Just after sending off the chief envoys of Huguang and Jiangxi, Wang Shouren hurriedly came over.
"What's up?"
Liu Jin looked at Lao Wang. He seemed to be really anxious. This is rare. You must know that Lao Wang has always been a very calm and composed person. Few things can make him panic.
of.
"Please help me think of a way. If Jinling can't recruit workers anymore, thousands of factories of all sizes in Jinling will basically close down."
"I'm so anxious that I go everywhere to recruit workers, but no one is willing to work in Jinling. No matter what I say, it's useless."
At this moment, Wang Shouren was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
No workers are willing to come to work in Jinling. Factories of all sizes in Jinling are facing a serious shortage of manpower. The investment in each factory is huge, ranging from tens of thousands of taels of silver to millions of taels of silver.
If we can't recruit people, such a huge amount of funds will basically be wasted, and many people will face a huge crisis.
Of course, it's not just these factory owners, the main workshops are facing a huge crisis, Jinling is also facing a huge crisis.
"If these factories cannot start operations, then the whole of Jinling will fall into a rapid shrinkage. Factories will stop working, construction sites will stop working, and shops will close."
"This year the entire Jinling tax revenue and population will drop sharply, and urban development will suddenly stagnate."
Wang Shouren was in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to take a sip of tea.
"Hurry up and help think of a way. Jinling can't just fall down like this. It must be saved. This is the third largest city in the Ming Dynasty, and it is the center of gravity of Southern Zhili."
"What can I do? I can't force everyone to work in Jinling."
Liu Jin spread his hands helplessly and said.
In fact, at a larger level, it doesn't matter whether there are people here in Nanjing. If the workers don't go to Nanjing, they will go back to places like Songhu, Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Hangzhou. They will go there anyway.
Find a job to earn money to support your family.
The water still flows in the pond of Ming Dynasty, and it doesn’t matter where it goes.
For what happened last year, Nanjing deserves the punishment it deserves. Everything happens for a reason.
Now is not the future, and the common people of the future have no choice but to torture themselves to make those capitalists successful. But it is different now. The common people of the Ming Dynasty must torture themselves.
If Nanjing is not happy, I will go to Songhu. If Songhu is not happy, I will go overseas. If that doesn't work, I will stay in my hometown. Anyway, the population is passing away in large numbers, and the contradiction between man and land has been greatly alleviated.
There is plenty of land for you to plant.
Without pursuing too much, a family can live a life of sunrise and sunrise in their hometown. This is also the life of most people, and they can live a carefree life.
There is no need to feel wronged and suffer such grievances and pains.
"Alas~"
After hearing Liu Jin's words, Lao Wang sat down and sighed helplessly.
He knew that there was really nothing he could do now, and Nanjing could only do this.
"Okay, let's talk about things in Jiangnan."
"If the matter is dealt with as soon as possible, I will return to the capital as soon as possible."
Looking at Lao Wang, Liu Jin said: "This Jiangnan is the stronghold of the conservative faction. They are always opposing our new policies and want to go back to the past."
"What happened in Nanjing is still a trivial matter. If it goes to extremes, there may be bigger troubles. So we still have to think of ways to completely crack down on the conservative faction in the Jiangnan area."
"You are from Zhejiang and have been an official here in Nanzhili for many years. Can you tell me what you think?"
"Clan power!"
After hearing what Liu Jin said, Wang Shouren said it without thinking.
"In the entire Jiangnan, including Zhejiang, and even in Jiangxi, Huguang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and other southern provinces, the clan power is much stronger than that in the north."
"Often there are only a few people with big surnames in a township. In these places, if the royal law is more powerful than the clan law, the clan power will control everything in the place if the royal power does not go to the countryside."
"Maybe in other places, due to poverty, although the clan power is strong, it cannot form a strong conservative force like here in Jiangnan."
"The Jiangnan region has abundant resources and people. It has been a prosperous and prosperous place since ancient times. Therefore, a large clan often has the ability to build its own private schools and academies, and has the resources and financial resources to cultivate scholars."
"This is also the reason why the literary style in the Jiangnan area flourishes. In the final analysis, it is because it is rich and has the conditions to cultivate scholars, so that a large number of talented people can be produced."
"There are many scholars in the Jiangnan area, and there are also many officials in the court. They are from the same family, from the same hometown, and have the same age. They naturally embrace each other, and this is how the Jiangnan scholars occupy half of the Ming Dynasty."
