Ancient Merchant‖The failed business between Jiang Ziya and the Shang Dynasty

Jiang Ziya, also known as Jiang Shang, was born in the late Shang and early Zhou dynasties. Because his ancestor assisted Yu the Great for his meritorious service in water and soil, he was granted the title of Lu, so he took Lu as his surname, also known as Lu Shang.

When he was born, "the family situation was already in decline, so when he was young, Jiang Ziya worked as a butcher who slaughtered cattle and sold meat, and also opened a hotel and sold wine to make up for the lack of food." At the end of the Shang Dynasty, whether he did Is the business very simple?

During the Shang Dynasty, due to the improvement of productivity, animal husbandry, agriculture and handicrafts had been separated. The abundance of commodities and the improvement of the slave system made the "Yin people pay high prices" begin to pursue profits. As a result, a group of people gradually appeared in society who were not engaged in production, but specialized in exchange. Of course, people of the Shang Dynasty conducted frequent transactions, which was also related to various policies of the Shang Dynasty.

First of all, the Shang Dynasty had developed road facilities and transportation. "The king's road is mediocre, but the king's road is rough." In the Shang Dynasty, with Wangyi as the center, major transportation channels were established in the four directions of east, west, north and south. At the same time, "枼殮" and "渮" were set up on the road to provide food and accommodation for the Shang kings and nobles. This also provides convenience for business activities.

Secondly, the medium of commodity exchange - "Bei" appeared in the Shang Dynasty, and Bei assumed the role of currency. "Bei" is based on "peng", with five in one line and two lines in one peng. This changes the exchange from barter to a real buyer-seller relationship.

At that time, the cities of the Shang Dynasty had begun to become fixed. In terms of simple buildings, compared with Xia's residence, it had developed into a city. There were nine cities in the city, and there were various handicrafts. There are workshops and shops in the market, and shops are places where goods are exchanged. Moreover, the Shang Dynasty utilized copper mines better than the Xia Dynasty. The improvement of production tools also promoted the development of agriculture and handicrafts, and the increase in social products made commerce separate from agriculture, animal husbandry and handicrafts and become an independent industry.

At the end of the Shang Dynasty, the population of Chaoge, the capital of Shang Dynasty, reached more than 50,000, while the population of the previous city was only 10,000. Such a large floating population illustrates the prosperity of business at that time. But in such an environment, why does Jiang Ziya, as the "Grand Master of Hundreds of Schools", lose his intelligence and always fail in business?

This is because the commercial activities at that time mainly served slave owners, large and small, and various exchanges and sales were conducted between slave owners and nobles. They mainly exchanged various rare and exotic treasures, cattle, horses, slaves, large quantities of grain, tools, salt, copper and other materials.

Therefore, this exchange was also organized by the slave-owning nobles, but at this time, it was different from the Xia Dynasty. The slave-owners had begun to enjoy the profits and instruct their slaves to carry out long-distance trading activities.

During the long-term trafficking process, these big merchants not only collected rare treasures for slave owners, but also provided goods needed for civilian production and life. At the same time, there are also products that can be exchanged between individual craftsmen and farmers, so the "shopkeepers" appeared. However, what these people exchange is not the items they produce, but the products of others purchased centrally, which requires a certain economic foundation, so these merchants must be the middle class in society.

And our Taigong has been cultivating Taoism in the mountains for forty years. After coming down from the mountains, he has neither much capital nor connections, nor the skills required by society. He can only do some small business like a small businessman. business, such as selling fences and flour, slaughtering cattle and selling meat, and selling wine in hotels. But even for this trivial matter, the Taigong, who was knowledgeable, knowledgeable, and knowledgeable about astronomy and geography, failed to do it well. Why on earth is this?

Please read the story of the ancient merchant——Jiang Ziya