Chapter 781: If people don't marry or serve, desires are lost; if people don't have clothes and food, the way of sovereign and minist

Xu Wei submitted a memorial, detailing the phenomena he saw in Japan. The development between Japan's towns and countryside had completely lost balance—not just unbalanced, but completely lost balance.

The excessive concentration of population made Japan lose the countryside as a reservoir, and the countryside could no longer provide enough population.

The reason it was false prosperity was that there was not enough labor force to supplement the towns.

Most of the young people who poured into the port towns of Osaka Bay were young people, because the elderly and children did not have the ability to migrate, and Japan is a long and narrow country without any depth, which greatly reduced the difficulty of population migration.

The population gathered very quickly, with more than 3 million people scattered in the ports along Osaka Bay, while there were only more than 5 million people in the countryside.

And after these young people entered the prosperous coastal towns, witnessing this prosperity, they immediately began to pursue wealth, pursuing wealth through hard work or opportunism.

Even if they obtained wealth, they would not be satisfied, but began to pursue fame, then pursue a noble status, and finally pursue glory after death.

But those who succeeded were a minority. In fact, the vast majority of these young people who came to the city to get rich fell at the first step, seeking wealth but failing to get it.

No matter how ambitious they were, they were still in poverty.

The world is so cruel. The trendsetters standing in the center of the stage are ultimately a minority of the minority. Most people have used all methods—good and bad, right and wrong—but they have never been able to turn around, always being poor people living in anxiety all day long.

Right now, there is no shortage of women in the port towns along Osaka Bay, because population siphoning has gathered a large number of young people here.

Originally, the life trajectory of these Japanese women in these towns was about finding a poor person to marry, living together, giving birth to a few children, and finishing this life in a muddle. That world of luxury and dissipation ultimately did not belong to them.

But because of the false prosperity, these Japanese women had new choices, such as becoming prostitutes, serving wealthy groups, or going to sea to become Nanyang sisters to seek a better life.

And the men in the towns quickly accepted this fact, and the speed was staggering.

Because they quickly discovered that marriage was unnecessary, and having children was unnecessary. They only needed one or two days of labor compensation to go to the pleasure quarters, where prostitutes gathered, to have fun. Why get married and have children?

The reason why these things happened, Xu Wei summarized in the memorial as: "Different births and same deaths, desperate for pleasure."

People are born with poverty and wealth, nobility and lowliness, natural intelligence, natural stupidity, natural beauty, and mediocrity. People are born different, but everyone has to die.

People are born to die. Ten years is death, and a hundred years is also death. Benevolence and sagehood lead to death, and ferocity and mediocrity also lead to death. All fame and wealth, after death, will turn into dirt.

Since everyone has to die, these poor people who are born poor, stupid, and ugly, after seeing too much prosperity, will uncontrollably think: Why give birth to children and let their children continue to be poor, stupid, and ugly?

When people discover that they only need to throw away the responsibilities given by education to become happy, because the silver earned can be spent on themselves, timely pleasure, and desperate pleasure, it became the main trend in these towns.

A trend of survival and pleasure based on value comparison is spreading, and a society of de-responsibility is generally forming.

Oda Nobunaga tried hard. He ordered the prohibition of prostitutes and pleasure quarters, hoping to use this means to make the poor work harder, exchange for more labor rewards, form families, and give birth to children to prevent Japan's overall collapse.

But Oda Nobunaga failed. The pleasure quarters were indeed closed, but soon there were private brothels in the streets and alleys. As long as a red lantern was hung in front of the door, everyone immediately understood what was being done here.

Oda Nobunaga could only acquiesce to the existence of pleasure quarters in these towns.

In Japan's towns, something happened that had happened above the three generations, that is: 【If people don't marry or serve, desires are lost; if people don't have clothes and food, the way of sovereign and minister ceases.】

This sentence was said by Yang Zhu of the pre-Qin period, a proverb circulating above the three generations, meaning:

People's desires are disappearing, they are unwilling to marry, and they don't even pursue fame and status. All desires are decreasing; they no longer pursue beautiful clothes, tall houses, and delicious and rich food, and the way of sovereign and minister begins to disappear.

