Chapter 457: An Age of Great Contention, the Strong Prevail, the Weak Perish!

Wang Chonggu opposed including speculative behavior in the criminal code. He did not oppose it for no reason, nor was he standing in the position of the powerful gentry to protect those Jin merchants who manipulated ticket certificate prices, but based on practical considerations.

Wang Chonggu looked at His Majesty's expression and whispered, "Your Majesty, such news, true and false, has never been rare. 'Three people make a tiger,' and 'public opinion melts gold.' Many times, rumors are rampant, and it may also be some idle people talking nonsense. This word-of-mouth spreads more and more evil. Rumors stop at the wise. Distinguishing right from wrong and determining truth from falsehood requires speculators to judge the truth and falsehood of these news."

Speculation is the truth and falsehood of speculation.

It is not easy to investigate. Even if the law is formulated, how to implement it is also a problem.

What is a rumor, what is deliberate clamor, how to define it? The trading exchange itself is full of all kinds of true and false news.

Don't the speculators participating in the game in the trading exchange think they are smarter than others, can distinguish truth from falsehood, and thus profit?

The trading exchange is a besieged city. When standing outside, you can see it very clearly and clearly. Once you enter the game, you will lose rationality. People who enter the game want to walk out, but the sunk cost makes them deeply trapped and unable to extricate themselves.

If manipulating ticket certificate prices enters the criminal code, it is not just an administrative penalty, then who would be willing to enter the market? Then the new policy of the trading exchange is a complete failure.

"Your Majesty, taking this bookmaker's manipulation of post road ticket certificates as an example, this time they manipulated continuously for 15 days, which led to the point where everyone knew it. If the 15 days are turned into three months, and then slowly planned, eating a little bit, spitting out a little bit, this is the second problem I worry about: how to define normal trading and manipulating ticket certificates." Wang Chonggu stated his second worry.

Because definition is difficult, this charge is easy to become a basket charge. The criminal name is most afraid of this kind of vague definition and unclear language. Its harm is that the handling officials do not distinguish between right and wrong, and everything is relied on this charge. Finally, this article will gradually become a dormant clause because of excessive execution.

This has happened more than once in the Great Ming.

Wang Chonggu said with a strange expression, "This subject is dull-witted. Let alone going to Suiyuan to build post roads, even if the guillotine is placed on their necks, it is estimated that they should still do it. Some time ago, the Great Ming attacked Bansheng, and there were still people from the Bai family who colluded with the enemy. Sometimes, being in the trading exchange, facing those countless fools, it is difficult to resist not taking action. It's like the crops are ripe, the imperial court says you can't harvest, how can the people resist?"

"A very concrete metaphor." Zhu Yijun agreed with Wang Chonggu's words. He himself engaged in agriculture, and seeing that the wheat was ripe, it must be harvested. Even if the Heavenly King came, he couldn't stop it! Watching the wheat rot in the field is more painful than killing him.

Wang Chonggu's words are also very clear: there are too many fools and not enough scammers. How strong must one's will be to resist not harvesting leeks?

"Then if the criminal name doesn't work, what does the Senior Grand Secretary Wang think should be done?" Zhu Yijun wanted to know how Wang Chonggu would fill this gap. It is impossible not to formulate rules. This is something the imperial court has tinkered with, so the imperial court must draw lines to let people gamble under the rules.

Wang Chonggu said concisely, "Fine money."

"Fine money?" Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up, he leaned forward and said, "Speak carefully."

Wang Chonggu said quite definitely, "Below 5,000 taels, confiscate the proceeds and impose a double fine; 5,000 to 10,000 taels, confiscate the proceeds and impose a triple fine; above 10,000 taels, confiscate the proceeds and impose a quintuple fine. For extremely large amounts, punish heavily as appropriate."

"Hmm! Good! Senior Grand Secretary Wang, just draft the chapter." Zhu Yijun finally adopted Wang Chonggu's opinion.

The trading exchange is a place for speculation. In a place for speculation, confiscating speculative proceeds and imposing fines—what is the difference between this behavior and taking off your pants to fart? If you want to rob openly, just say it directly. Why do you need to take such a big detour?

