Chapter 296 All the people raise funds to develop billions of tons of iron ore!

  The reason is that the civilization trend of this continent is centralized and tends to be restrained.

  Therefore, the people on this continent try their best to plan food within themselves, and are unwilling to expand, especially after the benefits of expansion are less and less worth the risks of expansion.

  Landlords are more willing to squeeze more from their own tenants, and have no incentive to squeeze other natives. At most, they will unite with the natives to further squeeze their own tenants. After all, the ability of the surrounding natives to create wealth is actually not as good as their own serfs.

The common people are also digging food from the ground as much as possible. They really can't survive. They would rather rebel against the big family than go outside to grab food, because even if both are risking their lives, the benefits of taking the big family Far greater than the benefits of seizing the natives.

  Even if he had to go out, he still felt that it was more profitable to squeeze his own compatriots than to squeeze the natives.

  It can be said that the people on this land lack this kind of motivation from top to bottom.

  So, in order to transfer the internal crisis through external expansion, the only way is for the rulers of the imperial court to use their own power to forcibly organize the army, bureaucrats and even the people of the entire country to do so.

Just like when Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty wanted to force the people to build the Grand Canal, because the power structure was the emperor with the greatest power, even if many people were unwilling, they still built the Grand Canal, but in the historical period at that time, the price might be high. bigger.

  Tianqi and his minions also know that forcing the entire Ming Dynasty to do things against their own will will incur a great price, and it is likely that the country will perish faster.

   But the problem is that the Ming Dynasty has been in the country for more than 250 years, and when it is about to die, especially the catastrophe of these years, it is obviously going to die.

  So instead of lying flat and watching its demise, it is better to toss about it, even if it ends up being a tyrant in power and treacherous ministers full of infamy in later generations.

  For now, Tianqi and his minions are doing okay.

   First of all, under the instigation of Zhang Gui, the butterfly's wings, and Tianqi is a wise monarch who does not reject science and technology and even likes it very much.

As a result, the Ming court carried out iron-fisted reforms in the country, relying on some literati and military officials who had not completely given up their sense of social responsibility and loyalty, and repeatedly solved the problem of insufficient finances of the central court by overturning tables and tearing faces. .

   Then, the Ming court used a large number of refugees who would lose their farmland as a source of soldiers and labor to form an army directly under the court and an industrial base directly under the court.

  Thus, the Ming court had the strength to seize the land outside and distribute it to its own bankrupt peasants, and it also had the strength to force foreign barbarians and domestic dignitaries and bureaucrats to sacrifice their own interests.

  Turn back.

   Therefore, the current iron ore demand still needs to be solved by the imperial court. It is impossible to expect the Ming Dynasty private merchants to have strong strength and start mining outside.

  In fact, it is impossible for a centralized society like the Ming Dynasty to be a big merchant in the true sense.

  Because the real powerful merchants in Ming Dynasty are all powerful bureaucrats.

  The most powerful bureaucrat in Ming Dynasty is the emperor.

  In this era when I rule the world, if the Ming Dynasty wants to seize resources with external arms, it is natural that the emperor must order his court to carry out this.

The Li family of North Korea is no longer the Li family of the early Ming Dynasty, and Jiannu has recently begun to plunder North Korea to obtain resources to replenish signs. Therefore, in order not to offend Daming and hope that Daming will block the invasion of Jiannu for him, it is true. He took the initiative to return Xianzhou to Daming.

  After that, Daming officially began to send troops and officials to Maoshan, Xianzhou, in the name of the imperial court, to be responsible for mining.

  Of course, mining also requires a large number of civilians to work as miners, as well as the construction of roads for transporting ore, including the construction of some bridges.

  So, Daming Yousi also began to recruit a large number of mining craftsmen and civilians to prepare for mining.

  Da Ming has never lacked craftsmen in this area.

   You must know that there are three to five thousand workers in the Zunhua Iron Smelter alone. What's more, the Industrial Division itself has trained many mining workers.

   Therefore, when the emperor really made up his mind to go abroad to mine, the organized force was still very large.

  At least, in this era, any country in the world can be beaten.

  Because of this, for Daming, what is really lacking is not talents and human resources.

  In the final analysis, the Ming court still only needs to care about financial issues.

   Originally, outward expansion is a matter of defying the will of the whole people. If the wages are not paid enough, the result may be the same as Qin Shihuang's construction of the Great Wall and Sui Yang's construction of the Grand Canal, which will intensify public resentment.

   Therefore, the money must be sufficient.

