New Shun 1730

The emperor was quite courageous.

The feudal dynasty was full of vigilance against merchants, who were enriching themselves too quickly, especially after the in-kind tax was gradually replaced by the silver tax.

The unified currency and the land trading system that existed since ancient times made the merchant class acquire land at a speed second only to that of the emperor.

But merchants were indispensable, especially the export-oriented economic foundation of Jiangnan. However, in the eyes of the emperor, merchants might be big fat pigs.

Liu Yu felt that the emperor was preparing to build a big pigpen in Songjiang Prefecture to facilitate the raising of big fat pigs.

As for why Songjiang was chosen, in addition to the fact that it was a rich place in Jiangnan, the most important reason, Liu Yu estimated, was the navy of Weihai.

With such a navy, it would only take a few days from Weihai to Songjiang.

There was a basic garrison of Dashun in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the navy could control the undefended Songjiang at any time, which made the emperor dare to make bold attempts.

If there was no navy, the emperor would probably not have the courage to take such a big step.

Whether it was to build a pigpen for raising pigs or the emperor was really "wise and powerful", it was a good thing after all.

No matter how fat the pig was, it was still a piece of meat in front of a tiger with sharp claws and fangs.

The Dashun court was very wary of Jiangnan. This time, the new army reformed and trained were basically northern soldiers. The court took into account that the retired soldiers were in the local area. As long as they had money to get guns, these retired soldiers would immediately form a powerful force. Therefore, in Songjiang and other places, no soldiers were recruited.

The main body of the recruits was partly disaster victims in the north, and the other part was small farmers in the north. What they feared was the rich silver trade and smuggling in Jiangnan, combined with high-quality retired soldiers.

Either move the capital to Jiangnan, so that the political center and the economic center of gravity overlap.

Or they could only be wary of Jiangnan, so that the economic center of gravity and the military core were misplaced.

Although Li Gan compared himself to those wise kings, he really didn't have the courage to move the capital. Even if the north was now stable and the border troubles in the north were basically solved, he didn't have the courage to move the capital.

It's just that now the navy has made some achievements, and the emperor has determined that the navy is a bottomless pit for money. Merchants and pirates have no advantage over the national navy since then; the army has made some achievements in military reform. Jiangnan is weak, and the new army of 20,000 to 30,000 people is enough to put out any possible uprising or rebellion.

All the foundations for stabilizing the imperial power are in place, so we can try to loosen the chains and allow Jiangnan to make more money.

Liu Yu didn't care what the emperor thought in his heart, and he still had to praise him at this time.

"Your Majesty is very courageous. This kind of attempt will greatly benefit the country. It is convenient for control and taxation. I am also crossing the river by feeling the stones, but there is one thing I know what businessmen care about most."

"The most important thing is joint liability. If your majesty wants to prosper Songjiang and become a tax-collecting center, the first thing you should do is to clarify limited liability. If something happens to the company, the company will only compensate for the equity of all the owners; if something happens to an individual, it is only the individual who will compensate, and you cannot be implicated just because you are all shareholders."

Other things are easy to say. The shareholding system is not a new thing in China. It is easy to come up with appropriate policies and supervision.

The only most important point is that if the problem of joint liability and limited liability is not solved, it will not become a trend.

Although the current trend was driven by Liu Yu, it actually did not rely on the decree of Dashun, but on Liu Yu's family background and relationship with the emperor.

In addition, what he did was completely something that had never existed before, and it was obviously a business that made money. He was the guarantor, not someone who many people believed could be guaranteed by laws.

"This is natural. You don't need to tell me. If you want to try it, you have to take a slightly bigger step. Just like the Qingmiao Law, it is a bad policy to promote it throughout the country. But if it is like what you did in Wendeng, it is a good policy. A hundred miles of land cannot be compared with a vast country. The Songjiang incident is limited to Songjiang, so it can be tried. As long as taxes can be collected, it is a good thing."

"In addition, the governor of Jiangsu also submitted a memorial, requesting a trial of sea transportation to transport the grain from Suzhou and Songjiang. He is a new official who has three fires since taking office, and he just wants to try out various new policies in Songjiang."

"You support the abolition of the grain transport and the sea transport, but this is not a one-day job. Try it first. If there is no problem in the future, it is also good to have an explanation."

Liu Yu was shocked.

The step taken by the court really has a sense of reform.

The grain transport of Songjiang and Suzhou Prefectures is changed to sea transportation?

Although it is only two prefectures, it is a great thing.

The foundation of sea transportation is mature. First, the threat of Japanese pirates in Japan's isolation has been basically eliminated; second, there is a navy.

The most important issue of shipping routes is that the connection between Weihai and Songjiang is getting closer and closer, and there is no need to take the coastline.

It is so easy to go directly to the Black Water Ocean, pass Weihai, and go to Tianjin.

If it is in the form of a joint-stock company, I am afraid that once this news comes out, the merchants in Songjiang and other places will explode, and the stocks worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver may be subscribed within five days.

The emperor added: "The intention of the Jiangsu Jiedushi is that he sees that your trading company in Songjiang is thriving. So he wants to ask merchants to transfer the goods, which will benefit the country and merchants."

"If you transport rice to Tianjin, if you transport 1 million dan of grain from Suzhou and Songjiang, you can carry one-tenth of duty-free goods, which can greatly save freight. When you come back, you can load soybeans from Liaodong. When you enter the port in Songjiang, you can also increase taxes."

"In this way, all citizens will benefit."

The emperor knew that the governor of Jiangsu had his own ideas and wanted to abolish the grain transport and use sea transport exclusively.

