Chapter 463: Four Natural Inferences

The Great Ming is a very tough dynasty, at least in terms of national character, it has always been like this.

For example, the first general of the Yan Army, the first merit of the Jingnan campaign, the Duke of Qi, Qiu Fu, led more than ten cavalrymen out of the fortress and was ambushed. The whole army was wiped out at the Luju River. After being captured, he did not submit. The Tatars beheaded Qiu Fu. Since then, Zhu Di began his personal expedition to the grassland.

The Oirat people brought the Emperor to the foot of the capital city. The Great Ming would rather change the Emperor than repel the enemy, and asked for the return of the Retired Emperor, Ming Yingzong.

But the Great Ming made peace in the second year of Longqing. This kind of tough-boned spirit of a dead duck was broken.

And those who participated in the peace talks, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Wang Chonggu, Yang Bo, etc., were the culprits who made the Great Ming so weak. Altan Khan was old, and after the peace talks, he had no ability to attack the Great Ming, but the Great Ming would rather win without martial arts than send a large army out of the fortress to break the Bansheng.

Only when Altan Khan died could everyone in the Great Ming, including the Emperor, Grand Assistant, Wang Cifu, and generals, be decent.

It is precisely because of this that Tan Lun, Liang Menglong, and Pan Jixun have been actively clamoring for the recovery of Hetao, because they know that everyone in the Great Ming, from top to bottom, needs Hetao. Even for the sake of decency, even if the Grand Assistant Xia Yan was killed because of the words of recovering Hetao in the Jiajing period, the words of recovering Hetao were still endless, one after another.

Before Tan Lun left, he knew that the Great Ming had established Suiyuan in Hetao, and he had no regrets. Pan Jixun received the imperial decree and 11 million silver to go to Hetao, mainly for coal, copper, and silver mines.

The Great Ming is old, with a little less youthful vigor and a little more sophisticated worldliness. For example, the roundabout route Wang Chonggu recently engaged in, Zhang Juzheng chose to agree and confidently handed over this roundabout route to Wang Chonggu.

Zhang Juzheng has always valued honest officials. He is a loyal supporter of result-oriented theory. If it can be done, he doesn't care about the method or way.

The Great Ming Emperor demands complete land return, even at the cost of war, to plow the Great Ming again. It must be done. If it can't be done now, it must be done after productivity improves in the future. Steam engines have begun to roar, and the process of industrialization has kicked open the door, so land must be completely returned to release productivity, increase the population, and increase the number of craftsmen. This is the inevitable process of industrialization.

Zhang Juzheng repeatedly remonstrated and brought out the compromise Land Return Memorial, three processes. Even if it reaches the stage of quota land, it is only feudal reformism, encouraging the original rural gentry to become workshop owners, and returning the land, which is a production material with lower profit, to the common people in a more stable and gentle way. Therefore, this is called land return.

And Wang Chonggu, in the process of extreme opposition, brought out a roundabout and compromise Land Return Memorial, using all kinds of conspiracies and tricks to cheat and lure the wealthy households to complete partial land return, which doesn't even count as feudal reformism, at most it is a feudal Emperor's supporter, an attempt to change production relations for the sake of more craftsmen.

Even so, it is already shocking enough.

Zhu Yijun just sent Pan Jixun away. 11 million silver, Pan Jixun took away 2 million silver, and the rest will be gradually transported to Da Guihua City within half a year. The Ministry of Works, Ministry of Personnel, and Ministry of War sent officials to build the road from Datong to Guihua, Guihua to Wuyuan Prefecture, and Shuofang Prefecture (now Ordos).

It is worth noting that the Shengzhou open-pit coal mine has been put into use. Because Womagang needs to pass through the desert road, there is no action.

Qi Jiguang got 5,000 prisoners, opened mountains and built roads in Shengzhou, laid a gravel road, and had already built part of the official residences. Various iron tools used for mining had begun construction. The open-pit coal mine of 5,000 people began to increase mining efficiency rapidly. These prisoners were all Han people and now had to serve five years of hard labor in the coal mine to gain freedom.

Zhu Yijun's progress in the Shengzhou coal mine was unexpected. Zhu Yijun knew that Qi Jiguang could fight, and he knew that Qi Jiguang could farm, and he also knew that Qi Jiguang could open mines, but opening them so fast was really beyond Zhu Yijun's expectations!

