During the holidays, there were only a few officials on duty in the Hanlin Academy.

Zhu Mingho took the outline of the paper he wrote last night and came to the library of the Hanlin Academy to look for information.

As soon as he entered the library building, he bumped into Zhu Cizhi: "Mr. Zhaoqi, there is a five-day holiday on this Shangshi Festival, and I will come to study knowledge in only three days." ”

"Isn't Zhu Yushi here too?" Zhu Minghao said with a smile.

Imperial history is an honorific title, an ancient official name for a librarian, just like calling the prefect a nature of Taishou.

Zhu Cizhi's biological mother and sister were both accepted by the emperor as concubines. Although the seniority is a bit chaotic, it does not prevent Zhu Cizhi's status from improving. Of course, the emperor was more picky, and did not award any titles, but only promoted Zhu Cizhi from an ordinary official to a petty official in charge of the library.

Zhu Cizhi was about to speak, but saw Song Yingxing coming in on crutches.

"Meet the Shou Kuo!" The two hurriedly exchanged words.

Song Yingxing waved his hand and said, "I have retired, and I am no longer the first assistant." I'm here today just to find a few books. ”

Zhu Cizhi hurriedly asked: "What book do you want to read?" The juniors immediately went to find it. ”

"Not necessarily." Song Yingxing waved his hand.

Zhu Cizhi and Zhu Minghao supported Song Yingxing left and right to walk inside.

It didn't take long for the cabinet minister Wu Yingji to come.

Zhu Cizhi felt very rare, a retired first assistant and a current cabinet minister, who actually came to the library building today.

Song Yingxing is actually in good health, but he has a rheumatism attack, and he can't get out of bed because of the pain. After the beginning of spring, his symptoms lessened and he was able to walk around on crutches on his own.

After his resignation, he did not immediately return to Jiangxi, but stayed in Nanjing with the intention of writing a book and making a speech.

Wu Yingji sat down next to Song Yingxing, and Zhu Cizhi personally made good tea, and then stood next to listen to what they said.

Wu Yingji said: "Yesterday's first remark made the order to open in Xiamao. The core of this economic science seems to be the word 'money'. ”

The word "economy" has existed since ancient times, and it is the abbreviation of helping the people through the country and the world.

But Zhao Han often used it for other purposes, and the ministers gradually got used to it, and the meaning of the word gradually changed to the economy of later generations.

Song Yingxing said: "Since ancient times, if you want to talk about economic theory, it must be "Guanzi" as the most. Guan Zhong talks about economic changes, which is called the three powers. When I was young, I inspected all kinds of industries, minted coins for the imperial court in my prime and made money, and assisted His Majesty in sorting out national affairs in my later years. I usually talk to His Majesty, and I have a lot of understanding. Now that I am retired at home, I have a new experience when I read "Pipe" again. ”

"Please advise!" Wu Yingji gave up.

Song Yingxing said: "Guan Zhong's heavenly power refers to the time of the day, floods, droughts, locusts, and snow plagues will affect a country's economy. Land rights refer to property, including arable land, mines, forests, and lakes. Human rights have a saying, and this is the core of economics. ”

Wu Yingji said: "The human rights understood below are adjustment and opening and closing. ”

The adjustment is the national grain storage in the harvest year and the average agent in the disaster year. To put it bluntly, it is the government that manipulates goods and prices to achieve the goal of governing the country, weakening enemies, fighting profiteers, and stabilizing society.

The opening and closing can be understood as macroeconomic regulation and control, encouraging or restricting certain business behaviors, and guiding the market to develop according to the government's vision.

Guan Zhong explained these contents very clearly.

Song Yingxing said: "Shiyi time shifts, and the economic method of "Guanzi" is now outdated, and some are missing. Compared with the pre-Qin period, all industries are thriving today, and it is the remote village where the people also use coins to buy goods. There was also the benefit of land rights, and Spain brought countless amounts of silver from Mexico to China. Mexico's geographical advantages, through commercial trade, can also be used by China. ”

Wu Yingji nodded and said, "Indeed." ”

Song Yingxing also said: "Guan Zhong governs the country with financial management and advocates saving the people. This is right, but he uses it as a courtesy and a good government for the people. That's roughly true, but it needs to be changed a little. ”

"It's going to change." Wu Yingji said.

Guan Zhong's "enriching the people to govern" is as follows: light collection of agricultural taxes, flat collection of commercial taxes, restrictions on the number of merchants, prudent requisition of forced labor, and ensure agricultural production.

Zhao Han's concept of governing the country is roughly the same as this set of methods. But there is no limit to the number of merchants, but rather to encourage the development of industry and commerce.

Guan Zhong's "festival is used for courtesy", on the surface, it is about what clothes the Son of Heaven, princes, and doctors should wear, but in fact it is talking about the administrative expenses of the state. Don't set up official positions that don't do things, and don't arbitrarily seal unnecessary titles, the Song and Ming dynasties obviously violated Guan Zhong's thoughts. There were a lot of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty and a large nest of clans in the Ming Dynasty.

However, some of Guan Zhong's methods are obviously outdated.

For example, Guan Zhong said that the government can do business in person, which will inevitably make the market deserted. When the market is deserted, there will be fewer merchants and more agricultural labor. When agriculture is prosperous, there is no shortage of national tax revenues.

This was clearly due to the low productivity of the time, so it was necessary to secure agricultural labor and to curb the number of merchant groups.

Suddenly, Song Yingxing said to Zhu Cijiong: "I once read a copy of "Xujiang Anthology", and I don't know if there is anything here, you can look for it." ”

Zhu Cizhi asked: "This "Xujiang Anthology", which dynasty is it? ”

"Song Dynasty." Song Yingxing said.

