The legal holidays of the Ming Dynasty were mainly inherited from the Song Dynasty, but some chaotic holidays were abolished.

New Year's Day (Spring Festival), a seven-day holiday.

Shangyuan (Lantern Festival), a seven-day holiday.

Between the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, it is necessary to go to work normally. In addition, even on holidays, officials need to work overtime in turn to ensure the operation of the yamen at all levels.

The Spring Festival holiday has not yet passed, and Zhu Guoxiang is already in the office.

There are some things that he has to complete before he abdicates, which can also be counted as his imperial merits.

It has been a year since the major case was stopped, and the revised second edition of the "Da Ming Law" was copied to Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming respectively.

The entries are more refined!

Perhaps it was because there were too many children in exile with their parents that the officials who changed the law could not bear it, so they designated "children under the age of seven" as a group that did not need to be held criminally responsible.

Of course, if it is the ten heinous crimes that are jointly sitting, or if it is intentional homicide with one's own hands, no matter how young a child is, he also needs to be punished.

The officials changed it to this point in order to pardon many children.

For example, Li Bangyan, who has two grandsons and a granddaughter, because he is under the age of seven, can be taken away by paying a fine, and does not have to continue to be exiled with his parents.

"Agree with that." Zhu Guoxiang drew a hook with a pen.

Zhu Ming nodded and said, "Yes." ”

The father and son continued to read the change entries and then discussed them one by one.

To tell the truth, the crime of exile in the past few years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty was not exile in the real sense at all, but more similar to a kind of "forced immigration on the frontier".

When they arrived at the place of exile, the government did not force labor, and even distributed land, food, clothing, farm tools, and seeds. Where in the world is there such a comfortable exile?

All the exiles actually enjoyed "amnesty" treatment, but they were left behind on the frontier and could not return home.

After reviewing each article, Zhu Guoxiang said: "The second edition of the "Da Ming Law" will be promulgated before I retire. ”

"No problem," Zhu Ming said, "This year is still the seventh year of Hongwu, and I will only change the yuan next year." When the yuan is changed, the new calendar will also be promulgated, and the new calendar will have nothing to do with you. ”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I persuade the Department of Agriculture to also change. ”

"Have you figured out how to change it?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I have been thinking about it for several years. The Department of Agriculture was merged into the Ministry of Households, which is equivalent to the National Department of Agricultural Development under the Ministry of Households. The number one leader is the head of the Department of Agricultural Development. ”

"At the provincial level, set up a bureau to persuade agriculture, similar to a provincial agricultural department (which certainly doesn't have that much power)."

"At the provincial level, set up a farm office, similar to a municipal agricultural bureau."

"There is no agricultural department at the county level."

"The lowest-level agricultural counselor belongs to the sequence of trick officers, which is equivalent to agricultural researchers and agricultural technical officers."

"When you are promoted to the level of the director and deputy director of the Quannong Institute, you will be transferred to the administrative officer of the eighth grade, and you can be transferred to the county magistrate, county order and other officials."

"The higher-level officials of the Agricultural Bureau and the Department of Agricultural Affairs must be from the background of agricultural officials and have experience in the local government. At this level, it is to make a development plan for agriculture in the whole country or the whole province. ”

Zhu Ming smiled: "The idea is very good, but it will change its taste." ”

"How?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Zhu Ming said: "If I were a big official, my children and grandchildren would not be able to pass the Jinshi exam. Then I will let my children and grandchildren become trick officers, and as long as they stay up to a certain number of years, they can be turned into administrative officials, and they will be promoted all the way to the household department to persuade the agricultural division. and then use this as a springboard, and even achieve the level of a squire and a scholar. In the long run, the low-level agricultural persuasion officials are all forced to engage in technology, while the high-level agricultural persuasion officials belong to the children of officials. When the time comes, the layman will guide the insider. ”

