Coal and copper were found on Panlong Mountain, and coal and iron are basically found in several surrounding mountains.

Coal has large reserves and is relatively easy to mine. In fact, there were many private mines here in the past, most of which belonged to Prince Lu's Palace. Zhu Yihai also knew some of these.

In other words, mines in the past were basically mined privately because no mining tax was paid. Those who were able to mine were all powerful, colluding with government and businessmen, and even had high-ranking officials behind them.

Wanli's mining tax collection caused such a big fuss precisely because it infringed on their private mining interests. Who is willing to pay the tax? Especially the Donglin Party members regard the waste mining tax as one of their major political propositions, but they don't want to think about it.

Minerals are state-owned. This is an ancient practice. It is natural for the government to collect mineral taxes.

But the Donglin Party insisted on confusing right and wrong. Instead of saying that they privately mined state-owned mineral resources without paying taxes, they said that the emperor sent eunuchs to collect mineral taxes to disturb and harm the people, and incited the miners to riot and rebel.

In the final analysis, it is all about profit, and there is no country in sight.

When Zhu Yihai proclaimed himself emperor, he issued an edict stating that all minerals were state-owned and people were allowed to mine, but they had to pay taxes.

He ignored the objections of the Donglin scholar-bureaucrats. With the support of the emperor, the mining tax collection went smoothly. Some people tried to incite the miners to riot and tried to use tricks to coerce the court. Zhu Yihai did not tolerate them.

When they send troops to encircle and suppress the miners, the regular soldiers crush them and collapse at the first touch. They just want to scare the court, but they can't do it if they are serious.

The emperor launched a special campaign to suppress several rioting mines, then uprooted the mine owners behind the scenes, ransacked some families, chopped off some heads, and exiled a group of people. Later, the miners' riots occurred.

No more.

There are very few people who dare to openly oppose the emperor and say that mining classes should not be imposed.

After all, a tough talk can't be tougher than a steel knife.

In the past, the emperor was manipulated by them. When they contradicted the emperor, they could only slap him with a cane. After the beating, he became a hero who was an upright critic of his ministers. But it is different now.

The emperor not only had swords, guns and cannons in his hands, he also held many newspapers in his hands to launch a public opinion offensive without losing any of his strength. The emperor could also use the factory guards and other intelligence agencies at his disposal to strip off these guys' underpants and kill them.

All the details were dug out clearly, and then all their shameful deeds were displayed in the newspapers and spread to the world to discredit them.

This move is most lethal against those who claim to be honest and upright.

Use magic to defeat magic.

The emperor could not only list dozens of reasons for levying mining taxes, but he could also discredit those officials who opposed the levying of mining taxes. He even had to behead a few, exile a few, and confiscate their homes.

people.

Who would dare to do this?

But the emperor said that whether he wanted to kill him or not, it was all irrefutable evidence. It was the officials themselves who had accepted bribes according to the law or had committed many other illegal acts. The emperor did not unjustly accuse him. The various agencies would hold a trial and there was ironclad evidence. How could he clear it up?

After all, they themselves are not clean.

If they can follow the emperor, then the emperor can naturally unite with the outside world. No matter whether you surrendered or surrendered, or whether you were embezzled or derelict in duty, or your family occupied fields, usury, etc., these can be put aside for the time being. It depends on the future.

Can we change our ways, unite against the foreign Communists and fight against the Tartars, and atone for our sins?

But if you don't go against the emperor, it's natural that the emperor will overthrow you.

Mining is very profitable, otherwise the officials of the Ming Dynasty would not be so stubborn.

Like sea trade, this is a huge benefit.

However, mining is also a labor-intensive industry that requires a lot of manpower. A large number of miners gather in one place for a long time. For the imperial court, which has always been lazy in administration, this is a huge safety hazard and difficult to manage.

In particular, they hold a very backward concept. They believe that mines are not like fields. Fields are stable and can be cultivated year after year. However, there will be times when mines dry up. What will happen to the thousands of people who gather at that time?

Placement?

Many dynasties were based on the premise of maintaining stability, and wished that everyone would be men farming and women weaving. This would be the best. But in fact, no dynasty can maintain such stability forever.

The amount of land remains unchanged, but the population will increase significantly, and land annexation will become more and more serious. Therefore, after the early period, all dynasties will face serious land annexation, and a large number of farmers will lose their land and become unemployed.

Coupled with social development, there is a huge demand for many minerals, such as copper for making money, iron for ironware, and ceramic tiles, which do not require mining and firing kilns.

Dynasties throughout the ages have always wanted to focus on agriculture and suppress commerce, also because agriculture is the most stable and easiest to manage, while industry and commerce have large flows and are difficult to manage.

They hope to use land to bind farmers, but the more they do this, the more valuable land resources become, aggravating land annexation and accelerating farmers' land loss and unemployment.

Therefore, many dynasties had to face one after another peasant uprisings after one or two hundred years.

You cannot become rich just by farming.

In the small-scale peasant economy, the owner-cultivators can barely make ends meet. Once they lose their land and become half-tenants or sharecroppers, or even do odd jobs that tenants cannot do, the situation can only be miserable.

A country cannot become richer and stronger by relying solely on agriculture.

Because the people themselves cannot become rich, how can they make the country rich?

To be rich, you have to rely on industry and commerce.

Mineral mining is also an essential link.

"If it has been proven that the reserves here and the difficulty of starting production are suitable, then mining will be carried out, and the office will recruit craftsmen and workers to mine and mine. This is also a benefit."

