Chapter 471 Steam engines are meant to eat people
The Ming Dynasty’s attitude toward Fanyi is undergoing fundamental changes. It is not difficult to explain the changes clearly. In summary, it is that from the beginning, the father has Addiction has turned into the extreme conservatism now.
Zeng Shengwu is this type of extremely conservative person. When the rebellious barbarians appear on the borders of the empire, killing them all is the most effective way. This kind of attitude that is not open and inclusive at all is extremely conservative. He This is what I thought and did. In the first year of Wanli, only the hanging coffin was left to prove that Duzhangman survived from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the first year of Wanli.
Being addicted to a father is not a compliment. He wants to save face and suffer the consequences. When the war with the Northern Barbarians is clearly unwinnable and peace talks must be held, he has been dragging his feet for four years, just for the sake of who will be the father. When his son's face was a problem, the Jiajing captives became involved in the Japanese invasion, and Ming Gong finally completely suppressed the power of the Rouyuan people in the court.
Zhang Juzheng always discussed a problem, that is, overcorrection must be overcorrected. This kind of thing always happens.
When civil and military forces were promoted, the troops were released to the Nanshan Mountains, and the civil servants who patrolled the local area killed and killed the generals, and the court remained silent; when the people of Rouyuan failed, they were completely wiped out. When promoting martial arts, it is easy to be careless and lead to the separatist state of vassal towns; when not paying attention to technological progress, the craftsmen are trampled on the low-level list, and those who criticize strange skills are obscene and opportunistic. Those who value technological progress At that time, craftsmen were praised higher than gods.
Lin Fucheng’s theory that only productivity allows everyone to have freedom, is to praise craftsmen and technological progress higher than gods. The key is to be logically self-consistent, completely forgetting how to criticize craftsmen in the first place, chattering loudly Shout: Those who use miraculous tricks will be punished! I have completely forgotten that technological progress was encouraged by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun, who practiced it personally for several years.
The method of building official factories and regiments is a vertical scale of history. It is the farming method of the Han Dynasty, the military system of the Tang Dynasty, the military garrison of the Ming Dynasty, the residence of Emperor Cheng Zuwen and the craftsman's house, and the twenty-seventh voyage of the great voyage. The horizontal scale of government-run shipyards is Xishan Shengzhou Womagang Coal Bureau, Yongsheng Yongding Lanzhou Woolen Official Factory, five major shipyards, nine municipal shipping companies, and five ocean-going trading houses.
The government-factory group-building method is the dual result of vertical scale and horizontal scale. The court that really listened to Lin Fucheng should not interfere too much, but it would achieve nothing.
I was full when I ate the fifth bun. I said annoyedly, if I had known that I would be full after eating the fifth bun, why would I eat the other four?
The sun rises when the rooster crows.
Zeng Shengwu believed that the best way to deal with the Toungoo Dynasty was to completely conquer the Toungoo Dynasty. In this regard, the court Minggong could not say anything to Zeng Shengwu, because Zeng Shengwu came from the southwest and knew the things there better.
In Zeng Shengwu’s opinion, there is a disease in Taungoo and a serious disease in Mangyingli, which needs to be treated with blunderbuss and artillery.
The people over there recognize this. You are so loud and angry and want to discuss things. They don't understand. Only the roar of firecrackers and artillery can make Mang Yingli wake up completely.
The deployment of troops to Taungoo has become a foregone conclusion, but we still have to wait until the city of Malacca is completely captured. This is a choke point. Even Zhu Yijun, who has zero military talent, knows that under normal circumstances, bypassing To fight through passes or cities is to completely expose one's supply lines to the enemy, and to expose one's back to the enemy is suicide.
“Return the fields.” Zhang Juzheng saw that no one wanted to mention it, so he had to say it himself.
This thing is really a big deal. Even if we talk about it, the attitude of the gentlemen is to avoid it.
"Is this a long-term plan? Is it better to discuss it slowly?" Wang Chonggu naturally finished reading the book. The long book made Wang Chonggu sleepless and he was stunned for a moment. I'm stunned. He even hired a field sergeant to allocate all the four differences of the poll tax to the fields. This was just to force people into working as cows and horses in government factories. This was already a treacherous official. Among them, he was so scolded that he felt dizzy.
