Chapter 922 918 [Economics]

   During the holiday, there were only a few officials on duty in the Imperial Academy.

  Zhu Minghao took the outline of the thesis written last night and went to the library of the Imperial Academy to search for information.

  As soon as he entered the library, he bumped into Zhu Cizhen: "Mr. Zhaofeng, there is a five-day holiday for the Shangsi Festival, so I'm here to study knowledge after only three days."

   "Isn't Zhu Yushi here too?" Zhu Minghao said with a smile.

   Yushi is a respectful title, which is the ancient official name of a librarian, just like calling a magistrate a prefect.

   Zhu Cizhen's biological mother and sister were both accepted by the emperor as concubines. Although the seniority is a bit messy, it does not hinder Zhu Cizhao's promotion of status. Of course, the emperor was rather stingy, and he didn't award any titles. He just promoted Zhu Cizhao from an ordinary official to a small official in charge of the library.

  Zhu Cizhen was about to speak, but saw Song Yingxing coming in with a cane.

   "Meet Shou Kui!" The two quickly bowed to each other.

  Song Yingxing waved his hand and said, "I've retired, and I'm no longer the chief assistant. I came here today just to find a few books."

  Zhu Cizhen hurriedly asked: "What book do you want to read, sir? This junior will go find it immediately."

   "No need." Song Yingxing waved his hand.

   Zhu Cizhen and Zhu Minghao supported Song Yingxing to walk in from left to right.

   Not long after, the cabinet minister Wu Yingji also came.

  Zhu Cizhen feels very rare, a retired chief minister and a current cabinet minister, unexpectedly came to the library to gather together today.

  Song Yingxing was actually in good health, but when the rheumatism broke out, the pain was so painful that he couldn't get out of bed. After the beginning of spring, the symptoms eased, and I was able to walk on crutches by myself.

  After he resigned, he did not return to Jiangxi immediately, but stayed in Nanjing planning to write a book.

  Wu Yingji sat down next to Song Yingxing, Zhu Cizhen personally brewed good tea, and then stood by and listened to what they had to say.

  Wu Yingji said: "Yesterday, what I said yesterday made me understand. The core of this economics seems to be the word 'currency'."

  The word "economy" has existed in ancient times, and it is the abbreviation of "Economics for the Country and People" and "Economics for the People".

   But Zhao Han often used it in other words, and the ministers gradually got used to it, and the meaning of the word gradually changed to the economy of later generations.

Song Yingxing said: "Since ancient times, "Guanzi" must be the most important theory of economics. Guan Zhong talked about economic contingency, which is called the three powers. When I was young, I inspected all kinds of industries. When I was young, I made money for the court by minting coins. State affairs. Talking with His Majesty at ordinary times, I also learned a lot. Now that I am retired at home, I have a new experience when I read "Guanzi" again."

   "Please enlighten me!" Wu Yingji cupped his hands.

Song Yingxing said: "Guan Zhongzhi's right of heaven refers to the time of day. Floods, droughts, locusts, snow and epidemics all affect the economy of a country. Land rights refer to products, including cultivated land, mines, forests, and lakes. There is a saying about human rights, which is also economic. the core of learning."

  Wu Yingji said: "The human rights I understand below are adjustment and opening and closing."

  Replacement refers to the national grain storage in good years and the relief in bad years. To put it bluntly, the government manipulates commodities and prices to achieve the goal of governing the country, weakening enemies, cracking down on profiteers, and stabilizing society.

  The opening and closing can be understood as macro-control, encouraging or restricting certain commercial behaviors, and guiding the market to develop in accordance with the government's vision.

   These contents, Guan Zhong explained very clearly.

Song Yingxing said: "The changes in the world have changed over time. Some of the economic methods in "Guanzi" are now outdated, and some of them are missing. Compared with the pre-Qin period, all industries are prosperous now. Use coins to buy goods. There is also the right to land. Spain shipped countless silver from Mexico to China. Mexico’s geographical advantage can also be used by China through commercial trade.”

  Wu Yingji nodded and said, "Indeed."

  Song Yingxing also said: "Guan Zhong manages the country through financial management and advocates frugal use of the people. This is right, but he uses frugality for propriety and enriches the people for government. The reasoning is generally correct, but it needs to be changed a little bit."

   "It is necessary to change." Wu Yingji said.

  Guan Zhong's "Enriching the People with Government", the content is: lightly collect agricultural taxes, collect commercial taxes equally, limit the number of merchants, carefully expropriate corvees, and ensure agricultural production.

  Zhao Han's philosophy of governing the country is roughly the same as this set of methods. But instead of restricting the number of merchants, it is encouraging the development of industry and commerce.

  Guan Zhong's "Festival is used for propriety", on the surface, it is about what clothes the emperor, princes, and doctors should wear, but it is actually talking about the country's administrative expenses. Don't set up official positions that don't do anything, and don't confer unnecessary titles indiscriminately. The Song and Ming dynasties obviously violated Guan Zhong's thought. There were a lot of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty, and a large nest of clans in the Ming Dynasty.

  But some of Guan Zhong's methods are obviously outdated.

  For example, Guan Zhong said that the government can do business in person, which will inevitably make the market deserted. When the market is deserted, there will be fewer merchants, and agricultural labor will be sufficient. When agriculture is prosperous, there will be no shortage of national taxes.

   This is obviously because the productivity was low at that time, so the agricultural labor force must be guaranteed, and the number of merchant groups must be suppressed.

  Suddenly, Song Yingxing said to Zhu Cizhen: "I have read a copy of "Xujiang Anthology", and I don't know if it is here. You can find it."

