Mu holiday is an ordinary holiday in the imperial court, about one day off every ten days. It means that the officials pay attention to the image, so they have to spend a day bathing and changing clothes every once in a while; However, you don't need to take a bath all day, and Mu Fake is just a more elegant rhetoric.

Zhu Gaoxu was also not on duty, and went out of the palace to the Shen family's pear orchard by the Qinhuai River.

This time, the person in charge of guarding was not Zhang Sheng, but Du Erlang. Du Erlang is a fan of opera, often goes to Liyuan to listen to operas, and is very familiar with that kind of place. The person who received Zhu Gaoxu was Shen Xu herself, and it is said that she did not come here often, because the business of Shen and Xu was far more than a pear orchard.

Today's theater restaurant is very lively, and there are a large number of officials and scholars in Beijing, which coincides with the holiday and is the time to make friends and play.

Zhu Gaoxu heard that Li Louxian was not on stage today, so he didn't go to the theater, and went to the private room near the Qinhuai River with Shen Xu.

Shen Xu wore a dark blue satin loose robe, and his clothes were styled, like an elderly landlord lady. However, she was born with weak bones and abundant muscles, white skin, and very delicate trimmed edges, so she dressed up in a unique style, as if her glamorous beauty was restrained. Or perhaps it is the woman's appearance that is not affected by her clothes.

Shen Xu said: "Now Li Louxian's name is not as loud as it is in Kunming City. On such a good day as Mu Fake, the shopkeeper of Liyuan will not arrange for her to go on stage, and will leave it for more popular people to show up. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said casually: "The Jingshi market is bigger, and all walks of life are Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. ”

Shen Xu smiled and said: "It's not that Li Lou sings as well as other families, she is getting older and her posture is weak. Skill is important, but posture is also important. If the saint likes her to sing, the concubine asks her to accompany her and sing for the saint. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "That's it, don't be so troublesome. ”

Shen Xu said after hearing this: "Anyway, she has nothing to do today, and the concubine will call her over in a while." ”

At this moment, the sound of "tuk tuk" sounded at the door, and Shen Xu got up to open the door and saw that it was Du Erlang. After the two saluted each other, Shen Xu walked out of the room and instructed another person in the corridor. Du Erlang entered the door, stepped forward and said, "Holy Lord, Weichen has seen Xia Shangshu. ”

Shen Xu, who had just returned to the private room, spoke: "Our people didn't recognize it. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "What a coincidence. But don't pay attention to Xia Butang, if he sees you, just say hello, and don't tell him that I'm here. ”

Du Erlang hugged his fists and said: "The minister takes the order." ”

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head to Shen Xu and said, "Mrs. Shen, this is like a private club, a place for personal friends. Xia Butang and I didn't reach the point of personal friendship, and when we met in such places, we were embarrassed by each other, so it was better not to see each other. ”

Shen Xu echoed.

Zhu Gaoxu asked again: "Mu Sheng also lives in Jingshi now, is he still here?" ”

Shen Xu turned his head and shook it slightly, and said, "What's the picture?" ”

"Makes sense." Zhu Gaoxu said thoughtfully.

At this time, he reached into his arms, took out a few pieces of paper, and said, "I really have some serious business when I come to visit today. ”

Shen Xu put down the teapot in his hand, took it, looked at it and asked, "What?" ”

"Standard." Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, and then explained, "Workshop products need a set of rigorous and unified standards, let's work them out first, and in the future, all workshops at home and abroad can only use our rules." Let's start with metering. ”

The industry controlled by the Shen Xu clan is generally called the Shen Xu Shang Gang. It seems to be just a private merchant gang, but in fact it has the share of the noble (Yao Fang's family) and the royal family; In addition to the shares of the Shen family and the Xu family, the large share of the Shen Xu family is the heir of the Zhuang concubine Shen Baoyan, and it will also become the property of the royal family in the future.

Therefore, in Zhu Gaoxu's eyes, the Shen Xu Merchant Gang is not an official office, but it is also an integral part of the imperial court's industry and commerce. The Zhu family will slowly eat Shen Xu's industry, but the eating appearance is obviously much gentler than dealing with Shen Wansan and Xu Fujiu back then.

Zhu Gaoxu moved a position and walked from the opposite side to the chair next to Shen Xu and sat down. Shen Xu glanced at him sideways and acquiesced.

He approached Shen Xu, pointed to the symbol on it, and said, "These are Indian numerals (Arabic), which are used to keep accounts and tables, and they will be more intuitive and concise than Chinese characters." In total, you can use Chinese characters to make it more difficult to alter.

Here's a formula that sets the density of water in units; It is the volume of water 'per cubic foot', and the weight is one catty. The volume of water per cubic foot is one liter.

In the past, there were many differences in size, and the size of construction, measurement, and tailoring was different, and there were also differences in different places. However, the Iron Works of the Imperial Sinan Department has been unified in size, and we will use the size of the Iron Factory in the future, which shall be subject to the decimal inch, ruler and zhang.

