Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1112 Shangguo Mentality ([-])
Meng Songlu relayed the standard answer of his school.

Then he pointed to the newly completed canal from Funing to Nantong, and said: "Since ancient times, there has never been anyone who opened a river without harming the people."

"But this river can achieve four goals in one fell swoop, but it doesn't hurt the people. It all depends on the strength of the idle people."

Although it is said that their school's old-fashioned attempt to grant land has been embarrassed by the large-scale infrastructure construction in the past few years, Meng Songlu still praised this canal, admitting that it is a canal that basically does not harm the people.

Quan Zhe went north along the way, and he could also feel the benefits of this river.

This canal, which runs through the artificial channel of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, stretches for hundreds of miles, criss-crossing from north to south.

And every certain distance, there is an east-west branch.

Cut the entire Huaihe River into large and small squares.

These grids can be used for both irrigation and boat passage.From the perspective of industry and commerce, shipping and cotton irrigation are the benefits of this river, and it is also the reason why those people who reclaimed wasteland are willing to pay for repairs.

But the benefits outside of industry and commerce, after all, millions of people from northern Jiangsu to the Yangtze River have also benefited.

The river was built along the former Fangong embankment.

To the west is the river.

The excavated soil was piled up on the original Fangong embankment, forming a high embankment.

On the embankment, the second phase of the project will also use the embankment to build a road with a thick subgrade on Fangong embankment.

Although the coast continues to move eastward, Fangong Causeway is no longer as valuable as it used to be.

However, as a second line of defense against the tide, the new embankment, piled up against the canal's soil, still gave millions of people a great sense of security.

Even in the event of a high tide that occurs once in hundreds of years, the reinforced Fangong embankment piled up with canal soil can ensure that the tide stops here.

No matter how you look at it, building the canal is right.

Even if those capitals paid for the purpose of building the river, they did not consider livelihood issues such as secondary tides and internal water blocking.

But the result here is that it really benefits the people.

Moreover, this river can be regarded as a successful attempt after a series of reforms in Jiangsu, and it can be regarded as the real implementation of the reform of the "Conscript Law".

For this river, Meng Songlu was full of praise.

"Since the river is connected, the transportation of cotton, bean cake and wheat is not mentioned."

"Just say that the capital goes up the river, and both sides of the river can benefit from the industrial and commercial benefits that Xing Guogong said. The looms go to the countryside, and the cotton yarn goes to the countryside. The lives of the people on both sides of the river will be on par with those around Nantong in ten years."

"Even our village communes can benefit."

"but……"

Aside from the compliments, Meng Songlu naturally changed the topic.

"However, if you are like Qi, you can get the benefits of fish and salt; if Qin Ruo learns from Qi, you will have to wait for the sword."

"It is Mr. Xizhai who needs to talk about practical learning. Those who want to move and make meritorious deeds must not know astronomy, geography, public opinion, etc. Only by knowing this knowledge can you know what can be done and what can't be done."

"I say, if you want to get rich, first dig rivers and build water conservancy. This is the right way."

"However, there is a difference between idlers here and idlers there. Idlers can do this in Jiangsu, but it may not be feasible elsewhere."

"Brother Lu'an still wants to get the meaning, not learn the form."

"Learn the truth, know geography and economics, and only then can you save the world and the people."

"Shanghai is so big that it reaches to the yellow sand in the west and stretches to the sea in the east. The differences in each place are beyond the comparison of North Korea alone."

"The sage said, choose what is good and follow it, and change what is not good."

"Brother Yu Lu'an, when you go to the country to study, you should choose the one that suits you. What is good in Jiangsu is good in Jiangsu, and evil in other places. This is the so-called orange that grows in Huainan, and orange that grows in Huaibei. orange."

"The principle here is that you must know the local conditions, geography, and economics to distinguish what is usable and what is not."

"Another example is our view of idlers, which is naturally correct."

"However, for a politician, the difficulty lies in how to control the idlers without harming them, and how to prevent the idlers from becoming too numerous and jobless to cause chaos."

"Since you are a scholar-bureaucrat, you should rule the world peacefully."

"Idle people don't fall, and they shouldn't be punished violently. This is the truth."

"And how to keep the idlers from going wrong, and how to ensure the livelihood of the people. This is politics."

"Between theory and politics, it is necessary to rely on practical economics, otherwise it is empty talk."

Quan Zhe believed it deeply, felt enlightened, and thanked him repeatedly.

What Meng Songlu said was clear enough.

The group of idlers needs to be rectified, just like businessmen, they also need to be rectified.

But the rectification of the name does not mean that it is reasonable to annex the land and create idlers indefinitely; thus it is reasonable to introduce land annexation.

In other words, if the businessman is reasonable, then it can be pushed out, regardless of anything, and it is reasonable for the businessman to lend usury, annex land, and hoard land.

This is the problem that real scholar-bureaucrats have to face.

Don't blindly think that it's wrong for idlers to appear.

But you can't think that if idlers appear right, you don't care about anything.

However, no matter what, Liu Yu's actions gave these people a new way of thinking.

If it's not a means of suppression, then anyone will.

Rather, through various strange reforms, the problem of buying existing cultivated land as a commercial investment in Jiangsu Province has been curbed, and the problem of "continuing" land mergers has been alleviated to a certain extent.

In hindsight, it worked.

But before the fact, it is difficult to see clearly.

For example, the issue of land mergers around Nantong has not been resolved, but the trend of continued mergers has been curbed.

