Chapter 455: The Only Opportunity for the Great Ming to Break the Deadlock

Lin Fucheng gave Zhu Yijun a big surprise. This time he came to Taibai Tower really just on the way. Hearing that Wan Shihe was also there, he came in to see the excitement. He was going to check the accounts of Yanxing Tower. The subscription for the tickets for the Suiyuan Imperial Highway and Suiyuan Mining Industry for this period had ended, and all the cash had been escorted to the national treasury, preparing for the Suiyuan Imperial Highway and the Shengzhou and Womagang mines to start construction after the year.

Lin Fucheng was a true freedom fighter. He not only made himself free but also made the Great Ming people free together.

"Then what about the profit tax! Isn't this just the court gathering wealth? Bai Yin, red copper, and coinage are all not allowed to leave our Great Ming. You sycophant who only knows how to sing praises for the superior, how dare you be so arrogant!" A Hanlin scholar from the Hanlin Academy shouted loudly.

Zhu Yijun frowned and looked at the Hanlin scholar. This person had a duck-like voice, and not only was his voice unpleasant, but what he said was also very unpleasant.

What is "singing praises for the superior"? Reckless biting!

What did Lin Fucheng's words have to do with him, the Emperor?

"Bai Yin, red copper, coinage—do you think the court is really short of the few taels of silver in your house?" Lin Fucheng sneered and said: "The court is really short of money, just issue debt. Didn't you see that a few days ago, the 10 million silver special national debt didn't even splash a drop of water? Do you really think the meat-eaters of the Great Ming are all short-sighted people like you?!"

"The court's intention is just not to let silver leave the pass. You take goods out of the pass, and no one will stop you! What is it for? It is for the silver flowing into the Great Ming to circulate. This is completely for free trade!"

Hanlin Xiao Youliang waved his sleeves vigorously, slapped the table, stood up, pointed at Lin Fucheng, and shouted: "Do you want to listen to what you are saying? Your words are simply nonsense! The court competes with the people for profit, levies heavy taxes on the people, and is extremely harsh. Where is the word 'freedom'! You are still a great Confucian of the Songjiang School!"

Lin Fucheng said quite calmly: "Look, you're in a hurry again."

"Don't speak foul language. It's disgraceful. You are a proper Jinshi after all, making people laugh."

Zhu Yijun looked at Wan Shihe, Wan Shihe looked at Wang Qian, and Wang Qian looked at the Emperor. The three of them stared at each other, all a bit stunned. From the time the Ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works proposed this, no one had ever thought that someone would link the profit tax with free trade.

Are these two things really related?

"Lin Dashi, I ask you." Lin Fucheng asked with a smile: "You say, why do the Western sailing ships have to travel tens of thousands of miles, endure the wrath of heaven and the sea, and come to our Great Ming's Shipping Bureau, offering silver with both hands to exchange for silk, porcelain, tea, ships, etc.?"

Xiao Youliang thought repeatedly and said: "Profit comes and goes in the world. Naturally, it is for profit. More importantly, I have it and they don't, so if they want it, they can only work so hard."

"That is true. You are right. Because the Great Ming has it and the red-haired barbarians don't, they will carry heavy silver into the Ming." Lin Fucheng looked around and said: "This is an advantage, and where does this advantage come from? It comes from assets."

"The Great Ming has sufficient and profitable goods. This is the value of assets."

"No matter how the Great Ming fights with the red-haired barbarians in Luzon, the Cebu Islands, Mindanao, the Yuanxu Islands, Old Port, and the Strait of Malacca, they are reluctant to stop trading with the Great Ming. Therefore, they can only endure interest, endure the court's harsh terms, and continue to trade. This is 'profit comes and goes in the world'."

"The Great Ming has been weaving silk for thousands of years. The wisdom and ingenuity of countless weavers have condensed the commodity advantage of silk. Mulberry trees and silkworm seeds have been taken away by overseas, and even before, Western merchants bought our Great Ming's raw silk to weave and dye themselves. But after the sea was opened, the red-haired barbarians could only buy finished silk fabrics."

