Chapter 299 Solving the Problem (IV)
I was talking to Weber about work, and somehow Kong Bugeng was called over. A lot of papers were quickly placed on the table, and each one had a name written on it. Food, cloth, seasoning, salt, farm tools. Even bowls and chopsticks were written on it.
Finally, the contents were divided into two parts, but they were not clearly divided. One part of the contents was placed on the middle line, and Kong Bu said with difficulty: "My Lord, it seems that the standard for dividing these things needs to be changed. It seems that the simple division of production capacity will not work."
Weber still had a ferocious look on his face. "If productivity cannot be used as the standard, how about the difficulty of obtaining it?"
Kong Bugeng slapped the table and said, "Great! That's how it should be!"
The next day, this set of information was brought to the committee for discussion and was soon questioned by the civil affairs department.
"We can make these things, so why should we buy them from outside?"
"Spices are only used when cooking meat, why spend so much effort to buy them?"
The Shandong men are very sincere, and this sincerity also makes their persistence seem particularly persistent.
Huo Chong disagrees with this insistence, "because I want to work hard to implement the first monetary revolution. The monetary revolution means that labor and the products brought by labor must have monetary prices."
Huo Chong's insistence was immediately opposed, "Governor, businessmen are not good people. They only know how to make money."
Faced with such a rebuttal, Huo Chong could only come up with a theory to respond, "We are not slaves of merchants, so of course we will not work so hard to make them make money. The monetary revolution I am talking about means that labor itself must have value. Labor itself is unpaid labor, which is the deprivation of labor. If labor itself has no price, then everyone's work is in vain. Without the free trade of labor, there will be no free development of individuals."
Everyone was stunned by what Huo Chong said. Only a few cadres understood what Huo Chong was talking about.
For example, Qian Qing and Gao Pang understood it. After all, they had known Huo Chong for a long time and studied politics very seriously. What Huo Chong said was the content of the politics class.
Others were unwilling to give up at this time and had to follow up and ask about the so-called labor problem.
Huo Chong can only talk about "involution". The so-called involution originally refers to the phenomenon that human society stagnates or cannot transform into another advanced model after reaching a certain form at a certain stage of development.
When social resources cannot meet the needs of everyone, people compete to obtain more resources.
"Shandong has so little land, and China has so little land. How much can one person have on average? We all farm, and we know that some land is not suitable for growing food. The reason why we allow the free exchange of labor is just to give everyone a place to go. Of course, there is a very funny thing about this. This free trade of labor will directly give rise to new feudal relations, and then give rise to feudal gangs."
Speaking of which, Huo Chong couldn't help but complain about the feudal system again.
At this point, Zeng Jing asked in confusion, what does the so-called feudal system that was given birth to mean?
"The villagers have been cultivating for so many years, and everyone is familiar with how much land they have. No one will really be convinced by anyone else. Equal distribution of land is much easier to do. As long as the people sent to the village do not oppress the people and can implement according to the regulations, there will basically be no major problems. Send inspectors to the local area for inspection. As long as the land is not privatized, even if there is a big problem, it is only the village-level administrative unit."
Zeng Jing seemed to understand what he heard , but Huo Chong changed his words to be more combative, "Commissioner Zeng, do you think there will be large landowners with tens of thousands of acres of land in Shandong now? Even if there are, can such large landowners hide without being discovered?"
Zeng Jing suddenly understood and couldn't help laughing: "That's right. Since there are no big landlords, the land will naturally be used by the people to cultivate."
Huo Chong looked at the others and said, "Whatever happens in the countryside, everyone will encounter it in their work. Now we want to develop cities. If there is no strict management system in the city, what will happen? Naturally, the city cannot be managed. For example, a group of people suddenly came to Linzi. We must first know that such a group of people has come. Then we have to send people to manage them. The first step in management is to know who these people are. Can we do it? How much effort will it take?"
At this point, Kong Bugeng had already understood, "My Lord, isn't this contrary to the free trade of labor?"
Huo Chong waved his hand, "Free trade means free trade under the rules. It's not about trading as you want. That's not freedom, that's lawlessness. However, when I make rules, I mean the current rules. The city and the countryside cannot be completely separated. Country people must be able to come to the city to seek opportunities to sell their labor. At the same time, we must help the people grasp more opportunities to sell their labor by establishing education. Those who could only carry bags before can become workers, clerks, technicians, and developers through learning. The purpose of our tax collection is to have resources and be able to provide social services. And we have also started to do it. We established education a long time ago. It's just that the scale is not large enough, not large enough. It must cover the entire Huaxia Dynasty. Compulsory education must be mandatory!"
After saying this, Huo Chong looked at the reactions of the crowd. But from their thoughts, it can be seen that most of them still understood. The one who didn't understand was most likely Zeng Jing. However, Huo Chong's purpose of absorbing Zeng Jing was not to really let Zeng Jing hold any power. Instead, he used Zeng Jing as a propaganda. If the literati did not support the equal distribution of land, it would be difficult for them to enter the system of the Chinese court.
