Chapter 323 The industrialized Ming Dynasty and the modernized Ming army
The clan members were forced to stay in the capital by Zhu Houzhao. Naturally, they were not as free in the capital as they were in the vassal palace. The environment they lived in every day was naturally not as good as in the palace, and they had to be monitored by the guards. .
However, these nearly 10,000 members of the clan could not rise up, and they did not even have the courage to rebel. Every day they could only sigh and hang out in the fireworks and wine alley and get drunk.
But in any case, the clan reform is still in progress, and the detailed rules of the clan reform introduced by Zhu Taihan have been approved by the cabinet resolution and issued to the world.
However, during this reform, Zhu Houzhao and the officials of the imperial court discovered that although the vassal princes could not resist the imperial clan reform, they could implement soft violence to resist.
The most obvious one is to simply sink to the bottom and live in the alley of fireworks and wine, which is considered a light thing. Some people simply gamble all their money in a night, and then loan out ten years of their salary on credit. Some gambling hall owners even put their accounts behind. We are about to arrive at the clan mansion.
As for stealing things, it is even more common to eat the King's meal. You are not afraid of being arrested by the people of Shuntian Mansion. In short, you have completely behaved yourself in such a way that you can't stand up to the wall. I am determined to degenerate to the end and be shameless. Your court cannot do that. No matter what I look like!
"Your Majesty, these clans dare not commit big things now, and they keep committing small things. Even the Si Yamen dare not punish them too harshly. Now they have made the whole capital restless. The king of Shu, Zhu Rangxu, is because of his subordinates. The restriction on concubinage will begin in the next month. In the past few days, I have taken in five concubines in the capital. I have spent all my money and have no money to buy rice. I am sitting in front of the Hubu Yamen to pay next year's annual salary! "
Zhang Cong, the chief minister of the cabinet, could not help but state to Zhu Houzhao some of the current situation of the clan members after they stayed in Beijing.
Zhu Houzhao did not expect that these clans would still play like this and be able to ignore their own status to such an extent. However, as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he could not ignore the life and death of nearly 10,000 clans. After all, these clans were still human beings. My own clan in this world.
"We have to give them something to do. Didn't I ask your cabinet to issue an announcement to open up the ban on the four peoples? None of these vassal princes do anything serious?" Zhu Houzhao asked.
Zhang Cong shook his head: "The clan members are used to being pampered. Whether it is farming or doing business, they are not willing to do it. They will only ask their subordinates to do it. However, now the imperial court has replaced their subordinates' guards with people from the imperial court. , naturally they can’t do anything, so they can’t do anything.”
"It seems that the imperial court still has to solve the employment problem of these clans," Zhu Houzhao said helplessly. He knew that these clans were using soft violence to deal with him, and they forced themselves, the emperor, to have no choice but to let themselves go. Don't let them return to the feudal land and become free princes.
Zhu Houzhao met with Zhu Taihan and others from the Zongren Mansion. In the past few days, the Zongren Mansion composed of Zhu Taihan, Zhu Houcong, and Zhu Zailei was the leading organization in the clan reform, and was specifically responsible for statistics on the heirs, concubines, and expertise of each clan. work, and even eliminated many fake clans.
In this process, it was inevitable that the grumpy feudal prince would not support the work of the three people, and some court officials would even fan the flames. Although Zhu Taihan was good at giving suggestions, he was unable to be decisive when encountering problems. It was Zhu Houcong who used both carrot and stick tactics to make these clan members No one dared to embarrass the clan's mansion, and even used the identity of the emperor's eldest son Zhu Zailei to defeat the clan and establish the authority of the clan's mansion.
Zhu Houzhao saw all this in his eyes and further confirmed that Zhu Taihan was an ideal and insightful person. Zhu Houzhao obviously concealed his ignorance and clumsiness at ordinary times, but he was still able to show off his tricks when he encountered trouble. He was worthy of his repeated defeats for civil servants in history. set The reputation of the regiment, and his eldest son seems to have both, but sometimes it is more like a sign, because the eldest son has a special status in Confucian etiquette, so both the clan and the courtiers give him some points because he is the eldest son. face.