In that case, Huguang and other places would have to transport goods along the Yangtze River to Jiangsu and then leave the port from Jiangsu.

The benefits of grain transport in several provinces were originally spread to Jiangsu alone.

But if the step is too big, it is easy to get into trouble, so he first wants to try it in Suzhou and Songjiang.

If it is done, it will be a political achievement. As for whether it can be done, Liu Yu suspected that this guy had been secretly observing the maritime merchant group he had established for a long time and had a good idea in his mind.

"There are many knowledgeable people in the court! This is a blessing for the country and your majesty."

"Hahahaha... What you said seems to be knowledgeable if you change to sea transport, and you are ignorant if you use grain transport? Do you think you are the only one who has knowledge?" Li Gan laughed loudly, thinking that the court is not full of those who are greedy and mean, and there are naturally many knowledgeable people.

What Liu Yu said were all old tunes, nothing more than saving money and manpower.

But the dispute over whether to go by canal or by sea has long existed.

The perspective of some knowledgeable people in the court was much higher than that of Liu Yu.

For example, the canal transportation was the top priority, so no matter what happened, the first priority was to ensure the canal transportation.

And the canal transportation required water, and both sides of the canal were farming areas, so there was often a situation where the canal and farmers competed for water.

However, the priority of the canal transportation was the highest, and the assessment of political achievements must be based on the canal transportation. The food and drink of tens of thousands of people in the capital city did not matter whether it was a drought or a flood.

This led to a situation of competing for water with the people.

If the canal transportation could be changed to sea transportation, the problem of competing for water could be solved, and the farmers' lives could be better.

Those who supported sea transportation had their own opinions, and those who opposed sea transportation also had new opinions.

In addition to the old tune of the million canal workers, there was also the need to consider the investment in the canal repair and the relationship with the stability of the Yellow River.

Some people have even seen the threat from the sea. If we rely solely on sea transportation, the risk is extremely high.

If we still retain the canal transportation, we only need to strengthen the artillery batteries in Zhenjiang, Jinling, Songjiang and other places and build bastions. Once we fail at sea, the army after the military reform can also ensure the smooth flow of canal transportation.

Keeping the canal transportation is a lack of trust in the navy and confidence in the combat effectiveness of the army under the thousand-year land power.

After all, once the canal transportation is abolished, once we fail at sea, the navy is completely destroyed, and the communication between the north and the south will be completely cut off.

Keeping the canal transportation, as long as the army can still fight, we can maintain the size of an empire, which is enough to deal with various possible risks.

It is hard to say whether the navy can work or not. Keeping the canal as a backup is better than anything else. No one is a prophet who can determine that the navy will be able to calm the situation.

The army, which has been tested in actual combat, is more credible. If that day really comes, even if we give up the coast, as long as the army can fight, the world will not be divided into north and south, and it will not perish, and we can always rebuild the country.

It's just that Liu Yu usually doesn't pay attention to the affairs of the court, and he rarely participates in such debates. He thought that many things were not expected by others, but in fact, others had already thought of them.

The Jiangsu Jiedushi who proposed to try sea transportation this time was originally in the southwest to reform the natives.

He was very lucky and did not encounter the tragic incident of Pingzheng's "Western Army Armed Tourism". He was quite effective in reforming the natives in the southwest, so he was promoted to the Jiangsu Jiedushi.

He was still young among the Jiedushi, and had a great chance to enter the Tianyou Palace, so he naturally thought about making some political achievements.

This time, he wrote a letter hoping to carry out a pilot project in Songjiang and Suzhou, also for political achievements, and at the same time, he had to try to learn from Wendeng to implement policies such as the land tax distribution.

After weighing the pros and cons, the emperor decided to try out the new policy in Songjiang, as long as he could ensure that the navy was in hand to suppress Songjiang and other places at any time.

With the knife handle in hand and the blade long enough, you can feel free to do it boldly.

But to do it with the grain transport and sea transportation, there is still one thing to solve.

"Some people in the court objected, saying that they were worried about encountering storms. If the ship sank in the ocean, it would be a huge loss and would cause the price of rice in the capital to rise."

"Now that merchants are transporting the food, the grain does not belong to the merchants, but is collected as taxes. If we set up a joint-stock company, what if it sinks? Will the merchants pay for it? Or what?"

"What do you think about this?"

Liu Yu thought that since Songjiang is going to conduct a pilot project, it is better to take a bigger step.

"Your Majesty, I have an idea. Or rather, Westerners have a way, I don't know if it can be used in the court."

"When Westerners go to sea, the risks at sea are huge, so there is a marine insurance industry. If the ship goes to sea, a certain amount of insurance money is paid. If the ship sinks, compensation is paid according to the insurance amount. If it does not sink, the insurance money paid can belong to the insurer."

"Now that shipping is becoming more and more prosperous, why doesn't Your Majesty allow people to start an insurance industry? Your Majesty can directly use the money from the treasury, which is open and aboveboard, and also makes the participants Don't worry. "

"Just calculate the probability of sinking and convert the cost, this is a huge income. If you can monopolize it, you can not only have wealth income, but also make sure that if the grain sinks, there will be no loss to the treasury."

"As long as you have money, Songjiang and Suzhou only have one million dan of grain. Merchants can get grain from Siam and other places in an instant after getting the money. Your Majesty also knows that I have transported rice to Japan. One million dan of South China Sea rice is not a difficult task."

"If you don't buy insurance, you will be responsible if the ship sinks. If you buy insurance, the insurance company will pay. "

"Moreover, a large amount of silver is gathered in Songjiang. If there is chaos in the world, we can also learn from the Westerners to issue national bonds and quickly raise enough military pay, etc. It is really a hundred benefits with no harm."