Chapter 449: The Official Factory Group Manufacturing Law is Bound to Fail!

Systems, or rules, have never been something that Zhu Yijun, the emperor, could just pat his head and do whatever he wanted. At the beginning of system design, one must consider that it can be accepted by most people.

After Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, died, Wu Zetian presided over the government and finally ascended the throne as emperor, becoming the only female emperor in the history of the Central Plains. When Wu Zetian wanted to find a successor, she could not pass the throne to Wu Sansi because Wu Sansi was only her nephew and had his own parents. When offering sacrifices, he would not kowtow to Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian also could not pass the throne to Princess Taiping, whether she wanted to or not.

The Shenlong Coup: Crown Prince Li Xian, Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, and other ministers launched a military coup. Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, the direct descendants of Wu Zetian, were killed. The Crown Prince's troops surrounded the Purple Forbidden City's Jixian Hall, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate. The next day, Crown Prince Li Xian supervised the country. On the third day, the abdication ceremony was held. On the fourth day, Li Xian ascended the throne as emperor and restored the country name to Tang.

In the same year, Wu Zetian passed away. She was not called emperor, but Empress Zetian Dasheng. As an empress, she was buried in Qianling and buried with Li Zhi.

Whether Wu Zetian wanted to or not, she could not let Wu Sansi or Princess Taiping succeed to the throne. It was impossible. If she was willing to be decent, everyone would be decent. If she refused to be decent, naturally someone would help her be decent.

The formulation of rules requires violence as a reliance, and violence is not only the army, but also gunpowder, steel, silver coins, theory, and people's hearts.

Setting up a trading house in Songjiang Prefecture and allowing private workshops to sit at the table to eat can guarantee the overall return on assets.

For example, does the freedom advocated by the Songjiang School have the possibility of breaking the Great Ming's deep-rooted personal attachment?

That is the problem of "hidden Ding" (hidden population) in Wang Chonggu's "Memorial on Equalizing Fields and Corvee." The gentry and the powerful and wealthy of the Great Ming can hide Ding entirely because of the strong personal attachment relationship, making these meat-eaters slave owners, while producers must become slaves because of the means of production.

The content of the Civil Newspaper has a lot of eating, drinking, and playing, and there is a lot of excitement to watch. It uses vulgar text and vulgar characters, and there is punctuation. Those who know characters will understand it.

"This Civil Newspaper run by Geng Dingxiang has become the best-selling miscellaneous newspaper in the capital, and it is also the only miscellaneous newspaper in the capital that is published daily." Feng Bao sent today's Civil Newspaper to the Emperor.

The Civil Newspaper is quite popular. This is not Zhu Yijun buying it. "Those above have preferences, those below must be even more so," leading to every official in the Great Ming having a copy, allowing the Civil Newspaper to maintain its livelihood. Zhu Yijun loves to read the Civil Newspaper, which is only known to Feng Bao and Zhang Hong, and there are people specifically responsible for purchasing it.

The Emperor's preferences are also the secret of the Great Ming.

The content of the Civil Newspaper is closely related to the commoners, which is the reason why the Civil Newspaper is so popular.

When other miscellaneous newspapers were still published monthly, or even semi-monthly, the Civil Newspaper had already achieved daily publication, and the content was detailed and widely liked by everyone.

"Is this an advertisement? Chen's bath beans?" Zhu Yijun opened it, and at first glance, he was attracted by the advertisement in the corner of the Civil Newspaper. It was a very simple painting, a flower with simple lines, and only a short advertisement for bath beans above it: "Bath beans, still Chen's are good."

Obviously, the Civil Newspaper found a way to generate revenue other than selling newspapers.

Zhang Hong smiled and said, "Chen's bath beans are indeed good. I plan to include them in the Imperial Manor for sale."

Wang's scissors, Chen's bath beans, Liu's fish oil, Wang's fur—this is the advertisement on this miscellaneous newspaper, distributed in the four corners. Obviously, Geng Dingxiang's pace is not big, and there are only four small boxes. This is a commercial trial.

Jiao Hong, the top scholar in the fifth year of Wanli, the Doctor of Investigation of Things of the Great Ming Royal Academy of Investigation of Things, Jiao Hong's teacher is Geng Dingxiang. Geng Dingxiang served as the Nanjing Education Commissioner in the early Wanli era, and later returned to the capital to serve as the Siyi of the Imperial Academy in the capital. This sat for four years. In these years, Geng Dingxiang was not interested in official promotion, but was quite attentive to the "Civil Newspaper."

