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In fact, Zhang Jiashi's emphasis on commerce was no less than the transformation plan he would conceive for the Great Qin Empire after the Qin-Hungarian War. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In other words, Zhang Jiashi's view of the foundation for the promotion and development of commerce is another key point in the transformation plan of the Great Qin Empire.

However, there is one thing that Zhang Jiashi himself is very afraid of, that is, the emergence of the power of a big businessman cannot be ignored for a country.

Zhang Jiashi did not read a rather famous book of later generations, Capital edited by Marx and Engels. But he actually took a very deep impression of Marx's words:

"If there is 10 percent profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere, if there is 20 percent profit, it will be active, if there is 50 percent profit, it will take risks, for 100 percent profit, it will dare to trample on all human laws, and if there is 300 percent profit, it will dare to commit any crime, even the danger of hanging."

Of course, Zhang Jiashi has also heard another equally famous sentence that evolved from this sentence:

"If there is 100% profit, the capitalists will take risks, if there is 200% profit, the capitalists will defy the law, if there is 300% profit, then the capitalists will trample everything in the world!"

And whether it is that sentence, for Zhang Jiashi, it is a very alarming thing, that is, to vigorously develop commerce, will there be a large merchant class that can shake the foundation of the Great Qin Empire.

Perhaps for Zhang Jiashi, as long as the big merchant class cannot access the power center of the Great Qin Empire, then for the Great Qin Empire, wanting to restrict the rights of the other party is just a matter of a word from the superior.

But judging from the historical situation, Zhang Jiashi does not think that such an arrangement is a good way. In other words, it is likely that this is just a palliative arrangement.

And the main thing that makes Zhang Jiashi jealous is a businessman term in one aspect - Jin Shang.

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Jin merchants, usually in the sense of Jin merchants, refer to the Shanxi merchants in the Qing Dynasty during the 500 years, Jin merchants engaged in salt industry, ticket numbers and other businesses, especially the ticket number is the most famous.

The Jin merchants also left a rich architectural heritage for China, such as the famous Qiaojia Courtyard, Changjia Manor, Caojia Sanduotang and so on. The feudalization of the profits of merchants in the Ming and Qing dynasties was mainly manifested in donations, subsidies, land purchases, and usury capital.

Shanxi's commercial capital has a long history. As early as the pre-Qin era, Jinnan began to have a commercial transaction activity of "Japan and China as the market, to the people of the world, praise the goods of the world, trade and retreat, and each has its own place". In the Sui and Tang dynasties, there were new commercial towns in Zhangzhou, Taigu, Pingding, and Datong. Li Tang raised troops in Taiyuan, set Taiyuan as the northern capital, crossed the two banks of the Fen River, and commerce prospered.

From the Zhou and Qin dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties, although some big merchants had appeared in Shanxi, compared with other local merchants, they did not have a prominent position and did not have a certain organization.

The official appearance of the Jin merchants can be traced back to the samurai Mi between the Sui and Tang dynasties, the father of Wu Zetian. When Li Yuan and his son raised troops from Taiyuan, the timber merchant Wu Shi vigorously funded it financially, and Li Yuan and his son began to seize the national power with the most elite Taiyuan army and Wu Shi's financial resources at that time. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Wu family was crowned as the Duke of the Kingdom, and his status was equal to that of Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin. One can imagine how much property Li Yuan and his son had received from the Wu clan at that time, and the Wu clan had also received a huge return from his initially clever political investment. Later, it also gave birth to Wu Zetian, an unprecedented empress in Chinese history. Of course, that's an afterthought.

In the Song Dynasty, "Shunan, Southern Merchants, and Northern Merchants were all famous local merchants, and the merchants of Shanxi and Huizhou, who accounted for the backbone of modern commerce, also showed their skills at this time. "In the Song Dynasty, Shanxi was located in the north-east frontier, and most of the war horses needed by the Song Dynasty relied on Liao in the north to supply, and Liao needed Song handicraft products. In 996 A.D., in Shanxi, "the border states set up a field and exchanged markets with the feudal people," and "merchants along the border went deep into the ring realm" to trade. Later, the Zhao and Song dynasties were afraid of endangering their own regime, and ordered the closure of the market several times, but in fact it was impossible to do so. Although the war had a certain destructive effect on industry and commerce, the Yuan Dynasty regime put an end to the situation of the Song, Liao, and Jin dynasties, especially the completion of the Yuan Dynasty's post stations, which expanded the territory of commercial activities. From the "Travels of Marco Polo", it can be seen that "merchants from Taiyuan to Pingyang (Linfen) traveled all over the country and made huge profits".

