Chapter 623: Fairness is Freedom

Lin Fucheng bowed to everyone around him and said: "Traffic jam again today. I'm one step late. Please don't blame me, everyone, don't blame me."

Unlike Li Zhi standing on the stage and the audience below being extremely lively, this apology from Lin Fucheng caused bursts of boos.

Lin Fucheng immediately said: "The monarch is naturally exploiting everyone in the world. It seems that everyone lives to repay the monarch's grace of re-creation. The monarch is supreme—family world, private world, using one person to privatize the world's ten thousand people."

"Lin Dashi, these words are just talk. In the current Great Ming, who doesn't know what's going on? Do you want me to count them one by one? From the beginning of the North-South List Case? Or from the fact that the three major halls just caught fire after moving the capital to the Northern Yamen?" Li Zhi immediately interrupted Lin Fucheng's spellcasting. This was a struggle based on the desire to survive.

"Yes, everything you say is right," Lin Fucheng did not let Li Zhi start from the beginning. If it were really like this, I'm afraid it wouldn't be finished in three days and three nights.

Lin Fucheng admitted that the other party was right. Imperial power was never omnipotent, and sometimes this Great Ming sky was not the Emperor himself.

"But what impact does this have? It's just their infighting. What we are discussing is the exploitation of the lower levels by this political framework established with the imperial system as the core." Was Lin Fucheng talking about the Emperor's evil? It looks a bit like it, but he was actually talking about the hierarchical and strict exploitation system with the imperial system as the core.

Although Li Zhi's counterattack was very exquisite, Lin Fucheng successfully brought the topic back from beginning to end. What he wanted to criticize was not the monarch, but this entire system.

Li Zhi's face changed several times. Lin Fucheng was worthy of being a famous master of debating with scholars. This attack on his own people was also bloody. He thought about it and immediately said: "Lin Dashi, what is the topic today? Lin Dashi shouldn't have forgotten, right?"

Lin Fucheng said calmly: "The arts of literature and martial arts learned are sold to the Emperor's family. What we are discussing is the alienation of people by money. Labor as a typical commodity is in circulation. The time and energy of poor people and bitter laborers are monetized and commodified. This is the essence of the alienation of people by money."

"Lin Dashi's words are reasonable," Zhu Yijun said with a smile. "Master Li, don't be nervous. What is the difference between us and the old men in the fields, pointing out the country under the old locust tree? What we are talking about, it may not be heard by the Emperor who lives deep in the nine-fold palace. Talk, there is nothing that cannot be talked about."

The Great Ming Emperor was worthy of being a disciple taught by the official leader Zhang Juzheng. The bullshit of living deep in the nine-fold palace, the Great Ming Emperor was standing alive in front of him, how could he not hear it!

The ability to tell lies with eyes open, one is bigger than the other!

Li Zhi's eyelids jumped, and the corners of his mouth twitched. He never thought that his role as an opinion basket after entering the capital was to pull Lin Fucheng, not to let Lin Fucheng talk nonsense. He would die, and he would drag a large group of people to be buried with him!

If court officials and court officials said these words, they would immediately be buckled with a hat of rebellion and thrown into the Northern Town Fusi to be interrogated whether there were accomplices. This is also the huge drawback of the identity of officials and scholars being combined. Some words cannot be said, and dare not be said.

So it is just right for opinion baskets like Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi to say it.

"Back to the beginning topic, those who eat meat occupy and exploit the labor of others. How is this realized?" Lin Fucheng said to everyone: "Money seems to have a magical power that is omnipotent. It can give prices to everything. It seems there is nothing it cannot measure."

"Money can make the energy and time of labor bought and sold as a commodity. The producer is the master of labor. He seems to be able to control all this. As a master, he can sell his labor at a so-called 'free market' at a fair price in exchange for labor remuneration."

"In this, there are two obvious fallacies."

"Oh? Which two?" Li Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although Lin Dashi's topic turned to the ghost gate, after talking and talking, he finally talked about business. Li Zhi immediately started to cooperate.

Lin Fucheng said very certainly: "The biggest lie here is freedom, and the second biggest lie is a fair price."

"This market is not free, and the price is not fair. Some mouthpieces of meat-eaters in the liberal faction are widely deceiving producers. They talk about freedom first. It seems that as long as the market is completely free, meat-eaters must pay a sufficiently fair price to ensure that producers stay here. After all, if you don't stay here, there are other places to stay."

"But if you look at this problem in reverse, you will completely understand how ridiculous their lie is."

