Short video spoiler history: The beginning of modern warfare

Chapter 45 Why the Industrial Revolution Did Not Occur in China
[The Industrial Revolution refers to a series of production and technological revolutions that took place worldwide starting in the 1760s.]

[The first industrial revolution began in the 1760s (1769-) in central England and refers to the early stages of capitalist industrialization. The invention and use of steam engines became a symbol of this era, so historians call this era the "Steam Age."]

[The core of this is the invention and widespread use of the steam engine. Machines replaced manual labor, and factories replaced manual workshops, which transformed the mode of production from manual labor to power machine production, thereby greatly improving productivity.]

[This period also saw tremendous developments in transportation, such as the advent of steamships and locomotives.]

【The Industrial Revolution is an important stage in the history of human development. It created huge productivity, brought about earth-shaking changes in the social landscape, and achieved an important transformation from a traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial society.】

[Then we can't help but ask, why didn't the Industrial Revolution happen in China? ]

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

Faced with Tianmu's question, Zhu Yuanzhang fell into deep thought.

It turns out that the so-called Industrial Revolution refers to the development of technology, which eventually allowed machines to replace manual work and greatly improved productivity. The steam engine was probably the key technology that allowed machines to replace manual work.

The word productivity is a bit difficult to pronounce, but we can roughly understand its meaning.

But what is a steam engine? How can a machine replace manual labor?

Zhu Yuanzhang threw this question to his ministers. They looked at each other and couldn't understand how machines could replace human labor. They couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

Originally they regarded themselves as the smartest people in the world, and since they entered the court as officials, they could not help but feel a little arrogant.

However, the appearance of the sky curtain broke this sense of superiority. In front of the sky curtain, they were not even much smarter than the old farmers outside the city who only knew how to farm.

This made them extremely frustrated, and as Tianmu's influence on the Ming Dynasty deepened, His Majesty's questions became more and more tricky.
Not to mention all the strange inventions in the past, even the periodic table of elements in later generations has given them a headache.

Here comes another story about how steam engines replaced manual labor
Wang Guangyang had an expression as if he was daydreaming and as fearless as a dead pig, and the pressure instantly came to Hu Weiyong.

Hu Weiyong's forehead was sweating. Who knows?
But he could only say this in his heart. Facing His Majesty's earnest gaze, Hu Weiyong felt his scalp tingling and could not help but carefully recall what Tianmu had mentioned.
During the Zhenguan period, the atmosphere in front of the Taiji Hall in Chang'an City was relatively harmonious.

Fang Xuanling first started to analyze it from the name, because they had seen the rigor of later generations.

The "ji" in steam engine must mean machine, and steam, if I understand correctly, is the water vapor produced when cooking?

"Your Majesty, when Tianmu mentioned the Japanese scientist who made gold, he once joked that the scientist did not study how to boil water, but instead went crazy and studied how to make gold. I wonder if the so-called steam engine is related to this."

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was stunned.

"Hahaha!" Cheng Yaojin couldn't help but sneered first, and then caused a group of generals to laugh.

As the ear-piercing laughter was heard, the civil servant's face suddenly turned red and he turned around and glared at Cheng Yaojin.

"Don't mind me, Master Liu. I just suddenly thought of something happy."

"Hahaha!" Another wave of laughter rang out.

The civil servants looked at each other, and all thought it was a bit ridiculous.

Seeing that the court was about to turn into a vegetable market, Li Shimin glared at Cheng Yaojin, and only after all the generals stopped laughing did he order someone to bring the relevant records.

The eunuch carefully presented the manuscript, and the hall fell silent.

The civil servant who made the proposal had sweat in his palms and regretted his recklessness. Tianmu did mention boiling water, and isn't it a similar scene when a group of people discuss the water vapor when cooking?

That's why I was able to vent my anger for a while.

Li Shimin scanned the words quickly, looking for "boil water", and soon found them!

".At that time, Japan had just recovered from its economic bubble, and the impoverished Japanese scientists did not study how to boil water honestly, but instead thought about how to get rich every day."

Cheng Yaojin saw that His Majesty's brows were frowning again, and he felt something was wrong.

"Your Majesty, what's going on?"

"It was indeed mentioned." Li Shimin responded and then read it out.

Cheng Yaojin: ???

Fang Xuanling: ???

How can boiling water be compared with the great undertaking of making gold?
Li Shimin was also a little confused. Although making gold had been proven to be unreliable, it was at least more mysterious than boiling water, right?

[In fact, a very important point is that our ancient farming technology was too advanced]

[The land yields were high due to advanced farming technology, and the imperial power was autocratic, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce]

[As a result, capital tended to invest more in land, which greatly slowed down the development of industry and commerce, and gradually formed a system from top to bottom]

[Over-reliance on land has led to path dependence in the entire society. If you have money, you buy land and become a landlord.]

[The relatively high returns, stability and the ability to change class, why not do it? 】

[It’s different in Europe, where farming technology is relatively backward and the yield from land is relatively low]

[For example, until the Industrial Revolution in the 17th century, the seed output ratio did not reach 1:4, which means that one kilogram of seeds can produce four kilograms of grain.]

[During the Qin Dynasty, we had already reached 1:7, and after the Tang Dynasty, it was basically above 1:13]

[The land yields a lot of money, so they put more capital into the industry, commerce and finance]

[Weren't their first great voyages financed by merchants? If they could make money at home, who would be willing to take the risk of going abroad?]

[Ultimately, through the great voyages, these European merchants not only directly plundered huge amounts of wealth, but also obtained more means of production and larger markets]

[With more market demand, these businessmen began to find ways to innovate industrial technology, lower production costs in order to gain higher profits, and ultimately promoted the emergence of industrialization] Nanjun in the late Han Dynasty.

