Tsar of the Sphinx

Chapter 4 What is a fine mule!
Catherine II thought about the measures she had taken to liberate the serfs when she first took the throne, and how they failed, and then said: Alexander, after liberating the serfs, how to make them rich, and how to ensure that they are rich? Able to spend money obediently.If there is no one who can support the employment of the serfs, then the emancipation of the serfs will definitely fail. I also tried to liberate them when I first ascended the throne, but there was no place for them to be placed, and my ascent to the throne was dependent on the guards The army and some nobles supported me, so I had to be careful when I ascended the throne. If the nobles were dissatisfied with my rule, they could pull me down at any time, so my measure to liberate the serfs was aborted.And at the beginning of the year, I have promulgated the "Edict of Privileges to Nobles" and "Edict of Privileges to Cities".If the royal family wants to reconcile with the serfs, it will be even more difficult. What if there is a Pugachev, we can no longer get the support of the nobles, and according to your idea, if there is another Pugachev, you The new reforms have not yet been implemented, how can the royal family solve the uprising.

After listening to Ekaterina, Alexander said: Since we are afraid of another Pugachev, why not transfer it to the territories of the nobles who oppose us, and I think our reform Pugachev will not be allowed to appear again. Even if it appears, I think the reformed legion of the royal family is enough to destroy it. Even if it cannot be wiped out, we can compress its activity space and suppress his uprising step by step. On the territory of the nobles, As for how they made a living after the emancipation of the serfs, my father’s European travel team a few years ago, I was a part of it. I let them go to England and found out why England’s handicrafts were flooding in Europe in the past half century. The source, the English invented a new type of machine, let their handicraft industry ahead of us, we need all kinds of things that can increase taxes, I let someone buy one back, the English called it the Jenny textile machine, oh, the name It sucks, I am asking the mechanics in my territory to try to reproduce it and add the water conservancy spinning machine invented by Rockywin Greenkoff to it for transformation. The transformation has been completed a few days ago. It is better than the English textile machine Faster, I call it the Mule Worsted Machine.Because the mule and horse spinning machine has a spindle draft, the yarn is extremely even and its strength is relatively good.Those who are willing to enter the city can be allowed to join the handicraft industry, and those who are unwilling and want to continue renting our land for farming, let them contract our land for a period of ten years with a reduced rent.Those who don't want to go to the city or farm the land, if they are in good physical condition, they can be drawn into the army, and those who are not good can just fend for themselves.

Where does the money come from? You know, setting up factories, recruiting troops, and producing mule and horse spinning machines all require a lot of money, and we can't touch the treasury yet. We can only use the royal family's funds. The royal family's funds can support up to two items. , there is no other way.So I set my goal on the mule and horse spinning machine. The investment is not high, but it is enough for us to accumulate funds to complete the entire reform.For those who use mule and horse spinning machines, we set up two departments to manage the royal territory, but only trustworthy people can come. I suggest the establishment of the Royal Russian Industrial Agency to manage the royal machinery, and the establishment of the Royal Textile The factory is used to organize the hands to use my mule spinning loom.

Ekaterina thought that her small coffers were about to be emptied again, so she said: I can understand the establishment of the Royal Textile Factory, so what is the establishment of the Industrial Bureau for, let them continue to improve?And will the English allow us to take the market?

Alexander sat down, took a bite of potato cakes and said quickly: Yes, I believe that my father and grandmother have seen how the English have dominated the European handicraft market for half a century. We don't need to drive them out, just drive those so-called Take the average share of the English gentlemen, and we shall earn enough.Moreover, the Franks and the Germans will not give up the opportunity to suppress England.The establishment of the Industry Agency is not only for continuous improvement, but also for the development of military industry and steel.As long as the textile mills earn funds for the early reforms, we can bring in the neutral nobles to share in the pie.In this way, even if we do not have an advantage in politics, we can still share it equally with the opposing nobles. We also have an advantage in military and economic matters, and the opposition can do nothing but be angry.