"Why? Don't they know that finished products are more profitable? Why don't they raise silkworms themselves, plant mulberry trees, produce silk themselves, and weave silk fabrics themselves?"

"It's not that they don't want to; they think about it day and night but can't do it."

"Because of two words: scale!"

Zhu Yijun raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised. Although he heard something new, the connection between profit tax and free trade was not reflected at all.

Lin Fucheng went off-topic.

"Don't change the subject! We are discussing the profit tax. What you said is not wrong, but what does it have to do with the profit tax?" Xiao Youliang shouted loudly. Clearly, what Lin Fucheng said had no necessary connection with the profit tax.

Lin Fucheng's face turned red, and he shouted: "The scale of thousands of years is vertical! The weaving bureaus all over the Great Ming have a horizontal scale! Vertical scale and horizontal scale lead to the same destination!"

"Only when silver circulates within the Great Ming hinterland can the scale of all walks of life be guaranteed. Only by guaranteeing the scale of the industry can technology progress, costs be reduced, commodity advantages be maintained, and only by maintaining advantages can our Great Ming trade freely! We can stand in an advantageous position and take whatever we want from all the barbarians under the universe!"

"Trade that is unfavorable to our Great Ming is not free trade!"

Lin Fucheng's logic was extremely rigorous. His theory of freedom rose from the individual to the entire Great Ming people, so individual interests expanded to Great Ming interests. Then the Great Ming must maintain industrial scale to obtain commodity advantages. This advantage is "I have it and you don't," which cannot be easily replaced by others, and it is also low cost, which will not be defeated by others through dumping.

Protecting industrial scale, guaranteeing employment, and guaranteeing basic personal freedom, there is no need to establish strong personal attachment production relations such as tenant farmers, retainers, eunuchs, and concubines.

This is Lin Fucheng's free trade. Any trade unfavorable to the Great Ming is not free trade.

"Lin Dashi understands free trade." Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair and said quite affirmatively to Wang Qian.

Wang Qian said sincerely: "If Lin Dashi withdraws from the literary world, I will oppose it."

In the process of moving forward, people always encounter many, many problems. It is very difficult to find answers to these problems from the knowledge learned and past experience. But the "contradiction theory" of meme pollution provided an extremely contradictory way of looking at problems, allowing the misunderstanding that was blocked in the heart to have a place to dredge.

Lin Fucheng watched the thousands of sails competing in Songjiang Prefecture and traveled north along the Grand Canal, seeing the various states of the world and the warmth and coldness of the world. The methods of the past could no longer solve the problems in his heart, and he was puzzled. At this time, the invisible hammer of "contradiction theory" hit his ideological steel seal violently.

"Profit tax is to prevent silver from flowing out, not to prevent goods from flowing out. Do you have any other questions?" Lin Fucheng looked at Xiao Youliang and asked.

Xiao Youliang thought and thought, and finally shook his head and said: "No."

The Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe, did not hide his thoughts. He came to Taibai Tower to watch the excitement. Reasoning and debating—if you lose the debate, it doesn't matter. If you pester and pester, it will leave a very bad impression on the Minister.

You can't pester and pester, so you can only admit defeat.

"Then, then, this profit tax, even if you say it makes sense! But the court recently decided to set up note pass extraction bureaus on the imperial highway! What does this have to do with freedom! You are barking in the People's Daily, whitewashing the gathering of wealth, and your crime deserves death! Since ancient times, only mountain bandits would say: 'I opened this road, I planted this tree, if you want to pass this road, leave the road money'." Another Confucian scholar stood up and questioned loudly.

Makes sense!

Zhu Yijun also thought that the collection of fees on the imperial highway and the establishment of note pass extraction bureaus were no different from highway robbery, but they had to be collected. It was related to the establishment and exploration of the Great Ming's commercial tax system. Therefore, even if scolded, they had to be collected. For this reason, Wang Chonggu, Wang Guoguang, and Wang Daokun were also scolded together.

Even if there is opposition, it must be collected.

Taxes must be collected.

