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, people in this continent tried their best to plan food within themselves, and were unwilling to expand, especially after the benefits of expansion became less and less worth the risks brought about by 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 finally 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 motivation from top to bottom.

Therefore, in order to transfer the internal crisis through external expansion, the only way is for the rulers of the 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.

Tian Qi and his minions also know that forcing the entire Ming Dynasty to do things against their 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 catastrophes in these years, it is obviously going to die.

So instead of lying flat and watching it perish, 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.

As a result, the Ming court had the strength to seize outside land 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 the words back.

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

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

Because the really powerful merchants in Ming Dynasty are all rich and powerful bureaucrats.

And the most powerful bureaucrat in Ming Dynasty is the emperor.

In this era when we 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 in Xianzhou to be responsible for mining in the name of the imperial court.

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.

Therefore, Daming Yousi also began to recruit a large number of mining artisans and civilian husbands to prepare for mining.

Daming has never lacked craftsmen in this area.

You must know that there are three to five thousand workers in the Zunhua Iron Smelter alone, not to mention that 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 power was still very large.

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

It is precisely because of this that 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 was something that violated the will of the whole people. If the wages were not paid enough, the result might be the same as Qin Shihuang's construction of the Great Wall and Sui Yang's construction of the Grand Canal, aggravating public grievances.

Therefore, enough money must be given.

If enough money is given, it is to create a prosperous world, and everyone will work together to build.

If the money is not enough, it will waste the people and waste 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 very high.

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.

At the request of Tianqi, Zhang Gui and several other ministers of the Planning Department sat together around a large copper stove to warm up the fire, and they were also talking about the next financial expenditure involved in mining 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 mine must be big enough, Da Sinong can rest assured."

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 view, if people's money can be attracted to the business of grabbing resources from outside, it may be possible to break the previous pattern of Ming people who can only buy land or borrow money to exploit the people after they have 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.”

Therefore, 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 difficult thing 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.

Therefore, on the first day when the stock was officially issued, except for Zhang Gui who bought the stock with the three million taels of silver he had at home, there was almost no one who came to the household department to buy the stock of Maoshan Iron Ore.

Zhang Gui then asked Bi Ziyan, the dejected Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, "Is it true that the prince of the country is buying it at present?"

Bi Ziyan nodded.

Zhang Gui thought for a while and said, "Okay then, 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.

"His Majesty is here!"

But at this time, Tianqi came from the outside.