Chapter 500 More steel, just to make farm tools
Zhu Yijun knew the consequences of complete monopoly from beginning to end. In the Northern Song Dynasty, a pound of coal sold for 200 yuan was the final form of the Ming Dynasty official factory, so he I affirm the argument of some absolute liberals, that is, the hand of the Ming Dynasty court cannot be stretched too long or too deep, otherwise the final result will be the fate of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. All trade is monopolized by the court, and the Ming Dynasty is a backwater.
That’s why Zhu Yijun never restored the full official ship and official trade; that’s why the Ming Dynasty had five major ocean-going trading houses to promote the active maritime trade; that’s why there were trading houses, and everyone made plans for shipowners; that’s why there were trading houses The expansion of Suiyuan Chidao and Suiyuan Mining was included in the ticket; that's why there was the development of the Yuanxu Islands Thousand Islands Country; that's why there was the emergence of Lord Pioneer; that's why there was only coal and steel franchise, not coal and iron Special sale of salt tea wine and koji alum.
Complete monopoly has proven to be unfeasible. The two deaths in the Northern Song Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty proved the deformity of this complete monopoly operation.
A world without competition will only have infinite rigidity, infinite bloat, and infinite expropriation. Without competition, there will be no vitality. This has been universally proven.
But in the current small-scale peasant economy, where powerful right-wingers only know how to dig for food in the soil, the court can only take the lead, allowing more powerful right-wingers to abandon the output of the fields and give up their personal strength. Rely on production relations, give up the idea of collecting rent, invest in the process of Ming Dynasty's transformation into a commodity economy, and complete the transformation of the small peasant economy.
The establishment of large-scale free employment production relations is the prerequisite for the transformation of the commodity economy.
Zhu Yijun agrees very much with Lin Fucheng's Songjiang School and the theory of restricted freedom. Even if many of his views are naive, as long as someone brings them up and discusses them more, they can naturally be supplemented.
Lin Fucheng said that Hou Yuzhao was ruthless because Hou Yuzhao was really ruthless.
There is a saying in "The Analects of Confucius": If you take it from above, you will get it from within; if you take it from it, you will get it from below;
Interpreted in politics, the execution and practice of a decree will definitely be compromised, and there will be flexible execution that compromises with reality. Therefore, a Ming Dynasty will be the king and the people. During the execution of these decrees, they will definitely become, as long as they show Anyone who shows no signs of approving of Ming Dynasty will be sent to the mines to mine.
Because a large amount of cheap labor is needed to open up the mines, the Ming Dynasty Jingying captured so many prisoners of war in Suiyuan that the mines were completely digested and even more were needed.
Lin Fucheng obviously understands that execution must compromise with reality, so Hou Yuzhao is really ruthless. Perhaps this is the common characteristic of officials in the Ming Dynasty. What they say is better than what they sing. What he did was more vicious than the devil.
On June 14, the tenth year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun’s most inconspicuous driver arrived at the folk house outside Huitongguanyi. Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty jumped out of the car and walked into the house with his shirt on and his trousers on. In the meantime, he walked into the Huitong Pavilion with many twists and turns.
Today is a cocktail party for the Taixi envoys. The Ming Emperor came without invitations or appointments, because this time the emperor really came to see the fun with a fun-loving mentality. If his identity is exposed, there will be no There was no excitement at all. Although he was not invited, he still walked into the reception venue grandly.
This is the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yijun has the power to enter anywhere.
In Zhu Yijun’s opinion, Taixi cocktail parties and Ming Dynasty banquets are similar. They are both for socializing, not for dining. It’s just that one is a buffet and the other is a separate banquet. It looks like Taixi The wine will be a little messier.
The reception at Huitongguanyi was divided into small, distinct circles, chatting in low voices. Zhu Yijun’s appearance did not attract anyone’s attention. Zhu Yijun came to a secret corner and sat down quietly. Looking around.
