New Shun 1730

Of course, in the feudal dynasty, some questions cannot be asked too directly.

It is not the case that Liu Yu ran to Li Xi and said, "I have decided, you will be the unconscious tool of the progress of history, and you will make a fuss to finally let the people break all the superstitions of the past and old things."

Then Li Xi said that I have never had such ambitions, and I have never dared to ask how heavy the artifact is. It's just that I have always taken it as my responsibility to benefit the country and the people of the world. If you practical scholars and the bourgeoisie think that I must sit on that chair to save the people and benefit the country, then I will...

So, Liu Yu asked a question that sounded unrelated to ambition and even sounded purely "academic".

Free trade.

Views on free trade.

Liu Yu has no prejudice against free trade.

Including, starting from Colbert, Louis Bonaparte, Franz Liszt and others, have no prejudice against free trade.

However, the characteristics of these people are "tariff protection when poor, free trade when rich". Whether it is Nasan or List, their attitude towards tariffs is to protect their own fragile industries, and then free trade when the level is raised.

Rather than opposing free trade in theory.

Basically, their attitudes are the same as Hume's attitude towards trade with China before: if free trade is really carried out, if it were not for the thousands of miles of sea and the cost of sailing and shipping as a natural tariff barrier, then the whole of Europe would use Chinese goods until China's per capita silver deposits are the same as those in Europe. So, during this period, what should we do in Europe?

However, the four words "free trade" have special meanings in Dashun.

At this time, how many large cities with a population of more than 100,000 in the world are there?

At this time, how many large cities with a population of more than 100,000 and mainly engaged in industry and commerce in the world do Dashun occupy?

At this time, how many people are there in Manchester? How many people are there in London? And how many people are there in Dhaka, Mumbai, Guangdong, Jingdezhen, Suzhou, etc.? Even before the abolition of the canal, how many people and how many people were engaged in industry and commerce in Huai'an, which was unknown in later generations?

It was Britain and France that issued the "Cotton Prohibition" in 1700 and 1721. It was Defoe who wrote an essay saying that oriental cotton cloth made people generally unemployed, and it was the French carpenters' association that forced the finance minister to write to Asian companies to tell them not to import lacquerware or it would lead to riots.

It was not Dashun that issued the "Foreign Cloth Prohibition" - still the same sentence, saying that you are closing the country to the outside world, you are not able to sell woolen cloth, your textile industry has been beaten so badly by India that you have to use high tariffs for administrative control and "incite people to smash and burn oriental goods", but you issued the "Cotton Prohibition" by administrative order, so how can it not be called closing the country to the outside world?

For each piece of British woolen cloth, there is no tariff, and farmers are taxed to subsidize each piece of imported woolen cloth with 20 wen. In addition, the land tax is used to subsidize each British merchant ship with 1,500 taels of silver for long-distance voyages. For all cotton cloth produced by the people, a 33% sales tax is directly added to imitate the colonized India to make room for the market for British woolen cloth. Is it not called a closed-door policy?

They are all East Asia.

The closed-door policy of China and Japan is not based on the same logic.

Don't try to find the sword by sticking to the boat, and don't just look at the phenomenon but not the essence. People have two legs, and chickens also have two legs. So because they all have two legs, people and chickens are the same thing?

Excluding the religious issue that even the sons and daughters of God such as France, Spain, and Portugal could not stand the Jesuits and forced the Pope to disband the Jesuits.

What was the reason for Japan's Arai Hakuseki to strengthen the closed-door policy?

It was because Arai Hakuseki believed that "gold and silver are like bones, and commodities are like hair. Hair can be regenerated, but bones cannot be restored." It was because at that time, Japan was experiencing a crazy outflow of silver, gold and copper every year, and Japan recast it twice in more than ten years.

Japan, which had mountains of gold and silver, actually experienced a silver crunch. The silver circulating in society decreased rapidly, and big merchants tightened their silver hoards. Because of the severe trade deficit, a big problem occurred in the currency.

It was because he found that the merchants on the Chinese side had the pricing power of copper. So he tightened the export policy and used administrative means to let Japan regain the pricing power of copper. From the original Japanese merchants who took the initiative to lower prices and ask Chinese merchants to buy their own copper; to Chinese merchants who took the initiative to increase prices and bribe, begging to buy Japanese copper.

What does the decline of Japan's Imari-yaki have to do with the isolation of the country? The chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty caused a great impact on China's porcelain exports due to the chaos of war. Waiting for the war to end, Europeans are crazy, not going to Jingdezhen to buy custom porcelain, but going to Japan to buy porcelain?

And here?

