Daming 1805

Chapter 430 Ticket System
Zhu Jingyuan got a general understanding of the local situation in Edo through data and interviews, and then began to think about what he should do in the past two years in Edo.

If Zhu Jingyuan was an ordinary chief envoy, then what he should do and what he should be in charge of would all be directly arranged by the imperial court and the chief envoy.

It is equivalent to the deputy in charge of a less important affairs in the chief envoy's department, and there is a relatively important political participation in front of it.

If it is an ordinary prince, when he receives administrative training, when he reaches the level of councilor, the actual tasks are very close to those of ordinary councilors.

It is just to learn and understand all the work of the Chief Envoy Si Yamen while completing his own work.

At the next stage, when you are training as a political participant, you can directly participate in all work and intervene in all affairs.

That is equivalent to the executive deputy of the chief envoy, who can cooperate with the chief envoy to directly preside over the daily work.

But Zhu Jingyuan is not an ordinary councilor, nor an ordinary prince.

Zhu Jingyuan practiced in various places. In addition to studying like ordinary princes, what is more important is the pilot project of the New Deal led by himself.

At the same time, Zhu Jingyuan was also on an errand for the local governor.

No matter where Zhu Jingyuan is training, the actual task is to be an imperial envoy with a local position.

Not only will they not cooperate with the local subjectivity, but they will also let the local supervisors cooperate with themselves.

During the training in Lion City, Zhu Jingyuan had already set up a simple work distribution method for himself.

One is daily work, familiarize yourself with and learn the operating logic of the local yamen, and master the workflow of the main key positions.

The second is to respond to work, investigate the local situation, discover local problems, solve problems and sum up experience, and propose reform and preventive measures of the nature of recommendations.

For ordinary princes and grandchildren who normally participate in administrative training, the first two items are all their work.

These are tasks that can be done step by step.

For Zhu Jingyuan, this is just the basic work, and the more important things will come later.

The third is the promotion work, which is to implement the new policies that have been verified in other regions locally.

For example, the standard system of wage payment based on the certificate of passing the general education examination.

The fourth is to supervise the work, supervise, supervise, and help local officials to better complete the new tasks issued by the emperor and the court.

For now, the most important thing is the establishment of the government-run consortium that Zhu Jingyuan and Zhu Jianyan have just discussed and decided.

The fifth is experimental work, using the local area as a pilot to test the new system planned by itself.

After careful consideration, Zhu Jingyuan thought that he could try to merge the latter two matters this time.

So, after three days of preparation, Zhu Jingyuan formally summoned the main officials of the Edo chief envoy's office again.

After a simple greeting, Zhu Jingyuan directly talked about the business:

"Has the imperial court's notice on the establishment of government-run manufacturers been issued?"

Chen Jian, the Edo chief envoy, immediately bowed his hands and said:

"Your Highness, I have received it. The imperial court has requested that yamen at all levels can organize the construction of government-run manufacturers according to local conditions.

"The organization and preparation of manufacturers were completed by government offices at all levels, and after their establishment, they were merged into the Daming Consortium established by the central court, and became subordinate manufacturers of the consortium in various places.

"Relevant personnel can be directly transferred by government offices at all levels, recruited directly from the private sector, or applied to foundations.

"The formal management and operation personnel of manufacturers at the same level all enjoy the treatment of officials at the same level."

After hearing this, Zhu Jingyuan nodded slowly, and then asked about local affairs in Edo:

"Then what kind of industry are you going to start in Edo?"

Chen Jian knew about Zhu Jingyuan's mission, so he prepared the relevant situation in advance and waited for Zhu Jingyuan's inquiry.

Now it is also very natural to explain the current situation I have obtained:

“The most suitable industries for Edo and for the entire Japanese archipelago and the Korean peninsula are, of course, shipbuilding and shipping businesses.

"However, both shipbuilding and shipping have obvious economies of scale, and are more suitable for relatively high-level manufacturers.

"So, the current view of the Yamen is that shipyards should be set up at the chief executive level for government-run manufacturers, and shipping firms should be set up at the chief executive level or even across the chief executive level.

"This may require the coordination and application of His Highness, so I hope His Highness can intervene in the future.

"Then, for the middle and lower-level yamen, except for a small number of places that already have corresponding industries and are suitable for participating in small-scale small ships and offshore shipping, it is not suitable for all to engage in shipbuilding and shipping.

"After our investigation and research, we believe that the three basic industries of housing, schools, and hospitals are industries that can be run by any government office at any level.

"Because no matter the city or the country, no matter who the target is, houses and hospitals are needed, and schools are related to the development direction of future generations.

"At the same time, the recently issued notice on improving and improving the living security of officials requires that government offices at all levels must build sufficient homes, hospitals, and schools for the children of officials.