The original weighing was more complicated, and it was hexadecimal, which also varies from place to place. The weights of catties, taels, coins, and cents should be changed to the decimal system, which can be more accurate and unified in the measurement of the workshop system. ”

At this moment, Li Lou knocked on the door first and came in. She stepped forward to bow and salute, and Zhu Gaoxu made a gesture of support, telling her to excuse herself. I saw that Li Louxian was really a little older than when she was in Yunnan, and she had heavy makeup on her face, but the skin on her neck did lose its luster and the fine lines were obvious. Zhu Gaoxu felt that Li Louxian was also a poor person, but fortunately, Shen Xu treated her with a good humanity and did not abandon her.

Shen Xu took the manuscript paper and said, "What does the saint want the concubine to do, the concubine should obey it." ”

Li Lou saw that the two were still talking, so he sat next to him and started making tea.

Shen Xu said again: "When the concubine was discussing with the two clansmen, she also talked about the saint, different from the previous emperors, and everyone didn't believe it, how could the emperor support the merchants?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu had a flash of inspiration and said, "I remembered a joke. Once upon a time there was an emperor who used brocade to wipe his ...... after going to the toilet."

Shen Xu suddenly showed an embarrassed smile. And Li Louxian, who was doing it, had too much fat powder on her face and couldn't see her face, but she couldn't help but glance at Zhu Gaoxu quietly.

Zhu Gaoxu ignored them, and then said: "Later, the emperor felt that it should be simple and economical, and ordered that this use be cancelled. Unexpectedly, it caused many people to be dissatisfied. The women who weave the brocade say that they have no wages, and the farmers who grow mulberry and silkworms say that there is a lot of backlog of silkworm cocoons, and they are busy for a year. ”

Shen Xu's gaze wandered, and then her eyes drooped slightly, she thought for a while, and said, "Forgive the concubine for speaking bluntly." If you continue to make brocade, bring it...... No one has benefited. The money received by the weaver girls and peasant households was all taxes collected by the county officials from other places, and a part of it had to be withheld. If the people had ten pennies to buy things; Ten cents are gone, but nieces and farmers can only spend five cents. As a result, the merchants in the county who do business have a harder time selling things, and they pay less business taxes. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "It makes sense, Madam is so knowledgeable." ”

Shen Xu smiled and said: "The saint is also quite good at telling stories, no wonder he can also work with King Ning to write a script for Concubine Shu." ”

"Awards, awards." Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile. He then said quietly, "Then let's change the story." The emperor who likes to use brocade in the toilet is the emperor of other countries; And that country, but can not make its own brocade, has to buy it from our country. ”

Shen Xu said: "This is a good thing for us." ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "If these ten cents are minted by our mint, then other countries need to sell grain or other things in exchange for ten cents in order to buy this brocade." After the coins left the factory, they walked everywhere; As a result, I had an additional batch of goods from the foreign domains on the market, and at the same time, ten cents flowed to the peasant households, weaver girls, and county officials, and everyone's life was better. ”

Shen Xu said softly: "What the Holy Lord said is extremely true. ”

Zhu Gaoxu continued: "If there is no trade, the brocade produced by the weaver girls and the peasant households is useless and will not be profitable, will they still work in the future?"

The monarchs and ministers of all dynasties and dynasties emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, and had another set of ideas. Let's ignore other reasons for this, but only think from the perspective of governance, those people are to protect the number of people who grow grain, increase grain production, and then promote population growth. And merchant trade itself does not produce food and consumption, so it is useless. However, there are loopholes in this set of ideas, and the superiors ignore the enthusiasm of the people to work. ”

He paused and said: "It is said that during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, a large number of common people were slaves, and the monarchs and ministers forced slaves to work, and they could simply take away all the remaining grain and goods.

As a result, in the Warring States Period, some princes turned slaves into commoners, and the grain harvested by the commoners could be retained except for grain taxes; The more the common people plant, the more they get. In this way, the princes found that they had received more food and goods, because the common people were more willing to produce food. ”

Shen Xu listened to it with relish, and she probably thought it was fresh.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu continued: "After the prosperity of industry and commerce, it became even more powerful, not only to stimulate domestic production, but also to find a way to obtain real profits from other countries. Otherwise, it is almost meaningless to invade and occupy other countries, and the imperial court occupied the country of Annan during the Yongle period, and the result was a perennial loss; There is no possibility of profit, and there are many complaints from the government and the opposition, at home and abroad. Because of the establishment of the county system in Annam and the method of directly collecting grain taxes, the cost of setting up a government garrison was too high, and there were too many resistances.

And if China has the upper hand in trade, it will enable the officials and the people to pay less time and get more goods, which is the way to fundamentally change the hardships and hardships of the people. And any method of confiscating the bureaucracy, merchants, rich households, and distributing to the poor is to quench their thirst, which will only discourage enthusiasm and inhibit subsequent production, and everyone will fall into a more difficult situation together. ”

After hearing this, Shen Xu said softly: "Regardless of whether the Holy Lord's method is effective or not, your thoughts are indeed different from those of those meat eaters. People are concerned about how to protect their own interests and stabilize their own status, and who really cares about the difficulties of the common people? ”

"It's just human nature." Zhu Gaoxu said, "Then do you believe in my heart?" ”

Shen Xu's face turned slightly red, and he nodded lightly and said nothing. Zhu Gaoxu rubbed his forehead, suddenly a little confused, and then came to his senses.