Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2247 Linhai

"Overseas money is used in all provinces. Wenzhou, Taizhou, Jinhua, and even Qiong, Gao, and Lei are all used, and even the power goes abroad, and there is no bottom. The more foreign money is sold, the more the Chinese silver is leaked. If things go on like this, I’m afraid the country will fail.” On June 1694, 6, by a wharf outside Linhai County, the Taizhou capital of Daming, several scholars in long gowns were talking loudly.

Although the Ming Empire is now in a precarious state, the political system has not undergone much reform. Scholars still have the supreme privilege, they can still discuss government affairs, and they can still evade taxes.The only thing that has changed is probably that they can no longer despise warriors, which makes them very aggrieved.There is no way, this is how troubled times are, you have to adapt.

However, there must be an outlet for the aggrieved feeling brought about by the rising status of warriors.No, the Dongguo people, whose image is even worse than the warriors of the Ming Dynasty, became the best targets.And the "criminal evidence" of the people on the east bank is also ready-made: disrespect for fame and religion, class equality (at least the Far East vassals are equal in name, regardless of actual operation), depraved atmosphere, lust for profit, and militarism. The gentry were very upset, especially the fact that the privileges of scholars had disappeared. They hated it the most.

Therefore, even in Nanming, a regime that relies heavily on the East Bank for its survival, there are still a large number of people who criticize the East Bank. Some of them are even members of the system, and their official positions are quite high, which is surprising.However, the people on the east bank are more tolerant in this regard, and they just don't know about the complaints of some people in the Ming system, and they don't want to care about them at all.As long as your country's policy remains unchanged and you are still following the baton on the east coast, then everything will be fine, scold you as you like, as long as the trouble is not too much, they won't bother to send people over to arrest the so-called What about "anti-Eastern elements"-many anti-East elements are full of insults, but they are generally honest in body, and business with the East Bank is booming.

The few scholars who were talking about the East Bank at the pier today have no fame, but this does not prevent them from venting.As long as you spray it accurately, get it in place, and resonate with others, it is a good opportunity to quickly become famous.

"More than that!" Another scholar interjected: "I heard from my second uncle who was an official in Haimen (the former Haimen guard, now changed to the county) that when he first arrived in the county, the county bank balance was less than 500 taels, and the rest was 1 It is really unreasonable for all the money to be deposited in the Bank of Taiwan in the Dongguo bank. Is it possible that everyone in Ming Dynasty is a corrupt person, so that we need a foreign bank to keep the money for us?"

That being said, the scholar was right.In fact, not only Daming, China's local treasury has been facing a very serious problem of self-stealing since ancient times.In particular, most of the people who manage the treasury are local subordinate officials. There are many officials who have been officials for generations.As long as the disturbance is not excessive and there is no big deficit on the books, the imperial court has nothing to do but turn a blind eye.

The Lu Wang regime in Wentai inherited the old system, and of course there are problems in this regard.After the East Coast people sent three political, economic, and military advisory groups to help them carry out reforms, they established a modern accounting and auditing system, and deposited all public funds in banks under the principle of third-party supervision.Although this cannot put an end to the embezzlement of public funds, at least it has curbed it to a large extent, making all the corrupt officials hate it.

They were unhappy, so they naturally encouraged the gentry and scholars to attack this financial system, thinking that it is very dangerous to hand over the money related to the lifeline of the country to outsiders.Once there is a change in the future, as long as the Dongguo people freeze the money deposited in their banks, the counties of Wentai and Taiwan will suddenly fall into a dangerous state of no rice to cook. At that time, the government will be shut down, the army will owe their salaries, and there will be no money for purchases. To be anxious to death.

However, these attacks of theirs can only stay on the mouth.People on the east coast are firm in their demand for reforms in the Ming Dynasty, and deposits are also necessary. Even the customs have to hire consultants from the east coast to provide business guidance.The complaints of some scholars can't shake the overall situation, and their complaints are just complaints.

Another dissatisfaction of the East Coast people with the financial system of the elite gentry of the Ming Dynasty is that they have changed the traditional concept of "living within the means" of the Central Plains Dynasty.They asked the central and local governments of the Ming Dynasty to increase financial expenditures and invest heavily in local infrastructure construction to reduce commodity logistics costs and promote market prosperity.To this end, they also invited some scholars "water army" controlled by them to help promote it.And there are indeed quite a few of these navies who are very powerful. Some of the theories they have summed up, such as "what should be saved must be saved, what should be done must be done, and the money that should be used must be used", "If you want money, you must first It costs money", "Preparing for famine must first spend money on accumulating grain in normal times, and waterproofing must first spend money on building dikes in advance", "Preparing in advance in normal times will benefit ten thousand dollars for one dollar, and rushing to do it temporarily will cost nothing The effect of one gold" and so on.

