The invention of the steam engine heralded the beginning of the first industrial revolution.
And this beginning has now appeared at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
This is simply a horror story.
Today's Ming Dynasty was already at the top of the world economically.
Originally, because Lao Zhu banned the sea, trade on the sea route was not developed. Although the official trade was equivalent to a monopoly on the sea, in fact, the greater significance of sea trade in the Ming Dynasty was to promote national prestige, and
It is not economic trade.
A large amount of the economy on the sea has actually been swallowed up by smuggling merchants.
During the Yongle period, during Zheng He's first few voyages to the West, the apparent data often showed losses, which is hard to imagine.
This naturally has more to do with Zhu Di's good face. In fact, Zheng He's voyages to the West, although the cost of overseas trade was huge, Zheng He also purchased many rare things, especially spices from Western countries.
As a luxury product, spices played a huge role in Western trade and brought huge profits to trade in the early Ming Dynasty.
It was only at this time that Zhu Di made many expeditions to Mongolia, which caused the domestic economy to regress. Moreover, due to the supply of large armies and the recruitment of military service, even slight famines occurred, and local officials had no way to deal with them.
Military pay and salary were also a big expense, and the national treasury could not support them without any source of income. Therefore, the court could only issue more treasure banknotes to drink poison to quench thirst, which also led to the inflation of treasure banknotes becoming more serious.
Compared with what Zheng He brought back, the balance of payments was completely unbalanced. After all, although Zheng He was good at sailing, as a eunuch who grew up in the palace, he only had a little contact with merchants, and he didn't think about it.
To increase revenue to the treasury through sailing.
It's not that Zheng He didn't want to do it, but he didn't realize how big the business opportunities were.
It wasn't until after a few times, and with experience, that the voyages to the West began to be profitable.
For example, after Zheng He returned from his first voyage to the West in the fifth year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty used peppercorns to convert a large amount of salary to officials and citizens, involving more than 200,000 people, and later used peppercorns as currency many times.
Materials are used to pay salaries to officials and soldiers.
This practice continued until the Chenghua period. Due to the large inflow of pepperwood and the decline in market price in the later period, officials no longer bought it, so this practice ended during the Chenghua period.
After Zheng He's voyages to the West, his income actually exceeded his expenses. Logically speaking, the court should be able to continue to implement this matter.
No matter how much you earn, you are still making money, and you can also promote the prestige of the Ming Dynasty. Why not do this?
In fact, there is also a factor of the lower class people here.
Zhu Di's period was very different from today's Zhu Ying. He still followed the same style of corvee service as in previous dynasties.
In other words, the ships that sailed to the Western Ocean required labor and craftsmen to build them for free, the wood was collected from the southwest and transported by labor, tea and silk were either taxed in kind or distributed at low prices, and the soldiers were all drawn from the guards.
This is tantamount to the imperial court continuing to prostitute the lower-class labor force for free. The so-called huge cost lies in the tribute trade and Zhu Di's rewards to various countries.
Moreover, this kind of free prostitution was low cost for the court, but it actually placed a huge burden on the people at the bottom.
However, if it was just Zheng He's voyages to the West, it would be nothing to the Ming Dynasty.
As a result, Zhu Di had many other aspects while letting Zheng He sail to the West.
The first was, of course, six personal expeditions to Mongolia, and the second was moving the capital to Peking. Other actions similar to the voyages to the West included Li Datong's expedition to the Western Regions, Haitong's arrival in Yibei, and Hou Xian's envoy to the west.
The costs of the last three are not huge, but the first three, if not mentioned individually, can destabilize the grassroots of the Ming Dynasty and shake the foundation of the country.
Unfortunately, each of these three cannot be solved in a short time.
It is equivalent to saying that after Zhu Di became emperor during the Jingnan Campaign, these three things were almost done together.
This period also included things like beating up Annan.
While Zhu Di was attacking Mongolia at the front, Zhu Gaochi was supervising the country from the rear, often quarreling with ministers over perhaps dozens of taels of silver.
Lao Zhu searched and searched all his life and almost lost all the wealth he had saved to Zhu Di.
In addition to economic factors, there are also internal political factors in the Ming Dynasty.
