Despite his displeasure, Zhu Jinsong understood inwardly that knowledge and technology had characteristics of transmission. High-end precision technologies like lithography machines could still be blocked by patents, but how could the composting of feces be blocked?
Especially after the Great Qing was overturned, the interactions between Great Ming and the European barbarians increased. While Great Ming frantically collected European books and machinery, learning European knowledge and theories, Europe did not let go of the opportunity to learn from the Central Plains.
This incident was proof of that.
To prevent similar problems from recurring, Zhu Jinsong decided to increase the output of steam engines and implement patent recognition with the other four great philanthropists of the broken pot, temporarily using patents to block European research on steam engines.
This demonstrated the benefits of investing heavily in scientific research.
Since occupying a base area in Menglianggu, Zhu Jinsong had been investing heavily in research and development. Nearly a tenth of Great Ming's annual fiscal revenue was poured into the Royal Academy. With Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of Great Ming, leading the way, the people of Great Ming also gradually began to attach importance to R&D.
Especially the local gentry and scholars who had lost their land.
There was no shortage of intelligent people among the local gentry and scholars. Seeing that the trend of official ownership of land followed by land redistribution was unstoppable, these local gentry and scholars readily chose to cut off their limbs to survive, voluntarily giving up large tracts of land they owned, securing most of their family fortune, and investing it in workshops or other businesses.
Then, these local gentry and scholars were surprised to find that although workshops were not as stable as land, the money they earned was no less than that from exploiting the common folk.
The only problem was that most of the profits were taken by the court.
First, there were taxes.
The Great Ming court was ruthless when it came to collecting taxes. It was impossible to delay and evade them as before. Once tax collectors discovered anyone delaying or evading, the Tax Administration would immediately follow with the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest and confiscate their property.
Some local gentry and scholars even secretly mocked the court, claiming that even bandits who robbed on the road had to pay taxes honestly—the government might not find out who robbed on the road, but the Tax Administration would definitely find out who did not pay taxes.
And besides the tax issue, the most troublesome problem for these local gentry and scholars was patents.
The Great Ming court was so devious that it would register patents in advance for any new machinery it developed, and then sell the finished products to these local gentry and scholars who operated workshops. They had no choice but to buy them, because the new equipment developed by the Royal Academy often meant efficiency and quality. If they didn't buy it, someone else would, and they would be the ones to suffer in the end.
The key was that it was black-hearted. Not only were the new machines sold at exorbitant prices, but other workshops that used Royal Academy patents also had to pay patent fees honestly. Moreover, the prices were set at the upper limit that most workshop owners could afford.
Then, these local gentry and scholars also became determined.
Why could the court manipulate these local gentry and scholars? Wasn't it because the court had the Royal Academy, which could always produce new machinery and patents?
Since the court could do it, why couldn't they, the local gentry and scholars?
Although they couldn't compare to the Royal Academy in scale, they would focus on one industry and conduct R&D on what they operated. Then they would also lie at home and collect money from patents!
As the first local gentry and scholar who invested money in patents successfully registered his own patent and received patent fees while lying at home, other local gentry and scholars in Great Ming were completely unable to sit still.
Invest money, conduct R&D!
Although they had to pay an annual patent protection fee after obtaining a patent, and the protection period was only twenty years, they had endured the hateful guilds and high labor costs, so a mere patent protection fee was nothing.
Since they couldn't resist, they might as well enjoy it and get used to it.
As a large number of local gentry and scholars began to invest in R&D, Great Ming formed a situation where the Royal Academy and the民間 local gentry and scholars competed with each other.
In a certain sense, the Royal Academy was at a disadvantage in this competition. Although the Royal Academy had advantages such as large scale and numerous talents, its reach was too broad and its fields involved too many, making it less likely to achieve results than the local gentry and scholars who dug deep into one field.
Of course, the Royal Academy would not really suffer a loss, as it was backed by the Great Ming court and could obtain resources that the private local gentry and scholars could not.
The most crucial point was that the competition between the two sides resulted in the generation of a large number of new patents in Great Ming every day, some useful, some completely useless, and some registered one day and replaced by newer patents the next day.
Based on this premise, Great Ming's implementation of patent recognition with the other four great philanthropists should be able to block those few companies to the greatest extent.
Of course, mere patent blockade alone could not send those few companies back to the Stone Age.
But combined with the tactics used by the Great Qing and the foolish eagle, it might be different.
The Great Qing's "literary bath" and "Eight Banners" strategies had already been taught to those four great philanthropists. The "Chongshi Jian Ding" strategy was not suitable for Europe, so it had to be combined with the other two moves.
The first move was feminization.
This matter had to start with a person named Kitagawa.
Back then, after the Showa era, the soldiers of the foolish eagle stationed in Japan often behaved outrageously, and the bears sent many Japanese prisoners of war back to Japan and vigorously promoted the ideology of Comrade Marx, so the Japanese people tended to lean towards the bears.
To deal with this situation, someone from the foolish eagle proposed a bold idea: to control Japan in terms of ideology and public opinion, so that Japan would stay away from the bears and be close to the eagles.
The person who proposed this idea was a diplomat named George Kennan, who suggested that professional matters should be handled by professional people.
So, who was more professional?
Of course, it was the Japanese prisoners of war.