The content of the Civil Newspaper rarely involves politics, and mostly discusses people's livelihood.

And today's content also made Zhu Yijun's eyes shine.

The front page content is a piece of content published by Wang Qian under the pseudonym "Xu Huai Mr.", and the content is quite sharp, "Where the heart is at peace is my hometown," with the subtitle: On Concubines.

Wang Qian is also a Censor of the Censorate, a fourth-rank official, helping Hai Rui fight corruption. Wang Qian is responsible for finding the thread, and Hai Rui is responsible for cutting the mess with a sharp knife. Wang Qian is in the dark, and Hai Rui is in the light. Wang Qian's method of finding the thread is to make a fuss about concubines.

And this time, Wang Qian used the pseudonym "Xu Huai Mr." to publish his research experience in the miscellaneous newspaper.

Wang Qian has a large number of samples.

Zhu Yijun is very clear about Wang Qian's vest. He has used this vest to write articles more than once.

Su Shi was demoted to Lingnan because of the Wutai Poetry Case. Su Shi had a good friend named Wang Gong, who was demoted to Lingnan together. Lingnan was still a wild land in the Northern Song Dynasty and was quite dangerous. Wang Gong had a singer named Yun Niang who did not leave him and followed Wang Gong to Lingnan.

Many years later, Su Shi and Wang Gong met again. Wang Gong asked Yun Niang to pour wine for Su Shi. Su Shi asked Yun Niang if Lingnan was very bitter?

Yun Niang answered: "Where the heart is at peace is my hometown."

After finishing the allusion, Wang Qian changed the subject and talked about the current status of the concubines in the Great Ming.

Concubines are more stable than the top flowers in the brothel. Everyone is out to sell, but concubines live much more stably than the top flowers in the brothel, because the customers are fixed, and serving one person and serving countless people are completely different difficulties. Moreover, those who can afford to keep concubines are mostly great officials, high-quality customers.

Then, is the life of a concubine very good?

Wang Qian used a running account to answer this question. The answer is no. Concubines usually do not live well.

In Wang Qian's big data, 80% of concubines live in rented houses, 10% can live in the main family because the wife has no children, and the remaining 10% are even more miserable, living in brothels.

Those great officials always say they will buy a house for their concubines to make them feel at ease, but it has almost never been fulfilled, because those who keep concubines are usually in the city, and houses in the city are very expensive.

Why don't great officials buy houses for their concubines? If you don't have silver, what concubines do you keep?! Because great officials usually have more than one concubine, and many times, great officials will give concubines to each other. Even if they live in the main family, if they offend the wife, the wife will also give away these "concubines" who make the house restless.

Even the concubines who are married into the house can be given away, let alone these concubines kept outside. This status determines that great officials will not invest too much, so there are almost no houses bought, mostly rented, or simply kept in brothels.

Concubines can generally get two to three taels of pocket money per month, and this food, clothing, housing, and transportation, except for housing, are all in these two taels of silver. Rouge and powder cost money, food and clothing cost money, and piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting cost money. Just these three things a month cost more than two taels of silver.

Without rouge and powder, the great official doesn't like it and doesn't look at it, and comes less, and the reward is even less.

Without piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, they can't keep the great official. This is to please people with color, not only with color, but also with some talent.

If there is a pregnancy, the great official is kind-hearted and gives more, which is fine. If the great official is cruel, gives a little reward, the midwife has to be hired by herself, the woman who takes care of the month has to be hired by herself, and raising children also costs money. Children are a bottomless pit, especially the children of great officials.

Spending so much, and still having to give birth, this is indeed looking for trouble for oneself. But the biggest wish of concubines is to live in the main family of the great official. At that time, it will not be wandering.

Giving birth is undoubtedly the best and fastest way. Some concubines have difficulty giving birth and die, about 10%. Some concubines give birth, the child is taken away, and they are abandoned because they are old and yellow after giving birth, accounting for more than half. Among the concubines who give birth, less than 20% can live in the main family.

Living in the main family is the wife's difficulty. They are not even concubines. One can imagine how difficult life is, and it is not as good as living outside.

There are also concubines who do not give birth, but they cannot save money.

How many taels of silver can a concubine save in a year? Wang Qian's answer is: owe money.

