Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Yao Guangxiao replied: "The situation in the north is not very good. The coal and iron producing areas mentioned by Jiang Sheng do exist, but most of them need to be redeveloped. Taking coal as an example, most of the coal is concentrated in Shanxi, and it is transported from Shanxi to Hebei Coal can only be exported to the east via Jingxing Road. The Hutuo River is convenient for water transportation, but transportation within the Shanxi Governor's Office is very troublesome. Moreover, the Mongols are in the north and the King of Jin is in the south. They all look ready to move. Datong's Military strength is a problem, Ping'an and Sheng Yong have too little power, and if we don't solve the problem of King Jin, I'm afraid it will be difficult to exploit Shanxi's resources smoothly."

“Where are the iron mines in Liaodong?”

If Jiang Xinghuo remembers correctly, Liaodong has the largest iron ore in Asia. Fortunately, although the Ming Dynasty's actual control range in Liaodong was only the Liaoxi Plain after the Liaoxi Corridor came out, this iron ore happened to be Just on the edge, the soldiers and horses of Baoding Hou Mengshan can keep an eye on him at any time.

It is a pity that the coal mine resources in the Northeast, the top four coal mines, are all from Heilongjiang. At this time, Heilongjiang was obviously beyond the reach of the Ming Dynasty, and could only implement restraint rule over the local indigenous people. It is really difficult to mine, and transportation is a problem that cannot be solved at all.

"There is no problem with the mining of iron ore. The Marquis of Baoding replied. As long as you want to mine, you can take as much as you want. In the past, there was no shortage of iron in the country, and there was a shortage of craftsmen in Liaodong, so it has not been done."

"That's good."

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a while and then said: "If it is really difficult to exploit coal resources in Shanxi, then there are coal mines in Xishan in Beijing and Kailuan in Yongping Prefecture, which should be enough to get started. You can use this first There are two coal mines, and coal mines in Shanxi will be mined after transportation conditions are improved in the future."

The logical sequence of the British Industrial Revolution is textiles, metallurgy, coal mining, steam engines, and railways. These are five major fields. It is in these five major fields that many new machines and technologies were invented, which greatly improved production efficiency. At the same time, Let the factory system replace handicraft industry.

Although the Ming Dynasty's industrial revolution model was essentially different from Dai Ying's model, in terms of the order of development of the industrial sector, they were not much different.

The first field is textile. The British Industrial Revolution invented a variety of textile machines, such as spinning jenny, water-powered spinning machine, barrel machine, shuttle loom, etc. These machines enabled the rapid development of the cotton textile industry. Cotton Cloth became one of Britain's most important exports. Of course, these machines also caused hand-weavers to lose their livelihoods, triggering a series of riots against the machines.

Jiang Xinghuo has basically completed the first stage of this matter and has effectively controlled the impact on the domestic handmade textile industry.

The second field is metallurgy. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain invented a variety of metallurgical technologies, such as the coke iron smelting method, the Poudel method, the Corning method, etc. It was these technologies that greatly improved the production volume and quality of iron. High-quality iron has become one of the most important materials in the industrial revolution, and high-quality iron can be used to manufacture various machines, tools, weapons, etc.

What Jiang Xinghuo plans to do is to use the progress of the military industry to force progress in materials science, and then promote the development of the metallurgical industry. In fact, firearms are indeed facing material difficulties now, and many technical indicators cannot be achieved. This is why Jiang Xinghuo The reason why Xinghuo plans to deploy heavy industry in the north has been stated before.

The third field is coal mining. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain invented a variety of coal mining technologies, such as water pumps, fans, safety lights, etc. These technologies made coal mining safer and more efficient. Coal became the most important energy source in the Industrial Revolution. First, coal can be used to drive steam engines, heat and smelt, etc.

At the same time, coal is also a prerequisite for steam engines.

