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Liu Boquan, Xu Yingjie, Song Yingxing, and Yang Shen came to the imperial study, their expressions were quite natural, but they were inevitably a little uneasy in their hearts.

People in high positions naturally get more information than ordinary people, and even if there is no turmoil at today's court meeting, they can still feel that there is an undercurrent surging between the government and the opposition.

The second year of Qin has just begun, and there is such a big turmoil in the court, which is not a good sign.

The four of them cautiously bowed together: "See King Qin." ”

Qin Mu's face was not shocked, he was very calm, and he raised his hand and said, "No courtesy." Sit. ”

Qin Mu has always treated ministers more favorably, and in the court, ministers from the third rank and above are all sitting and deliberating.

In the imperial study, regardless of the grade, as long as Qin Mu took the initiative to summon the discussion, he would give a seat, which has long been a practice.

Of course, there are some differences, usually the ministers below the squire come to the imperial study, and give a seat but not tea. Only ministers above the rank of squire will give tea.

After the little eunuch finished serving tea, Qin Mu opened his mouth and asked, "Song Shangshu, have you ever seen that Xiang Xi, how is it?" ”

Song Yingxing originally thought that Qin Mu summoned them to be related to the turmoil in the court, but he didn't expect Qin Mu to ask about this matter as soon as he opened his mouth, and he was very surprised.

He bowed his hand and replied: "Back to the King of Qin, the minister has carefully inquired, Xiang Xiyuan is a veteran craftsman in Shanxi Mine, in terms of smelting, he is indeed very proficient, he mentioned the improvement method of the steelmaking furnace, the minister thinks that it is indeed a little unique, but in the end can increase the furnace temperature, enhance the quality of steel, this will be specifically verified before knowing the way." ”

Qin Mu said: "Since this is the case, Liu Shangshu happens to be here, so the household department will first allocate five thousand taels of special funds, and Xiang Xilai will preside over the construction of a smelting furnace. In this regard. Don't be afraid to spend money. You have to remember one sentence, science and technology are the primary productive forces. ”

"Yes, King Qin."

Qin Mu turned his head to Yang Shen and asked, "Yang Qing, last year, you were the governor of Songjiang Mansion, and you know the textile industry in Jiangnan best, so let you introduce the situation." ”

The turmoil at today's court meeting greatly touched Qin Mu's heart, and he was ready to change his strategy, from saying first and then doing it to doing it first and then talking. I don't even say what I did.

Qin Mu has such capital, and in the three aspects of military, politics, and finance, the army and finance have always been firmly under his control.

He spent much more time in the army than he did in the court. The mobilization of the armed forces often deliberately bypasses the military department, and the military department's functions and powers can be overridden at any time.

In addition to the violent institution of the army, Qin Mu's strictest control is financial power, Liu Boquan was promoted by him from a junior official, and he is his die-hard loyalist, Xu Yingjie is a businessman. is often excluded, and must rely on him in order to stand in the court.

There is an army and money, this is Qin Mu bypassing the cabinet and even the six ministries. Implement your own planned capital.

Of course, Qin Mu's plan needs scientific and technological support, and it is inseparable from the cooperation of the Ministry of Industry, but fortunately, Song Yingxing, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, has a special personality. He's not keen on power struggles, and he's very technologically important. A much more do-it-yourself officer.

With these layers of foundation, Qin Mu can "do it and then say".

Yang Shen arched his hand first, sorted out the situation in his mind a little and said: "Qi Qin Wang, the minister has been in Jiangnan for more than two months, although he has the intention to restore the textile industry in Jiangnan as soon as possible, but the situation is not optimistic, the war has caused great damage to the textile industry in Jiangnan, and it may be difficult to recover in the short term." ”

"Well, this king is prepared, Yang Qing will tell me in detail where the difficulties are."

"The first difficulty is the lack of raw material supply. King Qin may not know that Songjiang Mansion, which has a reputation for its clothes, is actually far from being able to meet the needs of textiles with locally produced cotton. Most of the raw materials of Songjiang cotton cloth are supplied from other places, the most important of which are in Shandong and Henan, and now, these major cotton producing areas are still occupied by the Tatars, resulting in a serious shortage of cotton supply. ”

"Yang Qing, please continue."

"The second difficulty is the lack of funds. Because of the bankruptcy of a large number of wealthy households due to the war, coupled with the rise in prices, the food supply is tight, even the rich households who still have some surplus wealth are unwilling to invest their money in textile production, but use it to hoard grain and buy land. If there is no input, there will be less output.

