For money, I have sold popsicles. Really, I am afraid I am the first emperor in history who doesn’t even want his face for money?

The ice-making of saltpeter appeared in the Tang Dynasty, but it has never been popular among the people. The reason is very simple, the cost of making ice-making of saltpeter is relatively high and cumbersome.

Therefore, the royal family or wealthy house still uses the method of collecting winter ice and storing ice cellars, which is low in cost and large in scale. The people use well water to cool down, which makes them cool and cool.

However, using saltpeter ice on a large scale, just like industrial production, will naturally reduce the cost.

For royalty, it is not difficult to get a large amount of strategic materials for saltpeter. Moreover, after saltpeter is melted into water and made into ice, it can also evaporate and crystallize and reuse it, and there is no suspicion of waste.

With this method, the royal ice storage ice can also be sold to the public to supplement the palace expenses.

In order to maximize profits, the emperor also sold the refrigerated drinks to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, not only to pay a batch of saltpeter imported from Ryukyu, but also allowed them to use the royal secret brand and the palace secret recipe.

This is really not a forced buying and selling. If the price is moderate, the profits throughout the summer are still quite considerable. Because the Chinese Chamber of Commerce has many shops in the north, even Pidao and southern Liaoning, and they have their purchases and sale.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce also saw the potential of the military consumer group. Tobacco and alcohol are the most popular, sugar and tea are second.

The court does not owe food and pay, and military families are also treated preferentially. The soldiers have money, so they are not too stingy in order to alleviate the pressure of war.

In addition, the monopoly of border trade in the north, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce made little money. Since the emperor gave so much convenience, even if the cold drinks were not profitable, it would be a good deal to buy them to make the emperor happy.

The emperor had to make money, and this year's gold and silver were ruined again. He didn't even have to enter the inner treasury, so he divided it to the southwest and Liaodong. If he had no money to subsidize, would you let the emperor and his family drink the northwest wind?

Although Grandpa Wanli still has a lot of treasury left, Zhu Youxiao is a wealth-guarding slave. He continued to save it according to the principle of not using it as much as possible.

More than one million! Thinking of the golden flowers and silver that had been spent without even looking at it, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but feel ache. The feeling of eating fruit shaved ice and cooling it made the heart a little relieved.

In order to counterattack next year's winter and spring counterattack, military production will expand again, which will cost money, not a small amount.

Zhu Youxiao gently tugged on his forehead. There was a gap in the court's finances, so the emperor had to find a way to solve it. Do you think any emperor thinks it is like him?

Other emperors are living a life of life and making trouble, and they may be able to make money! Like that person, and Kun, it is very good!

"The Emperor——" Wang Tiqian entered the hall and bowed and said, "The new eunuch Fang Zhenghua, the eunuch who was promoted to the pen of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the

"Xuan him come in." Zhu Youxiao put down the shaved ice, took the silk handwritten handed over by Fan Xiaohui and wiped his mouth, and reached out to get the documents on the table.

Fang Zhenghua entered the hall and knelt down to show his respect. Although the Shandong people were eunuchs, they were tall and big. If they had a beard, they were also a man who was erect.

Zhu Youxiao handed over the documents to the palace servants and transferred them to Fang Zhenghua, saying, "This time I sent you to Linglong to pick gold, not only because you are from Shandong, but also because you were the governor of the supervisory bureaus, but also because you were fair and selfless."

"Mining gold is to solve the difficulties of the court, and to seek livelihoods and increase income for the people. If you do these two things well, you will live up to my expectations."

The rich ore veins on the surface of the Zhaoyuan area, Linglong and other mines have developed since the Tang Dynasty's private pit management.

According to the "Old Book of Tang: Official Records": "Anyone who produces copper in the world will be able to pay the taxes from the state. The government will pay the taxes by listening to people's private mining." Mining and smelting showed unprecedented prosperity.

The poet Liu Yuxi once wrote the poem "The sun shines on the clear river and the mist is blooming, and the girl who is rushing gold is full of the river", which vividly depicts the prosperity of the folk gold mining industry at that time.

In the fourth year of Jingde (1007 AD), Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty sent minister Pan Mei to supervise the Linglong gold mine field. "Song History·Food Records" records: "In the Tiansheng (1023-1031 AD), the gold mining period increased by thousands of taels."

In the early Yuan Dynasty, "The History of Yuan Dynasty: The Records of the Emperor Shizu" recorded that in the fifth year of Zhiyuan (1268 AD), "Ling Yidu lost 4,000 households and rushed to Qixia County, Dengzhou, and each household lost 4 cents of gold every year."

At that time, the highest annual output of gold was around 30,000 taels, which was twice as high as that of the Huangyou period, which was the most prosperous gold production in the Song Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of eunuchs were sent to various places to supervise gold mines. The eunuch sent to Shandong was Chen Zeng, and Zhaoyuan was also extremely prosperous for the time being.

