At this point, the content of this chapter is over. Yun continued to turn back and turned to Chapter 3, Section 5. The title was "Changes in the Ming Dynasty's political system between the two social revolutions and the changes in the second social revolution."
Reasons", keep reading.
"..., during the empire's reign of Emperor Zhao and Emperor Zhang, there was an emperor who was responsible for suppressing capitalists and not over-exploiting workers. At the same time, Confucian scholars controlled public opinion and condemned capitalists' exploitation of workers, so that capitalists did not dare to go too far. But as the emperor's power grew,
It became smaller and smaller, and gradually turned into something similar to the chastity memorial arch. The aristocracy and the capitalists were in cahoots, and Confucianism lost its ability to influence public opinion. It even became insignificant for a time, and nothing could restrain the capitalists anymore."
"They first changed the political system. In each province and the central government, parliaments emerged as the highest authority. Some people may think that the emergence of parliaments is a good thing, but at that time, only people with property exceeding 1,000 yuan could become electors.
Only those with a property of more than 10,000 yuan can be elected, and they must be men over twenty years old. Only less than 6% of people in the country meet these conditions, and the vast majority of these people are capitalists, and only a handful of them rely on land rent or
The aristocrats who make a living from usury are, in a sense, considered capitalists. They are completely elected by capitalists and how can a parliament with capitalists as members introduce a bill that goes against their own interests?"
"The imperial examination has also gradually deteriorated. Although there are various problems with the imperial examination, it is almost the only way for the non-rich class to reach the upper class of society. It gives hope to ordinary people and is an important means to maintain social fairness. But during this period, although people in power
The capitalists have not abolished the imperial examination system, but all kinds of private fraud are almost openly carried out. 99% of the candidates admitted for each examination are from the wealthy class, and only 1 or 2 people are from the civilian class. The wealthy class has a complete monopoly on senior government officials.
"The students recruited by the Imperial College are basically from the wealthy class. Through this method and the parliament, they completely control the government."
"They colluded with senior military generals. The capitalists need the army to open more markets, and the generals need to gain promotion through military exploits, and they can also plunder the enemy's wealth during the war, so the two sides hit it off and the capitalists fully control the government.
It didn’t take long for them to collude closely.”
"After that, the capitalists began their brutal exploitation and oppression at home and abroad. They economically plundered workers, farmers, soldiers, and anyone else they could plunder or exploit at home and abroad. The first was the workers. Changes from the Zhao Emperor and Zhang Emperor periods
In order to attract workers' high wages, they have significantly reduced workers' wages. The wages of each adult male worker are only 8 cents to 1 dime per day, the wages of adult female workers are only 5 cents to 6 cents per day, and the wages of child laborers are only 3 cents to 10 cents per day.
4 cents; at that time, the price of a liter of rice or flour was 1 cent, 5 cents to 2 cents, and an adult man could only buy 5 liters of rice with a day's salary, and even less for women and children."
"Not only that, they also try their best to extend the working hours of workers. Every adult worker, regardless of gender, has to work at least 14 hours a day, and even up to 16 hours; even child workers have to work more than 10 hours a day."
One silver dollar is equal to 10 cents, which is equal to 100 cents. One stone is equal to 10 buckets, which is equal to 100 liters. One liter is equivalent to 594 grams in the first life, which is slightly more than a kilogram. Calculated in this way, a man's daily salary is only enough to buy less than six
A pound of rice. "I work so long every day for such a small salary. This squeeze is too great. It has even caught up with the old Japanese Empire in my first life. But the old Japanese Empire did not have many colonies to exploit. In this life
The Ming Dynasty had so many colonies, but it still exploited its own workers so cruelly?" Yun said with some surprise.
"Such low wages naturally did not attract people to work, so they passed a bill to increase the exploitation of farmers. At this time, the aristocratic landowners in the countryside also had the need to transform into agricultural capitalists to earn more wealth. The two parties hit it off and joined forces.