The fourth field is the steam engine. The steam engine is the most important power source in the industrial revolution and can be used to drive various machines, tools, vehicles, etc. The fifth field is the railway, such as rails, locomotives, carriages and other railway technologies that enable industry The revolution reached a new stage, and railways became the most important means of transportation in the Industrial Revolution.

Jiang Xinghuo had already made the layout of these five major areas clear to Yao Guangxiao, so Yao Guangxiao's trip north to explore the resource endowment conditions also understood the importance of the subsequent industrial revolution.

Yao Guangxiao nodded, and then asked about what happened during his absence. Jiang Xinghuo explained everything to him.

The reform in the south has now taken some shape. Production in the handicraft factories is stabilizing, and the foreign war to obtain overseas product dumping markets is also going smoothly. The internal affairs have already experienced a round of ideological impact. Although science is still very weak, everything is going well. Development in a good direction.

The current internal affairs focus is on the two major systems of finance and currency. In terms of currency, the financial system with the Daming Bank as the core has been initially established. The value of banknotes is constantly rising and is expected to reach the standard line for banknote exchange within two to three years; In terms of finance, a new local supplementary tax plan is being brewed, while taxes on specialized commodities such as salt and tea are facing reform, and commercial taxes are waiting for the 2.1 million tael bet to take effect before making large-scale changes.

The fiscal and monetary reforms are even more treacherous than the difficulties encountered by previous reforms.

If the previous reforms had more or less clear enemies or groups, then at this stage, when it comes to taking action on the entire country's finances and currency, such directional opponents have disappeared.

No, it may not be accurate to say "disappeared", it is invisible.

Just like a giant ship, it has sailed through the rough seas and sailed into the boundless ocean. This does not mean that the dangers have been reduced. On the contrary, the dangers that are invisible on the surface are the most terrifying.

Because this means that you can no longer use physical removal or other methods to achieve the goal of victory by getting rid of or defeating someone. You can only adjust finance and currency bit by bit based on the changing situation. policy.

And this giant ship is really too big. Once it deviates even slightly, it will lead to countless unpredictable consequences.

Walking on thin ice, trembling with fear.

"Annan's good news has come."

Jiang Xinghuo was out swimming in the lake this afternoon, so he only found out about it at this time.

After receiving the information handed over by Yao Guangxiao, Jiang Xinghuo looked at it carefully. The expression on his face remained unchanged, but a big stone fell to the ground in his heart.

"Li Jinglong did not disappoint this time."

"You don't even look at who you hit." Yuan Gong interjected.

"Then what's next."

"Wait a minute."

Yao Guangxiao confirmed that no one was snooping around the quiet room, and lowered his voice and said, "Jiang Sheng, please read the hexagrams."

In different eras, fortune-telling, a long-lasting superstitious activity, has different tools. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the most popular one was the cup.

The cup is made of two pieces of wood or clam shells shaped like ears. When you throw the cup on the ground, there will be three results: two heads, two tails, one head and one tail. The fortune teller pre-sets the cup. The respective meanings of the three results are determined, and then good or bad luck is determined based on the results.

Lao Zhu was forced into desperation and received a letter from Tang He. He used this device when deciding whether to join the Red Scarf Army rebellion. Zhu Yuanzhang used the cup to predict his escape and left two futures behind, both of which turned out to be disastrous. Later, he divined the future of the army, and the result was a good fortune. Zhu Yuanzhang was relieved, stepped forward, and embarked on his road to become a king.

However, as an expert in mysticism in this era, Yuan Gong used obviously more advanced yarrow that was passed down from ancient times.

The first chapter of Confucius's "Shuo Gua Chuan" says: "In the past, the sages made Yiye, and they praised the gods and gave birth to the weeds. They towered over the sky and the earth and relied on the numbers. They observed the changes in yin and yang and established the hexagrams." That is to say, the weeds were originally the hexagrams. A kind of grass, it itself does not know good or bad luck. The reason why it is said to know good or bad luck and is called a divine object or deity is because the saints such as King Wen of Zhou Dynasty "praised" (added buff) to it.

