The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 326 "It's time to change mulberry trees to rice"

Zhu Jianxuan arranged the research and development route of the turbo engine and continued to discuss the design details until noon, and then had lunch here.

In the afternoon, we left the gas turbine laboratory and, accompanied by key officials and craftsmen from the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering, went to the petrochemical laboratory, which is closely related to the gas turbine laboratory.

The main task of the petrochemical industry in its early days was to provide stable and reliable fuel for various internal combustion engines.

But this industry can actually do much more than that. Every aspect of modern people’s lives is inseparable from the products of the petrochemical industry.

Various plastic products and packaging materials, materials for various household appliances and tools.

Various chemical fiber fabrics, clothing, packages, various elastic materials, viscous materials, and film materials.

Various rubbers, shoes, tires, various cleaning and chemical raw materials, electrical materials, paints and coatings, medicines and pesticides.

It can also be combined with various industries such as coal, fertilizers, metallurgy, etc. to produce more products and affect a wider range.

Without the petrochemical industry, we cannot produce a pair of elastic socks, gloves or a plastic basin.

Therefore, oil is also called the blood of modern industry, and the petrochemical industry is the foundation and core category of the modern industrial system.

Zhu Jianxuan knew the importance of the petrochemical industry and had made plans long ago. He took the initiative to promote the rapid development of the petrochemical industry and laid a solid foundation for the entire industry.

After Zhu Jianxuan set up this framework, the laboratory began to produce various important and concrete results on its own.

First came benzene compounds, used to make gunpowder, then came plastics and synthetic rubber for a variety of uses, and chemical fibers with a variety of properties.

Among them, the products of petroleum cracking can replace the coal chemical industry on a large scale.

Plastic materials can replace a large number of wooden, straw, cotton and linen utensils, and can replace a large number of metal, glass and ceramic utensils.

Synthetic rubber can replace natural rubber products and can produce new materials with various properties.

Chemical fibers can replace textile materials such as cotton, linen, and wool.

These are products that can be used in daily production and life of human society, and their consumption is very large and will continue to increase.

Except for coal and metals, which have been industrialized, most of the others rely on agricultural production.

It relies on vast land as space, a large number of people as labor, and time is needed for the growth of plants and animals.

With the emergence of the petrochemical industry, the oil extracted from the oil fields is sent to the chemical plant, the granular materials produced by the chemical plant are sent to the production plant, and the production plant produces the final product.

The entire industrial chain has basically gotten rid of traditional handicrafts. The key is to get rid of the limitations of the agricultural production cycle, ultimately allowing the number of products to grow explosively.

Human beings will finally be basically free from the constraints of weather and can provide cheap daily necessities for everyone.

Let industrialization penetrate further into all aspects of human society, and let the industrial revolution spread from point to surface to the entire society.

At the same time, it can also control the people who participate in the industrial chain and have demand for products through the production and circulation of industrial products, which is almost everyone in the entire industrial society.

After completing this level of comprehensive industrialization, the control capabilities of state institutions will increase by an order of magnitude, and the difficulty of forced independence for regions will also increase by an order of magnitude.

Therefore, in addition to the direct practical effects that the petrochemical industry itself can produce, it can also have a huge impact at the social level.

After Zhu Jianxuan arranged the development plan of the petrochemical industry, he would still come here from time to time to see the new products developed in the laboratory.

The petrochemical industry is a long-term development industry that can continuously produce various new materials with new properties.

If they develop a new product with important uses, Zhu Jianxuan will come specially to inspect it.

In Zhu Jianxuan's previous life in the 21st century, due to the development of society into a new stage and various public opinions and practical reasons, modern people generally dislike chemical fiber materials and instead pursue natural materials such as silk and pure cotton.

But in the era of the Industrial Revolution, artificially synthesized things are the most fashionable products.

The various chemical fibers such as nylon, polyamide, spandex, etc. produced by Zhu Jianxuan's petrochemical industry in his previous life were collectively called rayon by Ming Dynasty craftsmen.

According to the characteristics of different fibers, they are further named as strong silk, flexible silk, elastic silk, etc.

The officials and craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, as well as most ordinary people of that era, valued mainly the performance of the material itself.

They found that the strength and wear resistance of many artificial silks are many times that of natural materials such as cotton, linen, wool and silk.

The key is that it does not require the complicated methods of planting mulberry trees, raising silkworms, reeling silk, and peeling cocoons, and can be produced continuously and at high speed in large factories.

We can also continue to look for new materials, continue to explore different blending ratios, and create more new fabrics with different properties.

This is certainly a groundbreaking good thing, the crystallization of human wisdom created under the guidance of His Majesty the Emperor Tiangong.

The key is that these materials can free up much of the local land from agriculture.

So when Zhu Jianxuan was fiddling with the newly produced chemical fiber blended fabric, Li Rui couldn't help but come up with a very bold idea again:

“Your Majesty, artificial silk can now be mass-produced, and there are already many blended fabrics whose performance indicators far exceed those of mulberry silk.

