Chapter 695: A Difficult Decision Against Ancestral Law

Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with the conduct of the Yao clan of Qiantang. Compared to the powerful and wealthy families who only knew how to collect rent, Zhu Yijun preferred these profit-oriented emerging bourgeoisie. To the Emperor, the emerging bourgeoisie were undoubtedly very dangerous, because they would inevitably demand social status and political power from the old aristocracy, making a clash of contradictions unavoidable.

Yet for the current stage of the Great Ming, the most dangerous element was not the emerging bourgeoisie, but the decaying, stagnant, and unenterprising local gentry, whose production relations were still based on strong personal dependency.

The national, emerging bourgeoisie would certainly sound the death knell for feudal autocracy, but these local gentry would sound the death knell for the Great Ming. Facing an imminent crisis, Zhu Yijun did not choose the conservative local gentry. This was not a matter of choice; the logic of politics has always been this way—focusing only on the immediate.

Being able to focus on the immediate was already quite good; more often than not, even the mess right in front of one was difficult to handle.

When Zhu Yijun returned to the West Lake Villa, he summarized this research trip. He suddenly looked up and said, "Boss Yao is not being honest; he is hiding something."

"He actually dares to deceive the Emperor!" Feng Bao's expression changed drastically, and he said sternly. It was time to let Yao Liyan taste the iron fist of feudal autocracy!

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "It hasn't reached the level of deceiving the Emperor yet. It's likely he was too nervous and forgot. It's just that as the personal shares and individual shares kept expanding while the silver shares kept shrinking, eventually, all the workshops he invested in no longer bore the Yao name. Actually, Boss Yao left one thing out: doing this has its benefits."

"Benefits?" Feng Bao looked bewildered. After struggling to start a business, finally expanding the scale smoothly, and seeing the returns growing, to lose ownership in the end—the Emperor actually said there were benefits?

This violated common sense, but it was indeed the case.

Zhu Yijun used a fountain pen to write three terms on paper and said to Feng Bao, "Yes. The problems found in official workshops exist in private workshops as well, and without strong, powerful measures, they become even more severe. What I am talking about is the deep-rooted bloat, rigidity, and corruption of official workshops."

"This is actually a problem that inevitably appears when a workshop expands to a certain scale, but once it expands beyond a certain degree, it becomes a quagmire."

Private workshops also had corruption problems. When Zhang Siwei was auditing the accounts, he was horrified to discover that the managers, accountants, and other actual operators had directly embezzled over fifty percent of his family's profits. Through various means, they were leeching off his family's business, and it couldn't even be investigated. As soon as one investigated a little deeper, one would find the wife's or concubine's little uncle, the good-for-nothing younger brother or sister-in-law, or even relatives with no connection at all, all leeching off the business.

Bloat meant redundant personnel. These managers, assistant managers, and foremen also had their own relatives and friends, whom they would insert into the business. And beyond these relatives and friends were more relatives and friends. Besides relatives and friends, the phenomenon of drawing empty salaries was also common, and they couldn't be laid off—those with connections wouldn't be fired.

The result was that the more one tried to downsize, the greater the proportion of 'redundant personnel' who ate for free and did no work.

But these were only minor problems within the issue of redundant personnel.

To prevent corruption and drawing empty salaries, one needed to maintain a massive administrative staff. This was the disaster area of redundancy. These administrative personnel—accountants, human resources, auditors, etc. —often exceeded the number of producers, and they couldn't achieve the desired results. These people who did not engage in production would instead collude and work together to squeeze those below them.

Bloat inevitably led to rigidity. The owner would make a decision on a matter, but a month later, when the owner asked, the matter still hadn't been handled because it had to go through a process. But no one knew where the process was. Moreover, bloat inevitably brought the evils of nepotism and indulgence. You had someone above you, I had someone above me, and internal fighting would begin.

At the end of the year, the owner would look at everyone's performance reviews, all of which were top-tier, but when looking at the treasury, it was empty.

