Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1497 Final Chapter Ninety Three Years (Fifteen)

Industrialization is the ultimate medicine to solve the widespread poverty in Dashun, but the realization of anything cannot be achieved overnight.

Sometimes, around a long-term goal, when necessary, it may take two steps forward and one step back.

Later generations of Ilyich said that Zuo's childish illness is a problem.

In fact, this similar problem also appeared in the Enlightenment Movement in the 18th century.

This situation can be called the childish disease of capital, or the childish disease of natural order.

The French Physiocrats are a typical example.

It’s not that things like the natural order, the domestic market, the world market, and the invisible hand are bad—whether they’re good or not is relative, and compared to the old French system, it’s certainly progressive.

Rather, it is a trivial matter to take too many steps.

The bigger problem is that they have taken too many steps. As far as the Physiocrats’ statement of “waiting for the natural order to adjust” to the French food crisis in 67, it can only be said that they were not hung on the tree by the bottom of France.This will arouse very violent opposition, and even achieve a certain kind of effect that everything must be reversed.

As if, regardless of reality, as long as there is a comprehensive natural order, everything will be fine.And if it doesn't get better, it must be that the order is not natural enough.

This cannot but be said to be a kind of childish disease, and this kind of childish disease has continued.Moreover, it is very likely to achieve the effect that things will be reversed when they are extreme, and that when the moon is full, they will lose money.

The problem that Dashun is facing now is somewhat similar.

This problem is the childish disease of the Dashunshi school of industry and commerce.

Concrete situation, specific analysis.

Before Liu Yu left, Dashun's industry and commerce had a difficult start, so it was necessary to maintain the development of industry and commerce at all costs and let them grow up.

But now, the situation is completely different from then.

Indeed, Liu Yu said at the time that the development of industry and commerce is the ultimate solution to the general poverty in Dashun.

However, this also needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, and the problem must be solved slowly, rather than directly causing the childish disease of individual capital or the childish disease of the natural order to directly cause an explosion.

The situation in Dashun is very different from that in Europe, and this difference is not about race or national spirit.It is based on the material basis and historical conditions.

Tell a simple, familiar story.

In "Outlaws of the Marsh", seven people confronted Yang Zhi and said that they were "from Haozhou, and went to Tokyo to sell dates in Tokyo".

Here I do not mention the geographical issue in the process of writing the book, but only said that this matter itself did not arouse any doubts. It can be regarded as proof from the side that after the Salt and Iron Conference, the internal policy of the Celestial Dynasty is a unified domestic market, and it can be crossed. Thousands of miles to sell goods and no one will find anything strange.

However, due to geographical conditions, transportation conditions, and the vast size of the empire, many commodities are unprofitable after adding freight.

Let's put it this way, compared with the 18th century, later generations must be more free trade.

Then, in later generations, no one transported coal to Datong to sell coal; and no one collected a pile of timber to sell in Daxinganling.

So, can it be concluded from this that free trade does not exist at all in later generations?Because no one sells coal to Datong, and no one sells timber to Daxinganling.

Is this conclusion correct?
To some extent, before the construction of the railway, Dashun’s domestic market was like this: domestic free trade in terms of policy, and regional economy due to geographical and transportation factors in reality.

Take Dashun 30 or even 50 years ago, for example, Guanzhong Harvest.

If you collect a bunch of grain from Shaanxi and sell it in the south of the Yangtze River, no one will care about you, let alone say that you are not allowed to sell it.

The only problem is, normal people can't do it without a feverish brain and too much money to spend.

This is the problem of the domestic economy, trade, and domestic market before Dashun—even if you talk about the Ming Dynasty in the past, or even the Mongolian Yuan even further forward, you have never heard of such things as restricting a certain place from weaving, and restricting a certain place from only grazing sheep. Weaving is not allowed.

In Europe, the opposite is true.

Such as France, such as Italy.

Not to mention the French Physiocrats here, that would be too radical.

