The Great Industrial Ming Dynasty Started from Beiping

During the one to two years of war, which was neither short nor long, the Ming Dynasty's economic development was not hindered. On the contrary, because the war was far away, the mainland was able to maintain a stable order. This favorable environment provides good conditions for the development of all walks of life, and many industries are showing a thriving scene.

The Pianjing system has been implemented in the Ming Dynasty for decades. The farmers of the Ming Dynasty worked hard on this land and have become the backbone of society. They are hard-working and simple, and have become role models for society.

The farmer lived a decent life and was a decent person.

But at the same time, more and more stringent land policies have caused a large number of small farmers to leave their land and flock to cities.

For these people, joining the Daming Industry Bureau is the most ideal career choice. The Ming Dynasty Industrial Bureau had the best pay, and it was backed by the imperial court. It provided a series of employment opportunities and became a place that many people yearned for.

In addition to the Ming Dynasty Industrial Bureau, large national commercial banks are also places that people yearn for. These commercial banks are large in scale and cover all parts of the country, providing people with a wealth of employment and business opportunities. Many people achieved financial independence and success by working in large business houses.

There are also small trading houses, and it is common to work in business shops to help relatives.

It is not uncommon for three generations of grandfather and grandson to work in one business firm. This is not only an economic phenomenon, but also a cultural phenomenon.

With the Ming Dynasty's victory in the war against Japan, people across the country were extremely happy.

Against this background, the United Ministry of Workers and Civilians began to issue notices to encourage people to move overseas and open up new territories. However, for many people, the traditional idea of ​​returning to their roots after falling leaves is deeply ingrained, and it is not easy to break this tradition.

Despite this, interests are eternal and are the most urgent needs of human nature. For those who are willing to take risks and pursue greater development space, moving overseas may be a good choice.

Through their own efforts and wisdom, they can create a new world overseas and realize their dreams and ambitions.

In fact, it means being able to divide the land, become the owner of the manor, and live a decent life.

As the saying goes, a fallen leaf returns to its roots.

Without the influence of external forces, traditions are difficult to break. Just these four words can make people want to return to their hometown when they die.

But interests are eternal and are the most urgent needs of human nature.

Moving overseas to become a manor owner is a blessing that has been enjoyed for generations. No one will use tradition to shout resistance. If at the beginning, people subconsciously resisted because of the birth of novel things, or even stayed away out of fear, today no one would Will still refuse.

Coupled with the list of numbers from the previous Workers' and Civilian Union Department, the first batch of 50,000 people has already begun to gather.

Mainly people from the southeast coast, and then gradually moved inward.

Although the population of the Ming Dynasty increased dramatically, the population on the land did not become denser. Except for those big cities, the population in the countryside was getting smaller and smaller. Although it lacked the vitality of the past, the people who stayed behind were still living a prosperous life.

There are more and more trees in the countryside, the grass is growing day by day, and wolves that have been rare in the mainland have begun to appear.

Wolves are smart animals and will not approach human villages. Since they appear, it means that there are more prey in the area, such as rabbits and pheasants. Sometimes people on the walk can encounter them.

Everything has pros and cons.

People occasionally catch some wild animals, but they are also threatened by wild animals. Although wild animals avoid the scope of human activities to the greatest extent, there are one or two accidents every year.

A society that has been comfortable for many years has become wary.

The children of military families in the interior developed a hunting style like the children of military families in the border areas. They regularly arranged for a group of people to patrol and hunt in the surrounding areas to drive away the wild beasts around the countryside.

The population in the countryside has decreased, while the population in the big cities has increased.

The city wall is no longer being built. The energy used to build the city wall is not as good as building a bus track. The people who build the city wall are enough to build a complete bus track. The population of the capital has exceeded two million.

According to the tradition stipulated by Zhu Yuanzhang, Jin Yiwei would compile the news from the wells of the capital into a book every day and send it to the palace, including commodity prices, so that the emperor could understand the public sentiment and economic situation of the people in the capital and make corresponding decisions.

The capital city with a population of two million is unprecedentedly huge.

Jinyiwei recruited many talents, including speed painters who had risen from the newspaper industry, who were able to draw the things in front of them quickly and realistically. After Zhu Gaochi and the cabinet ministers completed the meeting, they returned to the east wing.

Soon after, his son Zhu Zhanji also came over and saw his father looking at the brochure sent by Jin Yiwei.

Zhu Gaochi read some prices and folk news, and his eyes stayed on the last corner for the longest time. The guards naturally put the good news in big and close-up at the front, wishing they could fill the whole book, except for the bad news. Describe it in a few words and put it at the end.

