The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 196 King Wu’s Attitude
Old Summer Palace, Kyushu Qingyan.

When Duan Yucai, Fei Chun and Cao Zhendong arrived, Zhu Jianxuan's disciple Wang Lai was already waiting there.

The four of them saluted respectfully. After Zhu Jianxuan asked them to sit down, he started to arrange the work:
"I called you here to organize a river control headquarters to be responsible for the comprehensive management of the Yellow River and Huai River basins.

“According to historical experience and natural laws, the lower reaches of the Yellow River cannot always stay in one place.

"If there were no human intervention, the Yellow River in its natural state would have swung back and forth across the entire North China Plain.

“Most of the central part of the North China Plain should be accumulated by silt from the Yellow River.

"But we live and thrive on the plains, and we cannot allow the Yellow River to continue to swing freely back and forth; we must keep it within a relatively fixed range.

“So we built the Yellow River levee and required the Yellow River to flow within this range.

"The Yellow River's silt will also accumulate within this range, causing the riverbed of the Yellow River to rise higher and higher.

“In order to control the Yellow River, we can only build dams higher and higher.

“Until our ability to build dams reaches its limit and we can no longer raise them, the Yellow River will continue to burst uncontrollably and even change its course.

"Based on historical experience, we may have reached a new limit after struggling with the Yellow River for more than 600 years in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, that is, in the channel of the ancient Huai River.

“So I ask you to go and investigate on the ground to confirm whether this situation is true and urgent.

"Then come up with a feasible adjustment plan.

“We will strive to prevent the Yellow River from bursting its banks within 500 years after the adjustments, and restore the Huaihe River basin to the stability of the Tang and Song dynasties as much as possible.

“Large-scale exploration requires sufficient manpower, large-scale activities, and a large amount of capital.

“So both the military and the civilian side need to give support.

“So I gathered you together and formed a special river management command.

"Wang Lai, you don't have to do it alone. Go find a few of your fellow apprentices to come together and take charge of the specific exploration and plan.

"Lao Cao, Mr. Fei, Mr. Duan, you are responsible for providing support."

River management was a top priority for the Central Plains court, and Zhu Jianxuan specially dispatched three people to participate. They did not think there was anything wrong with it, but instead thought it was very normal.

Cao Zhendong, Fei Chun, and Duan Yucai immediately bowed and agreed again:

"I obey your orders."

Wang Lai asked a little more:
"Teacher, do you mean to artificially change the course of the Yellow River in advance? Where should it be changed to? Do you have any requirements?"

Zhu Jianxuan gave a direct affirmative answer:
“Yes, if necessary, we can prepare for the artificial diversion.

“As for whether to change the route and where to change it, make the final decision after you have completed the overall survey of the Yellow River and Huai River basins.

"We must strive to be as reasonable as possible and as stable as possible for the long term.

“There is no need to rush, we can prepare and manage for the next 20 or 30 years.

"Before that, I will organize craftsmen to develop special machinery and equipment to cooperate with the Yellow River and Huai River management projects.

“After the spring of next year, we will select a location around Shuntian Prefecture to build a new laboratory.

“Move some of the Australian craftsmen here.”

Zhu Jianxuan felt that it would be more appropriate to go through Hebei and then Tianjin, but he had not actually conducted any exploration, so he did not rashly make such a definite request.

Wang Lai also accepted the offer:

"The students understand and will obey your orders."

Zhu Jianxuan turned to Fei Chun:
"How is the situation in the south? Is the area around Yingtian Prefecture relatively stable now?

"The weather has been good this year. Have the disaster victims been relocated to Chongming Island?"

Fei Chun said rather tangledly:

"Your Majesty, the situation in the south is a bit complicated now.

“The victims were indeed relocated to Chongming Island, but the conflicts between the craftsmen and their employers remained acute.

“When the disaster victims were around the city, the craftsmen did not dare to gather together to take a break. Once they stopped working, the employers could easily find the disaster victims to fill the gap.

“Now that the disaster victims have been sent away by the imperial court, people from all walks of life have begun to call for a halt, asking their employers to increase their wages.

"So the host began to complain to the court again, saying that they shouldn't have sent all the victims away, and asked the court to release them back.

“The craftsmen called Xie and their bosses had quarreled with each other many times, and more than once they had led to fights.

“The employers organized themselves into trade associations to fight against these workers who were calling for a break.

