Why did the Industrial Revolution take place in remote Britain rather than in Portugal and Spain, which were stronger and had better conditions?
There is a hypothesis that the Atlantic trade broke down the social class barriers in Britain, resulting in the power of the royal power being far weaker than that of Portugal and Spain.
Ordinary people could gain huge benefits from maritime trade, and the profits were not monopolized by the royal family.
But similar conditions were also shared by another country involved in the Atlantic trade.
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France.
Unfortunately, a genius was born in Britain, and his theories became widely circulated in later generations, while at the same time being repeatedly dragged out to be whipped and slapped in the face.
Malthus, Essay on the Principle of Population.
The means of subsistence increase in an arithmetic progression, while the population grows in a geometric progression. Therefore, it is a natural and eternal law that the increase in the means of subsistence cannot keep up with the growth of the population.
To avoid disasters caused by material shortages, we must control the population.
The British don't believe this. Not only do they not believe it, they still adhere to the medieval fertility culture and give birth to babies crazily.
The French believed it, and missed out on another crucial factor in the Industrial Revolution... population.
One is scientific and technological personnel who are separated from the land, and the other is a large number of free laborers.
With the right time, right place and right people, national destiny has arrived. Britain has successfully stepped on the thread of history and led an era.
There is no doubt that Fang Zhengyi was a poor student in his previous life.
Except for the emotional experiences, most of the details of the learning and memories from the previous life have been forgotten or even destroyed in the decades of life.
But people have a powerful instinct that useful things are extremely difficult to forget and may even be picked up again.
As he gradually ascended to the high position of power in Dajing, he devoted himself to the historical process again and again.
Those forgotten memories were pulled out from the subconscious by instinct, and repeatedly deepened by the chisel of real experience, even surpassing the previous life.
His limited historical knowledge was based on this process.
Although it is impossible to be completely correct, he has already realized some problems...
Dajing is a country with a solid foundation.
Thanks to his arrival, high-yield crops became popular quickly and the population entered a rapid growth mode.
The emergence of capitalism and the rapid development of handicrafts released a number of free laborers from the land.
He personally trained scientific innovators full-time and even leveraged the national treasury to catalyze the process.
As for the most crucial part of imperial power, it is even more mysterious!
As an emperor, the most important thing is naturally to maintain the stability of his own rule.
However, through Fang Zhengyi's mediation, no one realized that when technological progress might bring about social unrest, huge benefits had already arrived.
The huge benefits made everyone ignore the instability for a while, and when some people later realized the root cause of the instability and wanted to change it, it became a delusion. No one had the courage to give up this fascinating benefit, let alone the ability to face the huge resistance caused by giving it up.
At this time, the great traditional culture came on stage and exerted its strength, skipping the most important link, stability.
But it produced huge explosive power.
Benevolent rule and love for the people are the necessary qualities of an excellent emperor. Even if you don't have them, you have to pretend to be so. Even if you don't want to pretend, the entire court will force you to do it!
Obviously, Emperor Jing didn't need to pretend, it had become a habit.
After the opening of the West Sea, the income of the national treasury and private merchants soared, and Dajing implemented tax cuts across the country. Second, a large amount of silver flowed in, and the value of silver depreciated. The income of the people increased, and the original tax remained unchanged, which made it lighter.
Stock exchanges were opened. People poured into the stock market, enjoying the profits brought by overseas and grand developments.
At this point, all the conditions for truly and completely launching and permanently advancing the Industrial Revolution have been gathered!
The right time, right place and right people are all here again, and a great era begins.
Putting aside the normal historical trajectory, all of this is based on an extremely strange team configuration.
A big country with rich heritage and vast territory, a group of wise rulers and loyal ministers, and finally... a capable and licking time traveler.
The rapid development of maritime trade, coupled with the explosion of technology, not only did not impact the imperial power, but instead carried it to the peak.
Instead of fighting against this unstable trend, the imperial power actively participated in it, using its own strength to mobilize everything and add fuel to the fire!
A seemingly perfect closed loop was successful, and Dajing became an extremely solid iron barrel that no external force could break.
An unprecedented feudal empire that pioneered the Industrial Revolution has been born in this world, and it is developing at a speed far exceeding the conventional industrial revolution.
But this seemingly perfect combination has a fatal flaw.
Everything is determined by one person, and the imperial power at the pinnacle controls everything below.
However, it is impossible for every emperor to be a wise ruler. Once a mistake is made, the consequence is likely to be war and rapid disintegration of the entire empire.
Then history returned to the right track, power was tamed, and it truly entered the modern civilized order.
Fang Zheng had this insight early on, but he never took it to heart and was too lazy to think about it.
If this happens, it will be one or two generations later, and he will be buried by then. Why think so far ahead?
As an ancient person, my greatest belief is... to believe in the wisdom of future generations!
But now that Li Zhi mentioned this matter, Fang Zheng was doubly shocked, and suddenly felt a sense of urgency that he had to take it seriously.
Li Zhi stared at Fang Zhengyi, and the enthusiasm in his eyes gradually turned into disappointment.
He thought Fang Zhengyi was an open-minded person and that the two of them would have resonance, but the other party didn't even want to talk.
On second thought, there is nothing wrong with this, after all, that's his position.
It seems that I think too much after all.
Li Zhi stood there for a long time, then turned around and walked out the door without saying a word.
Fang Zhengyi looked at his back, his temples throbbing, and finally he couldn't help but said, "Stop."
"Where are you going and what are you going to do next?"
Li Zhi stopped and looked back at him: "The student will go home and teach me. What I think is right. Since it is right, I should let more people know."
He's so fucking stubborn. It seems like there's no point in trying to solve this problem unless he solves it.
Fang Zhengyi sighed helplessly: "Do you know how much trouble your remarks would cause if they were spread out?"
"Not to mention what the imperial court will do to you, even the people of the world will rise up against you."
"It is a time of prosperity and the people are celebrating. Are you dissatisfied with the court?"
Li Zhi turned around and said sternly, "My Lord, you have lived in the capital for a long time. You can see the prosperity of the capital, but not the darkness of the border."
"Although the world is prosperous, there are always officials who bully the people. If the officialdom does not change, this problem will never end. Since all people are born equal, why do some people always want to ride on the heads of others? Your Majesty is indeed a wise ruler, but those who do not think about the future will have immediate worries. What I am planning for is the future."
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