Zhu Yijun looked at the pile of memorials on the table. Wang Guoguang, Zhang Xueyan, and Wang Daokun had changed from pillars of the country who managed the country to treacherous ministers who gathered wealth and harmed the people to achieve their goals. This was only when the profit tax was announced, and it had not been actually collected. The commissioners of the five Shipping Bureaus were also submitting memorials, excited and asking the Emperor to be cautious and think three times.

After carefully reading every memorial, he drew an "x" on each one. Zhang Juzheng always attached blank floating slips to such memorials.

Zhang Juzheng actually didn't quite approve of such radical reforms. A reformist who led the Great Ming's new policies had lived to become a conservative. Although he didn't approve, he never opposed it.

Fire at the city gate always affects the fish in the moat. The loud opposition of the wealthy families caused some ripples in the Great Ming, but these ripples had not yet evolved into monstrous waves. 【455

The theory of freedom is applied wherever it is needed. A pigsty does not need silver. When silver does not circulate, the invisible hand of market self-regulation fails. At this point, the visible hand of the imperial court must intervene.

And what the liberal faction hates most is the visible hand of the imperial court interfering excessively.

What the wealthy families of the Great Ming love most is hoarding silver, hiding it away, and sleeping on top of it. This conservatism is the antithesis of the more radical freedom.

"When all is said and done, it's just that same old theory of circulation." Wang Dexin sneered and waved his hand. He had thought there would be some profound argument, but it was just rehashing old tunes. What was the point of this?

Lin Fucheng looked at Wang Dexin and shook his head, saying, "You still haven't understood what I mean."

"I would like to hear the details!" Wang Dexin held his head high. Even if he couldn't lecture Lin Fucheng today, he couldn't afford to lose completely. If he couldn't even convince Lin Fucheng, then there was no point in talking about convincing the great ministers in the imperial court. Attacking the great ministers without cause would be baseless.

"Do you know how many years it will take for these newly built imperial highways in the Great Ming to recoup their costs?" Lin Fucheng asked with a smile, his eyes slightly narrowed.

Wang Dexin's brow furrowed into a knot. He shook his head and said, "I don't know. I haven't abandoned Confucianism for commerce, so how would I know?"

"Fifty years." Lin Fucheng held up one hand and said, "When the Suiyuan Highway issued its certificates, it warned all speculators that this was not a short-term profit project, and that profit was not even likely. Subscribing to government bonds is based on the recognition of His Majesty's trustworthiness and promise-keeping. But what about subscribing to the Suiyuan Highway certificates?"

"Fifty years—a human life may not even last that long."

Wang Dexin's brow relaxed, and he said with a hint of disdain, "Then why would the wealthy families subscribe? Isn't it because there are sycophantic ministers in the court who are greedy for wealth, forcing these wealthy families to subscribe against their will! Governor Yin Zhengmao and Governor Ling Yunyi in the Two Guangs tore down doors and moved beds, killing people like hemp, forcing the gentry of the Two Guangs to donate to fill the military coffers. All that money was embezzled by Governor Yin Zhengmao!"

"It's exactly the same as the wealthy families subscribing to the Suiyuan Highway today!"

Hearing this, Zhu Yijun thought of something amusing: the gentry of the Two Guangs were begging for Governor Ling Yunyi to go back! Governor Ling Yunyi was at least straightforward, whereas Wang Jiaping, who was skilled at speaking in riddles, really made the gentry's scalps tingle.

"That is why you bury your ears to the world outside and only read the books of sages. Do you think the great ministers are the fathers of these wealthy families? That they must do whatever they are told? The power of life and death belongs solely to His Majesty's impartial justice. Taking their money is no different from killing them." Lin Fucheng sat up straight and said, "Do you think those wealthy families in the West Tucheng would listen to the three party leaders? Or would they listen to His Majesty?"

"They only listen to the sound of silver clinking."

"Wealthy families know how to calculate. I asked Yao Guangqi of the Yao clan in Wu Zhong why the Yao clan wanted to subscribe to this business?"

"Yao Guangqi told me that, first, it is for the long term. As long as the Great Ming survives, the highway will always be in use. Second, in the future, the Great Ming's steam engines currently have less than three horsepower and are extremely wasteful, roaring and billowing black smoke. But they won't always be three horsepower. When they become ten-horsepower engines running day and night, everyone will marvel at the changes they bring to commodity circulation."

