Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 326 The Era of Merchants

As soon as Wang Wei left, hundreds of scholars from King Qin poured into Yilun Hall, Xia Yunyi, Chen Zilong, Fang Yizhi, Huang Zongxi and more than a dozen scholar leaders even went straight to the Chongzhen Emperor.

Chongzhen's heart was like a mirror, and he deliberately asked: "What are you doing?"

"Your Majesty, the students also want to publish a statement on the Huangming Times." Xia Yunyi and other scholars said, "Students must draw a clear line with the Donglin Party and leave the Fushe."

"Students and others should also draw a clear line with the Donglin Party and leave Fushe."

Hundreds of Qin Wang Shizi outside Yilun Hall also bowed to the ground one after another.

These Qinwang scholars are basically the children of the Donglin Party or members of the Fushe.

Up to now, the actions of Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang and other Donglin party members have aroused great indignation in the scholar camp.

In the past, they might be proud of the children of the Donglin Party, but now they are deeply ashamed, so they can't wait to get rid of the relationship with the Donglin Party, and Fushe also suffered disaster.

In fact, not only Fushe, but also the several societies, Wenshe and Tongshe under Fushe will suffer disaster in the next period of time, and scholars have begun to feel ashamed of forming a party.

According to some analysis, there are two main reasons leading to the disintegration of associations.

One is because of Chongzhen's resolute attitude towards the Donglin Party's efforts to eradicate evil.

The second is because of the emergence of the scholar camp, which gave scholars a second way out, and the chances were much greater than the imperial examination.

Chongzhen was much more tolerant of Prince Qin's son: "It's fine if you have the determination, and you don't have to make a statement in the newspaper. After all, this is not a glorious thing."

"Students are ashamed." Xia Yunyi and other scholars were both grateful and ashamed.

"Okay, during this period of time, you gather the Caojiang soldiers and the Jingying soldiers together for training."

After dismissing Xia Yunyi and other scholars, Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen again: "Wang Daban, how are things going with Shi Kefa and the others?"

Wang Cheng'en quickly responded: "Back to Lord Long Live, most of the criminals have already written the confession statement, and now only Gao Hongtu, Jiang Riguang and other culprits have not written."

Chongzhen's face immediately collapsed.

"Today is the deadline."

"Go and tell Shi Kefa to hurry up."

"My time is precious, and my patience is limited."

Without the pleas from Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang and other Donglin Party chiefs, this matter would not be complete.

So we have to put some pressure on Shi Kefa and the others. As for how Shi Kefa and Xie Xuelong will persuade Gao Hongtu, that is their business. Anyway, he only wants the result.

"The old slave takes the order." Wang Chengen took the order and left in a hurry.

Chongzhen turned his attention to Gao Qiqian again: "Gao Banban, when will the prince arrive?"

Gao Qiqian turned his head and glanced outside the door, and replied respectfully: "Go back to Lord Long Live, count the time, the prince, concubine, and uncle Guo are about to arrive at Yilun Hall."

This afternoon, Chongzhen invited Kang Wanwan, Zhan Yangzhi and other workshop owners to have a discussion.

As soon as the words fell, Zhu Cihong led Kang Wanwan and Kang Xi's father and daughter in.

"My son/daughter-in-law kowtows to the emperor." Zhu Cihong and his wife paid respects to Chongzhen.

Kang Wanwan also turned to Chongzhen Jishou: "I kowtow to the Holy One, and the Holy One will be blessed and safe."

"Pingshen." Chongzhen signaled Zhu Cihong and his wife and Kang Wanwan to get up, and then asked Kang Wanwan, "In-laws, where are Zhan Weng, Fang Weng and Zhang Weng?"

Kang Wanwan said in a respectful voice, "Your Majesty, we are all waiting outside the hall."

"Please come in." After Chongzhen finished speaking, he ordered Gao Qiqian to say, "Gao Banban, bring more chairs."

"The old slave leads the order." Gao Qiqian hurriedly took the little eunuch to move the chairs, and Kang Wanwan also invited Zhan Yangzhi, Fang Wenzhen, Zhang Han and other workshop owners into the Yilun hall.

A group of workshop owners pay respects again.

Chongzhen motioned to be flat, and specially comforted Zhan Yangzhi.

Zhan Yangzhi actually cried in the hall, and he really cried.

Zhan Yangzhi really didn't expect that there would be a day when he would see the sun again.

If it were any other emperor, even if it was found out that the gangster case was planted, the Zhan family must be finished. Think about it, the big fat pig who has been pulled to the chopping board, will the butcher let you go?

The final result has a high probability that the pig is killed and the meat is eaten.

But the Holy Majesty didn't kill pigs or eat meat. This is really an unprecedented benevolent monarch!

In terms of their attitude towards Zhan Yangzhi, merchants such as Kang Wanwan and Fang Wenzhen dispelled their last worries.

Needless to say, these merchants are really good emperors, and they have caught up with the good times that belong to merchants. When they have an audience with the Holy One this time, they should hurry up when they go back!
After everyone was seated, Chongzhen asked Kang Wanwan, "In-laws, the workshop owners who came today are from various industries, right?"