Ekaterina was a little moved, so she said, "Alexander, please talk about the mule and horse spinning machine in detail first."

Alexander nodded and said: I believe grandma knows that English handmade products have suddenly flowed into the market on a large scale in half a century. The shuttle of the wheel is equipped with springs at both ends of the chute, so that the shuttle can travel back and forth extremely quickly.So the invention of the flying shuttle made the weaving speed faster.It greatly improves the efficiency of weaving, but the original cotton yarn spinning speed is too low, so I have the machine I bought back, and a mechanic in China made a hydraulic spinning machine 25 years ago. The first one was transformed, and then my mule and horse worsted spinning machine was transformed.The improved spinning machine can provide a large amount of spinning.So we can get a lot of huge profits.Correspondingly, the original power such as animal power, water power and wind power can no longer meet the needs.But this is something that should be considered in the future. I have asked the intelligence department of the royal family to pay attention to the mechanical updates of various countries, but we cannot rely entirely on others, so I suggest the establishment of an industrial bureau to promote industrial innovation with the power of the royal family.

Putting these aside, as long as we gain a lot of benefits, the reform can be carried out smoothly.

After Alexander finished speaking, Ekaterina fell into deep thought.

Alexander saw that Ekaterina was deep in thought, but Paul was eating very happily, so he rolled his eyes at Paul and opened his mouth to eat.

Seeing his son roll his eyes at him, Paul didn't say much, instead he speeded up the cooking.Very professional as a cook.

Paul didn't fall into thinking because of Alexander's words. He knew that his old mother held the power and had a talented and intelligent baby son, and his old mother mentioned more than once at family dinners that he hoped that Alexander would directly surpass him. On the throne.

Although I said that I was very angry when I first heard it, but after the talents shown by my precious son in the past few years, I realized that my old mother did not say that because of a momentary love, but because of the talent shown by her son. Talent is indeed like a celestial being.

Although I don't have much involvement in domestic political affairs, I still understand the big and small affairs.Moreover, when the English and the colonies of the New World declared an armistice in 1782, when they declared that they had become an independent country, their son broke into the secret room of his old mother and close ministers with short legs and said bluntly that it should be admitted that the English at that time were Secretly sent official documents to all the countries on the European continent, requesting that the colonies should not be recognized as countries. If they agreed, they would send the originals of their own handicraft machines to each country that agreed.

Finally, with the support of his mother's lover Potemkin, the empire finally recognized the colony as an independent country.

In this way, each colony and the Franks sent a large amount of money over.This sum eventually became the capital for the royal family to exchange land with domestic nobles.

After returning from a trip to Europe, Paul also had to admit that regarding the future situation in Europe, it was completely impossible for him to lead Russia through.

Ekaterina thought for a while before she opened her mouth and said: Alexander, you mean that the royal family will take the lead in implementing reforms, and with your mule and horse fine looms, the royal family will be able to obtain a huge amount of funds, and this huge amount of funds will become We disintegrate the premise of aristocratic power.As long as the aristocratic power is disintegrated, our reform can be carried out until the reform is completed.

Yes, that’s right, as long as the military reform starts and we get huge benefits economically, I don’t believe that the domestic nobles, large and small, will not be moved. As long as one noble is moved, it means that the power of the nobles in the country can be disintegrated Yes, as soon as there is a sign of disintegration, we will immediately implement the remaining reforms.The benefits that serfs can get from this cake are too small, and it is not enough for us to share with the nobles. Then we will make this cake bigger, and at the same time support the serfs, let them compete with the nobles, and we just need to sit still. Just keep an eye out for anyone who wants to overturn the table.

Alexander replied after listening.

After listening to Alexander's words, Ekaterina combined the direction she had just thought about.

