Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 398 Some are happy and some are sad

Zhu Changluo went to Wuxi, while He Shengrui and Zou Yi went all the way to Suzhou and Zhejiang.

The Maritime Customs also had weaving bureaus in Ningbo, Suzhou and Hangzhou.

This mission is not an easy one.

The Maritime Customs Office will be moved from Ningbo to the future Eastern Capital.

The Weaving Bureau should be changed into a factory and managed by the Government Production Bureau.

A huge local interest group is also involved.

For the local government, He Shengrui was the first powerful minister to come here in person. Needless to say, Zou Yi was the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department.

Go to Suzhou first.

Since the new emperor ascended the throne in the 28th year of Wanli, Sun Long, who was originally in charge of the two weaving bureaus in Suzhou and Hangzhou, was replaced.

What are the eunuchs who are in charge here now compared to Zou Yi? Although he entered the palace earlier than Zou Yi, Zou Yi is now the eunuch in charge of the Silijian.

Besides, he was well aware of the rules that the palace eunuchs had to follow over the years.

"Let's go to Zhenze and Shengze first." After Zou Yi gave the order, he said to He Shengrui, "Prime Minister He, please."

He Shengrui's relationship with the eunuchs was not good in the past.

The ravine where the Xianling Mausoleum was located was prone to flash floods, and repairs had to be done every year. He Shengrui took on this task, and after inspecting the situation, he knew what was going on.

Because every year they just lay bricks and do nothing but go through the motions, without actually achieving any results, but they can still allocate a sum of money every year.

But this matter does require the cooperation of the supervisory officials of the Ministry of Works.

He Shengrui pretended to cooperate and asked them how to make it last longer. The eunuchs said that they should use blue bricks used to build walls and then fill them with mortar. He Shengrui nodded and agreed. When the construction started, he ran to the destroyed area and asked, "Were blue bricks used here before?"

The eunuchs had nothing to say, so He Shengrui changed to stone and solved the problem once and for all. Originally, bricks were used, and it cost 200,000 yuan a year; after switching to stone masonry, it cost less than 50,000 yuan in the end.

He Shengrui, who was able to work at that time, had many grudges like this with the eunuchs, otherwise he would not have been demoted so easily later.

Now, the Ministry of Official Affairs is going to touch the interests of the eunuchs again.

He Shengrui looked at Zou Yi and said as he walked: "Although I am in charge of the internal eunuchs' bureaus, the eunuchs still have to take care of them."

Zou Yi smiled and said, "Prime Minister He is worrying too much. Since His Majesty has issued an order, everyone in the palace will obey. His Majesty wants us to supervise the accounts, and the Government Property Office will take care of it. Everyone has their own expertise. Hasn't this been agreed upon in Nanjing?"

"...The Suzhou Weaving Bureau is different. The brocade weaving factories are all in Suzhou, and the tribute to the palace..."

"All purchased." Zou Yi said, "These accounts, the ministers and His Majesty have settled them clearly, and the palace will have less trouble and effort."

So He Shengrui said nothing more and just praised "Eunuch Zou for his noble character."

It has to be said that the eunuchs of the Taichang Dynasty were very different from those of the Wanli Dynasty.

Shengze Town is not very close, about sixty or seventy miles away from Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture.

The people here are basically engaged in sericulture, and the sound of looms can be heard all night long. With this place as the center, this area has become a large-scale silk production and trading market.

It was already dark when we arrived at Shengze Town, but it was still bustling and lively.

He Shengrui roughly counted them and then sighed: "In this small town of Shengze, there are already hundreds of businesses, right?"

"Including Zhenze and other places, the number is several times this." Zou Yi said, "I have already instructed the two major offices of yarn, forging and silk, and the heads and owners of the largest ones have all arrived."

“Are there any organic users?”

"These are all the wealth accumulated gradually by small machine operators. Some of them have hundreds of machine operators, while some of them have dozens of small ones."

In a house in Shengze Town, seven people in cloth clothes were waiting nervously.

They wore cloth because according to current rules, they were not allowed to wear the silk they produced themselves.

Even though there have been rumors that these matters will no longer be dealt with, the decree has not yet been issued. It is said that this matter will be issued together with the registration of all the people as civilians.

Now that the Official Property Bureau has been established, the three major weaving bureaus that were originally managed by the eunuchs will be managed by the Official Property Bureau. This is naturally a huge matter for the yarn forging and silk shop operators who are dependent on the weaving bureaus.

The core work of the Weaving Bureau was actually to weave for the royal family and the government. Those who should have handed it over actually had no income. At the beginning, some families in this area were assigned to become weaving households through corvée labor, and these families were registered as craftsmen for generations.

Take the Suzhou Weaving Bureau as an example. It is divided into six halls, with nearly two hundred looms in total and nearly a thousand weavers responsible for the manufacturing work.