Yao Liyan's dilution of silver shares, on the contrary, effectively avoided the harm of this 'big workshop disease.' It wasn't that the disease was gone, but that Yao Liyan had earned enough money during the growth phase and had run away!

This was an invisible benefit of Yao Liyan's personal share method. In fact, the paper mill Yao Liyan initially invested in had already exposed similar problems. The master craftsman who left with Yao Liyan to start the paper mill had already started forming cliques, but Yao Liyan no longer had any silver shares in that paper mill.

Constantly diluting silver shares and finally selling them at a suitable price was Yao Liyan's way of playing the game all these years. He pursued profit maximization, not some 'everlasting empire.' The 'big workshop disease' simply couldn't keep up with the speed at which Yao Liyan escaped.

Bloat, rigidity, corruption—the workshop wasn't mine anymore, so why should I care what disease it has?

This disease was actually very simple: one monk carries water, two monks carry water together, three monks have no water to drink. Yao Liyan was running away before the 'three monks have no water to drink' stage.

"Moreover, Boss Yao seems to have forgotten to mention one thing: his silver is not just his own silver. The merchant group under his name has silver from many other Zhejiang merchants. The silver in his hands comes from at least seventeen families, in Songjiang Prefecture and the Southern Yamen." Zhu Yijun had also looked at part of the general ledger and discovered Yao Liyan's other identity: he was also that broker and comprador. The merchant group he controlled also had powerful and wealthy families behind it.

This was the source of all discrimination. The main reason Yao Liyan was excluded by the powerful and wealthy families on Zhejiang soil was that his identity remained that of a lowly merchant and broker. A dog's leg still wanted to sit at the table to eat?

Yao Liyan only wanted to make money, not to pass down a legacy of farming and reading, and was instinctively excluded by the local gentry and powerful families.

"It cannot get any bigger. If it gets any bigger, he will die. Let's limit his scale." Zhu Yijun answered the question Shen Shixing had initially raised about whether to slightly limit Yao Liyan's scale. Zhu Yijun gave the answer.

If the scale of Yao Liyan's merchant group continued to expand, it would likely be harvested by others. The stone drums in front of the Yao gate were a violation of regulations, and that was just the most obvious thunderclap. Whether there were deeper-level thunderclaps that Yao Liyan hadn't seen, that was unknown. Clearly, countless eyes were waiting to harvest him. The one killing the pig for the New Year might not be the Emperor.

Yao Liyan should have had some understanding of his own situation, which was why he wept with joy when he received the Great Ming Emperor's cloak and personal imperial calligraphy. That was simply a protective talisman.

"This research trip has provided great inspiration for subsequent investments." Zhu Yijun finally finished the research report on the Yao family business and said with great certainty, "For investments by the Great Ming's inner treasury and state treasury, the silver share ratio must exceed 51%. This is non-negotiable. Imperial investment is different from private workshop investment. Private workshop investment is profit-oriented, while imperial investment is primarily power-oriented, with profit as a supplement."

Zhu Yijun determined the basic principles of investment by the Emperor and the imperial court: power equals obligation. Obtaining power meant assuming obligations and responsibilities. Official workshops and imperial manors had to assume social responsibilities and social obligations. However, Yao Liyan's investment was still very inspiring.

Because Yao Liyan's investment method conformed to the basic logic of industrialization.

The basic logic of industrialization is clustering: large-scale production to obtain cheap goods, then using cheap goods to attract more people to move in, further generating scale effects, obtaining cheaper raw materials, increasing output, obtaining more goods, and finally forming cluster effects to complete the establishment of large-scale free-hiring production relations, ultimately completing industrialization.

And all the workshops Yao Liyan invested in did not emphasize strong personal dependency. Many former managers and foremen left to start their own workshops, and Yao Liyan not only did not block them but even provided help and even investment, because a larger scale meant more profit.

