stjorthotic Chapter 650: The Imperial Court Should Not Compete With Merchants For Interests That Are Not The Pil
Chapter 650: The Imperial Court Should Not Compete With Merchants For Interests That Are Not The Pil
After hearing that Yan Changqing said "Don't compete with the people for profits" but actually meant "Don't compete with officials and businessmen for profits", Zhu Yuanzhang's face suddenly darkened.
As a beggar refugee and a real grassroots emperor, he naturally knows how miserable ordinary people's lives are.
So every time he heard the civil and military officials admonish him that "you should not compete with the people for profit", no matter how unhappy he was, he would hold his nose and listen to the other party's advice.
As a result, Yan Changqing now told him that he was deceived by those civil and military officials!!!
The original words of the sentence "Do not compete with the people for profits" did not say that the court should not compete with the people for profits, but that the officials of the country should not compete with the people for profits!
And even if the court cannot compete with the people for profit, the "people" in the eyes of the civil and military officials does not refer to the common people, but to the great businessmen, the great gentry, and the honorable people behind the great business houses and tycoons. Noble Marquis, civil and military officials!!
The reason why those civil and military officials advised the court not to compete with the people for profit was actually to prevent the court from competing with officials and businessmen like them!!!
When he thought of this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt an urge to kill someone!!!
Yan Changqing on the podium did not know what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking at this moment, and continued:
I also think the saying 'The imperial court cannot compete with the people for profit' is right!!!"
"But the premise is that the 'people' in this sentence refers to ordinary people, not other great businessmen, great gentry, and the noble marquises, civil and military officials behind those business and wood gentry!!!"
"And if you want to achieve the goal of 'the court does not compete with the people for profit', it is also very simple, as long as you don't increase taxes!!!"
"Because in this current era and stage, for the 60 million people of the Ming Dynasty, they have one and only one benefit, and that is taxes!!!"
"The imperial court is taking 'profit' from the people by increasing taxes on the people!!!"
"The imperial court reduces and exempts the common people's taxes in order to 'benefit' the people!!!"
"If the imperial court does not increase or reduce taxes on the people, it means it is not competing with the people for profits!!!"
"Apart from this, other actions taken by the imperial court cannot be regarded as competing for profits with the people. At most, they are competing for profits with officials and businessmen!!!"
Having said this, Yan Changqing paused, his eyes fell on Qi Wang Zhu Su, and then asked him:
“Then His Highness, King Qi, thinks that the saying ‘The imperial court cannot compete with officials and merchants for profit’ is right or wrong?!”
Qi King Zhu Shu replied almost without thinking:
“Of course it’s wrong!!!”
"What do officials and businessmen mean to each other!!!"
"The imperial court cannot compete with them?!!"
"They deserve it?!"
"Who gives them the face and courage to say such outrageous words?!!"
"The imperial court not only wants to compete with officials and businessmen like them for profit, but also wants to be distinctive!!!"
In the view of King Zhu Shu of Qi, the reason why the court should not compete with the people was because the people's lives were already difficult.
If we continue to compete with the people for profits and increase taxes on the people at this time, it will only make it difficult for the people to live.
In the end, either the people will be forced to death, or they will be cornered and forced to rebel, causing turmoil in the country and society.
Such consequences are something they, as the top ruling class, do not want to see.
But if the object of the court's competition for profit is officials and businessmen, then it doesn't matter.
After all, officials and businessmen have rich families. Even if they compete for some benefits from those great businessmen, great gentry, civil and military officials, and noble marquises, they will not be unable to survive.
At most, it's just not as nourishing as the life before, and I won't dare to rebel because of it.
Moreover, merchants, gentry, civil and military officials, and noble marquises all have their own inherent weaknesses.
If they had not been forced into a desperate situation, or had been fished into law enforcement, or had their minds been blinded by the huge profits of more than 100%, then they would not have embarked on the path of rebellion.
And if those great businessmen, tycoons, civil and military officials, and noble marquises do not dare to rebel, then how about wresting some of the profits from them to support the imperial court?!
Hearing the answer from Qi King Zhu Su, Yan Changqing nodded, then shook his head and said:
"Although the sentence 'The imperial court cannot compete with officials and businessmen for profit' is wrong, it cannot be said to be completely wrong."
"First of all, 'the imperial court cannot compete with officials and businessmen for profit. The 'official' itself certainly cannot involve monetary interests."
"Because once officials are involved in monetary interests, it will be extremely easy for them to engage in power-for-money transactions such as corruption and bribery.'
"By then, officials will at least use their power to oppress others and seek personal gain, or at worst, they will become corrupt and bend the law and confuse right and wrong."
"In the end, depending on the size of his official position, it will inevitably affect the administration and economic development of a county, a state, a prefecture, a province, and even a country."
"So this is not a question of whether the court can compete with officials for profit, but that officials themselves cannot be involved in monetary interests."
