Chapter 824: Profit is Exploitation, Exploitation is Profit

Liu Ji set sail six times in six years. In these six years, he traveled across the globe, and all he saw was an endless purgatory.

In the Governor's Palace of Mexico, he saw bloody wounds under the lash; he saw bodies hung from trees after people were wantonly slaughtered—a warning from the colonists to the local barbarians not to approach the colonial settlements. He saw the colonists' triumphant laughter and celebratory balls, while the accumulated wealth of tribes spanning hundreds of years was brought to the market to be sold.

In the plantations of Peru, he saw slaves who labored all day yet ate dirt. It was land planted with sugarcane, carrying a hint of sweetness, yet the children's bellies were swollen like balls. They were like a group of animals, looking curiously at the colonists, only to be killed in any corner and have their corpses scavenged by carrion animals.

In the rich silver mines, he saw mass graves where countless skeletons were discarded at will, with carrion birds nesting beside the pits. He saw the laborers who refined silver using the amalgam process, their forms withered and no longer human. He saw team after team of slaves being sent to the rich silver mines.

On the Gold Coast of Africa, he saw countless blood-stained gold. This blood-stained gold was the foundation of the West's prosperity, yet no one cared whose blood it was. He saw corpses rotting for days in cocoa plantations, becoming nutrients for the cocoa trees.

In the Governor's Palace of Mozambique, he saw towering castles, and he saw the black barbarians screaming as they charged toward these castles to commit suicide. Perhaps their families were in those castles, their brothers and sisters, and the wealth their tribe had accumulated for hundreds of years. But to the colonists, this charge was nothing more than a boring killing game.

At the Governor's Palace of Diu, Liu Ji saw the Ramu people turning their weapons against their own kin of the same language and race. The Governor's Palace of Diu recruited a large number of auxiliary troops; these auxiliary troops were just like the Hwarang auxiliary forces on the Korean battlefield—even more cruel than the colonists.

Along this journey, Liu Ji saw too much cruelty, yet he saw no trace of gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, or humility.

Liu Ji had no empathy for these barbarians. Compared to their plight, Liu Ji was more worried that if the people of Great Ming became like this—becoming the oppressed side—the spines that had bent would find it as difficult as ascending to heaven to straighten up again.

The treasures left behind by civilization were discarded at will in the corners of the ship's hold, sometimes thrown into the sea because of the weight.

The experience left behind over a thousand years became worthless; all wisdom appeared extremely ridiculous when gunpowder erupted.

The writing created by the barbarians also became strange to them; no one recognized it anymore, and no one tried to understand the deep meaning behind it, because backwardness and ignorance became their synonyms.

Every time he saw these things, Liu Ji always told himself: It shouldn't be like this!

That was precious wealth, the legacy of ancestors, the survival experience of a race; it should be valued, it should be cherished. But who cared?

Great Ming must

win. The price of losing was something the people of Great Ming could not bear. This was the lesson Liu Ji learned from leading his fleet on six circumnavigations of the globe.

And Liu Ji saw a very active West—not the barbarian West in Great Ming's perception, but a West so active it made one's imagination run wild.

In Lisbon, Portugal, he saw the ships of the Northern Alliance of the Netherlands. This type of ship, the Fluyt merchant ship, had a cargo-to-weight ratio 30% higher than a three-masted galleon, with almost the same cargo-to-weight ratio as a fast sailing ship, and a draft more than four feet shallower than a three-masted galleon. It was a ship with a more ingenious structure and greater cargo capacity, which could gain more maritime trade advantages.

At the House of Trade of the New World in Seville, Spain, he saw a ship with a mixed frame. The deck and bottom used longitudinal frames, while the sides and lower deck used transverse frames. This mixed frame combined the advantages of both structural types; the structure was more complex, but the cargo capacity was greater, and the hull was more flexible and versatile.

At the House of Sages in the Free City, he saw many figures. Ships departing from the West and returning ships all had to pass through the Free Islands. Various data indicated that the transport capacity of Western fleets could increase by 12% annually, and this number was still growing, especially with the fleets in the Netherlands and England increasing rapidly.

If Great Ming stagnated, in just seven years, Great Ming's transport capacity would be lower than the West's.

