Chapter 1189 Postscript: The reformists in the forty-fifth cabinet
Chapter 1189 Postscript 45·The reformists in the cabinet
Lu Gai, the vice-president of the Royal Society, went to the city with confusion and confusion and entered the palace of the eldest princess of Qin Guojing.
The eldest princess often invited scholars before, but she never invited anyone alone.
Moreover, the president has been very busy recently.
"Lu Gai pays homage to His Highness."
"President Lu, please sit down."
In order to avoid suspicion, the meeting was not held indoors, but at a waterside pavilion called Lixue Pavilion.
The best green tea was served, and Lu Gai nodded to the maid to thank him.
Zhu Tangxi took the bag brought by Qingluan: "I heard that Yunnan has also begun to cultivate tobacco extensively, but the best shredded tobacco comes from Nanyang. This was brought back from Nanyang by an elder. I can't tell the difference between good and bad. Please give me some advice.
President Lu, give it a try."
It was good tea and good cigarettes, so Lu Gai felt that things were a bit difficult to handle.
He didn't beat around the bush and asked directly: "Your Highness, if you have any orders, just tell me."
Zhu Tangxi asked: "Does today's cement need to be improved?"
Lu Gai replied: "There are two types of cement on the market now, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and both need to be improved. In the past few decades, many people have started to improve cement. Some results have been achieved one after another, such as adding certain materials and calcining them.
But overall, no qualitative breakthrough has been achieved.”
Zhu Tangxi asked again: "Which is the best smelting furnace now?"
Lu Gai said: "It is too dangerous and hard for workers to stir molten iron in blast furnaces and converters. So forty years ago, someone proposed the idea of a converter. But suitable converter steel could not be found, and the furnace temperature of early converters was relatively low.
.”
"It wasn't until seven years ago that Mr. Wan, He, Xu and Xue finally succeeded in producing stable and usable converter steel. Mr. Wan jumped four levels in a row and was promoted to Jade Bachelor, and the three craftsmen He, Xu and Xue also made an exception.
Maester Jasper."
Zhu Tangxi said: "I remember. The year Mr. Wan was promoted to Jade Bachelor, I just moved out of the palace. Can I leave Mr. Wan's mailing address?"
Lu Gai reminded: "Your Highness can summon you directly, but this kind of converter steel is a secret of the imperial court. Currently, there are only four government-run steel plants in the country that can manufacture it. Private individuals who dare to imitate it are committing rebellion."
"So there are no converters among the people?" Zhu Tangxi asked.
Lu Gai said: "Other government-run steel plants and private steel plants can spend money to customize converters from the four major steel plants. But they cannot inquire about the steel formula to prevent the secrets from being leaked overseas."
Zhu Tangxi asked again: "Which government-owned steel plant that can produce converters is the closest to Luoyang?"
Lu Gai said: "Xuzhou Steel Plant. Wan Xueshi worked as a supervisor in Xuzhou Steel Plant. Although his official position was not very high, his official rank was already from the first rank. Even his wife was awarded the first rank.
"
Zhu Tangxi had finished asking questions and handed over a bag of cut tobacco with his own hands.
This is seeing off guests.
Lu Gai thanked him and took it, took the tobacco and excused himself, and left the princess' house in a daze.
He was thinking in the carriage along the way, and based on the questions raised by the princess, he guessed that someone wanted to improve cement.
Lu Gai didn't do much research on this.
Converters are Daming's top mechanical equipment. Although you can spend money to order them from the four major steel mills, each order needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Industry for approval!
Leaking the formula of converter steel and privately imitating converters are the same as concealing arms.
This was a decree issued by Emperor Dingtai. He was worried that someone would quietly build ordnance on a large scale.
…
Xie Yan was really shocked when he received the letter from the princess.
The Ming Dynasty in this time and space has actually developed the converter steelmaking method?
However, the word "converter" awakened similar memories in Xie Yan.
In "Civil Engineering Materials", a compulsory course for civil engineers, there is a chapter dedicated to how to prepare cement. Although the basic formula is explained in detail, the machinery for making cement is explained in one sentence with a picture.
Xie Yan only knew that a "rotary kiln" was needed to prepare cement. The picture showed a long and large pipe.
Apart from the shell of the big pipe, nothing can be seen. Who knows what the inside of the cement rotary kiln looks like.
Xie Yan thought to himself: Will the cement rotary kiln rotate like a converter?
In the early days of cement firing, traditional vertical kilns were used, and every method was tried to increase the furnace temperature.
After the invention of Portland cement, although it was widely sought after, the quality of the cement varied due to unstable furnace temperatures.
It took another half a century before someone built the first cement rotary kiln, and the cement industry was basically established.
Xie Yan decided to take action.
He first went to Jiangzuo Village to visit the old president, then went to the city to visit Chen Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and then went to the princess's home again.
With three letters of recommendation from the old president, Chen Shangshu and the eldest princess, Xie Yan also brought his Furong Bachelor's Jade Pendant and finally successfully entered the Ministry of Industry's database.