"Cooperating with the development of related industries now can just correspond to the implementation of relevant policies, which is also the suggestion given by the imperial court.

"Finally, these key basic industries are also relatively easy to make profits, which can reduce risks."

Chen Jian's preparations were relatively proper, and Zhu Jingyuan didn't find any problems after listening.

But Zhu Jingyuan has his own plans and requirements:

"I think these arrangements are fine, but for government-run manufacturers, the most important thing is not to make a profit.

"Should it be mentioned in the documents issued by the imperial court?"

Chen Jian was stunned for a moment, then immediately nodded and said:
"It is indeed mentioned that key basic industries such as housing, hospitals, and schools should be of the nature of social security.

"So the government-run consortium should take the lead in ensuring and maintaining the stability and balance of the corresponding market..."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly again while reminding and adding:
"What the notice says may be more official, but I think it's better to be more straightforward.

"In fact, it is to let the government-run financial groups at all levels cooperate with the government offices at all levels to turn these industries into unprofitable industries.

"The first is to control prices and lower profit margins, while at the same time controlling private transactions and controlling the amount held by households.

"It is best if private manufacturers cannot operate related industries, and let government-run manufacturers specialize in operations without losing money.

"At the same time, we must maintain sufficient supplies so that officials and ordinary people cannot have no place to live.

"This kind of goal is difficult to achieve simply by relying on the system and market regulation, and government-run manufacturers must directly participate."

Chen Jian and a group of officials listened to these requests, and while understanding, they were also a little worried.

Relevant personnel already knew that manufacturers such as real estate, hospitals, and schools are easy to make money in themselves.

Even if it is done in accordance with the requirements of the imperial court, the so-called guarantee of supply and maintenance of stability will not increase any difficulty.

Because government-run manufacturers will definitely operate more easily than private manufacturers.

Therefore, the work of employees of government-run factories should be very easy. The key is that the regular employees inside are still treated as officials.

Many officials are already thinking about ways to get relatives and friends to try to apply for the job, and they are also trying to help arrange them in the process of organizing manufacturers.

At the same time, as the imperial court reminded, the existence of these government-run manufacturers can guarantee the quality and quantity of the treatment of normal officials like themselves.

Therefore, for these two recent policies, the vast majority of officials are full of joy and full of expectations to promote them with all their strength.

But now what the Prince of Dashi means is to let these government-run manufacturers take the initiative to avoid making money.

How can factories and firms exist and operate if they don’t make money?

Ordinary private manufacturers must pursue profits and avoid losses.

Now this government-run manufacturer is required not to lose money and not to make a profit.

It is to keep the factory at the break-even point as much as possible.

It feels like doing a budget.

In order to spend the income in real terms, there should be neither large-scale deficits nor large-scale surpluses.

These requirements do not sound easy to do...

If you lose money, you will be punished, and if you are careful to make money, will you be punished?
Chen Jian felt that this line of thinking seemed wrong, and he suspected that he might have misunderstood something.

Chen Jian secretly glanced at Zhu Jingyuan, recalling what he learned about Zhu Jingyuan's personality and habits from his colleagues in other places, so he boldly tried to consult:

"Your Highness, what do you mean, we want to treat government-run manufacturers as government departments?"

Zhu Jingyuan nodded directly and said:

"That's right, these government-run manufacturers can actually be regarded as part of the yamen itself.

"It's just related to business operations and financial and tax transactions, so we have to go out and operate independently.

"So, of course, the imperial court and the headquarters of the Daming Consortium will also pay attention to and collect statistics on the profit margins and profit amounts of government-run manufacturers at all levels, but they will not use them as the main criteria for assessment.

"This is the biggest difference between government-run manufacturers and private manufacturers.

"So I would like to remind one more thing here, everyone should not treat government-run manufacturers as manufacturers.

"Don't worry about being punished by the consortium because you can't make money.

"The relevant personnel should consider any cooperation with government offices at all levels to maintain social and market stability.

"Finally, the profitability of government-run manufacturers must also be considered. If the manufacturer itself has no profitability at all, then it has no market competitiveness.

"It's just that they don't regard profit as the most important criterion like private manufacturers.

"Of course, you won't be punished for making money.

"The profits earned by government-run manufacturers in the market can be regarded as another form of taxation.

"In addition to being used for the expansion of production by the government-run manufacturers themselves, more of them are directly handed over to the corresponding superior yamen."

After Zhu Jingyuan explained this, Chen Jian and other officials breathed a sigh of relief again.

According to such management standards, the work of these government-run manufacturers can still be regarded as relatively easy.

Not blindly pursuing profits means that there is no profit pressure, and working with the Yamen means that the business will be relatively simple and stable.