As soon as Zhang Juzheng took action, it was "Returning to the Fields", and it was compiled in extremely detail, which was obviously based on planning.
Wan Shihe also immediately said: "That's it, it's better to wait for another two years and wait for the money to be profitable again before we discuss it."
Wan Shihe likes to make peace and make compromises. He really doesn't like this kind of thing where the position is too clear. If this combination of punches continues, the Ming court will completely stand on the opposite side of Shi Yao Hao You. Will the Ming court After learning from the Southern Song Dynasty court, this was an answer that no one knew. Of course, Wan Shihe didn't know that this was the emperor's insistence. After all, only the parties involved knew about the exchanges in the Wenchang Pavilion of the Quanchu Guild Hall.
Zhang Juzheng does not intend to say that it is His Majesty’s holy will that will be decided after the concrete results are obtained.
Wang Guoguang thought for a long time before he said, "Let's wait until Qi Shuai's class teacher returns to the court to discuss it."
With the Beijing camp here, Qi Jiguang can clean up even if there is any trouble. , this is what Wang Guoguang means. Without enough force to deter, if you want to lose your family property in vain, you must have a Jingying camp.
Shi Yaohaoyou also has something to say: My ancestors have worked hard for generations, taking advantage of natural and man-made disasters to collect the acres of land in their hands, so that I can live a good life today. Your court just wants to take some money away, and you want to take it away for nothing! Why!
Wang Guoguang studied Huan Tian Shu carefully. He was really bold and dangerous at the same time. He tended to maintain the status quo.
"Chidao has been built to extend in all directions, and the Chaoguan Branch is located on Chidao. It is not too late to return the farmland." Zhang Xueyan's attitude is more conservative. He believes that at this time, returning the farmland is really unnecessary. When the commercial tax completely overwhelms the land tax, it is time to talk about returning the land.
Wang Daokun, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, immediately asked: "If you don't return the farmland, can you really build Chidao in all directions? Even Suiyuan Chidao and Suiyuan Mining need to raise funds from the private sector. ”
After the productivity is liberated, there will be enough agricultural products to carry out the construction of Chidao. Without money, it is absolutely impossible, but money is not omnipotent. The construction of Chidao also requires a large amount of food, and the craftsmen are separated from agricultural production. , the agricultural production relations do not change, and still want to supply a huge number of craftsmen who are not engaged in farming, this is to sacrifice the basics for the last.
“Let’s start with Songjiang Prefecture. Anyway, Songjiang Prefecture has done this before, and the Zheshe households on the ground in Songjiang are more likely to accept the return of their fields.” Wang Daokun felt that Songjiang Prefecture was still too liberal.
The powerful leader of Songjiang Prefecture, Haoyou, has experienced so many storms and waves, but returning to the farm this time is nothing more than a little wind and frost.
"It is very necessary." Hai Rui, as a representative of Qingliu and the first person to fight against corruption, very definitely expressed his support for returning the land. This is related to the anti-corruption, and naturally related to the rescue of the head of Guizhou. Hai Rui has always been a person who cares about the common people of the world. The words "land to the tiller", for a moral gentleman like Hai Rui, are no less tempting than the attraction of silver to the Ming Emperor.
Some people opposed it, some supported it. What everyone said was reasonable. There were a lot of discussions in the court, and everyone had different attitudes towards this matter.
Zhu Yijun rubbed his eyebrows. For example, Zhang Xueyan from the Ministry of Revenue had a very good reason for objecting. The land price was repaid in ten years. Not to mention how many people were involved in this process to make profits. Just say, this Within ten years after tenants became owner-cultivators, they lost any spending power because land prices were constrained and silver could not circulate.
The Ministry of Accounts is very concerned about the liquidity of silver, and even overreacted.
And this is the land price that Zhang Xueyan put aside from the people inside, is the land price that the court sold and released, really the land price that went into the hands of the people? Local officials don't even need to be corrupt, they just need to gently tear open some holes. The powerful and right-wing people will definitely use these holes to free up acres of land for public sale.