   If you give enough money, you will create a prosperous world and build with one mind.

   If the money is not enough, it will be a waste of money, and the country will not be far away.

   It's just that once the money is sufficient, it means that the financial pressure is great.

  The existing national inventory of silver in the Ming court may not be able to withstand spending.

   On this day in October of the ninth year of Tianqi, the wind was strong.

  Zhang Gui and several other ministers of the Planning and Strategy Department were all sitting around a large copper stove to warm up at the request of Tianqi, and they were also talking about the financial expenditure involved in the mining of Maoshan Iron Mine.

Bi Ziyan, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, complained: "In recent years, it has been colder and earlier every year, and it is already like the mid-winter in October, and many rivers in the south are frozen, so the cost of transporting grain is greater than in previous years. !"

   "The price of carbon remains high!"

"So, basically, people outside the pass want to enter the pass, and very few want to leave the pass. If you want to let mining workers willingly go to Maoshan and other desolate and desolate places to mine and transport ore for the imperial court, you must give enough money. The money is not a small amount, and it must be twice as much as the craftsmen in the customs. The key point is that there are no crowded markets in those places. The court not only has to hire people at high prices, but also has to buy a lot of materials for people and animals. Initial calculations, The money spent is not a small amount, unless the iron ore is large enough, it will easily consume the power of the people and the country."

   "Mausan's iron mines must be big enough, so don't worry about it."

  Zhang Gui replied first.

   "As for the money."

As Zhang Gui said, Zhizhu was holding the ground and smiled at Tianqi, who was sitting on the side of the copper stove, and said: "Your Majesty, I think that it is actually possible to raise money from the people of the world by issuing Maoshan Iron Mine shares. It is not necessarily just for letting The state treasury pays out money!"

Zhang Gui went on to add the reason: "In this way, it can also avoid that private money can only be saved or used to lend to poor people or even annexation of fields. And the private money can be used for national construction, and it can also allow them to rely on The imperial court gets a share of the profits, so perhaps the voices of the people opposing the mining can be muted.”

As far as Zhang Gui knows, Daming is still a self-sufficient natural economy and society, so there are not many channels for investment and profit. After most people have money, they can only use the money to buy land or borrow money. Few There are business investments.

   In Zhang Gui’s opinion, if people’s money can be attracted to the business of grabbing resources from the outside world, it may be possible to break the previous pattern in which people in the Ming Dynasty could only buy land or borrow money to exploit the people after they had money.

Because the Industrial Division is already operating in this way, Tianqi is no stranger to this method of splitting shares to absorb funds to operate the industry, so he nodded and said: "This is a way, and I don't intend to be rich alone, let alone, we The goal of reform and reform is to enrich the country and benefit the people, and now doing so can both enrich the country and benefit the people, which is a good thing.”

  So, after Tianqi said, he asked the Ministry of Households to follow Zhang Gui's wishes.

Issuing stocks was not difficult for the Ming Dynasty. First of all, the printing technology of the Ming Dynasty was already very advanced. For example, Chu Zhi in Chengdu was able to print banknotes such as Jiaozi very well in the Song Dynasty. Even later, the Ming Dynasty also had its own banknotes. It is not difficult to produce high-quality stocks that are difficult to counterfeit.

  The difficulty is to convince the subjects of Ming Dynasty that the imperial court is going to lead them to get rich together.

   Zhang Gui believed in whether the amount of iron ore in Maoshan was worth Ming's efforts to mine.

Because not to mention that the people he sent have confirmed that there are rich iron ore reserves there, just based on some of the knowledge he has learned in later generations, he knows that the Maoshan Iron Mine alone has 1.5 billion tons of high-quality iron ore mined cheaply. Iron ore reached five billion tons! It is more than enough to meet Daming's current iron ore demand.

   It’s just that not everyone believes in Zhang Gui, after all, it involves money.

  So, on the first day of the official stock issuance, except for Zhang Gui who bought the stocks with the 3 million taels of silver he had at home, there was almost no one who came to the household department to buy Maoshan Iron Mine stocks.

  Zhang Gui then asked Bi Ziyan, the dejected Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs: "At present, is it really the only one who buys it?"

  Bi Ziyan nodded.

  Zhang Gui thought for a while and said, "Okay, I'll add another two million taels to empty out the family. I originally planned to keep a low profile and leave some benefits for everyone."

  Bi Ziyan was taken aback.

   "Your Majesty is here!"

   But at this time, Tianqi came from the outside.

  (end of this chapter)