Chapter 449
Binding of Interests
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During the War of Resistance against Japan, Fujian was known as a "land that military strategists did not contend for".
This was mainly because Fujian at that time was neither a major grain-producing area nor an economic hub, let alone a military center.
China's core grain-producing areas have always been concentrated in the Northeast Plain, the East China Plain, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain, the Guanzhong Plain, and the Chengdu Plain.
These areas are flat and have a large arable area, so they naturally became the primary targets of the invading Japanese army.
In contrast, over 90% of Fujian's territory is hilly and mountainous, and there has been a saying since ancient times that it is "eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland," meaning that arable land is extremely limited.
The area of arable land directly restricts economic development and population size, so Fujian's economic strength and population size were not outstanding during the War of Resistance against Japan.
From a military perspective, Fujian's geographical location also determines that it is difficult for it to be among the most strategically important areas, and the strategic interests involved are relatively limited.
The Japanese army's invasion of China was highly purposeful. They occupied Northeast China because they valued the region's well-developed industrial base and abundant food production. The Northeast was also a vast and resource-rich area that could serve as a springboard for further expansion into the heart of China.
Subsequently, the Japanese army turned its attention to many economically important cities in the Central Plains and the South, or provinces with developed metallurgical industries such as Jiangxi and Hunan, or to realize its strategic intention of opening up land transportation lines.
Fujian during the War of Resistance against Japan was not included in the Japanese army's strategic plans, so the Japanese army did not divide its forces to attack this area.
Gu Zuyu, a geographer in the Qing Dynasty, once commented on Fujian: "If one were to contend for the world from Fujian, then Fujian's military strength and financial resources would be insufficient to achieve this goal."
This statement is a precise summary of Fujian's geographical landscape.
However, times and circumstances differ, so the conclusions drawn will naturally differ as well.
Although Fujian at this time still lacked sufficient population and food production, it was wealthy.
At this time, Quanzhou was already a leading port city in the East.
Ships departing from Quanzhou mainly opened up three ocean routes:
The southwest route starts from Quanzhou, passes through Guangzhou, and can reach Champa, Zhenla, Brunei, Java, Srivijaya and other countries. Further west, it can directly reach India, Arabia and other places. In terms of later geographical concepts, this route is enough to allow Quanzhou's merchant ships to reach the Middle East directly. Through the trade route between the Middle East and Europe, they can also travel to various parts of Europe.
The Southeast Route can reach Ryukyu, Mayi, Miyu, Ryukyu and other regions;
The Northeast Route could reach all the coastal ports in the present-day northern Song Dynasty, and through increasingly convenient railways and highways, it could be distributed to all regions in the northern Song Dynasty, including Yanyun, the Northeast, Jidi, and Japan.
This shows that in this era, merchant ships departing from Quanzhou could reach almost all major trading regions in the world.
The unprecedented prosperity of Quanzhou Port has spurred the vigorous development of commerce and trade along its coast.
Merchants from all over the world and from all over the world gathered here, transporting exotic products such as spices, medicinal herbs, rhinoceros horns, ivory, and tortoiseshell to Quanzhou, and then purchasing porcelain, silk, and all kinds of light and heavy industrial products from here to sell overseas.
The thriving trade made Quanzhou extremely prosperous.
Emperor Gaozong of Tang once made a very objective assessment: "The profits from maritime trade are the greatest. If managed properly, the gains can easily amount to millions."
The Southern Song Dynasty's territory was only two-thirds that of the Northern Song Dynasty, yet the continuous warfare meant that the Southern Song court's expenses far exceeded those of the Northern Song. The fact that the Southern Song court managed to survive and become extremely wealthy through maritime trade is the best proof of this.
……
In Jinjiang, Chendai Town, Sucuo Village, there is a stone bridge spanning a ditch called Shinan Bridge.
There is a pavilion at the north end of the bridge called Shinan Pavilion.
To the east of the pavilion, there is a Guanyin Temple called Jinghui Temple.