"Looking in reverse, is it talking about fairness first, then freedom?" Li Zhi said with surprise: "Is it a fallacy that market freedom means fair prices?"

"Yes! It should be that fair prices mean market freedom," Lin Fucheng said very certainly: "Mouthpieces are always reversing cause and effect, because they don't need to sell their labor at a fair price in a free market. The production map tells us that abstract labor and concrete labor are both labor."

"It is precisely because the mouthpieces have obtained fair prices that they have freedom, but they shamelessly reverse the cause and effect. They are deceivers of the world!"

"A group of running dogs and claws of meat-eaters!"

The mouthpieces obtained fair prices, because the absolute number of mouthpieces compared to the huge number of producers is just a drop in the bucket. In this way, more mouthpieces will become supporters of "market freedom means fair prices," but in fact, these mouthpieces are just dogs raised by meat-eaters to deceive people, deceive themselves, and deceive the world.

"What you said cannot convince me. I still don't understand," Li Zhi said with a smile. "I think everyone is the same, confused."

The people who came to the gathering below, who could afford five taels of silver to come in and listen to the gathering, were all from powerful and influential families. It was equivalent to everyone paying to listen to Lin Fucheng scold them, but these people were all talking in small, eager voices.

"Lin Dashi, tell us in detail!" Yao Guangming shouted loudly. As Lin Fucheng's top fan, Yao Guangming liked Lin Fucheng's research very much, because Lin Fucheng was right. The families of the powerful and influential also need to cultivate virtue. Xu Youren's house was blown to the sky.

Lin Fucheng then said: "Market freedom means fair prices, and there is a contradiction in it, that is, we all know that all commercial behaviors, including official factories, are profit-seeking, because not seeking profit cannot survive and will be eliminated by the cruel market. Merchant groups, firms, chambers of commerce, traveling merchants, and peddlers are all like this. They all seek profit."

"It can even be said that all people's behaviors are profit-seeking."

"This has created a basic fact, that is, meat-eaters will form a broad consensus that it is best for producers to have no land, so that there is no way back. Producers should not have any means of production, so that they lose all bargaining power. In this way, producers will have no choice but to sell their labor for a living."

"And sell their labor at an extremely cheap price."

"And when meat-eaters organize production, they must make the value created by producers higher than the market value or commodity value, so as to ensure profit, right?"

"Profit equals labor value minus labor remuneration."

Zhu Yijun understood immediately what Lin Fucheng was explaining. It was actually surplus value. This was perhaps something that would inevitably be born in speculation after the birth of the production map and the theory of contradictions.

"Freedom means fairness. This is a lie, because in this set of rhetoric, everyone seems to have obtained fairness. You only need to think simply to get the obvious answer," Lin Fucheng drank some water to moisten his throat, gave people time to think, and then said: "Did everyone get fairness?"

"Meat-eaters obtained sufficient profits without using means of coercion, deception, or robbery; producers obtained sufficient labor remuneration without being deceived, enslaved, or exploited."

"If freedom means fairness, the principle of the market is fair trade, then where does this part of the value that constitutes profit come from? Out of nothing?"

Just one dollar can buy all-you-can-eat fried chicken, and delivering takeout at a fried chicken shop can buy a big house in a few years—this is a similar fallacy. Where does this part of the value that constitutes profit come from?

"Lin Dashi, labor is a kind of commodity. When meat-eaters organize production with money, they will establish a power that is almost dominant over others based on the means of production!" Li Zhi said very certainly: "This is inevitable, because producers, apart from constantly creating conditions for others to dominate and enslave themselves through labor, have nothing else to do."

Lin Fucheng took over the conversation and said: "Then, the mouthpieces call this distorted production relationship freedom."

"The power to freely choose work, the power to freely choose an employer, free migration—it seems that having freedom means having everything. But these meat-eaters, when paying labor remuneration, don't even want to pay the most basic labor remuneration to maintain survival."

"I was originally desperate. After reading the production map, I was already approaching despair. It seems that in this world, no one will have freedom."

"But later I was astonished to find that I was wrong."

"Oh? Did you find that the Emperor can obtain freedom?" Li Zhi asked.

Lin Fucheng sneered and said: "Where does the Emperor have any freedom? He has been blowing wind about going south for almost two years, but there has been no movement. Is it not that he should go south? After a large amount of silver flows into the Southern Yamen, it is full of various social contradictions. If the Emperor does not go, these contradictions will only lurk under the water, surging in the dark, and finally become a huge wave that tilts the sky."

"But His Majesty cannot move, cannot set off."

