Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 466: Two Ways to Break Through the Dead End of Agricultural Civilization, One is Cruel, the

Chapter 466: Two Ways to Break Through the Dead End of Agricultural Civilization, One is Cruel, the Other is Particularly Cruel

The female official handed Zhang Xiaomei's letter to the Queen.

Queen Hu Ling'er thought about it for a while and then passed it to His Majesty.

After reading,

Li Yu smiled.

This is a godsend opportunity, and Zhang Xiaoyu was summoned immediately.

After the secret talk,
Instructed her to continue to negotiate and moderately encourage the ambitions of Pitt, the Dutch business representative.

……

Pete spent another 100 gold coins and finally succeeded in getting through Zhang Xiaomei's back door. He was introduced by her and successfully met the emperor.

He is very sensible.

Kowtow three times and bow nine times, with a respectful expression and proper movements.

"Your Majesty, long live your Majesty."

"Stand up. I heard you want to offer some advice?"

"That's right. I have a special auction method for your Majesty. It's very good. We use it to auction tulips in Amsterdam."

Li Yu pretended not to know.

laughed:

"Please take a seat, serve tea, and speak carefully!"

……

Everyone present was shocked by Pete's plan.

auction,

How can you bid lower each time?

Yes, the Dutch auction is so unique.

E.g,

The normal price for 1 dan of tea is 20 taels per dan.

Then we will start the auction at 50 taels per dan.
49 taels, 48 taels, 47 taels, 46 taels~the price drops rapidly one by one.

When it dropped to 28 taels,
When Pete thought it was acceptable,
He would raise the sign and bid, and he could bid for only a part of it, for example, 1000 dan.

Then next,

The auctioneer can also continue to auction the remaining 9000 dan.

Prices continued to fall.

Until all sold out.

……

Li Yu pretended to be shocked by this novel auction method and lowered his head in thought.

Peter quickly advised:
"Your Majesty, the best thing about this method is that it can raise the transaction price of goods. The process is fair and just, and no one can find fault with it."

"In the Netherlands, we made a lot of money selling tulips this way."

Li Yu hesitated for a moment and looked up:
"Just as you said, we will start the auction system."

"Your Majesty is holy."

Looking at the happy back of this person as he left.

Li Yu muttered in his heart:

It's rolled up now?

……

soon,

The first auction kicked off on the banks of the Huangpu River.

The representatives of the other six countries all had dark faces.

His anger was beyond words, and he wished he could put those damn shameless Dutch people in a sack and sink them into the Huangpu River.

There is only one auction method this wicked and shameless in the world.

No need to ask, we all know that Emperor Wu was bewitched by the Dutch.
really,

The auction was a great success.

The starting price for 5 dan of southern Anhui tea is 50 taels.

At 31:,

Pete was the first to raise his hand and bid for 3 dan.

after that,

The remaining 6 represent a great confusion~
The Franks bid 30 dan for 3000 taels, the Iberians bid 28 dan for 4000 taels, and Pitt raised his hand again at 27 taels and took all the rest.

……

A low-ranking civil servant from the Ministry of Commerce witnessed the entire incident.

In his report, he praised this model highly and did not hesitate to use effusive words to praise it.

The auction revenue increased significantly.

Real money went into the national treasury.

William, the Saxon commercial representative in Wu, said nothing about it.

Anyway, a memorandum has been signed with the State of Wu, with 70 dan per year and 19 taels per dan, so there is no need to join in this involutionary game.

Adelaide, the Governor of the East India Company, instructed William and 10 others to stay behind before leaving.

First, it increases friendship, and second, it is responsible for product after-sales service.

this will,

Saxons have no fear of technology leaks.

They sold everything, including flying shuttles, spinning jennys, mule looms, water-powered looms, water-powered horizontal boring machines, human-powered machine tools, sextants, pocket watches, etc.

in contrast,

They were afraid that Wu would not be willing to accept the first generation of machines.

The reasons here are complicated~
……

Adelaide also specifically asked for two things:

First, we must make the State of Wu accept the latest European machinery and industrialization.

Second, the day when London and the Dutch would fall out was not far away (because the Dutch supported the War of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies).

At the end of the 18th century,
Even the most crazy, warlike and far-sighted European politician did not think it necessary to compete with the Eastern Empire for hegemony.

First, the distance is too far.

Secondly, the Eastern Empire was too rich and glorious.

in Europe,
Oriental utensils are synonymous with high-end, Oriental decorations are the pinnacle of fashion, and Oriental culture is the most advanced culture.

Europeans still have a low self-esteem at this time.

Longing for recognition and praise from the Eastern Emperor.

