Chapter 17 The Origin of Practicalism

To Hu Chuyuan's surprise, Zuo Zongtang did not scold him for his wild words.

After a while, Zuo Zongtang gradually calmed down his anger and asked Hu Chuyuan very calmly, "Do you have a good way?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "Then we need to solve the root of the problem."

"Oh?" Zuo Zongtang couldn't help but be a little curious and asked, "Then how do you think we should solve it?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "It's easy to say, but difficult to do. Today, there are 40,000 people in the world, and there are at least 350 million farmers. The rest are merchants, craftsmen, officials and soldiers. If you want to improve the national situation, you have to make these 350 million farmers rich. For example, introduce good seeds, promote new cotton, promote new mulberry new tea, repair reservoirs, and open channels. When they become rich, the vendors will naturally become richer. The court does not need to raise taxes, and taxes are also available.

Zuo Zongtang is inevitably a little disdainful, because he has heard similar words thousands of times and said, "It's really easy to say, but difficult to do."

Hu Chuyuan said, "In fact, it may not be so difficult. I have told Zhongtang before that when the profit of Jiangnan Commercial Bank is stable, I will build a large number of agricultural schools to cultivate talents who are proficient in agriculture and mulberry, and then build a Jiangnan agricultural cooperative around the two industries in the five provinces of Jiangnan to provide small amounts of money to farmers in the five provinces. Low-interest loans encourage them to buy new seeds and farm diligently. If the imperial court has no money to invest in a place, then the Jiangnan Commercial Bank will lend money to the government offices to build water conservancy, build canals and roads, and then repair reservoirs. When it is dry, it will release water, and when it will store water when it is floods, as short as three or four years, or as long as ten years. The five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River will definitely change their appearance. The tax will be more than twice as in previous years. At that time, will it still need to increase additional taxes?

Zuo Zongtang did hear this once, but at that time, he thought that Hu Chuyuan was just a temporary idea. Even if he invested, it would be a very limited amount of money.

Now that he listens to it again, he knows that Hu Chuyuan has long been confident. Jiangnan Commercial Bank is just the first step to save the country, and there are more plans after that.

Thinking of this, Zuo Zongtang couldn't help claping and admiring: "So that's it... Wizards can come out easily. This is the great blessing of the world!"

Wizards can come out lightly, which is a great blessing in the world!

Anyone will be very excited to get such praise from Zuo Zongtang.

Hu Chuyuan was also very happy. He smiled and continued with Zuo Zongtang, "Zhongtang, although my plan is good, I can only save the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. In addition, I still need the full support of Zhongtang and Lord He."

Zuo Zongtang nods and said, "You don't have to worry about this. As long as you really want to strengthen your national strength, I can gradually expand the influence of Jiangnan Commercial Bank to other provinces. With your talent, it's a pity to just run a business. At present, you should work hard to run the Jiangnan business first and do the things you promised. When your worry period is over, I will try my best to recommend you to the court.

Hu Chuyuan arched his hand and said with a smile, "Thank you, Zhongtang!"

Zuo Zongtang said, "I see what you have learned, which is far from the knowledge of history. You might as well tell me where you learned these ideas. When I return to Jiangning, I can also study them by myself in my spare time."

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and said, "Half of it is learned from reading, and the other half is what he thinks. If the middle hall also needs to read a few strange books, then I will recommend two!"

Zuo Zongtang asked curiously, "Which two books?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "The Wealthy Country by the British Adam Smith, and the War by the German Clausews. There is no translation of these two books in China, only the original text, or both in English. Zhongtang can find a few people who are proficient in English and German to translate into Chinese.

Zuo Zongtang was skeptical and asked, "Do you think these two books have advantages over the Analects of Confucius?"

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and said, "It can't be compared like this. Although the two books I recommend are foreign books, they are very practical and simpler. In addition, where were foreigners and steam engines when the Analects of Confucius came out? The times are always changing. If you can strengthen the country by keeping the scriptures and history, how can the imperial court say this?

Zuo Zongtang is dumb.

After thinking about it, he said, "I'm going to leave tomorrow. It's rare to study tonight, and there's nothing to do. Just talk to me casually about the truth in the two books, so that I don't go back and can't understand it, but no one can ask!"

"It's good!"

Hu Chuyuan nodded, starting with the Theory of Rich Country.

