A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 649 Military Factory

"In order for the people to have a way of life, and the upper and lower levels are not blocked, more classes are needed..."

Wang Dou said: "If there is a large mine, how many miners are needed?"

Zhang Gui muttered: "The prospectors, diggers, instigators, watchers, mine hunters...at least thousands of people."

Wang Dou said: "That's right, at least several thousand, and they have family members. In this way, one mine can support tens of thousands of people."

"The ore needs to be transported by people. Along the way, people need to eat and rest. In this way, there are transport caravans and many inns, and a lot of people can be supported. Then, the ore needs to be smelted, and iron factories and foundries need to be set up. These delivery rooms need to recruit manpower, and how many people can they support?"

"Smelting iron requires a lot of coal. In this way, a large number of coal mines need to be opened, and a lot of people are needed. Coal is mined and transported, and a lot of manpower is needed. Ordinary coal needs to be smelted into coke, and related manpower is needed. How many people can they feed?"

"They have to eat and drink in all mines. They need grain, cloth, salt, and tea. These commodities need to be transported from outside. How many caravans can they support? Moreover, it is impossible for these commodities to be transported in from the outside world. , so there must be a large number of planting, processing, and textile factories in the local area or nearby, and how many people can they support?"

"All walks of life are booming. Then, the people are rich and need to enjoy entertainment. Even those storytellers and opera singers can find a job. The demand for pens, inks, papers and inkstones is also increasing... Among other things, After the coal mines have mined coal, the entire Xuanfu Town alone needs a huge amount of briquettes every year, and how many people can it support?"

"Therefore, in order for the people to have a way of life, it is necessary to divide into more industries and create more classes. The richer the people are, the more various industries can be produced, and more people can be fed..."

Not to mention Zhang Gui, Qi Tianliang and the others, even Zhang Guowei, were all dumbfounded when they heard this. In the eyes of the General, there are so many ways to know such a mere coal mine and iron mine. .

Wang Dou does not take it seriously. In later generations, a real estate industry can drive building materials, construction, home improvement, furniture, home appliances, services and other related industries. The steel industry and coal mining industry can drive even more subsidiary industries.

And at this time, it is basically a handicraft industry, a labor-intensive industry, which can solve the problem of eating for many people. As for the danger of mining, no one has considered this issue yet.

Zhang Gui Qi Ai Ai said: "I'm afraid that the miners are so brave and ruthless that it's hard to control."

Wang Dou nodded: "There are advantages and disadvantages in everything. Don't give up eating because of choking. Strict supervision is good."

It’s no wonder that Zhang Gui said this. In other places in Ming Dynasty, the miners’ organization, physical strength, etc., are higher than ordinary farmers by 01:30 points. It is composed of miners. Over the years, there have been endless incidents of miners fighting with each other in various places in Ming Dynasty, which has caused headaches for local officials.

Moreover, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, most of the minerals in various places have been occupied by tyrants, and more than [-]% of them have not paid a penny of mining tax. Favorability is regarded as one of the sources of turmoil.

What's worse is that the quality of the miners varies, many of them are homeless refugees, there are also rogues and scoundrels from all over the country, and the management methods of many mine owners are also extremely backward. It is even more common for them to stand under the stick and deduct wages and rations.

As a result, those who have mines in every state county are like a volcano that is about to erupt. How can the local officials and generals be frightened?

But Wang Dou didn't care. They are not the working class of later generations, they are just a gang of mobs. In terms of overall combat effectiveness, even if there are thousands of strong men in a mine, they are not at all as good as the villagers in a fortress. Sending out the powerful Jingbian army, even sending out the Tunting of Yibao, can also beat these miners to death.

He said: "The Department of Civil Affairs must carry out mine management in accordance with the law, reviewing the accounts of mine owners and miners, there must be no illegal households, and don't be afraid of them making trouble. It is better for them to make trouble now than to make trouble in the future. Kill all the troublemakers. Now, there will be no troublemakers in the future."

The quality of mine owners and miners can’t be improved for the time being. Just like good families who don’t want to join the army outside the East Road, good farmers are unwilling to enter the mines, so except for a small number of artisans, most of them now Miners are nothing good to talk about.

Some prostitutes, green skins, captives and the like, who served their sentences for crimes, also entered the mines, so the mines are now like garbage shelters, scary places.

Moreover, in this era of mining and mining, the disability rate is very high. In addition to Wang Dou's regulations, the mine owners must try their best to ensure the safety of the miners, as well as wages and rations. The rest can only be allowed to evolve naturally.

Wang Dou's tone was flat, but the coldness in his words still made Zhang Guowei shudder, and he hurriedly said: "Don't worry, the general, all the mines under the general's family will definitely abide by the rules and laws, and will not cause trouble to the general. .

Wang Dou nodded slightly. In the early Ming Dynasty, the mines were strictly controlled, and mining had to be approved by the government. Generally speaking, every mine has supervisors, and every time a certain amount of mines is mined, some of them are taxed to relieve the vassals. Of course, in the future Slowly gone.

Now Wang Dou has restored supervisors to the mines under his jurisdiction, who only supervise and do not participate in the management. They need to pay taxes every year depending on the amount of mining, and many laws protect the miners. They are welcomed by the miners and naturally Caused dissatisfaction among many mine owners.