A director from the Ministry of Industry accompanied him throughout the process, which not only facilitated Xie Yan's search for information, but also supervised and prevented Xie Yan from taking away top-secret information.
Xie Yan asked the director of the Ministry of Industry to find the drawings of various furnaces and kilns across the country.
For several days, Xie Yan was checking information.
…
Zhu Tangxi was waiting to be received by the Queen Mother.
It was not until two days later that Queen Mother Ye sent someone to summon her.
Tao Jinfeng was helping the little emperor with his homework, and Queen Mother Ye called Zhu Tangxi to the side hall next door.
"I heard that you invited Bachelor Xie to play polo?" Queen Mother Ye said with an expression on her face.
Zhu Tangxi said: "I also invited him to sit at home."
Queen Mother Ye asked: "Is he determined to have an official career?"
Zhu Tangxi nodded: "Xie Liulang is devoted to academic studies, and has recently been busy improving cement technology."
Queen Mother Ye smiled and said: "Whenever you need to grant a marriage, you can come to the palace and tell me."
Zhu Tangxi asked: "Is the cabinet still quarreling?"
Queen Mother Ye sighed: "Well, we have been arguing for several years. When the quarrel reaches a result, a decree is issued, and then the quarrel continues behind closed doors."
The seven cabinet ministers still have different opinions.
They all agree on the reform, but there are huge differences on how to change it specifically.
Especially when it comes to land!
…
Cabinet, another meeting.
Yuan Huaiyi, who was born as a low-level military officer and was known as the Qinwang Shouyi, was sitting there with an old look, his eyes half-closed as if he could fall asleep at any moment.
He comes from the Heilongjiang River, and his foundation is too shallow. Now he even loses military power. He has been pretending to be deaf and dumb since he joined the cabinet.
You can make as much noise as you want, just don't disturb my sleep.
"Reform industry and commerce first, agriculture cannot be touched, especially the land cannot be cleared!" Deputy Prime Minister Ge Congxin shouted loudly.
Prime Minister Deng Gongwu said: "You can start with agriculture, but you must start with agriculture within three to five years at the latest. Not only are mergers and acquisitions intensifying, but the mess of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes has also made a comeback. If there is not a large amount of overseas food that can be transferred to disaster relief, we will never know how to deal with it every time of famine.
How much civil unrest will there be?"
Ge Congxin said: "Since you can prepare grain from overseas, don't touch it yet. The area around the mouth of the Ganges River has been driving the Indian indigenous people to colonize it for decades, and now it is a big granary for the Han people to move there."
Decades ago, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to help Prince Xi Na restore his country, and Prince Xi Na donated the Ganges Delta to the Ming Dynasty.
Why is it so refreshing to donate soil?
Because the medieval Ganges Delta was full of mangroves and swamps, it was not a large granary at all. Instead, miasma was rampant and the mortality rate was extremely high.
The Ming Dynasty built a port there, and there were not many troops stationed there. It didn't care about places far away from the port.
But there is one thing that I have persisted in doing for decades.
That is, the central coastal area on the east coast of the South Asian subcontinent was used as a colony, and Han people were constantly migrating to the governor's palace there. The local people whose land was seized by the Han people were thrown into the Ganges Delta for reclamation.
At the same time, the methods used to deal with the grassland peoples since ancient times were used to divide and win over the Indian countries. To put it bluntly, it was just the British way of stirring up trouble.
The Ming Dynasty did not allow the emergence of powerful countries in India. If any country showed signs of rising, it would drag a large number of small countries to attack. The Ming Dynasty only had to send out one or two thousand elites, and the rest were all the troops of the Indian states.
The Ming Dynasty would also buy war prisoners obtained from wars at low prices and throw them all into the Ganges Delta to reclaim wasteland.
Over the past few decades, large areas of fertile farmland have appeared in the Ganges Delta.
Ge Congxin's policy philosophy is very simple, which is to suck the blood of overseas colonies and prolong the life of the Ming Dynasty, which is intensifying land annexation. The gradually mature Ganges Delta is the next blood bank of the Ming Dynasty.
Deng Gongwu asked: "If there is a nationwide natural disaster and refugees gather in all local provinces, can overseas food still be used? If we can save one province from disaster, can we save ten provinces from famine at the same time?"
Ge Congxin said: "The famine in the ten provinces can still be saved, but the army needs to be dispatched to quell the chaos. Since ancient times, that situation has been normal. Although the annexation of the country has intensified, the people have lived a very good life. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, What prosperous age will be better than now?"
Deng Gongwu was furious: "This is what a paper poster does!"
"What else can be done?" Ge Congxin said, "Which official in the Ming Dynasty has not studied the history of the reform of the former Song Dynasty. From Wang Linchuan to Cai Jing, has there ever been an inventory of land acres that did not make a mess? Wang Linchuan's inspection of land acres was unavoidable. This is because the Zhao and Song Dynasties have no money!"