Shah Maimaiti was the special envoy of the nobles of the Mughal Kingdom, Legaz was the special envoy of Spain, and Diego de Madeleine was the son of the Marquis of Santa Cruz, the father of the Spanish soldiers. He was also in the Ming Dynasty. These three people gathered together because they were all envoys who had been in the Ming Dynasty for a long time, so they all had common topics. They communicated with each other in Chinese to prevent others from understanding what they were discussing.
Rui De and Pereira are the special envoys of Goa Governor Menezes. They came to Beijing this time to discuss surrender and the ownership of the Strait of Malacca. The thirty kilograms of artillery shipped by the Ming Emperor had already been Arriving at the Old Port Government House, it seemed that we were planning to capture the city of Malacca in one fell swoop.
Rui De's expression was gloomy and he was sitting alone in the corner. Obviously, he knew very well that this mission would not go smoothly and he would not be able to achieve any of his goals.
The other small circle has Antonio's first mate and current captain Marcus as its core.
Paulino Franco was the last captain. Antonio originally asked Paulino Franco to be the captain, but the last time, while crossing the Atlantic, the new captain contracted scurvy and his condition deteriorated rapidly. , died unfortunately upon arriving in Liberty City.
The swordmaster Marcus became the captain again and Antonio's envoy to the Ming Dynasty.
And Marcus was surrounded by the English envoy George Weymouth, who had already been here last time. He was a navigator, adventurer and robber who had completed a voyage around the world in England. He has officially joined the Age of Discovery, so he looks arrogant.
Two special envoys from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, standing behind George, one is from the Yugoslav Federation, the Arras Federation (Belgium), a golden retriever named Thomas Deville, dressed extremely gorgeously, so On a hot day, he also wears a dark red velvet coat and a hat with four stripes of mink fur, like a peacock spreading its tail.
The other one is from the Northern League, the Utrecht League (Netherlands). He is a red-haired fan named Iron Mullen. He is dressed very plainly and has many ridges on his face. There are two scars and it looks like he has gone through a lot of battles. The last name is interesting because it means mill.
The French envoy is a woman, the special envoy of Catherine, Queen Mother of France. Gillian Robert is a tall and thin woman with a slightly fierce look in her eyes. She is presented according to the content of the credentials. , this woman is the Queen Mother's personal attendant. She looks a little indifferent, standing there quietly, not talking to others.
These envoys from England, France, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands all came to the Ming Dynasty on Marcus's ship, so they naturally gathered together.
This time the Tessie envoy is unprecedentedly large in scale, and there are also a group of people, including Solon, the envoy from the Kingdom of Spain, Ferdinand, the eldest son of the Duke of Bavaria from the Holy Roman Empire, and the Red-coat from the Holy See. Bishop Ranuccio Farnese.
Zhu Yijun looked at Ferdinand. He was a very handsome man with deep-set eyes, a high bridge of nose, and strong lines. He came from a prominent family, and with arrogance from the inside out, he scanned the audience with a rather aristocratic manner.
"Is that Ferdinand? We heard that his sister married his uncle. Is this true?" Zhu Yijun tilted his head and asked Gao Qiyu, the young minister of Honglu Temple, in a low voice.
Gao Qiyu thought that His Majesty was going to ask some important questions after looking around, but it turned out that he was just here for gossip!
Gao Qiyu whispered: "Your Majesty, Tessie is like this. Ferdinand's sister Maria Anna married her uncle, Archduke Karl II of Austria. In this way, the son he gave birth to would become The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire."
"Although we don't understand, we are very shocked." Zhu Yijun said in a low voice.
Gao Qiyu said with great agreement: "I was shocked when I heard about it for the first time."
Legas mentioned the chaotic upper class life more than once in his travel notes. The confusion is not only due to various mistresses, but also to the blood relationship that is difficult to figure out. For example, the child born to the niece and uncle can become the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and truly become the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Ferdinand II.