No kidding,

Ten years ago, if Emperor Qianlong had publicly praised Mr. Voltaire as "a beacon of European civilization" in his letters~
Louis XV was determined to welcome back the expelled Voltaire with great ceremony.

Grant the old man the freedom to enter the temple at any time of day or night, to praise or worship without naming his name, and to criticize me in person.

of course,

Maybe old Voltaire fainted first because he was so excited.

then,

Louis XV could then bring back the old man's remains with the most grand state funeral.

The Crown Prince carried the coffin, and 100,000 Parisians lined the streets to welcome him. The coffin was covered with many royal flags.
……

It's frustrating to think about it.

The Eastern Empire was glorious for more than 1000 years, but became a laughing stock in just a hundred years.

Future generations cannot even imagine that their ancestors had such glorious moments.

all of these,
The Qing court cannot escape blame.

Fortunately, Li Yu is here!
There is still time!
……

William is very satisfied with his current job.

Every time I went to the textile factory along the Huangpu River to repair machinery and troubleshoot problems, I would gain spiritual respect and a small material reward.

he thinks,
Perhaps he could strive for the position of plenipotentiary envoy to Wu after the formal establishment of diplomatic relations.

in the future,

Returning to London, this qualification allows him to enter Downing Street.

Although he was a physical mechanic, he made outstanding contributions in the field of politics.

Just like Lord Niu~
……

then,

William lowered his proud head and began to actively approach the world of Vanity Fair.

At a banquet,

Industry Minister Duren praised William's professionalism.

Not long after,

William followed the clues and paid a visit.

He expressed his willingness to teach physics and mathematics at Dongshan Technical School.

Du Ren would naturally not refuse.

A small ceremony was held immediately to award him a certificate of visiting professor of the Royal Academy of Sciences and a remuneration of 50 Li Datou coins for each class.

……

Two priests who had been idle for a long time also smelled an opportunity and wanted to find a part-time job, one teaching astronomy and the other teaching mathematics.

Anyway,

The priests who dared to cross the ocean must be the most pious and intelligent group.

The termites in the Mule and Horse Church were unwilling to step into the dangerous and treacherous ocean, and were busy touring the countries selling indulgences.

In addition to theology,

These people generally master several professions, such as painting, mathematics, astronomy, gardening, cannon casting, machinery, geomancy, etc.
Anyway,

He is both literary and martial, has a great eloquence and is very flexible.

……

They believed that in order to preach in the Eastern Empire, they must first go through the upper echelons.

Graduates of the Royal School will most likely become the imperial elite in the future.

Now is the time to use what you have learned throughout your life to leave a deep impression on your students.

Maybe 10 or 20 years later, these former students will be among the top leaders of the empire, solving obstacles from top to bottom.
To achieve their goal, they even used their monthly salary to customize teaching aids.

Such selflessness has touched many people!

For a time,

Many people also feel more comfortable with the silver crosses hanging around the priests' necks.

……

Under Li Yu's series of dazzling operations,

The State of Wu quickly completed the three-step leap from decentralized handicrafts to centralized handicrafts to large factories.

although,

Still a spark.

But with the previous successful example, the rest will be easier.

because,

The basic factors for opening a factory today are:

For example:

Raw materials, machinery, political environment, labor, capital, and market have all been solved.

Next,
It means changing the water and animal power drive to steam engine drive on a large scale.

By then,

Large factories will undergo a dramatic transformation and significantly reduce product costs.

……

Modern people have a deep-rooted impression that industrial products must be cheaper than handicraft products.

There is a premise here.

It needs to be based on scale and efficiency.

In history,
Even decades after the first industrial revolution, this economic impression might not have held true.

Therefore,
In 1778, this economic impression seemed more like a fallacy.

Wu's factories are still weak in cost control and cost compression is not ideal.

Human-powered machine tools, water-powered and animal-powered machinery, and assembly line technology can indeed reduce costs, but not as much as imagined.

……

The factory products can be sold in the terminal market thanks to financial means under the protection of imperial power.

To put it bluntly, it is:

Low price dumping + exclusion of dissidents~
Both methods aim to eliminate competitors (workshops, individual craftsmen)
former,
It is a kind of tender business method that makes competitors lose money and go bankrupt.
the latter,
indescribable.

Whenever Wu's army captured a city by force, they would kill the wealthy and powerful merchants, which was essentially a way to protect the budding industrialization.

The same goes for the dealer system.

Smart people within the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Chambers of Commerce have also realized this.

but,

If Your Majesty doesn't say it, no one else can mention it.

It’s just like a farmhand finding a piece of braised pork belly hidden under his bowl. He just eats it quietly and keeps the gratitude in his heart.

……

President of Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce, Bei Tiantian said:
"On the one hand, we will eliminate all competitors in the production process and monopolize production. On the other hand, we will reduce the profit of each product and make up for it through scale."