When he was studying at Yinghua College in Shanghai, he was really idle. He really took out the English version of these two books and read them several times, which not only exercised his English reading ability, but also increased his knowledge.

He picked out some basic economic principles in the Theory of Rich Country and talked with Zuo Zong, which often went beyond the scope of The Theory of Rich Country.

His economic theory is very simple. If you want the country to become rich, first of all, there must be capital growth and inflow. The export of tea and raw silk are the most important undertakings for China at present. Not only should we not collect heavy taxes, but we should collect low taxes, because keeping them is to ensure the continuous inflow of silver.

Hu Chuyuan's thinking is very clear. Porcelain, tea and raw silk are the three world-class industries that Chinese people are best at. If you can't even do what you are good at, how can you do what you are not good at? Even if you make any achievements, it is not very useful.

Therefore, if you want to really save China, you must first make full efforts in these three major industries.

Continue to stabilize the current scale of silver inflow, domestic capital will be more abundant, the market will expand, and naturally there will be conditions to invest in the machinery industry.

China's current situation is different. The second consideration is not to invest in foreign affairs, but how to convert the continuous inflow of silver into national taxes and income. The state's taxes cannot be directly given to the imperial court and try to stay in the hands of governors everywhere to buy arms and train troops.

Only when these two problems are solved can China have room to consider the problem of national industry.

Even if we start to consider national industry, we should not give priority to light industry. China's situation is still too unique, and we must first develop military industry step by step.

Silk reeling factory, silk dyeing factory, tea factory, cotton yarn factory, textile factory, flour factory, sugar factory, paper factory... These can be done, but you can't be in a hurry.

Ethnic industry is not so well developed. China has a population of 400 million, but the 350 million people are low-income households with no purchasing power, and the purchasing power of the remaining 50 million people is also limited.

Therefore, there is still a long way to go to cultivate the market.

On the contrary, the military industry has a sufficient market space. It is easier to develop the military industry than light industry. The key is how to do it... He also has sufficient ideas and methods in his heart.

After listening to Hu Chuyuan's words in such detail, Zuo Zongtang suddenly seemed to have found an answer in his heart. He couldn't help sighing with Hu Chuyuan: "Many times, I am also frustrated. At present, I just want to stabilize the game of Xiangjun's chess, and I don't think much about the rest. Now it seems that everything is still saved.

After a pause, he said to Hu Chuyuan, "Western learning is for use, middle school is for the body... I'm afraid it's a fallacy!"

Hu Chuyuan did not consider this problem.

As far as he is concerned, it is not appropriate to fully respect Western studies unilaterally. After all, Chinese people are Chinese, and thousands of years of traditions have been lost. What are Chinese people?

He thought for a while and said to Zuo Zongtang, "There is a person in the West who said that all unreasonable things should obey him and freely control all unreasonable things according to his own rules. This is the ultimate goal of human beings. I think this sentence is not only applicable to everyone, but also to the country and race. The so-called rational surnames and unreasonable surnames only exist in our deep-rooted understanding, just as we think that foreigners are unreasonable surnames, while foreigners think that we are unreasonable surnames. We want foreigners to obey us, and foreigners want us to obey them.

"You mean...?" Zuo Zongtang couldn't accept such words for a while. He was constrained by the times, and even people like him could not fully understand these words.

Hu Chuyuan replied casually, "In fact, the 'middle school' we insist on is the reason why we refuse to tolerate other doctrines. The so-called 'middle school for the body and Western learning for the use' itself is a stubborn division and a kind of discrimination against other ethnic groups. I think that although foreigners are different from us, they are also human beings. They are the same as the previous Huns.

"Hmm...!" Zuo Zongtang was unwilling to admit it.

After a little thought, he and Hu Chuyuan asked, "What do you think the current study of governing the country should look like?"

Hu Chuyuan thought for a moment and said, "It's always the hard truth to make money. With money, we can at least protect our family and the country. In addition, take out the useful things, and put the useless things aside for the time being without arguing!"

Zuo Zongtang suddenly had an epiphany.

In the previous sentence, everyone knows it, just do it and don't say it.

The following sentence seems to be worth pondering.

Zuo Zongtang silently repeated the second half of the sentence in his heart, thought about it left and right, and then whispered, "Put aside the dispute for the time being and use it as useful!"

Hu Chuyuan said, "Yes, that's it!"

"Yes, put aside the dispute for the time being and use it as much as you can!"

