Xinshun 1730

Chapter 934 Awakening ([-])

Theoretically, it is possible to take back the tenant land and change rice into mulberry.

But Confucianism is irrational, but humanitarian.

Rationality is bloody and bloody.

To do so is to force hundreds of millions of tenant farmers into ruin.

Liu Yu cited the example of British agricultural workers, in fact, in order to tell these people that "there is no domestic market at all", which is not a false statement.

There is no domestic market.

If you want to make money, you can only fight outside.

The common people in China really can't reach the level of earning 100 taels a year working on the farm.

Without money, food and clothing cannot be satisfied, how can it be possible to consume?

It is also to awaken the class consciousness of these emerging classes. Dashun's external expansion cannot rely on the gentry, but can only rely on the distorted plutocratic group that unites nobles and businessmen that may appear now.

Only for them, external expansion is beneficial.

According to Liu Yuju's figures, to a certain extent, Macartney's statement that "on the faces of Chinese peasants, it is rare to see beer bellies and flushed faces like British peasants" is really correct.

but.

It's not just the Spring and Autumn brushwork used by Macartney.

In fact, Liu Yu, who brought out detailed data, also played with Chunqiu's brushwork.

Because, in Britain, in France, and in China, the concept of farmers is different, and the situation is also different.

Many people bring in the status of Chinese farmers, imagining that European farmers must live worse than workers, so farmers are the lowest-income class in the UK.

When the merchants present heard the words "agricultural hired labor", they thought of the Dashun tenant farmers they were familiar with.

However, this is a fallacy.

In fact, until the Opium War, the dream of many British workers was to earn money by working and then become farmers.

At this time, the salary of a teacher in the UK is actually only about 15 pounds a year, which is about half of that of a farm worker.

British agriculture has its particularity, and so do British nobles and landowners.This special connection makes the British land income very high.

Coupled with the land enclosure movement, high land tax and poverty tax countervailing to agricultural employees, which led to the bankruptcy of self-cultivated farmers, the per capita labor area of ​​British large farms was much higher than that of Dashun.

It should even be said that it is dozens of times higher.

On average, 1000 acres of land, that is, about 6000 mu of land, employs an average of 38.5 employees, equivalent to 150 mu of labor per person.

The UK actually has a three-field system, with one-third spring plowing, one-third autumn plowing, and one-third fallow plowing.

In addition, the export of wool from the British side makes sheep herding more profitable than growing grain.

This makes the average amount of labor of each agricultural employee basically reach the limit of small farmers - 100 mu.

In other words, if each labor force in Dashun has 100 mu of land on average, then it happens to be the limit of self-cultivating farmers.

If each labor force in Dashun had 100 mu of arable land on average, life would naturally not be bad.

However, now... 10 billion acres of land, [-] to [-] million people.

In fact, according to the production efficiency in the Han and Tang Dynasties, to restore the Quyuan plow, ox farming, columbine carts, water carts, etc., to a certain extent, only 1000 million laborers, that is, about 6000 million family members are enough.

From a rational point of view, the remaining [-] million people are "superfluous people".

If China replicates the British system, the 2 million "surplus people" can only be killed.

China's morality for thousands of years, as well as the current reality, do not allow such "rationality".

These "superfluous people" in "absolute rationality" also have to live.

Under the circumstances that these people have to live, and land reform is impossible in Dashun, this is forcing the emerging industrial and commercial groups to expand abroad.

Actually, Liu Yu was seducing.

Because the example he gave is not really an average situation.

Instead, take the highest level in a special area, and say that this is the average situation.

In fact, the average situation in the UK is lower than this.

This family has their own house and a small piece of land, and the family income of most agricultural employees is actually around 30 pounds, which is about 100 taels of silver.

However, even so, the annual income of agricultural laborers in the UK is higher than that of the middle peasants in Dashun.

Of course, there are many differences here.

Agricultural workers in the UK need to buy food with their wages. The price of bread in the UK is about 1.5 pence per catty, which is equivalent to 3 taels of silver to buy 160 catties of bread; in Dashun, 3 taels of silver can buy 360 catties of rice.

Because of the development of American silver, Europe experienced a price revolution, and the overall price was about 2 to 3 times that of Dashun—a medieval quarter of wheat, 8 bushels, about 400 catties, sold at 50 shillings, 8 Two silver; and the price of wheat in Dashun, calculated in silver, is exactly one-third of that in England.

In fact, the price of food in Britain will skyrocket very soon, reaching a peak of 120 shillings for a medieval quarter of wheat, which is 18 taels of silver.This is also the root cause of the British ban on importing grain at 4 pounds a quarter to prevent price reduction. The interests are related, because the power of industry and commerce is not as strong as that of noble landlords.This quarter is a large quarter of 400 catties in the Middle Ages, not the small quarter of 25 catties in later generations.

However, it cannot be said [100 taels in the UK is not as good as Dashun’s 20 taels].

The average family annual income of 100 taels of silver, the real standard of living of agricultural hired laborers who were not selected by Liu Yuchunqiu's brushwork, may not necessarily be like that of a middle-class peasant family with an annual income of 20 taels of silver.

In "Dream of Red Mansions", there is a passage in which Grandma Liu said [five cents a catty, ten catties and five qian...and with wine and food, there are more than 20 taels of silver in total.Amitabha!The money for this meal is enough for our farmers to live for a year]

They are basically farmers like this. After all, agricultural workers do not have land, so they have to buy their own food and drink.

However, although the standard of living of 100 taels of British hired workers is similar to that of middle peasants in Dashun, the gap is actually quite large in terms of industry and commerce.

Hired workers have to buy food, clothes, shoes, this and that.

The middle-level peasants in Dashun grow their own food and spin their own clothing.

