said two questions, one is whether the businessman can participate in the imperial examination, and the other is whether Hai Rui has starved to death of his woman.

Let's start with the first one. First of all, to correct a wrong understanding, that is, the status of merchants in the Ming Dynasty was much higher than that of merchants in the Tang Dynasty, at least the Ming Dynasty did not stipulate that the sons of merchants were not allowed to go out or participate in the imperial examination (the "Da Ming Law" only stipulates that 'prostitutes, excellent, subordinates, and pawns' and their descendants are not allowed to enter the examination and donate to prison. ）

To give a few facts as examples, for example, Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu, two historical pavilion elders and Shangshu, who will appear in the middle or even later stages of this book, let's take a look at their origins:

Zhang Siwei - (1526-1585), Ziwei, a native of Puzhou, was born in a family of salt merchants in Shanxi. Jiajing Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty was a famous scholar and politician of the Ming Dynasty. He has successively served as an editor, a bachelor of Hanlin, a waiter in the Ministry of Officials, a scholar in the Ministry of Rites, a scholar in the Ministry of Officials, and a scholar in the Ministry of Scholars.

Wang Chonggu -- (1515-1588), a native of Puzhou. Born in a wealthy merchant family, his father Wang Yao was a big businessman. In the twentieth year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1541), he served as the head of the Criminal Department, and was later promoted to the prefect of Anqing and Runing, the military department of Changzhen (Changzhou, Jiangsu), the military envoy of Shaanxi and Henan, the right deputy capital of Yushi, the right of the military department, and the governor of Shaanxi, Yan, Ning, Gansu, Xuan, Da, and Shanxi Seven Towns.

There is also Ma Ziqiang, who is also from a Jin merchant family.

In the Longqing and Wanli years, Zhang Siwei's family, Wang Chonggu's family, and Ma Ziqiang's family are all big businessman families, and the three families are relatives.

In fact, there are endless prime ministers or feudal officials from such merchant families, such as the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty, which is the idol of the world's scholars, but its spiritual leader Gu Xiancheng is from a merchant family, and Gao Panlong is directly a commercial capitalist.

This shows that the attitude of the Ming Dynasty towards business was progressive, rather than the so-called backwardness and conservatism as some people slandered.

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Now that you know why, let's talk about why.

We know that Zhu Yuanzhang hates businessmen very much, and even explicitly stipulates that 'those businessmen who are not engaged in production and specialize in the end of the business can be directly arrested', which is the interesting thing about it - in the eyes of the grandfather, professional businessmen are illegal professions, and they should all be arrested. Therefore, when the national household registration is divided into civilian, military, craftsman, stove and other registrations, all professional households are basically under them, but looking at the Ming Law, you will find that there is no "business registration" in the meantime.

It's easy to understand...... Don't care about the good and low, they are all legal occupations, how can there be a reason to set up a special household for professional businessmen who violate the law and commit crimes?

But this society is inseparable from businessmen for a moment, and those big businessmen cannot be caught with their hands tied. As the saying goes, there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom, and they have adopted the method of 'annexation'. Small businessmen either "change their names" or "impersonate craftsmen", or other professional households, such as captains and wrestlers in military households, in order to escape their status as merchants.

More wealthy businessmen bought land and land, and when they registered their household registration, they insisted that their main business income was to collect land rent, and did not admit that they were businessmen...... My family has land and land, and I am a landlord, not a businessman. Take some silver taels and dot it, and in this way, the big merchant will become a good citizen in the yellow book of the household.

In fact, when discussing the economy or politics of the Ming Dynasty, one thing that needs to be seen is that after orthodoxy, the central government gradually lost control over the localities, some were passively lost, and some were actively given up by the central government, such as the 31st year of Wanli Mingshenzong took the initiative to give up control over coinage, and allowed the people to mint money by themselves in the case of handing over the minting interest. This gradual formation of a weak government and a strong grassroots atmosphere had a profound impact on the politics and economy of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy flourished, and the huge profits brought by commercial activities aroused the hearts of the big landlords in the economically developed areas, who had part-time operations, or colluded with officials and businessmen to monopolize the monopoly of salt and iron; Or the construction of the Guanggong factory, employing thousands of workers, has been transformed into a full-fledged big businessman. However, there has been no change in the household registration of the household department...... So you can take the test how you want to take it, and no one can control it.

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Finally, the 'merchant book' of the Ming Dynasty, which did not see any classics in the early Ming Dynasty, was a word that appeared after the imperial court implemented the 'Kaizhong Law', which was actually not discrimination against merchants, but on the contrary, it was a welfare for the big salt merchants.

