New Shun 1730

As for the emperor, although it is obvious that the emperor cannot be classified as a practical school.

But at least on the question of whether immigrants are [China's pressure relief valve] or [backup of bloodline groups], the emperor belongs to the "conservatives".

After all, the emperor is the emperor of the world, but China came first and then the world, and the Chinese emperor is the emperor. Even if it is said that the world obviously includes Korea, Vietnam, and Ryukyu, the emperor cannot consider the issue from the perspective of Korea, Vietnam, and Ryukyu.

The reason is the same.

Including, will the people of Dashun accept people from Korea, Vietnam, or Ryukyu as the emperor?

At least, this is impossible in Dashun.

Because one of the foundations of Dashun is related to the rebellious vassal Donglu.

One of the reasons why Liu Yu established the Kingdom of Korea and made a breakthrough in the vassal system to establish a new vassal system was that some Korean scholars kept talking about "The Emperor came from Zhen" and other crap. After he exaggerated it, the hidden meaning of "The Emperor came from Zhen" caused great resentment within Dashun - Dashun's reforms were reforms, and it was one thing to cause dissatisfaction among some scholars, and it was normal to curse and swear; but the vassal used the reforms to say that Dashun had lost the world, the emperor came from Zhen, the East would have a son of heaven, and China was just a part of the world under the rule of the son of heaven, which was another matter.

The emperor may not care about these righteousness, legal principles and the like. But with the emperor's "simple" view of the emperor, he must be closer to the ideas of the "conservatives".

China came first, and then the world; not the world came first, and then China was divided.

First was the emperor of China, and then the son of heaven.

The emperor was not a fool.

The ruling territory of Dashun had actually reached its limit at the technological level at that time.

The emperor was not unaware that Dashun had participated in World War I and interacted with the separatist faction of the "North American tyrants" in North America.

The emperor's attitude towards the migration of people was naturally more inclined to relieve pressure, and the ultimate goal was to complete the transformation of the local provinces and achieve the future of industrial development that he said would fly into the homes of ordinary people.

Supporting migration is for the sake of one's own rule.

Supporting industry and commerce is still for the sake of one's own rule.

The emperor was not unaware of immigration, nor was he unaware of Liu Yu's attitude towards industry, commerce and agriculture. He was also very clear about the differences and disputes between Liu Yu and the ancient Confucian school on the issue of "whether non-agriculture can accommodate enough population".

Now the emperor asked this question, but it was nothing more than a lack of confidence in the future.

Many people in the practical school were full of confidence in the future described by Liu Yu, because they were involved in the practice of change. Labor, war, and exploration deepened their understanding of the world where "industry and commerce can accommodate enough population".

However, the emperor did not participate in social labor under the dawn of the new era, and his understanding of society was still in a state of fog and mist.

The question the emperor asked mentioned the immigration process in Songsu and Shandong, and the meaning was very clear.

He believed that these developed regions could probably complete the reform, continue to develop industry and commerce, and accommodate enough population employment.

However, even these developed regions - which monopolized overseas trade, had advantages in shipping, were easy to migrate by sea, had relatively developed economies, and had a good foundation for industrial and commercial development - still needed to rely on large-scale outward immigration to solve some problems.

So do hinterlands such as Henan, Hubei, and Hunan really have a future? In other words, is there really a future where industry and commerce develop and can accommodate enough population?

The inconvenience of transportation is there. Shipping is now the lowest-cost mode of transportation, and it is the most convenient mode of transportation for bulk goods, and it is also the mode of transportation with the least loss in this era.

The lack of space for migration is also there. Shaanxi can at least cultivate Mongolia and the Western Regions. And hinterland regions such as Hunan, Henan, Hubei, and Anhui, where the population density of surrounding provinces may not be lower than theirs, where can they migrate?

The lack of market is even more serious. The raw materials of the developed regions themselves, plus the raw materials transported by the ocean, can almost meet the needs of the entire world market.

It seems that these can also be attributed to the land problem. Insufficient land makes the internal market almost non-existent, at least very small. The local handicraft industry is too developed, and the small peasant economy forced by insufficient land is extremely solid - this is forced out. There are also family wool textile industries in places with abundant arable land, such as North America, but the process of being washed away in the end was not to the extent of unbearable pain. So after the collapse, in the anti-British movement, there was a movement to encourage "men to farm and women to weave, and not to use British cloth" - and the inland areas with insufficient arable land, below the self-cultivating farmers, obviously could not provide enough food to exchange cloth, etc., and could only choose the form of men farming and women weaving.

Even, I know that the new wide cloth is really beautiful, good-looking, and easy to cut clothes. But I can't afford it, and I can't go bare-bottomed. There is no way, I can only grow some cotton at home, let my wife spin the cotton into yarn at home and weave cloth myself to cover my shame.

In the final analysis, Dashun is a traditional feudal empire.

Each province is part of the empire.

