Jiang Xinlong continued educating Adolf, "His Imperial Majesty also said that we must unite all forces that can be united, make more friends, and fewer enemies."
Adolf, however, was a bit dazed by the convoluted explanation.
Jiang Xinlong's words were understandable individually, and even each sentence made sense on its own. But when put together, Adolf found his brain struggling to keep up.
After racking his brain for a long time without any enlightenment, Adolf tentatively asked, "Does Teacher mean that I should make friends with the commoners of Austria, because they are the most numerous, and at the same time strive to win over the Austrian nobles as my friends?"
Jiang Xinlong glanced at Adolf and retorted, "Who are your targets for attack?"
Adolf answered without hesitation, "Of course, it's those Etsel Aye lords!"
Jiang Xinlong snorted and said, "So, are the Austrian nobles the same as the Etsel Aye lords? If they are, then they are your targets for attack, and can you be friends with your targets? If not, it means that the Austrian nobles are different from the Etsel Aye lords, so you can naturally ally with the Austrian nobles first."
"There is an old saying in our Central Plains Hall: 'Settle accounts after the autumn harvest.'"
"You need to distinguish what is important and what is urgent."
As the lessons deepened, Adolf gradually entered a completely unfamiliar yet strangely familiar new world.
It was unfamiliar because he had never encountered these theories before, and familiar because these theories could be found reflected in the Great Ming.
This feeling of strangeness and familiarity was precisely Jiang Xinlong's most skillful aspect.
Nine parts truth mixed with a trace of falsehood—ten parts falsehood are easily seen through, but nine out of ten of the theories Jiang Xinlong taught Adolf were correct, with misleading information only introduced at the most crucial points.
For example, the most reliable way to increase a country's national strength is to develop industries. The capitalistic approaches like those of the Etsel Aye people are not feasible.
The current Great Ming is on the path of industrial development, as evidenced by the frenzied infrastructure projects and the growth of various industries everywhere.
However, Jiang Xinlong told Adolf, "So-called industries are those that facilitate people's livelihoods, such as housing—our ancestors in the Central Plains Hall often spoke of the four necessities: clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. Clothing is easy to solve, and food is not difficult, but shelter and transportation are the most challenging."
"Look at Louis XVI of France and George III of England, they are both working hard to solve the problems of 'shelter' and 'transportation'."
"The same principle applies to your Austria."
Is there any problem with this theory?
Absolutely not!
It can even be combined with the concept of "to get rich, first build roads."
But with Jiang Xinlong's persuasion, the so-called industrial development has basically turned into real estate development.
As for building roads…
What is the necessity of building roads in Austria?
England and France are somewhat better off, as they are among the five benevolent powers of the "Little Broken Pot" and have extracted blood from Europe. Their economies already have a demand for road construction.
But Austria is different.
First, Austria has just finished fighting France a few days ago, and now they are locked in a struggle with the Tsarist Russia. It is foreseeable that they will be beaten in the future.
Second, Austria does not have such a large economic demand at present.
So, is the purpose of building good roads merely to facilitate the Tsarist Russian army to come and beat Austria?
Unfortunately, Adolf only saw the industrial development portrayed by Jiang Xinlong, but failed to grasp the underlying intricacies.
Adolf was even grateful to Jiang Xinlong: "Thank you, thank you so much, respected teacher, thank you for showing Austria the way forward!"
…
Zhu Jinsong was stunned—although he had long known that Jiang Xinlong was not a good person and was exceptionally good at fooling people, Zhu Jinsong never expected that Jiang Xinlong could actually convince Adolf to this extent!
"Next, it's time to watch the performance of the Habsburg family and the Tsarist Russians."
Zhu Jinsong said with great satisfaction to Zeng Cheng and other influential figures, "The production progress of Northern Industries and Southern Weapons must be accelerated, as these are orders from two major clients. We must not be negligent."
Shen Yongfu, the head of the Ministry of War, immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will have them expedite the progress while ensuring quality."
Zhu Jinsong nodded with a smile and said, "Quality must not be taken lightly—if one shot can send the barbarians of Europe to the West, then there's no need to waste two bullets."
