Chapter 1784 Industrial Age - Destruction of Machine Movement
Yun took a nap for half an hour, got up a quarter of an hour later than usual, and sat by the bed for a while. He remembered that he hadn't answered any of the papers today, so he asked a servant to bring him water to wash his face, and then he went to the front door.
Palace approval memorial.
But at this time Lu Yi came up and said: "The official family, Dongshan man Li Taiyuan and his son Li Xiaoxing, the fifth doctor, are waiting in Jinshen Hall. Can they be summoned?"
"If you didn't tell me, I would have forgotten." Yun patted his head. The steam engine he saw in Gezhiyuan in the morning and the law of universal gravitation he discovered were too important. He was thinking about these two things, and they were about to turn the people of Suzhou into
Forgot about it.
"Have the reports of the Suzhou officials on the Suzhou civil uprising arrived in the capital?" Yun asked again.
"The official family, not yet." Lu Yi replied.
"That's right, Suzhou is four hundred miles away from the capital. Unless it's six hundred miles away, we really can't reach the capital now." Yun muttered to himself, and then said: "It's been said that Li Taiyuan and Li Xiaoxing are coming to the back hall, and I want to meet them.
them."
"Yes, official." Lu Yi agreed, turned around and left. After a while, two men wearing official uniforms, one old and one middle, walked in, saluted Yun and said: "I am Li Taiyuan, a man from Dongshan/Li Xiaoxing, the fifth doctor."
, I have met your Majesty, long live your Majesty!"
"Ping Shen." Yun said softly, sitting on the Arhat bed with his coat on his back.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness." They both said quickly.
"It has been more than four years since the Li family assisted the imperial troops in putting down the rebellion at the end of the 14th year of Jianye, and I conferred the title of baron on Li Qing. I have not seen my two dear friends for more than four years. Xiaoxing's injuries have already been healed.
Have you taken care of yourself? How is your business doing now?"
"Your Majesty, my son's injury has been healed long ago, and he is no longer in trouble. I want to apologize to your Majesty for the business in my clan." Li Taiyuan knelt down and said: "Improper response in my clan has led to civil unrest, and it has also caused civil unrest.
Please punish me, Your Majesty."
"Your Majesty, please punish me." Li Xiaoxing also knelt down and said.
"Get up and talk." Yun originally wanted to say a few words and ask about his family's business, but when he saw that he immediately apologized, he stopped talking and asked directly: "Why, is it really like what Tang Zong, the prefect of Suzhou, said?
"Is it because your family exploited the people and the people couldn't tolerate it that the people revolted?"
"Your Majesty, it is indeed the improper response of the ministers that led to the civil uprising, and I apologize to your Majesty for this. But the truth is not as what Magistrate Tang said." Li Taiyuan said.
"What is the truth? Tell me in detail." Yun said.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Taiyuan kowtowed again and talked about the cause of the Suzhou civil uprising.
"Your Majesty also knows that the subject family is engaged in raw silk and silk business. In the past, they not only purchased silkworm cocoons from silk merchants for reeling, but also bought raw silk to weave into satin."
"But in recent years, the silk shops in the subject family rarely purchased raw silk from farmers, but mostly purchased silkworm cocoons, which were reeled in their own silk reeling factories and then supplied to textile factories. His Majesty encouraged the development of private industry and commerce, and once said that the factories
The production efficiency is higher than that of small workshops per household, and the establishment of workshops is encouraged. Therefore, since the establishment of the Suzhou Industrial Park, I have set up silk reeling workshops and textile workshops in the park."
"Originally, this would not cause dissatisfaction among the people. Although the efficiency of silk reeling and weaving in silk reeling factories and textile factories is higher than that of each household, it is not much higher. Moreover, the factories have to pay the machine workers, and the private silk industry
Households and textile households were willing to sell as long as the price was slightly higher than the cost of reeling or weaving the silk themselves. Therefore, although the prices of raw silk and satin on the market dropped due to the reopening of factories, they only complained a few times.
Especially with the re-opening of trade routes with the Fu country, many Fu merchants came to the Qin Dynasty in the northwest or to the Shanghai shipping department. The sales volume of silk and satin was greater than before, and the price did not drop much."
"But the year before last, a machinist in the textile factory run by the Chen clan invented a new textile machine. The efficiency of weaving silk and satin increased several times compared with the past. A machinist can weave more satin than before in the same time.
In the past, there were more than three times more; not only silk and satin, the efficiency of weaving cotton has also increased several times."
