Chapter 473 T-shaped Enlightenment Economic Theory

Lin Ruhai is very familiar with Cui Jingrong, has dealt with him countless times, and even had many disputes.

Every year, the salt transfer envoys from Lianghuai and Huaihe Rivers have to communicate with the Ministry of Household Affairs about the salt class money, and negotiation is inevitable.

The Ministry of Husbandry has always been extremely dissatisfied with the original standards, believing that this convention was a rule set by Emperor Yuanxi in the early years. Now, although the population in the Zhou Dynasty has increased day by day, the amount of salt used by the people has increased greatly. This part of the salt that belongs to the Ministry of Husbandry The tuition fee should definitely be increased, and the original standards should not be continued.

For this reason, Cui Jingrong also wrote to the cabinet many times, requesting to adjust the amount of money turned over by the Yamen of the Huaihe River Salt Envoy to the Salt Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs. However, everything was like a stone sinking. No matter from the cabinet or the emperor, there was no sound, but Cui Jingrong also never heard of it. Don’t be discouraged, I will still submit a letter every year and refuse to give up.

Lin Ruhai, an "old friend" from the Ministry of Finance, knows this well. He is a person who does real things. There is absolutely no way he could do some frivolous things in Yangzhou City. Since such a big war is going on, he must have a big relationship with Kaihai. association.

"I don't know. You said they evaluated and verified the size of silk workshops, port terminals, and shipping companies. This makes sense. After all, after the sea is opened, we in Yangzhou Prefecture will definitely have a large amount of goods going out through here, such as shipping Go to Ningbo, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and other places and then go to sea. Silk and medicinal materials like our Yangzhou Prefecture can be like this, but Dong Weng, you said that things like Qianpu Yinzhuang, Mipu, Cloth Shop, Timber Store, Nanhuo Store, etc. Stat check, that’s just weird.”

Wang Wenyan can be considered a veteran who has worked below for many years, and is very familiar with the situation in the county and prefecture. Although She County is not as good as Yangzhou Prefecture, it is still a quite prosperous county in South Zhili, like She County Paper, ink, and tea are all materials that are exported in large quantities, and many of them have to be transported to Yangzhou for transshipment. However, things like Mipu Cloth Village and Qianzhuang Timber Store have nothing to do with opening up the sea.

"Wen Yan, maybe their business is not just for opening up the sea." Lin Ruhai realized something, "In other words, the opening up of the sea in the eyes of the imperial court is probably not just about opening up the sea and opening up sea trade. , maybe you will feel that the opening of the sea should bring greater changes to our Jiangnan, and Jiangnan should also give more rewards to the court."

Wang Wenyan was startled. He was from Huizhou Prefecture, and Lin Ruhai was from Suzhou Prefecture. They were both from Nanzhi. The land south of the Yangtze River had always been a land of great wealth, and the imperial court had always kept a tight grip on them.

This time the policy of opening up the sea was launched so quickly and smoothly, which surprised many Jiangnan gentry.

They all felt that according to the nature of the Zhou Dynasty, it would take a year and a half to come up with an explanation, and then it would take another year and a half to come up with a statement. In the end, it might take some time to finalize it. It can be said that it is implemented, but it is impossible to implement it within two or three years.

I didn’t expect that the court would come out with the documents only a month or two ago. It just needs further verification and investigation. According to this situation, it might be possible to officially open the sea next year.

"In this way, the imperial court's plan is very big." Wang Wenyan also began to think about it, "This is an almost all-round investigation, and it is no longer like a simple open sea. The emperor has been on the throne for six years now. Maybe I have some ideas.”

These words made Lin Ruhai's face change slightly.

In any case, Emperor Yuan Xi has abdicated. No matter how prestigious he was when he was on the throne, he is still a seventy-year-old man after all. Even if he can still keep his word now, how long can this situation last?

 Sooner or later he will have to leave the stage.

  Regardless of his condition, he should consider his options. But now that his condition is like this, it is even more important to consider this matter.

 But similarly, the Supreme Emperor is not unaware of his illness, and may be waiting for his memorial.

There is still considerable power among the Long Jinwei in the hands of the Supreme Emperor. Even in the Yamen of the two Huaidu salt transfer envoys, there are also many Long Jinwei people. I am afraid that the people of the Long Jinwei will belong to both sides. , similarly, among his deputies and subordinates, there are also people from the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor.

 It's just that before they lose control, everyone tacitly agrees, returns to their respective positions, and does their own thing.

Wang Wenyan's words reminded Lin Ruhai that it was time to consider other things. Although Lin Ruhai had been mentally prepared for this for a long time, he did not expect that it would come so quickly. Not only the Supreme Emperor might be considering it, but Emperor Yonglong was also not idle, and I am afraid that his serious illness will speed up the pace and rhythm of their actions.

"Wen Yan, it seems that I should introduce you to Feng Keng." Lin Ruhai finally made up his mind, but this determination only meant that he would carefully examine whether Feng Ziying was reliable. It had not yet reached the point of confiding in him. He believed that Wang With Wenyan's ability, he should be able to find out the details of Feng Ziying very quickly.

