Chapter 66: The Steampunk Era

It is a question of balance of interests.

Many, many years ago, after the powerful Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che used all the savings of the two generations of emperors of Wenjing to fight against the Xiongnu, the people in the country were already poor, and Liu Che resolutely continued to attack the Xiongnu.

Finally, in the later years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, the population of the entire Han Dynasty dropped sharply to two million households, almost halved, and the remaining half lived miserably.

It was also at this time that Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty witnessed the tragic life of the people, so he ordered the end of the war, and also issued the famous "Edict of Guilt" in history, and then went all out to recuperate.

This is why the Huanghuang Han can continue to exist!

Could it be that the Han attack on the Xiongnu was really a pure loss-making transaction?

This is not necessarily, whether it is Huo Quzhi, or Wei Qing, or other generals of the Han Dynasty, they all have rich captures after defeating the Huns, and even in the process of the second division general's expedition to Dawan to obtain Tianma, according to historical records, his captures are not a few.

It's a pity that these seizures have nothing to do with the people, all of them go into the pockets of the emperor, heroes, and generals, and the people are the only one in this vigorous war to expel the Huns.

Therefore, they are not poor, but who is poor?

Therefore, Zhang Guozhu believes that if the people cannot enjoy the benefits of the empire's territorial expansion, this is not right, and it is also very bad for the empire.

In the long run, the dynasty should only be ironclad if it is firmly tied to the interests of the people.

Suddenly put grain in the market, and the people will oppose it because it will hurt them.

If the grain is given to them for free, the grain also enters the market, but the grain enters the market in the form of a very large denominator, and at this time, the people are the actual beneficiaries.

As for food prices, there will be no big fluctuations...... Even if it will reduce ...... The people will accept it with joy.

This is the difference in the way things are done.

The cost of distributing grain to the people is very high, but both Yun Zhao and Zhang Guozhu chose to distribute grain at a huge cost, rather than choosing a simpler method of reducing taxes and fees.

Taxation is the foundation of a country's existence, and this foundation should not be shaken.

And the effect of tax reduction and exemption is completely different from that of directly distributing grain or money.

Over the years?? The people of the Ming Dynasty actually enjoyed the dividends brought by the expansion of the Ming Dynasty, for example, cheap livestock, cheap ironware, cheap meat, and cheap fur. Cheap textiles?? These things have really affected the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the people don't feel this change?? It's been a long time?? I think it's a matter of course.

It's a process of a national carnival.

The grain was still floating on the sea, and Zhang Guozhu had already issued the plan for distributing the grain to the local government.

According to the plan, grain from the sea would first fill the grain depots of the local government in the coastal ports, and the grain from these local grain depots would be sent to the interior, and so on, until the state capital farthest from the sea.

At that time, each state capital would have some extra grain, seven million quintals of grain, which was actually not much in the hands of everyone in the Ming Dynasty, and it was only five catties of grain on everyone's head.

Coupled with the cost of transportation, it is calculated based on the base of 160 million people in the Ming Dynasty. In the end, the food that can be obtained is only three or four catties?? Well, four pounds are heavenly.

Yun Zhang thinks that all this grain should be used to build a railway, Yun Yang thinks that this batch of grain should be used to expand the navy, army, and strengthen armaments, and Han Lingshan thinks that if this batch of grain is handed over to him, he promises that he can spread his eyeliner all over Daming, even the most remote mountain villages will not let go......

In short, there are many people who want these grains, and Yun Zhao and Zhang Guozhu still unswervingly decided to distribute these grains according to the capitation.

How much Daming's hearts are worth, no one knows better than Yun Zhao and Zhang Guozhu.

In September, grain ships docked one after another.

All the places where grain ships can be berthed in the Ming Dynasty are full of grain ships.

It was not until this time that Yun Zhao, Zhang Guozhu and others understood that Hong Chengchou, together with Sun Chuanting, Han Xiufen, Shi Lang, and all the merchants in Nanyang, organized nearly 30,000 merchant ships to transport grain to Daming at one time......

In addition to the places near the sea and the harbor, Guanzhong was one of the first regions to distribute grain because of the large grain stockpile.

The procedure for receiving grain is very troublesome, and the head of the family must receive the family's grain, and it is not allowed to collect it on behalf of the family, let alone claim it fraudulently.

The head of the Yun family is Yun Zhao, but he can only receive his mother, two wives, plus seven portions of food for himself and his three children.

This time, everyone in Guanzhong, including the babies who were born before the food was distributed, all had food.

Each person has three catties and seven taels, and the Guanzhong government is atmospheric, and he thinks that there are bits and pieces that are not good-looking or good-sounding, so he made up to four catties, so Yun Zhao can receive twenty-eight catties of grain from the grain depot this time.