Besides, how many "farmers" like Grandma Liu, whose relatives and fathers were officials in Beijing, are there?

Therefore, for Dashun's industry and commerce, the lowest-level agricultural employees in the UK are still "living people".

And the people below the middle-level farmers in Dashun can only be regarded as "better than livestock" in the eyes of industry and commerce, and they are not even qualified to be counted as figures, because they can only buy a red-headed rope for the New Year.

Animals can at least be sheared and sold for money. Nowadays, a catty of fine Spanish long-staple wool costs 6 renminbi.

A sheep that has been missing for many years and was caught has shaved 54 catties of hair, and 30 taels of silver is enough to buy three or five big girls in a disaster year. Humans are not as good as animals.

The consumption power of the 600 million people in the UK is comparable to the 6000 million people in Dashun if those middle-class farmers, poor farmers, and tenant farmers in Dashun are considered "people".

Just like the Lianghuai area, if the annual income reaches the level of low-level agricultural employees in the UK, can there be three households in a village of a thousand people?

In this case, not to mention other industrial products, just tea.

With two to three billion people in Dashun, the market is already saturated.

To expand the internal market, the only way is land reform, so that people have money to consume.

Instead of giving 1000% of the rent to the landlord, because the landlord has only one mouth, he can receive rent from [-] people, but it is impossible to drink a thousand catties of tea and wear a thousand bolts of cloth a year.

The purpose of land reform is pure reason.

Only when land income is reduced can capital flow to industry and commerce.

When people have land, they have the ability to consume and expand the internal market, which in turn promotes the development of industry and commerce.

If you don’t take this path, or anything else, Dashun can’t even borrow national debt with 10% interest in China.

And this path is impossible by default.When Li Zicheng walked halfway, he reached Jiugong Mountain. If the Li family of Dashun didn't want to die, they naturally didn't dare to move.

Since by default this path cannot be taken.

Then, naturally, the only way left is to expand abroad.

Therefore, Liu Yu used a special example of British agricultural employees as an average number to lure the emerging group's desire for external expansion.

Because, according to this data, if the European market and British tariffs are opened, the tea trade alone can be expanded by more than ten times.

Liu Yu wants to lure them to make their own reasoning: shipbuilding is for profit; military expansion is for profit; war is for profit.

Gentlemen can object to war, because they are really no good.

But the emerging class must understand that only by expanding abroad can they benefit.

Similarly, whoever supports the war, who pays, is a simple truth.

There is no doubt that it is impossible for Dashun to use the government's Taicang Bank for its external expansion.It can't be used, nor should it be used.

Otherwise, we have to seize power in the country, carry out land reform, and eliminate landlords.Carry out a whole set of transformation, smash an old world, and then create a new world with an internal market in accordance with the demands of capital.

Which is more difficult?
it goes without saying.

External expansion is much simpler.

[-] million taels of silver have been invested in the navy for many years, which is enough to control the monopoly of oriental trade products in Europe and open up the European market.

And [-] million taels of silver wants to completely transform the country, eliminate landlords, and distribute land, maybe it is just like Songjiang Fangla Wang Qingtianhu.

Now this fact is right in front of you, what Liu Yu said on the surface was about tea pricing, but what he actually said was "Go, go to the West, there is a land flowing with cream and honey, where you have what you want most—— silver!"

At this time, it is only an awakening education for these merchant groups, and if this awakening education continues, it will inevitably produce a very ridiculous result.

The Dashun Maritime Group, which has been clamoring for free trade, will choose to go to war against Britain because Britain has really canceled the high tariff on tea. The reason is free trade.

Then it will turn into a joke.

Why go to war with Britain?
Because of the high tariff protection in the UK, there is no free trade.

What is the cause of the war?

Because Britain is really going to cancel the high tea tariff.

Everyone is innocent, but pregnant is guilty.The UK market is too tempting.

It is so tempting that Liu Yu said that the life of British hired workers has already made many people think about killing the British East India Company.

After Liu Yu finished talking about the living standards of British employees, the conflict between Dashun Western Trading Company and the British East India Company, at least at the level of the board of directors and major shareholders, had rapidly intensified and became irreconcilable.

The question Xu Heng asked was purely about commercial pricing.

But when this issue is explained by Liu Yu in this way, it is no longer a simple issue of commercial pricing.

Looking at the words on the screen, "The prosperity of the world is for profit, and the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit", the original simple commercial pricing problem has gradually evolved into the problem of "how can we sell more tea".

It's us".

Not Dashun.

Who represents Dashun?
For the tea farmers, merchants, and merchants in Dashun, the abolition of the tea tax in the UK is a good thing to celebrate.

For Dashun, a maritime chaebol group that has gradually risen, the company's stock price will plummet on the first day that the tea tax is abolished in the UK.

If Dashun is a parliamentary system, along with the abolition of the tea tax in Britain, you will see tea farmers sit on the table of merchants and merchants to make tea, and representatives of industrial capital will oppose the war; while the maritime merchant group will encourage war, and will definitely concoct something similar to "Zhang Ermazi's ear" "events, inciting public opinion, agitating emotions.

Of course, this goes both ways.

Once Dashun's productivity level is not as good as that of the UK, there will be a reversal immediately:

Dashun's tea farmers, merchants, and industrial capital will ask Dashun to protect the interests of its people; while the maritime group will shout that free trade will promote competition, relax tariffs, and increase imports.

At this time, this tendency is already obvious. After Liu Yu slightly exaggerated the living standards of British employees, everyone in the auditorium was no longer interested in talking about whether to "increase the price" or "decrease the price".

Instead, they are all discussing how to expand exports to the UK.

Since the UK is so rich, how can we get them to buy more of our stuff?
This is not a question of how to price tea.

(End of this chapter)