Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1148 Postscript 5: Industrial Revolution Period?

Is the Ming Dynasty going to perish?

Of course not.

The Ming Dynasty today is even in its heyday.

Compared with the finances of the Tang and Song dynasties, which were also founded for more than a hundred years, the finances of the Ming Dynasty are as healthy as a strong young man.

Even if it continues to go downhill, it can still last for another one or two hundred years.

The real crisis of the Ming Dynasty is that it is heading towards the Industrial Revolution!

And this industrial revolution has always been a deformed development.

The two founding emperors forcibly instilled a lot of science and technology, and due to their own limitations, a large number of key technologies were missing.

It's like clicking on the technology tree when playing video games. Some technologies have been clicked to modern times, and some technologies are still in the Middle Ages.

It's extremely mismatched.

So in the first few decades after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was a great explosion of ideas and technology. The native Ming scholars and craftsmen gradually made up for various technological shortcomings, and at the same time brought about a chaos of social ideas.

Zhu Ming's grandson, Emperor Yanchun Zhu Tang, was not a real tyrant.

This emperor lived in the most chaotic era of thought, and he saw many unruly and unfathered remarks in society.

At that time, private newspapers and magazines sprang up like mushrooms after rain, advocating for their financial backers. In order to increase sales, many newspapers had more than half of their news false, and rumors were flying all over the court and the public.

Some newspapers even dared to secretly fabricate and ridicule the secrets of the palace!

So, Emperor Yanchun Zhu Tang slammed on the brakes and spent half of his time in power controlling thoughts.

Not only did he cancel the Yellow Emperor's era, he also made up a bunch of miraculous deeds for Taizu and Taizong. He also issued a decree to strengthen the censorship of publications, confiscated more than 60% of private publications, and hundreds of newspaper practitioners were beheaded, imprisoned, exiled, and disqualified from the imperial examinations.

At that time, there were many people who opposed this practice, but there were also many who supported it.

Because the world is indeed going downhill, all kinds of demons and monsters have emerged.

And the new and old ideas are in fierce confrontation.

The next Emperor Longsheng, Zhu Xiaochi, reigned for only four years and was old and sick at the beginning of his accession to the throne. He had no energy to control the court at all, and the thoughts suppressed by the previous emperor, both good and bad, took the opportunity to revive.

Emperor Dingtai, Zhu Jingjun, succeeded to the throne in his thirties. He was very open-minded and tolerant when he was young. The only female Jinshi who was granted an official position in the Ming Dynasty was the one he brought out against all odds.

He allowed the spread of various ideas, encouraged scientific progress, and encouraged the development of industry and commerce.

Until a huge corruption case in Guangdong, Emperor Dingtai saw something different.

He began to rectify the banking industry, cleared out a large number of private banks, prohibited businessmen from investing in railways, and tightened the issuance of mining rights for various mines. The two railways leading to Central Asia and Mobei were not allowed to be involved by any private institutions, and they were even unwilling to issue national bonds to build railways.

Due to the high difficulty of construction, huge cost, and long construction period, the two railways have barely recovered their investment until now.

…

When capital grows to a certain extent, it will seek power that matches its own strength.

In France, the king was confused.

In Britain, they deprived the king of his military and financial power, leaving him with only the naming right of the Royal Navy.

The Ming Dynasty was a little different. The imperial power was too strong!

As soon as capital showed a little sign, it was ruthlessly suppressed by Emperor Yanchun.

So they naturally changed their strategy and began to rent power in the officialdom. Capital and bureaucrats quickly colluded with each other.

Moreover, capital was defeated in the process and merged into another monster-bureaucratic capital!

Nowadays, all the larger companies and factories in Ming Dynasty are related to officials.

They even came up with "investment".

That is, giving their own trading company shares to officials or their relatives for free, so as to obtain various business advantages.

This is not the most terrible thing.

What is more terrible is that the navy and army generals are also doing business openly, and even using the army to help with business!

Emperor Dingtai was in power for 42 years, and most of the time, he was fighting this monster called bureaucratic capital.

He also issued a decree prohibiting civil and military officials and their immediate family members from doing business, and even forced some of the navy and army to rebel. Even if there were no openly rebellious troops, they would demand pay every now and then, anyway, just to force the court to lift the ban.

Emperor Dingtai took on the pressure from the army and fought twelve large and small rebellion wars.

It can be said that it was very effective.

Now no civil official or military general dares to say that he (and his immediate family members) are doing business.

It can also be said that the soup is the same.

If you dare not do it openly, then do it secretly. If immediate family members cannot do business, then let cousins ​​and clan brothers do business.

Of course, the trend of the army directly participating in business activities has been suppressed by Emperor Dingtai. The whole process was extremely bloody. The rebellion wars emptied the treasury, and even some troops fled to West Asia and Eastern Europe as a whole.

There was also a fleet that fled to East Africa and risked crossing the Cape of Good Hope to hide in Northwest Africa!

These things were not reported in detail in the newspapers, only that the court had repeatedly won great victories and successfully suppressed the rebellion.

Why should we crack down on these bureaucratic capitalists?

