New Shun 1730

The emperor thought about his subconscious and first reaction just now, and nodded involuntarily.

In fact, from him down, from the emperor to those officers who were eager for military merit, their thinking was indeed changed by the successive victories after the military reform.

In the past, fighting a war cost a lot of money and lost a lot of money, so don't fight if you can avoid it.

Sometimes you really can't afford it, it's too expensive.

What about now?

Now the court has fought two wars that not only recovered the cost but also made a lot of money in a short period of time, one against Japan and one against Southeast Asia.

And the wars that had to be fought politically and were inevitably unlikely to make money, such as the Western Regions and Southwest, Western Sichuan, and Snow Mountains, did not cost much money.

Because there was no generation gap in the combat effectiveness of the two sides before, they did not dare to advance lightly.

Pushing forward can best play the advantages of Dashun before, but it also costs too much money, otherwise it cannot be pushed forward.

Since Liu Yu made a reckless advance in the Altai Mountains, Dashun found that the new army that had been rigorously trained, a thousand people, could walk sideways everywhere.

As long as you can hold on, it's called blooming in the center.

If you can't hold on, you can call it a light-army reckless advance.

Many people even think that if the battle of Sarhu that year was fought by the most elite Qingzhou Army of the Dashun Army, it would not be a matter of "I will fight you in any direction", but it would evolve into the battle of Liu Yu in the north of the Altai Mountains: the center bloomed, luring the enemy to fight, and the enemy army was defeated before the reinforcements arrived.

Sometimes, a small-scale battle can have a great impact.

Liu Yu's battle in the Altai Mountains does not count, because there are too many names, which makes many officers feel that it is difficult to copy.

However, Dashun fought two small battles afterwards, which directly led to the warlike atmosphere of the Dashun army.

One was in the Western Regions, and the battle was not big.

The Dashun garrison was deceived to come out, and the thousand new troops were surrounded. As a result, Dashun formed a chariot formation and an infantry formation, and took the initiative to attack by quickly changing the formation. The field artillery of the army bombarded one place, and the infantry assault broke through the surface with a point, and actually broke through 20,000 with a thousand.

Since then, the Dashun army of a thousand men has been walking sideways in the Western Regions.

And what if the Dashun army of a thousand men was annihilated in that battle? I am afraid that it would become "Don't act rashly, don't advance rashly, don't underestimate the enemy, and attack from several directions".

Another battle was in the southwest, and it was similar. The elite troops mobilized from the north went deep into the enemy's territory alone, and they were directly arranged in three lines. Two rounds of volleys and one wave of charge took a total of seven minutes to resolve the battle.

The battles were not big, but their strategic significance was huge.

Strategically, fighting a battle requires the scale and logistics of tens of thousands of people; there is a huge difference from walking sideways with one or two thousand people.

From the beginning of the military reform, Liu Yu did not learn from Prussia, but required the new army of Dashun to focus on the formation, especially the rapid change of formation during marching, and the rapid change of horizontal, vertical and square formations. This kind of adapting to local conditions has quietly paid off.

The strategic reward was that a group of radicals emerged among the officers of Dashun, militant radicals - only when they win battles will they be radical, who would be willing to fight if they always lose? After two consecutive reckless advances, the enemy could not bite, could not win in the field, and was even directly penetrated.

This situation also directly affected the court's attitude towards border issues.

The specific manifestation is the "first reaction" that Liu Yu asked the emperor.

The first reaction is not "Is it easy to fight?" This does not need to be considered at all. What needs to be considered is "When is the right time to fight?"

And this just hit the emperor's most proud flattery.

Li Gan thought about catching up with Han, Qi and Tang all day long, but there are two ways to pursue this.

One is to ask ministers and literati from time to time: Hey, how do you think I compare with Han Wu and Tang Zong? How does Dashun compare with Han, Tang and Song?

This is obviously not okay, and he asked this question out of guilt.

The other is the "first reaction" that Liu Yu said.

In terms of spirit, he has reached the point where "there is no need to consider whether the fight can be won or not, and whether it is easy to fight, but only when to fight and when not to fight".

This subconscious first reaction is not guilty at all, and it is natural to think that he can win.

Liu Yu shamelessly compared it with the "Jade Axe" story, and the emperor was very comfortable with it, so he could only follow Liu Yu's idea of ​​"strong weapons and logistics".

This is indeed the truth.

But the emperor did not agree with Liu Yu's analogy.

"According to your words, it is necessary to make our dynasty use oxen to plow and iron to work, while other countries use slash-and-burn farming. This is the key to victory. I think it is true."

"But, your words about opening up mining are not appropriate. Very inappropriate."

"This is not the difference between oxen plowing and iron to work, and slash-and-burn farming."

"This is clearly just the difference between 'self-cultivation', 'tenant farming', and 'official settlements'."

The emperor certainly did not know the term productivity and production relations, but the emperor naturally understood what Liu Yu meant by this metaphor.

According to the emperor's words, in fact, Liu Yu had to understand that: oxen plowing and iron to work, and slash-and-burn farming, this is the difference in productivity; but, you want to lift the mining ban in Sichuan and encourage private capital to open mines, how can this be a change in productivity? It is just the difference between self-cultivating farmers, tenant farmers, and official settlements, all of which use oxen and work iron, and it is not the difference between ox plowing and slash-and-burn farming at all?

Liu Yu went through a long roundabout way just to lure the emperor into talking about productivity and production relations. Although the emperor didn't know these two words at all, under Liu Yu's enticement, he used this metaphor to acknowledge the great significance of the progress of productivity.

Moreover, the emperor himself did not notice that his refutation of Liu Yu's internal logic was precisely an acknowledgment of the importance of productivity.

