Not long after, Yuan Keli, Xiong Tingbi, Qin Liangyu, Xu Guangqi, and Bi Ziyan arrived at Daming Garden.
"His Majesty!"
"No gift!"
Zhu Youxiao said and walked out of the hall with his hands behind his back: "Come with me to the Ordnance Manufacturing General Administration and talk about things while inspecting."
"According to the order!"
The ministers followed Zhu Youxiao to the General Administration of Ordnance Manufacturing.
Zhu Youxiao took them straight to the workshop where steam engines were used to forge gun-making iron blocks. After arriving here, while observing the working steam-powered forging presses, he said to his ministers:
"According to Song Aiqing, who is in charge of ordnance manufacturing, it used to take a month for a skilled craftsman to make a gun barrel. But now with the steam power, the construction period has been shortened to less than half of the original time, and the efficiency has improved very quickly. The production of all kinds of firearms, swords, guns, arrows, slaves, and even armor has long been overproduced. You know this better than I do, but you also know that from the capital to Tianjin, millions of people are already living on these military industries. Since all the rich and powerful have stakes in it, reducing production is naturally out of the question. We can only exchange these things for things we need more, such as land, ore and even people. Otherwise, it will be just a pile of scrap metal in our hands. !”
"Your Majesty is wise! I was aware of this before, but I didn't think of the best solution, and it involved many things, so I didn't dare to retaliate."
Bi Ziyan said something at this time, and then said:
"In the past, in order to completely stabilize the hundreds of thousands of refugees in the capital, the imperial court not only provided relief for a period of time, but also allowed them to continue to live hungry by the canal, and opened a large number of government-run workshops to make them make a living. Otherwise, if they wanted to get Even if we give them fields to plant, they won’t be able to turn them into fields like this for a while.”
"Yes, it's cold today, and the yield of the northern fields has long been insufficient. Even with so many fields, there is no way to feed so many people. It was the only feasible way at that time to make these refugees work as workers in workshops and make a living by working. This is your Majesty’s sage, but this has also resulted in the current situation where the industry is too big and the products produced are too much to be sold. In my opinion, it is better to stop using the steam engine first so that the production capacity will not increase.”
Xu Guangqi suggested at this time.
"If we do this, profits will not increase. However, more and more people want to live a prosperous life. If the steam engine is stopped, part of the profits of the existing rich and powerful gentry will have to be given to the new rich."
Zhu Youxiao replied.
"What your Majesty is saying is that once this steam engine is used, it cannot be stopped. It is better to exchange for some land, ore and even population. Otherwise, we will have to go through the internal affairs reform again. It will not be the case when the time comes. All nobles can be like Fang Wenzheng and selflessly return all the official shares of their families to the court."
Yuan Keli said at this time.
Xu Guangqi and others fell silent.
Zhu Youxiao also laughed because of this.
In order to make the empire's pie bigger, he established government-owned industries, thus cultivating a group of new dignitaries and forming the basis of his own rule.
But now if he does not promote the application of the newly invented steam engine and continues to make the pie bigger, in order to allow the newly added population to live a prosperous life, he will indeed have to carry out internal affairs reforms again, as Yuan Keli said, to combat the loss of government-owned industries. New dignitaries emerge.
Unless these new powerful people can take the initiative to spit out the benefits they have received and return them to the court.
However, this is so difficult. Even if I am willing, the clan in-laws behind it will not be willing.
"What Yuan Aiqing said is correct. Not using a steam engine is like a family with ten acres of land refusing to use a hoe to cultivate wasteland. But the population of the family is increasing. If you want to feed the people born after you, People born before can only eat less. Instead of doing this, it is better to use this hoe to cultivate wasteland. This steam engine is the hoe that my Ming Dynasty has now. From the time we have this steam engine, it is destined that my Ming Dynasty must When we go out to reclaim wasteland, we can no longer just take care of our own three-quarter acre of land like before."
Zhu Youxiao said something at this time.
"Please keep this in mind!"
Yuan Ke immediately replied.
"Now tell me how to replace it. Our General Administration of Ordnance Manufacturing produces so many firearms, arrows and crossbows every day, so we have to replace it with something."
Zhu Youxiao said.
"Sold to foreigners?"
Xu Guangqi asked.
"You can sell it, but you have to have reservations. You can't sell the latest firearms, otherwise you will create a powerful enemy for yourself."
Zhu Youxiao said.
"In this way, we can only expand the army first, and then mobilize the soldiers to open up territory for the Ming Dynasty. Let the soldiers use up their firearms and exchange land and population for the imperial court."
Yuan Keli said.
"And minerals!"
Zhu Youxiao added.
Then, Zhu Youxiao asked Yuan Keli and other ministers: "How is the new commercial tax collected now, as well as the customs duties?"
Yuan Keli replied: "Your Majesty, the commercial tax collected now has reached more than 50 million silver coins. In terms of customs duties, due to the addition of five new shipping companies in Goa, Nagasaki, Taiwan, Haojing, and Jeju, these three There are many merchant ships coming and going, and they are all stuck on the main routes. Therefore, the customs duty has now increased to more than 15 million silver coins per year, and the two together are already twice the current land tax."
Xiong Tingbi's main focus now is on the military, so he doesn't pay much attention to the Ming Dynasty's treasury revenue. Now after hearing what Yuan Keli said, he couldn't help but smile excitedly and said: "This is really unexpected. One day, commercial tax and customs revenue will actually It’s twice as much as the land tax.”
Qin Liangyu also said with some confusion: "Yes, I didn't expect there to be so many!"
"It's normal to have so much money. Those Westerners moved mountains of gold and silver to their own country in a place called America, and then brought a lot of money to my Ming Dynasty to exchange for various goods. Even if we raise taxes higher , they all have money to give it to them, and after taking it back, some people can afford it! We forced them to give some of these silver coins to us, or they exchanged them for goods."
Zhu Youxiao was in a good mood, so he personally explained it to Qin Liangyu, who didn't know much about these things. However, in order to inspire the enterprising spirit of the powerful people in the Ming Dynasty, he used exaggerated words. After all, America couldn't be filled with gold and silver everywhere. Mountain.
But Qin Liangyu listened and asked: "In that case, Your Majesty, why does no one in my Ming Dynasty transport this gold and silver?"
Zhu Youxiao said: "It's a long story, I will go there in the future!"
Then, Zhu Youxiao said: "In the past, the income of the Ming Dynasty mainly relied on land tax, but if the number of fields does not increase, the world's land tax will be limited. Even if the weather is good in a year, it will only be tens of millions of stone land tax, while the population is It is constantly increasing, and it is difficult to feed the newly increased population, let alone open up new territories;
Therefore, every few generations of a dynasty will lose territory. But now the main income of the court is no longer land tax, but commercial taxes and customs duties. Then, as long as it opens up more territories and has a large enough population , then we can sell more Ming products and collect more commercial taxes and tariffs. Therefore, we have to change our thinking and take the initiative to open up new territories, instead of having to do it to save people's money as in the past. To withdraw its power, abandon the land and the city;
What Yuan Aiqing said just now is correct, the army must be expanded, and more soldiers of the Ming Dynasty must be armed with firearms to earn more land and population for the Ming Dynasty! "
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