This was where the Great Ming imperial court should borrow from when investing. For the Great Ming imperial court, scale was also more important, and profit, of course, should also be appropriately pursued.

"Prepare the carriage for Songjiang Prefecture." On the 17th day of the 7th month of the 13th year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun set out on the road to Songjiang Prefecture. This time, Shen Shixing accompanied him. As the Songjiang Provincial Governor, because there were too many matters in Zhejiang, he had not yet gone to Songjiang Prefecture.

A small interlude occurred during this. Shen Shixing was the Songjiang Provincial Governor and the acting Zhejiang Provincial Governor. He had been acting for a long time and hoped the imperial court would send someone to take away the Zhejiang Provincial Governor position. This was as it should be; it was originally an emergency arrangement.

Zhu Yijun asked the Ministry of Personnel, but no one accepted it, and there were no recommendations. Neither the Jin Party nor the Zhe Party made any recommendations, and even Zhang Juzheng did not provide the Emperor with any backup candidates. Everyone's opinions were surprisingly consistent: since Shen Shixing could do the job, let him continue to do it; there was no need to change people.

This Zhejiang soil was somewhat evil. How many Zhejiang Provincial Governors had met with trouble while in office? Each faction sent capable cadres, but if they were lost, it would be a huge loss without gaining much benefit. If they sent mediocre people, it would be like sealing two pigs together. It was a dilemma, so they simply let Shen Shixing continue.

Upon learning this news, Shen Shixing was speechless. He actually wanted to say that after the mutiny of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions and the Emperor's thunderous methods, the Zhejiang soil was already very clean. It had been greatly broken, and what followed was great establishment. No matter who served in Zhejiang, there wouldn't be any chaos.

Yan Shixuan, on the other hand, was overjoyed, because Shen Shixing was different from Wu Baipeng. Shen Shixing had choices; he was a man from heaven. With Shen Shixing there, the post road leading to the Southern Yamen and Suzhou, and the canal leading to Ningbo, would be much smoother. If someone else came and colluded with the locals again, and the post road and canal couldn't be built, how many heads did he, Yan Shixuan, have to lose?

The facts were indeed so. In Shen Shixing's list of actions, there was no choice to collude with local gentry.

Zhu Yijun's carriage swayed and arrived in Suzhou, then took a trip around Taicang. He did not go to the seat of Songjiang Prefecture, Huating County, but went to Shanghai County, because the Yan-brand restaurant was opened in Shanghai County, not Huating County. By the time he arrived in Shanghai County, it was already the 8th month.

Due to geographical reasons, Shanghai County gradually became the economic center of Songjiang Prefecture.

Originally, according to the planned schedule, at this time, the Great Ming Emperor should have been on the road back to the Northern Yamen. Because time was delayed in Zhejiang, the time to return to the capital was postponed by one month.

"Why is the situation in Spain so terrible?" After Zhu Yijun stayed in Shanghai County, he began to handle state affairs. News in Shanghai County was always more abundant than in the interior, and the time Zhu Yijun arrived was very unfortunate—it was exactly when Shanghai County had rain four times a day, and typhoons were as punctual as eating. Therefore, he could only look at the reports from Songjiang Prefecture to pass the time.

The sources of these reports were very complex: there were searches by the coastal defense inspectors themselves, word-of-mouth from maritime merchants, personal inquiries to sailors of the galleon trade, and personal observations by the Great Ming Global Trade. But these messages all corroborated each other, and could basically be confirmed as true news.

And the Great Ming needed to respond to these messages.

Philip II's situation was very difficult. On one hand, the rebellion in the Netherlands caused Philip's prestige to plummet, and people's hearts were wavering. Philip urgently needed a great victory to consolidate his position.

It was a great pity that Philip failed. He organized an expeditionary force with a scale of only ten ships and a force of only eight hundred people, setting out from the leased port of Porto, heading towards the England region for a tentative attack.