Moving the capital and personally conquering Mongolia were all carried out by Zhu Di. With the prestige left by Zhu Di's execution of the ten tribes, although the court was not afraid of Zhu Di as much as Zhu Yuanzhang, they were mostly afraid. Occasionally, Zhu Di would not read it if he said he would not read it.
The ministers just talk and talk, but the actual impact is of little significance.
The key figure among them is Zheng He.
Zheng He, the Sanbao eunuch, was the chief eunuch of the Ming Dynasty.
That's all. Zheng He led 28,000 people to the Western Seas. This was the beginning of eunuchs taking charge of diplomacy and military command.
In addition, eunuchs also gradually took over the power to supervise the army, divide towns, and assassinate the subjects. All this began in the Yongle period.
The eunuchs' interference in government was bound to deprive the foreign bureaucrats of their power, and the role and influence of the courtiers began to decrease. In this case, the courtiers' resistance to Zheng He's voyages became a kind of resistance to the eunuchs' interference in government.
I don't care whether you make money or not, but you can't affect my power.
The more successful Zheng He's voyages to the West were, the more the emperor gave power to the eunuchs.
Since the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, he has had a very high level of distrust of officials, believing that anyone seeking to be an official must be greedy.
Zhu Di was actually greatly influenced by Zhu Yuanzhang, and this was also the case in all aspects of his behavior.
And because the throne was not given by his father, but snatched from his nephew, Zhu Di always felt a lot of discomfort in his heart. He was afraid that after his death, he would be embarrassed to face his father underground.
Zhu Yuanzhang's influence was so great that even when he was choosing his successor, it was because of a dream about Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the dream, Zhu Yuanzhang handed Zhu Di a big gui, and then said to Zhu Di: "Pass this on to your descendants, and you will be prosperous forever!"
In the dream, Zhu Di was so frightened that he took the Dagui while trembling.
After waking up from the dream, Zhu Di told Empress Xu the whole dream.
As the daughter of Xu Da, the famous founding general of the Ming Dynasty, Queen Xu had been familiar with classics and history since she was a child, and had her own unique understanding of things. She quickly expressed her understanding of this dream: "The blessings of descendants!"
It was at this time that the good news came: Zhang, the concubine of the crown prince Zhu Gaochi, gave birth to a son.
This child is Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Di's eldest son and grandson.
Zhu Di, who originally disliked the crown prince Zhu Gaochi, hesitated to establish a crown prince after he ascended the throne. It was because of this incident that he decided to appoint Zhu Gaochi as the crown prince.
Zheng He's voyages to the West continued. Although there were memorials during the Yongle period, they were of no use.
After Zhu Di died and Zhu Gaochi took office, the ministers became more and more enthusiastic about attacking Zheng He on his journey to the west.
In secret, Zheng He's voyages to the West also dealt a very heavy blow to smuggling merchants.
After all, the policy of banning seas has always been in place, and the trade profits of smuggling merchants are huge. Zheng He's fleet can be said to be the overlord of the sea. How can these smuggling ships compete?
Not only the fleet, but also the imperial court's attention gradually shifted to the sea, and the crackdown on smuggling merchants was intensified from many aspects. Among them, Zhu Di once again set the record for Jin Yiwei.
After Zhu Di passed away, Zhu Gaochi himself was naturally not as strong as his father Zhu Di. He had been hit by Zhu Di when he was growing up.
However, Zheng He is of great significance.
In particular, Zhu Gaochi passed away less than a year after taking the throne, which put great pressure on Zhu Zhanji.
Zheng He is very important.
Many people see Zheng He's seven voyages to the West, but ignore his identity.
When Zhu Zhanji came to the throne, Zheng He could be said to be the elder of the three dynasties, and since Zhu Di Jingnan ascended the throne, he has been the head of the officials.
Coupled with Zhu Di's distrust of officials and the interference of eunuchs in politics, Zheng He at this time seemed to have become the most powerful eunuch in the Ming Dynasty.
Even if they were six ministers, they could only be respectful in front of Zheng He.
In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, although the eunuchs were corrupt, their loyalty to the emperor was unquestionable. Even the 9,000-year-old Wei Zhongxian, who was despised by thousands of people in later generations, was very loyal to the emperor.
Although Wei Zhongxian was greedy, he knew that his power came from the emperor, and at least he would not covet the border military pay.
Zheng He was also loyal to Zhu Zhanji.
Therefore, Zheng He contributed a lot to the stabilization of Zhu Zhanji's power.
