I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 39 Hai Rui Expresses Chaos

After Hai Rui calmed down and sat down, Zhu Yijun asked him a question.

“Why is the Southeast so prosperous?”

Zhao Zhenji, Xu Wei and Hai Rui looked at each other, and finally Xu Wei said, "Your Highness, I am originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and I am from the southeast. I will answer this question."

He has been with Zhu Yijun for more than half a year and has been able to keep up with his thinking. He knows exactly what the prince is thinking and what answers he wants.

"The southeast has fertile land and many rivers. It not only produces enough food for itself, but also exports it to other places. It is also rich in silk, cotton cloth, tea and other products, which are sold well at home and abroad and make a lot of money. Therefore, it is said that nearly half of the world's money and food are in the southeast."

Zhu Yijun clapped his hands and praised: "Mr. Wenchang is right. There is grain in the southeast, so there is no need to spend money to buy grain from outside.

They can also sell silk, cotton and other items to make a lot of money. So the rich are willing to build gardens and mansions and buy things everywhere. They buy furs from the north, spices from overseas, medicinal herbs from the northwest, and wood from the southwest. They buy everything. "

Hai Rui snorted coldly: "It's a waste of money and labor, and it costs the people money and time."

"No, Mr. Gangfeng. The prosperity of the Southeast is the real prosperity. It has both outflow and inflow. It's a good thing that the people have money in their hands and are willing to buy things everywhere."

Hai Rui shook his head and said, "How can it be a good thing? It would be great if this money could be used to help the poor people."

"Rescuing poor people is one thing, that's doing good deeds. How can we expect people to use their earnings to do good deeds? Who would want to make money if this is the case? It's better for everyone to just lie down and let things go.

Besides, building gardens and purchasing goods are also beneficial to the people!"

"How is it beneficial?"

"Wouldn't it be necessary to hire craftsmen and laborers to build a garden? With the money they earn, they can buy food, buy clothes, and feed their families.

By purchasing goods from all over the country, such as copperware, the miners in the southwest copper mines, the coppersmiths in Chengdu, and the boatmen who transported copperware down the river to the southeast all made money and were able to support their families.

If, as Mr. Gangfeng said, we do not build gardens and purchase goods, how will those craftsmen, handymen, miners, coppersmiths and boatmen support their families? "

Hai Rui was about to say that they could farm, but then he changed his mind and thought, since they already have land at home, why would they do these things?
Seeing that Hai Rui was stumped by his question, Zhu Yijun continued, "The most important thing about money is that it should be used, flowing like a great river, so that it can carry many ships and countless people.

For example, for one hundred coins, the silk merchant collects silk cocoons and gives them to the cocoon farmer, the cocoon farmer buys rice and gives it to the rice merchant, the rice merchant pays the boatman, the boatman buys cotton cloth from the cloth merchant, the cloth merchant pays the yarn worker, the yarn worker buys wine from the wine shop, and the wine shop pays taxes to the government.

One hundred coins, how many times did it go around in a day, how many transactions did it facilitate, and how many people did it support?

On the contrary, if these one hundred coins were hidden in a cellar or stored in the government treasury and kept for a year, they would still be one hundred coins. Did they promote trade and support many people?
This hundred coins and the previous hundred coins are both one hundred coins, what’s the difference?”

Zhao Zhenji and Xu Wei had been with Zhu Yijun for a long time, and having been exposed to similar knowledge in daily discussions and exchanges, they were able to understand things to a certain extent.

Hai Rui's brain was spinning with confusion.

This thing is not mentioned in the books of sages!
How to understand it?
Zhu Yijun added: "Just now, the 100 coins changed hands seven times, which means that seven people used the 100 coins to buy what they needed.

So if we calculate the 100 coins, should we use the 100 coins as 700 coins?"

Hai Rui's brain was already smoking.

Circulate one hundred coins seven times and spend them as seven hundred coins.

That’s the calculation, right?
Just a mere one hundred coins can hold so much knowledge?

Hai Rui searched all the knowledge in his mind and seemed to have found similar words in "Salt and Iron Discussions" and "Records of the Grand Historian: The Biography of Merchants", but the meaning was far different from what he mentioned to the prince.

Where did the prince hear these knowledge?
Zhao Zhenji?
Xu Wenchang?
They looked shocked, as if it wasn't taught by them.

