Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 652 New Changes in the Industry of the Ming Empire
Soon, Zhu Youjian entered the territory of Nanjing, and taking a steam locomotive was undoubtedly more stable and comfortable than a horse-drawn carriage.

In Zhu Youjian's special train, there is also his own imperial bed, which does not affect his peaceful sleep.

When Zhu Youjian woke up, he saw the railroad tracks covered by the red wall spreading into the city gate, and he couldn't help but feel very comfortable for a moment.

This is the first time he has returned to Nanjing City after more than ten years, but the Nanjing City at this time is different from the Nanjing City when he left.

Undoubtedly, there are more citizens in the city. There are endless residential areas inside and outside the city, and there are factories lined with chimneys and blast furnaces in the distance. The streets are more crowded than before, and the sky in the city seems to be a little gray. It is now a sunny day.

What Zhu Youjian had to admit was that with the development of Ming industry, urban pollution and ecological problems began to become more acute problems.

However, industrial development will inevitably be accompanied by industrial pollution, which is an unavoidable problem, especially in an era when industrial technology is not advanced enough.

Fortunately, the current Ming Dynasty has not yet invented plastics, and industrial pollution is still caused by exhaust gas and waste residues, as well as a small amount of heavy metal pollution.

But now Zhu Youjian has transferred many polluting non-precision technology processing companies in the empire to the Batavia area and the Lelang area.

Even the pollutants produced in the country will be transported to the colonial areas controlled by Ming Dynasty by special transportation companies.

However, the transfer of industrial areas has just started, so the current Nanjing City is still unavoidable and still has environmental pollution, but Zhu Youjian believes that it will improve a lot in a few years.

Now the hottest thing in the empire is the steel factory.

Zhu Youjian did not restrict the participation of private capital in all walks of life. Rao, the construction and operation of railways are all involving private capital. Except for a few companies such as Huangzhuang, Zhu Youjian's royal capital only invests in companies in all walks of life. Participate without controlling or creating internal company bureaucracy.

And iron and steel is also an industry that all businessmen can participate in, because the foundation of industrial development is the iron and steel industry. Whether it is railway construction, weapon manufacturing, transportation construction, or even house construction and bridge construction, steel is inseparable. Therefore, the demand for steel remains the same. It remains high, and more and more companies are involved in the manufacture of steel.

There are many iron and steel companies, and the competitiveness is also strong. In the past, only the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau affiliated to the Daming Ordnance Institute was responsible for the research and development of iron and steel technology, but now there are no less than a hundred institutions involved in the research and development of iron and steel technology. In order to compete for orders for iron and steel materials such as railway construction and guns , Steel companies are painstaking.

Zhu Youjian did not allow officials to manage railway construction and weapon manufacturing, but also allowed private capital to participate. Whoever wants to build a section of railway can invest in it and be responsible for its operation. Whoever wants to develop and produce firearms can ask the imperial court for approval to produce and The research and development of firearms can only be purchased by the Ministry of War, and the sale must first be reported to the court for approval.

Therefore, the commodity economy of Ming Dynasty is relatively little controlled by bureaucratic capital, and the competition in the whole market is relatively benign. Steel companies who want to invest in a certain section of railway can only obtain cooperation opportunities through technology and price advantages. , but they cannot obtain opportunities for cooperation through personal relationships in the officialdom.

Of course, at present, the empire is still dominated by the royal capital controlled by Zhu Youjian, and even the wealth is still transparent. People can know how much property their emperor has, but no one disputes this, because everyone knows the property of today It is not obtained by selling officials and nobles, nor is it obtained by occupying the imperial grain and state taxes, but only through investment.

Like all people in the empire, this is legally owned property, and Ming Dynasty has clearly stipulated that the government has the obligation to protect private property.

It is precisely because Zhu Youjian did not allow royal capital and bureaucratic capital to monopolize all industries, so that the investment cost of the Ming court is still not very high, and the number of officials is still the same as before, and there is no way to beat the bones of the people through commercial intervention.

There may be officials who invest by themselves, but they only participate in the commodity economy as businessmen. Just like the emperor Zhu Youjian, he cannot use the army to forcibly intervene because of a business failure of his royal capital.

Even if he can do this, he will be counterattacked by a huge capital group. He does not guarantee that there will be no military participation from the Grand Marshal's Office system, and this is especially true for other officials. Once the competition is forcibly intervened by using public power, it will be boycotted by business groups or chambers of commerce.

But in more cases, the officials have been controlled by the capital group. The only thing the officials of Ming Dynasty can do now is to obey the command of the capital group and exercise their own administrative power. Even the chief assistant of the cabinet is more to protect the capital group. interests, and the emperor Zhu Youjian is the biggest capitalist.

The Daming Ordnance Institute no longer exists. Zhu Youjian split the Daming Ordnance Institute five years ago. With the success of the industrial construction of the empire, it is no longer necessary for the government to lead the industrial construction. It was handed over to the market, but the sales of most of the industrial products of the former Ordnance Institute are still controlled by the government, after all, they are all weapons of mass destruction.

Among them, the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau of Daming Ordnance Institute has now become a private enterprise with Song Yingxing as the largest shareholder. Zhu Youjian's Royal Capital also holds shares, and other employees of the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau also hold shares at the beginning.

This iron and steel smelting bureau is still the largest iron and steel factory in Daming, but it failed in the latest bidding for the railway track from Songjiang to Nanjing, and it lost to the Daming Qingfeng Iron and Steel Factory founded by a few graduates of the Daming Industrial School.

Naturally, Zhu Youjian will not ask why it failed. As long as the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau loses money, he will withdraw capital and invest in Qingfeng Iron and Steel without hesitation.

Although Song Yingxing had been a cabinet minister and was still a leading figure in the academic circle, he could not force the railway company investing in the Songjiang-Nanjing section to choose their steel.

The reason for its failure was that Song Yingxing was old, and the improvement of steel production technology could not keep up with the speed of young people. When the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau was still making steel with ordinary open hearth furnaces, Qingfeng Iron and Steel had already started to use pure oxygen open hearth steelmaking methods. .

Daming has already implemented the patent system and intellectual property protection law. Qingfeng Iron and Steel applied for a patent, which not only made it use the new iron and steel technology to take away the market of the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau, but also made a lot of money because of it. After all, other iron and steel companies including iron and steel smelting If the bureau wants to keep the market, it has to update the latest technology and buy its patents.

Naturally, the Bureau of Iron and Steel Smelting would not stop there, relying on its own strong financial resources, and spent a lot of money to poach the R&D personnel of Qingfeng Iron and Steel.

Zhu Youjian saw all these in the newspaper. He appreciated this kind of healthy competition and was also happy about it. After all, Daming can now actively improve his industrial technology without his intervention.

(End of this chapter)