Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 596: Prisoner's Dilemma and Never Do It Again

The textile factory owners who were having their morning tea were stunned.

"Kerosene lamps, do they have anything to do with increasing productivity?"

The person who made the suggestion explained:
"There was a Dutchman trying to promote his invention. I saw it and found that the kerosene lamp was really bright, didn't produce a lot of smoke, and was cheap. If we light a few more at night, the workshop can continue to work normally."

Everyone understood instantly.

"Old Yao, you mean to use kerosene lamps to provide lighting in the factory, so that the machines can continue working at night."

"Correct!"

"Wonderful, wonderful."

The crowd was excited.

There is hope of doubling production capacity!
We used to produce on sunny days, and we had to stop working on rainy days.
……

3 days later,

The gang used 250 silver coins to buy the Dutchman's oil distillation kerosene technology and hired him as a company employee.

He got a ship and went to Java to open a factory.

In this village discovered by the Dutch, shallow, light oil is extracted and refined.

The refining process is not difficult, it mainly involves distillation.

Use a special container and process in layers after heating.

Java Island is rich in shallow light oil. Compared with other oils, light oil has better fluidity and is easier to process.

The Dutch inventor also discovered by chance that the local natives had dug up a light petroleum similar to soy sauce, which they could use as fuel after a little processing.

After repeated research, he distilled out "kerosene" that was more suitable for lighting, with fewer impurities, higher purity, and lighter color.

But before the invention could be transformed into gold coins, the island of Java changed hands three times.

……

The Nanyang Kerosene Lamp Company, funded by the Guangzhou Textile Chamber of Commerce, launched a kerosene lamp with a brightness equivalent to that of 15 candles, which became very popular as soon as it was launched.

Of course, kerosene lamps still have many disadvantages.

For example: light scattering.

This did not pose a problem for the clever craftsmen, who quickly made a mirrored lampshade to focus the light.

Many factories in the Pearl River Delta were the first to start double shifts.

Even after the sun goes down, the workshop continues to roar.

Yield has increased visibly.

The Chamber of Commerce was ecstatic that they could finally seize the market.

However, bad news followed.

Among our counterparts in Jiangnan, kerosene lamps were also widely used in textile factories.

The two sides started a lawsuit!
……

This is an era of rampant corporate espionage, and many factory owners send spies to their rivals' factories.

The spies received double wages and stole technical secrets while working.

Factory owners were caught off guard and disputes arose constantly.

The dispute over kerosene lamps was just a general outbreak.

Therefore, under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry, representatives of various industry chambers of commerce held an important meeting in Hangzhou - an industry technology sharing meeting.

Since it can't be prevented, just don't prevent it.

We are all businessmen. We value harmony and seek progress through compromise.

From now on, if anyone has a technological breakthrough, they should not hide it but report it directly to the Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce will report it to the Ministry of Industry.

Recorded and shared for a fee.

That way, the inventor can at least get some of the money back.

If a factory secretly "discovers" other people's technology without paying, then sorry, once discovered, they will be heavily fined and imprisoned.

……

On this basis, the Ministry of Industry drafted the "Intra-Industry Technology Transfer Law", and more than 1600 factory owners signed it.

Since then,

There is a new institution under the Minister of Science, Education, Culture and Health - the Invention and Patent Registration Office.

Europe's strict patent laws do not apply to the Wu State. Our great Wu has its own national conditions. We do not have a patent protection period or charge per piece.

It's a one-time buyout.

Anyone who wants to use technology declared by others can unlock all drawings and descriptions after a one-time payment, and use them indefinitely.

Depending on the importance of the invention, the buyout fee for each technology ranges from 100 taels to 10000 taels.

Ninety percent of the payment goes to the inventor.

One tenth of the funds will be retained and counted as office expenses for the Invention and Patent Registration Office.

Every two months, the agency produces a "Latest Patent Catalog" and sends it to various chambers of commerce through the post office.

The "Catalog" briefly introduces the latest invention projects. If anyone is interested, they can purchase all the drawings through the Post Office for a fee.

civilization!

Very civilized!

……

Taking advantage of this favorable situation, Wu Ting simply announced to the world:
Invention is not a crime!

Good job on invention!

Invented by the masses, discovered by everyone.

The inventor can be of any identity, age, gender or nationality.

The empire encouraged all inventions in all fields and gave monetary rewards and even titles to outstanding inventors.

Li Yu specifically issued an order:

"The Dutch inventor of the kerosene lamp is rewarded with 30 gold coins and is named the Knight of Light. The Guangzhou Textile Chamber of Commerce is also rewarded with a box of royal wine."

In addition,

In the name of the royal family, 5000 kilograms of kerosene were ordered from the Nanyang Kerosene Lamp Company.

……

In addition,

There are two hidden clauses regarding the Inter-Industry Technology Transfer Law.

Article 1:

The regulations on paid transfer only apply to factories, not to individuals or small workshops consisting only of immediate family members.

in other words,

Individuals and home workshops can openly use new technologies for free.

