The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 5 Social Contradictions in the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Jianxuan analyzed the importance of the American War for his emperor father in the hope that he would be aware of possible crises in the future.

Then make preparations in domestic and foreign affairs to avoid and contain possible risks.

Instead of preparing to take advantage of this war to gain benefits.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of ​​profiting from international wars, and Zhu Jianxuan himself strongly supports this approach.

But before you take action, you should also look at your own situation.

In Zhu Jianxuan's view, an unprecedented change is brewing in the Ming Dynasty.

If you act recklessly at this time, not only will you fail to gain overseas benefits, but you may also lose your life.

While reading official historical records and documents, Zhu Jianxuan was also using his previous life’s knowledge to analyze changes in social productivity and production relations.

He also learned about the current situation in the court and among the people through the servants his father arranged to read to him, the teachers who taught him reading and writing, and the various documents his father brought to him.

Zhu Jianxuan has a modern and mature method of analyzing social contradictions, and believes that he understands the current situation of the Ming Dynasty better than his father the emperor.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty is not short of money now.

Among the three kingdoms of Ming, Qing and Shun, the one with the strongest military might not be the Ming Dynasty, but it is undoubtedly the richest.

The core of the Ming Dynasty was the Jiangnan region, which was originally the richest place in China and was not seriously damaged during the chaotic times at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Chongzhen made no achievements in military and technology, he did achieve some success in business.

Perhaps for the convenience of his own life, or perhaps simply to make money, he brought out some practices that are well-known in modern society.

He took the initiative to maintain exchanges with European countries, turned the East-West Factory into the FBI and CIA, and also took several European women into his palace.

A modern patent law was promulgated, the National Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering were established, and a craftsman grading system was formulated.

This may be just copying based on experience, but it objectively improved the status of craftsmen and promoted the development of handicrafts and commerce.

Perhaps he felt that traditional Chinese characters were difficult to read, so he required the court to use "standard Chinese characters", which were commonly known as simplified characters in the past, in daily work.

Perhaps because he showed great love for handicrafts, some officials called the simplified characters he used "Gongshu".

He also said that in ancient times there was official script, which turned the circle into a square, and now there is Gongshu, which is simple to write, both of which are great events in culture and education.

He obviously did not like the Four Books and Five Classics, so the content of the imperial examination was changed to three categories: literature, mathematics, and natural history.

He disliked the original imperial examination model as being too complicated and the eight-legged essays difficult to read, so he changed it to a model similar to the college entrance examination and the civil service examination.

Hard pens, which are more convenient to carry and write with, were also promoted, and official documents could be written with hard pens.

He gradually lifted the maritime ban, set up customs to collect taxes in all ports, and allowed European merchants to trade directly in the Ming Dynasty.

These unsystematic reforms during the Chongzhen period further promoted the development of industry and commerce in Jiangnan.

Combined with the Chinese specialties of tea, silk, porcelain, which had a larger output, they continued to reap the wealth plundered by European nobles from all over the world.

Silver from all over the world was flowing into the Ming Dynasty.

This made the Ming Dynasty, which now only had half of the country, the richest country in the world.

Moreover, it is still far ahead of other countries and regions in terms of wealth.

The richest among them were the areas directly under the central court.

But wealth does not mean stability.

After moving south, the Ming Dynasty took a historical turn and restored the most traditional feudal system on a large scale.

This directly turned the Ming Dynasty into a mess.

Emperor Chongzhen and later emperors may have considered the plan of abolishing the feudal system after the situation stabilized.

However, it is easy to give away power and land, but it is extremely difficult to take them back.

The actual abolition of feudal fiefdoms must basically be achieved through war, which will at the very least cause local conflicts.

At that time, the world was divided into three parts. There was no armistice treaty signed between the Ming, Qing and Shun kingdoms, and the three parties were all vigilantly looking for each other's loopholes.

If the Ming Dynasty launched an internal war of unification, the Qing Dynasty would definitely take the opportunity to move south and attack the Huainan region.

The Qing Dynasty also understood that once the Ming Dynasty integrated its internal affairs, it would be in danger.

Therefore, as long as the Ming Dynasty has the tendency to reduce the power of the feudal lords, he will attack them, regardless of success or failure.

At the same time, they will also contact the local feudal nobles of the Ming Dynasty.

The newly formed feudal aristocracy within the Ming Dynasty also opposed the court's large-scale Northern Expedition and even semi-openly hindered it.

Because they felt that if the imperial court succeeded in its Northern Expedition and destroyed the Qing Dynasty, it would no longer have any worries and would most likely turn around and completely reduce the power of the feudal lords.

The imperial court was also not allowed to make formal peace with the Qing court, so some people took the initiative to create border conflicts.

Because they also felt that if the imperial court negotiated peace with the Qing Dynasty and temporarily stabilized the rear, it would be possible to free up some forces to gradually reduce the number of vassal states.

