Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 288 A grain of sand in the era!

Deep inside the market entrance.

Xia Zhibai, Hua Lun and others were also watching.

Looking at the bustling scene ahead, Hua Lun shook his head and said, "Brother Xia, the effect of your lecture is average. The local people are not interested in the principle of the steam engine. They are only interested in whether the price of salt will continue to fall, and they just want to join in the fun."

Xia Zhibai smiled and said, "No hurry, take your time."

"More haste less speed."

"We need to give people some time to adapt. If the people want to watch the fun, then let them watch as much as they want. The incident with the stove owner caused such a big fuss before. Don't the people want to know why the stove owner started making trouble?"

"Only by breaking down some of the actual facts and explaining them clearly to the people will they understand what is really going on."

“The first thing to do with the people is patience.”

"The people are completely unaware of many things, and they won't understand even if we explain things to them all at once. Only when they can truly see, feel, and recognize them, will they become aware of it."

"This is what Zhou Ning is doing now."

"Demonstrating how to make salt by steam is really a thankless task."

“But it’s necessary.”

"In the south, there are actually very few people who can actually make salt with steam. Many of them don't know what happened. They only know that their work has been taken away and their livelihoods have been stolen. As a result, they feel resentful and want to destroy the people who have taken away their jobs."

"Let everything return to the way it was before."

"And anyone with a discerning eye can see it."

"It is a general trend to use machines to produce salt."

"We will not change at all based on the ideas of the kitchen owners. So what we need to do now is to tell the kitchen owners the truth clearly and show them why the kitchen owners suddenly became useless and no one wants them anymore."

“There’s a reason for all this.”

"The kitchen owner may be a little impatient, but he is definitely not ignorant of right and wrong."

"Once they understand, the anger and resentment in their hearts will naturally dissipate. When we convene a workers' meeting, they will be able to understand the current situation more clearly and make more appropriate and rational choices."

Listening to Xia Zhibai's words, Hua Lun and the others were all thoughtful.

In their eyes, Xia Zhibai always did things in a hurry, but they did not expect that he could be so calm when facing the people and was willing to spend time to appeal to their emotions and reason with them.

In their view.

All this is actually unnecessary.

As an official of the Ming Dynasty, all you need to do is give orders.

How dare the kitchen owner disobey?

What's more, they are originally considering the stove owner, so there is no need to explain so much to the stove owner. When the stove owner comes to his senses in the future, he will naturally know what is right and what is wrong. There is no need to go to such lengths. However, the benefits of doing so are also obvious.

That is, solving the stove and household problems will be very smooth, and there won't be too many twists and turns.

Because facts speak louder than words.

They cannot beat machines, that is an ironclad fact.

No one can question it.

The facts are indeed as Xia Zhibai said.

Deng Muzi and other cooks saw Zhou Ning and other engineers demonstrating how to make salt on the stage. Although they did not actually make salt, the billowing black smoke was enough to make them feel nervous. After Zhou Ning and others poured in a bucket of brine, the brine evaporated rapidly, which made Deng Muzi and others fall into silence for a long time.

They had not had the opportunity to enter the salt works before.

Therefore, there is great doubt about this so-called steam engine.

They believe that the government is deliberately suppressing them.

but now.

Although they didn't see the whole process, the mere fact that the brine was being heated and the machine was running non-stop was enough to silence them. The machine could extract for twelve hours without interruption, but what about the cooks? Could they really work for twelve hours without interruption?
This is impossible.

Moreover, the engineer said that the brine can be directly extracted from a depth of several hundred meters. It would be even more convenient if there was seawater, as most of the heat could be used to evaporate the brine, which would be much more effective than steaming it themselves.

What’s more important is the quantity!
Zhou Ning said in a deep voice: "You have all seen the process of using the steam engine." "This is just a small one. The truly complete one is much more efficient than this one. Some have even recycled the steam water inside. It only takes a certain amount of coal to produce a mountain of salt. I believe that anyone would know which one to choose."

"You will be no exception!"

"Some of you are cooks, so you should be able to see clearly how convenient and quick it is to make salt by machine."

“This is far superior to ordinary artificial salt.”

"So this time we were ordered to quell the unrest among the cooks in the south, and we didn't think about shutting down the machines, because it's unrealistic and impossible. Even if we rely on the government's order to temporarily shut down these machines, driven by profit, there will still be people who smuggle them, and then you still won't be able to sell your salt."

“And the people around here can testify to that.”

"The quality of machine-made salt is indeed better than that of salt produced by stove farmers."

“At least the quality of what people can buy has improved.”

“Not bitter or astringent, just salty!”

Zhou Ning's words caused many people around to nod.

"That's true."

"The salt used to be bitter."

"There's also mud and sand and the like, but machine-produced salt is better."

"Everyone eats salt produced by machines, so who would want to eat salt produced by farmers? That salt doesn't taste good and is expensive."

"."

Listening to the laughter from the people around him, Deng Muzi's face turned red and he clenched his fists tightly. He wanted to beat up the person who was scolding him, but too many people around him agreed with his statement, as if this had become a recognized fact.

Zhou Ning added: "There is still a lot of room for improvement in the salt produced in the south."

"In Yingtian Prefecture, salt is actually classified into different categories."

"Some salts have other things added in them to prevent goiter, and some have special gold stones added in them to strengthen teeth, etc. Moreover, the price of these salts is not much higher than that of ordinary salt. If it is artificial salt, the price will probably be more than doubled."

“So this lecture is mainly to tell everyone.”

"Machines can benefit the Ming Dynasty."

"It's not that scary, nor that frightening. If used well, it can benefit tens of millions of people all over the world. How could the imperial court stop such a great achievement?"

"But as the maker of the steam engine, Xia Qinchao also said the same thing."

"A grain of sand of the times, when it falls on an individual, may be too heavy to bear. The advent of the steam engine was a devastating blow to cooks. The work that many people had done for generations suddenly became dispensable and insignificant."

"But it's impossible."

"The times need to develop, and people want to pursue a better life."

"What's wrong with that?"

"The only thing the court can do is to give the stove owners a proper resettlement so that they are no longer bound to salt production and can start to engage in other industries. At the same time, the court will try its best to provide them with other means of making a living."

"These are things the court has always considered."

"Your Majesty was born into a poor peasant family and knows the sufferings of the people. How could he not sympathize with the hardships of the people's lives? How could he really turn a blind eye to it?"

"So you can rest assured that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is concerned about the people."

"I will sympathize with the suffering of the people."

"Every decision made by the court is carefully considered, and is never made on a whim. You should not be so resistant and opposed to some of the court's actions. You should always believe that the court hopes for peace in the world."

“It is also the one who hopes the country will be peaceful and the people will be safe.”

"And the court will also try to find a way to properly resettle those who may be affected."

"But not everything will go as planned. Often, things like what the stove owner did recently happen will happen. But I can only say that we should not harm the interests of the collective for the sake of personal interests."

"The country is the most important thing!"

"Only when the country is strong and prosperous can the family prosper!"

(End of this chapter)