“The land in the Ming Dynasty was not abundant, and mulberry trees occupied a large number of paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River, which were most suitable for growing rice.

“So the students think that we should start promoting the conversion of mulberry to rice, or the conversion of mulberry to mill.”

This kind of thing is actually very sensitive, as the industrial profits related to mulberry silk and silk are too huge.

All the officials at the scene pricked up their ears when they heard this topic, waiting for Zhu Jianxuan's answer.

Silk is a representative product used by the wealthy class of the Ming Dynasty to demonstrate their status, and has long been a flagship product of foreign trade.

Over the past decade or so, due to changes in the emperor's economic strategy and the restriction of trade with foreign vassals, the scale of Ming Dynasty's foreign trade has continued to shrink.

However, as European countries became vassal states, the construction of a large number of African vassal states achieved initial results, and foreign trade began to recover.

If it is an ordinary official, considering the interests of a large number of industrial personnel in reality, in order to avoid being attacked by stakeholders, he will basically not take the initiative to bring up such things.

The rayon industry was still in its seed stage and there were almost no actual stakeholders except the artisans directly responsible for the petrochemical industry.

Advocating the complete replacement of silk with rayon will only offend people, and shrewd bureaucrats will not do it.

But Li Rui has a special identity. He is a craftsman, not a government official, and these researches were originally carried out by the Academy of Sciences where he works.

He was also a student of the emperor, and he called himself a talkative student, and he dared to tell his teacher anything.

Zhu Jianxuan also allowed and even indulged them to speak, and they could directly tell him their teacher whatever they thought.

But just like his own sent princes, he could not directly instruct court officials to do anything without his direct authorization.

Zhu Jianxuan was also very surprised to hear this suggestion today.

Zhu Jianxuan's past life experience in the 21st century had prevented him from considering this angle:
"Change mulberry to rice? Let artificial silk completely replace natural silk?"

Li Rui immediately accepted it:
"Yes, Your Majesty, I think this is possible..."

After hearing this, Zhu Jianxuan did not answer immediately. He continued to fiddle with the batches of blended fabrics in front of him, and began to think about the impact of this matter.

The craftsmen around knew that the emperor had begun to seriously consider it. On the surface, everyone subconsciously tried to remain quiet as much as possible, but many people were very nervous in their hearts.

Because the emperor began to think about it, it meant that the emperor believed that this matter was worth considering and even discussing, so it might really be possible to start it.

If the emperor issued an edict requiring the entire court to promote it, the mulberry silk and silk industry would definitely suffer a severe blow.

It may even be completely destroyed or even disappear.

Although many people have seen the superiority of artificial silk, they still feel that silk should not disappear. Satin fabrics themselves are a symbol of wealth. They have a lot of satin clothes and fabrics in their homes.

By using artificial silk to make silk waste, wouldn’t their assets simply depreciate in value?
In the memories left by Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, even after industrialized textile manufacturing was completed, silk was still considered a high-end fabric, and its price was usually several times that of chemical fiber.

Even in the 21st century, many people still pursue silk materials.

The key point is that Zhu Jianxuan had already gotten used to it in his previous life. Silk was still a typical type of fabric, a type of clothing that ordinary people could use with a little money.

Zhu Jianxuan also instinctively wanted to reject the suggestion of changing mulberry to rice, especially to reject the imperial court's intervention in this matter.

Even if we want to replace rice with mulberry, artificial silk products should be allowed to squeeze out and replace silk products, which will naturally reduce the living space of silk products.

Zhu Jianxuan's thinking was actually his own speculation and analysis. If silk was really destroyed, what impact would it have on the future of the Ming Dynasty and even the world.

Zhu Jianxuan thought about it for a while and felt that there would not be any major practical impact, except that the Ming society would lose a cultural heritage.

However, when industrialization is fully completed, the basic living standards of most ordinary people will be guaranteed, and their spiritual and cultural needs will increase rapidly.

Industries such as film and television, opera, music, antiques, tourism, cultural relics, chess and cards, etc. are all aimed at satisfying people's spiritual and cultural needs.

Compared with other entertainment projects, historical relics and traditional culture have higher positive effects, which are conducive to building national self-confidence and enhancing cultural cohesion.

The productivity in the agricultural era was relatively low and was not enough to enable the entire population to acquire sufficient cultural knowledge.

In the agricultural era, only the wealthy class had basic cultural literacy. Traditional cultural products are usually the culture of the wealthy class, and it is the wealthy class that has passed it down to the modern era.

The productivity of industrial countries has been greatly improved, and they are now able to provide sufficient cultural knowledge to all citizens.

At this time, promoting cultural products that were once only used and passed down by the nobility to the entire population will help ordinary people gain a sense of national and ethnic identity.

It helps to transform the common people under the rule of ancient dynasties into modern citizens, and thus complete the nation construction in the modern sense.

Silk fabric is a direct symbol of aristocratic life. The technology and rules of its production and use should not be abandoned, but should be modified according to reality.

From this perspective, it is very practical to let ordinary people in modern times wear clothes that only ancient nobles could wear.

