New Shun 1730

Liu Yu did not deny that the emperor was very experienced and was a very dangerous type among the feudal rulers. He was very likely to have found a way to be an arbitrator and to be an emperor who was nominally a small farmer, a small producer, or even a worker.

In all kinds of reactionary societies, the emperor and the reactionary society could be matched, and the German emperor and the reactionary society could be matched.

But he could not live forever after all.

However, man is the most intelligent creature in the world. Just like a crow that can fetch water, it will pass on the method of fetching water to its offspring.

The emperor could not live forever, but he hoped to pass on his skills and means to the next generation.

Liu Yu in Jingxi, with Niu Er and other people who were "pilgriming" in Jingxi Coal Mine, was observing the lives of the miners, looking at the small kitchen meals of the miners in their families, the fact that the laborers who went down to the mine would eat eggs every day while their wives and children would consciously not touch the small kitchen, and the completely different status of men and women from the textile areas such as Songsu, etc.

Trying to make people understand more deeply what it means that the economic base determines the superstructure.

In the palace of the capital, the emperor was summoning the prince, and he was also using the coal mine and railway to teach the prince how to rule in this era that was very different from the past.

The prince was already quite old, but he was still trembling and cautious in front of the emperor, fearing that he would say something wrong.

Especially the question his father asked now, which made him a little nervous, fearing that he would answer it wrong.

"In the 31st year of Wanli in the previous dynasty, the coal mines in the west of Beijing went on strike because of the collection of mining taxes. It was the first month of the year, the weather was cold and the capital was shaken for a while. What do you think of this?"

This question seemed simple.

But many thoughts suddenly came to the prince's mind. There have been too many changes in the past few years. He was afraid that his answer would be unsatisfactory and his father would think that "this son is afraid of difficulty in keeping the business."

The issue of the coal mine strike in the west of Beijing in the 31st year of Wanli was really difficult to answer because it involved too many issues.

Should industrial and commercial taxes be collected?

How to answer this? The emperor is now in the Songsu area, and he is very happy to collect business taxes. Should I answer that in the 31st year of Wanli, the industrial and commercial taxes and mining taxes should not be collected at all? Wouldn't that be a slap in my own father's face?

Can we run official kilns without collecting industrial and commercial taxes?

However, the current situation is that the official kilns still do not occupy a dominant position in the coal mines in western Beijing. Instead, the capital raised and the private kilns are the mainstream.

Moreover, this is also the will of the emperor. This is the capital, not Songsu. Liu Yu can't speak like Songsu, with a sense of covering the sky with one hand.

Industrial and commercial taxes and mining taxes should be collected. Dare not to pay taxes and send troops to suppress them directly?

But this makes me seem too cruel, and it seems to be similar to the methods used by Xingguo Gong in Songsu? What is my father's attitude towards Xingguo Gong? Is he deliberately leaving some criminals to wait for me to suppress them in order to stabilize the situation after inheritance?

This simple question made the prince speechless for a while, and all kinds of strange thoughts came to his mind.

What's more troublesome is that I can't answer it.

If he didn't answer, his father would think that he was a waste, a coward, and had no opinion at all. How could he be the emperor in the future and protect this foundation?

He held it in for a long time, calculating the time that might make his father impatient. Finally, when this time was about to come, he replied: "I think that the miners should be stabilized first. In the coldest days of winter, if the coal supply is cut off in January, the capital will be shaken."

"But if it is stable until March or May, when the weather warms up, we can consider right and wrong, gather the wisdom of all the ministers, and take a foolproof method."

After giving such an answer, the prince was uneasy and waited for his father's reaction.

When the emperor heard this answer, he felt a little amused.

What made him laugh was that his son was quite smart. He knew when to compromise, and he knew clearly that the miners must not go on strike in winter and wait until spring and summer to solve it.

What made him cry was that this answer could not be said to be wrong. But isn't this the kind of "repairman on a broken ship" that Liu Yu said?

This is a tactical answer.

What about strategy?

And this "gathering the wisdom of all the ministers and taking the perfect method" is even more nonsense.

The current Dashun ministers are no longer a party dispute, but a line issue.

If we really argue about this matter, I'm afraid it will be another salt and iron dispute between Sang Hongyang and Xianliang Wenxue?

If the salt and iron dispute is not handled well, I'm afraid it will lead to Wang Mang's reform.

However, thinking that this answer is somewhat tactful, knowing to compromise in winter, stabilize first, and then talk about it when the weather warms up in the future, this is also considered to be a bit smart.

What the emperor wants to ask is the prince's opinion on the taxation model, management model, merchant opening and other policies of Jingxi Coal Mine.

Why is it like this?

Is that not okay?

What are the benefits of this?

And the most critical point: the conflict between the mine owners and the miners, if the court does not choose to run it by government, then what position should the imperial power, or the court, be in to deal with the two sides?

Who should it be on?

Or when should it be on whom? When to suppress whom? Is it unchanging?