When the fleet entered the England waters, it encountered the England navy. The heroic eight hundred warriors defeated the England Queen's army, and then were defeated by the violent waves of the Atlantic. Ten ships went, three returned. Although the entire army was not wiped out, the losses were exceptionally heavy.

The waves of the Atlantic, the divine wind of the Pacific.

Since England and Japan dared to offend a land power, there must have been a reason.

This was a tentative attack. Philip had to seriously consider the Great Ming Emperor's opinion and investigate the hydrology clearly before attacking.

Philip's thinking on solving the problem was fine. The problem in the Netherlands region required solving England, this troublemaker, to be thoroughly resolved. But when executing, one could not pursue a one-battle victory.

There was another reason for Philip's distress: he had fallen out with the Holy See. It wasn't because of Galileo; Galileo wasn't even a fuse. The reason Philip, this protector of the faith, fell out with the Holy See was that Philip wanted to thoroughly reclaim the jurisdiction of all religious inquisitions on Spanish territory.

The Inquisition was a religious court established by Pope Gregory IX in 1231. Since then, it had been controlled by the Dominican Order. Dominican friars were a sect within the church, calling themselves the Lord's watchdog, and their main duty was to extinguish heresy and ignorance.

The Dominican sect controlled the Inquisition. In this era, it was still a very strong force. The inquisitions spread throughout Spanish territory were all in the hands of the Dominican Order. At the beginning of the 13th year of Wanli, Philip suddenly announced: The widespread opposition in the Netherlands region to Spanish rule was all because of the cruel oppression of the Inquisition. The Dominican Order had to be responsible for this. As King, he wanted to reclaim the jurisdiction of all inquisitions.

This was the first decision Philip made after hearing the fifteen-day talk of Li Shunchen.

This was not Philip's temporary whim, nor was it a hot-headed decision after hearing the Great Ming Emperor's deeds—that if the Great Ming could do it, he could too—but a move planned for a long time. The inventor of the Spanish Tercios, the father of soldiers, and the founder of the navy, the Hou Jue of Santa Cruz, immediately chose to respond to the King's call, loudly supporting it and taking action.

Alvaro de Bazan gathered all the nobles in Madrid. In front of the King's Square, with his aged body and firm tone, he said to everyone: "Spain was once the Spain of the heretics, later it was the Spain of Isabella, and later it was the Spain of God. It was never the Spain of the Spanish people. From today, Spain belongs to the Spanish people!"

This deafening slogan of the Hou Jue of Santa Cruz stirred everyone, making nobles, merchants, and commoners all agree. The process of reclaiming the jurisdiction of the Inquisition was smoother than imagined. Soon after, Philip II promulgated the law, calling it the Philip Code.

After Xu Fan obtained the new code, he immediately cursed Philip for being a thief, saying he had summarized and modified several articles of the Great Ming Code and used them directly! There wasn't a single repetition, but the shadow of the Great Ming Code was everywhere. For example, entering a private residence at night, the owner killing them on the spot was not guilty—Philip had copied that.

"I don't understand. Is it a matter worth celebrating that Philip, as King, announced the reclamation of all legal jurisdiction within his territory? Those maritime merchants are all rejoicing. Isn't this a matter of course?" Zhu Yijun frowned as he looked at the report in his hand, asking the Grand Minister of Rites, Wan Shi.

Rites and laws, of course, one should ask the master of rites and laws, Wan Shi.

Zhu Yijun felt puzzled by this report. He continued, "I might not be expressing myself clearly. I mean, before this, Spain's laws were always in the hands of the Roman Holy See—or to be precise, in the hands of this group of priests called the Dominican Order. Is being King playing house? Are they playing?"

Substituting it, if the Great Ming's laws were in the hands of lamas, monks, and Daoist priests, that would be too outrageous. Zhu Yijun could not accept it no matter what. Having charlatans control the law was simply too disastrous!

