Xinshun 1730

Chapter 212 Why study
After briefly introducing the military workshops in the past two years, Kang Bushao led Liu Yu to the most secret workshops on Liugong Island.

Glass, soap, mirrors, Lüblan alkali making, white phosphorous matches, cigarettes, etc., are being experimented with in the workshops that will be dumped as light industrial products in the future.

Some of them hired Western craftsmen and relied on their experience.Others are chemical principles that Liu Yu knows.

The scale of these workshops is not large, but the school on Liugong Island has already used glass windows, can also produce enough soap for the navy, and is accumulating technology and enough workers.

These were arranged before leaving, and they are not difficult things.

Burning a few pieces of glass is not called initial industrialization, but it solves the problem of creating something from scratch.

These workshops will be of great use in the future, but for now, they just continue to accumulate experience and continue to invest money in experiments.

"According to my son's arrangement, the soap making workshop can actually be produced on a large scale. It mainly uses soybean oil from Liaodong, or cottonseed oil from here. The price of cotton has been quite high in recent years, and a lot of cotton has been planted in Henan and other places. , Cottonseed oil is pressed to make soap, and ordinary people will buy one or two yuan. This thing is really good for washing clothes, face and hair.”

"But now it's only used in the military and distributed as military supplies."

Picking up a piece of soap and smelling it, there was a strong beany smell, a little stinky.On the side are some flowery ones made with tallow.

"Smelly soap is cheap, but this kind of fragrant soap is more expensive. However, no matter how cheap it is, it is difficult for ordinary people to afford it. If you have the money to buy soap, it is better to buy the same oil and eat a few meals."

Kang Bushao was very moved by the consumption power of the people in Dashun. Liu Yu picked up a few pieces of soap and said with a smile: "Of course, whoever has the money sells them. If they can't afford food, naturally they don't need to think about buying soap. But Wendeng will be able to sell a lot in the future.”

"One is that the permanent tenancy system is implemented, and the tenants can still leave some money in their hands to improve their lives. Second, many people are also working in the workshop. For the time being, their lives are better than those of the tenants."

Kang Bushao was very supportive of this, and sighed: "If all the cultivators in the world have their fields, and there are no landlords to collect rent, the things we make can be sold more."

Liu Yu chuckled, and said in his heart that you have a good idea, but isn't this nonsense?
"Zhongxian, don't think so. Even if there are 900 million people in Dashun, 100 million people live like livestock, wouldn't there be [-] million people who can afford it? Such a big market , looking at the whole world, this is the only one. Moreover, Jiangnan is rich and prosperous, so there should be no problem."

"Besides, we all tie our hair. We need to wash our hair, otherwise it will be greasy and messy. Anyone with a little money will buy it. You don't have to worry about not being able to sell this."

After bypassing the soap workshop, I went to see the cigarette workshop.The cigarette workshop and the white phosphorous match workshop are complementary. The difference is that the former has no harm to the body, while the workers in the latter basically have a lifespan of seven or eight years.

"Most of the cigarette factories are female workers. In the match workshop, most of the phosphorus producers are widows, widows, lonely, old, weak, sick and disabled people. Although they can live for seven or eight years if they do this kind of work, if they don't care about it, they may die tomorrow." Then he died. This can be considered as widowed, widowed and lonely, all are supported, and the son is benevolent, which is rare in the world."

Not knowing whether Kang Bushao's words were a compliment or a sarcasm, Liu Yu took out a cigarette, struck a white phosphorous match and lit it, took two puffs and praised: "Okay, the taste is still good."

I went around and looked at these industries that are counted as light industries. These industries do not conflict with the well-developed textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River, so I don’t have to worry about things like people smashing the factories after they are created.

"In a few days, I'm going to visit Songjiang Mansion. It just so happens that this year's trade dividend with Japan is coming. Pick some high-quality cigarettes, mirrors, glass, etc., pack dozens of boxes, and I'll take them there."

"The workshop needs to be expanded, but it can't be eaten alone. The local snakes must be involved. The raptors can't pass the river."

These industries are all light industries that can be paid for, and they are not industries such as shipbuilding and military industry, which require huge investment in the early stage, and no one in the DPRK dares to do it. If more people participate, it will be a good thing.

If these light industries can be moved to Songjiang, Guangdong and other places, except for the soda-making industry, it is best to move there.

Kang Bushao was not surprised by Liu Yu's idea of ​​making these things in partnership.

"Young master is good at fishing. In the past, Qianjin was the backbone of the market, and he made shares in such a stable profit business as trading with Japan. Now the stock price is soaring. At the beginning, it was a hundred taels of silver per share, and now it has increased by [-] to [-] percent."

"Nowadays, the big businessmen in Songjiang and other places all know that you are trustworthy, that you pay dividends every year, and that your accounts are clear. Now that they do these businesses, they must trust you."

Every year, a huge amount of silver is transported to the vicinity of Songjiang Customs as a dividend for buying shares in Japanese trade. This matter has become a strange story in Songjiang.

In the past, I was half-doubtful, but now I am absolutely convinced, lest I miss the opportunity again.

Liu Yu said with a smile: "I am good at fishing. This time, Ping Zhun is also the next bait, waiting to be baited. Otherwise, at such a young age, how can I convince the court that it is profitable to build a navy? If you want to get it, you must first Yuzhi, this principle is easy to say, but difficult to do.”

