The Great Industrial Ming Dynasty Started from Beiping

Different from his father's patrol route, if Zhu Gaochi went north then south, then Zhu Zhanji went south then north. In the southern coastal area, he actually saw a shipyard no less big than the capital.

The profits of the military industry cannot be ignored, especially the current military industry system of the Ming Dynasty, which has absorbed many private commercial banks, and many commercial banks have set their sights on this piece of fat.

Several old friends from the Military-Industrial Joint Office, the gunpowder merchant Wu Wenhua, the flint merchant Gong Ze, and others were actually in Guangdong. They came here specially to wait for their grandson.

Zhu Zhanji met them.

These businessmen put forward new manufacturing ideas, "The cost of building one of Ming Dynasty's latest iron-clad battleships in China costs 100,000 yuan. If we use other methods, we are confident that the cost can be reduced to less than 50,000 yuan, or even 30,000 yuan." Within.”

Ironclad battleships have not yet become popular in the navy, and they are not all built with steel. They only have a thick layer of iron plates laid on the deck and a layer of steel wrapped around the outside. The main materials include the best wood still used for the keel. .

When Zhu Zhanji heard that businessmen could reduce costs to such low levels, he immediately became interested. He knew the direction of naval construction in the future, and armored battleships would become the mainstream.

After the Ming Navy uses iron-armored warships, the traditional warships' biggest threat to new warships - fire attack, will be completely useless. By then, the Ming Navy will be invincible, and a few iron-clad warships can destroy groups of warships. This It played a decisive role in controlling costs overseas for Daming.

"The Military-Industrial Joint Office can supervise and delegate the manufacturing rights to our commercial bank. We only need to deliver the agreed armaments on time according to the capital provided by the Military-Industrial Joint Office."

"If the imperial court allows it, including new warships, we will deliver them as scheduled for 50,000 yuan. The Joint Military-Industrial Office only needs to check whether the warships are qualified. This will help us popularize the armored warships of the Ming Navy as soon as possible, including the rest of the armament."

Zhu Zhanji was a little moved when he heard the merchants' introduction. However, Zhu Zhanji still understood that for such an important matter, he could not express his position easily, so he did not answer the merchants on the spot.

However, the businessmen saw hope through Taisun's performance, so they increased their persuasion. In order to succeed, they even proposed that they only needed 40,000 yuan. Even if they failed, the losses would be borne by them and the interests of the court would not be harmed.

Zhu Zhanji couldn't help but ask about Gu Daochu, a doctor from the Ministry of Industry who was among his entourage.

Gu Daochu gave a coherent answer.

"Although the Ming Dynasty's national power has developed rapidly, the high military expenditure is also a huge expenditure. When the government's finances are developing steadily, there will be no problems. But if there is a financial problem one day, then the Ming Dynasty's military expenditure will be It will be unable to bear it and become a huge harm to the country."

Gu Daochu said based on the military thinking of Emperor Taizu: "At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu saw the harm to the country from high military expenditures, so he implemented the guard system and implemented the self-sufficiency policy for military households. Although there were many disadvantages, the biggest The advantage is stability, even if the country’s economy goes bankrupt, the military will not be able to survive.”

"The Military-Industrial Joint Office was founded by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Its original intention was to integrate resources and promote industry optimization. However, the current development of private capital already has many advantages. By incorporating private capital into the system, it is indeed conducive to saving military expenditures. If we can reduce the Ming Dynasty’s military expenditure by 50%, the imperial court will be able to save nearly 10 million yuan in fiscal expenditure every year.”

Zhu Zhanji was not stupid. He said worriedly, "But armaments are important weapons of the imperial court. If power is delegated to private businesses, will it pose a threat?"

Gu Daochu shook his head and immediately replied: "So the role of the Military-Industrial Joint Office is to ensure and supervise. Just like His Royal Highness the Prince integrates social resources through the Ming Dynasty Industrial Bureau to allocate social resources, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry can also use the Military-Industrial Joint Office to It not only gives full play to the advantages of private capital, but also allows the court to firmly control the military industry."

Zhu Zhanji was indeed tempted.

Gu Daochu's worries are not unreasonable. Taking history as a guide, military expenditure has become a unique phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty cannot afford such high military expenditure, the harm will be terrible.

The expenditure of one to two million regular soldiers in terms of military pay alone is a huge amount of money, not to mention equipment, and the navy's armaments are even larger. If the cost of armaments can be reduced to half, it will be of great benefit to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Zhanji hoped to do some great things for the Ming Dynasty and become a saint like his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father.

Ming's industrial base is in the east.

Whether it is the seven western provinces, the Western Region Province, the Yili Province, the Sainan Province, the Saibei region, including Nurgan, the North Parallel Province and Jinzhou, they are the core industrial bases, radiating from point to point to the west.

The central part is Yingtianfu and Zhejiang Province.

The development momentum of the central region is very fast. Because of the economic and demographic advantages of the central region, including the split of the original Huguang Province, under the conditions of developed energy, technology and market, it has still become the highest taxed region in the country, driving Sichuan Province, Duogan Dusi, Uszang Dusi and other places.