"Your Majesty, this is already a huge victory." Wan Shi smiled and said, "Others say Antonio is not suitable to be King because he drove away the Cardinal of Portugal due to personal grudges. Perhaps he was indeed impulsive, but at that time, he had just broken through Lisbon, re-entered the palace, and became King. Should he have been kind to the enemies who exiled him in the past?"

"Antonio might be able to accept it, but that group of pirates under him couldn't."

"He seemed to have many choices, but in fact, he had no choice. Since he wanted Portugal to belong to the Portuguese, he had to expel the Cardinal. Fortunately, Xu Fan is a person very good at telling stories. He told the story of the Great Bright Sect, and more people perfected this story."

Wan Shi actually felt Antonio was quite suitable to be King. If you, as King, don't take the lead, what kind of King are you? This decision, which required political determination to expel the Cardinal, regardless of the original intention, Antonio did it, so he was very suitable to be King.

"So, Philip introduced the Great Bright Sect to use religion to deal with religion." Zhu Yijun let out a breath of turbid air. The development of the West was beyond Zhu Yijun's expectations, especially the appearance of the Great Bright Sect variable. The speed of the Great Bright Sect's expansion was far beyond the Great Ming's imagination.

Philip reclaimed the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, renamed it the Tribunal, promulgated a new code, and immediately announced that believing in the Great Bright Sect was not illegal and would not be judged as heresy.

This was a combination of punches, ambushing the Roman Holy See. The Tribunal was an important force in striking heresy, and Philip's announcement that believing in the Great Bright Sect was legal meant that the priests of the Great Bright Sect could openly operate in all Spanish territories.

And the reason Philip gave was: "In order to obtain the Great Ming's goods, we have to re-examine and evaluate the harm of restricting the Great Bright Sect. If it causes the anger of the Eastern Emperor, we need to pay too many unnecessary costs."

Translating it, it meant no one would go against money. In order to do business with the Great Ming, they had to 'reluctantly' allow the spread of the Great Bright Sect.

"Your Majesty, this is a wise decision." Wan Shi quite approved of this method. As a mature politician, one must use all the power one can use to achieve one's purpose, unite all who can be united, seek common ground while reserving differences, and let Spain get rid of the cage of religion.

Han Buddhism was already very gentle, but there were still evil customs like iron bar crown initiation, artificially creating golden bodies, and ascending to Buddha.

"Your Majesty, the Great Bright Sect is not a religion. There is no concept of God in its doctrine. Wisdom belongs to heaven and earth, and also to everyone." Wan Shi also didn't quite understand why the Great Ming Emperor was so resistant to the Great Bright Sect. In this era when cultural education was not particularly prosperous, religion was an effective tool for governance.

The Great Bright Sect was a narrative constructed with Great Ming culture as the core, the theory of contradiction as the skeleton, and Great Ming methodology as the flesh and blood, allowing most people to understand and describe the Great Ming's way of thinking and logic of handling affairs.

Zhang Juzheng had used a bit too much force. The Emperor had determined from the bottom of his heart that all religions were heresy. If it weren't for those few saints willing to take fifty thousand taels of silver each to make a pilgrimage to the Great Ming, the Great Ming Emperor would never have allowed these so-called saints to make a pilgrimage.

But sometimes, one still had to look at problems contradictorily. This thing depended on productivity. In some places, barrenness, wilderness, and the suffering of reality made it impossible for people to get rid of religion.

Zhu Yijun waved his hands repeatedly and said, "What kind of messy things are these? The spread of the Roman Holy See and the Great Bright Sect in the Great Ming is not allowed."

"Your servant obeys the decree." Wan Shi could not persuade the Emperor on this matter. The spread of the Great Bright Sect in the Great Ming was illegal. The Emperor was very persistent in this regard.

"The England Queen announced the continued issuance of privateering licenses, and Spain and Portugal immediately responded by issuing more privateering licenses. Robbery is not guilty?" Zhu Yijun slapped the table, very angry.

