Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"Since the Northern Song Dynasty was unable to take back the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, as the iron smelting technology of the northern nomads gradually matched or even partially surpassed the Central Plains, the foreigners began to be able to create equally strong armor and more powerful long knives. In addition to the military equipment of the Han people, Except for long-range weapons such as crossbows, they no longer have a significant advantage."

"The major technological progress currently being made in the steel sector in the heavy industry represents that the Ming Dynasty, as the most upright Han dynasty that expelled the Tartars and won the country, has once again developed a military and technological advantage over all foreign races after hundreds of years."

Jiang Xinghuo directly explained the meaning of industry in words that everyone could understand.

The light industry, represented by the cotton textile industry, can generate huge amounts of foreign exchange, bring wealth to the country, and provide employment for the population. This is something that has immediate results and everyone can understand it.

As for the heavy industry that has just made technological breakthroughs and has not yet produced immediate benefits, Jiang Xinghuo also clarified its significance, which is armaments.

This aroused the exclamation of the civil servants and the cheers of the military ministers.

In fact, the progress of iron smelting technology has a more important significance. People in this era may not understand it, but Jiang Xinghuo knows it very well.

Being able to smelt molten steel on a large scale and obtain steel products has actually entered the threshold of the first industrial revolution.

Why didn’t trains appear until after the first industrial revolution?

Of course, part of the reason is that the steam engine made the locomotive appear, and part of the reason is that after the first industrial revolution, humans were able to create railroad tracks.

What needs to be said here is that the rails are not actually made of iron, but steel.

This choice has been tested in practice. Everyone knows that the cost of iron is lower than steel, so the rails were initially made of practical iron. However, after using it for a period of time, it was discovered that ordinary iron is not only not hard enough , the toughness is not enough, and it is very easy to deform, which can cause accidents. This is not the case with steel, especially manganese steel, which is commonly chosen for rail manufacturing.

Manganese steel is made by adding additional manganese carbon to ordinary molten steel. The properties of manganese are very interesting. If only less than 3.5% of manganese is added, the steel will become very brittle, but if it is continued to be added to more than 13%, and then processed, it will become It will become hard and flexible. Even if it becomes rusty due to wind and sun, the kind of rusty rails you see, it will not affect the normal traffic of trains.

The reason why manganese steel is used instead of stainless steel is that firstly, stainless steel can also rust, and secondly, the cost of manganese steel is only about one-third of that of stainless steel. Railways need to be laid over long distances, and the bulk is definitely not in gravel and sleepers, which can be directly Natural resources obtained through simple processing are on the rails, so the material for the rails must be the most cost-effective manganese steel.

This year, industrial reports on various tasks of the President's Reform Affairs Office continued. However, to everyone's surprise, a term they had never heard of popped out of Jiang Xinghuo's mouth.

"Machinery Manufacturing Industry."

"In terms of steam engines, the craftsmen in the current workshop have basically completed the exploration and mastering of technical principles after a year. It is expected that the drawing design and model production of steam engines for coal mine water pumping will be carried out in the second year of Yongle. By the third year of Yongle, In the sixth year of Yongle, we carried out research on technology, materials and other aspects, and trial-produced a steam engine for coal mine pumping. It was put into mass production and put on the market from the sixth year of Yongle to the tenth year of Yongle. In the future, there will be steam engines for iron smelting hydraulic blasting and cotton textile industry. Development of steam engines for different industries including steam engines.”

"In terms of machine tools, the Imperial Army is based on the existing jade cutting industry's grinder' (a kind of original machine tool, which uses a foot pedal to rotate a metal disk, and uses sand and water to process jade, and generally uses a weight to cut it. Jade, using a punch to grind jade, similar to boring in modern processing), a stronger and larger boring machine has been developed to process the barrel of firearms. It is worth mentioning that with the development of iron smelting technology, Breakthrough, it is now possible to manufacture more precise and durable parts. In addition to the existing grinders and boring machines, the development of machine tools such as lathes, drilling machines, milling machines, planers, broaching machines, and sawing machines is also in progress. Once completed and popularized , will greatly improve the efficiency of industrial manufacturing and boost industrial production capacity in all aspects."

“To promote industrialization and accelerate the construction of manufacturing industry, we need to focus on improving the level of science and technology and technical level. This requires improving the treatment and promotion system of craftsmen, focusing on molding key industrial products, and identifying key core technologies and key components, such as steam engines, screws, and springs. etc., in-depth implementation of industrial infrastructure construction and important technical equipment research, focusing on promoting steam engine technology, machine tool technology, parts processing and manufacturing technology, and achieving the first breakthrough in industrial and precision parts in the power and manufacturing industries."

