Xia Zhong didn't bother to be polite with Yang Sichen and said directly,""The Old Master invites you to go there. The Old Master is already waiting for you in the Blue Sea Palace.”
Yang Sichen nodded and followed Xia Zhong to the Vast Sea Hall. Xia Zhong didn't say anything along the way. Yang Sichen saw that Xia Zhong's expression was serious, so he didn't ask anything. He lowered his head and followed Xia Zhong to the Blue Sea Hall.
Seeing this, Yang Sichen hurriedly went forward to pay his respects. Old Master Yang nodded and gestured for Yang Sichen to sit next to Old Master Yang.
After Yang Sichen sat down, Old Master Yang asked,"Little Chen, how many kids do you plan to send to school?”
Yang Sichen replied," Father, four boys and two girls. They are mainly able to read a few words. It's unlikely that they will study in the Academy for long. It's just one or two years. After all, these people will work for the Yang family in the future. They won't be officials. They don't need too much knowledge. Moreover, it was easy to lose his spirit if he stayed in the Academy for a long time. Our Yang Family doesn't need that kind of sour person, right?”
Old Master Yang and Old Master Yang laughed out loud.
Yang Sichen continued," Father, when the servants in the other courtyards received the news, they also came to my courtyards to pass on a message. They said that they wanted to send the boy to study as well, but I didn't dare to agree to it." You see…"
Old Master Yang thought for a while and then said," Let's put this matter aside for now. We'll talk about it next year. If we give out too much at once, others will notice our Yang Family. At this time, our Yang Family must be low-key."”
Yang Sichen recalled a famous line from a movie and said casually,""Enter the village quietly. Don't shoot!”
Old Master Yang and Old Master Yang were stunned when they heard this, then they laughed out loud.
After a while, Old Master Yang said,"Little Chen, your father has already told me what you told him a few days ago. You said that China is on the eve of a revolution, but it's easy to understand what you mean by accompanying the king like accompanying a tiger. I don't quite understand what you're saying. Explain it again."
Yang Sichen nodded and said," Grandfather, I feel that we have to re-establish a new rule, and this rule must be approved by the majority of the people and be willing to abide by it. Everyone must act under the constraints of the rules, or they will be punished by the supervisors chosen by the people. This way, everyone who abides by the rules will have a sense of security. The Emperor will no longer be a direct ruler, but an arbitrator who acts according to the rules. He wanted the entire country to be harmonious and stable. " A hundred years ago, some countries on the Atlantic Ocean already had a rough outline of this rule. As for China, based on the current situation, it won't appear even after three hundred years. This was because the power structure of China's government had already been set in the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty abolished all schools of thought and only respected Confucianism, which established the unshakable position of this power structure. However, the people of that era had yet to figure out this principle. Although many people wanted to reform in the next 2,000 years, no one dared to touch the structure of the government's power. Changing this was almost a declaration of war against the entire group of established interests! Without the support of emerging interest groups, it was impossible to challenge existing interest groups. Now, almost 1,800 years have passed, and a new interest group has appeared. It's us businessmen. Moreover, there is a conflict between the interests of our merchants and the interests of the landowners and aristocrats. This conflict cannot be resolved unless the landowners and aristocrats sacrifice their own interests. But currently, in Great Ming, our status is too low. It can be said that we merchants are a group of pigs and sheep that are at the mercy of others. Our power is still too weak and completely unable to change the current situation.”