Every year, many people come to the capital to find a living. At night, they set up a shed in the suburbs and live as a family in the shed. During the day, they go to the city to work. Over the past ten or twenty years, the suburbs have turned into urban areas.

The original urban area was naturally planned, but the suburbs were not planned. When the suburbs became urban areas, when planning came again, they found that there was no place to start.

Very few of these ordinary people can change their own class, but there are still many who have extra money in their hands through their own hard work and the development of the Ming Dynasty.

Some people have moved out of disorderly and impoverished shantytowns, some people have built a yard directly on the spot, and some people are still suffering from illness, accidents, too much food, too lazy to work, gambling addiction, being stolen, or being cheated, etc. Living in a shanty.

There are many shantytowns in the suburbs, very many. Not only are they difficult to manage, they are also prone to problems. With the development of the capital, no one expected that these places that were originally invisible to people would expand to the point where they can no longer be ignored. the point.

"My son thinks that although this matter is minor, it is actually related to the interests that the people care about most. The court should send senior officials to take charge of this matter to prevent the people below from doing good things and doing bad things."

Zhu Zhanji expressed his own opinions on his own initiative.

Zhu Gaochi did not answer.

Yes, even the emperor's grandson, who everyone praised and thought had the style of a prince, regarded this matter as a trivial matter. On the contrary, the officials who were transferred out of the capital occupied the official rooms and refused to leave, but no one in the court dared to speak out.

After all, it's the fifteenth century, isn't it? It's already done very well.

Zhu Gaochi comforted himself like this.

"Let the cabinet discuss it after you go back." Zhu Gaochi said calmly.

Zhu Zhanji was not surprised.

In the impression, his father never seemed to blame others for his remarks, so Zhu Zhanji dared to say anything in front of his father. Of course, he would not say anything that shouldn't be said. He still had some sense in this.

After a while, Zhu Gaochi opened the memorial from the Ministry of Punishment.

"During the Qin Dynasty, when others were in danger, those nearby would be punished if they did not help. There were also clear regulations on distance, limited to a hundred steps."

"The limit of a hundred steps is not the human heart, but the encouragement of the human heart. It is everyone for one and one for everyone."

"In the Tang Dynasty, there were regulations. If someone was doing bad things and someone nearby noticed it, he would be punished if he didn't stop him. When the criminal escaped, people on the road would also be punished if he didn't stop him."

"Recently, there was a case involving Cang Yuan's abduction and trafficking case on the street. The prosecutor argued that the murderer was not guilty because he was holding a sharp weapon." Zhu Gaochi thought of the thoughts of a scholar he had seen in his previous life.

In later generations, there was a famous foreign scholar named Joseph Needham. He believed that the reason why ancient China did not develop modern science was merchants, because ancient China was a bureaucratic society that emphasized agriculture and suppressed business.

For example, Arab science was four hundred years ahead of European science. Early Arab business was very developed, and Muhammad himself also praised merchants a lot.

But later, when Baghdad established its rule and the Caliph established his rule in Baghdad, he began a movement to organize the administrative institutions more fully in order to establish a more bureaucratic state.

This system was similar to that which had previously existed in Persia. Therefore, Islamic civilization started with commercial culture and ended with complete bureaucracy, so the decline of Arab society, especially science and technology, may be attributed to this.

In short, Needham probably believed that the emergence of modern science had a lot to do with the status of businessmen.

So even if Needham admits that before the fifteenth century, Europe benefited more from China technologically. Although in terms of technological creativity, ancient Chinese bureaucratic society was definitely not as good as European Renaissance society, it was far better than European feudal society or the slave society of the previous Hellenistic period.

But Needham also believed that ancient bureaucratic society was one of the reasons that hindered the emergence of modern science.

Then combined with the examples in the book "The Great Chinese Industrial Revolution", all the indicators that aim to improve the local people's economy are somewhat similar, so they have achieved great achievements.

But Zhu Gaochi also had some doubts.

Many scholars make arguments based on results, so it is very important to analyze what positioning or what to use as an anchor before beginning the article.

In Zhu Gaochi's eyes, the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty were completely different societies. Whether it was politics or civil society public opinion, they could never be equated. If the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty were regarded as the same, many aspects would not make sense. of.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty was undoubtedly a backward feudal bureaucratic society with many shortcomings, but this did not prevent a clearer understanding and definition.

