Chapter 37 Invisible financial shackles
Many scholar-bureaucrats are opposed to Western learning, that is to say, Western learning does not have a way of life.
The Tao of Life is very complicated to talk about and difficult to summarize, but in essence, it talks about people's status in society. How to deal with social relations, what nature is good and what is evil. They are all talking about this.
Although He Xi's theory did not say anything, it emphasized two points. The first is extreme pragmatism. Whether scientific or otherwise, there is no moisture at all.
If you have one piece of evidence and one piece of truth, you don't care about any gods or ghosts.
Second, emphasize human power.
Specifically, everyone should have their own rights.
For ordinary people, these things have nothing to do with the way of life. But for smart people, that's enough.
What is blank space?
This is white space.
He Xi did not do this intentionally. He just selectively looked for theories from later generations. For some other things that he considered unimportant, he did not write them. But after all, He Xi is not the best talent in the world. Limited sense of smell on many things.
But Ding Xian is different. It doesn't matter whether he has evil intentions or other things, but Ding Xian's wisdom cannot be ignored.
He directly deduced from the two premises what he thought was the way of life, which was Yang Zhu's theory.
That is, since this world is material, there are no gods, ghosts, and karma. The unlimited extension of human power is human desire. In a short period of time, people should reach the peak they want to reach. As for the country and the family, they are all clouds.
For the sake of what they can get, they don't mind trampling on all laws and morals. Of course, if the flowers are useful to you, you can use them.
This is the so-called refined egoist.
Why do many Western scholars say that to save the future of the West, we need to choose ideas from Eastern Confucianism? It is because this kind of extreme self-interest and worship of money, while beneficial to ourselves, will cause harm to the entire society.
Many things are relative. When capitalism first began, many people encouraged everyone to pursue their own desires and believed that everyone doing what was best for themselves would be beneficial to the entire society.
This kind of thinking has been a trend for a long time.
But this kind of thinking has given rise to world wars, even nuclear wars.
After that, some people began to reflect. Is it really a good thing for the entire society that everyone pursues the maximization of their own interests?
Ding Xian didn't know this. Anyway, he felt that to a certain extent, he was He Xi's successor, because he truly learned the essence from He Xi and introduced the new.
In his view, everything in science is technology, and his kind of thinking is the Tao.
Of course, he would not advertise it widely, but would keep it secret like an emperor's mind. After all, He Xi was also hidden outside the book, and a wise man knew it, and he was that wise man.
Now, he is only one step away from becoming the first civil servant. How could he not be excited?
He knew Zhu Yunwen too well.
Zhu Yunwen asked this not because he wanted to know the answer, but because Zhu Yunwen already had the answer in his heart, but he didn't know how to handle this matter.
Zhu Yunwen was tired of Fang Xiaoru and wanted to replace Fang Xiaoru. After all, Fang Xiaoru's ability is not enough to maintain the current situation. As the war does not go smoothly, it is foreseeable that the scale of war will become larger and larger in the future.
With Fang Xiaoru's ability, he might be able to serve as the Prime Minister of Taiping, but Xiao He and Li Shanchang, who were Zhu Yunwen, were unable to do so.
Ding Xian said: "Your Majesty, Confucianism has been passed down for eternity, and it is naturally a difficult way. However, in troubled times, there are many ways to change. It is also common sense. Now that the northern thieves are coming menacingly, learn their skills to prepare for emergencies. It is natural. Things. The sky remains unchanged, the Tao remains unchanged, and there are thousands of magic spells, all of which are used according to the time."
Zhu Yunwen was overjoyed and said: "What a magic spell that has thousands of ways to use according to the time."
The spells here are not magic spells.
, but a specific method of doing things.
Among Zhu Yunwen, some admired and some rejected He Xi's teachings.
Zhu Yunwen was very optimistic and concerned about He Xi's many specific methods. However, he is extremely repulsive to He Xi's recent suggestions of public opinion and God's will.