"I will set the rules for the promotion of agricultural officials," Mr. Zhu said, "and although nepotism cannot be avoided, it should be fine in general." Even if you climb up by nepotism, you have to understand agriculture to comply with the regulations. At least on the whole, let them drill individual holes. If there is a phenomenon of large-scale exploitation of loopholes, it is not a matter of persuading the agricultural department, but the whole country is corrupt. ”

Zhu Ming nodded: "That's right." ”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "There are pros and cons in everything, and I have also thought it through. When I was emperor, I persuaded the peasant officials to stay out of the court. If I don't become an emperor anymore, I must make the persuasion of peasant officials regular, otherwise it won't take a decade or two to be finished. ”

……

In addition to persuading the Department of Agriculture to merge with the Ministry of Households, there is another major event on New Year's Day this year.

The national currency minting and issuance institutions have been greatly adjusted, and the gold, silver and copper coin foundries in various places are vertically managed together with the banknote printing and issuing institutions.

The highest monetary institution is named "Baoquan Temple", and the level is temporarily equivalent to Dali Temple, Taichang Temple, Honglu Temple, etc.

Each province has set up a dispatched agency, the "Baoquan Bureau", to manage and allocate all kinds of currencies in the province in a unified manner.

Baoquan Temple is mainly under the leadership of the household department, but it is relatively independent and supervised by other departments.

This is the same as Honglu Temple, which seems to be an independent institution, but it is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, and it is also connected with other departments. The same is true of Dali Temple, which is relatively independent but under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Department, and is also subject to strict supervision by the Inspectorate.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the New Year's Day holiday ends.

Outside the Baoquan Bureau of Kaifeng Prefecture, rich businessmen in the capital gathered.

The Li family has been dismissed from the position of head of the line by his peers because he does not eat orders at a critical time, and a large amount of cloth is piled up in the warehouse and cannot be sold.

Early in the morning, Li Dunyi took his son and his men to the Yamen of the Baoquan Bureau.

The streets were full of cars and horses, and boxes of copper coins were carried out, and the smell of copper could float out of several streets.

"Those with a money shop license can enter!" One of the officials shouted.

Li Dunyi, Li Wenzhong, father and son, hurriedly trotted into the Baoquan Bureau.

Baoquan Temple is only responsible for the printing, minting, issuance, transportation and recycling of currency, and the rest of the business is not allowed to be touched. Similar to central banks.

Kaifeng Baoquan Bureau has exchange business, but it only handles large-amount exchange business, and charges a 0.25% handling fee. In addition, no matter how small the denomination of waste and mutilated banknotes, you can get the Baoquan Bureau to replace them.

If the monetary tax of the local government needs to be handed over to the central government, it can also be handled at the local Baoquan Bureau. After paying the handling fee, it will be transferred to the central government by the Baoquan Office. (This business is only applicable to currency, and the Baoquan Bureau does not accept tax in kind.) The Qing Dynasty actually did just that, but paid taxes to the central government through private ticket numbers. ）

The small money exchange business is all handed over to private money shops.

Private money shops need to apply for a license, and they must have a fixed shop and warehouse in order to obtain a legal license from the government.

Li Dunyi set up a money shop, that is, a private bank. To this end, he also vacated a warehouse, and all the cloth in it was sold at half price.

Kaifeng Baoquan Bureau called Huo Zheng, he saw that the businessmen were almost here, so he began to talk about business: "This year, Baoquan Temple only issued 12 million treasure banknotes, Sichuan, Hanzhong, the six major cities of Bosi, Zhending, Chang'an, Jiangling, Jiangzhou, Yangzhou...... These places have to be divided, and Sichuan has the most quotas. We Kaifeng Mansion only got a quota of 600,000 yuan for the issuance of treasure banknotes. ”

"So little?" Tokyo's wealthy businessmen were disappointed.

This is very unusual, the former Song Dynasty issued tens of millions of banknotes a year, which will inevitably cause local panic. After a few years, the credit of paper money collapsed.

