Liu Linchang, as the associate director in charge of the Industrial Department of the Supervisory Government, had also served in the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty for many years, and he had thought about the policy of the steel industry before.

Hearing this, he said: "I think the government-run iron factory can handle it according to the previous rules. It just needs to clarify the personnel and strictly investigate and punish the corruption involved.

As for the taxation of the iron industry, the first step is to strictly check the number of private private iron mines and iron plants, conduct a grade register for all of them, and close down those iron mines and iron plants that are involved in illegal activities.

Secondly, in the past, the Ming Dynasty's iron tax was fifteen to one tax, but today, when the world is in turmoil and iron is needed, it can be changed to ten to one tax."

After Liu Linchang finished speaking, the rest of the people in the palace were silent for a while.

Because in this regard, neither Li Yan nor the two ambassadors from the Ordnance Bureau are as knowledgeable and knowledgeable as Liu Lin, nor do they have as much say as him.

However, Zhu Aao and Hao Guangming studied the Ming Dynasty's iron industry-related policies last night, and it can be said that they gained a lot of knowledge.

In the initial construction period of any country or dynasty, there is an extreme need for steel.

Therefore, even Zhu Yuanzhang, who is said to have paid little attention to industry and commerce, not only took over the steel industry and craftsmen of the Yuan Dynasty as much as possible when the Ming Dynasty was founded, but also developed on this basis.

For example, iron smelting institutes, that is, government-run iron plants, were established in suitable places across the country.

According to the information found by Hao Guangming, there were at most 13 government-run iron factories in the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu period, and two more were added during the Yongle period.

The fifteenth branch should be the most prosperous period of the Ming Dynasty government-run iron works.

At the beginning, the Ming Dynasty's military equipment had not been upgraded to its peak, and the people were in dire straits after the war and lacked iron tools. Naturally, this iron was not enough.

But in ancient times, folk iron tools were not items that could be consumed quickly. Some people could even pass on an iron pot to the next generation, and a kitchen knife could be used for more than ten or decades.

If the army fights all year round, the armor and weapons will wear out faster, but if the world is at peace and the swords and guns are put into storage and strictly maintained in accordance with military regulations, the wear and tear will also be very slow.

In addition, in the early Ming Dynasty, official governance was relatively clear, there was less corruption in government-run iron factories, and the taxation efficiency of private iron mines and iron factories was also quite high.

Finally, in the early Ming Dynasty, iron had only a few uses, and foreign trade was not developed or even non-existent.

So much so that in the seventh or eighth year of Hongwu, more than a dozen government-run iron works and iron courses across the country produced far more iron than the country needed, and a lot of iron materials were stored from the imperial court to local governments.

In fact, the grain received by the Ming Dynasty was in a similar situation at that time. However, grain was a daily requirement for people and even animals. There were always famines in some places in the Ming Dynasty. If the court made proper arrangements, it would never let too much grain rot in the warehouse.

But iron materials are different.

First of all, the most important point is that the ancients also knew that iron ore is a non-renewable resource, and it will be gone after it is used.

Secondly, even if we look at the entire Ming Dynasty, the uses of iron materials are only so much. There is almost no situation where there is too much iron in one place and there is a shortage of iron in that place.

In addition, iron materials are difficult to preserve and can easily rust.

Not to mention that if the rust is gone, it means that it is gone, and it means that the training was in vain, right?

Faced with this situation, the Ming court adopted the following approach: when the court was short of iron, it would let the government-run iron works make iron near the mining area; if there was no shortage of iron, it would allow the people to mine in the mining areas that originally belonged to the government-run iron works.

, smelting iron, and paying one-fifteenth of the tax.

It should be noted that from the Ming Dynasty until Zhang Juzheng’s reform, taxation was mainly in kind.

The grain tax is to collect grain, and the iron tax is to collect iron materials.

During the Taipei period, the population could not help but grow rapidly, and the private iron industry also developed rapidly.

In this way, even if the government-run ironworks of the Ming Dynasty never opened, the ironwork lessons collected from the private sector still far exceeded the needs of the court.

The imperial court collected too much iron materials through taxes every year, and then watched these iron materials, which were non-renewable resources, slowly rusting and breaking in the warehouse. How could a person like Zhu Yuanzhang, who knew how to get by, endure it?