The Great Ming opposed privateering licenses and demanded that England withdraw this decree to maintain the order of maritime trade, but now England was increasing the issuance, and Spain and Portugal were also increasing the issuance of privateering licenses.

The thing the Great Ming worried about most had happened: the problem of the generalization of pirates had already shown signs. In the next few decades, or even hundreds of years, any ship seen on the sea could be an enemy.

"This is what we need to pay close attention to, Your Majesty. In Davao City on Mindanao Island and the Ma of the Old Port Pacification Commission, after entering the port, we must conduct a comprehensive inspection of weapons and also provide a certain amount of weapon leasing. They are all doing this. If we don't respond, the Great Ming's maritime merchants won't be able to go to sea." Wan Shi put forward his opinion as the Ministry of Rites.

Allowing merchant ships to be armed and allowing privateering were completely different. This was allowing them to trade with swords, but once this decree was issued, it was actually equivalent to legalizing privateering, because the Strait of Ma Liujia and Davao City were not the hinterland of the Great Ming, and the effectiveness of the law was very low. Similarly, the implementation of the policy would inevitably be deformed.

In the area outside the Strait of Ma Liujia and Davao City, legalized privateering had become inevitable. Within the Great Ming's maritime territory, the activities of armed merchant ships were still prohibited.

As for the weapon leasing provided, it was equivalent to selling weapons to merchant ships.

This was undoubtedly a difficult decision that went against ancestral law, but without doing this, Great Ming merchant ships would only be blocked within the Strait of Ma Liujia, unable to move an inch.

"Sigh, a pig-like decision. It's really disgusting. The sea is already violent enough, and it has to be made like this." Zhu Yijun felt heartfelt worry about the maritime trade environment for the next few decades. The risks of maritime trade were already high, and with this, maritime trade became even more dangerous.

One couldn't go out at all during typhoon weather in Shanghai. It was only because the special private residence Zhu Yijun lived in was strong enough; otherwise, the wind could have lifted the roof. And this was already a typhoon that had traveled a long distance and been weakened by Jilong Mountain. One could imagine how crazy a typhoon that hadn't been weakened would be, and the violence of the sea could be imagined.

The England Queen started this bad trend. After London was captured by pirates, the Queen did not learn a lesson but instead relaxed the threshold for privateering licenses. Portugal and Spain immediately followed suit, competing for pirate ships. This suddenly made pirates a hot commodity.

In these reports, Zhu Yijun saw four words: "Dancing demons."

"Just follow the Grand Minister's words: open up the entry of armed merchant ships and provide weapon leasing." Zhu Yijun sighed. Even as an Emperor, not everything went according to his wishes. Zhu Yijun did not want the maritime trade environment to deteriorate, but things did not go as he wished, and the maritime trade environment was still continuously deteriorating.

That's how a troublemaker is. It might not be able to get any benefits, but it can definitely make everyone vomit with disgust. It harms others without benefiting itself, focusing on muddying the water to fish in troubled waters and find opportunities.

The remaining reports were all gossip, such as some illegitimate children inheriting titles, which noblewoman became whose mistress, and court assassinations happening again. One thing that Zhu Yijun cared about was that the scale of the manual workshops in Lisbon had expanded by more than double compared to last year.

"Lisbon's manual workshops include textiles, ceramics, metal processing, food, wooden shoes, cheese, shipyards, white wax, etc. The number of these workshops has exceeded three thousand, and the number of craftsmen has reached fifty thousand. Tsk tsk, they are doing quite well." Zhu Yijun sincerely affirmed the development of Lisbon over these years.

Last year, Lisbon only had 1,500 workshops. Now it has broken through to 3,000. For the Great Ming's production scale, it was not worth mentioning, but in the West, it was already a pearl. Lisbon, counting the old, weak, and children, had less than 250,000 people. It was managed very well, and in this process, the Portuguese earned silver, and the huge military expenditure was balanced for the first time.

Portugal, thriving. ===== CHAPTER 696 =====