Compared with the finances of the Tang and Song Dynasties, which were also founded for more than a hundred years, the finances of the Ming Dynasty were as healthy as a strong young man.
Even if it continues to go downhill, it can still persist for another hundred or two hundred years to the end.
The real crisis of the Ming Dynasty was because it was heading towards the Industrial Revolution!
Moreover, this kind of industrial revolution has always developed abnormally.
The two founding emperors forcibly instilled a lot of science and technology, but due to their own limitations, a large number of key technologies were missing.
Just like clicking on the technology tree when playing a video game, some technologies have reached modern times, and some technologies are still in the Middle Ages.
Extremely mismatched.
Therefore, in the first few decades after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was an explosion of ideas and science and technology. The scholars and craftsmen born and raised in the Ming Dynasty made up for various scientific and technological shortcomings little by little, and at the same time, it also brought about a chaotic chaos of social ideas.
Zhu Ming's grandson, Emperor Yanchun Zhu Tang, was not a foolish emperor in the true sense.
This emperor was living in the most chaotic era of thought, and he saw many comments in society about having no king or father.
At that time, private newspapers and magazines sprung up like mushrooms after a rain to promote the sponsors behind them. There were also many newspapers that, in order to sell more copies, more than half of the news was false, and rumors were flying all over the government and the public.
Some newspapers even dared to secretly fabricate and ridicule the secrets of the palace!
As a result, Yanchun Emperor Zhu Tang slammed on the brakes and spent half of his reign controlling his thoughts.
Not only did he cancel the Yellow Emperor's Era, he also created a bunch of miraculous deeds for Taizu Taizong. He also issued a decree to strengthen the censorship of publications, confiscating more than 60% of private publications, and hundreds of newspaper practitioners were beheaded and imprisoned.
, exiled, and disqualified from the imperial examination.
At that time, there were many people who opposed this approach, but there were just as many who supported it.
Because it is true that the world is declining, and all kinds of monsters and monsters have emerged.
There was also a fierce confrontation between old and new ideas.
The next Longsheng Emperor, Zhu Xiaochi, only reigned for four years. He was old and sick when he came to the throne. He simply did not have the energy to control the court, and the thoughts suppressed by the previous emperor, both good and bad, took the opportunity to resurface.
Dingtai Emperor Zhu Jingjun succeeded to the throne in his thirties. He was very open-minded and tolerant when he was young. The only female Jinshi who was awarded an official position in the Ming Dynasty was made by him against all opinions.
He allowed the spread of various ideas, encouraged scientific progress, and encouraged the development of industry and commerce.
Until a huge corruption case in Guangdong made Emperor Dingtai see something different.
He began to rectify the banking industry, liquidated a large number of private banks, prohibited businessmen from investing in railways, and tightened the issuance of mining rights for various mines. The two railways leading to Central Asia and Mobei did not allow any private institutions to get involved, or even wanted to develop them.
Use national debt to build railroads.
Due to the high difficulty of construction, the huge cost, and the long construction period, the two railways have barely recovered their costs until now.
…
When capital grows to a certain extent, it will seek power that matches its own strength.
Put it in France, leaving the king confused.
In the UK, they deprived the king of his military and financial rights, leaving him with only the naming rights of the Royal Navy.
The Ming Dynasty was a little different. The imperial power was too powerful!
As soon as capital showed some signs of success, it was ruthlessly suppressed by Emperor Yanchun.
So they naturally changed their strategies and began to seek power and rent from the officialdom. Capital and bureaucracy quickly colluded together.
Moreover, capital was defeated in the process, and the integration evolved into another monster-bureaucratic capital!
Nowadays, all the larger companies and factories in the Ming Dynasty are related to officials.
There was even a "contribution" initiative.
That is, giving away one's trading company shares to officials or officials' relatives free of charge, in order to obtain various business advantages.
This is not the scariest thing.
What’s even more frightening is that the generals of the navy and army are also doing business arrogantly, and even use the army to help with business!
Emperor Dingtai has been in power for forty-two years. Most of the time, he has been fighting this monster called bureaucratic capital.
He also issued a decree prohibiting civil and military officials and their immediate family members from doing business, and even forced some of the navy and army to rebel. Even if there were no openly rebellious troops, they would raise wages from time to time, anyway, just to force the court to lift the ban.
Emperor Dingtai withstood the pressure from the army and fought twelve large and small counterinsurgency wars.
It can be said that it is very effective.
Nowadays, no civil servant or military general dares to say that he (and his immediate family members) are in business.
It can also be said that changing the soup does not change the medicine.
If you obviously don’t dare, then come quietly. If immediate family members cannot do business, then let your cousins and clan brothers do business.
Of course, the army was directly involved in business activities, a trend that had been suppressed by Emperor Dingtai. The whole process was extremely bloody, with the counter-insurgency war draining the national treasury, and some even organized the army and fled to West Asia and Eastern Europe.
Another fleet fled to East Africa and ventured across the Cape of Good Hope to hide in Northwest Africa!
These things were not reported in detail in the newspapers. They only said that the imperial court had achieved great successes and successfully suppressed the rebellion.
Why crack down on these bureaucratic capitals?