The Xishan Coal Bureau is not that fast!

When did the thick-browed and big-eyed Qi Jiguang become so familiar with mining?

To solve the doubt, Zhu Yijun wrote to the front line. Qi Jiguang's reply also said very clearly: back then, most of the guest soldiers he recruited in Zhejiang were miners, and mining was an old craft.

In Qi Jiguang's eyes, miners, kiln workers, and craftsmen were all first-class soldiers, followed by rural people, and the worst were city people. Qi Jiguang directly stated in the "Jixiao Xinshu": choose rural people.

City people cannot be used; city people cannot endure hardship and have many opinions, disturbing the morale of the army; those who like fancy tricks cannot be used; routines can only show off but cannot kill the enemy; those who have served as officials cannot be used, because they only know how to speculate and drill.

The Great Ming's great general Qi Shuai is also an old yin-yang person, occasionally mentioning the bravery and horizontal dominance of the Yiwu people, who are good at fighting and fearless, fighting bravely without fear of death.

This is true. Zhu Yijun had seen it once. Once, when the Capital Battalion was practicing, one side was red-eyed, and there was a small flag who picked up a bag of gunpowder and wanted to rush over to die with the opponent. Fortunately, he was stopped.

Qi Jiguang's direct descendants were mostly Yiwu soldiers. In recent years, his style has gradually become steady. Yiwu soldiers have gathered under Li Rusong's account. Li Rusong is also a madman when fighting, and he also leads a group of madmen.

Zhu Yijun put away Qi Jiguang's letter and said to Feng Bao: "Qi Shuai wrote to say that the Duntai Marquis discovered a large iron mountain, and he didn't know how to tell the court about that iron mine. It was near Womagang, a very, very large iron mountain, open-pit, with high grade."

Feng Bao and Zhang Hong looked at each other, both puzzled and said: "Ah?"

The sudden wealth falling from the sky was really caught off guard. Lacking silver and copper, without coal and iron, and rotten—this is a topic often mentioned by the wise ministers in recent years. Yunnan copper is difficult, buried deep, but still has to be mined with all efforts. The coal of the Xishan Coal Bureau is more than 30 feet deep, and it also has to be dug.

As a result, Qi Shuai reported a new mine, Iron Mountain.

Can't finish mining, can't finish mining at all.

Actually, it is very simple. The vicinity of Womagang is the metallogenic belt of Central Asia, and it is the metallogenic belt of porphyry copper-gold deposits. Japan, Luzon, Borneo, and Chile are also rich mines. They are all distributed in the Circum-Pacific metallogenic belt, and because of plate movement, these places are also in the orogenic belt, so the minerals in the ground are all arched out.

It is not that the local officials in Yunnan are irresponsible and the common people are not diligent. In less than ten years, they were surpassed by the red copper production of Luzon Tongxiang, entirely because of natural endowment.

Zhu Yijun's diligence has exceeded most Emperors of the Great Ming dynasty. He writes letters to the generals on the border, and memorials never stay overnight. He listens to government at the imperial gate and reviews military horses. He almost has no time for rest, which makes his grasp of information exceed most Emperors, forming substantive authority, substantive imperial power, rather than just a frame, a human-shaped seal that is fooled by others.

This allows Zhu Yijun to understand many contradictions.

In the Age of Discovery, the profit of each route increases continuously with the increase of distance. Even the profit of reaching Ryukyu to exchange for maritime goods exceeds 300%. If one can reach the West, the profit rate will exceed 1000%. This is the reason why Philip II is willing to continue maritime trade in the face of so many unreasonable demands from the Great Ming Emperor. It is also the reason why the Great Ming's powerful and wealthy are willing to give up land to exchange for the right to go to sea.

Maritime trade has become a quite effective tool in Zhu Yijun's toolbox to regulate contradictions.

This is the summary Zhu Yijun made during Wang Chonggu's roundabout land return strategy.

At this time, in the Quanchu Guild Hall, the Great Ming's imperial teacher Zhang Juzheng turned over a volume of books he had written again and again, and then threw it into the fire basin, using iron tongs to stir the burning books, the light of the flames surpassing the lime spray lamp, flickering.

