[243] Jiangnan Secret War 1

How Song Youliang entered Nanjing City, there are many interpretations of the official history and wild history of later generations. The more mainstream theory is that Emperor Hongguang knew that his prestige and virtue were not as good as Emperor Hongde, so he took the initiative to abolish the emperor's title, and Song Youliang, the Duke of Anguo, led the "Wang Shi" into Nanjing City in the cheers of the ministers and the people. The folk history says that Song Youliang, the Duke of Anguo, besieged Nanjing City and fired cannons to urge Emperor Hongguang to surrender. At that time, Emperor Hongguang was taking ** in favor of two newly elected show girls in the palace, and he was frightened for a while, and he had a wind and died. There was chaos in the city of Nanjing, and Song Youliang led his troops into the city of Nanjing.

In short, the world of the Ming Dynasty is unified again. But the battle didn't end there. The arrival of Song Youliang naturally transplanted a series of political, military, and economic systems that had been implemented in Dengzhou Town to Jiangnan, which brought a lot of impact to the bureaucratic business groups in Jiangnan. As a result, the seemingly peaceful land south of the Yangtze River is actually surging.

Taihu Lake in the western suburbs of Suzhou, known as Zhenze in ancient times, is a place of beautiful scenery, the afternoon sun, sprinkle gold on the surface of the lake, the lake surface is sparkling. The sailing fish boats are like sleeping white water lilies. With the waves, it came closer, it was far away, and it gradually disappeared into the endless lake. Lush reeds on the shore of the lake, swaying in the wind. The graceful figure dances by the lake, and the raised reed leaves are like tassels on the skirt. White and green

A painting boat swims freely, with four big men standing in the bow and stern of the boat, and seven or eight small fishing boats around the big boat, which seem to be fishermen, but those fishermen's eyes are not on the fishing nets, but vigilantly watching Zhou. On the painting boat, Song Youliang, the court's concubine, was entertaining several important guests, and they were the famous Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi, and Huang Zongxi. The reason why these three people were invited is not unrelated to the political ideas of Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi, and Huang Zongxi

First of all, Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi, and Huang Zongxi all advocated the idea of applying what they had learned to the world, believing that they should apply what they had learned and pay attention to practical problems. Oppose the empty talk of Yang Ming Xinxue. In view of the Ming Dynasty's Eight Shares of Scholars, the scholars only knew how to recite Cheng Zhu's annotations, which was seriously detached from social reality, and they advocated that learning should be pragmatic, should be related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and be committed to social change; Secondly, Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi, and Huang Zongxi all advocated the idea of "industry and commerce" or "agriculture and commerce". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy was booming, and the status of industry and commerce became increasingly prominent. He advocated land reform, tax reform, and political system reform. Oppose the traditional emphasis on agriculture and suppress business, and believe and emphasize that "industry and commerce are all fundamentals". He opposed a single imperial examination and advocated the use of multiple channels to recruit talents, and the system to prevent the children of high-ranking officials from using the power of their elders to defeat civilians in an improper way in the admission process. The target of admission has been expanded, including small officials, people who can learn (including calendrical calculations, music rhythms, surveys, fortune telling, firearms, water conservancy, etc.), and those who write books and talk about things

All of these ideas coincide with Song Youliang, and the main reason why Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi, and Huang Zongxi were willing to come here was because the new policies implemented by Song Youliang were quite similar to their political ideas. In addition, Song Youliang's reputation is far and wide, and they have long wanted to come to visit this Ming Dynasty master and An Guogong, who are above 10,000 people under one person.

Song Youliang said: "All the seniors and elders of Jiangnan literati, it is an honor to invite one in normal times, and Song Youliang is really fortunate to be able to invite three of them every day!" ”

"Grandpa praised it!" Gu Yanwu got up and returned the salute with a smile

Huang Zongxi also returned the salute, and then said: "Today, my grandfather invited me to come, will it just invite us to visit the lake?" ”

"Get straight to the point~~ Happy!" Song Youliang said: "Compared with you, I have heard that the imperial court is going to implement a new tax system, and the younger generation wants to hear the opinions of the three senior gentlemen. ”

Wang Fuzhi said with a smile: "Farmers are not as good as workers, workers are not as good as businessmen, and merchants are also the people of the Ming Dynasty, and it is natural to pay taxes according to the regulations. ”

Huang Zongxi also said: "I see that the world's fields are heavier than before, and then the people's lives are more difficult than before. And those businessmen are very rich, but they pay less than one of ten taxes and silver, which really shouldn't be. In my opinion, there are three problems with the current collection of silver from the fields: first, the silver is not produced by agriculture, and the taxpayers are exploited by merchants because they want to convert grain into silver taels, which increases the burden; Second, taxes are levied according to one standard regardless of the degree of fertility of the land, resulting in an uneven burden. The endowment of the world should be redefined, what is produced and what is paid, not forced to be consistent, those who produce a hundred grains pay a hundred grains, and those who produce mulberry and hemp pay cloth; Third, the land should be re-measured, and the mu volume should be calculated according to the quality of the soil, and the five types of "mu" should be taken as two hundred and forty steps, three hundred and sixty steps, four hundred and eighty steps, six hundred steps, and seven hundred and twenty steps, that is, the land should be divided into five grades, and the taxes should be levied according to the same level, so as to eliminate the problem of uneven tax burden caused by different land quality. ”