But how can such a small number of people satisfy the needs of the entire royal family and court of the Ming Dynasty?
In fact, gradually, many spontaneous weaving households emerged among the people, and the weaving bureau would directly purchase yarn and silk from the people. Those weaving households that were not assigned by the government produced and sold their own products, and were called cash-selling households.

Later, the small ones grew stronger and the big ones united, and there were yarn forging and silk shops, and guilds were organized.

But they are still far inferior to the big salt merchants.

The big salt merchants had to be respectful even in front of Fan Yuanzhu. Although they did not have to face the emperor himself, weren't He Shengrui and Zou Yi's status much higher than Fan Yuanzhu's?
When they met He Shengrui, they were trembling with fear, but He Shengrui was very easy-going.

"This is a good thing." He said after he sat down, "Now, in all the provinces of the Ming Dynasty, except for the Jiangnan area, most of them are changing from mulberry to cotton. The soil here is heavy and sticky, suitable for mulberry but not cotton. I heard that the silk reeling has now changed from two people per cart and one stove to two pots sharing one stove door, and five people per stove?"

When the prime minister started talking about the specialized craftsmanship, a group of silk merchants first praised it and then introduced it.

The so-called two people, one car and one stove, is the popular reeling method in the silk reeling process. Now, the silk reeling technology in the Jiangnan area has been further improved.

They also introduced the current dye formula, saying that it has been increased from more than ten types to more than twenty types.

In terms of looms, new oblique large-flowered jacquard machines have also begun to be used. With the addition of a "stack-assist" component, the physical threshold of jacquard weaving has been reduced, and the products have become fine and uniform. The pattern design is symmetrical, rigorous and complex, and the texture and gloss are diverse. These are the benefits brought by the new jacquard machine.

He Shengrui nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "Your Majesty established the Government Property Office to set up a special government office to help all kinds of industries to move to a higher level. This trip is to lay a foundation for the prosperity of the Jiangnan silk weaving industry. I will meet with you first today to give the Suzhou weaving industry a reassurance. For you, the good time has come."

They didn't dare to take this reassurance pill at the moment, as it didn't work.

But what He Shengrui said was true.

The court focused on planning basic livelihood industries, such as food, clothing, housing and transportation. Cotton cloth was cheaper, but silk also had a large market.

The ban on merchants and other groups wearing silk will soon be lifted, which will expand this market; the International Maritime Trade Expo will soon be held in Guangzhou, which will also expand this market.

In the future, all the needs of the royal family and the imperial court will be purchased, which will also be a huge market.

In fact, there is no need to change from rice to mulberry. Instead, many provinces are currently changing from mulberry to cotton.

If we can activate the industry's enthusiasm for technological improvement and standardize the business direction between officials and the public, these people will be able to eat their fill.

Of course, we must follow the new system and make sufficient contributions in terms of taxation of industry and commerce.

The emperor's attitude towards the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River who focused on land output and grain business was to suppress them; towards some families who were actually engaged in business, the emperor's attitude was to encourage them.

Those who have dual identities should be able to see clearly which direction the wind is blowing.

Jiangnan is rich, and the Taihu Lake area is okay, but the saying "seven mountains, two rivers and one field" is not an empty statement. Jiangnan has such a dense population, and it really needs more prosperous industry and commerce to absorb the population.

As for the raw materials, they can be transported from many places as they are accessible by water.

He Shengrui would separate from the imperial carriage in Nanjing, first go to Zhejiang, then to Fujian and Jiangxi, and finally to Hunan to reunite with the imperial carriage.

Silk, porcelain, paper... He would select some products and people from many industries and send them to Guangzhou.

As the conversation went on, the silk merchants became both surprised and delighted.

"Prime Minister, after hearing what you said, this broken sky of wealth and nobility, I, the common people, etc. ..."

"Your Majesty is wise and virtuous. All your thoughts and concerns benefit the country and the people. Since you know that it is a great fortune, then accept it." He Shengrui said with a smile, "This trip of mine not only makes you understand the intentions of the court, but also brings the grace of His Majesty. Tomorrow, the younger generation of the family who have been to school can bring it to the Suzhou Weaving Bureau. After the examination, I will recommend the best to the Imperial College or the University. The government-property office has just been established, and all the government offices have to deal with various industries and industries, so there is a lot of manpower shortage."

At this point, all the families and industries in the court took another step forward.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is of course relatively special. He Shengrui was appointed as the Minister of Industry and Information Technology because he is good at management and accounting. He is very knowledgeable in engineering construction; now, he needs to understand more industries.

He Shengrui himself knew that the emperor's expectations of him were no lower than those of the Executive Yuan.

In other words, whether the Ming Dynasty will have sufficient finances in the future depends on the effectiveness of his work.

As the first person who "systematically laid the industrial foundation for the Ming Dynasty" as described by the emperor, he had a heavy burden.

However, starting from projects such as the Military Industrial Park, He Shengrui has learned a lot from the emperor in this process.