You Qi said with a complex expression: "Master, why burn it after painstaking efforts?"

"It is not suitable now, not suitable, so it needs to be burned. When the time comes, someone will inevitably summarize it." Zhang Juzheng seemed to be answering You Qi, but even more answering himself.

"But..." You Qi was stunned. He didn't know that this thing had to be burned...

This is the second volume of "Class Theory: Distribution" written by Zhang Juzheng. Because after finishing the second volume of "Class Theory", he understood the content of the third volume. When he saw the third volume, he couldn't wait to burn the second volume.

The first volume of "Class Theory" discusses the existence of classes and the formation of classes, naturally obtaining the first inference:

The inequality of possession of production materials deduces the inequality of wealth and status, which in turn leads to the inequality of resources controlled and distributable by each class. This inequality has natural injustice.

This inequality, coupled with the guiding principle of "the people are the foundation of the country", gave birth to the current political logic: killing the rich to help the poor to reduce this inequality.

In terms of land tax and commercial tax, land tax is collected from whoever owns the land. The road has a banknote pass tax-drawing bureau, five major hinterland Maritime Trade Offices, and four major overseas Maritime Trade Offices to collect taxes from wealthy merchants who have the ability to circulate.

In terms of military affairs, conscription is mainly from the countryside, not city people. Poor people and laborers in the countryside become sharp soldiers of the Capital Battalion. That is the leap of class. For example, Xiong Tingbi became a student of the Grand Tutor and a fellow student of the Emperor from a cowherd.

In terms of official factories, it is to recruit poor people and laborers to resettle displaced people, ensuring that the Great Ming will not have civil unrest on the scale of breaking through counties. Becoming a craftsman means having a stable life.

The Great Ming's New Policies, on the whole, are all revolving around killing the rich to help the poor and reducing inequality, including the current abolition of the base status and the Land Return Memorial.

But!

The second volume of "Class Theory" talks about distribution. Once the distribution is explained clearly, the second inference will naturally be obtained:

Using violence is the main way to change class inequality. The use of violence can make distribution more equal, thereby eliminating inequality between classes. Using violent struggle to strive for equality has natural justice.

This justice also has a cultural basis in the Great Ming. The most intuitive embodiment is Hence Hai Rui's "Peace Memorial", cursing the Emperor Jiajing, "Jiajing, Jiajing, everything is clean." The Jiajing Emperor couldn't kill Hence Hai Rui. And this kind of justice has a more violent tendency of expression, which is the roar of Dazexiang: "Are kings, marquises, generals, and ministers born with seeds?"

As the Great Ming's imperial teacher, Grand Assistant, hereditary military nobility, and loyal supporter of His Majesty, Zhang Juzheng saw the rationality of rebellion from the second volume of "Class Theory". He was stunned. He had been delaying writing it because he didn't know what kind of bad influence it would cause if written. After writing it, Zhang Juzheng knew it shouldn't have been written.

Every scholar, after writing a book, even if he doesn't show it to others, generally keeps it himself. Zhang Juzheng is a scholar, and he also intended to keep it, occasionally flipping through it, sighing at his own boldness, and then hiding it carefully. Throughout the ages, the number of unique copies that have disappeared is countless.

But after a simple assumption of the third volume, he immediately asked You Qi to bring a fire basin.

Zhang Juzheng made a simple assumption about the content of the third volume—struggle, and obtained the third inference:

The violent conflict under the contradiction between class and class is continuous, uninterrupted, and endless. It will only stop finally after eliminating classes. This class contradiction intensified to violent conflict will be alleviated after the redistribution of production materials. This struggle has inevitability.

This third inference points to a violent theory, the inevitability of the dynastic cycle, and the inevitable demise of the Great Ming.

If one thinks along this line of thinking, the fourth natural inference must be related to the elimination of the imperial system.

The injustice of exploitation and class, the justice of violent struggle, the inevitability of violent struggle and the dynastic cycle, the inevitability of redistribution of production materials, and the necessity of eliminating the imperial system.

Zhang Juzheng only wrote two volumes and wanted to burn the book. He already dared not imagine what kind of upheaval it would bring on the day when the content of the fourth volume appeared and matured.