Emperor Chongzhen had limited ability and was mentally content with the status quo. Later emperors lacked prestige and were unable to change the situation.

At the same time, the orthodox royal family still exists, the land directly under the emperor is still the largest and richest, and the central court is still the strongest force.

Although Chongzhen was corrupt and his industrial and commercial reforms were unsystematic, they were ultimately in line with the historical trend and stimulated the power of the industrial and commercial groups.

The economic system of the Ming Dynasty central court was obviously better than that of the local separatist regions.

The court’s military pay was more sufficient and the army’s combat capability was relatively higher.

In addition, there were two external threats, Shun State and Qing State, so the local feudal nobles did not have the courage and motivation to rebel.

So this loose Ming Dynasty was able to survive in this way.

The Ming Dynasty's development of the Indochina Peninsula and Southeast Asia was also accomplished through cooperation between the emperor on behalf of the court and the feudal aristocracy.

The vast majority of land that was finally obtained was also distributed after discussions between the emperor and the feudal nobles.

The parts that should have belonged to the imperial court were not all placed under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court.

Instead, a large part of it was continued to be conferred on later royal descendants.

The feudal nobles strongly encouraged the royal family to continue to grant fiefs in the newly developed territories and promoted the feudal system to become a new tradition of the Ming Dynasty.

This was to prevent the central court from concentrating control over more land and population, and thus having the power to weaken the feudal lords.

The boundaries of the fiefdoms within the Ming Dynasty are now crisscrossed, nested, and intertwined, looking very similar to the Holy Roman Empire of the same period.

This extremely divided situation in the Ming Dynasty was also an important reason why the Three Kingdoms could continue to exist.

But this situation obviously cannot last forever.

Because the social structure of the Ming Dynasty has changed and it is no longer a traditional classical oriental empire.

Emperor Chongzhen rebuilt the Southern Ming court and ruled Nanjing for more than 40 years, making the encouragement of industry and commerce the basic national policy of the new Ming Dynasty.

Although the later Ming emperors did not have the understanding of Emperor Chongzhen, they had some tendency to go backwards in their thinking and policies.

However, the Chongzhen New System had lasted for forty years, a new group of vested interests had been formed, and the new system itself had become an established fact.

Even if a few radical ministers with conflicting interests were killed, it would not be possible to reverse the overall development of Ming Dynasty's industry and commerce and the overall improvement of the social status of craftsmen and merchants.

This state of the Ming Dynasty lasted for more than one hundred and twenty years.

According to the customary historical statements of previous lives, industry and commerce in the areas directly under the central court of the Ming Dynasty were highly developed at that time, and capitalist handicraft factories were everywhere.

The urban population may well have exceeded thirty percent.

The male literacy rate is over 70%, the female literacy rate is over 30%, and the total literacy rate is over 50%. Especially in major cities, the total literacy rate may exceed 70%, and men can basically understand simple notices.

The scale of the Ming Dynasty's craftsmen and merchants, including the workers, intellectuals, petty bourgeoisie, and national bourgeoisie often mentioned in previous history textbooks, had become very large at this time.

The absolute number and scale of craftsmen and merchants were certainly not as large as those of landlords and farmers.

But landowners and peasants were scattered across the countryside, while artisans and merchants were mostly concentrated in cities.

Cities are the core of the current Ming society.

Industrial and commercial groups have become able to dominate social order by controlling cities.

However, the Ming Dynasty at that time implemented a feudal system at the local level, which was very close to the "feudal system" in the concept of previous historical studies.

There were also many conservative landlords and scholars in the central court who advocated suppressing industry and commerce.

The group that occupies an absolute dominant position in the entire society and the court is still the traditional land aristocracy and scholar-official group.

Although Chongzhen improved the social status of the industrial and commercial groups, he was unable to weaken the traditional aristocratic groups, and Chongzhen himself was also a representative of the traditional aristocracy.

According to basic political logic, the social system must adapt to the economic base, otherwise serious social contradictions will arise.

If a group that should have become the main body of society is oppressed for a long time and cannot obtain its due status through legal means, it is likely to seize its due status through violent means.

That is, armed revolution.

Even if Zhu Jianxuan did not conduct direct social research, he could make judgments based on the historical and political knowledge he learned in his previous life:

The merchants and craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty must have deeply detested the attitudes of local feudal lords, land nobles, and conservative officials.

The feudal system led to different laws and tax rates in different regions, and the tax systems were bizarre and seriously affected business transactions.

The key point is that feudal lords, who are like local emperors, will most likely not strictly abide by the laws they set and will use their privileges to forcibly plunder the assets of businessmen.

The nobles and bureaucrats used their political privileges and huge social wealth to arbitrarily suppress ordinary businessmen in market competition.

A large number of craftsmen and merchants had to rely on traditional nobles and officials to survive.