The rise of the Jin merchants, first of all, the implementation of the Ming Dynasty's "open the middle system" policy, provided an opportunity for the development of the Jin merchants; secondly, Shanxi was rich in mineral resources, and the handicraft industry and processing and manufacturing industry had begun to take shape at that time, which provided a material foundation for the development of the Jin merchants, and made the Jin merchants gradually move towards glory; in addition, because the area in the south of Jin was narrow and densely populated, going out to do business became a means of livelihood for people, and the merchants of Jinzhong had spread all over the country at that time, and there was a popular saying in Beijing City: "The number of Jin people in the capital is great." With the increasingly fierce business competition, in order to strengthen their own strength and safeguard their own interests, the business organizations of Jin merchants began to appear.

As a tool for the government to implement fiscal policies and the supply of military salaries, the Jin merchants mainly referred to the big merchants, namely the imperial merchants, official merchants, large salt merchants, foreign copper merchants, etc. For example, the implementation of the Kaizhong Law means that the Ming government raises military salaries for the troops in the northern border towns, and implements the practice of merchants providing the border towns with military food and cloth in exchange for salt, and going to the designated salt farms to support salt and trafficking salt. Through the implementation of this method, the Ming government not only solved the military salary of the northern border towns, but also received the salt tax, and the merchants of Shanxi also rose as a result.

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The "open middle system" refers to the fact that the state uses the monopoly privilege of salt in its hands to attract businessmen to the border, officials to attract attention, salt to sit in the field, and sell goods in limited places. In order to achieve the purpose of system design, the Ming court tried to provide convenience for merchants to open salt for sale.

Under the Kaizhong system, the feudal central government directly controlled the production of salt, held the monopoly of salt, and could regularly or irregularly solicit investment according to the needs of the border military defense. Merchants who apply for recruitment must transport the goods needed by the government (such as grain, tea, horses, beans, wheat, silk, iron, etc.) to the border guard post on their behalf in order to obtain a special license to sell salt ——— salt import. The salt is then led to a designated salt farm to branch the salt and sold within the scope designated by the government.

During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, in order to defend against the attack of Warat and Tatar on the Central Plains, nine sides were set up for defense. Due to the distance between Jiubian and the ruling center of the empire, there were many difficulties in logistical supply, in order to reduce this burden, Emperor Hongwu (three years of Hongwu) reached an agreement with Shanxi merchants, who sent grain to several border fortresses such as Datong and Juyongguan, and Shanxi merchants obtained the qualification to legally sell "official salt".

This measure, to a certain extent, reduced the burden of the imperial court to supply the nine sides, but it lost a considerable share of the salt tax. Shanxi merchants not only obtained the salt introduction of Hedong Salt Pond, but also quickly monopolized the salt introduction of Lianghuai.

Although the empire saved 5 million stone per year in the logistics supply of the nine sides, it also lost a large-scale salt tax, which reduced the state's fiscal revenue to a greater extent. To put it simply, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was the merchants who transported the grain and granaries from the interior to the frontier, and then the government compensated for it? Give you the salt guide, and then take the salt to the salt field to receive salt and sell it.

The so-called salt introduction is a certificate for monopolizing the transportation and sale of salt.

The whole process of the system can be decomposed into three organic components: reporting, guarding and serving, and changing the market. "Newspaper in China" means that the merchant supplies the garrison with military supplies in accordance with the requirements of the document, and receives salt from the government in exchange.

Generally speaking, any garrison office can report to the center, but the situation varies from place to place. After Yongle, most of the newspapers concentrated on the so-called nine-border areas such as Liaodong, Jizhou, Yongping, Miyun, Changping, Yizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi, Yansui, Ningxia, Gansu, and Guyuan.

"Shouzhi" means that after the merchant completes the task of reporting, he leads the salt to the designated salt field to wait for the salt. Penalties are imposed for non-inductive salts or off-the-spot salts. "Shiyi" is the commercial action of the merchant to put the salt into the sales market and convert it into a monetary profit, which is the final stage of the salt merchant's trading activities, thus completing the whole process of opening the middle branch of salt.

The history of the rise and fall of the Kaizhong system in the Ming Dynasty can be clearly divided into three stages of development:

The first stage is the initial stage of the open system, with nano salt as the main content. Since the time of Taizu, the bureau has set up officials, sent special personnel to manage salt affairs, and specifically stipulated that rice-based grain crops should be paid when opening the middle school (it should be seen that the payment of rice and wheat and other grain crops played a more important role in the "agriculture-oriented" feudal society). However, at that time, it was still in the entrepreneurial stage, so the classification was not detailed, the departments were incomplete, and it was mainly to solve the contradiction of long-distance food transportation.

The second stage is the period when the system continues to develop and flourishes, and it is also the period when the system is most intense due to losses, changes and replacements. The three main contents are to open the middle with folded colors, to set up a system of permanent shares and deposits, to exploit stove households, and to make up for the deficiencies of the class with surplus salt.

