The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 69 "War Prosperity"

The first thing Byron noticed after arriving in Daming was that the cities were indeed as clean as the adventurers and travelers had described.

The streets in big cities are paved with stone slabs or bricks, and there is no human or animal excrement on both sides of the streets.

Naturally, there will be no unpleasant smells on the streets.

On the main street of Yingtianfu City, there is a "public toilet" at regular intervals, and next to the toilet there is a group of "dirty bins".

Pedestrians are not allowed to urinate or defecate on the streets. They must go to public toilets and all kinds of garbage must be thrown into garbage bins.

Otherwise, if they were caught on the spot by the Jinyiwei patrolling the streets, they would be dragged to the middle of the street and whipped in public.

The llamas passing by on the street all had a leather bag on their buttocks to prevent their feces from falling to the ground.

There are special carts that go into the city every once in a while to replace the toilet bowls and take away all the excrement and urine.

It is said that this was a law enacted by Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty a hundred years ago.

These laws made the Ming Dynasty's capital, Yingtianfu, the cleanest city in the world, probably the only one now.

Other major cities in the Ming Dynasty were not as clean as Yingtian Prefecture, but most of them were far better than major European cities.

For this reason alone, Byron hoped to live in Yingtian City forever. It would be great without having to worry about stepping on feces anytime and anywhere.

These cities, which seem extremely clean to Europeans, are extremely busy at all times.

All the shops on both sides of the street are open, none of them are closed during the day, and you can often see newly opened shops offering promotions.

Most stores have customers coming in and out all the time, and transactions of all sizes are happening all the time.

In the city, the busiest stores nowadays may be those selling various types of bicycles.

It is a small car with two or three wheels. The overall structure is very simple, light and very sturdy.

When an adult pedals with all his strength, it can be as fast as a galloping horse, and it can also carry nearly 100 kilograms of weight, and can carry it through impassable terrain.

The space they take up when parking and driving is much less than that of horses and carriages, and they are much safer to use in the city. The key is that users no longer need to maintain the expenses of raising horses.

It is said that the bicycle was invented by His Royal Highness the King of Wu, who negotiated with Byron himself, and it quickly became popular among the people and in the market after it was launched.

The police of the Ming Dynasty were called Jinyiwei, which was originally a royal secret police. During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, they were transformed into an ordinary police agency. Now some of them have begun to patrol on bicycles, and postmen and vendors have also begun to use two-wheeled or three-wheeled vehicles.

These two- and three-wheeled bicycles have apparently replaced a large part of the functions of horses and carriages.

In the suburbs outside Yingtianfu City, many local governments are building new factory buildings, and signs recruiting workers can often be seen.

If you stand on a high place and look down, you can see the shadows of countless chimneys and blast furnaces, releasing rising hot air day and night.

If you stand by the Yangtze River, you can see ships shuttling back and forth on the river like fish swimming on the surface. This is a direct manifestation of the prosperity of water transportation and industry and commerce.

Byron had long known from maps how vast the Yangtze River basin in the Ming Dynasty was and how many agricultural and industrial and mining industries there were in the basin.

The inland water transport system that the British are so proud of is like an earthworm and a dragon in front of the Yangtze River.

The future potential of the Ming Dynasty is even greater, because its industry and commerce are as prosperous as those of Britain, and its area is as vast as that of Russia.

Even if the Ming Dynasty did not have Southeast Asia, it would have become a world-class power relying solely on the Yangtze River Basin, and would have easily surpassed Britain, which had limited territory.

Unless Britain's colonies in the New World become as prosperous as its homeland, Britain's potential can be compared with that of the Ming Dynasty.

But Britain is now about to lose its colonies in the New World. If it wants to obtain colonies of similar size in the future, it can only turn its attention to the African continent.

Byron and his party left Yingtian Prefecture and went downstream along the Yangtze River. They observed the cities along the river and found that they were all prosperous.

There were no large-scale closures of factories and shops, nor was there a large-scale gathering of unemployed workers.

The news that the accompanying translators obtained from various newspapers among the people of the Ming Dynasty made Byron and his companions even more worried.

Although there were articles opposing the war, they were usually in newspapers dealing with literature, art, or lifestyle, and it was difficult for them to influence the overall trend of thought.

Most of the articles analyzing the North American War published in more business-oriented newspapers tended to be supportive.

Most articles believed that the British were so arrogant and proud of their victory in the last European war that they incurred public anger.

