Mulberry stands for silk and raw silk. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang changed rice into mulberry, which went smoothly. The record of this Ming history is still relatively detailed. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that 10 mu of land should have 1 mu of mulberry and three mu of cotton. The government gives tax incentives.
After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the silk and cotton textile industries have been very developed, and a large-scale industrial chain has been formed in the main mulberry producing areas. Mulberry and cotton were widely planted in Huzhou, Suzhou in Ming Dynasty, which was the main grain-producing area in Song Dynasty. The folk proverb "Suzhou and Shanghai are ripe, and the world is sufficient" in the Song Dynasty was changed to "Hu Guang is ripe, and the world is sufficient" in the Ming Dynasty, and the main grain producing areas have moved to the Dongting Lake basin in Huguang.
More importantly, in the early Ming Dynasty, except Yongle period, the attitude towards the ocean was relatively exclusive (Emperor Ming Zuxun), so the legal recognition of tribute trade and commercial circulation was of little significance, and more was to enhance China's prestige. This may be attributed to Lao Zhu's awareness of small farmers.
We know that the enemy was a very serious problem in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, especially during Mr. Jiajing's tenure. In fact, although these pirates are called Japanese pirates by the world, there are not many from the four islands of Japan. The real bosses are Xu Hai of the Pirates and Wang Zhi of the Smugglers. The so-called Japanese pirates are mostly people from coastal areas. Japanese pirates include fishermen, aristocratic families and smugglers. At that time, the profit of raw silk (not luxury goods) from Ming Dynasty to Japan was ten times, as if it was because raw silk was a strategic material in Japan.
Qin Long switch, private trade is allowed. However, because of the Japanese invaders, the attitude of the Ming government towards Japan can be imagined.
Sangtian has been a relatively mature system since the Song Dynasty. Before the whip of Wanli, there was also a direct part of the official's salary. It can also be seen that turning grain into mulberry.
Why there is no enclosure movement may be because the high profits of raw silk exports are not open to the public market. As an expensive commodity, silk has a small market consumption. (Some answers come from web links)
In Ming Dynasty 1566, in order to make up for the huge fiscal deficit last year, the Yan family and his son racked their brains and finally came up with a good way to win-win in all aspects. The advantage of this way is that he has people under his command.
Hu Zongxian, the General Political Department and Governor of Zhejiang Province, was an important official of the court hand-picked by Yan Song. His character and talent are first-class pillars of the country and won the trust of the emperor. He Maocai, inspector Zheng He of Zhejiang Cloth Officer, is also a clique. They organized the expansion of silk production and export in exchange for foreign exchange, and increased the income of several million taels of silver to fill the deficit. It seems that there is no big problem. Moreover, the project has many links and rich water. People under the project not only have enthusiasm and fatten up, but also have money to honor their teachers.
But Yan and his son also know that an economic policy with such a big relationship will inevitably involve all aspects and it will be more difficult to implement. First of all, it is necessary to get the approval of the emperor and make it a national policy, so as to balance the interests of all parties. In particular, it is necessary to get rid of Lu Gonggong, the eunuch general manager, and his adopted son, Jiangnan Weaving Bureau and Yang Jinshui, the head of Zhejiang Shipping Company, and take tiger skin as the banner to eliminate the interference of the opposition parties and achieve the expected goal. Innovation is always difficult, it has always been like this.
Yan's father and son really had a hard time. During the sad Spring Festival after Zhou's death, after repeated argumentation and careful planning, they finally came up with a relatively complete self-help strategy, and they also took pains and made thoughtful plans on how to throw this strategy. The tricks and routines shown in this drama are obvious to Yan Song, who is 8 1 year old. Otherwise, it is difficult for us to understand why Jiajing knew that Yan Song and his gang were evil and insatiable, but he still could not do without them.
With Zhang's suggestion of expanding coastal defense and cracking down on the enemy, Yan Song took his time and talked with him, keeping pace with others, leaving Jiajing with enough imagination and room to play, and putting the emperor into a condom step by step. Jiajing, who thinks he is smart, is naturally unhappy this Spring Festival. To put it bluntly, the so-called "fasting and praying for snow" is just to find a nice word and think behind closed doors. For more than ten days, his personal expenses were too high last year, and his heart was very tormented: first, he was very angry with these people, skillfully used his personal projects, and pocketed his own money at all costs; Second, the flowers were spent, but they made a big fuss, and everyone on earth knew about them, and they were also abused by smelly intellectuals such as Zhou. Now Yan Song has introduced such localization projects, which can earn12 million. Can he be unhappy? Therefore, they applauded and readily agreed to implement the economic policy of "changing rice into mulberry" and made it a national policy. ?