The first is the system of folding colors in the middle. At the beginning of the opening period, the payment of rice and wheat is called the true color. In the later period of Yongle, the forms of banknotes, silver, horses, tea, silk, and iron gradually replaced nanometers, which are called folded colors. During the reign of Renzong, the banknote law was not passed, so the household department Shangshu Xia Yuanji asked for permission to pay the money in the salt. At the beginning, it was only occasional, as a temporary remedy for the circulation of the banknote law, and then it was out of control, and in the 39th year of Jiajing (1560), when the deputy capital Yan Maoqing rectified the salt law, he wantonly searched for it, and then reached its peak in the middle of the folding, which could not be stopped. On the surface, the state treasury is full, but what it incurs is the evil result of empty granaries, all the commercial settlements are in ruin, and there is no grain accumulation in the border storage.

It should be particularly pointed out that after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the merchants in Kaizhong were divided into border merchants, domestic merchants, and water merchants, and respectively undertook the tasks of reporting to the middle, guarding the branches, and changing the market. In addition, the powerful occupy the central part of the country, monopolize the surplus salt, forming a situation in which "the domestic businessmen sit and get rich, while the border businessmen benefit from the difficulties", and the border merchants, who are the main body of grain transportation and border land and commercial tun reclamation, suffered a fatal blow in the process, and the border merchants were unprofitable, so the merchant was completely abandoned, and the collapse of the opening was irretrievable.

The third stage is the stage of the complete decline of the Kaizhong system, and the evolution of domestic businessmen into underwriters and the emergence of the program operation system are the main contents. The program system marked the final establishment of the merchant underwriting system in China's salt law, and this reform was supposed to be the last effort to save the Kaizhong crisis, but it led to the replacement of the Kaizhong system. From then on, the domestic merchants of the gang began to monopolize the whole process of salt transportation and sales, and became the predecessor of the Qing Dynasty merchants.

The above-mentioned trip to the surplus salt caused a major blow to the border merchants, so some people advocated the removal of river salt. "The so-called river salt, along the river path from the over, not on the pile", that is, with the advantages of not going up, in the river path from the over, easy to support, quick profits, etc., the feudal state is happy to take this as a special preferential treatment for border merchants: "The domestic businessmen sit down, the border merchants transport, so the river salt is used to benefit the border merchants." As a result, preferential treatment was given to border businessmen, while domestic businessmen suffered a major blow.

In fact, the essence of the salt in the river is that the border merchants only benefit on the surface, and the border merchants are not the ultimate beneficiaries, resulting in a situation in which both the old and the new are stagnant, and both domestic and border merchants are in difficulty. Because, at this time, there was a kind of hoarders who specialized in arbitrage salt purchases, profit-seeking, hoarding, and monopolizing the market, and they were the powerful part of the salt merchants who were divided from the domestic merchants. "The hoarders are the powerful ones of the domestic businessmen", and "the profits belong to the hoarders, and the harm to the two businessmen".

The program system jointly initiated by Yuan Shizhen, Li Ruhua and others was implemented in the 45th year of Wanli (1617). The so-called program transportation system is to organize domestic businessmen who sell and distribute goods in a coordinated manner, implement the practice of bringing in both the old and the new, and take into account the interests of domestic businessmen and border businessmen, so as to prevent hoarders from hoarding and hoarding. With the number of the saint, the de, the super, the thousand, the ancient, the emperor, the wind, the fan, the nine, and the surrounding cross as the book number, "this cross book has been published since this day, that is, it will remain in the public merchants forever, forever for a hundred years, according to the nest book, every year according to the number of new schools on the book, and the nameless person on the book, who has to drill into and compete with it." Those who do not enter the business program are not qualified to sell salt, and once they have obtained this qualification, they can be hereditary forever. The program transportation system is a major change in the history of China's salt administration, which marks the establishment of the merchant underwriting system in China's salt law. "Yongyong for a hundred years, according to the nest book" enabled the domestic businessmen to obtain the hereditary privilege of monopolizing the transportation and distribution of the salt industry, from the feudal state consignee to the underwriter (also known as the transport merchant) of the government and business, while the border merchants died out together with the Shangtun and Kaizhong system, and the program transportation system and the business class system were gradually merged, and finally replaced the Kaizhong system.

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Under the influence of the "open system", the Jin merchants themselves were initially funded by the wealthy businessmen to hire local merchants, and the joint operation and joint profit became a loose group of businessmen, and later developed into the East Partnership System, similar to the joint-stock system, which is a major initiative of the Jin Merchants and an important reason why the Jin Merchants can endure for a long time. Although the emergence of Shanxi merchants as a local group organization was in the Ming Dynasty, the heyday of its development was in the Qing Dynasty, and its important symbol was the establishment of guild halls. The clan was originally built to connect with fellow villagers, but later developed into an organization to protect the interests of peers or fellow villagers. (To be continued.) )

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