Chapter 483 Zhang Xiang's small class has started again
Zhu Yuanzhang successfully visited the old capital of Zhao and Song Dynasties and arrived at Kaifeng City.
Then Lao Zhu was disappointed.
Liu Futong's killings left few loyal ministers in Han and Song Dynasties... The Daxiangguo Temple, Bianshui Floating Bridge, Jinming Pond, and even Huizong's Genyue, which were originally famous in Kaifeng, disappeared.
You want to look back on the past and sigh, but you can't find the starting point.
In the huge city of Kaifeng, there are only two to three hundred thousand old, weak, women and children left. Natural and man-made disasters have repeatedly ravaged the Central Plains. Looking around, there is a vast expanse of sand on both sides of the Yellow River, and there is not much vegetation to be found.
In low-lying areas, there is stagnant water that cannot be drained out for several years... There is actually a risk of desertification in the hinterland of the Central Plains.
The power of the people is exhausted, and the power of the land is exhausted.
The mountains and rivers are exhausted!
How to restore people's livelihood and restore prosperity to the Central Plains?
As the commanders of this war in the Central Plains, Xu Da and Chang Yuchun looked at each other.
"Compared with the difficulties in front of us, defeating Chahan Timur is nothing?" Xu Da whispered.
Chang Yuchun rolled his eyelids and said fiercely: "That old beast beat the Central Plains to the ground, no wonder he collapsed at the first touch! Killing him is an advantage, he should be cut into pieces and crushed to feed the fish!"
The two men gnashed their teeth and cursed constantly.
At this time, Hua Yun, Feng Guoyong, Zheng Yuchun, Wang Bi, and even Hu Dahai, Lan Yu, and all the generals, except those who were guarding, all arrived.
In addition, civil servants headed by Wang Guangyang and others were also present.
Just as the meeting was approaching, Zhu Sheng, who was involved in political affairs, was also carried in.
Everyone stood up subconsciously... Zhu Sheng had contracted the disease long before the war started. During this period, he had good and bad times, and in severe cases, he was bedridden.
The old man is getting older, and any minor illness is like passing through the gate of hell.
Everyone was worried about him, so Xu Da said: "Mr. Fenglin, why are you here?"
Zhu Sheng looked at the big guy and smiled helplessly: "The Central Plains is in such a state of decline. What magic method is there to bring the dead back to life? If I don't come to hear it today, I'm afraid I will die with my eyes in peace!"
Xu Da hurriedly said: "Mr. Fenglin, everyone is looking forward to your long life!"
Several people helped Zhu Sheng up and sat down on the chair next to him.
As soon as Zhu Sheng sat down, Zhu Yuanzhang strode in from the outside. Unexpectedly, Lao Zhu neither wore a military uniform nor a military uniform, but chose a black uniform. Everyone had to salute, Lao Zhu
Wave your hands.
"No need, today Mr. Zhang is going to talk about his experience, and we also want to hear his opinions."
After Lao Zhu finished speaking, he found a chair and sat down.
Following closely behind, Zhang Ximeng, Song Lian, and Liu Bowen were also dressed in dark robes. After entering, they greeted everyone and sat down one after another.
Zhang Ximeng first said: "My lord, and all my colleagues... Not long ago, I talked with Xueshi Song and Xueshi Liu about restoring people's livelihood, and they criticized some of my views... After I went back, I learned from my experience and came here today.
, I just want to talk to them about this matter and explain the problem clearly. I also invite colleagues to comment together and see which of us makes sense."
After the brief opening remarks, Zhang Ximeng directly asked the question, "Song Xueshi, Liu Xueshi, we talked not long ago about why we cannot pay attention to invention, create new machines, improve efficiency, and solve difficulties... Can you two explain your reasons again?
Once?"
Song Lian thought for a while and then replied: "Xiang Zhang, I have said that we must ensure the supply of raw materials, pay attention to food, and ensure the vitality of the people. For example, as for the spinning wheel, just as Zhang Xiang imagined, sixty-four spinning threads can be restored at a time
The spinning wheel has no other benefits except that it makes sixty-three weavers lose their livelihood and produce a pile of cloth with many defects!"
Zhang Ximeng nodded with a smile, "That's true. Then I would like to ask, is it true that the supply of raw materials cannot be solved? Is the food problem so insurmountable?"
