Chapter 1031 Treating both the symptoms and the root causes
Prince Su Shu intervened, and the problem of farmers blocking the road was quickly solved.
When this incident broke out, it meant that local government had collapsed to a certain extent.
The issue of official governance needs to be taken seriously, but it cannot be solved instantly.
Prince Su Shu has been involved in state affairs for so many years, and he is no longer as idealistic as he was when he was young.
Officials who really want to do something are rare.
If you can meet a capable minister, it will be a blessing to the country.
Most officials just muddle along and only do something if the court puts pressure on them.
Now the empire is facing the most serious situation, that is, the economic crisis has caused industrial problems, which in turn has affected the empire's finances.
Prince Su Shu did not forget that one of the fundamental reasons for the collapse of the Ming Dynasty was financial collapse.
The empire fell into the Great Depression and still maintained basic stability.
Thanks to the food relief policy, the people at the bottom can have enough to eat, and they can endure their current dissatisfaction.
Once the imperial court's finances collapsed, the cheap and unpalatable relief grains would not be able to be supplied to the people at the bottom.
The people will find their own way out, and hungry people will inevitably rise up.
With the current strength of the imperial court, it cannot be easily overthrown by the peasant uprising.
But it is inevitable that it will cause turmoil in some areas.
The imperial court implemented a work-for-relief policy, allowing hundreds of thousands of workers to find jobs.
This policy also requires the court to invest huge amounts of money to promote it.
Once these huge projects were stopped due to lack of funds.
There are a large number of unemployed workers, and their ability and organizational power are stronger than those of farmers.
The destructive power caused by these workers' rebellion far exceeded that of the peasant uprising.
Whenever Prince Su Shu thought of such a scene, he felt chilled.
The economic crisis must be resolved as soon as possible so that the empire's markets can be revitalized and the court can receive massive tax revenues.
Prince Su Shu has been involved in state affairs for so many years. He has realized that development can cover up most conflicts and money can solve most problems.
The motorcade continued to move forward, and Prince Su Shu leaned on the back seat, combining the results of the previous discussion at the imperial meeting with the inspiration he had gained during this period.
He had formed a complete idea and returned to the East Palace. Prince Su Shu would discuss it with the subjects of the East Palace and formulate implementable policies.
…
The empire once again held an imperial meeting, and Emperor Su He looked at Prince Su Shu who was investigating from Northeast China and Tianjin.
"Shu'er, go and investigate the specific circumstances of the Great Depression caused by the economic crisis.
Please share what you saw."
Prince Su Shu heard his father's instructions. After he saluted, he introduced: "To inform my father, I went to Anshan Prefecture and Tianjin Prefecture for on-the-spot investigation this time and learned a lot.
The economic crisis is worse than some officials imagine.
The businesses of large coal and steel complex companies like Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. have been affected.
Steel is the upstream industry of industry. As long as a few industrial industries can barely sustain themselves, the steel industry will not show signs of depression.
If it hadn't been for the imperial court launching several large-scale projects, especially the construction of the Hamo Railway.
The huge steel orders required by this railway pulled Anshan Iron and Steel out of the brink of depression.
Erchen went to Tianjin Prefecture, mainly to observe the shipbuilding industry, and at the same time sent people to collect information on the major industrial industries in Tianjin Prefecture.
Different regions have experienced different types of depressions due to different industrial layouts.
But the Great Depression caused by the economic crisis happened everywhere.
Erchen combined the industrial data reported by officials from various places.
Analyze these data.
The economic crisis caused by the bankruptcy of the banking industry has spread to the entire country.
In some places, industry depression has already occurred, while in other places, a stable situation is still maintained due to the presence of several large companies with good profits.
A large number of manufacturing companies went bankrupt, causing the industry to shrink and a large number of workers to lose their jobs.
Even if the imperial court launched more than a dozen large-scale projects, it still could not provide employment to all workers, and a large number of workers received relief grains.
But the situation did not get out of hand.
The imperial court provided a large number of jobs and was supported by relief grain.
The imperial court adopted a minimum purchase price policy for the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries.
These policies have provided the lowest level of protection for the people at the bottom of the imperial court who have the least ability to withstand crises.
This economic crisis will do even greater damage to business people.
Businessmen can also accept this. There is no business that can never make a profit."
After the introduction by Prince Su Shu, Emperor Su He showed a smile on his face.