The third difficulty is the problem of insufficient manpower. During the occupation of Jiangnan by the Tatars, a large number of people in Jiangyin, Jiading, Songjiang, Wujiang, Taicang, Kunshan and other places spontaneously rose up to resist the tyranny of the Manchus;

For most of last year, the war in Jiangnan continued, and every place where the Tartars pacified was inevitably looted and slaughtered on a large scale, such as Jiading and other places, which were almost slaughtered into empty cities, and the entire Jiangnan was directly slaughtered by the Qing army more than one million, and the number of people who died of starvation and freezing to death due to the war was even more double. ”

Qin Mu frowned slightly and said, "Food, clothing, housing and transportation are the top priorities related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and they must be taken seriously. The world is in turmoil, the Great Qin is at the beginning, no matter what happens, there will definitely be such and such difficulties, now the crux of the problem has been found, how to solve it, is the focus of today's discussion, Yang Qing said the three difficulties, how to solve them, everyone will talk about it. ”

Song Yingxing said first: "King Qin, to solve the problem of insufficient supply of silk and cotton, the minister thought that the imperial court could order that all those with five to ten acres of private land should plant mulberry, hemp, and cotton for half an acre each, and those with more than ten acres should be doubled. If there is spare energy to open up the land to plant cotton, and the tax rate is paid, in this way, the minister believes that there will be no problem with the supply of cotton cocoons this year. ”

Qin Mu immediately said: "Song Shangshu's policy is very good, but the growth of mulberry cotton has its own habits, as far as this king knows, it seems that the south is better than the north, and the north is better than the south. ”

"King Qin Shengming, it's true. It is not difficult to divide the region, the former Ming Dynasty has planted cotton in all parts of the country, where the cotton yield is, there are many records in the Fu Zhi, as long as it is divided according to this, it can be proper. ”

"Okay, let's do it." Qin Mu nodded with satisfaction and said, "Next, solve the second problem of insufficient funds, Liu Qing, Xu Qing, you can talk about it." ”

Xu Yingjie looked at Liu Boquan, Liu Boquan motioned for him to answer, Xu Yingjie immediately said: "King Qin, if the imperial court establishes a weaving bureau, funds are not a problem. The capital solution of private businessmen can be solved through fundraising, and second, it can be through bank lending;

King Qin, in fact, there are chambers of commerce in all provinces, if the king of Qin intends to support private businessmen to operate the textile industry, he can start from these chambers of commerce. In the minister's view, funding is not the problem, the problem lies in the policies and taxes of the imperial court.

To give an example, in the 29th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, there was a flood in Suzhou, and the harvest of the fields was damaged, which affected other tax sources. One horse per satin, five cents of silver for tax; One horse of yarn, two cents of tax; All the woven yarn and satin were first printed by the government before they were allowed to be sold, so that the local textile households closed down one after another, and tens of thousands of weavers and yarn workers fell into a desperate situation.

Such things abound in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, so in the minister's view, the problem to be solved is not the problem of funds, but how to make businessmen dare to invest money in the weaving industry. ”

Xu Yingjie is a businessman, so he knows best in the heart of a businessman, like Yang Shen said that a large number of wealthy people in the private sector went bankrupt, resulting in insufficient capital investment, this problem does exist, but this is just an appearance, does the people really have no capital?

No, it's just that the world is in turmoil, the policy of the imperial court is unclear, at this time, how many people are willing to invest their money in high-risk industries?

It is better to save or use it to buy land if you have money, which is a safer approach, and I believe that most people have this in mind.

"The king will order the imperial court to promulgate the industrial and commercial law as soon as possible, and if it cannot be promulgated in the short term, the king will make three chapters of the law in the form of an edict to protect the rights and interests of industrial and commercial owners;

Xu Qing, this king not only wants to build a government-run weaving bureau, but also wants private textile factories to prosper, remember, this king wants not the previous form of petty fighting, this king wants a centralized, intensive large-scale industry, private business, it will be handed over to you to assist. ”

"Minister, obey the order."

Qin Mu continued: "The last problem, spinning and weaving, is an industry that requires a lot of labor, how to solve this labor? ”

This question doesn't seem to be a problem, because spinning and weaving is originally a woman's business, and if Qin Mu wants to use a woman to do this, no one will object.

But if you think about it, there is still a problem, because Qin Mu wants to no longer have the previous form of production of retail households, so a large number of women will have to go out of the house, and even many people will have to leave their hometowns to work in textile factories;

The mere fact that a woman has to go out of the house conflicts with the moral norms that society follows today.

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PS: The end of the month is coming, the competition is getting more and more fierce, don't hide it from the brothers, the first thing I do when I get up every day, I just turn on the computer and see if I am still on the list. Towards the end of the month, it is common for other books to get one or two hundred votes overnight, so I can only ask you for a monthly pass every day with a shy face, and there are still a few days to go, I hope that you brothers will help protect my little wish. Ask for a monthly pass!.

(To be continued......)