Let’s talk about the less radical Physiocratic revisionists, Lombard Reformism, and their Physiocratism are also aimed at the “domestic” checkpoints, various restrictions, and inter-regional trade restrictions.

It should be noted that "country" and "country" are different.

Dashun is a country.

Italy also... Uh, of course, Italy does not exist at this time, and even if Italy exists at this time, isn't the domestic trade of Italy at most the level of "people from Haozhou go to Tokyo to sell dates"? ?
That is to say: Dashun domestically is due to the limitations of geographical conditions, transportation level, and means of transportation.In principle, Dashun used to have free trade in the country, and it was a very scary capital freedom in the whole of Europe - buying and selling land, without restrictions, with clear property rights, and almost no messy feudal rights and interests on the land. Pigeon rights, hunting rights, gleaning rights, etc., none of them.If you have the ability to get the title deed, the "Da Shun Law" will protect your ownership. As for how you got it, it basically doesn't matter.After all, both the "Da Ming Law" and "Da Shun Law" limit the maximum interest rate to 36% per annum, but there are endless tricks such as nine outs and thirteen returns, and they don't understand or control it at all.

In Europe, the geographical conditions, transportation level, and means of transportation are all qualified. After all, the country is not large.However, feudal forces, merchant guilds, regional oligarchs, feudal laws, etc., made even the "free circulation of domestic grain" a very radical school of thought needed to solve this problem.

Let me say it again: "The Wealth of Nations" is not a summary of the current situation in Britain, but a criticism of the current situation in Britain.

the same way.The Physiocrats are not a summary of the current situation in France and Italy, but a criticism of the current situation in France and Italy.

The Wealth of Nations is not saying "Let me explain why England is so rich".

Instead, they are spouting that "Britain will end sooner or later if it does this again."

Even when he introduced the success of some big businessmen in North America, he deliberately concealed the fact that these successful big businessmen cooperated with the government, smuggled, privately plundered, pirates sold stolen goods, monopoly power, etc., but distorted that this is the success of free trade.

Because it is black, it calls out to the white.

Rather than later, I was black and I was awesome, so black people are awesome.

After getting rid of this ideological seal, and looking at the situation of Dashun and Europe, we can understand the problems they are facing now.

The problem with Italy and France is that the past feudal system, regional local forces, and hundreds of years of historical factors have made them clearly have the conditions for a "domestic unified market"-Italy's Mediterranean transportation, France's labor to repair roads, and the There is no problem of geography and transportation conditions in transporting grain from Paris to Alsace.Transporting grain from Paris to Alsace is not transporting Jiangnan rice to Gansu for disaster relief and food price relief. Although both are "domestic", the difference in distance is huge-so, they have The material foundation, however, still lacks social awareness, and also lacks the governance means and political structure to eliminate domestic local forces and promote a unified domestic market.

Social consciousness lags behind social existence.

But Dashun is the other way around.

Because of the development of steamships, railways, and sea transportation, some conditions that Dashun did not have geographically are now met.As for Dashun, there has been no real regional restrictions on the domestic market from the beginning to the end. It does not exist in terms of policies. In the past, it was not only caused by geographical conditions and transportation conditions.However, with the application of new technologies and the development of steamships and railways, Dashun had to face many problems that did not exist before.

What exactly does this mean?
Because of the enlightenment of the Physiocrats and their "ideological" revolution, there was a nationwide famine and chaos in France.

And because of their material conditions, they actually have the basis for this kind of nationwide chaos.

But awareness requires enlightenment.It is necessary to understand what private ownership is, what is natural order, and what is domestic free trade.

So, in France, "words trump substance."

Why didn't France have this type of nationwide chaos and flour wars before?
Because in the past, there were seventy or eighty laws and regulations related to bread, chambers of commerce, city bread guilds, and regional feudalism to stabilize bread prices.

Why is there national chaos?

The first step in the reform of the Physiocrats was to break the local regional laws, guilds, and monopolies, and use grain as a model for the natural order of free trade.