What is the difference between the strike of the coal mines in the western part of Beijing in the 31st year of Wanli and the current situation?

These things can be understood, but it is really difficult to express them in words.

Moreover, this is also a test question prepared by the emperor for the prince. If the prince can answer it, it would be the best.

If he can't answer it, then we need to hurry up and let him understand what is inside.

The emperor believed that the future government should be separated into internal and external affairs. Many internal matters can be handled by the ministers. The emperor only needs to know the general situation and grasp the general direction.

As for external matters, such as industry and commerce, monopoly fees, military expenditures, fleets, armies, colonies, banks, and other things that did not exist before, the emperor should have a deep understanding of them.

The significance of internal affairs is to maintain "stability". As long as there is no rebellion, everything is fine.

The significance of external affairs is the cornerstone of "rule". As long as there is money, soldiers, food, and fleets, everything is fine.

The rule of the provinces inside can continue the old way.

It is nothing more than collecting taxes and providing disaster relief. The more troublesome things are to check the land, pay taxes in one go, and use a whip, etc. This is the best. What else can be done? As long as you don't foolishly believe in the Yanli School's method of redeeming the large equal land in 30 years, generally no big things will happen.

On the contrary, if the emperor doesn't know how to keep those external things in his hands, it will be the end.

It is possible that he was fooled by those ministers and lost all taxes, money, navy, etc.; it is also possible that he really caused the big event of "the Han Dynasty was destroyed by its own strength".

The coal mine in the west of Beijing is just a microcosm. A "classroom" for the princes to learn, understand, contact, and even practice dealing with new contradictions.

But now, this answer is really unsatisfactory.

The emperor did not express his approval or disapproval of this answer, and asked again: "What do you think about the railway?"

The prince said hurriedly: "The people of Nanyuan are angry; the camel owners in the west of Beijing are unemployed and impoverished. But the coal price in Beijing is stable, and millions of people benefit. This..."

The emperor interrupted: "I am not asking you about the railway from Mentougou to Beijing. Just look at this section, what is there to see? Hundreds of families cry, and tens of thousands of families laugh."

"In the 31st year of Wanli in the previous dynasty, the coal mines in the west of Beijing went on strike, and the capital was shaken; and now the people of Nanyuan and the camel owners in the west of Beijing are rebelling, will the capital be shaken at all?"

"I am not asking about the command on the battlefield, the affairs of a city or a place. What I am asking you is the strategy of war and the way of being a general. I am asking about the railway, not this section of road from Mentougou to Xizhimen."

This question is actually not difficult to answer.

Now, steam locomotives are just that, and they are only slightly better than horse-drawn carriages and camels. The capital has a population of one million, and there was no railway before, which does not mean that coal is not used every year.

But some things, especially those promoted by Liu Yu, really cannot be viewed only in the present.

The prince is quite clear about this. Liu Yu's "real learning attainments and vision" - although this is simply copied from the experience of the previous life, and has nothing to do with vision and attainments - no matter how the court criticizes, this point cannot be criticized.

Since he said that this thing works, it basically really works.

So in terms of thinking, the prince thought that his father must not ask whether this thing can work. After all, everyone has his own expertise, how can he be qualified to judge whether it works or not?

It must be asking, on the basis of "it will definitely work in the future", to consider the impact of the railway itself on the governance of the country, the country, and the means of governance.

The emergence of some things will greatly change the way and logic of governance. If some old experiences in the past cannot keep up with the changes, they will definitely be finished.

In the railway era, can there be an emperor?

After thinking about it, the emperor thought that there could be, and as long as he grasped it, it would be conducive to the stability of his rule. Of course, the emperor's thinking could not be to think directly about whether there is an emperor, but to think about whether it is conducive to rule, but the meaning is the same.

In other words, the direction of this kind of thinking is actually to ask the prince whether he has grasped the fundamental issue of rule.

In other words, how to understand why since the Han Dynasty, no dynasty has had a national destiny of 400 years?

What is the problem that can threaten the rule of the Dashun Dynasty now?

In other words, what is the biggest difference between Dashun and the many dynasties before it?

Qin wanted to repel the Xiongnu more than 700 miles north; Han wanted to expedition to the north of the border to engrave the stone of Yanran; after the Three Kingdoms, there was the Five Barbarians Rebellion; the Tang Dynasty also had the humiliation of the capital being captured nine times... After that, the Khitan, Jurchen and Mongolia of the Song Dynasty, the Mongolian Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty...

These things, Dashun has basically solved.

The ethnic groups in the northern grasslands and forests, under the military reform of muskets, cannons, bastions, and field battle formations, are not to say that they are vulnerable, but they really do not pose any threat.

Even if the commanders were useless or even bought officials, under the training and command system after the military reform, they could really rely on muskets and cannons to achieve the level of a well-regulated army and incompetent generals, and still be able to fight.

The emperor hoped that the prince would think clearly about the relationship between the railway and the curse of the dynasties that Dashun had to face.