Zhu Cizhi acted immediately and quickly found it, but he was already mothed.

Song Yingxing said to Wu Yingji: "This book has "Rich Country Policy". ”

Wu Yingji was curious to read it, and read it on the spot.

The first article talks about the need for money to govern the country, and officials should not be taboo about profit. The second part is to curb land annexation. The fifth article is to curb the number of monks. The seventh article discusses the Yicang system. The third and eighth chapters deal with money. Chapters 4, 6, 9, and 10 deal with industry and commerce.

When discussing the land issue, the author, Li Jing, proceeds from the perspective of labor and means of production, and believes that land annexation destroys the close integration of labor (peasants) and means of production (land). So, it will definitely hinder agricultural production.

When discussing money, he also talked about inflation and deflation, and believed that if prices were too high or too low, it would be bad for the people. In addition, the grain is cheap and hurts the farmers, and the grain is expensive and the farmers will also be hurt.

When discussing industry and commerce, it is divided into three categories: wealthy merchants, wealthy businessmen, small craftsmen, and small traders. (Li believes that businessmen engaged in the production and circulation of luxury goods are "nomads" and should be cracked down on and let them do their jobs.) ）

"This is really a great Confucian!" Wu Yingji sighed after reading it.

Li Ji was of course a Confucian of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zeng Gong was his student, and Wang Anshi was his friend. He was able to go to Taixue to teach, and Fan Zhongyan recommended him many times.

Fan Zhongyan's New Deal and Wang Anshi's reform of the law were more or less influenced by some of Li Jing's economic thoughts.

Song Yingxing said: "Since ancient times, my country has written books and said, and they are all from a high position. However, I heard that the Qintian Academy, on the other hand, adopted the ideas of European scholars and did the opposite. Subdivide a big thing into something that can't be divided anymore and study these small details. We study economics and ask, is it possible to do the same? ”

When the envoys returned from Europe, they brought back Descartes' ideas, which were unanimously endorsed by the Chintian Academy, and the epistemology and methodology of scientific research have now been established.

Song Yingxing is the one who wrote "Heavenly Creation", and he originally likes to explore details and processes. Reminded of the situation in the Qin Tianyuan, he came up with the idea of re-studying economics.

"How do you break it down?" Wu Yingji felt at a loss where to start.

"Currency!"

Song Yingxing said: "The people's livelihood of the country, the agriculture and industry and commerce, nothing more than goods and currency." The goods are real and yang, the currency is virtual and yin, the virtual and the real are combined, and the yin and yang are intertwined, which is a complete economy. ”

Wu Yingji thought carefully and subconsciously nodded in agreement.

"Is it possible to define these economic terms as well as physics and mathematics?" Song Yingxing said, "Goods, goods are goods, things are things." First define things, the sun, moon, mountains and rivers, birds, beasts, fish and insects, flowers, trees, grass and stones, everything that can be seen everywhere is a thing. ”

Wu Yingji said: "If things are exchanged, they are goods!" ”

Song Yingxing said: "It's not enough, things are dead, and someone needs to exchange them." Fish are in the water, and they can only be sold when they are caught. Iron is in the mountains, and it can only be sold when it is mined and smelted. In order for things to become goods, people need to work. It's not enough to only work, you catch fish and eat it yourself, and you don't take it out to sell, then it's not called a product. Therefore, the definition of goods is the labor that appears for the purpose of trading. ”

"Good!" Wu Yingji clapped his hands and praised.

Suddenly, Wu Yingji said to Zhu Cijiong: "Please take the pen and ink." ”

Zhu Cizhi ran fast, poured water and ink himself, and said attentively: "The two gentlemen continued, and the juniors came to record." ”

Wu Yingji muttered to himself: "What are the elements of that coin?" It is used for exchange, as long as it can be exchanged, it does not necessarily have to be gold, silver and copper money, and some places in Yunnan are still using shellfish coins in the early years. ”

Song Yingxing said: "Coin is also a kind of goods, because it contains all the elements of goods. But it is different from ordinary goods, it is a currency that can be exchanged for any goods. ”

Wu Yingji said: "The goods have a price, and the currency has a value." In exchange for coins, they must be of equal value, at least in the opinion of the buyer and the seller. Therefore, coin is an equivalent commodity, and it is an equivalent currency that is specifically used for trading. ”

"You can define it like that," Song Yingxing turned his head and said, "write it down." ”

Zhu Cizhi hurriedly moved the pen and quickly recorded the content.

Song Yingxing said: "Goods and currencies have been defined. Let's define a few elements of the goods. How did the goods come about? ”

"There must be people, no, there must be laborers, or producers," Wu Yingji said, "It is not enough to have producers, you can't turn goods out of thin air, you must rely on certain resources." For example, for mining, there must be mines, and for farming, there must be land. What are these things called? ”

Song Yingxing said: "Production materials. ”

"Yes," said Wu Yingji, "the producer, using the production materials, through labor into goods." Does this land count as a commodity? Land can be bought and sold in the previous dynasty, and it can also be leased and sold by the imperial court to merchants to set up factories in the new dynasty, so is it a production material or a commodity? ”

Song Yingxing said: "When used for trading, land is goods, and when used for production, land is production material. ”

The two of them sat in the reading room of the library building, and you and I were talking about it one sentence at a time.

Zhu Cizhi sat next to him, listening and taking notes. Although some of them could understand and some of them could not, he was very interested in it and thought it was meaningful. It's interesting to study economics.

(End of chapter)