Now, since the clan's problems have not been solved yet, Zhu Houzhao still wants to let them handle it. In Zhu Houzhao's view, maybe the clan's mansion can play more functions, not only managing the clan's Jade Emperor's salary and benefits Among other things, they should also manage the clan's moral code of conduct as well as education and employment.
Zhu Houzhao expressed this idea to Zhu Taihan and others, and Zhu Taihan and others couldn't help but think deeply after hearing this.
Zhu Houcong was the first to have an idea, but he was unwilling to speak out first. He would rather have someone step forward and bear the risk of offending others.
Zhu Zailei's mind has been on the research on cylinder boring of two-expansion steam engines. He has little interest in government affairs, especially the clansmen who manage his family. He even feels that it is not necessary. If these clansmen themselves do not live up to their expectations and do not work hard, why should the court? Regardless of his life or death.
Although Zhu Taihan was only the prince, he was really thinking about it. After thinking for a while, he said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the reason why the clan members are idle is due to lack of discipline. Since they are not good at politics, agriculture or business, it is better to let them study. , ask strict teachers to manage them and make them mature, and then the court will distribute them to various places according to their academic merit. ”
Zhu Houzhao nodded: "That can only be the case. Studying may be the most suitable for these vassal kings. Your sect's mansion and the academic department jointly established a royal academy. From offering wine to teaching, the most stringent people must be in charge. At the same time, Just like the palace school, these clans are managed in the strictest way! Graduates are directly assigned by the Ministry of Officials! ”
then.
A new institution of higher learning thus emerged.
The so-called Royal Academy is obviously also a so-called aristocratic university. However, Zhu Houzhao does not intend for the Royal Academy to be filled with all clan members. The circle needs to communicate with each other, otherwise these clan children will never know people from all walks of life.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao wanted the Royal Academy to be mainly responsible for training the children of the clan. At the same time, it should not recruit less than 10% of the students from poor families and no less than 10% of the students from the aristocratic families. This way, the children of the clan can understand to diligent and intelligent students from poor families and talented children from aristocratic families.
At this time, the acting king Zhu Junzhen complained about this. He had not even been afraid of being in the prison of the Ministry of Justice before, but now being locked up in the Royal Academy made his life miserable, and the thought of being imprisoned for not memorizing the nine-nine multiplication table The old-fashioned old scholar was beaten until his palms were as swollen as bear paws, and he started crying, shouting that he wanted to return to his fiefdom.
Zhu Houzhao also came to the Royal Academy that day. When he heard the clan children crying and howling inside, he was in a good mood. In his opinion, if he could educate these clan children well, he would not be able to cultivate a few pillars. Talent, but it’s good as long as it doesn’t completely turn into waste.
It was only then that the reform of the clans was almost concluded. It was a fact that the feudal kings were trapped in the capital. As for how these feudal kings would use them in the future, it was naturally a matter of the future.
Zhu Houzhao felt that it was best for these vassal kings to always follow the academic route. After all, as royal relatives, these clans naturally had no worries about food and clothing. Whether they were engaged in business or politics, they would inevitably receive special care because of their status. If they engaged in academic research, their special status The special treatment brought by them is conducive to allowing them to abandon utilitarianism and engage in research with peace of mind.
Moreover, for some people who still value the ancestral system in their hearts, they would rather see clan members engaged in academic research rather than farming and doing business.
In order to cultivate the interest of the clan children in academic research, Zhu Houzhao also specially prepared to take these clan children to the Ming Dynasty's scientific research base in the capital to observe. Of course, the recapture of Jiaozhi is about to take place, and according to the information provided by Jinyiwei, with the Ming Dynasty has been in a trade surplus position for a long time and had previously Some unfriendly actions by Portugal and others have caused these Western forces and even Japan and other countries to boycott the Ming Dynasty's trade, and even have the intention of retaliating against the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao really needs to have a good understanding of the Ming Dynasty's technological and industrial progress, and take a look at the Ming Dynasty. How much more confidence it has gained in the global struggle for hegemony.
The start of modern education in the Ming Dynasty started with the establishment of the Capital University, but the start of natural science research in the Ming Dynasty started with the establishment of the Royal Industrial Experimental Base. It started as the personal behavior of the emperor Zhu Houzhao, but now it has become a strategy that the entire country needs to pay attention to. base.