This is inevitable. Aren’t the treasuries in various parts of the Ming Dynasty emptied out in this way?
The Ministry of Household Affairs is very conservative and does not increase debt unless necessary. This is true for the court, local governments, and the people. The official loans issued by Qingmiao Law and the repeated attempts of the Northern Song Dynasty court directly broke the ties of the leaders of Guizhou during the Song Dynasty. The last string.
The opposition attitude of the Ministry of Household Affairs is very clear. In the end, a strange and almost unsolvable situation will inevitably arise. Materials are obviously abundant, but the people just don’t need it. It’s not that they don’t want it, but they can’t afford it.
In order to buy acres of land, the poor coolies directly exhausted their potential in the next ten years. The Ming Dynasty promoted the development of industry and commerce and produced a large amount of goods that could not be sold and were sold overseas. All overseas countries were barbaric. How could there be such a high demand? If there is no demand, there will be more supply of commodities. Silver is the currency, and commodities are the only thing that will collapse the house.
Isn’t this rising commodity economy simply stillborn?
Poor coolies have no ability to take risks, and the Ministry of Revenue also said that this is just a simple calculation. If the local area causes a lot of messy troubles, it will be even more troublesome.
The discussion on "Return to the Fields" can no longer be described as unhappy, but most of the court officials disagreed. This is the result of the court discussion.
Thankfully, His Majesty has grown up. If His Majesty was still young, no one would dare to contradict Zhang Juzheng like this.
Zhang Juzheng is not angry either. In fact, what the courtiers said was also said by Zhang Juzheng. Although he created "Huan Tian Shu", he himself did not actually agree with Huan Tian Shu. He even felt that he It's a bit like Pandora who opened the magic box in the Tessie myth.
Zhang Juzheng is somewhat interested in Thai and Western culture. As the chief auxiliary of the empire, a Thai and Western civilization that can trade around the world and reach the Ming Dynasty, this condition is enough to attract Zhang Juzheng's attention.
Huan Tianshu's first court meeting failed. After the year, after various ministries held meetings, there would be another court meeting.
Zeng Shengwu, Minister of the Ministry of War, opened the memorial and said; "Qi Shuai sent back thirty kilograms of artillery fire. Each round fired three hundred kilograms of gunpowder. A total of one hundred rounds were fired, and the total consumption was Thirty thousand kilograms of gunpowder, equivalent to 240,000 rounds of two-coin birdguns, were fired and destroyed the wall of Bansheng City. There was a total misfire and a blast. The reliability has been verified. Judging from the number of enemies killed and injured, it is not worth it at all. Probably less than twenty-four people were directly killed, but the enemy's morale was completely destroyed."
From the perspective of killing, this artillery is useless, but from the perspective of the battle line, it is. It has become meaningful.
It’s not that Andahan didn’t want to fight against the trapped beast, it was actually that the entire Bansheng City was scared to death.
"Your Majesty, please ship these ten 30-pound artillery pieces to Malacca City this year." Zeng Shengwu suddenly realized that this nail in Malacca City is not easy to pull out. Taste the power of a thirty-pound cannon!
Any city wall will become dangerous under the power of this kind of artillery.
Zeng Shengwu’s meaning is already very clear. Rather than tossing away acres of land in "Returning the Fields", it is better to focus on overseas development. In many cases, development is the best way to solve endogenous conflicts.
"The Gewüyuan has tinkered with 50-pound artillery. There are three of them. Let's pull them together to test their reliability." Zhu Yijun had no objection to the development and approved Zeng Shengwu's proposal.
It is better to embarrass foreigners overseas than to embarrass your own people.
The annual output of 7.5-horsepower steam engines is one thousand units, and these one thousand units have already been secured. All government factories, including the Coal Bureau, Woolen Clothing Bureau, Shipbuilding and Weaving Bureau, are seizing the time to launch.
Wang Qian once told the emperor a fallacy: free trade is nonsense, because good things are not circulated.
Wang Qian believes that there is really no need for people who can’t even grab treasury bonds to participate in trading. Among all kinds of accounting currencies, treasury bonds are the most reliable accounting currency that can earn interest. , this is the most certain product in the uncertain ticket market. People who can't even grab national bonds will be reaped by others if they participate in trading.
