My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 395: Historical Lessons
Of course this won't work.

So, Emperor Taizong sent out a mine-sweeping warrior: Deng Tong.

The specific approach is not complicated: since you are using bad currency, I will also use bad currency.

Same cost, same quality, it doesn't make sense that someone would take your money but no one would take mine.

Relying on this trick of "bad coins dividing the market with bad coins", Deng Tong was finally able to create a situation where "half of the copper coins in the world are Deng and half are Wu".

As for this matter, why did the late emperor insist on pushing Deng Tong, a demining warrior, to do it instead of using the treasury of the Shaofu?

The answer is simple: minting bad coins is not something that can be done by state agencies.

Especially with the example of Emperor Taizu Gao's "three-zhu lead coin", if the Han Dynasty had another bad incident of official minting of inferior coins, I am afraid that the people of the world would no longer use coins for the rest of the Han Dynasty.

Even the credibility of the central government will suffer a huge blow as a result.

The government cannot mint bad coins, but the bad coins of King Wu Liu Bi cannot be driven out of the market by good coins.

How to do it?

——Use magic to defeat magic, and use bad money to fight bad money.

As for the fact that the government could not mint inferior coins, Emperor Taizong easily resolved this problem by using a "favored minister" as a pawn.

Therefore, Deng Tong's power, which "seemed to be a private enterprise but was actually far more powerful than a state-owned enterprise", became the key to Emperor Taizong's breakthrough.

In later generations, most people said: Deng Tong is really rubbish;
With the support of the emperor, he was backed by the government, and was able to fight on equal terms with the remote King of Wu, Liu Bi, resulting in the situation that "half of the world's copper coins belong to Deng and half to Wu".

This is clearly incompetence!
But in fact, if Deng Tong had not used magic to defeat magic, the currency market at that time would have been completely monopolized by King Liu Bi of Wu.

As we all know, any business that has something to do with the word "monopoly" is no longer a simple business.

Especially the currency monopoly, which is directly linked to the market pricing power, currency issuance power, and even the entire business environment of the world!
From this perspective, even if Deng Tong could not reach the level of a "national hero", he at least made contributions to the country.

After understanding these, and looking at Deng Tong's final outcome, no one would think that the late emperor was such an extremely narrow-minded person.

——It is true that Deng Tong made contributions to the country, but it is also an indisputable fact that half of the low-quality four-zhu coins circulating in the world in the past few years were made by Deng Tong.

From a national perspective, Deng Tong’s minting of inferior coins was certainly meritorious;

But as mentioned before: the authorities cannot mint bad coins;
The same principle applies - anyone who mints inferior coins should be firmly resisted by the authorities.

Therefore, after the rebellion of the Seven States of Wu and Chu was quelled, one of the crimes that King Liu Bi of Wu was finally convicted of was "privately minting inferior coins, disrupting the monetary system of the world, abusing power for personal gain, and harming the people of the world."

This crime is even more serious and more punishable than treason!

Since King Wu Liu Bi, a clan relative, was found to be "unforgivable" because of this crime, let alone Deng Tong, an outsider and a favored minister.

This is the real reason why the late emperor starved Deng Tong to death without any mercy.

——The former emperor's "public revenge for private vengeance" and "repaying the debt after the autumn" were just appearances;

The real reason why Deng Tong's "crime is unforgivable" is that Deng Tong minted inferior coins for more than ten years. The Han family, the central government, and even the Han emperor need to give an explanation to the people of the world.

To put it in a broader sense, there are thieves in the country who must be put right!

To put it mildly, this could be considered a form of silencing someone - to silence Deng Tong forever, so as to avoid damaging Emperor Taizong's legacy...

Of course, the above are all Deng Tong’s entire political career and its political significance to the Han Dynasty.

From an objective point of view, Deng Tong's ability is worthy of recognition, as he was able to snatch back half of the market from King Liu Bi of Wu, who almost monopolized the world's currency market in just less than a year.

During those more than ten years that were the highlight of his life, in addition to being in charge of coin minting, Deng Tong also presided over two other major policies of the Han Dynasty.

This was Deng Tong's second contribution in his life after coin minting: he mastered iron smelting.

As we all know, the Bronze Age in Chinese history developed rapidly during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and reached its peak during the Qin Dynasty.

Especially after the Qin Dynasty unified the world, it almost pushed the bronze smelting technology to the pinnacle.