There was a lot of information in Jiang Xinghuo's words, and the density was very high, but to these people's ears, to be honest, they didn't feel much, or they couldn't understand many of the things in it at all.

However, it is not accurate to say this. There is still a feeling, that is, at this time, they all feel, oh, it seems that the President's Reform Affairs Office has done a lot of things this year.

This is the meaning of ordinary work reports. Regardless of how much you have done, you should first make people feel that you have done a lot. What's more, there are indeed many things you have done.

As for the President's Reform Affairs Office, in such a large department, some things are not directly handled by Jiang Xinghuo, and they rarely even appear in his mouth, but if he did it, he did it, and if he didn't do it, he didn't do it. This can't be faked.

As the chief officer, what Jiang Xinghuo has to do is not to micromanage everything, but to make plans at the beginning of the year, let the following departments implement them, and review and summarize at the end of the year.

In his previous life, Jiang Xinghuo watched "Yes, Prime Minister". He actually didn't quite understand that sentence, why "the most important meaning of a department's existence is to make it appear important." Now he basically understands.

No matter what, today can be regarded as his first day in power.

There are three things new officials should do when they take office. It would be a pity not to show these old men from the stereotyped writing era what the standard of official documents is today.

Jiang Xinghuo's pause at this time gave the senior officials an opportunity to discuss.

Obviously, today's new meeting method was beyond their expectations.

Sanyang, who was sitting in the corner as a clerk, couldn't help but whisper a few words at this time.

If the initial report on agriculture only allowed them to see the tip of the iceberg of the results of the reform, then the report on industry was shocking enough for well-informed people who usually receive information from a wide range of sources. .

The old men may not understand, but they will definitely understand and understand that the words Jiang Xinghuo said are not superficial, but truly represent the achievements he has made.

And these senior officials gradually came to their senses after seeing the intriguing reactions of several distinguished representatives of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.

Agriculture may not be of much significance to the noble military ministers. After all, although their families also have land, the land in the hands of the noble military ministers is of fundamental importance to the gentry class who actually rely on land as their main source of wealth and inheritance. Not worth mentioning.

Therefore, the development of agriculture actually benefits the gentry class more.

But industry is completely different.

Industry is as significant to the noble and military ministers as agriculture is to the civil servants and gentry.

These old foxes quickly realized this.

The reason is also very simple. If the main value of agriculture is that the products it produces can satisfy people's hunger and can be exchanged for economic benefits, then industry has other advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage of industry is that industrial products can only obtain food through trade. Industrial products alone cannot fill the stomach. The advantage of industry is that the output of industrial products and the economic benefits that can be obtained are far beyond those of farmland. After all, agriculture is limited by natural, geographical and other conditions, while industry can almost get rid of such restrictions. The only things that can limit the output of industrial products are raw materials, manpower, and machines, and these things are nothing in the face of large-scale production. question.

In addition, closely connected with industrial production is the overseas dumping of industrial products, which is the inevitable overseas war. These can not only bring military exploits to the noble military ministers, but also provide the most important training ground.

Why were the noble military ministers so awesome in the early Ming Dynasty, but after three generations they began to be miserable? The root cause is not that as long as the country is at peace for a long time, the soldiers and generals will not be able to fight.

As for ancient Chinese wars, if they were fought on the mainland, they would be destined to cause heavy damage to the economy and people's livelihood, but if they were fought on land, they would often be a huge waste of effort but without success.

This paradox will lead to countries being unwilling to fight. After all, wars also have to settle economic accounts, not just the emperor's intentions and certain other goals.

But overseas expansion wars basically do not have this problem.

The supplies required for overseas wars are far less than those on land. There is no need for hundreds of thousands of people to transport them all the way. Moreover, many things can be obtained from places with seaports. All you need is money. Well, you can do it without money. If you have The same goes for muskets and cannons.

Unlike the Saibei Grassland, which cannot be occupied for a long time, overseas strongholds can be colonized and occupied, and the value and variety of overseas commodities far exceed those of neighboring land countries.

As for the other aspect of industrial development, that is, the development of heavy industry and machinery manufacturing industry, let alone that, it can be said that it can have an immediate effect on improving the level of armament.