Wang Qian’s good thing is a fallacy that is not popular. It is applicable in many fields, such as marriage. There are many brothel girls who hope to find a good family from their patrons, but they don’t want to think about it. Can a brothel visitor be from a good family? Go ashore? Wang Qian has never seen many brothel girls come ashore in his life.
Zhu Yijun did know someone named Liu Rushi. Liu Rushi wanted to marry Chen Zilong for the first time and lived in the south building of Nanyuan. Chen Zilong's wife, mother, and grandmother came directly to the door and drove Liu Rushi away. , Liu Rushi married Qian Qianyi.
Also, Daming Kaihai Investment pays the most dividends, and the plantation business can be said to be a profitable business. Apart from the businessmen recognized by the leaders of the three parties of Chu, Jin, and Zhejiang, who can participate in it?
The same applies to steam engines, because more reliable and more powerful steam engines are not even enough for the official factories themselves, let alone for private factories. The Ming Dynasty is so big, such steam engines are of no use!
Good things are indeed not in circulation. Although Wang Qian is a dandy, he always has some crooked ideas that make people's eyes bright.
There was no discussion at the court meeting about the sea-opening investment in the spring of next year, because the internal accounting had already been completed. Amidst the shouts of greetings to His Majesty, the last court meeting in the ninth year of Wanli officially ended.
The courtiers Yan Xing left, and Wang Chonggu rarely came to Wenyuan Pavilion. The cabinet is now empty. After Lu Tiaoyang and Ma Ziqiang retired due to physical reasons, only Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, and Wang Guoguang were left in the cabinet. , and Wang Chonggu, the second assistant, never went to work, which made Wenyuan Pavilion extremely busy with official affairs and especially deserted. People in the Zhongshushe did not dare to speak loudly in front of the assistant ministers.
"Yuanfu, you better forget about "Returning Tianshu"." Wang Chonggu sat upright and said with a solemn expression: "There is a conflict between returning Tianshu and the official factory group's law. The official factory Tuan Zao requires craftsmen, and farmers are required to cultivate the land. Who will be the craftsmen? The name of the official factory Tuan Zaofu seems to be quite new, but it is just a military garrison. ""You too. If we want to build a military garrison, I will also build a military garrison. How can there be so many people?”
Zhang Juzheng knew the contradiction very well. He thought over and over again and said: “It still has to be done. , It won’t work if we don’t do it, no matter how many reasons are said, the craftsmen built by the government, factories and groups still have to eat. In the past dynasties, it has always been to encourage agriculture to focus on government affairs.”
The mature experience of the Central Plains is to emphasize agriculture and neglect business. It seems that agriculture came first, then workers, and then business.
Zhang Juzheng didn’t want to bother, but His Majesty had his own opinions. Zhang Juzheng planned to take the blame himself, so he didn’t tell Wang Chonggu that this was His Majesty’s intention. In the past few days, Zhang Juzheng has also figured out some of His Majesty’s considerations. .
The method of returning farmland is indeed necessary, and it will not work if we do not return farmland.
"I have actually been avoiding confrontation with Yuan Fu. Even in this Wenyuan Pavilion, I only came to Dianmao. You Zhang Juzheng was the prime minister who saved the Ming Dynasty. I, Wang Chonggu, also wanted to give this Qing Shiliu a try. Fang, Yuan Fu, please stop." Wang Chonggu sounded like a threat, but in fact it was just a bluff.
Wang Chonggu is still very afraid of Zhang Juzheng. He will not start a war if he can. These words are not a declaration of war, but a feeling of powerlessness.
What Zhang Juzheng wanted to do, he would push forward against all opinions. Yang Bo stopped him from passing the examination and was driven out of the court by Zhang Juzheng with a beating.
No one in Ming Dynasty can stop him, only Your Majesty can.
"Wang Cifu, don't be anxious, just listen to me in detail." Zhang Juzheng's attitude towards Wang Chonggu has been changing. He can now patiently explain the necessity of many decrees to this arrogant minister in detail.
"Does Wang Cifu know that Gewuyuan has presented auspicious signs?" Zhang Juzheng asked with a smile on his face.