Gu Yanwu said: "It is normal for people in the world to think about their own homes and favor their own children. If the ruler really cares about and loves the people, he should let the people do it themselves. Only by letting the people "do it themselves" instead of letting those officials who claim to be "the Son of Heaven and the people be the people" supervise what the people do, can we stimulate the enthusiasm of the people to work hard and get rich to the greatest extent and promote the prosperity and development of the market. At that time, supplemented by commercial taxes, then the treasury will be sufficient, and the farmers will not have to be heavily taxed, and finally they will take risks. Gu Yanwu cleared his throat and said: "Take the salt industry as an example, the main drawback of the current salt law is that it is only conducive to the salt officials embezzling a large number of the country's finances and taxes, and hinders the free circulation of salt, resulting in the poverty of people's livelihood. Since Wanli, the world's water conservancy, milling, ferry, and market, who has no official gentry behind him? With such collusion between officials and businessmen, today's salt profits are unprosperous, and salt officials cannot be stopped. ”

"Incisive~~ The collusion between officials and businessmen fills their pockets, so that the treasury is empty and the people's livelihood is withered!" Song Youliang couldn't help but blurt out, "How does this exposition compare with later generations of Max? Weber's argument that the Confucian scholars obstructed free trade in order to preserve their privilege of indiscriminate fees coincides. ”

Gu Yanwu was stunned, "Max? Weber? I don't know who this brother Ma is talking about? ”

Song Youliang knew that he was speechless, and hurriedly justified himself and said: "It's a Francois missionary." ”

Gu Yanwu said with a smile: "I see, I really don't know the true face of Lushan, just because I am in this mountain, the foreign Yi people are bystanders!" ”

Song Youliang asked again: "So what does Mr. think, is there any way to solve the above drawbacks?" ”

Gu Yanwu talked eloquently and said: "First, protect private property and cancel the tax policy of arbitrary collection and extortion of private industrialists and businessmen. Not only are the kings of the present generation not allowed to infringe upon and deprive the people of their private property, but even the private property that has been deprived by the kings of the previous generations must be returned to the people unconditionally. As long as it is not an ill-gotten gain, it should be returned to its owner. ”

Wang Fuzhi asked, "Brother Zhongqing, is there a precedent for such a thing?" ”

"Why not?" Gu Yanwu said: "The Biography of Li Delin in the Book of Sui" said: Gao Zu took Gao Anaqi Weiguo County and City Store 80 District Ci Delin, drove the car to Jinyang, and the shopkeeper was on the table, saying that the land was a people's property, and the Gao family forcibly seized it and built a house inside. There is a counteroffer for the ingredients. It is to repay the land price seized by the previous generation with the king of the current generation, which the ancients already had. ”

Huang Zongxi, who is also a scholar, added: "There is a record in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Chen Yuan Ziying, who paid tens of millions of dollars to Gongsun Shu to redeem his father's death. and Yuan pawn, the world is calm, Yuan Brother Qing Yi Que is self-Chen, and Guangwu is where the Yuan family money is returned. It's something similar! ”

Wang Fuzhi nodded and said: "That's true, "taking the world as the heart" should not be an empty empty word, nor should it be an interface for taking the world as one's own, but should be implemented!" ”

Gu Yanwu continued: "Second, we will severely crack down on the "official downfall" who competes with the people for profit, and prohibit officials and their relatives from doing business. Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty Gongyu put forward a suggestion: let the close ministers from the Cao servants and above, the family died to be smuggled and sold, and the people competed for profits, and the offenders were dismissed from the official and cut the knights, and the eunuchs were not allowed. This law should be enforced now, and it should be implemented consistently. For example, in the salt industry, in order to solve the drawbacks of "today's salt profits cannot be prospered, and the salt officials cannot be stopped", it is necessary to allow the free trade of salt, and abolish the malpractice of salt officials who cover their ears and steal bells, and who guard themselves to steal. ”

"That's a good point~ Brother Zhongqing is really more unique in this chapter than me and Brother Ernong." Huang Zongxi said with a smile

Gu Yanwu's economic thought is more modern than that of Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi, and his research is more thorough, so he continued: "The third is to open the sea ban. Since the sea ship has been withdrawn, China's silver in the private sector has been sold daily and consumed, less than one day, which makes the price of silver soar, causing prices to rise together. The opening of the sea to prohibit this article is most beneficial to the coastal provinces. For example, in Fujian, the sea is like the fields of Fujian people. The poor people on the seashore are destitute and helpless, and often go to the sea to become pirates, and they gather for their lives. As soon as the sea ban was strict, these poor people had no food, so they turned to the seashore. ”

The more Gu Yanwu spoke, the more excited he became, and he said: "I think that if the sea is not opened, it will be harmful." If the ban on the sea is lifted, except for the prohibited items of ordnance, sulfur, flame and nitrate, which are not allowed to be sold, the people of Fujian will be allowed to trade overseas with local products. Others, such as the silk of Zhejiang and Zhili, the ceramics of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, etc., I have a lot of things in the Ming Dynasty, and there are countless things that can be bought and sold with Fanbang. In this way, the military salary of more than 20,000 taels of gold in the early years of Wanli can be restored to supply the army. If it can be as high as 50,000 or 60,000 taels of gold, not only the army in the interior does not have to worry about military salaries, but even the troops in the frontier can also be paid in full, which is also beneficial; The poor people in the coastal areas have a lot of money to make a living, so that they will not be hungry, cold, and poor, and they will gather and become thieves, which is also profitable; Coastal generals and other officials will no longer lead and seduce pirates because they are greedy for guessing, and these three benefits are also. ”

In the end, Gu Yanwu added: "This is not my one-sided statement, my grandfather can send someone to Fujian to inquire, this is a public opinion in Fujian!" ”

Song Youliang smiled: "What you said is what I want to do next." But you also know that Jiangnan has always been the most serious place in Mr. Gu's mouth about 'official downfall', they are intertwined, communicate with each other, and move the whole body with one hair. Therefore, I invited the three gentlemen to come today, just to invite the three to help Song with their connections and prestige. Song has thanked three people in the world on a certain generation! "After that, Song Youliang will swing his head~