"Master, burning it now doesn't mean that future generations won't be able to summarize it." You Qi said very definitely. In front of the Zhang Yuanfu's gate, there is a seventh-rank official. In the Great Ming for so many years, there is only one Zhang Juzheng who dares to reform and push the New Policies, trying to save the Great Ming, and there is no other.

"You are right." Zhang Juzheng said with a painful expression. The flickering fire illuminated Zhang Juzheng's already somewhat old face. He had some wrinkles on his face, making his expression even more gloomy.

When did he start having so many bold ideas? It started from the theory of contradictions. Public-private theory, production theory, and the first volume of "Class Theory" were getting bolder and deeper.

This whole set of narratives is logically self-consistent, and even the theory of freedom is supplementing the deficiencies of this set of narratives. This set of narratives does not establish a complete, fictional "Great Harmony World". The theory of freedom uses the fact that everyone will eventually gain freedom to make up for this defect.

This set of narrative theory, plus the theory of freedom, is meme pollution, which will change everyone's thinking mode, but the only one who really smashed the ideological seal is Zhang Juzheng himself, because he is the only one who has witnessed the horror of the indescribable.

Even Zhang Juzheng himself knows that he has not smashed the ideological seal; otherwise, this second volume "Distribution" would have been sent to the palace and presented to the imperial front.

No one is so bold as to think about these problems again. These four inferences based on the theory of contradictions, I am afraid that future generations will not be able to summarize them.

The "Zhuishu" of Zu Chongzhi and his son disappeared in the long river of history. It was only when Wang Xijue's house was copied that the unique copy was found, and then it was known that it was studying infinite differentiation and infinite integration (summation), studying the area and volume of irregular shapes.

The first volume of Zhang Juzheng's "Class Theory" has been printed everywhere, but the second to fourth volumes really may not appear, and the probability is very high.

To write or not to write, this is a question.

"Forget it, there is no need at all, is there?" Zhang Juzheng finally made up his mind. It was burned anyway, so there was no need to write it out again. If these four volumes were really finished, it would be the four arts of dragon slaying.

Zhang Juzheng, who has been updated to version 6.0, is no match for version 3.0 Wang Chonggu.

You Qi's face was twisted with worry. In fact, he really wanted to say that burning it was useless. He had already taken it for engraving, and even the finished book had been sent to the palace!

"Master, Wang Zhigao is here." The doorman hurried over and handed the visiting card to Zhang Juzheng.

"Please."

Wang Zhigao arrived at Wenchang Pavilion, which is the study of the Quanchu Guild Hall. Here, in the fifth year of Wanli, after Zhang Juzheng's mourning period, His Majesty the Emperor had the Ministry of Works renovate it, mainly to prevent fire, and carried out a steel-concrete structure renovation. The bright and clean large windows were obviously the latest flat glass used in the Tonghe Palace, quite thick, with both heat preservation and lighting.

Tonghe Palace was replaced a few days ago, and Zhang Juzheng's place was also replaced, which shows that the Emperor and the Grand Tutor did not have fundamental differences.

"Grand Assistant Jiangling." Wang Zhigao and Zhang Juzheng greeted each other. Wang Zhigao frowned and asked suspiciously: "Grand Assistant Jiangling, why is there such a heavy smell of burning on you?"

"Burned something." Zhang Juzheng didn't say in detail what exactly was burned.

A gentleman stays away from the kitchen. With Zhang Juzheng's status, it is impossible to go to the kitchen to cook. That is to say, he burned something that could not be seen, and it was something that had to be destroyed in person.

After a round of polite words about the bright sunshine tonight, Wang Zhigao finally explained his purpose: "The wealthy households in Xitucheng are very worried, so they asked me to lobby the in-law. They are worried that the court will ban the sea again and monopolize the thick profits of maritime trade. Even if they don't care about taboos, they insist on me coming."

Wang Zhigao saw a bit of the doorway. Persuading farming is probably aimed at the farmland, which is the foundation of the powerful and wealthy. His Majesty wants to be the largest landlord in the world. The Emperor has had little sense of security since he was a child. Wanting to be the largest landlord to maintain his status is also understandable.

