Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1386, Intensified

Looking at the chaotic scene in front of him, Liu Jin fell into deep thought.

The seemingly simple conflict between Confucian students and new students is actually a confrontation between old and new ideas, and this is just the beginning. It can be foreseen that in the long future, the confrontation between old and new ideas and forces will continue. It will continue to be staged, and it will sweep the entire Ming Dynasty and even the entire earth.

"Ah~"

Sighing, Liu Jin looked helpless.

Although the time traveler has greatly changed the history and destiny of Daming through his own efforts, he is not a god after all, and cannot change everything. Some things cannot be changed, and are extremely unavoidable.

The trend of historical development, under the rolling wheels, no one can change.

The development of capitalism and colonialism and the rise of new learning made Ming Dynasty prosperous and powerful, and embarked on a path completely different from the history.

However, what those European countries have to go through in history, I am afraid that Ming Dynasty cannot avoid it.

Now it is just a confrontation between old and new learning. In the future, it will inevitably rise to a collision between old and new ideas and forces. In the future, it may even become a collision between imperial power and capital.

Once the beast of capital grows stronger, it will expand rapidly, and the traditional feudal system will also greatly restrict and hinder its development. It will inevitably get rid of this restraint and restriction, break the old system, Establish a new capitalist system that can better adapt to its own development,
Liu Jin was powerless to change all of this, not to mention that the monster of capital was supported by Liu Jin. Liu Jin himself was one of the biggest capitalists in the Ming Empire.

Now Liu Jin has also felt the heavy constraints and limitations of the traditional feudal system on the capitalist system, that is, the Ming Empire is large enough, has a large enough population, vast resources and a huge market.

If it is placed on the European side, where they are all small countries and few people, the obstacles of the feudal system will appear extremely powerful.

To give a very simple example, in England in history, when capitalism was developing rapidly and sprouting, factories required a large number of workers and a large amount of raw material wool.

However, most people in England are still farmers. They farm in the countryside, so the capitalists need to drive these farmers into the city to work in factories, and at the same time use the land cultivated by farmers to graze sheep. More raw material wool can be obtained.

However, England's original feudal system did not allow such a thing to happen. The traditional feudal lords needed farmers to cultivate the land for themselves so that they could obtain rent.

The contradictions between the two naturally became more and more irreconcilable, and the capitalist movement naturally appeared, overthrowing the original feudal system and establishing the capitalist system.

But the situation on Daming's side is different.

Daming itself has a large population, with a huge population of [-] million. In the original traditional two capitals and thirteen provinces, almost every place has more people and less land.

Factories can easily recruit the manpower they need, because there are enough manpower that can be separated from traditional agricultural production.

The second is about raw materials. Daming has a vast territory. Taking cotton as an example, even if some cotton is planted casually, the factory can obtain enough raw materials.

Not to mention the market, the huge population is the biggest market.

All of this makes the development of capitalism in Ming Dynasty relatively easier than that in Europe. When it has not developed to a certain level, there is no need for a thorough confrontation with traditional feudal forces.

However, after these years of development, Ming's capitalism has also developed to a certain level, coupled with the rapid development of overseas colonization, it has also brought the development of capitalism to the top of the feudal system.

If it develops further down, it will inevitably be restricted and hindered by the traditional feudal system.

Just like in front of you.

The development of capitalism requires more emancipation of the mind and productivity, improvement of understanding of nature, research and mastery of more advanced production technologies, and it requires the rapid development of new learning.

However, the imperial court of the Ming Dynasty was controlled by traditional Confucianism. These Confucian scholars thought that these things were ingenious tricks, and they were third-rate things, which were not worth mentioning at all.

It's fine if you don't learn it yourself, and even restrict other people from learning it, restrict the development of new learning, and want to beat new learning to death, so that they can keep their Confucian status and the status of traditional scholars.

This is just one aspect.

There are also businessmen who have a low status, who work hard in factories, have tens of thousands of workers, and earn millions of taels of silver every year. His status is not even as good as a scholar, and there are even many legal regulations for businessmen .

This will obviously hinder the development of capitalism. Although capitalists and businessmen are not the same, most capitalists are also derived from businessmen.

So far in Daming, factory owners, workshop owners, etc. are all treated as businessmen.

"Da Ming's capital development is too fast."

"Innately, it is not comparable to the capital of those small countries in Europe."