“Don’t arrange an audience with that cardinal. Any conditions he puts forward are unacceptable to our Ming Dynasty.” Zhu Yijun named the only religious person present, Cardinal Ranuccio, because this bishop came to the Ming Dynasty. On behalf of the Holy See, he sought the possibility of preaching in the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Yijun strictly prohibited this.
Matteo Ricci’s missionary work did not go smoothly because he was now obsessed with Taoism and could not extricate himself.
Zhu Yijun was sitting in the corner, and no one noticed him, because the reception was really chaotic. From the differences in the reception and banquets, we can also see the differences in the roads. The Ming Dynasty banquets had clear priorities. Symbolizing autocratic power, Tessie's drinking party is multi-headed, just like the seven electors in the Holy Roman Empire.
As an emperor, it is really difficult for Zhu Yijun to understand the system of electing emperors. Is the elected emperor really an emperor?
And these people also brought their partners, making the scene even more chaotic and noisy.
"The Ming Dynasty is really too free!" Sauron drank some wine and said a little loudly: "They are as hateful as the traitors in the Netherlands, and they are actually in the richest place. The Ming Emperor did not suppress the rebels, but forgave them. He was so kind! "
Solon was the secretary of the King of Spain. He was disrespectful and rebellious in the Netherlands. His behavior was so disgusting that after drinking, he directly snarled at the two Dutch envoys.
Zhu Yijun's face darkened, and he regretted coming to see the fun.
The Jiading slave change really shocked the allies.
The Ming Dynasty did not directly suppress the slaves in Sochi, but chose to appease, make promises, open porridge sheds, set up personnel organization and management, and organize them into engineering regiments and camps. This was taken for granted by the Ming Dynasty, because Vietnam The principle of suppressing more people has been proven in the civil unrest that spread to five provinces during the 13th year of Orthodoxy by Ye Zongliu and Deng Maoqi.
Efforts were made to suppress the civil unrest, and the civil unrest soon spread from Fujian to Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Nanya. It gained great momentum and became known as the Million Army.
A huge civil unrest was finally completely quelled by the Marquis of Ningyang, Chen Mao, and the Minister of Household Affairs, Jin Lian, who led a 40,000-strong Beijing battalion southward and used both suppression and support.
Such a treatment made Sauron say it was unbelievable. The authoritarian Emperor Ming did not suppress cruelly. It was this kind of appeasement that caused Ming Dynasty to be too free.
Just like Zhu Yijun could not understand the elector system and consanguineous marriage, Sauron could not understand why the Ming Dynasty did not carry out brutal suppression.
The two envoys from the Netherlands were silent. They did not want to provoke Sauron. They came to the Ming Dynasty this time in the hope of getting His Majesty the Emperor's approval and getting rid of political obstacles to trade. They did not want to cause more trouble.
Spain is still the overlord of the West, and the Habsburg family has great influence in the West.
“It’s really unbelievable.” Shah Maimaiti added. In his opinion, the Ming Dynasty should vigorously promote reincarnation and become a master. In fact, it is the right way to be a slave for life. In this way Once they come, the nobles will be nobles for life, just like the Mughal Kingdom.
As for the Ming Dynasty's recent abolition of lowly slave status, led by the nobles, in Shah Maimaiti's view, it was completely unnecessary. Isn't this asking for trouble for itself?
Sauron's words turned the obviously messy topic of the reception to the Ming Dynasty's recent abolition of the slave class, and the discussion immediately became heated.
England's special envoy George believed that this was the Ming emperor's attempt to obtain more cheap craftsmen. In George's view, the Ming Dynasty's expansion of overseas colonies required a population, official factories and organizations required a large number of craftsmen, and military conquests also required a large number of craftsmen. Population is needed, and for the sake of population, the deed of sale must be abolished to obtain more free people. George also feels that it is completely unnecessary.
Like the English against the Scots driven by violence, much easier and cheaper.
