New Shun 1730

Of course, in Liu Yu's view, this matter is actually a simple meaning: how to prevent the massive amount of money added by Dashun from flowing into the land?

If we follow the logic of industrial and agricultural capital, capital flows to the land, improves the land, and increases production, which is the development of productivity.

However, the land problem of Dashun has more financial attributes than means of production attributes.

On the one hand, Dashun's current per-acre yield is the highest in the world. Unless capital flows to cultivated land to grow cash crops, it actually has little effect on increasing production.

We must make it clear that when the third and fourth industrial revolutions come, the purpose of land concentration is because this industrial revolution requires hundreds of millions or even billions of people.

And now, Dashun on the eve of the first industrial revolution cannot and does not need to consider the labor problem.

So, only the "pure productivity" problem remains.

And since it is a pure productivity problem, from the blast furnace iron plow car in the Han Dynasty, to the formation of the curved plow in the Tang Dynasty, to the popularization of the two-year three-crop system in North China in Dashun, the actual per-acre yield can no longer be effectively improved.

In theory, before chemical fertilizers, large-scale water conservancy projects can also increase per-acre yield.

However, as for the river conditions of Dashun, let me put it bluntly. The Yellow River, Huai River, Hongze Lake, Grand Canal... What capital do you have to accomplish such a project?

There are two ways to understand the improvement of productivity.

One is that the per capita production efficiency is improved. The original land needs fewer people, and the "extra" people either go to North America to reclaim wasteland to increase total productivity or go to factories to increase productivity.

The other is like Dashun. The factory cannot accommodate so many people, and the cost of reclaiming wasteland in North America is too high, so the improvement of productivity can only be reflected in the per-acre yield.

But obviously, the per-acre yield of Dashun has reached its limit now. Unless it is planting cash crops, or the Lianghuai grass land, the Northeast Plain wasteland, etc., it is basically unrealistic for capital to buy land with the logic of industrial capital, improve land, build water conservancy, and increase per-acre yield.

Unless this capital can be so powerful that it can do the Qinshihang project, the Huaihe waterway project, and the Yellow River channel reconstruction project.

And obviously, if the capital can be so powerful, it must be and can only be the capital of the country.

On the other hand

With the massive influx of silver into Dashun, in fact, the silver of Dashun was slowly depreciating.

And Dashun's reforms were gradually alleviating the problem of "taxes and labor service by mu" - mainly Dashun's current industrial and commercial taxes, monopoly profits, foreign trade tariffs, etc., so that Dashun does not need to fully exploit agriculture - this also makes Dashun's land have a clear appreciation tendency.

Taxes and labor service by mu will lead to lower land prices.

In the later period of the three retentions and five overall plans, some reclaimed land was given to the farmers for free, but no one wanted it.

Dashun's tendency to tax by mu - the historical distribution of land tax by mu is also one of them - has suppressed the price of land.

But now, because the canal has been abandoned and the Yellow River is about to change the river channel, the tendency of taxing by mu is obviously decreasing.

The simplest thing is that the Grand Canal has been abandoned, and the labor service or labor service money for maintaining the canal can be theoretically abolished. And the labor service and labor service money for maintaining the canal can basically be regarded as levied by mu.

These two situations combined, the desire to buy land will obviously increase significantly.

In itself, land, especially land under private ownership, is the most valuable asset, without a doubt.

This is not to say that Dashun is closed and backward.

After John Law did that thing in France, the whole of France woke up from the frenzy, and France also felt that land was the most valuable asset, without a doubt, and even indirectly promoted the development of the Physiocrats.

This is a reality.

In fact, it is a very market-oriented economic thinking.

It has nothing to do with chanting, nationality, closedness and ignorance, agricultural civilization and maritime civilization.

And would the people of Dashun not know this truth?

In "Dream of Red Mansions", Qin Keqing asked Fengjie to do something in her dream?

[Why not follow my opinion and take advantage of today's wealth to buy more farms, houses, and acres of land near the ancestral tombs...]

Farms and acres of land are the most valuable assets. Not other things.

Qin Keqing can distinguish between wealth, property, gold and silver; what is an asset, and what is the best choice for value preservation and risk avoidance.

Dashun once called for equal distribution of land, but could it really be equalized?

Let alone Dashun, even the Qing Dynasty, after the salt administration reform during the Wanli period, did they not recognize the hereditary salt tickets?

Changing the emperor is changing the emperor.

Not recognizing the land deeds is a different matter.

Changing the emperor, as long as the ruling system does not change much, the land deeds must be recognized and can be bought and sold.

Why did the Yanli School of Thought, in terms of the idea of ​​solving the land problem, Liu Yu said that Wang Kunsheng's "only farmers have land" theory was the pinnacle of the feudal dynasty's equal land thinking?

Because the premise of only farmers have land is that Wang Yuan realized that the development of industry and commerce could not be stopped. And he himself supported the development of industry and commerce.

Supporting the development of industry and commerce.

But it could not solve the merger problem of merchants buying land under private land ownership.

Therefore, Wang Yuan used the "scholars, farmers, merchants and businessmen" and the identity system of the previous dynasty to figure out the idea of ​​strengthening the identity system and prohibiting merchants from buying land, that is, the theory of only farmers having land - the farmer here is an identity, not an occupation.

Of course, Wang Yuan was finally stuck on the question of “how can we do it?”

