Chapter 54: Rich Country Strategy

  Rich Country Strategy

  Before long, Li Jingfang estimated that Fu Bo had prepared the seats and suggested going to eat. The three of them moved to the main hall of the inn.

  It's late at night and there is no one around; the inn has already closed down.

  The lobby of the inn was a simple wooden open space, about the size of two classrooms. Thanks to the sloping roof of traditional Chinese architecture, the ceiling was high and not stuffy. There were no chandeliers at that time, so the owner of the inn lit eight arm-thick candles according to Li's family requirements. The color of the candles was yellowish, as if they had been placed for a long time. Due to the roughness of the floor and walls, the lighting was not very good, so the lobby still looked a bit dark.

  Li Jingfang smiled and said, "Brother Yao, don't despise this humble place. When we arrive at Jinan Prefecture, I will definitely find the largest restaurant there to treat you to a good meal."

  Yao Feng glanced at the table and smiled: "Isn't this great? A luxurious place doesn't necessarily mean good taste. This table has braised chicken, crispy pork, and even four small stir-fries. And look, there's also a winter melon and shrimp skin soup that looks so refreshing! Oh my, I'm drooling!"

  Li Jingfang smiled and said: "I've made a fool of myself in front of Brother Yao."

  Yao Feng saw Li Jingyu also came to eat with a pretentious air, wearing a small gourd hat. The four of them bowed and humbly took their seats, first sharing a cup as usual.

  Li Jingfang put down the cup and said to Yao Fang: "Brother Yao, the book you sent us is really eye-opening! We spent an entire afternoon reading it. The printing technology of those foreigners has reached such a high level that they can actually shrink colorful paintings onto paper! The painter your family hired is also very skilled, the colors are so vivid and lifelike, just like real objects. The characters seem to be able to walk out of the picture."

  Li Deshu shouted from the side: "The paper is also good, it's a pleasure to see that it's smooth and shiny, not a single hair, I've never seen such paper before. Yao brother, this kind of paper must be incredibly expensive?"

  Yao Fang smiled and boasted, "That's called copperplate paper, which is specially used for copperplate printing. For that kind of book, a single copy uses copperplate paper worth over 40 pounds, about two hundred taels of silver."

  "As for printing, our Qing Dynasty uses two methods: woodblock printing and movable type printing. The printed books are naturally not as good as copperplate printing. The printing cost of a book is about 20 pounds, which is roughly equivalent to one hundred taels of silver."

  Yao Fan's exaggerated remarks made the three of them stare in shock, and for a moment they didn't know how to respond.

  Li Jingfang exclaimed: "In that case, a set of three books would cost 1,000 taels! Brother Yao gave us five sets of books, which is worth 5,000 taels!"

  Yao Feng rolled up his sleeves, his left hand pressing down on the plate of chicken thighs on the table, and with a great deal of effort, he pulled off a leg. His expression unchanged, he said: "After all, it's printed at home, not like I'm paying for it myself. My old man loves writing books and compiling books, no matter how much money it costs, he's willing to spend it. What's the cost of printing? The blood, sweat, and tears that go into these books, as well as the human labor and material resources, are worth far more than a few thousand taels."

  Yao Fan thought that in the Qing dynasty, this kind of strict social hierarchy and etiquette required him to put on a good show if he wanted those high-ranking officials to look up to him. Since it was not possible for him to pull out some big shot from the Qing dynasty as his backing, he could only resort to bragging about his family's wealth and culture to deceive others.

  Li Desheng said, it turned out he wasn't heartbroken when giving away things from home.

  The three Li brothers were more particular about their meals than Yao Fang, with low cups and slow bowls, using chopsticks sparingly. The three of them watched Yao Fang eat fiercely and thought to themselves that the cooking skills of Yao's family must be extremely poor.

  Yao Fan was really hungry, although he had eaten his fill on the way, but every day it was just plain tea and big buns, occasionally buying some soup in a small town, which didn't have much oil or water. Today, he could be said to be not eating if he wasn't starving, he wasn't being finicky, after all, his stomach belonged to him.

  After Yao Wen finished eating, Li's family of three intentionally slowed down the pace and started discussing current events with him.

  "Brother Yao, you have been traveling outside for a long time and have seen and learned much."

  "Now that the Qing dynasty has opened up to the world and has been trading with Western countries for some time, and has also set up Western-style factories, when do you think China will be able to surpass the foreigners?" Li Jingfang asked calmly.

  Yao Wen frowned: "This question is very strange, I have no way to answer."

  "How bizarre!"

  "Trade can make money, but I've never heard that simply opening up to trade can make a country strong. All the colonies in the world were opened up by foreign guns and warships, and none of them became strong through trade."

  As for factories, I mentioned this afternoon that foreign factories are everywhere, but what about the Qing Empire? You can count them on your fingers!

  In 1861, Zeng Guofan built the first modern factory in Qing Dynasty, known as Anqing Inner Military Arsenal. In 1865, Li Hongzhang bought Shanghai's Qi Chang Iron Factory and established Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to manufacture cannons. In 1867, the bureau set up a machinery factory and a boiler factory, starting to produce warships. Then Jinling Machinery Bureau, Tianjin Machinery Bureau, Fuzhou Shipyard were also established one after another.

  But all these were done out of helplessness under the pressure of the Taiping Rebellion, not a voluntary act by the officials. These few factories that were built were for manufacturing guns, cannons and ammunition, in short, they were all money-losing ventures, none of them could make any profit.

  I heard that Li Zhongtang was also messed up by such a money-burning method and has started to seek wealth. He set up a shipping company, hoping to make money from sea transportation.

