First Minister of Ming Dynasty

At this moment, Chahan was still breathing, and wanted to say something, but he saw a pair of red eyes, and he raised the knife and cut off Chahan's head directly.

This, is this unscientific?

You, Zhu Yuanzhang, are not such a person. Don’t you want to capture me, say something, and play Ming Zheng’s punishment?

I am the commander-in-chief of the Yuan army, with a high status, even if I am captured, I can make a big fuss!

Full of doubts, Chahan died in front of the battle.

Is it a little too easy?

Perhaps, but who would have thought that in real history, Chahan died at the hands of Tian Feng and Wang Shicheng, without even a chance to go to the battlefield, so he ended up aggrieved.

It can only be said that reality has been cruelly challenging superficial cognition, and it is difficult to understand the weirdness of reality even if the imagination is exhausted.

For Zhu Yuanzhang, personally beheading Chahan and getting rid of a great enemy did not bring him any joy, on the contrary, he was very annoyed.

The degree of hip stretching of the Yuan army exceeded pre-war expectations. Originally, Lao Zhu wanted to be a decisive force to make up for the shortcomings of Xu Da and Chang Yuchun.

It has the effect of finalizing the final decision... But from a practical point of view, he doesn't need to make a move, and two generals are enough to deal with it.

And in order for him to make a move, Xu Da obviously reserved space in the layout, just to show the emperor.

Then he went to the battlefield and collided with Chahan Timur. This guy almost shot an arrow in the back... Is there no risk when the emperor goes to the battlefield?

Just a joke, why did Liu Bang get injured by arrows several times?

The sword has no eyes, it is the same for everyone.

Zhu Yuanzhang's body was covered with triple armor, and a hidden arrow might not be able to hurt him, even if he was injured, it would not kill him... But the problem is Mr. Zhang, as a close minister of the emperor, he also followed closely.

What if the arrow hurt Mr. Zhang?

Based on this alone, Chahan should be hacked into pieces, just beheaded, it's cheap for him!

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang also secretly made up his mind that, as the king of a country, he could not be willful anymore. Even if he didn't care, he still had to consider the safety of his neighbors.

Old Zhu held the sharp blade in his hand, wiped the blood on the battle robe, retracted it into the sheath, and then calmly issued an order.

"Tell Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to hunt down the Yuan army."

After saying this, Lao Zhu rode back and gave up hunting.And he also made up his mind that from now on, he would put away his armor and weapons, and never go to the battlefield in person again.

Of course, he will not relax his research on the battlefield, even if he is sitting in Fengtian Temple, he can still perform micromanagement.

"Sir...you, you have done a great job!" Old Zhu said with a little embarrassment, "This time we have to reward you properly."

Zhang Ximeng was still in the shock of hurting Chahan, so he couldn't help being absent-minded, and he didn't reply immediately.Old Zhu could only cough and say, "Sir, do you have something to do?"

Only then did Zhang Ximeng wake up a little bit, and said immediately, "Master, after this battle, the land of the Central Plains is likely to wither even more. To restore people's livelihood and rebuild their homeland, it is not something that can be done in just a few words."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered slightly, and said, "What do you think you are going to do?"

"One, of course, is to eliminate military chaos... Chahan Timur has gathered an army of tens of 10 yuan, as well as the old troops of Han and Song. The total number of these people is not 100 million, but 80. In addition, there are There are many armed landlords who have formed villages to protect themselves, and there are even as many bandits as a cow's hair, my lord, to be honest, in my opinion, there are not many good people left in the Central Plains."

This is not sarcasm, but a simple fact.

It is really difficult for ordinary people to survive in this troubled world.

Conversely, how many innocent people can survive?

Those wealthy families and powerful landlords will be arrested and beheaded one by one to ensure that there will be no wrongdoing.

One-third of the defeated soldiers, one-third of the bandits, and another third of the powerful landlords.

This is the situation in Kaifeng and other places.

Some militias can also be organized in places like Runing, Xinyang, including Yingzhou.

But this time the core of the battlefield, Guide, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, and even Luoyang and other places, except for the old, weak, sick and disabled who can't leave, I'm afraid even the militia is not easy to organize.

"In addition to the military chaos, there is flooding... The Yellow River is still flooding. The huge yellow flooded area, thousands of miles of red land, saline-alkali desertification, many places are no longer suitable for living. The fertile soil of the Central Plains has turned into this state. How much effort will it take? Can it be recovered? It is really impossible to estimate."

"In addition to restoring people's livelihood, we also need to rush north to the Yuan court and recover the capital... This time the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of soldiers has already damaged the vitality of the court, and there must be a recovery time...Although Chahan is dead, Boluo Timu The son is still alive, and Yuan Ting is still strong on the grassland. To be honest, we have taken over a mess of internal and external troubles. It is not easy to get out!"

Zhang Ximeng's brief summary already made people's hearts jump and their scalp numb.

It is indeed difficult.

Zhu Yuanzhang also realized that although the surname of the Central Plains is Zhu, it is still far from the land of the Central Plains he wanted.