On the surface, "changing rice into mulberry" is a good policy to benefit the country and the people anyway. Farmers' income from farming is not as high as that from planting mulberry. Jiajing decided not to increase taxes on those who changed rice into mulberry. Moreover, the development of sericulture will inevitably bring about the transfer of agriculture to handicraft industry. For thousands of years, rural people with their backs to the loess have been counting on getting a "rural to non-agricultural" account. How good is this? How can ordinary people not support it?
However, the seemingly wise national policy of "changing rice into mulberry" has gone wrong.
Quick success and instant benefit. Those who implement this national policy have put forward the goal of "achieving results at the beginning of one year and achieving great results within three years". In the first year, 500,000 silks will be woven, and export contracts have been signed with foreigners. Typical "achievement project"! Although the officials at that time were not good at using the slogan of "being close to the people" and playing the banner of "doing a few practical things for the people", they were full of courage. In order to implement the national policy, the government sent soldiers to ride horses and trample on farmers' rice fields, which triggered an incident in which people in the suburbs of Hangzhou collectively petitioned the Governor's Office.
To annex land. To ensure the scale production and quality of silk, we must solve the scale economy problem of raw material production. Therefore, "changing rice into mulberry" will inevitably involve land merger. If only the ancients could annex land like modern people, supplemented by reasonable compensation and the transfer of employed people. But the ruling class of that era couldn't think of modern methods. Therefore, in order to reduce the cost of land merger, businessmen collude with government officials to drive down land prices through administrative power. Behind the collusion is the huge interest of government officials to carve up a considerable share. As the saying goes, fewer people eat the majority, and more things are better than less things.
This can't help but remind people of some cities a few years ago, when the government negotiated land prices with real estate development, and then used the public security and even the "underworld" to forcibly dismantle them. The transformation of the old city has become an important reason for the continuous petition of groups.
Interestingly, those who promote "changing rice into mulberry" hold high the great banner of promoting national policy and are resolute and resolute. However, their reform measures have caused opposition and obstruction from officials with conscience. Because it is inconvenient to violate the national policy set by the emperor, the opposition who "changed rice into mulberry" pretends to be the representative of the people's fundamental interests on the one hand, and can only obey Sun. As a result, this game became a secret party struggle.
Simple questions are complicated. Although Hu Zongxian is a disciple of Yan Song, he has the overall situation concept and is cautious. Originally, "changing rice into mulberry" could be handled very well, but the bidding of Tan Lun, the prince's party, made a mess of the situation, which made Hu Zongxian fall between Scylla and Charybdis, caught in a dilemma, became a mouse in the bellows, and finally had to leave class. Next, Yan Shifan wanted to strengthen his own strength, but in order to avoid suspicion, he sent Gao Hanwen, who had no experience in politics or local work. As a result, things completely screwed up. Any politician, if he can't talk about the matter, but draw a clear line with others, will inevitably complicate the problem. As a result of mutual restraint, not only can we not do what we can't do, but we can't do what we can.
Externalization of officialdom problems. Once the official struggle has reached a white-hot stage, out of fear of failure, all parties tend to work hard, unless the other party dies, it will soon become a rational choice. In order to frame others, Zheng He and He Maocai spared no expense in letting the enemy go and setting fire to the prison, and lied that they were good friends. But this is also a risky move, inviting all foreign enemies out as chess pieces. No wonder Zheng said to He Maocai, "This is the last resort. If you can't do it well, you and I will take the prison car ourselves. "
In the process of continuation, a series of problems often appear, not to mention how many problems will appear in the process of interaction. Therefore, it is not difficult to foresee the ending of "changing rice into mulberry". Chun' an and Jiande counties were flooded, and Ma Ningyuan and others questioned them. Hu Zongxian was forced to resign as the governor of Zhejiang, Zheng and He Maocai were executed, burned themselves, went crazy, and went to jail ... What was originally an economic activity demanding resources from nature turned into a desperate struggle with officialdom. ?