Songhu, Liu Jin came here again, standing on a high-rise building and overlooking Songhu. There were many high-rise buildings on both sides of the Huangpu River. The port and terminal were extremely busy. The spacious cement roads divided this flat land into squares.
There are factories neatly arranged in the industrial area, with tall chimneys emitting white smoke, extending to the road at the end of the field of vision, where four-wheeled carriages loaded with goods come and go in a hurry.
This bustling commercial district is full of traffic and dense crowds. The most fashionable elements of the Ming Dynasty all converge here. The minimalist style of the north softens the unique petty bourgeoisie sentiment of the south of the Yangtze River.
The traditional long-sleeved gowns are combined with the increasingly popular tight-fitting trousers; a large number of young people with short haircuts can be seen wearing long hair shawls and high-erected crowns.
At the Huangpu River Pier, steamships emitting billowing white smoke and sounding whistles from time to time docked side by side with traditional large-scale ships with sails hanging.
"What a big change!"
Liu Jin sighed.
I vaguely remember that the last time I came to Songhu was when I was preparing to lead my army to go on an expedition to Nanyang. At that time, Songhu was just a very small ordinary county town with continuous rice fields on both sides of the Huangpu River.
However, the sea has changed, and in the blink of an eye this place has become a prosperous metropolis.
It is truly a place where half of Kyushu’s destiny is gathered. The Yangtze River is its vitality. Coupled with the fact that it is right on the middle line of the north-south shipping, it has a unique geographical advantage. Its rise and development are inevitable.
"Liu Jin, there is news from the capital. His Majesty's Qianqing Palace has almost been flooded with memorials to impeach you and me."
Wang Shouren said, holding a few letters sent urgently from the capital.
"Isn't this a normal thing?"
"I'm surprised no one has impeached you."
Liu Jin didn't care at all. Anyway, he hadn't been impeached once or twice. He was already used to it.
Anyway, as long as you have thick skin, you don't have to pay attention to them.
"After these people conducted thorough investigations throughout Jiangnan, we found a total of more than 200,000 slaves in factories across Jiangnan. In fact, there were about 50,000 white slaves and about 150,000 black slaves. We also investigated and punished the headquarters
The slave trading house located in Songhu specializes in selling slaves to local factories."
Wang Shouren did not continue to worry about whether he would be impeached. As Liu Jin said, being impeached is completely normal.
This time in Jiangnan, the officialdom of Jiangnan was almost swept away. There were hundreds of officials, large and small, imprisoned in cells, plus the gentry, big businessmen, big landowners, big families and the like who were confiscated.
Yes, they and I don’t know how many people there are in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty.
These people not only impeached Liu Jin and Wang Shouren, but also conveyed their intentions to Liu Jin through various methods, asking Liu Jin to show his noble hand, let people go, turn big things into trivial matters, and stop delving into Nanjing
Hundreds of thousands of workers rioted.
Obviously, Liu Jin would not give up so easily. He finally waited for the opportunity to rectify the Jiangnan gentry, attack the most powerful stubborn conservative forces in the Ming Dynasty, and promote the Ming Dynasty to develop in depth towards capitalism and colonialism.
How could Liu Jin just stop like this?
What's more, this is a political struggle. In the cruel reality of life or death, Liu Jin has been tortured to death by these people countless times, and now he naturally wants to repay him.
From the perspective of the overall situation of the Ming Dynasty, the conservative forces in Jiangnan must receive a heavy blow, and it is best to completely disintegrate them, so as to be more helpful to the future of the Ming Dynasty.
Otherwise, half of the Ming Dynasty, because these conservatives have been unable to keep up with the development of the times, and always try various ways to hinder the progress of the Ming Dynasty.
If the confrontation between the traditional conservative forces and the emerging capitalist forces continues for a long time, a vigorous capitalist revolution will inevitably break out, and the ultimate damage will naturally be the power of the Ming Dynasty.
So now that there is an opportunity, it is natural to attack the traditional conservatives, weaken their power, increase the power of emerging capitalism, and then gradually and completely defeat the traditional conservatives.
In Jiangnan, we will continue to cause trouble.
"200,000 slaves?"
After hearing this, Liu Jin raised his eyebrows slightly. He did not expect that the number was so large, and there were still 150,000 Kunlun slaves.
Capital is profit-seeking. Using slaves can greatly reduce costs. Capital will naturally use slaves, especially Kunlun slaves, which are the lowest and cheapest. They are perfect for reducing costs.
"What to do with these slaves?"
Wang Shouren nodded and asked for instructions.
