The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 383 Taxation and Population

No one has specifically analyzed Fatah's last question with Ma Weiguo, but Ma Weiguo himself knows why:
“It’s too late. Right now the court, factories, and businesses need people. Once the people know they need such people, they will go back and study.

"How long will this process take? Three to five years, or even ten to eight years?

“The vacancies in the court must be filled as soon as possible, and factories and businesses need to be built up at the fastest speed.

"Everything in the Ming Dynasty must be done quickly. If you are slow in one step, all steps will be slow.

"Your Majesty must know this truth, which is why he took the initiative to build various schools throughout the world.

"The schools run by the imperial court are not profitable, they only use up as much as they receive.

“Even so, there is still a shortage of people everywhere.

“If His Majesty had not ordered the construction of schools before, we would be even more short of people now.

“All factory construction and production will be slowed down a lot.”

As Fatah listened to Ma Weiguo's analysis, some thoughts in his mind finally became clear.

"But why doesn't the school make money? These ordinary workers come here to study for a few years and then they can earn thirty or even fifty gold notes a month.

"Their monthly salary in the future will be enough to cover one year's tuition fees now.

“Even if the tuition is raised to one year’s salary, there will definitely be countless ordinary people willing to study.

“They have no money now, so we can give them loans, which will cost them interest.

“They go to school for ten years and repay the loan for twenty years after graduation, which is a very good deal.

“Among the hundreds of millions of people in Ming, there must be enough people who can accept it.

“Moreover, if running a school can make money, there will be people in the private sector who will take the initiative to open a school.

"Then the imperial court can collect taxes from private schools..."

Ma Weiguo fell silent after hearing this. After a long silence, he sighed:
"Your Majesty, when you arrive at the Ming Dynasty, especially when the Emperor summons you, try not to reveal your ideas."

Fatah was also familiar with Ma Weiguo, so he still asked directly in this situation:

"why?"

At this moment, Ma Weiguo seemed to change his mind again:

"You better tell me. You told His Majesty these suggestions. Maybe they will be good for your future, Your Majesty."

Fatah was completely confused:

"Why, sir, why did you first remind me that I couldn't say that, and then immediately remind me that I should say it? Please teach me the reason."

Ma Weiguo shook his head and sighed again:
“I don’t quite understand the underlying logic, but His Majesty couldn’t have been unaware of the method you mentioned, but he didn’t do it, which means His Majesty doesn’t like that plan.

“If you raise such an opinion, it might make His Majesty unhappy, so when I heard your opinion, my first reaction was to remind you not to say it.

"But I quickly realized that you are the monarch of an overseas vassal state, not an ordinary minister in the court.

"The suggestion you made seems wrong to His Majesty. It may make His Majesty more indulgent towards you."

Fatah frowned slightly:
“Thank you for your advice, sir. I understand your logic, but I still cannot understand why His Majesty would do this.

“Why might the direction I proposed be wrong in His Majesty’s opinion?

“Shouldn’t this make more money than the current Ming plan, and the Ming court also be able to collect more taxes?

"The more taxes we receive, the stronger our country will be, and the more threatening it will be."

Ma Weiguo smiled:

“So you can wait until His Majesty summons you and then ask Him directly about the logic behind this.

“The current emperor is also very willing to teach people. Almost all the famous craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were disciples of the emperor.

"If His Majesty is willing to teach you, that would naturally be the best outcome."

Ma Weiguo had no way to explain it, and Fatah himself couldn't figure it out, but he could only suppress his thoughts and wait for the passenger ship to depart.

But during this period, another group of people boarded the same ship according to the arrangement of the Honglu Temple.

Ma Weiguo, as the Right Prime Minister of the Honglu Temple, also got to meet the ruler.

Bagration of Georgia, after completing the basic vassal agreement process, also applied to meet the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in accordance with the advice of the Honglu Temple.

Then he was directly approved and was arranged to be on the same ship with the Persian king and his entourage.

On his way across the Persian Plateau to the oil city of the Persian Gulf, Bagration suffered an even greater shock than Fatah.

Bagration lived for a long time in St. Petersburg, at least a place where he could get news from Europe.

The coastal areas of Europe were also able to learn more about the Ming Dynasty.

Bagration had a basic understanding of the changes in the world situation, the technological innovations of the past few decades, and the news and rumors from the Ming Dynasty.

It was these basic introductory knowledge that made Bagration understand better than Fateh how much resources and manpower the Ming Dynasty had invested in these constructions in the Persian Gulf.