Its internal logic is anti-corruption, and its fundamental purpose is to prevent collusion between officials and merchants.

Officials use their positions and status to always obtain more information than ordinary people. Once officials and merchants join forces to seek huge profits in the trading exchange, this is unfair to others and violates the Great Ming's "Constitutional Regulations".

The "Constitutional Regulations" are specifically used to regulate the behavior of officials, with a total of 95 articles. This is a typical case of seeking personal gain by power and is the focus of the imperial court's anti-corruption.

In this fluctuation of the trading exchange, this private trading house with a threshold, these bookmakers obviously have their own sources of information. Several times they received news accurately in advance and used this news to seek huge profits. At this time, there is no ambiguity in definition. As long as officials participate in it, it is manipulating ticket certificates.

Punishing multiple fines applies to the powerful gentry, wealthy merchants, and giants in the private sector. The "Constitutional Regulations" apply to officials and are handled according to corruption.

Zhu Yijun and Wang Chonggu communicated deeply about the matter of punishing multiple fines. After receiving a satisfactory answer, Zhu Yijun let Wang Chonggu leave.

"Senior Grand Secretary Wang, stay, stay." Lu Shusheng saw that Wang Chonggu was going back to the Ministry of Justice, hurried two steps, and whispered, "Senior Grand Secretary Wang, is this matter considered over here?"

"Why, does the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review want the Minister of Revenue or the Minister of Works to leave office?" Wang Chonggu frowned, raised his hands, and said, "The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review should not spend all day with those Censorate officials. The Great Ming imperial court raises them to pick faults. We are all people who do things, and we are not on the same path as them."

Censorate officials are not considered deformed products. On the contrary, they have always been a very important corrective force for the Great Ming imperial court. These Censorate officials bite whoever they catch, but the six ministries that do things cannot be like them.

"It's best to end here." Lu Shusheng was relieved to hear Wang Chonggu say this.

"What do you mean?" Wang Chonggu looked at Lu Shusheng and frowned, "Does the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review mean that the wind of public opinion attacking the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Works this time was stirred up by me?"

Lu Shusheng asked Wang Chonggu if it was over, which itself was very strange. What does this matter have to do with him, Wang Chonggu?!

Lu Shusheng's view is not his personal view, perhaps it is the view of the entire capital hall. Wang Chonggu has the motive to do so. Wang Guoguang is a traitor to the Jin party. Cleaning up the portal is the first motive. The second motive is the formulation of the trading exchange rules, so that the rules are favorable to himself from the beginning.

Wang Chonggu is irritable. He was already furious, but soon he calmed down because he discovered something he hadn't noticed in the past. If Lu Shusheng hadn't asked, Wang Chonggu wouldn't have thought about it. His foundation had actually changed.

He suddenly realized that his foundation had changed from the Jin party, which had deep roots in the past, to the official factory group. The capital officials still looked at people with old eyes, thinking that he must take the opportunity to take action for the past grievances and toss Wang Guoguang. But Wang Chonggu himself knew very well that his motive was insufficient.

The official factory group is more reliable than relying on clan parties. This discovery made Wang Chonggu ecstatic.

"It's all old sesame and rotten grains, not worth mentioning. This time it really wasn't me, but there is already a way to deal with it. These Censorate officials can no longer bite and not let go, so I said it ends here." Wang Chonggu explained, and didn't care whether Lu Shusheng believed it or not, turned and left, and went to the Ministry of Justice.

Finding that boundary between good and evil in the abyss of human nature being evil is a long-term contradiction, and it needs to be constantly adjusted with the development of the times. There has never been anything that remains unchanged.

Soon, Wang Chonggu drafted the "Trading Exchange Regulations," supplemented the "Constitutional Regulations," and filled this gap in the law. It prohibits manipulation and prohibits collusion between officials and merchants. If officials want to act as "well-informed people," they will face different specifications of punishment such as confiscation of proceeds, demotion, dismissal, deprivation of official status and merit, and exile. Multiple fines are to restrict the private sector.

After filling the gap, the Censorate officials finally calmed down.

Zhu Yijun received the second issue of "Carefree Anecdotes."

