New Shun 1730

Meng Songlu relayed the standard answer of his school.

Then he pointed to the canal from Funing to Nantong that had just been completed in front of him and said: "Since ancient times, there has never been a canal that did not hurt the people."

"But this river achieves four goals at once, but does not hurt the people, all thanks to the efforts of idle people."

Although their school's attempt to restore the old ways of land granting was embarrassed by the large-scale infrastructure in recent years, Meng Songlu still praised this canal and admitted that it was a canal that basically did not hurt the people.

Quan Zheshen could also feel the benefits of this river as he went north.

This canal, which runs through the artificial canal of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, stretches for hundreds of miles, running north and south.

And every certain distance, there is an east-west branch.

The entire Huaihe River is cut into large and small squares.

These squares can be used for both irrigation and shipping. From the perspective of industry and commerce, shipping and cotton irrigation are the benefits of this river, and they are also the reasons why those who reclaimed wasteland are willing to pay for its repair.

But the benefits beyond industry and commerce ultimately benefited millions of people from northern Jiangsu to the Yangtze River.

This river was built along the former Fangong Dike.

There is a river to the west.

The excavated soil was piled up on the original Fangong Dike to form a high dam.

On the dam, the second phase of the project will also use the dam to build a road with a thick roadbed on the Fangong Dike.

Although the coast continues to move eastward, the Fangong Dike is no longer as valuable as before.

However, as the second line of defense against the tide, this new dam built by the soil of the canal still gives millions of people a great sense of security.

Even if there is a once-in-a-hundred-years tidal disaster, the reinforced Fangong Dike built by the canal soil can ensure that the tide stops here.

No matter how you look at it, it is right to build a canal.

Even if the purpose of those capitals to pay for the construction of this river did not consider the livelihood issues such as the second tide and internal water blocking at all.

But the results are here, and it really benefits the people.

Moreover, this river can be regarded as a successful attempt after a series of reforms in Jiangsu, and it can be regarded as a reform that truly implements the "Recruitment Law".

Meng Songlu praised this river generously.

"Since this river is open, not to mention the transportation of cotton, bean cakes and wheat."

"As long as capital goes north along the river, both sides of the river can benefit from the industry and commerce mentioned by Xingguo Gong. Looms and cotton yarn go to the countryside, and the lives of the people on both sides of the river can be comparable to those around Nantong in ten years."

"Even our townships and villages can benefit."

"But..."

After praising, Meng Songlu naturally changed the subject.

"But if Qi can benefit from fish and salt, if Qin learns from Qi, it will be like carving a boat to look for a sword."

"That is why Mr. Xizhai wants to talk about practical learning. Those who want to take action and make achievements must know astronomy, geography, public opinion, etc. Knowing this knowledge, we know what can be done and what cannot be done."

"I say, if you want to be rich, you should first dig rivers and build water conservancy projects. This is the right way."

"However, idle people here and idle people there are different. For idle people, Jiangsu can do this, but it may not be feasible in other places."

"Brother Lu'an should still get the meaning, not the form."

"Holding practical learning, knowing geography and economics, and then you can save the world and help the people."

"The greatness of the country extends to the yellow sand in the west and the vast sea in the east. The differences between different places cannot be compared with the country of Korea."

"The sage said, choose the good and follow it, and change the bad."

"However, Brother Lu'an, this time If you want to study in a foreign country, you should choose the right one and follow it. What is good in Jiangsu is good in Jiangsu, and bad in other places. This is what is called, oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are oranges, and oranges grown in the north of the Huai River are tangerines. "

"The reason here is that you must know the local national conditions and geography, and understand economics, so that you can distinguish what is useful and what is not useful. "

"For example, our school's view on idle people is naturally correct. "

"However, the difficulty for politicians is how to control idle people without hurting them, and how to prevent idle people from being too many and unemployed and causing chaos. "

"Since you are a scholar-official, you should govern the world peacefully. "

"Idle people should not be corrupted, nor should they be violently punished. This is reason. "

"And how to prevent idle people from causing problems and how to ensure the livelihood of the people. This is politics. "

"Between reason and politics, we must rely on practical economics, otherwise it will be empty talk. "

Quan Zheshen deeply agreed with this, and felt quite enlightened, and thanked him repeatedly.

Meng Songlu's words were clear enough.

The idle population needs to be rectified, just like the businessmen.

But rectification does not mean that it is reasonable to merge land and create an unlimited number of idle people; and it is reasonable to introduce land annexation.

Or, if the businessmen are reasonable, then we can introduce them and do nothing about it, and let the businessmen lend money at high interest rates, merge land, and hoard land.

This is the problem that the real scholar-officials have to face.

We cannot blindly think that the appearance of idle people is wrong.

But we cannot think that the appearance of idle people is right and do nothing about it.

It’s just that some of Liu Yu’s practices gave these people a new idea of ​​how to manage.

It’s not about suppression, which everyone can do.

Instead, through various strange reforms, the problem of buying existing arable land as commercial investment in Jiangsu Province has been curbed, and the problem of "continuous" annexation of land has been alleviated to a certain extent.

In retrospect, the effect has been achieved.

But before the event, it is difficult to understand.

For example, the problem of land annexation around Nantong has not been solved, but the trend of continued annexation has been curbed.