Concubines find it difficult to maintain their own lives, but there is usually a maid in the room, and the expenses of the maid are all paid by the concubine. They can only rely on the two or three taels of pocket money a month, which is really impossible to maintain.

There are specialized banks that lend money to these concubines. Those aunts and six women who walk the streets and alleys sell these news everywhere and act as middlemen to take a cut.

If the great official is kind-hearted, the bank will come to ask for money, and the great official will pay back the money. But most great officials are not so kind-hearted, and most of them directly drive away the people from the bank who ask for money. The part of the concubines who cannot pay back the money returns to the brothel. At this time, they have passed their flower season, the business is bleak, and if they cannot pay back the money, they have to find ways. They have to receive guests they didn't receive before.

There are also some concubines who do not give birth, but they are most afraid of

Elimination and layoffs, the dilemma that must be cut to the artery, people who don't do things, the reason why they are worms is because they have someone above them. Layoffs can't cut off the worms at all, but the more they are cut, the more inefficient and bloated they become.

This is an unsolvable dead knot.

"The imperial court wants to eliminate, saying that cutting off the head is cutting off the head. Private punishment was discovered, and we all have to be picked off by His Majesty. It's really, sigh!" Wu Shizhang of the Wenshui Wu family said with heartache.

This problem is particularly serious among their Jin people and Jin merchants, and it is the most thorny. Doing business beyond the frontier is more dangerous than doing business at sea. Heads are tied to the waist to do business. If you give face, call you a proprietor; if you don't give face, just cover your face, take the people and goods, and plunder them first.

"Then since the worms were brought by the head managers and managers, why not start from the source?" Lin Fucheng felt that these powerful and wealthy families were a bit unable to think through. Since they knew where the problem was, they should just do it.

Sun Kehong's son, Sun Baoren, was extremely rich. When he heard Lin Fucheng ask this, he immediately sneered and said, "When Lin Dashi's feet hurt, why don't you cut off your hands and feet?"

"Hahaha!" Wang Qian laughed until he leaned back and forth, immediately causing everyone to laugh.

"That, that, private workshops can close their doors, can official factories? Official factories are the imperial court's!" Lin Fucheng was flushed with laughter, clenched his fists, and said loudly, "Private workshops can't operate, they can close their doors and reopen when the opportunity arises. This is the advantage of freedom. Official factories can only find ways to maintain, which is the fundamental difference!"

The imperial court's official factories closed, and the imperial court lost face. The imperial court can't close its doors.

"Emotionally, it's not your family's business." Yao Guangqi chose to sit down. As long as it can operate, sometimes it has to lose money. As long as the industry is still there, there is hope. If the door is closed, there is no hope at all.

Lin Fucheng is a great Confucian master, which everyone admits, but when it comes to doing business, the wealthy households present understand it more thoroughly.

Corruption and bloated redundancy are brought by the head managers. The proprietor directly kills the head manager, which not only fails to solve the problem but often makes the situation worse.

This is also the reason why the wealthy households in the West City and the merchants in Northwest Jin are so keen on shipping tickets, and even want to grab the Emperor's national debt. National debt is thin but stable. Let the wise His Majesty worry about those headaches, and lie flat and make money safely. The beauties in the brothel are really fragrant.

"Actually, the imperial court's official factories can also close their doors." Zhu Yijun drank some water. As soon as he spoke, the Qingquan Courtyard finally quieted down. This Young Master Huang had a bad temper and liked to do it.

Zhu Yijun sighed and said, "During the Yongle era, in order to go to the Western Oceans, Emperor Chengzu Wen established a total of 27 shipyards, and even Jilin had one. Speaking of Jilin Shipyard, I am afraid that few people know. The Great Ming now only has five official shipyards. After Xuande, there was no more voyage to the Western Oceans. The shipyards began to be abolished, the craftsmen were sent home, and the shipyards were abandoned."

After Wan Shihe studied the abolition of the voyages to the Western Oceans, he found out where those shipyards and ships went. The answer was that the ships slowly rotted on the berths and slowly sank into the river and sea water, while the shipyards were abandoned, covered by wild grass, and slowly turned into wasteland.

At that time, the Great Ming imperial court was not very short of silver, and the Great Ming also had a sea ban. These shipyards were all abandoned. Only the Longjiang Shipyard outside Nanjing was reactivated because it had to build a seal boat during the Jiajing era to go to Ryukyu to seal the King of Ryukyu.

