Chapter 527 The New Policy is Bullshit
"No matter how extravagant the Golden City is, it cannot compare to the capital of the Ming Dynasty."
Inside Gao's Restaurant, Bai Fugui, a man as wealthy as a country, maintained unparalleled respect from the expression on his face to his body movements.
Yan Shaoting glanced at Xu Wei, then pointed to the stool in front of him and said, "Sit down."
Bai Fugui bent down and nodded attentively, then he dared to sit on the stool.
In the Ming Dynasty for so many years.
This businessman from Spain deeply realized that in this land, power is always more powerful than money.
But it is the opposite in my hometown.
As long as you have enough money, you can even buy a king.
After sitting down with respect and humility, Bai Fugui spoke: "My wealth is far from enough to support the construction of a golden city. It's just that I am obsessed with the pavilions and courtyards of the Ming Dynasty and want to build one in my hometown."
"Oh?" Yan Shaoting showed curiosity. He had never thought that Bai Fugui had already been assimilated to this extent. "I heard that the situation in Europe has been very unstable in recent years?"
According to my not-so-familiar memory of Western history, it seemed that Europe was about to be in a war that would last for decades.
He didn't know what the specific situation was.
Bai Fugui replied in a very rare way, using the language that is very typical of the Central Plains: "The world is never peaceful at any time. I am now often in the Ming Dynasty, and I know very little about the things in my hometown. Perhaps I should go back and see it with my own eyes, and then bring you the latest news."
Yan Shaoting raised his eyebrows and said, "Have you ever thought about... becoming a true Ming person?"
After he asked, his eyes casually swept across Bai Fugui's face and finally fell outside the window.
From this position, the southeast corner tower of the Forbidden City is clearly visible.
The imperial guards and soldiers on the city wall were now in mourning and could be seen.
Is Mr. Gao trying to perform a trick of looking at the palace from afar?
Yan Shaoting's thinking gradually began to diverge.
But Bai Fugui's heart skipped a beat.
Become a true Ming person?
This was something he had thought about countless times in private.
Although he is now doing silk business with the Ming Dynasty, this business can earn him countless wealth, but it will not always be stable.
Because the Ming Dynasty might replace a foreign merchant at any time to take over and continue the silk trade.
And because he was not a Ming citizen, he had to pay a large amount of taxes to send Ming silk to Spain and other places, and then transport Europe's goods to Ming.
However, those Ming people who went out to sea to do business did not need to pay taxes, or they only needed to pay a small amount of tax.
To become a true Ming person, this is just a small advantage in terms of money.
More importantly, your identity and treatment in the Ming Dynasty will be completely different.
He could set up businesses and even hire Ming people as his subordinates to advise him on his business in the Ming Dynasty. He also had connections in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, so he could expand his business throughout the entire Ming Dynasty.
Bai Fugui even thought that he might be able to marry a wife in the Ming Dynasty and then have children in the Ming Dynasty.
In this way, his children and grandchildren can go to school, take part in the imperial examinations, and then become officials in the court.
In Bai Fugui's opinion, the so-called kings and princes in the land of Oloba are not even as good as a prefect or a county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty.
Finished looking at the southeast corner tower.
Yan Shaoting glanced sideways at Bai Fugui, whose face had turned red with excitement.
He said leisurely: "The foreign trading companies were originally just a stopgap measure, but now they should be under the jurisdiction of our Ministry of Revenue. In this way, the leaders and assistants of the foreign trading companies can get an official position."
Bai Fugui's eyes suddenly brightened.
He seemed to have seen himself becoming a true Ming person.
Yan Shaoting continued, "For foreign companies, the imperial court must appoint someone else to hold the seal. According to our dynasty's official system, in addition to the seal holder, the company must have two assistant officials. According to the government regulations, the seal holder of a foreign company is probably a ninth-rank official, similar to the treasurer, and the two assistant officials are ninth-rank officials. But no matter what, with a rank comes status, and this status naturally belongs to the people of the Ming Dynasty."
What Yan Shaoting said was not wrong.
According to the rules of the imperial court, all government offices must be governed by a superior department, and the final level is governed by the top-level government offices such as the Six Ministries, Five Temples, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Public Security.
Just like he was able to run foreign business in the first place because he held an official position in the Ministry of Revenue.
This is called everything has a context.
