"My godfather has never denied that he is a businessman, and he has never said that he is a disciple of a Confucian scholar or saint! From the time when my godfather wrote the Journey to the West, he has faced the world as a disseminator of Western learning. !”
"Later, when the Chinese ethnic group was established, the country's basic policies were also based on industrial mercantilism. This was all made public. Didn't godfather deceive anyone?"
"Since my godfather is a businessman, everything he does must be considered from the perspective of a businessman. It is the nature of a businessman to seek benefits and avoid disadvantages. Can he bear so many responsibilities when he is full?"
"The Chinese have a project and there are no workers to work. Who are they going to look for? Of course they should post notices all over the world to spread the word! If the wages are sufficient, the people are willing to go to the railway and throw stones at them. How can they get in the way? Who is it?"
"Master Weng's words seem correct, but he violates a basic business principle, which is free movement and two-way choice!"
"Farmers farm at home and only change food and drink for a year, and they don't have a penny left! But when they work on the railways or in factories, they can eat not only big fish, big meat, fine rice and white noodles, but why don't they give their families ten twenties at the end of the year? A silver dollar?"
"Your Majesty, think about it for yourself. If you were an ordinary citizen, how would you choose?"
"Are you starving at home or even starving to death? Or are you going out to eat fine rice and white noodles and still have dozens of silver dollars left in the end? The people will figure it out!"
Er Mao shook his head, "Indeed, I know Master Weng is right. There are only so many people. If industry takes away too much, there will be no one to cultivate the land in agriculture!"
"But...but the existence of this kind of crisis is not the reason for you to tie people's legs, right?"
"Just because you, Lord Weng, think there is a food crisis, you can't tie people's legs and prevent them from pursuing happiness! It's so easy for people to encounter an opportunity to have enough food and make money, so you just stop it like this?"
"If you want to tell me, you have to look at this truth from the other side! The common people have no enough to eat and no money to earn from farming. This is a failure of your duties by high-ranking officials in the court!"
"You are so compassionate, why don't you think of a way to make the farmers full? Why don't you think of a way to make the farmers have ten or eight silver dollars left at the end of each year?"
"You said you can't do it? If you can't do it, why don't you allow people to work and make money? Are we not allowed to pay high wages to those in industry?"
"What's the truth? This is the truth of bandits! In a word, people are pursuing the right of high wages. You can't deprive them of this right?"
"If, as Master Weng said, all the industries are abolished and we all stop work and production... After all of them are stopped, will the people across the country be able to eat and drink enough every year, with plenty of fish and meat, and there will still be a lot of leftovers every year? of silver dollars?”
"If you, Mr. Weng, can do it, then what else can you do? What kind of industry can you do? Can't you just farm the land?"
Good guy, it’s okay if Ermao doesn’t speak. If he opens his mouth, not only will Zai Chun be dumbfounded, but Da Sixi and the other little eunuchs who are eavesdropping will also be dumbfounded.
No matter how jealous Da Sixi and the others are when they meet such an Ermao, they have to nod their heads in resignation. They really have a lot of ink in their stomachs, and what they say is true!
Da Sixi gave himself a slap in the face, "If you use your flattery skills on studying, I think Long live the Lord will like you even more!"
"No matter how loudly you flatter me, it's still not as useful as the principles of studying!"
Emperor Tongzhi's expression in the hall became serious, but Er Mao still didn't stop talking!
"What exactly do you want to do, Mr. Weng? Do you mean that after the Chinese people are offered high salaries, they still have to bear the responsibility for reducing crop production in rural areas? This is really unreasonable!"
"The strong labor force in the countryside left their jobs and went out to work to make money, resulting in a reduction in agricultural production. This is not essentially caused by the Chinese industry! It means that our traditional agriculture in the Qing Dynasty is simply uncompetitive..."
“It’s because our landowners and local officials are incompetent and cannot provide a better life for the people, so they force the people to vote with their feet!”
"Sir Weng, you are changing the concept! You are deliberately shifting the responsibility to us who are engaged in industry!"
"Let me ask you, if you can make more money by farming than by working, what will the people choose? Of course people will seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and they will naturally choose the path with a better life!"
"So, what Mr. Weng said, that the head of state took away all the benefits of industry, but left the mess in the countryside to the court. This truth is completely unreliable!"
"The actual situation is... even without the industrial projects of the head of state and His Majesty, the agriculture of the Qing Dynasty is still a mess. It has always been lazy. It's just that there was no comparison in the past, so people didn't notice it!"
"Now that the people have seen the benefits of industry and people have the right to choose, they realize how bad our agriculture was in the past! They can no longer deceive the people, so they are angry with us?"
"Isn't this just unreasonable? Your Majesty, your Majesty, is there anything you can't see through this?"
Zai Chun nodded, "You...what you said makes sense! Indeed, without industry, people's lives would not be very good. This is unavoidable!"
Ermao struck while the iron was hot: "Your Majesty, actually the root cause of the current crisis in the imperial court does not lie in the agricultural industry! In fact, the root cause is still in the foreign devils!"
"Because the world is already connected, the British have been dumping industrial products to the Qing Dynasty. Where did they make money? Isn't it the wealth created by the people in our agricultural society in the past?"
"Not only commerce and trade, but also war! We in the Qing Dynasty have become fat sheep. We are still relatively thin now. After a few decades, the meat will be fattened!"
"You will see when the time comes, the foreigners will definitely be provocative, deliberately break out a war, and then use robbery to rob us of all the wealth we have accumulated over the past few decades!"
“This is our Qing Dynasty’s nightmare, including all backward nations in the world!”
"We have followed Mr. Weng's words. We will not engage in industry, but the foreign devils' industry is getting stronger and stronger, and the combat effectiveness of the army is getting higher and higher!"
"Then when the time comes, the wealth created by farmers and people will not be protected. Will it have to be snatched away by those industrial powers?"
"At that time, our agriculture will be robbed, and our industry will not be developed... Do you want the Qing Dynasty to be so beaten and oppressed?"
With a bang, Zai Chun punched the table!
"Damn it! I will not be the king of subjugation!"
"Although I have exhausted agriculture now, it is only temporary after all, and I have to do it for the sake of industrialization! With industrialization, we at least have the power to protect ourselves!"
"Peasants are suffering! It's either industrial exploitation or invasion by foreign devils! Anyway, there is no good way out!"
"But the meat that rots in the pot is ours. It's better than having it taken away by others!"