"And this ineffective investment, is it really ineffective? Without talents, who will work for us? Disperse, disperse." Wu Huairen of the Dongting Wu family stood up and left directly. His family was a maritime merchant. Without a maritime academy, they didn't even have boat teachers! Because there were none at all!

Is ineffective investment really ineffective? The sea has been opened for nine years. Building water conservancy, connecting canals, building bridges and roads—it seems to be thankless, but everyone is a beneficiary.

The imperial court's investment regardless of cost, especially the ineffective investment that is sneered at by free people, are all long-chain, mass-benefiting undertakings, while private investment is just short-chain, small-profit business.

Five shipyards, how many people were supported upstream and downstream, and how many powerful and wealthy families benefited from the Wanli sea opening?

The imperial court has the reason and necessity to invest in these long-chain, mass-benefiting industries. If you really listen to the views of the Songjiang School and the imperial court no longer invests, who will do these thankless things?

Not discussing reality, only discussing the beautiful country built in fantasy is vain. That City of Freedom in the corner of the West is just built by the freedom faction with their mouths, not reality.

After Wu Huairen got up and left, most people left intermittently. Lin Fucheng's lecture was undoubtedly a failure.

"Why did they all leave? I think what Lin Dashi said is still very reasonable." Zhu Yijun looked left and right. There was really no one left, just one table, and a Wang Qian. The Emperor didn't leave, how dare Wang Qian move?

"The noble gentleman is valued for being able to accommodate and absorb, and to learn from others' strengths. His Majesty is really atmospheric!" Wang Qian had to admit that His Majesty was really atmospheric. He even thought that such rebellious remarks made some sense!

"The teacher taught it. The teacher said: Those who are in a high position must respect the subordinates and follow the virtue of remonstrance, must open the door of no taboo, squat and be quiet to borrow it. Do not shake with power when remonstrating, do not block his words, widely collect his words, and then choose what can be seen. This is the great way for wise people to govern." Zhu Yijun waved his hand, but he was someone who would take revenge for the smallest grievance.

This is not Zhang Juzheng's original work, but Liu Xiang of the Han Dynasty. It means that the superior must respect the subordinates and listen to what others say. Good words and bad words must be listened to. You can't just pick good words. This is the door of no taboo. Don't always put on the shelf that I am more noble than you, let others shut up. Only when more people speak, widely collect others' views, and choose to adopt them, is it the great way of a wise person.

If you are relatively stupid, then it is better to follow the book, otherwise you will be fooled.

Understanding the basic logic of social operation and being able to distinguish right from wrong is the best way.

"Lin Dashi, I have a few doubts, can we communicate?" Zhu Yijun was still very interested in this freedom faction. At least it was not entirely the sophistry of the base scholars who ignored the facts.

Lin Fucheng looked at the only person left, and his expression could be described as a mixture of emotions. There was loneliness, and also some relief. The loneliness was that everyone left, and the relief was that one remained.

"This young master, what doubts do you have?" Lin Fucheng walked over, without so many cumbersome rituals, and sat down directly. This action made the Embroidered Uniform Guard Zhao Mengyou's sword almost draw out.

Zhu Yijun immediately asked, "Why does the Master think that official factory group manufacturing will inevitably fail, and be so assertive?"

"Official factory group manufacturing is just another military colony guard system. Wang Chonggu is just a treacherous official. What kind of pioneering move does he have? Isn't the official factory group manufacturing that started from the wool official factory the military colony guard system of the early dynasty? When Emperor Taizu was there, this military colony guard system was still good. After Emperor Taizu left, no matter how Emperor Chengzu maintained it, the military colony guard system finally rotted." Lin Fucheng answered this question calmly.

Official factory group manufacturing and the military colony guard system of the early dynasty were almost no different, except that one was to settle hooligans as craftsmen, and one was to settle hooligans as guards. Both gave treatment and means of production. Official factories gave stable labor remuneration, and military colony guard systems gave land. Official factories had craftsman schools, and military colony guard systems also had guard schools and community schools.

Zhu Yijun thought for a while and shook his head, saying, "It's still different. The means of production of the military colony guard system is land, and the means of production of the official factory group manufacturing is the official factory itself. The output of land is heaven's time and earth's geography, two points of planting, three points of management, five points of fertilizer, and it is difficult to have a big breakthrough. But official factories are different. Official factories are continuous technological progress."