Now that the Ming Dynasty has opened its seas, there will be more and more overseas trade issues and the business will become increasingly busy. Therefore, it is necessary to more clearly assign foreign businesses to the Ministry of Revenue and set up officials.
At this moment, Bai Fugui's whole body was trembling, and half of his butt was sticking up.
"One hundred thousand taels!"
"No no no!"
"If the guests can help, I am willing to pay one million taels!"
"I just want to be an assistant officer of the ninth rank in a foreign trading company."
Bai Fugui offered a price of one million taels as a minor official of the ninth rank.
It’s not that he is stupid or doesn’t understand the market.
But the market price he knew was also the price charged by Ming Dynasty’s own people.
Not to mention those Ming Dynasty people who sought official positions through bribery and promotion, who already had the status of juren or jinshi.
But I am neither a Ming person nor have any achievements.
Bai Fugui thought it was a good deal to spend one million taels of silver to buy an official position in the Ming Dynasty and get an official status.
Although it seems that I have invested a lot.
The benefits that may be gained are even greater.
But even when facing Bai Fugui who had already offered one million taels.
Yan Shaoting just glanced at the other person indifferently, then leaned back in his chair silently.
He stared at the excited Bai Fugui with a playful look: "Do you think I'm short of money? Or do you think I value a million taels of silver?"
With the work he had done and the official position he had held over the years, if he really wanted to make some money, he could easily make several million taels of silver.
Bai Fugui also shuddered all over and lowered his head quickly: "I said the wrong thing. To Mr. Yan, money is nothing but dirt. But if you want me to do something, as long as you give the order, I will never be vague!"
At this moment, Bai Fugui also came to his senses.
I just asked for a million because I was excited.
But now that he had reacted, he realized that this young man, who had made a fortune that could rival a country with him in the Ming Dynasty, could say these words to him today.
Then it is obvious that one of the official positions in the foreign trading company that will be officially under the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty will belong to him.
But before that.
You must also do something for the other person.
"I hope you guys can have some fun."
"We can make a good fuss in Beijing, Nanjing, and other places in the southeast."
"The whole court knew about it."
inside the house.
Yan Shaoting spoke lightly with a calm expression.
But his words surprised Bai Fugui, who opened his mouth in confusion.
Bang bang bang.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
The shop owner and his waiter pushed open the door and brought in the prepared dishes.
It was the winter bamboo shoots stewed with bacon that Gao Gong and Li Chunfang ate here.
In addition, of course, there are some seasonal vegetables.
In this cold winter, this shop in the alley can still provide seasonal vegetables, which shows a lot. If it didn't have connections in the court, if it couldn't get seasonal vegetables grown in greenhouses in the imperial farm outside the city with warm soup, this shop would never have such things.
The meals were delivered.
It was indeed in accordance with Yan Shaoting's previous instructions that no alcohol was delivered.
After everything was arranged, the shopkeeper retreated respectfully and closed the door.
Bai Fugui then asked with a puzzled look on his face: "I wonder what reason the guests want us to make trouble for?"
He cleverly skipped over the question of why they wanted to cause trouble and to what extent.
I just asked what the reason was for making trouble.
Yan Shaoting said: "It means that people are deceiving you and making it so that you never get an accurate price when doing business."
Yes, that's right.
What Yan Shaoting is going to do now is the currency reform movement.
Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.
What few people know is that before the currency reform, there was a commodity price reform movement.
As the Ming Dynasty opened up its seas and engaged in maritime trade in recent years, more and more silver flowed in.
This has led to the situation where silver, which was originally expensive, is now cheap.
But the news spreads slowly, and when it is spread to the whole world, the common people are the ones who suffer in the end.
After a few decades, when overseas silver no longer continues to flow in, the price of silver will become high again.
Back and forth.
In the end, the ones who suffer the most are always the ordinary people.
In each wave of invisible economy, the people bear everything.
This is also why he categorically rejected the "One Whip System" proposed by Zhang Juzheng.
If deep reforms are to be carried out, a healthy economic system must be re-established, and the monetary policy that the Ming Dynasty had not had since its founding must be re-established.
Bai Fugui had already begun thinking about how he should arrange his manpower, how to create chaos, and how to protect himself.
