Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1200 Wooden Cow and Horse ([-])

Liu Yu does not deny that the emperor is very experienced, and he is a very dangerous type of feudal rulers, and it is very likely that he will really find out the way to be an arbitrator, an emperor who is a small farmer, small producer, or even a worker in name.

In all kinds of reactionary societies, the emperor and the reactionary society can also be matched, and the Kaiser can also be matched with the reactionary society.

But he cannot live forever.

However, man is the primate of all things.Just like a crow that can fetch water, it will pass on the method of fetching water to future generations.

The emperor cannot live forever, but the emperor hopes to pass on his skills and means to the next generation.

In the west of Beijing, Liu Yu took Niu Er and others on a "pilgrimage" to the coal mines in the west of Beijing to observe the life of the miners, to see the small stoves that the miners eat at home, and the laborers who go down the mine will eat eggs every day, and their wives and children will consciously not move. The status of men and women in textile areas such as Xiaozao and Songsu are completely different.

Trying to gain a deeper understanding of what the economic base determines the superstructure.

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

The prince is not young anymore, but in front of the emperor, he is still trembling and cautious, for fear that he may say something wrong.

Especially the question his father is asking now makes him a little nervous, for fear of answering it wrong.

"In the 31st year of Wanli in the previous dynasty, due to the mining tax, the coal mines in the west of Beijing went on strike. It was the first month, and the weather was freezing, and the capital shook for a while. What do you think of this?"

The question seems simple enough.

But in the crown prince's mind, many thoughts burst out in an instant. There have been too many changes in the past few years. He is afraid that his answer will not be satisfactory, and his father will have the idea of ​​"this son is afraid of difficulty in keeping his career".

It is really difficult to answer the strike of the Beijing West Coal Mine in the 31st year of Wanli, because there are too many issues involved.

Should there be a business tax?
How to answer this?Now the emperor is in the Songsu area, and it is a joy to collect taxes from merchants.Could it be that the industrial and commercial tax and mining tax should not be collected at all for the 31st year of Wanli?Isn't that slapping your own father in the face?

Is it okay to set up government-run kilns without collecting industrial and commercial taxes?

However, the status quo is that official kilns still do not occupy a dominant position in today's Jingxi Coal Mine.On the contrary, the capital raised and private kilns are the mainstream.

Moreover, this itself is also the will of the emperor.This is the capital city, not Songsu, Liu Yu can't speak like Songsu, it's kind of like covering the sky with one hand.

It should collect industrial and commercial tax and mining tax, dare not pay tax, and directly send troops to suppress it?
But this seems to be too cruel, and it seems to be somewhat similar to Xing Guogong's method in Songsu?What is the father's attitude towards Duke Xingguo? Is he deliberately keeping some sinners, waiting to be suppressed by himself, so as to stabilize the situation after the succession?
This simple little question made the prince speechless for a while, and all kinds of strange thoughts came to his mind.

What's more troublesome is that it doesn't work if you don't answer.

If he didn't answer, it would make his father feel that he is a waste, a wimp, and doesn't even have any opinions. How can he be the emperor in the future and guard this foundation?
After holding back for a long time, I silently counted the time when my father might feel impatient, and finally when the impatient time was approaching, I replied: "My son thought that this matter should first stabilize the miners. Count nine cold days If the coal supply is cut off in January, the capital will be shaken."

"However, if it is stable until March and May, and the weather warms up, then we can consider right and wrong, gather the wisdom of the ministers, and take a surefire way."

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

When the emperor heard this answer, he was quite dumbfounded.

The laugh is that the son is quite clever.I know that I must compromise when it is time to compromise, and I know very clearly that the miners must not be allowed to go on strike in winter, and the solution will be resolved in spring and summer.

The cry is that this answer cannot be said to be wrong.But isn't this the kind of "tinker on a broken ship" that Liu Yu said?
This is the tactical answer.

What about strategy?

There is also this "integrate the wisdom of the officials and take the perfect method", which is even more nonsense.

Today's Dashun group of officials is no longer a matter of party struggle, but a matter of line.

If there is a debate on this kind of matter, wouldn't it be another battle between Sang Hongyang and virtuous literature?

If the dispute between salt and iron can't be done well, I'm afraid it will lead to Wang Mang's restructuring.

It's just that there is some tactical wit in thinking about this answer. Knowing that you have to compromise in winter and stabilize it first, and then talk about it when the weather is warmer in the future, this can be regarded as some brains.

What the emperor wanted to ask was the crown prince's views on the policies of the Jingxi Coal Mine's taxation model, management model, businessmen's start-up, and so on.