"What you said is reasonable." Lin Fucheng frowned. Land is affected by heaven's time, earth's geography, and people, and land output is difficult to have a breakthrough, but the production method of official factories, its upper limit with continuous technological progress, is indeed an upper limit that cannot be seen.

"Look, this Xishan Coal Bureau, in the second year of Wanli, was only 50 or 60 million catties of coal, and now it is at least 560 million catties a year. 50 or 60 million catties of coal could not even satisfy the use of the people in the capital, but 560 million catties of coal is a continuous supply of ironware, which can supply ironware in the capital, Xuanfu, Datong, Shandong, and parts of Liaodong." Zhu Yijun gave an example to support his point of view.

He pointed to Wang Qian next to him and said, "Wang Junior Minister's son Wang Qian, you ask him and you will know whether what I said is right or wrong."

Lin Fucheng fell into silence. This young man, what he said made sense.

Zhu Yijun and Lin Fucheng talked for an hour, and the harvest was extremely rich.

Zhu Yijun got on the carriage and said to Feng Bao, "Send a copy of the 'Xiaoyao Yiwen' run by Lin Fucheng to the imperial front every issue. He still has some things."

Zhu Yijun's private communication with Lin Dashi clearly knew the source of the Songjiang School, which was the City of Freedom in the fantasy West. The real City of Freedom in the West was just a pirate nest. And the Emperor also knew the foundation of the Songjiang School, which was why the powerful and wealthy in the south supported the spread of the Songjiang School.

Wang Chonggu's "Memorial on Equalizing Fields and Corvee" was scolded to the point of having to retire to avoid it, and there was a reason for it.

The fundamental reason why the Songjiang School was supported was the "hidden Ding" Wang Chonggu mentioned, or more accurately, the past strong personal attachment relationship, because the population census and official factory group manufacturing became precarious.

Lin Fucheng's talk about ineffective investment is gradually disintegrating the production relationship between the past servants and slave owners.

Official factory group manufacturing has a lot of ineffective investment, such as craftsman schools, such as weaving institutes for women, and labor remuneration will be settled. At least to maintain the face of the imperial court, the labor remuneration of craftsmen may be delayed, but they will generally be settled at the end of the year.

Craftsmen go to the Huangji Gate to see the Emperor every year. Once a craftsman says in His Majesty's ear, "I work, the big head doesn't give me money," that is thunderous anger falling from the sky.

Lin Fucheng talked about another point that the wealthy households could not accept, that is, the Great Ming's resident craftsmen, working in official factories, don't have to worry about food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and their personnel are all in the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Personnel's Qingli Division. Any punishment or elimination of a resident craftsman must pass through the Ministry of Personnel.

This led to a very interesting phenomenon. The resident craftsmen of the Great Ming are actually not very afraid of the meat-eaters such as big heads, meeting handlers, acting handlers, and general handlers, because these meat-eaters cannot make the resident craftsmen lose their most precious thing—the establishment.

This is fundamentally impossible in private workshops. In private workshops, a big head can make people difficult to death.

Those who work like it the most is that money is more, things are less, and they are close to home. In a sense, resident craftsmen have achieved this goal and in a sense have gained freedom.

To summarize, the end of the universe is the establishment.

This is a subtle transformation in production relations. The right to speak of craftsmen in official factories is far beyond private workshops. This is the deliberate intention of the imperial court, mainly for the technological progress of official factory group manufacturing. Countless whimsical ideas need craftsmen to think of solutions in production. The Great Ming imperial court's five-grade merit medal system is also applicable to official factory group manufacturing.

And Wang Chonggu's population census is a sharp blade inserted into the heart of the wealthy households.

Zhang Juzheng's clearing of fields and Wang Chonggu's population census are fundamentally digging the ancestral graves of the gentry and the powerful and wealthy.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 450 =====

In summary, the end of the universe is all about civil service positions.

This is a subtle transformation in production relations. The voice of craftsmen in official factories far exceeds that of private workshops. This is a deliberate act by the imperial court, mainly for the technological advancement of official factory group manufacturing. Countless ingenious ideas require craftsmen to think of solutions during production. The Great Ming court's five-grade merit medal system is equally applicable to official factory group manufacturing.

And the census of households conducted by Wang Chonggu is even more like a sharp blade plunged into the hearts of the wealthy.

Zhang Juzheng's clearing of land and returning it to farmers, and Wang Chonggu's census of households, are fundamentally digging up the ancestral graves of the local gentry and the powerful and wealthy.

(End of chapter)