"Since the efficiency has been improved so much and the labor cost does not need to increase, the average cost of each piece of satin and cotton cloth is lower, and it can be sold cheaper, even lower than the cost of weaving silk, satin and cotton cloth by textile households. This makes textile households either only
If you can sell it at a loss, you will either end up rotting in your hands. In the past two years, many textile households have gone bankrupt and either had to change careers or work in textile factories. Only a few textile households that can weave special patterns and colors are still in business. Therefore,
Textile households hate textile factories very much."
"Because the spinning efficiency has greatly improved, the demand for raw silk has greatly increased; however, the reeling efficiency has not improved, causing the price of raw silk to rise sharply. The person in charge of the factory in the Chen clan said to the machinist of the reeling factory, who
Those who can improve the machine or process of silk reeling will be rewarded with a thousand coins. Inspired by the reward, the machinists worked hard to improve the machine and improve the process. They improved the machine in less than half a year, making the silk reeled out not only better than
It was better in the past and production has increased."
"As a result, the price of raw silk has dropped again; not only that, even if the wages of mechanics are included in the silk reeling factory, the average cost per stone of raw silk is lower than that of silk households, and they can sell the silk at a lower price, which in turn allows the silk to be sold at a lower price.
Households' life became increasingly difficult. Especially after the last silk reeling before winter, several gentry who opened silk reeling workshops, as well as some members of the clan, joined forces to lower the price of silk, causing many silk households not only to lose money.
Instead, I lost money and had to rely on loans to survive.”
"A few days ago, on the 15th day of the first lunar month, a silk householder had no money for the New Year and could not buy any new year's goods. On this day, he was ridiculed a few times by his relatives, and he committed suicide because of his thoughts. After hearing about this, the silk householders, whether they were familiar with him or not, were shocked.
I came to express my condolences. In front of the mourning hall, you talked to me about the embarrassment of the New Year, and the more you talked, the angrier you became. At this time, someone added fuel to the fire and said that the machines in the silk reeling factory had been improved and could produce more raw silk.
, next year will be more difficult than this year. The silk households suddenly became excited. Someone mentioned that they had smashed the silk reeling factory and destroyed the machines that were harmful to people. There was a response. The silk households went home and picked up hammers, wooden sticks and even rolling pins.
Walk towards the industrial park where the silk reeling factory is located.”
"There are many craftsmen's households in Suzhou, and there are thousands of silk households, forming a huge crowd. Seeing so many people gathered in such an aggressive manner, some people asked why. I heard that they were going to smash up the silk reeling factory and bankrupt the industry.
The textile households also became excited, and tens of thousands of people picked up their goods and followed them to the industrial park."
"There are people guarding the gates of the industrial park even on holidays, but the gatekeepers can scare ordinary people on weekdays. How dare they stop the craftsmen who are tens of thousands and so aggressive? They just picked up their belongings and ran away.
The craftsmen disappeared. Of course, the craftsmen would not quarrel with a gatekeeper. A few strong ones kicked open the door and ran to the silk reeling factory and textile factory."
"After that, the silk reeling factory and textile factory in the park were smashed, all the machines were smashed, and the stored raw silk, cotton, satin and cloth were burned. Most of the people guarding the factory escaped, but some wanted to
He was beaten to death by craftsmen who tried to stop him, and his body was so beaten that it was no longer human, and even his family could not identify him."
"Because so many people gathered together, the police on duty on the street were afraid of causing a big trouble, so they hurriedly reported it to Magistrate Tang. Magistrate Tang did not dare to neglect, and called all the police officers who were resting at home, and sent someone to inform Li of the Suzhou Guard.
Commander. Commander Li also immediately gathered hundreds of soldiers to pay attention to what happens next."
"The craftsmen of silk households and textile households had no other ideas. They just wanted to destroy the machines that made their lives worse, so that their lives could become the same as before. After destroying the machines, they vented their anger.
, I was no longer excited; I saw many policemen running towards the park, as if they were going to arrest people, I became frightened, and ran away to go home. The policemen caught a few craftsmen who were running at the end and took them back to the government office."
"Because of the interrogation of these captured craftsmen and the questioning of some merchants in the city, they found out what happened. The gentry in Suzhou City were very angry about this and insisted on severely punishing those who destroyed machines and burned raw silk, cotton, satin and cotton cloth.
However, the rural gentry outside the city opposed severe punishment and advocated leniency. The prefect Tang finally decided to forgive the craftsmen and did not hold any of the craftsmen responsible for their crimes. The caught ones were also released, but they only fined the textile guild and silk industry guild a sum of money.
To compensate those whose factories were burned down.”
"Afterwards, I and my son rushed to the capital and requested to meet His Majesty and explain the reason for this matter face to face." Li Taiyuan finally said.
