Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Xu Jingcheng said: "Master Weng has been in charge of the household department for a long time. I believe that the way to make money is much better than I. It has always made the treasury rich. It is nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Japan is a small country, and its emperor even saves money for the purchase of warships. A solar eclipse eats a meal. I How can the kingdom of heaven be inferior to the Japanese?"

Weng Tonghe said with a smile: "It's easy for you to say open source and reduce expenditure! Let me ask you, where does the source come from, and where does the flow come from?"

Xu Jingcheng didn't know much about economics. When asked by Weng Tonghe, he was speechless for a while. Weng Tonghe said again: "Even if the source has been opened and the flow has been cut, we can't just buy two ironclad ships. We need to build a fleet of at least Do you need more than a dozen ironclad ships, cruisers, destroyers, etc.? All of these will cost a lot of money, and this will cost tens of millions of taels."

"Nowadays in my Qing Dynasty, silver is expensive and money is cheap. If you talk about so much silver flowing abroad at once, what kind of impact will it have on our Qing Dynasty?"

Xu Jingcheng was speechless, Xu Jingcheng didn't understand what silver is expensive and money is cheap, but Lin Yuan knew that in the Qing Dynasty, two currencies were used, one was silver and the other was copper coins. Before the middle of the Qing Dynasty , due to the sufficient silver in the national inventory, the ratio between silver and copper coins is relatively constant, and one tael of silver can be exchanged for about a thousand copper coins.

However, after the mid-Qing Dynasty, with the progress of the opium trade and the signing of a series of unequal treaties, the Qing government paid a large amount of compensation, resulting in a large outflow of silver from China. China is not a country rich in silver, so the large outflow of silver is just As a result, the price ratio of silver to money increased sharply. Historians call this phenomenon "silver shortage".

The "silver shortage" has caused great damage to the social economy. In the Qing Dynasty, large transactions were settled with silver, while small transactions were settled with copper coins. The occasions where copper coins were used were usually agricultural and handicraft trades. At present, silver is in the hands of the rich or the government. When they buy items, they will exchange silver for copper coins.

When silver is expensive and money is cheap, the amount of silver they own has not changed, but the amount of copper coins that can be exchanged for these silver has increased, and they can buy more items with the same silver as before. Item sellers also gradually discovered that If they know this, they will raise the price of goods, so that the problems caused by the cheapness of silver and money are passed on to everyone in the society, so inflation occurs.

While Lin Yuan was thinking about it, Weng Tonghe had already explained the consequences of the "silver shortage" clearly. Hearing everyone below look at each other, Weng Tonghe continued: "If the price of goods soars and the people suffer unbearably, I believe you will be very clear about the consequences. Mao bandits started in Guangxi back then, and were able to attack Hunan in the north, conquer Hubei, and occupy Jinling in the east. It must be said that the soaring prices fueled the momentum of the Mao bandits.

When Weng Tonghe threw out this passage, everyone on the field fell silent. Weng Tonghe's meaning was very clear: building a navy is to help rebel bandits, and this crime will punish the nine clans!

Xu Jingcheng was also sweating from Weng Tonghe's fright. He stretched out his hand to wipe off the sweat and said, "Isn't it true that the Qing Dynasty will not build a navy?"

Weng Tonghe said: "Who said that defending the country requires building a navy? Let's take what happened in the previous stage as an example. Didn't the combined fleets of Japan and Russia attack Dagu, Tianjin, be repulsed by our defenders as well?"

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "Weng Tonghe actually used that battle as an example. That battle is not representative at all, because Japan and Russia did not intend to launch a full-scale landing attack at that time. If they wanted to launch a full-scale attack, China's coastline That long, they can find another place to land."

Xu Jingcheng was completely at a disadvantage in this confrontation, but he was unwilling to admit defeat, so he said: "If we don't have a navy, then after the enemy hits us, we can't fight back. Aren't we at the mercy of others?"

Weng Tonghe said with a smile: "Using force to subdue the barbarians is a bad policy. Mingjun has always subdued the people with virtue."

As soon as Weng Tonghe finished speaking, all the officials nodded their heads in agreement. Xu Jingcheng was speechless for a while, and Weng Tonghe then said: "It's getting late, let's leave. If Mr. Xu is unclear about the navy matter, Let's discuss it later."

Xu Jingcheng nodded, and the crowd dispersed. Lin Yuan watched Xu Jingcheng come out of the Imperial College and got into the sedan chair. Then the bearers carried the sedan chair and walked eastward along the street. Lin Yuan followed and walked in front of the sedan chair. Xu Jingcheng's guards saw someone coming from behind to the front of the sedan chair, and thought that Lin Yuan had evil intentions, so they drew out their knives and asked Lin Yuan loudly, "What do you do?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Go and call Master Xu out, you will know who I am as soon as he comes out."

The guard sneered and said, "Absurd, our lord is something you can see whenever you want!"

At this moment, the car curtain was raised, Xu Jingcheng poked his head out from inside, and said, "Why is there such a commotion?"

Before he finished speaking, he saw Lin Yuan, his official position was not as high as Lin Yuan, so he quickly got out of the sedan chair, walked a few steps to Lin Yuan, fell down and bowed down, and said: "It turns out that it is Mr. Lin, the next official welcomes you." It’s too late, and I hope you will forgive me.”

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "It's okay, it's okay, why are you debating about the navy with Master Weng in front of so many people?"

Xu Jingcheng smiled and said: "This is not a place to talk, let's find a teahouse, we can chat while drinking tea."

Lin Yuan nodded in agreement, and the two came to a teahouse side by side. In the teahouse, Xu Jingcheng said, "Isn't this going to be a test again? That's why these candidates came to the capital. These candidates are the future pillars of the country." Talent, so the Holy Majesty also attaches great importance to them, I thought about getting these candidates to jointly write a letter, talking about the construction of warships and the founding of the navy."

"However, Mr. Weng disagreed, so he invited me to come out and have a public debate in front of all the judges, let the judges see whether the construction of the navy is beneficial to the Qing Dynasty, so I came here to debate with him .”

Lin Yuan smiled and said: "However, according to today's situation, Mr. Xu has completely lost the wind. If Mr. Xu can't find a way to turn the tide, I am afraid that the book jointly signed by all the candidates will become that you don't want to build a navy."

Xu Jingcheng said helplessly: "There is no other way. What Mr. Weng said is reasonable. The navy is indeed a monster that devours gold and silver. Our national power in the Qing Dynasty was not strong in the first place, so it is indeed difficult to build a navy."

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "I heard the despondency in Mr. Xu's words. Don't you want to build a navy?"

Xu Jingcheng let out a long sigh, raised the teacup in his hand, and said, "Forget it, let's not talk about it, let's taste the new Biluochun and talk about the romance."

Lin Yuan nodded lightly, and said silently: "Master Xu doesn't know yet, Master Li has passed away."

Xu Jingcheng let go of his hands when he heard this, and the teacup fell on the table with a "snap", and asked in surprise, "What did you say?"

Lin Yuan took out the memorial from his bosom, and said: "I believe this memorial should have some weight. Building a navy is Master Li's last wish, and I believe the emperor will consider it."

Xu Jingcheng let out a long sigh and said, "However, our national power is weak, so how can we build a navy?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Don't worry, I have a solution."