People at both ends of the bridge can cross it, rest in the pavilion, and worship Buddha in the temple.
The Shinan Bridge, Shinan Pavilion, and Jinghui Temple were all donated and built by the Wang family.
The Wang family is undoubtedly the largest household in Sucuo Village.
The Wang family originated with Wang Dan, a famous prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty. He came from Shen County, Daming (later part of Shandong), though some say he came from Taiyuan, Shanxi. He was diligent and studious from a young age, and passed the imperial examination in the fifth year of the Taiping Xingguo era.
Wang Dan had many descendants, and many of them held official positions.
Later, for reasons unknown, Wang Dan eventually arrived in Fuzhou and became a prominent family there.
Even in this generation, many members of the Wang family still hold official positions in the imperial court.
For example, Wang Zhen was a Grand Master of the Palace in the Song Dynasty; another example is Wang Di, who passed the imperial examination in the third year of Hongwu and later became the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, a second-rank official.
However, the Wang family is not most famous for being a prominent family with officials serving in the court for generations, and even high-ranking ones. What is most famous is that during the twenty years that Emperor Zhao Yu vigorously promoted maritime trade, the Wang family accumulated a fortune of 200 million strings of cash through maritime trade.
What is this concept?
According to Li Xinchuan's "Miscellaneous Records of the Court and Countryside Since the Jianyan Era" from the Southern Song Dynasty, during the Xining-Yuanfeng period of the Northern Song Dynasty, the annual fiscal revenue reached more than 60 million strings of cash.
During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, after Cai Jing restarted reforms and strengthened the monopoly and commercial tax collection, fiscal revenue increased significantly. Some studies indicate that the annual revenue stabilized at around 160 million strings of cash at this time.
This figure not only represents the peak of the Northern Song Dynasty, but also far surpasses the level of the peak periods of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
However, 70% of this 160 million strings of cash relied on monopolies and commercial taxes, so this revenue structure has the potential for distortion.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, after the Southern Song court retreated to the south of the Yangtze River, its fiscal revenue gradually recovered from the low point after the war. After the Shaoxing Peace Treaty, the Southern Song's finances continued to grow, and during the Chunxi era of Emperor Xiaozong, revenue exceeded 80 million strings of cash.
Subsequently, with the further development of agriculture, industry and commerce and overseas trade in the Jiangnan region, fiscal revenue steadily increased, and during the peak period of the Southern Song Dynasty, annual fiscal revenue remained around 100 million strings of cash for a long time.
However, this achievement relied on its optimized fiscal and tax system, such as the implementation of the "Jingzongzhiqian" system to centralize local miscellaneous taxes, while vigorously developing overseas trade and commodity economy, which made up for the loss of agricultural taxes caused by the loss of northern territories.
This comparison reveals just how much money the Wang family has made through maritime trade over the past twenty years.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Wang family was as wealthy as a country.
In fact, it wasn't just the Wang family; many large merchants in the southeast region, relying on maritime trade, had assets exceeding one million. They had surpassed traditional gentry and emerging entrepreneurs, becoming the wealthiest group in the Song Dynasty.
In this situation, when Zhao Yu announced that he would go to Jiangnan to spend the winter there, these wealthy merchants couldn't help but tremble with fear, worried that Zhao Yu was targeting them.
Wang Chaoyi, the head of the Wang family, gathered the family members together and then took out the urgent letter from Wang Zhen to the family and showed it to several elders of the clan.
At the same time, Wang Chaoyi said:
"The eight official letters explicitly state that he suspects His Majesty's southern tour is not for sightseeing, but for financial gain. The letters also warn the Wang family against concealing assets, stating that the Imperial City Guard, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Military Intelligence Bureau consume nearly ten million of His Majesty's private funds annually, spread throughout the land, and that nothing and no one can be hidden from His Majesty's eyes and ears. If the Wang family were to attempt to conceal assets, not only would it fail, but it would also be courting death."
