Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1440 Disagreement ([-])

The development of industry and commerce is the biggest crisis of the traditional feudal dynasty.

On this point, whether it is the emperor or Liu Yu, there is a consensus on the conclusion.

The conclusions are in agreement.

However, the reasoning process of the two people is completely different.

This is another step back to the connotation of the four words "emphasis on agriculture and despise business".

From the perspective of the emperor, what is the source of the dynastic crisis created by the development of industry and commerce?
Due to the rapid accumulation of funds by industry and commerce, land mergers have accelerated.In other words, the root cause is the free sale of land under private ownership.

But from Liu Yu's perspective, what is the source of the dynasty crisis created by the development of industry and commerce?
Originating from the development of industry and commerce, a new class was born, and the power of the new class will expand rapidly, leading to the new class power on the stage of history, thus completely breaking the old logic of the feudal dynasty of small farmers and landlords.

Or.

From the perspective of the emperor, it was the Dashun Dynasty that buried issues such as industrial and commercial development, capital accumulation, and land mergers.

But the logic of the dynasty’s operation remains unchanged.However, the next dynasty may not be named Li.It is said that Dashun spread the revenge of the Li family to revenge Zhu Wen in the market, maybe someone will spread the revenge of the Yang family to revenge the Li family in the future.

From Liu Yu's perspective, with the development of industry and commerce, a new class entered the stage of history, and what was buried was the feudal dynasty.It is not a matter of the Li family replacing the Zhu family, and the Yang family replacing the Li family.

If we say that the emperor has a materialist view of history and a class view of history.

Then, no matter how much Liu Yu fooled around, it was useless.If the emperor understood the materialist view of history and the view of class history, he would definitely oppose the development of industry and commerce, because from this view of history and where he sat, he could draw a very clear answer, that is, he would resolutely oppose the continued development of industry and commerce.

However, the emperor is not.

In Liu Yu's words, the emperor was the brain of a "mutated Westernization Movement".

In other words, it is the "historical view" of space opera, the "historical view" of magical steampunk, and the abstract historical view of technological progress—that is, technological progress does not take into account the adjustment of production relations and changes in social relations. Instead, it uses the social relations at this moment to produce relations, and imagines that the world after technological progress will operate according to the social consciousness at this moment.

The two people's views on history are different.

However, regardless of whether they stand on the feudal dynasty and the feudal imperial power, whether they are sincere or not, their "conclusions" on the development of industry and commerce and the conflict between the imperial power and the feudal dynasty are similar.

However, the differences in historical views and reasoning processes have also led to the implementation of Liu Yu's "radical capitalist reforms under the cloak of feudalism" in recent years.

But back to the issue of industrial and commercial development.

According to the emperor's view of history, logic, reasoning, to consider the problem, it is necessary to "empathize, put yourself in the shoes, and prescribe the right medicine."

simply put:
Why did the emperor oppose the development of industry and commerce?

Because of private ownership of land and free trade, industry and commerce accumulated funds too quickly, resulting in accelerated mergers and harming the interests of small farmers.

The small peasants are the true ruling foundation, basic plate, and source of power of the feudal dynasty.

How to get the emperor to support the development of industry and commerce?

Nothing but two points.

First, find a way, even if it is flickering, the point of view of flickering must also focus on "there is a way to develop industry and commerce without invading small farmers, and to maintain the cornerstone of the empire."

Second, use technology to describe the future, tell the emperor, or let the emperor see that technological progress can stabilize the rule-this is why it is said that the feudal emperor in 1760 would think it was a miracle if he showed a nautical clock. Skills; and if you grab a handful of fertilizers and show them to the emperor, the emperor will think that technology is beneficial.

Because, the biggest problem faced by the traditional feudal dynasty in this era is precisely the problem of land, mu yield, food, and population-of course, you can say that this is a problem of land ownership.But it should be noted that the subject here is the feudal dynasty, not China, the Chinese nation or any other subject.It means that, without considering the emperor's own rebellion, from the perspective of the feudal dynasty, the biggest problems are land, mu yield, food, and population.

Since the feudal dynasty is the main body, it must be taken into account: first of all, the emperor is not interested in colonies tens of thousands of miles away, because the emperor knows that the empire's ruling territory has reached its limit, and further places have nothing to do with the dynasty. Numerous historical experiences have proved that places that are too far away will definitely be separated; secondly, the feudal dynasty will not take the initiative to complete the reform of the land system, because the ruling class itself is the beneficiary of this land system,

Only by taking these two issues into consideration can we prescribe the right medicine and use conservative or even reactionary forces to develop productivity and pave the way for the birth of a new era.That is to let the mother of the old age eat and drink enough to increase her physical strength so as to avoid dystocia, and to raise the baby in the new age who will inevitably devour the mother's body to a strong level that cannot die young.