Technology, like food, has a shelf life.

The diffusion of technology is inevitable, just like water flowing from high to low. You can stop it for a while, but you cannot stop it forever.

Clause 2:
No processing fee is required for inventions submitted by institutions (chambers of commerce, factories, schools).

For inventions submitted by individuals, a processing fee of 2 silver coins will be charged.

The reason is also very simple.

Inventions submitted by institutions generally have practical uses. It is hard to say for individuals, but there are definitely people like Geng Gongji.

……

Li Yu is doing his best to create a relaxed growth environment for small workshops. 0 entry threshold, 0 taxes, and 0 technical fees are all the support he can give.

The development of small workshops is very important, as it is related to sharing wealth with the people and the future of the empire.

But it can’t solve the current situation.

At present, the empire's biological sons can only be large factories with strong capital. The rest are all bastards.

the reason is simple.

From the perspective of taxation.

Taxation in the 18th century was a huge problem.

The best way is to collect taxes centrally from relatively few sources.

……

As a man from the south of the Yangtze River who was very thrifty, Li Yu would always calculate the cost of everything. He would not do something that would cost him 1 dou of internal consumption for collecting 7 dan of grain.

Internal friction is the empire's chronic disease.

Frankly speaking:

The phenomenon of gentry in the south of the Yangtze River paying less taxes, which has been criticized by all dynasties, is not nonsense but a fact.

Putting aside the passion and analyzing calmly, we can draw some interesting conclusions.

The Jiangnan gentry group felt that they were wronged, and there are roughly five reasons.

First, it was not that they did not pay, they did, and they paid more than the officials and gentry in Zhili.

Second, if you pay too much, you’ll be ripped off.

Third, what does the war in the northwest have to do with me in the south?

Fourth, no matter how much I pay, the money won't reach the Liaodong soldiers.
Fifth, I am not the emperor, and the world does not belong to me.

The saying “When an avalanche occurs, no one is innocent” is correct.

When a crisis strikes,

Everyone does have their own reasons, considerations, and positions, and they argue endlessly, and in the end they can only fall off the cliff together.

All the grudges are wiped out.

……

Li Yu was very sober:
Human nature is selfish. No one is willing to take the money out of their pockets.
Righteous and passionate people? Yes, but not many.

Therefore,
As an emperor, I have to think clearly about how to solve the "prisoner's dilemma" problem from the very beginning.

Li Yu's method is also very simple:
There are enough carrots and enough sticks.

There can be compromise, and there can also be profit sharing.

Anyway,

He used both soft and hard tactics to solve the age-old problem of taxing the nobles. The empire's industrial and commercial taxes and customs duties rose visibly.

Also collect 100 taels.

The cost of collecting industrial and commercial taxes and customs duties is more than 9% lower than that of collecting land taxes?
At a royal meeting,

He told all the ministers that the key words of the empire were: consultation, checks and balances, compromise, binding, sharing, and rules. The ministers were silent.

Some were suspicious, some were shocked, and some were thinking.

Anyway,

Everyone believed it, but they didn't believe it in their hearts. The emperor's words were just wise.
……

In the twelfth lunar month.

Several imperial meetings determined the goals for the next year:

Occupy the Northwest region (Shaanxi, Gansu, and the Western Regions), eliminate local forces by force, and then distribute land and carry out immigration simultaneously.

The existing colonies (Java and Lan Fang) and semi-colonies (Annam) must be further developed.

Java:

Starting from the vicinity of Batavia, the island was radiated to the entire area and vigorously developed.

Lan Fang:

They organized the local people to encroach on the Sulu Sultanate, Brunei, the Dayak people and the Banjar Sultanate that lived on the same island.

Annan:

Encourage merchants and immigrants to enter. The strategy towards Annan should be flexible, using the loyal forces and abandoning the disloyal ones. No matter whether his surname is Li or Nguyen, his surname must be prefixed with Wu.

Wu Li clan and Wu Ruan clan.

The ultimate goal of a small-scale intervention in the Indochina Peninsula is to defeat the existing forces and turn them all into semi-colonies.

……

In addition,

Next year.

The Ministry of the Navy allocated 600 million taels for the purchase of ships.

The Ministry of the Army allocated 30 taels for the training of junior officers, opened branches of non-commissioned officer schools in many locations, selected ordinary soldiers to enter the schools, and trained qualified non-commissioned officers in preparation for military expansion.

Different amounts of money were allocated to education, water conservancy, Yellow River control, science and technology, and health.

It is allowed to increase the tea planting area by 30 to 100 million mu in the hilly areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Anhui and Yunnan.

Tea-growing areas within the empire were allowed to pay land taxes in silver.

The decision to "change rice to tea" was very radical, and many people objected to it and worried about food problems.

But Li Yu insisted on doing so despite the opposition.

he thinks,
For now, the outlook for East-West trade is optimistic.

The empire needs to seize this opportunity and make tea a true "second currency" and "world hard currency."

……

The Intelligence Agency headquarters is located in Mudu Town, a suburb of Suzhou Prefecture.