  Zhu Cizhen asked: "Which dynasty is this "Collected Works of Xujiang" from?"

   "Song Dynasty." Song Yingxing said.

  Zhu Cizhen acted immediately and found it soon, but it was already rotten.

  Song Yingxing said to Wu Yingji: "This book contains "Strategies for Enriching the Country."

  Wu Yingji read it curiously, and started reading it on the spot.

  The first article talks about the need for money to govern the country, and officials should not shy away from talking about profit. The second one is to curb land mergers. The fifth chapter is to suppress the number of monks and Taoists. The seventh chapter discusses the righteous warehouse system. The third and eighth chapters deal with money. The fourth, sixth, ninth, and tenth chapters discuss industry and commerce.

  The author Li Gou, when discussing land issues, from the perspective of labor force and means of production, believed that land mergers destroyed the close combination of labor force (farmers) and means of production (land). Therefore, it will definitely hinder agricultural production.

  When discussing currency, he also talked about inflation and deflation, thinking that too high or too low prices are not good for the people. In addition, cheap grain hurts farmers, and expensive grain hurts farmers.

   When discussing industry and commerce, industrial and commercial practitioners are divided into three categories: wealthy businessmen, rich industrialists, small handicraftsmen, and small traders. (Li Gou believes that industrial and commercial people engaged in the production and distribution of luxury goods are "vagrants" and should be cracked down and let them do business.)

   "This is really a great Confucian!" Wu Yingji sighed after reading it.

   Li Gou is of course a great scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zeng Gong is his student, and Wang Anshi is his friend. He was able to go to Taixue to teach, which was recommended by Fan Zhongyan many times.

  Fan Zhongyan’s New Deal and Wang Anshi’s Reform were more or less influenced by some of Li Gou’s economic thoughts.

Song Yingxing said: "Our country has written books since ancient times, and they have been built from a high position. But I heard that the Qintian Academy adopted the ideas of European scholars and did the opposite. Subdivide a big thing so that it cannot be further divided. To study these small details. We study economics, can we do the same?"

  After the envoys returned from Europe, they brought back Descartes' thought, which was unanimously approved by the Qintian Academy, and now the epistemology and methodology of scientific research have been established.

  Song Yingxing is the author of "Heavenly Creation", and he always likes to explore the details and process. Reminded by the situation of Qintianyuan, the idea of ​​re-studying economics was born.

   "How to subdivide?" Wu Yingji felt at a loss.

   "Currency!"

  Song Yingxing said: "National use and people's livelihood, scholars, farmers, business, and business are nothing more than goods and currency. Goods are real and yang, currency is virtual and yin, and the combination of virtual and real, yin and yang, is a complete economy."

  Wu Yingji thought carefully and subconsciously nodded in agreement.

"Is it possible to define these economic terms like studying physics and mathematics?" Song Yingxing said, "Goods, goods are goods, and things are things. First define things, such as sun, moon, mountains and rivers, birds, animals, fish and insects, flowers, trees, grass and stones." , and things can be seen everywhere.”

  Wu Yingji said: "When things are exchanged, they are goods!"

Song Yingxing said: "It's not enough. Things are dead, and they need people to exchange them. Fish are in the water, and they can be sold after they are caught. Iron is in the mountains, and they can be mined and smelted before they can be sold. To turn things into goods, people need to work." Only labor is not enough. If you catch fish and eat it yourself, but don’t sell it, it’s not called goods. So the definition of goods is labor that appears for trade.”

   "Excellent!" Wu Yingji applauded.

  Suddenly, Wu Yingji said to Zhu Cizhao: "Please fetch your pen and ink."

  Zhu Cizhen ran very fast, poured water and grinded the ink himself, and said courteously: "The two gentlemen continue to talk, and the younger generation will record it."

  Wu Yingji muttered to himself: "What elements should the currency have? It is used to exchange goods, as long as it can be exchanged, it doesn't have to be gold, silver and copper coins. A few years ago, some places in Yunnan still used shell coins."

  Song Yingxing said: "Coin is also a kind of goods, because it contains the elements of all goods. But it is different from ordinary goods. It is a currency that can be exchanged for any goods."

Wu Yingji said: "The goods have a price, and the currency has a value. The exchange of goods and currencies must be of equal value, at least both buyers and sellers think they are of equal value. Therefore, currency is an equivalent commodity, and it is an equivalent currency specially used for transactions. "

   "It can be defined in this way," Song Yingxing turned his head and said, "Write it down."

  Zhu Cizhen hastily moved his pen to quickly record the content.

  Song Yingxing said: "Money and currency have already been defined. Let's define several elements of goods. How did the goods come from?"

"There must be people, no, there must be workers, or producers," Wu Yingji said. "It is not enough to have producers. You cannot create goods out of thin air. You must rely on certain resources. For example, mining requires mines, and Like farming, you must have land. What are these things called?"

  Song Yingxing said: "Production materials."

"Yes," Wu Yingji said, "producers use production materials and turn them into goods through labor. Is this land considered a commodity? Land can be bought and sold in the previous dynasty, and it can also be rented and sold by the court to merchants to set up factories in the new dynasty. Is it production material or goods?"

  Song Yingxing said: "When it is used for trading, the land is a commodity, and when it is used for production, the land is a production material."

  The two of them were sitting in the reading room of the library, and you stroked each other sentence by sentence.

  Zhu Cizhen sat next to him, listening and taking notes. Although some can understand, some can't understand, but he is very interested in it. What's the point of writing novels? It's interesting to study economics.

  (end of this chapter)