They are mainly divided into two categories. One is the upper class represented by local gentry, businessmen and nobles. They are extremely eager to set up factories locally to earn more profits. However, it is absolutely impossible for the empire to let this go.
The second category is ordinary people, and more than 90% of the overseas immigrants are agricultural immigrants who farm in overseas territories. What are their demands? One is whether food can be sold at a higher price, and the second is whether food can be sold at a higher price.
It is about whether advanced machinery and equipment can be used for farming.
The sale of this grain also involves transportation problems. In some places where inland rivers are not navigable, if there is no railway, the cost of transporting only by horse-drawn carriages is very high, which leads to high costs and heavy losses to the interests of local farmers.
As for farming, although the widespread use of horse farming can save a lot of manpower, it is still not enough. In many places, because the price of food is very low, many immigrant families need to plant hundreds of acres or even two to three hundred acres of land to support their family.
A relatively good life.
A few hundred acres of land cannot be cultivated by horses.
The only thing that can hold on is the steam tractors that have been used in the empire for many years, especially in some places with vast land and sparsely populated areas. Machine farming allows a few people in a family to plant hundreds of acres of land. Otherwise, it would not be possible at all.
Cannot be planted.
Therefore, their demand for the introduction of local agricultural machinery and equipment is very strong.
In response to the different demands of these two groups, at the imperial cabinet meeting, all the imperial ministers held one opinion, which was "differentiation."
Especially the large number of farmers in overseas territories must fight for it.
They need agricultural machinery and equipment, they need more convenient transportation, and higher grain prices. In this regard, some cabinet members believe that these conditions are limited.
For example, the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises takes the lead to directly organize an agricultural machinery sales enterprise to sell and manage these agricultural machinery and equipment in overseas territories to meet the needs of local farmers.
As for transportation, some cabinet members have also relaxed their attitude and believe that building railways is not impossible.
The cabinet members relaxed their attitude mainly after communicating with the military. The military believed that as long as factories were restricted, simple railways would even be beneficial to the military, because once there was a rebellion in the overseas territories, the empire could quickly mobilize through the navy.
Troops were transported there and quickly marched through the local railway system, striving to extinguish the rebellion in the shortest possible time.
If you want to control industrial development, you can just build railways, and technical tasks such as locomotive repairs can be placed in local military bases.
Anyway, many overseas military bases nowadays have repair shops.
For example, Jiangnan Port in North America, the largest port in North America, has a naval base, and this naval base has a repair shop directly under the navy, and there is also a repair shop directly operated by the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises. The former is used to maintain and repair naval warships.
, which provides repair services to local civilian steam vessels.
It is entirely possible to imitate ship repair services and set up a number of repair shops directly under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises in local military bases to provide after-sales repair services.
As for local businessmen who want to set up factories directly, that is impossible.
At the same time, it is also appropriate to relax the export of some industrial products, especially industrial products designed to meet people's livelihood. If there are no restrictions, there will be no restrictions.
After all, what they said is right. We are also from the Tang Dynasty. You can't treat me as a native just because I immigrated to North America. If you really do this, you will be even more rebellious.
In addition to ordinary people, the interests of the local upper class are more difficult to reconcile. What they want has always been very simple and pure. They hope to establish local factories and use local resources to produce various products nearby to gain profits.
But this is difficult for the empire to accept.
The establishment of a limited number of various repair shops that provide repair services in overseas military bases is already the limit of what the empire's top officials can promise.
In this regard, the empire's top leaders are still preparing a policy of differentiation. After all, these people's interests are clearly for money. As long as they can make money, they will not care whether they build factories or not.
To this end, after discussion by the cabinet, it is believed that various measures can be taken to further reduce sea freight and expand the total import volume of the local overseas territories, especially to further expand various types of cash crops, specialty resources, agricultural products, such as grain, coffee
, import quotas for wood, guano, handmade products and other commodities.
If the local upper class wants to make money, they don't have to build a factory. You can become a large farmer or a trader.
There are so many businesses that can be done, so why bother with the manufacturing industry?
But even so, some people will still be dissatisfied, especially the vassal kings everywhere!
Nowadays, vassal kings all over the world probably dream of localizing their territories!
In response to this, some high-ranking officials in the empire have begun to say that the vassal kings from all over the country are of the emperor's blood, and it is really unbearable to live abroad for many years. They suggested that the vassal princes from all over the country be recalled to the capital.
The territory was still given, the territory salary continued to be received, and even the palace guards continued to be assigned. However, the feudal prince had to return to the capital to live.
If this statement had been made more than ten years ago, a large number of feudal lords would probably have cried tears of joy.
Finally, I no longer have to endure in the wild lands overseas, I can finally return to my homeland.
but now!
The vassal kings from various places are probably unwilling or afraid to return.
If you look through the long history of China over thousands of years, you can find numerous records of the elimination of vassals.
What these ministers said clearly means cutting down the vassal state!
Of course, the most important thing is that the Holy Emperor disagrees!
Li Xuan predicted this situation more than ten years ago, but he still did it at that time!
The enfeoffment of vassal kings overseas was a policy established by Li Xuan long ago.
Because even if there is no vassal king, those overseas territories that should rebel will still rebel. This is an inevitable law of historical development. No matter what the Tang Empire does, it is impossible to avoid this situation.
Since rebellion is inevitable, it is better to let the local feudal king lead the rebellion!
After all, he is also a member of the royal family, so the wealth should not go to outsiders!
If the Tang Empire will inevitably split into several or even a dozen countries in the future, but the people in these countries are all Tang people, and the local emperors or kings are all members of the Li family, Li Xuan thinks this is not a bad thing.
!
After all, no matter how much you toss it, the meat will rot in the pot!
However, this is just Li Xuan’s own idea!
Not everyone in the huge Tang Empire had the same ideas as him. It could even be said that few people in the entire empire had similar ideas to him.
The prince wanted to cut down the vassals and maintain the Tang Dynasty's global empire system. What those vassal kings wanted was not to favor one side, but to return to their homeland to fight for the throne!
The concept of great unity is too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people!
And this is the real crisis for the Tang Empire in the next few decades or even a hundred years!