When it comes to the prosperity of commerce in ancient times, many people will subconsciously think of the Song Dynasty.

But the commercial prosperity of the Song Dynasty, to be precise, the prosperity of the cities, relied on the crazy sucking of blood from the countryside. The only thing that could win the commerce of the Song Dynasty was the prosperity of the sea trade - if the smuggling of the sea trade was also counted, the Song Dynasty might not be able to win.

In the early years of Wanli, the commerce of the Ming Dynasty reached a peak of the feudal dynasty!

Although the Manchus were often looked down upon, by the middle of the Qing Dynasty, China's commerce flourished again, and its scale also surpassed that of the Song Dynasty.

Why did commerce flourish in the Ming and Qing dynasties?

Great development of agriculture!

In the Ming Dynasty, it was mainly rice and cotton. In the Qing Dynasty, on this basis, sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes appeared.

In the Ming Dynasty, rice varieties from Vietnam really achieved widespread popularity. The flood canal and reservoir system has solved the flood disaster in the south of the Yangtze River that has lasted for thousands of years. The oil residue of rapeseed and soybean oil extraction is widely used in fertile fields, which is a new type of fertilizer popularized in the Ming Dynasty. Cotton planting methods were improved, and the imperial court guided the whole country to plant cotton.

The increase in rice yield has solved the problem of eating.

The promotion of cotton has solved the problem of dressing.

And so, the population exploded!

The big cities could not accommodate so many people, and the countryside could not accommodate so many people, so new towns appeared. These towns not only absorb the surplus labor force in the countryside, but also form one country market after another. The emergence of village fairs gave rise to groups of small merchants who were outside the cities, buying agricultural products from the country markets and transporting the means of production from elsewhere to the peasants.

Many wealthy businessmen and gentry in the Ming Dynasty grew up from this kind of small businessmen, such as the Fei family where the queen was located!

It is only said that there are six prefectures in Susong, Changhu and Hangjia, and the number of towns in the Ming Dynasty is more than four times that of the Song Dynasty. You must know that it is the ruling core of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the prosperity of the countryside is far less than that of the Ming Dynasty.

The emergence of a large number of new towns has completely transformed China's social form.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the development of Chinese society was actually the same as that of Europe later. It is the continuous concentration of population in large cities, and the continuous concentration of wealth in large cities. From the Ming Dynasty onwards, although it was also concentrated in large cities, it was more often the formation of new towns. Large towns are saturated, and countless smaller towns appear, and finally a few villages will appear!

As a result, there is a phenomenon of "oil and water separation" in China: political power is concentrated in the cities, controlled by officials and elites. The city has become a center for the trading of power and money, a center for the consumption of daily necessities, and a center for the consumption of luxury goods. The main economic forces are scattered in tens of thousands of cities and towns, which are the centers of China's productive forces, and it is difficult or even impossible for the government to effectively control them.

So in the Song Dynasty, it didn't matter if the imperial power was not in the county. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial power was not lower than the county, but it was very fatal, because the national economic center of gravity was not in the county. If someone travels back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, if they want to rebel, they don't have to rush to occupy the city, but first occupy those towns that are prosperous in commerce and have no city walls.

This is China's unique vernacular model, which not only affects China's economic form, but also affects China's social form. It has even had an indelible impact on Chinese culture and customs, and even on the thinking of Chinese!

Rural China has been carved into the bones.

Zhao Han announced that private merchants could spin Yunjin, and the number of merchants engaged in this thing quickly proliferated. Nanjing City could not accommodate it at all, so it had to move outside the city to build factories. The land outside the city is also limited, so it will be transferred to the town near the city of Nanjing.

Now there are three major Yunjin production bases in Jinling Prefecture, one is outside Nanjing, one is Jiangning Town, and one is Chunhua Town.

Shen Yourong is in Chunhua Town, and the number of cloud brocade weavers he recruited is more than 1,000 people!

Not long after the Lantern Festival, Liang Xingdao, a wealthy merchant in Jiangning Town, personally came to visit Shen Yourong: "Shen Gong knows that His Majesty is going to prohibit women from entering the factory to be weavers!" ”

"What?" Shen Yourong thought he had misheard.

"Your Majesty is forbidding women to enter the factory to work as weavers!" Liang Xingdao repeated again.

Shen Yourong was a little frightened, and thought with the only reason left: "Your Majesty has always given preferential treatment to industry and commerce, as long as you abide by the law, why have you ever been sorry for businessmen?" Even Yunjin, a thing used by the former dynasty, was allowed to be operated by private merchants, so how could they suddenly order a ban on women from working? ”

Liang Xingdao paused and said, "Isn't it a good thing that those broad scholars have done?" After the Chinese New Year, many newspapers published articles opposing women's participation in the imperial examinations. Say that women can't show their heads, women are born to teach their husbands and children, and support their in-laws...... The public opinion of this newspaper is one-sided, and no one dares to speak for women anymore. A few days ago, there was a waiter in the Ministry of Rites, named Cao or something, who asked His Majesty to ban female workers. The courtiers were naturally opposed, but there were those who supported it. I heard that when His Majesty went to court, his face showed hesitation, as if he meant to ban female workers! ”

"Those bastards, they're stupid to read!" Shen Yourong scolded.

Liang Xingdao said: "Isn't it stupid to read? You can say that kind of thing. ”

Actually, that's what they used to think.