It should be said that although these propaganda and agitation slogans attracted great criticism from opponents, they also objectively refreshed the financial management concepts of Ming officials.In particular, people from the East Bank also found arguments from the traditional classics "Laozi" and "Guanzi", "If you want to take it, you must give it to you", "The one who knows what to give is the treasure of politics", these all make some The open-minded officials of the Ming Dynasty opened their eyes, and then began to think carefully: Is my Ming's backwardness just because the ship is not strong and the guns are not good?Are they all behind in terms of financial system, official system, education system, and economic system?

In fact, being able to have this kind of in-depth thinking is already very satisfying for people on the east coast.Because many gentry in mainland China still think that they are just backward in technology, and think that their thinking and culture are advanced, and they don't need to absorb good things from outside.During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, foreign cultures were never rejected. How many traditional musical instruments that Chinese people are proud of today come from the Western Regions?How much traditional food comes from the Western Regions?How much of the furniture comes from foreign countries?A culture that does not absorb and improve upon the strengths of other civilizations is lifeless.

Some officials in Wentai can reflect and accept the reform measures proposed by the people on the east coast, which proves that there is still hope for this country.Their economy is now deeply tied to the east coast. As long as the government changes the previous concept of "living within its means" of smallholder financial management, increases government spending, and invests heavily in infrastructure construction, it will not only greatly help the sales of goods on the east coast (this is the east coast The direct driving force for people to demand its reforms), in fact, it is also beneficial to the economy of the Ming Dynasty itself.After all, good infrastructure will help form a unified domestic market, reduce commodity circulation costs, improve efficiency, and play an obvious role in enhancing economic activity.

It can be said that the upper-level officials of the Ming Dynasty have more or less realized the benefits in this regard, as evidenced by the year-on-year increase in fiscal revenue.It's not that there are no products suitable for export in southern Zhejiang. In the past, the roads were not good, and there were too many local checkpoints and barriers, which severely curbed commerce.Now the roads are better, the circulation of goods is faster, the cost is lower, and there are not so many messy tax cards in the local area. Businesses are slowly prospering, more jobs are being created, and people's cash income is higher than before. Not a lot.These people who have increased their income are actually ready-made consumers, and they will in turn demand the production of more goods for their consumption. If this cycle continues, more and more jobs will be created, government revenue will also rise, and the entire economy will enter A relatively good virtuous circle state.

Of course, there are still many problems in the Ming Dynasty, and reforms are not in place in one step. It can only be said that the economy is slowly developing for the better, but it is nonsense to say that it is fast and advancing by leaps and bounds.But as long as there is this trend, it will be very good. At least the sales of goods in Ningshao and Denglai are increasing year by year, and the government is becoming more and more obedient. This is enough.

However, some people in the East Coast have warned against this.Most of them are people who have little relationship with China's trade. They think that helping forces including King Lu, Zheng, Guangdong, and Li Shun to carry out reforms can certainly increase the market share of goods on the east coast and create a lot of trade profits for the country. And a large number of jobs, but in the long run there are also many disadvantages.That is to say, once the country is finally unified and undergoes in-depth modernization reforms, it is likely that goods from the east coast will be slowly driven out of its market.And then, if things go wrong, they will go to the international market to compete with the East Bank, erode the East Bank's market share, and eventually destroy the East Bank's industry.

Although this statement sounds alarmist, it still has the support of some people based in the domestic and European markets.However, their influence is obviously the same. The trade volume between the East Coast and mainland China has hit new highs year after year, and the domestic demand for Chinese goods is also increasing. As long as the industrial production capacity is not transferred to this country, then the problem will not be big. The situation is still manageable.Not to mention, helping the various forces in the south to carry out reforms and improve their mobilization efficiency and economic power is also the only way for them to survive under the threat of the powerful Manchu forces.Once the Manchu Qing unified the country, would they still engage in immigrant farts?At this point, no one has yet dared to challenge this political correctness.

Therefore, the reform of the Nanming regime will continue, and the East Coast Advisory Group will also be active in their ruling and opposition parties for a long time, and will eventually turn it into a dumping ground for commodities on the East Coast and a source of primary commodities.If there are no accidents in the future, not only Wentai will continue to carry out in-depth reforms, but the three southern territories that Qiong, Gao, and Lei have clearly picked up will also undergo in-depth reforms.Especially the Qiongzhou Mansion, which is blocked by the strait, the people on the east coast have sent a working group there to guide the Prince of Ming Dynasty and his followers. Complete - carry out reforms and develop the local economy.

An island as large as Qiongzhou has a very low level of development, which is unbearable for people on the east coast.What's more, they also heard that there is a rich iron mine on the island, and other resources are also very rich. This is a very important supplement to the Far East economic circle dominated by the people on the east coast, and of course it cannot be left in vain. .

They have ideals and believe that as long as there are good policies, sufficient investment, and continuous population inflow, Qiongzhou Prefecture will definitely become a very important economic zone in the Ming Dynasty in the future.Naturally, the capital from the east coast that had lurked in earlier could also make a fortune following the economic take-off of Qiongzhou, and it would be easy to multiply the capital several times or even dozens of times.The miracle of the Bank of Taiwan making a fortune in the Far East and then returning to the mainland with a huge amount of capital in a high-profile manner has made many people envious.

(End of this chapter)