It's not that they don't want to pursue, but they can't get it.

"All things are born and die together, different births and same deaths; ten years is death, a hundred years is death; benevolence and sagehood is death, ferocity and stupidity is death; false fame and glory are definitely not true, looking at beauty and raising fame is like a phantom dust; saints and fools are all rotten bones, glory is a third-watch dream;"

"Valuing oneself, valuing life, if people don't marry or serve, desires are lost; if people don't have clothes and food, the way of sovereign and minister ceases." Zhu Yijun finished reading Xu Wei's memorial.

This is Xu Wei's summary of Japan. Xu Wei connected these things together to observe and think, and finally reached the conclusion.

The most interesting thing is that Xu Wei gave Japan a good prescription. In fact, the way to solve the problem is very simple: close the country and be extremely xenophobic.

As long as the country is closed and extremely xenophobic, these problems will slowly disappear and retreat to the previous version of chaotic war.

Unfortunately, Japan is really too close to the Great Ming. The Great Ming does not allow Japan to close the country, but also wants to dump a large amount of goods into Japan, exchange for silver, and destroy weak handicraft workshops, not allowing Japan to retreat to the version.

"Xu Wei's memorial is good, very good." Zhu Yijun held the memorial and said: "Urban and rural development must never be unbalanced. We cannot give up eating because of choking. Towns must develop, and the countryside must also develop. Only in this way can there be enough population."

Feng Bao frowned and said: "Your Majesty, the Great Ming is not Japan. Japan is long and narrow, so people migrate to the coast without much effort."

The Great Ming has depth. This is the advantage of the Great Ming that Feng Bao thinks. The Great Ming is really too big, and the countryside is really too big. The cost of people migrating is too high. There is no need to worry about what happened in Japan.

"The Great Ming is building imperial highways." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "Feng, my companion, look at these large cities that the imperial highways pass through; don't they look like pumps with countless tentacles, constantly extracting population and wealth from the countryside into the cities?"

"Yes, the Great Ming is big enough, and the population is big enough, but if we let the big cities draw blood from the countryside, it won't take thirty or fifty years, and the Great Ming will also fall into the predicament of Japan."

Xu Wei's memorial repeatedly reminded that Japan's problem is the imbalance of the countryside. Even if there are 5 million people in the countryside, these 5 million people are elderly, children, and bachelors.

In this era, men are labor force, and they start creating labor value at the age of five or six, so the phenomenon of drowning baby girls in Japan is also very common. Plus war and unstable life, Japanese women are fewer than men, and towns siphoned women into the city, so the countryside is full of bachelors.

The biggest victims of war are not men, nor women, but civilians. The anti-risk ability of the poor is minimal.

"Do you remember the Mouse Paradise I made in Guanghan Palace?" Zhu Yijun asked Feng Bao: "Do you think it really won't happen in the Great Ming?"

"Your Majesty is wise." Feng Bao thought for a while and shivered.

Everything that happened in Japan and everything that happened in the Mouse Paradise in Guanghan Palace perfectly verified each other.

Those bachelors in the countryside are the bottom layer in the Mouse Paradise. They have no breeding desire.

The daimyo and rich merchants in the city are strong mice. They attack other mice without any motivation.

And breeding overflows from the top layer, which has been verified in Korea and verified in Japan. Then everything that happened in Korea and Japan will also happen in the Great Ming.

Xu Wei also mentioned in the memorial that these coastal towns are forming a group of rent-seekers, which are the compradors who rely on the Great Ming's policy of opening the sea and various goods arriving at the port.

At first, these compradors were just errand boys hired by the Great Ming. They usually maintained extremely good relationships with Great Ming merchants who arrived at the Nagasaki Governor's Office, understood Chinese, served as a bridge for Sino-Japanese trade, and actively carried out trade activities.

But time passed, the comprador group gradually grew, and they began to do business with the Great Ming.

For example, the Akita copper mine in Japan is done by the Japanese, and the Great Ming is mainly responsible for management and export.