"We used to make 1 coins from selling a piece of clothing, but now we only make 300 coins. However, we are striving to increase sales by 50 times, or even 6 times."

This theory is called:
Low price for market!
It was first proposed by a Yangzhou salt merchant at a meeting of 100 dealers in Jingdezhen, and it was earth-shattering.

Very few people know that this is His Majesty's philosophy.

but,

It was given to the Yangzhou salt merchants to become famous.

Everyone knows the reason!
As a king, it is unwise to be tainted with too much money. Your Majesty has been criticized by many people in this regard.
……

No one can understand Li Yu's painstaking efforts~
It is so difficult to carry out industrialization in a land that has been permeated with agricultural civilization and Confucianism for 2000 years.

The army will help the factory owners kill people.
We also have to allow them to use financial means to surpass their peers and dominate the market.

but,

If this is not done, the factories that have been set up with great difficulty will go bankrupt due to poor sales of products.

The bankrupt merchants became disillusioned with the empire.

Then,

The pressure will be transmitted to the land.

A large number of people will spend money again to buy land and pick up the only career that is guaranteed to make money in the past 2000 years - landlord.

No brainwork, no risk.

You can earn money just by sitting at home~
……

Anyway,

The large amount of silver must find a way out,
Either buy land, open a pawnshop, or adopt the red-top model.

The total defeat of industrialists and businessmen and their withdrawal from the political arena will also have a disastrous impact.

The new gentry class expanded rapidly and rose rapidly.

By then,

Li Yu's industrialization is bound to fail, and everything will return to the old ways.

The Lee Empire,

It is another familiar unified agricultural dynasty that will come to an end in about a hundred years amid the wailing of hungry people.

……

the above,

In fact, they are two not complicated cycles.

Positive cycle:
Products sold - Factories increased - Industrial and commercial owners entered the stage - Gentry suppressed - Agricultural civilization transformed into agricultural and industrial civilization - Enriching the people and strengthening the army - Civilization came

Reverse cycle:
Products are unsalable - factories close down - new gentry return - feudal dynasty remains the same - collapse

The logic is very clear,
however,
It is not easy to change the inertia of 2000 years.

Li Yu quickly mastered the imperial chariot, replaced some parts, then stepped on the accelerator, turned the steering wheel sharply, and left the old road that had been used for thousands of years.

……

In the final analysis,

It was the agricultural civilization that could not support a huge empire with a population of more than 3 million and a population that was still growing.

Surface resources have been seriously overdrawn.

The signs of total collapse are obvious.
do not change,
Hell is right before our eyes.

Even without considering foreign invasion, more than 3 million people cannot survive behind closed doors.

……

If you must follow the agricultural civilization blessed by Confucian culture, there is also a way.

It's bloody and brutal, but effective.

Wu's army controlled the most fertile land in the world, and then sent troops from multiple directions to destroy the Qing court's ruling power in the local areas.

after that,

Withdraw troops quickly, block the border, and focus on economic development.

He watched the rise of various anti-kings in the Qing-controlled areas.

They watched a bloody massacre several times larger than that of the Taiping Rebellion unfold across the north and south.

At the same time, they sell arms, focus on fanning the flames from a God's perspective, and see the world as a cricket jar~
……

10 years at most,
The population will drop by more than half.

then,

The Wu army then marched north and west with overwhelming force, eliminating all the rebel kings.

Rebuild a feudal empire on the ruins, restart agricultural civilization, and reduce taxes and levies.

in this way,

The world is at peace, and we can probably expect 100 years of good days.

Emperor Yu's reign can also be included in history books.

……

obviously,
The second way is not normal thinking.

Therefore,
We still choose the first option, which may seem uncomfortable but is actually the most reliable.

Let Li Yu, the only driver of the chariot, change lanes forcibly.

As for,
Should you use your turn signal to alert others before changing lanes?

Do not hit!

I've never used a turn signal in my life.

Every road in Suzhou is Bayinbuluke. No regrets when you go out, step on the accelerator, the bricks fly with great force, and the fierce lane change is successful!

……

A whisper interrupted Li Yu's thoughts.

"Your Majesty, it's time to take medicine."

Li Yu turned his head.

Mrs. Bai came with a tray with two small bowls on it.

One bowl contains water, and the other bowl contains two black pills.

Li Yu took it.

Drink it all up~
He sighed:
"There is a lack of medical care and medicine, and the world is in a difficult situation."

How could the emperor be short of medical care and medicine?

Therefore,
Mrs. Bai did not think that His Majesty was wailing for her, but rather that he was showing pity to the people of the world.

then,

He smiled and said: