The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 339 "Is Li Celing going to die?"

After Napoleon arrived, all the monarchs of the Ming Dynasty's vassal states, except Shun State, had arrived in Shuntian Prefecture.

This news quickly spread among the feudal monarchs.

The final deadline has not yet arrived, and the vassal monarchs of Shuntian Prefecture are speculating whether Li Celing, the Prince Shun of the Ming Dynasty, will come while enjoying their daily entertainment.

At the same time, everyone was also discussing what the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would do if Li Celing really did not come, and whether he would immediately kill Li Celing.

So much so that some people have already opened the betting market in private, and many vassal monarchs and their entourages have begun placing bets.

After listening to the news, Napoleon finally realized why the emperor asked him those questions: how to conquer Russia at the lowest cost and fastest speed.

The next war of the Ming Dynasty will be to deal with Russia, Shun and the Ottoman Empire at the same time.

The main force of the Ming Dynasty may be used to deal with the Shun Kingdom, while Russia and the Ottoman Empire should be handed over to these vassal states.

After this war, the Ming Dynasty will truly unify the world, the entire world.

Although there are certainly still a few scattered countries left, by that time they will have no choice but to join the Ming Dynasty or be isolated by the whole world.

Napoleon continued to experience life in the world capital with emotion, and the remaining time of the Sixteen Years of Tiangong was getting less and less.

At the beginning of December, a delegation from Shun State arrived.

However, Li Celing himself did not come to Shuntian Prefecture, but arranged for a so-called "prime minister" to come.

Li Celing's prime minister went to the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty and claimed to the officials of the Honglu Temple that Prince Shun Li Celing was old, frail and sickly and unable to travel far.

If it was an ordinary vassal state, if it was an ordinary matter, the Honglu Temple would handle it itself.

However, the situation in Shun State was special, and this visit was also specially requested by the emperor, who specifically named all the monarchs of the vassal states to come.

The Honglu Temple reported the situation of Shun State to the emperor truthfully.

Zhu Jianxuan was not surprised after reading it, and he did not meet the prime minister of Shun State in person. The other party was most likely just a discarded pawn.

Zhu Jianxuan arranged for Grand Secretary Wang Tingzhen to represent him in conveying a message to the Prime Minister of Shun State.

In the hall of the Honglu Temple, Wang Tingzhen stood in the middle and said to the Prime Minister of Shun State with a serious expression:
"Is Li Celing going to die soon? He hasn't recovered in this year? Do you want Daming to arrange a doctor to see him?"

The Prime Minister of Shun State bowed his head and said:

"Your Excellency, His Royal Highness Prince Shun is old and has suffered from a number of old illnesses that cannot be cured by medicine."

Wang Tingzhen continued:

“Your Majesty has specially ordered all the vassal monarchs to come to the capital to pay homage. If Prince Shun Li Celing himself does not have much time left, he should send his sons to pay homage to His Majesty on his behalf.

"Li Celing himself did not come, nor did he send his son to do it. This is a disrespect to the emperor's order and is extremely disrespectful."

There are many forms of disrespect, mainly lack of respect and attention towards the emperor's belongings, orders, and messengers, and making mistakes with things that the emperor directly uses.

When Shun Guoxiang heard this accusation, he knelt down directly:
"Your Excellency, I know that His Highness Prince Shun has absolutely no such intention. It's just that the journey is too long, and Prince Shun himself is old and frail, and needs an heir to look after him."

Wang Tingzhen knew that the other party was talking nonsense, so he stopped talking nonsense with him.

This time, Wang Tingzhen took the initiative to turn to the hall, bowed in the direction of the emperor, and then turned to the prime minister of Shun State and said:
"The Emperor has ordered that Prince Shun Li Celing and all his descendants should come to the capital to pay homage before June 1, the 17th year of Tiangong.

"If he's alive, I want to see him in person; if he's dead, I want to see his body; if he's cremated, I want to see his ashes.

“From now on, until Li Celing arrives in Beijing, we will cut off tribute exchanges with Shun State.

"All officials, civilians and merchants in the world are forbidden to have any trade with Shun State, otherwise they will be punished for deceiving the emperor and treason."

Before coming to the Ming mainland, Prime Minister Shun was mentally prepared for the anger of the Ming Emperor.

But I didn’t expect that the order given by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the end would be like this.

Instead of declaring war directly, they first adopted a very traditional solution - "cutting off tribute"

This will make Shunguo very uncomfortable.

To the extent that Li Celing might have to seriously consider again whether he should really become an enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

Shun State has always been a nominal vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and trade with the Ming Dynasty has never been truly cut off.

The time when Ming Dynasty's handicraft industry developed comprehensively and began to be fully industrialized under the guidance of Zhu Jianxuan was exactly the time when Shun State truly conquered India.

When Shun State destroyed India's grassroots ruling system, India's originally well-developed handicraft system was also destroyed at the same time.

Shun State rebuilt India's ruling system in the way of Shenzhou, but did not rebuild the handicraft system.

Because Ming Dynasty's cheap industrial products have already occupied the market in this process.

Shun State did not have the concept of trade protection at that time.