"Does His Majesty have freedom? You cannot discuss something that does not exist."

"I discovered that 'freedom means fairness' is a fallacy, and soon discovered that 'fairness means freedom' is the answer. This is my greatest discovery."

"Oh?" Li Zhi drank some water. The alienation of people by money, labor as a commodity, is in circulation. The first half has been finished. "Freedom means fairness" is a lie, and the reality is reversed.

Fairness means freedom.

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi gave everyone enough time to discuss. They were not in a hurry. The formation of consensus requires extensive discussion.

"Lin Fucheng spoke very well," Zhu Yijun said to Wang Qian: "Li Zhi is also born to be an opinion basket, not an official. If you let him do things, he can mess up the errand, but if you let him point fingers, he is very professional. Since the birth of the

"As the proprietor, I am very happy to see them speak with substance and reason."

Wang Qian said sincerely, "Your Majesty, actually, I previously highly approved of 'freedom leads to fairness,' but now, thinking about it carefully, it is truly nonsense. For the families of the powerful and influential, this also has full significance, so they don't have to destroy themselves amidst limitless exploitation."

"This kind of destruction could be a judgment from above within their own class, or it could be the anger from below of the poor and laborers who have nowhere else to turn. I personally think that for a healthy Great Ming, judgment from above should be faster and more direct than from below."

Wang Qian and Wang Chonggu are both extreme authoritarians. They never believe that anger from below is part of justice. Forcing the poor and laborers to such a point is the incompetence of authority, and only when the situation worsens to the point of being unmanageable will there be anger from below.

This is Wang Qian's logic: the Emperor and the imperial court should earnestly fulfill their duties, clear up social customs, and guarantee the interests of the vast majority, rather than using the four characters "governing by non-interference" as a shield. Hai Rui's *Security Memorial* actually always said one thing: what kind of bullshit "governing by non-interference"—it is fundamentally just muddling along.

Muddling along—what kind of authoritarian figure are you! What kind of Emperor are you!

"Some time ago, the Junior Grand Secretary was assassinated. Li Sanhu rushed toward the Junior Grand Secretary's carriage holding gunpowder. The sound of the explosion was clearly audible even in the Outer City. The Junior Grand Secretary's younger brother, Wang Chongyi, was blown to death on the spot." Lin Fucheng brought up the most vicious case in the capital recently: the assassination of the Junior Grand Secretary.

Li Zhi said in a low voice, "Some say the Way of Heaven is cyclical. The Junior Grand Secretary's nephew, Zhang Siwei, assassinated the Emperor, and now the Junior Grand Secretary has also been assassinated. The wicked have their own retribution."

"Fart!" Lin Fucheng and Wang Qian said almost in unison, blurting it out. When Wang Qian heard this, his face flushed red, and he even sprang up from his chair. Whoever dared to say such a thing, Wang Qian would make him witness what a little bit of the willfulness of power is!

Lin Fucheng looked around the circle and said, "Why does the Junior Grand Secretary invite hatred?"

"Because while ensuring the profits of the official factories, he gave the craftsmen sufficient respect, extremely high status, a relatively safe production environment, sufficient labor remuneration, and security without worries. The three-level schools, the official welfare pharmacies, etc., are the reasons why the Junior Grand Secretary invites hatred."

"According to the Junior Grand Secretary's own words, he merely distributed thirty percent of the profits downward."

"Because of the official factories, I saw fair labor remuneration as the hope for realizing freedom."

"The Junior Grand Secretary's little grandson at home had both arms burned and had a fever for seventeen days before he could finally sleep peacefully. If it weren't for Wang Chongyi riding in the carriage, I'm afraid the Junior Grand Secretary would have already passed away." Li Zhi admired Wang Chonggu extremely, because he himself was not very capable, so he envied those capable, law-abiding officials.

"And the Junior Grand Secretary has also promised to return to court tomorrow to work. What kind of courage is this? As the heavens maintain their vigor through movement, a gentleman should strive for self-improvement." Li Zhi announced a piece of news to everyone. The news that Wang Chonggu had finished his recuperation and was returning to court needed to be revealed by someone in the know, and that person in the know was Li Zhi.

Li Zhi heard it from the proprietor, Wang Qian.

Li Zhi, who had to resign due to incompetence, admired Wang Chonggu immensely. What surprised Li Zhi even more was that Wang Chonggu actually did not resign but chose to continue working. This meant the risk of assassination was still there; this was immense courage!