Since Lin Fucheng debated the Confucian scholars at Taibai Tower and did not fall behind, the Songjiang School has stood firm in the Great Ming capital hall!

And Wang Qian no longer made things difficult for Lin Fucheng. Soon, "Carefree Anecdotes" launched a discussion on the boundaries of freedom. Not violating public order and good customs, not violating the Great Ming Law, this is the first element of the boundaries of freedom. Otherwise, the liberal faction would become the accomplice of the evildoers, the advocate of cruel exploitation from top to bottom.

Just like Zhu Yijun as the Emperor, as the top carnivore of the Great Ming, supports absolute freedom. Then as the Emperor, he can rob openly, and Young Master Huang can kill Lin Fucheng on the street.

Freedom order emphasizes individual freedom, which is by no means disorderly freedom, but carried out within a certain order framework.

Lin Fucheng's definition of freedom is very clear: not to be forced and dominated by the will of others.

This definition is simple and clear, and even looks a bit vulgar, but Lin Fucheng defines it this way, because many times in order to make some definitions look elegant, too many annotations make the definition confusing, so it is better to explain it simply and clearly.

In order to understand more conveniently and intuitively, in the second issue of "Carefree Anecdotes," Lin Fucheng described in detail the victory of slavery in Jiangnan. There are wealthy households with as many as one or two thousand slaves. All such slaves have deeds of sale, and their descendants cannot be removed from the register for generations.

In the 26th year of Jiajing, the Qian family of Taicang had a musician who had a private affair with a servant. The master was dissatisfied, and the servant clamored for the deed of sale. One call and a thousand responded, each went to their own master's door and forced the deed.

Some wealthy households led servants to suppress, but the slaves were numerous and powerful, broke into the house, set fire to the house; some wealthy households returned the deeds to the slaves, but the slaves still refused to let go, broke the door hall, and forced the female family members; some tied up the masters, used knives to tattoo, and carved humiliating characters on people's faces, etc.

After this Taicang slave rebellion, Taicang had the Wulong Society, specializing in robbery, seizing weapons and deeds. At its peak, there were 3,400 people in the stronghold, which was glorious for a time.

This is a slave rebellion that few people know about. At that time, everyone's eyes were on the Japanese pirates. Regarding the slave rebellion, few people heard about it, or it was simply reported to the imperial court as Japanese pirates.

Is that the only case in Taicang?

In "Carefree Anecdotes," Lin Fucheng listed the "Li Ren Society" in Macheng, Hubei, the "Nose-Cutting Class" in Jintan, Changzhou, and the "Big Knife Gang" in Retainer, Kunshan. These vibrant folk societies have tens of thousands of people who seize deeds, with great momentum, and are gradually forming slogans with great cohesion.

Eliminate the nobility and inferiority of masters and servants, and equalize the poor and rich.

Lin Fucheng used long articles to describe in detail the current situation of the lives of slaves in Jiangnan, the fierce contradictions between slaves and masters, and the cruelty of the struggle, and criticized the production relations of strong personal dependency.

"Gone?" Zhu Yijun turned to the last page and said with unfinished meaning.

Jiangnan has developed to the point where there is nothing to annex and nothing to combine. Resistance has begun. Slaves used various means to kill the masters who had been domineering in the past. The means were different. The Nose-Cutting Class would cut off the noses of the masters they caught, the Big Knife Gang would chop people directly, and the Wulong Society would occupy the fields and open warehouses to distribute grain.

"This Lin Dashi saw the phenomenon, found the problem behind the phenomenon, and also explained the reason. What about the solution? It's gone?" Zhu Yijun put down the Carefree Anecdotes and said angrily.

Feng Bao said happily: "In Lin Dashi's own words, what solution do they have? If there is a solution, are they still doing pen-correcting in the poetry club?"

As a pen-corrector, a master who plays with his mouth, being able to do this step is already Lin Dashi's limit. The scars have been picked. As for how to heal these wounds, that is the matter of the court. If there is really a solution, then he should sit in the Wenhua Hall as a minister.

