Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 7 on Production

Zhu Yuan, in his previous life, never publicly mentioned these thoughts related to the fundamentals of social economy.

That's the same sentence, it's not pleasant.

This time, the mentality of the two lives has changed unconsciously, and in order to prove one's worth and to live better in the Hongwu Dynasty, the relevant conclusions do not need to be buried in the bottom of my heart.

Inside the hall.

After Zhu Yuan finished speaking, he waited for Zhu Yuanzhang to savor it for a while, and then pointed to the scroll on the wall: "His Royal Highness looks at this picture, and if the villain wants to use it as a reference, let's say the word 'production' first."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who frowned and thought, let go of his doubts for a while, and then turned around.

Zhu Yuandao: "Humans are the primates of all things. The biggest difference between us and birds and beasts lies in production. Animals can only eat what is already in the world, but humans can grow food, vegetables and fruits independently, and raise chickens, pigs, cattle and sheep. This is called production. also."

Having said that, Zhu Yuan raised his hand and drew along the curve on the map: "Please look, Your Highness, although this curve has been up and down for thousands of years, it is generally upward, why?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it for a while, but couldn't figure it out, so he returned the original words: "Why?"

Zhu Yuan said: "Here, the villain must first introduce a few new words, namely 'producer', 'productivity' and 'means of production'."

In fact, there is also a concept of 'relationship of production'.

However, Zhu Yuan felt that it would be better not to talk about it for the time being. It is difficult and impossible to explain the fact that productivity determines the relationship of production in this day and age.

After speaking, before Zhu Yuanzhang asked questions, Zhu Yuan began to explain: "The so-called 'producers' are the easiest to understand, and they are hundreds of millions of people. 'Productivity' can be interpreted as the ability of the people to produce the fruits of labor in a certain period of time. For example, if one person plows ten mu of land a year, he will get twenty stones of rice."

Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Zhu Yuan's explanation, and then looked at the scrolls on the wall, and gradually realized.

Zhu Yuan then continued: "The support of 'productivity' is 'means of production' besides 'producers'. 'Means of production' can be interpreted as the 'resources' and 'tools' required by 'producers' to engage in production activities." ', there is no obvious distinction between the two, so they are collectively referred to as 'materials', and 'production materials' specifically include land, water, seeds, farm tools, etc. History can be divided into three eras."

Subconsciously, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted someone to record the whole process, and asked Zhu Yuan's words: "Which three eras?"

Zhu Yuan raised his hand again and said: "Before the Xia and Shang Dynasties, the ancestors mainly used stone tools to work and hunt. This is the "Stone Age". A meter may be less than two stones, so the population of China at that time was only a few million."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted: "Young scholar, how do you know what happened thousands of years ago?"

Zhu Yuan smiled and said: "There are two evidences. First, it comes from a school of archaeology. If His Highness sends people to search the world, they can find stone tools used by the ancestors in many ancient ruins to prove the villain's words. Second, China has been inherited for thousands of years, and today is what it is today. Outside of China, there are countless barbaric people who have accumulated wisdom in China. They still use stones as knives and bones as sticks, and slash-and-burn cultivation stops in the Stone Age. Such as the current Nanyang Many island tribes above are in such a state, if His Highness wants to know more, you only need to find one or two people who have traveled overseas, and you will know.”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, and motioned, "Go on."

Zhu Yuan scratched the picture scroll on the wall again, and said: "From the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties to the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, metal smelting technology appeared, but copper was the mainstay, and the ancestors gradually began to use bronze utensils, and the productivity increased rapidly. Ten mu of land may yield more than five stones of rice, and the population thus increased to a maximum of 3000 million during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, which is the 'Bronze Age'."

When Zhu Yuan said this, Zhu Yuanzhang had already expected after the Han Dynasty.

Zhu Yuan also quickly revealed the answer: "Since the Han Dynasty, ironware began to flourish. Compared with bronze ware, ironware is stronger and sharper, and productivity has increased significantly again, entering the 'Iron Age' until now."

Zhu Yuanzhang is a very smart person, he knows how to infer other things from one instance, followed Zhu Yuan's thinking until he browsed to the falling curve at the end of the scroll, and suddenly felt something.

Since there are Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age, after these three ages, will there be a new era in which productivity is greatly improved again?

However, Zhu Yuanzhang's thinking was limited by the times. Steel was already the hardest metal he could think of. He didn't think there was anything else that could replace iron.

That being the case, it seems, there is no more then.

Although he couldn't figure it out, and even secretly gave himself an answer, Zhu Yuanzhang was about to ask a question, but just as he was about to speak, Zhu Yuan said, "Perhaps your Highness is wondering whether there will be a new era after these three eras?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Exactly."

Zhu Yuan cupped his hands again and said, "Your Highness, please forgive me for not being able to say it now, we still have to wait three years later."

Three years, another three years!
Suddenly, some small flames sprang from the bottom of Zhu Yuanzhang's heart. However, thinking of his previous promise and the "unprecedented prosperity in a thousand years" that Zhu Yuan said, he still pressed down, just muttering in his heart: Boy, you'd better give me three years later. A satisfactory answer, otherwise, there are some good-looking ones!
Zhu Yuan couldn't see Zhu Yuanzhang's face, but he could feel the change of Lao Zhu's mood. In order to avoid the volcanic eruption, he quickly diverted his attention: "His Royal Highness, using tools and materials as a division of time is just a symbolic concept, and it is more complicated in reality. Many, just like tools are just one type of the concept of 'production means'. Next, let Rong Xiaoren take specific dynasties as an example to make a more detailed analysis."