Prince Su Shu did not read the memorials reported by officials in the court, but went to the industrial town in person to investigate the Great Depression caused by the economic crisis.
Prince Su Shu is willing to investigate and shows a pragmatic and realistic attitude towards solving problems.
This attitude is more important than the results of the survey.
When the civil and military officials heard the introduction of Prince Su Shu, they all showed relieved smiles.
Many of them were old men who followed Emperor Su He in the uprising.
People like them know too well that if the people can't survive, how much power will they unleash?
This is also the reason why the imperial court spent a lot of money to implement the food relief policy, but there were not many people who opposed it.
Emperor Su He looked at the ministers and said: "Today we are convening the ministers to still explore ways to solve the economic crisis."
Prime Minister Lin Wenjing immediately stood up and said: "Your Majesty, this matter has been discussed many times.
The ministers and Your Majesty have reached a consensus.
The fundamental way to solve the economic crisis is to solve the problem of excess industrial products.
This depends on industrial upgrading.
Hand-produced industrial products were replaced by products produced in hydraulic workshops.
Products produced in water-powered workshops were eliminated by steam factories.
Now the empire was going through, the products produced by steam factories were being phased out by electric factories.
The first two industrial upgrades had little impact just because the industrial scale was small.
As long as the empire can complete industrial upgrading, its industrial strength will be improved.
And because of the economic crisis, a large number of companies went bankrupt, leaving a large gap in the market.
Companies with new technologies will lead the market to a strong recovery and solve a series of problems caused by the economic crisis."
Emperor Su He listened to Prime Minister Lin Wenjing's speech.
The imperial court made large amounts of countercyclical investment and industrial upgrading.
This is what Emperor Su He learned from his previous life and is an effective way to solve the economic crisis.
He has been discussing this issue with the officials of the imperial court for several months, and they have gradually reached a consensus.
Emperor Su He sighed and said: "This is indeed a permanent solution, but his speed is too slow.
The speed of industrial upgrading will take several years to see the light of day.
The imperial court's financial resources will become even weaker as the industrial crisis deepens.
The imperial court also did not have the ability to build numerous large-scale projects to ensure the vitality of the market.
If the time delay is too long, I am really afraid that some fragile industries in the empire will collapse.
Once this happens, decades of hard work by me and all of you will be in vain."
When Prime Minister Lin Wenjing heard what Emperor Su He said, he frowned but could not think of a way to solve the problem.
What Emperor Su He said may really happen.
When the economic crisis first appeared, its powerful power shocked everyone.
The scenes caused by the Great Depression were too terrible.
Who knows if the economic crisis will continue to develop and more disasters will brew.
Emperor Su He not only wanted to promote a permanent solution, he also wanted a temporary solution to solve the problems the court was currently encountering.
If there was a way to treat the symptoms, someone would have proposed it and take credit for it.
It is too difficult to come up with a solution that does not damage the fundamentals of industry and can solve the current problems faced by the empire.
Prince Su Shu believed that the time had come.
He immediately took a step forward, cupped his hands and said, "Father, my son and I have little talent and limited knowledge, and have never been able to come up with a solution to the problem.
During this trip to various places for inspection, I luckily had a flash of inspiration and came up with a way to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.
This method has no influence on the fundamental strategy that the empire plans to implement, and I think it is very feasible."
When the civil and military officials heard what Prince Su Shu said, they all looked at Prince Su Shu.
Emperor Su He said happily: "Shu'er, please talk about the temporary solution you have in mind.
As long as Shu'er's idea is feasible, even if there are some problems, I and you dear friends can solve them."
Prince Su Shu immediately handed over the memorial that he and the ministers of the East Palace had completed together to his father.
Emperor Su He received the memorial with a smile on his face.
Prince Su Shu has organized his thoughts into a specific memorial.
That must be Prince Su Shu, who has full confidence in his own ideas.
Emperor Su He read Prince Su Shu's memorial carefully and said in surprise: "Shu'er, the method you proposed is very feasible.
Please explain this method to all your beloved friends."
Prince Su Shu's method was recognized by Emperor Su He, and he was very happy.
He looked at the ministers in the Qianqing Palace and said: "Prime Minister Lin just explained the fundamental strategy for the imperial court to overcome the economic crisis.
The things that my father is worried about are also the things that I am worried about.
The root cause can indeed solve the problem, but it takes too long.
I don’t know whether it will take three years, five years, ten years, or twenty years to solve the problem.