“The workers themselves are beginning to unite among themselves…”

"Qi Xing" and "Jiao Xie" are the names given to tenants' rent resistance and craftsmen's strikes in traditional Chinese culture.

Zhu Jianxuan was a little surprised, but at the same time he felt it seemed very reasonable.

Yingtian Prefecture and its surrounding areas are the most industrially and commercially developed places in the world, and have now entered the industrial age.

There are probably millions of workers living here.

Social existence determines social consciousness. Workers, as a group, have formed a large enough scale and naturally begin to influence social trends.

The Jiangnan region now may be more dangerous than you think.

Zhu Jianxuan asked worriedly:
"Did the court intervene in the end? And how did it intervene?"

Fei Chun looked a little confused and said:

"Your Majesty has ordered the Governor's Office to send troops into the city. If they see any signs of a fight, they will be on guard in the streets, arresting those who start fights and those who take advantage of the opportunity to steal.

"As long as the workers and employers who asked for a break did not engage in direct fighting, the court would not care what they did."

Zhu Jianxuan was a little surprised. When he imagined this scene in his mind, it felt similar to the strikes and marches in Europe in his previous life.

Official police and soldiers watched as various groups confronted each other in the streets:

"Didn't the imperial court come forward to coordinate and work out a compromise plan that both sides can accept?"

Fei Chun shook his head directly:

"No, as long as the two sides don't fight in the streets, the court will not directly intervene."

Zhu Jianxuan fell silent in the face of this affirmative answer.

Historically, officials in Suzhou and other Jiangnan regions during the Qing Dynasty would take the initiative to mediate conflicts between craftsmen and their employers, and negotiate to establish compromise labor prices and conditions.

The current Ming Dynasty no longer interferes in this matter.

Instead, just like in European and American countries in the past, they simply watched the confrontation between workers and employers and let them negotiate and compromise on their own.

Is it because the social conditions in the Ming Dynasty have completely changed?

The ruling basis of the traditional central empire was landlords, and officials were also mainly landlords.

Therefore, in the face of conflicts between merchants and workers, the court and officials usually adopt a mediating attitude. The current Ming Dynasty court is no longer the traditional central imperial court in history, and there are a large number of people from the industrial and commercial groups in it.

In particular, the merchant group became increasingly wealthy, and more and more of them took the imperial examinations and served as officials.

The court's attitude naturally became more and more inclined towards businessmen.

The emperor himself is actually a big capitalist, and it is very unlikely that he would stand on the side of the workers.

To the extent that even the traditional central imperial court's attitude of mediating has disappeared.

Now the craftsmen and their employers have begun to engage in cold violence in confrontation. If an economic crisis really breaks out in the future, the conflict will be further intensified.

It is even possible to give birth to more advanced modern thoughts directly in the local area.

It doesn’t mean that the Ming Dynasty will definitely not survive the economic crisis, but the economic crisis will definitely slow down the growth of productivity.

At the same time, when new ideas emerge, various new troubles will begin to arise.

If possible, it is better to avoid it as much as possible from the beginning and reduce the environment and opportunities for the breeding of such thoughts.

The key point is that the court can be dominated by professional bureaucrats and professional craftsmen can be allowed to participate in politics, but businessmen must never be allowed to completely control the government.

According to the later experience of Europe and the United States, when professional businessmen control a country's court, the entire country will not only become profit-driven, but more importantly, extremely short-sighted.

Projects that do not show immediate returns in the short term will find it difficult to gain approval and be implemented.

Even if the expected returns can be seen, the payback period is relatively long and the process may be stuck at various stages for many years.

Even if it has been stuck for many years, it is still good if it is finally implemented.

The most frightening thing is that you spend a lot of money, hire a lot of people, study the feasibility of a project for many years, and finally get a result that it is not feasible.

Because there are many industries in industry and commerce, businessmen from different industries have different interests, and there will be conflicts and contradictions between them.

When most of the officials in a court are representatives of businessmen, their government affairs involving multiple industries may lead to long-term and intense conflicts.

If the representatives of different groups cannot reach a compromise, even if something is beneficial to the country as a whole, it will most likely not be accomplished.

Professional bureaucrats may be lazy or corrupt, but their attitude towards different industries is relatively fair.

Usually, people from different industries will not fight each other to the point of bloodshed over conflicts.

After thinking for a long time, Zhu Jianxuan said:

"I will write another suggestion. Mr. Fei, please go to Yingtian Prefecture again and deliver it to His Majesty the Emperor."

