The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 610 Where is the true foundation of kingship?

Wu Renjing actually didn't understand it completely, because Mo Zibu's most important guards were not the Imperial Guards and the Twelve Capital Camps of Xing Tang.

Instead, they are the internal guards under the Imperial City Commandery, and all of these guys are eunuchs in the palace.

As for their martial arts, they were just average, but all of them were equipped with two pistols and two fast horses.

Their role is nothing more than to protect the emperor's escape when he encounters danger. They are loyal and very reliable.

There was a time when Mo Zibu was quite dislikeful of the eunuch group and was even prepared to abolish it on the grounds of inhumanity.

But later it was discovered that the only people the royal family could really rely on were the eunuchs who grew old, sick, and died in the palace.

Their interests are consistent with the emperor's. All their power and wealth come from the emperor. The palace is their home, so they are the most loyal.

As for the ministers, loyalty to the world must come before loyalty to the king.

So Mo Zibu figured it out. Even though there were no eunuchs in later generations, there were still a lot of Southern Liang and GAI.

For the vast majority of men, losing their penis and the capital for love is naturally extremely painful, but for some groups, this is not necessarily completely unacceptable.

After seeing what happened in Linqing County Court, Mo Zibu was still fine, but Asen suffered another strong mental shock.

"Father, who among these people is the good guy and who is the bad guy?" Asen asked in confusion:

"I think County Magistrate Bao should be a good official, but at the same time he seems to be living in the Qing Dynasty, unable to keep up with the times and unable to handle these problems well.

Mr. Wang must have been a cruel and inhumane evil gentry who forcibly bought the people's land and exploited loopholes in the law to carry out mergers.

But he is a local sage who can provide a large amount of taxes to the country and the court, and help us drive the people, no, migrate them to places that need colonization.

As for Song Yougen, he should be the most sympathetic, but this man is very good at using his status as a weak person to exaggerate the facts to gain sympathy. Moreover, he is so ignorant that he even believes there is a nine-headed monster snake outside Shenyang City.

Mo Zibu waved his hand and left the county government office with dozens of internal guards and his two sons, Asen and Asu. Then he found a mid-range restaurant on the bank of the Grand Canal and booked the entire second floor.

Linqing was extremely prosperous at that time, and there were many wealthy travelers like Mo Zibu who would go out with dozens of people.

Three months ago, the father-in-law of the emperor, the Buddha Pudu Cihang, Zheng Xin, went south from here to Mount Putuo to attend a Dharma Assembly. He brought thousands of people with him and booked seven or eight of the best restaurants for a vegetarian banquet.

The people of Linqing didn't think this was a big deal, so not many people paid much attention to Mo Zibu.

After they sat down and ordered some food and wine, Mo Zibu said to Asen, "If you hadn't asked who was the good guy and who was the bad guy just now, your father's evaluation of you would have been raised to a higher level.

My son, you must know that things in the world are right and wrong, and people are good and bad, but for the emperor, for the public who share the common good, there is no right or wrong, good or bad.

Because considering the 400 million people in the country, it is impossible to have a policy that benefits everyone. As long as regulations are introduced, someone will definitely suffer.

When someone is harmed, you cannot distinguish who is the good guy and who is the bad guy, because it is possible that they are all good guys, or it is possible that they are all bad guys.

Sometimes, it’s better to analyze things in terms of advantages and disadvantages rather than in terms of good guys and bad guys.”

Mo Zibu said this while serving food to his two sons, and then continued: "People like County Magistrate Bao, who was able to become a Jinshi among thousands of students, represent that this person's brain is very useful.

Especially in a place like Guizhou where culture and education are not well developed, he was able to pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi. His vision may be limited, but he must be good in other aspects.

Such people need the court to help them broaden their horizons and keep up with the times, so my reform of the Imperial College is for this purpose.

For ordinary people like Song Yougen, staying at home would make him poor, so going out to explore the world was his only option to change his fate.

Although it does seem cruel and one can sympathize with him personally, from the king's perspective, he must be forced out.

He is miserable now, but in the future, when his descendants live in spacious houses and own farms of hundreds of acres, they will surely thank him for his efforts today."

Asen nodded, seemingly understanding, but he had never heard his father comment on Mr. Wang. He couldn't help but ask:
"Father, what about Mr. Wang? Do we really want to support someone like him to become a council member? In the future, if he has political security and starts to build farms and factories, won't he become a local tyrant?"