"Reasonable." Zhu Yijun handed the "Carefree Anecdotes" to Feng Bao and said: "Let the Master see it."

"Yes."

In fact, the imperial court has also noticed the problem. The first step to realize Wang Chonggu's "Memorial on Equalizing Fields and Corvee" is to census the population and figure out how many people there are in the Great Ming, so that it is convenient to continue. And census the population, the most important thing is to find out the hidden people in the powerful gentry's homes. The hidden population is actually the slaves that actually exist in the Great Ming.

In December of the fourth year of Wanli, the Governor of Grain Transport, Wu Guifang, returned to Beijing and submitted the "Six Discussions on Tuntian," the fourth of which is: to gather refugees to give fields, those who cannot reclaim, the government gives cattle and seeds, and return to the government in three years. The original owner returns to recognize, and is not allowed to sue.

Not allowing the original owner to sue is that the law does not support or recognize the deed of sale. Wu Guifang's article is for Tuntian. At that time, this article could not be realized. Finally, the other five articles were implemented in Danning Guard, Quanning Guard, and Liaodong.

At that time, the administrative power, military power, and economic power of the Great Ming imperial court could not support the practice of this article. Therefore, the ministers of the Great Ming are not unaware of the problem, but cannot do it.

Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial. This is the memorial of the Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe. He wrote a new "Overseas Foreign Countries Records." This volume is about the Mughal Empire, or India. Wan Shihe has exhausted his efforts, but there are really too few historical materials about India, and the most detailed record is the current Mughal Empire.

Wan Shihe discussed a type of commodity in the memorial: cotton and cotton cloth.

In the tenth year of Hongzhi of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and arrived at the port of Calicut in India, finally directly contacting Indian weavers. This was the first time the Westerners contacted Indian weavers, and they no longer needed a large number of middlemen.

Before da Gama arrived in India, Persian merchants used ships to transport cotton and cotton cloth out of India, and then took camels across the desert to hand over the goods to the Ottomans. The Ottomans then used ships to sell cotton and cotton cloth to all parts of the West.

Cotton cloth is completely different from silk. Cotton cloth is a bulk commodity, not a luxury item like silk that is equivalent to gold. The trade of such bulk commodities will directly promote maritime trade and prosperity.

In Wan Shihe's view, only bulk commodities are qualified to become world-class commodities, and only bulk commodities can promote the development of maritime trade into a complex maritime trade network centered on the Great Ming. Only bulk commodities can maintain the scale of the industry, and only bulk commodities can provide enough wealth to organize an army to project violence to the remote corners of the world. In Wan Shihe's view, cotton and cotton cloth will become world-class commodities.

Humble status is humble status for generations, not allowed to change occupations, not allowed to impersonate the register, and not allowed to take the imperial examination. Those with improper origins are not allowed to take the examination.

This is also Zhang Juzheng's lower strategy. The imperial court does not interfere too much, just gives tenants and others an equal status in the law, letting the invisible hand adjust production materials and production relations. This kind of infamy borne by the imperial court is the least, and it is also the slowest, which can only be left to time.

The second stage, reduce rent, the imperial court rigidly stipulates the number of tenant rent collected by landlords from tenants, not exceeding 25% of land production. If it exceeds, it will be punished. Depending on the situation, the highest will be confiscated, and the confiscated land registration will be released to the people for self-cultivation.

Releasing, that is, the imperial court publicly sells and releases, which is also part of the rent reduction stage, that is, the imperial court uses silver, ship introduction, ticket certificates, and other means to buy land from landlords, and then sells it to the people. Then the imperial court recovers the land price through additional levies, completing land circulation.

This middle strategy seems so perfect, but in fact, it is full of loopholes in execution. Whether it is public sale and release or the land price paid in installments for ten years, as long as the wealthy households and local Yamen collude, it will further become a tool for annexation.

This led to Zhang Juzheng's upper strategy, quota fields.

The third stage, quota fields, no one is allowed to own more than 100 mu of land deeds under their name, otherwise it will be confiscated. The confiscated land deeds will be converted into official fields, used by the authorities to settle refugees. Land registration is not allowed to be traded. With the Li (110 households as one Li) as the unit, it is collectively owned.

