New Shun 1730

Quan Zheshen's words made Meng Songlu a little embarrassed. Obviously Meng Songlu was not an imperialist yet.

But when Quan Zheshen said this, Meng Songlu really didn't know how to answer the question, so he could only smile and said: "Brother Zhao said, it's not that Duke Xingguo has never said a solution. If we want the world to be harmonious, everyone must be good at it." Director.”

"For example, if your country is not good at weaving, why do you have to weave? You can do other things. There are always some things that your country is good at but China is not good at, or that your country is cheap and China is quite expensive. "

Quan Zheshen just chuckled, thinking that might not be the case. Even if he is growing rice, no one in the world knows that Su Chang is a land of plenty? Aren’t the means of growing rice here better than ours? But you can reverse the situation here, and I have never seen you take advantage of it and continue to grow rice.

However, he did not speak out directly. Instead, he hid his dissatisfaction deep in his heart and said: "Brother Meng, although I live in a small and remote country, I have heard that southern Jiangsu is rich. Nantong was originally not well-known, but now according to you, The Yangtze River is only a result of more than ten years of reform. Originally, Jiangbei was also a disaster-prone place and was not as prosperous as southern Sun."

"In this case, I would also like to ask Brother Meng to guide me on a journey to see the villages and towns and people's livelihood, and I can also learn a thing or two."

Regarding this request, Meng Songlu did not think of rejecting it, but just explained: "I said that Nantong Prefecture surpassed Huaiyang and Yangyang, not only because Nantong Prefecture gradually became rich, but also because of the Caoyan incident, Huaiyang declined. If we talk about it, After all, it’s no better than Jiangnan.”

"However, since Brother Zhao wants to take a look, he might be able to get one or two truths from it."

After agreeing, he borrowed a awning and walked up the river.

The old town of Nantong City has now been hidden behind the many buildings that have sprung up outside the city walls, and some new towns have been formed around the old town.

"Since the previous dynasty, the population has increased and the city has gradually become crowded. In the previous dynasty, some people said that opening up a new city is now the top priority. Nowadays, many workshops in Nantong are not in the old city, but are gradually becoming more and more established on both sides of the canal where water transportation is convenient. Town.”

"This place is called Tang Zha. A gate was built here during the Chenghua period of the previous dynasty. Because there was a person named Tang here, it got this name. There are four major workshops here, employing no less than tens of thousands of workers."

"One is the cotton gin factory. The cotton from northern Jiangsu is shipped here and the cotton seeds are removed here."

"The second and third ones are oil pressing factories that use cotton seeds as raw materials and soap factories that use cotton oil as raw materials."

“Finally, there’s the workshop where the wool is combed.”

"The alkali used for washing and oil soap is not produced here. They are all transported from Songjiang. In the past few years of land reclamation in northern Jiangsu, the land reclamation company has also raised wool sheep to use for woolen gauze."

"However, factories such as cotton spinning and wool spinning are still in Jiangnan."

These newly emerging large-scale factories can be regarded as the root of Meng Songlu's "surpassing Yanghuai".

With the construction of the canal, it is obvious that this place will become more prosperous.

Tens of thousands of people gather here to form towns. The eating, drinking and eating of these tens of thousands of people can lead to more industries.

This is not the cotton textile industry center of Dashun, but it is the distribution center of Dashun cotton.

In fact, it’s no wonder that Yangzhou, Huai’an, and northern Jiangsu are suitable for large-scale cotton cultivation. The geographical conditions are here, and Shanghai is the export trade center of Dashun.

Even if Yangzhou and Huai'an want to transform, how can they win over Nantong? Will capital foolishly go to Yangzhou to build a cotton processing plant?

Definitely choose the place in northern Jiangsu that is closest to the cotton producing area and is also close to the exporting place.

The decline of Yangzhou and Huai'an forced by Liu Yu was actually forcing a process of natural decline that took fifty years to be completed within five years, which naturally caused many problems, which were suppressed by violent means.

These large factories introduced by Meng Songlu should be regarded as the largest factories in Dashun at this time. But in fact, the real money-making industries are all in Songjiang.

For example, whether it is cleaning wool or making soap alkali, as the upstream of the industrial chain, there is no factory in Nantong at all.

As for why not to set up a factory in Haizhou where the raw material conditions are actually better, it is because the by-product of this primitive alkali production method can be used for bleaching.

Many industries in southern Jiangsu may not use alkali very much, but they are in great need of this by-product bleach.

Many industries seem to allow free choice of capital, but in fact they are secretly controlled, using the upstream and downstream industrial chains to monitor or review the output quantity to prevent disorderly expansion.

Meng Songlu is quite proud of these large factories. Although these factories are not his, it does not prevent him from raising his head proudly when talking about these factories, even if these factories are quite different from his ideas in some places. For discord.

He was about to introduce some special places in this emerging factory area, such as the "Reformatory School for Evil Children", "Blind Flow Training Center", "Female Workers Textile Training Center", etc., but Quan Zheshen had no interest in this place.

Quan Zhe thought about the reality for a moment. It was meaningless to see these four factories by himself.

Let’s not talk about whether North Korea is suitable for growing cotton. Just talk about the current situation. Even if cotton is grown, most of the cotton will be bought by Dashun, and then weaved into cloth and sold back to North Korea for replacement. Lots of cotton.