Only then did I find out what the nobles are. Since the cake is not enough, then make the cake bigger. If you want to make the cake bigger, you can go to foreign enemies, expand the territory to make it bigger, and tap the domestic development potential to make it bigger. bigger.

Moreover, expanding the territory also has certain problems, such as the Zaporozhye rebellion that has lasted for two or three years, and the reconstruction of Crimea will take time, and there are countless territories in the world, although Africa still has a large amount of land , but too far from Russia.

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Flying shuttle: In 1733, John Kay, a British watchmaker, invented the flying shuttle. The flying shuttle is actually a shuttle with small wheels installed in the chute. Springs are installed at both ends of the chute, so that the shuttle can move extremely fast. walk back and forth.What is this shuttle used for?The fabric surface can be greatly widened.In the past, with ordinary shuttles, two people had to cooperate, but now with shuttles, one person can complete the weaving work, and can weave wider cloth than before.So the invention of the flying shuttle made the weaving speed faster.It greatly improved the efficiency of weaving, but at this time the cotton yarn was not available for use. At this time, people urgently requested to invent a machine to increase the spinning speed and provide more cotton yarn.Thus, in 1765, textile worker Hargreaves invented the "spinning jenny", which opened the prelude to the industrial revolution.

Jenny machine: In the middle of the 8th century, more and more British goods were sold overseas, and the supply of production technology in manual workshops was insufficient.In order to increase production, people try to improve production technology.In the cotton textile sector, people first invented a weaving tool called the flying shuttle, which greatly accelerated the speed of weaving and stimulated the demand for cotton yarn. In the 18s, weaver James Hargreaves invented the "jenny" hand spinning machine. The "Jenny Machine" can spin many cotton threads at a time, which greatly improves the productivity.

Mule machine: Samuel Crompton invented the mule spinning machine in 1779, which combined Hargreaves' spinning jenny with that invented by another English barber, Arkwright. The hydraulic spinning machine is combined into one, and it is also called "mule machine".The Mule Spinning Machine inherits the technology of alternating pedals of the Jenny spinning machine and the feature of the hydraulic spinning machine without human hands, which makes spinning out of handwork and becomes mechanized production, and at the same time weaves finer yarns.In Britain, people first applied the steam engine invented by Watt to Crompton's spinning machine, which produced huge benefits. Since then, the textile industry has become the beginning of the British Industrial Revolution.

The first industrial revolution: The first industrial revolution refers to the technological revolution initiated by the United Kingdom in the 18s, which finally established the dominance of the bourgeoisie over the world. It was a huge revolution in the history of technological development. The age of manual labor.This is not only a technological reform, but also a profound social change.The first industrial revolution started with the birth of working machines, marked by the widespread use of steam engines as power machines.This technological revolution and the changes in social relations related to it are called the first industrial revolution or industrial revolution.The first industrial revolution made the factory system replace manual workshops, and replaced manual labor with machines; from the perspective of social relations, the industrial revolution made the self-cultivating peasant class attached to the backward mode of production disappear, and the industrial bourgeoisie and the industrial proletariat formed and grew. stand up.The first industrial revolution greatly strengthened the connection between all parts of the world and changed the face of the world. Britain, which took the lead in completing the industrial revolution, soon became the hegemon of the world.

Catherine II's reforms to serfs: Shortly after ascending to the Russian throne in 1762, Catherine II decided that the country needed new laws.She assembled a group of men to make these laws and asked them to abolish serfdom.But a year later, the committee has no law ready.By then, Catherine was fighting the mighty Ottoman Empire with all her might.So when the committee came up without the new law, she put it off.A few years later, Catherine outlawed the murder of serfs.She also granted them the right to appeal to the empress if one of their few rights was trampled upon, and since visiting her in the capital, St. Petersburg, was beyond the reach of most serfs, Catherine ordered courts across the country to hear serfs requirements.Some serfs even won their cases and were freed.Catherine also prescribed penalties for landowners who mistreated their serfs.

(End of this chapter)