Chapter 92 Cotton Issue
He Xi shook his head and said: "Cotton is the most important issue, more important than food. This issue must be solved first."
Liu Jing had just arrived in Liaodong, had just taken over the farming affairs, and had just set up the team of Liaoyang Mansion. Even the division of power between Liaoyang Mansion and Liaodong Dusi has not been completely completed. After all, before this, Liaodong Dusi was in charge of civil affairs and had jurisdiction over many non-military households.
Now these populations will be handed over to Liaoyang Mansion.
These things are not something that future generations can just draw on a computer. Involves the transfer and verification of files. and changes in jurisdiction, etc. More importantly, there are many benefits. Many things are difficult to handle once interests are involved.
Fortunately, Wu Gao replaced Ye Wang and became the commander of the Liaodong capital.
Whether Wu Gao and Liu Jing had a good relationship before is another matter. But now they are both outsiders and members of the hero system, so they are naturally close to each other. Wu Gao had just been transferred, and his previous interests had nothing to do with him. So he cooperated very well with Liu Jing.
But precisely because Wu Gao had just arrived and had a shallow foundation, some things would not be easy to handle even if he cooperated.
Fortunately, He Xi supported the two of them.
He certainly regarded the Liaodong Army as his own. But the problem is that what He Xi needs is the support of the military, not the infringement of local laws by military law. He needs to control the army, not be coerced by it. In these matters, He Xi left some room.
That's how it was before, not much investigation, just getting things done.
But if there are some people who are hard-pressed to give up their good fortune. He Xi doesn't mind sacrificing a human head to the flag.
So this matter becomes more complicated. It became the first spark of Wu Gao and Liu Jing's appointment. Even with He Xi's support, the two of them would inevitably quarrel. It's one thing for their new official to be very angry when he takes office, but they don't want to offend He Xi too much.
What they want is to establish prestige among their subordinates, otherwise nothing will be done in the future. But it cannot hinder He Xi's interests.
It is difficult to grasp the appropriateness.
Wu Gao and Liu Jing have been focusing on this for a while, plus the autumn harvest just now. Therefore, Liu Jing actually does not understand the largest industrial system in Liaodong. I don’t even understand that in Liu Jing’s opinion, farming war is the top priority. The food supply is huge.
That’s it if there are no conditions. Now that we have the conditions, we can't improve Liaodong's grain supply properly. There is no need to produce too much, as long as it can supply Daning and the outer northeastern region, the Ming Dynasty's military front can move northward.
He Xi's words suddenly came to the cotton. I simply don’t know what to say.
Yes. Cotton is very important. After all, Liaodong, and even Northeast China, is not another place. Cold protection measures are required. Otherwise, winter is simply not a place for people to stay.
However, no matter how important cotton is, it should not be more important than food.
He Xi saw that Liu Jing didn't understand, but he also understood Liu Jing. After all, Liaodong is a different place in the entire Ming Dynasty. The biggest difference is that the benefits Liaodong has gained from industry are already greater than those from agriculture, that is, the industrial output value has exceeded the agricultural output value.
The reason why the performance is not obvious is because the large amount of investment has kept Liaodong's finances in a tight state. In addition, the complex financial situation and the profits obtained from industry are not clearly stated. In addition, Liu Jing is responsible for civil affairs and farming affairs.
I don’t have much contact with industrial matters, and I don’t know much about this aspect.
He Xi said to Huang Zicheng: "Master Huang, please tell me."
"Yes." Huang Zicheng said. In fact, He Xi had already communicated with her confidants in private. But we must be honest with these new people. That's why there is such a meeting.
Huang Zicheng said: "Master Liu, you should understand that the nearly six million taels of military expenditures are not for us in Liaodong. They are military expenditures and allocations. Although Sir He can manage them, these six million taels are for the army. Enough stuff.”
"What is this thing? The first ordnance, don't worry about this, Shenyang has enough for it."