If you learn these things, aren’t you seeking your own death?

It's already miserable enough to sell some rice. If cotton becomes more expensive, wouldn't it mean that two groups of nobles would grow cotton without caring about the lives of the people? Wouldn't it be even more chaotic?

Northern Jiangsu was originally a land of grass and salt, so it could be done like this. How does North Korea have such a place?

It's okay to grow rice. If there is a famine, you can still feed yourself and help the people as much as possible without exporting.

But if we switch to cotton, if something goes wrong, maybe hundreds of thousands or millions of people will die?

"Brother Meng, although these workshops are novel, I'm afraid the way to save the world is not in them. You can look at them or not look at them."

"According to Brother Meng's words, there is also a dispute in the country about cheap grain hurting farmers and cheap rice hurting farmers. Come to think of it, these factory owners must like cheap rice and low grain."

"Although our country is rich, farming and weaving are still the main focus. How can we solve the problem of cheap rice that hurts farmers?"

Meng Songlu suppressed the mood of being ready to continue introducing this place, and sighed: "The low price of rice hurts farming, and it has never been solved. However, after the reform of Xing Guogong, the harm of low rice is not as good as the benefit of equal taxation. However, the benefit of equalized taxation, It benefits the good people, but as for the tenants, there are many people who quit their work and flee."

Quan Zheshen is quite interested in this issue.

Because since they are all Confucian scholars, the attitudes of both sides are consistent about who is the pillar of the dynasty, which is the good people, that is, the yeoman farmers, good men, and the backbone of society.

What Quan Zheshen is interested in is how can tax reform really benefit the people?

Why do their tax reforms become more tax-heavy and reform more miserable? Many policies seem to be good, such as returning the rice system and lending out rice during the lean period. The interest rate of 12% is already quite low. This is good governance no matter how you look at it, but in the end it turns out to be bad governance. .

Throwing out this doubt resulted in Meng Songlu's long silence.

Meng Songlu himself can't answer what's going on here. It involves more than just tax reform, but involves many issues. To talk about this, I am afraid we have to start with the establishment of maritime transport, the abolition of canals, the abolition of labor, social division of labor, large-scale infrastructure construction to accommodate the surplus fleeing population, and the use of professional infrastructure construction workers to carry out projects, etc. It is difficult to explain clearly.

Furthermore, like some water conservancy projects in northern Jiangsu, the court actually did not spend much money. It was purely paid by the people who grew cotton, but where did the money paid by these people come from? Money can't be conjured out of thin air, right?

Going on further, thinking about what Quan Zheshen had just lamented about the dumping of Dashun cotton in North Korea, Meng Songlu felt that it was better not to make it clear.

Talking too much, speaking too loosely, or even being too straightforward like when Duke Xingguo was talking to the merchants in Songjiang Mansion, seems to be easy for the vassal to be surprised and alienated.

Meng Songlu thought to himself, you Korean people have put in twenty or thirty miles of effort to build this canal from Funing to Nantong.

It was hard to explain clearly, so I had to say: "Since the reform of Xingguo Gong, the land tax has been calculated in terms of money. In fact, if we really talk about it, the taxes paid by many good people around Nantong are all produced by women's looms."

"Since the beginning of cotton cultivation in northern Jiangsu, the Academy of Sciences has promoted the iron-wheel loom. Some wealthy merchants bought looms and woven cloth in the countryside. They also provided yarn. When the cloth was woven, they took back the cloth and gave them wages."

"For ordinary good people, the annual taxes paid by women are enough for women to weave cloth. As for the low price of grain, it does not have much impact on these good people and homesteaders. They do not need to rush to sell grain, most of them eat it themselves. I used to eat some vegetables, but now I eat a few more meals, that’s all.”

"We are paid for weaving, and the money is being paid for taxes. It saves merchants from taking advantage of the new grain to lower prices when it comes out, and the good people don't complain much."

"The ones who have a big impact are mainly the sharecroppers."

Quan Zhe asked curiously: "As Brother Meng said, since women weave cloth with the assistant as the main and the master as the assistant, then can't the women who are sharecroppers know how to weave?"

Meng Songlu smiled bitterly and said: "Times have changed. Nantong landowners saw that cotton was becoming more expensive, so they harvested the land and planted cotton instead of renting."

"The tenants wanted to rent, but the landlord refused. They relied on weaving. Without land for self-cultivation, life would be difficult. So they had no choice but to leave their homes and go work and sell their labor."

"This matter also involves the issue of cotton species. The most expensive one now is the improved Fusangzhou long-staple cotton in northern Jiangsu. Originally, kapok and native cotton were not very valuable, and it was difficult to grow yarn and make large cloth. So renting Tenancy to collect rent has become less and less common in recent years, and eviction of tenants has become the norm.”

"It's just that after being driven out, there is always a way to survive. Even if you can't work, you can still be bought and moved to various places in Kanto and Southeast Asia. So there has never been any big chaos."

"Nowadays, those who remain in the countryside around Nantong are either working as long-term workers for landlords, or as weavers and weavers. There are not many left who make a living by renting tenants..."

"The poorest people have been driven away, and the countryside has naturally become richer."

"Anyway, the poll tax has been abolished now. There are many people but few people, and it has nothing to do with taxes. Officials in various places are also happy to drive out poor tenant farmers and don't like them to stay in the local area."