Today, the western part of the imperial capital is now the political and technological center of the empire.
In terms of science and technology, the area to the left of the Imperial City Xiyuan includes the comprehensive Capital University, the Military Research University and the Imperial University of Defense Science and Technology run by Yang Yiqing, as well as the Daming Industrial School focusing on engineering, and the newly established Royal Academy. Universities such as Gongxue, as well as research institutions such as the Ming Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, and the Ordnance Bureau, as well as manufacturing companies such as the Royal Industrial Company, can be said to be an industrial base integrating industry, academia, and research.
If the ironworks and some chemical plants were not moved to Tongzhou due to environmental factors, the industrial system here would be even more complete.
Of course, if you add the shipbuilding and naval warfare weapons research institutions in Nanjing and Quanzhou, it will be more complete.
Ming Dynasty has now entered the stage of steam smelting and mining in heavy industry.
In the mechanical industry, improvements in steel smelting technology have made it possible to manufacture hydraulically driven boring machines. Otherwise, good steam engines would not have been produced, and the emergence of boring machines made it possible to boring steam cylinders.
The bored steam cylinder has better air tightness, and this has even led to the development of a two-expansion steam engine. Once the multi-expansion steam engine is successfully developed, it means that it will be possible to build a steam ship.
However, it is now feasible to build steam locomotives.
Even at the experimental base of the Daming Engineering Institute, simple railway tracks and simple locomotives have been used to transport large experimental equipment and equipment.
However, Zhu Houzhao's main concern now is the manufacturing of firearms, artillery, gunpowder and other weapons.
After all, war may happen at any time, and if Ming Dynasty can improve its weapons manufacturing technology to a higher level, it will undoubtedly be more confident in winning the battle for world hegemony.
Zhu Houzhao changed into a Ming Dynasty blue military uniform and led a group of people into the production workshop strictly controlled by the Ordnance Bureau.
The rumbling sound of hydraulic impact sounded like a huge thunder next to the boring machine, while the standard gun barrels and gun barrels were bored out one by one, and passed directly to the inspection workers' workbench through the assembly line, where they were carried out. Inspection, then loading and transporting to the outer platform through pulleys for test firing.
The whole process was very orderly and efficient. Zhu Houzhao even personally inspected a gun barrel. It was obvious that the Ming Dynasty gun barrel could be bored out of rifling, and the rifling threads were gradually becoming finer, and the materials used to make the gun barrel were also improving. Gradually, it changed from simple and separable copper and iron metals to alloy barrels doped with various heavy metals.
"At present, the Ordnance Bureau has eliminated smoothbore gun barrels and gun barrels, and all have adopted rifled tubes. We have specialized boring masters who are paid a high salary of one thousand silver dollars a month. These boring masters are basically guaranteed to be able to manufacture smoothbore guns at the same time. The speed of the barrel is the same as the barrel of a gun. Your Majesty's arrival today is just right. I and a few boring machines The master craftsman and Academician Cheng of the Capital University have made a gun that can fire continuously without pulling the bolt. This gun should be the machine gun mentioned by His Majesty, but it is larger, has a lot of pipes, and has a water tank. Even if there is Even if it is pushed by wheels, four or five people have to wait on it.”
At this time, Academician Tong vividly told Zhu Houzhao about his latest research results. Zhu Houzhao was also very curious after hearing this, and he was busy taking him to see it.
So, Zhu Houzhao followed Academician Tong to the Ordnance Bureau's experimental campus, and not long after, technicians from the Ordnance Bureau came out pushing a large iron lump that was no different from an artillery cart. The officials and clan members following Zhu Houzhao all started talking about it.
While these clan members and officials were still discussing, Zhu Houzhao couldn't wait to ask Academician Tong to start test firing immediately. He was able to decide that this machine gun was very similar to the Gatling of later generations, but it was slightly larger, and The water tank for cooling is also larger.
Bang bang bang!
Not long after, this Ming Dynasty version of the extra-large Gatling began to fire, and bursts of white smoke overflowed from the multiple barrels. The operator kept turning the barrels, firing bullets one by one, hitting the target hard. The wooden target opposite was riddled with holes.
