Chapter 172 Cement Eucommia Gum, Tires, Chen Han wants to change the Ming Dynasty "Now the imperial court has established thousands of warehouses in the Jiangnan area. After you left, the purchase of grain has not been reduced. When the common people paid the summer tax, they paid the treasure banknotes, but the remaining grain was returned to the imperial court. Will buy.
In this way, the people paid less taxes, but they sold grain again, making a lot of money over and over again, and a lot of treasure money was also withdrawn.
Now let me tell you the good news. Originally, the consistent treasure banknote could only be exchanged for two hundred copper coins, but now the consistent treasure banknote can be exchanged for 330 copper coins.
In less than a year, after your operation, the value of the treasure has really increased. Your merits are immeasurable.
Based on this alone, His Majesty originally wanted to directly promote you to the rank of Duke, but he was afraid that you would not be able to handle it at your young age. "
After listening to Xia Yuanji's very cheerful words, Chen Han felt even more proud.
This policy of benefiting farmers is simply much greater than his technologies.
What a great achievement it is that ordinary people can eat affordable food.
Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Xia Yuanji's melody as if singing an opera, and felt very comfortable in his heart.
Because he has been a common man, he really understands what the common people want.
Just like what he said, the people don't care which one of you can be the emperor, or what ideas you use to rule them.
All they need is a mouthful of food.
Now Chen Han's policy of benefiting farmers can, to put it mildly, make the people live and work in peace and contentment.
To put it more broadly, it can change the destiny of a dynasty.
And now he has seen that the people in this most prosperous place can eat such cheap food, and the old court will not lose money at all.
Because after the commercial tax increase, the court did not care about this subsidy.
A large number of merchants were also mobilized to actively participate in the sale of grain. In fact, it was the grain merchants who paid most of the freight.
But can grain merchants lose money?Not a loss either.
They bought and sold in large quantities and then sold them to the court. The price difference was enough to cover all their expenses, and some even made more than they had before.
Because before, they had to worry that once the food was in their hands, they not only had to spend manpower and material resources to keep it, but they also had to spend money to build granaries.
It also needs to be renovated every year to prevent the food from getting moldy.
You have to worry about which day it will rain and your granary will be flooded, etc.
But now all the intermediate links are omitted and all are given to the court.
After they purchased the grain, they sold it directly to the court's warehouse.
Because the imperial court had more manpower and material resources, it had more places to store grain, and more professional technicians to ensure that the grain did not become moldy.
Therefore, after all the intermediate links are eliminated, grain merchants can make a lot of money, and it is easier than before, and there is no need to worry.
Chen Han saw how excited he was and knew how happy he was.
Xia Yuanji is indeed very happy now because he finally used his ability to help the Ming Dynasty move towards a better future.
Yes, it was indeed him who executed these ideas.
The execution effect is very good.
He finally did this with Chen Han, and he was even a financial expert in his own right.
After Chen Han gave these methods, he could implement them immediately.
To use an analogy, Chen Han is responsible for creation, while Xia Yuanji is responsible for execution.
The two people complement each other to achieve today's achievements.
This is like using the knowledge you have learned to create more wealth.
Although Chen Han ordered this wealth, he actually operated it behind the scenes.
Chen Han has always said that he is just an armchair guy.
He couldn't control the entire operation process, but Chen Han could.
He is a genius, he is a great person in this area.
Chen Han can only come up with ideas, but he may not be able to implement them, but he can, and can even do better.
Chen Han didn't tell him what kind of result he wanted to achieve, but Xia Yuanji had already guessed it.
Even Xia Yuanji has done something more comprehensive than what he thinks of now.
This is the power of Xia Yuanji.
This is the most important reason why we cannot underestimate these ancient people.
Because you never know how many clever methods these people have in their heads.
In fact, they are smarter than anyone else.
Some people think that because people today have mastered so much science and technology, they must be smarter than people in ancient times. This is a paradox.
"Okay, okay. Seeing how happy you are, if I don't hug you a little bit, you will fly up." Chen Han said with a smile.
After Xia Yuanji heard Chen Han's words, he laughed loudly, "That's true. If you give me another achievement, I might really have my tail raised to the sky.
But all this depends on His Majesty's trust and wisdom. "
Xia Yuanji is not like ordinary people when he is an official. He only sticks to the so-called principles.
In order to implement his policies and the good methods he has formulated, he can be said to be very slick.
But I have to say that this method is the real way to be an official.
Not everyone is suitable to be an official with Hai Rui's integrity.
Only officials like Xia Yuanji are useful.
If he wanted the entire Ming Dynasty to follow his footsteps, he had to sacrifice some principles.
So when he said these words, he always mentioned the greatness of the emperor.
Even though everyone knows this is flattery.
But no one likes to hear this.
Even Lao Zhu is not exempt from vulgarity.
So Zhu Yuanzhang also smiled after hearing this.
Then Chen Han and Xia Yuanji visited the entire Ningbo Prefecture again, and even went to the surrounding villages and found that the life of the people had changed a lot.
The people's lives are getting better and better.
Especially the price reduction of food and the reform of tax system.
It also makes them feel the personal changes and allows them to get immediate benefits.
The common people praised the court from the bottom of their hearts for their care for them.
This was something Chen Han and the others did not is what Chen Han must do.