Because the level of productivity is very important, Liu Yu's statement is wrong, because Liu Yu's method only changed the organizational model and adjusted the production relations, but it could not cause a qualitative leap, resulting in "I plow with iron, while others plow with slash and burn" effect.

This is the pit Liu Yu was waiting for.

After the emperor said that Liu Yu's metaphor was inappropriate, he added: "What Aiqing said must be correct. The truth is correct, but Aiqing used the truth wrongly."

"Indeed, there are many benefits, and I have also considered the pros and cons."

"It is true that, as Ai Qing said, if the Maolong Silver Mine can be annexed, this dynasty will have a large silver mine, and since the Han people are widely settled, it will be under actual control."

"However, Sichuan is much better than the Yunnan border."

"The imperial court's strategy is to transform seedlings."

"To transform, you must have a purpose to know how to transform. In other words, what should you transform into?"

"He turned into an orthodox commoner."

"What do you mean by orthodox people?"

"Reclamation, cultivation, self-cultivation, renting, men farming and women weaving, and studying for the imperial examination are the purposes of transformation."

"As for mining, working, ganging, and fighting, Ai Qing likes the concept of China. Ai Qing thinks, which one is more Chinese, those miners who dig, or those farmers who study, farm, and weave?"

"So, instead of making things more Chinese, do we want to make things less Chinese?"

Liu Yu just laughed secretly in his heart.

Just like the Rakshasa country in the north, the most Rakshasa country is the Rakshasa serfs; the least Rakshasa country is the French-speaking aristocrats, workers, factory owners, and bankers of Petersburg. The dispute between these two Rakshasas continued until much later, with many people looking for the real Rakshasa, such as Solzhenitsyn.

What the emperor said was not unreasonable. At this time, who is more Chinese, the common people who farm and weave, or the emerging class of Songjiang Prefecture who talk about making money and speculate when they talk?

From a stability perspective, it does make sense.

However, Liu Yu's previous memorial obviously did not refer to the entire Sichuan, but specifically to a small area, not even Chengdu.

Since the emperor objected in this way, Liu Yu hurriedly said: "I ask your majesty to forgive me. The words in my last memorial were unclear. The places I mentioned were not the whole of Shu, but a single Xuzhou prefecture. Since ancient times, the Han Dynasty , Qianwei County of Han Dynasty."

"There is a Zigong well here. I personally learned that private salt is the most abundant here. And before using the well gas to boil the salt, coal from nearby Rongzhou is used. There is a lot of coal and a lot of salt."

"Your Majesty has repeatedly warned against this matter. This is why I disobeyed orders and gave advice."

"What I mean by letting go doesn't mean that the imperial court doesn't care. It means following the story of Songjiang Mansion, where officials supervise business operations. It's just like letting loose in the way of Songjiang Mansion. It doesn't mean that we should ignore and let wealthy merchants start their own mines."

"On the matter of salt policy reform, I believe that the discussions between the court and the central government are all for temporary gain and cannot take into account the distant future."

"So, my intention is to do two things to solve the problem of salt administration."

"One: official transport and commercial sales."

"Second: Two lakes enter Sichuan, Fujian salt enters Jiangxi, Huainan borrows water conservancy from the Huaihe River to convert to agricultural reclamation, and Huaibei is encouraged to invest in larger stocks due to the small boom."

"Among them, Huainan, Huaibei, and Fujian salt entering Jiangxi are all easy to solve, and their momentum has been established."

“Only Sichuan Salt has not yet been resolved.”

"The salt in southern Sichuan can be controlled by Guizhou and Yunnan, and can also be transported along the river to Kuizhou and Hankou. If it is transported by officials and sold by merchants... it can firstly facilitate tax inspection and anti-smuggling; secondly, it can also prevent the emergence of small businessmen after the reform. The disadvantages of being unable to transport far away and competing for short-term interests are the big businessmen.”

"If Huaiyan salt withdraws from Chu, Sichuan salt must be able to meet the supply gap within two or three years. In this case, the court will inevitably relax its policy and encourage mining in Xuzhou Prefecture."

"Furthermore, the government-supervised business offices, following the story of Songjiang Prefecture, can also use new technologies from the Academy of Sciences and contact the capital of large merchants in Xijing. This is what I call the difference between 'I work with oxen and others with slash and burn farming'."

"I would like to ask your Majesty to select a group of people who are familiar with the merchants and industry of Songjiang Prefecture to be appointed to the Xuzhou Prefecture. Only in this way can the vitality of industry and commerce in southern Sichuan be opened up."

"I dare to name a few people, and I can guarantee that within three years, the benefits of Sichuan salt will not be greater than those in Huainan!"

"Businessmen and employees are not difficult to manage. It's just that people who came from the imperial examinations in the imperial court only know how to manage men farming and women weaving. They have never learned how to manage merchants, employees, factory owners, and shareholders. As long as they can manage, there will be no trouble."

"If southern Sichuan flourishes, there will be no chaos in Yunnan and Guizhou."

"If Sichuan salt flourishes, mining and water transportation will prosper, and it will be able to support the people of Sichuan who have cultivated themselves for a hundred years."

"If Sichuan Coal is prosperous, it can be managed according to its laws and mines can be mined in Xishan. In this way, millions of people in the capital will no longer have to worry about lack of wages."

"New laws and new policies cannot be tried out in the capital city, for fear of chaos, why not try them out in southern Sichuan?"

"I will look at the prefectures and counties in the world. The land that can make this dynasty's oxen plow iron and others slash and burn cultivation' is not in Songjiang, but in southern Sichuan. On the occasion of the salt reform, I would like to try it out to see the effect. "