Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1417, Wang Shouren's Industrial Theory
Thinking of this, Liu Jin couldn't help shaking his head.

Taxes are really important.

The taxation of the Ming Dynasty was very, very low, which can be regarded as the lowest in ancient and modern China and abroad.

But even with such a low tax, some people are still dissatisfied. It is best not to collect tax, which is the best.

However, without sufficient tax support, the imperial court would not be able to function well, and the most important aspect of army building was simply difficult to do.

The army of the Ming Dynasty was actually very powerful. Zhu Yuanzhang was able to conquer the world by relying on it, and Zhu Di was able to attack Mobei five times by relying on him. This all shows the strength of the Ming Dynasty army.

However, since the change of Tumubao, the army of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have pulled its backbone, and it was no longer the Ming army that swept the world.

There are many reasons for the rapid decline in the fighting power of the Ming army. Among them, there are civil servants commanding generals, and the generals are of low status, without the right to speak and lead, and laymen command experts.

But the real fundamental reason is that the funds and materials needed by the Ming army cannot be guaranteed. Under the military household system, at the beginning of the system, the military households still had enough military land to live a prosperous life, and their combat effectiveness was strong. ensure.

But as time goes by, the military fields of the military households are occupied by high-ranking legions and nobles, and the military households are getting worse and worse. When it is even a problem to eat, can you expect them to defend their homes and the country?
In fact, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, whether it was the Qi family army that wiped out the Japanese pirates or the Liaodong army, Guanning army, and Baigan soldiers who fought against the Tartars in the later period, they were all professional troops. It is no longer the original military household.

The original military households have long been corrupted and have no effect at all.

In addition, the imperial court had no money, so there was no way to do some public infrastructure construction, such as building dams for the Yellow River and dredging the Huaihe River.

The dams of the Yellow River have been in disrepair for a long time. Every year, there are floods or droughts. The Huaihe River is silted up.

These problems continued to emerge in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In addition, as mentioned above, rich gentry and businessmen did not pay taxes or grain, while poor people without money were burdened with heavier and heavier taxes. .

How could the Ming court survive?

Looking at the present, after Liu Jin's tax reform, the establishment of a tax office, and the introduction of commercial taxes, the tax collection of the imperial treasury has increased year by year, and now the annual tax revenue exceeds [-] million taels of silver.

Coupled with a large amount of taxes collected in kind such as grain, cloth, and tea, the Ming court suddenly had enough money to handle affairs.

Not only can the army be restructured, the compulsory military service system will be implemented, and a million-dollar off-duty army can be raised. The army is well-trained and well-equipped.

Moreover, the salaries and benefits of officials can be greatly increased, so that the Hongwu Dynasty will not starve to death of court officials, and it can also give those officials who think of honest officials confidence.

It is also possible to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction, build roads, railways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, ports, etc., and even carry out large-scale immigration every year.

Which one of these does not cost money?
If it hadn't been for the tax reform and the imperial treasury had money, it would have been impossible to carry out such major events.

It is also impossible to have the current prosperity and prosperity of the Hongzhi Dynasty.

Therefore, taxes must be collected.

In the hands of these big families, gentry, and big merchants, silver is just a bump buried in the cellar, and it has no effect at all, but in the hands of the court, it can play a big role in promoting the development of the entire Ming Empire.

"Old Wang, do you need any support from me?"

Liu Jin pondered and said.

"Of course, I need your full support."

"If it weren't for you to support me, I'm afraid I would have been taken down long ago."

Wang Shouren smiled and nodded solemnly.

It's not a joke, it's true.

Wang Shouren was in charge of the Governor Jiangnan's taxation in the Jiangnan area. He did not know how many people he had offended. Behind these people were officials of the imperial court.

The impeachment of Wang Shouren will not be much less than the impeachment of Liu Jin.

On several occasions, the censor of the imperial court impeached Wang Shouren at the court meeting, intending to get him out of the south of the Yangtze River or change his position as an official.

Lao Wang is not an ordinary person. These people in the Jiangnan area have come up with various ways to evade taxes, and Lao Wang will use various methods to force you to pay taxes.

Coupled with the fact that Lao Wang himself has a deep foundation, and there is a hen that lays golden eggs like Caiyun Textile Factory, it is really impenetrable to splash water or insert a knife, and there is no way to take Lao Wang.

Lao Wang can only be taken away by means of impeachment.

But these were all blocked by Liu Jin, and Emperor Hongzhi also liked Wang Shouren very much. He told Zhu Houzhao and explained to Zhu Houzhao before the operation for intestinal carbuncle. The only ministers who can govern the country are Liu Jin and Wang Shouren. Reuse Liu Jin and Wang Shouren in the future.