Wang Chonggu nodded. The 7.5-horsepower steam engine had even been distributed. Of course he knew it very well.
“This time to offer auspiciousness, before the steam engine, seven tools were presented together. This is the key.” Zhang Juzheng said solemnly: “These seven tools are for the steam engine. Development has brought about many changes."
Wang Chonggu frowned and asked: "Changes?"
"Yes, changes." Zhang Juzheng said with great conviction: "Previous steam engines were polished by hand. They were exquisite, but uncontrollable, and mass production was extremely slow. But with these handy tools, steam engines will become more and more popular in the future." Development can be expected."
"In the next few years, the horsepower of the steam engine will double and the production capacity will double in one and a half to two years."
Zhang Juzheng was keenly aware of some differences. After communicating with his son Zhang Siwen, he found that it was indeed the case. After Zhang Siwen passed the Jinshi examination, he became a doctor of the Five Classics and has been an assistant to the German king Zhu Zaiyu.
This time Gewuyuan Xianxiangrui is different from the past. A total of seven types of large-scale processing machinery have been released. The machinery for processing various parts has made the iteration speed of steam engines exceed everyone's imagination.
In about one and a half to two years, the horsepower of the steam engine will double, and the production capacity will also double. This terrible technological progress can be expected and is the result of Dr. Gewu. As for the collective opinion, how far it can be implemented depends on the organizational ability of the court.
Gewuyuan jumps out of the Five Elements. They are only responsible for moving forward, not landing. That is the responsibility of the court.
“This is a very conservative estimate. Some radical doctors from Gokuyuan believe that once the scale of steam engine technology begins to expand, the horsepower may only double in ten days. After reaching a threshold, Enter the cycle again." Zhang Juzheng is not an alarmist.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute... let me slow down." Wang Chonggu's brows knitted into knots. He really couldn't imagine such a surge in magnitude.
Zhang Juzheng shook his sleeves and took out a notebook. It contained an internal discussion among doctors from the Institute of Science and Technology and their outlook on the future of steam engines.
Wang Chonggu read it blankly. Even according to the most conservative estimate, in the 20th year of Wanli, the production capacity of the Ming steam engine may surge to 7.68 million horsepower. A three-horsepower machine is almost equal to 6 horses. The productivity of horses, because the steam engine can work day and night, has an annual output of 7.68 million horsepower, which is equivalent to 15.36 million horses.
During the Ming Dynasty, only 20,000 war horses were imported from the Mughal Kingdom.
What a terrifying concept is this? Such terrifying production capacity will inevitably be used everywhere. Of course, in this model, Ming's realization ability will also be tested. The sudden increase in pure mathematical models is not a sudden increase in practice. If a quarter of it can be implemented in practice, then Ming will Agricultural production will no longer be available.
"So so many machines require many craftsmen to use them. The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty also need to eat. It is not enough to just rely on grain from overseas to flow into the Ming Dynasty." Zhang Juzheng explained his thoughts to Wang Chonggu .
Steam machines can eat people.
"Huh." Wang Chonggu took away the note given by Zhang Juzheng. He could not believe whatever Zhang Juzheng said. He needed to find out for himself. If it was really as scary as Zhang Juzheng said, this head The wild horses that have escaped the reins need to be reined in by returning to the fields. Otherwise, agricultural production will not be able to keep up, and even the tallest buildings will collapse.
If people don’t eat, they will starve to death and rebel.
Wang Chonggu no longer cares about celebrating the New Year. The busy Wang Qian even said that his father is more troubled than the young people. He who is older than the New Year does not celebrate the New Year well, so he visits everywhere as a subordinate.
Wang Chonggu spent four days to figure out that Zhang Juzheng was not trying to scare him. The only restrictions on steam engines were steel, coal and chidao. As long as these were available, the steam engine would dare to double its horsepower in two years. Production capacity doubled.
Lin Fucheng, the master of crooked lips, dare not say anything else, but his vision is extremely accurate. The steam engine is indeed so arrogant that it is unreasonable.
"Son, our family has caught a big treasure." Wang Chonggu leaned on the back of the Taishi chair, and he couldn't tell whether it was a blessing or a curse.
