Chapter 11 9. Hard partner companies

The Earth Altar outside Beijing's Anding Gate was built in the Ming Dynasty, and it was called Fangze Altar at that time.The official street outside the west gate of Fangzetan is called Taizhe Street, which is today's Andingmenwai Street.In the Ming Dynasty, merchants set up some sheds next to the official street to do business. According to the current saying, they are temporary buildings.Just like today, these temporary buildings face the risk of being demolished and cleaned up by the government at any time. According to the practice after Jiajing, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty worshiped the sky in the winter solstice and the earth in the summer solstice.In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, May 3rd of the lunar calendar was the summer solstice (June 21, 1640). The head of the repair (similar to the current director) conveyed instructions that wherever the emperor passed, sheds, eaves, and poles should be removed for a safe look.Director Yang sent a notice to each square (similar to today's street committee), worried about poor implementation, and went to the scene to supervise the implementation.

According to Mr. Yang, even though there are many houses in the city, everyone obeyed the regulations and demolished the temporary buildings.However, opposite the archway on Taizhe Street in Fangzetan, there happened to be an elevated ridge shed that invaded the official street. There was a large yellow paper on the shed: "The office of the department, the supervisor, the pile of money and the grain." These few words, in the eyes of the people at the time, were not trivial.The Department of Supervisors is one of the twenty-four yamen in the imperial palace. It is in charge of the ceremonial curtains and other things used by the emperor. It is clearly written on the yellow paper that the things and money used by the emperor are piled up here.With such a piece of paper in charge, who would dare to touch a hair of this shed?

But Director Yang said that he went in and looked, and there was no "money and grain" piled up inside. It was just an open liquor grocery store, and the owner was Zhao Er, the shopkeeper.The so-called shopkeepers are generally self-employed businessmen today. They have no power and power, and they are the regular targets of extortion by eunuchs, officials and government servants. When Mr. Yang was in the shed asking about the owner's name and identity, an eunuch stepped forward and asked Mr. Yang's identity arrogantly.Eunuch Lu claimed that this shed was prepared for Shengjia to go back and forth, if it was demolished, who would be responsible if the emperor blamed him?

Director Yang is not easy to scare.He kindly asked Lu Yongshou to write down his name and position, then persuaded him not to intervene in this matter, and finally refused to buy into the eunuch's account, forcing Zhao Er to immediately dismantle the elevated ridge shed.Mr. Yang came prepared, and behind him there were yamen servants to cheer him on. He demolished it as soon as he said it, so he was not willing to talk to Zhao Er. The above story comes from Yang Suoxiu’s copy of the eunuch impeachment book, which can be found in (Qing) Yao Yuanzhi’s "Miscellaneous Notes on the Bamboo Leaf Pavilion" Volume 2, and I have reproduced it almost word for word.As for the relationship between Zhao Er and the eunuch, how Zhao Er's yellow paper was obtained, and what was Lu Yong's motive for protecting Zhao Er, there was no explanation at first, and I have no way of verifying it.However, Yao Yuanzhi told another story in Volume 7 of "Miscellaneous Notes on the Bamboo Leaf Pavilion", which can provide a reference for our speculation.

Yao Yuanzhi said that he heard that when Yan Song was in power in the Ming Dynasty, "Anyone who can get a letter from the Yan government will offer three thousand taels of Chengyi. If you get this letter, you will be free from foreign aggression." Two sentences need to be explained here.Yan Song is a well-known "treacherous minister", his status is below one person and above ten thousand people, he is insidious and no one dares to provoke him.Zhiku is a pawnshop engaged in mortgage loan business. This industry was quite developed in the Tang and Song Dynasties-even though it is old or young, the history of financial capitalists in our country is actually as long as more than a thousand years.The so-called Cheng Yi is a kind of etiquette or bad practice popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties, that is, gifts or bribes given in the name of travel expenses.The meaning of those two ancient Chinese sentences is: If people from the Yan Mansion can come to visit with Yan Song's business card, the pawnshop is willing to offer three thousand taels of silver as travel expenses.

