1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 418 Mechanisms
In the long history, human beings have gradually transitioned from the ignorant and backward primitive civilization in the early days to the farming civilization. With the advancement of the industrial revolution, some countries will enter the industrial civilization, and then set off a magnificent and bloody and cruel war. The colonial expansion movement crazily plundered and suppressed those countries and regions that were still in the agricultural civilization, and at the same time accumulated sufficient capital for their own industrial development and opened up a vast market.

In the age of traditional farming, there were few incentives to innovate.The state's government and aristocratic landowning class monopolize many of their society's resources, and as such, tend to prefer traditional ways of doing things to novel ones.The latter is unlikely to work and may even have unintended consequences.Generally speaking, businessmen and craftsmen are also relatively conservative. In an era without patent law protection, those who strive to invent and create usually find that their own innovations will be imitated by others immediately, or suppressed by powerful handicraft guilds. .In this environment, there is little value in investing in new technology.

The slow pace of technological change in the agricultural age itself stifled innovation, because it meant that it was impossible for investors to earn any returns in their lifetimes.For some workshop owners or aristocratic landowners, instead of working hard to find more efficient trade channels, it is better to use force or legal means to maintain the monopoly on commodities such as silk or gems.It seems reasonable for a national government to promote economic growth by seizing the wealth of its neighbors.In a society without the research institutes and competing companies of later generations, the risks of war (although there are risks) are usually less than investments in uncertain technologies that may take decades or even centuries to become profitable.

Of course, the farming of farmers also hinders innovation.Most food, fuel and textiles come from small farmers who use traditional techniques and have little access to finance or technology.During this period, the vast majority of people lived in the countryside, away from the knowledge centers of the cities, with little connection to markets and new technologies.

Farmers account for the vast majority of the population of a country or region and are also the main creators of wealth. Their productivity is very low. Therefore, the overall productivity level of farming civilization must also be low.The low productivity of peasant households also limited the size of towns and cities, since, on average, about nine peasants could support a town person for most of the agricultural era.This means that the urban population usually only accounts for 9% of the total population.Except for China, the largest urban population in other countries and regions in the world is about 10 to [-] to [-].

Even in agrarian civilizations, however, there are at least some areas of innovation where there are competitive markets.Where there is competition, efficiency matters because, generally speaking, the merchants and artisans who do the best work at the lowest prices are the most likely to find buyers for their goods and services.

If Hanzhou wants to directly leap from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization, and then join the ranks of powerful countries, it must vigorously cultivate and develop the genes of industrial civilization among the people of Hanzhou.

In addition to encouraging ordinary people to carry out technological innovation and invention in various industries, it is also necessary to expand civilian education as much as possible so that more people can learn basic cultural knowledge to improve the quality of Hanzhou's citizens.Qi Tian once ambitiously wanted to increase the literacy rate of the small population in Hanzhou to 30%-40% through a nationwide literacy campaign.But after five or six years of development, he was slapped in the face by the ruthless reality.

You must know that when the new China was first liberated in later generations, the literacy rate of the Chinese people was about 10-20%.Then on that basis, it took 66 years to increase the literacy rate to 28%.This data is based on the background of industrial civilization.

As for Hanzhou, not to mention that there are not enough readers, even if there are, those immigrants who are desperately working in factories and farmland will not have so much time to improve their literacy.The daily heavy labor has almost exhausted the last ounce of energy in the body.

However, based on the fact that children can have a good lunch in the school for free, coupled with the strong requirements of the civil government, most of the school-age children are still sent to schools in Hanzhou by their parents to receive basic three-year knowledge education .It can be regarded as laying a certain foundation for improving the literacy rate of the next generation of Hanzhou.

"The "Hanzhou Invention and Innovation Patent Law" is to encourage the people of our Hanzhou to be brave in innovation, to be diligent in invention, to strive to improve industrial and agricultural production technology, and to get huge benefits from it." Qi Tian looked at a document in his hand. After finishing, he said to Pan Qifeng: "Since some people still don't fully understand this, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Industry may wish to change the name of the heavy reward measures implemented before to the royalties of technical patents. Let those who implement inventions and innovations Craftsmen and farmers have truly realized that after making a small improvement to a certain technology or a certain object, not only will they get huge practical benefits, but they can also hold this technology or improvement for a long time.”

"If there are craftsmen or innovators who want to start a workshop with this, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce must actively coordinate with the Hanzhou Big Bank to provide funding, or they can invest in shares. For the production of commodities that can fill the gaps in our Hanzhou market, two grants can also be given. One-year or three-year tax-free incentive policies.”

"Commander, since it is possible to exempt certain factory owners or workshops for innovations and inventions, what should other merchants do if they complain about this?" Many merchants, their tax relief policy is about to expire. Many of them called for a further reduction in the commercial tax in Hanzhou, not to mention the [-] percent tax of Ming Dynasty, or the [-] to [-] percent tax of Batavia. Same is good."