Don't talk about Dashun or Ming. Let's just talk about the Qing Dynasty, which everyone looked down upon. Before the large-scale smuggling of opium in 1830, did the Qing Dynasty have the words "trade deficit" and "silver outflow"? In 1600, where did the silk weaving factory in Spain and Mexico with 14,000 people use raw silk? In 1700, Defoe was obsessed with pottery jars and porcelain in his novels. What inspired him?

Now, the reformed Dashun, according to Lao Ma's theory of "How did capitalism come about", expanded the army, built ships, strengthened centralization, levied taxes, monopolized the franchise, won the First World War, and won commercial hegemony - the problem of China before 1800 was that it had no ability and skills, and learned only the superficial knowledge of British mercantilism and centralization skills in 1800.

There is a lack of a protector who can use bloody methods and a heavy tax of 20% on merchant ships to create a powerful navy. What’s more missing is a powerful country that can levy an 83% tax on tea, a 225% tax on cotton, tax according to the size of the windows, and ban smuggling and cut off the hands of anyone who dares to smuggle.

Talking about free trade, the UK has issued a cotton cloth order, it cannot compete with French sugar, it has introduced a sugar tax law, all tea must be wholesaled and taxed at the London Tea Exchange, wool from 15 miles along the coast can be exported privately and directly chopped by hand, craftsmen must be registered as craftsmen and craftsmen are not allowed. What kind of free trade would it be if we left the UK?

The United Kingdom can pass the "Shroud Act" and dare to use foreign cloth as a "shroud" instead of wrapping the body with domestic wool, and directly dig up the grave. Be it Ming Dynasty or Dashun, who would dare to introduce such a policy? Who can introduce such a policy and the world will not be in chaos?

You asked Ming Dynasty or Dashun to introduce a similar policy to remove tombs and inspect cloth. Can you see if ordinary people can go to Fengyang or Mizhi to remove the emperor's ancestral tombs?

Not to mention Dashun, Ming Dynasty dares to introduce a similar grave-grabbing policy? The so-called level of clothing in the later period could not be controlled. Silk with dragons and phoenixes was everywhere. How could it be said that it was "Leviathan"?

A country that has clearly issued a "Cotton Cloth Ban" accuses a country that has an annual trade surplus and never a trade deficit of shutting itself down.

A country with a central bank that directly prohibits the redemption of gold by direct order; accuses a country that does not even have the right to issue banknotes, and directly cedes the right to issue banknotes and seigniorage to silver merchants on the southeast coast, that it has no financial freedom.

A country that sells and reviews its monopoly rights every year; accuses a country of handing over the production and sales rights of salt, the lifeblood of the country, to businessmen since the 45th year of Wanli. In countries where power can be hereditary, it is controlled by the state.

The really sad thing is that Lao Ma spends half of the article talking about "how capitalism came about."

It talks about national strength, commercial hegemony, naval warfare, tariff protection, and heavy tax policy. In the era of handicraft industry, we must gain military hegemony before we can gain commercial hegemony, and then we can get opportunities for industrial development, and there is no generational difference in technology. Military hegemony, the importance of naval hegemony, and the importance of technological hegemony. Without generational differences in technology, without naval hegemony and military hegemony, there would be no commercial hegemony and no chance for industry to start.

It is impossible for a small peasant economy that emphasizes private ownership of small land to stand with the bourgeoisie.

Let’s talk about the difference between farmers in the feudal aristocratic era and small farmers with small land ownership, and talk about the difference between small farmers and three small farmers.

In order to equalize the land and give land to the tiller, small farmers may temporarily unite with the bourgeoisie to overthrow the feudal aristocracy, but once they get all this, they will inevitably break with the bourgeoisie and can only rely on singing with the urban proletariat to create a new era, otherwise small farmers will Rather choose a strengthened government that summons the Holy Lord of the Dead.

In a peasant country with a small-scale peasant economy without the feudal aristocratic manor system, there is no possibility for the bourgeoisie to seize power, and even if it seizes it, it cannot hold it. In the end, either the imperial government will be strengthened infinitely, or the workers and peasants chorus will inherit all these productive forces but change the relations of production.

However, by the time these truly useful things were introduced in history, it was already too late.

Liu Yu, on the other hand, relied on the counter-training method of "learn half and speak half" to expand the army, prepare for war, and build ships. He took advantage of the opportunities of the War of Polish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession, the Second Silesian War, and the Anglo-French Indian War to prepare for the war. Dashun gained commercial hegemony and military hegemony.

Relying on Dashun's silver "exchange rate" and the extremely strong handicraft industry "because of the silver currency tax, small farmers had to develop side businesses", they got everything they needed for "How did capitalism come about?"

So, at this time, Yu Dashun is concerned.

Is free trade good?

good.

However, if there were no French allies and no conflicts in Europe, Dashun would not have 120 battleships and 400 various auxiliary ships and sub-ships. The British government, which could squeeze out 100 battleships during the Seven Years' War, would cancel the "1700" ,1721 Cotton Cloth Prohibition Order"?