  "Just patching up and mending like this, with a bit of tinkering here and there, I don't see where the ambition for a strong nation is."

  Li Jingfang listened to Yao Feng's comments about his father, but his tone was very calm and unbiased, without any extreme words. His previous worries were also put to rest, and he asked sincerely: "What does Brother Yao think is the way to strengthen our country?"

  Yao Feng naturally knew that the Qing dynasty was beyond cure, but he put down his chopsticks and squinted at Li Jingfang, seeing that he looked very serious. He thought to himself: "If I were to give this kid some medicine, would it also infect his father? Would it be beneficial to my current rebellion plan?"

  Yao Fan glanced at the other two younger sons of the Li family, seeing that they were well-behaved and not speaking, waiting to hear what Yao Fan had planned.

  Yao Fan revealed a harmless smile and said: "To make the country strong, there is no other way, just earn more money."

  The three members of the Li family listened to Yao Fang's nonsense for half a day and only said this sentence, which made them somewhat disappointed.

  Li Jingfang sensed that Yao Fan hadn't said everything and asked: "Brother Yao, why did you say it like that?"

  "What can these few factories accomplish? Among powerful nations, it's a competition of strength. If the Qing Empire wants to catch up, it naturally needs to build many more factories. But where will the money come from? Can we just rely on the profits from the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company?"

  Li Jingfang thought: "This Yao Fan is a businessman who speaks like a businessman, although he can't get away from the nature of businessmen speaking about profit, but what he said is indeed true."

  He then asked, "According to your views, Brother Yao, how can one make more money? Who in the world doesn't want to make money? But once the imperial court wants to make money, it will inevitably increase taxes. Who in the world wouldn't oppose that?"

  Yao Fandao: "Making money is easy, the imperial court can just collect industrial taxes."

  Li Jingfang said: "Industrial tax? Brother Yao, you also said that the Qing dynasty only has a few factories, and they are all state-owned. Is it collecting taxes from itself?"

  Yao Wengdao said, "The reason why the Qing dynasty has so few factories is that all the factories are run by the government and private individuals are not allowed to set up their own. Brother Li, think about it, if the government allows private individuals to set up factories, wouldn't they sprout up everywhere like in the West? The more factories there are, the more taxes there will be, and won't that bring in a lot of money?"

  Li Jingfang said: "How can the people's factory be set up? Everyone in the court says that this will corrupt the customs of the people! At present, allowing official supervision and merchant management is already a topic of discussion among officials and scholars. Many ministers are loudly calling for the change of official supervision and merchant management to imperial-owned official business."

  Brother Yao, think about it. When a private factory is set up, there are at least hundreds of people, and at most thousands of people gathering in one place for a long time. If something happens, how can the local government's dozen or so people possibly keep it under control?

  If someone has ulterior motives and uses the establishment of a factory as an excuse to gather idle rascals and incite rebellion, how can this be good?

  Besides, if we set up a factory, all the able-bodied men will go to work in the factory, then who will cultivate the land? Agriculture is the foundation of the world. If agriculture is not stable, the world will be unstable."

  Yao Fanshen heard this and broke out in a cold sweat, thinking "Recruiting idle rascals, gathering a crowd to rebel... are you talking about me? Are you talking about me? You must be talking about me!"

  At this point, Yao Weng must try to reverse the views of these three: "Why don't the Western countries with factories everywhere revolt? Instead, as soon as a factory is built in the Qing dynasty, they want to revolt. Is the ruler of the Qing dynasty an incompetent ruler? Are the officials of the Qing dynasty so unbearable?"

  Third Brother Li, you should have confidence in the people of the Qing Empire! Who would be willing to lose their head?

  Young Li Mou couldn't help but speak up, "The Manchu people don't work in industry or commerce or agriculture, so naturally they won't rebel. However, the world is mostly Han people, yet the emperor is a Manchu person, so the imperial court will inevitably be worried."

  Li Jingfang pretended to be angry and scolded his younger brother: "Can you say such things? Don't talk nonsense."

  Yao Wenyue smiled and said, "Cough, actually people all over the world understand that the imperial court has this concern, even foreigners understand it. I saw that British Marquess Curzon wrote in his memoirs about his visit to Beijing to meet the emperor, he said: 'You can chat with a group of Han officials very happily, but as soon as a Manchu official walks into the room, the atmosphere in the whole house will change instantly, and almost everyone on the scene will become a little anxious and uneasy in an instant.'"

  Look, even foreigners can see that there is an invisible wall between Manchu and Han people. I ask you three, which powerful country in the world is like this? Can a country like this really become a strong nation?

  I advise the three of you, don't waste your minds thinking about making the country strong. Just earn money honestly or study hard and live a good life with your own family. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up, why bother worrying? If the imperial court finds out that you're worried about state affairs, they might even punish you severely, and by then it'll be too late to cry.

  Li Desu felt disheartened after hearing Yao Feng's words and said, "I know that person Ma Ganni is the British envoy. How could he say such things behind our backs? Brother Yao, do you have any evidence?"

  "Believe it or not, this is what they said in the newspaper after returning to their country. It's written in black and white on white paper, can it be fake?" - Yao Fandao

  Li Jingfang refused to give up and asked again: "Brother Yao, apart from letting private factories collect industrial taxes, isn't there any other way?"

  "Yao Fanzhen said: 'The meat puppet has arrived.'"

  "There's another way!"

  Li Jingfang's eyes lit up: "Please go ahead, Brother Yao."

  Yao Fangdao: "Issue currency."