Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 506 The father is strong and the son is strong
"Sorry..."

At the end of June, the snow in Mobei has already melted into rivers, nourishing the vast grasslands along the river channels.

Although the climate in this era was cold and the rainfall was far less than that of later generations, because the population of the Mongolian Plateau was not large, it would be difficult for the Mongolians to cause large-scale damage to the Mobei grassland in a short period of time even if they were overgrazing.

Running along the rivers and grasslands, hundreds of cavalry crossed the hills and plains and arrived at a valley thousands of miles away from Helin.

Climbing the hills, what appeared in front of them were tens of thousands of tents gathered together, as well as the people shuttled among them.

"drive!"

Shaking the reins of their horses, hundreds of cavalry entered the valley and were inspected by the local cavalry a short time later. Under their supervision, they headed to the simple stone house built.

"The Ming army has begun its northern expedition as we expected, but they gathered very quickly, and there are a large number of war horses heading north on the west side of Harawen Mountain, enough to drive tens of thousands of cavalry."

"The Grand Master estimates that the number of Ming army's northern expedition will not be less than 50,000 cavalry, and it is very likely that the Ming army already knows about us."

"So, the Grand Master invites you to gather at Hulanhuwenwen to attack the Ming army together..."

Zhu Di is more than ten years older than Mahamu, so in his opinion, dragging such an old body to a bitter and cold place like Mobei is undoubtedly an act of courting death.

"Currently, the imperial court owns 220,000 looms of various sizes in Jiangnan. These looms are all in the hands of the Machine House Yamen under the Weaving Bureau, and they are only leased to machine workers for weaving at five cents of interest."

"The value of 220,000 looms is more than 20 million yuan, and the 220,000 households involve millions of people."

By then, their two large and four small armies will have 80,000 cavalry participating in the battle.

However, just when Yishiha was about to return to the hall, Xu Shuo came to the door of the side hall, so Yishiha also sang: "Your Majesty, Xu Shuo wants to see you."

"If we want to promote steam looms, what should we do with the existing 220,000 hand looms? What about the 220,000 families who rely on these 220,000 looms?"

"We have sent people to spread the news. I believe you two will arrive at Hulanhu Dewar soon. In addition, we have begun to retreat westward."

Facing the words brought by Qianhu, the old Mahamu rolled his cloudy eyes, looked at him calmly, and asked at the same time: "Is Zhu Di still alive?"

Not long after, Yi Shiha and Xu Shuo walked into the side hall one after another, and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and saluted: "Your Majesty, the news about steam engines in the north has recently spread to the south. Officials from the Weaving Bureau asked if they could make textile machines. And put into the weaving bureau.”

Thinking of this, Mahamu said: "Did Taiping and Tupolo send troops to Hulanhu to lose the temperature?"

He has already figured out the habits of these guys. If the Ming army is unable to withstand the force, the Tupolo will definitely be the icing on the cake. But if the Ming army is in trouble, the Tupolo will never help or add disaster to the disaster. Consider him benevolent and righteous.

Xu Shuo analyzed the problem through its essence. First of all, as a country with a huge population, the market size of Ming Dynasty was naturally unprecedentedly large.

Zhu Gaoxu issued his decree to Yishiha without looking back. Yishiha bowed and then walked out of the side hall to convey his decree to the eunuch on duty.

"This process has been continued by the imperial court from the 14th year of Yongle to the present. Every year, the Weaving Bureau can obtain 1.2 million pieces of cloth woven by machine workers, and can purchase nearly 20 million pieces of cloth woven by machine workers. Therefore, in The profit from domestic and foreign trade is no less than four million dollars."

According to the detailed information given by Tupolo, Alitai prepared to move west to Hulanhu, and then continued to lure Zhu Di to Moxi.

"If this means of survival for millions of people is changed rashly, not to mention that the steam spinning machine does not require 220,000 machine workers, the price fluctuations caused by the increase in output alone will be enough to make many people who make a living by spinning The family was destroyed.”