So after thinking for a long time, Zhu Jianxuan opened his mouth and issued an unexpected order:

"The accompanying Grand Secretary drafted an edict to officially lift the restrictions on the use of silk fabrics by all civilians. Anyone can wear clothes made of silk and rayon.

"Everyone is allowed to wear boots and any color and shape of clothing.

"However, the formal dress style used by the royal family, clans, nobles, and bureaucrats, as well as the uniform style of all officials and soldiers, are not allowed to be copied by the public. Violators will be punished according to the law."

When this order was given, everyone at the scene was stunned.

Before the Chongzhen period, common people were not allowed to wear silk and boots. Only those who passed the imperial examinations and became officials were allowed to wear them.

However, this regulation was only strictly enforced in the early days. By the Jiajing period, basically no one cared about it, and even wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan dared to use dragon patterns.

However, until now, the official regulations of the court still remain unchanged from the Hongwu era, with no institutional changes.

Zhu Jianxuan officially and openly overturned the ancestral system and even many traditions of past dynasties, and ignored the color, material and conventional style of clothing.

Just don't wear the formal dress of the royal family, nobles, bureaucrats, or all public officials.

This is how modern countries regulate clothing. The Ming Dynasty was already managing it this way at that time. Zhu Jianxuan's imperial edict simply turned the unspoken rules into law.

But the problem is that Zhu Jianxuan issued such an order in response to the suggestion of changing mulberry trees to rice.

It may sound a bit irrelevant at first glance, but with a little thought, you can find that Zhu Jianxuan obviously did not support the court's decision to change from mulberry to rice.

It even has the meaning of protecting the traditional mulberry silk industry. Otherwise, why would such an edict be used to encourage ordinary people to wear silk?

Although many wealthy people in the society wore silk, the ban in the Hongwu era was already in name only.

But the official public lifting of the ban is in fact encouragement.

After seeing this news, there should be wealthy people who would go out of their way to buy a set of silk clothes to experience it, or respond to the call of the court.

They simply could not imagine that Zhu Jianxuan's real ideas and intentions had completely deviated from converting mulberry trees to rice.

Zhu Jianxuan was thinking about the impact at the ethnic and national levels, and did not dwell on specific interests at all.

After Zhu Jianxuan gave the order, he also realized that his approach could encourage the use of silk, which would be detrimental to the promotion of rayon.

Zhu Jianxuan then glanced at the stunned craftsmen around him and gave additional explanations and reminders:
“As for the matter of changing mulberry trees to rice, it is better to let nature take its course. The imperial court officials do not need to intervene in such matters.

“If artificial silk becomes widely available, and people gradually stop buying silk, then the unused mulberry fields will naturally be converted into rice fields.

"If people still choose to use silk when faced with cheaper, better-performing artificial silk, then they should continue to raise silkworms.

“People in North China prefer to eat noodles, while people in the south prefer to eat rice.

“The court officials could not come forward under such circumstances and demand that the people in northern China and southern China only eat noodles, nor could they demand that they only eat rice.

“We can’t stipulate that people in North China can only eat noodles, and people in the south of the Yangtze River can only eat rice.

"It's nonsense to demand that everyone can eat pasta, rice, millet and sorghum.

“If existing laws have become useless, they should be abolished as soon as possible.

“It’s just like the clothing regulations for the four classes of people left over from the Hongwu era.

“Otherwise, when the relevant officials make judgments, they may come up with no evidence, which may make the parties unconvinced.

“While lifting restrictions, we should not specifically stipulate in which situations silk must be used.

“If it is not necessary, do not add new laws, which is to rule by inaction.

“It’s true that there isn’t much farmland in the Ming mainland, but there aren’t many mulberry fields either.

“Even if all the mulberry fields were converted into rice fields, the number of grain fields in Ming Dynasty would not increase by more than a few percent.

"Instead of messing with the mulberry fields on our homeland, it would be better to reclaim more wasteland in the Northeast, Southeast Asia, America, and Linzhou."

The craftsmen and officials around could hear that the emperor was teaching them how to do things, so they all bowed their hands and accepted the order:
"The ministers obey the order."

However, most craftsmen and officials felt that Zhu Jianxuan's decision was just for the sake of safety.

It would certainly be very troublesome if people, manufacturers, officials, and craftsmen who do not want to force the mulberry silk industry to deal with it are not allowed to do so.

They even announced the lifting of silk restrictions at this time, trying to save the silkworm-silk industry that was bound to decline when artificial silk came out.

However, the imperial court was not allowed to actively encourage the silk industry, as it did not want the two conflicting industries to come into direct conflict.

Because the gambling houses’ way of thinking is on a different level, Emperor Zhu Jianxuan basically no longer cares about specific economic interests.

Zhu Jianxuan looked at these ministers and craftsmen, feeling a little melancholy and tired. He wondered if they could understand his intentions.

I don’t know what the Ming Dynasty will be like in the future because I no longer have any direct reference.

The Ming Dynasty at this time was completely different from any country in previous history.

(End of this chapter)