"Also, with the full-scale conflict between the Habsburg family and the Tsarist Russians, a large number of laborers will likely be sent by both sides, which can alleviate the tight labor situation to some extent."
Speaking of which, Zhu Jinsong suddenly changed the subject: "Improve the treatment of laborers sent by the Habsburg family and the Tsarist Russians. They should not receive the same treatment as the previous laborers."
Hearing Zhu Jinsong say this, Zeng Cheng and other influential figures were somewhat bewildered—the phrase "improve treatment" was easy to understand, meaning to make the treatment better. However, the word "receive" in "cannot receive the same treatment" seemed to imply that these laborers' treatment should be lower than before?
Just as Zeng Cheng and other influential figures were pondering whether to improve or lower the treatment of these laborers, Zhu Jinsong let out a cold laugh and said, "Although these European barbarians are not very skilled, when it comes to nepotism and showing off, these barbarians are almost comparable to the Eight Banners lords."
"After the full-scale conflict between the Habsburg family and the Tsarist Russians, their generals and officers will inevitably be captured by the enemy. And whether it's the Habsburg family or the Tsarist Russians, their generals and officers are basically composed of their nobles."
Hearing this, Zeng Cheng and other influential figures roughly understood Zhu Jinsong's intention.
It was like two identical products; the product with the "Made in Great Ming" label would always be more expensive than the product with a label from another country!
Similarly, these noble officers of the Tsarist Russians and the Habsburg family were the same—ordinary generals or soldiers had no special value, but when it came to noble officers, it was different.
Not to mention making the Tsarist Russians and the Habsburg family pay a high price to redeem them, but even completely brainwashing them into becoming loyal followers of the Great Ming would bring countless benefits to the Great Ming!
After thinking for a moment, Zeng Cheng simply bowed and said, "Since there are a large number of European nobles here, I have an idea."
Zhu Jinsong hummed and asked with a smile, "Tell me?"
Zeng Cheng stroked his beard and smiled, "In my opinion, why not let them maintain their original structure? Officers remain officers, soldiers remain soldiers, and let them join the construction sites in organized units!"
Liu Huaiwen's eyes immediately lit up, and he repeatedly echoed, "This is a good idea, this is a good idea. As long as those Habsburg and Tsarist Russian noble officers are controlled, there's no need to worry about their subordinate soldiers not working diligently. This can save a lot of money on overseers' wages, and you know the national treasury is empty..."
Zeng Cheng and other influential figures did not want to pay attention to Liu Huaiwen.
As everyone knew, the previous Governor of Kyushu Island for the Great Ming was Jiang Xinlong—this guy could fool Adolf into becoming a simpleton, and the Tokugawa Ienari of Japan was even played by Jiang Xinlong with ease. A large number of ronin samurai were sent to the Great Ming as overseers by Tokugawa Ienari at half-price or even less.
To put it this way, if an ordinary Great Ming citizen went to work on a construction site, they would earn about one Dragon Yuan per day, which is equivalent to one hundred copper coins. However, those Japanese overseers only earned two mao, or twenty copper coins.
Although the Great Ming provided those Japanese overseers with free food and lodging, the gap between one Dragon Yuan and two mao…
It was quite large.
According to the current prices in the Great Ming, the daily income of an ordinary Great Ming citizen could buy at least five plump chickens, but the daily income of those Japanese overseers could only buy one plump chicken.
More importantly, these Japanese overseers did not receive their wages directly like Great Ming citizens. The wages of these overseers were settled by the Ministry of Revenue to the Governor-General's Office of Kyushu Island, which then settled with the Japanese Shogunate.
In this chain, the Great Ming side would naturally not skim any profits, but the Japanese Shogunate would skim some, and when it was settled into the Japanese treasury, some more would be skimmed. By the time it was finally settled to these ronin samurai, their daily wages might only be a few copper coins.
Even so, this was already an unimaginable high income for those ronin samurai!
Some ronin samurai even strongly agreed with Tokugawa Ienari's theory: "Although Great Ming citizens earn a lot of Dragon Yuan, they spend Dragon Yuan. You are different; you earn Dragon Yuan but spend Japanese currency in Japan. In the end, you are still earning more!"
Yes, it was such a nonsensical theory.