"It's just like when Lin Yunwen was puzzled when he sold shares to Japan Trade, and you thought it was not worth it. Actually, don't I know? It's just that there are some things, the more people who do it, the better."

After checking it again, I left Liugong Island and went to Weihai and the hydraulic workshops in the surrounding mountainous areas to see that they had already begun to take shape.

Except for some of the disaster victims recruited at the beginning, after Wendeng tried out the reform of the permanent tenancy system and the policy of dividing the tenancy into the mu, the labor cost of this group of workshops dropped rapidly.

Some tenants who are not eligible for permanent tenancy choose to go to Weihai to make a living in the workshop, which is recruiting people every day.

In addition to the food and rice every month, there is also a monthly salary of one tael of silver.Prices in Wendeng are also considered stable, and the development of sea transportation allows rice from the south to be shipped directly to Weihai.

Most of Liu Yu's money has been invested in it. The navy belongs to the emperor, so if you can use your own money, you don't need it, unless it is a last resort.

Now the emperor is finally going to invest money from the treasury. As Kang Bushao said, as long as the money is in place, the ship is not a problem.

The teak, cypress, and oak accumulated in the past few years have been air-dried for two years. The money was paid by Liu Yu, but as long as the emperor invested the money, the money could be transferred back.

As an apprentice, the novice followed the Western craftsmen. Guns and cannons are still handicrafts, but some drilling machines, hydraulic saws and other machinery have been introduced, and the efficiency has improved a lot.

Today's docks can not only build warships, but also merchant ships.

Most of the merchant ships purchased and manufactured by the trading companies that have invested in the Japanese trade, Weihai has gradually become the shipbuilding center in the north.

The trading company not only trades with Japan, but also buys rice and wood from Siam and other places. The company's main business is trade with Japan, but there are no fewer other markets that can be seized.There are many people and strength. Although the joint-stock trading company does not have the monopoly power authorized by the government, with more equity, it still squeezes out a lot of trade volume that originally belonged to others.

In terms of trade with Japan, the trading company took advantage of the privilege of carrying private goods when transporting rice to Nagasaki, and quickly tore a big gap in the small door. The local Japanese businessmen also became active and tried their best. The income from smuggling increases year by year.

It is estimated that the shogunate will soon find out that something is wrong, but by the time they find out that something is wrong, it should be too late.

Now the emperor has decided to invest money, and a trading company specialized in trading with Japan has been formed. As Kang Bushao said, as long as the money is in place, several warships will soon start construction at the same time.

These fifth-tier ships go to the seas of Europe to engage in battleship confrontation, and they are definitely not qualified to play.But there is no pressure to fight against the Japanese navy; robbing Dutch merchant ships and cutting off Dutch commercial routes are exactly what this kind of cruiser is best at.

Seeing that Liu Yu was watching with great interest, Kang didn't hesitate to know what Liu Yu was going to do, so he said, "Your Majesty, the Japanese navy can be defeated with only ten warships. Since your majesty asked how much money you want to invest, it seems Not much money?"

"Nowadays, a warship, plus a full set of cannons, the craftsmen usually issue silver taels, which is only 6 taels of silver. Now there are four ships, even if there are ten more, it is only 60 taels of silver. .”

Looking at the four warships training on the water, Liu Yu shook his head and said, "60 taels? Where is it enough? The navy has to pay, and a navy with 40 people needs to pay [-] million taels a year. Training, gunpowder... These are large sums of money."

"You don't think Xing Haijun only needs to build a few ships, right? It also needs a supporting school, which is the big deal."

"Those who learn the words of sages, you ask them, do they understand trigonometric functions and cannon firing angles? This has to be cultivated from an early age, a full set of practical schools."

"Depending on the three houses of this dynasty, the outer houses learn the basics of practical learning and literacy; the inner houses have to distinguish whether to continue their studies and enter the upper house, or graduate from the inner house to be a small official, artillery commander, etc."

"Let's put it this way, when the Jinghai Palace official school can have a thousand students every year, and the foreign house can have 1 students every year, it will be considered the beginning of the navy."

"I doubt that the imperial court will be willing to give up the money. Your majesty agreed happily and asked me to quote. Your majesty wants to let the household government pay the money, and the internal funds will not pay. This will cause big trouble. You say this Do you want to learn the words of a sage in school? If you don’t learn, will the imperial court pay this money? If you learn, how can you have time to learn those things that are useless for fighting at sea?”

"I reckon that 100 million taels a year will be enough. The navy is a bottomless pit when it comes to spending money. But if you want to win only Japan, it really doesn't cost much money. But it's a waste of money to do that. Changes in human life and government are not sustainable. Once the battle is defeated, we have to start from scratch.”

Kang Busha frowned and said, "Young Master, the requirements for the navy are too high. When the French came, they didn't see that their officers were all knowledgeable. Why do all the officers have to learn so well?"

Liu Yu said: "Because France has an Academy of Sciences, we don't. The number of people we want to compare is not simply compared with those who can read and understand geometry in the French Navy. Instead, the official school of Jinghai Palace in the future will be added to the French Military Academy and Academy of Sciences. Compare together."

"It's not that I insist that officers be literate, geometry, arithmetic, and physics, but to understand geometry, arithmetic, and physics. At this time, they can only be military officers and petty officials. If you learn well, you will be officials. You have to give them a way out of learning, right? Otherwise, there is no use in learning practically?"

(End of this chapter)