What does three thousand taels of silver mean?During the reign of Yan Song (around 1550), one tael of silver could buy two stones of rice, which is equivalent to more than one million RMB today, based on grain price conversion.This amount is too large. Even if you take a horse-drawn carriage from Beijing to Nanjing, you will not need a fraction of the money.So, what exactly does the round part of the money buy?Yao Yuanzhi said that what he bought was the ability to "freedom from foreign aggression", that is, an insurance policy to avoid disasters. More precisely, he bought a tiger skin to deter wolves through bribery.There is no decent word to describe this kind of transaction in Chinese. Although the word "Cheng Yi" is suspected of "covering the face with dots", it is not difficult to understand the painstaking efforts of the ancients when choosing words and making sentences.

Yao Yuanzhi said that he saw this tiger skin with his own eyes in the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780).It was a five-inch piece of paper with the words "Songbai" written all over it.The "Songmao" pawnshop in Nanjing collected this tiger skin as an antique.Back then, when Yan Song was so prominent, the future and even life and death of officials, big and small, were in his hands, and he was a guy who would take revenge. What would an official think when he saw this post?Of course, he has reason to speculate that this pawn shop may have financial relations with Yan Song, at least he can talk to Yan Fu. With such a strong relationship with the pawn shop, it is better not to extort money.

Yan Song fell out of favor in his later years and lost his prestige. The validity period of the tiger skin to frighten people is no more than 20 years, and the annual frightening fee apportioned is as high as 50,000 yuan.Is the 50,000 yuan worth it?Even if it can effectively deter jackals, can it scare foxes or leopards? I read a story about extorting money from a pawnshop in Duan Guangqing's "Jinghu Self-written Chronicle".In the twenty-eighth year of Daoguang (1848), Duan Guangqing encountered three things that cost money in Dangzhi County, Cixi County, Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province: one was the appointment of the new prefect of Ningbo, and the other was the arrival of the governor of Zhejiang (the top leader of the provincial government) in Ningbo. The military parade passed by Cixi, and the third was Zhejiang Xuezheng (the vice-governor in charge of education) who went to Ningbo to invigilate the examination and passed through Cixi County.Following the unspoken rules, the county has to pay for it as usual, but the county's finances are tight and it can't afford it.In terms of finance, I asked Duan Guangqing for instructions, saying that there is a custom in Cixi that all pawnshops in urban and rural areas have to help with expenses at this time. Do you want to send a message to urge it?

Duan Guangqing said, how can such bad rules issue official documents?You wait to discuss it with them, and the pawnshops volunteer to help, and I will accept it.If you don't want to help, don't say anything. As a result of careful discussion, the pawnshops really "voluntarily" paid for it, "helping to post thousands of strings of public expenses", which is equivalent to thousands of taels of silver, and did not leave any words. I think our ancestors were particularly good at speaking.With the current way of expression, isn't what they have done just arbitrarily apportioned?But take a closer look at the wording of others, "helping to subsidize public expenses"-the active sender of the behavior has changed from the requesting party to the paying party in one fell swoop.In front of the word "public", people "volunteer", showing a high level of awareness and realm, can this be compared with apportionment?A subsidy is not an apportionment.How can the conscious actions of the masses be called apportionment?

As the saying goes: "The county magistrate who destroys the family, the county magistrate who destroys the family." It means that the county magistrate can reasonably and legally toss the people to the point of bankruptcy.The magistrate of the county who has mastered such a method came here with a pleasant face, looking for you to discuss the official business of "helping to subsidize public funds", and he is not looking for your family, and the whereabouts of public funds is so honorable. Do you have the guts to say no?After all, that tiger skin is just a piece of skin, not a real tiger, not even a "claw" who "works for a tiger".This "clan" somehow got a famous post from the owner's house and sold it for three thousand taels of silver. Once something really happened and the tiger found out, would he have any good fruit to eat?I will continue the story at the beginning to tell the situation after the eunuch Lu made a big fuss, and you will find that there are risks for the "crews" to make trouble.The more important reason is: the pawn shop only bought a tiger skin, and only paid the price of a tiger skin. It did not ask for after-sales service, nor did it pay for the after-sales service. Can you expect them to learn from Lei Feng? ?