Hearing this, Qi Tian couldn't help looking at Pan Qifeng fixedly, which made the other person's facial expression a little uneasy.

"Do you know where the crux of the various problems in Daming is?" Qi Tian asked.

"Continuous disasters, crop failures, raids on slave lands, and bandits that can never be wiped out..." Pan Qifeng thought for a while and said carefully.

"What you are talking about is the appearance of various problems." Qi Tian shook his head and sighed, "The crux of the outbreak of various problems in Daming is its weak fiscal revenue, which makes the treasury of Daming not enough money and food. Unable to cope with frequent disasters and to intervene and eliminate them in a timely manner.”

In the final analysis, the national crisis at the end of the Ming Dynasty was essentially the government's financial crisis. The financial crisis led to a military crisis, and then the military crisis led to an even greater financial crisis. In such a vicious circle, how can the Ming Dynasty not perish?
The key to causing financial problems is that the country's tax revenue has been too low for a long time, so low that it threatens the survival of the country and the nation.The fact that this problem was not exposed before the Ming Dynasty does not mean that the problem did not exist, but simply because the Ming Dynasty has not encountered any major challenges.

During the Chongzhen period, under the influence of the small glaciers around the world, the Ming Dynasty experienced successive years of natural disasters and wars, and this problem was exposed in the most acute form.With such a vast area affected by the disaster and so many victims, Daming's poor fiscal revenue simply cannot cope.If you want to actually solve the problem of rebellion by hungry people (starved soldiers), you have to pay wages and provide disaster relief, so you can only temporarily increase taxes. More hungry people, more homeless riots.

"Prime Minister Pan, do you think it is easier for farmers or businessmen to earn a tael of silver in a country or region?" Qi Tian said in a deep voice, "Farmers have to go through at least 100 years of experience from sowing to harvesting." After many days and nights of hard work, there will also be risks such as various meteorological disasters, pests and diseases, and fluctuations in the price of agricultural products. Even so, the final benefits for farmers are extremely limited.”

"But businessmen are different. They have abundant capital and a different market sense than ordinary people. Their monthly or even annual income is much higher than that of farmers. Even out of some kind of first-mover advantage, in an industry, or If you have a monopoly position in a class of commodities, you will get more benefits. In Daming, the commercial tax collected by the whole country is pitifully small, and all taxes are imposed on farmers. Over the past few decades, Daming There have been many natural and man-made disasters, so it’s no wonder that those peasants who can’t survive don’t rebel!”

"According to what Menghou Gong (Bi Maokang) said, in the ninth year of Chongzhen, the commercial tax collected by the entire Ming court was only a little over 300 million taels of silver. But, do you know that in recent years, Zheng Zhilong has only Based on the profits from maritime trade and the income of 4 to [-] gold from each ship's flag, you can earn tens of millions of dollars. What's even more embarrassing is that the Ming court's city ship tax is only [-] taels of silver. Prime Minister Pan, you Say, where did all of Daming's money go?"

Pan Qifeng was a little embarrassed at this time. He had been in the Ming Dynasty for more than [-] years, but he just took it for granted that the Ming court collected little or no business taxes.

As for the government's financial revenue, he really didn't think too much about it. Gein Hanzhou Heishan Gold Mine is constantly producing gold and silver, and a small silver mine was also discovered in Guanglingbao in the east, so For the government, it seems that unlimited issuance of "currency" can be achieved.

"Although my Hanzhou has a lot of gold and silver, I can't put it into the market without limit." Qi Tian seemed to see Pan Qifeng's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Otherwise, the prices of our Hanzhou will be high, and foreign goods will inevitably hit the market in large quantities in the future." The Hanzhou market does not use our Hanzhou local workshops to develop. Currently Hanzhou collects various business taxes, and it seems that the tax rate is much higher than that of Ming Dynasty, and even a little higher than that of the Dutch Batavia. , but we have no other apportionments other than that, and the actual tax rate is not high."

"In addition, our "Property Rights Protection Law" of Hanzhou clearly stipulates that private property shall not be infringed in any way. Even the Hanzhou government shall not deprive private property for no reason. Such a clear stipulation is probably something that has never been done in Ming Dynasty or even in European countries. .”

Chinese dynasties have no private property rights. "Is there any king in the world, and the king's subjects on the shore of the land?" Everything in society belongs to the emperor. Not only does he have no private property rights, but human life is also in the hands of the emperor.The protection of private property in European countries was not formally established until the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizenship promulgated during the French Revolution in 1789.

To lay a country's industrial foundation, and then promote and enhance a country's comprehensive strength, in addition to investing in the construction of more workshops and digging more ore raw materials, another important task that Hanzhou needs to do is to establish an effective and effective promotion The environment for the development of industry and commerce, the encouragement of the government, the maintenance of the legal system, a certain foundation of public education, and finally the expanding market.

(End of this chapter)