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Chapter 101 The Fall of the Song and Ming Dynasties

Seeing Jin'er sitting there shyly with her head down, Yang Shaofeng, the so-called brother-in-law, stared at her intently. A strange sour smell filled the air. Suddenly, Zhu Gang, the third brother who had been ignored, exclaimed and said to Zhu Shuang, "Second brother, I remembered our father and mother."

Zhu Shuang nodded and said, "I also remembered my elder brother and Sister Chang."

Zhu Gang added, "Anyway, it's none of our business, so we might as well watch how the sand is processed better."

The two teased and joked, and Jin'er's face immediately turned as red as if it were about to bleed. Yang Shaofeng also quickly took two steps back and turned to walk towards the sand.

Because Zhu Laosan insisted on staying under the shade of the tree to see how the sand was changing, the others felt embarrassed to leave Zhu Laoer behind, so they stayed to keep Zhu Laosan company.

Left with no other choice, Yang Shaofeng could only send the lame man back to the county government office so that the cook could prepare the meal and then deliver it to the lime kiln in the east of the city.

After the meal, Zhu Laosan suddenly looked up at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "Brother-in-law, you don't just want to build a road from Ningyang County to Yanzhou Prefecture, do you?"

Yang Shaofeng didn't bother to correct Zhu Laosan's address at all, but simply nodded and replied, "That's right. I plan to build one from Ningyang County all the way to Yanzhou Prefecture first, and after that, I'll build another one leading to Jining Prefecture, and finally another one leading to Tai'an Prefecture."

Zhu Laosan clicked his tongue twice and said, "According to what my brother-in-law said about paying wages, then you really went to great lengths to make the people of Ningyang County earn money."

Yang Shaofeng smiled but didn't say anything. Zhu Laosan continued, "If officials in other places had money and followed my brother-in-law's example to build roads, wouldn't the people under their jurisdiction also become rich quickly?"

Before Yang Shaofeng could answer, Zhu Shuang interjected, "Are you stupid? If the government gives money, the people can make money and become rich, right?"

Zhu Gang nodded thoughtfully, but Zhu Shuang continued, "According to my brother-in-law, if the common people have money, merchants can earn more money, and the court can naturally collect more commercial taxes. However, how to manage these merchants and prevent them from acting recklessly is the real problem."

Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Your Highness is right, that's exactly the point."

Unfortunately, both the Ming and Song dynasties ultimately perished due to merchants, or rather, due to capital.

The most direct manifestation of this is that when history textbooks evaluate the Song and Ming dynasties, they always include the statement, "The Song or Ming dynasties had already shown signs of capitalism, and the demise of the Song or Ming dynasties nipped the birth of capitalism in the bud."

So, can this statement be interpreted as meaning that the emergence of the seeds of capitalism led to the downfall of the Song or Ming dynasties?

For example, the Song Dynasty, which implemented a small court system, collected taxes from small markets with annual tax revenue of less than a thousand strings of cash through a buy-and-sell system. The buying and selling of goods such as wine, salt, tea, and vinegar, which were monopolized by the court, were also contracted out using the buy-and-sell system. Even the buying and selling of official land could be contracted out through the buy-and-sell system.

As for the Ming Dynasty, it's a complicated story. For example, there was the Donglin Party, which supposedly led to the Ming Dynasty's demise, as well as the Fushe, Chu Party, Zhe Party, Qi Party, and even the eunuch party. These officials were ostensibly fighting for power, but in reality, they were fighting for personal gain.

For example, the inscription on the tombstone of the five martyrs was personally written by Zhang Pu, a famous leader of the Fushe Society. Zhang Pu wrote this inscription to get the court to exempt the gentry from taxes.

The key point is that the gentry, especially those in Jiangnan, really wanted the court to exempt them from that small amount of land tax.

What's the big deal about a tiny bit of land tax?

The old men could easily earn enough to pay land taxes by just peeking out from between their fingers.