The timing and direction of the Ming Dynasty's choice to join the war were very good. Britain, France and Spain were deadlocked in Europe, and the Ming Dynasty had the opportunity to quickly reap the land in America.

Britain can no longer find an ally that can offset the Ming naval power.

This is the practical application of the strategy of "uniting the states" (lianheng).

In addition, the news of the victory in New York had already been made public, and almost all articles believed that Britain would inevitably lose the war.

The question that remains is the difference in the extent to which Britain will fail.

On this basis, various newspapers have begun to analyze what the Ming Dynasty can get after the war and what the future situation in the Americas will be.

Direct trade with the independent United States is basic, and Ming merchants will definitely be able to do business directly in the United States in the future.

The official has not made it public, but the public believes that this must be the basic condition for Ming Dynasty to support the United States.

The Ming Dynasty will certainly be able to acquire part of the land in North America and Central America, and the imperial court will certainly organize official immigration and development activities in the future.

Many articles remind that businessmen in related industries can start preparing in advance.

The people of the Ming Dynasty had a strong interest in the Great Plains of North America, and almost all relevant newspapers made special introductions to the geography.

There is analysis from the soil and water environment to the human conditions to the various forces.

Other articles lamented the current situation, as the Spanish were now allies and could not directly seize Spanish colonies.

We can only consider gaining a foothold in North America before looking for an opportunity to take action against Spain.

In general, most newspapers' attitude towards the North American War was not just supportive, but there was even a special sense of excitement in their articles.

There were also complaints about the local warlords of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty in the north that were derived from the North American War.

He then began to advocate the Northern Expedition, the reduction of feudal lords, and expansion.

Based on the old newspapers collected from previous years, Byron and his team judged that it was actually normal for Ming Dynasty merchants to advocate the Northern Expedition and reduce the power of the feudal lords.

All kinds of topics can be turned towards these two questions.

Byron and the officials accompanying him all knew that these private business newspapers were mostly the voices of businessmen, which meant that Ming Dynasty businessmen now supported the war.

Commercial taxes and customs duties were the most important sources of fiscal revenue for the Ming Dynasty.

As the internal market was quite prosperous and the merchant community was relatively supportive of the war, the Ming royal family obviously did not need to rush to end the war.

With heavy hearts, Byron and his entourage boarded the passenger ship provided by the Honglu Temple and sailed down the Yangtze River to Songjiang Prefecture.

At Songjiang Wharf, we changed to the Portuguese merchant ship we had taken when we came here and embarked on the journey back to Europe.

Byron stood on the bow, sighed as he looked at the busy Songjiang Port, and then discussed with the officials around him in confusion:
“Why did the Ming Dynasty join the war, but there was no large-scale opposition from the people? Even most merchants supported it?
"Why aren't there factories closing down and workers losing their jobs, as in our own country?"

The official in charge of observing the industrial and commercial situation casually explained:
“Because our European countries are often at war, the kings also send their accumulated wealth to Ming in exchange for luxury goods.

“As a result, the finances of most European countries have long been on the brink of collapse. When our kings want to start a war, they usually have to borrow money first, and then impose additional taxes on the people to sustain the war.

"The Ming emperor had not participated in a large-scale war for half a century, and they obtained the wealth accumulated by monarchs from all over the world through the luxury trade.

"The Ming Dynasty is currently in a state of spending money on war. The emperor is using his accumulated wealth to purchase war supplies, so of course the merchants will be very happy.

"The emperor poured a lot of wealth into the domestic market of Ming Dynasty, creating a special prosperity caused by the war.

"Of course, this situation cannot be sustained. When the emperor's money runs out, he will have to borrow money and raise taxes like the European monarchs.

“But even at the stage of borrowing money and raising taxes, the financial tolerance of the Ming Dynasty is still much higher than that of Britain and France. This is because the world’s wealth has been concentrated in the Ming Dynasty over the past few hundred years.

“The Ming emperor was richer than European monarchs, and Ming merchants were richer than European merchants.

“Even ordinary workers in the Ming Dynasty had accumulated some wealth, but European workers did not even have money for next week’s food. If the factory owners did not pay them for a week, they would go hungry.

“So, at least before the finances of Britain and France completely collapse, the finances of the Ming Dynasty will not fall to the current level of Britain and France.

"But the people of the Ming Dynasty have very low endurance and their tolerance for harsh environments is much lower than ours. They will rebel as long as they are hungry."

(End of this chapter)