I

Page 717

I have to say that the Datong New Dynasty is really full of ideas.

"Don't associate with this teacher again. Sooner or later, his home will be ransacked." Zhang Xianzhong warned.

But Zhang Jianzhi said: "Father, the Taoist thief is not a pure villain, but a person who does not submit to inherent authority and morality. In "Miscellaneous Articles Robber Zhi", even Confucius is a fake Taoist, and Yao, Shun and Yu are not compassionate or filial. Your Majesty is not only a great thief, but also a holy king. The false holy king is Chongzhen, and the real thief is Your Majesty. Saints never die, but there are no more robbers, that is to say, Chongzhen never dies, and Ming Dynasty never perishes. Thieves like your majesty, father, and Li Zicheng are Never cease."

Zhang Xianzhong savored carefully: "But there is some truth."

Zhang Jianzhi said: "My teacher also said that many of Taoism's refutation of Confucianism were not Lao Tzu's original intention, but were attached to the Taoist children of later generations. Lao Tzu's true meaning is 'clothed in brown and pregnant with jade'. It is wearing tattered brown clothes and carrying Baoyu. Your Majesty advocates true morality, opposes false morality, dislikes red tape, respects true feelings and nature, hates empty talk, and likes to practice. Isn’t this the pursuit of Taoism? Isn’t this just "cloth brown and pregnant with jade"?"

Zhang Xianzhong recalled: "Your teacher, is he going around the bend to flatter the emperor?"

Zhang Jianzhi said: "Father is here, you must be a real thief, not a middle thief or a small thief. A real thief is to open up territories for the country and the people. No matter how many people kill, the emperor will not blame him. Little thieves are selfish and cannot last long."

"What mess?" Zhang Xianzhong actually understood.

Zhang Jianzhi said: "Father, you should remember that there is a way to steal. The way of a great thief lies in the five characters of sage, courage, righteousness, wisdom and benevolence!"

Zhang Xianzhong smiled and said: "Your university is not in vain."

Zhang Jianzhi said: "If you are a big thief in Semarang, the land here is the greatest wealth. If you let the Han people occupy the land, you can be called holy. If you dare to forge ahead, you can be called brave. If you can show compassion to your subordinates, you can be called righteous. Know when to strike How to do it can be called wisdom. It can be called benevolence if the Han people in Semarang can share the benefits. If your father can do these five characters, you can be called a real thief. You don’t need to deliberately ask for anything. When the time comes, fame and fortune will come It will come. This is the most important principle of Taoism. Husbands are the only ones who cannot fight, and nothing in the world can compete with it!"

Zhang Xianzhong was convinced by the words: "Damn you, why weren't you born 30 years earlier. If I led you to fight the world, why would I use someone else as a military adviser?"

"When the father gives birth to the child, the child has no choice." Zhang Jianzhi expressed regret.

Zhang Xianzhong asked: "Tell me, what should I do?"

Zhang Jianzhi said: "My boy made it very clear just now. Specifically, it is to lead the Han people to expand the territory and try to give the officials, merchants, landlords, and ordinary people here more benefits. But there must be rules. Semarang and The situation in the country is different, and local regulations should be formulated separately. The "Law of Datong" should not be violated first, and then more detailed laws should be formulated according to the local realities. With the rules, everything will be easy to handle. Even if one day kills, it is because of this person Breaking the rules. Everyone has resentment for killing people as soon as the father comes, and fear is more important than respect. If killing people according to the law is called fairness, the people can’t complain.”

"That makes sense." Zhang Xianzhong nodded.

"If you have the law, you should be polite," Zhang Jianzhi said. "The Han people here believe in a mess. It's Islam, Mazu, and Guan Gong. We have to encourage them to abandon religion and return to China's righteous way. You can set a As a rule, in future battles, those who only believe in Buddhism and Taoism will be rewarded more, and those who also believe in Islam will be rewarded less. The same is true for landlords and merchants. Heavy taxes cannot be imposed on those who believe in Islam, which will arouse their hostility. But you can give up Islam Landlords and businessmen who teach will bring more benefits. Everyone seeks profit, and this reformation will change."

"That makes sense." Zhang Xianzhong nodded again.