Mo Zibu was silent for a long time. He couldn't answer this question. It was impossible for a feudal emperor like him to eliminate classes. The productivity could not be achieved!
But fortunately, Mo Zibu knew what his mission was, which was to use his greatest strength to occupy as many good places as possible for the future Chinese.

Even if his empire collapses in the end, it doesn't matter.

Just like in later generations, territories such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada belonged to Britain only in name.

But these good places will still open their arms to all British people and become good places for them to live and reproduce.

Just imagine how wonderful it would be if China could own these three territories in the future.

In order to fulfill this historical mission, what Mo Zibu had to do was to force the people to go out and colonize the area.

Externally, China will severely punish Britain and France each time to suppress the wave of Europe's rise, preventing them from uniting as a whole and threatening China.

Under this grand goal, for Mo Zibu, who has already adapted to the role of a feudal emperor, everything can give way and be sacrificed for it, even his son can be sacrificed.

In the foreseeable future, some of his sons who were driven to North America, Australia, the southern Philippines and other places as pioneers will definitely not have a good life, and it is very likely that they will die young.

Therefore, after thinking for a while, Mo Zibu said to Asen: "My mission, father, is to expand the territory and colonize the land to achieve the great goal of the second Xia Jun Yi Min. All the policies of Guangzhong Dynasty will revolve around this goal.

And after the goal of colonization is basically achieved, how to maintain this empire, how to maintain internal stability, and how to let everyone enjoy the fruits of colonization will most likely be your business.

After the improvement of the steam engine is completed, Asen, you should go to Guazhou Military Academy to learn how to command the army first.

Then he went to Yingtian Imperial College to study law. Wang Songnian is exploiting loopholes in the law. I'm afraid you will have to deal with people like him often in the future."

In fact, Mo Zibu does have a bottom line in his heart.

His bottom line is that as laws and governance become increasingly refined and in-depth in the future, he will be able to crack down on those gangs that use the corporate model to carry out mergers.

After a large number of people were relocated, a large number of small and medium-sized farms appeared on the large plains of Henan, Hebei and Shandong.

Of course, the current limit of 15 mu needs to be raised to 30 mu, so that a family of five can have 150 mu of land.

If animal power is sufficient and mechanical tools can keep up, a family of five can still farm the land.

Even in later times, even in Henan, a family with 150 acres of land could live quite well. Even if the net profit was only 500 per acre, the 150 acres could still bring in more than 70,000.

In this way, he can be considered to have done his duty to the people below.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the law can protect all of this and make most people who maliciously exploit loopholes pay the price.

Guangzhou, South City Wharf.

As soon as the sky was slightly bright, the entire dock was filled with people coming and going. Porters carried large and small bags and shuttled back and forth in the muddy road full of horse-drawn carriages.

This was originally a cobblestone road, but Guangzhou has developed too rapidly, and the old road built hundreds of years ago can no longer withstand the hundreds of thousands of people traveling back and forth every day.

Soon, these stone slabs were covered with a thick layer of yellow soil and black coal brought by various footsteps.

Then various carriages rolled over the thin yellow soil, and with the trampling of people and animals, it was soon compacted and fixed.

Now it has completely changed beyond recognition. You can't see the bluestone slabs underneath at all. It's just a yellow mud road. If it rains, it will be even more exaggerated, a dark yellow patch.

A quick-handed clerk from Nanhai County, Guangzhou Prefecture, watched all this in pain and closed his eyes in despair.

How the hell can this be cleaned up? It's almost thicker than the silt in the paddy fields in his hometown. The clerk has no doubt that the rice seedlings can definitely survive if they are planted here.

"Splash!" A basin of dirty water poured down from the second floor next to it, and the splashing water wet the clerk's trouser legs.

"Fuck your mother!" The clerk cursed loudly, and with the quick hands beside him, he ran to the second floor where water was being poured, holding long and short water and fire sticks.

On the second floor, a young wife who had just come from the countryside stared at the quick hands rushing up in amazement. She hadn't even put down the wooden basin in her hand, and her face showed a numb fear.

"How dare you! The county magistrate has issued repeated orders, strictly prohibiting the throwing of dirty water and garbage from upstairs. I'm standing downstairs, and you dare to violate the law!"