Yang Sichen stopped and looked at Old Master Yang. He noticed that Old Master Yang was still frowning and continued,""Grandfather, your grandson has been studying in the Jade Wave Courtyard for the past year. He has dabbled in classics and history, and discovered that there is a difference between the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties and all the dynasties after that-the well-field system. At that time, the land was nominally owned by the country, but in fact, it belonged to the king. The kings left the best part of the land, thousands or even tens of thousands of pieces, to themselves, known as "public fields." Because the public fields were very large, they were also called " large fields ". Slaves were driven to farm collectively. The land in the suburbs near the city was distributed to the ordinary laborers of the same race as the ruler to cultivate. Those slaves could only make a living. No matter how much the land produced, these people could not get any benefits. They could only farm forever and had no chance to climb up. Therefore, the phenomenon of working without putting in any effort was very common. This would inevitably cause the labor force of these people to be wasted. In addition, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, iron farm tools appeared, allowing people to reclaim more land. Therefore, a large number of slaves fled, and the well-field system could not be implemented anymore. In the early Warring States Period, all countries were seeking reform, but because the content was different, the results were naturally different. Among them, Shang Yang's reform in Qin was the best. Abandoning the well field, opening up the fields, allowing the people to buy and sell, recognizing the private ownership of land, establishing the system of military merit and knighthood, granting land according to the title. This actually established the private ownership of land, and individuals could legally occupy land. This meant that although most of the land was owned by the aristocratic families, the peasants could still occupy a small portion of the land. Moreover, those who did not have land could go to the battlefield. As long as they made contributions, the country would grant them land. The system of titles of merit created a group of new bureaucrats and a group of military landlords who were not passed on to their descendants. Therefore, it was not only an important part of the new feudal military system, but also an integral part of the new feudal bureaucracy. It was for this reason that most of the famous generals and ministers who were active in the political arena during the Warring States Period were no longer born in the old aristocracy, but were born in humble families. For example, Sun Bin, a famous military strategist, was a criminal, Wu Qi was a wandering official, Bai Qi and Wang Jian, famous generals, were civilians, and Zhao She was an official of the Ministry of Land. Lin Xiangru, the famous prime minister, was a eunuch, and Li Si was a small official in the county. Others, such as Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Chen Zhen, Fan Ju, Cai Ze, etc., were either humble or poor people, thus opening up the situation of civilian generals and generals after the Qin and Han Dynasties. To put it bluntly, it was to give the people at the bottom a way to climb up. This was a bit similar to the current imperial examination system-as long as you were willing to study, you would have the opportunity to climb up the ladder. The Confucians had a creed: if you were poor, you would be good for yourself, and if you were successful, you would be good for the world. If he wanted to help the world, he had to reach it first. If he couldn't do it, what could he use to help the world? To put it bluntly, he still had to climb up.”
"This is like the military merit system during the Warring States Period," Yang Sichen continued. The system of military merit and nobility was based on the land granted by the state and the private ownership of land. It was different from the old land sharing system. The old system rewarded those who served in the army in the form of "land". The new system rewarded those who served in the military in the form of "titles and salaries." Therefore, the system of nobility and salary had incomparable superiority over the system of land. It could arouse the great greed of the vast number of officers and soldiers for material benefits such as nobility and salary, land and houses, taxes, and subordinates, thus enhancing the combat effectiveness of the army. In fact, due to the implementation of the military merit system, the various countries also received varying degrees of wealth and military strength. The Wei Kingdom was the first to implement the military merit title system. Hence, at the beginning of the Warring States Period, the Wei Kingdom dominated the world with its military strength. After the Chu Kingdom started the reform and implemented the military merit title system, in a few years, the country's power expanded greatly. Qin had the most perfect and reasonable system of military merit and nobility, so the Qin army had the strongest combat strength in the later period of the Warring States Period.”
Old Master Yang interrupted Yang Sichen and asked,""I know this, but what does this have to do with our current situation?”
"Grandfather, may I ask if everyone in Ming can take the imperial examination?" Yang Sichen asked with a smile.”
"Of course not. Craftsmen and ordinary merchants can't participate in the imperial examination."”
" Grandfather," Yang Sichen asked again," craftsmen work and merchants do business. If ordinary farmers and landowners were to do these, would they be able to do it?"”
Old Master Yang shook his head and said," Of course I can't do it. However, everyone can do farming and reading." It was just that they did it differently. I think I understand now."
Yang Sichen nodded and said," The situation in Shang Yang's era was similar to ours. It was because people's status and abilities were not compatible, which hindered the implementation of the current system. If we want to change this phenomenon, we have to reform. And reform will inevitably harm the interests of the established interest groups. It is inevitable that the country will be in turmoil. In this situation, it was like Guan Yu scraping his bones to heal his wounds. Whoever could endure the pain and reform thoroughly would be the first to become stronger. Since Great Qin was destroyed by the Osman Empire, the Western countries had been reforming for nearly 180 years, and some countries were already close to success. Those who were not of the same race would definitely have different hearts. China was so rich, and those wolves, tigers, and leopards would sooner or later pounce on us to eat our flesh and drink our blood. They would even squeeze the oil out of our bones. When that time comes…Grandfather, do you still remember how many sins the Mongol Tartars committed three hundred years ago? Grandfather, you know the situation of the Ming Dynasty better than I do. If any minister dares to propose a reform, it would be equivalent to going against the entire landlord, Confucian scholars, and aristocratic group. Although this interest group is full of internal contradictions, it is still too powerful. Without external interference, it is impossible for us merchants to challenge this huge interest group with our strength. Uncle Zhang's great reform only fed the Ming Dynasty some ginseng soup to keep them alive, but that was it. Look at what happened to the Zhang family after his death…Sigh!”