According to the eight public opinions, this matter presents both danger and opportunity for the Wang family. This may be the time for the Wang family to prosper and establish itself.
The business of merchants is characterized by high profits but low social status; this has been the case since ancient times.
My family has worked hard for twenty years and accumulated a fortune of 200 million strings of cash, making us richer than a country. How could we not attract attention?
The imperial court has been waging war for years and has also been waging great war in the north, so the treasury is already empty.
When the emperor is short of funds, he will inevitably draw upon the resources of the people, and merchants will be the first to be affected.
When Qin unified the country, it relocated 120,000 wealthy households to populate Xianyang, with half of their wealth going into the public treasury. Emperor Wu of Han was warlike and aggressive, and following Sang Hongyang's strategy, he ordered the collection of all wealth, resulting in the ruin of eight or nine out of ten merchant families, with all their property confiscated by the government. Emperor Yang of Sui conquered Goguryeo and amassed wealth without restraint, causing wealthy merchants in the Jianghuai region to give up their fortunes to support the country, ultimately leading to the decline of their families' fortunes.
These are all lessons from the past; the same mistakes will soon be repeated.
The eight dukes, the eight third dukes, and I all believed that rather than waiting for the court to send envoys to supervise and punish us, and then surrendering without resistance, we should contribute our own resources to alleviate the national crisis.
In this way, not only can one avoid the disaster of property confiscation, but one can also win the favor of His Majesty and gain the trust of the court.
When His Majesty rewards those who have rendered meritorious service, my Wang family may be promoted further, and our descendants may hold high office for generations. Wouldn't that be far better than sitting on a mountain of gold in constant fear?
Therefore, when Zhao Yu publicly solicited bids for sponsorship of his trip to the south, Lady Wang was particularly enthusiastic.
When Zhao Yu was bidding for a shipyard to provide his fleet, the Wang family quickly bought a shipyard, renamed it Wang's Shipyard, and participated in the bidding.
Finally, Wang secured the largest sponsorship by providing Zhao Yu with all the ships and paying an exorbitant price of 100 million strings of cash, thus earning Zhao Yu a reward of staying at her home for a few days when he passed through Quanzhou.
Of the 100 million strings of cash in sponsorship fees and more than 1,000 ships, Wang himself took 50 million strings of cash, and had major maritime merchants with whom he had good relations raise 50 million strings of cash together. The ships were provided by dozens of shipyards in the southeast. In return, he subcontracted the orders given to his family by the imperial court to these shipyards.
In other words, the Wang family gained both fame and fortune with just 50 million strings of cash.
Of course, in reality, Wang's investment was definitely more than 50 million strings of cash.
After winning the bid, the Wang family immediately informed the Ministry of Rites through Wang Zhen that in order to welcome Zhao Yu, they had specially built a temporary palace in Quanzhou and would certainly provide the best service for His Majesty and his entourage.
Therefore, Wang Zhen went to the Ministry of Works and asked them to send two people familiar with His Majesty's habits to Quanzhou to supervise the construction of this temporary palace.
There are many, many more people like the Wang family of Quanzhou who are so sensible, such as the Qian family of Wuyue, the Jiang family of Yangzhou, the Chen family of Haining, and so on...
Even families from Guangzhou and Hainan actively raised funds.
Even more remarkably, some wealthy merchants from Ryukyu actively raised funds, hoping that Zhao Yu could stay at their homes for a while during his trip south.
The reason why these gentry and noble families, especially wealthy merchants, were so enthusiastic was that these shrewd people all realized that Zhao Yu's trip to the south of the Yangtze River was less about sightseeing and more about giving them an opportunity to curry favor with the imperial power and even achieve upward social mobility.
To put it bluntly, this is a shrewd game of exchanging wealth for political security and upward social mobility, with a deeper logic of seeking advantage and avoiding harm hidden behind it.