Shen Yourong's daughter got her graduation certificate from high school, and although she can't go to college at public expense, she is eligible to go to college at her own expense. He first sent his daughter to college at his own expense, and after only one year of study, he found a good in-law and immediately let his daughter drop out of school and get married.

In his opinion, going to college is just to improve his daughter's worth and find a stronger husband.

If his daughter dares to be an official, he will break his daughter's leg with his own hands!

But now it's different, and you can't let those who read it talk nonsense. Yunjin weaving is his lifeblood, and the female workers are all hens that lay golden eggs, how can they allow the scholars to splash dirty water?

Liang Xingdao sighed: "Alas, Your Majesty is all right, you have to take away the gentry's land and give it to those mud legs in the countryside." We, the gentry, now have no land to collect rent, so we can only do some business to make a living. If the recruitment of female workers is prohibited, we will have to sit back and eat in the future. ”

Shen Yourong sneered: "Do you think that if you don't divide the fields, Your Majesty won't attack the powerful gentry?" ”

Shen Yourong is a descendant of Shen Wansan, and from the notes of his ancestors, he knows better than anyone what happened back then.

Long before Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, Shen Wansan had already died, but the Shen family was indeed migrated to Nanjing by Zhu Yuanzhang. In addition to the Shen family, there were a total of 67,300 wealthy gentry in Jiangnan, who were moved to Nanjing by Zhu Yuanzhang twice before and after (in addition to merchants, there were many local gentry families).

Zhu Yuanzhang directly explained the purpose, he wanted to learn from Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and move the rich families of the world to Guanzhong, one is to prosper the economy of Guanzhong, and the other is to gather together for good management, and never allow Haoqiang to cause trouble in the locality.

The construction of the Nanjing city wall, not only the Shen family gave silver, but also tens of thousands of rich gentry gave silver.

Why did so many people die in the Lan Yu case?

It was Zhu Yuanzhang who took the opportunity to eliminate the rich gentry and the powerful, deal with the very serious collusion between officials and businessmen at that time, and by the way, he could also steal money from the rich households. Shen Wansan's descendants were involved in the Lanyu case, the head of the head of the head, and the exile of the exile.

The Ming Dynasty's "Miscellaneous Records of the Yufu" also records that during the years of investigating the Lanyu case, the wealthy merchant families who were relocated to Nanjing either moved their families, or were killed or exiled, and almost none of the families survived.

It is estimated that Shen Wansan has been the richest man in Jiangnan, and his name is too big, so people condensed several things before and after, and the experiences of tens of thousands of wealthy people in Jiangnan on Shen Wansan, and there was a bizarre story between Zhu Yuanzhang and Shen Wansan.

People like Zhu Yuanzhang often kill birds with one stone when doing things.

Killing Lan Yu can pave the way for Zhu Yunwen. Expanding the Lanyu case can crack down on the collusion between officials and businessmen, eliminate the influence of the big clans on the imperial court, and ruthlessly steal money from the family.

Compared with other founding emperors, Zhao Han's forcible division of the gentry's land and property actually hit a wider area. Liu Bang migrated to the rich families in the world, and Zhu Yuanzhang migrated to the rich households in the south of the Yangtze River, the means were similar to Zhao Han, and he directly dug the foundation of the local heroes, and then he killed if he wanted to.

Shen Yourong recalled what happened to his ancestors, and felt more and more that the current emperor was the reincarnation of Zhu Yuanzhang.

He ignored Liang Xingdao, who was walking around, and forced himself to calm down and think. After a long time, Shen Yourong opened his eyes and said, "This news should be deliberately released by His Majesty." It is forbidden to use female workers, which is not something that His Majesty can do. ”

When Liang Xingdao heard this, he also began to think, and then said happily: "Then don't worry!" ”

Shen Yourong said: "But if we don't accept the offer, Your Majesty is very likely to do it." ”

"Pick-up?" Liang Xingdao was puzzled.

Shen Yourong explained: "Your Majesty must be very dissatisfied with those corrupt Confucians. But as the emperor, it was inconvenient for him to come forward in person, and even the imperial court was inconvenient to come forward. Therefore, His Majesty wants us to be pawns, and to roll up our sleeves and play with those rotten people. If you don't believe it, as long as we make a move, next month, or next month, "Datong Monthly" will stand up and pull the bias and judge us to win. ”

Liang Xingdao was puzzled: "Since Your Majesty has already made a conclusion, why don't you just explain it?" ”

Shen Yourong said: "The emperor and the imperial court should be impartial, and the same is true for Datong Monthly. A few rotten Confucians jumped up and down, and the emperor was alarmed, where is the majesty of the court? Moreover, the emperor went down directly, and he became the mouth of the people more than the Sichuan. Not only those corrupt people are not convinced, but even we businessmen are not convinced. If there is no such thing, do you approve of the women's imperial examination? ”

"I don't approve of that." Liang Xingdao said.

Shen Yourong said: "But with this matter, we don't agree with it in our hearts, but we must agree with it." The mouth must not only support it now, but also continue to support it in the future. ”

"I see!" Liang Xingdao is not a fool either.

Shen Yourong said: "Let's gather the merchants of the entire Jinling Mansion, even those merchants who sell cloth should be invited together." We don't have women weaving cloth, where do they buy it? Several joint ventures set up a newspaper and dozens of newspapers, and the government will definitely issue licenses quickly. Before you get the license, you can pay for a pen and write an article to refute those corrupt remarks. The more we make a fuss, the happier the Emperor will be. ”

7017k