Although the orders are plentiful and the mine owners are flooded with wealth, they are used to being stingy. Seeing the tax bills pouring out, they will naturally feel distressed. If it goes on for a long time, they may try to make trouble, but Wang Dou is no better than other officials. Mind to kill a river of blood.

Moreover, the large orders do not mean that the mine owners will improve their production equipment. Ninety-nine out of ten, they will only squeeze the miners even more crazily, arouse conflicts, and cause riots among the miners. This consciousness.

He was worried that the people who were greedy for profit would make unwise actions and become Wang Dou's unscrupulous person who tried to scare chickens and monkeys again. He hurriedly assured Wang Dou and at the same time, he was thinking about going back and beating those people.

Although Qi Tianliang is the ambassador of the logistics department, he has a keen understanding of farming. What he is worried about is another thing: "General, will the Daxing factory and mine business in Xuanzhen Town cause a shortage of farming personnel? The subordinates are worried, As more people engage in business, will there be a food famine?"

Wang Dou nodded slightly: "Old Qi's worry is right, so the shogunate's measures now are to attract good refugees to enter the Tunpu. They also have advantages in terms of household registration division, which can attract the largest population. The field system, the grain and rice cultivated in the future can still meet the needs of the whole town's military and civilians."

Qi Tianliang's worry is also Wang Dou's worry. In this era, productivity is low, and all kinds of famines emerge in endlessly. If there are fewer people farming, it is very likely to cause famine. Just like Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty, because commerce was too developed, Jiangnan, on the contrary, lacks food and needs to import it from Guangdong, Huguang and other places.

Jiangnan, the land of fish and rice, not only failed to help the Ming Dynasty, but became a scourge. The over-development of commerce was an important reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, businessmen in this era do not talk about production, but forget righteousness when they see profit, and have no concept of propriety, justice and shame. Although they have some circulation functions, their positive role in society is far from being able to offset their negative role. .

During special disaster years, hoarding and buying relief food, and then raising the market price, and then buying land at a low price, often after a disaster, most of the land in many places was taken away by them.

Therefore, in this era, it is necessary to de-emphasize business and suppress business. China’s policy of emphasizing agriculture and despising business has been correct for thousands of years. Back in ancient times, only those with brains can’t wait to improve the status of businessmen.

Agriculture is the foundation of everything. Western countries in history also entered the industrial revolution after the agricultural revolution. Still need to suppress.

Wang Dou's support for new types of production-oriented merchants is also based on the fact that agriculture can meet the needs of the military and civilians in the town. If the two will endanger agriculture, he will destroy most of the commerce and industry in the town without hesitation.

Zhang Gui is in charge of the Department of Civil Affairs, and now he is paying more and more attention to the shops, factories and mines under his jurisdiction. He quickly said: "Don't worry, the general, the grain and rice in each fort will be able to meet the needs of the entire town's military and civilians in the future!"

He said: "Now in the town, the fields divided by each household basically have surplus grain, and a lot can be purchased every year. Many camp fields in Xintunbao also use the meritorious service system. Only when meritorious service is reached can the fields be divided. They are also very motivated.”

"Also, because a large number of horses were seized, many fields in Xintunbao are now plowed by horses, and there are more and more arable fields in a castle..."

Wang Dou nodded. Most of the fields in the south of the Yangtze River are paddy fields, and the fields are fragmented. They can only use intensive farming and ox farming. However, the northern land is not as good as the south of the Yangtze River. The land is continuous and basically dry land, so the farming method can be more wild and use horse plowing.

Using horse plowing, of course, the output of the field is not as good as that of intensive plowing and cattle plowing, but because of the large area of ​​cultivation, the accumulation of small amounts becomes large, but the output is still quite a lot.

For Wang Dou now, the land is not a problem, the lack of land in the town is to develop outside the Great Wall.

……

The crowd headed west, and soon they arrived at a river. Here, along both sides of the river, a military factory was newly established. The scale was quite large, with more than a thousand craftsmen. Like the iron factory, it was surrounded by thick walls and guard posts everywhere. , Waiting for idlers, etc., are not allowed to enter.

Just like the army, the craftsmen in the factory all have uniforms. They all wear fox hats and short overalls, the color is blue, and there are mandarin ducks and red clothes inside.

These people are in a hurry. Last year, the East Road divided craftsmen into three classes: craftsmen, craftsmen, and master craftsmen. At present, there is not a single craftsman in the entire shogunate. Most of them are inferior craftsmen. Scholars, some middle-class craftsmen, and a small number of high-class craftsmen.

For craftsmen, it is easy to become a craftsman, but it is difficult to become a craftsman, because cultural assessment is required, and the assessment requirements are still very high. Master craftsmen need to publish books and become famous all over the country, let alone disappear.

However, like the army, many craftsmen under the shogunate have become the first to get rich, especially those who have invented or sold their skills, and even obtained "patents", just sitting and collecting money.

In particular, Li Maosen and Lai Yuanlong, because of their research on the fire door device, can be said to have a lot of money, and Zhou Xiangren, who sold the casting technology, also earns a lot of money every year. With their examples, the craftsmen are very motivated.

(End of this chapter)