The yarrow that has been "you praised" has become spiritual. Combined with the numbers of heaven and earth (i.e., the number of heaven is 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and the number of earth is 2, 4, 6, 8, 10), according to the method of divination, we can get Yin and Yang and observe the changes of Yin and Yang, so that you can draw a hexagram.

The principle of yarrow fortune-telling is actually an arithmetic problem in essence. The algorithm is very simple, that is, "divide into two, hang one, pick out four, return to odd" and so on. Therefore, there is a divination first and then a hexagram, not the sixty-four The hexagrams are placed there to match what has happened in the past, but the hexagrams are established through the hexagram method to predict what will happen in the future.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at a pile of yarrow and fell into deep thought.

He lacks knowledge of occult science and cannot understand it at all.

"Ahem."

Yuan Gong explained some hexagrams to him.

"A gentleman uses fear to practice thinking. Do I have to do things according to the hexagrams?"

"Well, that's not entirely true. The hexagrams are just some kind of predictions, or hints. The future direction of each hexagram will be vastly different."

"Well" Jiang Xinghuo fell into thought.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't really believe in this kind of mystical stuff, but he had indeed discussed it with the old monk, Yuan Gong, Zhang Yuchu and other great Buddhist and Taoist figures out of curiosity.

The answer is that Yuan Gong’s physiognomy, Zhang Yuchu’s Feng Shui, and the old monk’s method can indeed get some results about predicting the future, but they themselves don’t know whether this result can be realized. Anyway, according to tradition The method I have followed will definitely produce results.

In other words, talented people can predict people's fate after hard study and training, but no one can guarantee the accuracy of the prediction results. This seems to be no different from nonsense.

In addition, what is 100% certain is that there is no such thing as inner strength, true energy, spiritual energy or any other way to cultivate immortality and Buddhahood in this world, and heaven has never given any clear instructions to the earth. Longhu There have been so many generations of heavenly masters in the mountains, but none of them have truly become immortals. Those mysterious and mysterious legends are all meant to deceive believers, and you would be a fool if you believed them yourself.

There is indeed such a thing as martial arts, but like Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, they are all fighting skills, which are a genre-based summary of experience and routine skills, and individual combat effectiveness will decline with age.

The ceiling of military force in this world is currently Zhu Gaoxu.

Wearing heavy armor and horses, if you are facing lightly armored infantry without heavy armor-piercing weapons, and the terrain is flat, you can indeed achieve "one against a hundred" on the battlefield. But this is obviously the end. , similar to Yu Daqiu and Qi Jiguang in the middle Ming Dynasty, and Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao in the late Ming Dynasty, their level of force should be similar. It is something within the scope of human cognition. It can play a role in changing the situation of the battle at certain times on the battlefield, but one person can form an army. It's still far away, and he will still be beaten to death by the soldiers.

"Even the future predicted by Jiang Sheng at certain times will change. Everything is dynamic, so it is not necessarily necessary to act according to the hexagrams. However, I think it is better to let go of some things." Yao Guangxiao said.

"you mean?"

"Even if there are no hexagrams about military-related matters, I think we shouldn't touch them."

After hearing Yao Guangxiao's suggestion, Yuan Gong, who had also been a high-ranking official at the ministerial level, nodded in agreement.

Jiang Xinghuo began to think seriously about their suggestions.

At present, he is only involved in three fields in the military, namely, the vice principal of the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy, the technical consultant of the Ordnance Bureau and the Military War Bureau, and he has also participated in the training of tax guards.

The first one must resign, because the military academy is really hard to get rid of. Qiu Fu is very strict, and he seems to have been instructed by Zhu Di to be wary of him. Although Jiang Xinghuo got to know some teachers and students, generally speaking, there was still great resistance and taboo to intervene in the next generation of military circles.