After a pause, Qian Qing sighed, "It's difficult. Too strenuous."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone showed expressions of agreement.
Huo Chong chuckled, "I know a lot of people are discussing the issue of salary. I've heard of some of the calculations used. They basically inquire about the annual income first. Then, each person determines the number of people who can receive the salary based on their own agreed range. Divide the income by the number of people who receive the salary, and you get a salary number. I've also heard that some calculations have calculated that a person can receive hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year."
Having said this, Huo Chong glanced at the group of people in front of him. Immediately, several of them lowered their heads. It seemed that the guy who calculated such a number also knew that it was inappropriate.
No one laughed this time, and even if there was a little smile, it quickly disappeared without a trace. This was the reaction Huo Chong wanted. If the Huaxia Dynasty also had a 100,000 silver coins for a clean prefect in three years, it would be an absolute shame for Huo Chong, who was born in the modern era.
"I have said so much to everyone just to make everyone understand. There are many places to spend money. Money is currency and a general equivalent. Through the circulation of currency, the transaction of labor can be realized, and then everyone can be liberated. Those who control the issuance and operation of this currency can indeed control the lifeline of the country, so we should not allow malicious exploitation. Let money become a tool for the liberation of the people of Huaxia Dynasty..."
In Linzi, Huo Chong sets the tone for spending money. In Xi'an, Hong Zhou also sets the tone. Whether on the offensive or defensive, everyone has to work hard to survive.
"All the royal palaces will be turned into farmland owners. They will cultivate the land themselves and pay taxes to the court."
After Hong Zhou finished speaking, the princes in front of him were not too excited. Because the departure was very urgent, only those princes who could readily abandon all the furniture that was difficult to transport and run away with only their valuables could follow Hong Zhou to Xi'an. Other princes either stayed in Beijing and surrendered to the Shengjing regime. Or they stayed in Beijing, hoping that the Shengjing regime would not harm them.
Since he was so determined to run, of course he hoped that Hong Zhou could win the final victory in this three-way war. Seeing that no one objected, Hong Zhou continued, "The land issue is difficult, and we have to get it. Even if we increase taxes, we can't increase them by much. We still have to send troops to fight. I want to build the Northwest Green Camp, and those who are willing to join the army should be exempted from taxes."
"Where do the troops come from?" The princes finally felt that there was something to discuss.
"There are many Hui people in the northwest, so come from among them."
"Isn't the Han army good enough?"
Hong Zhou shook his head. "The Han army's Green Battalion is already loyal enough. If we let them be exhausted now, the court will probably have no soldiers left. We have to use some other Green Battalions."
After hearing this, the Manchus understood the inner meaning of what Hong Zhou said. The Manchus did not conquer the world by themselves, never.
In the era of Nurhaci, the Manchus were already the trend of the Mongols and the Eight Banners of Han. Later, there were the Three Feudatories Rebellion, and the rebellious Ming army became the main force in the charge. When the Three Feudatories were destroyed, the Green Camp became the object of expulsion.
The establishment of the Green Camp, which is mainly composed of Hui people, is perfectly in line with the traditions of the Qing Dynasty.
The general direction had been determined, and Hong Zhou also said that the gunpowder bureau had completed the design of a new type of musket. As he spoke, he ordered someone to bring a few muskets.
The Qing Dynasty knew that Huo Chong's firearms were extremely powerful. Although they had seized some of them, they ordered the Firearms Bureau to study and imitate them. The other parts had been imitated successfully, but they were stuck with the copper cap.
No one knew what the flaming object inside the copper percussion cap was. It was like a magic trick, it would explode and catch fire as long as it was hit.
However, with the wet cotton as a cushion, no matter how it was dropped, bumped or hit, the small copper primer would remain safe and sound until it was installed into the musket, at which time it would continue to exert its terrible effect.
The overall structure of the musket in front of him was the same as Huo Chong's. The barrel was fixed on the wooden butt, and the musket was equipped with a sleeve bayonet, which could be used for long-range shooting or as a pistol for close combat.
Looking at the most important part of the matchlock, the ministers were all shocked. But the princes didn't say anything, especially the Fourteenth Prince.
This thing is actually very simple, it is just a flintlock rifle. It was already a weapon that Kangxi often used when hunting during his reign.
The Fourteenth Prince actually asked Kangxi privately, since flintlock rifles have many advantages over matchlock rifles, why not equip all the Eight Banners with flintlock rifles, but continue to use matchlock rifles?
Kangxi replied coldly, "Are there more Han people or Manchu people in the gunpowder bureau?"
This sentence made the Fourteenth Prince fully understand the point. It was not that Kangxi did not know that flintlocks were better than matchlocks, but it was precisely because he knew it too well that Kangxi did not allow the popularization of flintlocks.
However, it doesn't matter now. The flintlock rifle may not be a match for Huo Chong's firearms. The important thing is to equip all the troops that have joined the Qing Dynasty with the most advanced firearms possible.