In the Strait of Gibraltar, he saw a type of ship—the copper-sheathed wood shipbuilding technology that Great Ming was promoting and popularizing. It was a new ship tested by the Spanish, who also discovered that copper-sheathing could significantly extend the service life of ships.

He heard that in London, England, and Amsterdam, they were promoting the "shareholding system" to raise funds, establishing specialized routes to the East to head to the ports of Great Ming. Great Ming's shareholding system was not widespread, and the legacy of production relations based on strong personal attachment was still harming every corner of Great Ming.

Great Ming was like a splendid and prosperous banquet of a bygone era. The guests were all polite, dressed in gorgeous attire, and every word was about the classics and history. On the surface, it revealed elegance and nobility, but behind this was the rot piled up by countless flesh and blood, as well as the decadence of not seeking progress.

This was the Great Ming that Liu Ji saw; Great Ming's vitality was still too weak compared to the West.

"Set sail!" a sailor hanging on the mast shouted loudly.

The global merchant fleet set sail from Ryukyu, heading once again toward the New Port of Songjiang Prefecture. After Liu Ji arrived in Songjiang Prefecture, he immediately took a fast sailing ship to Tianjin Prefecture. He had to report to His Majesty and, at the same time, confirm the list for this year's ocean-going trade fleet at the Ministry of Revenue.

Actually, the list of goods each year was much the same, mainly the six global commodities: porcelain, tea, silk, iron pots, cotton cloth, and spices. These were the commodity advantages controlled by Great Ming, and they were high ground that absolutely could not be lost.

The salt carried on the ships last year was all sold out. The Netherlands had lost their salt-producing regions, but the arrival of Great Ming's large ships at port had well compensated for this.

But a split had occurred. The Southern Alliance and Northern Alliance of the Netherlands had begun to split again. The Southern Alliance had once again gone to Madrid to offer loyalty to Philip, while the Northern Alliance still revolved around the "Oath of Abjuration," refusing to submit even unto death.

When Liu Ji arrived in Tongzhou, he purchased a full year's worth of *Di Bao* (official gazettes) and various miscellaneous gazettes from the Tongzhou water-horse post station.

*Ge Wu Bao* (Gazette of Investigation of Things) allowed one to understand Great Ming's technological progress; *Xiao Yao Xiaoyao Yiwen* (Leisurely Anecdotes) allowed one to see what alienations the daring "Limited Liberal Faction" had discussed; *Min Bao* (People's Gazette) allowed one to see all kinds of interesting events in Great Ming; while *Qing Liu Ming Ru Feng Liu Yun Shi* (Romantic Affairs of Famous Confucian Scholars of the Pure Stream) were all gossip about the messy affairs of various famous scholars keeping concubines.

As long as one finished reading the *Di Bao* and miscellaneous gazettes for the year, one could understand seven or eight out of ten things that happened in Great Ming. For example, the horsepower of the Shengping No. 6 had already been increased to 150, and it was still continuously being miniaturized.

Great Ming was studying the divination questions of the Shang Dynasty. Liu Ji read for a long time and immediately confirmed it: the relationship between Great Ming and the West was much like the relationship between the Shang people and the Qiang people in the past; it was a competition for survival.

Interestingly, those old pedants from the Ministry of Rites, the Hanlin Academy, and the Imperial Academy could not figure out the original appearance of common characters like "black," "white," and "use," because these characters were truly too common. As more people wrote them, they became incorrect as they were written.

In oracle bone script, the character for "white" existed, but it did not represent black and white; it meant "Bo" (Earl), as in the Bo of a regional lord, representing a regional feudal lord. And the relationship between these regional lords and the Shang King seemed somewhat complex; the Shang King would occasionally use these regional lords to sacrifice to his ancestors, using their fontanelles—the bones used for sacrifice.

The character for "fontanelle" evolved to Great Ming, and it almost only expressed the meaning of that bone, with no other use.

Liu Ji did not have the heart to finish all the miscellaneous gazettes. He only finished the *Di Bao* because he had to respond to His Majesty. He had to read the *Di Bao*, but he would take these miscellaneous gazettes to the sea to read slowly, passing the long, dull, and boring time at sea.

The Emperor and his ministers had recently had a confrontation over whether the Yanxing Tower Exchange should be closed, which eventually led to the stamp duty.