Yan Shaoting continued, "You don't need to pay any money. You just need to get the people below to make a fuss. After this is done, I will give you an official position in a foreign trading company, with a rank and grade."
Although all court officials are recommended and selected by the Ministry of Personnel, who can blame me for being the person who knows the most about economics and overseas business in the Ming Dynasty?
As long as you have knowledge, you will have power and the right to recommend.
Although the two had only spent a short time together, Bai Fugui had a mysterious confidence in Yan Shaoting.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to transform from an ordinary foreign businessman into a businessman as wealthy as a country in just a few years.
"I understand, but it's still winter now, so I can only stir up trouble in Beijing. I can only stir up trouble in Jiangnan when spring comes, and it will all be near the Maritime Customs Office."
Bai Fugui quickly gave a timeline.
Yan Shaoting had no objection as long as the other party agreed.
The craftsmanship of the shop is really good.
After the meal, Yan Shaoting finally remembered this restaurant.
He shaved his teeth clean, rinsed his mouth with a sip of tea, and spit it out.
Yan Shaoting then pulled Bai Fugui out.
He whispered, "If there is a chance, when your fleet sets out in the spring, remember to ask them to bring back some blonde and blue-eyed women from Europa. They must be pretty and have good figures."
Bai Fugui raised his eyebrows and looked at Yan Shaoting with a look that all men can understand.
Even Xu Wei, who was standing by, seemed a little confused.
Logically speaking, the guest is not a man who is greedy for beauty, and he has only had one wife at home for so many years.
Let’s leave Yan Shifan aside.
The Yan family can be said to have practiced monogamy for generations.
Could it be that the guest has changed his personality?
After working so hard for so many years, are you ready to enjoy yourself?
Xu Wei had no idea and could only make random guesses.
Bai Fugui nodded repeatedly: "Of course! Of course! Don't worry, I have asked people to bring back all the most beautiful women in Oloba!"
At this time, Bai Fugui had already skillfully begun to look at problems from the perspective of a Ming person.
He unreservedly drew arcs with his hands in front of his chest and made gestures.
Yan Shaoting did not explain, but patted the other person on the back: "It's just a small matter, don't take it too seriously."
Wait until both parties separate.
Yan Shaoting and Xu Wei boarded the carriage.
Only then did he take out a small cloth bag from his sleeve.
When he opened the bag, there were several gold and silver coins inside.
The shapes are all perfect circles.
But the depiction above is different.
There are two coins with human heads with high noses and deep eye sockets, and some decorative gold and silver coins with olive branches.
As for the other two coins, the words "Jiajing Gold Treasure" and "Jiajing Silver Treasure" are printed on the back, while the front is blank.
Xu Wei immediately raised his eyebrows, his face full of curiosity: "Does the guest want to mint gold and silver coins?"
After saying this, Xu Wei immediately shook his head.
"Does the guest intend to petition the court to mint gold and silver coins?"
Yan Shaoting held the two gold and silver coins with blank fronts between his fingers and turned them.
He smiled and said, "Nowadays, more and more gold and silver are flowing in from overseas, and the people of our dynasty have no time to notice that the gold-silver price ratio is about to change drastically, and the court is also negligent and has no measures to manage it."
He looked at the southeast corner tower of the Forbidden City with a dim gaze as he lifted the curtain of the carriage.
Yan Shaoting snorted coldly: "If we can't solve the most basic price problem that affects billions of people in the world, let my Ming Dynasty have a normal currency system..."
"The so-called New Deal reform is nothing but bullshit!"
He could imagine that these officials, from Gao Gong to the county magistrate and county magistrate, were all carrying out reforms centered around the fields.
Things are somewhat different now, and there may be certain changes to commercial taxes.
But in the final analysis, these are all floating in the air.
Why did the imperial court want to reform?
Because there is no money!
So we need to reform and innovate.
The fundamental problem is money.
If the problem with money itself is not changed, even if the problems with land and business are solved and the mergers of gentry and large households are restricted, in a few decades the old problems will still return and things will be the same.
in the carriage.
Yan Shaoting turned the gold and silver coins with one hand.
"Wen Chang, what do you think if the front of these gold and silver coins were printed with the portrait of a saint or a portrait of the late emperor?"
"It's even a portrait of the new monarch."
"Do you think our Crown Prince would agree?"
…………
Monthly PassMonthly Pass
(End of this chapter)