New Shun 1730

Considering the current technical exchange between the East and the West, Niu Er still asked carefully: "Do you think that Westerners will learn the method of railroad tracks? This thing has great potential. Although it seems not as good as the canal now, it is like a musket and a bow and arrow. Although it is not as good at first, it will eventually replace it."

In response to this question, Liu Yu just smiled and said: "This kind of thing cannot be prevented. First, this thing is not difficult, and the technical level of Westerners has reached it; second, most of the current machinery is a word of "cleverness". If you get the essence, you can copy it."

"Although We need to prevent it, but we can't count on it. But whether the Westerners will use it in the short term... I think it's uncertain. "

"The British have been developing canals in recent years, and the capital power of operating canals is huge. Besides, the situation in Britain is more suitable for canals."

"The French bet on the roads. If they go to war, they will have an advantage. It is very convenient to move troops everywhere because of these roads. After the French steam car was not working, I think most of them wanted to learn it, but they had no money. "

These days, the technology of handicrafts is actually relatively easier to "keep secret". It's not that the technology is difficult, but that skilled handicraft practitioners cannot be transformed into skilled handicraftsmen by making a pine loom. Moreover, this also needs to consider issues such as labor costs and wage levels.

And the achievements of the first industrial revolution, especially the machinery industry, are actually difficult to keep secret.

Historically, the British had very strict confidentiality laws and regulations prohibiting the outflow of technology, and even had sea control.

But it was useless. Craftsmen like Samuel Slater, after memorizing the process and some clever tricks, disguised themselves as farmers and went to the United States, they could also reproduce the spinning machine of the Industrial Revolution era. He was hailed as the father of American industry, although the British called him a spy and traitor.

Another example is Xu Shou, who never went abroad to study. Before he was 20 years old, he also read "Han Shu", "Shi Jing Zhu" and "Shui Jing Zhu". Later, he read some practical books and was able to make a steamship.

The characteristic of the Industrial Age is that it is easy to copy. If it is not easy to copy, the Industrial Revolution itself would have no meaning.

In this era when the cost of technology imitation is extremely low, for a company of Dashun's size, it is mainly to work on colonies and markets.

For the time being, within more than ten years, these technologies have no great direct significance for Dashun's colonies, markets, expansion, etc.

In the First Opium War, the direct significance of the steam engine was to break the common sense of the "Age of Sail". Steam tugboats towed gunboats into some incredible blind spots in the Age of Sail.

The root cause of the Opium War was not really related to the steam engine. It was mainly because of the conquest of India, the Indian cannon fodder, and a launching point closer to China.

For Dashun, overall, the biggest investment and return ratio in the past ten years was actually the steamship. Once there was a steamship, the Yangtze River route came alive. The waterway from Shanghai to Hankou, relying on steamships, came alive as a whole, and many past economic common senses were no longer applicable. The most basic point is that the complicated and headache-inducing salt policy problem will directly reduce three or five levels of difficulty.

But for the imperial power, especially the Dashun imperial power whose capital was abolished by Liu Yu, the railway was definitely the investment direction that the Dashun court was most willing to invest in, that is, the Grand Canal that Liu Yu said did not need water.

As for colonization and expansion, the help that the Industrial Revolution could bring at this time was not great. The contradiction between Dashun and India and the contradiction with Europe, in the final analysis, was still the contradiction of handicraft industry.

The 17th century was the century of sugar cane and spices. The Dutch won the bet, so they lost the 18th century because Britain, as the loser of the sugar cane and spice century, was driven to India.

The 18th century was the century of the textile industry. To some extent, Britain and France still lost the bet, and they paid too much for the sugar cane and sugar in the Caribbean.

Objectively speaking, the British occupation of Bengal at this time could objectively promote the development of Bengal's textile industry and the sprouts of capitalism.

But Dashun occupied Bengal at this time, which was purely aimed at destroying Bengal's weaving industry and directly colonizing and diversifying India's economy.

In this process, technology is not the decisive factor.

On the contrary, the means of hegemony, such as ruling skills, organizational skills, robbery skills, vassal management, efficient robbery, and land system, are the decisive factors.

In the previous two hundred years, the biggest external factor that hindered the great development of Jiangnan's textile industry was India's cotton textile industry and silk industry.

If Dashun's industrial revolution wanted to continue to develop, it must and could only destroy India's handicraft industry. Otherwise, if it continues to develop, the internal situation will explode first, and it is not a good thing to explode at this time.

Liu Yu knew very well that he and many people in the Dashun School of Reality had differences on many things, and the differences were huge.

But on one thing, they were definitely the same.

The future world will have coal, iron, steam engines, and black smoke everywhere.