Zhang Jianzhi also said: "I also heard that the Han people are very strong in the Sishui country in the east. My father will expand the territory in the future and can develop towards Surabaya. When my father kills the aborigines, he can release some of them in front of them." , Said that the Han people are respected and the natives can die. Send them back to Surabaya and provoke the conflict between the Han people and the natives there. If things go on like this, all the Han people in Surabaya can be used by me. If my father is in the same army, the Han people in Surabaya will definitely win! "

Zhang Xianzhong scolded with a smile: "Students are so damn shameless, you didn't read this book for nothing!"

Zhang Jianzhi continued: "There are other ways to provoke conflicts between the Han people and the natives. The more aggressive the better, the better. If Surabaya can also be turned into Han soil, then a hundred years later, my father, a big thief, can also become a saint. Just like Tian Cheng Zi is a great thief, but his grandson, King Qi Wei, is a holy king. My father is old, and he should seek success for all generations, and he should not be greedy for petty gains. He will also be famous in history from now on. Moreover, he should leave a good name."

Chapter 956 [The end of the Mughal Civil War]

"In 1660, my subordinates brought me a cup of drink called 'tea'. I tasted it out of curiosity, and it was slightly bitter in the mouth, but when I swallowed it, there was an indescribable sweetness." -England Navy Chief Executive and MP, Samuel Pepys.

The tea at this time did not belong to the urgently needed goods of the British East India Company, and only a small amount of tea was passed from the European continent to the hands of British nobles.

Charles II's return to China has obviously brought about many changes.

The first is to determine the table manners of the British court, the four-piece set of knives, forks, spoons, and chopsticks, which spread to the nobles with Charles II as the center.

Members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the United Kingdom adopted the four-piece dining table one after another, and then spread to the citizen class.In the city of London, there are even workshops for making chopsticks, which are regarded as a kind of civilized high-end tableware.The British aristocrats are even more self-taught, and they have people make silver and ivory chopsticks, so that they can be distinguished from commoner chopsticks.

At the same time, Charles II liked to drink tea, and the price of tea in Europe was too expensive, so he ordered the British East India Company to bring some back from China for every trade.

The influence of the British East India Company is currently mainly concentrated in India.Also sailed to Guangzhou, but finally gave up because it was more cost-effective to order directly in Banten.Of course, Banten Port has declined relatively, and ships from various countries now prefer to go to Coconut City.

Or you can order in Malacca, but the price of food in Malacca is more expensive, and more money is needed to replenish food.

The merchant ship to buy tea for Charles II had already set off from London, and the British merchants in Banten had just received the news of Cromwell's death.They are more worried about the domestic situation. They don't know that Prince Charles has returned to China, so they can only guess that the political situation in London must be chaotic.

Oliver, head of the Far East of the British East India Company, wrote in a letter to London:

"The tough governor of Palembang in China has annexed all the territory of Banten Kingdom in Sumatra. The decline of Banten Port is visible to the naked eye, because most of the Chinese businessmen ship their goods to Coconut City and Palembang, which are related to the Tax incentives. Banten, a small country, will perish sooner or later, and no one can resist China's expansion..."

"Princess of Portugal, marry Chittagong to China. Chittagong is also engaged in preferential tariffs. There must be an emerging trade center. More and more Chinese merchant ships are going to Chittagong for trading. I guess that within a year or two at most, Chinese businessmen will To monopolize all ports, the tariff preference will be canceled at that time, and it will even be higher than normal, which is not good for the British East India Company..."

"I heard that the new governor of Semarang is the leader of the rebel army who failed to fight for the throne in China. This is a murderous guy. He has no mercy on the natives. There may be 50 to [-] Javanese people who died in his hands. The more More and more Chinese farmers have come to Java and Sumatra to reclaim land. They are all excellent farming experts, and the number is as large as herring in the North Sea. If this trend continues, I am afraid that in less than [-] years, Java and Sumatra will be all Chinese people……"

"Britain cannot colonize and expand in the Far East. We must focus on India. There was a civil war there, and the struggles of several princes severely weakened the strength of the Mughals. This is the opportunity for the British East India Company..."

In fact, the Mughal civil war was almost over.

The third prince Aurangzeb and the fourth prince Murad led the army to march towards the capital together.

At this time, the old emperor Shah Jahan recovered from his condition and sent Maharaja Jaswant Singh to fight.And told Singer not to hurt the two princes, try to use prestige to force the rebels to surrender.