Just as the French Physiocrats relied on the cloak of feudalism and advocated the importance of the landlord and aristocratic classes, but in fact they were implementing the most radical bourgeois policies.

Liu Yu also relied on these things to leverage the power of the imperial power, and completed many reforms under the cloak of "this is strengthening the imperial power".It includes not only the radical reform of the salt administration that wiped out small salt producers, but also the reform of the budding trust; it also includes the abandonment of the Grand Canal, and the reform of thinking about building a railway from Beijing to Hankou.

Similarly, in this discussion on "industrial and commercial development", Liu Yu has always grasped this point - that is, the emperor is not a materialist view of history, not a class view of history, so with the emperor's view of history, what he is worried about is not Not a real noose like the old days.What the emperor is worried about can theoretically be avoided through ruling techniques, but it is impossible for the emperor to see the real noose.

In fact, jokes such as "Little Four Against Steam Engines" are all fantasies made by people with the same historical view similar to "space opera".Not to mention how it is possible for the UK to allow steam engines to leave the country. Even the French need to steal them if they are so close, and the Russians have to rely on cheating. How could the UK take the initiative to send "productivity and civilization" to the world?
The actual situation is that Liu Yu's development of productivity in the salt industry has made the emperor overjoyed—the one who entered your horse donkey has finally solved the problem of salt merchants controlling production and sales, and the problem of private salt. It is much easier to manage than the fucking little salt households and salt merchants.If we can rely on the large-scale production of official salt to reduce prices, and squeeze out those peddlers who cook salt privately, why are there reforms that Liu Shi'an, Yuan Shizhen and others have racked their brains?
Will the emperor worry about the life and death of the small private salt dealer?how is this possible?

The emperor only cares about whether the salt tax can be collected and whether the cost of salt tax anti-smuggling can be reduced.As long as you can collect money and a lot of salt tax.Private salt dealers and handicraftsmen rebelled and just killed them. Wouldn't that save money?

Take the salt industry as an example.

Starting from Liu Yan's reform, the idea of ​​the feudal dynasty was to control production but encourage merchants to circulate.Because of the characteristics of finely divided salt, in terms of circulation, no one in the feudal dynasty could send salt to the countryside, only relying on traders.

Therefore, only by grasping this fact, taking history as a mirror, and understanding the real route of salt reform can we better "fool" the emperor and support the development of productivity - control production, relax sales, levy taxes on the production end, encourage large enterprises, and facilitate tax.

The rest of the questions are pretty much the same.

We must first understand the operating logic of the feudal dynasty.

Then understand the cornerstone of imperial power, the taxation of the imperial court, and the general direction of many reforms in industries such as the salt industry.Why did the Confucian scholars at the end of the Ming Dynasty generally approve of Liu Yan’s reform on the salt industry issue, but not Yuan Shizhen’s reform? The difference between the two lies in who controls the production end or who benefits from the sales end.

Then, you need to understand, for example, why Zhang Zhidong’s machine-made weaving factory has failed in history, and why machine-woven fabrics can’t be used as a cottage industry. Basic economics to consider why the awakened female workers are spinners, why Luchai sticks are spinners, and why they are not weavers; to consider what is called "Indian cotton yarn dumping, which led to the The cottage industry has reached a peak of 5.6 million pieces”; and why are many national light industries started with dry spinning, while dry weaving factories are basically finished?

What is the social existence and productivity basis behind this?
Instead of talking about "Sang Hongyang", "Dr. Confucianism", "struggling with the people", "ignorance and old-fashionedness", and "nationality" in the air.

Finally, you can use this idea to push down.

Liu Yu's "two legs" on the issue of "per capita grain possession" is to solve the theoretical problem of "whether industry and commerce can accommodate excessive population".

In theory, it is possible to continue to develop industry and commerce.

Liu Yu and the emperor's discussion of "dividing internal and external governance", "relying on the external market, allowing capital to take advantage of the outside world, and internal capital control to prevent land mergers" is to solve the emperor's greatest concern that "industrial and commercial development will accelerate land mergers". The problem.

This worry is still the same sentence: the emperor used the current social consciousness to imagine the future world, and came to the conclusion that as long as the funds accumulated by industry and commerce are controlled and invested in land, the problem of industrial and commercial development under the logic of "emphasizing agriculture and despising commerce" can be solved. Liu Yu is using the future social consciousness to shape the material basis for the existence of the future social consciousness, and he is convinced that the change of the material basis will completely destroy the feudal dynasty, rather than the Li family for the Zhu family, and the Yang family for the Li family. .

In theory, industry and commerce can accommodate a larger population.

In practice, many policies of feudal autocracy and imperial power society, such as population control, flow control, traditional methods of suppressing mergers, policies such as prohibiting first-developed areas from buying and hoarding land in the interior through household registration, etc., can theoretically achieve "industrial and commercial development accommodation". Sufficient 'surplus' population, but no industrial and commercial development leading to rapid land annexation" utopia of "only good, no bad".