If the economic crisis lasts for such a long time, no one can predict what kind of negative consequences it will have.
What I want to do is to take into account the temporary measures while implementing the fundamental measures to completely solve the economic crisis.
Temporary measures cannot solve the economic crisis, but they can effectively alleviate the harm of the economic crisis.
Treating both the symptoms and the root causes can minimize the damage to the empire.
There are two methods that I can think of to treat the symptoms.
Industrial transfer and cost transfer.”
When Prime Minister Lin Wenjing heard about the two methods of industrial transfer and cost transfer, his eyes lit up.
He believes that these two methods are very novel and may indeed solve some of the problems encountered in the economic crisis.
Prime Minister Lin Wenjing modestly asked for advice: "His Royal Highness, can you please explain in detail how industry transfer and cost transfer should be done."
Prince Su Shu saw Prime Minister Lin Wenjing patiently asking for advice.
He became more confident and happily introduced the two methods he had worked so hard to think of.
"Industrial transfer, as the name suggests, is to transfer companies in important industrial towns to other places.
I compare the depression situation in Northeast China and Henan Province.
It was found that the more manufacturing companies gather in an area, the greater they will be affected by the economic crisis and the more depressed the local area will be.
In order to rapidly develop industry, the empire previously adopted a policy of centralized development of industrial towns.
This method is extremely effective. Similar industrial enterprises gather together, forming a strong aggregation effect.
This situation can help major companies develop rapidly when the economy is developing well.
But in an economic crisis, if one company is affected, it will inevitably affect most companies in the industry chain.
One of the most important reasons for the economic crisis is overproduction.
But this is the overall overproduction of the empire. For some areas, they are still extremely short of industrial products.
For example, the Western Regions of the Empire, Siam, and India.
There is an extreme shortage of local industrial companies and the income of local people is not high, which results in high prices for industrial products.
Local people simply cannot buy many industrial products.
Once we move some manufacturing companies to these backward areas.
These companies that have a high probability of going bankrupt continue to survive.
This will provide sufficient tax revenue for the empire."
After cabinet minister Fang Yizhi listened to Prince Su Shu's explanation, he immediately raised his concerns.
"The current strength of the empire is supported by its huge industrial capacity.
Now the main industrial areas of the empire are all in the hinterland of the empire.
Now if we move industry to border areas, will this cause the border areas to have unwanted thoughts because they are stronger?"
Cabinet Minister Fang Yizhi originally wanted to discuss whether the indigenous people in border areas would develop and grow.
But he thought of the indigenous people in the border areas who had all been broken up, reorganized, and moved out of their homeland.
Some stubborn indigenous people were transferred to overseas vassal countries in the name of immigrants and laborers.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Only those who are loyal to the empire can continue to live locally.
Cabinet Minister Fang Yizhi immediately changed his tune, fearing that the border areas would grow and threaten the Central Plains.
The empire's previous policy had always adopted the principle of strong cadres and weak branches.
Chief of General Staff Qin Xiangkun heard the speech by Cabinet Minister Fang Yizhi.
He said confidently: "Lord Fang, please rest assured that wherever the railways are connected, the Imperial Army will be invincible.
The Imperial Royal Army has already stationed troops in remote locations.
Master Fang must believe in the loyalty of the Imperial Royal Army to the Empire.
Wherever the Imperial Army is stationed, careerists will never have a chance to survive."
Prince Su Shu looked at the cabinet minister Fang Yizhi who raised objections.
He knew before he spoke that there would be objections.
Given the huge size of the empire, any change would affect the interests of some groups.
Prince Su Shu ignored it. The empire was facing difficulties in solving the economic crisis. This was the general trend and would never be blocked by anyone.
He went on to talk about another way to solve the problem.
"The costs of the economic crisis are real, and we cannot close our eyes and pretend we cannot see these costs.
We do not have the ability to eliminate the costs that have been incurred, but we can find ways to pass them on.
The vassal states of the empire are developing very well, and there is no economic crisis in their country.
Based on the strength and commodity trading volume of the empire and vassal states.
I think the cost can be passed on to the major vassal states, at least part of the cost can be passed on, making the empire easier."
When the civil and military officials heard this method proposed by Prince Su Shu, they immediately became energetic.
The imperial court's implementation of these three strategies can indeed be regarded as treating both the symptoms and the root causes and solving most problems.
