"In this way, all the countries within the influence of the Daming Navy Division will become part of the trade system with the Ming as the core and the future customs union."

"And once."

"Wait a minute, Mr. Jiang."

Zheng He interrupted Jiang Xinghuo's words and asked a question.

"I can understand tariffs, but what do tariff covenants and future customs unions mean?"

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Song Wugong issued a decree to let some people guarding the city gate and managing commerce "reward the door and make it taxy" according to the commercial development of Suiyang City, the capital of the Song Dynasty at that time, which was later called "the levy of the closed city", that is, the tariff. "Zhou Li: Tianguan" also recorded: "The gift of the city is to wait for the king's food and clothing", and the Zhou Dynasty also collected a part of the customs from the vassal states to meet the needs of the royal family.

Therefore, this ancient concept can be fully understood by the people of the Ming Dynasty.

But the tariff pact and the future customs union are somewhat incomprehensible to them.

Jiang Xinghuo paused and explained to him first: "The so-called tariff contract is the tariff rules formulated between two or more countries through the conclusion of a tariff trade contract, and there are two types of tariff rules with completely different natures: one is the tariff contract of independent agreement, that is, through the contract, the tariff rate that gives each other some preferential treatment on the basis of voluntary reciprocity; The other is a one-sided tariff contract, that is, a tariff rate in which one country signs an agreement under coercion from another country and unilaterally grants preferential treatment. ”

"So what kind of person is Mr. Jiang talking about? The second? Zheng He asked tentatively.

Jiang Xinghuo's answer was slightly unexpected by Zheng He.

"The first one, of course."

"Why? The Ming Dynasty is powerful, shouldn't it be through the second type, that is, the one-sided agreement tariff contract, to obtain more trade and trade benefits? Zhu Gaoxu was a little puzzled.

According to his understanding, it is already considered benevolent if he did not directly send troops to rob him, so how can he still trade fairly? To trade fairly, isn't my Ming strong in vain?

Jiang Xinghuo didn't explain too much, just said lightly.

"Free is the most expensive; What is fair is the most unfair. ”

Hearing this, the three of them fell into a moment of thought, and they all seemed to have something to gain.

"In fact, the fair signing of tariff contracts is also a prerequisite for a customs union in the future, after all, in a geo-trade system, if the tariff contract is unfair, then it is difficult for the customs union to last for a long time."

Otherwise, wouldn't it be a heart-to-heart between Daming and you, and you and Daming playing with their brains?

"As for what is called a customs union, this is the next stage of global trade, and there will be trade competition, and you only need to understand the concept of tariff competition with different regions as the main body."

"The so-called customs union refers to, for example, the alliance with some countries, the alliance has completely canceled the tariff restrictions in commodity trade, so that goods can flow freely between the countries of the alliance, and the unified taxation restrictions on the import of goods by countries outside the alliance are not used for the time being."

Jiang Xinghuo added in his heart, I am afraid that I will not be able to see it in my lifetime.

After all, if Daming really took the lead in starting the first industrial revolution, then with the size of Daming, the global leadership of at least 300 years will not be able to run, and this kind of leadership is the only one.

Of course, under the demographic and military technology conditions of today's era, it is unrealistic for the Ming Dynasty to directly rule West Asia, Western Europe and other places, so if it is really in the future of this world, to open the era of the second industrial revolution, then the global hegemony of the Ming Dynasty is likely to face the challenge of late-developing countries in some regions.

Such a challenge may not pose a huge threat militarily or politically, but it is predestined economically, so at some point the customs union is necessary.

In Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, why did Dai Ying still last so long after retiring from the position of the empire on which the sun never sets? To put it bluntly, the trade system, which consists of a series of parts such as dumping grounds for raw materials and goods, has not collapsed.

As long as the trade system is retained, the internal and external circulation will not stagnate, and it still has the ability to rise again.

"There is another benefit to building a Ming-led trade system with the tariff contract as the core."

"Another benefit?" Zheng He was stunned, but he couldn't think of it.

Jiang Xinghuo bowed slightly: "Yes, I haven't heard of this, but he has heard of it, that is the offshore silver treasure banknote, as long as it is a country in the Ming trade system, regardless of whether it is exporting rice or importing cloth, it must be settled with the offshore silver treasure banknote of the Ming Dynasty." ”

"That's it."

Zhu Gaoxu, who had listened to the previous "History of Chinese Currency", blurted out.

"In this way, Daming can not only control the economy and livelihood of other countries by influencing the prices of other countries and major export commodities, but also harvest wealth directly through the ratio of offshore silver treasure banknotes to silver!"

"Hmm."

Jiang Xinghuo did not continue to speak, but stopped the topic at the right time: "These are all deductions based on answering the question of Old Master Zhuo on 'how to satisfy food after the agricultural class is partially transformed into a manual class', and now we will continue to talk about the main topic just now, in fact, through this question just now, you probably also understand how the productive forces of the industrial countries are embodied, and what I want to talk about next is how the new 'surplus' flows in the four social classes of the industrial countries." ”

"If you understand how the 'surplus' flows, you can understand why I say that industrial countries can solve the contradiction between man and land at the root."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't talk nonsense with them, and continued to write with thick branches directly next to the formula for the composition of the three social classes and national wealth of the previous agricultural country.