"And when they have one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, or even one hundred thousand horsepower? How much cargo will they drag, flowing day and night without rest?"

"Therefore, recouping the principal in fifty years is based on current horsepower. If the horsepower of steam engines gradually increases, the faster the growth, the faster the cost of principal will be recouped, and the faster the profit will be."

"The certificates for the five-masted ocean-going ships will take at most ten years. As long as the Great Ming exists, the highway will exist."

"Do you understand now?"

Lin Fucheng hadn't understood this issue at first either. The expansion of the Yanxing Tower, especially the scramble for the Suiyuan Highway certificates, was something no one had anticipated. The West Tucheng merchants and the Shanxi merchants had almost come to blows over the certificates.

It was truly strange.

But after Lin Fucheng understood the logic behind it, he had to admit that it was not without reason that these families had been passed down for hundreds of years; not everyone was short-sighted.

In summary, it was a bet on the future. Even if they couldn't earn the money back, it didn't matter; after all, a portion of the subscription money came from the dividends of the shipping certificates.

Even if they really lost everything, it didn't matter, because ever since His Majesty appointed Hai Rui to wield the Great Ming's divine sword in the Censorate, the path to bribing the great ministers had been completely cut off. With no way to offer bribes to the great ministers, the wealthy families were a bit panicked. Even if they lost everything, it could be considered as complying with the decrees of His Majesty and the great ministers.

When His Majesty "slaughters the pigs" in the future, he might remember everyone's loyalty to the sovereign and the country, leaving them some dignity and a way out for their nine generations.

This was the third reason, and the biggest one. Of course, Yao Guangqi did not explain this to Lin Fucheng. The powerful and wealthy have their own troubles, and the scholar-officials have theirs.

"I understand." After thinking it over repeatedly, Wang Dexin was defeated and chose to admit defeat. He had already engaged in sophistry once; to continue would be to lose all decorum.

His sophistry was regarding Lin Fucheng's mention of silver circulation. In fact, Lin Fucheng could have completely used silver circulation to explain the problem of "highway robbery" he had raised, but Lin Fucheng did not. Even with one arm tied behind his back, he still beat Wang Dexin until he was in total disarray.

If one thinks about the problem of "highway robbery" using silver circulation, it becomes a matter of course. The essence of silver circulation is the circulation of commodities, and this is the inevitable evolution of the Great Ming from a small-scale peasant economy to a commodity economy. It requires building more and more roads to connect commodities across the Great Ming, making commodity circulation more frequent and promoting economic transformation.

The realization of this strategy truly concerns free trade. Lin Fucheng was not bullying anyone; he was simply answering from a different perspective.

It would be impolite for Wang Dexin to continue pestering him.

"Coal smoke!" Another Confucian scholar stood up and said loudly, "The Ministry of Works talks a good game, but it's not even mid-winter yet, and coal smoke is everywhere. When the censors ask, the Ministry of Works only knows how to be vague and shirk responsibility. When asked, they say they don't know, protecting each other at every level!"

This question was very sharp and bold, because it named names, pointing to the Ministry of Works and Wang Daokun. This was actually a very direct accusation.

"Don't you drink hot water? Don't you eat cooked food?" Lin Fucheng said with a furrowed brow, "Coal is the primary necessity for opening a household."

"Coal is the flesh, steel is the bone, and people are the blood. The Xishan Coal Bureau, with its coal-steel integration, is the sinew and skin; it is the hope of the Great Ming and the only opportunity for a breakthrough in our current predicament."

"The only opportunity." Lin Fucheng confirmed it again.

Only by transforming into a commodity economy can new relations of production be established, truly transforming the strong personal dependency relations into free employment relations. The coal-steel integrated Xishan Coal Bureau is the only opportunity.

All systems are based on current reality, not imagined or fabricated out of thin air. Otherwise, no matter how ingeniously designed, they will be utopian fantasies that lead reality into the abyss. This has been proven by history countless times.

"Lin Dashi, why is it the only opportunity?" Zhu Yijun was curious about how Lin Fucheng derived this argument from the perspective of freedom.