"For example, during the Tang Dynasty, the court required all officials and nobles not to do business; during the Song Dynasty, the court also required officials and their families to ban business."
"However, our Majesty is quite considerate of his ministers. For the first time, he has allowed officials below the fourth rank to do business appropriately. Officials above the fourth rank are subject to certain restrictions when doing business."
At the end, Yan Changqing looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and shook his head slightly and sighed.
He didn't know what to say about Zhu Yuanzhang. Sometimes, Zhu Yuanzhang would choose to let go of places that shouldn't be let go; he would squeeze tight where he should let go.
Just like the issue of officials doing business, in the past, the Tang and Song dynasties had express legal prohibitions on officials doing business, and they often issued repeated orders.
As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang made an opening on the issue of officials' business dealings!
Without his intervention, Zhu Yuanzhang would have set extremely low official salaries, and then allowed officials to engage in business. Isn't this a blatant attempt to seduce officials into using power for personal gain and trading power for money?!!
After all, I can no longer support myself with my salary, and I can do business, so it is unreasonable not to use my status as an official to provide a little bit of convenience for my business and make a little bit of "little money"!!!
Even in this process, there is no need to use the power of one's official position to suppress others.
Just by being officials, they can get first-hand news from the court faster than other ordinary people.
Then just relying on this information time difference, they can make a lot of money by buying and selling.
However, such behavior is undoubtedly an act that undermines the principle of fair competition in the market.
Because this is equivalent to the referee personally exiting the game [both the referee and the player].
In this way, how can other ordinary people players compete with those referee players?!!
The final result is that other ordinary people players will either be eliminated and starve to death; or they will have no choice but to fight to the death and rebel to see if they can become the new referee.
Whether it is the former or the latter, it will affect the normal and positive development of a country's economy!!!
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Yan Changqing's last words, his face darkened, and then he gritted his teeth and said:
"change!!!"
“Let’s change it immediately when we get back!!!”
...........
"When we get back, we will immediately issue an order that all civil and military officials, noble marquises, and their immediate family members are not allowed to do business!!!"
The reason why he allowed officials below the fourth rank to do business in the past was mainly because he actually knew that the salary he set was relatively low.
But Ming Dynasty was also poor at that time, and he could not give more salaries, or he did not want to give more salaries to those officials.
Therefore, officials below the fourth rank are allowed to do business, so that officials can earn a little money through business and subsidize their meager salary to survive.
Of course, if officials cannot make money in business and cannot subsidize their salaries, then it is their own problem, not that they do not give them opportunities.
However, it is obvious that he only considered the problem of allowing officials to do business, allowing them to subsidize their salaries through business and save the court expenses, but he did not think of the more serious troubles caused by allowing officials to do business.
Yan Changqing on the podium heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, nodded and said calmly:
"Although such regulations are not very useful, it is better than nothing!!!"
It is impossible to truly ban officials and their families from doing business.
After all, even if officials and their families are prohibited from doing business, they can still ask their servants, or find other merchants, distant cousins, etc. to come forward to manage the business on their behalf, and then they will serve as backend support.
Things like white gloves have long been played to pieces by civil and military officials and noble marquises of past dynasties.
Even when it comes to white gloves, they are real experts!
Therefore, even if Zhu Yuanzhang enacted laws and regulations prohibiting officials and their families from doing business, it would only be an explicit prohibition at most, and it would be impossible to completely prohibit it.
But it is still the same saying, something is better than nothing, at least it is explicitly prohibited, so in the future those officials will not be able to merge government and business openly.
For the development of society, there are still some benefits.
“Continue to talk about the ‘business’ in ‘The imperial court cannot compete with officials and businessmen for profit’.
"Whether the imperial court can compete with businessmen for profit depends on the specific industry.
"For example, if it is an industry that involves people's basic needs for food, clothing, housing, transportation, and people's livelihood, then the court will definitely fight for it."
"We not only need to fight for it, but we also need to firmly occupy the dominant position in these industries."
"Because the common people's basic necessities of food, clothing, housing, transportation and livelihood are the pillars of a country, such an industry cannot make concessions or give away profits to businessmen."
"If concessions and concessions are made in favor of merchants in these industries, it is equivalent to giving up the pillars of a country to merchants. This is very dangerous for the stability and development of a country!!!"
"But if it is in other industries, such as the luxury goods industry, such as jewelry, jade, antique calligraphy and painting, the court can not compete with merchants for profits and allow merchants to occupy a dominant position in the industry."
"But the court still has to collect a lot of the luxury goods tax that should be levied."
"So in general, it would be correct if the sentence 'The imperial court cannot compete with officials and merchants for profits' is changed to 'The imperial court cannot compete with merchants for interests that are not the pillars of the country'"!!!"
Yan Changqing glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang below, as well as the princes Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, Zhu Gang, Zhu Di and other princes, and concluded with a calm expression.
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