Except for Zhu Houzhao, all the officials and clan disciples present opened their mouths. They all couldn't believe that there could be such a firearm. They didn't know whether to call it a cannon or a gun.
Gui E, the Minister of War, immediately turned around and suggested: "Your Majesty, I suggest that we immediately mass-produce such guns. If we have these guns, there will be no cavalry!"
"Don't worry, Guibudang. This gun can't be mass-produced yet. It's just an experimental finished product now. It will take some time until it can be standardized and mass-produced," Academician Tong couldn't help but cough as he spoke.
Zhu Houzhao nodded: "No rush, but I hope it can accompany my Ming soldiers to the southwest to fight monkeys in the future!"
Hit the monkey?
Everyone present did not understand what the monkey was talking about, but Gui E suddenly realized: "Your Majesty gave the native people of Jiaozhi the name monkey, and the meaning is appropriate! If you hit a monkey with this thing, if you think about it, the monkey will be beaten." It’s fun to jump up and down! ”
……
Turning around, Zhu Houzhao now has to admit that the current Ming Dynasty is no longer comparable to any country in the world in terms of technology and industry.
At the same time, Europe was still in the early stages of the rise of capitalism.
Because Portugal was deprived of its routes and trade markets by the Ming Dynasty, its international status shrank extremely. Only Spain still dominated the Western Hemisphere by relying on trade on the Atlantic and plunder in North America.
Not to mention the Americas, the tragic fate of the Indians has just begun. The Inca Empire in South America was retreating steadily under the northward strategy of Marquis Jianchang of the Ming Dynasty. In less than half a month, the Inca Empire perished due to the disparity in strength between the two sides.
In Asia, except for the Ottoman Empire, which spans Europe and Asia, and is somewhat powerful, the Ming Dynasty has nothing to fear.
The real threat to Ming Dynasty still lies within.
The accumulation of wealth can make a person become corrupt, and it can also make an empire lose its enterprising mentality.
The strong small-scale peasant economy still allows Confucianism to persist in this land. There are still many scholar-bureaucrats who emphasize agriculture over business and tend to be conservative. There are still people who hope that the empire will stop conquests, cultivate royal principles internally, and be friendly to neighbors externally.
But now, Zhu Houzhao could see that the empire's industrialization was an irreversible trend.
The steam industry has made the empire's urbanization more and more obvious. In the Jiangnan, Guangdong and Guangxi regions, and the Gyeonggi region, there are already a considerable number of bourgeoisie, handicraftsmen, and working class. In the eastern region, tens of millions of people rely on labor and employment. No one in business would dare to make tens of millions of people unemployed in order to restore the ancestral system.
There are even many such people involved in court politics.
Moreover, the current rapidly advancing industry is not driven by the profit needs of such people, and there are already a large group of professional people in science and technology and industrial research and teaching. Their political status is not low, and their status in economic life is not low. Low, his enthusiasm for natural science is no less than that of some masters after the European Renaissance.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao believed that even after a hundred years, it would be difficult for the newly enthroned emperor and the new ruling group of the Ming Dynasty to turn the Ming Dynasty back to an empire that was absolutely controlled by Confucian society and only knew how to close the country, emphasize agriculture and suppress business, and tend to be conservative and rigid.
The landlord class, that is, the scholar-bureaucrat class, is now unable to ignore the trend of the decrease in the number of tenant farmers, nor can it change this trend. The huge profits from industry and commerce have also forced them to transform from traditional landlords to industrial and commercial capitalists, and the tenant farmers have also transformed from landless farmers. Gradually become workers.
However, both the traditional scholar-bureaucrats and the emerging bourgeoisie who have transformed have a certain degree of selfishness. If they can, they will try not to pay taxes. If they can, they will evade taxes and evade taxes. This forced Zhu Houzhao to first implement the new tax policy in Jiangnan and then in the Customs. After the mining tax was re-imposed, the empire finally became an empire that could be reasonably controlled by the central court.
The Ming Empire has now become a capital-industrial empire with an autocratic monarchy. What it needs most is raw materials, and agricultural products are also one of the raw materials. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty came up with the idea of recovering Jiaozhi for the sake of food.