That is to say, the pawn shop spent 50,000 yuan a year, not buying full insurance, but the possibility of partial insurance.As for the extent to which this possibility can become a reality, it depends on the background, courage and wisdom of the jackal and fox.There is only one thing we can be sure of: the pawnshops know their own living environment best, and their investment should be lower than the expected value of losses caused by officials’ extortion. In addition to the deterrent effect, will tiger skin help expand market share?If there is such a role, the value assessment will introduce new factors.However, according to my contemporary life experience, whether the business is doing well or not has little to do with the tiger skin, let alone ignore it.Some friends I know hang the inscription of a certain leader in their company, or hang a photo with a certain leader, or find a red hat for their company. As far as I know, this is very important for their product competitiveness. does not help.I've also seen these contemporary tiger skins in some hotels and restaurants, and as a consumer I know it has no bearing on my choice, maybe some negative fear of rip-offs - tigers can always caused this concern. In fact, not only in ancient and modern China, the strategy of wearing tiger skin is very common in the entire biological world, because it is a world where the weak eat the strong.There is a word in behavioral ecology: "mimicry" - a butterfly that is obviously not poisonous, but wants to grow into a poisonous butterfly; a butterfly that is obviously low in toxicity, but wants to grow into a highly poisonous butterfly.Poisonous insects are often colorful. Not only do they refuse to camouflage, but they are afraid that predators will not recognize them.Money merchants and shopkeepers buy and sell in the market, making money in harmony, without reliable harming ability and defense means, which can be compared to non-toxic substances.Officials and eunuchs can influence administration, mobilize legal violence for self-defense or harm others, which may be compared to poison. In the mimicry relationship in nature, the mimic has an advantage.They do not need to produce toxins by themselves, which saves resources and obtains a degree of safety similar to that of poisons.In human society, if the simulator wants to take advantage of this, it must divide the fat.Shopkeepers and bank owners have to spend part of their profits every year to buy a not-to-be-provoked outfit from a not-to-provoke person. Ordinarily, the government should protect them from being bullied. The state has collected taxes and fees, and officials have also received salaries from the state. This kind of private secondary distribution should not exist in name.In fact, this set of rules is very popular, because the bullies are usually people in the government, or people supported by the government.Moreover, the asking price of three thousand taels of silver shows that the private rules are quite precise.It also shows that the safety of merchants is scarce, the favor of parental officials is expensive, and the government as a whole is both incompetent and expensive.This kind of cost will inhibit or even block the exploration and progress of a new direction, and curb the growth of a group that is extremely important in today's social division of labor. When Mr. Yang tore off the yellow paper and demolished the shed of shopkeeper Zhao Er, he damaged the value of the tiger skin.After this injury, if Yan's servants sell business cards again, it will be difficult to sell them for three thousand taels of silver.If there is some kind of transaction between eunuch Lu and Zhao Er, the eunuch's value will also drop when the transaction is made in the future.According to this logic, in order to maintain the reputation of the product and the original price, the eunuchs must take retaliatory measures to restore their reputation. Who is Yang Suoxiu?In "History of the Ming Dynasty", the name Yang Suoxiu appeared many times during the reign of Chongzhen. He first served as an admonisher, and then took refuge in the famous villain eunuch Wei Zhongxian. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he first exposed Wei Zhongxian to clear himself.But he didn't clean it up after all, so he was dismissed from his post and sent back to his hometown in Shangcheng County, Henan Province.In the last years of Chongzhen, the peasant rebel army captured Shangcheng County, and Yang Suoxiu was "cursed to death". Are this Yang Suoxiu and Bi Yang Suoxiu the same person?I can't prove it.Yang Suoxiu is not a common name, and the probability of being at the same time, with the same name, and working in the central government seems not too high. The two Yang Suoxiu are probably the same person.The position of Yang Suoxiu, who demolished the shed, was "administrative ... principal", in today's terms, "acting director". This may be the temporary position that Yang Suoxiu, who was a dog for the eunuch chief, was punished.If so, this person is not a Hai Rui-style upright official.Master Yang is difficult to deal with, but he may also be bribed. Should Director Yang demolish that shed?According to the official regulations, of course it should be demolished. He represented the order of maintaining the dignity