Since ancient times, it has been said that "the wealth of the world belongs either to the officials or to the people." When the imperial treasury is empty and the emperor needs funds for emergencies, wealthy merchants who are richer than a country have always been the most prominent source of wealth.
The reforms Zhao Yu implemented over the years, which ushered in the Age of Exploration, the Industrial Revolution, and the promotion of maritime trade, truly enriched a large number of people.
However, these people have weak political foundations, or even no foundations at all. Faced with the government's levies and extortions, they can only submit.
Moreover, behind Zhao Yu's southern tour were the spies of the four major intelligence agencies of the Song Dynasty spread throughout the country, as well as the lessons learned from the Qin Dynasty's relocation of the wealthy and powerful and the Han Dynasty's calculation and reporting of wealth.
The gentry and wealthy merchants knew that rather than passively waiting for the imperial court to come and punish them, and to confiscate their property, it was better to take the initiative to donate and contribute to the country, and to use money to ensure the safety of their families.
This can be considered a wise move to avoid annihilation with limited losses.
Furthermore, the business of merchants has always been highly profitable but lowly in status. Without the backing of political power, wealth is ultimately just a mirage.
Zhao Yu's southern tour provided a perfect opportunity for wealthy merchants to break down class barriers.
Having the emperor stay at one's home is itself a tremendous political asset.
This is tantamount to announcing to the world, "Your Majesty trusts me" and "Your Majesty has stayed at my house." At that time, which official would dare to come to my house to extort money or bribes?
Moreover, His Majesty's fondness for women is known to all. If they were to offer their daughters to His Majesty, they would become "father-in-law of the Emperor" or "brother-in-law of the Emperor."
This is incredibly useful in small towns.
For wealthy merchants who only had money but no power, this could not only provide their family businesses with the protection of imperial power, but also facilitate their descendants' access to imperial examinations and official careers, enabling them to transition from being extremely rich to having generations of officials.
Isn't this much more sustainable than sitting on a mountain of gold?
Furthermore, His Majesty is not a stingy person. Didn't he see that the court needed ships? He gave the court 30% of the ship purchase orders. By taking the lead in fundraising, the Wang family not only got a share of the court orders, but also established their leading position in maritime trade. Other families may receive implicit rewards such as preferential policies and trade licenses through donations.
If His Majesty is served well, even a small leak from his fingers can bring in several times the profit from the court.
Finally, when the most powerful families chose to sponsor Zhao Yu's trip to the south, other gentry and noble families naturally dared not hesitate.
Under the implicit pressure of "being purged if you don't donate," actively raising funds has become a collective consensus.
This avoids the risks of acting alone and allows for cost-sharing through group dynamics, creating a win-win situation.
The most important thing is that I'm not afraid that His Majesty will remember who donated, but I'm afraid that His Majesty will remember who didn't donate.
What if His Majesty compares the list of wealthy families collected by the four intelligence agencies and finds that everyone else has donated, but your family, which has clearly made a fortune thanks to the Song Dynasty's national strength and policies, hasn't given a single penny?
If His Majesty doesn't punish your family as a warning to others, who else will he punish?
Ultimately, the fervor surrounding Zhao Yu's travels to the south was essentially a result of the imperial power needing financial support and the gentry and wealthy merchants needing the protection of power. The two formed a bond of interest through the "donation-reward" model.
For the gentry and wealthy merchants, this was a political investment that had clearly calculated the risks and rewards, ensuring both immediate peace and long-term development—a win-win situation.
For Zhao Yu, this arduous journey would not only allow him to earn a large sum of money and recoup his losses, but also help him win over the gentry and wealthy merchants of Jiangnan, appease their anxieties, and prevent them from taking risks or doing anything unwise that could bring trouble or even disaster to the Song Dynasty.
As for whether the Song Dynasty will turn around and deal with those Jiangnan gentry and wealthy merchants who dared to oppose it after it has fully digested the newly recovered territories, it all depends on Zhao Yu's mood and whether they will continue to be so sensible...
...(End of chapter)