The Ming Dynasty has never lacked silver, and only the former Chongzhen Emperor is short of silver.

Regardless of the officials and businessmen in the Jiangnan area and the mainland businessmen, which one is not rich in oil.

Gangnam

After Zhu Youzhen completely lifted the sea ban, the industry in the Jiangnan region began to flourish.

Landlords and merchants in the Taihu Lake area have heard the news, and many new small workshop-type cities have emerged on both sides of the canal from Suzhou to Hangzhou.

Among them, Shengze Town, which is close to Wujiang and rich in silk, is the most famous.

"The sound of the weft machine is all night long, there are more than 1,000 silk tooth shops on both sides of the market, and the villages near and far are woven into silk cloth, all of which are sold in this market."

The textile industry has gradually transformed from a simple cottage industry into an independent handicraft workshop, and even developed some small handicraft workshops.

The organizational structure of the handicraft workshops consisted of workshop owners, i.e. capitalists who were also engaged in industry and commerce by landlords, and mechanics who were detached from agricultural production.

Their relationship is the so-called "machine owners contribute, machine workers contribute", that is, the embryonic form of capitalism has been produced.

industrial development, which eventually established the emergence of the germ of capitalism.

Because of the high profits of industry and commerce, the more enlightened landlords in Jiangnan changed the land where grain was produced to grow commercial crops that could be sold.

Merchants in Shanxi, Jinnan, Yuncheng, Linfen and other places put all the funds from operating land into commerce, and opened silk and ceramics shops in Jiangnan one after another.

The industry and commerce of various cities and cities used to prosper, and many of the land where rice was cultivated was converted into mulberry fields.

Since the silk spun needs to be dyed, indigo is cultivated in some areas that are not suitable for mulberry cultivation.

In the southern part of Anhui, red dye madder is planted, and in this way, due to the needs of the textile industry, the related dyeing industry has emerged and spawned.

The development of the textile industry in the Susong area was gradually expanded, and a large number of silk and cloth were sold at home and abroad through merchants in Huizhou, Suzhou and Shanxi.

They formed a business gang with rich regional characteristics with each other, based on Susong Lake in Taihu Lake, so as to go south to Huguang, cross Lingnan, cross the ocean, and sell overseas.

And all these commercial activities are based on the textile industry in Jiangnan.

For this reason, merchants from all over the world established guild halls in Suzhou.

Such as the Lingnan Hall in Guangdong, the Quanqin Hall in Shaanxi, and the Quanjin Hall in Shanxi.

In addition, it is precisely because of the gradual development of commercial activities that businessmen carry a large amount of money with them to travel far away, and the journey is extremely unsafe, so the prototype of the modern financial industry has emerged.

The "ticket number" and related systems of remittance from other places began to appear, which eventually established the emergence of the germ of capitalism.

All this is based on Zhu Youzhen's reform and opening up, and of course there will be drawbacks at the beginning, and I believe that he will gradually correct them.

In fact, in history, the industry in the late Ming Dynasty has also sprouted, but unfortunately it has changed with the capture of the barbarians.

The extreme repressive policy of the Eastern Exile regime on the development of capitalism finally snuffed out the germ of capitalism that emerged at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, China's social and economic development began to be closed and self-contained, gradually falling behind the West, and finally being overtaken by the West.

At this time, there were three rich children standing next to a pastoral field in Wujiang, Suzhou.

The younger one was about fourteen years old, and the other two were twenty-five or sixteen years old.

The young man looked at the fertile field in front of him planted with mulberry trees, and his face was full of sadness.

They were Xia Wanchun, who was ordered to visit Jiangnan, and the two brocade guards, the hundred households, the yellow tiger and the black dragon.

The Yellow Tiger and Black Dragon were originally ordered to protect Xia Wanchun, don't look at Xia Wanchun as a teenager, he is already in the second grade.

The two brocade guards are only 100 households, and the difference in official positions is very different.

However, Xia Wanchun didn't have any shelves, so the two of them also wore the clothes of rich and noble families, and the three brothers were commensurate.

The Yellow Tiger and Black Dragon are the brocade guards summoned by Zhu Youzhen, since the emperor asked them to temporarily obey Xia Wanchun's orders.

They will definitely not go against Xia Wanchun's intentions, so the three of them will become three rich sons.

Xia Wanchun pointed to the mulberry field in front of him and said:

"Two brothers, look at it, all the good and fertile land is used to grow mulberry and raise silkworms, and if this is the case for a long time, the price of grain will inevitably rise."

"What the adults said is that all the way to find that the price of grain is rising, and in some places the price of grain has grown to 1.6 taels of silver and one stone, if it is placed in the north, the people can't afford to eat it at all."

The words of the Yellow Tiger and the Black Dragon made Xia Wanchun shake his head:

"It's because of trade, people want to make a lot of money, which is understandable, but the profits are taken away by some profiteers, who are smuggling in order to pay less taxes."

During this period of time, Xia Wanchun and the others have been visiting the people and have learned a little about the smuggling situation in the south.

The Daming coastline is so long, if you want to completely control smuggling.

Not only must local officials make a difference, but the Ming navy must play a strong role.

But which rich businessman has nothing to do with the official, for its own interests, the local government will not strictly guard against it at all.

The three of them then walked into a village, and at the entrance of the village, they saw an old man basking in the sun, so they walked over.

Walking up to the uncle, Xia Wanchun hugged his fists and smiled:

"Hello uncle, excuse me."

The uncle sat on the recliner and closed his eyes slightly, and only when he heard someone asking, he opened his eyes.

After looking the three of them up and down, he found that they were all rich people, and he thought they were merchants who collected silk or cloth.

"Is there something wrong? Silk-harvesters, right? It's sold out a long time ago, and young people will come early next time......"

Xia Wanchun smiled slightly:

"Uncle, I found that there seems to be no one in your village to farm, do you have food to eat?"

"Hehe......"

Uncle smiled and said:

"Yes, of course there is, now the policy is good, every family has a field, and the family can also go to work, how can there be no food to eat.

Each of our families will set aside some fields to grow rice, enough for the whole family to eat until the rice is ripe next year.

Now life is happy, thanks to the current emperor, he is a good emperor! ”

Xia Wanchun hugged his fist in the direction of Jingshi:

"Yes, the Eastern Captives and Liukou have been wiped out, and now it is a peaceful and prosperous era, and the emperor is the Holy Monarch of the ages!

Uncle, do you need to pay other taxes in addition to agricultural taxes? ”

The uncle shook his head with a smile on his face:

"No, the big bosses pay very little tax, and of course we don't need to pay other taxes."

As he spoke, he looked around, and said a little mysteriously and ostentatiously:

"I have a relative who chooses a house and is a big dealer, and I heard that smuggling is very profitable, and some of their goods go to sea to pay taxes through formal channels.

There are also some commodities that go to sea through secret channels, and they don't need to pay a penny of taxes, and the boatload of goods is exchanged for nothing......

If you don't have a way, the uncle can introduce you to him, how many cloths, tea, porcelain, etc., you have, and he will recycle them all......"

Uncle's words did not surprise Xia Wanchun, he already understood the comparison.

Xia Wanchun took out two taels of silver and handed them to the uncle, pretending to be a little flattering and smiling:

"That's the best, we recycle a lot of tea, cloth and silk, and now there is no way to go to sea, please introduce it to the uncle."

Now is not the period of the sea ban, it is not illegal to go to sea, there are some things that do not need to be avoided, and smuggling in the south is not a secret.

Xia Wanchun mainly wanted to understand the smuggling methods of those merchants, which was also the purpose of his coming to Jiangnan.