The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 123 Capital Germination
In this era, when the yamen collected grain, farmers were not allowed to get their hands on the grain once it entered the official warehouse. The euphemistic reason was that they wanted to prevent farmers from doing evil in the process, so farmers were not allowed to put the grain in bags. They had to put it in wooden buckets, and the yamen The official in the palace carried him away.

Then the laborer who carried the grain in the county government seemed to have no strength in his hands. He stumbled and fell after two steps. He sprinkled it while lifting it, and when he put it on the scale, it couldn't be leveled. From time to time, he would kick it angrily. Just scattering and kicking like this, a bucket of grain can actually consume less than half a liter within a few dozen steps.

All the food that fell on the ground went into the pockets of the government officials.

And if collecting food is turned into collecting money, many operations will be difficult to carry out.

Xu Guangqi knew that the county government was definitely not willing to accept money. The reason why the county magistrate ran out today was not to step forward himself and let these brats deal with Wang Wenlong.

He was curious about what Wang Wenlong was going to do.

Wang Wenlong smiled when he heard the words of the county magistrate and the master, and said directly: "Xu Fantai is going to promote sweet potatoes this year. If Fuqing County, which is next to Fuzhou, cannot promote it, then Mr. Fantai will be angry."

He paused, looked at the two of them, and saw that they looked a little scared.

"If you want a statement, I will ask for one from you when I get back. But then I have to write down the process in detail. After all, where is the face of Master Fantai? If you are willing to listen to my advice, this writing will be It's better to stay still, so that the county can save more money on fire consumption... Do you think you should write it or not?"

The so-called fire loss refers to the loss that occurs when the court melts miscellaneous silver into unified official silver ingots. This is also where the yamen can line their own pockets by collecting taxes, but the profit is far less than that of directly collecting grain.

Fan County Cheng and Fuqing County Master Qianliang were both stunned, and then they hurriedly said together: "Mr. Wang, please advise your Excellency not to use pen and ink. There may be room for improvement!"

According to Wang Wenlong, Xu Xueju is determined to grow sweet potatoes in Fuqing. If Xu Xueju does not write down the regulations, they will at least have room for maneuver if they change grain collection to money collection. And if Fuqing County really wants to compete with him, Xu Xueju will be ignored. To save face, the terms he will issue will definitely be extremely strict when the time comes, and he may not even be able to collect much extra fire money when collecting cash.

The two of them could only regress at the same time, lamenting in their hearts why Xu Xueju had to promote new crops this year.

Wang Wenlong smiled, stood up and toasted the two of them in person.

At the banquet, Wang Wenlong made an agreement with the county government to pay this year's grain tax in cash for the Zhang family's land, and also agreed on the proportion of fire consumption to be harvested this year.

Several people walked out of the county town. Zhang Hang and his uncle quickly saluted Wang Wenlong together. Zhang Hang's uncle was even more grateful and said: "Mr. Wang's kindness and righteousness will be unforgettable to the Zhang family!"

Wang Wenlong waved his hand and told Zhang Hang that if Fuqing County continued to cause trouble, he could go to Fuzhou Prefecture to find him.

On the way back, Xu Guangqi, Chen Jinglun and Deng Zhimo were all happy about this, but Wang Wenlong felt a little uncomfortable.

Wang Wenlong really doesn’t want to help Zhang Hang, a big landowner, but Zhang Hang’s land spans two villages. If he doesn’t help Zhang Hang reduce taxes, none of the farmers in his two villages will be able to grow sweet potatoes next year. If there is a famine, people will really starve to death.

The sad thing is that although he moved to farmers, the real biggest beneficiary is the Zhang family. After next year's famine, the Zhang family, which grows sweet potatoes extensively, will be able to acquire more land from bankrupts. The Zhang family in Fuqing County The situation of land annexation is definitely more serious.

On the carriage, Wang Wenlong kept looking out the window in silence. He thought about the cyclical rate of the dynasty. At this time, land annexation was impossible to change unless the world was changed.