Liu Jin smiled wryly, and sighed in his heart, not knowing whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Ignoring the students who were confronting at the school gate, Liu Jin returned to his mansion.

However, the matter did not calm down like this, when the morning court the next day.

"Your Majesty, the minister has a memorandum~"

Xu Heng, the highest official of the Guozijian, stood up to offer wine to the Imperial Academy. He was from the fourth grade and belonged to the Ministry of Rites.

"Your Majesty, new learning has sprung up in recent years. There are more and more schools and students taught, and the trend of new learning is getting stronger. Originally, teaching and educating people is a good thing, and it should be encouraged and supported."

"However, the methods taught by the new school are full of ingenious tricks. There is no Confucian orthodox method, and there is no way to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. The clever tricks are all ways to teach people to be opportunistic and lazy. If things go on like this, Then the universe is turned upside down, the principles are always chaotic, the society is in turmoil, and the country and mountains are precarious."

"Therefore, Your Majesty, please strictly prohibit the establishment of new schools, close all new schools, clean up the source, protect our Confucian righteousness, protect our country, and make our people respect ethics and know how to be diligent and thrifty."

Xu Heng was already very old, and when he said this, his beard couldn't help shaking, shaking, and at the same time he looked extremely angry, as if the new learning was his life and death enemy, and if he didn't give the new learning to the fore. If it is closed, he will not let it go.

Hearing Xu Heng's words, the officials who were preparing to go home in the morning immediately cheered up, one by one.

But Liu Jin frowned at this moment.

It's time to come.

In the end, the trouble came to the top of the court, and these people of Confucianism were no longer satisfied with making trouble at the school gate of Xinxue.

After all, if they make trouble at the school gate, they won't get any advantage. There will be some conflicts between the two sides. How can these helpless Confucian scholars be the opponents of the new students who are numerous and powerful.

But the Confucianists control the court after all, they can easily convey their ideas to the court, and then intend to use the powerful power of the state machine to completely close the new learning.

It's just that this kind of thinking is too simple and naive.

Is his interest in new learning limited to the new school?

What it represents is emerging capitalism, a new force.

Although no new students became officials above the court, there were capitalists above the court, the highest emperor Hongzhi, the military generals below, and the officials who set up factories. These are all capitalists.

This is also the result of Liu Jin's long-term layout. The collision between the old and the new is inevitable, but the key is to tie more people to his own interests.

"Your Majesty, I think what Xu Jijiu said is true."

"What Xinxue learns are all ingenious tricks, not the right way. They are all ways to teach people to opportunistically. The same is true for the machines they research and so on."

"I, the people of the Ming Dynasty, used to work at sunrise and rest at sunset, farming, studying and passing on family traditions. However, with the rise of new learning, people rushed to take advantage of the tricks and didn't think about hard work. There are a large number of gentry and scholarly families who live in poverty because no one cultivates the fertile land, and cannot concentrate on studying the teachings of Confucius and Mencius."

"If things go on like this, the right way will wither, the crooked way will rise, the country will fail, and the country will be in turmoil!"

As soon as Xu Heng's words fell, another official stood up to express his support.

This man is called Li Renjie, also an old Hanlin from the Hanlin Academy. He is already seventy years old, with gray hair and beard, but he speaks in a correct manner when he speaks.

The words also revealed a problem that Daming is facing now, that is, with more and more factories, a large number of people are pouring into the cities from the countryside, from farmers to factories, coupled with the vigorous overseas immigration, As for the traditional two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty, many places are the same as those in Beizhili. No one is going to farm land for those landlords and gentry anymore, and the fertile land has been left barren.

For those traditional landlords and gentry, this meaningless is a heavy blow. In the past, they relied on the land they controlled and did not have to do anything.

But now, when there is no one to farm for them, the good land is barren, and the rent cannot be received. At the same time, a large amount of overseas land is cultivated and planted, resulting in a continuous decline in food prices.

The blow to these traditional landlords and gentry is undoubtedly the biggest. They cannot receive rent, the land is worthless, and the food is also worthless. The foundation of their livelihood is destroyed, and life suddenly becomes impoverished.

Naturally, these landlords and gentry are actually the most opposed to capitalism.

　Please give me some advice, should we directly come to the big capitalist movement in the future, or should we take it slow?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)