The clerk shouted, "Fine, fine must be imposed heavily!"
"Master Lin, Master Lin!" When the woman's husband saw this, he hurried over to beg for mercy, "She just came from the countryside and doesn't know the rules here. Please show mercy, Master." The rapid development of Guangzhou also brought a series of problems. When the population expanded from the original 700,000 to more than 2 million in ten years, the most serious problem was sanitation.

In this regard, Paris and London have served as perfect cadaver teachers for Guangzhou, so officials at all levels in Guangdong pay great attention to this aspect.

Before that, although Guangzhou had a large population, it was a population gathering during the agricultural civilization period.

Although there are many people, they are spread out very widely and the urban areas are clearly distinguished. However, this city, which is about to enter the industrial age, is completely different.

Various resources and population will rapidly gather together due to industries, resulting in a large but highly concentrated population.

The barriers between urban areas have been almost completely broken down. While the cities are full of vitality, the original village rules are basically ineffective, and the cities are even more chaotic and disorderly.

"Fine one yuan and stop talking nonsense, otherwise you will be shackled at the gate of the county government office today." After the quick-handed clerk's anger subsided, his eyes flashed with excitement.

Their team can get at least 20% of this silver dollar, which is enough for everyone's afternoon meal.

The new bride, who had just splashed water, heard that she would be fined one silver dollar for using this basin of water. She immediately felt dizzy and wanted to fall to the ground.

In her hometown of Nanxiong Prefecture, many farmers could not save even one silver dollar in a year. When her husband married her and brought her to Guangzhou, she only spent fifteen silver dollars in total.

"Give it to me, I'll give it to you!" Although the fine was large, the husband immediately accepted the punishment when he saw the clerk had already taken out the rope.

The husband runs a small food stall and his business is very good. If he is put in shackles for a day because of this, the loss will not be one silver dollar, but at least five silver dollars.

Of course, these five silver dollars are not his net income, but his turnover for today. If he cannot set up the stall, the ingredients will be wasted.

The net income was just around one silver dollar. These cunning county officials had already calculated that he would work for nothing today.

After a while, the clerk came downstairs happily with a silver dollar, but then his face fell again.

The magistrate only gave him five days and required him to clear the silt on the road.

Now it seems that it can never be completed because there are not enough people. I will probably get punished again.

Upstairs, the husband raised his hand, looked at the rosy and beautiful face of his new wife, and thought of her tenderness during these days, and finally couldn't bear to hit her.

"Pack up quickly and come with me to the stall later. We must earn back this silver dollar."

In Guangzhou, which now has a population of more than two million, a large number of these mobile vendors pushing food carts have appeared.

The most important reason for their emergence, apart from the demands brought about by population explosion and fast-paced modern society, is the cheap energy.

Before this, even in big cities like Guangzhou, there were not many small vendors operating in the grassroots catering industry. It was not because there were few people who knew how to cook, but because they could not afford to light a fire.

Yes, fire.

Guangzhou is located in the Pearl River Delta. In the past, the city relied on charcoal and wood to provide energy, but as the surrounding forests were cut down, prices continued to rise.

Not to mention the large number of small vendors, even ordinary small households have to cook together with several families to save fuel.

If you really dare to set up a small stall and business is not good, the money from firewood will make you bankrupt.

As for coal, without explosives or pumps, it was much more expensive than wood that anyone could cut in the mountains. Before Mo Zibu developed the coal and iron industry, it was not mainstream at all.

"Your Majesty, ever since the coal company headed by Fuxing Company opened in Halong County, Guangning Prefecture, Guangnan, Guangzhou has never been short of coal, and the price has dropped significantly."

The person who was reporting to Mo Zibu was Liu Taier, the prefect of Guangzhou. As he spoke, he specially pulled over a round coal stove for Mo Zibu to take a look.

In fact, Mo Zibu knew it without even looking at it, because this thing was invented by him, but few people knew about it.

"Your Majesty, this honeycomb briquettes, combined with the high-quality refined carbon from Xialong County, are reasonably priced and offer long-lasting firepower. They have become indispensable to the people of Guangzhou."

Honeycomb coal is simply the best household equipment for urban residents at this time. The vendor who was just fined was able to open a small food stall and make money thanks to this relatively cheap energy.

"The supply is unstable. If we use horse teams and livestock to transport it from Guangnan, the price will be too high. If we use sailboats, it is very dependent on wind power.