"This doesn't need to be worried about." Zhang Juzheng said quite seriously: "His Majesty's heart to open the sea is extremely firm." "His Majesty personally engages in farming, and also worries about a problem, that is, the rich have fields connected to the fields, and the poor have no place to stand. This is to say, the rich have fields connected to the fields, which is to keep wealth for the country. In case of thieves and thieves, border disturbances, the wealth of annexation is willing to pay, all are the property of the court, but in terms of results, it is not at all."

"The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the world is restless. His Majesty will inevitably toss and turn."

"So persuading farming is the national policy. Recently, His Majesty intends to include farmland abandonment in the performance evaluation. Once it is abandoned by one-fourth, it is the lowest grade. If you want to be promoted, it will be as difficult as ascending to heaven."

The wealthy annexing land is to keep wealth for the dynasty, which can delay civil unrest, theft, robbery, etc. If the border is disturbed, the wealth obtained from annexation is also willing to pay, all are the property of the world and the court.

This is a lie that the scholar-officials have been propagating, and the result is that the world is exhausted.

This is also what will be done next: include the abandonment ratio of farmland in the performance evaluation. Once the inquiry is less than 75%, it is the lowest grade. Once this evaluation is obtained, it basically represents the end of the official career.

"Is this a bit too urgent?" Wang Zhigao frowned and said. The Great Ming no longer has the urgency of the country's demise. Why be so urgent?

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said: "Yes, so, now there is no imperial decree, just blow the wind first."

Wang Zhigao understood. Blowing the wind means looking at the situation and performance.

"Is it really just to persuade farming?" Wang Zhigao asked with a solemn expression.

Zhang Juzheng said firmly: "Yes, persuade farming. His Majesty personally engages in farming, knows that the people's life is not easy, and seeing this land barren makes His Majesty feel blocked in his heart."

This set of narrative logic is very reasonable. The Emperor is a farmer. Which farmer is willing to see the fields barren?

The Great Ming Emperor always has some strange hobbies. In the eyes of the court officials, loving farming is quite a legacy of the ancestors. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was still farming in the palace, which is better than the Daoist cultivating immortality and the former Emperor loving female sex.

Wang Zhigao really found that this statement is really watertight! Even Wang Zhigao felt that he had misunderstood His Majesty, but thinking of the Baoqi Division, a layer of cold sweat rose behind Wang Zhigao.

The Emperor, Zhang Juzheng, and Wang Chonggu were all prepared early!

This thread can be traced back to the establishment of the Baoqi Division. A government decree, the top-level architecture of official selection, could actually endure for such a long time. The powerful and wealthy lost not unjustly.

Wang Zhigao stayed for a while and chose to leave. Most of the wealthy households in Xitucheng came from the Southern Yamen, and they were still waiting for Wang Zhigao's reply.

Wang Zhigao saw Wan Shihe in front of the Quanchu Guild Hall.

"Jianchuan Gong, long time no see, are you well?" Wan Shihe greeted with a smile. After all, they were officials in the same court. Although Wang Zhigao was timid and retreated, he had not had any conflict with the court's government decree. When they met, they could still greet each other.

"Grand Minister of Rites, are you well? I am looking for the in-law for some private matters." Wang Zhigao chatted with Wan Shihe for a while before getting into the carriage, preparing to return to Xitucheng.

Wang Zhigao looked at Wan Shihe's back with a frown. What is this Minister of Rites doing running to the Quanchu Guild Hall late at night?

"Grand Assistant, His Majesty sent an imperial decree, saying that the Grand Assistant wrote this second volume of 'Class Theory', and specially ordered me to take it." Wan Shihe didn't play dumb and chose to get straight to the point.

Zhang Juzheng looked at You Qi. You Qi was quite frank. This matter was indeed notified to the palace by him, and it was Zhang Juzheng who ordered it!

Starting from the "Imperial Mirror Picture Book", Zhang Juzheng asked You Qi to send every book written to the Three Classics Factory and the Imperial Academy for engraving and printing. At that time, Ma Ziqiang also printed books late at night, just for use the next day.

It was even said that for Zhang Juzheng's convenience in presenting, every page written would be engraved, just to present it to the imperial front as quickly as possible. Zhang Juzheng's performance evaluation method pays the most attention to efficiency. You Qi, as the big housekeeper, naturally executed it extremely firmly. The book was written, so naturally, it had to be reported to the palace. This is also the practice.