If pure businessmen and craftsmen could find the opportunity, they would be happy to kill all these people.

This contradiction is already prevalent in today's Ming society.

However, the influence of the policy of encouraging industry and commerce left by Emperor Chongzhen still remains, and craftsmen and merchants have already gained equal status with farmers.

The Ming Dynasty was also able to fleece Europeans through high value-added porcelain, silk and tea.

Ordinary craftsmen and merchants were also able to share a small portion of the profits, and they were not forced into a situation where they had to rebel in order to survive.

Therefore, the current social status of the entire Ming Dynasty can still maintain relative stability temporarily.

But now the Ming Emperor is ready to intervene in the American war.

Fighting costs money.

Not to mention that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was so desperate that he was ready to fight in the American War, spending a lot of money and then raising taxes.

Even if the Ming Dynasty did not intervene in the American War, this war would definitely affect the Ming Dynasty.

Because the American War of Independence was not just an American war, but an anti-British war fought on a global scale.

France, Britain's century-old enemy on the European continent, and Spain and the Netherlands, whose maritime hegemony had been seized by Britain, united to strengthen the British.

In the original history, France, the United States, Spain and the Netherlands directly declared war on Britain.

They first sent troops to fight directly with the British army on the American mainland, and also attacked British trade lines around the world.

Russia, Denmark, Sweden and other countries declared armed neutrality. Although they did not directly fight Britain, they maintained trade relations with Britain's enemies.

The British would certainly not accept being beaten in vain and would certainly retaliate against the enemy's trade routes in kind.

Nowadays, the most important trade routes in the world are between Ming Dynasty and European and American countries. Britain, France and Spain are the most important trading partners of Ming Dynasty.

If the Three Kingdoms were to fight, it would definitely affect trade with the Ming Dynasty.

The current social stability of the Ming Dynasty is highly dependent on the profits from foreign trade, so there is no way for it to stay out of it.

Even if we survived the American War, there was still another hurdle ahead.

It is a coincidence that the years after the end of the American War of Independence happened to be a special solar activity cycle in history.

At that time, floods and droughts broke out simultaneously in China, Japan, France, Ireland and other places, lasting for five years.

In history, France was the unlucky country that suffered such a series of blows.

France suffered a crushing defeat in the Seven Years' War, suffered heavy losses in the American War of Independence, and suffered a series of natural disasters in the years after the war.

Louis XVI, who was driven crazy by poverty, was ready to increase taxes on the citizens. The citizens, who were already living in an extremely difficult situation, could not bear it, and eventually the French Revolution broke out.

Coupled with a series of wrong actions made by Louis XVI himself, he was eventually pushed to the guillotine by angry citizens.

The confused Louis XVI was a lesson for the Ming Emperor.

Even the situation in the Ming Dynasty would be worse.

The Ming Dynasty was more dependent on the global trade in luxury goods than France.

The American War of Independence and the French Revolution also triggered a wave of independence in Latin America.

Latin America is the world's most important silver producing area, and some of these silvers are the raw materials for Ming Dynasty's precious metal currency.

Silver is the lubricant that keeps the current commercial society of the Ming Dynasty running.

During the twenty years of the Latin American War of Independence, silver production in the Americas would basically stagnate, and the inflow of silver into the Ming Dynasty would definitely drop sharply.

This caused a silver shortage in the Qing Dynasty in the original history.

Historically, the Qing Dynasty was a feudal country in the agricultural era, and the social impact directly caused by the silver shortage was not particularly severe.

At this time, Ming society was highly commercialized and highly dependent on precious metal currency and foreign trade.

The cash shortage means massive deflation and a sharp drop in workers' income.

After the independence of Latin America, Spain, an important customer of the Ming Dynasty, became obsolete, and there was no more silver from the Americas coming to the Ming Dynasty for consumption.

It will also take time for Latin America to restore its own silver production after independence.

During this period in history, the Qing Dynasty actually had a net outflow of silver.

So, starting from the American War of Independence, troubles occurred one after another for the next half century.

Even if you have your own predictions and respond carefully, you may not be able to handle it properly.

If we let things take their course, we might end up on the road to the underworld shoulder to shoulder with Louis XVI.

People say that France is an old revolutionary base, but there were Chinese riots in China more than 2,000 years ago.

If King Li of Zhou and his son had not run fast, they would have been beaten to death on the spot.

Once a Ming Revolution similar to the French Revolution broke out, Zhu Jianxuan, as the youngest son of the old emperor or the younger brother of the new emperor, would definitely not have a good outcome.

So Zhu Jianxuan, who was less than five years old, couldn't help but start to worry about his fate.

His father, the emperor, was completely unaware of this, and the key point was that he did not take his advice and reminders to heart.

Zhu Jianxuan really felt a little disappointed with his friend.

(End of this chapter)