"All slaves will be castrated~" Gu
"Then they are all sold to Nanyang."
"The slave trading houses were sealed, the slave merchants were put on trial, and all the trading houses and merchants engaged in slave trading were told that only female slaves were allowed to be sold in the Ming Dynasty, and no other slaves were allowed."
After thinking about it, Liu Jin also ordered.
It is naturally impossible to kill them all. After all, it is only 200,000 laborers. If they are sent to Nanyang, a slave can be sold for more than ten taels, twenty taels of silver. After all, this is a huge amount of millions of taels of silver.
wealth.
However, Liu Jin, who came from a later generation, was also well aware of the dangers of slaves. If no measures were taken to deal with slaves at the beginning, they would most likely occupy the magpie's nest later, after the slaves were liberated, and eventually destroy the savings of their ancestors.
Huge ancestral legacy and great situation.
Therefore, we still need to learn from the Arabs in the Middle East in this regard. The Arabs in the Middle East have liked to use slaves since ancient times. Whether they are black slaves from Africa or white slaves from Europe, the nobles and chiefs in the Middle East like to use them.
But without exception, all male slaves were castrated to protect their bloodline.
"yes!"
Wang Shouren nodded quickly, thought for a while and then asked: "What about those factory owners who use slaves?"
"Just fine them symbolically."
Liu Jin thought of Lu Daquan. This factory owner was a very good capitalist, good at calculation and cost control. He was fine in other aspects. There was no need to impose too heavy a punishment. Moreover, his slaves had been confiscated, which was equivalent to
It caused him to lose a lot of wealth.
"Hmm~"
Wang Shouren also agreed with this. The Ming Dynasty still needs capitalists like Lu Daquan. The big businessmen and gentry in Jiangnan, whose families have been hit hard this time, also need some capitalists like Lu Daquan to support them.
After all, the country of the Ming Dynasty is not only the north, the south is also very important, and the land south of the Yangtze River has been a prosperous and wealthy place since ancient times, and it is also a place with outstanding people.
Liu Jin did not want to destroy Jiangnan. On the contrary, Liu Jin hoped that Jiangnan could develop and become more prosperous, so that the Ming Dynasty could become more prosperous.
"This time around Nanjing, I think we need to solve it at the source."
"Nowadays, many of the factories, workshops, and even commercial banks in Ming Dynasty settle wages to workers once a year. Better yet, wages are settled quarterly or half a year."
"Although everyone values credibility, it is rare that wages are not settled at the end of the year. What happened in Nanjing this time was also intentional."
"But it's not a solution. The market is good now, and factories, workshops, firms, etc. of all sizes are doing well and can make money, so there won't be any problem that the wages can't be paid out."
"But the moon waxes and wanes, and the market cannot always be good. There will always be bad times, just like the current cane sugar industry."
"There are too many people growing sugarcane in Nanyang. Even our own Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian have a lot of planting. The output of cane sugar is increasing year by year, and the price continues to fall. The efficiency of cane sugar factories and commercial banks is constantly falling. Some
It is already difficult for commercial banks to settle sugar cane payments to plantations and wages to workers."
"I think the court should introduce a new law to protect the rights and interests of workers. For example, wages must be settled every month and distributed to workers, so that things like Nanjing will not happen again."
Wang Shouren looked at Songhu, who was busy in front of him, and said in deep contemplation.
"What you said makes sense. I will go back and write a detailed memorial to His Majesty. I will bring it up at the court meeting. However, I estimate that there will be opposition from many people."
Liu Jin knew this matter very well.
Liu Jin himself has a large number of industries under his command, and millions of people are working for Liu Jin. The wages paid out every year are an extremely huge amount.
But Liu Jin has always insisted on paying monthly wages to the workers in his industries, with mid-year and end-of-year bonuses also indispensable.
This may not be the case for others. In most factories and workshops, food and accommodation are included. Workers basically do not need any expenses when working there, and even clothes and everything are provided.
Therefore, factory owners like to pay wages to workers once a year, so that they can hold a large amount of working capital in their hands, and the money can still earn interest even if it is deposited in the bank.
If wages are paid monthly now, then there will be less working capital in hand, and there will be less interest income. Many people will definitely be unwilling to do so.
But what Wang Shouren said is also very reasonable. We must fundamentally protect the rights and interests of workers. If workers can’t get a penny after working hard for a year, it will be easy for something to happen.
You must know that investment is risky. In many cases, blind expansion of capital is extremely prone to crises. Under the model of paying wages once a year, crises are easy to occur. Moreover, when there is an economic crisis, it is also easy for a large number of deliberate arrears of wages to occur.
