Chapter 218: The princes were so shocked that their scalps were numb? Can your income increase fivefold?
The princes could no longer laugh when they heard this. At first they thought it was just a simple problem. It even means that it is just a problem at home. But now they get it. Chen Han used a very simple arithmetic problem to explain to them how serious the clan problem was. Because the clan will not decrease until it reaches the Fengguo Lieutenant, it will put great pressure on the imperial treasury. The reason why Chen Han said this is well-founded. Because the clan of the Ming Dynasty has always been criticized the most. They even directly said that they were poor for the entire Ming Dynasty. Because in order to make his descendants live a better life, Lao Zhu directly stipulated that his descendants did not need to do anything, and were not allowed to do business or serve in official positions.
And you never have to worry about not receiving your salary. Because in Lao Zhu's regulations, not only the titles of the clans were clearly arranged. It also extended the clan’s favor to infinity. The clan's favor in the Tang Dynasty lasted for five generations, and after the fifth generation, they were all commoners. Just like Liu Bei, you should sell straw sandals instead of selling straw sandals, don't say you are a member of the royal family. But in the Ming Dynasty, after reaching Lieutenant Fengguo, the number would never decrease. Under such a system, the princes naturally fell into a crazy fertility competition. Because every time a child is born, one can receive an extra salary from the imperial treasury. This is a very worthwhile road to wealth. Encouraged by such a system, the Ming Dynasty also produced a breeder like King Jing of Zhongshan, Liu Bei's ancestor in the Han Dynasty. And this brother is really even worse. "Records of the Great Events of the Emperor Ming Dynasty" records that "the first generation of Qingcheng King Zhu Jixuan gave birth to one hundred sons, and they all grew up. Among them, the eldest son Zhu Meicheng was granted the title of King Qingcheng, and the remaining ninety-nine were granted the title of general of the country. Every time there was a gathering, the same father and brothers were They didn't know each other. In the fifth year of Hongzhi, King Qingcheng Zhu Zhongyi reported to the Ming court that he had too many descendants in his family and he could no longer count them, and asked the Ming court to send someone to help him count them. After the Ming court government specially assigned personnel to count, the population of King Qingcheng Zhu Zhongyi's family was finally counted. Zhu Zhongyi had 24 wives and concubines, 94 children, 163 grandchildren, and 510 great-grandchildren. Including wives and concubines, the number of clan members surnamed Zhu produced by this family alone reached more than 1000. This can be seen. Driven by such a trend, how could the number of clans be so small? After listening to Chen Han's words, everyone fell into deep thought.
These princes have received the strictest and most profound education since they were young. Therefore, their wisdom is not comparable to that of ordinary civilians, and they can immediately see the disadvantages. Finally, it was King Yan Zhu Di who spoke first: "According to your calculation, even if the salaries of all clans are reduced by half, it will still not change later, and the clan will become the biggest burden on the imperial treasury. I believe that if Big Brother asks us to come over, there will definitely be a good solution. If you really want to learn from the Tang and Song dynasties, whether it is to end in five generations or to end in three generations, it is a good way. Although this will make the brothers here feel a little regretful, for the court, this is the best way. " Chen Han nodded: "His Royal Highness King Yan still understands the righteousness, in fact, it is still the same sentence. I can't live for more than a few decades. After I die, I won't care about the grievances and grudges in the world, and why should I care about how my children and grandchildren will live. There is a saying that goes well: if our children and grandchildren are capable, they can still get up without us giving them much money. On the contrary, if the children and grandchildren of future generations are incompetent, money will become the main culprit for them to cause disasters. When I say this, you should understand, right? " King Jin, King Yan, King Chu, and King Zhou all nodded. "What this is saying is, if all the children and grandchildren in the future are like pigs, no matter how much money you leave to them, what else can they do besides being harmed by them and developing bad habits?" This was said by the King of Zhou. He cared very much about the education of his children and grandchildren. Then King Jin asked again, "Then how are you going to solve the salary problem of the clan? The clan members now receive such high salaries. If they disappear in the future, it will be easy for our generation. The children and grandchildren of future generations will definitely have opinions. After all, they can see that their predecessors have enjoyed generous salaries for more than [-] years. It would be okay if the salary was not that high from the beginning, but now it is given a sweetener and then immediately removed, which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Let me tell you the truth, when my salary was cut, I also complained, but I was not as crazy as my second brother. But once such a problem occurs, which clan member doesn't want to recover? I want to ask, who can restrain the children and grandchildren of future generations from not wanting to do this? Wouldn't you make such a calculation? " The princes all lowered their heads. To be honest, don’t think that future generations will think about such issues. Even I can't help but mutter and think about recovering. Just like King Jin said just now, after tasting the sweetness, how could there be no resentment if it stopped suddenly now.