"If the Ming Dynasty becomes a powerful industrial nation first, all nations in the world will submit to it and be in awe of it."

He remembered this sentence. His Majesty said that this was the biggest change in China since the unification of the Qin Dynasty. The situation was beyond our control. If the Ming Dynasty did not take this step, the Westerners might have taken it first.

Just like the clothing in the necessities of life, the emperor even told him: If there are prosperous wool spinning and leather making industries in Xuanda, Chengde, and Liaoning, then the tribes on the grasslands will have to rely on the Ming Dynasty to survive and provide the Ming Dynasty with wool and animal skins. For them, there will be income and they will live better than before, and for the Ming Dynasty, they will earn money back through more profitable industrial products and live better.

Everyone can accept it.

And if the tribes on the grassland are jealous and want to learn from them, they will naturally become Han people.

There is no way. According to what Your Majesty said, although people are divided into different races, they are no different. Organize manpower to produce to meet needs, and whoever can master a more efficient method in the end, the rest can only follow.

He Shengrui was busy in Suzhou, while in Changzhou, local gentry had already heard about the content of the emperor's lectures in Donglin Academy.

Different from the previous reports from Shandong and other places, this time the emperor explained in detail many of the considerations behind the court's new policies.

There is no explicit mention of what should be done with the gentry, but since the imperial power, the imperial court, and the government all have corresponding rights and obligations, what is the difference between ordinary people?
What are the obligations of the gentry?
Let them figure this out for now, and the emperor will return to Nanjing first.

In Nanjing, all the ministers had to give their reports to the emperor.

For their own interests, now that the emperor has honestly sought their opinions, how could they leak out the strategies for the reform of Nanjing and Southern Zhili?
They could only think of ways to clear themselves and behave well in front of the emperor. Then, it would be convenient for them to take the lead in the new structure of one capital, three capitals, nine borders, eighteen provinces, one central government, seven courts, and provinces in the local areas.

Of course, some key people who were involved in their desire to "whitewash" themselves also knew a thing or two.

After all, in order to make the "confession" correct, everyone stood on the dry shore first and chose which people would flip over from the old boat.

Between the ruler and his subjects, everything is tacitly understood.

Zhu Changluo also knew that he couldn’t investigate further in Jiangnan. What if something was really found out?
This is the tradition of the past, and any change can only be achieved slowly.

They are willing to change, and with this awareness they will be much more cautious in the future, and that is a change.

The next night after returning to Nanjing, he gave a banquet to these people and said at the banquet: "I have read all the strategies you presented. The others are trivial matters. Ordinary people are already accustomed to the old system. Although the new policy is beneficial to the people, the most feared thing is that local officials will turn good policies into bad policies and make people panic. There is one thing you didn't mention, that is, how to make the people feel that the tax collection in the future is better than before."

No one spoke.

"Governing the officials." Zhu Changluo looked at them. "The old officials are permanent, but the officials are transient. The local big families have controlled the affairs of the government offices, prefecture offices, and county offices for who knows how many years. The clearer the government orders are, the fewer opportunities they have to fish in troubled waters. I'll leave this difficult problem to you first. There are so many students and people who haven't passed the imperial examinations in Jiangnan, which is better than many illiterate clerks. You all understand the connection."

Of course these important officials understood this.

Some students wanted to take the exam again, some thought being a minor official was a disgrace to their status, and some were more aloof as local gentry, using their clan power to make local officials wary of them.

But in the subsequent wave of new policies, the opposition gentry were destined to face an increasingly harsh environment.

Then this controversy over the need to govern officials first in implementing the new policy is an opportunity for them.

If you can't fight, just join, don't worry about your status. Anyway, the local governments will be restructured later, like Liaoning Province and Chengde Prefecture, so do we still need to worry about resettlement issues?
The fact that the emperor discussed with them and "asked for their opinions" first meant that he had already considered the issue of resettlement.

"In the local area, the officials appointed by the court represent the country! The rules and regulations are in place, and the laws are clear. The imperial power may not go down to the countryside, but the country, the court, and the government should be recognized by the people. The clans that obey the court's orders are good clans. If they don't understand that the court relies on the financial situation in the south of the Yangtze River to protect them, then the court army doesn't mind pretending to be an external enemy, so that they can think about how there is a stable life in times of chaos!"

"Either you go to the government and serve the country, or you pull your hands back and become an obedient citizen. If you collude with the government, disobey government orders, harm the public and enrich yourself, and become a local threat, I will not tolerate it, the court will not tolerate it, and the country will not tolerate it!"

The emperor, who was like a kind teacher in Wuxi, was murderous in front of them.

A group of important officials nodded in agreement.

"Let's start after I leave Nanjing. Nanjing's Ministry of Justice and the Censorate should do more good things for the people of Jiangnan and redress more grievances before they are abolished." He said grimly, "If local officials are afraid of work, they should not be used. Like Shu Baiqing, they have turned back from their mistakes!"

(End of this chapter)