The future of the steam engine is promising, but it is also a wild horse running wild. Especially after materials begin to become abundant, where is your majesty's position? This is a major issue that Wang Chonggu must consider.
"What's wrong?" Wang Qian asked doubtfully.
Wang Chonggu told Wang Qian what he had recently figured out.
“As the old saying goes, people without long-term worries must have immediate worries. Zhang Juzheng’s vision is long-term. I have to admit this, but the development speed of this thing is amazing. Once it grows in scale, who can Can you control such an iron horse? But it’s a pity to set artificial limits. "Wang Chonggu has been having trouble sleeping and eating these days.
Wang Cifu’s current reliance is on the government-manufactured goods. If in a few years, the government-manufactured companies turn into such a terrifying monster, how will the Wang family deal with themselves?
Setting artificial restrictions is as abominable as fertile land not growing crops and allowing it to be abandoned.
After reading the memorial, Wang Qian shook his head and said: "It's not a big deal. If it's a big deal, we'll rob it. All the places that can be cultivated will be used to grow food. No matter how much the shipping losses are, it will be enough."< br>
“Robbing?”
“Robbing!” Wang Qian said fiercely: “Let me see, it’s not a big deal. Our merchant ships from Ming Dynasty went there with high-quality goods. Do it with them. They are the ones who want to trade! If they don’t want to trade, they will open their doors and force them to trade freely!”
“It’s not robbery, it’s free trade”
According to Master Lin's definition of free trade, what is not conducive to the Ming Dynasty is free trade. So when others close the country and refuse to trade, they must learn to use force. In summary, it is one sentence: open the door, free trade!
This is inevitable. When the internal conflicts in Ming Dynasty cannot be resolved, they resort to overseas, which is forming a new path of dependence.
"It makes sense!" Wang Chong thought about it for a long time and nodded seriously.
Maybe Zhang Juzheng despises this kind of behavior, but Wang Chonggu has no such moral burden at all. When he was a young businessman, he was a horse bandit when his face was covered.
These remarks are actually very consistent with Zhu Yijun’s thoughts, because any primitive accumulation is full of blood, and the process of industrialization is inherently cannibalistic. As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun has already put all his holy The family members were given to the people of Ming Dynasty, but not to Fanyi.
On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, Tonghe Palace was filled with joy. All the officials of the Ming Dynasty came to Tonghe Palace to celebrate the New Year. Zhu Yijun, as the emperor, received the courtiers, and the court ladies went to pay homage to Queen Chitose.
Farewell to the old year and welcoming the new year, early the next morning, Zhu Yijun went to the Ancestral Temple to worship his ancestors. As usual, he gave a job report. He talked for a long time, and then copied a copy of " "Return to the Fields" was burned.
"Taizu Taizong, if you agree or disagree, tell me something. If you don't say anything, it will be regarded as your agreement." Zhu Yijun lit three sticks of incense and waited until the incense was burned out. He did not wait for Zhu Yuanzhang. Speaking to Zhu Di means that they agree.
Huantian Shuzi is a big deal, and it is not easy to convince more people.
The Chinese New Year is a very important day. Zhu Yijun received many New Year gifts. Nagasaki Governor’s Office sent silver, Ryukyu got a piece of ambergris, Luzon got a bunch of pearls, and Old Port gave The emperor sent a broken red cross flag, which was the flag of the Hong Mao Fan. Zhang Yuanxun took it off after it was broken and stranded by the Ming Dynasty. Li Chengliang of Liaodong sent the emperor a thousand-year-old mountain ginseng, plus twenty sea ginseng. Dongqing.
On the third day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun received a piece of bad news, and Tan Lun might not be able to bear it anymore.
Tan Lun woke up, and it was a flashback. The long-term pain and suffering had made him a little thin and emaciated. He had been waiting for Qi Jiguang's class teacher to return to the court and ask about the Loop in person. But in the end I couldn't wait.
Zhu Yijun rushed to Da Sima Mansion as quickly as possible.
"Your Majesty is here." Tan Lun wanted to stand up and salute, but he couldn't do it. He could only give out a wry smile.
(End of this chapter)