Because they harm the public and enrich themselves, tax evasion and tax evasion are just childish. They also form interest groups to influence the court through money and public opinion, and even secretly manipulate the appointment and dismissal of cabinet ministers.
Pure capital was not that powerful in the Ming Dynasty. The combination of bureaucracy and capital was the most difficult to deal with.
…
Can industry and capital inhibit mergers? Can they improve people's lives?
Quite the opposite.
The direct impact is to accelerate mergers and make people's lives more difficult.
I’m not talking about Britain and France. It’s more interesting to take the United States as an example.
The era of great railroad development in the United States can be regarded as a feast of capital annexation of land. The company obtained the right to develop a railway, found a bank loan, publicly issued stocks, and after obtaining funds, built the railway.
Wherever the railways were built, land was annexed. All the land along the way was bought by companies, and countless American people became landless farmers.
Are all these lands used for railway construction?
No no no.
Of course, the excess land was used to develop farms, and those unfortunate landless farmers turned into farm workers.
Emperor Dingtai slammed on the brakes, first rectifying the financial market, then prohibiting capital investment in railways, and restricting capital investment in mines. However, collusion between government and business has always found a way to annex land for various reasons. Now there are a large number of landless farmers in many cities.
Unfortunately, the industrial revolution has not yet developed to a sufficient extent to effectively transform landless peasants into workers.
How did the UK do it?
If you spit on the streets of London, you will be directly exiled to Australia, which is a very easy way to eliminate the redundant population.
But is Ming Dynasty Britain?
Britain only needs to clean up the population of London to ensure that the whole country is not in chaos. There are countless cities at the same level as London in the Ming Dynasty. How should the imperial court clean them up?
…
"Come on, come on, let's begin."
Xie Yiqin got the latest "Da Ming Xun Bao", and as soon as he saw the front page article, he knew that the reform was about to begin.
The headline on the front page is: "Is the use of child labor ethical and right? - A debate between justice and benefit."
Before reforming the law, first create public opinion.
When Wang Anshi carried out the reform, he also first created public opinion, and he was even pushed by public opinion. During the reform process, he continued to create public opinion and even compiled his own textbooks.
Right now, this prime minister has an excellent entry point into public opinion.
The situation of child laborers is so miserable and does not conform to the core ideas of Confucianism: benevolence and righteousness.
Then it leads to a classic Confucian topic: the debate between justice and benefit.
The author of the article believes that the current situation across the country is that there are too many adult workers to use them all, but factory owners are determined not to use adult workers in positions that can use child labor. This has resulted in a large number of adults being unemployed, and countless child workers in misery.
.
The reason is nothing more than businessmen’s pursuit of profits, and child laborers’ wages are lower!
Businessmen forget about great righteousness and great profits because of small profits.
The article quotes a lot of scriptures to explain the negative impact of this behavior on moral, legal, economic and other aspects.
This is in line with the core values of Confucianism, and the front-page article has become invincible.
And it is extremely inflammatory. Those passionate students, those scholars who failed in the imperial examination, those intellectuals who were unhappy at work, and those large numbers of unemployed workers and landless farmers were all incited by this article!
Xie Yan was not allowed to go out by his parents due to "physical discomfort" and continued to stay at home to recuperate.
On this day, the family was having breakfast.
Suddenly, officials hurried over and rushed to the inner courtyard without waiting for the announcement: "Grand Sentence, the unemployed workers are rioting, and there seems to be a dozen scholars taking the lead. They surrounded the Cai family's factory and beat them without saying a few words."
Get up, rush into the factory and smash machines everywhere!"
"I know, wait until I finish the meal." Xie Yiqin said.
The official was extremely anxious: "Grand Judge, where is this meal time?"
Xie Yiqin sneered: "The cabinet promulgated a law prohibiting child labor at the beginning of the year, and I also invited the Cai family to discuss it several times. They have not panicked for the past six months, so why should I panic during a breakfast?"
The official said: "The chief judge did not panic, but the prefect and the commander did. They must have mobilized troops to suppress it. If someone really lost his life, the chief judge would be the first to bear the brunt!"
The prefect cannot apply for the transfer of troops, only the general magistrate can apply for the transfer of troops.
Moreover, Tongsuan also manages the economy.
If the military suppresses and kills people, the first person in charge is the commander, and the second person in charge is the commander.
"No rush." Xie Yiqin remained leisurely.
Of course...it's just an act!
Xie Yiqin took a few bites, then stood up and walked out. He seemed to be calm and leisurely, but in fact his steps were very fast.
Xie Yan didn't speak during the whole process, silently watching his father leave.
He also read newspapers, and the more he read, the more fantasy he felt. In China, which was supposed to be in the late Southern Song Dynasty or early Yuan Dynasty, there was actually an official newspaper discussing the ban on child labor, and the court was obviously inciting oppositional sentiments.
After breakfast, the second brother and sister went to study.
Xie Yan also said to his mother: "Mom, I haven't had a headache in the past two days. Can I go for a walk outside?"
"It's very chaotic outside. You are not allowed to leave the city. Please ask Wang Sheng to accompany you." Mother was a little worried.
Xie Yan happily obeyed his orders, traveled through time for several days, and was finally able to go out and see something.
(Looks like I missed one leader. I’m very sorry. Thanks to Successor-’s leader for the reward.)