Such an outrageous order from the emperor, Jaswant Singh will not be able to deal with it, so he can only send envoys to negotiate when the two armies confront each other.The third prince, Aurangzeb, took advantage of the opportunity of negotiation to spend money to buy off Singh's generals.

The two princes won a big victory and continued to march towards the capital.

When the battle is fought here, it is different from the history.

In another time and space, the eldest prince personally led the troops to fight against the second prince, but the distance was too far to return for help.So he sent the emperor's grandson to lead the army to deal with the coalition forces of the third prince and the fourth prince.Marshal Jaswant Singh, who was defeated in the army, simply jumped back and led his troops to seek refuge with the third prince Aurangzeb.

And in this time and space, the second prince got arms from China and had the ambition to be emperor, so he has been standing still and observing the situation.

So, now it is the eldest prince who brings the emperor's grandson to personally fight against the third and fourth princes.Marshal Jaswant Singh did not dare to jump back, the two sides fought evenly, and the war was stalemate for three months.

The third prince, Aurangzeb, suddenly issued an order that as long as he becomes emperor, the poll tax for Hindus will be restored, and Hindu businessmen will be subject to an additional 2.5% business tax, and Hindus are not allowed to ride horses, elephants, etc., and Hindu temples must be rebuilt It is a temple of green religion.

Jihad call!

As the news spread, the First Prince's army quickly fell apart, and a large number of Green Sect princes led troops to join the Third Prince.

The third prince, Aurangzeb, gained high prestige, and went all the way to the capital.The eldest prince and grandson of the emperor were executed, the emperor Shah Jahan was placed under house arrest, and then the fourth prince, an ally, was poisoned to death.

The second prince, who had been watching the theater in Bangladesh, didn't realize it at all. The third prince had already ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.It's too late for him to send troops at this time!

The new emperor Aurangzeb, without waiting for the second prince to send troops, immediately rushed to Bengal.

The generals in the vanguard were Mirjumura and his son Sultan.A miraculous scene happened, the father and son were actually provoked by the second prince to turn against each other.Sultan led the army to rebel and fled decisively to Bangladesh, where he became the son-in-law of the second prince.

Immediately afterwards, Nawaz Khan, the father-in-law of Emperor Aurangzeb, also rebelled and announced his support for the second prince.

In desperation, Aurangzeb had no choice but to return to the army, go straight to Gujarat, and kill his father-in-law first.Things went well, and the new emperor's father-in-law was killed by a shell.

Two accidents happened in succession, and Aurangzeb could only fight again next year.

Now that the war has dragged on, the second prince's territory is only left in the Ganges Delta.The Gongyutuo, Wucha and other lands in the southwest have all been lost, surviving on the complex water network.

By this time, the new emperor Aurangzeb was also tired.

He successfully imprisoned his father and killed his brother through the jihad call, and he must fulfill his promise after he ascended the throne.A series of policies caused Hindus to revolt everywhere, and the Rajputs even declared their separation from the Mughal Empire (this is India's most important horse-producing area and the main source of Mughal cavalry).

The brothers then declared a truce and recognized each other's status.

The third prince, Aurangzeb, was the Mughal emperor. He stopped attacking Bengal and led troops back to suppress the Hindu rebels.

The second prince, Shah Shuja, was the emperor of Bengal and ruled the Ganges Delta.

Sivaji, an insurgent on the west coast, also made a truce with the country of Bigapur and attacked the Mughal Empire with all his strength.This man's territory is less than one-thirtieth of Aurangzeb's, but he took advantage of the Mughal uprising and killed the Mughal army retreating steadily.

This series of wars has devastated Chinese maritime merchants.

The Green Cult princes of the Mughals borrowed a lot of money from Hindu businessmen because of their extravagance and lust.Aurangzeb favored the princes, allowed them not to pay back the money, and raised taxes for Hindu merchants.The princes were encouraged, not only did not pay back the money, but also began to extort money from the merchants.

After coming and going, a large number of Hindu businessmen went bankrupt.

Although the territory of the Bengal emperor is not affected by decrees.However, most of the goods bought by merchants here had to be shipped to the Mughals for sale. Over there, the increase in business taxes and the bankruptcy of a large number of merchants caused a huge backlog of goods for Bangladeshi merchants.