It can also stimulate employment for the people nearby and earn more money to support their families. For the court, it can increase several taxes and add precious mineral resources. It achieves multiple benefits with one stone.

"The younger one heard about the great victory in Yingzhou and captured more than 10,000 Tatar and two Tatar slaves. Our manor now employs nearby people to work, which costs a lot of money. Moreover, when the farming season is busy, the villagers also have to work on their own. They are always busy.

Shortage of manpower.

I was wondering if the manor could buy some prisoners of war and bring them back to serve as slaves in the manor. This would allow us to hire fewer long-term workers, and we would not have to look for short-term workers when the farming season is busy. In normal times, using slaves to manage the manor would save costs compared to hiring long-term workers.

There are many. If you have free time, you can still help in the workshop. If you want to mine now, you can also be hired to mine in the future."

The cost of using slaves is of course much lower than that of hired workers.

Slaves only have to pay a lump sum of money, which is the same as buying large livestock such as cattle and horses, but the value created is much higher than that of hired workers.

What the village head considers is the operating cost of managing the estate.

Slaves are used instead of hired workers, so there is no need to find people to hire during busy farming periods.

But for Zhu Yihai, he was not only the owner of this manor, but also the emperor of Ming Dynasty. He considered the problem in a longer term.

This manor can usually employ many villagers as helpers here, which can provide them with additional income. If all slaves are used, it will be equivalent to depriving these people of employment opportunities, and the income of the villagers will be reduced a lot. For the people of this era,

They cannot move freely like later generations and work everywhere. The scope of their daily activities rarely exceeds their hometown. Some of them may never leave their county in their entire lives.

So employment opportunities are limited.

"In this way, I give an order to the young master to buy a group of captives to be slaves, but the distribution will not be too much for you. This is not only because this group of captives is limited, but even if the number is sufficient, they will not be given to you.

There are too many manors. When we build the manor here, we must also consider some of the interests of nearby villagers.

Hiring villagers to work in the mountains and help in the workshops can not only reduce our labor costs, but also increase the income of nearby villagers, do you understand?"

Zhuangtou said quickly, "The saint is kind."

"The Shaofu Supervisor has a dedicated person in charge of this mining matter, and will pay an appropriate fee to the village. However, the village will not participate in the mining matter, and the profits will not go to the village.

However, when the mine is opened, it will also be beneficial to the village. Not to mention other things, many miners will gather there, and there will be a huge demand for food, drinks and toiletries every day. Our grain, vegetables, and farmed chickens, ducks, and pigs will also be easy to sell.

, there may even be some other benefits.”

Zhuang Tou originally thought that Zhuangzi would mine the mines on the mountain himself, but Zhu Yihai didn't think so.

Mining is a professional matter, and it is of course better to leave it to a specialized mining department.

The positioning of this Zhuangzi is agricultural planting and breeding, and some preliminary processing is enough. As for mining and other things, naturally there is a dedicated mining department in charge.

We walked around the manor and finally climbed up to the White Tower.

"This White Pagoda Temple was originally donated by the late emperor. Now there are no monks anymore, and there is no need to keep it anymore. Remove all the broken Buddha statues and turn it into a school. Let's go to the White Pagoda Temple Zhuangzi.

The children of the villagers, as well as the children of the villagers, can come here to attend school for free when they are six years old.

Invite two gentlemen to come and teach. In addition, the manager of the village who is good at literacy and arithmetic can also come to teach when he is free. If the villagers or villagers are willing to come and observe, don't stop them."

Replace the Buddha statue with a statue of Confucius.

Convert the temple into a social institution.

Instead of burning incense and worshiping Buddha and worshiping clay puppets, why not learn literacy and arithmetic, learn some arithmetic in the Nine Chapters of the Book of Songs and The Analects, and then learn Chinese history and even the laws of the Ming Dynasty? Isn't it better than burning incense and worshiping Buddha?

Zhu Yihai actually does not believe in all religions. This is due to his experience in another life.

Baita Temple once received a lot of land, money, and other donations from Prince Lu's Palace, but apart from providing some empty sustenance to the people, what real help did they give.

Everyone frugally gave them sesame oil and money, built gold statues for the Buddha, and built temples and pagodas. What did they get? When the Tartars invaded Yanzhou, massacred Yanzhou, plundered countless people, and stole cattle, sheep, and money, what did they get?

Unable to save it, the golden body was scrapped away, the bronze statue was melted and cast, and the monks were all taken away as slaves outside the customs.

Zhu Yihai has long planned to reform the school system. In the future, the imperial examination will run parallel to the school, but the school will no longer be a place for talents to make a name for themselves. The school will add subjects. Elementary and middle schools will learn some basic liberal arts and sciences, and then there will be some professional subjects above.

Colleges and universities, such as agriculture, textiles, medicine, law, accounting, architecture, water conservancy, geography, surveying, mining, animal husbandry, normal school, shipbuilding and other useful and professional subjects.

Economics and history are the foundation, but courses such as arithmetic, geography, geography, politics, etc. must be added. Each major must have more specialized subjects to cultivate more professional talents.

Step by step, start with a primary school, and then gradually add secondary schools after promotion.

Later, I will come to universities and vocational colleges.

Nowadays, this traditional teaching method for the purpose of imperial examination has long lagged behind the times.

Zhu Yihai has also opened some junior colleges in Tokyo, such as the Political Science Court, the Accounting College, the Auditing College, the Medical College, etc., as well as military schools, which train professional officials for various ministries and localities of the imperial court, and most of the recruits are young scholars and so on.

.

This road to reform is only the beginning, and the road ahead is long and full of obstacles.
To be continued...