"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions!"
In the spring of the twenty-sixth year of Wanli.
Zhu Yijun had already returned to the capital, so after he said this, Qi Jiguang, the chief assistant in front of the emperor, first echoed this sentence.
Zhu Yijun continued: "Some industries that are highly polluting, highly dangerous but not technically difficult can be transferred to Japan and Honshu, especially Honshu!"
"Now, there is an urgent need to make its market prosperous, and there are a large number of relatively ignorant Japanese people who need relief. Therefore, it is even more important to take over some of the most polluting and dangerous industries."
"The local area should have more green mountains and green waters, which will benefit future generations."
Zhu Yijun said and asked: "What do you think?"
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
Qi Jiguang replied again, and then said: "I will make overall arrangements for this later."
"very good!"
Zhu Yijun nodded.
Qi Jiguang started coughing at this time.
Zhu Yijun saw that his hair color was different and his face was not as thin as before, so he said:
"You have been working hard on state affairs these years, but you are getting older and thinner."
"Thanks to the care of His Majesty's Sacred Heart, I can only repay His Majesty's grace by doing my best."
Qi Jiguang replied at this time.
Zhu Yijun nodded, and then said: "I have always emphasized that the imperial court's use of troops is not for militarism, but to benefit the world, unify civilization, and eliminate wars in the world! Therefore, while sending troops to conquer foreign countries, there must be more To encourage scholars and merchants to go out, the imperial court must also take the initiative to come up with more plans to develop external profits."
"Your Majesty said so."
"I also discussed this matter with my colleagues in accordance with the holy will. After the discussion, I believed that not only Japan, but also places such as the Nanyang Islands and Myanmar need to carry out large-scale development after the use of troops."
"And the entire southern part of the country, from the Eastern Ocean to the Southern Ocean, and then to the Western Ocean, this large sea area should be planned and developed as a whole."
"Copper from Nanyang, gold and silver from Japan, and iron from Korea should all be mined and distributed properly so that the country can have sufficient supplies and benefit the economy."
Qi Jiguang said at this time.
Zhu Yijun laughed and said, "This is the best!"
"We, China, are the country that has been destined by destiny. We have the mission of unifying the world's civilization. Our purpose is not only to let the people of the world support our people, but also to spread the blessings of rain and dew to the whole world. All those who sincerely join us, China, should be blessed. grace!"
"What your Majesty said is that the current peace in Haiyu is due to the fact that the country does not dare to slow down its transformation into a king."
"Today, I just received a report from Liu Gong of the Central Commercial Bank of the Ming Dynasty, saying that the steamship has been successfully developed. The first steamship's trial voyage in Dinghai and Nandu went very smoothly."
"In this way, it will undoubtedly be easier to promote trade all over the world and spread the emperor's style to the world."
Li Chengliang followed suit at this time.
"Yeah?"
Zhu Yijun was overjoyed after hearing this and hurriedly said: "Hurry up and play this chapter!"
At this time, Li Chengliang hurriedly handed Liu Quexian's chapter memorial to Zhu Yijun in person.
After Zhu Yijun took it, he read it carefully and said, "This Liu Quexian did not disappoint me. From now on, the officials of the Department of Science and Technology should shut up!"
"What your Majesty said is that according to the speed and capacity of the steamship mentioned by Liu Gong in the chapter, it will be much easier to use troops on the water and trade at sea."
Qi Jiguang also echoed at this time.
"It's natural!"
Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Those who have merit should be rewarded!"
Qi Jiguang raised his hand and said yes.
Then, Zhu Yijun added: "With steam locomotives and steam ships, transportation will undoubtedly be much more efficient, but there will be a greater demand for coal. Coal mines will continue to be mined outside the customs, and more Mongolians will be Chineseized and more people will be able to Mongolians are involved in mining.”
"yes!"
Qi Jiguang responded.
And this time.
Wang Xijue said: "Your Majesty, it is a good thing that steam locomotives and steam ships have appeared now, but the problem of a large amount of cotton cloth caused by the emergence of steam engines has become more difficult to sell due to too much production too fast, but it has become very serious. "
"His Majesty!"
"I second the proposal. Nowadays, the imperial court's national and internal funds no longer mainly rely on taxes, but on the income of government-run trading companies. Even textiles are basically government-run now. Once the cotton cloth and other commercial goods are backlogged due to the use of steam engines, If there are too many, it will affect the financial income of the entire country’s leaders!”
Pan Jixun, the Minister of Household Affairs, started talking at this time.
Zhu Yijun said at this time: "In other words, more people need to buy cotton cloth and other items?"
"Your Majesty is wise, so I have decided to give processing money to all employees under the name of government-run commercial firms, including barbarian workers."
Qi Jiguang replied at this time.
Zhu Yijun said: "Then add it. The specific amount will be discussed by your court and based on the actual situation."
"yes!"
So, next, the Ming Cabinet actually held a court meeting and formally determined a specific plan to increase wages, and also took the initiative to shorten the working hours of employees in government-run enterprises.
This is naturally not because the rulers of the Ming Dynasty were kind, but because reality requires this method to increase consumer demand.
After that, Zhu Yijun also formally issued an order to promulgate the matter.
As soon as this decree came out, the workers were naturally happy, but the landowners at home and abroad were very disappointed.