Landlord class: land, rent (payment for land inputs)

Agricultural class: labor, surplus agricultural products (remuneration paid to agricultural labor)

Artisanal workshop owner: assets, spreads (remuneration paid to asset inputs)

Artisanal class: labor, remuneration (remuneration paid to manual labor)

"These are the four social classes of the industrial countries that I have just mentioned, and the artisanal class, although it has the same name as the artisanal class of the agricultural country, has undergone a metamorphosis in nature."

Jiang Xinghuo explained this transformation in detail, and at this point, he seemed to be extremely patient.

"Is it understandable that because of the addition of the artisanal workshop class, the artisanal class in the industrialized countries no longer directly exchanged handicrafts with the agricultural class for surplus agricultural products, but received remuneration from the artisanal workshop owners, and then used them to buy surplus agricultural products and other goods and services necessary for life?"

Seeing the three of them nodding, Jiang Xinghuo continued.

"In the era of industrial countries, the formula for the composition of national wealth was different from that of the era of agricultural countries."

The total national wealth of agricultural countries = surplus agricultural products of the agricultural class + surplus agricultural products of the landlord class + surplus agricultural products of the artisanal class

Total national wealth of the industrialized countries = land rent + surplus agricultural products + interest rate differential + wages

"In this formula, we assume a period of evolution from an agrarian to an industrial one, in which it is foreseeable that the surplus agricultural produce in the hands of the peasant class must be as sufficient as in the past to feed the family."

Jiang Xinghuo was silent for a few breaths, and then said: "And the wages of the manual class are also the wages of survival. ”

"What is subsistence pay?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

"The subsistence remuneration, that is, the wages paid by the artisanal workshop owner class for the survival of the artisanal class, is converted into surplus agricultural products, which in terms of quantity is more than the artisanal class in the past." Jiang Xinghuo replied.

"Why too many?"

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu spoke, he realized that he had asked a stupid question.

"If engaging in handicrafts cannot be more profitable than in the past, then no one will take the initiative to engage in it, and it will not attract the peasant class to transform into the manual class, of course, but the number is larger, but with this new way of life comes the destruction of traditional life, and it is difficult to say which is right and which is wrong."

"But that sounds pretty good?" Zheng He said.

"I'm getting more money than I used to, but it just sounds good."

Jiang Xinghuo said abruptly: "For the handicraft workshop owner class, letting the workers eat well and work is the same as lubricating the spinning machine's rotating shaft, so this division of labor remuneration is inevitable, and no one has a conscience to find out." ”

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and put aside the emotions in his mind for the time being.

After all, the class is about pure classical political economy formulas, which are absolutely rational, and you can't substitute too many personal feelings, otherwise it will be disrespectful to this science that can derive dragon slaying.

"Back to the formula."

"I would like to tell you that, at the beginning of the industrial age, the surplus agricultural products received by the peasant class and the wages received by the artisanal class were negligible in the overall consideration of national wealth, and we calculated mainly the rent of the landlord class and the interest differential of the artisanal workshop owner."

Jiang Xinghuo pointed to the formula on the ground and said.

"In other words, land rent plus interest rate differentials is the 'surplus' of national wealth in the era of industrial countries."

"And if the artisanal workshop class and the landlord class consume all the 'surplus', then the production of the next period will be exactly the same as the previous period, but obviously this is impossible, the landlord class knows how to save grain and sell money to buy new fields, how can the handicraft workshop owner class not know it?"

"Remaining. Strata"

Zhuo Jing twisted his beard and looked at the words on the ground, "snapped", and pulled off another beard.

"The old man understands!"

"Old man Zhuo, talk about it quickly!" Zhu Gaoxu said continuously.

Zhuo Jing glanced at this little cub who didn't know the number of etiquette, and then said.

"The old man believes that in the era of the agricultural country, the reason why the contradiction between man and land cannot be solved is because the 'surplus', that is, the surplus agricultural products, are put into the 'cycle' of the next agricultural product production process, and such an infinite cycle, although the output of agricultural products can be increased, but limited by the overall number of fields, from the perspective of national wealth, it is impossible to produce new surplus."

"I know that, too!"

Ignoring Zhu Gaoxu, Zhuo Jing continued.

"In the era of industrial countries, the interest rate difference obtained by the artisanal workshop owner class could be used to accumulate and invest in the next round of 'circular' production, like land rent, to expand the site, purchase equipment, and employ the artisanal class, and it could also export the goods produced."

Zhuo Jing said slowly: "This is equivalent to breaking through the internal 'cycle' of the agricultural country era and carrying out a new 'cycle' from the outside, so that in the process of production round after round, the interest rate difference obtained by the handicraft workshop owner class will be wider and wider, and it is not limited by the overall number of fields like the landlord class." ”

"That is."

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly said: "The national wealth is no longer limited by the land, theoretically if the Ming market is large enough overseas, it can continue to expand the national wealth!" ”

Jiang Xinghuo bowed slightly, filling in a small loophole just now.

"For all strata in the Ming Dynasty, what I gain is no longer what they lose! If the national wealth grows to a certain extent, the agricultural class and the artisanal class will benefit alike, and there will be surplus wages in addition to subsistence wages. ”

(End of chapter)