My life skills in Daming Liver

Forty years of Jiajing finally passed.

In such a tight financial situation this year, Emperor Jiajing, who had practiced Taoism for many years, suddenly became mortal, and ordered the inner court to organize the Aoshan Lantern Festival, which had been suspended for many years.

The so-called Aoshan Lantern Festival is to tie up lanterns like Aoshan. This is a royal Spring Festival celebration in the Ming Dynasty.

Looking at the lively Dengshan, the emperor rarely showed a smile.

Since last year, the Taoist emperor, who used to be "invincible in cold and heat", has felt the fear of aging and death.

Even the emperor who monopolizes the world is still powerless in the face of death.

Death is the greatest justice of nature to all.

Emperors and generals will die, and so will ordinary people.

Emperor Jiajing felt the shadow of death, and he became more and more frightened by the empty palace.

His first wife died, the heir he cultivated carefully in his middle age died, and his childhood friend Lu Bing also died.

Yang Tinghe, father and son who opposed the emperor, also died, and Xia Yan, who helped him deal with Yang Tinghe during the ceremony, also died.

The emperor felt lonely. Looking at the lantern festival like a mountain, he finally had a breath of human fireworks.

It's just that behind the bustling Aoshan Lantern Festival, how many lantern performers were forced to starve to death, and how many naked people were driven to the streets because of the excitement, and finally froze to death on the side of the road.

Hundreds of officials still congratulated the emperor, but the situation in the court has changed.

Yan Maoqing, who was inspecting the shipping department in Fujian, left the capital for Fujian after the end of the Lantern Festival.

Yan Shifan took the concubine of the tenth room after the year.

Yan Song's body is getting older, he can't hear clearly, and his eyes are almost blind, and he has to be supported when he walks. The emperor specially ordered him to enter the palace in a sedan chair to go to the cabinet to do business.

Li Zhi did not go home with Fang Wanghai for the festival.

During this period of time, Li Zhi did not attend classes well at the Nanjing Imperial College, but continued to travel in Nanzhili, and he also gained a lot of knowledge.

During his travels, Li Zhi met a good friend, Liang Ruyuan of the Taizhou School.

It is said that it is also the tenacious ability to restrain the historical timeline. Under the influence of Su Ze, Li Zhi did not join the Taizhou School.

He had been helping Fang Wanghai and Su Ze with their affairs, but after Fang Wanghai was gradually squeezed out, Li Zhi began to travel around Nanzhili.

Some time ago, Mr. Yan Jun, Wang Gen's personal disciple, gave lectures in Yancheng, which attracted a large number of scholars to watch.

Yan Jun became famous in Nanzhili after organizing Yanding’s tax resistance in Yancheng, and then he was active in Huai’an, Yangzhou, and Taizhou, and established several mutual aid associations and artisan associations.

Yan Jun also successfully negotiated with workshop owners or government-run workshops through his own reputation, and improved the treatment of these craftsmen and hired workers.

As a result, Yan Jun's reputation has greatly increased, and he has given lectures many times to spread the knowledge of mutual assistance at the grassroots level.

Li Zhi and Liang Ruyuan met when Yan Jun was giving lectures, and they hit it off right away.

Yan Jun gave lectures, and suddenly, in the Huaibei area north of the Yangtze River, various groups sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

The situation in Jiangnan is somewhat different from that in Jiangbei.

Under the influence of Su Ze Tiangong Academy, Jiangnan is now full of various workshops, especially the two industries of cotton textile and silk textile. Originally, the workshops in Jiangnan were very dense. Driven by new technologies, some relatively large-scale Private workshops appeared.

For example, the Xu family’s cotton textile workshop in Chongming Island. The second son of the Xu family also has commercial courage. After finding out that his own looms were backward, he immediately dismantled all the looms, and then ordered Tiangong The mule machine in Kaiwu.

After using the mule machine, the production efficiency of the Xu family's weaving workshop has greatly increased, and the cotton cloth production of the Xu family has increased tenfold!

The reason why it didn't continue to grow was not because of productivity, but because the Xu family didn't have enough cotton.

Not only the Xu family, but also the Wang family of Taicang, and several honorable families in Nanjing city, they all made money by opening workshops.

The big family made big money, and the small family also made small money. In the few years since the new technology spread, Jiangnan's prosperity has reached a new level.

Relying on the cotton cloth business, the Xu family has accumulated a lot of wealth. While meeting the military needs of Liaodong, the Xu family is also organizing a caravan to sell cotton cloth to the north.

Then a strange scene appeared.

The Xu family, who used to fight with Su Ze in Songjiang Mansion, even reached a cooperation with Su Ze in the matter of trade. They rented the fleet of the Shanghai Anti-Japanese Corps to participate in the northern trade.

Among the three industries that Su Ze stayed in Nanzhili, the training courses of Tiangong Academy have basically been completed, and several new technologies in industries have spread out, and it is impossible for the government to ban these workshops.

Newspapers may be banned by the government at any time, but as long as movable type printing technology exists and the sales network is still there, with the Ming government's control over the local area, it is better to ban newspapers than to be banned. As long as Su Ze wants to do it, he can continue to run it .

Only the Shanghai Anti-Japanese Anti-Smuggling Headquarters is sensitive and the most difficult to keep.

In fact, as Fang Wanghai gradually lost power, more forces also focused on the Shanghai Anti-Japanese Anti-Smuggling Headquarters.

Nowadays, there is an endless stream of commercial ships calling at the port of Shanghai County, mainly including the following routes.

On the route north to Dengzhou Port, the cotton cloth from Songjiang Prefecture was transported to Dengzhou Port through sea trade, and then sent to Liaodong by the imperial sea ship at Dengzhou Port.

The trade from Dengzhou to Liaodong was approved by the imperial court, and the imperial court quickly tasted the sweetness of sea transportation.

Compared with road transportation, the loss of sea transportation is smaller, and the amount of one transportation is also larger.

Now the ordnance, grain and cotton clothes in Liaodong are all transshipped in Dengzhou.

The cotton-padded clothes in Songjiang Mansion sometimes don’t even need to change ships, just go north to Liaodong to transport the goods.

Jiangnan ships exchanged cotton cloth for salt in Dengzhou, and then pulled it back from Shandong.

Various special products of Liaodong, such as fur and ginseng, also appeared on the docks of Dengzhou, and these things can be sold at high prices in Jiangnan.

Some other fleets transported Jiangnan silk to Fuzhou. This route has almost tied up the entire Jiangnan silk industry.

One proof is that when the Japanese pirate turmoil was serious in the 40 years of Jiajing, the sales of silk in Jiangnan almost broke down. Now the gentry in Jiangnan are more concerned about the progress of Fujian's Pingwa, even more concerned than Fujianese.

The only good news is that after the Spring Festival, Ryukyu ships have already called at the port, and some silk extruded last year has begun to be exchanged for silver.

The new army of the Fuzhou Navy began to escort the Ryukyu tribute merchant ships, and Fujian began to purchase silk again.

The two trade routes, one south and one north, made the wharf of the Shanghai Anti-smuggling General Corps a chicken that lays golden eggs, and a sweet pastry coveted by the local government and the six ministries of Nanjing.

In order to keep this port, Su Ze also used many means.

For example, there will be some "Japanese pirates" in the Yangtze River Estuary. These Japanese pirates will threaten ships departing from other ports, and will deliberately sail in the Yangtze River Estuary, so that Nanzhili dare not abolish the anti-smuggling headquarters.

The other is that Su Ze also cooperates with the big families in Jiangnan, and negotiates with them a relatively low port price.

These big families also want to build their own ports. For example, the Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture built a dock on Chongming Island.

Unexpectedly, the water suddenly rose in October last year, submerging the Xu family's pier, and the Xu family lost a large part of their investment in Chongming Island.

Moreover, these big families also discovered that a pier that is safe, can dock sea ships, and is not affected by sea waves is such a rare place!

Many families searched the coastline of the south of the Yangtze River and found that only Shanghai, a bumpy place, is a good natural harbor.

This Su Ze's eyes are too vicious!

The second son of the Xu family who hates Su Ze the most also admits that Su Ze is a genius!

Moreover, port construction and port management are also technical tasks. Sometimes building a pier by yourself is not as cost-effective as renting a pier.

In this way, Xu's family in Songjiang Prefecture, Wang's family in Taicang, and even several state officials in Nanjing have become partners of Shanghai Wharf. Su Ze almost let them call at the port for free, and also provided escort services at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Hold Shanghai, an important port, firmly in your hands.

However, these gentry from the south of the Yangtze River were not completely trouble-free. With the expansion of the workshop, new resistance forces appeared among the hired workers.

Compared with the peasants who depend on the land and dare not resist the oppression of the landlords, the frequency of resistance of the hired workers is much higher, and the intensity of the struggle is much higher.

Sun Wei, the labor leader who had recently become famous in Jiangnan, organized a strike of 5,000 cotton textile workers in Jiangnan after the year.

The timing of Sun Wei's stoppage protest was very good, just when the shipping in Fuzhou was smooth and the cotton textile workshops started to complete the orders.

The shutdown wave directly stunned these workshop owners. Sun Wei led the employee representatives of each workshop to negotiate with the workshop owners, asking for more benefits, less working hours, and more labor protection supplies to protect the safety of workers.