"Your Majesty, we can't increase wages!"
"Originally, the wages paid to the common people of our vassal state by Shangguo Commercial Bank were too high. If they are increased now, it will make them more lazy!"
Li Hengfu, the North Korean envoy who stayed in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, personally asked to see Zhu Yijun. In front of Zhu Yijun, he made a tearful speech and tried to stop Zhu Yijun from processing money to North Korean workers who were mining iron ore for the Ming Dynasty in North Korea.
Because this time, in order to enable the workers who worked for the Ming Dynasty to afford cotton-padded clothes for their entire families, the cabinet increased wages a bit harshly.
From the perspective of outsiders, they all felt that the Ming Emperor was not exploiting, but showing favor.
Therefore, Li Hengfu had to protest.
Otherwise, Li Hengfu really didn't know how many domestic slaves and tenants of powerful dignitaries and scholar-bureaucrats in their country would run away to work for the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yijun also knew why Li Hengfu wanted to stop him, so he said:
“How can a man become lazy because of the income he earns from his hard work?”
"I only heard that people are lazy only because they get something without working; and you should not stop me from showing kindness to the people of your vassal country, otherwise it will be against etiquette!"
Zhu Yijun also openly described this as a show of gratitude, and did not say that it was to adapt to the new requirements brought about by the steam industrial revolution.
Li Hengfu had no choice but to say yes, resigned reluctantly, and left Zhu Yijun.
Zhu Yijun and his ruling ministers only wanted to sell the large amount of excess products brought by the steam industry, without considering the feelings of the landlords inside and outside.
Not to mention North Korean landowners like Li Hengfu who had to accept this reality, even the landowners within the Ming Dynasty also had to accept this reality.
Because domestic employees in Ming Dynasty received more salary increases.
In order to retain tenants and prevent them from entering factories, many landlords had to make further concessions to tenants.
Some directly reduced the land rent to 30% or even 20%. Some landowners even said that new tenants would not collect rent in the first year and would even arrange accommodation.
no way.
The emergence of the steam industry will bring drastic changes to the entire society, and it will be much more powerful than the traditional landlord economy in terms of snatching human resources.
Otherwise, how would we call it the Industrial Revolution?
The steam industry not only allowed for the production of greater quantities of goods, but also because for these goods to be valuable it had to increase the incomes of many people and increase the freedom of many people, at least allowing them to freely purchase goods.
"Bang! Bang!"
When the first train of the Ming Dynasty started to leave from Yongdingmen to Baoding, Li Song, a gentleman who was a distinguished official, stood outside the railway, separated by a row of railway soldiers, and looked at the train, and said to Zhu Jimao helplessly:
"I heard that this train is for charcoal, but now most of the charcoal companies are government-run trading houses. As a result, the court will no longer need us soldiers and civilians to complete the transportation of grain."
"It's not just that we, the people, are not needed!"
"I'm worried that if things continue like this, we won't even need our land tax!"
"They can use steam trains like this to bring troops to foreign barbarians to grab gold, silver and other minerals, or even directly grab food."
"By then, we want to pay the land tax, but they don't want us to pay it!"
Zhu Jimao followed.
"In fact, not only may we not need to collect field taxes, but we may also give the farmers money, so that they dare to use it to spend more money;"
"I studied finance for a while at the School of Governance, and I also know that as long as the people's money increases faster, the people will dare to go into debt to buy things. In this way, these steam engines can be continuously built. Then make all kinds of goods for the world.”
"It's just that if this is the case, I'm afraid I'll give money to the farmers and no one will be able to farm anymore."
Li Song also started talking at this time, and then asked Zhu Jimao:
"By the way, has your house lowered the rent?"
"Down!"
"We have only collected 20%."
"It won't work if we don't surrender. If we don't surrender, there won't be any people left."
"If not, the fields were left by our ancestors, and we would want to sell them!"
"These days, buying land is increasingly inferior to buying subscription tickets from the imperial court."
Zhu Jimao said.
Li Song also sighed and said: "Yes! This is actually a good thing. After all, annexation has always been a big problem that has been difficult to solve in all dynasties. Who would have thought that in this dynasty, land annexation would be actively curbed without the court's repeated orders? elephant!"
"It's just that there are no more annexations on the land!"
"In fact, annexation itself is intensifying. Nowadays, apart from land, what other industries are not monopolized by the imperial court in large quantities?"
After Zhu Jimao sneered, he asked Li Song.
Li Song nodded: "The benefit of the world lies not with the officials but with the people. The steam engine has increased the benefits of the world, but because the skill of the steam engine is in the hands of the court, the benefits of the world are more and more concentrated in the hands of the officials. If there is a disaster If the ministers of state power are strictly divided into generations, it will be more difficult to control them!"
Li Song couldn't say clearly that this would make it more difficult for the emperor to be controlled by local gentry. He only said that he was worried that it would be more difficult to check and balance after the emergence of powerful officials.
"That's right!"
"It is a ritual that originated in Zhou Dynasty. What you should worry about now is whether more powerful machines will appear if this continues, making this ritual even more chaotic."
"The imperial court should not regard these strange skills and obscene skills as its main body, but should regard Confucianism as its main body and only use strange skills and obscene skills as its purpose."
Zhu Jimao continued at this time.
(End of chapter)