So south.

Based on Guangdong, it radiates to Southeast Asia.

The economic models of each location may be similar or dissimilar.

Due to the development of Nanyang, such as the rapid development of the Jiaozhi Province, the Xuanweisi of various overseas countries, and the changes in the vassal states, Guangdong's economic development momentum is very fast. Most domestic commodities and overseas materials are transshipped in Guangdong.

The huge market demand has also led to great development in Guangdong's industries, including the shipbuilding industry. Because the demand for ships is stronger than that in the mainland, Guangdong's overall shipbuilding scale has become the first.

However, the shipbuilding industry in Guangdong is mainly civilian ships, while shipyards in Jinzhou, Tianjin, Beijing and other places have taken on many orders from the military.

Officials such as Yan Pu, Lian Zining, and Li Xueyan played an important role in Guangdong's industrialization. Although they became officials and passed away, the road to industrialization was not hindered.

The line of princes from decades ago had long been wiped out and no one mentioned it anymore. As for Zhu Yunwen, the king of Yue who only existed for less than ten years, there is no record at all.

Guangdong's economy is developing rapidly, and there is a high demand for many aspects, not only in terms of manpower, but also in terms of resources. This has become the consensus of all parties.

Zhu Zhanji met with groups of people, highly recognized the development achievements of Guangdong Province, and was willing to support Guangdong's demands.

With the help of several trusted officials, he wrote a memorial and sent it to the capital.

Under Yang Pu's guidance, this memorial was not made public, but was sent back to the capital through Jin Yiwei in a confidential manner. Although Zhu Zhanji could not understand it, he listened to the teacher's advice.
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Fifty-nine-year-old Zhu Di has suffered from an old health problem since he returned from Champa, and has never recovered from it, so he stayed in the palace to recuperate. In addition to greeting Zhu Gaochi every day, if there was no major event in the court, Zhu Gaochi would not bother Zhu Di with it, so as not to upset Zhu Di.

However, Zhu Di hoped that his grandson could get married as soon as possible. At the age of 21, it was already time for his grandson to get married.

Zhu Gaochi smiled and said: "Father, the emperor makes the decision."

Zhu Di nodded with satisfaction when he heard his son's answer. Not only had he found a candidate for his grandson's daughter-in-law, but he had also thought of the name of his grandson who had not yet been named. Anyway, the choice was limited to just a few words.

"We heard that some local officials in Myanmar's Xuanwei Department were disobedient and often invaded northern Siam. Is this true?"

Zhu Gaochi nodded, "It is indeed true. Not only did he invade northern Siam, he also often had conflicts with several consolation envoys in Sukhothai Dusi."

"What are you going to do?"

Zhu Di asked curiously.

Outsiders say that my son is benevolent and soft-hearted. In fact, Zhu Di knows his son best.

But this is how the old Zhu family is, the bad reputation is borne by the father, and the good reputation is left to the son. Wasn't it the same when my eldest brother was still alive? He had handled so many major cases, and his father was responsible for all the notoriety of murder.

Zhu Gaochi replied calmly: "Wait a moment."

Zhu Di thought for a while and agreed with his son's idea.

Later generations said that the natives of the New World killed each other. In fact, this was not the case in any part of the world, but it is a bit ridiculous to say that the natives killed each other and led to their extinction. Co-author The natives of the New World have been killing each other for thousands of years, and the population shows no signs of extinction. On the contrary, after the arrival of Westerners, the natives have stopped killing each other?

In fact, there is nothing to say about slaughtering or not. The winner is the king and the loser is the enemy.

The expansion of several Western countries in the New World did rely on slaughter, but unlike the conquest of advanced civilizations by backward civilizations, advanced civilizations slaughtered backward civilizations, so the extinction of backward civilizations became nourishment for the development of those Western countries.

This is different from the nomads raiding Asia and Eastern Europe.

The former advanced their civilization through the development of productive forces, while the latter only brought destruction and regression of civilization through the transfer of wealth.

The same principle applies to the expansion of ancient China, which turned a bitter cold land and a smoggy land into a rich and fertile land. However, Chinese civilization pays attention to benevolence, virtue and nature. This is the difference.

For example, the population in the south exceeds that in the north because a large number of northern people migrated south, which improved the natural environment through production, thereby promoting productivity and increasing production resources, leading to a large population growth.

However, Westerners have occupied most of the fertile land in the world, and they can no longer maintain the industrialization model. A large number of non-Western countries have begun to rise, and their citizens are no longer diligent.

In a situation of being unable to compete, in order to protect its own land and resources and prevent emerging countries from using their own force to seize the fruits of their victory, the so-called modern order was proposed, packaged with the word civilization.

As long as they don't fight a big war, they can rely on the fruits of victory they snatch, and under the conditions of developed per capita resources, they can win anyway, which is the most beneficial way for them.

In fact, it is the same as the Ming Dynasty in history.

Ming Dynasty, which occupies the most fertile land, only requires the surrounding forces to be stable, because it is beneficial to Ming Dynasty not to fight.

The same is true.