Many people were stunned when they heard this, including Xu Da and others. Although they didn't understand this, Zhang Ximeng talked about the equalization of land and food. Why did Zhang Ximeng want to slap him in the mouth?
It doesn’t look like it?
When everyone was confused, Liu Bowen said slowly: "Xiang Zhang, if there are only this many acres, there is really no way to save it. If Zhang Xiang insists on solving it, does he have to look at the whole world? Create a territory that is bigger than the Yuan Dynasty.
So we can get enough land to solve the problem?"
Zhang Ximeng did not answer directly, but said with a smile: "Let's put aside the issue of food raw materials for now... I also want to ask you guys, Confucianism in the past dynasties advocated the suppression of industry and commerce and the rejection of all kinds of craftsmanship. They also dismissed the skills of craftsmen.
What’s the point of using miraculous skills and promiscuous skills?”
This time Liu Bowen said: "Prime Minister Zhang, I think it boils down to the issue of acres of land. If any craftsman really comes up with something extraordinary that can pay for ten or a hundred people by himself, he will definitely earn more."
With money and acres of land annexed, more people will go bankrupt."
Zhang Ximeng nodded, "This makes sense, but there is a problem. It is not good for craftsmen to make more money with their own craftsmanship, and it is not good to make money with new machines. Then why can scholar-bureaucrats continue to annex land based on their fame? Why can nobles be hereditary?
Instead, I will grant you the title of wife and son, and get more land benefits?"
When asked about this, Liu Bowen and Song Lian were all dumbfounded... Even if they had any ideas, they didn't dare to say more!
Zhang Xiang, are you trying to destroy the big guy’s job?
The generals were also stunned and felt that they were being targeted.
This is Zhang Ximeng. If it were anyone else, he would definitely be punished as a national thief.
The only one who was quite happy was Zhu Yuanzhang.
Lao Zhu's face was filled with admiration. He smiled and said, "Sir, are you saying that scholars are hypocritical?"
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said: "My lord, that's not what I want to say... What I want to say is, can skills, inventions, and machines that can improve efficiency be used as a means of profit?"
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly, "Don't those craftsmen all earn wages? Why don't they count?"
Zhang Ximeng shook his head and said: "Lord, what they earn is the wages of hard work. There may be a difference, but it is not enough to reflect the value of skills... After all, no craftsman can have a millionaire, three wives and four concubines!"
Hearing what he said, Chang Yuchun couldn't help but interrupt: "Prime Minister Zhang, they are just a few stinky workers. You think they are scholars and powerful landlords!"
These words made Wang Guangyang and others roll their eyes. They didn't like hearing it. Chang, please don't be too arrogant!
Zhang Ximeng laughed, stood up, and walked around the field.
"Actually, having said that, we might as well unravel the mystery and get straight to the point... Ever since the collapse of the minefields and the Qin and Han Dynasties, the most important method of wealth distribution we have accepted is land!"
"Officials, nobles, wealthy families, gentry and merchants... all of them regard land as wealth. Whoever occupies more land will receive more land rent, and thus enjoy the benefits, continue their descendants, and inherit wealth."
"If you think about it carefully, although merchants are more profitable than farming, most merchants are only engaged in simple trafficking. Those pawn shops and banks are also doing business for the common people... To put it simply, they are all about land and land.
Output makes a fuss.”
"We might as well expand the scope a little further. The gentry family owns land. With land, they can support their descendants to study, study and test for merit. After becoming an official, they can get tax exemptions and exemptions, and secondly, they can get land rewards and prosper their family business.
.From this point of view, among scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, government and the public, for the past two thousand years, the most fundamental thing is the ownership of land, which determines everything! Shapes everything!"
"Does everyone think so?"
There are still not many people who can understand what Zhang Ximeng said, but most of them still have a vague understanding of the issue of land ownership.
This seems to be true.
But the problem is that Zhang Xianggong has said so many truths, what does he have to say?
"My lord, and colleagues, what I want to say now is, should we value people's ingenuity and allow people to obtain their own benefits through technological inventions! In other words, if a person improves the loom and creates
In order to achieve higher efficiency, we should reward the inventor, instead of treating his invention as a scourge and an impact on the existing distribution of interests, so we should try our best to suppress it or even destroy it!"