No one dared to line up in front of Yun Zhao, so Yun Zhao was the first to receive the grain, and after opening the bag and looking at it for a long time, he said to Zhang Guozhu who was carrying the bag: "Didn't you say that it was rice?" ”

Zhang Guozhu said with a smile: "Guanzhong does not produce rice, so I have to send wheat." ”

Yun Zhao shook his head and said, "No, there is a lot of price difference between four catties of white rice and four catties of wheat." ”

Zhang Guozhu said: "Some roads are not good and impassable, do they need to be repaired in order to facilitate the distribution of food?" ”

Yun Zhao nodded, feeling that this was reasonable.

"Do some places need to be cleaned up for river silting?"

Yun Zhao looked at Zhang Guozhu and said, "You can see that you didn't think about distributing food to the people." ”

Zhang Guozhu lifted the twenty-four catties of grain he had received and said, "Isn't this food?" If I can't take advantage of this major event to deal with a lot of accumulated small troubles, I will be the minister of state for nothing.

The people actually don't care about taking less than one and a half catties, they just care about whether they can really get good food from the government.

Look back, which of the two miles long line came to receive food? They are all here to see the prosperous scene. ”

Yun Zhao looked at Chu Yongping, the largest porcelain merchant in Guanzhong not far away, staring at the appearance of the officials who were calculating the scales and the grain, and said with a smile: "Sure enough." ”

The people who left the granary each carried a grain bag on their backs, which was discovered by everyone, the emperor and the prime minister also walked with the grain bags on their backs, and they felt that they were not as noble as the two people, so they carried their own share of the grain back to the car, and walked all the way, laughing all the way.

"Thirty thousand merchant ships—"

Yun Zhao stopped and looked at Zhang Guozhu.

Zhang Guozhu said with a smile: "I can guarantee that His Majesty will never be able to find a merchant ship with a carrying capacity of more than two hundred quintals on the South Sea at this time. ”

"On purpose?"

"That's right, this is Han Xiufen, Shi Lang, Hong Chengchou, and Sun Chuanting are showing off their strength to the imperial court, that is, us."

"If they stop all trade and specialize in transporting food, it should be a big loss for them."

Yun Zhao, Zhang Guozhu carried the grain just to make a look, and after leaving the warehouse, the grain bag naturally fell on the guards.

Hong Chengchou's plan was really leaky, and as soon as he came up, he served meat dishes, and the gift of seven million loads of grain caught Yun Zhao a little off guard, but the effect was still very good.

"Although Nanyang is said to be a treasure land, we are still a little hasty in developing it now, and we can only adopt the principle of voluntariness, not to force, let alone blindly transport prisoners there, but all prisoners must have opinions on the country.

There were too many prisoners, and I was worried that something would happen. ”

Zhang Guozhu is still seeking stability, but his tone has begun to loosen.

The appearance of these 7 million quintals of grain made the entire Lantian Dynasty begin to reassess the importance of Nanyang, and Han Xiufen and other naval generals used nearly 30,000 ships to show the imperial court the huge maritime power of Nanyang.

A sail-powered ship was still not enough for Yun Zhao to take on such a heavy task, and unless it could be turned into a steam-powered ship, Yun Zhao would agree to hand over the burden of replenishing the grain of the Central Plains to the navy.

"Take you to see something new!"

Yun Zhao thought of this, so he said to Zhang Guozhu.

Zhang Guozhu smiled and said, "Could it be that your clairvoyance and tailwind ear plan have been completely successful?" ”

The development trend of the cable telegraph Yun Zhao once talked to Zhang Guozhu, which was described by Zhang Guozhu as whimsical, and he also thought that Yun Zhao had a hysterical idea after reading some strange stories.

Yun Zhao glanced at the stupid minister in front of him: "Fifteen years ago, could you know that you could see such a thing in the distance clearly with the help of a telescope? Ten years ago, did you know that Lao Tzu could drive hundreds of thousands of catties of goods around with just one teapot?

Seven years ago, could you have known that you could see a whole world in a drop of water with a microscope?

Five years ago, did you know that with a copper wire, I could have an instant call to someone hundreds of miles away? ”

Three years ago, could you have known that with a pair of wings, a man could fly in the air?

Two years ago, did you know that by heating the air, we could fulfill our dream of flying travel?

You see, you don't know anything.

So, don't be surprised when you see something strange after a while, you just need to worship me. ”

Zhang Guozhu snorted and said, "I want to see what Your Majesty is going to take to make me throw my body to the ground!" ”

Yun Zhao looked at the clear blue sky and said, "I hope you don't be too surprised, after all, in front of me, you belong to the same level as those ignorant savages in the South Seas. ”

Zhang Guozhu said: "As long as there is really something beyond my understanding, I will recognize it as a monkey!" ”