"So, after all this trouble, another stamp duty tax category was added for the powerful and wealthy?" After Liu Ji finished reading the cause, process, and result, he felt it was a bit bizarre. So the Emperor and the Grand Secretary had a quarrel, and in the end, the ones who got hurt were still the powerful and wealthy?

However, thinking carefully, looking at the whole world, His Majesty's tax was still very, very low, with a general tax rate of only 13%, while the general tax rate in the West could reach over 30%.

To ensure the legality of all their contracts, agreements, and property ownership transfers, the powerful and wealthy had to purchase tax stamps and affix them to the contracts; otherwise, when the Tax Audit Office audited the taxes, they would be left with no tears to cry.

Those who could afford to run a bank were all luxurious households. After all, this thing relied on confiscating property to make a profit. In Great Ming, those who could legally confiscate property were the nobles among nobles, and these people were also the targets of the Tax Audit Office.

the goal.

Liu Ji entered the capital and stayed at the Huitong Hostel. The journey was exhausting, but entering the capital made him feel even busier. In the capital, he was called the "God of Wealth." Being able to catch the tailwind of the global trade fleet was a massive fortune.

After Liu Ji returned to the capital, the people visiting him were endless.

When the crowd dispersed, he leaned back in his chair. Dealing with these high-ranking officials and nobles was even more exhausting than dealing with the violent ocean.

But he could not afford to offend any of these high-ranking officials and nobles. These people had no ability to accomplish things, but a great ability to ruin things. A few idle words could make one lose the Emperor's heart and favor.

Liu Ji dozed off for a while, and after washing up, he headed to Taibai Tower. This was a social engagement he had to attend. He had declined those he could by using the excuse of having to meet the Emperor the next day, but this engagement, which he had to attend, was clearly impossible to decline.

Wang Qian, the only son of the Junior Grand Secretary and the General Manager of Yanxing Tower, hosted a banquet to welcome him. Liu Ji had to go.

At Wang Qian's banquet, the people accompanying him were naturally either rich or noble.

Ye Xianggao, a *jinshi* of the 11th year of Wanli, a *shujishi* (bachelor) of the Hanlin Academy, appointed as a compiler, and responsible for the affairs of the *siye* (assistant director) at the Imperial Academy, was a leader of the younger generation, known as the "Qilin Talent."

Ye Xianggao came from a family of poetry and ritual. His father was currently a department magistrate in Guangxi. He was a native of Fuzhou Prefecture, Fujian. When he was still in his mother's womb, the Japanese pirate scourge broke out in Fujian, and Ye Xianggao's mother fled in distress with the child in her womb.

In the 38th year of Jiajing, Ye Xianggao was born in a dry latrine, starving, with no guarantee of the next meal, hiding everywhere.

When the Japanese pirate scourge broke out, it didn't care if you were a family of poetry and ritual or a descendant of nobles.

In the 41st year of Jiajing, Qi Jiguang led his army to break the Japanese pirate nest at Niutian and wiped out the Japanese pirates, and the Japanese pirate scourge in Fujian was gradually pacified.

Four-year-old Ye Xianggao was finally able to return home. He was still very young then; he only remembered that when the Qi family army left, the people of the whole city were kowtowing to see them off. This was the grace of rebirth.

Ye Xianggao was still young then, and his head was kowtowed red because he finally didn't have to hide everywhere. His memory of that time was already blurred, but he remembered that his mother never allowed him to cry; she would hit him hard and then hold him and cry silently, fearing it would attract the Japanese pirates and cause the whole family to perish.

Yao Guangming of the Yao family was from a wealthy family and came on behalf of his brother Yao Guangqi. The wealth of the Yao family was half of Wu Zhong; they were truly rich, but no matter how rich, they couldn't protect it without power. So Yao Guangqi was successful now, and the whole family had to rely on this Yao Guangqi who had been driven out of the house.

Mi Wanzhong of the Mi family in Shao Garden; Mi Wanzhong's father was a hereditary company commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and his older brother, Mi Wanchun, was a military jinshi during the Longqing era, currently serving as an assistant regional commander in the Capital Battalion. Mi Wanzhong himself was a widely renowned, great scholar, proficient in poetry, prose, and song.

