninghua, Fujian, and then through Qingxi River and Jiulong River to Quanzhou or Zhangzhou, and then passed through Shipping out to sea.
At that time, there were tens of thousands of porcelain craftsmen in Jingdezhen. The whole city was filled with smoke, and the day was like night.
However, after the Ming Dynasty banned shipping, Jingdezhen porcelain could only be sold domestically, and private kilns gradually withered.
The official kilns of the imperial court continued to squeeze the kiln owners, which led to the decline of Jingdezhen's porcelain firing level during the Jiajing period.
Central Plains porcelain is now even inferior to the porcelain from Vietnam's Bochang Kiln in the Southeast Asian market.
Lin Deyang was busy resuming porcelain production in Jingdezhen, and Lin Liangjun's Second Brigade also stopped attacking other prefectures and counties, focusing on building a navy in Jiujiang Prefecture, and successfully cut off the Yangtze River shipping.
There is absolutely no way for Huguang’s grain to be shipped south via the Yangtze River.
Zhang Juzheng closed the newspaper and sighed. Of course there is more than one channel for transporting food in Huguang, but the labor cost of transporting food by land is huge, and the losses along the way are also huge.
Zhang Juzheng read the imperial archives when he was in the Hanlin Academy. During the Zhengtong year, the Yangtze River flooded, causing Huguang grain to be transported to the capital by land.
Only 30% of the 10% of food could be transported to the capital in the end. What was even more frightening was that only three of the ten civilians sent out to transport the food returned.
Liu Shiyan, the sincere uncle, finished inspecting the city defense of Anqing Mansion and hurriedly came to Zhang Juzheng's house.
"Butang, an enemy ship from Jiujiang was just discovered today. Sure enough, their target is Anqing!"
Liu Shiyan drove away the Jiujiang reconnaissance ship and hurriedly reported to Zhang Juzheng.
Liu Shiyan said worriedly: "The morale of our army is low. I personally set up the ships to drive away the enemy ships. If this continues, how can we defend Anqing!" Zhang Juzheng said: "
Sincerity, I am going to cast cannons in Anqing!"
"Cast cannons !" ?"
Zhang Juzheng said: "There is iron in Anqing, and we can imitate Yangminggong in casting Folang machine guns. I have written to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing and invited all the blacksmiths, gunsmiths and gunsmiths in Nanjing to come to Anqing. , I want to set up an artillery factory in Anqing."
Liu Shiyan said: "If there are artillery, we can naturally defend it, but what about the kind of sky mines used by the rebels in Jiujiang?"
Zhang Juzheng and Liu Shiyan had already found out the details of the fall of Jiujiang, and finally The most important thing is of course the terrifying weapon that can destroy the city wall instantly.
Zhang Juzheng said: "If Thief Su could really control the thunder, he would have gone directly to the capital. Why waste it with us here?" "
I guess it is also an explosive similar to gunpowder, but more powerful."
"Thief Su did it at night, which shows that This kind of gunpowder cannot be ejected by artillery shells, so it must have been placed close to the city wall at night." "
As long as we set up forts along the coast in Anqing and strengthen night patrols, we will definitely be able to prevent it."
Hearing Zhang Juzheng's analysis, Liu Shiyan really felt that it was very It makes sense, I finally let go of some of the uneasiness in my heart.
Zhang Juzheng added:
"I read Su Ze's "Three Advice to the People". Why is it that Su Ze only has two provinces and six prefectures (four prefectures in Jiangxi), but his soldiers are well paid and the civil administration is stable? The taxes levied on the people are less than Are there so few of us?"
Liu Shiyan was not familiar with civil affairs, but he knew the local area. He immediately said, "It's all those corrupt officials who exploited us!"
Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "I request the imperial court to try out a whipping method in Nanzhili. The land tax, corvee and other miscellaneous levies in each prefecture and county are all unified into one, and the silver taels are collected together and paid per mu. This greatly simplifies the tax system and facilitates tax collection. At the same time, it makes it difficult for local officials to cheat, thereby increasing fiscal revenue."
"In addition, the banknote customs law will be re-implemented in Southern Zhili and commercial taxes will be levied, which will be used exclusively for military supplies to counter the rebellion."
Liu Shiyan was agitated when he heard this. He asked, "Is it possible to do it, Ministry of Finance?"
Zhang Juzheng said, "Of course. It is feasible. This method was proposed by Gui E, the first minister of this dynasty, and Zhang just completed some of the details." "
Hey, if His Majesty could implement this method when he came to the throne, how could the Ming Dynasty reach such a state. "
Liu Shiyan still said: "But the ministry."
"I know, I am the minister of the Ministry of War, and the person in charge of the civil affairs of South Zhili is Mr. Zhao Zhenji. I have written to Mr. Zhao, hoping that he will support the reform, and he can also be the leader of the reform. Give it to him."
"Now the time has come when the constant method will no longer work!"
ps, the problem of Fujian Iron Industry:
Iron smelting in the Ming Dynasty was actually very developed. Although there is controversy about whether the stir-fried steel method can effectively make steel, but The only difference between the Ming Dynasty and the steel-making era was a reflective cover for insulation and hydraulic blasting to increase the furnace temperature. It is a pity.
As for the gas heating and open-hearth steelmaking method, it is actually not that difficult. It’s definitely not a technical generation difference.
During the Jiajing period, there were three Dajian furnaces in Fujian, each with more than 2,500 craftsmen and each furnace producing 48,600 kilograms of molten iron.
The private iron smelting industry is also very developed in Longxi and Zhenghe, Fujian Province, and Wuhu in the south. The Longxi iron furnace employs as many as 500 people, and Zhenghe has a hundred people. Wuhu has dozens of "Suzhou Iron and Steel" workshops, each of which There are more than a hundred employees in each.
There are as many as 10,000 miners in Zhejiang and Guangdong.
These all declined in the Qing Dynasty.
(End of chapter)