Liu Jing nodded secretly. This was also the most different thing he felt about managing the farmland. The farm tools in Liaodong were so easy to use. On the one hand, the materials are good and you are willing to spend money. On the other hand, it is well designed. Students at the College of Science and Technology may not be capable of designing more complex machinery, such as the steam engine that Hao Xi has always wanted. However, some simple farm machinery improvements are possible. After all, the agricultural tools that were originally handed down were subjected to mechanical analysis to create new agricultural tools. It's not too difficult.
As for the complicated situation of ordnance, Liu Jing thought that there should be no problem on top of farm tools.
"Second, it's military uniforms. About 130,000 troops. A military uniform, smock, cape, cotton-padded jacket. Winter clothes, summer clothes, etc. Sail, ropes, etc. Also, other people's needs."
Liu Jing said: "Wait. Sail? How many sails are needed? What do you need so many sails for?"
He Xi coughed and said, "Mr. Liu, have you ever thought about how to spend nearly six million taels?"
Liu Jing was stunned and said: "Why should we spend it all? In the land of hundreds of battles in Liaodong, wouldn't it be a good thing if we could save some military expenditures so that when we go north in the future, we don't have to allocate them from the rear?"
He Xi suddenly felt a little dizzy.
I don't know how to explain it to him.
From the financial perspective of an agricultural society, this is no problem at all. Live within your means. Save flowers. But for He Xi who came from the later generations, this was not the case. Large-scale fiscal expenditure drives industrial development. This model is very familiar to He Xi.
Whether this financial expenditure is for war or other aspects, there is no problem.
In fact, He Xi can also feel the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang made this choice. Once the power of capital begins to circulate, it is not subject to individual will. Capital naturally pursues value-added. To increase the value again, for this one thing, they would not hesitate to make the world a hell.
What He Xi is doing now in Liaodong is just planting a seed. We can let nature take its course and slowly promote capital growth over ten or twenty years. And thus establish a new social system. But Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have ten years left, so he had this method.
It doesn't matter what you do. The important thing is to invest all the financial surplus of the Ming Dynasty into industry. Be it appropriation or military spending. all the same.
But He Xi couldn't waste the money.
One tael of silver and four stones of rice. The total investment was nearly six million taels, which was a huge amount of money. How many? The balance of Zhang Juzheng's reform was only more than 10 million taels, which was more than twice this number. More importantly, the price of silver was gradually declining in the Ming Dynasty. When it comes to purchasing power, there is no specific model to compare with. But six million taels is worth the Wanli years, maybe ten million taels.
It was enough that Ming Dynasty and Japan had been fighting for a huge amount of money in Korea for more than ten years.
Too much money is also a worry.
How to spend it reasonably and reasonably?
He Xi thought about it over and over. On the one hand, he wanted to completely change the uniforms of the Korean army. Originally, the cloth and clothes made by his wife in the guard house were all replaced by Liaodong military uniforms. And it’s not just one piece, there are several sets of autumn and summer clothes for one person. Also increase army supplies, gauze, tents, etc. These require cotton.
As for cotton supply, it was very tight throughout the 21st year of Hongwu. The reason is that cotton cloth is a hard currency and the second largest salt product on the sea. Last year, the supply of cotton raw materials limited the production of cotton cloth. Today, the supply of cotton is simply not enough.
On the other hand, He Xi thought of the navy.
Yes. In He Xi's opinion, the navy of the Ming Dynasty was completely inadequate. There are no dedicated battleships. There is no need for specialized naval guns. Many things were moved over from the Army. There is no special design at all. Of course.
There is nothing needed.
But where there is no need, a need can be created.
There is a strong need to conquer Japan. Use the military spending to fight Japan to build a world-class navy or ocean fleet. He Xi thinks it's a good deal. Because, He Xi feels that in the future, the largest market for Ming Dynasty's industrial products will still be overseas. Not domestic.