The words were a little fast, and Zhu Yuan unknowingly began to speak more vernacular.

Some of them don't know if there are new words in this era, and they don't care about so many. Zhu Yuan even felt that it would be better if Lao Zhu didn't understand them.

It can avoid the butterfly effect.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang nodding, Zhu Yuan gestured to the picture scroll on the wall again: "The Qin Dynasty, the first unified dynasty in China, the reason why Qin was able to unify the six countries and dominate the world is because of the elite soldiers of Qin. From the perspective of a villain, the key to Qin's productivity increase is the significant increase. Does Your Highness know the story of Zheng Guoqu?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Han's hydraulic engineer Zheng Guo was ordered to go to Qin to lobby, offering Jingshui to Luo's plan to exhaust Qin, Qin Wang agreed, and in the next ten years, Qin was unable to move eastward. Zheng Guo was able to form a canal, so Guanzhong became a fertile field, and Qin became prosperous and strong. Died and joined the princes."

Zhu Yuan was a little surprised when Zhu Yuanzhang uttered this allusion fluently like reciting it, and then he was suddenly stunned.

Zhu Yuanzhang is a person who likes to read history very much.

The allusion of Qin Xiuzheng Guoqu coincides with Zhu Yuanzhang's nine-character strategy of "building walls high, accumulating grain widely, and proclaiming king slowly" to a certain extent.After all, it’s all about accumulation.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuan resisted the urge to flatter, knowing that Lao Zhu would not like people around him to do so, so he said: "Zheng Guoqu was recorded in the annals of history because of exhausting Qin's plan and self-defeating, but Zheng Guoqu was just one of them. Dujiangyan and Lingqu were also successively built, making Guanzhong, Sichuan and Shu all become fertile lands, enshrining millions of Qin soldiers, and the first emperor was able to unify the world. The foundation of all this is precisely these three major water conservancy projects as an important The substantial improvement of Qin's "productivity" by the means of production made Qin's national power far superior to other countries at that time. Without this premise, millions of Qin soldiers would not leave Tongguan, or they would return empty and hungry."

Zhu Yuanzhang keenly noticed that various new words such as "production" or "distribution" began to appear in Zhu Yuan's discourse, such as the word "keyword" just now, such as the word "water conservancy" which seems to be quite imposing when the two words are combined. Engineering', fortunately, these can be understood only literally, and there is no interruption.

Zhu Yuan also continued on his own: "Water conservancy projects are still only one of the important means of production to promote the development of productivity. By the time of Han Dynasty, iron smelting technology became more and more mature, and iron tools that appeared in a small amount during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods began to be used on a large scale. Rakes, plows, columbine and other agricultural tools that use iron parts have greatly improved farming efficiency. This fundamental change in the means of production has promoted the further development of productivity. This has enabled the land of China to produce more, and the population has therefore increased at the peak of the Han Dynasty. to 6000 million. Later, from the Jin Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, each dynasty continued to dig more water conservancy projects, the labor tools became more diverse, and the methods of the imperial court to encourage production were also improved. In addition, more high-quality and diverse crops were introduced from the Western Regions or Southeast Asia. , Productivity continued to increase, so that in the Song Dynasty, the total population of all countries in the Central Plains reached 5000 million."

"Afterwards, Mongolia entered the Central Plains, and the peak population was only 9000 million. This is because the Mongolian state is too short. Another important reason is that Mongolia rejects our Chinese culture, including various advanced production methods, which led to a large increase in the productivity of the Central Plains. Reduce. Otherwise, with the vast territory of Mongolia, if we adopt China’s advanced production methods to support the 300 million people in the Song Dynasty, the country will last for [-] years, which is more than enough, and it will definitely not reach the current situation.”

"To sum up, in any dynasty, productivity determines the upper limit of its population, such as the scrolls on the wall. Therefore, the court must also use all available means to continuously improve production materials and continuously increase productivity. Otherwise, if one day, If the productive forces cannot support the livelihood of the people, the world will be in chaos, and a change of dynasty is inevitable."

"The above is the so-called 'production' of His Majesty that the villain wants to describe."

After Zhu Yuan finished his long speech, Zhu Yuanzhang began to regret not being able to write down the whole process, while nodding frequently. The doubts brought about by looking at the picture scroll in front of him for more than ten days in the past, after Zhu Yuan's explanation, had already Most of it was resolved, and there was even some joy in seeing the future of the Zhu dynasty in his expression.

In his heart, Zhu Yuanzhang has quietly established Zhu Yuan's position.

The talent of Zaisuke.

Moreover, at this young scholar's age, let alone himself, even in the future... at least, he will be able to assist him in the Zhu Dynasty for fifty years. In 50 years, it may really be possible to create a prosperous age that has not been seen in a thousand years, so that the Zhu family will continue to live forever.

Zhu Yuanzhang even had some sense of fate.

His name is Zhu Yuanzhang, and this little scholar is called Zhu Yuan, isn't it God's will!

(End of this chapter)