 “It’s true that I don’t dare to ask my ears.” Wang Wenyan smiled slightly.

While Lin Ruhai and Wang Wenyan were discussing Feng Ziying, Feng Ziying was also having intense discussions with Cui Jingrong, Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei in Chaoguan, Yangzhou Household Department.

"Why is it necessary to conduct such a detailed investigation? The official has already given a detailed introduction to Cui Gong, Mr. Wu, and Mr. Wei. Although Yangzhou is not a sea-opening city, it is even quite far away from our sea-opening destination. distance, but I also told Cui Gong before that opening up the sea seems to be just a strategy to liberalize sea trade. It seems that we only need to see, well, for example, whether the terminal construction in Ningbo can meet the demand, and the Xiejia in Quanzhou Whether the organization and personnel are sufficient to meet the trade demand after the arrival of overseas merchant ships and merchants, or whether Zhangzhou has sufficient sailors and boatmen, once it opens to sea and a large number of ships are built, can it meet the needs, and so on..."

Feng Ziying has taught a lot to these people in the past few days, so much so that both Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei felt a little enlightened.

Unlike Cui Jingrong, the two of them had only heard some remarks and opinions about Feng Ziying in the past, but they did not have deep and intuitive feelings. Even in Linqing, Dongchang Prefecture and even Huai'an Prefecture, they were relatively low-key, or It was normal, but after arriving in Yangzhou, his style suddenly changed.

Feng Ziying previously asked Fan Jingwen and He Fengsheng to lead a group of officials to conduct a comprehensive investigation of all walks of life in Yangzhou Prefecture, which left Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei baffled.

You said that you went to Ningbo or Quanzhou to conduct a thorough investigation, which is barely reasonable, and the scope is so broad, covering almost all business industries, it is too exaggerated. Even in Ningbo or Quanzhou, it feels a bit excessive, let alone this Yangzhou is hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

However, Cui Jingrong has not expressed his position, and even agreed to Feng Ziying's proposal to conduct a comprehensive investigation of Yangzhou's industrial operations. Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei naturally found it difficult to object.

“But I think it’s not enough.” Feng Ziying’s words made Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei **** up their ears.

If that’s not enough, what else should we do?

"As we all know, we in the south of the Yangtze River have more people and less land. The land is narrow and densely populated. Sometimes we have to feed a family on just one-third of an acre. Well, to be blunt, we may barely be able to support it, but think again. It is difficult to live a better life. Whether you plant rice, lotus roots, mulberries and silkworms per acre of land, there is only so much output and only so many people are needed. There are too many people. What should we do? One of the purposes of opening up the sea is to allow more people to board ships and go to sea to feed their families, but this is far from enough..."

 Coming to the key point, Cui Jingrong had already listened to Feng Ziying's indoctrination once, but he still wanted to listen carefully again.

"How many people can be accommodated on the ship? A ship plus the boatmen and sailors can only hold a hundred or ten people on a large ship, and a few dozen people on a small or medium-sized ship. Even if there are hundreds or thousands of more ships when the sea is opened, it will only be tens of thousands more people. It’s just that you can get on the ship, but for the narrow and densely populated areas of Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang, it is just a drop in the bucket..."

"..., also in the Northland, in the past twenty years, everyone knows that the weather has been bad, floods, droughts, and locusts have been constant. If you are not careful, the people will have no choice but to go out to eat. Judging from the situation during the Yuanxi period, As long as there is a famine, the number of refugees who go out to eat can easily be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. This puts great pressure on the court to provide relief. Sometimes you can't help the local area at all, and it is easy for the White Lotus Sect and Wenxiang Sect to These religious bandits were attracted and turned into rioters..."

"My brother, let me tell you one more thing, is it true that there is no food in these places? I'm afraid it's not entirely true. We all know very well that there is not a lot of food in the hands of gentry and grain merchants everywhere, but for For these people, they think it is okay to provide relief for a while or a small amount. If you ask them to take out all the food for relief, they will definitely not do it. But if these eaters have money in their hands and are willing to buy food, then maybe this The contradiction will not be so prominent..."

"..., of course there will definitely be people who say that the price of food will be artificially controlled by everyone at that time and soar, and those people will not be able to afford it, but at least this is much less risky than being desperate and becoming a refugee or even a mob, right? The government can also use it. Other ways to transport food to reduce pressure are another topic,..."

"What I want to say, the problem actually exists in two aspects. One is that there is indeed a shortage of food, and the other is that ordinary people lack purchasing power..."

 “Purchasing power?!” Cui Jingrong, Wei Guangwei and Wu Liangsi were all stunned by the word “Purchasing Power?!” This new term might have been coined by the person in front of them.

"Well, let me explain this word. It can be understood as the ability of ordinary people to buy things, such as buying grain, buying cotton, buying hoes, buying cattle and horses..., they must have the ability to buy, or more directly To put it bluntly, they must have the opportunity and ability to make money..."

 (End of this chapter)