of the emperor, which was the hardest reason at the time.However, from the interests of consumers and investors, this shed should not be demolished, because both parties need it.This is the hardest reason today.If the shed encroached on the official road and obstructed public transportation, it would be a matter of debate whether it should be demolished or not. We had to see whether it occupied an inch or ten feet, whether the left and right sides had already been occupied by others, and so on.But Director Yang didn't emphasize this point, and we don't need to complicate things, just think about maintaining royal order like him. Even if it was entirely for the sake of maintaining royal order, there was a reason why the shed would not be demolished.The eunuch had pasted yellow paper on it to store royal items, indicating that it was a legal part of royal order.Director Yang went in to check, and eunuch Lu confirmed this himself, and also signed his name and position at the same time, and there was no sign of the emperor shirking responsibility when he pursued it.What's more, the emperor wouldn't care about such trivial matters. It's hard to imagine Chongzhen running in to check like Master Yang.Since it is optional to dismantle it or not, why does Director Yang have to dismantle it? I guess, Master Yang was irritated by the arrogant eunuch Lu.You are just a little minion, but you still dare to grow up in front of me, who do you think I am? If the eunuch Lu is not big enough, use another strategy, pull Master Yang to sit down behind, let the accompanying officials also sit down in front and have a drink, and then tell him sincerely that the things used in the shed have not arrived yet. Idle is also idle, rent it out for two days to earn some tea money for the buddies in the palace.In the end, give Mr. Yang a red envelope. It’s hot. You can call him Bingjing, Guajing or Chengyi. In short, you need to share the profits. Don’t monopolize the profits from selling tiger skins. .In this way, it is not necessarily impossible to find a solution that bests both worlds. However, the eunuchs are used to domineering, and they insist on eating alone; Master Yang has a real tiger behind him, and there is no reason to swallow his anger, so the conflict escalates.Master Yang came prepared, took Zhao Er's shed for a knife, swallowed the sheep in a fit of anger, and hurt the partner of the sheep at the same time. A few days later, five days before the Emperor’s Land Sacrifice Ceremony, the minister and deputy minister of the Ministry of Industry led an inspection team to Fang Zetan to inspect the preparations. Office secretary in charge of supervision work), and several supervisory censors, Director Yang also accompanied his yamen servants.After entering the forbidden area of ​​the altar, eunuch Lu led his thug Wang Shihuo and more than a dozen eunuchs to rush forward, grabbed Yang Suoxiu, beat him, beat him, and tore his official uniform.The yamen servants who followed Mr. Yang were also beaten violently. One of the yamen servants named Dong Ke, who was probably the most active person in demolishing the shed that day, was pushed to the ground and punished twenty-two times. stand up. All the ministers watched the martial arts scene, but no one moved. After the incident, Master Yang immediately wrote a complaint to the emperor.He said that the purpose of dismantling the shed was to "clean the street and honor the grand ceremony." Lu Yongshou dared to disobey the order, beat the officials in charge, and commit suicide in the place where the altar was located.He begged the emperor to order the supervisor of ceremonies to strictly punish Lu Yongshou and Wang Shihuo in order to maintain the royal order. On May 2, the day before the sacrifice, Chongzhen issued an order to request the supervisor of ceremonies to inquire about the situation and report back.The supervisor of ceremonies immediately reported the incident to the emperor, and the emperor gave another order, saying that the streets should be cleaned up.Lu Yongshou beat officials without authorization, which was a problem of cognition.Business as usual.Wang Shihuo was released, and others will not pursue it. And so the matter was settled. In my opinion, this is a battle to redistribute the "blood reward" or "legal reward" under the banner of the royal family and rely on the legal right to harm.Blood rewards—resources that should be allocated to destructive elements—must be available, but the distribution must be fair, and it must be flexibly adjusted according to changes in destructive capabilities, otherwise wars will inevitably occur. Chinese entrepreneurs have created various forms of production relations that adapt to the "level of destructive power".Buying tiger skins is a simple form.Zhao Er not only bought a piece of tiger skin, but also brought in a "sister" - eunuch - in, which is a relatively close partnership.Of course Zhao Er understands that he wants to suck blood, but in the face of the man-eating poisonous snakes and beasts, Zhao Er is willing to bleed.To survive, he had to bleed anyway.In Jianghu slang, giving money is called "Shang Xue", and the bad practice of sending money every month is called "Moon Blood". From the perspective of officials, it is not difficult to call the company