With the rise of the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty also began to withdraw from the stage of Chinese history. The bronze smelting technology had reached its ceiling and could no longer be developed and had to be replaced.

However, unlike the sudden collapse of the Qin Dynasty, the process of replacing bronze smelting technology was extremely slow.

no way;
If we want steel to replace bronze, the most obvious reason is that steel smelting technology needs to develop to the point where the performance of the steel products produced is better than that of bronze - at least not worse than that of bronze.

However, the development of smelting technology, especially the replacement of common metals, is not like the change of dynasties, which can be completed in just a few years.

——It is just like in later generations, everyone knows that nuclear fusion is the only answer to future energy, but they can only use thermal power and hydropower;
Today, almost everyone in the Han Dynasty knows that steel will sooner or later replace bronze and become the most commonly used high-quality metal material in Chinese civilization.

but not now.

It’s not that the steel output is low, the smelting cost is high, and the finished product performance is poor—at least worse than bronze ware now…

After more than ten years of exploration at the end of the Qin Dynasty and more than twenty years of exploration and accumulation at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, by the time of Emperor Taizong, the Chinese nation had acquired relatively mature technology in steel smelting.

But this time, Emperor Taizong encountered that problem again.

——This matter cannot be left to the authorities.

As for the reason, it is no longer a political consideration like "the government cannot mint bad coins";

It was purely because the political environment at that time did not allow the Han officials to do anything that would cost the people money and time.

Who is Emperor Taizong?

He wishes he could break a copper coin into eight petals and pick sand out of the cracks in the bricks!
With this kind of personality, plus the "simple style" that has finally spread throughout the world, how could it be ruined by the steel industry?

You have to know that in those years, thanks to Emperor Taizong's "simplicity" style, a spirit of diligence and thrift quickly swept through counties and prefectures across the country.

The most typical point is that the main buildings of county and prefecture government offices will not be repaired in principle unless they have completely collapsed to the point where no trace of the buildings can be seen.

It's probably the idea that "the more dilapidated the government office is, the more it proves that the officials are honest."

Even today, this unspoken rule in politics still retains a profound political influence!
Especially in the counties and prefectures of Kanto, there are countless government buildings that have collapsed or become damaged due to years of disrepair.

If you ask the local officials why they don’t repair it, they will be very confident and say - why should I repair it?

Not only will it not be of any benefit to me if I repair it, but if someone accuses me of being extravagant and hedonistic, will I still be able to serve as an official?
So, you don't repair it, I don't repair it, and no one repairs it. After years and months, there are actually few intact county government offices in Guandong. In response, Emperor Taizong's attitude is: Good! Very spirited!

The officials of my Han family must have this kind of awareness and this kind of mental outlook!

Since everyone is so supportive, I won’t be vague either!

From now on, I will not wear more than five sets of clothes in all four seasons, and my meals will consist of only one bowl of porridge and one dish. The concubines in the harem will not wear makeup, and their skirts will not drag on the ground. They will all raise silkworms, spin cocoons, and weave their own clothes!
...

To a certain extent, simplicity and frugality, with the whole world tightening their belts to save money for future battles against the Huns, were the most typical political trends during Emperor Taizong's reign.

In this context, no matter how clear he was about the importance of the steel industry, Emperor Taizong could not advocate "simplicity" to the whole world while letting the Shaofu invest heavily in the steel industry.

Another thing is that the development of the steel industry is not just about focusing on research and development.

——The vast majority of R&D funds need to be recovered through the sale of finished products.

It is like using a hundred dollars of funding to make a hoe, and then selling it to get two hundred dollars.

Invest another 200 yuan to develop a kitchen knife, and then sell it for 500 yuan...

By analogy, the steel industry can only develop well through a virtuous cycle of repetitive research, manufacturing, sales, and re-research - especially in a "profitable" cycle configuration.

And selling means that this business is also related to the word "business", and it involves extremely high frequency of buying and selling.

Obviously, it was not convenient for officials in the feudal era to directly intervene in business.

So, the same problem arises again.

——The government cannot do it, but it is also not possible not to do it;
How to do it?

It was still Deng Tong who took action, secretly developing the steel industry as the emperor's favorite and close minister.

Unlike the coin minting industry, where he had a close fight with King Liu Bi of Wu, Deng Tong encountered almost no resistance in developing the steel industry, and everything came naturally.

By the time Emperor Taizong was dying, almost 80% of the world's steel products were made by Deng Tong!
The remaining 20% ​​was not divided up by any one force, but was occupied by the Shaofu, which was exploring on a small scale and with low cost.