Xiong Tingbi was also called to accompany them. He represented the Quanchu Guild Hall. His studies were busy, and he was preparing for the next metropolitan examination, striving to pass and become a *jinshi*.

When Wang Qian heard the doorman report that Liu Ji had arrived, he immediately stood up and went to the door to welcome him.

"Sit, sit, sit. We are all working for His Majesty, no need to be polite." After Wang Qian led Liu Ji to sit down, he smiled and turned the fish head on the table so it faced Liu Ji, his face full of smiles.

The fish head facing him meant smooth sailing and favorable winds; this was a beautiful wish, hoping that Liu Ji could always have smooth sailing.

The meaning of Wang Qian's words was very clear: today's meal was not organized by him, but was a welcome banquet under the Emperor's will. Therefore, people like Ye Xianggao, Yao Guangming, and Mi Wanzhong, who were either rich or noble, were accompanying him.

There was no wine on the table because Liu Ji had to meet the Emperor the next day; being full of the smell of alcohol would be a loss of decorum. But the atmosphere at the table was very warm.

Wang Qian was very curious about the ocean and was willing to listen to Liu Ji tell stories about the sea. Yao Guangming and Mi Wanzhong were both from the interior and had never seen the sea in their lives. They were extremely surprised to hear that the waves could be three *zhang* high and that the bow of the ship could even dive into the water.

Having good listeners, Liu Ji naturally opened his heart and briefly told of all the storms and rains of the past year.

"These red-haired barbarians of the West are so vicious?" Wang Qian said with some horror: "Killing people isn't enough? Killing people is just a matter of a head hitting the ground, but they have to hang them upside down to warn the barbarians not to approach?"

"Truly outrageous and against heaven!"

Killing people is one thing, but killing people and hanging them upside down—that's a bit of a serious illness.

Ye Xianggao gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, saying: "Commander Liu is not lying. Fujian has also had red-haired barbarians; they are no less than the Japanese pirates. They are all a group of barbarians with wolf faces and beast hearts, killing without blinking, even killing children."

The Northern Hu of the grasslands at least talk about "above the cart wheel," and that "above the cart wheel" is only for reporting blood feuds. Most of the time, they just abduct people.

Fujian had Japanese pirates; this goes back to Zhu Wan pacifying the Japanese pirates of Shuangyu. The composition of the Japanese pirates at that time was already very complex, including Japanese, red-haired barbarians, black barbarians, and desperate outlaws of Great Ming.

After Ye Xianggao and Liu Ji explained, Wang Qian could actually understand the Shang King using Qiang people for sacrifice. Some barbarians are indeed better off being used.

"The Han people all speak the Hu language, yet they scold the Han people from the city walls."

"Commander Liu said that the Ramu people at the Governor's Palace of Diu turned their weapons against their compatriots. This kind of thing also happened in Suiyuan, which is not strange." Xiong Tingbi shook his head and said: "When I was in Suiyuan, I also had a similar experience. At that time, the company commander who led me told me not to trust the Hu people on the grasslands, and even more so, not to trust the Han people on the grasslands."

"At that time, I almost suffered a loss."

Xiong Tingbi was more interested in the story of the Ramu people because he had seen it on the grasslands and had almost been plotted against by these Han people on the grasslands. Fortunately, he was very smart and saw through the conspiracy.

"I think these stories of yours can be compiled into scripts, worthy of being sung." Yao Guangming

thought of a good idea. The Great Tea House at the front gate was his family's business. He decided to compile Liu Ji's stories into singing segments, just like the story of the Governor's Palace of Jinchi.

"This is a good idea." Wang Qian immediately expressed his agreement.

Liu Ji felt a bit strange that he had actually become a person in a play. However, he felt it didn't matter. He was quite busy and shouldn't be able to hear these singing segments. If he couldn't hear them, he wouldn't feel embarrassed.

"Is that Li Zhi?" Liu Ji looked at the person on the stage. Today there was a gathering, and the main speaker was Li Zhi.

Wang Qian looked at Li Zhi, his tone carrying some sighs, and said: "A madman, that's all. If it weren't for Young Master Huang protecting him, he would have died long ago."