It is precisely because of this foundation that Chen Han is more motivated.
Even the living conditions of the people around Ningbo Prefecture have improved, let alone near the capital.
After staying in Ningbo for two days, Chen Han followed Zhu Yuanzhang and set off back to the capital.
Zhu Yuanzhang even directly pulled Chen Han into his carriage and asked him to talk to him about the situation with the Japanese slaves and the changes he had made there.
Chen Han really wanted to talk to the old man about the current development.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also surprised when he talked about the results of the implementation of the system of the Japanese Nu Executive Committee.
At the same time, I want to talk to him about the situation of road construction there.
When talking about this, Chen Han said: "Your Majesty, we knew the importance of roads when we were in Japan, so we built a relatively gentle road.
Have you noticed that even if we are sitting on the best carriage, we still can't stay stable and it still keeps bumping.
Even though the official road has been repaired every year, it still cannot prevent the carriage from bumping when passing through.
So, you should know how damaging it can be to a carriage wheel? "
The old man frowned after hearing this, "Do you still need to say that? Although the imperial court spends great efforts to smoothen the official roads every year and uses the best materials every year.
But over time, there are still unavoidable ravines and ravines, and the unavoidable muddy conditions after rain. So what do you think?
I know you must have many high opinions. "
Chen Han smiled and said: "The first thing I want to do is build a cement road here. Your Majesty, you know that I come from modern times.
The road on our side is made of cement made of various mixed materials similar to the way I fired glass.
This kind of cement is many times more viscous than the best glutinous rice slurry plus plaster we use now. "
Glutinous rice juice and mortar are the best materials used when building city walls today.
Rich folk also often use glutinous rice slurry to build walls.
So during times of famine, why would some people eat wall coverings to save their lives? It’s because there is glutinous rice pulp in the wall coverings.
Glutinous rice milk is also very sticky, but the cost is too high.
Glutinous rice itself is food. It is easy to build an ordinary house, but if it is used to build city walls, how much glutinous rice will be used?
But cement materials are much more common, basically clay, lime, and gypsum, and the cost of these things is much lower.
Because there are many ancient city walls, they can indeed be made accurately, but they are difficult to use for paving roads.
Because there is no way to bear the trampling of people, this is the most important reason.
"What is cement?" Princess Jiangdu next to her was also very surprised.
Although she knew that her husband came from the future, so she knew about this, but it didn't mean that they weren't surprised.
So Chen Han explained.
Zhu Yuanzhang clapped his hands: "Okay, this thing is good.
If all official channels in the world could use cement, that would be fine.
Not to mention other things, it is not very convenient to transport food, troops and horses to the north to fight. "
Chen Han nodded, "This is one of them, and it is also convenient for people to travel, especially on rainy days.
Cement can also be used to build stronger fortresses and stronger city walls. "
The old man nodded.
Chen Han continued: "Another one, using cement is better than using huge masonry to build my city wall, saving money, time and effort.
In this regard, cement has surpassed all current building materials, and red bricks can also be fired. Even hollow bricks are very simple to bake. "
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished listening to the new building materials he introduced, he became confused, "Why didn't you mention it before?"
Chen Han smiled: "Your Majesty, doesn't reform like this have to be done step by step? Why do you think I brought it up now?
Isn't it just because business has begun to enter a period of prosperity and faster transportation methods are needed, so it can be proposed.
If these conditions are not available, who will you build roads for?right?
Will it still be able to hang there by then? "
After hearing Chen Han's words, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Yes!"
Chen Han continued: "But it's different now. How many traders walk on the official road every day.
If they can walk on the cement road like walking on flat ground on a rainy day.
It would be more convenient if the journey would not be delayed due to road congestion, and it would speed up the flow of the entire business.
Because we have a saying that goes well - if you want to be rich, build roads first.
It is because transportation is more convenient that it can drive the economy.
But it was different in the Ming Dynasty. Only when there was business and a foundation could we develop the road.
Otherwise, it would be a waste of money and people, without any economic benefit.
In our time, business can be further stimulated through macro-adjustments of national policies.
But now the Ming Dynasty does not have such conditions. Because of the inconvenient transportation and poor communication, it must be done step by step.
I have to see commercialization before it makes sense to build roads. For example, as I will propose later, we can collect medicinal materials such as Eucommia ulmoides and extract gel from them to make tires, belts and other All kinds of sealing materials are the same.
These things must have a certain degree of business and have economic value to be useful. Otherwise, they will be things suspended in the sky and unable to fall to the ground.
And what I just mentioned are the biggest issues of reform that I am about to prepare for.
It is also necessary for me to have an invention that I can show off.
Only with these things can we truly enter the industrial revolution.
Old man, now you know why you took it out now, right? "
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him and smiled, "Everything you say is yours, and you took advantage of it anyway.
Didn't you just lead us on this path when you were on the mountain, and then you alone knew that you could say whatever you wanted, and we had to listen to you. "
After saying this, Princess Jiangdu next to her burst into laughter.
Because she knew the situation best, the old man thought they were very cunning at the time, but he didn't expect that they would be tricked by Chen Han.
Chen Han deliberately guided and opened everyone's eyes, and he could no longer take back his desire to develop.
That's why I had to fall into the trap set by Chen Han...
(End of this chapter)