Of course, only in theory.

This theoretical generalization means that the emperor wants to build a new "Great Wall" that is powerful, economically and nationally powerful. Within the "Great Wall", continue the old system, preserve the small-scale peasant economy, and wait for the industry to develop chemical fertilizers, or for commerce to lower the price of saltpeter cabbage in Chile and Bangladesh; outside the "Great Wall", participate in world trade, continue to develop, and grab it if there is no market. To fight, to snatch.

The imperial power used the inland soldiers, good family sons and other reactionary small landlords and nobles as the basic military base; the navy as a bargaining chip at any time, and the foreign trade in the first-developed areas must rely on sea transportation, but the navy can cut off the sea transportation, and the army can be stationed in big cities, etc., to control the first. development area.

At the same time, through plunder, trade, dumping, monopoly, etc. in the pioneering areas, gold, silver and materials were obtained.In this way, the economic power that the imperial power can control is strengthened. The imperial power stabilizes its basic market by controlling the distribution of this powerful economic power; Control of the first-mover area.

Otherwise...if we really want to build a unified domestic market and remove internal tariffs.In the Songsu area, relying on the Yangtze River waterway and the soon-to-be-born steamship transportation capacity, tariff-free goods can reach the inland directly. The cotton yarn in the Jianghan Plain is dried up with Indian cotton yarn; the cotton textile industry in Hubei is wiped out with Songsu cloth; What is it called to reduce labor costs by shipping grain by sea to gain overall advantages over inland industries?
Of course, what this is called can be defined.

But it doesn't matter what it's called.

The important thing is that Sichuan is not suitable for growing cotton, and after Sichuan salt entered Hunan and Chu, hundreds of thousands of handicraft cotton textile families in Hubei relied on the "Chuan Chu" trade to survive.

Sichuan salt flows into Chu, and silver flows into Chengdu.

Subu entered Chu, and Baiyin flowed to Songsu.

How can the fragile economies of these places survive?
The emperor didn't talk about other provinces, but about Hubei, where the prince went to practice before, and talked about a somewhat special topic.

This topic, in the words of later film and television dramas, is called "changing rice into mulberry".

However, based on the reality at this time, this problem is reversed.

In other words, it is not that farmers are "stupid", do not understand economics, and do not want to "change rice into mulberry".

On the contrary, it is too understanding.

The development of the cotton textile industry in Hubei has made a large number of people in Hubei take the initiative to "change grain to cotton".

As a result, the prince made a fuss in Hubei, and some people who secretly wanted to see the prince’s jokes watched a "big fun"-[It’s been rainy for more than a month, and the sky is a disaster, and more people have changed their grain to cotton. Even the price of rice in Chu land soared, making it difficult for the common people to have enough to eat... So the civilian ships were ordered not to export rice and miscellaneous grains without authorization, so as to maintain the overall situation by emphasizing the food of the people].

If it hadn't been for the Sichuan Jiedu envoy who tried his best to help, the prince's "rice ban" fun would have caused a lot of trouble.

To put it simply, there is a problem with food in Hubei. The population of Hubei has soared, and because of the trade of Sichuan salt into Chu, the textile industry in Hubei has been sold back to Sichuan. The people are not stupid. Why is it profitable to grow cotton? Grain is naturally converted into cotton in large quantities.

Of course, in addition to cotton, there are also sesame, tea, etc. The prince's economic policy is too radical and messed up - he only saw that Liu Yu's reforms in the Songsu area were too radical, but he was purely learning to walk in Handan.In Songsu’s reform measures, Liu Yu first went to Nanyang, opened up the Northeast, borrowed North Korea to repay the rice system, complained about Japan’s real grain and rice tax, and developed shipping to ensure that the price of rice was lowered; It is one price to transport rice and sorghum from Nanyang and Northeast to Songsu by sea, but it is another price to transport upstream from Songsu to Hubei.

His radical reforms have achieved remarkable results in the short term and increased income.As a result, I played too aggressively, and as a result, another wave of natural disasters came.

There is no way but to use administrative means to force rice boats not to leave the provincial border.Even grain ships from Hunan do not leave Hubei.

Basically, judging from historical records, no feudal rulers have ever heard of any initiative to "change rice into mulberry".What's more, it is the common people's initiative to "change grain into tobacco", "change grain into mulberry", "change grain into cotton", which caused the rulers headaches and continued to issue policies to prohibit the conversion of grain into cash crops.

Because of the limitation of transportation capacity, the concept of per capita food is impossible to have practical significance in this age of sails from the land of more than ten million square kilometers.

And if people don't eat, they will die and revolt.

The point is, this time it was a mess, and it scared the prince enough.All of a sudden, from radical economic policies, it became sluggish and conservative.

(End of this chapter)