The Ming Dynasty issued 12 million treasure banknotes this year, but the businessmen thought that the quota was too small.

Huo Zheng said with a smile: "Therefore, Song has a lesson from the past, and paper money should not be issued indiscriminately." For every 1 million pieces of paper money issued by the Ming court, 250,000 pieces of copper money will be prepared. When the treasury is more abundant, more money will be issued. ”

Li Dunyi asked: "In the entire Kaifeng Mansion, there are sixteen that have obtained money shop licenses, how can these 600,000 treasure money be divided?" ”

Huo Zheng said: "Each family has a quota of 30,000 yuan, and the rest depends on the lottery." ”

The rich businessmen were speechless, tens of thousands of treasure money were too little, and they didn't make enough money in business.

According to the rules of the money shop in the Northern Song Dynasty, a 3% handling fee was charged for the exchange of paper money and metal currency. At present, the six major cities are located, as well as Yangzhou, Jiangling, Sichuan, Hanzhong, Chang'an...... Money is also being issued in these places.

For large transactions on the main transportation routes, you no longer have to rely on foreign exchange, and you can directly use Daming treasure banknotes. At the same time, the cost of merchants is reduced, and the treasure banknote exchange business has a huge profit.

Of course, with the increase in the issuance of treasure banknotes, in order to compete for business with traditional exchange, the handling fee of the money shop has to be reduced.

Huo Zheng continued: "In addition to the Daming treasure banknote, there are also 500,000 gold and silver dollars this time. There is no need to hoard gold and silver, and the gold and silver mines in all parts of the Ming Dynasty have resumed work, and several gold and silver mines have been discovered in Japan. In the future, there will be no shortage of gold and silver, and the price will not rise in price, but may depreciate. ”

Baskets of treasure bills and gold and silver coins were brought out.

Huo Zheng took the officials to carefully count and confirm that it was correct before signing and sealing.

And the rich merchants also let the men carry copper coins in, and the huge amount of copper coins directly filled the yard.

When each family subscribed to the treasure banknotes and gold and silver dollars, a wealthy merchant could not help but ask, "How much gold and silver can Japan produce every year?" ”

Huo Zheng said with a smile: "It's inconvenient to say the specific amount, the gold and silver shipped back from Japan this year may be worth hundreds of thousands of yuan." This is just the beginning, after all, those gold and silver mines are only partially mined, and the number of miners is not enough. ”

In addition, the Japanese people became more and more fond of the Ming Dynasty and were willing to use silver to buy silk, tea, and lacquerware...... The Japanese people are especially fond of lacquerware, and think that lacquerware is a Tang thing. They can also make it themselves, but the lacquerware of the Wa Kingdom is not as exquisite as that of the Ming Dynasty. Last year, just by selling lacquerware, the Daming maritime merchants brought back tens of thousands of taels of silver......"

It will take one or two hundred years for Japan's lacquerware craft to develop and mature, and the Ming Dynasty even went to Japan to learn lacquerware techniques.

At this time, Japan did not mint copper coins, and the Ming maritime merchants went to trade, either bartering or shipping back silver.

It didn't matter if a small amount of silver was brought back, it would be stopped by the city's shipping department, and the maritime merchants had to sell the silver to the government, and then the imperial court would make it into silver dollars and issue it.

Silver imports are increasing year by year, and after ten years, silver dollars are estimated to be no longer scarce, and can be seen in daily small transactions.

Li Wenzhong played with the silver dollar he had just subscribed, and it seemed that the pressing technique was more exquisite.

"Li Wenzhong is here?" Huo Zheng shouted.

"Born here late." Li Wenzhong stepped forward to salute.

Huo Zheng said: "The prince invited you to the East Palace to meet you. ”

As soon as these words came out, the wealthy businessmen turned their heads one after another, and all of them showed envious expressions.

(End of chapter)