Chen Han looked around and saw their expressions, and he knew what these people were thinking. So he said: "The reason why I called His Highness the Crown Prince here today is to discuss how to solve the issue of the clan's salary. The method I have given can not only allow you to have a higher salary than you have now, but also prevent the officials and people in the world from being resentful and jealous, or even wanting to kill you. " When Chen Han said this, even Zhu Biao found it a bit difficult. After hearing this, the other princes also felt that Chen Han was telling lies. There is no such thing as the best of both worlds. If any good thing falls on one's own head, it is not a good thing and may be a disaster. King Yan Zhu Di did not rush to refute, but was thinking about it in his mind. But King Jin was still relatively straightforward. When he heard what Chen Han said, he said on the spot, "Niece-in-law, it's not that we uncles look down on you. How can you say that there is no good thing in the world that has the best of both worlds? It will neither burden the court nor make the people jealous and angry, and let the officials all look good. If such a good thing really happened, would the old man not do it? You must know that the old man has never been a fool. " In fact, King Jin did not say what he said in a harsh way. What he was thinking in his heart was: Oh! Are you the only smart person in the world? Are everyone else stupid? If there really is such a best-of-both-worlds thing, why would it be the turn of officials and people to roll their eyes at us now? It has been implemented long ago. Do you, Chen Han, have more heads, more eyes, more limbs than others? I didn't realize that you have three heads and six arms. At first, Chen Han had a good impression of these princes. After all, when we first entered the city, we saw all the fresh changes in the city. Especially the completely completed cement road, they were shocked by Chen Han's ability. But now that they heard Chen Han speak like this, they all felt that Chen Han was a bit arrogant, and their favorability suddenly dropped a lot. Chen Han was not in a hurry to defend, but said straight to the point, "The method I gave is to let the clan take a stake in the current Daming Chamber of Commerce. I think you have all heard of the Daming Chamber of Commerce, which is a business name under the Commercial Department I currently established. " King Jin and King Yan raised their heads and looked at Chen Han. King Qi shouted: "What? You mean to let us do business, how can this be done?
How can the clan do business? We are the royal family. It is not in line with etiquette for the royal family to compete with businessmen for profit, let alone do business in person. Those scholars and officials must not laugh at us to death! " King Jin even curled his lips, "What do you think I am? How can you let us do those low-level businessmen to do business for such a derogatory thing!" When he was about to say that businessmen and traders were all despicable people, he immediately remembered when he first entered the capital. After hearing what the scholar said that now everyone is sharing their land, the officials joined forces with the Tax Inspection Department adapted from Jin Yiwei to collect taxes. Just because these businessmen paid a lot of taxes and supported the office expenses of local government offices, they were recognized by people all over the world.
Even the officials in the imperial court had a completely different attitude towards these businessmen now than before, so he stopped talking. But as the royal family and the royal children are arrogant in their hearts, how can they be tolerated to haggle with these businessmen?
They can't stand the philistinism of businessmen either? They feel that money is at their fingertips, so how can they put down their noble status to make money? The other princes did not express it as obviously as King Jin, but their expressions and demeanor showed that they were opposed to this matter. They absolutely cannot do such things as buying and selling. In fact, when Chen Han told Prince Zhu Biao about this matter at first, Zhu Biao also had such concerns. He knows better than anyone what state these brothers are in. All of them are arrogant and unable to let go of their figure. Therefore, if Chen Han hadn't explained to him in detail the specific operation process for the clan to invest in the Daming Chamber of Commerce, he would have felt that this matter was absolutely impossible. Chen Han explained: "We asked the clan to invest in the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce, but we didn't ask you to do business in person. Didn’t I say that after the Daming Chamber of Commerce absorbs your share capital, you will only come to the capital to meet each other during the annual dividend time. You don’t need to worry about specific management matters and how to do business. There are many smart traders in our commercial department. " After hearing this, King Jin immediately said: "I still don't believe you have such a good thing. With your shrewdness, you will let us take advantage of it for nothing?