It is also conceivable that the power that the Ming Dynasty possessed at that time was much stronger than that of Russia.

But what they saw in the Persian Gulf was only the first impact for these foreign monarchs. There were more grand scenes waiting for them in the rest of their journey.

The passenger ship that Fateh and Bagration were on was ready, and it weighed anchor along with several other large and medium-sized ocean-going passenger ships.

After going out to sea, they joined up with an escort fleet arranged by the Ming Navy for the Persian Gulf route.

Although the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean are now completely controlled by the Ming Dynasty, there is no force in the surrounding area that can threaten the safety of Ming Dynasty's ocean shipping.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going passenger ships and cargo ships are basically made of steel and driven by steam engines, and usually have self-defense firepower on board.

Not to mention the local wild pirate forces, even the navy of an ordinary small country would be unable to do anything to such civilian ships.

However, since the current Ming emperor took charge of ocean trade, the custom of having the Ming navy fleet escort merchant ships to sea has continued to this day.

It allows naval soldiers to maintain regular training and also manage and control maritime smuggling and illegal immigration.

It’s just that the number of warships in the fleet has been greatly reduced.

Each batch of escort fleets usually does not exceed four warships, and the specifications are usually no higher than level four ships.

However, Fatah and Bagration were vassal monarchs after all, and there were also envoys from the Ming Dynasty's Honglu Temple on the ship, so the specifications of the escort fleet were slightly improved this time.

The Navy arranged two 5,000-ton third-level battleships and four 3,000-ton fourth-level battleships.

Although it does not have even a secondary battleship, the actual combat capability of this fleet has already surpassed that of all current countries.

Bagration stood on the deck, holding a pair of binoculars, and for a long time looked at the surrounding ships:

“All were steel ships, all were smoking, all were steam ships.

"The escort warships should be equipped with a large number of large-caliber artillery, all of which are real turret-mounted two-way rapid-fire cannons, and they must also have the Ming Dynasty's super-explosive shells.

"These ships are superior in specifications to all Russian warships, and these six ships are enough to destroy the Russian navy.

"Even if we leave aside the warships and only consider the civilian passenger ships around us, they are not something that the navies of other countries can resist.

"Wait... Oh my God, what kind of ship is that? It's so huge..."

The fleets of Fatah and Bagration were not just a few passenger ships, but also a group of cargo ships. With the development of the Second Industrial Revolution, the largest ships gradually changed from luxury cruise ships and warships to cargo ships, large container ships and large oil tankers.

In addition to Zhu Jianxuan's special reminders and arrangements, a larger cargo ship was designed and built in advance.

This causes cargo ships and oil tankers to begin to expand in size prematurely.

The largest oil tanker in the Ming Dynasty now has a full load displacement of more than 80,000 tons. It would have been a behemoth in World War II in the previous life, and it is even more terrifying in this world.

The Persian Gulf is the largest oil producing area in the Ming Dynasty. Oil City is the largest distribution center in the Persian Gulf and is also closest to the largest oil field.

The largest oil tanker of the Ming Dynasty naturally had to come to the cargo terminal of the Oil City to load oil.

When four large tankers of 80,000 tons joined the fleet, Fateh, Bagration and their entourage screamed.

Ma Weiguo, who was accompanying the two of them, took a look and couldn't help but sigh:

“The emperor has given the order, the craftsmen have the ability, and the factory has the demand, so such a large ship was built.

“It has a displacement of 80,000 tons and is used exclusively to transport oil.

"It was the first time I saw such a big ship, and I was very shocked. This cargo ship is bigger than an aircraft carrier.

“But after dealing with officials involved in shipbuilding, I learned that large ships of this size have already been mass-produced, and that larger ships have also been built.

“The newest and largest ships, with a displacement of more than 100,000 tons, will be seen on the sea in three years at most.

"Your Majesty's instructions and the craftsmen's calculations are both correct. The larger the cargo ship, the lower the total transportation cost will be. Even the total cost of shipbuilding will also become lower.

“The least valuable thing in a shipyard right now is the steel used to make the hull.

“So now the shipbuilding craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty are trying their best to build bigger and bigger ships.

“According to the judgment of the craftsmen, the only condition that will limit the size of cargo ships in the future is the depth of the Malacca and Suez channels.

“Your Majesty also had foresight here. The depth of the main channel of the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal was required to be no less than 16 meters from the beginning.

"That was the standard for cargo ships back then, where two layers would be ample, but now it looks like they can be used to their full potential very quickly.