His idea can only be described as moderate, and he dare not take big measures - increasing taxes on private land and reducing taxes on official land, forcing farmers to donate all their private land to the court. This stems from the history of the "surrender" of the gentry in the previous dynasty, and Wang Yuan's idea expanded the "surrender" of the previous dynasty and made the imperial court the only "preferential and exempt" person. Then according to the madness of the previous dynasty To follow the state of the gentry, wouldn’t it mean that everyone would join the imperial court like crazy and complete the nationalization of all land in a few years?

In short, this idea of ​​"doing" can only be said to be quite naive.

And now the emperor's thinking when talking about currency reform, the problem of small farmers, the rapid accumulation of gold and silver by industry and commerce, and the merger crisis is, to some extent, derived from a similar idea of ​​"only farmers have land."

In other words, it was born out of the status hierarchy of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce".

After all, [people make their own history, but they do not create it as they please, not under conditions of their own choosing, but under conditions that are directly encountered, given, and inherited from the past. The traditions of all the dead ancestors haunt the minds of the living like a nightmare. 】

Or rather.

This is similar to Liu Yu’s ideas and the French physiocrat Turgot’s reform ideas.

In other words, it is feasible to complete the early development of capitalism under the cloak of feudalism.

The French Physiocrats school proved this.

Liu Yu's many reforms, the construction of roads, the abandonment of canals, and the monopolization of overseas trade have also proved this point.

It seems that the idea proposed by the emperor can also be attributed to this one.

Relying on the strong feudal cloak and the traditions of the dead ancestors that haunt the minds of living people like nightmares, Liu Yu came up with an idea.

"As I said, the king Xie Yan and the common people can't follow the great road and reach Datong. But as you said, there is no problem in calling it well-off. If all the small farmers of the common people can use chemical fertilizers and steam engines to pump water, then the world can No hunger.”

"But I also know that if we do these things, we will only be able to prosper in the area where Ai Qing's reforms are carried out."

"However, just like the currency reform, the expropriation of small farmers, and the purchase of land by businessmen that I was worried about just now, these problems are really difficult to solve."

"And Ruo Juntian... although this is the right way, it is indeed the most benevolent government in the world. But... I also know that this matter cannot be done."

Liu Yu thought to himself, that's because you can't do it, or the Dashun Dynasty can't do it. It doesn't mean it can't be done.

But even though I was thinking this, I still praised the emperor for what he said was right and well said.

Then the emperor said: "I read Aiqing's economic book, and thought about your past reforms... I was thinking that since Wang Xieyan flew into the homes of the people, he meant to fly into the homes of thirty million people."

"Then, can we fly into the homes of 30 to 50 million or 60 to 70 million people first?"

"Over the years, there has always been a distinction between internal and external areas. Although the six governments in Guandong, Songsu, Nanyang and other places are in charge, they are not as good as other places..."

"So, can we strictly control our place of origin? The inside can be removed from the outside, but the outside cannot be removed from the inside."

"The 60 to 70 million people in Shandong and Jiangsu will continue to carry out reforms and annexation without restraint, causing the landless people to flow to Guandong, Fusang, and Nanyang to develop industry and commerce."

"Those who are native to these places are not allowed to buy land, buy houses, rent, etc."

"In your opinion, with these 60 to 70 million people, food from Southeast Asia, cotton from India, coal from Xuzhou and Taiwan, iron from Guandong and Zhili, gold and silver from overseas... can we accomplish what you call industrial development?"

"To put it simply, with a population of 60 to 70 million, and a market for coal, iron, cotton, gold and silver from Japan to Europe, can it be possible to develop steam engines, saltpeter fertilizers, etc., cheap enough to fly into the homes of ordinary people in the future? "

The emperor said so.

To Liu Yu, the condensed meaning of this sentence is, "Without relying on the domestic market and only relying on overseas markets, can we complete the first industrial revolution with the tens of millions of people in the first-mover areas?"

If this is a technical issue, then it should be said that there is no problem.

Even if this kind of thing is done... If I have to make an analogy, it seems that that is the fate of slave states and non-slave states, and they will eventually fight a war between the East and the West.

But actually, it's not. Differences in economic foundation, economic model, land system, origin of raw materials, etc. make this analogy absolutely incorrect.

Not so much that analogy.

It would be better to say that if things continue like this, it is more likely to be a model of "Paris conquers the whole of France" and "Petersburg conquers the whole of Russia."

The problem is that the emperor cannot understand politics.

This means that it is impossible for the emperor not to understand the possible problems here.

But the emperor didn't mention it at all, as if it was just a "technical" issue.

This inevitably made Liu Yu a little alert.

The emperor glanced at Liu Yu and said slowly: "Ai Qing, do you think this is possible? Can it be accomplished?"

"I also know that this matter treats the symptoms but not the root cause. But I also said that the avenue is not good, and I have no intention of curing the root cause."

"Even if this matter doesn't go well, you'd better drink poison to quench your thirst."

"The reason why I did this is that I am worried that industry and commerce will accumulate too much gold and silver very quickly, and may merge too quickly."

"However, doing this is just drinking poison to quench thirst. It is equivalent to accelerating the development of industry and commerce and accelerating the process of accumulating gold and silver."

"But I feel that these fertilizers, steam pumps, etc. are the antidote after drinking the poison. As long as the antidote is made before the poison occurs, then it seems that it is not a bad idea to drink the poison first."