So instead of hanging around in such embarrassment, it would be better to just quit.

The influence on the military community can only be through indirect means, that is, by managing the current connections with these senior generals of the Ming Dynasty.

In terms of the Ordnance Bureau and the Military War Bureau, Zhu Di has no control over it, and no one else can do it except himself. It is different from the military academy. It is an irreplaceable position that greatly benefits the court.

The first batch of tax soldiers who participated in the war to quell the chaos in Jiangnan have been transferred to follow Liu Sheng to fight in Annan. This is the seed of the world's first pure firearms unit. I believe that as the performance on the battlefield becomes more and more outstanding, , will grow into a towering tree in the future.

Well, in the military reform plan of the army, if nothing unexpected happens, the three major battalions of the capital will definitely not be lost in the future, that is, a combined force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and these veterans of the tax guard will also become the magic machine. The foundation of the camp.

In the future, the tax guard may become a place to train and cultivate real tax guards and tax clerks, training them in literacy tasks such as arithmetic and literacy, so that they can truly become part of the national tax system, instead of being just a little bit in the beginning. A firearms unit that sells sheep's meat as dog's meat.

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a while and said: "That does make sense. In this way, I will resign from the position of vice principal of the military academy someday. Regarding the literacy of the tax guards and guards, we now have teaching materials and a mechanism for the old to lead the new. , he resigned all together, and only remained as a technical advisor in the War and Weapons Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau."

"So best."

Yuan Gong tidied up the yarrow and left with a heavy heart.

He never figured out what the previous hexagram about hiding dragons meant.

After Yuan Gong left, Yao Guangxiao also made a heart-breaking comment: "Based on the current situation, the development of the army depends on the outside but not on the inside, and it depends on the people and not on the officials."

"What do you mean?" Jiang Xinghuo seemed to be inspired by something.

Since one path doesn’t work, it’s not a bad idea to switch tracks!

"Annan is the first battle. Li Jinglong fought this battle brilliantly. After taking Annan, we will have an advanced base for exploration in the South and West. In the future, there will be more and more overseas exploration and colonization. Civilian maritime armed forces, It will definitely flourish with the pace of the army."

Jiang Xinghuo also understands this truth, but he was a little obsessed just now, but now he suddenly understands.

Yao Guangxiao looked at him, twirling his white beard and sighed.

"Jiang Sheng, you have stayed here for too long and are so absorbed in the tedious things in front of you that you have lost your alertness to some things."

"Historical progress does not involve too many compromises. Looking at the past dynasties, once the top-level structure changes, how can there be so much tenderness? Life and death is the greatest possibility. Don't have too many illusions."

Jiang Xinghuo said frankly: "I understand this truth, but now I still can't see through it, let alone make up my mind."

"Our generation cannot see the farthest future. What we can see is what can be inferred based on the rules. In fact, it is similar to fortune telling, but it should be more scientific."

"The rise of manual workshops, new military aristocrats, sea traders, bankers, privateers, citizens, and workers is certainly inevitable, but in twenty or thirty years, the power of To what extent it can grow, and whether it has really reached a point where it can promote the transformation of the historical process from quantitative change to qualitative change, I can’t tell.”

"At the same time, the power of the blood-sucking worms of the feudal imperial power is still strong. There is no hope of any fundamental change through non-force methods. Even through the change of imperial power, the throne is in the hands of an emperor who favors the bourgeoisie. This kind of contradiction rooted in power will not disappear, but will only intensify."

Yao Guangxiao understood Jiang Xinghuo's thoughts, but he still said: "So Jiang Sheng believes that it is impossible to change the nature and top-level structure of society in twenty or thirty years."

"Yes."