When things go wrong, there must be fraud. Even the Kong family was defeated by you, and so many smart officials in the world were skinned by your examination method. I don't believe that such a good thing will happen to us. " A smile suddenly appeared on Chen Han's face. King Jin is a straightforward person, but he is not stupid. He understands that there is no free lunch in the world. The reason why Chen Han dragged these royal children into the trap was to solve the salary problem of the royal children. If the salaries of these people were still withdrawn from the imperial treasury, the imperial court would not be able to continue functioning, and everyone in the world would be resentful, which would not be conducive to his reforms. Second, after dragging these royal children into the trap, it will be much easier to boss them around in the future. So Chen Han said, "His Royal Highness the King of Jin is still smart, he said that there is no free food in the world. Since there are dividends when investing in shares, there must be corresponding responsibilities. This responsibility will be determined based on the number of shares purchased and the amount of dividends. " King Yan Zhu Di didn't want to hear these long-winded words, but said to the point, "Just tell us what benefits you can get from asking us?" Chen Han explained, "Okay, since His Highness King Yan has asked this question, I will answer it. First of all, the part of your salary that has been cut will be made up for you from the dividends of the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce, and there will be more. " When Chen Han said this, King Yan and other princes were stunned for a moment. This part was quite a lot.
Take the vassal kings with nine forehands as an example. Their salary was reduced by [-] stone. The vassal kings in the interior of the Central Plains lost [-] shi. That's a lot of money, how could Chen Han dare to make such a claim to make up for it?
"I know that all the princes will be thinking, why do you, Chen Han, say such a thing? Then let me tell you. Now after the establishment of the Daming Chamber of Commerce, it now has a cement factory, a red brick factory, a machinery manufacturing plant, the Daming Engineering College Newspaper, and the Daming Engineering Team. The cement produced by the cement factory has now opened up in the capital. You have also seen that the roads in the capital are flat and solid after construction, and they are not afraid of blisters. Who of you dares to say bad things about this kind of road surface? In the future, if the court wants to build roads, will it have to use cement from the cement factory? I don’t need to say how much profit there will be in this transaction, right? " King Jin was stunned for a moment: "No, what do you mean? Your cement factory does not belong to the imperial court?"
Didn’t you say it belongs to the Department of Commerce? The imperial court still needs to do business with you if it uses cement? How can this be true? " It seems that King Jin cannot understand what is going on with state-owned companies. So Chen Han explained: "Your Highness, as you said, the cement factory originally belonged to the imperial court, and it was the Daming Chamber of Commerce under the Department of Commerce. But if the court wants to build a road, the raw materials for cement, labor wages, and transportation costs will all be funded by the court. I think no matter how much money the imperial court has, it will not be able to complete all the road construction projects in the world. Even if it is completed, I don’t know how much time and effort it took. After all, the cost is there. Since we are doing business, we are talking about business. " King Jin scratched his head when he heard this. Although they, the royal family, had received some education, they were all familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics and had no knowledge of business at all. But hearing what Chen Han said, it seemed true. To do any business, you must have capital. Seeing that King Jin stopped talking, the other princes also had nothing to say. Chen Han said: "Building roads is a big project that costs a lot of money, so relying solely on the court will waste money and people, and it will also delay the construction period. According to my idea, the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce is equivalent to a large trading house, doing business with the imperial court. To build a road, the engineering team of the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey and quoted a reasonable price to the court. After the court agreed, the Daming Chamber of Commerce transported cement from the cement factory, recruited workers from the private sector, and then let the Daming Engineering Team be responsible for the construction. The early purchase of cement, payment of the craftsmen's wages, and even the food, drink and toileting of the craftsmen were all the responsibility of the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce, and the court did not need to pay in advance. Even after the construction of the cement road is completed, if the court is short of money, it does not need to pay for the project in advance. Payment can be made through taxes collected in advance from the various shops under the Daming Chamber of Commerce!
In this way, wouldn’t it be much easier for the court? " …… (End of this chapter)