"Xuan!" Zhu Gaoxu said while reviewing the memorial.

He frowned and looked at Xu Shuo. After pondering for a moment, he asked, "What do you think of this matter?"

"Okay, since they dare to come, let's hold them back this time. After several failed attempts, I don't believe that Nanmanzi will continue to use troops against Mobei!"

In the stone house, Mahamu and Tuohuan were sitting next to them, and next to them sat a young man of about 16 or 18 years old.

Of course, Tupolo expressed his position in the letter. He would not launch an attack or attack on the Chinese army at that time, and would even launch a flank attack on the Mongolian headquarters when the Chinese army needed it.

The three of them sat in front of the campfire, enjoying the warmth brought by the flames.

"Send these news eight hundred miles away and head to Haila'er as quickly as possible to remind the Emperor not to believe these people."

Wandering without attacking and attacking his food routes was what Mahamu planned to do to Zhu Di.

Although Zhu Gaoxu didn't think Mahamu and Alitai could cause any farce, it was okay to be careful.

"Yes!" Hearing this, Tuo Huan, who was in his thirties, and his son also stood up and saluted with their arms folded, and soon Churo's troops began to mobilize their troops.

"He's still alive, and the person leading the army this time is probably him." Qianhu answered honestly, but Mahamu laughed when he heard this: "Madman... what a madman!"

Qianhu answered all the questions raised by Mahamu. Mahamu nodded after hearing the words, lowered his head and gave instructions to himself:
"Tuhuan, first, prepare to mobilize troops..."

"..." Upon hearing this suggestion, Zhu Gaoxu paused with the pen in his hand.

It's a pity that there are too many people who are wavering among them. Not long after the operation to mobilize troops from Oara and Tatar was launched, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hailar and other places received their information respectively.

"If the steam spinning machine is successful, it will naturally increase the production of textile products, but it also involves a problem, and that is the problem of machine operators."

In early July, while Zhu Di was still taking the train north, Zhu Gaoxu, who was in Beijing, had already received news from Batu Polo from Gansu and Shaanxi.

Although the time span is very long, they joined forces this time just like last time to resist the Ming army's invasion of Mobei.

As long as the Northern Expedition has no results, the Ming army will sooner or later be exhausted by his own people and withdraw.

After thirty years, Oara and Tatar finally joined forces again.

"I found it, but it's okay..."

Not only them, but also Taiping and Batu Polo began to dispatch troops.

"To promote steam looms, the biggest problem is the employment of machinists, followed by the problem of 220,000 looms."

Mahamu stood up and expressed his thoughts.

It has to be said that Tupolo acted very quickly in expressing his loyalty, but Zhu Gaoxu did not believe his words.

"I thought..." Xu Shuo looked at Zhu Gaoxu's face vaguely, and finally answered based on the knowledge he had learned:

The 220,000 looms and weavers were only data that could be seen by the court. In addition to them, there were also data that were hidden among the people and could not be seen.

If the current situation is that supply exceeds demand, then steam engines can naturally be pushed into the textile industry, but the current situation is that supply is saturated.

Promoting the entry of steam engines into the textile industry would undoubtedly bring sufficient profits to the Ming Dynasty.

Needless to say, based on the results of Taixue's research, the weaving speed of a steam loom is twenty times that of a normal loom, which means that one steam loom can match the speed of twenty machinists.

The following meaning is obvious, that is, to sell 220,000 looms to machine workers, collect more than 20 million yuan of funds, and then promote steam looms.

The original model of leasing looms from the population mainly involved weavers taking the big ends and the weaving bureau taking the small ends.

But if the looms are sold, then the Weaving Bureau and the machinists will have nothing to do with each other. The machinists produce and sell them themselves, while the Weaving Bureau concentrates on promoting machine-woven cloth.

If the market share does not change, the cloth produced by the Weaving Bureau will naturally oversupply the originally saturated market, and the price of cloth on the market will drop.