However, when Chinese maritime merchants received orders to ship cotton cloth and other commodities to Bangladesh, they faced a collective breach of contract by business partners.We can only take the risk to continue south, sell the goods at a discount to the Dutch and the British, and then sell them to various states in southern India through the sales network of the UK and the Netherlands.

Mughal people, merchants, craftsmen, as well as Bengali merchants and Chinese merchants, all suffered heavy losses.The only ones who benefited were the princes and nobles of the Green Sect, and they gained by killing the chicken and taking the eggs.

The Ganges River Basin is the handicraft industry and commercial quintessence of the Mughals. After the new emperor Aurangzeb did this, the traditional Mughal industrial and commercial system almost collapsed!

The Mughal Empire, which was already in financial difficulties, suffered another fatal blow.Coupled with the continuous uprisings, the local governor and princes took the opportunity to grow bigger and support the bandits, so Aurangzeb, who is powerful in force, can still hold back.

Once Aurangzeb passed away, the Mughal Empire would be abolished, and it could still exist in name, but in fact it was divided everywhere.

Zhao Han received the news from the merchants and Xizuo, and couldn't help sighing: "The Mughals are over, and once Aurangzeb dies, it will be the situation of the feudal town at the end of Tang Dynasty."

Of course, Aurangzeb is still very strong.

This guy quickly quelled the uprisings in various places. Although he could not destroy the rebel Shivaji, he successfully planned to surrender.Although the trap failed, he regained the territory captured by Sivaji, and then beat up the states of the Deccan Plateau.It can be said that whoever is arrested will be beaten, and whoever is seen will be killed.

Squeeze out the last blood and sweat of the Mughal people and create the supreme hegemony of Emperor Aurangzeb!

The loss of Chinese maritime merchants is only temporary.

As the handicraft industry in the Ganges valley declines, there will be greater demand for Chinese goods.At most one or two years, the sales volume of Chinese goods in Mughal will rise rapidly.

And the second prince, who failed in the battle for the throne, saw that his brothers stopped beating him, and became the emperor of Bengal with peace of mind.This guy kept bullying the native lands in the east, and attacked the mountain tribes from time to time. It seemed to be showing off his power and expanding his territory, but in fact it was all a loss-making business, purely venting his anger on the mountain tribes.

Bengal's finances were quickly in distress, but the nobles were more content with enjoying themselves, and the poll tax was re-imposed. The commercial and agricultural taxes were also increased, and a large number of people fell into abject poverty.

Mughal and Bengal, the emperor brothers, say they are stupid, they are expanding their territory.Say they are wise, and the people in the country are in dire straits.

To sum it up in three words: toss around!

Chapter 957 [Inflation Expansion and Moderate Colonization]

"Spanish silver is seen all over Europe." - King Charles II of England.

This sentence refers to rampant smuggling in the Americas.

In the first 17 years of the 20th century, the amount of American silver imported into Spain reached more than 20 kilograms per year.

In the 30s, it dropped sharply to an average of only 14 kilograms per year;

By the 50s, only 4 kilograms of American silver flowed into Spain each year.

The "reduction" of silver production in the Americas was initially due to floods in Mexico and continuous rain that led to water accumulation and landslides in silver mines.Moreover, silver is refined with mercury, which consumes too much mercury resources, which makes it impossible to smelt silver after digging out silver mines.

This situation, in fact, slowly recovered.

Why is the production of silver in the Americas continuing to decrease?Of course it was the intentional result of the colonial officials!

A large amount of silver was mined and refined, and it was not reported to the king at all.Instead, it was traded privately and flowed into various European countries. That's why Charles II said, "Spain's silver can be seen all over Europe."

The king of Spain couldn't figure out the situation, and stepped up restrictions on the trade of galleons to prevent excessive silver from flowing into China.In addition, the Japanese shogunate also prohibited daimyo from mining silver mines, which really caused a silver shortage in the late Ming Dynasty.

Forbidden City, Imperial Garden.

Song Yingxing, who has already retired, took out the first edition of "Economic Knowledge", sipping tea and said: "This year, prices in coastal cities have risen sharply. The root cause is the increased inflow of silver from America and Japan."

Zhao Han casually flipped through the manuscript and listened to Song Yingxing's continuation.