It was solved by a series of policies including the taxation system, looms going to the countryside, foreign expansion, and the development of the two major commodity grain bases in Northeast and Southeast Asia.

The previous merger issue has not been resolved.A large number of tenants quit the lease and became idlers.

The continuous merger problem has been curbed, relying on the development of the textile industry, the disaster resistance ability of the self-cultivating farmers has been improved, and the situation of selling land when there is a famine will not appear.

At the same time, the reduction in food prices has reduced the profits of the traditional rent-collecting system; and the stability of self-cultivating farmers has promoted the rise in land prices.

Buying land and then relying on land rent, this purely commercial capital operation mode, has also been alleviated to a certain extent.

It is better to invest in newly cultivated land, plantations, industry and commerce than to invest in the profits from buying existing cultivated land and collecting rents.

In turn, some old-fashioned landlords were forced to switch from rent in kind to rent in money.

However, the currency rent makes the tenant farmers unable to support themselves, and every year when the grain comes out, there will be a wave of grain price cuts, so they can only quit the tenant and run away—for example, one stone of rice and one tael of silver, rented in kind, one stone of rice It is one and a half taels of silver; now that the price of grain is suppressed, the landlord wants to guarantee the original income, so he can only choose currency rent, otherwise he can only sell one tael of silver for a stone of rice collected, but the problem is that the things that the tenant farmers grow themselves have to be sold. You can only get money when you go out. Apart from quitting the tenant and running away, what else is there to do?
If you only look at one of these reforms, you won't feel any impact.

But when these reforms were mixed together, the effect gradually appeared.

So, is there any truth in this that can be passed on, learned, and summarized?

Meng Songlu and others felt that there must be.It is precisely by virtue of this principle that reforms can be guided.

But at the same time, because they began to understand the truth of this, they became more determined to insist on trying.

Because, after understanding the reason behind this, one will come to a conclusion: this model cannot be used in the whole world.Used all over the world, the result is a big uprising that shakes the ground.

Jiangsu's policy may be translated to Henan and Shaanxi.

However, Jiangsu's ports, Yangtze River canal, vertical and horizontal water network canals, a large amount of capital enriched including the salt industry, and things that can be easily immigrated to the Northeast and Southeast Asia, etc., cannot be translated to Henan and Shaanxi.

Jiangsu's reform, how much food did it eat to change it to this?With the success of the reform, and the review after Cheng Tingzuo, Meng Songlu and others accepted some new ideas, they found that it was too amazing.

It does not count the convenient conditions for immigrants from the Kanto and Southeast Asia, nor the special climate, ports, water transportation, etc., but only the capital resources invested.

Seventy percent of the profits from Fujian's tea leaves are kept in southern Jiangsu.

The salt industry in the five provinces, except for the taxation of the imperial court, all profits stayed in southern Jiangsu.

[-]% of the profits from Jiangxi's porcelain exports are kept in southern Jiangsu.

Most of the soybeans in Kanto were eaten by the land in northern Jiangsu.

Most of the profits of the rest, such as brass, rhubarb, zinc alloy, spice trade, etc., also stayed in southern Jiangsu.

After the destruction of Yangzhou, the salt industry profits and water transportation wealth accumulated for hundreds of years were also enriched in southern Jiangsu.

And these profits were led by Liu Yu to invest in the Northeast, Southeast Asia and other places, using various means to obtain taxes for infrastructure construction.

These conditions are also impossible elsewhere.

All these made their attempts, even if they failed, even if they were ridiculed by Liu Yu, they still persisted.

Because they firmly believe that Liu Yu's method cannot rule the world.

Liu Yu did not solve the land conflict at all in southern Jiangsu, but solved the tenants who "created problems".

Can I learn from other places?

In theory, it can be learned, but the reality is that tenants who solve the manufacturing problem instead of the land problem will let Dashun witness with their own eyes how their ancestors won the world.

This is Meng Songlu's idea of ​​guiding Quan Zheshen to see these rich places under the mentality of going to the country when facing Quan Zheshen.

There is a way to enrich the country in Shangguo. If you can’t find the way, you can come to Shangguo to find it instead of looking outside.

What you see in your eyes is the future you can pursue, and it is also what we think the future of the world will look like.

But how to reach this future and the situation you are facing cannot be solved by Duke Xingguo's means. It still depends on the attempts and constructions of us people.

In the end, it is necessary for the world to be able to eat dogs and eat people, just like here.

The future is here.

But between reality and the future, there is still the most difficult thing to do.

How to do it, we will find a way, an ultimate solution to common problems in the same culture.

Finding a way for the vassals is also the duty of Confucian scholars in their home country under the crisis of prosperity.

This is not to save the vassals, but to prove that Confucianism is universally applicable, at least within the world.

This is the theoretical crisis that Confucianism urgently needs to solve after Dashun started its foreign exchanges. The real great Confucians will do this, because now there is no need for them to save the country, to protect the world, or even to engage in practical studies. They have to do something .

At the same time, some great Confucians also understand that what can attract vassals is prosperity, wealth and power, and it is the cornerstone of scriptures to maintain the vassals' centripetal relationship.

Especially in the face of a vassal Confucian student whose knowledge he inherited was obviously influenced by Western religion, he had to rely on wealth and prosperity to win his heart.The theory of the three soul rings is not a practical study, but a western study. This group of people who have experienced the Dashun West and the real division are very clear.

(End of this chapter)