Xu Wei also sighed in the memorial that these compradors spent huge amounts of silver to buy various goods from the Great Ming, transferred the most profits out of Japan, and crazily exploited the local market and the poor.

These comprador running dogs even cooperated closely with the Great Ming army. For the Japanese local daimyo who wanted to break their monopoly, they attacked with heavy punches, sold various intelligence, provided water and land survey maps, clamored for public opinion, etc., and firmly cooperated with the Great Ming army's actions to consolidate their status.

These comprador running dogs relied on their economic status to constantly obtain higher political status, and even learned from the Great Ming capital to engage in miscellaneous newspapers to win over Japanese scholars.

Finally, they established the basic political correctness of "opposing the Great Ming is opposing the King's transformation, refusing progress, and refusing civilization," and shaped various public opinions that were not suitable for Japan.

This is a situation that Xu Wei did not anticipate at all. Xu Wei, Sun Keyi, and others asked themselves that they had hatred for Japan, hating Japan to the point of giving heavy punches in Nagasaki, but the performance of these Japanese compradors was even more hateful to Japan than Xu Wei and the others!

Except for military invasion, economy, culture, and politics were all comprehensively invaded, and the latter three were actively completed by the Japanese themselves.

"Japan is killing Japan." Zhu Yijun said with great emotion.

The Great Ming opposing the Great Ming describes the tearing caused by different class positions in the Great Ming, but this tearing is only the degree of opposition. Reconciling the contradictions between classes is to bridge the contradictions.

Borrowing the heads of the local gentry can well relieve the resentment in the hearts of the people.

But the Japanese went a step further. Japan is killing Japan. Japan is moving toward self-destruction, and there is no sign of stopping.

"Send this memorial of Xu Wei to the cabinet and let the cabinet ministers look at it carefully." Zhu Yijun handed the memorial to Feng Bao.

"Oda Nobunaga's sister, Oda Ichi, presented a national letter on behalf of Japan, saying that Japan has formulated some wrong national policies and hopes to readjust the relationship between Japan and the Great Ming and jointly end the war in Korea." Feng Bao presented a memorial.

Because internal contradictions intensified, Japan had to transfer contradictions to the outside, launched an invasion of Korea, and achieved a huge advantage, almost swallowing the entire Korea.

After the Great Ming sent troops to intervene, Japan was defeated in Pyongyang, Kaesong, and Hancheng. Under the situation where the balance of victory completely tilted toward the Great Ming and the battlefield was completely unfavorable to Japan, Japan proposed peace talks.

Japan acknowledged that China was the source of civilization, and the Japanese learned characters, administration, and religion from China, so Japan was born.

The national policy was wrong. Oda Nobunaga admitted defeat and was willing to withdraw from the Korean battlefield in exchange for peace. At the same time, in the national letter, Oda Nobunaga emphasized the long-standing relationship between the Great Ming and Japan and guaranteed that the wrong policy decisions of the past would not be repeated.

Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial and said: "In the national letter, Oda Nobunaga talked about the story of Japanese people originating from Qin Dynasty alchemists carrying boys and girls to visit fairy mountains in the East China Sea."

"I am very disgusted with this statement. Similarly, for the Japanese, the Japanese will also feel that this is a very absurd thing."

"Of course, I cannot agree with this matter, because I cannot accept the so-called Han descendants forgetting their ancestors."

"I cannot agree to all his requests."

Zhu Yijun made a comment. Oda Nobunaga was indeed quite shameless, directly defining the origin of Japan as Xu Fu's eastward voyage and talking about the narrative of friendly neighborliness across the water.

Zhu Yijun directly denied this origin. Although he didn't use dirty words, the meaning was very clear: don't come to rub relationships! Disgusting!

"Interesting, the war report Oda Nobunaga received is probably not a real war report." Zhu Yijun finished the annotation and said with a smile: "The front line concealed many facts, making Oda Nobunaga think that the Korean battlefield was still in a stalemate, thinking it was still a bargaining chip to exchange for some things."