"Where should I begin?" Lin Fucheng's expression was exceptionally nostalgic. He looked at everyone and said in a low voice, "The Xishan Coal Bureau needs to pump water. No matter what we do, we can only pump water to a depth of about three zhang; the lift cannot exceed three zhang. The reciprocating pump in the *Minbao* was modified from a bellows. Later, the Academy of Sciences conducted a very strange experiment: a copper ball pulled by horses. Later still, Jiao Hong, a doctor of science at the Academy, discovered that air pressure is inversely proportional to volume. The head of the Academy, Prince De, invented the pressure cooker."

"The Xishan Coal Bureau needed thousands of pack horses to pull windlasses and animal-powered winches to drain water. Finally, we had the reciprocating steam engine."

"It has been eight years since the *Minbao* discussed the pump in the second year of Wanli. The steam engine has gone from nothing to something, and the reciprocating steam engine has finally been born. Even though His Highness Prince De insists on the high-pressure steam turbine route, he has never denied the route of the reciprocating steam engine, and has even given it great support."

"Why is the coal-steel integrated Xishan Coal Bureau the only opportunity for a breakthrough? Because the steam engine is a miracle; it is the most reliable power for the Great Ming's progress. I cannot imagine a more reliable power."

Lin Fucheng muttered for a long time, talking about the coal production of the Xishan Coal Bureau, steel production, the woolen mills, and the steam drying in the shipyards. He couldn't really express what he wanted to say, but Zhu Yijun understood.

Lin Fucheng was a proponent of the theory that productivity is everything. He believed that once productivity is reached, everyone will gain freedom—that is, everyone will be free from bondage.

And the steam engine is the most important thing to realize his utopia: a revolution in productivity.

His theory was already logically self-consistent.

Zhu Yijun nodded, signaling for Lin Fucheng to continue his performance. He highly approved of Lin Fucheng's views. The Great Ming was slowly stepping into an era of productivity revolution, and the steam engine would flourish on the basis of coal-steel integration.

Yes, after material abundance, more people will receive education, cultivate more talent, and thus gain more technological progress, leading to even greater material abundance. This will be a virtuous cycle.

It took Zhu Yijun ten years to reach this step, stumbling along with the assistance of Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou, Tan Lun, Wang Guoguang, and even Wang Chonggu.

"Phew, it's a good thing Lin Fucheng appeared." Wan Shihe sat in the seat of the "Heaven" grade private box. He didn't care much about the tongue-lashing of the scholars below, because Lin Fucheng wouldn't lose.

The months Lin Fucheng had been troubled were indeed difficult, but he had finished reading those difficult books and had even conducted practical investigations and visits to the Xishan Coal Bureau and the woolen mills. Combining his experience of traveling thousands of miles, he had become a great Confucian scholar who could hold meetings and give lectures.

"Is the Grand Minister of Rites under pressure? Recently, the court has been full of memorials attacking the Grand Minister of Revenue and the Grand Wang Wang Situ." Zhu Yijun saw Wan Shihe's relieved look and asked with a smile.

Wan Shihe shook his head and said, "That's not it. In this debate, if I were to intervene, it would be counterproductive."

Do not challenge Wan Shihe on matters of cleaning up the mess. Wan Shihe hadn't acted yet; once he did, he would surely quell the storm. But Wan Shihe, who had already been labeled as part of the Emperor's faction, acting might have the opposite effect. If the common people couldn't discuss it openly, they would collude in private, which would be even more dangerous.

But now, the Songjiang Liberal School was charging at the front. This was a contest of public opinion among the people, and the imperial court could handle the matter with more ease.

This was the result Wan Shihe most wanted to see.

"Your Majesty, there is one thing. The Ministry of Works submitted a memorial saying they wanted to replace the glass in the Tonghe Palace, but Your Majesty rejected it." Wan Shihe instead brought up a matter in the court. Wang Daokun had asked Wan Shihe what exactly His Majesty meant by rejecting this proposal.