Zuo Zongtang couldn't help repeating it again. At this moment, he finally found the answer to save the country from Hu Chuyuan. He also sighed again in his heart: How can the wizard come out lightly? This is the great blessing of the world!

He thought that Hu Chuyuan, a child, only used to run business, raise food and salary for the Xiang army, and prepare foreign affairs for the two rivers... I'm afraid it's a waste. The talent of governing the country is in front of him, and the people who can inherit my career are not there? In the past, it was said that Lin Zexu was old. He wanted to calm down the western frontier without time, so he entrusted the matter of the western frontier to me. Now I am also old. If I want to save the country, there is no time. I can entrust the national affairs to him.

He didn't say this. He still needs to take a look.

The affairs of the country are so important, how can it be a joke?

A person who can speak is not necessarily a person who can do it, and a person who can do it may not be a person who can speak.

He has to take a look again.

The two talked all night, and the sky was getting brighter.

Zuo Zongtang is already a 66-year-old man. After a long time on the battlefield, he can't stand the sleepiness of the night. But at this time, he doesn't know where to pour out endless enthusiasm and energy to support him, so that he no longer knows that he is tired.

When Hu Chuyuan stopped talking, his heart had already been bright.

He stood up slowly, walked to the door, opened the door, and let the sun shine into the room, shining on his body and shoulders.

Looking at the scenery outside the door, he turned around and said to Hu Chuyuan, "Chu Yuan, your talent is ten times better than me, and you were born at the right time. The future is unlimited."

Hu Chuyuan said, "The middle hall is praised!"

Zuo Zongtang shook his head solemnly and said, "No, everything I said is true. Unfortunately, I am old after all and can't last long, but I no longer feel sad and lonely, because I know that there are wizards like you in the country. I don't have much time. In this little time left, I will still do my best to do a few more big things, hoping to help you.

Hu Chuyuan said, "Lord Zhongtang must live a long life of 100 years. Don't worry. I just hope that the middle hall will not worry too much. Everything will let nature take its course. The country cannot be prosperous forever, nor can it be defeated forever. Thirty years of Hedong and thirty years of Hexi.

Zuo Zongtang nod silently and said, "This is destiny, but... we should also do our best. I heard what you wanted to say and I remembered it. Now, I can leave without hesitation. With your talent, I don't have to worry too much at all.

Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything. Now that he thinks about it, he feels quite bored.

Even if he said this to Zuo Zongtang, how much does it mean?

Even if Zuo Zongtang is willing to accept some of the ideas, or has to accept them, what about others?

Even opium needs to be planted in a large area. What's the point of a country with the spirit of domestic opium?

Zuo Zongtang is indeed a good person, and now he is also very beautiful.

But he is not a great man.

He is just one of the most powerful feudal officials in this era.

Hu Chuyuan has no hope for Zuo Zongtang or for all the officials and feudal officials of the whole Qing Dynasty.

It's always hard to make money!

As long as we can keep China's silk industry and tea industry, stabilize the two basic disks of China's economy, and then find a way to defeat Japan, when the revolutionary army comes, what we will get will not be a poor China.

He thought that if he could do this, he would win.

He won in his life.

The revolution is always very happy. Unfortunately, the revolutionary cause and the stabilization of China's economic fundamentals are very conflicting, especially the too urgent revolution. If a big war is launched in the south of the Yangtze River, will there still be a chance to develop China's agriculture and maintain the economy of raw silk and tea?

Hu Chuyuan couldn't tell whether he was a revolutionary talent or not, but he knew that he must be a master of business.

He would rather use the power of capitalism to attack the shackles of feudal society and the Manchu Qing regime, rather than pinning his hopes on the revolutionary organizational ability that he did not know.

He firmly believes that as long as China continues to be rich and strong and education is popularized, the spirit of nationalism and the free thought of modern capitalism will definitely take root in this land, and the collapse of feudalism and the Manchu Qing regime will be a matter of time.

Of course, a very important key is not to let the Qing Dynasty master enough military strength.

Chinese people are bold and timid. The military power of the dictatorship is too strong... It's definitely not a good thing.

He is the largest capitalist in the world. China is rich and strong, the revolution is successful, and he has become a world power...!!

For Hu Chuyuan, of course, this is the best result and what he wants most. As for whether to develop new forces overseas... He hasn't figured it out yet, and he doesn't have this opportunity at present.