Although in the history of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, the Glorious Revolution (1688) in Britain preceded the Industrial Revolution (1760), historians generally believe that it was Britain's political, economic, legal, cultural, etc. The conditions for starting the Industrial Revolution are in place, such as a stable and peaceful environment, free market and trade, rule of law and protection of property rights, scientific and technological progress, etc. The most important thing is of course a stable and peaceful political environment. That is, the bourgeois revolution established the constitutional monarchy. , limited the power of the king and protected the rights of parliament and the people.

Finally, Britain had vast colonies and overseas markets, which provided sufficient raw materials and sales channels for the Industrial Revolution. It also established the most powerful navy in the world, protected its maritime trade and colonial interests, and implemented free trade. policy, abolished the guild system and tariff barriers, and promoted market competition and commodity circulation.

But in Ming Dynasty, the specific situation obviously faced was different.

If the Ming Dynasty's spontaneous and original bourgeoisie germinated alone, then it might not be able to produce qualitative changes for a hundred or two hundred years, and it would be interrupted by the invasion of foreign enemies. Without the ability to spontaneously qualitative changes to change the top structure, naturally there would be no further The possibility of technological explosion.

Therefore, the industrial revolution carried out by the Ming Dynasty is actually a reverse model, dominated by military rather than civilian use. Its internal logic is different.

The normal industrial revolution required the mining of coal and iron ore, so steam engines were needed to pump water. After the emergence of steam engines, they began to be widely used in all walks of life, and steam trains and ships appeared, changing the transportation situation.

So what was the Industrial Revolution of the Ming Dynasty like? First there were technological innovations in the textile industry. In order to find a dumping market for the excess cotton textiles they had hoarded, the Ming Dynasty's army, which had related interests, launched foreign wars, gained profits from textile dumping, and then continued to explore and launch wars. As this pattern progressed, , which put forward higher requirements for domestic production and transportation efficiency. There was also a greater demand for weapon casting, so the combination of coal and iron was needed, and the emergence of steam engines was needed to further improve efficiency.

In fact, this path is not the British path, but the path that Jiang Xinghuo took in his previous life to make a fortune in Chou Country. That is, the military-industrial complex develops new technologies based on military needs, and then uses military technology to promote the development of civilian technology, which in turn drives the entire country. improvement.

Because of this, the feudal imperial power became the waterer for the budding bourgeoisie.

And it is precisely because of this reverse training method that in the next 20 to 30 years, the military aristocracy will become extremely powerful and unprecedentedly powerful, becoming an out-and-out military force that in the past was only barely comparable to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The freak.

The entire army, from top to bottom, will be caught up in a frenzy of aggressive expansion.

Because the military has not only gained a lot of profits from commodity dumping, but also through the development of the coal and iron industry, it will continue to upgrade its weapons and advance into the era of hot weapons. At the same time, the military's warlike spirit will be unstoppable.

In this case, if the new social class wants to carry out top-level structural changes without using force, it will be like hitting a rock with an egg.

Because the army will firmly safeguard their interests, and the Ming army, which has entered the era of thermal weapons, cannot be resisted by any class.

"The combination of sea trade merchants and civil armed forces is necessary, but relying solely on external and civil forces may not be enough to promote fundamental changes in society."

“So no matter how you imagine it, there will be no fundamental changes in the top-level structure in the next 20 to 30 years.”

Yao Guangxiao looked a little sad.

It seems that not only can he not see the arrival of the other side, he can't even see the moment when the evil dragon rules the world.

But Yao Guangxiao quickly cheered up and asked: "So what is Jiang Sheng's plan?"

“Maybe in the next fifty to sixty years, the top structure can transition to another form as the material foundation changes, through gentle compromise or bloody conflict, but within twenty or thirty years, Imperial power is still powerful and unshakable, and the essential source of imperial power lies in military power. "The emperor will do it to those with strong soldiers and horses." Since the interests of the new class will not be fundamentally separated from the imperial power for the time being, there is no need to use The force of the new class will be used to counter the existing military system of the Ming Dynasty."

