My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 59: Industry Feeds Back Agriculture
Goryeo?

At first glance, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't believe his eyes. Goryeo, a place not even as big as a palm?
Goryeo has now unified Silla, Baekje and other places, but it is still a very small territory.

They can't even get enough food to eat and can't afford clothes to wear. In some places, women even wear clothes that expose their breasts, showing no civility at all.

They even have the audacity to say that they were the ones who civilized China and that China is their territory?

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he laughed.

It's as ridiculous as when a person is sitting in a house and a cockroach suddenly comes and says that this is its territory and asks the person to get out.

In the second year of Hongwu, King Zhuan of Goryeo sent envoys to express his allegiance to the Ming Dynasty.

He also enthroned the King of Goryeo. From then on, Goryeo and the Ming Dynasty established a formal tributary relationship and became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu knew that the women in Goryeo exposed their breasts because when Goryeo came to pay tribute, the Silla maids they presented were wearing those crappy clothes.

This incident caused a small disturbance at the time. If Zhu Yuanzhang had not stopped it in time, I'm afraid the group of teachers in the Imperial College would have chased the man and scolded him until the end of time.

Haha, it’s just a springboard. Let’s see how long he can jump!

“Every time foreign nations came to pay tribute, they presented local specialties, but the Ming Dynasty rewarded them with silk, satin, gold and silver, as well as a lot of leading knowledge and technology.

This kind of behavior of taking advantage of others must stop. We can't let the Ming Dynasty always be fleeced by them. We must use trade as a weapon to fleece them back. Don't you agree, Old Zhu?"

Yes, yes, yes, Lao Li, you are absolutely right. We in the Ming Dynasty cannot be taken advantage of.

These words awakened Zhu Yuanzhang. He suddenly remembered that every time Goryeo came to pay tribute, Ming Dynasty rewarded them with many good things, including a lot of medical books.

In the future, Goryeo will say that all these good things belong to them. Perhaps it started with me, right?
It has to stop immediately!

However, the tributary relationship cannot be abolished immediately. According to Lao Li's idea, this system must be transformed into a trade system to continue to control foreign countries.

However, during this period, the rewards given by the Ming Dynasty had to be changed.

Anything related to medical skills, smelting and other technologies must not be passed on to outsiders, and the technology of firearms must be strictly controlled.

After the idea is formed, it has to be handed over to the Grand Secretaries of Wenyuan Pavilion to turn it into laws and regulations.

As for the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple, they must change their habit of rewarding foreign countries with good things at every turn.

"Old Zhu, you are right. Those future weapons were gradually developed because of the rapid improvement of technology after the Industrial Revolution.

It’s just that Old Zhu’s understanding of the Industrial Revolution is somewhat biased.”

When Zhu Yuanzhang first saw Li Han praising him, he felt a little proud, but he didn't expect to be slapped in the face so quickly.

Old Li, Old Li, you are the only one in this world who dares to say this about us, Old Zhu.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled. He had been used to being hit by Li Han so many times.

After all, people have called the royal family "Old Zhu Family" from the very beginning.

“The most notable feature of the Industrial Revolution is the replacement of manual production with large-scale machine production.

What is a machine? To give a simple example, the needle-gun I sent over is a type of machine.

There are many kinds of machines, such as the Ming Dynasty's spinning and knitting machines, which are also simple machines.

Let’s put it this way, all the weapons you see in computers can be called machines, even the computer itself is a machine.

As I said before, the reason why a factory in the UK can produce as much in a month as the entire Jiangnan Weaving Factory produces in a year is because the factory uses machine production on a large scale.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. This was far beyond his imagination.

Those armored chariots in the computer can run by themselves without horses, and can even fly into the sky. If the machines in the factory can also move and produce by themselves, how horrifying will the scene be?

For the first time, he felt that his imagination was too limited.

"With the development of industry, more employment will inevitably be absorbed. This is the general trend, and your concerns, Lao Zhu, are not groundless.