"Thousands of things, all kinds of things... In the end, it's all about people."

Old Zhu suddenly said: "We don't care how sir plans the major events in the Central Plains, but we have one thing, which must be put first."

Zhang Ximeng hesitated slightly, "What's your opinion, my lord?"

"It's not a good idea." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We have to learn from Goujian."

"Goujian?"

"Correct!"

Old Zhu suddenly laughed and said: "The recovery of the Central Plains starts with people, so we plan to follow Goujian's example and encourage births... As long as there is one more child, we will share an extra piece of land, and this piece of land will be exempted from land tax and corvee until the age of 20. No matter Boys and girls are all the same! If a family has more than five children, they will be exempted from corvee!"

Zhang Ximeng was slightly taken aback, "My lord, is this over? Taxes and corvee, it's not easy to change!"

"No!" Lao Zhu insisted: "If there is a problem with the tax and corvee, it can be corrected. People are the root, and people are everything! There are no people, so what else are you talking about?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took another breath, and suddenly said with a smile: "Let's have another idea. If the man is unmarried at twenty, he will be fined! The household will be fined two stones of rice. As for the officials...the finer the salary, the higher the official position, the more fine you will be fined." !"

Chapter 482 People-oriented Economy

Zhang Ximeng felt that he was being targeted.

"My lord, this, is it not appropriate to punish the salary? Now the salaries of hundreds of officials are not high, and the people's livelihood is difficult!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a chuckle: "The people's livelihood is difficult, and officials should set an example... This matter is settled like this. Chahan will be appointed as the leader, and the Yuan army will be defeated. There are many clues. Sir, you still have to work hard!"

After Lao Zhu finished speaking, he simply rode his horse and returned to the imperial tent. The moment he turned around, Lao Zhu had a smirk on his face.Finally, I can urge you to get married in a fair and honest way. If you are a young teacher in the court, and you are the prime minister, if you don’t get married at the age of [-], it is estimated that at least [-]% of your salary will be deducted. If you dare not get married, we dare not even eat Yangchun noodles.

That's it!

Lao Zhu seemed to have won a big victory, even beheading Chahan, he was not so happy.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he hummed a ditty, and his joy flew up...

It's just that Zhang Ximeng thought of another matter, a major event that confused him for a long time.

Of course, it has nothing to do with marriage.

He was wondering why the land of the Central Plains had not embarked on the road to industrialization, and what was restricting it?

A high-ranking emperor, deep-rooted Confucianism, small-scale peasant economy, discrimination against merchants, conservative and introverted, unwilling to make progress, afraid of the ocean...or even simply human!

Zhang Ximeng also knows a lot about all kinds of weird talks and the convincing words in the textbooks.

But to be honest, it's hard to be completely convincing.

Now facing the decay of the Central Plains, thousands of miles away.

Zhang Ximeng and Zhu Yuanzhang's problem-solving methods seem to explain something.

What about marriage, what about salary, they are all trivial matters, if the immediate problem is not solved, the industrial development plan he has been brewing for a long time is probably going to be aborted by Lao Zhu.

So Zhang Ximeng immediately sent someone to call Liu Bowen and Song Lian. These two people were originally in Jining to deal with military supplies, but they hurried over after hearing Zhang Ximeng's order.

"Two gentlemen, my lord and I talked about the idea of ​​restoring the Central Plains... I mentioned things like suppressing bandits, eliminating military disasters, dealing with floods, dividing the land evenly, etc. But from my lord's point of view, the immediate priority is to have children, you guys Let's see, how to solve this matter?"

Liu Bowen and Song Lian looked at each other, and nodded together without hesitation, "Master Zhang, you were wrong this time. The higher-ups were right."

Song Lian also said: "At the beginning, Gou Jian tried his best to accumulate strength and revenge for destroying Wu. The most important thing was ten years of survival and ten years of lessons. Only by cultivating a generation of young people and having enough soldiers can he counterattack Wu. What a shame!"

Zhang Ximeng lowered his eyelids, and suddenly said: "You two gentlemen, do you have to have more children?"

"Then, why don't they have many children? Where are the farmers and soldiers?" Liu Bowen asked puzzled.

Zhang Ximeng took a deep breath and said slowly: "Can we invent new machines to make farming more efficient? Originally, one person could plow thirty acres, but now he can plow three hundred acres. There is also weaving, one person can weave If ten or a hundred men are given cloth, the extra men can serve as soldiers, join the army, and avenge their shame?"

Song Lian and Liu Bowen kept their faces sullen and silent... If someone else said this, they would definitely turn their backs... let one person plow ten times the field?What do you want to exhaust people to death?

Your heart is too dark!

But Zhang Ximeng said these words, so these two people can't refute them hastily, they have to think carefully.

Liu Bowen was knowledgeable, but pondered: "I heard that in the Song Dynasty, there was already a loom in the south of the Yangtze River that weaved dozens of silk threads, and there were more than 800 parts alone, which was very majestic... even There are also skilled craftsmen who use the water to push the loom. One person can support ten or a hundred people."