The highest golden annual class in the country was Yongle in the 21st year, with a total income of more than 5,000 taels, but it was only one-sixth of the highest income in the Yuan Dynasty.

During the Wanli period, eunuchs were sent to collect mining taxes. From then on, mining prisons were rampant, taxes were collected without markets, and silver was lost without mines, which became a tyranny of the people and a disaster to all regions.

But this does not mean that mining minerals is wrong. It is just that there are problems with the methods and methods. Wanli uses eunuchs as mining supervisors, which is inseparable from the constraints of civil servants.

Civil officials do not advocate tax collection, and under the guise of "not competing for profit with the people". But in fact, the court neither got it nor the people were rich, and they all flowed into the pockets of powerful and noble bureaucrats.

This time, Zhu Youxiao sent eunuchs to supervise the mining, which was different from Wanli time. The officials who blocked the collection of commercial taxes and the mining taxes had been cleaned up. Although it could not be said to be a complete victory, there was already a lot of resistance.

In addition, the mining regulations are detailed as the official yard supervision (officially run) and "buyed by the people" (privately run by the people, which is actually bought by the big Baotou from the government, and the owner is called the owner and then the household is collected and purchased); another type is to establish a supervision and tax on gold digging households.

Xiang Zhaoyuan Linglong Gold Mine, Suichang Gold Mine, Dianzhong Silver Mine, etc. are government-run. Because this is a famous and rich mining area in China and it is still mined in later generations, it should be monopolized by the state.

Most of the mines bought are newly opened mines. I don’t know that the reserves are rich and poor. If you make a profit, it is your ability, but if you lose, it is your bad luck.

As for the scattered gold diggers, they are handed over to local governments to collect taxes, with a tax amount of ten to four.

Of course, there is no perfect system, and it is impossible to have it. It is just to improve it as much as possible and adjust it in a timely manner.

In later generations, everyone was rich, and they were described as "You have a mine in your family". The emperor was rich all over the world, and the whole world was his. How could mining be abandoned as a means of increasing income?

Despite this, Zhu Youxiao was very cautious about the eunuchs sent, and he finally chose them after multiple inspections.

Although Fang Zhenghua, Li Fengxiang, Chu Xianzhang and others are not perfect, they are still much better than those hypocritical civil officials.

Moreover, the use of people may be a mistake, but supervision can make up for the failure. These mining supervisors will not only greatly reduce their power, but the inspectors and local governments can also impeach them for illegal and cruelty.

Fang Zhenghua took the document with both hands and knelt on the ground to read it. This was the emperor's warning and also explained the key points of his work. He also assigned personnel from the Ministry of Works to provide guidance on mining technology.

"I must do my best to repay the Lord's kindness in this journey." Fang Zhenghua kowtowed.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "What's the difficult thing? If you can't make a decision, you can tell me. Well, if there is no other report, you can step down!"

"Long live to take care of the dragon body, I will go now." Fang Zhenghua kowtowed and bid farewell, bowed and left the hall.

No matter how carefully I choose, there will always be people scolding me, just like sending a mining prison to Grandpa Wanli. Eunuchs, eunuchs, and emperors who value them are all foolish monarchs.

But now, Zhu Youxiao no longer cares about what others think or say. Whether it is a foolish lord or a wise lord, who cares when he closes his eyes?

The key is that you can accept it even if you want to live a hundred years old. But the world is not peaceful, how can you live for so long?

I also have a sense of responsibility. I can't bear to see such hell-like scenes as the Ming Dynasty, and I don't want Jiannu to steal the Central Plains.

But in the final analysis, Zhu Youxiao felt that he should be stable as an emperor, and the people could be spared from the suffering of war, and the Little Ice Age would not cause China to sink.

In fact, this idea is correct. If Zhu Youxiao, as a time traveler, could not be a good emperor and would not live long, then no one would be better than him.

Just talk about the gold mines in Zhaoyuan, with proper policies, no one can make money when mining. However, the output is low and cannot be consolidated and developed. In addition to the constraints of the civil service group, the corruption of the Ming Dynasty is the most critical.

Zhu Youxiao has been promoting profits and eliminating disadvantages, and has been cleaning up and purging it for this purpose. Moreover, this will be a long-term and persistent policy.

The feudal dynasty that has been oversaw for hundreds of years is inevitable. Either revolution or start over or change the dynasty; or reform, undo the chaos and revive it, it can also be called "Zhongxing".

Zhu Youxiao was the emperor, so he naturally ruled out the first item without hesitation. This was simple, and there was only one way to go before him. There was no need to think too much, hesitate or delay, just do it.

Fang Zhenghua retreated, and the emperor thought for a while, reached out to take the memorial and started reading it.

To make the emperor feel comfortable, even if the words are improper, they will not be held accountable; if it is obscure and difficult to understand, and long-term discussions, the emperor will be overwhelmed, and even if it is the truth, it will not be praised.