"But the Korean battlefield is not a bargaining chip; it is a wound that the imperial court deliberately left behind to train new tactics and continuously bleed the Japanese pirates."

"And how can he interfere with free trade!"

The Korean battlefield in Oda Nobunaga's eyes should be a stalemate, so he thought it was a bargaining chip. This was shaped by the war reports from the front line.

And the front line was also a bit unclear, thinking that this kind of tug-of-war and repetition was because the Great Ming army had no way to deal with Japanese-style castles;

But Toyotomi Hideyoshi knew very clearly from the beginning that the Great Ming army was using the Japanese pirates to sharpen their knives and didn't use their full strength at all;

Standing at different angles, the perspective of looking at problems will be completely different.

Oda Nobunaga hoped to use the withdrawal of troops to exchange for the Great Ming's support for his political decrees, hoping that the Nagasaki Governor's Office would formulate a ship-drawing system to limit the number of Japanese ships arriving in Nagasaki.

Oda Nobunaga formulated the "One Country, One Castle" regulations, which meant that one domain could only have one castle. Then the many port towns in Japan's inland sea would be invalidated under this decree. Each place would only have one large port town, which could alleviate Japan's internal contradictions.

In Oda Nobunaga's view, this was a good proposal, which met the interests of the Great Ming and also met the interests of Japan.

The Great Ming got Korea, Japan's internal contradictions were completely relieved, and both sides benefited from cooperation, while both sides suffered from fighting.

But Oda Nobunaga's order interfered with free trade, which was something the Great Ming would never allow to happen.

Zhu Yijun and the Great Ming court ministers did not want to change the Korean war situation in a short time, so Oda Nobunaga's national letter requesting peace received a clear response.

The four auxiliary ministers also attached floating tickets, believing that they should listen more to the opinions of the front line regarding front-line matters. Ling Yunyi and Qi Jiguang didn't call for a stop, so the imperial court didn't need to call for a stop either.

Especially on the premise that the Great Ming didn't need to transport too much grain and grass to the front line, this battle was indeed the most cost-effective battle for the Great Ming.

"Your Majesty, Wang Qian is here." A small eunuch walked in and bowed.

"Proclaim."

"Your servant pays respects to Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty." Wang Qian bowed respectfully. This audience was because the Emperor wanted to hold the Yanxinglou Trading House accountable.

Zhu Yijun said with a heavy expression: "Exempt from courtesy. I have heard some bad rumors recently, saying that you, Wang Qian, the Censor, are very majestic, saying everywhere that you want to eat bloody chips. Tell me your words again in front of me."

"Your servant obeys the decree." Wang Qian stood up straight, the humility on his face disappeared, becoming a bit arrogant, and also with a look of disdain.

"This Yanxinglou Trading House eats people. What is eating people? It means you bring your hard-earned money in, and you can't take a cent away. Making money is impossible. If I let you make money, what do I earn?"

"In Yanxinglou, I am the biggest dealer!"

"I only need one order, and everyone will start smashing down hard. If you lose ten percent, you feel heartache; if you lose twenty percent, you feel panic; if you lose thirty percent, you tremble and hand over the remaining chips in your hand."

"You think you're not afraid? If you don't hand it over, I'll keep smashing until you're willing to hand it over!"

"When you see the valuable tickets in your hands depreciating every day, you will naturally be afraid, afraid of bankruptcy, afraid of debt collectors, and in the end, you can only cut your losses and leave, or jump from Yanxinglou into the Tonghui River and die."

"Fight me? How much money do you have? You're not worthy!"

"Do you know who I am! Wang Qian, the son of the Second Auxiliary Minister Wang!"

"Say it again, if you don't have a few tens of thousands of silver in idle money, don't come in. This is not a place you should come to."

Wang Qian put away his arrogant face and bowed: "Your Majesty, your servant has finished performing."

"Why did you say that?" Zhu Yijun asked with a frown: "In the past few days, the memorials of the censors scolding you have piled up in the Wenyuan Pavilion, and there are also those scolding your father."