It's like the British invented the steam engine for pumping water, but it was not spread and popularized in France and Italy. When more advanced steam engines appeared, France and Italy quickly copied them and popularized them.

Historically, the Qing Dynasty was too speculative in its attempt to conquer the world. After relying on cavalry and internal forces to achieve staged victory, Nurhachi died in battle at Ningyuan City. The reason for his death in battle was the strategy of "defending the city and using cannons" adopted by Yuan Chonghuan in Ningyuan City.

Therefore, the Manchus hated firearms from the bottom of their hearts.

But even though I hate it, I have to use it.

So the Manchu Qing Dynasty used craftsmen among the Ming Dynasty prisoners of war to make firearms.

As the Manchu Qing Dynasty was an emerging force, its organizational strength had to be smoother. Relying on the old slave's method of killing the poor first and then the rich, as well as the rich trophies from repeated victories, the Manchus took the lead in overcoming their own financial crisis, and their finances were better. In the Ming Dynasty, the quality of the firearms made by craftsmen for the Qing Dynasty was better than that of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, using firearms and cavalry, the Qing Dynasty was able to gallop outside the pass.

Even after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Jurchen population base was small. In order to prevent rebellions of various ethnic groups, this was what a minority dynasty had to do. Firearms are the top priority. Because of this weapon, a large number of Qing troops were killed. If firearms continue to develop, once the people revolt, whether the Jurchen Eight Banners cavalry can fight against it will become a major issue.

There is also the large-scale rise of "literary prison", where the thoughts of literati are imprisoned.

This does not mean that the top officials of the Ming Dynasty were very enlightened, but the Ming government's control over local areas was visible, so the literati were more free to write books.

The same is true for missionaries. As European missionaries who differed from Confucianism, they were only allowed to operate near the capital in the Qing Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, even if Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict, missionaries could still change their names and visit the country at will.

Different manifestations represent the interruption of communication between East and West.

Advanced weapons such as flintlocks could only become the royal hunting rifles in the hands of Emperor Kangxi. On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty discovered the opponent's advanced weapons in the middle of the year and had already copied them.

When the British warships arrived on the coast of the Qing Dynasty, China's artillery was still at the level of the late Ming Dynasty and even regressed.

Even if the West took the lead in developing natural science in the 15th and 16th centuries, why couldn't the East learn from it? Could it be that only others can learn from the East, and the East cannot learn from others? How can there be such a truth in the world?

So the biggest reason is blocking communication.

The Ming Dynasty did not block communication. Even if the royal family was stupid and wanted to block it, not even the emperor could do it based on the social customs and interpersonal relationships of the Ming Dynasty.

So looking back, Needham's view is controversial.

From Zhu Gaochi's perspective, the decline of Arab civilization began with the unification of the Timur Khanate, and the decline of Eastern civilization also began with the extreme conservatism of the Qing Dynasty.

The former have not been able to escape in later generations because they have been sinking for too long.

And Eastern civilization can rise quickly because there is the Ming Dynasty in the middle, which retains a trace of the vitality of Eastern civilization. However, the Ming Dynasty itself was not built on the Song Dynasty. It had too many congenital deficiencies and retained many long-standing disadvantages, such as those who inherited the Yuan Dynasty. Martyrdom system.

The rise and fall of things must have cause and effect. It is natural to have cause and effect, and it cannot appear out of thin air.

The Ming Dynasty has developed to this day, and Zhu Gaochi is thinking about how the Ming Dynasty can continue to lead civilization.

Some brilliant civilizations rely on productivity to develop.

Some civilizations thrive on plunder and destruction.

The glory of Eastern civilization has never been known through destruction.

A conservative and backward Ming Dynasty, no matter how powerful its territory was, was just a zombie in Zhu Gaochi's eyes.

The virtuous live there.

As small as an individual, he has to be a useful person to society.

Living happily, being a person who does not harm others, a person who is in harmony with his family, and a person who gets along with friendly neighbors is a person who is useful to society.

The same is true for Jiangshan Sheji.

The destruction of the Japanese country and the years of wars in the Ming Dynasty caused many Ming scholars to reflect on how the Ming Dynasty should guide the vassal system and shoulder the responsibility of the world.

Ming's merchant ships are getting further and further away.

Discovered many new lands and even crossed the ocean to the other side of the world.

More and more countries became vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. Under the temptation and explanations of the merchants, they signed the vassal system agreement with the Ming Dynasty with or without understanding, and the name of the Ming Dynasty spread to all parts of the world.

People all know about China.

What kind of country is this? (End of chapter)