Nowadays, the ministers all know the emperor's temper. Even the stubborn ministers wisely add punctuation to the text or use spaces to make sentences.

Especially the chamber of commerce that the emperor specially granted the right to write a letter was written more briefly, so that the emperor would not have to worry about it.

For example, this letter from Tang Mo from the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce made Zhu Youxiao see the promoter of industrial and commercial development, that is, Yangtze River Shipping.

When it comes to Yangtze River shipping, we must first talk about the merchant gangs that appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

The feudal dynasties with particularly developed industry and commerce often compare the Song Dynasty with the Ming Dynasty. In people's inherent impression, the Song Dynasty valued the most commerce, while the Ming Dynasty was much inferior.

However, due to the prosperity of the Song Dynasty, there were no merchant gangs. In the Ming Dynasty, merchant gangs continued to emerge. The merchant gangs such as Shanxi merchants, Hui merchants, and Zhejiang merchants all rose in the Ming Dynasty.

The reason is that the Song Dynasty did not have a relatively stable social environment. Because the army was not strong, the threat from neighboring countries was great, and it was difficult for the Song Dynasty to form strategic suppression, and wars on the border were always ongoing.

The crux of the problem is very simple, that is, the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun could never be controlled by the Song Dynasty, which is the biggest flaw in security of the Song Dynasty.

The second reason is also related to the continuous war. In order to achieve the goal of not fighting in the country, the weak Song Dynasty had the habit of paying tribute to other neighboring countries every year.

Where did these aged monies come from? Naturally, they are the people in China, including merchants. From the data, it can be seen that the commercial tax in the Song Dynasty was much higher than that in the Ming Dynasty, so it is not an exaggeration to say that it is exploitation.

In addition, the Song Dynasty was famous for its redundant expenses, redundant officials and soldiers, and the government's financial expenditure was huge and it did not inhibit land annexation, so it could only plunder from multiple sources to ensure the normal operation of the country.

On the other hand, in the Ming Dynasty, commercial taxes were "all thirty taxes, one, and no extra taxes were collected", which was insignificant for merchants. They value agriculture and suppress commerce, and farmers were burdened with heavy burdens, and merchants reduced tax burdens. This practice in the Ming Dynasty was really shocking.

Inheriting the scientific and technological achievements left by the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty made great progress on this basis. This undoubtedly accelerated social production efficiency and the private handicraft industry developed rapidly.

Taking the handicrafts represented by the Jiangnan region as an example, there were 13,000 looms in the prime of Lu'an Prefecture in Songjiang;

The cities such as Nanjing, Linqing and others "around it is more than thirty miles, and in a city, there are nearly one million gentlemen, merchants and people, regardless of wealth, goods, and wealth in the north and south."

A ceramic factory in Nanjing alone can produce millions of pieces of porcelain every year.

Based on the above reasons, it is also an important reason why the Chamber of Commerce appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

It is precisely because of the above reasons that the chamber of commerce emerged in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, it was not called the chamber of commerce, but the merchant or chamber of commerce, and it was usually divided by origin.

For example, Huizhou Business Gang, Shanxi Business Gang, Fujian Business Gang, Jiangxi Business Gang, Yangtze River Water Gang, etc. These business gangs use "guild halls" as contact places, support each other, and become bigger and bigger.

Among them, the Yangtze River Water Gang is very strong because of the Yangtze River, a major water transport artery that runs across the east and west of my country, and is also very strong.

From a time perspective, the real rise of the Yangtze River Water Gang was during the Zhengde period. Because Hankou was designated as the port for grain transfer, it was later ordered that the grains in Zhunheng, Yong, Jing, Yue and Changsha would be all in Hankou. Hankou thus became the center for grain storage and transportation of grains in Huguang.

Hankou, which has the convenience of water transportation, took this opportunity to make business and re-export trade increasingly prosperous.

By the Wanli period, Hankou Town (Commercial Center) had been known as the four famous towns in the country, along with Jingdezhen (Porcelain), Foshan Town (Handcrafts), and Zhuxian Town (Princesses).

In the Guangyang Miscellaneous Notes, there is also a saying of "the four gatherings of the world". In the north, the capital is in the south, the Foshan is in the east, the Suzhou is in the west, and the Hankou is in the west. The standard is divided by commercial centers, and Hankou is also one of them.

At that time, Hankou had a large number of goods, dense residents, and merchants mingled, becoming a national water and land transportation hub and the largest port in China's inland rivers. It was also a distribution center for rice and salt in the Ming Dynasty at that time.

For this reason, there is also a saying in commerce that "the goods come to Hankou to work", and "there are ten miles of sails and moats built by the city, and thousands of families are lit up all night" to describe its magnificent scenery, and it also enjoys the reputation of "the first prosperous place in Chu".
Chapter completed!