Wang Qian was in the quagmire of officialdom and knew deeply how dissatisfied the traditional scholar-officials were with Li Zhi. His existence made the old scholars feel like they had a fish bone in their throats, even more unacceptable to these old scholars than the Emperor scolding the "cheap Confucian scholars."

Because Li Zhi's existence was a fundamental questioning of ritual, authority, and the classics.

He said: "Heaven gives birth to a person, and each person has their own use, without waiting to take from Confucius to be sufficient. If one must wait to take from Confucius, then before Confucius, for a thousand years, no one could be a person?"

Heaven gives birth to a person, and each person has their own use, without needing to rely on Confucian classics or the words of the Master to cultivate oneself, nurture one's nature, manage one's family, and stand in the world. If one really must follow the words and deeds of the Master to stand in the world, then for a thousand years before Confucius, people were not people?

Before the Master, were people not people? If people were not people, then following the Three Dynasties—the era of Yao, Shun, and Yu—were even Yao, Shun, and Yu not people?

With just this one sentence, no scholar-official in the entire capital could argue against Li Zhi. Of course, there were those who argued sophistry and published various ridiculous remarks, but not many people recognized them.

Since the rise of Zhu-Cheng Neo-Confucianism, Confucianism had a habit: "narrating but not creating," meaning only expounding on the theories of predecessors and not creating anything oneself. Sage books absolutely could not be created; one could only annotate them oneself.

And what Li Zhi shattered was this atmosphere of "narrating but not creating," emphasizing individual independent judgment and continuously using practice to perfect one's cognition, which is the "unity of knowledge and action."

He believed that worshiping all of Confucius's remarks and living by them as the guiding principles was blind obedience.

This kind of criticism naturally attracted dissatisfaction from countless people. "Daring to advocate chaotic ways, confusing the world and deceiving the people, ruining the hearts of the people under heaven"—these were all hats worn by Li Zhi. But for these hats, not only did he not refute them, but every time he gathered to talk, he would wear them himself, not feeling ashamed, but rather proud.

There was no way; this was a person protected by Young Master Huang. Even in terms of his public identity, Young Master Huang was a family member of the Grand General, so no one dared to speak. Those who knew Young Master Huang's true identity were even more wary and deep in their taboos.

"The Wanli New Deal is flourishing. Why are there still people desperately opposing the New Deal?" Jiao Hong sat on the stage. He was a

Doctor of Investigation of Things at the Academy of Investigation of Things. He was usually elusive and not good at human relations, and even less good at being an official.

But at the Academy of Investigation of Things, he was a master in the field of mathematics in Great Ming and the mentor of Xu Guangqi. Because Jiao Hong and Li Zhi were good friends, when Li Zhi invited him, Jiao Hong would come to Taibai Tower to gather and talk.

Recently, Jiao Hong had been leading Xu Guangqi to study questions like why the Earth revolves around the Sun and why people stand on the ground.

For example, Jiao Hong proposed an interesting question: stones and javelins thrown by people will fall to the ground, and lead bullets fired by cannons will descend along a parabolic trajectory, but they will fly further. However, when the speed of the cannonball is fast enough, will it not fall to the ground?

This was a question of a thought experiment, and the Doctors of Investigation of Things were engaged in an extremely intense discussion.

Li Zhi smiled and said: "Indeed, heaven and earth are renewing, and all things are changing; the imperial map is opening, and all nations are clear. But there are people who keep harping on the mistakes in the process of renewal. Why oppose the Wanli Renewal?"

"It's just for their own status."

"The ocean transport is surging, burying their monopoly profits; the machines are creaking, breaking the foundation of their fields. Those who inherit status through hereditary rank have wisdom that does not reach the average person, and talent that is hard to surpass a child. In a constant world, they worry about falling; in a dramatic change, how can they avoid panic?"

"Fearing that their rank and position will fall, fearing that their status will be hard to continue, they use the ancestral system as a shield and hold the old regulations as weapons."

The Wanli Renewal triggered a drastic change in society, and society had a new direction for growth, especially the opening of the sea and the improvement of productivity. Some people who relied on the legacy of their ancestors were not smart, or even very stupid. In an unchanging world, they still couldn't guarantee the stability of their status, and would even slide downward. After society had a huge increase, it was even harder to guarantee their social status.

This was the fundamental reason for opposing the Wanli Renewal.