Fei Chun subconsciously said:

"I obey your command, but Your Majesty... Your Majesty has summoned you to Yingtian Prefecture..."

Zhu Jianxuan said directly:

"I'd better not go. Given the current situation, I can't go to Yingtian Prefecture without enough military escort.

"But if I bring a large number of guards to Yingtian Prefecture, all kinds of rumors may arise, and the situation in Jiangnan may become tense."

Fei Chun and the other two were a little confused after hearing this. They didn't really understand what their king's attitude was, and they didn't know how to respond to it.

We cannot say "I have a clear conscience", as that would be equivalent to advising the king not to have any extra thoughts. Naturally, everyone hopes that the king has some thoughts.

Nor could we directly advise “not to care about the rumors”, as that would be tantamount to saying that we could destroy the king’s reputation.

The three of them were extremely conflicted and wanted Zhu Jianxuan to give an accurate attitude.

But no one dared to ask too directly.

Zhu Jianxuan's position in the State of Wu was not that of a middleman nominated by various forces, but that of the founder of the State of Wu.

From formulating the direction of exploration and development, to directly arranging industrial construction plans, to military reorganization and training, all were led and completed by Zhu Jianxuan personally.

No one in any aspect, no matter how well-known or respected they were in Wu, could match the reputation and prestige of this great king.

Similar to a real founding monarch.

For such a leader, there is no need for him to wear a yellow robe.

Even if they do, it has to be the generals and merchants from the Ming Dynasty who do it, to show that they are clients of His Majesty the King of Wu.

These Wu generals including Cao Zhendong, as the direct forces of the King of Wu, were the key bargaining chips for the King of Wu to compromise with the local forces of the Ming Dynasty and gain their recognition.

If these people of theirs were to compromise with the local forces of the Ming Dynasty alone, it would even be considered a betrayal in the eyes of the king.

So Cao Zhendong and others are feeling very uncomfortable now.

After a few seconds of silence, Cao Zhendong, as a military commander, took advantage of his position and clasped his fists towards Zhu Jianxuan and said:
"I will follow you till death, even if it means my death. Please tell me what we should do."

Cao Zhendong is actually not stupid, but as a military general he can act stupid and ask directly.

It can be considered a stereotype, but it is also an advantage at certain times.

Zhu Jianxuan sighed softly. Now that the situation had come to this point, he had to make the final arrangements.

Zhu Jianxuan himself had little confidence that he could persuade his father and change the court's stance from leaning towards merchants back to a neutral attitude.

Moreover, his father is already seventy years old this year. If his eldest brother becomes the emperor in the future, he will have even less say.

If he wanted the Ming court to be planned and reformed according to his own ideas, he had to take the last step himself.

After a few seconds of silence, Zhu Jianxuan sighed and spoke:

"The construction of Wu State is largely due to my brother's care. I don't want to conflict with my brother, but in the current situation... maybe I shouldn't have asked for the title of King of Wu..."

When Fei Chun, Cao Zhendong and Duan Yucai heard this, they all felt grateful that the king had finally shown his attitude.

But what this attitude was made the three of them feel conflicted and speculative.

After hearing the final sentiment about the title of King Wu, Duan Yucai made a tentative guess:
"Your Majesty's wisdom is known to the world, and your achievements in the Northern Expedition are as great as the creation of the country. Your Highness the Crown Prince has always been close to Your Majesty, and he will definitely not conflict with Your Majesty. He should follow the example of Wu Taibo and maintain the brotherhood."

Zhu Jianxuan did not respond directly, but followed up with another sentence with emotion:
"That's just a legend, right?"

Fei Chun and the other two immediately breathed a sigh of relief:

"Wu Taibo was a sage in the pre-Qin period. He left his country and laid the foundation for the Zhou Dynasty, which lasted for 800 years."

Legend has it that Wu Taibo was Ji Chang's uncle and should have inherited the throne of Zhou.

However, Wu Taibo felt that his younger brother Jili and his nephew Jichang were more wise.

So he took the initiative to leave Xiqi and went to the south of the Yangtze River to open up wasteland and establish his own country, becoming the ancestor of the Wu State in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Jili and his son Ji Chang established the Zhou Dynasty.

This legend is not necessarily true, and there may be various unknown hidden secrets behind it.

But this matter is widely known, and it can be used to express attitudes and positions politically and can be used as a strategy for political struggle.

Although it is certainly not easy to ask the prince to leave the country and give up the throne, at least the king has shown his attitude and we can work towards this direction.

(End of this chapter)