Liu Qian was worried, he smelled something bad.

Some people in the DPRK have suggested that in order to adapt to the situation, the Intelligence Agency must also be reformed, with the requirements that internal personnel be regularized and funding be transparent.

Miao Renfeng, the intelligence officer at the headquarters who was in charge of internal affairs, reminded in a low voice:
"Director, our books won't stand up to scrutiny."

"Of course I know."

Liu Qian gritted his teeth~
The joy of being conferred the title of hereditary marquis was diluted by this incident.

"Director, isn't it time to put away the good bows after the birds have flown away?"

"Your Majesty is still thinking about the old relationship, not that, not that."

Although he said this, Liu Qian was still worried.

……

"Have you dealt with Yanjing's tail?"

"Don't worry, Director."

Miao Renfeng personally supervised the secret execution of all the remaining personnel of the Yanjing Intelligence Station who were recalled in Xuzhou Prefecture, including the person who saw Jiang Tianmu surrender to the enemy with his own eyes~
The relief was sent to everyone’s home, including Jiang Tianmu’s family.

Let this sink into the mud.

There was no way, Liu Qian didn’t dare to report the death.

This was the height of the crisis. Once the news of his subordinates defecting to the enemy came to light, someone in the court would immediately stir up a big stir.

There are good reasons:
The discipline at the intelligence station in Yanjing was so lax that it was wiped out.

What does it mean?
This shows that there are problems with the internal discipline of the Intelligence Agency, which needs to be rectified.

……

"Director, His Majesty has summoned you."

"What's the matter?"

"do not know."

Liu Qian changed his clothes, and hurried there alone in a carriage without any guards.

The main official roads in Suzhou and Songjiang are all covered with cement, the roads are smooth, and driving is fast and convenient.

The carriages were constantly being updated.

Today, it is the 4th generation product.

The most important change is the use of large spring steel plates and sliding bearings, which greatly improves the experience.

The seats in the carriage are like sofas.

Passenger comfort is very good.

The sales of the four-wheeled carriages were very good. Wu Ting, from top to bottom, loved to enjoy them and was keen on buying new gadgets.

……

Liu Qian hurried into the palace and was inspected by the imperial guards.

"Director Liu, please."

Your Majesty's office is as warm as spring.

What is surprising is that there is no carpet, and people walking on the marble tiles have a strong sense of rhythm.

Especially the military boots, they are so powerful.

Therefore,
Li Yu knew someone was coming from afar.

"Your Majesty." Liu Qian knelt on one knee and whispered with his head down.

"Sit over there and wait."

The guard brought tea and then stood solemnly in the room.

Liu Qian drank his tea while looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

There are 4 guards in the room, standing in the 4 corners of the room, and 2 more at the door.

The weapons are pistols and swords.

Your Majesty's desk is very large and has no windows behind it, so it is more than enough to protect you from arrows and bullets.

……

I don't know when,

Li Yu's voice sounded:
"Liu Qian, what are you thinking about?"

Liu Qian shuddered with fear and immediately stood up and put his feet together.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was distracted."

"How's the Intelligence Agency doing lately?"

"Your Majesty, the Intelligence Agency has deployed agents to support the intelligence network in the Northwest and Southeast Asia. This is the briefing~"

The Imperial Guard took the two pieces of paper handed over by Liu Qian and placed them on His Majesty's large desk.

Li Yu didn't even look at it.

asked:

"The Intelligence Agency is of great importance and has great responsibilities. You must take good care of this sword for me!"

……

Thump~
Liu Qian decided to confess in a split second. He knelt on his knees and cried bitterly.

"Your Majesty, I was wrong."

Li Yu was very surprised:
"Where did you go wrong?"

"I shouldn't have concealed it. I was afraid that Your Majesty would blame me, so I didn't dare report that the chief of the Beijing Intelligence Station, Jiang Tianmu, had surrendered to the enemy. I deserve to die."

Saying,

Liu Qian slapped himself twice.

Li Yu leaned back in his chair and waved his hand.

"Tell me, what happened?"

Liu Qian told the whole story in detail without hiding anything.

Li Yu listened to the whole thing calmly.

Only 4 words:

"It won't happen again."

……

Liu Qian walked out of the palace with a red face.

It was not until he sat in the carriage and lowered the curtain that he felt relieved and closed his eyes to reflect.

frankly speaking,

He had no intention of confessing until he entered the room.

But when he entered the house, he suddenly changed his mind.

At that time, he had a strong premonition in his heart: His Majesty knew it, and His Majesty was deliberately testing him.

If this is true, the consequence of concealing it in person would be terrible, and you would be directly labeled as "this person is untrustworthy and cannot be used in the future."

My career ends here.

If things go wrong, your life will end here.

So what if he is a hereditary marquis? Can't he die of illness?

suddenly,
Liu Qian opened his eyes and grabbed the handrail tightly.

He thought of a possibility: "Perhaps there are spies in the Intelligence Agency!!!"

(End of this chapter)