"They should scold. Your servant said these words just to be scolded." Wang Qian took a deep breath and said: "Your servant recently discovered that some people borrowed money from banks to go to Yanxinglou Trading House to seek great wealth."

"This must not happen. The Grand Minister has a saying that your servant deeply agrees with: if you borrow money, you must pay it back, no matter what method."

"They borrowed money to enter Yanxinglou, and your servant couldn't let them earn a cent. If they can earn money without working, they will abandon the real for the virtual. Yanxinglou Trading House is to let everyone be a shipowner, to collect gold, not to let speculators speculate."

"People who borrow money have lower pressure-bearing capacity and are often more panicked. When the market slides significantly, they can only cut their losses and leave."

"Investment is investment, speculation is speculation. These are completely opposite concepts."

Wang Qian noticed a large number of people borrowing money to enter the market, so he chose to smash the market. When someone couldn't stand it and questioned him, he said those shocking words.

These words made the market even more panicked, and the market fell rapidly again.

"Your Majesty, Yanxinglou is a game between crocodiles. It compares who is more ruthless. Your servant holds ten million silver and seven hundred thousand taels of gold, which is to make money for the imperial court." Wang Qian said again.

He told His Majesty that he must first be responsible to His Majesty the Emperor. Those silver and gold have the Emperor's holy order. His power comes from the Emperor. People only take responsibility for the source of power. Being responsible to the people is the Emperor's business, and it's not Wang Qian's turn.

"I just asked you to collect gold at a fair price." Zhu Yijun said helplessly: "You're good, in three months, ten million silver became 11.3 million silver, earning 1.3 million silver, and seventy-two thousand taels of gold became eighty-one thousand taels."

Wang Qian took a deep breath and said: "Your Majesty, one million three hundred thousand silver and ninety-three thousand six hundred taels of gold have already been sent to the Inner Treasury. If you only want to collect at a fair price, you will definitely lose money. You can only make money to collect, not making money is losing."

Finance is different from other industries. It is a zero-sum game, not a win-win. There are only survivors and losers here. If you don't want to be a loser, you can only be a survivor. If you throw away all conscience to earn, otherwise you will definitely lose.

It's all silver, which tael is righteous? Which tael is evil?

Zhu Yijun's fingers kept tapping on the table. After a long time, he said: "Okay, what you said makes sense. Some things, the more I manage, the more chaotic it gets. I can only say respect the fate of individual choices and respect objective laws."

Wang Qian wants to take the path of a lone minister, a cruel official, and a greedy sycophant. If he doesn't take this path, he won't be able to gain the Emperor's trust.

And the Great Ming Emperor decided not to interfere too much. Power has never been omnipotent. Too many administrative orders are easy to destroy the stability of the market.

The essence of establishing Yanxinglou Trading House, the first purpose, is to allow the local gentry in the north to also get a share of the maritime trade, annual dividends, which is the only increment outside the zero-sum game, to bridge the economic gap and contradictions between the north and the south.

The second purpose is to be able to transport enough silver to various manufacturing industries. The earliest ship tickets were to give shipyards enough orders to become one of the shipowners of the five major ocean-going merchant firms, and later to absorb silver for the real economy.

Only by understanding these two essences can one understand Wang Qian's approach. On the one hand, he needs to report to the Emperor, and on the other hand, he needs to continuously transport blood to the manufacturing industry.

"Wang Qian, you must pay attention to your own safety." Zhu Yijun sighed and said: "I will send you some guards to protect yourself."

The work Wang Qian does is equivalent to extracting all the dividend income of the big ships arriving at the port, exchanging it for gold, and storing it in the Inner Treasury. This work is a work that kills a thousand knives. It's strange if he isn't hated.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great grace." Wang Qian chose to accept. He knew very well what he was doing. He needed to protect his family after his father died. Only His Majesty could protect him, so he had to do it to the end.

The only thing Wang Qian didn't worry about was that working for His Majesty would lead to being dragged out and beheaded, borrowing his head to stabilize the hearts of the people.

His Majesty is really good to his own people. Of course, you must be his own person, willing to add bricks and tiles to the Great Ming's greatness, not empty the foundation.

