Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 241 Zhu Yuanzhang: The more I see the significance of the industrial revolution, the more I understand the greatness of Mr. Zhang!
The Mr. Zhou mentioned by Chen Youliang is Zhou Wensun, a well-known Jiangxi scholar who is well-known for his extensive knowledge.

Zhou Wensun was originally a tribute scholar from the Yuan Dynasty. After returning to his hometown, he was appointed as an official by Chen Youliang. This influenced Chen Youliang to advocate the way of governing the country with Confucianism and law.

"Mr. Zhou, what is the dense collection of tall chimneys behind the city wall?"

After Zhou Wensun arrived, Chen Youliang pointed at the iron factory in Taiping City and asked about Zhou Wensun.

Zhou Wensun replied: "It should be the rumored Datong Society's official Taiping Iron Works."

"With so many chimneys, it seems that the ironworks is obviously very big."

Chen Youliang muttered to himself.

Zhou Wensun continued: "After all, the iron factory of Datong Society has to supply its own ordnance manufacturing and the ordnance manufacturing ordered by many forces, as well as their railway manufacturing and iron ships. Therefore, the iron factory will naturally build many It’s so big, there must be many households in Taiping City who make a living by smelting iron.”

"I seem to have heard the incessant hammering sound!"

"Now it seems that the traitor named Zhang Cheng among you scholars has really brought the value of uncanny skills to the highest level!"

"If I were Zhu Yuanzhang, when I first found out that this person wanted to promote the idea of ​​Datong, I should have cut him into pieces instead of recognizing him as his teacher!"

Chen Youliang gritted his teeth as he spoke.

Zhou Wenxian smiled helplessly and said:

"Your Majesty, this just shows that Zhu Yuanzhang is also an extraordinary traitor!"

"Because this person obviously knew that if he could not recognize someone like Zhang Cheng as his teacher at that time, he could only recognize him as his enemy."

"However, if he considers him an enemy, Zhang Cheng will definitely choose someone else to attack him, Zhu Yuanzhang, with the idea of ​​great harmony!"

"It just so happens that he, Zhu Yuanzhang, comes from a commoner background, not a powerful one like Your Majesty. He, Zhu Yuanzhang, is what he is today, all because he was cultivated by Guo Zixing in the past. Later, he was also jealous of Guo Zixing because of his outstanding performance!"

"So, if he doesn't recognize Zhang Cheng as his master, he will definitely become the abandoned son of the Guo family!"

"Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang obviously knew that he had no choice but to follow Zhang Cheng in promoting the concept of Datong. In this way, he, a commoner, could truly become rich and be truly valued by others."

"It seems that Zhang Cheng deliberately chose Zhu Yuanzhang, and he had already spotted Zhu Yuanzhang."

"Thinking about it this way, I really want to chop this Zhang Cheng alive!"

"You said that he is knowledgeable and talented, but he can't be an official wherever he goes, and he can't be a leader wherever he goes? Even if he goes to the Tatars, the Tatars will treat him politely!"

"But why does he insist on preaching the concept of great harmony, turning untouchables like Zhu Yuanzhang into unruly people!"

Chen Youliang spoke angrily.

Zhou Wenxian also said with an angry face: "Your Majesty hates him to the core, and I also hate him to the core. He Zhang Cheng is an evil person. He has deceived the people of the world to only seek wealth and no respect for human ethics. Now I just hope that the sky will have eyes to destroy this The evil spirits are righting the hearts of the people!"

Chen Youliang didn't say anything else. He just continued to hold the smuggled telescope and looked at the densely populated Taiping City and the continuous fortresses outside the city.

A large number of Chen Jun's corpses have been laid out between the fortresses.

The blood flowing on and around these corpses has dried up, seeming to silently tell the horror of the war.

Chen Youliang could also see from these corpses how difficult Taiping City was to defeat.

But he still wanted to take down Taiping City and completely eliminate Datong Society.

He couldn't stand the industrial city of Taiping that stood before him like a monster.

He just wanted to turn this place into a city composed of manors and palaces, with farmers and merchants as the mainstay.

Because he knew that behind such a Taiping City, there must be a large number of people who were not bound by the land.

Once the people are no longer bound by the land, they will wander around, form groups, and look up to see the smell of wine and meat in wealthy families, which will breed greater desires.

This is undoubtedly not conducive to his future establishment of a world dynasty.

It was noon now, so Chen Youliang saw through the telescope that there were many officers and soldiers of the Chinese Army receiving lunch in the bastion outside Taiping City. What surprised him was that even the lunches of ordinary soldiers were full of fat!

Chen Youliang had long heard Zhou Wenxian say that Zhang Cheng made Datongshe's food production very high, and then sideline industries such as raising pigs, chickens, and fish became very developed, making the price of meat very low, and many ordinary families could eat it regularly. to the meat.

Now that he saw that even the lower-level soldiers of the Chinese Army were being provided with meat, he was surprised, but he didn't find it too incredible.

And this further gave him the ambition to capture Jiangnan.

After all, he didn't expect that Jiangnan under the rule of Datong Society would be so wealthy.

But looking at the dense fortresses, iron ships and a large number of artillery, he didn't know how to capture Jiangnan.

The industrialized Datong Society was like a monster covered in fangs and armor, leaving him with no way to start and only had the ambition to devour the world.

Feng Guoyong was also observing Chen Youliang's army at this time. He looked very solemn.