Recently the Queen of England executed Mary Queen of Scots.
The French woman who seemed a little indifferent also expressed her opinion that freeing slaves from slave owners would do no good to the Ming Dynasty. If there were not enough personnel to manage it, it would be better to let them Slave owners manage slaves, which is more stable, but using people from the court to manage them will definitely increase administrative costs. Mutual harm at the bottom is conducive to stability.
Almost all the envoys expressed their incomprehension about the Ming Dynasty's decree to abolish the status of slaves. It was a decree that would do more harm than good. Moreover, everyone was very unanimous and very unfavorable about the implementation of this decree, which not only increased administrative costs. , destroying the original stability, and there is quite an illusion that the Ming Dynasty and the world are retrograde.
Legasi finally couldn't hold back his voice and said angrily: "You don't understand the Ming Dynasty at all. You think that you have been here once or twice, or that what you know about the Ming Dynasty from those travel notes is all about the Ming Dynasty. Is it? For a country like Ming Dynasty, this is an inevitable step! It is a huge effort to change the production relations!”
“You don’t even understand the word production, and you are still here. Are you worthy of criticizing the Ming Dynasty’s new policy? You say you’re on a mission, but you’re just here to beg for food? How can you get food if you don’t know how to beg for food?”
“This is ridiculous! ”
“Funny!”
“Ugly!”
“Unreasonable!” After Li Yashi finished speaking, he shook his sleeves and left the scene angrily. It had been so long that he was so unfamiliar with these faces and made random judgments without understanding the situation of Ming Dynasty. This was not based on faithfulness.
If you say you are a special envoy and discuss certainty in trade, isn’t that just begging for food? I don’t know how to show respect when I’m begging for food, but I point fingers and talk nonsense.
The Ming Dynasty is establishing a set of theories that are based on production to explain the infinite principles of all things and solve problems, and they are all over the place. These envoys have no idea what this means, even in the midst of great changes. Legas, every time he thinks about the future, he can't help but tremble. What the Ming Emperor wants to create is a brand new world!
"Legas, you have been in the Ming Dynasty for too long." Sauron said helplessly: "You have forgotten that you are the special envoy of His Highness Felipe. The travel notes sent back to Taixi are even written in Chinese. You He didn’t even want to translate.”
Legasi stopped, looked at Sauron and asked, “If I translate, will His Highness be able to understand?” Can your Highness accept it? Since I can’t understand it and refuse to accept it, why should I translate it?”
“Then you shouldn’t send the Chinese version back, you should translate it too,” Sauron said, shaking his head.
Legasi smiled, looked at Sauron and sighed and said: "How do you know that I didn't translate? In fact, I translated it, but every time His Highness sent the Ming Dynasty's special envoy, after reading the Latin text, I thought it was inconsistent with the teachings and refused to take it back, so I had to send it back in Chinese."
"Do you understand? The secular core of Ming culture is completely different from the cultural and religious core of Western Europe. "It's different."
"His Royal Highness Felipe is far inferior to His Majesty the Ming Emperor in terms of openness and tolerance. Even if I, a Fanyi, scolded the Ming Emperor, as long as what I said was true, the Ming Emperor would not do it." I won’t blame him too much.”
Of course Legas translated it into Latin, and he translated every article, but the translation couldn’t even get out of the Ming Dynasty, and now Sauron blamed him.
"Is that so? I was negligent." Sauron was slightly dumbfounded, and then he realized that there was such a story in it. He thought for a while and said, "What about the slaves in Jiading? You are so protective. Ming Dynasty, is this a failure of the New Deal? "
Solon was curious, what did Ligas think of the Jiading slave coup? Was it a failed policy of the young Ming emperor?
"It's just an inevitable price." Legas said this in Chinese, and most people present could not understand it. He left the reception, and Shah Maimaiti spread his hands and chose He didn't like state affairs and preferred to throw away money and listen to storytelling in the front room.