This was specially ordered by Zhang Juzheng. You Qi is just a big housekeeper. Zhang Juzheng did not specially order that this volume could not be printed. You Qi was a bit rigid.

"Is it printed?" Zhang Juzheng didn't blame You Qi. A wise man makes a mistake in a thousand thoughts. He also naturally obtained that inference after finishing the second volume.

You Qi bowed and said: "Printed."

"Is it too late to burn it now?" Zhang Juzheng asked with a hint of helplessness and some expectation.

You Qi tentatively said: "It's too late. It has already been sent to the palace. Whether to burn it or not is up to His Majesty. Why don't you persuade His Majesty tomorrow, Master?"

"Burning books and burying scholars?" Wan Shihe asked immediately. Burning books is a taboo of all dynasties. Throughout the ages, the books destroyed were mostly prophecy and evil words. The things Zhang Juzheng wrote obviously had nothing to do with prophecy and evil words.

Zhang Juzheng was silent for a while, but fortunately, it was only the second volume, and it hadn't reached the content of the third volume. Everything was in time. Zhang Juzheng didn't believe that there was anyone else in the world who could write the third and fourth volumes! He had the qualifications to be so arrogant.

The second volume was not that dangerous.

"Give a volume to the Grand Minister of Rites." Zhang Juzheng gave up the idea of destroying the book. With the Emperor's character of not being afraid of heaven and earth, even if the sky falls, he will hold it up. I am afraid he will not support the act of destroying books.

Wan Shihe didn't read it immediately. This kind of thing needs to be carefully pondered, seriously thought about, and then modified. The Ministry of Rites is responsible for auditing. It is the same in the West. The inventor of Western movable type printing, Johannes Gutenberg, has long passed away, but the West's censorship system is also very perfect.

The Ministry of Rites is responsible for ritual laws. Some sentences need to be modified and annotated to prevent misreading.

"There is an interesting thing." Wan Shihe said happily: "I heard that the ship permits are rising in price now, one price a day, from 500 silver per ticket to 3,000 silver."

"Ah?" Zhang Juzheng looked at Wan Shihe in a daze. When it could be exchanged before, no one chased it, and now that the issuing unit has been expanded, it has risen in price? What is this situation?

Since the establishment of the Songjiang Prefecture Maritime Trade Office, the exchange of 10,000 mu for one ship permit has existed. It belongs to a semi-dormant department. Only when it is urgently needed to go to sea, and only when waiting for the Maritime Trade Office to issue ship permits, will someone go to exchange it. This kind of exchange is a letter of credit, which can be verified by one ship permit every year.

This price increase is illogical.

"Originally, there was a fixed number of ship permits. The bad thing is the word fixed number. Originally, there were 300 freely exchangeable ship permits, which were monopolized by the Songjiang Maritime Trade Office. Now five hinterland Maritime Trade Offices are competing for them. Songjiang Prefecture only has 60. This Songjiang Prefecture rose, and other Maritime Trade Offices followed suit." Wan Shihe felt interesting when he talked about this.

The ship permit system of the Maritime Trade Offices is different for each Maritime Trade Office, all of which are issued by verification. For example, the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office issues 30 after reviewing ships every year, while Songjiang Prefecture is 500, Ningbo is 300, Yuegang is 200, and Guangzhou Dianbai is 90. And there are only 300 freely verified ship permits.

The Great Ming is bloated and rigid. This policy only increased the issuing unit, not the issuing quantity.

Isn't it just rising up again and again?

Zhang Juzheng suddenly remembered the old events. At the beginning, fine woolen cloth was seven cents per foot. Later, after Wang Qian tossed it, it soared directly to two silver per foot. At the highest point, it even touched twenty silver per foot. Zhang Juzheng found that speculation is a bit elusive. It is not clear why it caused such a storm.

"Should we take advantage of this trend and open up the exchange?" Wan Shihe said excitedly.

"No, just 300." Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said: "Opening it up will make no one exchange it. It is just to create a feeling that ship permits are very scarce. Wang Wang Cifu is right. It is just a cheap bone. If you tell them to stand, they won't. If you beat them, they retreat."

"The more expensive it is, the more people will cherish it!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 464 =====