"Your Majesty, the Great Ming is a bit dangerous now." Wang Qian said with a heavy expression: "The public officials in the imperial court are mostly taught by the Four Books and Five Classics. The high officials don't understand mathematics, nor do they understand accounting."

"In the past, most of the people didn't understand these either. Many proprietors were deceived by shopkeepers and accountants, but now, there are accountants from the Imperial Institute of Technology in the private workshops."

Wang Qian saw the danger. Everyone is unprofessional, but the private sector will become more and more professional in accounts, and the imperial court still can't recruit professional talents, so it will become more and more unprofessional.

Now the tax inspection guards can bully the private workshops, but who knows who will bully whom in the future.

Zhu Yijun sighed and said, "I am also worried. Even if there is this Northern Jiao-min Lane Prison, those who are caught are mostly the relatively stupid ones, those who are not skilled in their craft. Those who are clever and sharp, I fear, will remain at large."

"And it's not just auditing and mathematics, but also iron horses, imperial roads, mineral resources, astronomy, etc. It's all like this. The private sector is booming, and the imperial court is rigid and conservative. In the end, I'm afraid the imperial court will be left far behind by the private sector."

"When the imperial court becomes an obstacle to the progress of productive forces and the change of production relations, how long can the imperial court maintain it?"

"Wang Qian, do you have any good suggestions?"

Wang Qian said tentatively: "The reason why the imperial court can't compete with the private sector is actually two reasons: low salary and no hope of promotion. You are just a clerk in the Ministry of Revenue for a lifetime."

"People, they are arrogant because of their talent. If they have some talent, they will definitely have arrogance. Being a clerk for a lifetime, they are definitely not happy."

"Your Majesty, your servant has an immature idea. In fact, being an official, salary is not important. The main thing is power. If you have power, you don't have to worry about money. It depends on the size of your appetite."

"Can you give the students who are willing to serve the imperial court and perform well a status of special imperial examination scholar, then go to Yilun Hall to listen to the holy teachings, and after two years of observing politics, turn into an official status?"

"Eh?" Zhu Yijun sat up straight and said: "Tell me in detail."

Wang Qian can pass the imperial examination and can play so many smart people in Yanxinglou in the palm of his hand. His ability is no problem. It's just that his morality is a bit lacking. His meaning is to open up the promotion channel for the students of the Imperial Institute of Technology.

The advantage of the imperial court has never been money, but power.

Wang Qian said with a heavy expression: "My father is a bit too wishful. He said that the preferential treatment of the local gentry should be directly canceled. It's no wonder that the Grand Minister opposed him. He is too anxious. Such a decree is formulated, but it cannot be implemented."

"Your Majesty is wise, extremely benevolent and wise, can handle all matters in the world, extremely sincere and natural, can understand the feelings of the world, but your Majesty's power cannot reach everyone in the world, so there are hundreds of officials and four mountains inside, and state shepherds and marquises outside, to govern the world."

"The source of the preferential treatment of the local gentry is that all high officials come from the local gentry, which is itself a part of the preferential treatment."

No matter how powerful and wise the Emperor is, he is still one person, so he will govern the world with hundreds of officials.

Wang Chonggu wants to directly reduce the treatment of the local gentry. The first to oppose it must be the hundreds of officials in the world. If the decree is widely opposed, it cannot be implemented.

To completely disintegrate the preferential treatment of the local gentry, it is necessary to disintegrate the source. More bluntly: if the imperial examination system cannot be abolished, the preferential treatment cannot be abolished.

Wang Qian whispered: "Students who graduate from the Nine Dragon Academy are willing to serve the imperial court, obtain the status of special imperial examination scholar through the examination system, go to Yilun Hall to listen to the holy teachings and observe politics for two years, and then they can become officials."

Wang Qian's meaning is to open up a new talent promotion channel.

Zhu Yijun sat up straight and said: "Don't tell others that you proposed this. I will promote it. You can't bear it."

What Wang Qian wants to do is roughly: one order opens the gate of heaven, and ten thousand paths shake the universe. ===== CHAPTER 782 =====