The implementation of any government decree will encounter various difficulties. Difficulties are like a traveler encountering an unreachable mountain. If a traveler says in despair that he will never be able to climb over it, the moment he looks back, he will never be able to climb it again. It is impossible to climb over the mountain.
A scholar cannot be without great perseverance, and there is a long way to go.
The envoys in Taixi will never understand the word Shi, because the four words "Hong" and "Xinhuai Tianxia" are the cultural desert of Taixi, and Taixi does not have the concept of "tianxia".
The reception slowly dispersed, Zhu Yijun stood up and said: "Gao Shaoqing, go and call Sauron to Ligas' house, I will go now!"
"Damn it. , let me know that if Li Ya Shi compiled me in Latin, he would be dead!"
It was also the first time that Zhu Yijun knew that Li Ya Shi had a travel diary in Latin and dared to record treasonous remarks. Immediately punish him with castration!
The Emperor of Ming Dynasty angrily broke into Legaz's house, which was a small courtyard with two entrances and exits. He quickly read through the Latin travel notes before he was convinced that Legaz's Latin The content of the travel notes and the Chinese version are consistent, and the Latin version contains more of his thoughts on the feudal system in Western Europe.
"Yes, you are a bit reverent." Zhu Yijun doesn't mind using the words stingy and greedy, because this is a fact. Even words such as violent and bloody executioner are not impossible, but Legas' There is nothing like this in the travel notes, which are very objective.
Legasi was startled, his heart in his throat finally dropped back. For some reason, Emperor Ming suddenly broke in. He understood what His Majesty meant, and immediately bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, how can I hide this from Your Majesty, who is so discerning and insightful?"
Zhu Yijun sneered and said: "Don't learn the art of flattery from the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, you are no better than them. ”
"Your Majesty, the Spanish envoy Solon is here." Xiao Huangmen hurriedly entered to report.
"Xuan."
"Solon, the Spanish special envoy, pays homage to your majesty. Long live your majesty, long live your majesty." Sauron had been trained in the Ministry of Etiquette and knew how to salute.
"No courtesy." Zhu Yijun looked at Sauron's white beard and pointed hat, and said with a smile: "I know you. Xu Fan, the special envoy to Taixi, once told you about you."< br>
"This is my honor. I learned my poor Chinese from Minister of State Xu Fan." Sauron's attitude was quite respectful.
Zhu Yijun handed the Latin version of his travel notes to Feng Bao and said: "Solon, we cannot say that Legas is a traitor to the West. He has always loved the land where he was born and raised deeply, just because For various reasons, I can’t take it back.”
The Latin text is longer, mainly mixed with thoughts on the feudal system in Legaz. The feudal system in Spain has come to an end and needs to be changed. , Legas did not betray, but Spain could not tolerate a heretic like him.
Solon opened the travel diary and read it for a long time. After closing it, he said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, this is indeed not appropriate to bring back to the West."
Legas, starting from the beginning of Pangu The mainstream in Thailand is that God created everything. One is that God created everything in the chaos, and the other is that everything is a gift from God, and God is omnipotent. This is the core difference between the two cultures, which can be taken back. Only ghosts exist.
"Why did Felipe II send you here? To buy a boat?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously, "Buying a boat is a good idea!"
Zhu Yijun only learned after starting the business that the biggest pain point in the shipbuilding industry is the withdrawal of funds. The Yanxinglou ship ticket effectively solves the difficulty of slow withdrawal of funds. Before the ship is built, the shipowner who pays for it can be found through the trading bank quickly. Recovering funds means continuous expansion of scale.
I would rather rush the shipyard with orders than wait for the orders to come.
There is no doubt that whether it is Thailand or the Mughal Kingdom, as long as you buy a ship, you will be a friendly country.
The Ming Dynasty needs more ship exports to quickly recover costs and further expand the scale of the shipyard. Only with sufficient scale can it promote technological progress in shipbuilding, as evidenced by the Youlong and Feiyun.