Because they are using public funds to enrich themselves, and tax evasion is just a piece of cake. They also form interest groups, influence the court through money and public opinion, and even secretly manipulate the appointment and dismissal of cabinet ministers.

Pure capital is not that powerful in the Ming Dynasty. The combination of bureaucrats and capital is the most difficult to deal with.

…

Can industry and capital inhibit mergers? Can it improve people's lives?

Quite the opposite.

The direct impact is to accelerate mergers and make people's lives more difficult.

Not to mention Britain and France, it is more interesting to take the United States as an example.

The era of great railroad development in the United States can be regarded as a feast of capital annexation of land. The company obtains the right to develop a railway, seeks bank loans, issues public shares, and builds the railway after obtaining funds.

Wherever the railways were built, land was annexed. All the land along the way was bought by companies, and countless American people became landless farmers.

Are all these lands used for railway construction?

No no no.

Of course, the excess land was used to develop farms, and those unfortunate landless farmers became farm workers.

Emperor Ding Tai slammed the brakes, first rectifying the financial market, then prohibiting capital investment in railways and restricting capital investment in mines. However, collusion between government and businessmen always finds ways to annex land for various reasons. Now there are a large number of landless farmers in many cities.

Unfortunately, the industrial revolution has not yet developed to a sufficient extent to effectively transform landless peasants into workers.

How did the UK do it?

If you spit on the streets of London, you will be directly exiled to Australia, which is a very easy way to eliminate the redundant population.

But is Ming Dynasty Britain?

The UK only needs to clean up the population in London to ensure that the whole country is not in chaos. There are countless cities on the same level as London in the Ming Dynasty. How should the court clean them up?

…

"Come on, come on, let's begin."

Xie Yiqin got the latest "Da Ming Xun Bao" and knew from the front page article that the reform was about to begin.

The front-page headline read: "Is child labor ethical?" ——The Debate between Righteousness and Benefit".

Before reform, we must first create public opinion.

When Wang Anshi carried out his reform, he also first created public opinion, and he was even pushed by public opinion. During the reform process, he continued to create public opinion and even compiled his own textbooks.

The current prime minister has an excellent entry point into public opinion.

The situation of child laborers is so miserable and does not conform to the core ideas of Confucianism: benevolence and righteousness.

Then it leads to a classic Confucian topic: the debate between justice and benefit.

The author of the article believes that the current situation across the country is that there are too many adult workers to use them all, but factory owners are determined not to use adult workers in positions that can use child labor. This has resulted in a large number of unemployed adults and the misery of countless child workers.

The reason is nothing more than businessmen’s pursuit of profits, and child laborers’ wages are lower!

Businessmen forget about great righteousness and great profits because of small profits.

The article cites a large number of classics to explain the negative impact of this behavior in moral, legal, economic and other aspects.

This is in line with the core values ​​of Confucianism, and the front-page article has become invincible.

And it is extremely inflammatory, including those enthusiastic students, those scholars who failed in the imperial examination, those intellectuals who did not go well at work, and those numerous unemployed workers and landless peasants. Everyone is incited by this article!

Xie Yan was not allowed to go out by his parents due to "physical discomfort" and continued to stay at home to recuperate.

On this day, the family was having breakfast.

Suddenly, officials hurried over and rushed to the inner courtyard without waiting for the announcement: "Grand judge, the unemployed workers are rioting, and it seems that there are more than a dozen scholars taking the lead. They surrounded the Cai family's factory and beat them without saying a few words." Get up, rush into the factory and smash the machines everywhere!”

"I know, wait until I finish the meal." Xie Yiqin said.

The official was extremely anxious: "Grand Judge, where is this meal time?"

Xie Yiqin sneered: "The cabinet promulgated a law prohibiting child labor at the beginning of the year, and I also invited Cai's family to discuss it several times. They have not panicked for the past six months, so why should I panic during breakfast?"

The official said: "The chief judge did not panic, but the prefect and the commander did. They must have mobilized troops to suppress it. If someone really lost his life, the chief judge would bear the brunt!"

The prefect cannot apply for the transfer of troops, only the general magistrate can apply for the transfer of troops.

Moreover, Tongsuan also manages the economy.

If someone is killed during military suppression, the first person in charge is the commander, and the second person in charge is the commander.

"No rush." ​​Xie Yiqin remained leisurely.

Of course...it's just an act!

Xie Yiqin took a few bites, then stood up and walked out. He seemed to be calm and leisurely, but in fact his steps were very fast.

Xie Yan didn't speak the whole time, silently watching his father leave.

He also read the newspaper, and the more he read, the more mysterious it became. China, which was supposed to be in the late Southern Song Dynasty or early Yuan Dynasty, actually had official newspapers discussing the ban on child labor, and the court was clearly inciting oppositional sentiments.

After breakfast, the second brother and sister went to study.

Xie Yan also said to his mother: "Mom, I haven't had a headache in the past two days. Can I go for a walk outside?"

"It's very chaotic outside. You are not allowed to leave the city. Ask Wang Sheng to accompany you." The mother was a little worried.

Xie Yan happily obeyed his orders, traveled through time for several days, and finally was able to go out and see something.

(Looks like I missed one leader. I’m very sorry. Thanks to Successor-’s leader for the reward.)