Deng Tong held 80% and Shaofu held 20% - it can be said that the steel industry at that time was completely monopolized by the central government of the Han Dynasty!
However, this incident also became clear evidence that Deng Tong had to die.

Today, the development of the steel industry has placed an indisputable fact before the eyes of the world.

——The way in which steel products can best promote the progress of civilization and bring the greatest changes to Chinese civilization is military industry!

Weapons made of steel materials, especially swords, can show excellent performance of dimensionality reduction against bronze weapons during the chopping process!

Therefore, the steel industry has been deeply linked to the military industry.

Deng Tong, a mere minister, minted coins with one hand and made steel with the other;

While accumulating wealth, he also mastered advanced weapons manufacturing technology that was ahead of its time.

If he doesn't die, who will?
If this person doesn't die, everyone can follow his example in the future.

However, whenever Liu Rong thought of the steel industry that Deng Tong once controlled, he couldn't help but feel a sigh.

——After Deng Tong's death, the coin market that was once controlled by Deng Tong was naturally taken over by the Shaofu;
Especially after King Liu Bi of Wu was defeated and killed, the currency market of the Han Dynasty was finally controlled by the central government again.

However, the steel industry, which was once presided over by Deng Tong and developed rapidly, was not successfully nationalized.

According to the information Liu Rong has learned so far: after Deng Tong starved to death on the street, the Shaofu immediately sent a large number of people to take over the various industries that originally belonged to Deng Tong.

Taking into account that the focus of the Chang'an court at that time was on the policy of reducing the power of the princes and the imminent rebellion of King Wu Liu Bi, the focus of the Shaofu's takeover of Deng Tong's industries naturally fell on the coin-minting industry.

Just a month or so later, when the Shaofu had taken inventory of Deng Tong's coin-minting industry and was ready to take over the steel industry, it was too late.

——The ironworkers who originally worked for Deng Tong were divided up by various forces;

The iron mines and workshops bestowed upon Deng Tong by Emperor Taizong were divided up by various forces because they were too large and complicated.

Among them, Guantao's master Liu Piao ate part of it, and the nobles and relatives, especially the relatives of the Dou family, ate part of it.

The remaining small portion was divided among two merchants in Shu, which quickly gave rise to two world-famous "steel tycoons": the Cheng Zheng family and the Zhuo family.

That’s right;

It's Zhuo Wenjun, the Zhuo family...

Say a thousand words, say ten thousand words;
From the life of Deng Tong, a close minister of Emperor Taizong, it is not difficult to see how difficult it is to be a close minister.

——Deng Tong, such a capable person, worked hard for Emperor Taizong, but ended up with a tragic ending of starving to death on the streets.

Zhou Ren, a close minister of the late emperor, has been able to remain active in the core of Han Dynasty politics until now entirely thanks to his status as one of the Nine Ministers: Langzhongling, his political background as a descendant of Rufen Marquis and Zong Zhou, and his value as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Liu Rong knew how much slander, abuse, and even criticism and defamation Zhou Ren had endured over the years.

Liu Rong was well aware of how much injustice and humiliation he had suffered.

Although Zhou Ren was a close minister of the previous emperor, Liu Rong was unwilling and did not want to turn him into his own close minister, but he extremely recognized and appreciated Zhou Ren's contributions to the Han Dynasty.

Liu Rong was never stingy in rewarding his meritorious officials.

In Liu Rong's view, the best and fairest reward for Zhou Ren is undoubtedly to arrange a bright future for the Xiuyi Guard created by Zhou Ren.

By then, the history books will also have the following records:

——Zhou Ren, Marquis of Rufen, was a descendant of the Ji clan of Zhou.

Emperor Taizong searched for the descendants of Zhou and conferred the title of Marquis of Rufen on him.

He initially followed Emperor Xiaojing as the Prince's attendant, and later became a Langzhong Ling, accompanying the Emperor and gaining his trust and closeness.

He followed the order of Emperor Taizong and established the Embroidered Uniform Guard to monitor the rebellious kings of Wu and Chu.
Although the Embroidered Uniform Guard has not been seen for a long time and no one knows what Ren has done, his contributions and loyalty to the country cannot be fully expressed in just a few words.

Emperor Xiaojing once said: "You are the benevolent Marquis of Rufen, and you are my retainer..."

(End of this chapter)