"Are fast sailing ships for sale?" Sauron asked with a blink. He liked fast sailing ships so much!
Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "This is not for sale. Felipe II can try to make it himself."
"Then let's maintain the original order size." Solon said with great disappointment. , the fast sailing ship is a good thing. He fell in love with the fast sailing ship after taking a look at it from a distance in the dock, and he is convinced that the fast sailing ship will be a weapon to change the situation in the ocean.
But this kind of weapon is only owned by Ming Dynasty, and it is not sold to the outside world.
“I’m curious, is Taixi now capable of building a five-masted transoceanic ship?” Zhu Yijun knew that Felipe II had dismantled a five-masted transoceanic ship, and Felipe needed to go Produce your own five-masted ocean-going ships to face the independence of the Netherlands and the impact of England's shit-stirring stick on the ocean.
"No." Sauron sighed heavily, appearing helpless to the extreme. The young Emperor Ming liked to expose people's scars when speaking. He would not open or lift any pot. He thought for a while and explained: "Your Majesty, to imitate such a large ship requires not only craftsmen, but also countless materials, as well as the industrial park that provides these materials. It cannot be produced with drawings."
If the productivity is not enough, forced production will be fruitless. The mainmast is not something that Felipe II can handle.
All the masts, keels, and frames of the Youlong and Feiyun are made of all steel. In terms of the quality and quantity of steel in Taixi, it is even more impossible to manufacture them.
According to Sauron’s understanding of the Ming Dynasty, the output of coal and steel in the Ming Dynasty is still growing at a terrifying rate. Even though it has far exceeded the total of all countries except the Ming Dynasty, it is still Improve quickly.
"Did Ming produce so much steel to conquer the world?" Sauron asked extremely worriedly.
Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "No, it's just to make farm tools and machinery. Ming Dynasty has no interest in conquering the world because it can't manage it at all."
"Making farm tools and machinery?" Sauron's expression The weather is uncertain, so you can’t lie like this! What about fools?
Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "It seems that the special envoy doesn't know that I can farm, and I farm in Baoqisi every year. This is a marriage of farming and mulberry, and I have also participated in the breeding of Ming Dynasty. I have already cultivated it. There are many varieties of sweet potato seedlings, and the pastures grown in Suiyuan now include seedlings that I personally cultivated.”
“It’s better not to grab them than to plant them quickly.”
Feng Baohe. Zhang Hong glanced at each other, both of them helpless. Neither of the two imperial servants could tell which of the Ming Emperor's words was true and which was a lie. The only thing that was certain was that the Ming Emperor really wanted to sell the ship.
The land in Ming Dynasty is temporarily sufficient for planting. When there is not enough land for planting, going out to grab it is also grabbing land.
"Your Majesty, His Highness Felipe hopes to obtain enough woolen woolen and cotton cloth to dump on England." Sauron was also a little confused. He didn't know much about the Ming Dynasty, but it was true that the Ming Dynasty liked farming very much. Who Know whether His Majesty the Emperor is telling the truth or lies.
Enough rough woolen cloth and cotton were dumped on England, completely destroying its newly emerging handicraft factories, destroying England's pillar industries, and then launching an attack. It was Xu Fan who gave Felipe II through Sauron Bad idea.
The initiator of this bad idea was the Ming Emperor. (Chapter 415 The emperor and Zhang Juzheng played against each other.)
He could not do it with Felipe II alone.
"How much is enough?" Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up. There is no better way to do business!
"At least 200,000 pieces of woolen wool and 300,000 pieces of cotton are needed every year to do this." Sauron reported what he thought was an astronomical figure.
Zhu Yijun frowned and asked: "That's it? For this small business, just contact the clerk in the household department directly."
Zhu Yijun thought it would be a big deal, but it turned out to be just this.
"Small business?" Sauron asked blankly.
(End of this chapter)