But he didn't look solemn because of the war in front of him, but because he felt incredible about the current situation.

He did not expect that one day, he would become an enemy of the regime that represented Confucian governance for the sake of the ideal of great harmony.

You know, he was originally a Confucian believer.

His original intention of following Zhu Yuanzhang in the rebellion was to rebuild the ethical order!
For this reason, he wanted to kill Zhang Cheng at the beginning.

But who could have expected that he would now command a large number of soldiers, workers, farmers, and businessmen to resist Chen Youliang's army who was committed to rebuilding the traditional ethical order, and even denounce them as reactionaries.

"The Confucianism represented by Chen Youliang is not true Confucianism. It is a cult that distorts the teachings of saints and wants to enslave the people of the world!"

"Only the concept of great harmony advocated by Mr. He and Mr. Zhang is the original meaning of the sage. The so-called people-oriented means that the people should be the first. The victory of great unification can only be a victory that belongs to the common people, or it can only be a real victory. It is a failure, a great failure of Chinese civilization!”

Feng Guoyong now only convinces himself in his heart that accepting the concept of Datong is the true meaning of a saint.

Anyway, since ancient times, the words of dead people such as Confucius and Mencius can be understood casually.

After all, these people have passed away and become dead people, and dead people cannot defend themselves.

After thinking about it, Feng Guoyong did not feel that he had betrayed the moral principles of the saints, nor did he feel that he had done anything against his conscience. He only felt guilty that he had been ignorant in the past and misunderstood the moral principles of the saints, so that he had done many things in the past. Reactionary actions, such as trying to get rid of Mr. Zhang who is trying to exploit his own wisdom.

And now.

The facts before Feng Guoyong were indeed the same.

The people of Taiping City, whether they were wealthy gentry or ordinary people, supported Datong Society and the Chinese Army, and believed that Chen Youliang's regime was a reactionary regime.

After all, Chen Youliang launched a war, imposed excessive levies, plundered arbitrarily along the way, and cut off trade. This caused many wealthy gentry and wealthy businessmen to lose their business interests, and made the common people fear that they would also be slaughtered, plundered, and even forced into service by Chen's army in the future.

Therefore, even based on the facts before him, Feng Guoyong is convinced that he is doing a just thing and has just thoughts.

The most fearful thing in this world is comparison.

Since Zhang Cheng started the industrialization of Datong Society, people from all walks of life in Datong Society have been comparing themselves with the past, and therefore began to be reluctant to go back to the past.

For the common people, they don’t have to worry about food and clothing.

After all, the wages earned from daily work can provide enough food and clothing.

There is no need to worry about corvee service, because after a large amount of silver has entered, the current Datong Society can issue more cloth coins based on gold and silver. At the same time, the high food production has fed a large population, which also allows Datong Society to implement a system of using money as a substitute for service. , allowing many people to pay money instead of forced labor.

For the wealthy gentry, because the land does not maintain its value due to high grain production and Datong Society is very powerful in external development of resources, the best way for them to invest now is not to hoard land and lend money, but to buy bonds issued by Datong Society, and then Get huge profits.

Therefore, the people now do not want Chen Youliang to win, because they are afraid that if Chen Youliang wins, they are afraid of going back to the past days of serving and starving.

The wealthy gentry also don't want Chen Youliang to win, because they are afraid that if Chen Youliang wins, their bonds will become useless paper and they will lose the opportunity to make a fortune from the bonds.

In addition, as soon as the Datong Society's propaganda agency spread the word about Chen Youliang's robbery of people and businesses under his rule, everyone really regarded Chen Youliang as a reactionary.

Originally, if there was no Datong Society, Chen Youliang would have been a hero who ended the troubled times and unified the world.

The wealthy gentry and wealthy businessmen would also praise Chen Youliang for his contribution in reestablishing order in the world.

Because even if Chen Youliang is the master of the world in order and can kill them and confiscate their homes at will, they can still accept it compared to the chaotic world of disorder.

The people will naturally be glad that they have temporarily become a peace dog again, and will not continue to struggle in troubled times.

Because even if you have to do hard labor and you have to be a slave after losing your land, instead of being a worker like you are now, then at least you don't have to worry about whether you will die tomorrow.

But now, the advanced productivity brought by Datong Society has lowered their threshold for being able to tolerate the reactionary nature of the regime.

The wealthy gentry discovered that the regime could allow them to make a fortune by speculating on bonds, and even earn interest on their savings, thus further increasing their income.

The same goes for the common people, who discovered that the original regime could still provide for their food and clothing, pay for military service, and accumulate income by saving money and investing in bonds to improve their quality of life.

As a result, a figure like Chen Youliang, who was supposed to be a hero who completed the unification, became a reactionary who was criticized by everyone.

Therefore, Feng Guoyong and the soldiers and civilians of Taiping City actively resisted Chen Jun's attack, so that Chen Jun has not captured Taiping City until now, allowing Zhu Yuanzhang to personally bring Li Wenzhong and other reinforcements to Taiping City in time.

"Ascend!"

Feng Guoyong introduced the corresponding situation after Zhu Yuanzhang arrived.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the firearms and fortresses that were continuously being built, and was shocked by the military strength of the industrialized Taiping City, so he said with emotion:
"Seeing Taiping City now, we realize more and more how great Mr. Bai Zhang is!"

(End of this chapter)