The steel materials and products exported by the Ming Dynasty were of far higher quality than those forged by blacksmiths, and most importantly, the price was even lower.

Therefore, during the Shun Kingdom's conquest of India, in order to obtain more weapons faster, it directly used steel from the Ming Dynasty.

The Indian iron and steel industry, which was quite powerful in the classical era, simply lost its meaning of existence.

As long as the Ming Dynasty's industrialization involved an industry, the corresponding handicraft industry in India had basically disappeared.

Ordinary people in India have almost become pure farmers, making a living simply by growing food and cash crops.

Other products needed for life are highly dependent on the output of the Ming Dynasty.

Li Celing has already realized this problem. He has realized that if he falls out with the Ming Dynasty, his rule in India will be in big trouble.

So Li Celing had already started trying to learn from the Ming Dynasty and engage in industrialization a few years ago.

They were preparing to learn from the Ming Dynasty, develop steam engines, and build large-scale Ming-style steel mills, textile mills, flour mills, and military factories.

However, Li Celing soon discovered that it was impossible to replicate the Ming Dynasty's factory by relying solely on Indian craftsmen.

Even if we directly poached craftsmen from the Ming Dynasty, we would not be able to build a factory in the Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps only the Ming Dynasty's hands-on teaching and direct use of Ming Dynasty's industrial machinery to build an entire industrial system for India can succeed.

But the Ming Dynasty obviously knew this, so now it only exports industrial finished products, but strictly prohibits the export of machinery.

Historically, the British did the same thing in the early days of their own industrialization.

At that time, Britain had a complete monopoly on the technology of reciprocating general-purpose steam engines, and smuggling steam engines was punishable by death.

After the industrialization of Britain was basically completed, and the industrialization of other European countries began, and everyone had steam engines, export restrictions were relaxed.

The capitalist world then entered the era of free capitalism.

In many industrial countries in Europe and America, a large number of private manufacturers were competing fully. At that time, any product could be sold as long as there was enough profit.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the best battleships of the time could be sold directly.

As long as the customers can afford it, European shipyards can directly customize the main force, and can build warships that are better than those used by their own navies.

This means that any country can order a Ford-class aircraft carrier from the United States and can also customize the design according to their preferences.

It was during that era that the mentors made the famous observation that "capitalists are able to sell the noose that hangs them for profit."

That era was also the best time for developing countries to complete industrialization with the help of external forces.

In history, the Qing Dynasty and Japan were the first to get on the bandwagon at that time. They both directly purchased production lines for steel, guns, and warships.

At the beginning of the 20th century, when the world entered the era of imperialism, that is, the era of monopoly capitalism, the business strategies of capitalists changed again.

They began to build patent barriers to exclude competitors, and then reap excess profits after mergers and acquisitions to monopolize the market.

The Ming Dynasty now led by Zhu Jianxuan may skip the era of free capitalism and jump directly from the early capitalist era to the imperialist era.

The means of trade sanctions have been directly used.

Zhu Jianxuan simply did not give other developing countries the opportunity to complete industrialization through the free market.

If you want to industrialize, you can only follow the Ming Dynasty and cooperate with the Ming Dynasty's needs. For example, Poland currently has an opportunity to get started.

Shunguo, who was unwilling to accept the situation, obviously did not have this opportunity.

The so-called Prime Minister of Shun State knew that this matter was very serious, so he subconsciously wanted to continue to explain. However, Wang Tingzhen did not give him this opportunity, and directly ordered people to drive the Prime Minister of Shun out, and asked the Honglu Temple to arrange someone to send him away as soon as possible.

On the winter solstice, December 22, the 16th year of Tiangong, Zhu Jianxuan held a court meeting in the Fengtian Hall in the old imperial city.

In traditional Shenzhou culture, the winter solstice is a very important solar term. It has long been regarded as the starting point of the year, and a grand court assembly was held there as a rule.

This year, in addition to the existing princes, dukes, nobles, cabinet ministers, privy councilors, and vice ministers of various ministries, the monarchs of the vassal states also attended.

Zhu Jianxuan put on the most formal imperial robes and ascended the throne. Everyone present performed the ritual of five bows and three kowtows to the emperor.

On December 24, Zhu Jianxuan officially moved into the new imperial city.

By moving out of the wooden buildings of the old imperial city and into new houses with reinforced concrete structures, the fire hazard dropped by an order of magnitude. Zhu Jianxuan was truly satisfied and happy.

Zhu Jianxuan put on the emperor's regular clothes and took the throne in the main hall of the new imperial city, once again accepting the homage of the Ming Dynasty's top leaders as a celebration of his new home.

After the ceremony, Zhu Jianxuan announced a banquet in the main hall, so that everyone could have their first meal together after moving.

This kind of grand court meeting is held twice a month, and twice more in the following month. The court's ceremonial officials will be particularly busy this winter.

After the banquet, Zhu Jianxuan issued an order to give ordinary officials a holiday, and the Ming Dynasty court officially came to a halt.

Zhu Jianxuan also went to the more comfortable environment of the New Imperial City's West Palace to rest.