It seems to be upper, middle, and lower strategies. In fact, three processes, combined with the actual situation of the Great Ming, can reach the second stage, which is already enough to shout for the ancestors' blessing.

Returning fields is very difficult. Zhang Juzheng is very clear about the difficulty, so he wrote nearly 10,000 words, and this is his simple plan, not a concrete practice. On the day of practice, there will only be more problems. Zhang Juzheng does not know whether he can reach the second stage in his lifetime.

"Master is great." Zhu Yijun put away the memorial and said sincerely.

Zhang Juzheng bowed and said: "Your Majesty is magnificent."

These contents of his are not fresh things. In fact, they are variants of the official field law in the late Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty was in danger, and Jia Sidao was too anxious, making a mess. Jia Sidao was killed by the county lieutenant Zheng Huchen who escorted him. Four years later, the Southern Song Dynasty died.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng had already been doing these things in the second year of Wanli. For example, in the second year of Wanli, the court decided that a ship introduction for outgoing ships would be exchanged for 10,000 mu of fertile land, lower fields were discounted by one-fourth, and middle fields were discounted by one-half. Songjiang Prefecture had already been redeemed, but the main purpose at that time was to supply the needs of the navy.

Now Zhang Juzheng's new policy has a completely different purpose. The contents of this memorial are universal.

"Master, if I didn't mention this matter today, wouldn't you intend to submit this memorial?" Zhu Yijun asked very seriously.

Zhang Juzheng bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the Great Ming is already very good."

In Zhang Juzheng's view, there is no need to go to that step. The Great Ming's revival has become a foregone conclusion. Doing more is making more mistakes. If the Great Ming is torn apart because of the implementation of the new policy, that is not the situation Zhang Juzheng wants to see.

"The most important thing now is to eat!" Zhu Yijun stood up and said with a smile.

Heaven and earth are big, eating is the biggest.

Zhu Yijun had lunch at the Quanchu Hall. After returning to the Tonghe Palace, he went to the Northern Tucheng Camp to review the troops. The sun set in the west, and the Great Ming Emperor returned to the Tonghe Palace and received the memorial submitted by the eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Every year, Zhu Yijun meets with foreign officials, county assistants, elders, and the people before the New Year, from a small number of foreign officials in the first year of Wanli to a scale of nearly 1,000 people now.

These memorials help Zhu Yijun understand the current situation of the Great Ming.

In the few days before the New Year, Zhu Yijun is not relaxed. He has to go to Daxing Nanhai to see the family of the Duntai Marquis, go to the Yongding Wool Mill to inspect, go to the Xishan Coal Bureau to see the kiln workers, and then take the Empress to the nursing home to see the poor people spending the winter. These are all conventions.

On the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yijun specially went to the Mansion of the Minister of War. Tan Lun's state was getting worse and worse. Zhu Yijun waited for half an hour but did not wait for Tan Lun to wake up, so he had to leave.

Tan Lun was holding on, waiting for Qi Jiguang to return to the court, and personally asked about the Hetao matter, but he did not wait until the end.

Zhu Yijun rushed to the Mansion of the Minister of War at the fastest speed.

"Your Majesty is here." Tan Lun wanted to get up and salute, but he couldn't do it at all, so he could only pull out a faint bitter smile.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 460 =====

Just like the Longqing Imperial Mausoleum only used 500,000 silver, 110,000 of which were settled in the second year, the Northern Song Dynasty also faced a crisis of financial deficit. Wang Anshi and these reformers stepped onto the stage.

Wang Anshi's reform failed for many reasons, but Emperor Shenzong of Song no longer supported the reform with all his strength as the financial resources became more abundant, which is one of the reasons.

According to the general law of historical development, the war between the Emperor and the Imperial Tutor and Senior Grand Secretary will inevitably proceed!

Unfortunately, it is disappointing that on December 23rd of the ninth year of Wanli, the Great Ming Emperor took Empress Wang and his eldest son Zhu Changzhi to the Quanchu Hall again. Every 23rd of the month is the day the Emperor fixed to go to the Quanchu Hall for a meal. Many people use this as a standard for whether the relationship between the Emperor and the Senior Grand Secretary is harmonious.