At the same time, Zheng He was also a serious problem for the civil servants, but they were temporarily unable to fight against him.
During Zheng He's seventh voyage to the West, Zhu Zhanji encountered great resistance, but he could still carry it out.
But after Zheng He died of illness on the road, it was difficult to carry out the eighth time.
In fact, even at this time, the imperial power still had great dominance. At least Zhu Zhanji had the right to decide what the court wanted.
But only two years after Zheng He's death, Zhu Zhanji also passed away.
This made the Ming Dynasty imperial power somewhat embarrassed, and Zhu Qizhen was only nine years old when he came to the throne.
Zhu Shaoguo suspected that the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty began to decline sequentially from this time on.
The Wenchen Group naturally rose up along with the trend.
Zhu Ying is different.
First of all, when he came to Ming Dynasty, he was a businessman and a smuggler.
At the same time, with the benefits from his previous life, he pays more attention to reality rather than falsehood.
Unlike Zheng He's voyage to the West, Li Jinglong's voyage to the West was due to political factors, but Zhu Ying did not care about it.
What he wants is money.
A large amount of goods was prepared when we set out.
If the Ming Dynasty is the manufacturer, then the coastal areas of Champa, Chenla, and Siam are wholesalers.
Foreign businessmen who come to Siam are dealers.
Places like Europe and Central Asia are naturally retailers.
When Li Jinglong went to the West, he brought most of the luxury goods with him, hoping to get rid of the middlemen and make a profit on the price difference.
Zhu Ying's request is very simple. You, Cao Guogong, lead the expedition to the West. Making money is the first factor.
This does not count Zheng He's cheap cost, but includes labor and materials.
Don't say how much you make. If you lose money, you will be punished.
On the contrary, earning more is also merit.
In any case, Li Jinglong took so many troops to the West, even if the first priority was to make money, it was also a promotion of the majesty of the Ming Dynasty.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's economy has now begun to move towards a high degree of prosperity.
Youdao means being favored and confident.
Zhu Yuanzhang caught corrupt officials and killed them, while Zhu Ying caught and killed businessmen.
The so-called reason is that I have been caught in the rain, so I want to tear up my umbrella for others.
Of course, Zhu Ying would not engage in small business and peddling. What he would engage in were those big merchants who were supported by aristocratic families.
Seize military power, carry out reforms, build factories, divide shares, etc.
These methods were nothing in the previous life. Maybe if others were in Zhu Ying's position, they could do better than him.
A big trap trapped a big businessman from aristocratic families.
The wool would always run out, so Zhu Ying promoted the opening of the sea and let merchants earn money at sea. He also asked the Ming Navy to escort the maritime merchants, and he also participated in it, such as the Ming Ocean Trading Chamber of Commerce.
He let go of the so-called great power style and began to reduce the number of countries in tribute trade.
Tribute trade may have the effect of stabilizing borders, such as the influence of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Ying didn't care.
For example, if you occupy the city of Zhenla and I won't give you any discounts in tribute trade, what can you do? If I don't give you a large reward, how can you still defeat the Ming Dynasty?
The only exception is Beiyuan. After all, that place is really poor.
Specialty products such as beef, mutton, and furs may look good, but in fact, the economic benefits they generate for the entire Ming Dynasty are really just that.
The only thing that can be used is manpower.
Therefore, Zhu Ying established the Beiyuan Employment Association in order to stabilize these grassland guys and stop them from always fighting the autumn wind, affecting the Ming border, and causing wars here in the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, the Beiyuan Employment Association has spent a lot of money on the national treasury. From another perspective, it is tantamount to fattening the grassland.
In fact, officials have already reported that the Northern Yuan Dynasty is indeed a threat. With such strength, once they fall out, it will be a disaster for the Ming Dynasty.
However, neither the grandfather nor the grandson adopted this suggestion.
Zhu Ying is confident that on the basis of simultaneous development, the grassland will be far behind.
Just like today's steam ironclad ships.
This thing cannot currently travel far, but it is an absolute deterrent to countries in the sea area.
The role of steam engines is not only reflected in military aspects.
Among them, for industrial development, it is also a qualitative improvement and a leap-forward progress.
The transition from manual production to machine production means that Daming's productivity has increased dozens of times based on its original level.
In addition to steam ironclad ships, steam trains can also be truly built.