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Lian waved his hand, "Brother Bowen, I have also heard about this thing, but the threads spun out are of different thicknesses, and no one wants them at all. It's just a competition between skilled craftsmen and minds. Ordinary people, especially Wealthy households still use ordinary looms."

Zhang Ximeng also became interested when he heard this, and couldn't help but said: "Scholar Song, tell me, you can spin dozens of threads at a time, and the labor required is less, and the price is naturally lower. Don't ordinary people want it? ?"

Song Lian suddenly laughed and said, "Mr. Zhang, why are you so confused? With less labor, why is the price so low? We need silk and cotton for weaving. The raw materials are not cheap!"

Liu Bowen also smiled and said: "Zhang Xiang, you forgot, we are in the south of the Yangtze River to equalize the fields, and we specially tax the mulberry and hemp fields. What we are afraid of is that there will be more varieties of mulberry and hemp, which will reduce the grain. If it is according to what Zhang Xiang thinks, there must be less labor. If the price of raw materials remains the same, the silk cloth produced will be cheaper, otherwise, the price will remain the same!"

Zhang Ximeng closed his eyes and thought... Gradually nodded.

If the fields do not increase, there is actually an upper limit to how many types of grains are distributed and how much mulberry cotton is planted.

That is to say, it is stuck from the level of raw materials.

It is simply not feasible to engage in mass production of factory machines.

Zhang Ximeng pondered for a moment, then said again: "You two gentlemen, think about it again, even if the raw materials remain the same, each person's annual clothing will remain the same. If we all use looms instead and save the number of weavers, is it feasible?"

Song Lian shook his head directly, "Zhang Xiang, there are obviously good ones, so why do you have to go on a job? Isn't this not a good time?"

Liu Bowen followed suit: "Yes, Mr. Zhang, even if we don't recruit weavers, they still have to spin all day long at home... how many peasant women knit women's reds at home, making their eyes go blind, just for some money, Supplementing the family. After all, the more you use your energy, the more money you spend, the more money you spend!"

Hearing this, Zhang Ximeng's heart was touched... He could finally write a similar answer to his question.

It’s not that the land of the Central Plains can’t lead other regions to develop industry first, but that the road of industry goes against the nature of this huge agricultural country, and it even doesn’t conform to economic laws at all. It belongs to walking with hands and using chopsticks with feet.

The restriction of raw materials proposed by Song Lian is a premise.

In other words, so many things can be produced in one year.

If all high-efficiency looms are used to weave silk cloth of poor quality, the common people will not recognize it.

Under the condition of scarce materials, manpower becomes worthless... If a bowl is broken, we must find a way to mend it and continue to use it. A small piece of cloth should not be thrown away casually. It should be used to mend clothes and make insoles.

People are more willing to expend countless energy and increase a little harvest.

In farming, the performance is intensive cultivation.

In terms of craftsmanship, it is those exquisite handicrafts that future generations will not be able to make.

Just like the Qiangong bed mentioned above, in the final analysis, it is the crazy involution under the competition of stock... It is so involved that it cannot be added, and it is so involved that it will last forever.

Compared with big machines that are useless except for slightly higher efficiency, people prefer to use traditional looms, with their own hands, to create more delicate things with care.

Another question arises here. Didn’t the Ming Dynasty in history experience prosperity in overseas trade, exporting tens of millions every year, and earning one-third of the world’s silver?

Isn't that enough to promote the machine?

Sorry, it's not enough.

At that time, there were tens of millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River, and there were more than a few million ingenious weavers!

You must know that the Central Plains has been densely populated for a long time, accounting for about [-]% of the world's total.

Those who can enjoy silk are nobles and wealthy businessmen who sell 200 million pieces every year for tens of millions of taels of silver. Only female workers in Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places are enough.

If it's less than a tael, hire a female worker... Then you talk to me about the machine?

Let me spend hundreds of times the price and invest in a loom with an uncertain future?

Are you sick, or am I sick?

Even if the loom comes out, you will solve the raw materials for me?You solve the market for me?Can you make foreign mud legs wear silk?

Don't you understand that silk and porcelain are all luxury goods... Do you see which luxury goods in later generations are not advertised as pure handmade?Of course, some of them are not luxury goods, and they can be used together...

As Zhang Ximeng, who has the habits of later generations, he encountered the decline of the Central Plains and the people's livelihood was difficult. He thought about upgrading technology, appropriate technology trees, developing industry and commerce, and then enriching the country and strengthening the army.

But in Lao Zhu's view, the most convenient choice is to encourage births, fill the land of the Central Plains with population, and it will naturally recover.

Not only did he think so, Liu Bowen, Song Lian, and many other people of insight also thought so.

Can you say that they are not knowledgeable, and they are old-fashioned?

Zhang Ximeng suddenly discovered that the sick person might be himself.

Is it necessary to torment the people of Daming now for things that will happen hundreds of years later?

Is it a bit selfish to do that?