"The clan trains its members to study and become officials. Naturally, it is not in vain. They also need to pay back. When they become officials, they will naturally find ways to give back to their clan and seek benefits for the clan. This will form big families one after another, like before.
This is the case for Huizhou merchants and salt merchants."
"If this cycle cannot be broken, there will be a steady stream of merchants like Hui merchants and salt merchants here, who will steal the wealth of the entire country through their power. Now we have scanned these big families, but there will be new families soon.
Appear."
Wang Shouren said very seriously.
The Wang family where he works is actually the best example.
The Wang family is a large and famous family in Yuyao, Zhejiang. His father Wang Hua is the number one scholar. His ancestors have always been from a scholarly family and have produced many scholars.
In order to figure out the operation mode of the factory, Wang Shouren was able to easily raise a large amount of money to set up the factory. Behind this was the contribution of the entire Wang family.
The management of the factory is also done by the children of the Wang family, and the Wang family's trading firms, colonies, plantations and other places are also handled by the family's children.
He, Wang Shouren, doesn't have to manage it at all, but he can be completely assured. He and his father Wang Hua are like the two towering trees of the Wang family, supporting this huge family and allowing all the family members to enjoy the remaining shade.
Therefore, he is very familiar with these and clearly knows that the operating mode of these families in Jiangnan is essentially the same as that of the Wang family.
"Hmm~"
Liu Jin nodded solemnly after hearing this, which was similar to what he knew.
Historically, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, party struggles were very fierce. The Zhejiang Party, the Chu Party, the Donglin Party, etc. were all essentially the same. There was no difference between them. The only difference was which one had more officials and was more powerful.
Being big means having more say.
"Then how to solve this problem?"
"If the royal power does not go to the countryside, it will be difficult to fundamentally attack the clan forces. Even if the royal power goes to the countryside, the local clans still have the final say."
"In fact, you have done very well overseas and outside the customs. The immigrants who moved from various places have lived in a chaotic and mixed manner, completely eliminating clan influence."
"Overseas and outside the customs, clan power does not have any foundation or soil, but in our own country of Ming Dynasty, we cannot do this."
"Perhaps all we can do is find ways to change their education methods."
"It can be done from two aspects. The first is to reduce the number of people admitted to the scientific examination in the Jiangnan area, crack down on traditional private school education, ban a large number of private schools and academies run by clans in various places, and let children go to new-style schools."
"New-style schools cannot take the imperial examination, which cuts off their way to gain power through taking the imperial examination and then give back to their families. As time goes by, it will naturally be difficult to form a strong clan force, and it will be similar to clans in other places."
"The second is to promote urbanization and move a large number of people from rural areas to cities. A large number of people will gather in cities. This will naturally break the influence of the original clan power and break down the huge clans into countless
individual."
"Regarding this, we actually don't need to do anything. It is already developing naturally. The emergence of a large number of factories, workshops, and businesses will naturally attract a large number of people to come to the city to work and settle down."
"What we need to do is to relax the restrictions on household registration, allow the free circulation of the population, and abolish some of the systems that originally restricted the circulation of the population."
Wang Shouren's thinking was very clear and he hit the key point directly.
"Not bad, not bad~"
Liu Jin's eyes lit up after hearing this.
The two points mentioned by Lao Wang have been well verified in later generations.
Compulsory education will be implemented in later generations, and all children must study. No matter you are in a poor or affluent place, if everyone studies together, a large number of talents will emerge in various places, and there will not be a situation where one place is dominant.
There is also the development of urbanization in later generations. A large number of rural people have flocked to the city to work, buy houses and settle down, and the next generation will study and grow up in the city.
It is undoubtedly a huge and heavy blow to the local clan forces.
In the city, people come from all over the world and are dispersed. Whether they can function as a clan or not, and whether they get along well or not has nothing to do with their own clan.
In rural areas of towns and villages that have left a large number of young and strong labor forces, the power of clans has been greatly weakened. In the past, there were some activities such as temple fairs, singing operas, visiting gods and bodhisattvas, revising genealogy, and worshiping ancestors every year.
But as a large number of young people went to the city to work, no one participated in these activities. In the end, it became more and more bleak and cold. The words of the elders in the clan no longer worked. Everyone was busy going to the city to make money and live their own small life.
, who will care about you?
Clan power, which has existed for thousands of years, has disappeared in the new era. It no longer has any sense of existence and cannot have any great influence on society.