It was solved by a series of policies including the tax system, the transfer of looms to the countryside, external development, and the development of the two major commercial grain bases in Northeast and Nanyang.

The previous merger problem was not solved. A large number of tenants withdrew from rent and became idle people.

The continued merger problem was curbed. Relying on the development of the textile industry, the disaster resistance of the self-cultivating farmers was improved, so that they would not sell land when there was a disaster.

At the same time, the reduction in grain prices reduced the profits of the traditional rent collection system; and the stability of self-cultivating farmers prompted the rise in land prices.

The operation mode of pure commercial capital, buying land and then relying on rent, has also been alleviated to a certain extent.

The profit of capital buying existing cultivated land and collecting rent is not as good as investing in newly reclaimed land, plantations, industry and commerce.

In turn, it forced some conservative landlords to choose to switch from rent in kind to rent in money.

However, the monetary rent made it difficult for the tenants to hold on. In addition, every year when the grain came in, there would be a wave of grain price reductions, so they could only withdraw from the land and run away. For example, the original price of one stone of rice was one and a half taels of silver. Under the real rent, one stone of rice was one and a half taels of silver. Now that the grain price is depressed, the landlords can only choose monetary rent to ensure the original income, otherwise they can only sell one tael of silver for one stone of rice. But the problem is that the tenants have to sell the little they grow to make money. In addition to withdrawing from the land and running away, what other ways are there?

If you only look at one of these reforms, you can't feel any impact.

But after these reforms are mixed together, the effect gradually emerges.

So, is there any truth that can be inherited, learned, and summarized?

Meng Songlu and others think that there must be. It is precisely with such a truth that reform can be guided.

But at the same time, because they began to understand the truth here, they became more determined to persist in trying.

Because, after understanding the truth here, they will come to a conclusion: this model cannot be used for the whole world. If applied to the whole world, the result would be a great uprising that shook the earth.

Jiangsu's policies may be transferred to Henan and Shaanxi.

But Jiangsu's ports, Yangtze River shipping, crisscrossing water networks and canals, a large amount of capital including salt industry, and convenient immigration to Northeast China and Southeast Asia, etc., cannot be transferred to Henan and Shaanxi.

How much did Jiangsu's reform take to become like this? With the success of the reform and the review after Cheng Tingzuo, Meng Songlu and others accepted some new ideas, they found that it was really too shocking.

Not counting the convenient conditions for immigration from Guandong and Nanyang, not counting the special climate, ports and water transportation, only the capital resources invested.

Seventy percent of the profits of Fujian's tea were left in southern Jiangsu.

Except for the taxes levied by the court, all the profits of the salt industry in the five provinces were left in southern Jiangsu.

Ninety percent of the profits of Jiangxi's porcelain exports were left in southern Jiangsu.

Eighty percent of the soybeans in Guandong were eaten by the land in northern Jiangsu.

Most of the profits from the remaining trades, such as brass, rhubarb, zinc alloy, and spices, were also retained in southern Jiangsu.

After Yangzhou was destroyed, the salt industry profits and water transport wealth accumulated over hundreds of years were also concentrated in southern Jiangsu.

And these profits were guided by Liu Yu to invest in the Northeast, Nanyang and other places, using various means to obtain taxes to build infrastructure.

These conditions are also impossible to have elsewhere.

All of this made them persist in their attempts, even if they failed and were ridiculed by Liu Yu.

Because they firmly believed that Liu Yu's method could not rule the world.

In southern Jiangsu and central Jiangsu, Liu Yu did not solve the land conflicts at all, but solved the tenants who "created problems".

Can other places learn from it?

In theory, it can be learned, but the reality is that the tenants who create problems instead of solving the land problems will let Dashun witness with their own eyes how their ancestors won the world.

This is also Meng Songlu's idea of ​​guiding Quan Zheshen to see these rich places in the mentality of the superior country when facing Quan Zheshen.

The way to enrich a country is in Shangguo. If you can't find the way, you can come to Shangguo to find it, instead of thinking about looking for it outside.

What you see is the future you can pursue, and it is also what we think the future of the world will look like.

But how to reach this future, the situation you face, is not something that Xingguogong can solve, and it depends on the attempts and construction of people like us.

The ultimate goal is to make the world a place where dogs and pigs can eat human food, just like here.

The future is here.

But between reality and the future, there is still the most difficult thing, how to do it.

How to do it, we will find a way, an ultimate way to solve the common problems in the same cultural circle.

Finding a way for vassal states is also the obligation of Confucian scholars in the motherland under the crisis of prosperity.

This is not to save vassal states, but to prove that Confucianism is universally applicable, at least universally applicable in the world.

This is the theoretical crisis that Confucianism urgently needs to solve after Dashun started foreign exchanges. All true great Confucians would do this, because now they are not needed to save the nation, nor to protect the world, nor even to engage in practical learning, they have to do something.

At the same time, some great Confucians also understand that prosperity, wealth and power can attract vassal states, and it is also the cornerstone of the scriptures to maintain the centripetal force of vassal states.

Especially when facing a vassal Confucian scholar whose inherited knowledge is obviously influenced by Western religion, it is even more necessary to rely on prosperity and wealth to win his heart. The theory of the three soul rings is not practical learning, but Western learning. This point is very clear to the group of people who have experienced the division between the West and the Real in Dashun.