"We should respect technological inventions, take this thing to a whole new level, and become a key factor that can keep pace with land and participate in distribution!"
Zhang Ximeng talks eloquently. Anyone who has a little knowledge of later political courses will know what Zhang Ximeng is talking about.
To allow science, technology, inventions and creations to participate in the distribution, we must value human wisdom, encourage inventions, and set up patents.
Don’t you want to climb the technology tree?
Is it necessary to do a good job in protection?
Liu Bowen frowned, thinking about what Zhang Ximeng said, and asked: "Prime Minister Zhang, you mentioned land before, and now you plan to let the people make profits by relying on their own intelligence... What is the relationship between this?"
"Yes, it has a huge relationship! Before the Ming Dynasty, although there were many efforts to equalize land in the early years of the country, the land was basically distributed unevenly, and most of the land was concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy landowners. In order to make their land more
It is valuable and has developed a complete set of rigorous systems. I mentioned earlier the issue of farming, reading and passing on family inheritance, the issue of men farming and women weaving, the issue of renting, including popular rural lending... and even
Neo-Confucianism and religious traditions are all designed to keep people tied to their hometowns and to cultivate the land honestly."
"And today I would like to add another content, which is to exclude all kinds of workers, oppose invention and creation, be unwilling to innovate, and be afraid of improving technology! Because admitting these things will shake the distribution pattern of wealth and interests with land as the core. Breaking the relationship of land
only!"
"Because only from the perspective of a wealthy family, we will strongly reject invention and innovation. Let's take weaving as an example. If a craftsman invents a new loom that can weave more cloth, the first thing that will be affected is
Who? Naturally, it is the textile workshops of wealthy merchants... snatch raw materials from them, seize the market, and cut their flesh to eat. It is true that the machine just created may not be as good as manual labor, but as long as we continue to improve and strive for excellence, it will definitely be
A breakthrough. Just like the crossbow in my hand!"
Zhang Ximeng actually placed the artifact used to kill Chahan Timur in front of him to increase his persuasion.
"Going back to the issue of raw materials and food I mentioned at the beginning... Indeed, if we only focus on the Central Plains, this is an unsolvable problem. But if we create more wealth and become more powerful, can we possess more
land to obtain enough food and raw materials?”
"Or to put it bluntly, can we look around the world and get what we need from the outside? I believe that no matter whether it succeeds or not, the gentry will not like it. Because this will still threaten the value of the land in their hands!"
"But the problem is that we have already implemented equalization of land!"
Zhang Ximeng suddenly raised his voice, "Under our rule, there are no longer super wealthy families or big families in Tianlianqianmo! Why do we still uphold the mentality of big families and look at the inventions and creations of craftsmen? Why are we still afraid of change?
"
These few words made everyone excited and all looked at Zhang Ximeng.
Zhang Ximeng continued to talk eloquently, "The problem we are facing now is not that in ten or twenty years, machines will squeeze out labor and make weavers lose their livelihood. It is also not that the prosperity of the textile industry will prompt more places to convert farmland into
mulberry fields and cotton fields, thereby threatening food security."
"The problem we are facing now is that the Central Plains is depleted and there are large areas of wasteland that are uncultivated. The people's livelihood is difficult and they need to fill their stomachs and put on clothes... So what kind of inventions and creations do we need, the kind that can save manpower and carry out large-scale projects?"
A machine for sowing an area. It is an efficient waterwheel that can drain away accumulated water and solve the problem of salinity and alkali. Also, we have too many projects to do, which require farm tools and steel... We need blast furnaces and new equipment for smelting steel.
The method... requires digging out mountains and extracting rocks, more powerful gunpowder... and new means of transportation, carriages, and ships!"
"In short, invention and creation are not simply a means of profit, but should take care of the people's livelihood. They should enrich people's lives, enrich the country's tax revenue, and enhance the national power of the Ming Dynasty."
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "We have been talking about equalization of land for ten years, not to abolish it, but equalization can only be the cornerstone of the Ming Dynasty. We have regained the Central Plains and have a greater foundation. We need to stand on the foundation of equalization.
To make the country rich and its people...developing industry and commerce, encouraging invention and creation, improving efficiency, and attaching importance to the status of craftsmen are the keys to revitalizing the Central Plains!"