Therefore, it took just a few seconds for the old foxes to figure out why Jiang Xinghuo read this prepared report on his first day in office, and why he ranked the so-called industry We arrived behind the largest agricultural industry in the world.

This is because, as long as the entire class of noble warriors can see the triple significance of developing industry for them, then the class of noble warriors, as time goes by, will be firmly bound by the dual interests of economy and military merit. Being tied to the chariot of reform, and doing so voluntarily, once someone tries to hinder the reform, it is equivalent to cutting off the wealth and promotion of these military leaders. This is the same concept as killing parents.

Just imagine, if these military leaders knew that their parents had been killed, how would they react? Of course, he killed all his enemies!

Thinking of this, the civil servants couldn't help but shudder as they looked at these distinguished representatives whose expressions changed obviously.

At this moment, even the most conservative civil servants knew that the current situation had really changed.

In just over a year, the reform has made substantial progress, and has firmly pulled up the class of noble military ministers who had only half a foot on the boat. They are not willing to leave. That kind of thing.

Everyone looked at Jiang Xinghuo and couldn't help but feel a little in awe of his methods. Even if this awe was just a hint, it was still shocking enough.

Jiang Xinghuo, however, calmly turned to the next page of the report.

He took a break just now to let these people understand the significance of his report.

After all, he was not a new employee giving a work report, and he was looking forward to getting there as soon as possible.

Of course, the purpose of the report is to explain what has been done in the past year, but in fact, it is used as a warning to these conservative civil servants.

In this way, the subsequent examination will be easier to handle.

Otherwise, the final list of those who have passed the examination will be thrown out directly. According to the custom of Ming Dynasty temples, I am afraid that it will become a vegetable market again.

Don't really think that this group of ministers can't do it. In the Ming Dynasty, they quarreled in the temples, or even started to fight, or even beat people to death in front of the emperor. Look through "History of the Ming Dynasty", don't you think there are too many times?

Seeing everyone's solemn expressions, Jiang Xinghuo continued to read.

"3. Economy."

Seeing that the work report had reached the highlight, everyone cheered up.

If agriculture and industry have not seen so many results, then the economy is undoubtedly the highlight of the reform, and it is also the part that Jiang Xinghuo himself is focusing on.

Whether those who support the reform or those who oppose the reform, they all pay great attention to the economic work carried out by Jiang Xinghuo, because this is the most important factor that determines the success or failure of the reform.

Why does Zhu Di like Jiang Xinghuo so much and support Jiang Xinghuo so much? The fundamental reason is that Jiang Xinghuo's reforms can enhance the national power of the Ming Dynasty, and the most obvious aspect of enhancing the national power of the Ming Dynasty is to revitalize the economy.

After all, money is needed to fight wars, money is needed to repair books, and money is needed to do everything.

If there is no money in the treasury, the emperor will not even fart.

Is there a disaster or disaster relief? Dreaming; want to spend a lot of money to build a palace? Dreaming; planning to reward the envoys from foreign countries? It’s even more pure dreaming.

Which emperor doesn't want to spend money to accomplish great things? It's just a traditional agricultural tax, which is like "taking all the baht and using it like sand".

Jiang Xinghuo looked calmly at the people cramped in the small space. At this moment, his eyes were like the wind blowing by the window, with a bit of chill.

"currency."

When Jiang Xinghuo opened his mouth, he was talking about the big head of the economy. In fact, the currency issue has been a long-standing problem that has plagued the Ming Dynasty's economy for a long time.

Without currency as blood, the economic system cannot accomplish anything at all. It is just like a person has many blood vessels all over the body. Insufficient currency means insufficient blood supply, and depreciation of currency reputation means blood vessels are clogged.

"The depreciation of treasure banknotes is the most important factor affecting the overall economic growth of the Ming Dynasty. To restore the credibility of the currency, establish a currency system with treasure banknotes as the mainstay and copper coins as the supplement. Financially, we should comprehensively build independent, controllable, stable and safe banks. system, promoting the normalization and diversification of national debt has always been the goal pursued by the reform. Looking around the world, under the new pattern of Ming Dynasty increasing foreign trade, the economic competition in today's situation is not only competition between countries, but also competition between countries. Competition between currencies. The main step in constituting an economic security is to establish its own currency credibility. Annan, Korea, and Japan are all following the Ming Dynasty in carrying out banknote reforms. In this regard, the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly at the forefront. However, how to ensure currency value and currency credibility is always a difficult problem that we must work hard to overcome."