After Yang Sichen heard this, he thought to himself,'Songjiang Prefecture alone has more than three thousand craftsmen. Even if one-tenth of the craftsmen send their disciples here to study, that would be three hundred people. If I buy a batch of boys and girls, it would be a huge batch in fifteen years!' Hehehe…the low-level officials no longer have to worry!
Old Master Yang asked," Father, what about the Headmaster? We can't let Little Chen stay in the school every day, right?"”
Old Master Yang smiled and said," You don't have to worry about this. Little Chenzi just needs to spend some time to compile the book. When I was a pirate, there were many scholars who could read and write. Now, there are more than a dozen in Song Jiang. Because they used to work with me, they didn't do well in Ming Dynasty. In addition, these people are now old and can't do other things. Their lives are very hard, but it's not a problem to open their mouths and talk. Father will write a letter to invite them over in a few days. At that time, each person will be given three taels of silver a month. Little Chen will only need to teach them at night.”
After listening to it, Old Master Yang also felt that it was not bad, so he nodded and said,"Let's do it this way. However, it was hard to say if this master and disciple status could be settled. If it really couldn't be settled, then it could be considered as a spar of knowledge.”
Old Master Yang smiled and said," Little Chenzi, our family has a farm in Song Jiang. The house is going to be renovated. Do you have any ideas?" I just feel that the walls made of earth will not withstand water bubbles. It would be too expensive to build them with green bricks. It would be great if there was a cheaper brick. Do you have any ideas?"
After Yang Sichen came down, he said," I know a way to use clay to make bricks. It's the method used to build the Great Wall. I have thought of an improved method, but I need to use charcoal. I have never seen charcoal in Song Jiang, so it was delayed. Grandfather, is this charcoal very expensive?"
Old Master Yang and Old Master Yang looked at each other. After a while, Old Master Yang said,"This charcoal is much cheaper than charcoal. It's just that it smells like smoke when it's burned, and the big families in Songjiang Prefecture don't use it, so it's not common. Little Chen, if you really want to use it, I can get you tens of thousands of catties.”
"Father, how much is the charcoal?" Yang Sichen asked again.”
Old Master Yang smiled and said,"One tael of silver can buy a thousand catties of high-quality charcoal. What's wrong?"”
Yang Sichen took a deep breath and said,""Father, we might be rich. According to my estimation, a hundred catties of charcoal can be burned into fifteen hundred catties of bricks, which is about four hundred pieces. The clay was free. Including the workers 'wages, the cost of one hundred yuan was about one-third of a penny. If he sold it, he would have no problem selling it for 20 yuan per coin. A house would cost at least 1,000 yuan. The entire Liangzhe region would need to build at least 10,000 houses a year. Including the paving of roads and bridges, the profit would be quite high!! " Yes, yes. We'll build another lime kiln and use charcoal to burn lime. If we buy 1,000 bricks and get 15 catties of lime for free, this will definitely not be enough. Most people will buy more lime. As long as he buys another 15 catties, our lime kiln will definitely make a profit.”
Old Master Yang and Old Master Yang looked at each other. Old Master Yang pointed at Yang Sichen and laughed,"You little brat, why are you so obsessed with money again?”
Yang Sichen scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and smiled.""Uh, I was too excited…"
Old Master Yang smiled and said," Little Chenzi, grandfather will take out a thousand taels of silver from his private house for you to use. You can start this brick kiln. However, if this brick kiln becomes profitable in the future, you can give grandfather twenty percent." What do you think?"
Yang Sichen nodded and said with a smile,""Of course, grandfather. If the brick kiln and lime kiln really make a profit in the future, grandson will definitely send the dividends to grandfather.”
Old Master Yang smiled and said,"Father will transport the charcoal to our shipyard. There is a small dock outside the shipyard. You can build a brick kiln near the shipyard." That way, it would be more convenient for him to run his head in the future.”
Yang Sichen cupped his hands at Old Master Yang and said,""Thank you for your advice, Father."
Yang Sichen chatted with the two of them for another fifteen minutes before bidding farewell and leaving the Vast Sea Hall. On the way back to the Jade Wave Court, Yang Sichen couldn't help but sigh," The older the ginger, the spicier! I'll be busy when I get back…Why is my life so hard…
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