Zhu Jinsong couldn't even believe that such absurd reasoning could fool those ronin samurai—it was true that Great Ming citizens earned and spent Dragon Yuan, and ronin samurai earned Dragon Yuan and spent Japanese currency, so it seemed that ronin samurai had a more favorable income and expenditure. But were these two comparable?
Not at all!
Because the goods themselves have value, or rather, the Great Ming has already set a value for a piece of merchandise in advance.
For example, if a teacup sells for one copper coin in the Great Ming, would it sell for one Japanese mon in Japan?
Common sense dictates that this is impossible!
Of course, how Tokugawa Ienari fooled the ronin samurai was Tokugawa Ienari's business. Neither Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, nor Zeng Cheng and other influential figures in the court paid much attention.
What truly displeased Zeng Cheng and others was that Liu Huaiwen, the esteemed Minister of Revenue of the Great Ming, could actually link the wages of a few Japanese overseers to the emptiness of the national treasury…
Zeng Cheng couldn't help but say sarcastically, "If you're talking about being able to make connections, it really has to be you, Minister Liu. I was just thinking about how to manage those barbarians, and you've even linked it to the emptiness of the national treasury!"
Liu Huaiwen snorted, "Your Excellency Zeng, you don't run a household and don't know the cost of firewood and rice!"
"Last year alone, the Great Ming spent a massive one billion on social schools and county schools, which is equivalent to one hundred million taels of silver."
"Last year's expenditure on railways and roads also reached a huge five billion, equivalent to five hundred million taels of silver."
"If you add other miscellaneous expenses, the Great Ming's expenditure last year reached a staggering ten hundred million taels of silver—a year's expenditure that exceeds the entire fortune of a Grand Secretariat!"
"If we don't save, will you, Your Excellency Zeng, provide money for the national treasury?"
Hearing Liu Huaiwen say this, Zeng Cheng and other influential figures were speechless, and even Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, felt a dizzying sensation.
Ten hundred million taels of silver, which is equivalent to ten billion Dragon Yuan.
Although it seemed somewhat meager compared to the trillions of dollars in later generations, the purchasing power of the Great Ming Dragon Yuan was there. An expenditure of ten billion might not even match the combined scale of all other countries on the entire "Little Broken Ball"!
More importantly, every time Liu Huaiwen mentioned the emptiness of the national treasury, he always wanted to borrow money from Zhu Jinsong's private treasury, causing Zhu Jinsong to develop a conditioned reflex. As soon as he heard the words "emptiness of the national treasury," he would start to worry about his private treasury. It was always Liu Huaiwen, the old "Pixiu," borrowing money from Zhu Jinsong's private treasury, but never returning it!
Thinking of his already limited private treasury, Zhu Jinsong quickly said, "I remember that the Royal Academy also had quite a few outputs last year, and it actually made some money, didn't it?"
Liu Huaiwen's expression stiffened, and then he abruptly changed the subject, "Don't pay attention to these details, after all, they spent a lot too…"
Zhu Jinsong chuckled and said, "Uncle Huaiwen mentioned the emptiness of the national treasury, which has indeed reminded me—the Great Ming's third five-year plan is about to end, and it's time to discuss the next five-year plan."
Shen Hongbo, the head of the newly established Ministry of Transportation, immediately bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I believe that in the next five-year plan, the literacy program can be slightly reduced in proportion, while the proportion of railways and electricity should be increased."
Meng Fanzhi, the head of the Ministry of Rites, immediately became displeased: "It's acceptable to slightly reduce the proportion of the literacy program, but why should the reduced part from the literacy program be added to railways and electricity? As the saying goes, 'it takes ten years to grow trees, and a hundred years to cultivate people.' The proportion reduced from the literacy program should all be added to the social schools and county schools!"
Song Yucheng, the head of the Ministry of Works, chuckled and retorted, "Shouldn't it be added to the river channels and ditches? You all know the significant impact of the floods in the past few years. No matter how many social schools you build or how good your railways are, they will all be washed away by the floodwaters!"
Liu Huaiwen vigilantly stared at Shen Hongbo, Meng Fanzhi, Song Yucheng, and other influential figures, muttering, "The national treasury is empty, is it much? Not much indeed…"