Wang Daokun was trapped in the public opinion storm. He didn't dare to rashly meet the Emperor or submit a memorial to ask. Firstly, he didn't know what the Emperor meant; secondly, he was suspected of seeking favor through sycophancy. As a greedy official already suffering from attacks, adding "seeking favor" would make Wang Daokun an outcast in the court, just like Guo Chaobin before him.

Imperial favor was a killing move that would only be activated as a last resort. Moreover, since Wang Daokun returned to the capital, he had only caused trouble for His Majesty and had achieved nothing. How could he have imperial favor?

So Wang Daokun could only find Wan Shihe. Wan Shihe, the staunch member of the Emperor's faction, was the "all-purpose oil" of the court; perhaps he could be used at some point.

"It's too expensive." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "It was only completely constructed in July of the seventh year of Wanli. I observed the Tonghe Palace to be magnificent and colorful, no different from a heavenly palace. Now, not even three years later, it is still as magnificent as before, yet they want to destroy what has already been completed to add more ornamentation. Is the regulation not complete? It is not appropriate, not appropriate. If the Grand Secretary knew, I fear he would urge me to be frugal again."

Wan Shihe immediately said, "The Grand Secretary has not urged Your Majesty to be frugal for six years. Moreover, this time, the replacement of the glass and glazed tiles in the Tonghe Palace was proposed by the Grand Secretary leading the Ministry of Works. It concerns the dignity of our Great Ming. I ask Your Majesty to reconsider."

"It's too expensive."

Wan Shihe still insisted, bowing his head and saying, "Your Majesty, it is less than five thousand taels in total."

"That's almost a thousand horses. If it can be used, why replace it?" Zhu Yijun didn't quite understand why Wan Shihe was so insistent.

"Your Majesty is looked up to by billions; the world takes you as the standard. If Your Majesty doesn't use it, no one in the world can use it." Wan Shihe finally said these words. The new glass was a new craft. Such a good thing, if the Great Ming Emperor didn't use it, then whoever used it below would be guilty of overstepping their status.

Under the framework of the Great Ming's ruler-subject relations, since the Emperor's Tonghe Palace and the Imperial Palace were fitted with glass, according to ritual and law, they must use the best.

This was indeed a new craft. The craftsmen at the glass factory under the Ministry of Works had tinkered with a new type of furnace, separating the magnetic-separated glass raw materials from the smoke and fire of burning coal to mass-produce flat glass. Moreover, the Ministry of Works used rubber strips to make the glass seal better.

A good seal means better heat retention, which is beneficial for expansion to the north.

"In that case, then replace it." Zhu Yijun said with a pained expression; five thousand taels of silver was twenty-five thousand catties of pork.

Wan Shihe said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the Grand Minister of Revenue said the national treasury will pay for this."

"You should have said so earlier." Zhu Yijun's expression immediately returned to calm. If he had known someone else was paying, he would have agreed long ago; why bother with the back-and-forth?

Seeing that His Majesty was in a good mood, Wang Qian thought it over repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, can imperial highways only be built by the imperial court? The court's manpower is limited after all. Why not delegate power to the localities and let merchants bid for them, and let merchants raise funds to build them?"

The Suiyuan Highway had undergone certificate subscription, but the management and ownership were firmly controlled by the imperial court, just as the "everyone is a shipowner" plan meant shipowners could not directly interfere with operations.

Wang Qian meant that the imperial court was not omnipotent after all. On one hand, it had to limit redundant personnel to resist bloat, and on the other, it needed mileage. It would be better to delegate power to the localities for everything except the main trunk lines, letting localities bid to merchants to speed up the construction of the highways.

"Censor Wang, have you asked your father about this idea of yours?" Wan Shihe's mouth twitched when he heard this.

Wang Qian didn't understand and said, "No."

"It's a good thing you didn't ask. If you had, we wouldn't be seeing Censor Wang anymore." Zhu Yijun spread his hands and looked at Wan Shihe with a chuckle.

"Hahaha!" Wan Shihe, Zhu Yijun, Feng Bao, and Zhang Hong all laughed heartily.

Wang Qian's proposal sounded beautiful, but if executed, it would lead to the end of warlord separatism.

(End of chapter)