We know that in the Ming Dynasty you had to take the exam in your hometown, which was naturally not a problem for ordinary people, but for businessmen with super liquidity, it was a big problem. Especially the salt merchants who were the richest people in the world at that time.

Briefly introduced, in order to solve the problem of military supplies for the border army, the Ming Dynasty encouraged merchants to transport grain to the border in exchange for salt, and gave a patent system for selling salt. It is also known as Kaizhong. To put it simply, the merchants were asked to transport grain to the frontier, and the feudal officials issued salt guides, and then returned to the designated salt farms to buy salt with tickets, and then sold it to the designated place.

This method is very annoying to listen to, and the operation is extremely expensive, tossing a dead person. Therefore, there was a division of labor, and the merchants were divided into three parts, called 'border merchants, domestic merchants, and water merchants'. Border merchants directly reclaim tuntian fields in border areas, pay salt taxes, receive salt introductions, and sell them to domestic merchants according to the official introduction price; Domestic businessmen buy and lead the way, collect salt in the salt producing area, and sell the salt to the water merchant according to the official salt price; Most of the water merchants are shore sellers, who specialize in collecting domestic salt for marketing at designated shores. Obviously, domestic businessmen are the absolute leader.

This relieved the salt merchants of the suffering of traveling far away, so the salt merchants gathered in the salt industry concentration and settled down. They actively purchased property, built houses, and built cemeteries in the local area in order to obtain the right of attachment or domiciliation. (That's it again)

Therefore, these salt merchants and their descendants are "married to the people, clothed and fed, and are no different from the indigenous people." But after all, they were not from this place, and once they returned to their hometown, they were accused of "saying that their words were not compatible, their faces were not familiar, and they had no property to examine", so the people of their hometown "attacked them with impersonations".

Obviously, they have been separated from their places of origin for a long time, their ancestral homes have not been recognized, and whether they are soldiers or civilians or craftsmen has almost no practical meaning for them. Their real location is in the place of their profession. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the trend of merchants, especially the big salt merchants, in the overseas Chinese residence has been quite obvious, usually eat and drink, and marry the aunt's wife, which has no effect at all...... However, only in the imperial examination, the original nationality still has its irreplaceable role...... But now that the people in my hometown don't recognize it, what do you say you can do?

This was a very painful thing, although the salt merchants of the Ming Dynasty, like the salt merchants of the previous dynasties, were still the most profitable among the merchants. But when they achieved great success in terms of wealth, all they got was fine food and clothing, and a luxurious material life. But 'everything is inferior, only reading is high' is not a joke, if you want to glorify the family and improve your social status, the only way out is to become an officialdom.

Therefore, they were enthusiastic about the imperial examination, hoping that the imperial examination would enable merchants to change their status and provide the best opportunity for the children of merchants to enter the government. After some money can be channeled through the operation of the gods, the merchant registration was formally established, and the salt merchants and their children in the two Huai, Liangxi, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places can be "attached to the people's nationality to take the examination" in the salt field.

That is to say, the so-called merchant registration is the 'salt nationality', which enables the salt merchants and their children in the two Huai and Zhejiang provinces to no longer have to run in vain for advancement and scientific research, and at the same time ensures that the state levies and even increases the amount of salt tax, which is not only convenient for the merchants, but also beneficial to the government.

But we must know that in the Ming Dynasty, the 'merchant nationality' was far from being promoted nationwide, and the government or the salt merchants themselves were passed on in the highest level of national scientific research

Filling in the service registration in a unified way is still regarded as the most orthodox and legitimate. (That is to say, a merchant or a son of a merchant does not say that he is a landlord, he has been a landlord for eight lifetimes.) As for those who buy and sell for a living, they are all non-main business income, and they have nothing to do to practice. ）

In fact, in addition to the salt merchants, other wealthy merchants, such as the Great Merchant and the Great Tea Merchant, most of them were attached to the place where they were doing business, had a place in the zhan, and participated in scientific examinations.

Or for the sake of the sentence 'Born on the right path, you are not afraid to go all over the world.'" ’

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The monk prepared this book and got the biggest harvest and encouraged everyone...... The truth of history is often buried behind the assertions of those brick makers calling beasts, and we have to grasp the original materials and then study the secrets behind them.

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Hai Rui's question will be talked about another day, this article is basically original, and it almost exhausts me to death, so this is a change of work, isn't it? I'll just do two more today......