Therefore, the memorial to the impeachment of Wang Shouren was also ignored.

However, Wang Shouren encountered many constraints in the Jiangnan area, and the power of the tax governor was limited to tax collection, and he had no other powers.

"I know~"

Liu Jin looked at Wang Shouren, then nodded solemnly and said.

It just so happened that Feng Shiyong, the governor of Nanzhili, had gone home to grow sweet potatoes, and he was considering a candidate for this position. Now that he thought about it, Old Wang couldn't be more suitable.

With him as the chief envoy of Nanzhili and in charge of Nanzhili, Liu Jin felt much more at ease.

Wait for him to work in Nanzhili for a few years, and then he will be transferred back to the capital to be a minister or something. At that time, there will be more hard-working officials in the court.

Lao Wang's promotion speed is even faster than his father's. Now his father Wang Hua is only a third-rank official, and Lao Wang will surpass his father soon.

While chatting, the two also inspected the factory.

"This Jiangnan has always been the most affluent place in my Ming Dynasty. This acre of land may only need two or three taels of silver in other places, but in Jiangnan, even the worst acre of land will cost Seven or eight taels of silver."

"However, in recent years, Jiangnan has begun to lag behind Beizhili."

"I have been thinking hard about this question. Why can Beizhili surpass the Jiangnan area in a very short period of time? You must know that the prosperity of the Jiangnan area did not arise in a year or two, but after a long period of accumulation and development. Precipitated."

Wang Shouren and Liu Jin got along very well. Liu Jin, who came from later generations, has knowledge and insight that people of this era do not have. Every time he talks with Liu Jin, Wang Shouren always benefits a lot.

Therefore, when he was with Liu Jin, he always wanted to discuss many things with Liu Jin.

"Later, after I slowly researched, I realized that what really made Beizhili surpass the Jiangnan area was nothing else, but the factories and machines in front of me."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Jin raised his eyebrows slightly, motioning for Wang Shouren to continue.

"The traditional accumulation of wealth mainly relies on the production of land. One mu of land can only produce so much grain in a year. The reason why the Jiangnan area is rich is because the land in the Jiangnan area is fertile and the grain output is high. With the addition of silkworms, tea leaves, and salt boiled by the sea, the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River has long been established."

"However, the accumulation of this kind of wealth is very slow, and the wealth accumulated in one or ten years is not much. As far as my family is concerned, it can be regarded as a big family in Zhejiang. The accumulation of generations, the most wealth is actually It’s the little field inside the house.”

"However, factories and machinery are different. The production speed and efficiency of these machines are very high. In the same period of time, the production efficiency of one person is ten times, dozens of times, or even hundreds of times that of before."

"A factory usually only occupies a few or a dozen acres of land, but it can support hundreds of thousands of workers at the same time, and produce hundreds of thousands of taels to millions of taels of property a year."

"And it doesn't matter the season, rain or shine, such a terrifying speed of wealth creation is the reason why Beizhili can quickly surpass Jiangnan."

"The power and speed of a machine far exceed that of a human~"

"In the future, with the emergence of more and more powerful machines, the production efficiency of factories will be higher, and the speed of wealth creation will be faster, while the traditional wealth accumulation based on agriculture will be far behind and be eliminated. It gets bigger and bigger."

"Therefore, if a place wants to develop rapidly, the most important thing is to rely on factories, workshops and machines!"

Wang Shouren used himself as an example to illustrate the power of the machine and the reason why Beizhili quickly surpassed Jiangnan.

Hearing Wang Shouren's words, Liu Jin also laughed.

With the development of industrialization in later generations, the first country to complete industrialization can easily beat other feudal dynasties around the world. The strong productivity brought by industrialization has created wealth faster than ever before.

"The Jiangnan area still has its own advantages. It is densely populated, rich in people, rich in resources, and convenient in transportation. In the future, with the emergence of a large number of factories in the Jiangnan area, it is very likely that the Jiangnan area will soon surpass the North Straight once again. scribe."

"Songhu is developing extremely rapidly, and its momentum is very strong. It is very likely that it will become the next Tianjin of Ming Dynasty."

Wang Shouren asserted very positively that in Jiangnan, he saw the advantages and potential of Jiangnan, and he also clearly knew the problems that the Jiangnan area was facing now.

"Old Wang, you are right, industry is the foundation of a strong country!"

"The traditional agriculture-based society is actually very fragile, because agricultural output is very limited. There is only so much food produced in a year, and there is not much left after eating it. It is difficult to accumulate wealth. , It is very difficult, but the industry is completely different, it has unlimited possibilities!"

　This is the same as the accumulation of wealth for people. If you earn less, you will lose your food and drink all at once. Only when you earn more can you accumulate wealth. So young people, come on~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)