"The Ming Dynasty's national treasury has gradually become full after many years of inactivity. Since the treasury has money, why do you check the fields? Between you, me, and all the gentlemen here, who can check the fields like the Taizong Dynasty did? It will definitely cause chaos in the world. !”
Deng Gongwu also knew that what the other party said was reasonable. He said in a slightly gentle tone: "No matter how difficult it is to do, someone has to do it. If you and I don't investigate, will we leave it to future generations to investigate when the situation is difficult to reverse?"
Ge Congxin said: "I'm not afraid of a little trouble. What I'm afraid of is chaos in the world! What I'm afraid of is that we do bad things with good intentions!"
Deng Gongwu looked at the other cabinet ministers. Wherever he looked, everyone bowed their heads.
Following the lessons learned from Wang Anshi and Cai Jing, all cabinet ministers were careful not to touch the fields as much as possible. Because they could not afford the infamy of causing chaos in the world.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was supported by industrial and commercial taxes, and it could continue to draw blood from overseas territories, and it was not at the point where it was necessary to inventory the acres of land.
Unable to check.
There will be chaos as soon as it is investigated, and when chaos occurs, countless ordinary people will inevitably foot the bill.
Maybe this will intensify mergers!
Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming have completely fallen into the trap of "Huang Zongxi's Law" by engaging in diversion.
When the land was divided into acres, a large number of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes were abolished, and all the remaining miscellaneous taxes were spread into the acres. Now, the miscellaneous taxes that were apportioned must be collected as a matter of course, and the messy exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes are back.
Moreover, due to the phenomenon of a large number of "spills" occurring at the same time as the land annexation, many people inexplicably have to bear miscellaneous taxes that do not belong to them.
Yang Zhengfu, the fifth-ranked cabinet minister, saw that the prime minister and deputy prime minister were speechless, so he spoke: "I think we should use the method discussed last time. First, rectify the industrial and commercial tax and use the increased industrial and commercial tax to replenish the central and Local finances; secondly, after local finances are filled with industrial and commercial taxes, local governments are ordered to cancel various illegal miscellaneous taxes."
"As for agriculture, let's put it on hold for now."
Hou Guang, the third-ranked cabinet minister, immediately seconded the proposal: "I agree to shelve agricultural reforms."
"I agree too."
"Second."
"I agree too."
"..."
One by one, cabinet ministers expressed their opinions, and only Deng Gongwu and Yuan Huaiyi were left.
Yuan Huaiyi fell asleep.
Deng Gongwu sighed, he could not defy the public opinion, not even with the support of the Queen Mother and the Emperor.
Like these ministers, he has a weak foundation and needs to work together to implement reforms.
The cabinet ministers of this term are not closely involved in industry and commerce for the time being, but all of them come from gentry families.
They support reform, which is reforming industry and commerce, especially increasing industrial and commercial taxes in certain industries.
The essence of this reform is a counterattack by the big landowners against the capitalists!
When they develop their power in a few more years, they will gradually integrate with capital, and by then they will no longer even target industry and commerce.
It was not easy for Ge Congxin to fall out with Deng Gongwu: "Mr. Deng, shelving the dispute is the best result, otherwise we will not be able to quarrel for ten years. Why not talk about something practical first, such as industry and commerce, which has long become a piece of paper?
laws, how to actually implement them or simply repeal them.”
Zhang Yu, the sixth-ranked cabinet minister, said: "The ban on close relatives of dignitaries and officials from doing business can be abolished. They can just find a slave and push it out to run industry and commerce. It is difficult to find out if they hide it and go round and round. Simply just
I am prohibited from doing business. If something goes wrong, I will investigate and find out."
Deng Gongwu glanced at Zhang Yu and knew that these guys were impatient and wanted to legitimately let their relatives run certain industries that they had been eyeing for a long time.
This thing can't be stopped. Just like Zhang Yu said, just throwing out a slave can circumvent the ban. As long as the master's power does not fall, those slaves will not dare to steal the shares.
Might as well put it on the table!
"Who supports the abolition of this ban?" Deng Gongwu asked.
The cabinet ministers raised their hands in approval.
Only Mr. Yuan Huaiyi is still sleeping.
Deng Gongwu said: "Since everyone agrees, I will draft a statement to report to Your Majesty. Since the removal of local officials last year, local officials have improved, and the reform of industrial and commercial taxes can also be started. In the next half month, we will summarize and discuss
The tax reform plan submitted by the cabinet. The meeting is adjourned!"
Deng Gongwu turned around and left, while the other cabinet ministers all smiled.
After all the cabinet ministers had left, the secretary of the meeting shouted: "Ms. Yuan, Mr. Yuan, it's time to wake up."
Yuan Huaiyi slowly opened his eyes: "Is the meeting over?"
"It's over." The secretary smiled.
Yuan Huaiyi stood up tremblingly and walked out of the conference room slowly on crutches.
More than three years ago, this man was still alive and kicking, leading the Shaanxi soldiers and horses straight to Luoyang, and even rode to Tongguan himself to persuade the defenders to surrender.
I don’t know why, but I became very old as soon as I entered Beijing.