There was no problem with this originally, but the problem was the raw materials.

After the scale of production is expanded, the output of raw materials has not been expanded, so the cost will become higher, textile profits will decline, and the market will enter a price war.

In this case, the Weaving Bureau can rely on the court to survive this period, but small households may have to face the end of their families being destroyed.

Zhu Gaoxu has been reluctant to push steam engines into the textile industry, mainly because he was worried about the tens of millions of machinist families, both openly and secretly.

When there is no new industry that can accommodate them, rashly changing an already stable industry will undoubtedly cause the unemployment of many people. This is an issue that Zhu Gaoxu needs to consider.

To promote steam engines into the textile industry, we must first create a job for mechanics to support themselves.

The suggestions put forward below completely only focus on interests, thereby ignoring human issues.

"This matter will be put on hold for the time being. We will discuss this matter when the problem is resolved."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't say it clearly, but Xu Shuo knew it very well.

If the Weaving Bureau carries out reforms, it will definitely bring tens of millions of profits to the court in the future, instead of the current four million.

However, such reforms will undoubtedly only solve the work problems of a small number of people, and most people will become unemployed. After all, most mechanics live in the city and do not have their own land.

If a farmer loses his job, he can still go home and farm. If a mechanic loses his job, he will have no choice but to change his career.

If millions of machinists want to change careers, which industry can accommodate them in the long term?
In the more than ten years since the invention of the steam engine, the joint efforts of more than 8,000 people in Taixue have only slightly expanded the number of jobs in metallurgy, coal, machinery, and transportation. The total number of workers in these industries is only about 200. Just ten thousand.

If textile reform suddenly creates millions more weavers, the employment problem will be serious.

In the late Ming Dynasty, generations of emperors did not dare to promote sea transportation because of the food and clothing needs of one million trough workers, let alone one million Jiangnan weavers.

Thinking like this, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt on pins and needles, and couldn't help but get up and tell Yi Shiha: "Let's go to Taixue."

As soon as he gave the order, Yi Shiha began to prepare the carriage to go to Taixue.

When he walked out of the side hall, the academicians in the Wuying Hall stood up and bowed one after another. They watched him leave before looking back.

Wang Hui, Yang Rong and others turned their attention to Xu Shuo, who followed Zhu Gaoxu out. Obviously they were very concerned about the entry of steam engines into the textile industry.

Under the strong pressure of the New Deal faction, the old ministers in Jiangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other regions had no choice but to unite in order to protect themselves.

In addition to them, some traditional local officials also joined them. Their point of view is simple, that is, conservative changes to the Ming Dynasty. To put it more clearly, it is to change the Ming Dynasty without harming their interests.

The industries in their hands are mainly land, traditional textiles, dental industry, river transportation and other industries.

Compared with them, the New Dealers mainly focus on metallurgy, land, textile bureaus, transportation and other industries.

There are only two points of conflict between the two, one is land and the other is textiles.

The New Dealers called the conservatives diehards, and the conservatives called the New Dealers the North Party.

Judging from the names, the two sides have different ideas.

The New Deal faction is only called a faction, while the conservative Jiangnan Confucianists still use the concept of "gentlemen do not form factions" to attack the New Deal faction.

And because the New Deal faction was dominated by northerners, they were called the Northern Party, implying that the northerners formed cliques for personal gain.

This time, the proposal for steam engines to enter the Weaving Bureau was mainly proposed by the New Dealers, and the reason is very simple.

The Weaving Bureau is controlled by the New Deal faction. If the Weaving Bureau's profits quadruple every year, it will undoubtedly bring huge political capital to the New Deal faction, and many people will also benefit from it.

In comparison, conservatives, who mainly support large private companies, are not willing to let steam engines enter the textile industry.

They know the efficiency of Taixue's steam spinning machine. Once this thing is popularized, the big machine manufacturers will definitely disappear in history, because it is absolutely impossible for the imperial court to hand over steam engines to private businessmen, at least not at this stage.