Because intellectuals and officials in Japan at that time were fanatical about that stuff, they could not help the foolish eagle and cooperate with the foolish eagle. Only the war criminals who committed heinous crimes during World War II, stained with blood, had to work for the foolish eagle to survive.
For example, the war criminal Okawa Shumei, who advocated and promoted the "September 18 Incident," and another war criminal, Masari Matsutaro, who incited countless Japanese youths to invade the Central Plains, both escaped the death penalty under the protection of the foolish eagle. Okawa Shumei served as the general manager of the Asahi Shimbun, and Masari Matsutaro founded Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest newspaper company.
These war criminals suggested to the foolish eagle: adopt a people-centric approach, use entertainment news to brainwash the Japanese people, and weaken the masculine temperament of the entire Japanese society through public opinion propaganda, turning it into a gentle temperament, so as to reduce Japan's aggressiveness.
Later, a person named Kitagawa founded an entertainment company called Johnny & Associates.
Although Kitagawa had a Japanese name, he grew up in the foolish eagle from a young age. He was a translator for the foolish eagle government and held a formidable little passport from the foolish eagle family. He served in the foolish eagle advisory group and was responsible for espionage and intelligence work.
In 1995, a Japanese cosmetics brand invited the popular male star Kimura Takuya to shoot an advertisement for its new lipstick. Throughout the advertisement, Kimura Takuya's delicate gaze and sensual application of lipstick exploded among Japanese women like a bomb. Within two months, the lipstick endorsed by Kimura Takuya sold 3 million units!
Later, the phenomenon of feminization spread from Japan to its neighbor Korea. When a Korean company was founded, it emulated the Japanese idol-making model, constantly searching for delicate, feminine-looking boys and training them vigorously.
In 1996, the company successfully launched the boy group H.O.T. H.O.T. achieved great success in Korea, leading more and more companies to imitate them, launching more boy groups such as TVXQ and Super Junior. Their common characteristic was—delicate, weak, and feminine.
Later, the idol-making trend in Japan and Korea also spread to the Central Plains. Entertainment companies in the Central Plains seized the business opportunity and began to launch a large number of feminized idols. Their production of programs, packaging methods, and publicity means were completely copied from Japanese and Korean performance companies, such as the early "Super Girl" and "Happy Boy," as well as the hugely popular "Idol Producer" – Ji Taimei emerged from this program.
Thus, while the entertainment industries in Europe and the foolish eagle were still dominated by tough guys, male stars in the Central Plains, Japan, and Korea were largely feminized. While screens in the foolish eagle were still dominated by Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man, the screens in the Central Plains, Japan, and Korea were occupied by young idols.
Perhaps even the foolish eagle itself did not expect that this move would successfully harm and cripple two countries. Even the Central Plains, with the most profound heritage, was deeply affected.
As for the second move, it was naturally to vigorously cultivate European and foolish eagle versions of "rolling around and screaming" patients.
Coincidentally, at this time, Great Ming was stronger than Europe and the foolish eagle, so there was no need to cultivate them, and there were already a large number of Great Ming admirers. If some more time and effort were spent, it was estimated that a large number of "rolling around and screaming" patients could be cultivated.
The only pity was that they couldn't teach the young ladies of Europe to practice martial arts, because at this time, the small broken ball was generally still in a state of not having enough to eat, and there was no soil for cultivating martial artists.
However, it didn't matter much. This combination of two moves, combined with patent blockade, should be enough to make Europe and the foolish eagle extremely troubled.
As for martial artists... the greatest use of martial artists was to disgust people during peacetime; at other times, they were basically useless.
The only pity was that they couldn't swindle the short and clumsy people this time, which made Zhu Jinsong feel like he had lost out.
Just as Liu Huaiwen kept shouting: "It's a loss, a great loss! The national treasury is empty, and if it loses such a large sum of money, I'm afraid even the mice will starve to death!"
Perhaps it was because he spent too much time with Liu Huaiwen, but all the bigwigs in the Great Ming court had mastered the skill of starving mice to death. Whether it was the Ministry of Works starving mice, the Ministry of Rites starving mice, or the General Staff Office of the Five Military Commissions starving mice, it was unclear where Great Ming had so many mice for them to starve.
After temporarily deciding to spare the short and clumsy people, Zhu Jinsong also had to officially move the capital back to Beijing.
This time, Zhu Jinsong decided to bring along the old dog Qian Long.
Old dog Qian Long was a man of great character. His life was either traveling south of the Yangtze River or visiting Liaodong. Along the way, he continuously exempted money and grain. According to the official records of the Great Qing, Old dog Qian Long had successively exempted one year's national money and grain five times in the tenth, thirty-fifth, forty-third, fifty-fifth years, and the first year of Jiaqing. He exempted Jiangnan's grain tribute three times (one of which was 4 million shi of rice), totaling 200 million taels of silver exempted, which was equivalent to Great Ming's total fiscal revenue for five years.
Of course, since Old dog Qian Long went to Jiangnan six times and toured the east four times, and exempted various things along the way, someone had to pay for it in the end. According to the economic law that wool comes from dogs, Old dog Qian Long gained a good reputation, the government and local gentry and scholars gained benefits, and who was the victim in the end, wasn't it obvious?
Zhu Jinsong was very unhappy about this.
Therefore, Zhu Jinsong decided to bring Old dog Qian Long along, so that he could see the Central Plains again.