Zhu Jianxuan's four sons who were sent out for practical training were given holidays according to the standards for ordinary officials, and they immediately took cars to the capital.

On December 28th, all four princes returned to Shuntian Prefecture and went to the palace together to report to their father the emperor.

Zhu Jianxuan stood in front of them with his hands behind his back and first looked at their appearance.

All four of them looked a little rougher than last year, especially the eldest brother Zhu Jingkun, who had become darker and stronger.

The mental states of the four people were not the same. Two of them looked quite tired, while the eldest and the third seemed to be in better mental states than before.

It can be seen that there is a big gap in their ability to adapt to grassroots work.

Zhu Jianxuan observed the general situation of the four children, and then asked them casually:

"I have been working in the local area for a year. What do you think?"

The four of them looked at each other, and the eldest spoke first:
“Your Majesty, I feel that local affairs may seem simple at first glance, but after actually understanding them, I find that they involve many things and seem extremely complicated.

“No matter what happens, it will involve multiple villagers and will affect the duties of the original officials.

“But once you really think about it, you’ll find that it’s not complicated in essence.

"It all comes down to the issue of interest distribution. Ordinary people at the bottom of society have very limited interests to gain and are actually very easy to satisfy.

"As long as the court can benefit the people, everything will be easy.

"As long as the imperial court continues to reclaim wasteland and build, it can create more benefits for the people."

After listening to this, Zhu Jianxuan did not make any direct comments, but continued to ask others what they thought.

This time it was the third brother who spoke:

"Father, I think the key to grassroots affairs lies in the grassroots officials...

“The court set up grass-roots offices below the county government offices in the towns, cities, factories, villages and townships, which had long-term direct contact with more grassroots people.

“Their image among the people is the image of the court.

“But in my opinion, most of the people in these grassroots government offices have big problems.

"Either they are arrogant and think they are being suppressed, so they are frustrated.

"Either they do nothing, or they try their best to climb up the social ladder.

"Either they are just wasting time and have no interest in their work.

“Almost no officials are willing to take the initiative to solve problems for the people.

"It may be because these officials have not yet adapted to the changes and cannot accept the roles of clerks, clerks, and registrars.

"So I think we should not rush to set up grassroots government offices, we can slow down a bit."

After hearing this, Zhu Jianxuan did not respond directly and continued to ask other people.

The other two princes also expressed their own feelings about the local situation.

After Zhu Jianxuan had listened to everything, he began to comment on their thoughts:

"First of all, Boss, the place where you are doing your training is the countercurrent sluice in the northeast, right?"

Zhu Jingkun nodded immediately:
"Yes, Father."

Zhu Jianxuan followed up his answer and reminded:

“Most of the immigrants to the inland areas of Northeast China moved there from other places.

"These were people who had almost no land, or even nothing at all, and they were collectively resettled in the form of military settlements.

"They went from having nothing to owning a lot of land, having enough food and clothing, and having leisure and entertainment, so they are naturally easy to be satisfied.

“In addition, this concentrated migration process completely disrupted the original village and town clan system.

“After arriving in the Northeast, they were all strangers to each other.

“Local officials are dealing with isolated families, not hundreds of people from the same clan in a village.

“So the immigration of military settlements is relatively easy to manage.

“The early officers of the Juntunwei had relatively high levels of knowledge and ability, because the Juntunwei was, after all, a second-rank institution.

“And the newly built towns and villages at the local level are only eighth-grade institutions.

“Especially in rural areas, a village is almost made up of one family. If something happens in the village, they are often willing to solve it themselves rather than go to the government.

“Whenever the government wants to arrange something, it has to negotiate with hundreds of them at the same time.

“This job is difficult.

“So the feelings of the third brother are very different from those of the eldest brother. One feels that there are basically no problems at the local level, while the other feels that grassroots institutions are of little use.

“Neither of you is fully aware of what you are feeling.

"Once you have adapted to the local environment, I will let you exchange training areas in the next stage.

“Big brother, you go to the cultivated land in the Central Plains, and the third brother, go to the newly reclaimed areas on the border.

“The second child went to the inland areas, and the fourth child went to the coastal areas.

“Learn and gain experience in different environments, and become familiar with the characteristics of grassroots affairs in different places.”

Several princes seemed a little confused after listening to their father's teachings.

This is equivalent to not directly evaluating the right or wrong of their previous insights, but only reminding them in advance of the plan for further training.

The arrangement of exchanging regions for training is really speechless.

After working hard in one place for two years and finally adapting to the local folk art environment, I am about to go to a completely different place and start over.

Changing places faster than ordinary officials.

If they had a choice, they certainly wouldn't want to do that.

But Dad’s arrangement also made a lot of sense. They were all aiming to be the heir to the throne, and the emperor wanted to rule the entire world.

Of course, their vision cannot be limited to one place, otherwise they would not be qualified to be emperors in theory.

However, the emperors in the past, let alone going to different places for training, may have rarely even left the palace, and yet they still became emperors...

But they could only keep their complaints to themselves, and on the surface they all obeyed orders obediently:

"My son, please remember your father's teachings."

(End of this chapter)