Zhu Ping'an was an official. Could officials engage in business in the Ming Dynasty
The answer is yes.
The Ming Dynasty Code clearly stipulates that officials above the fourth rank are prohibited from engaging in business, but Zhu Ping'an is now a fifth rank official, which is not the category prohibited by the Ming Dynasty Code. Therefore, if Zhu Ping'an engages in business now, there will be no problem of violating discipline at all, and he does not have to worry about being reported.
Moreover, this kind of legal constraint is becoming less and less effective. In the present Ming Dynasty, there are many officials above the fourth rank who are engaged in business, but they are just using a shell company to run the business.
Especially when Emperor Jiajing's predecessor, his cousin Zhu Houzhao, was emperor, this restriction prohibiting officials from doing business was in name only.
Zhu Houzhao, the Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, had three well-known hobbies. His first hobby was fighting. He liked to confer various titles on himself, such as Duke of the State, Mighty General, and Grand Commander, and often led the army to war in person. His second hobby was teasing women. Zhu Houzhao often liked to go on secret visits and tease decent women on the streets. Once, he was even handed over to the government by righteous people for teasing decent women. You can imagine how shocked and shocked the officials were when they saw that the prisoner was the emperor. His third hobby was doing business. When Zhu Houzhao was in the mood, he would set up various shops in the palace, making it like a market, with shops selling meat, jugglers, candied haws, and clothes. He even opened brothels and restaurants, and let palace maids and eunuchs play the role of merchants and customers in the market.
Therefore, after Zhu Houzhao's actions, the ban on officials above the fourth rank from doing business was greatly weakened and became meaningless.
Another advantage of doing business in the Ming Dynasty was the low commercial taxes.
The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was pitifully low. At the beginning of the Hongwu period, it was stipulated that "all commercial taxes shall be one in thirty, and those who exceed the limit shall be treated as violating the order." After that, the tax was only reduced and not increased.
Of course, Zhu Ping'an is also facing many problems now.
The first problem to be solved is the store. If you want to enter the fast food industry, the first problem you need to solve is the store. You can’t talk about catering without a store. In ancient times, there was no Meituan or Ele.me. People could cook and deliver food at home.
Zhu Ping'an walked around and found no signs that the store was going to cash out.
Zhu Ping'an also asked a few stores. Some had lukewarm business, while others had very poor business, but none of the store owners had any intention of selling.
Never mind. There’s no point in asking like this.
Zhu Ping'an walked out with a boss's strange look in his eyes, turned around and walked out, ready to find a real estate agent.
If you want to rent a house, find an agent. This sentence was also effective in the Ming Dynasty.
The real estate agents in the Ming Dynasty were called "Fangya", which evolved from the word "yashang". The reason why they were called "yashang" was that the original "yashang" were intermediaries in the livestock market, bringing together sellers and buyers of livestock to reach a deal. These "yashang" were experts in identifying the age and health of livestock. They could tell the age and health of the livestock just by looking at the teeth of the livestock. Over time, people gave them the name "yashang".
Renting a house in the Ming Dynasty was different from the modern times. In the modern times, you can rent a house without going through an intermediary. The landlord and the tenant can directly sign a contract or make a verbal agreement. However, this was not possible in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, if you wanted to rent a house, you had to go through an intermediary, that is, Fangya.
The Ming Dynasty had very strict management of real estate transactions. Private sales and leasing were not allowed. The buyer and seller had to sign the official version of the contract, with the signature of the real estate agent as guarantor. The buyer and seller paid the deed tax and registered with the government before the transaction would take effect. Those who did not follow this procedure were illegal and would be fined or imprisoned.
Therefore, renting a house and finding an agent was not only an advertisement in the Ming Dynasty, but also a system. It is for this reason that Fangya has the most accurate and complete house information in the Ming Dynasty.
Like modern real estate agents, real estate agents also charge agency fees. However, they are different from modern real estate agents in that they need to urge and supervise both parties to pay taxes at the government office in accordance with regulations. If there is tax evasion in a transaction, the real estate agent responsible will be held responsible and will be convicted.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were two types of house agents: official house agents and private house agents. Official house agents, as the name suggests, were government-affiliated real estate agents.
This is the kind of official tooth that Zhu Ping'an was looking for.
It's a bit like the Housing Authority.
The official office in charge of the Qihuamen area was nearby, and Zhu Ping'an arrived there in less than ten minutes.
This is a busy city within a busy city. The office feels a bit like a government office, but without that strict and solemn feeling.
On the contrary it's quite lively.
Many people come to Guanya to seek services.
The official institutions show the beginnings of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty, and business in the Ming Dynasty was quite prosperous.
There were five officials working in the office. When Zhu Ping'an arrived, there were already more than ten people surrounding the officials in the room.
The five officials in the room were all busy and had nowhere to go. No one could spare the time to entertain Zhu Ping'an.
There were five or six people in the room waiting and chatting in twos and threes. Some of them came here to register for renting or selling properties, and some were waiting to lease or buy properties. If both parties could reach an agreement, they could just go directly to the official to go through the procedures, which would greatly improve efficiency.
Fortunately, the officials were very efficient. After Zhu Ping'an waited for a while, an official came free.
After Guan Ya understood Zhu Ping'an's needs, he took out a registration book and asked Zhu Ping'an to register.
"Wait, you are Master Zhu Ping'an?! Please take a seat."
When Guan Ya saw the name Zhu Ping'an registered, he was shocked, as if he had seen an idol. His surprised voice attracted other Guan Ya nearby.
What made Zhu Ping'an even more surprised was that after hearing this, the other officials actually put down the parties they were working on, stood up in unison, surrounded him, and greeted him.
Uh, am I that famous
Zhu Ping'an was stunned for a moment, unable to react.
"Someone, pour tea for Master Zhu."
“Pour good tea”
The enthusiasm of these five officials was so extraordinary that Zhu Ping'an was completely confused.
What's going on
After a while, Zhu Ping'an realized that it was because of his inspection of the treasury that the Taicang Silver Treasury Case broke out, which then led to a large number of officials having their properties searched and divided, and a large number of properties being confiscated or sold off.
This has injected a large amount of fresh capital into the capital city where housing supply is tight.
This has greatly benefited the Fangya in Xinghuamen. Originally, they did not have many houses available. Now, the Xinghuamen area they are responsible for has more than a hundred houses added, and each person has received 10 to 20 houses.
A good cook cannot cook without rice.
Fangya is a skilled housewife and housing resources are the rice in the pot. Housing resources mean income for Fangya.
That's why they were so excited when they heard Zhu Ping'an's name, and they felt a strong sense of gratitude towards Zhu Ping'an.