In the end, Sun Wei's work stoppage campaign won the victory. The wages of the employees in the cotton textile workshops in the whole south of the Yangtze River were raised, but the working hours were not reduced, and the labor protection articles were also provided by the employees.

But this is also a good result. Sun Wei wrote three articles in a row on the "Alert", introducing the legality and rationality of the work stoppage, the necessity of salary increases and the struggle experience. The sales of the three issues of the "Alert" became The three highest-selling issues so far.

During this period of time, the biggest news in the entire Jiangnan cultural circle was the three articles written by Sun Wei in the "Alert", and the two rebuttal articles written by the workshop owner Wang Yuanqing in the "Alert".

Both Wang Yuanqing and Sun Wei were classmates of Tiangong Academy. After graduating from Tiangong Academy, Wang Yuanqing inherited the family's cotton textile workshop, and made his own workshop bigger and stronger with a hydraulic mule machine.

Wang Yuanqing and Sun Wei are good friends, but their positions are becoming more and more tit-for-tat. This kind of debate has happened many times. Although Wang Yuanqing also called on the workshop owner to increase the wages and treatment of employees, he is standing on the side of Confucian businessman morality. Speaking from a personal perspective, it is more of a moral advocacy and suggestion.

Scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, in teahouses, restaurants, and academies, gradually shifted from romantic and snowy nights to the topic of business ethics.

In fact, this is also normal. Since the release of "Tiangong Kaiwu", the Jiangnan area, which was originally a well-developed handicraft industry, has been ignited even more.

Landlords who have read the book have begun to try to set up workshops. After all, there are so many industries in "Tiangong Kaiwu", and there are still many ways to make money.

Most of the families who were able to study were rich and well-off. Soon these families discovered that, unlike rent collectors, it really takes someone with some skills to start a workshop.

In the era of agrarian economy, the landlord only needs to lie at home and collect the rent. What he has to deal with is his own tenant farmers. There are not many things to do. The son of the family only needs to study at ease.

However, setting up workshops and operating the industry earns more than renting out to tenants to farm, but it requires management and marketing, which requires a lot of talents.

So a strange phenomenon appeared in Suzhou, those second-generation ancestors who were idle were called back by their families one after another to take care of the family's property.

The Evil Youth Gang, once prominent in Suzhou, was disintegrated in such a dramatic way.

These villains go home to manage the workshop, they are all their own children, so of course they should be more at ease.

The development of the workshop has also increased their income. Going back to manage the workshop can make more money than wandering on the streets. Moreover, it is naturally more fulfilling to manage with so many hired workers.

The Evil Young Gang disintegrated like this, and with the development of industry and commerce, the topic of discussion naturally began to shift to this aspect. The debate between Sun Wei and Wang Yuanqing became the hottest topic in Jiangnan.

However, Li Zhi had heard Su Ze talk about these topics many times.

Now he and Liang Ruyuan are on the way to Beijing together.

"Brother Zhugan, why did your Cuihetang fail?"

"It's all caused by the old thief Yan Song!"

Liang Ruyuan studied under Wang Gen, and later returned to his hometown Yongfeng, Jiangxi, and opened Cuihetang.

The so-called Cuihetang, in the form of a family, "is in charge of the government of the clan, crowning marriage, funeral sacrifices, taxes and labor, everything is in line with its needs."

Later generations described Cuihetang as a utopian social experiment, but in fact Cuihetang is no different from clan autonomy from ancient times to the present. It is just a stronger form of clan autonomy.

But now the social practice of Cuihetang has gone bankrupt, the Feilong rebellion broke out in Jiangxi recently, and the imperial court raised taxes in Jiangxi.

However, Yongfeng and Yan Song's hometowns in Fenyi were in the same prefecture, so the government imposed heavy taxes in Yongfeng, but they were exempted in Fenyi.

Liang Ru was not strong enough, and wanted to lead Cuihetang to resist the tax, but the clansmen did not dare.

Some tribesmen quit Cuihetang for fear of being implicated.

In fact, three years after the implementation of Cuihetang, there have been many disturbances over food distribution and various trivial matters of weddings and funerals. This time, the tax resistance was just the fuse, and Liang Ruyuan's years of hard work were gone. .

Liang Ruyuan hated Yan Song even more. This time he entered the capital to plot against Yan.

Of course, he didn't tell Li Zhi about this matter, and Li Zhi thought that Liang Ruyuan was going to the capital to give lectures.

at the same time.

After the new year in Changningwei, Su Ze convened a meeting with village headmen and big households in the villages under the jurisdiction of Nanping County.

The theme of this meeting has been sent to the participants in advance, and the theme is also very clear - "Reduce rent and interest, fight Japanese pirates together".