Because the bottom of the harvest area does not want local grain to be shipped out, which will lead to an increase in grain prices.

Therefore, in places where there is a famine, the common people object to hoarding goods for surprises; in places where there is a bumper harvest, hoarding goods for purchase and raising food prices are still opposed by the common people.That's why there is a national food problem that France has never experienced before.

This can be said to be the childish disease of the French Physiocrats—has your brain been pumped?Do you dare to completely follow the natural order of food, and you are still talking nonsense and muttering not to interfere?Does the old birthday star hang himself for a long time?

It can also be said that this reflects the reality that agriculture is the most important industry in France. It is of little significance to change other things, and the amount is too small.

And in Dashun.

Because of the construction of railways and the application of steamships, the enlightenment of the Physiocratic School is not required, because those things of the Physiocratic School are taken for granted here in Dashun. I sold dates from Haozhou to Tokyo City. Isn't it a normal thing? I haven't heard that there is a law in Haozhou that prohibits the transportation of dates to Tokyo City.

However, the construction of railways and the application of steamships caused a wave of chaos in Dashun that might spread across the country.

Because in the past, I could only sell dates from Haozhou and push a cart to Tokyo City, but now I can sell dates and take a train to Wuguo City.

Previously, Dashun did not have the basis of a "domestic market" in the true sense, a legal domestic market, and a substantive regional market.

The emergence of steamships and railways has made it possible to have a real domestic market.

In other words, Dashun does not need the Physiocrats to enlighten people, because the Dashun court has never prohibited it, for example, grain from Jiangnan cannot be sold to Shaanxi.The reason why merchants do not sell grain from Jiangnan to Shaanxi is not that the imperial court’s decree hinders the domestic unified market, but because of the commercial law of not buying and selling for thousands of miles.

Therefore, in Dashun, "substance is better than rhetoric".

Of course, the ultimate problem here is the material basis.

France did not have the agricultural revolution, did not have labor labor to build roads, and did not have the development of industry and commerce in the coastal areas of Western Europe, so it is impossible to break the foundation of the regional food problem.

And if Dashun does not have new means of transportation such as steamers and railways, as well as external expansion and economic development in coastal areas, it is impossible for the industrial products of the advanced areas to impact on the inland. Without steamers, even if Songsu’s textile mills have produced mule spinning machines and looms, and the cost of transporting them along the river is unlikely to have a huge impact on Jianghan’s textile industry—after the one-two-crow tax, the steamship , The passage of inland rivers allowed the shock to be transmitted to the thoroughfare of the nine provinces.

Did this problem exist in Dashun decades ago?

Obviously, of course not.

Because a few decades ago, Dashun had a lot of headaches because of the problem of transporting Huaihuai salt to Hubei.Salt, which costs a few catties a year, is such a headache because of transportation problems. How could it be possible to face the problem of regional economic disruption brought about by transportation development?
People cannot think about many problems with a blank sheet of paper.Those who can think in front of a blank sheet of paper are prophets, not people.

So, at this moment, Dashun, can he realize this problem?
Obviously, yes.

Because Dashun has already conducted two rehearsals for this kind of impact at home and abroad.People in Dashun who can really solve problems will summarize and analyze problems from history, and then they may solve problems correctly.

Inside.

After all, human life is short, and historical changes are too long and slow.

Therefore, people in Dashun may not realize that the changes in the Western Regions issue stem from the development of sailing ships and changes in trade routes.

However, among the living people in Dashun, they have really experienced many problems caused by changes in transportation.

That is the abolition of the Grand Canal, resulting in the decline of Yangzhou, the decline of Luxi, the rise of Jiaodong, the collapse of the canal economic belt, and so on.

This is a change that is visible to the naked eye, within a generation, has a strong impact, and is more intuitive than the decline of the Western Regions due to ocean transportation.

outer.

The decline of Lancashire, the interrupted development of Liverpool due to the eastward movement of the textile center to Amsterdam, the destruction of Dhaka, the uprising in Surat... These are also visible to the naked eye, within a generation, and have a great impact Strong "history".