China in 1800 had no middle option.

Or, build 100 battleships and 400 auxiliary ships, go to Europe, and open up trade.

Or, port trade, whatever Europe buys, it sells itself.

Because... India's cotton textile industry is not much worse than China's, and it can still crush Europe.

The East India Company could go to India to buy cloth and sell it back to Europe, concentrating wealth and capital in the hands of a few people. India is profitable for European capital - it is also profitable to buy foreign goods and sell them to its own people.

For China, the costs and benefits are actually not proportional. Because, on China's side, there is no profitable intermediate process of "buying Indian cloth and selling it to locals".

This made it possible, either, at the beginning of the founding of the country, during the development period, to go to the Southeast Asia and forcefully conquer Aurangzeb's Mughal Empire.

Or, we can only wait for the European compradors to gain a foothold in India little by little because they are profitable.

However, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, even if they went to Southeast Asia and even if a genius emperor was born to challenge Aurangzeb's Mughals, what were the chances of success? How much investment? How many years will it take to recover the capital?

Britain's establishment in India was a victory for the "compradors". But its essence is also a victory for Britain's backward productivity.

If Manchester's cotton textile industry could catch up with Songsu, let alone Northwest Shandong, the East India Company's trade in Indian cotton cloth would have made all shareholders of the East India Company pay for it.

Relying on the hard work of the people, the accumulation of two thousand years of handicrafts, the "unconscious economic policy" of the silver currency tax under the small peasant economy that forced small farmers to develop sideline businesses, and the farthest link of the price revolution, Dashun used the navy to obtain commercial hegemony, that is, the industrial hegemony of the handicraft era.

However, does this mean that Dashun likes free trade very much? Or that it regards free trade as politically correct?

Obviously, this is not the case.

Because, in the 18th and 19th centuries, what was the task of the bourgeoisie?

It was to create a world market.

However, simple "set" mathematics shows that the "domestic market" is included in the "world market".

If a "domestic market" of one-third of the world's population is not included in this "world market", then this "world market" is meaningless and invalid.

So, what is the problem of "domestic market" for Dashun?

What does free trade mean to Dashun?

Take Hubei, where the prince had been struggling before, as an example.

Relying on the Sichuan salt entering Chu and Chu cloth entering Sichuan, and the geographical difference that Sichuan is not suitable for cotton planting while Jianghan Plain is suitable for cotton planting, Hubei's cotton textile industry has developed in recent years.

But even if it has developed, can it compete with Songsu?

On food.

Historically, since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Hubei's food has been unable to be self-sufficient.

And Songsu, relying on Liu Yu's imperialist means, got Nanyang rice and Northeast sorghum. The low grain prices hurt farmers and farmers began to abandon rice on a large scale, but they were still able to use sea transportation to keep rice prices low.

How can Hubei compare?

On cotton.

Historically, how long did it take for cotton seeds to be improved in Jianghan Plain? Until the Beiyang era, officials were helpless and sighed: "If you want to improve cotton seeds, you can only rely on the expropriation of land after a disaster, thousands of miles of barren land."

In Songsu area, there are Java cotton and Indian cotton outside, and in the north, there is the Lianghuai grass enclosure after Liu Yu massacred and suppressed the uprising of 70,000 salt workers and salt households before and after the salt reform and the reform of the grain transport.

How can Hubei compare?

In terms of market size.

Historically, the cotton textile industry in the Jianghan Plain relied on the local market and the Sichuan market, and no more could be squeezed out.

In Songsu area, the cotton planting in southern Liaoning was directly swept away by Liu Yu, completely abolishing the possibility of Liaodi planting cotton on its own; the Nanyang war directly took over the Nanyang cotton cloth market shaped by the Dutch East India Company relying on the cotton textile industry in Surat, India; after the war, the cotton cloth of Dashun became the "cloth of sorrow" in West Africa and the blue tears of the slave trade in West Africa.

Just as the example of French beets and sugarcane in French colonies in Na San's "The Beetroot Problem" - this can almost be regarded as a replica of the cotton textile industry in Songsu, Dashun and Hubei.

[If the believers of free trade dare to implement their harmful theories in France, at least 2 million French workers will be unemployed...]

Nasan's theory is definitely problematic.

But the reality is that the silent majority, the 2 million unemployed people harmed by free trade, elected him as emperor.

Just as in the history of the Five Ports Trade, after the trade center shifted from Guangdong and Guangxi to Shanghai, the boatmen of Xijiang shipping, the porters of Wuling, and the handicraftsmen of Guangdong and Guangdong elected Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, and Xue Chaogui. It also made Guangdong, which was replaced by Shanghai, Ningbo, and Fuzhou, become the source of the continuous uprising in the future.