Why it came out like this?
Isn't that okay?
What's the benefit of this?
And, the most critical point: the conflict between the mine owner and the miner, if the imperial court does not choose to run it officially, then what position should the imperial power, or the imperial court, be in to deal with the two sides?

To whom?
Or, when to whom?When to suppress whom?Is it set in stone?
What is the difference between the Jingxi Coal Mine strike in the 31st year of Wanli and the current situation?
These things can be understood, but it is really difficult to put them into words.

Besides, this is an exam question prepared by the emperor for the crown prince. If the crown prince can answer it, then it will be the best.

If you can't answer it, you need to hurry up and let him understand what's inside.

The emperor believed that the future government should be separated from the inside and outside.Many internal things can be handled by the group, and the emperor can get a general idea and grasp the general direction.

And external things, such as industry and commerce, monopoly expenses, military expenses, fleets, armies, colonization, banks, these things that were not there before, the emperor should have a deep understanding.

The meaning of internal existence is mainly "stability".As long as you don't rebel, everything is fine.

The meaning of external existence is the cornerstone of "rule".As long as you have money, soldiers, food, and fleet, everything is easy to talk about.

The rule of those internal provinces can only be continued in the old way.

It's nothing more than tax collection and disaster relief. The troublesome point is to check the acres of land, pay for one piece of food, one whip, etc. This is as good as the sky, what else can it be?As long as you don't foolishly believe that the Yan-Li School's method of buying a large average land for 30 years is really necessary, generally nothing big will happen.

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

It may be fooled by those ministers and lose all taxes, money, navy, etc.;

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

But looking at it now, this answer is really unsatisfactory.

In the end, the emperor did not clearly express approval or disapproval of this answer, and asked again: "Then what do you think about the railway?"

The prince hurriedly said: "The sea people in Nanyuan are outraged; the camel households in the west of Beijing are unemployed and impoverished. But the stable coal price in the capital benefits millions of people, so..."

But the emperor interrupted: "I'm not asking you about the section of the railway from Mentougou to the capital. Just look at this section. What's there to see? Hundreds of families cry, and thousands of families laugh."

"In the 31st year of Wanli in the previous dynasty, the coal mines in the west of Beijing went out of business, and the capital shook; but now Nanyuan Haimin and Jingxi tuohu are rebelling. Is there a slight shock in the capital?"

"What I'm asking is about commanding in front of the battle, one city and one place. What I'm asking you is about the strategy of war and the way to be a commander. What I'm asking about is the railway, not the road from Mentougou to Xizhimen."

This question is actually not difficult to answer.

Looking at it now, steam locomotives are just that. Compared with horse-drawn carriages and camels, their strengths are limited.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 there are some things, especially the things that Liu Yu tried to promote, really can't just look at the present.

The prince is quite clear about this, Liu Yu's "practical attainments and vision" - although this is basically a copy of the experience of the previous life, it has nothing to do with vision and so on - no matter how the court criticizes, this point is not to be criticized. arrived.

Since he said that this thing is OK, basically it is really OK.

So in terms of thinking, the prince thought to himself, the emperor must not be asking if this thing can work.After all, there are specialties in the art industry, how can I be qualified to judge whether it is good or not?
It must be asking, on the basis of "it will be very good in the future", consider the impact of the railway itself on the governance of the country, 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 come to an end.

Can there be an emperor in the railway age?
After thinking about it, the emperor thought it was possible, and as long as he grasped it, it would be conducive to the stability of his rule.Of course, the emperor's thinking cannot be directly thinking about whether there is an emperor, but whether it is conducive to ruling, but the meaning is the same.

In other words, this direction of thinking is actually asking the prince whether he has grasped the fundamental issue of governance.

In other words, how to understand why since the Han Dynasty, none of the dynasties has had a national fortune for 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 many previous dynasties?
Qin wanted to go to the north, but the Huns were more than [-] miles away; Han wanted to go to the north to conquer Shi Yanran; after the Three Kingdoms, there was a rebellion of the Five Hus; the Great Tang also had the humiliation of the nine fall of the capital... After that, the Khitan Jurchen Mongolia in the Song Dynasty, and the Liaodong Mongolia in the Ming Dynasty...

Dashun has basically solved these things in essence.

Under the reform of the military system of muskets, cannons, bastions, and field formations, the ethnic groups in the northern grasslands and forests were not vulnerable, but they really did not constitute any threat.

Even if the leader of the army is a waste, or even an officer bought with money, under the military training and command system after the reform of the military system, it is true that by relying on guns and cannons, he has become a well-controlled soldier and an incompetent general. the extent of the war.

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

(End of this chapter)