"There are all of them." Kang Wanwan got up quickly, pointed to the merchants present, and introduced, "This is Yuanwai Sun, who is engaged in tea making and selling; this is Yuanwai Cheng, who is engaged in oil extraction and sales; this is Yuanwai Wu Yuanwai specializes in tailoring and tailoring; this Cheng Yuanwai is engaged in daily groceries and soy sauce brewing; this is Xu Yuanwai, engaged in papermaking and printing..."

Kang Wanwan introduced them one by one, and the merchants who were mentioned hurriedly stood up and bowed in respect.

Chongzhen listened roughly, and it was true that almost every industry had invited people, and Kang Wanwan had really put his heart into it.

After Kang Wanwan finished his introduction, Chongzhen went on to say: "I won't talk about clichés. What I hate the most are official articles, clichés, lies and empty words, so let's get straight to the point."

"The ancients said that without agriculture, there is no stability, without work, there is no wealth, and without business, there is no life."

"This shows that for a country, industry and commerce are as important as agriculture."

"So, for the sake of the eternal prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, I decided to use the power of the whole country to develop industry and commerce."

"Everyone here is the leader of all walks of life in Ming Dynasty, so I want to hear your opinions. What is your biggest difficulty? What kind of help do you want?"

"Lack of people!" As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, Zhan Yangzhi spoke first.

"My lord, the biggest difficulty is the lack of manpower. The arsenal cannot recruit enough craftsmen."

The biggest factor limiting the production capacity of the Daming Arsenal is the lack of craftsmen, such as making guns, rolling tubes, drilling, polishing, and calibration, and many other processes must be skilled workers.

Using apprentices, the quality of the processed barrels is worrying.

Chongzhen said: "Didn't the Daming Armory originally have many craftsmen?"

"Not enough." Zhan Yangzhi shook his head and said, "Although there are many artisan households, there are not many available craftsmen. Unless the imperial court can abolish the artisan registration and allow artisan households to move freely, more artisans can be recruited."

"That's right, abolish the craftsman registration and let the craftsmen move freely." A few merchants nodded along.

But most of the merchants looked at Zhan Yangzhi and the others with surprised eyes, thinking that you are not crazy, are you?
Is it possible for merchants like us to comment on the national policy of the imperial court?Now the Holy One should be furious.

However, the expected thunder and fury did not appear. Instead, Chongzhen nodded and said: "The artisan household system has seriously restricted the development and growth of the industry. I have already mentioned this to the cabinet."

"If nothing else happens, the craftsman registration system will be formally abolished soon."

"Not only the craftsman registration system, but also the military registration system and music registration system will be abolished."

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "From now on, all the people of our Ming Dynasty can move freely, and local officials, gentry and clans shall not stop them for any reason."

Free movement of people is a prerequisite for industrial and commercial development.

Otherwise, farmers are bound to one-third of an acre of land, and they need to find a village chief to lead the way when they go far away. How can industry and commerce become strong?
Hearing this, the atmosphere in Yilun Hall suddenly became lively.

Obviously, including Kang Wanwan, no one expected to hear such good news.

Chongzhen asked again: "The craftsman's problem has been solved. Besides this, are there any other difficulties?"

"Yes, the capital." As soon as the words finished, a merchant rushed to say, "My lord, the capital is too difficult to raise, which seriously affects the expansion of the workshop."

"Are you Xu Guo Xu Weng?" Chongzhen asked with a smile, "Do you engage in papermaking and book printing?"

"Returning to the Holy One, that's right." Xu Guo got up hurriedly upon hearing this, "The Huangming Times was also printed in Xiaolao's workshop, and Xiaolao printed it at cost price without making any money."

"Hey, that won't work." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "Business belongs to business, and the money that should be earned still has to be earned. Don't dare to make money from him just because of the status of Huangming Times. This is wrong."

"Yes yes yes." Xu Guo cupped his hands again and again, "Earn, earn, earn, must earn."

Chongzhen knew that Xu Guo was just talking about it, and he would never dare to make it if he really made it, but he didn't want to care about it.

As an emperor, how could he manage so many specific affairs?He can only grasp the general direction and policy.

Immediately Chongzhen asked again: "Xu Weng, you said just now that you could not raise enough capital, so you restricted the expansion of the paper mill and book printing workshop, is that true?"

"Yes." Xu Guo repeatedly nodded and said, "Now all kinds of books are not worrying about selling. Many scholars can't afford books because they are too expensive. If the price can come down, no matter how many copies are printed, they can be sold, and then printed The more the number of books, the lower the cost per book, and the lower the price of books.”

This is actually the biggest difference between small workshop operation and large-scale operation.

For small workshop operation, it is never possible to fight for cost over large-scale operation.

At this time, all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty were all in the stage of small workshop operation.

Even in the textile industry, there are tens of thousands of looms in various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, but those are not large factories concentrated together, but small family workshops scattered among tens of thousands of families.

The looms of the three major weaving bureaus are also scattered in thousands of households.

Therefore, at this time, Daming did not have large-scale operations at all.

But merchants like Xu Guo have realized that large-scale operations can effectively reduce costs and increase profits.

However, the expansion of production scale requires a large cost, and it may not be possible to complete this arduous task only by relying on the accumulation of small workshops for several generations.

(End of this chapter)