The Great Ming Emperor's Imperial Carriage arrived as scheduled, making some ambitious people very disappointed!

The eldest imperial son, Zhu Changzhi, rarely left Tonghe Palace. At two years old, he was already able to scramble and jump about, and he spoke quite clearly. This was also the first time Zhu Yijun had brought his eldest son along to cadge a meal. Zhu Changzhi liked Xiong Tingbi very much; seeing Xiong Tingbi's burly and rugged appearance, not only was he not afraid, but he actually took a great liking to the broadness of Xiong Tingbi's back.

"How have Xiong Da's studies been lately?" Zhu Yijun asked about Xiong Tingbi's recent academic progress.

Zhang Juzheng thought about it seriously and said: "Both civil and military, he didn't want to delay the examination for the provincial graduate before, he wanted to join the army. I plan to let him go to Suiyuan."

"Suiyuan? He is only thirteen years old." Zhu Yijun said in surprise. Even if Xiong Tingbi looked more mature than his years, he was still just a thirteen-year-old child!

"Not small anymore. Your Majesty was killing thieves with the Embroidered Uniform Guards in Xishan at fifteen, and Li Rusong was killing captives with his father in Liaodong at fourteen. Your Majesty, the people should get married at fourteen, two years earlier than the imperial family." Zhang Juzheng said quite seriously.

"Wait until ten." Zhu Yijun waved his hand repeatedly and said: "That's different, that's no way."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Zhang Juzheng pondered for a moment and agreed. Xiong Tingbi was a talent worth molding; it would not be too late to let him learn more by his side before going out to gain experience. Xiong Tingbi's personality was too direct and needed to learn a bit of tact while by Zhang Juzheng's side.

"The land survey in Sichuan finally has movement this year." Zhu Yijun talked about the land survey and return. Compared with the rapid growth of the previous few years, the Great Ming's land survey and return in the ninth year of Wanli was 8.44 million qing, which included the land survey in Sichuan. Last year it was 7.92 million qing.

After the big case of Luo Yao accepting bribes of 340,000 silver came to an end, the land survey in Sichuan finally began to get on the right track.

"This year's annual revenue is abnormal, a bit too much." Zhang Juzheng also received the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue. The Great Ming's land tax this year was converted into 15.2 million silver, and industrial and commercial taxes and official factories, etc., exceeded 40% for the first time, reaching 10.48 million silver.

The Great Ming's land tax converted into silver plus industrial and commercial taxes totaled 25.68 million silver.

This industrial and commercial tax, the largest part comes from the customs duties of opening the sea. The silver escorted by the Shipping Commissioner to the capital exceeded 3.2 million silver. The official factory group contributed 1.8 million silver, the same as last year. Among them, the most important thing is that the Emperor led the opening of the sea investment dividend, which exceeded 2.2 million silver.

Compared with last year's 7.23 million silver, the absolute value of growth reached 3.25 million silver. You know, during the Jiajing period, the imperial court's annual revenue converted into silver was no more than 6 million silver, six and a half late emperor mausoleums.

"It's not strange. In the whole Nanyang, the registered land has exceeded 1.7 million qing. There are 74 official plantations and 124 private plantations, totaling 198." Zhu Yijun saw the details of the audit very clearly. The main force of growth is mainly customs duties and plantation income.

Farming and collecting taxes are indeed the two most profitable businesses at present.

"With so much annual revenue, I still have to issue national debt to borrow money from the people. I am really ashamed of Your Majesty." Zhang Juzheng's expression was as complex as it could be.

The Emperor borrowing from the people is such a bad thing that damages the Emperor's majesty, but the imperial court really has no money. It earns a lot and spends a lot. The military expenditure alone exceeded 12 million silver.

"Next spring, I will invest 10 million silver to open the sea." Zhu Yijun talked about his plan, opening the sea investment.

Shen Shixing felt that some projects could be subdivided to raise funds in the trading exchange, and the risk could be transferred downward, but Zhu Yijun did not intend to do it immediately.

He intends to increase investment.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 458 =====