The situation in Myanmar's Xuanwei Department is complicated, and Ming Dynasty has just ended its war in Siam. As long as the scale of the war does not exceed Ming Dynasty's bottom line and does not endanger Ming Dynasty's development, Zhu Gaochi is not in a hurry.

After the railways in Siam and Chenla are built, it will be the best time for the Ming Dynasty.

Siam is now disabled and completely dependent on the Ming Dynasty. To the east of Chenla is Champa, to the right is the Ming Pattaya Dusi, to the north is the Lao Xuanwei Division, and to the south is the sea, under the cannons of the Ming Navy.

When these areas are completely digested, the vassal system is implemented, and even the land is restored, it will be the time for the Ming Dynasty to truly implement the vassal system and strengthen governance throughout Nanyang.

Zhu Di sighed secretly.

Zhu Di really admires his eldest son, and admires his patience. He can endure his impatience and choose the development path that is most beneficial to the people. It is really a rare virtue.

Everyone knows the benefits of building the Grand Canal.

But there are many choices for how to cultivate.

After parting ways with Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi returned to Wenhua Palace. Soon after, he received a secret letter written by his son.

Zhu Gaochi recognized Yang Pu very much. If Yang Pu had not asked his son to submit the memorial in a dense manner, Taisun's first formal memorial would have been rejected, which would be very detrimental to Taisun's prestige.

Mature and talented ministers are indeed a blessing to the country.

Zhu Gaochi did not make the secret letter public, but called several ministers Yang Shiqi to circulate it on a small scale. He wanted to see whether the current level of the cabinet met his requirements.

After Yang Shiqi and others looked at it, they quickly came to the conclusion that they could not agree to Taisun's request.

Zhu Gaochi showed a pleased smile. Although the reasons given by Yang Shiqi and others were not perfect, they were enough. Only then did Zhu Gaochi give a comprehensive explanation.

"Agriculture is limited, but industry is unlimited. This is the secret of an industrial country."

"It costs 100,000 yuan for the Daming Industry Bureau to build a ship by itself, and only 50,000 yuan to buy one from a private commercial bank. But except for the cost of iron ore, the other added value is kept in the internal cycle."

"Of course I know the advantages of low-cost overseas manpower, but what does it have to do with me internally?"

"The spread of technology has brought technical jobs overseas and the development of productivity overseas, which means that all the 50,000 yuan purchased from outsourcing is lost to the outside world."

"Please note that the benefits of domestic internal circulation are social distribution models. I have strictly controlled overseas industrial competition for many years to ensure that this domestic system can be implemented."

Zhu Gaochi's explanation made several ministers think deeply.

The importance of the system lies here. It depends on what your anchor is, whether it is a country or an individual.

Zhu Gaochi said with a smile: "The secret of the social resource allocation model is also here. It does not pursue the sales profit minus the cost of the operating nature at all. It focuses on the big cycle. The total industrial and agricultural output value is all its profits. , of course, the bigger the better.”

This is also the reason why socialist countries are so ruthless in their industrial development. The cost is infinitely close to zero, and there is no need for operating profits, which will lead to geometric explosive growth all of a sudden.

Before World War II, Mao Xiong was still an agricultural country using hoes. After World War II, it became a torrent of steel. This is the reason for the huge achievements brought about in such a short period of time.

Including the historical Li Hongzhang who said that "the silver cost of Chinese shipbuilding is twice the price of overseas ship purchases." This is a typical agricultural mentality. After a lifetime of Westernization, you can still only see the appearance of industry. What you see are those guns, ships, and factories. They are still comparing prices, and you don’t even know the word "industrial country". represents what.

Eagle's company orders parts from all over the world for the sake of cost, but whether it's Krupp in Germany or Soviet factories, they don't pursue cost, they just look at whether their own country has it.

If you can produce it yourself, you will definitely produce it yourself, and you will never outsource components that can be matched domestically.

Don't worry about the size of the factory. You can build any school in the county or county school at will, and it will be fine if all the steam boilers are used in the bathhouse. No matter how bloated it is, it is just an internal circulation. If you don't understand the structure, you will regard it as a superficial big pot.

Capital and social models each have their own pros and cons, and the pros and cons are equally obvious. The system is just a tool, serving the people. Whether it works or not depends on the helmsman.

The current Ming Dynasty has such a superior foundation. Of course Zhu Gaochi chose the best path. How could it be possible to reverse the course of history?

Whether it is Goryeo or overseas, it can only become a supplier of cheap resources for the Ming Dynasty, and it needs to be controlled by tariffs to avoid competition in the domestic production chain, which makes the social resource allocation model unsustainable and also makes people-oriented. The people maintain their confidence in struggle and labor.

However, in recent years, the scale and voice of private capital have become larger and larger, and it has been able to influence the future prince of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Gaochi finally needs to pay attention to it.

Suppression is the last resort.

Zhu Gaochi gave Yang Shiqi and others a difficult problem.

How to properly resolve this matter? If the cabinet can give him a satisfactory answer, Zhu Gaochi will carry out the next reform. If the cabinet's answer cannot satisfy Zhu Gaochi, it means that Ming's talent training system still needs to be developed and improved. (End of chapter)