Zhang Shuda, Li Zhuangyuan or Pan Shiliang?
Or maybe the prince is just naturally intelligent and figured it out on his own?
That would be really incredible!

While Hai Rui was still imagining, Xu Wei said, "Your Highness, if that's the case, then the prosperity of the capital you mentioned is an abnormal prosperity, which is very abnormal. I understand.

The money and food spent by the millions of soldiers and civilians were all transported from the south, unlike the southeast, where wealth was produced by the country itself and exchanged for trade." "Right!" Zhu Yijun said happily.

Xu Wenchang was indeed a genius of his time and he quickly understood what he meant.

Xu Wei was also very happy, thinking that the prince's words had opened a new window for him, allowing him to see a completely different system of knowledge.

Zhao Zhenji was also very happy. He had worked as a local official and assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and had a personal understanding of the finances, taxation, and people's livelihood of the Ming Dynasty. When he compared Zhu Yijun's words with the actual problems he had encountered before, waves of emotion immediately arose in his heart.

Zhao Zhenji asked: "Your Highness, how do you think the capital should develop normally?"

Zhu Yijun answered without hesitation: "Develop industry!"

The quick response startled Hai Rui and the other two.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already had a plan in mind!
"Your Highness, how should we develop industry? Where should we develop it?"

"The four major items of coal mining, steelmaking, manufacturing and shipbuilding are all in Kaipingwei and Luanzhou in Yongping Prefecture. There are abundant coal and iron ore there, and it is close to the capital and the sea."

There is a saying in later generations that China ranks first in world steel production, Hebei ranks second, and Tangshan ranks third, and Tangshan is located in Kaiping Zhongtunwei.

“We will make use of Yongping Prefecture’s rich coal and iron resources to vigorously develop iron and steel smelting, and develop manufacturing based on steel.

There are abundant water resources such as the Luan River. Using water power and animal power, forging and cutting are used to manufacture agricultural tools, weapons, spinning machines, looms, spindles and firearms in an industrialized manner and transport them to various places.

A shipyard was built at the mouth of the Luan River, and relying on the rich timber resources of Liaodong, a new type of seagoing vessel was built, equipped with cannons cast in Yongping Prefecture, and sailed south.

Zhao Zhenji, Xu Wei and Hai Rui were filled with turmoil.

Compared to Hai Rui, who was still confused and thinking, Zhao Zhenji and Xu Wei were more aware of the surging power contained in these words.

Steel!
In addition to the farm tools, cooking utensils, knives needed by the people in their daily lives, as well as the machines needed by spinning mills and weaving mills, it can also be made into cold weapons and hot weapons.

There are also the new-style sea vessels equipped with artillery that the prince mentioned, which are also important national weapons.

This is the heavy industry that the prince once mentioned!

Yongping Prefecture is located near the capital and developed into the heavy industrial center of the Ming Dynasty. First, its development has been balanced, with both inflow and outflow, and is no longer as distorted as it is now.

Second, the central government was strengthened. Weapons and ships were all near the capital, in the hands of the emperor, and there were also hundreds of thousands of industrial workers.
This has changed the previous top-heavy situation.

If the Southeast still dares to talk nonsense, the Emperor can kill it with just one finger, relying on its strong industrial base.

Zhao Zhenji and Xu Wei had witnessed the power of the Southeast Cotton Mill and Weaving Mill. A factory with hundreds of people could produce cotton cloth for tens of thousands of people to wear. The output was terrifying.

If it were according to the prince's previous description, under some large-scale industrial model, steel, machines and firearms would be produced in such an endless stream, enough to crush everything.

Compared with Zhao Zhenji and Xu Wei's surprise and shock, Hai Rui was still looking for direction in confusion.

This description sounds beautiful, but does it mean a waste of time and money and competing with the people for profits?

All this was completely different from the idea that women were farmers and weavers that she had accepted, and it sounded contrary to the words of the saints.

But the saints’ books did not mention anything about mass steel production or large-scale industry.

Hai Rui finally swam out of the water, managed to find the direction, and asked, "Prince, agriculture is the foundation of the world. Building such a factory requires a large number of young and strong laborers, which goes against the fundamentals of governing the country!"

It’s coming, it’s coming again!
Zhao Zhenji and Xu Wei's expressions changed slightly, and they looked at Zhu Yijun at the same time.

(End of this chapter)