Therefore, something happened in the fifteenth year of Hongwu that seemed strange and even difficult to understand to those who did not know the inside story.

An official named Wang Yundao of Guangping Prefecture reported that iron was produced in Linshui Town, Cizhou. There was an iron factory here during the Yuan Dynasty and could produce millions of kilograms of iron a year. He asked Zhu Yuanzhang to follow the example of the Yuan Dynasty and open an iron factory here.

Zhu Yuanzhang scolded Wang Yundao in the memorial, but he was still angry, so he had Wang Yundao beaten and exiled overseas.

Moreover, what happened to Wang Yundao was not an isolated case. Many officials who were not smart enough and tried to improve their political performance through iron smelting were reprimanded and even severely punished during the Hongwu period.

Speaking of which, the iron tax of the Ming Dynasty was not much, and it was three times less than the five taxes of the Qing Dynasty.

However, the private iron industry developed too fast, and it was profitable after all. Therefore, during the reign of several emperors before the Ming Dynasty, the annual income from iron materials always exceeded the annual expenditure.

As a result, many government-run ironworks have not been open for years or even decades, and some have even been directly abolished by local officials at the request of local officials, allowing them to be fully exploited to benefit the so-called "common people."

Therefore, when the government was corrupted, more and more people were corrupt in the country, and more and more people were exempted from taxes, the Ming Dynasty obtained less and less iron materials through iron courses.

In the late Ming Dynasty, wars became more and more frequent, and the court's demand for iron materials increased.

At this time, many government-run iron factories had ceased to exist in name only, and the iron classes could not receive enough iron materials. Even if they did receive it, it was mostly shoddy and low-quality iron.

As a result, the court spent additional money to purchase high-quality iron from the private sector...

When studying this part of historical data and learning about this situation, Hao Guangming thought: What if Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the two emperors who felt distressed every year when they saw the overproduction of iron materials and the rust in the warehouse, saw that Emperor Chongzhen had to spend money to buy it from the private sector?

When you are rich in iron but short of silver, your expression will definitely be wonderful.

Back to business.

The above points are meant to illustrate that Sichuan's iron industry was a typical situation in the late Ming Dynasty.

The government-run ironworks in Pujiang exist in name only, while private ironworks everywhere do not accept ironwork lessons.

Therefore, the method proposed by Liu Linchang is quite good in terms of the theory and experience of governing a feudal dynasty.

But Zhu Yurao wanted more than just an ordinary feudal dynasty.

When she saw that Li Yan and others were silent, she said: "What Liu Xieli said is generally reasonable, but apart from the iron tax being changed to ten taxes and one tax, the management of government-run iron plants and private iron mines cannot be based on the old system. They must be managed according to the old system."

Change."

Liu Linchang was puzzled after hearing this, and said: "The supervisor may not know something, but there is no problem with our iron industry system.

According to this system, from the Hongwu to Jiajing years, the country's annual income of iron materials was abundant.

It was only because of the later corruption of officialdom, rampant corruption, and tax evasion among the people that the court had no iron to rely on during the reign of the late emperor."

The implication is that if we want to improve the iron industry, we only need to straighten out the administration and severely punish corruption.

Zhu Yasuo smiled slightly after hearing this and asked: "If there is no problem with the old system, why has the Ming Dynasty Iron Industry declined to this stage? Is it really just because of the problem of officialdom?"

Liu Linchang wanted to say yes, but with his many years of experience in officialdom and life experience, he knew it was not entirely true.

Zhu Yusao added: "Besides, the world is currently undergoing major changes that have not happened in three thousand years. In three or four hundred years, our world will become as developed as the creation of future generations.

Therefore, our need for iron can be said to be endless in the future. It is possible that we will always be short of iron under the rule of the Imperial Government during your and my lifetime.

Now that we are going to engage in the iron industry, we naturally have to learn from the methods and experiences of later generations and come up with a system that is more suitable for what our Ming Dynasty needs now."

After listening to Zhu Aao's words, Liu Linchang was still frowning and thinking.

Huang Yuanchang and Zheng Xiang did not dare to speak for fear of saying the wrong thing.