"As soon as His Majesty's carriage left, Father regretted it, cursing himself for how he could have lost his head just because he saw His Majesty come in person, actually promising to return to court to work." Wang Qian added a small detail. When Wang Chonggu saw His Majesty, a surge of hot blood rushed to his head, and he forgot all about weighing the pros and cons!

Once His Majesty left, Wang Chonggu cursed himself twice at the All-Jin Guild Hall.

"Wang Qian! You really are a filial son to your father! Can this be said to me?!" Zhu Yijun held his forehead. It was not without reason that Wang Chonggu chased Wang Qian with a ring-pommel saber. The image of a proper loyal official with a hard backbone was all ruined by Wang Qian because of this regret.

"My father said the same thing! Hahaha." Wang Qian laughed without a care. His father is a person, a person in the biological sense. Although he is old, he still gets impulsive, and after being impulsive, he regrets it. This is what a living person is.

"Your Majesty, my father also said that Your Majesty is so diligent, like the founding Emperor Taizu. My father solemnly told me: no matter how one lives, it's just one lifetime; one must have a sense of relaxation!" Wang Qian brought up Wang Chonggu's admonition again.

"Not relaxed at all." Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said, "Watching the fun is the only time I have to relax."

"Is this relaxation? This is correcting improper customs; this is observing the urgent needs of the people everywhere. This is not relaxation." Wang Qian whispered a few words to a young eunuch, and the young eunuch called over a waiter from the Taibai Tower.

"Order a hundred flower baskets and send them to those young ladies downstairs. Let them shout a few times loudly. After the gathering ends later, treat Lin Dashi well." Wang Qian spent 11,000 silver in one go; at 100 silver per flower basket, buying more actually cost more.

"Your Majesty, this is what a sense of relaxation is."

"Relaxation my ass." Zhu Yijun said with a sense of disappointment, "You spendthrift! The silver your father earned after struggling for a lifetime will sooner or later be squandered by you!"

Screams from the young ladies rang out downstairs. If it weren't for the waiters at the door, these ladies would have likely trampled over each other to rush into this top-tier private room and pick Wang Qian's bones and suck his marrow.

After the commotion gradually calmed down, Lin Fucheng finally said, "Fairness means freedom. Only with sufficiently fair labor remuneration can the power to freely choose work and freely choose an employer be guaranteed, and only then will employers not dare to exploit excessively, and only then can everyone obtain freedom."

"We must first clarify one thing: the relationship established between the powerful who organize production and the producers is a class relationship. One must acknowledge the existence of class and exploitation for everything to have meaning. Saying that the local gentry are all great philanthropists and that every bit given to the poor and laborers is a reward—to say it this way is to deny the real existence of class and exploitation."

"Then, all class relationships must be intervened in by the imperial court and the law as arbitrators, supervisors, and enforcers, and it must be a powerful intervention for the imperial court to be considered to have fulfilled its obligations."

"Producers will fiercely resist exploitation to obtain more remuneration, while the powerful will exploit more cruelly for more profit. Violent conflict will inevitably arise. In order not to have the producers and the powerful destroy each other in fierce conflict, this transcendent power of the imperial court is needed."

It is not without reason that Lin Fucheng went from being a standard-bearer for shelling autocratic authority to being criticized as a traitor to the liberal faction and a running dog of authority. It would be strange if he weren't criticized for saying this.

Li Zhi pondered for a moment and said, "Since you mentioned that conflict arises between producers and the powerful because of exploitation, leading to the destruction of each other, then is it true that the more effort and success the powerful have in dealing with producers, the greater the profit, while the more successful the producers are in resisting exploitation, the lower the profit?"

"Quite the contrary." Lin Fucheng waved his hand and said, "Viewing producers and the powerful as opposites seems to be the case."

"But in fact, the class relationship between producers and the powerful is a unity of opposites; they are both opposing and interdependent, mutually reliant. If the official factories' efficiency is not good and profits cannot be distributed downward, and producers cannot get remuneration, they will try every means to earn labor remuneration and will leave the official factories."

"Under fair labor remuneration, producers will not leave but will save themselves, improve productivity, provide better goods, and lower costs to increase profits."

"To a certain extent, it is a case of 'if the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact'—they prosper together and suffer together."

Lin Fucheng changed the subject and said, "Therefore, I say the relationship between monarch and subject is also a class relationship, and it is also a process of exploitation and encroaching upon the labor of others."

Li Zhi turned his head abruptly to look at Lin Fucheng. Today's gathering was already nearing its end. Li Zhi originally thought he had escaped a disaster, but he didn't expect Lin Fucheng to bring up old matters again! Such a taboo topic was actually brought up again!