“In our lifetime, we may see a cargo ship fully loaded with more than 200,000 tons.”

Fateh and Bagration both opened their mouths wide:

"One hundred thousand tons—"

"Even two hundred thousand tons—"

"Steel is the least valuable thing—"

The two men and the officials around them didn't know what to say. After each of them uttered a few words, they stood there with their mouths open.

Ma Weiguo's words repeatedly overturned their cognition.

After setting off, this semi-official fleet maintained a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, crossing the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

Since they were all large and medium-sized ocean-going ships, they sailed continuously for 7,500 kilometers without any supplies.

It took the fleet only eleven days to sail from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca, which is the southern gate of the Ming Dynasty's homeland.

Such continuous voyages also caused Bagration, who had a military background, to have complex mental conditions.

Because it means that it only takes a dozen days for the Ming Dynasty to support the Persian Gulf, the Ottoman Empire, or even the European battlefield from its homeland, and it can make a round trip once a month.

And considering the size of this fleet, the supplies they transport in a single trip are enough to support a main force of tens of thousands of people.

This is just a fleet of cargo and passenger ships...

After the fleet entered the Strait of Malacca, the channel of the strait became narrower and narrower, and the fleets on the sea got closer to each other and were gradually able to see each other.

The closer the fleet got to Singapore Port, the denser the ships around it became, and more ships could be seen appearing every day.

The most terrifying 80,000-ton super cargo ships and oil tankers soon appeared in more than one batch.

Smaller tankers and cargo ships, with tonnages of 40,000 and 60,000 tons, appear more frequently.

At any time, you can see large steel ships over two hundred meters in length, sailing on the sea, spewing smoke.

The Ming Dynasty built the largest oil refinery in Southeast Asia on the Johor (Malay) Peninsula behind the Singapore Port on the north side of the Strait of Malacca.

Provide supplies for passing warships, passenger ships and cargo ships.

Therefore, there is a group of super-large oil tankers that specialize in running the route from Malacca to the Persian Gulf.

When the fleet was about to dock, Fateh, Bagration and their entourage came to the deck again.

Bagration took out his telescope again and looked at the large and small ships anchored in the surrounding anchorages. He wondered if he was seeing an illusion:
"With such a large ship and so many ships, it should be possible to move an entire country directly..."

After hearing this, Ma Weiguo sighed and said:
"The Ming mainland now exports more than 10 million immigrants overseas every year. According to European standards, it is already a fairly large country.

"Ming is sending its excess population to the wildernesses of America, Linzhou, and Africa at the rate of one country per year.

“But even so, the mainland of Ming is still the most densely populated place in the world. Now, on average, each Ming resident can only get a little over three mu of land.

"The population and density of the Ming mainland are still increasing, and every year it is still the size of a small country.

“In the future, a Ming person may only have less than three acres or even two acres of land.

“If it weren’t for the emperor and his craftsmen inventing fertilizers, which doubled the yield of almost all grains per mu, we really don’t know how to feed so many people.

"The population of the Ming Dynasty is too large, so His Majesty has been constantly expanding overseas and relocating people to survive.

"The Ming Dynasty needs more and bigger ships.

"Only then can we send more and more people out instead of having them pile up and struggle on this small piece of land in our country.

"Otherwise the consequences will be disastrous..."

Fatah and Bagration were speechless when they heard this. The "pain and trouble" caused by the excessive population in the Ming Dynasty was really something that other countries could not experience.

At present, the population of all other countries in the world is far from reaching saturation, and population is still the most important wealth of each country.

The overcrowded situation in Shenzhou is truly a unique sight in the world.

Bagration also thought that according to the population base and reproduction rate of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the speed of outward migration and colonization, the whole world would definitely be full of Ming people in the future.

It might take the Ming Dynasty less than a hundred years to fill up the vast New World, and the savages in Africa might disappear, completely replaced by the native people of the Ming Dynasty.

By that time, there may be more and more Ming people in Russia, and there may even be more and more of them now.

But there is really nothing that I, the Russians, and everyone else in the world can do about it.

The Ming Dynasty had so many people that it was capable of reclaiming and cultivating more land, and no force could stop them from doing so.

It's like the largest pool is full and is overflowing uncontrollably, rapidly filling the other pools.

In the future, it’s not that the whole world will be filled with Ming people, but that there will only be Ming people left in the world.

Other groups of people and countries were either assimilated into the Ming people or completely eliminated by the Ming empire.

Neither Georgia nor Russia has any other options.

(End of this chapter)