But at the same time, profit is not the most important thing, so there is another most important thing.

That is what both the imperial court and Zhu Jingyuan mentioned to cooperate with the imperial court to maintain social and market stability.

The employee assessment standards of government-run manufacturers must be formulated around these aspects.

This is really the same as being an errand in the Yamen. The so-called official treatment is really not so free.

After Zhu Jingyuan explained the policy to the Edo officials headed by Chen Jian, he began to explain his pilot policy plan:
"During the process of organizing and opening government-run manufacturers, I hope that government offices at all levels in Edo and corresponding manufacturers will cooperate with each other to carry out a pilot work of a new policy."

Chen Jian was already prepared for this, and he agreed directly when he heard this:

"Your Highness, you can arrange it, and we will fully cooperate."

Zhu Jingyuan raised his hand to signal, and the secretary beside him handed a document handwritten by Zhu Jingyuan to Chen Jian.

Zhu Jingyuan briefly explained and introduced:
"This new policy is the ticket system. When purchasing certain commodities, special tickets and certificates need to be used.

"Relevant bills and certificates must be issued by a special agency set up by the imperial court in accordance with rules not directly related to money.

"It's called a new policy, but it's actually not a brand new policy, it was already used during the Renwu Dynasty.

"It's just that the situation of Emperor Shizu at that time was completely different from the current situation.

"The same ticket system should have completely different effects then and now.

"The reason why Emperor Shizu used tickets was that the precious banknotes at that time had completely lost their value, and the gold and silver were not enough for use.

"Combined with the extraordinarily turbulent society, the necessities of life such as food have become similar general equivalents.

"That's why Emperor Shizu introduced food stamps that can be exchanged directly for grain, and they are used as temporary new banknotes.

"After the society stabilized and the grain production became abundant, the vouchers for grain exchange were gradually abolished.

"When resources are scarce, the essence of tickets is to limit purchases and ensure the most basic fairness of resource allocation.

"Now our resources are relatively abundant, but they are far from being able to waste them at will.

"I started the ticket system in this case to see if I can use the ticket system to control and balance the supply and demand relationship in a specific market. The ultimate goal is to avoid excessive concentration and waste of living infrastructure and resources.

"So these tickets are still all for specific living infrastructure.

"The first is the room ticket corresponding to the house.

"My current plan is to divide the room tickets into three categories: men, women, and families, and there may be two or three different levels.

"Both male and female tickets are used to purchase single dormitories and apartments. Except for the separation of men and women, other regulations and standards can be exactly the same, and can be collectively referred to as single tickets.

"Single tickets can only be used to buy a single-room apartment, and the maximum area cannot exceed [-] square meters.

"Then, a male ticket, a female ticket, or two apartment ownership certificates, together with a marriage certificate, can be exchanged for a family ticket, and this exchange point can be placed directly at the marriage registration office.

"Family tickets can be used to purchase a family unit with more than two rooms,
"The area corresponding to the family ticket exchanged cannot be lower than the sum of the housing area corresponding to the two single tickets.

"My long-term goal in the future is to fully government-run the housing industry.

"The imperial court issued a regulation that house tickets must be used to buy a house.

"Everyone can get a room ticket when they become adults, and at the same time, without special contributions, they can only get at most one room ticket that controls the area and scale.

"In the end, ordinary single tickets will be fixed at 120 square meters, and family tickets will start at [-] square meters.

"In addition to two male and female tickets plus a marriage certificate in exchange for a family ticket, it should also be possible to exchange a family ticket plus a birth registration certificate for a family ticket with a larger area and more rooms.

"Of course, at that time, simply adding money can also be exchanged for a larger house ticket, but it cannot buy a larger number of independent houses.

"Unless there is a special contribution approved by the court, ordinary people cannot own more than two houses at the same time.

"At that point, everyone will have to use a house certificate to buy a house, but at the same time everyone will have a house certificate.

"Then the construction company of the house can directly build the house according to the number of tickets issued.

"In this way, the number of houses built in the end will not exceed the actual demand too much, and the waste and idle ratio can be reduced.

"At the same time, the imperial court, government offices at all levels, and government-run consortium housing construction manufacturers at all levels should cooperate to control market prices.

"Control the market price of the lowest-sized family house within the range of no more than five years' wages of ordinary workers.

"Turning the housing industry into a real social basic industry.

"Of course, this is only an ideal theoretical goal, and various problems will definitely be encountered in the process of implementation.

"So before large-scale application, we first need to conduct social pilots.

"I hope that everyone can cooperate with me to complete the details of these plans, solve various problems in the pilot process, and complete this pilot in Edo.

"If this pilot project can be successful and its practical feasibility can be verified, it will be considered a great achievement."

(End of this chapter)