Without him, God's will has always been difficult to ask. No one can tell clearly what God's will is. This gives the emperor room to manipulate God's will. It is easy for the emperor to control God's will. The so-called auspiciousness, those visions born in history books, etc.
The ancients did not know that these things were fake.
It’s just that foolish men and women don’t know.
At most, there are only foolish men and women in the world. Therefore, the induction of heaven and man corresponds to the policy of obscuring the people. Even the so-called enlightenment may not be a kind of policy of obscuring the people.
Many emperors are very repulsive to auspiciousness, but all they can do is not allow auspiciousness to be offered to their subordinates, rather than completely eliminate it. You know that the emperor himself actually knows what he is doing.
But public opinion is different.
In fact, public opinion is the same as God's will. There is no so-called God's will, and naturally there is no absolute public opinion. After all, it is difficult to reconcile all opinions, and it is also very difficult for people in the world to have a unified idea. It’s just that it’s really easy for some people to package their own meaning into public opinion.
This is the difference between God's will and public opinion.
God's will, it is easy for the emperor to control it himself. At most, he will compete with the scholar-bureaucrats for the right to interpret.
As for public opinion, it is difficult for the emperor to control it, but it is very easy for the scholar-bureaucrats to control it. This put the emperor's power at risk.
Heaven does not change, Tao does not change, what is unchangeable? It's just like the emperor and the emperor. The magic is changing, but what has changed? It's He Xi's handling of specific matters, such as factories, banks, business tax collection methods, etc.
Zhu Yunwen didn't realize that many things in He Xi were not what he thought or didn't want. It is just an adjustment following the trend of the times.
What Ding Xian said suited him best.
Use the good ones in He Xi's theory instead of the bad ones in He Xi's theory.
Ding Xian said: "There is no sage but Your Majesty, and it was only under His Majesty's inspiration that I achieved what I have learned."
Ding Xian said it according to Zhu Yunwen's thoughts. This sentence is not wrong.
Zhu Yunwen said: "Then where should we start with this matter?"
Ding Xian said: "I think we should start with military expenses."
Zhu Yunwen said: "Please give me a try."
"Yes." Ding Xian said: "I am responsible for the production of firearms, and the Taiping Iron Works is already producing at full capacity. However, I estimate that after one year, there will only be more than 10,000 artillery pieces, which is still insufficient for the front lines, Shanxi, and the sea. And the old-fashioned There are many artillery pieces, but there are very few new artillery pieces required by Duke Ying. It may not be possible to improve much in the future."
"But even these Taiping Iron Works require tens of thousands of taels of subsidies every month. And the more firearms are produced, the less other iron materials are produced. Taiping Iron Works will have no other income. Over time, it will either increase financial subsidies, Or let the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion pay for it."
"Otherwise, this is unsustainable."
"This is just artillery. There is too much demand for other types of military supplies, and the Shaofu can no longer support it. But the money deposited in the Ministry of Revenue cannot support it for much longer. I don't know that Fang Shouxing How to explain to your majesty. But since the military reform, money has been flowing like water. Even during the Hongwu period, Emperor Taizu left tens of millions of stones for your majesty, tens of millions of taels of various gold and silver, and tens of millions of banknotes. Count, but if this continues, it will all be spent sooner or later.”
"Your Majesty, you should ask Fang Xiaoru to give you a strategy. I feel that the chief assistant cannot give you a strategy. At that time, your majesty will naturally use other methods. In this way, you can't blame your majesty, but can only blame Fang's chief assistant for being incompetent. .”
In fact, Beijing and Nanjing are similar in many things. But it is only similar, and it is also different in many things.
For example, He Xi actually made Liaodong and Zunhua Iron Works spend a lot extra on weapons. But generally speaking, Beijing keeps accounts and then writes them off between the Ministry of Finance and each enterprise. Anyway, these companies every year
A lot of profits have to be handed over. The two parties have to put pressure on the price, and the write-off is almost the same. If there is a difference, there are also policies such as tax exemption. In short, He Xi’s main product is free of charge.
