Chapter 115 The First Industrial Revolution of the Ming Empire
Times have really changed.
This is the most real feeling felt by everyone from the princes and nobles to the common people after entering Hongwu for twelve years.
If the Ming Dynasty is compared to a carriage, this year is the year when the carriage really started to speed up.
After the Beijing-North Railway, the first railway of the Ming Dynasty, was built, under the leadership of the imperial court, several railway construction plans were put on the agenda at the same time. From north to south, from west to east, these railways would run through the entire Ming Dynasty in the future.
This vast empire is truly closely linked.
Building roads is also throwing money away, and countless treasures will be transferred from the imperial treasury to the people, factories, and everyone who works around these railway services.
This will in turn drive a large wave of consumer demand and further stimulate the establishment of various private factories and workshops.
According to Jinyiwei's statistics from the first half of the year, in the first half of the twelfth year of Hongwu alone, more than 12,000 workshops were established throughout the Ming Dynasty.
People from all walks of life began to give full play to their ingenuity and improve various machines to make them more suitable for their factories.
Countless novel inventions that can improve productivity are emerging every day, and are reported to local government offices and then used in the development and production of various workshops.
Even Zhu Biao had no time to introduce some technologies from the late Qing Dynasty. Stimulated by the huge amount of treasure money, the common people came up with them themselves.
This originally sluggish empire finally began to be revitalized after being stimulated by various policies of the imperial court and under its subtle influence for more than ten years.
To use Napoleon's words, the lion of the east opened his eyes at this moment.
Zhu Biao thinks this should be regarded as the first industrial revolution of the Ming Empire.
Because he really felt that the atmosphere of industrialization was beginning to sweep through every corner of the Ming Empire, including the court and the palace.
The types and quantities of various goods on the street are obviously increasing, and the prices of most goods are decreasing.
Clothes, shoes, hats are all the most basic, and even modern industrial products such as matches and mirrors have begun to appear in some stores.
In the Fengtian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao sat opposite each other.
When Zhu Biao talked about the changes in Ming Dynasty in the past two years.
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but remind him again: "The most important reason why Ming Dynasty was able to complete reforms in more than ten years and gradually transform from an agricultural country to an industrial country is because this was the beginning of the founding of the country, and the old interest classes had just been wiped out.
The new interest class has not yet been fully formed, so this step can be completed so easily. If we wait until a hundred years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty to carry out the Industrial Revolution, we may not be able to do it without killing a lot of people."
"But this will also create new interest classes."
"It's just that the previous interest class was landlords and gentry, but now it has become workshop owners. There is no difference between them and landlords. One enslaves farmers through the land, and the other enslaves workers through factories."
"While developing industry, you must do a good job in supervising this aspect. As long as you find a factory that treats workers harshly, you will immediately inspect it and never tolerate it!"
"Also, we must work with the six ministries to formulate reasonable treatment for workers. We must not let workers become slaves of factory owners."
"We need to let the workers know that the Ming Empire is their solid backing, not the factory owners."
"The most important point is that the power of these factory owners must not be allowed to penetrate into the ranks of officials. Officials are not allowed to do business or open private factories. This must be clearly reflected in the Ming Law."
"But if there is any violation, you will be beheaded directly."
"We must not let a group of businessmen stand on the head of the imperial court and give directions to the country like the Western Yi people did in the late Qing Dynasty." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a murderous look on his face.
Zhu Biao nodded after hearing this.
In fact, the industrialization of the Ming Empire was very different from the industrialization of the West in the late Qing Dynasty.
If we say that the first industrial revolution in the West was led by the bourgeoisie, it allowed capitalists to have a say on the national stage for the first time.
The industrial revolution of the Ming Dynasty was dominated by state capital from beginning to end, which in turn led to the national industrialization of the entire country's comprehensive development and reform.
Compared with the large multinational capitalists in the West who stole the country in the late Qing Dynasty, these private workshop owners in the Ming Dynasty today can only be regarded as the younger brothers among the younger brothers, and they are completely out of the spotlight.
It was actually the state-owned economy that dominated the Ming Dynasty's economy and most of its means of production.
In particular, industries such as steel, salt, and grain are related to the lifeblood of the country.
And Zhu Biao does not intend to change this structure.
Because today's Ming Dynasty has no shortage of funds and technology, there is no need to add private elements to these state-owned workshops.
All he has to do is set up a supervision system to prevent the leaders of these state-owned economies from becoming corrupt.
Of course, the situation mentioned by Zhu Yuanzhang also requires vigilance. If those workshop owners do not exercise restraint, they will eventually become capitalists, and by then they will be in trouble.
It was also when the Ming Dynasty started the Industrial Revolution with great vigor.
Late Qing Dynasty.
Guangzhou City.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his mission and narrowed his eyes slightly.
[Killing one is a sin, killing ten thousand is considered a hero; killing nine million is considered a hero among heroes.]
[Note: If you fail this mission, you will lose the title of Son of the Plane.]
It has been almost six years since this world opened. One hundred extraordinary beings were already killed during the duel with the British fleet. The Qing soldiers have also killed many over the years. There are still four years left to complete the task.
But this foreigner still has to find a way.
It's not that those guys are too difficult to kill, it's that they are too stubborn.
Zhu Yuanzhang had learned a lesson when fighting foreigners. These people would run away if there was even the slightest headwind, and would most likely surrender if there was no way out.
There are still more than 20,000 foreign miners captured from various places imprisoned in the mine!
"If it doesn't work, we can only kill those guys first to make up for the loss." Zhu Yuanzhang thought with a trace of murderous intention in his eyes.
"His Majesty!"
"Jinyiwei reports that the Japanese have launched troops against Taiwan?"
"It seems that there are British and French people behind this." Suddenly, when Zhu Yuanzhang was wondering where to kill people, Mao Xiang hurriedly came in and reported to Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned, and then a sneer appeared on his face.
It’s true that if you feel sleepy, someone will give you a pillow!
"It just so happens that if you are short of heads, just ask the Japanese to borrow them!"
"Anyway, whether Asians or Westerners, they are all foreigners."