Not to mention the railway lines opened throughout the Ming Dynasty, we only need to open the line from Nanjing to the border.
With the transportation capacity of steam trains, you, Beiyuan, are nothing.
The most terrifying thing about steam trains is the speed at which troops can be transported.
Even today's steam engines, whose power is by no means comparable to the horsepower.
The most important thing is that it can run in different stages for twelve hours.
Zhu Ying originally wanted to build a railway, but unfortunately it was abandoned in the end.
And now, the steam engine, here it comes!
The running speed of the steam train, according to later calculation methods, is about 60 kilometers to 80 kilometers per hour, which is equivalent to one hundred and twenty miles per hour according to the Ming Dynasty algorithm.
From Nanjing to the border is about 2,400 miles.
A steam train can travel more than 1,400 miles in twelve hours.
This also means that in less than two days, the steam train can transport the army directly to the border to fight.
Even if you include steam failure, minor malfunctions, etc., three days is still enough.
Of course, if a large amount of baggage is loaded, it may be slower and the speed cannot be increased, but this speed is also beyond the times.
This means that the Ming court's dominance over local areas will be greatly strengthened.
In reality there will be some discrepancies.
With the current industrial base of the Ming Dynasty, it is naturally impossible to open mountains and cross rivers by railway, but it does not matter much.
These sections of road are directly manned, and the soldiers are idle on the train. At most, just build a few more sections of road.
It is still difficult for Ming Dynasty to complete these tasks.
The scarcity of iron ore is a big problem.
It’s not that there are few iron ores in the Central Plains, but that the iron ores in the Central Plains have been mined vigorously since ancient times. As a result, the mineral deposits in most places are now very scarce, and most of the easy ones have been mined.
This is why the first thing Zhu Ying wanted to do was to build a steam ironclad ship.
Because the steam ironclad ship means that the distance at sea is shortened and the transportation capacity is strengthened, it can vigorously transport iron ore from coastal and island countries to the Ming Dynasty.
"If I remember correctly, Japan has the most silver mines, and Australia has the most iron ores?"
Zhu Ying came back from shipbuilding and started to develop the idea of iron mining.
Since it was the advent of great navigation and the advent of the steam age, iron ore was the top priority during the industrial revolution.
"It's just that Australia now is a completely deserted island. If the imperial court were to develop it, it would be too difficult."
Australia's geography is terrible, and as a whole it is not suitable for large-scale colonization.
The northern part of Australia faces the Ming Dynasty, and is full of deserts and savannahs.
For Ming Dynasty, if it wants deserts, I have them in the Western Regions. If it wants rainforests, I can just go to Vietnam. Why bother going to Australia?
And if they set out from East Asia to land in Australia, what awaits them is either the desert of Western Australia or the rainforest of Northern Australia.
For Daming maritime merchants, going to Australia is worse than going to Africa.
Distance is not measured in terms of geographical length, but in terms of sailing time.
There are mature routes and complete technologies to go to Africa. You can ride the trade winds to Southeast Asia, ride the monsoons to India, and then to Africa. Countless people have traveled this route and it is very convenient.
Going to Australia would be much more troublesome, as it is a new route.
As far as the current routes are concerned, they are all based on the lives of countless predecessors. It is not that easy to open up a new route.
Moreover, today's Australia is not even a tribal civilization, it is completely a primitive society.
They have different shapes, both male and female, they do not weave or wear clothes, they cover themselves with bird feathers, they eat no fireworks, they only eat hair and drink blood, and they just live in caves.
Zhu Ying wants to get the iron ore in Australia, but given the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult to achieve it.
"It seems that we can only rely on external help."
After thinking hard, Zhu Ying really came up with an impossible solution.
Naturally, they would be reluctant to let the people of Ming Dynasty develop Australia.
But what if it’s a Kunlun slave?
Although Australia is not suitable for rice, wheat and sorghum can still be grown. There are also many pastures, and animal husbandry can also be developed.
In fact, Zhu Ying didn't bother to think about these issues in detail. In later generations, Australia was developing anyway and could always grow something to eat.
Now that he was very annoyed about the Kunlun slaves in the Ming Dynasty, he now has a good place to go.
Even though it won't bring much benefit in a short period of time, after ten or eight years, the mining technology will be spread and high-quality iron ore will naturally come.