Li Zhi's words again poked at the lungs of the Confucian scholars, saying that their wisdom did not reach the level of the average person, and their talent was not as good as a child who had finished elementary school, which was why they were so panicked.

Their starting point was much higher than others, but they got up early and arrived late. Not only did they fail to maintain their status, but they lost everything.

"In the end, it's just incompetence." Jiao Hong smiled and said: "The great river flows east; how can rotten scholars stop it? The great furnace melts gold; how can rotten wood block it?"

"Master Zhuowu, recently there has been much discussion in the capital. The power and might of profit are truly frightening. I wonder if Master Zhuowu has heard of it?"

Li Zhi shook his head and said: "Profit seems omnipotent, driving everyone toward places where there is profit. This has never been a rare thing since ancient times."

"Why do the gentry under heaven annex land? It's for profit. However, the profit from annexing land is no more than five percent per year, while the profit from opening the sea is at least twenty percent per year. Naturally, people swarm into maritime trade."

"Guiding according to the trend is nothing to fear. Of course, the high officials in the

court who hold the handle of the country, matters concerning the safety of the country, no matter how cautious, are not too much. After all, they are not like madmen like me who can just open their mouths."

"What I want to say today is why profit is so omnipotent. Because the root of profit's terrible power is exploitation."

"Exploiting others' labor, exploiting others' time, exploiting others' lives to make a profit—I think this is the most terrible part of profit."

As soon as Li Zhi said this, everyone at the gathering whispered to each other, because a few days ago, it had just happened that the owners of the banks didn't even care if the money they lent out could be recovered, because these banks essentially relied on confiscating property to make a profit. This incident happened to verify Li Zhi's statement today.

Profit is exploitation, exploitation is profit.

"I have seen something even more vicious." Li Zhi sighed and said.

"Oh? What did Master Zhuowu see?" Jiao Hong asked with a solemn expression. Li Zhi's gathering did not follow the script at all; even Jiao Hong didn't know what Li Zhi was going to say.

Was there something even more vicious than "profit is exploitation, exploitation is profit"?

Jiao Hong frowned deeply and said: "In the past, the speed of annexing fields was actually very slow. From the Hongwu era to the Hongzhi era, it was considered to have initially completed the annexation. For over a hundred years, Great Ming still had no shortage of self-cultivating farmers."

"By the Jiajing era, they began to measure and return fields, starting from the nobles. The Wanli Renewal began to measure and return fields again."

Zhang Juzheng's measurement and return of fields—actually, in the early Jiajing era, Zhang Cong also did it, and the scale was extremely large, and the effect was not bad. Zhang Cong was gone, Lu Bing was gone, and the Jiajing Emperor was trapped in the West Garden, unable to move.

Li Zhi said: "In the past, the annexation of fields was slow, but now, the accumulation of exploitation is far beyond the speed of annexing fields at that time. It is enough to continuously gather silver; there is no need to even annex fields."

The annexation of fields was slow, but the efficiency of capital exploitation accumulation was far beyond the original speed. In this way, everything began to accelerate. The demands on the court would only be higher. Once these increasingly huge interest groups could not be effectively restrained, they would be swallowed by these interest groups.

This was one of the fundamental contradictions that Great Ming must face when entering a commodity economy: the difference between value and price.

On one hand, social labor and production; on the other hand, unfair pricing; the divergence in value and price was reflected not only in quantity but also in nature. Even non-material morality, such as honor, loyalty, and fidelity, could be priced, or even be worthless.

The huge divergence in value and price caused the rapid accumulation of capital exploitation, and it would become faster and faster as time passed, eventually forming a huge chasm.

"Then what should be done?" Jiao Hong asked anxiously.

Li Zhi shook his head and said: "I don't know. If I knew, I would have gone to the Wenhua Hall

to be a wise minister long ago!"

After Liu Ji finished listening to this gathering, he looked at Wang Qian and asked in a low voice: "Censor Wang, is Li Zhi's gathering always this bold?"

Wang Qian shook his head and said: "This is already much more restrained. It used to be even bolder. Now he is the only main writer for *Xiao Yao Xiaoyao Yiwen*, and he is afraid of being silenced, so he has been as cautious as possible." ===== CHAPTER 825 =====