"In other words, the final destination still has to be the heir to the throne."

Jiang Xinghuo's expression was also a little complicated.

He once thought that he could avoid all this and promote the development of the entire Ming Dynasty from a neutral perspective.

Now he understands that although he can be neutral, if he is neutral, he must bear the consequences of neutrality.

That is, all the changes that I have worked hard to change may be affected by the corrective force of history and return to the situation where feudal imperial power and scholar-bureaucrats jointly rule the world with the agricultural natural economy as the material foundation.

The landowners and gentry are inherently contrary to everything in the new era.

Although some landowners and gentry can participate in maritime trade and can be transformed into the merchant class, the vast majority of them are still stubborn and conservative.

However, this relatively stubborn and conservative force in the face of historical trends actually occupies the absolute dominance of the top-level structure.

The material foundation has changed, and the landlords and gentry who are high in the temples, no matter how slow they are, should realize that their foundation has been shaken.

Moreover, although the landlords and gentry are a backward force in the historical trend, it does not mean that they are stupid. On the contrary, there are many elite talents cultivated under the existing education system.

So now Zhu Di can hold it in check, but if Zhu Di dies in 20 or 30 years, the landlords and gentry class will definitely counterattack. This is an inevitable law of history.

In the history of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, even without the industrial revolution, overseas trade, etc. that he has brought about now, Yongle's voyages to the West and the Northern Expedition to Mongolia, what happened after Zhu Di's death, aren't they all written in In the history books?

During the Ren and Xuan dynasties, the Ming Empire began a comprehensive strategic contraction, and finally stopped its voyages to the West. It gave up the Nurgan Dusi in the Far East, the Xuanwei Division in the old port of Malaya, and the Kaiping Wei in Monan. The wind of progress finally disappeared, and China's history slipped into the dark night.

In other words, this is the embodiment of the invisible power of historical correction.

If you survive, you will naturally turn into a butterfly. If you cannot survive, history will be set back on its original track.

It is conceivable that in this world, this historical correction force will become more powerful, just like a spring. The harder it is pressed, the higher it bounces.

Then naturally there is only one way before him.

That is to continue to support the military aristocracy that can still travel together for a long time, and at the same time support the spokesperson of this class, his founding disciple Zhu Gaoxu, to become the next generation emperor of the Ming Empire and completely change history.

Jiang Xinghuo has a good impression of Zhu Gaochi and also likes Zhu Zhanji. Although Zhu Gaochi is kind and generous at the same time, and although Zhu Zhanji is smart and scheming, this does not affect Jiang Xinghuo's personal likes and dislikes.

But the dispute between Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaochi over the throne has gone beyond Jiang Xinghuo's personal likes and dislikes.

This is a class struggle with irreconcilable interests. Behind them are the interests of hundreds of thousands or millions of people. No one can back down and hand over the throne to others, because handing over the throne to others means that the entire class has been completely destroyed. The liquidation has since disappeared from the stage of history.

It is obviously impossible for Zhu Gaochi to give up his basic base of gentry and civil servants. The military aristocracy represented by Zhu Gaoxu also has serious conflicts with the gentry and civil servants themselves.

"So, have we finally reached this point?" Jiang Xinghuo closed his eyes in despair.

Yao Guangxiao slowly twisted the beads: "Someone told me before that no matter how powerful a person is in this life, he will never be able to compete with destiny."

"I didn't believe it at that time. I told him that I had the Dragon Supporting Technique and it was my destiny. Whenever there was a chance, I should change it."

"What about now?" Jiang Xinghuo opened his eyes, looked at the old monk intently, and had some concerns in his heart.

"Now, there are always people in this world who want to be traitors and traitors. They have already done it once, so why can't they do it a second time?"

Yao Guangxiao chuckled softly and said: "I learned the dragon slaying technique from Jiang Sheng, so I should try it on another emperor in the future. It's not like I haven't changed emperors before."