It is impossible to follow the British Irish model. Just as Ireland can only herd sheep to provide wool for Britain, Hubei landlords can enclose land to grow cotton to meet the textile needs of Songsu.

The consequences of planting cash crops are terrible. In the late Qing Dynasty, because the "economic" value of opium was too high, it directly led to a large-scale famine that spread across the country.

Some areas in Shandong have transformed to plant cash crops, such as peanuts and tobacco, but the premise is that Shandong is close to the sea. The cost of shipping is extremely low, and Dashun's navy controls the grain from Japan to Southeast Asia.

As for Henan, given the current traffic conditions, transportation capacity, and logistics costs... it is too unrealistic to expect to eat overseas food.

Dashun's current food problem is somewhat similar to the Soviet Union's food problem in the 1970s and 1980s.

Does Dashun have food?

Yes, how could it not have?

Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Siam, India, etc. are all Dashun's sphere of influence, and they can all export food. Even North Korea, whose per capita income is not as high as Dashun, relies on the official usury of the rice system, and food is also a large part of the official trade between it and Dashun.

Even the west coast of North America and the surrounding areas of Maple Bay are also top wheat producing areas.

Food, a lot. A lot.

The problem is that there is a lot of production, but the poor transportation and logistics conditions make it impossible for the produced food to go to where it should go.

For example, does Dashun have money now?

Very rich, no shortage of silver.

So can the silver in the Dashun treasury buy food?

Of course it can. Within the range of the warships, you can buy as much food as you want with silver.

And once a disaster or famine occurs in places like Kaifeng, is there a shortage of food there? Obviously, there is a shortage.

Because it cannot be transported.

Relief in coastal areas is the simplest at this time.

After the Grand Canal was abandoned, even disaster relief along the canal became a headache.

The emperor finally concluded his doubts on this issue with one question.

"I know your idea that 'if the total amount of grain is sufficient, it doesn't matter whether people do agriculture or industry and commerce. Industry and commerce is just a way to distribute grain.'"

"It seems to be true."

"However, in the coastal areas of Shandong, you can encourage people to grow tobacco, longevity fruit and other things. These lands that should have produced grain do not need to produce grain. Tobacco can be traded in Southeast Asia, Korea, Guandong and other places, and then shipped to ports for sale."

"As for places like Henan...even if we talk about developing industry and commerce, such as weaving cloth, we don't mention where to sell it. Do we have to grow cotton? If Henan grows cotton, how can Henan solve the problem of food?"

"If it can't be solved, it means cotton can't be grown. Then, industry and commerce Isn't industry like a tree without roots and water without a source? Without raw materials, how can industry and commerce be developed? "

"We can't grow it ourselves, and there is no convenient way to transport it. It is also inconvenient to transport cotton and dyes from overseas to the interior."

"How can we develop industry and commerce?"

Speaking of this, the emperor waved his hand and said, "I don't want to listen to reason today, I just want to hear what to do specifically. I don't want the ministers to argue about whether to develop industry and commerce. What I am puzzled about now is the future of the kind of industrial and commercial development you mentioned... Is it only applicable to Songsu, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang? Or, is it applicable to the whole world?"

"If it is applicable, how should it be used?"

Liu Yu also considered this question.

Is there a way? Of course there is a way. That requires extremely strong national power to coordinate development, which can achieve the start of industrialization everywhere.

But obviously, Dashun can't do this.

And since it can't do this, Dashun itself is actually in a state of "rule but not governance". The ability to regulate the economy was almost zero before, and it relied entirely on spontaneous development.

The emperor is not a fool. He is also an old hand who has handled political affairs for decades. He is not so easily fooled.

If you don't get to the point, I'm afraid you still can't make the emperor believe in the future of the continued development of industry and commerce.

Even if it is said that now, the emperor's attitude is still to use the improvement of technology to maintain the stability of the small peasant economy.

However, if you can say a seemingly feasible future, it can also be regarded as a possibility for the emperor to make another choice.

Whether to choose that road is the emperor's business.

But there is only one road and there are two roads to choose from, that is another matter.

As the emperor said, this matter is not a matter of reasoning, but a technical policy issue.

In short, under the current transportation conditions, can Fusang's grain be counted in Dashun's "total grain output"?

If you count, Henan, which has per capita food, theoretically has enough food. Then Henan grows cotton on a large scale. Anyway, there is enough per capita food. Is it okay?

Obviously, no, because this will really cause a big event.

It must cause a big event.

When calculating per capita, even if nothing else is considered, at least we have to consider that there is no portal now, and we cannot send food from North America directly to Henan. This per capita is meaningless. From this per capita, in theory, it can be deduced that some places in Dashun can grow cash crops such as cotton; but in reality, it is easy to have the opium problem of the late Qing Dynasty, which led to famine in various provinces - removing the anti-human attributes of opium, opium can also be regarded as an economic crop, the principle is the same.