The reduction of agricultural population will inevitably lead to a reduction in grain production. This is a cause-effect relationship. "Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang perked up, as this was also a problem he had been worried about.

He hopes that Lao Li can give a perfect solution.

“Old Zhu, the household registration policy you formulated fixed farmers to the land, so that there would be enough farmers to grow food, and at the same time it could prevent migration.

Although it restricts population mobility, it also protects the interests of farmers to a certain extent. Am I right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded vigorously. It is Old Li who knows me best.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, there are many people who can see through the first two points at the same time, but the only one who can see the last point is Lao Li!
Zhu Yuanzhang once again sighed that it is difficult to find a soulmate.

In this life, it is enough to have a soulmate like Lao Li.

“But what you didn’t expect, Old Zhu, is that the industrial age cannot be simply considered with agricultural thinking.

Therefore, to develop industry, we must think outside the box! "

Thinking outside the box?

This word is so fresh, but it sounds so reasonable.

We, Old Zhu, have learned a new term.

This is why I like to communicate with Lao Li the most.

Old Li never answers questions directly. Instead, he elevates the original problem to a new height and level. Then, looking back, the problem is no longer a problem.

This approach can inspire us to think in new ways and help us find the answers ourselves.

"Old Zhu, have you ever thought about this? Once industrial production begins, productivity will increase significantly, and wealth will increase exponentially as a result."

That’s right, you don’t even need to think about it to get the answer. One factory can overwhelm the entire Jiangnan region. The massive amount of cloth produced, isn’t that massive wealth?

"The increase in wealth will inevitably lead to population growth. When you have money, besides buying houses and land, don't you have to fulfill the mission of continuing the family line?"

Yes, that’s the truth!
Not to mention the wealthy men, even his father Zhu Shizhen gave birth to several brothers and sisters, didn’t he?
Of course, the tragedy that occurred later due to famine is another story.

As long as the population grows, there is nothing to worry about.

“In addition, industrial development does not necessarily affect agriculture. On the contrary, it can promote agricultural development. This involves an important concept called industry feeding back agriculture.

Industry feeding back to agriculture has two meanings:
First, the development of industrial technology will inevitably drive the development of agriculture. This is almost inevitable. Here is another simple example. "

Here comes our favorite example of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was fascinated by reading the letter, which was much more interesting than reading memorials.

"For example, Lao Zhu, you are the boss of Factory A, which produces hoes. The hoes are very useful. You can hoe ten mu of land at a time, and the yield per mu is over a thousand kilograms. They sell very well. Xu Da is the boss of Factory B. Seeing your good business, he is really jealous.

So what will he do? He may try to use dirty tricks, but he doesn't have the strength to deal with you, Old Zhu. He may go for looting and smashing, but the government is still there. Then he can only improve his products. He can plow 20 acres of land in one go and produce 2,000 kilograms per acre. Wouldn't he sell better than Factory A?

This is called healthy competition in the market, but if Xu Da tries to trip you up, it is called vicious competition.

The benefit brought by healthy competition is that the improvement of hoes has improved the level of agricultural production. Does this mean that grain output has increased?
This is called industry feeding back to agriculture.”

Old Li likes to use us as examples.

But does Boss Xu Da dare to trip up Boss Zhu?

Lend him some courage!

Unconsciously, Zhu Yuanzhang put himself into the example.

However, how can an acre of land in this world produce over a thousand or two thousand kilograms of crops? Old Li, you know too little about agriculture and sericulture.

Suddenly, Zhu Yuanzhang changed his mind and thought, something is wrong. Last time he said that Lao Li didn’t understand military affairs, but Lao Li ended up causing trouble for himself.

If I say again that he doesn't understand agriculture this time, he won't be even more cruel to me, right?
It was a close call, Old Zhu almost fell into Old Li’s trap again.

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(End of this chapter)