As a result, the supply is only available for a few months each year. In seasons without trade winds, we have to rely on stockpiling from previous years, which can easily cause price fluctuations.

If there really were a steam engine that could be installed on a ship and the supply could be stabilized, it would be a blessing for all the people of Guangzhou, and the city would be even more prosperous."

Mo Zibu nodded. It seemed that in Guangdong and Guangnan, the demand for steam locomotives was far less than the demand for steam sailing warships.

Liu Taier wanted to say something, but Mo Zibu stretched out his hand and interrupted him. The emperor waved to Pan Youdu, the vice president of Fuxing Company, who was standing behind him.

"How much of Ha Long County's coal is being made into honeycomb briquettes? Is the sluggish growth in Quang Nam's steel production this year related to this?"

When Pan Youdu heard the emperor's question, beads of sweat dripped down his fat face, because this was indeed a big question.

A lot of coal used for steelmaking in Halong County has been taken away by honeycomb coal. Even Fuxing Company is transporting large quantities of coal to Guangzhou instead of making steel in Halong County.

"Your Majesty, according to statistics, at least 70% of the coal from the coal mines in Halong County flows to Guangzhou Prefecture, Jiaozhi Prefecture and other places.

The inability to increase steel production, particularly at the Huang'en Steel Plant, is indeed related to this."

"More than 70%!" Mo Zibu couldn't help but raise his voice, but he quickly reacted.

Because the steel industry is also very profitable, if 30% of it flows into honeycomb coal for people's livelihood, that is normal, but now it exceeds 70%, there must be other problems.

Pan Youdu didn't wait for the emperor to ask any more questions, but handed over a memorial and began to explain.

Mo Zibu listened and watched, and soon understood.

The biggest problem is not the honeycomb coal, but the coal produced in Halong County. Most of it is anthracite, which has low calorific value, high ignition point and is unstable.

Anthracite can be used, but using it as the main fuel for steelmaking is quite troublesome and difficult to control, and it is easy to produce waste.

"Take the Huang'en Factory as an example. Some of the coal used for steelmaking is mined from Xuantai Prefecture and transported using water from the Beihe River. The other part is simply made of charcoal."

Xuan Tai Prefecture was formed by the merger of Taiyuan and Xuan Quang, which were originally located in the west and north of the Red River Plain. There were also some coal mines in these two places, but they were not open-pit coal mines like those in Halong Bay, which required the excavation of mine shafts.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the output of the Guangnan Coal and Iron Base has basically reached its upper limit.

Xuantai’s coal mines and charcoal are too expensive and require a lot of manpower, unless Your Majesty is willing to allow the 60,000 households in western Guangdong guarding the Beihe Plain to also go into the coal mines.

More importantly, the weather in Guangnan is too hot. The Huang'en Factory cannot carry out smelting for at least 70% of the day in summer, otherwise the temperature in the factory will soar to a level that the human body cannot bear.

At the same time, in addition to smelting, other links such as transportation and sorting are also unable to operate at least half of the time, which has also greatly disrupted steel production. "

Mo Zibu sighed, this is the so-called tropical upper limit.

The temperature is too high, which greatly limits working hours and work efficiency. Forcing workers to work can cost lives in minutes.

The Beihe Plain (Honghe Plain) is already the most advantageous place in Lingnan and Nanyang, but there are still many limitations, and the current steel production is far from meeting the country's needs.

"Pan Youdu, then you don't need to accompany me to Halong Bay. Go directly to Liaoyang Province and conduct a thorough investigation of all related matters such as coal and iron."

It seems that the future coal and iron base, the real industrial base of the Dayu Dynasty, will still be located in Liaoning.

Only in the Benxi-Fushun generation, where there was no shortage of coal and iron, mining was easy, and river transportation was convenient, was the foundation of the kingdom.

The only thing we lack now is that there are not enough people and the surrounding fertile land has not been developed, so food cannot be obtained nearby.

“Yue Ting, you also go to Liaoyang to coordinate the cooperation between Chen Guangyao, the Prime Minister of the Northeast, and the three governors of Shandong, Henan, and Hebei.

The development of Liaoyang is urgent. At least five million people from the three provinces must be relocated to Liaoyang within five years."

Mo Zibu made up his mind that other things could wait, but the development of Liaoyang must be started first. If the Guangnan coal and iron base could not drive the country's development, then Liaoyang would take over.

(End of this chapter)