If you want to change the world, at least a new class must rise, otherwise it will just be a feudal dynasty cycle in which one group of landlords overthrew another group of landlords, such as the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

He thought of Ma Zhe and the things he had learned in his political philosophy class.The only way to change the cyclical rate of the Ming Dynasty is through the Industrial Revolution.

Could the Ming Dynasty have given birth to an industrial revolution on its own?To be honest, even with a time traveler like himself, Wang Wenlong has no idea.

The thing born in China that is most similar to capitalism as a large-scale production method is the salt well in Zigong in the late Qing Dynasty.Zigong was originally just a place with a better geographical location among the salt-producing lands in the world. The well salt produced did not have much cost advantage compared to the sea salt of Lianghuai.

Until the Taiping Rebellion at the end of the Qing Dynasty, all the Lianghuai salt fields were controlled by the Taiping Rebellion. The entire Qing Dynasty was short of salt, so the circulation of private salt was partially liberalized. Stimulated by the huge market of the Qing Dynasty, Zigong spontaneously formed a set of capitalist investment and production models.

People borrowed money from banks-like institutions between local chambers of commerce in Zigong for industrial production and technological innovation.

As a result, things like the board of directors system, salt mining technology research and development institutions, venture capital, gambling agreements, equity markets, futures, etc. gradually emerged.

The active market has made Zigong Salt Industry's production efficiency higher and higher, and its unit cost lower and lower.

In the later period, Zigong salt wells could be drilled to a depth of thousands of meters. The brine was transported across several mountains through a complex bamboo pipe system and cooked in natural gas fire wells. There were also supporting formation water injection and salt-dissolving technology and natural gas mining technology... in the local area With the help of science and technology, the cost of Zigong well salt has actually been reduced to a level that can compete with naturally sun-dried sea salt. It is completely like a prosperous early stage of capitalism, and it was spontaneously produced in the inland of China.

But it is precisely knowing the background of this rare local capitalist economic example that makes Wang Wenlong feel more and more unsure.

Zigong salt wells have been mined for thousands of years, but it was not until the late Qing Dynasty that signs of large-scale industrialization appeared.

In other words, if the Qing Dynasty had not been so weak at that time, Zigong Salt Wells would have had no chance to develop. The traditional salt industry monopoly system and the addition of layers of tariffs would have directly forced Zigong's business model to collapse.

The Qing Dynasty was able to survive because foreign colonists were willing to keep such a decadent dynasty that would constantly sign unequal treaties, so they continuously provided the Qing Dynasty with foreign guns and cannons, and encouraged the Qing Dynasty to sell their own rights and interests to borrow money from foreign banks to buy weapons. Fight civil unrest.

In other eras, if the Central Plains dynasty was as weak as it was in the late Qing Dynasty, there would have been a surge in the world. Where would there be a stable sales market for Zigong salt wells?

Historically, China had the opportunity to open its eyes to the world in the late Ming Dynasty, but there were not many successful attempts.

Will it be successful when history repeats itself?
Wang Wenlong was really unsure.

Back in the study, Wang Wenlong thought for a long time and sincerely wanted to push forward this era.

He decided to write a book again.

Ma Zhe was too far away and too profound for people at this time, and people who had not experienced the colonial era and the pre-industrial era had no way of understanding it.What's more, if you write out those ideas that are too advanced, you will definitely get yourself into trouble.

After thinking for a long time, Wang Wenlong spread out the manuscript paper and wrote three big words: The Wealth of Nations!

Ma Zhe couldn't write it, but there is still no problem in writing "The Wealth of Nations", the Bible that guides the entire classical economics.

Just like "The Theory of Heaven's Evolution", "The Wealth of Nations" only calmly discusses objective laws and does not involve any court struggles. It seems to be safer than "The Theory of Heaven's Evolution".

Precisely because "The Wealth of Nations" discusses objective laws, the main content of this work can remain unchanged when copied out, as long as some examples are changed into examples that people can understand at that time.

This kind of work is obviously not suitable for the upcoming "Xunbao". Wang Wenlong thought that it might be possible to publish the manuscript after writing it and sending it to Yuan Wuya.

(End of this chapter)