"His Majesty said, keep it in mind but don't send it out."

Xu Shuo walked back to his seat and explained Zhu Gaoxu's meaning calmly. Wang Hui immediately frowned and said:

"The imperial court is in a tight financial situation and is now living off its income. Reforming the textile bureau can bring long-term and huge benefits to the court in a few years. Why refuse?"

"Absurd!" Yang Rong sneered: "If the Weaving Bureau is reformed, how will millions of weavers live?"

"With money, the imperial court can naturally arrange a better place for them!" Wang Hui replied to Yang Rong without thinking.

After all, he had also served as a county magistrate in Sichuan, so he naturally knew the difference between doing things with money and doing things without money.

If you have enough money to do things, you can create jobs even if there are no jobs. Even if your life is not as good as when you were a weaver, you will never starve to death.

As long as they hold on, it will be enough to wait until Taixue has researched emerging industries, and then arrange this group of people to enter the new industries.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty added more than two million people every year, and these two million people used at least one million pieces of cloth every year.

As long as they persist for a few years, these weavers will naturally gradually join the imperial court's weaving bureau.

As for the difficulties weavers have encountered in the past few years, these are all worthwhile in Wang Hui's eyes. Reform and transformation are destined to represent labor pains.

He is at least willing to place the Weaving Bureau in Jiangnan. If someone else from the New Deal faction were to sit in his position, it is estimated that the Weaving Bureau would be placed in either Sichuan or Huguang.

These old barbarians don’t know how to pretend to understand, and these old die-hards don’t know anything about reform!
"Scholar Xu, what do you think of the reform of the Weaving Bureau?"

Wang Hui asked about his former bamboo horse brothers, but Xu Shuo's expression changed slightly, and after thinking for a while, he replied:
"It's better to wait until Taixue has new research before discussing it. Safety is the most important thing..."

"Ha..." Wang Hui was very disdainful when he heard this. He didn't think that the Ming Dynasty still had time to take it slow.

Millions of dollars of negative expenditures are burdened every year. If reforms are not carried out in advance, won't we have to issue national debt to support it with people's money?

Compared with nearly ten million savers, what are one million weavers?
"What is the current amount of savings in the bank?" Wang Hui asked the two sixth-grade officials beside him sideways. One of them bowed after hearing this:
"According to the document sent by the Ministry of Household Affairs a few days ago, there are approximately 8.2 million savers, with savings of more than 97.22 million yuan."

Wang Hui did not answer when he heard this, but glanced at everyone with provocative eyes. His eyes seemed to say, "If you don't reform now, you will slowly destroy the people's savings in the future."

Xu Shuo's expression remained calm, but Yang Rong and Yang Pu narrowed their eyes, seeming to be annoyed by Wang's reply.

"Okay, okay, it's lunch break time now. Have a good rest so that you can deal with government affairs properly in the afternoon. Let's rest first."

Seeing that the smell of gunpowder was too strong, Xue Xuan immediately started to make mud.

With a cold snort, everyone dispersed.

At the same time as they dispersed, Chen Chang, who was in charge of the Sixth Army Governor's Office in Beijing, also saw a memorial with a special mark.

He frowned and picked up the book and opened it. The first name at the beginning made him frown.

"This memorial is sent to His Majesty for review. Do not give it to the palace. Go and deliver it yourself."

Chen Chang erased the marks on the memorial and then handed it over to a simple and honest military attaché beside him.

The military attache took the memorial and bowed in return, then hurried out of the Governor's Mansion with the memorial in hand.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu had just arrived at Taixue and entered it.

More than 400 doctors and more than 8,000 academicians live here.

After reform, Taixue has become a research college that attracts top research students from middle schools.

Their salary is 500 guan for a doctor and 100 guan for a bachelor's degree. At the same time, if their research progresses, there will be corresponding rewards.

There are more than 3,000 subjects in Taixue, and the accumulated prizes are as high as more than 60 million yuan, which is the financial income of the Ming Dynasty for one and a half years.

Of course, if these issues can be broken through, then Zhu Gaoxu is willing to find ways to distribute it, let alone 60 million yuan, even 60 million yuan.

For a long time in the past, Zhu Gaoxu rarely visited Taixue. This was mainly because as middle school students continued to graduate, their research on some topics had reached the point where Zhu Gaoxu could not answer them.

Zhu Gaoxu could only grasp and point out the main direction, but the side details would require this group of people to work day after day and night after night.

From the first year of Yongle to the present, in twenty-five years, they have developed soil fertilizers, rickshaws, four-wheel carriages, cotton gins, steel plows, seed drills, harvesters, steam engines, steam locomotives and supporting machinery, lathes, Planers, grinders, and more than a hundred inventions, large and small.

In addition, research on magnetic fields, magnetism, etc. are all in progress. For people who understand, these things are very simple, but for everyone in Taixue, they need constant trial and error and research to reach conclusions.

Apart from telling them about the conductive effects of various metals, Zhu Gaoxu could not make any other constructive suggestions.

"Uuuuuu——"

The whistle sounded in Taixue, but it was not on land, but on the lake covering an area of ​​more than 200 acres in Taixue.

On the lake dock, a two-foot-long steamer was undergoing experiments.

It was launched under the watchful eye of Zhu Gaoxu and sailed around the lake before returning to the dock.

Although it is already available for use, there are still many technical problems that have not been overcome, so it will take a long time before it actually appears on the sea.

Zhu Gaoxu stood on the pier and watched for half an hour. Finally, he was awakened by the sound of rapid footsteps behind him.

He turned around, and a military attache bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Zhaozhou said that you need to read this memorial in person."

"Bring it here." Zhu Gaoxu motioned to Yishiha to take it. Yishiha also stepped forward to take the memorial and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu looked down and realized that this was a memorial from the Commander-in-Chief of Jiaozhidu, and the content mainly contained the names of people who needed to be promoted and their experiences and military achievements.

Among them, a person named "Zhang Qi" attracted Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhang Qi is Zhu Zhanqi. He changed his name to his mother Zhang's surname with a homophonic name. Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised by this.

He was slightly surprised that Zhang Qi was promoted to the post of Chief Envoy of Cochin in less than a year.

A normal military attache would take at least three years to be promoted, but Zhang Qi's name was suddenly written in this memorial. It was hard not to make Zhu Gaoxu think too much.

He hadn't asked about Zhang Qi for a long time, but if his military exploits were true, it would be normal for him to be promoted.

"Is what is written in this memorial true?"

Zhu Gaoxu handed the memorial to Yi Shiha. Yi Shiha was a little confused when he heard the words. After taking it, he suddenly realized, then nodded and said:
"Xichang and Jinyiwei have been secretly supervising, and it's basically the same as above."

"Since it's no different, let's make Zhu Pi circle red." Hearing Yi Shiha's words, a smile appeared on Zhu Gaoxu's face.

Although he has not been with his child all year round, he is still very happy that his child can do such outstanding things.

Yishiha was about to speak but stopped after hearing this. Seeing him like this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but ask: "What's wrong?"

"No, I just want to ask. The one-year period is coming soon. You can't stay too long at this time. So..."

Yi Shiha expressed his thoughts, and Zhu Gaoxu also felt that it made sense. After thinking for a while, he said:

"Let's let him continue. If he can't be promoted next year, then he can be transferred to a car position."

To be promoted for two consecutive years, this requires very strong military merit.

Although Zhu Gaoxu thinks Zhu Zhanqi has done a good job, he does not think Zhu Zhanqi can be promoted for two consecutive years.

Thinking like this, he said to Yishiha: "You should also take care of the other children's affairs. I am busy with government affairs and can't care too much."

"My slave, take your orders." Yi Shiha bowed his head, and Zhu Gaoxu also walked briskly toward the depths of Taixue with a smile on his lips...

(End of this chapter)