Of course, the destruction of Dhaka and the decline of Surat have little to do with the victory of advanced production capacity over backward production capacity, but rather similar production capacity shows the power of commercial hegemony and national strength in primitive accumulation vividly.

However, this is a fact that can be learned from history with a slight change.

Some people in Dashun have already studied these issues, and have analyzed them in the basically correct direction.

For example, why did the cotton textile industry in Luxi region prosper and decline.

Because of the canal, and because the western Shandong area is suitable for growing cotton, and because it is closer to the consumer market in Beijing, and the canal transportation bonus, etc., Linqing has become the largest textile distribution center in the north.

Because of the waste of water, and because of Dashun’s conquest of Java and India, it gained the advantages of cheaper cotton, raw materials and technical capital in coastal areas, so the cotton textile industry in Luxi was under the protective export policy during the stage of digging the Yellow River. After surviving for a while, it was finally destroyed.

It seems... It seems that this is nothing. Isn't this little analytical ability just "the posture of a middle-aged man"?

But, in fact, in Dashun, it can be regarded as a symbolic analysis that the methodology of the practical school has really come to the fore.

Because, before that, when analyzing the prosperity of the western Shandong area, the perspectives were mostly such as "near the hometown of saints"; Si and Si still have the legacy of Zhou Gong, the vulgar loves Confucianism, and prepares for rituals, so the people are dirty. There are quite a lot of mulberry and hemp industry, but there is no mercy for Lin Ze. The land is small and the people are thrifty, fearing crime and far away from evil. And its decline , good Jia seeks profit, more than Zhou people" and the like.

Of course, the Luxi issue is the aftermath of the Yangzhou issue.

As for the Yangzhou issue, the impact on Dashun's generation was really too great.

Prosperous for thousands of years, in just a few decades, it has declined.

The Practical School must give an explanation, an explanation of "necessary price", otherwise Liu Yu's series of reforms will face great doubts.

Therefore, this method of analysis was quickly popularized.

Starting from the decline of Yangzhou, this kind of nonsensical analysis methods such as "commercial awareness", "folk customs", and "near the hometown of saints" began to rise, and gradually touched the economics of the 18th century——17 In the economics of the century, the whole world is like a bird. When British economists analyze why the UK is not working, they talk about the national character, saying that the national character of the UK is not as good as that of the Netherlands, so the UK is not good, and it will end sooner or later.

Of course, some so-called economics a few hundred years later will not even be as good as the 18th century, and it will return to the level of the 17th century, which will be in the future.

As for now, Dashun has finally taken an important step in terms of political economy.

It is true that around Liu Yu's coffin, Dashun's officials avoided the real big problem of Dashun, but at least their thinking about industry and commerce is still meaningful.

It's just that the development of industry and commerce is indeed the future, but how to transform is by no means a simple question of whether to let go of the sub-port money gate or not.Politics and economics are not separated, and the problem of the [-] to [-] million small farmers in the interior... France knows how to smash bakeries, doesn't this side know how to resist the impact?

　The Enlightenment was all-encompassing, and economics was part of the Enlightenment.Therefore, economics, especially the Physiocratic School, cannot be expelled from the Enlightenment.It doesn’t mean that the enlightenment is based on the analysis of scholastic philosophy, or God’s empowerment of human beings; when it comes to economics, it is not enlightenment.Another funny thing, if the Physiocrats are also part of the Enlightenment, then Louis XV was influenced by the Physiocrats, and the spring plowing and plowing, is this the result of the Enlightenment?If Turgot’s reform is successful, the French gentry’s preferential exemption will be banned, Versailles will break France’s regional economic protection, and a decree will be issued to solve the painful land ownership in France, and the collective land of the village community will legally belong to the land nobles. Is it the result of the Enlightenment?In other words, after [-], private ownership of small land in France was established. Is this the achievement of the Enlightenment?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)