What the gentry and officials of Jiangnan really cared about was commercial tax and the huge profits from smuggling after the maritime ban.

The land tax was merely a pretext; resisting the land tax was actually a way to prevent the imperial court from turning to commercial taxes after collecting the land tax.

To put it bluntly, it's like setting up a target for the imperial court to attack. As long as the target isn't completely destroyed, the commercial taxes and maritime smuggling behind it are safe.

For example, the famous "gatekeeper emperor"—Emperor Yingzong built a shipyard in Fujian, and then a rebellion broke out in Jiangnan. Then there was the famous incident of Emperor Yingzong studying abroad.

For example, before the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, the Grand Secretary had even reached the point of openly setting prices—you pay me a certain amount of money to help me get to the position of Grand Secretary, and I will give you a certain amount of reward after I become Grand Secretary. However, I never expected to encounter such a foolish emperor as Chongzhen, who treated changing Grand Secretaries as child's play, causing the capitalists to suffer huge losses.

Therefore, compared to the capitalists of the Song and Ming dynasties, the so-called capitalists of the foolish Eagle family are simply a joke.

Just as Yang Shaofeng was lost in thought, Zhu Laosan suddenly asked, "Brother-in-law, how wide do you plan to build the road from Ningyang County to Yanzhou Prefecture? If it's too narrow, it won't be convenient for the flow of goods in the future."

As Zhu Laosan finished speaking, apart from the Chang brothers, Jin'er, Yu'er, and Zhu Lao'er who were relatively normal, everyone else looked at Zhu Laosan with somewhat strange eyes.

Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "The current plan is for it to be ten zhang wide, but in practice, we'll only build one zhang wide road first. Once that one-zhang wide road is finished, we'll build the remaining nine zhang wide road."

Zhu Laosan stared blankly at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "How much? Ten zhang?"

Zhu Lao Er stared at Yang Shaofeng with a completely bewildered expression: "Ten zhang wide? Brother-in-law, are you planning to bring all the merchants of our Great Ming Dynasty to Ningyang County to do business?"

Although Jin'er and Yu'er did not speak, their gazes toward Yang Shaofeng were filled with worry.

However, Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "Is a road that's ten zhang wide really that wide?"

Picking up a stick, Yang Shaofeng casually drew lines on the ground with it as he said, "A road ten zhang wide, with five chi in the middle to separate the carriages and horses on both sides."

“Starting from Ningyang County, the road on the right leads to Yanzhou. It is about 47 feet long and is divided into five lanes. The innermost lane is only for horses and no other vehicles are allowed to pass. The second lane is for horse-drawn carriages, and the third and fourth lanes are for oxcarts, donkey carts and the like.”

"The fifth road is where these vehicles and horses rest temporarily, and it is also where people dry their grain."

"The same applies to the road on the left, which leads from Yanzhou to Ningyang; each lane serves its own purpose."

"Even if there are problems on some sections of the road, such as a collision between vehicles or road damage, there will still be lanes available on the side, so that the entire road will not be blocked."

Zhu Shuang stared at Yang Shaofeng in shock, and Zhu Gang was equally astonished by Yang Shaofeng's plan. Jin'er and Yu'er were even more shocked, their eyes practically sparkling.

After a long while, Zhu Gang asked dumbfoundedly, "How much will this cost? How many people will it take?"

Yang Shaofeng smiled and pointed to the sand not far away, asking in return, "May I ask Your Highness, is this limestone more valuable, or this clay? Or perhaps this sand?"

"As for manpower," Yang Shaofeng said, pointing to a piece of sand that had been slowly hardening, "after digging a foundation, compacting and leveling it, and then laying sand on top, how much manpower do you think Your Highness would need?"

The two brothers, Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang, stared blankly at the sand. After a while, Zhu Shuang sighed and said, "Brother-in-law is right. No matter how you calculate it, it's much cheaper than using calcined soil."