Liu Bei sighed: "Misfortune is the foundation of good fortune, and good fortune is the root of misfortune."

Destiny is a very mysterious thing.

Zhuge Liang and others also understood this. If they were in the other person's position, they would probably make the same choice.

As for the so-called Industrial Revolution, the steam engine was certainly not the result of the efforts of a few individuals, but rather the result of the summarization and creation of countless people over decades.

"But what exactly is a steam engine?" Zhang Fei was a little annoyed. Tianmu talked about a lot of things, but he didn't touch on the core of the so-called Industrial Revolution - the steam engine.

Everyone was a little distressed and couldn't figure it out.

"Could it be that the iron cages that can walk and the iron birds that can fly in the sky in the future are powered by this steam engine?" Pang Tong couldn't help but say.

"I'm afraid it's just as Shi Yuan expected!" Zhuge Liang also pondered and felt that there was probably no other explanation. Others also nodded.

That being said, just thinking about this level of thought does not solve the problem.

During the Zhenguan period, Chang'an City.

Another clerk mentioned that the word "boil water" also appeared in the comment section. Everyone searched for it and finally found the comment: "The end of science is boiling water, and the end of life is farming."

At that time, people didn't know much about so-called science, and it's the same now.

Therefore, I didn't take it seriously. Besides, this comment was sandwiched among so much useless information, and no one knew which one was useful and which one was useless.

"No, can you not talk about such an important thing so nonchalantly?" Li Shimin rubbed his temples on both sides, thinking depressedly in his heart, the information density of the sky curtain is very high, and the huge amount of information is really energy-consuming.

"Showing your holiness in silence, showing the master's level!" Fang Xuanling was also a little annoyed.
Many civil servants complained wildly in their hearts, of course, using the crude slang of later generations: "Speak half the words and xx half less."

Li Jing had no expression on his face, but was delighted in his heart: "It turns out that being low-key is the right path!"

"My dear ministers," Li Shimin was pondering how to start the conversation.

"Your Majesty, I will go back and boil some water, and I will create an unprecedented prosperous era for our Tang Dynasty!"

The voice was soothing and ear-shattering. It was none other than the carefree Cheng Yaojin.

Li Shimin twitched his lips and said, "My dear minister, I am very pleased that you have such a heart."

When the civil servants saw that their jobs were being taken away, they expressed their loyalty and said they would go back immediately to boil water for the emperor.

[The reason why the Industrial Revolution did not happen in China is essentially because we are too dependent on land. We focus on developing agriculture and ignore the development of industry and commerce.]

[Agricultural technology is quite advanced and has been ahead for hundreds of years. Although industrial development is also progressing, it is relatively slow.]

[If we had continued to develop industry and commerce at the same pace as the Song Dynasty, it is no exaggeration to say that our industrial development would have been at least two or three hundred years ahead of Europe]

[For example, during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He was ordered to sail to the West seven times, and his footprints were all over Southeast Asia, and even to ancient India, the Red Sea, the African continent, etc.]

[Its navigation technology was decades ahead of Europe, but unfortunately it did not seize this historical opportunity]

[Of course, there is a certain reason for emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce in ancient times. Merchants did not participate in production and manufacturing, but simply grabbed a large amount of profit by allocating resources, which greatly dampened the enthusiasm of farmers to grow crops. ]

[Moreover, the prosperity of commerce will in turn compete for the agricultural population, and the combined effect of the two will lead to the shrinkage of agriculture.]

[Another point is that business is inherently profit-seeking, which will further promote speculative behavior, especially in industries related to people's livelihood. If you are not careful, it will bring disaster to the country and the people.]

[Marx once said: When profits reach 10%, some people are ready to make a move; when profits reach 50%, some people dare to take risks; when profits reach 100%, they dare to trample on all human laws; and when profits reach 300%, they are not even afraid of being hanged.]

[This sentence is a vivid description of the profit-seeking nature of businessmen]

[Of course, all this is just hindsight from a God's perspective. History has no ifs and cannot be changed. If anyone here has really traveled through time, you might as well think about how to solve this thorny problem.]

During the Hongwu period, Jinling City.

Zhu Yuanzhang was in a bit of a dilemma. It was true that business made money, and it eventually promoted the Industrial Revolution.

But businessmen are profit-driven!
Merchants pursue profit, engage in speculation, buy low and sell high, and make three taels in and ten taels out.

Even when disaster strikes, they often do not help but hoard goods and make huge profits from the disaster.

What's worse is that money is used to gain power, and officials and businessmen collude to exploit the people, which is extremely hateful.

Of course, there were many ministers who shared the same idea as him, and they all stated the pros and cons.

Of course, all of this is familiar to everyone. There are many cases in history, so there is not much disagreement among people on this.

Moreover, Tianmu did not selectively ignore its drawbacks because of its huge commercial impact, but put it in the spotlight, which is a relatively fair attitude.

Zhu Biao listened quietly on the side. After all the ministers had finished speaking, he sighed and said, "I wonder how future generations will solve this problem?"

Everyone was shocked and looked at Zhu Biao with some surprise.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt somewhat relieved that Biao'er and he were of the same mind.

His difficulty was not in developing commerce or carrying out the industrial revolution, but in how to deal with the various problems brought about by businessmen's pursuit of profits, especially when officials and businessmen colluded, everything would become unpredictable.

All he could think of was to emphasize agriculture but not suppress commerce, and this was the biggest concession he could make.

So he briefly exposed it and focused on the steam engine. After all, Tianmu said that the steam engine was the core of the Industrial Revolution.

All the civil servants and military officers calmed down for a moment. After all, this touched upon their blind spots in knowledge. So they started discussing it.

(End of this chapter)