India’s importance to Dashun is self-evident in terms of trade industry.

At the same time, the process of conquering and ruling India is also an excellent "school" for the Dashun School of Reality.

They will witness the collapse of the small peasant economy, the tragic situation of rural bankruptcy after capital invasion, the oppression of rural areas by landlords, and even one famine after another.

These things can happen in India, and naturally they can also happen in Dashun.

Since they are sure that the future is full of black smoke.

So, how to reach this future, they will summarize and think about the answer in India's practice.

There must be differences. But the formal goals are the same.

If they regard the lower-class people in Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hunan, Guangxi and Southwest China as human beings, they must think about how to survive this extremely painful transformation.

If they do not regard the lower-class people there as human beings, then they must also think about how to suppress the peasant uprising of Dashun, which is far more intense and willing to resist than India.

Now they have not thought about these things, but simply have a gradually concrete imagination of the future with black smoke.

But their practice in India will force them to think about whose future with black smoke belongs to.

And what if someone hinders this future with black smoke? Even if it is the emperor, what if he hinders it?

Maybe I won't think about it now, but I will think about it one day, and that day will not be too late.

But the premise is to take India first.

With this in mind, Liu Yu did not mention the railway, but read Niu Er's report roughly, and said: "You will come with me to see the emperor later and tell me about what you have seen in India. Your Majesty also needs to know the real situation."

Niu Er was relieved when he saw that Liu Yu did not continue to mention railways and technical protection. He trusted Liu Yu's judgment very much. He felt that since it was something he had raised, Liu Yu did not care about it, and it seemed that it was not a big deal.

It was not the first time that Niu Er met the emperor when he heard that he would go to see the emperor later. He was not from the imperial examination, so he could not be an official in the internal affairs. He had the rank of lieutenant general and the honor of the upper guard, but he did not have the title of a general in the army. He belonged to a special group in the Dashun system.

It was another strange official system. Lieutenant generals and upper guards were related to salaries and ranks, but they could not be officials in name only. In fact, they were not active lieutenant generals and could not lead troops directly.

Generally, they were officials in colonies, and the emperor followed another system.

First, officials in the mainland often don't understand what to do in the colonies; second, those who understand what to do in the colonies can easily do big things in the mainland.

It's a bit similar to the system of the Song Dynasty. When there is no specific position, the pile of honors, titles, and ranks are of little use.

Or, it's a bit similar to the old nobles of Dashun. They have reached the top of the rank of duke, but when there is no work to do, they just stay at home. It's just that he is still a little far from being granted a title.

Even more like the Guannei Marquis in the Han Dynasty, or the Marquis after the centralization of power.

In recent years, too many people have risen in the frontiers and colonies. According to the standards of military meritorious service in the Han Dynasty, a few Guannei Marquis can really be issued.

For the time being, there is no big problem. It does not occupy the original internal quota, and the external expansion is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more pie. This group of people outside the old system have no dissatisfaction for the time being. On the contrary, they all think that this is the best era, and it is just around the corner to make a name for themselves.

For example, Niu Er's level did quite well in Java, and the emperor had seen it before. Niu Er was not nervous about meeting the emperor. He just thought about the suggestions he wrote in the report and asked nervously, "Do you think there is anything wrong with what I said about India?"

Liu Yu just smiled and handed the report booklet back to Niu Er, saying, "Practice makes perfect. Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. You came back from India, and how to deal with things there is also your responsibility after this trip."

"Right or wrong, it doesn't matter. Just say whatever you want to say."

After he said that, Niu Er knew what was going on. So he sorted it out and followed Liu Yu to meet the emperor.

…………

After listening to Niu Er kneeling on the ground and telling about his trip to India, the emperor did not read Niu Er's report immediately, but asked, "Since you have been to the battlefield in person, what do you think of the British army in India? How about the local soldiers trained by the British?"

Niu Er thought for a while and gave a very clear answer.

"Your Majesty, I think that the former Java Volcano Guiyi Army can fight against the British and win. As for the Celestial Empire's field camp soldiers, I think it is easy to defeat the British. The Indian native soldiers trained by the British are well-trained and have decent combat effectiveness. They can eat enough food, have array training, and use musket arrays. I don't think they are much worse."

"Originally, if we were to conquer India, the most difficult thing would be the unfamiliar climate, hot weather, and epidemics. Now there are no less than hundreds of thousands of Han people in Ceylon and Southeast Asia, and the soldiers recruited there are not unfamiliar with the climate."

"The biggest problem is that the temple has been solved, and the rest, in my opinion, can be chopped off. As for the soldiers of the Indian chieftains, they are not worth mentioning. It is not a problem for the Han soldiers to fight ten of them."