Seeing this, Guo Kang continued to talk about his thoughts.
He laid the groundwork and told all the relevant anecdotes, which made Zhu Wenkui, little Jeanne and others very interested. Therefore, we can talk about the main topic.
"England is a good place." He said: "There is cheap coal and cheap manpower. I hope to build a number of workshops there to make up for the lack of our iron tools."
"Why are you looking for iron there?" Zhu Wenkui is indeed very concerned about topics related to his interests. When iron is mentioned, he becomes serious: "Isn't there enough iron in the Black Sea now? If you are farther away, you should go to Alemany. There are just enough people on the British Isles to do anything."
"For things like iron smelting, the larger the scale of the workshop, the higher the efficiency; the more convenient the transportation, the lower the cost, so the location is very important. Now these ones on the Black Sea are pretty good."
"Of course it's not enough." Guo Kang told him: "In agriculture alone, the annual consumption is huge. In other places, there is no end. I feel that iron is never enough."
"During the Yuan Dynasty, we introduced blast furnaces, but now we still don't have enough. I feel like we have to build up the capacity first."
"That's true..." Zhu Wenkui hesitated.
If he hadn't lived here for several years, Guo Kang might not have imagined that there would still be a shortage of iron. Moreover, the more the iron is used, the bigger the gap may become. Because as the number of iron instruments increases and production efficiency increases, the amount of iron used is also increasing. We can only fill the gap by continuing to think of ways to expand production.
Moreover, many newly developed areas in the Purple Horde Khanate are also large consumers of iron.
Take the Ross area as an example. Until the statistics of 1911, the agricultural tools in Tsarist Russia were still mainly wooden, with almost no agricultural machinery, and even iron tools were not popular: there were 4.2 million iron plows in the country, and 10 million wooden plows; there were less than 100 iron rakes. 500,000 and 25,000,000 wooden rakes. This shows how backward the rural areas in this place are.
Guo Kang remembered that there was a previous saying that the Central Plains first used iron tools as farm tools and then as weapons. Looking back now, even if the early iron was of inferior quality, this was too extravagant.
Similarly, the early popularization of iron farm tools was an inconspicuous thing at first, but it was only when you imitated it that you realized how difficult it was. The Ming Dynasty's iron production for agricultural tools and daily necessities is now supported by its annual iron output of about 100,000 tons - don't think this number is not high. Chiang's Republic of China, a "modern country", only produced 50,000 tons a year. Ton.
There may be many such misunderstandings. For example, Guo Kang originally saw a saying that the Seris people only used gunpowder to make fireworks, not weapons. But in fact, gunpowder has been a very scarce material for a long time. There may be only one place in the world that is rich enough to make fireworks.
Thinking about it now, I guess after getting used to material abundance, even the way of thinking is different.
Therefore, given the current situation, of course we still need to continue to increase iron production. Zhu Wenkui obviously knew it.
"The countries around us can't actually help." Guo Kang continued: "Not to mention that many people have a bad relationship with us. Even if they are willing, the output will be of no use. More gaps can still only be made from The East is here to make up for it.”
"But, on the one hand, we can't always ask for rewards for free. On the other hand, the legal system we have here is actually very embarrassing."
"Is there any?" Zhu Wenkui seemed to have never thought about this issue.
Monk Daoyan sighed and looked at little Jeanne who was still thinking.
Guo Kang hesitated, not knowing whether he should explain directly or guide little Jeanne to speak out. Therefore, he looked at Theodora out of habit to see what she thought.
Theodora nodded slightly and said: "Actually, as long as you understand the biggest organizational differences between other civilizations and the Central Plains civilization, you can easily understand them."
"In terms of organization..." little Jeanne muttered: "Aren't we all similar?"
"Of course it's the same when the organization is small, but what about when the organization is large?" Theodora asked: "What is needed to build a larger organization that still maintains efficiency?"
Little Jeanne suddenly showed an expression of realization: "I understand. You are saying that the Central Plains people's organization needs a strong center. But the two centers are incompatible."
"Why are the two leaders incompatible?" Zhu Wenkui asked curiously: "They are not two emperors."
"That was when the organization was relatively small. What if it develops bigger and bigger in the future?" Little Jeanne pointed out: "In the Central Plains system, the most efficient and most effective organization is the government organization. Or, if an organizational method , more efficient than the government, then it will replace the government and become the new government."
"So, as long as any group becomes larger in size and strength, it will naturally develop in the direction of the government. If this continues, sooner or later it will become a competition between the two governments, which of course is incompatible."
"That's it..."
"You see, for two thousand years, everyone has only recognized one emperor and one court. Once a situation like 'there are two days in the sky' occurs, they will instinctively feel uneasy and have to fight only one." little Jeanne thought. After thinking for a while, he said: "I think this habit may have become part of the Central Plains people's thinking. In fact, they only recognize this single-center structure."
"In this case, the people of the Central Plains outside the area controlled by the imperial court will definitely be in a dilemma - if people want to live, they need an order after all. Since they are beyond the reach of the imperial order, there are only two options ”
"Either you can join the local order. But in this case, after a while, you will lose your identity, blend in with the natives, and be assimilated by them. On the contrary, you will have to establish a Central Plains-style order yourself, but this kind of The order will definitely conflict with the existing local order, and sooner or later there will be a fight."
"In order to deal with this kind of conflict, immigrants from the Central Plains who are unwilling to be assimilated must have a strong organization, otherwise they may not even be able to defeat the natives."
"But if such an organization is established, it will return to the previous problem - it will be equivalent to having another government overseas, or even another court. This will be even more troublesome."
"The existing courts in the Central Plains will be very wary of it, and may even be more hostile to it than the natives. Because the natives can still make peace and coexist with it if they cannot fight it; but as long as two Central Plains-style courts are close enough, they will never It is possible for them to coexist stably. Therefore, the existing Central Plains court will not only not support and help them, but may also be hostile from the beginning."
She spread her hands and said, "This is the dilemma I'm talking about."
(End of chapter)
