Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

Li Yun heard this and nodded to express his understanding.

"Father, don't worry, my son understands!"

Li Muchi nodded with satisfaction.

But he continued to ask.

"By the way, how are the preparations for recruiting sailors and preparing to go to sea?"

The Li family has a huge business, and just one textile factory cannot satisfy his appetite.

Not only did Li Muchi want to take advantage of the court's encouragement of industrial and commercial development, he also did not want to miss another opportunity for the court to open up the sea.

I want to develop my own fleet!

After hearing this, Li Yun spoke calmly.

"I'm still making preparations to reply to my father, but this matter is really difficult to do!"

"Both ships and people are in short supply..."

Because of the long-term maritime ban imposed by the Qing Dynasty, China now really has a dark eye on the ocean.

Without a boat and no one is the biggest problem!

Whether it is a boat that can run offshore or a skilled sailor, they are all hot commodities now.

Most of the skilled sailors were recruited by the government to train the navy and expand the Ming court's surface power.

The remaining people simply don’t have enough points!

This makes it really difficult for gentry like the Li family to recruit enough sailors.

Li Muchi took a deep breath and said after hearing this.

"I can't find sailors who can go to the open sea. Can sailors on inland rivers be used? It's just that after my Li family's boat goes to sea, it just goes along the coast..."

After listening to Li Muchi's words, Li Yun spoke.

"Father, son, I have another idea, I don't know whether to talk about it or not!"

Hearing this, Li Muchi glanced over.

Then he nodded slightly.

"Tell me, what's the matter!"

Li Yun said.

"Father, this is what my son thinks."

"Since Ming Dynasty is now in short supply of sailors who can travel across the ocean, how about we set up a school specifically to train qualified sailors?"

"Presumably, as long as this school can be opened, there will be no shortage of students..."

"If this school is established, it can train sailors for my Li family, and it can also make a profit. Wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone?"

When Li Muchi heard this, the expression on his face was obviously moved.

After looking at his son with approval, Li Muthi said.

"What my son said is true, this matter can indeed be considered."

……

In Guangzhou City, the palace of the Ming Emperor.

Zhu Jianzhuo sat at the top, picked up the tea cup and took a sip.

In front of him, all the officials of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet were present, and a group of people were discussing government affairs enthusiastically.

Seeing that everyone was almost finished discussing, Zhu Jiazhuo cleared his throat and raised a new topic.

"Do you have any opinions on the issue of new money by the imperial court and the issuance of minted silver coins reported by Jing'an?"

Now that the Ming Dynasty has established the country, it is appropriate to mint new money.

After all, Ming Dynasty can't continue to use Manchu money, right?
This is not appropriate either!

Therefore, the matter of casting new money is extremely urgent for the Ming Dynasty.

What's more, making money is never a losing business.

But it is a very profitable thing!
It was Zhu Jing'an's suggestion to cast silver coins.

Today's China is a silver-standard country.

Although gold is also in circulation, silver is still the main currency.

But here comes the problem!
A country with a silver standard does not have a silver dollar with a fixed currency value, but only uses silver ingots of varying qualities for transactions.

Is this normal?

Should this be?

The answer is no, it’s not normal, and it shouldn’t be.

Therefore, Zhu Jing'an had the idea of ​​​​letting the Ming government begin to mint a batch of silver coins with stable currency values.

Because this thing is accomplished with one stone.

The first is that casting silver coins is profitable for the court.

When turning silver ingots into silver coins, there will be a certain amount of fire consumption, which is the profit from minting.Second, if silver coins are minted, fire consumption can be truly abolished.

It will greatly reduce the exploitation of the people at the bottom by corrupt officials and reduce the life pressure faced by the people at the bottom.

As for the Huohuo tax return scheme introduced by Yongzheng, to put it bluntly, it was just to levy as much Huohuo as corrupt officials wanted, with a fixed quota and included in the regular tax.

After the money is collected, it will be used to provide officials with honest money!
Although it also reduced the burden on the people to a certain extent, compared with the direct casting and issuance of silver coins in the Ming Dynasty, this intensity was far inferior.

