Long before the Ming Dynasty, Shanxi merchants had been active in northern China for thousands of years. In the Han Dynasty, there was a prosperous scene of "rich merchants and great merchants circling the world, and everything that was traded was indispensable"; in the Song Dynasty, the folk song of "Huahua Zhending Mansion, Splendid Taiyuan City" had begun to be sung everywhere. However, the real rise of the Jin merchants only started in the Ming Dynasty, and by the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi had been known as "the richest in the sea" and could share the world equally with the Hui merchants. So, why did the Shanxi merchants of the Ming and Qing dynasties suddenly rise?
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the "opening of the Chinese law" provided a great opportunity for the development of Shanxi merchants once in a thousand years
In the third year of Hongwu (1368 AD), after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, the remnants of the Yuan and Mongolian forces in the defeated desert still had hundreds of thousands of cavalry, which could invade the south at any time, and maintaining the stability of the northern region and the safety of the people became the top priority of the Ming Dynasty government. Along the line of the old Great Wall that divided Mongolia and Han, Zhu Yuanzhang sent his fourth son, Zhu Di and other princes and grandsons, to lead a large army to garrison, and supervised the large-scale construction and reinforcement of the Great Wall along the border, forming a solid barrier to effectively resist the southward advance of the Mongol army.
The hundreds of thousands of Ming Dynasty troops stationed in the important towns of the nine borders formed the most effective military deterrent against the remnants of the Yuan and Mongolian forces. In addition, since Zhu Yuanzhang began to strengthen and build the Great Wall, after Chenghua, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli dynasties, has never stopped, it can be said that the construction of the Great Wall is almost accompanied by the Ming Dynasty government, and at the same time, a large number of people need to be recruited. How to ensure the supply of so many troops and civilians became a major issue that the Ming Dynasty government had to solve related to the security of the country.
The change in the salt monopoly policy allowed Shanxi merchants to take advantage of the time and place
In the third year of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, that is, in the third year of Hongwu (1370), the government implemented the Kaizhong Salt Law, "summoning merchants to transport grain and salt with it". In other words, as long as the merchants delivered a sufficient amount of grain to the important towns in the north according to the order, they could obtain a salt monopoly license and salt introduction issued by the government, and then go to the designated salt-producing areas to collect the salt and return to their hometowns to sell. At the same time, the government stopped buying salt with cash, and transporting grain for salt became the only choice for merchants, thus ensuring the demand of the northern garrison for a large number of materials such as grain through the mobilization of people.
The number of troops stationed on the nine sides reached more than 80 million at the peak, and the military salary cost increased year by year, only more than 40 million at the beginning, and it has increased to more than 280 million in the Longqing period, forming a huge military consumption area. Among them, there are two towns of Datong and Taiyuan in Shanxi, which surround the garrison of the general army of the border towns, and there are also more than a dozen border defense posts of large and small, which provide convenience for the development of Shanxi merchants. Since ancient times, Shanxi merchants have made profits by selling salt in Hedong Salt Pond, and are very familiar with the whole process of salt production, transportation and sales, so they have taken the lead in this salt sales business, and the business scope has rapidly expanded to the whole country.
The abolition of the government-run policy of the iron industry has strengthened Shanxi, which ranks first in iron ore production
Due to the active role played by Shanxi merchants in supporting the border front, the government granted them the monopoly rights of the Changlu Salt Works in Tianjin and the Lianghuai Salt Works in the south, in addition to the Hedong Salt Works. With their unique shrewdness, Shanxi merchants quickly occupied a considerable share of these two places, and shared the benefits with the local salt merchants. Later, even the Gyeonggi region was intervened by Shanxi merchants. According to the record of volume 128 of the "Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty", the government of the Ming Dynasty once issued a special edict: "The merchants and people of Shanxi today accept salt and grain in the Shuntian Mansion, and it is advisable to order them to go to each guard house on the way." ”
In the later period of Hongwu, in order to ensure the supply of weapons and equipment for the nine-sided army, the government canceled the policy of official camps in the iron industry. At that time, there were 32 prefectures and counties in Shanxi rich in iron ore, the output ranked first in the country, the iron smelting technology and cast iron industry were also leading in the country, coupled with the perennial experience of traveling the world to sell salt, so that Shanxi iron products were quickly sold throughout the country, in addition to weapons, there were all kinds of tools, daily necessities, and even handicrafts such as iron oxen and iron lions.
Because Shanxi merchants seized the opportunity of the government to open up the monopoly of salt and iron at the first time, they quickly sprung up in the business circles and accumulated huge wealth, laying a solid economic foundation for the Qing Dynasty to enter the steppe and the Russian market after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty.