The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 452 Blueprint for Industrialization
But Mu Zhiqing raised her head again and said: "Your Highness, if only such a small amount of grain is collected, wouldn't the court tax be reduced a lot, and the grain in the official warehouses would also be insufficient."

Zhu Linming waved her hands and said with a smile: "Don't worry, the fertile land is under the jurisdiction of Huangzhuang, but they won't try their best to evade taxes like those gentry, and there is no gentry who is exempt from the gap of payment, so the taxes and official rations will only increase. "

He snapped his fingers and said: "During the Wanli period, the land registered in the Ming Dynasty was nearly [-] million. If each mu of land can be paid at ten to fifteen catties, it would be enough for the whole country to consume. But in Chongzhen In the later period, when was there enough food to eat? Although there were natural disasters, tax evasion was the main reason.

"This is not counting the large amount of concealed land. I estimate that if we really measure the land in Daming clearly, it will be more than 500 million yuan."

He spoke eloquently, and continued: "As long as the acres of fields are sorted out and the grain and rice are collected truthfully, the grain of the Ming Dynasty will definitely be sufficient. On top of this, we will promote potatoes and sweet potatoes, supplemented by the construction of water conservancy, and the crops produced by one family's farming The food can feed two or three families. At that time, a lot of labor will be freed, which means that there will be a basis for industrialization.”

"Industrialization?" Mu Zhiqing tilted her head and asked, "What is this?"

Zhu Linming thought about it for a while, but found that it was really not easy to explain clearly, so he had to give an example: "In the past, as long as the whole world can manage to feed their stomachs, they have completed all tasks. All the people in Ming Dynasty focused on farming.

"However, if a country wants to be strong, how can it be achieved only by farming? Food, as long as it is enough to eat, otherwise, no matter how much food is piled up, it is far from being worth a piece of exquisite furniture or a carriage in someone else's house.

"Think about it, if the people in one country only have rice in their homes, and the other country has a carriage for everyone besides food, which of these two countries is richer and stronger?"

Mu Zhiqing nodded and said, "This is naturally the latter."

"That's it." Zhu Linmi continued, "Not only carriages, but also comfortable clothes, bright lights, durable farm tools, etc. If ordinary people have these things, Daming will be extremely powerful! But, how? Let everyone have these things?"

Mu Zhiqing shook her head, "I think, ordinary people can't buy so many things even if they save for a lifetime."

"It's not hard to say," Zhu Linmei said with a hearty smile, "If only half of the population of the Ming Dynasty was able to feed the world with farming, and the other half went to work as miners, tailors, craftsmen, etc., it would be easy to create There are enough utensils for every household. If there are many things, the price will naturally not be so expensive.

"The unused ones can be sold to the barbarians for silver, and then used to buy their grain and minerals."

Mu Zhiqing's eyes brightened, "If the situation His Highness said can be achieved, Daming will be a hundred times richer and stronger than it is today!"

Zhu Linmei nodded and said: "That's true. When handicraft production became the main task of the world, it was the beginning of industrialization.

"At that time, not only the court and the people will be extremely rich, but also the craftsmen will have a lot of experience in making utensils, and the techniques of producing various items in Ming Dynasty will be far more sophisticated and effective than others.

"Why were the cannons of the Hongyi people so sharp in the beginning? It was because a large number of small countries in Europe had fought against each other for more than a hundred years. They could only keep making cannons for war, so they were familiar with them and then refined.

"If Ming Dynasty can start industrialization, whether it is clothing, household items, agricultural tools, or guns, cannons, vehicles, and boats, our output will be much higher than that of the Yi people, and the level of sophistication will also be greatly exceeded."

"By the way," he continued, "after the development of industrialization, a large amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can be produced, which can be fed back to the cultivation of acres, and food will not be a problem, thus freeing up more people for industrial production, and finally forming a virtuous circle. "

"Fertilizers? Pesticides?" Mu Zhiqing only felt that a door leading to a novel world had been pushed open, and His Royal Highness the Coordinating King was pointing Jiangshan, almost knowing everything.

Zhu Linmei couldn't be too "predictable", so she could only vaguely say: "These are just some of my ideas, derived from some chemical knowledge I saw before."

He quickly changed the topic, "In order for industrialization to develop rapidly, it is necessary to have all kinds of talents to guide craftsmen, to explore new craft methods, and to design more sophisticated utensil structures.

"If you want to cultivate talents, you must vigorously develop education. First, to promote the education of ordinary people and teach everyone to read and write. Children with good qualifications will be paid by the imperial court and go to school for free for three to five years, and then the outstanding ones will be selected to enter Gezhi. Further studies in colleges and universities.

"Secondly, it is to vigorously develop Gezhi schools and laboratories, and improve the status of Gezhi students. I plan to start the Gezhi imperial examination at the right time, so that these people can enter the court and become officials.

"Promote excellent equipment with refined learning, and ensure that these innovative people can live comfortably with the patent department, then industrialization will surely advance rapidly."

Although Mu Zhiqing didn't understand everything Zhu Linming said, she understood that His Royal Highness the Assistant Government had great ambitions in mind, determined to reform and become stronger, and create an immortal great cause of Ming Dynasty!
She only felt a burst of excitement, glad that she was able to participate in this great cause, but she didn't know how she could contribute to His Highness.

She tried to calm herself down, sorted out the great cause of His Highness's "reform", and soon realized that the foundation of this industrialization is actually to be able to produce enough food.

In terms of increasing food production, in addition to promoting high-yield potatoes and sweet potatoes, the most important thing is the "Huangzhuang contract system."

After thinking about it carefully, she found that it is not easy to carry out the Huangzhuang contract smoothly, so she looked at Zhu Lin and said, "Your Highness, if you want to make changes, the first step is to collect the land and return it to Huangzhuang. But the land is the foundation of the interests of the world. If Huangzhuang collects all the land and attracts a large number of people to cultivate it, it will inevitably touch the interests of the powerful gentry, and they will definitely try to restrain them."

Zhu Linmei nodded, "I also considered this point, so I acted in the name of the emperor to reduce resistance."

Mu Zhiqing nodded and said: "The name of the Son of Heaven can indeed calm some people down, but Xiaoxiao also has many tricks behind the scenes, but it is hard to guard against."

Zhu Lin knew that what she said was true. Jianlu used mass killings to frighten the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. This was able to break the land annexation in the late Ming Dynasty and restore some vitality to the economy in the early Qing Dynasty.But I can't use a knife against the gentry class.

He looked at Mu Zhiqing with a smile and said: "Since you said that, there must be some good way!"

"Zhiqing didn't have any plans, but thought that she had read in the classics that the way of governing a country since ancient times is the art of checks and balances. If His Highness wants to carry out a century-old great change, it is bound to be hindered by the old forces, and His Highness will have to gather Use the new forces to check and balance, and you can use your strength in the middle, so that you can make a difference."

(End of this chapter)