Li Yan was the first to understand and accept Zhu Aao's words, and asked: "Has the prisoner and the consort already made a plan?"

Zhu Yucao said: "It's not a final plan, but I do have some ideas, so I need to call you all to discuss and perfect it."

Seeing that Liu Linchang's attention was also diverted, Zhu Ayao continued: "Let's talk about the government-run iron factory first - you may not have noticed in my previous words, but I have always been talking about government-run iron factories, not government-run ones.

In the past, the iron produced by the government-run iron factories was supplied to the court for free. If the court no longer needed the iron, it would be closed down.

This obviously hindered the continued development of the iron factory, so it had to be changed from government-run to government-operated.

This allows the ironworks to be responsible for their own profits and losses just like private ironworks.

The imperial court is equivalent to becoming the owner of the iron factory, and the management officials are equivalent to becoming shopkeepers and managers.

If the imperial court wants to use iron, it must purchase it from the iron factory at the market price. There is no preferential treatment, but it only has the first right to purchase.

After the iron produced by the iron factory was sold to the court, there was still a lot of iron, which could be sold to the people or sold overseas for profit.

The iron factory reported accounts to the court at different levels on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis and accepted supervision by the court.

In addition, whether they are officials who manage the iron factory or the craftsmen below, in addition to fixed salaries, they can also receive bonuses based on the profitability of the iron factory.

Iron factory officials and blacksmiths are under strict supervision and can make profits from their work. Corruption will naturally be reduced, and work will be more serious and efficient.

In this way, the government-run iron works can continue to develop healthily and continue to grow in scale. What do you think?"

This time, Li Yan did not respond first, but frowned slightly in thought.

Huang Yuanchang and Zheng Xiang looked at each other and were about to come out and take a picture of Zhu Yuluo's flattery.

Unexpectedly, Liu Linchang came out first and advised with a worried face: "Supervise the country, although the government-run iron factory is beneficial to the current situation, it will bring disaster to future generations. It is absolutely impossible!"

Zhu Yuyao was slightly surprised when she heard this, but she was not angry at all. Instead, she asked seriously: "Why did Assistant Liu say that?"

Liu Linchangji solemnly said: "In the supervision of the country, iron ore and non-food vegetation will cease to exist once used.

If we go by what the Supervisor said, the scale of the government-run iron works will grow rapidly. With the help of the state, the efficiency of iron-making will be much higher than that of the private sector, and the consumption of iron ore will also be rapid.

In this way, even if our Ming Dynasty is rich in resources and has a lot of iron ore, I am afraid that in a hundred years we will be in a critical situation of being short of iron ore and unable to smelt iron!"

Having said this, Liu Linchang knelt down directly to Zhu A'ao, as if he would not get up if Zhu A'ao did not repent.

On the other side, Huang Yuanchang and Zheng Xiang were dumbfounded.

However, the two of them are not stupid. They didn't expect it before, but they could understand what Liu Linchang said.

So I couldn't help but be afraid for a while - fortunately they came out a step too late, otherwise wouldn't they have become sycophants who only care about flattering the country, regardless of the long-term development of the country?

But this Liu Linchang is really brave.

Her Royal Highness the Princess described the government-run iron factory system so well, she actually pointed out the big loopholes to him in person, and he was not afraid of being resented by the Princess for wearing small shoes.

Just as the two were engaging in psychological activities, they saw Li Yan also standing up, cupping his hands and saying: "In supervising the country, I also feel that what Liu Xieli said is reasonable. Governing the country requires long-term considerations. It is not advisable to harm future generations for the sake of immediate gain.

Please think twice before seeing it.”

Seeing this scene, Huang Yuanchang and Zheng Xiang couldn't help but look at each other, both thinking: Should I go out and ask the supervisor to think twice? Show my loyalty and dare to remonstrate?

Over at the old house in Zhulin, Hao Guangming laughed when he saw this scene through his mobile phone camera.

"It seems that we underestimated Liu Lin before. He actually has a vision for sustainable development. You are right to ask him to be the associate director in charge of industry."

After hearing this, Zhu Aao couldn't help but smile when she looked at Liu Linchang who was kneeling below and Li Yan who was admonishing him together.
Chapter completed!