Many scholar-bureaucrats with relatively conservative ideas looked at this phenomenon helplessly, watching the Guards officers and soldiers being transported south one after another on the newly built cement road.
At this time, Wang Yi, the official of the Shandong Procuratorate, saw these guards holding steel guns, pushing artillery carts, or riding large carriages galloping on the wide cement road:
"I didn't expect it. I didn't expect that the imperial court allocated huge sums of money to build this cement official road leading directly to Guangdong and Guangxi. It recruited nearly 200,000 Shandong refugees to open the road. It turned out to be to facilitate the transportation of troops to the south today! Where is the concrete road really built? The Ming Dynasty The army will arrive wherever it goes, but this brutal and militaristic move may not be a blessing to the country!”
Although the traditional scholar-bureaucrats were worried about the imperial court's external expansion, the officers and soldiers participating in the Guards were full of smiles at the moment.
"If you don't see me, the army of the Han Dynasty will be over. The weak and crowned prisoners will ask for long tassels. If you don't see me, the ban will be far away, and the light cavalry of the Jueyu will urge the war clouds! A man should be in a dangerous line, how can he let a scholar and a crown miss his life?..."
At this time, an adapted version of a military song that had been passed from Ouchi to military academies and then to the Guards was being sung loudly by the Guards officers and soldiers walking among the rapeseed flowers on the cement road.
They are full of spirit and enthusiastic about war. The generous reward system and military merit system, as well as the class that can be directly converted into soldiers after retirement and serve as grassroots officials and even be promoted to senior officials, naturally make them highly motivated to fight. .
They are not afraid even of death. The empire's insurance system and pension system allow their children to receive special care because they are orphans of martyrs. Precisely because there are soldiers at the bottom who dare to die generously on the battlefield.
The political department of the army has also done enough ideological work for them, so that they now not only understand who they are fighting for but also why they are fighting. Unlike in the past, army officers and soldiers did not know why they participated in this war even when they arrived on the battlefield. war.
At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Guards already knew from the officers and officials of the political system that they were doing a just thing, to regain their homeland for the Ming Dynasty, rescue the compatriots who were enslaved in Cochin, and fight for enough food for their families. Therefore, they have no psychological burden for the upcoming war, nor do they feel that they are invading or committing a crime, and they even truly regard this war as their own career.
Yu Dayou, a young officer who graduated from the Military Command Academy of the Ming Dynasty, was studying the materials borrowed from the Royal Library about the conquest of Jiaozhi during the Yongle period. Although he was only temporarily stationed in Baoqing Mansion at this time, he often received military command education all year round. He and several junior officers who were traveling with him were playing a sandbox game, and they all regarded the war to regain Cochin as a career they were passionate about.
This kind of army is the same as the army that fought for ideals and doctrines in later generations. Once it spiritually accepts war and even hopes to realize its own value through war, its combat effectiveness is undoubtedly terrifying, even without advanced weapons.
The unfounded scholar-officials could not stop these Guards officers and soldiers whose minds had been armed with ideological weapons.
When the common people are well fed and clothed, they have no resistance to these officers and soldiers with strict military disciplines. Even because a large number of grassroots officials are filled by retired officers and soldiers of the Guards, plus the military-civilian relations established by the Guards from the beginning The family mentality makes the people at the bottom particularly respect the officers and soldiers of the Guards, and the relationship between the military and the people is particularly close, which changes the previous concept that the people regarded soldiers as bandits.
The literati's description of the food in the pot has even become a reality.
At this time, Yu Dayou had just entered a village and was about to find a village here to discuss the matter of staying and staying. A hundred people pointed at the Ming Dynasty version of Gatling carried by several people and asked: "Master, where are you going to fight?" , why go south, what are you carrying, so many pipes?”
"Fellow, you don't know, we are going to the south, that's called a machine gun, specially designed to fight monkeys!"
Yu Dayou said something.
The phrase "Take a machine gun and go to Cochin to shoot monkeys" spread from the Ministry of War to the Guards, and it suddenly became popular. Now even basic commanders like Yu Dayou say it out of habit.
Thank you to the book friend Sword Soul Platform for the reward of 2500 starting coins. Thank you to the book friend Tao Shen for the reward of 100 starting coins
(End of chapter)