After all, the imperial court issued silver coins, so people could pay taxes directly with silver coins instead of handing over scattered silver coins.

In this case, the fire consumption will naturally disappear.

You can't just take the silver coins that have been minted by the imperial court and you, as an official, have to take them and mint them again, right?

Does he have such a big face?

The most important point is that only by determining the currency value can the financial industry have the possibility of development.

Only by using finance as the fulcrum can we further leverage the social development and productivity progress of Ming Dynasty!
Therefore, Zhu Jing'an proposed the idea of ​​casting silver coins for distribution.

After hearing this, Wang Shun, the chief minister of the cabinet, stood up and spoke.

"Your Majesty, I agree to mint new money, but I have reservations about issuing silver coins."

After talking about his attitude, Wang Shun opened his mouth to explain again.

"The reason for this is that China has never cast silver coins. In the past dynasties, we have only heard of copper coins, but how have we ever had silver coins?"

"If the imperial court rashly issues silver coins, the consequences will be really hard to predict!"

"I might be doing harm to the people!"

Wang Shun received Confucian education since he was a child. He has a very conservative personality and has never been enthusiastic about innovation and reform.

Zhu Jianzhuo heard this and asked rhetorically.

"What the first assistant said may be reasonable, but if silver coins are not minted, does the first assistant have a way to solve the fire consumption?"

Wang Shun opened his mouth when he heard the words, but still said.

"The old minister still has reservations about this and believes that the casting of silver coins should be postponed."

"His Royal Highness the Prince's idea of ​​casting silver coins may be a good idea, but he is too hasty. To govern a big country is like cooking a small delicacy. Things like this, which are related to the lifeblood of the country, must not be implemented in a hurry."

Although Wang Shun has a conservative character, his words are not actually wrong.

Reform has always been difficult.

Even minor reforms will encounter resistance from vested interests and great resistance.

Many times, the more anxious you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes.

Li Mu on the side also spoke.

"In reply to Your Majesty, I also believe that this matter should be postponed!"

"The imperial court can first mint a batch of silver coins on a small scale to calculate costs and profits, and release them to the market to test the market's reaction."

"After we are convinced that there is no problem with the casting of silver coins, we can then proceed with it on a large scale."

To put it bluntly, it means launching a batch of pilot projects before large-scale reforms.

Immediately afterwards, He Shou and others also spoke in agreement, saying that they should slow down.

To a certain extent, most of the people in the Ming Dynasty are conservatives.

In fact, the only real reformist is Zhu Jing'an.

He is the only one who is eager for reform from the bottom of his heart!
The attitude of others is to take it easy as long as possible!

Because only Zhu Jing'an knows that the world today is on the cusp of a turbulent wave, and China has already lagged behind the West in terms of great navigation and industrial revolution.

If we don’t catch up again, it will really be too late!

Of course, the officials of the Ming Dynasty said they were conservatives, but that was not necessarily the case.

In the new collective of Ming Dynasty, there are no real conservatives.

In fact, everyone is willing to reform.

What they are opposed to is not reform, but Zhu Jing'an's large-scale reforms.

I hope Zhu Jing'an can slow down and take his time.

In other words, their conservative attitude is only conservative compared to Zhu Jing'an.

Compared with those high-level officials in the Manchu Qing Dynasty who were stuck in their ways, they were all relatively open-minded.

At the very least, Ming Dynasty is aware of the necessity of reform from top to bottom!
They are also aware of the necessity of opening up to the outside world and developing industry and commerce.

This is already very good!

Since the Song Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism has flourished, and the social development of China as a whole has been aggressive and outward-looking, instead of being conservative and inward-looking.

After hundreds of years of social development, the entire social atmosphere in China has tended to be conservative.

Finally, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, our thinking had progressed a bit and society was moving forward. As a result, the Qing Dynasty entered the country.

He was kicked back to his original position!
In fact, since the Manchus entered the country, more than 100 years of literary inquisition, enslaved education, and closed-door maritime bans have pushed the whole of China further into the abyss and become more conservative.

It is definitely not an easy task for Zhu Jing'an to reverse this social trend in a short time! (End of chapter)