Therefore, the issue of free trade is an issue that cannot be ignored in Dashun.

It is a major issue of right and wrong, a dispute over the route, and a test of skill - either, get rid of them; or appease or ease them.

Even for potential ambitious people, if they don't understand this issue, they can't succeed - the domestic market is a subset of the world market. Free trade in foreign markets does not mean that the world's free trade pattern has been formed. World trade that one-third of the world's population does not participate in is not worthy of being called [world] trade.

Dashun's size is so large that its total industrial and agricultural output value is almost equal to the sum of the rest.

Dashun's population is so large that its population at this time is one-third of the world's population.

So, Dashun's idea of ​​developing industry and commerce at this time - referring to development outside the first-developed regions - can and can only be to create "provincial centers" one by one to eat the surrounding areas and the province.

And this is exactly contrary to free trade.

In theory.

The real "free" trade is the Songsu region, relying on raw materials such as cotton from the colonies, relying on food from the Northeast and Southeast Asia, relying on shipping costs, relying on population, and relying on the right to issue gold and silver notes. 5 million people are enough to complete the industrialization of the steam engine era. With 5 million industrial aristocrats, 300 million small farmers will go bankrupt, rural areas will completely decline, rural handicrafts will be completely disintegrated, and land will be rapidly annexed.

Imitate the story of Britain in India.

At the extreme point, it forced the rural gentry to become bad, small landlords to go bankrupt, the sons of landlords and rich peasants who run handicrafts to believe in communism, and the legitimate sons of big landlords and big capitalists to burn their own land deeds in the hope of "pulling out all their own hair to make a big man; going through fire and water to benefit the world".

It's the same sentence.

Imperialist dumping, two problems.

Small farmers go bankrupt and small peasant economy collapses.

The bourgeoisie of the country cannot develop.

These are two problems.

The problem of two classes.

The problem is that the small farmers went bankrupt and the small peasant economy collapsed, but the national capital did not develop and was killed by imperialism and compradors.

And Dashun is now the "emperor" itself, and no one can go to Dashun to dump.

So, this double problem has become one problem.

The small farmers went bankrupt and the small peasant economy collapsed.

Old Ma said: [Bourgeois society lacks heroism. Its birth depends on summoning ancient heroes and using the courage of peasants and petty bourgeoisie]

[Bourgeois society is completely immersed in the creation of wealth and peaceful competition, and has forgotten that the ghost of ancient Rome once guarded its cradle... Its birth requires heroic behavior, self-sacrifice, terror, civil war and national battles]

The small peasant economy and handicraft reality of Dashun made the birth of Dashun and other capitalists rely on uprisings, resistance, escape and fighting again and again for thousands of years. Finally, small land ownership, basic freedom of business, and basic uncontrolled development of industry were determined.

In this process, these bourgeoisie did not have heroes, self-sacrifice, terror, and fighting.

Starting from the end of the Qin Dynasty, the small land ownership and small peasant economy that have been fought for thousands of years were dominated by the citizens of Paris in France, and here it was dominated by thousands of years of peasant wars.

The bourgeoisie, not only do they not have heroism, but also do not have the spirit of self-sacrifice.

Even, they do not even have the summoning card of ancient heroes in their hands - the only way for the bourgeoisie to convince the peasants to work with them is to fight for the small peasant economy for the peasants, just like the group of people in France and Cromwell's self-cultivating peasant cavalry in Britain, whose purpose is to overthrow the aristocratic manor economy and aristocratic families.

But the problem is that this mission of overthrowing aristocratic manors and aristocratic families was completed by Shang Yang, Liu Che, Zhang Jue, Cai Lun's papermaking, woodblock printing, the imperial examination system, Huang Chao's trampling on the streets, and Li Zicheng's killing of all vassal kings.

The small peasants have already obtained small land ownership.

And the small peasants who have obtained small land ownership are anti-capitalist.

Therefore, the bourgeoisie cannot even take away the small farmers, and the bourgeoisie cannot get any of the Heroic Spirit Cards that can be summoned.

Without the ancient Heroic Spirits to guard their cradle, just as there is no "resurrection" of Bourdieu, Gracchus, and Caesar in France, how can they seize power? And how can they conquer the whole of France with Paris?

The peasants did not follow the bourgeoisie, but followed the "resurrected" Gracchus and the "resurrected" Caesar.

However, in 93, the Heroic Spirit Cards were in the hands of the bourgeoisie, and they summoned the resurrection of the ancient dead to fight against their enemies, and then they strangled Gracchus and Caesar, and invited Say, Cousin, Corral, Benzaman and Guizot.

The experience of Germany and France has left traces in history - some workers and most peasants would rather follow the emperor than follow the bourgeoisie.

Only when the road of following the emperor is unworkable, they will think about "raising their own children".