Song Yingxing said: "Li Quan took the fleet to the Americas for trade, and the Spanish officials on the west coast of the Americas completely opened up smuggling. Not only did they smuggle with Li Quan, but the Spanish officials and the navy also ignored the king's ban and filled the cabins with Goods and silver. But the power of the Japanese shogunate has fallen, and the banned silver mines have resumed work. The silver is all flowing to the coastal provinces of the Celestial Dynasty."

"It's annoying to have too much money." Zhao Han smiled.

Song Yingxing also said: "I carefully checked the "Price Book" over the years, taking Jiangsu, Lianghu, and Sichuan as examples. The price rise in Jiangsu will affect the two lakes in about two to three years, and it will affect Sichuan in about five to six years. In the Southwest, the impact is more gradual."

Zhao Han said: "We can only bear it."

There is really no way. At this time, Chinese commodities occupy an absolute dominant position in the world, and China is a net inflow country of silver.In the new dynasty of Datong, sea trade became more and more prosperous, and this situation became more obvious, and the continuous rise of prices was unstoppable.

It is the peasants who suffer!

Merchants have huge profits, industrialists and citizens can raise wages, and farmers who only have grain income are the most affected (the increase in grain purchase prices is far behind the increase in prices).

Of course, China is large enough to buffer this impact.

European countries are small in size, and it is scary to encounter such a situation, which directly gave birth to a proper term-price revolution.

Still so many commodities were produced, owing to the influx of silver from America.In Spain, in the first 16 years of the 50th century, prices nearly doubled, and prices rose by about 50% in the next 60 years. The momentum was not stopped until silver production decreased.

France was the first to be affected, followed by Italy.The common people are already stupid, their income has not increased, but their shopping has become more and more expensive.

Charles II was very lucky. The time when he returned home to seize the throne coincided with the peak of the rate of inflation in Britain.This product not only has to face financial difficulties, but also has to face soaring prices. Who made Britain's "price revolution" come so slowly?People in Spain and France have already finished the leather.

Song Yingxing continued: "Nowadays, the imperial court has issued gold coins again, and the government lowered the price of gold and silver, and the merchants even ran to India for trade. I heard that those Indian merchants like to pay with gold and silver coins, and gold coins account for a large proportion. In the future, not only There’s a lot of silver coming in, and gold is going to come in.”

"What countermeasure does Song Qing have?" Zhao Han asked.

Song Yingxing said: "When collecting land taxes, we must be extra cautious and pay more attention to local grain prices to avoid causing too heavy a burden on farmers."

Since Zhang Juzheng's reform, land tax collection in China has been changed to currency.As for the price discount of grain, it varies from place to place, and officials have a lot of room for manipulation, which has always been chaotic.

The Datong New Dynasty calculated taxes according to the number of acres and grades, and the tax rate also followed the local grain price.

Now the price of grain continues to rise, but the price of grain sold by farmers is often suppressed.Moreover, most provinces no longer collect taxes in kind, and farmers can only pay taxes with money.As the denominations of official tickets and military tickets were changed from grain units to currency units, Datong Bank also gradually reduced grain collection and turned more grain transactions into private behaviors.Such a variety, a little carelessness will bring a heavy burden to farmers.

Studying the Qing Dynasty in another time and space, the White Lotus Rebellion, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and other movements, in addition to natural disasters, wars and other factors, the outbreak time of the previous major uprisings highly coincided with the violent fluctuations in silver prices.The reason is that the collection of agricultural tax lags behind the relative price changes, and farmers can only rebel if they cannot survive.

Zhao Han nodded and said, "The cabinet must communicate with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Households, and Ministry of Commerce to formulate a more detailed system to minimize the impact of prices on land taxes."

It can only be alleviated, but cannot be eliminated. Even in modern society, farmers are always the most unlucky group.

Zhao Han knew nothing about economics. Although he could understand Song Yingxing's "Economic Knowledge", he couldn't give more hints.This knowledge can only be explored slowly, supplemented and developed by more scholars.

Zhao Han said: "This book is printed in [-] copies, half of which are distributed to government officials, and half to private booksellers for distribution. Regardless of officials or civilians, they can write letters to add opinions and submit them to the cabinet for research and discussion. In the future, the court will , to discuss economics every two months."