a criminal and clean up the company because of this kind of legal harm. The authority department can issue a long list.If it is said that competition in the market determines the rise and fall of an enterprise, competition in the officialdom often determines the life and death of an enterprise.As a result, Chinese companies were forced to create various forms of "shanghai".Sending money on time seems to be the most common form of undermining factor fertilization.In another two to three hundred years, the shareholding system will gradually become popular in China, and the Zhao Ermen will keep pace with the times and create corresponding "hard stocks" - including black shares and power shares.All these forms of production relations reflect the wisdom of Chinese entrepreneurs to "choose the lesser of two evils". So, spend money to buy tiger skins, take the initiative to "grow blood" on time, pull power into the group, and be forced to give hard shares. How should this series of companies with distinctive Chinese characteristics be called to distinguish them from the companies in the textbook?Applying the coinage ideas of "hard stock" and "partnership", we might as well call it "hard partner enterprise"-partnership partners are those hard guys who are very harmful to people's ability or can't be provoked.The popularity of this kind of enterprise form shows the lack of the enterprise itself - the lack of ability or rights to resist infringement. From another perspective, it also shows that the concentration of destructive factors in the living environment has increased abnormally. The hardness of hard partner companies varies greatly.The society of the Ming Dynasty was dominated by administrative power, and the status hierarchy was strict and detailed. People with different identities and levels had different rights and obligations, which meant different damage capabilities and defense capabilities.As a result, hard partner enterprises are also pyramid-shaped, including special hard enterprises, ministerial level hard enterprises, provincial hard work enterprises, county hard work and township hard work, and so on.In the last century, I conducted research in the rural areas of Anhui. I heard that a certain county designated all private entrepreneurs with an output value of more than 10 million yuan as sub-township-level treatment to resist the harassment of small local officials. This is a new creation in the series of hard partner enterprises . In fact, the damage ability and defense ability of hard guys vary from person to person and change at any time.He is also a cabinet scholar, Yan Song is invincible, a business card is worth three thousand taels of silver, Xu Jie is weaker.Yang Suoxiu was in charge of the Ministry of Industry, so he lacked the opportunity to harm merchants and shops, and he was no match for eunuchs in terms of power. However, the emperor wanted to hold a sacrificial ceremony, and he was responsible for cleaning up temporary buildings, so the ability to damage and the corresponding power temporarily increased.As soon as the strength changed, the proportion of fat distribution should be adjusted in time, but the eunuch refused to adjust, so the fight broke out. How to evaluate the gains and losses of all parties involved in the war?The proxy emperor won a big victory.Bleeding shopkeepers are beaten with eggs.Both parties who competed for the blood reward suffered from both sides, both were beaten, and both paid the blood price, and no one benefited.Among them, the eunuchs suffered more losses. In addition to their respective top 20 boards being basically the same, there was an additional loss of being down three levels. If the experience and lessons are summed up, then, from the perspective of eunuchs, the most important thing is to recognize the situation.Tiger skin can scare people, and it can be sold for a good price, but it depends on who to scare.Since I have been wronged, and the other party has the ability to directly sue the tiger, I must adapt to the temporary changing situation, share benefits, and not be too independent. As far as officials in charge are concerned, they should pay attention to their sense of proportion, and the offensive should not be too fierce. It is better to jump on the horse and bow, and give the other party a chance to bargain. He was also beaten. From the emperor's point of view, it is necessary to increase the intensity of sowing dissension.We must encourage internal officials and foreign officials to monitor each other and sue each other, and we must not allow them to unite and find a way to cooperate.Measured by this standard, the emperor should let Yang Suoxiu gain something, and it is worth continuing to offend people for the emperor. From Zhao Er's point of view, hard partner companies still have to run.The tiger skin is still deterrent, and the after-sales service of the eunuchs is also more serious and responsible.However, before cooperating, it is best to see clearly the object of scaring, and don't do business such as wearing tiger skin to scare minions or even scare tigers, otherwise it is inevitable to continue to bleed after bleeding. ——To demand Zhao Er in this way is really the so-called blame, but there is really little room for improvement in the common people.