I'm afraid his name is flashing before the King of Hell's eyes again.

"But His Majesty gave sufficient and fair labor remuneration, so in this way, there is no problem." Lin Fucheng said sincerely, "His Majesty rewards and punishes clearly. The Duke of Fengguo, the Marquis of Zhangping, the Marquis of Ningyuan, the Earl of Yicheng, the Earl of Taigu, the Marquis of Shouli, the Marquis of Sishui, the Marquis of Yingyang, the Earl of Shilong, the Earl of Yingchang, the Earl of Jiang'an."

"These civil and military officials who have fought for years for the Great Ming's resurgence have all received His Majesty's fair labor remuneration."

"This is also what I want to say. In the short term, exploitation cannot disappear, and class will not disappear. Exploitation exists long-term. It looks like this is caused by a lack of material abundance, but in fact, even after great material abundance, people still have the need to enslave others. Then exploitation will not disappear, and class will not disappear."

"After great material abundance, the disappearance of class is just a distant pursuit. Striving tirelessly for this distant dream looks a bit foolish, but at the same time, this is human rationality, the key and romance of pursuing all progress and overcoming the inherent evil of human nature."

"When class has not disappeared, fair labor remuneration can allow people to obtain limited freedom."

"Lin Dashi speaks well!" Zhu Jiyan, as a representative of the powerful and influential, stood up and applauded the gathering between Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi today. They are creating wind-like public opinion to change consensus and shape public order and good customs.

Applause thundered. The gathering between Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi was very substantial. Even those with different stances would not come away empty-handed after listening.

After waiting for the applause to calm down, Lin Fucheng said with a complicated expression, "Actually, we have said so much, but it is nothing more than the Senior Grand Secretary's 'trust in rewards and punishments.' Such a long-winded discussion is not as good as the Senior Grand Secretary's three words."

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi walked up the steps. Those who knew Master Huang's identity knew that these two were going to see the Emperor, while those who didn't know Master Huang's identity also knew that Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi were under Master Huang's protection. The Assistant Regional Commander of the Judicial Office, Chen Mo, who protected their safety, was ironclad proof.

"Lin Dashi is too modest. The Master's 'trust in rewards and punishments' was actually not as specific as Lin Dashi said; it was proposed more for the sake of strengthening the military and reviving martial spirit." Zhu Jiyan saw Lin Fucheng and said with a smile. Zhang Juzheng's "trust in rewards and punishments" was actually relatively one-sided, mainly for reviving martial spirit, which is completely different from the concept of "labor has rewards" that Lin Fucheng talked about.

"We opinion-mongers can only offer opinions. Those who do the work are the likes of the Senior and Junior Grand Secretaries. But has Master Huang also become a student of the Senior Grand Secretary?" Lin Fucheng was extremely relaxed. Master Huang was actually a student of Zhang Juzheng, which surprised Lin Fucheng somewhat.

He thought that after You Qi demanded the waist medallion of the All-Chu Guild Hall from Qi Jiguang, the Grand General's Mansion and the All-Chu Guild Hall had no more dealings with each other.

Li Zhi really felt his eyes go black. If you say Lin Fucheng is stupid, he guessed that Master Huang had become a student of Zhang Juzheng from the word "Master" that Master Huang used. If you say he is smart, he just didn't think of the Penglai Huang clan, the Emperor of Heaven, being so directly obscure.

Of course, it's not Lin Fucheng's fault. Where has there ever been an Emperor who travels around under the guise of a subject's family member? Lin Fucheng really hasn't seen this scene before.

"Then, since 'labor has rewards' has been proposed, one must try every means to ensure that producers have labor rewards and fair labor remuneration. So, do the two masters have any good ideas?" Zhu Jiyan asked with a smile.

"No." Li Zhi answered very clearly.

"We don't do specific work and don't know the contradictions within. Being an opinion-monger is enough. If one insists on being a teacher, teaching the Emperor and the lords how to do things, isn't that just nonsense?" Lin Fucheng told the Emperor very clearly that he had no specific ideas.

Zhu Jiyan smiled and said, "I actually have some ideas. Recently, over in Gansu, they set up a notarization at the border markets, notarizing contracts between merchants to ensure the interests of merchants from the Western Regions and the hinterland, ensuring the prosperity of the Silk Road."

"I think this method is very good. It can also be used locally to set up similar notarization to ensure relative fairness between producers and the powerful."

Signing labor contracts is the first step to ensuring fair labor remuneration.