The oppression of farmers caused them to owe huge debts and had to sell their land until all the land was sold out and they were forced to come to the city to work as workers. In this process, the landlords were transformed into agricultural capitalists, who were able to obtain more rent and income than before.
Usury earns more profits, and urban industrial and commercial capitalists obtain more cheap labor, and they can offer even lower wages. Through these practices, the capitalists obtain high profits. The price is poor food for workers.
, poor living conditions, shorter and shorter life spans, and increasingly difficult situations.”
Yun Zheng was watching, and suddenly he heard someone say: "What are you looking at?" He raised his head and saw Tang Ying standing beside his desk, curiously looking at what book he was reading. When she noticed what Yun was reading
When it was a history book, he said with a smile: "Why, are you previewing the content of the next history class now? Why don't you take a break?"
But as soon as she said these words, she realized that she had made a mistake. Because Zhu Shizhen's parents had died, and most of his savings were used to repair the dilapidated house, in order to save money, he did not have a boarding school. Didn't she rub salt in his wounds? She again
He hurriedly said: "It is better to use the time at noon to read than to study at night. After all, the light at noon is also sunlight, which is better than the light at night. It should be used for studying. Sleep more at night to make up for it at noon. I also read books
." She hurriedly picked up a book from her desk and started to read it.
"Tang Ying, I was reading about the second social revolution," Yunque said with a smile: "I suddenly became very interested in this period of history, but it's just not very clear in the affiliation book."
"It's just a middle school history book. The Second Social Revolution was a very important event. How could it be written in detail?" Tang Ying was eager to get rid of the embarrassment and said hurriedly: "The Second Social Revolution is a separate course in college.
, from freshman to junior year, there are only three classes in middle school, how much can be taught."
As Tang Ying spoke, she came to Yun's side, looked at what he was reading, and said: "At that time, the hatred of the capitalists for squeezing the workers and the difference in workers' lives were only lightly mentioned in the textbooks.
The famous historian Tang Jingzhi wrote a book called "The Situation of Workers Before the Second Social Revolution". I remember one paragraph that said: The meager income of workers made them fight with others for a few cents, and fight for a few dollars.
It's okay to kill someone, a woman can quarrel with her neighbors all day long over something worth only 1 penny, and children will beat others to a bloody pulp just to snatch a little charity from some 'well-meaning' rich people. This is not because of working-class families.
Their moral level is low, but because 1 cent is the cost of a meal for them, and 1 dime is the living expenses of a family for a day."
"There is another paragraph like this: There is no doubt that the reason for the persistence and spread of typhoid fever is that people live in overcrowding and filthy housing. The houses where workers often live are in side streets and courtyards. From the light and air
, space, cleanliness and other aspects, it is a model of imperfection and unsanitary, and a shame for any civilized country. Men, women and children sleep together, and there is an endless flow of people coming and going on the day shift and the night shift.
So it’s hard for the beds to get cold. The water supply in these houses is poor, and the toilets are filthy and unventilated, making them the birthplace of infectious diseases.”
"There is another saying: The situation of workers is so bad that there is even a saying: All workers in the city, counting three generations up, must not be from the city. Because two generations of workers in a row cannot marry a wife with a third generation.
generation. In short, the oppression and exploitation of workers by capitalists has reached a very extreme level."
"At the same time, there are the extravagant desires of the upper class of society. A well-trained fox hound costs 400 to 700 yuan, a bottle of fine rice wine produced in Suzhou costs 600 yuan, and a villa costs tens of thousands of yuan..." Tang Yingdao
.
After listening to Tang Ying's words, Yun understood very well that these were not written in middle school history textbooks. After all, although the capitalists were mainly criticized, there were also aristocrats at that time who contributed to the flames; now the Ming aristocrats are still an important force in the political arena, so it is naturally impossible to expose them wantonly.
Their crimes, even if they have to be mentioned, can only be mentioned. In fact, Yun was surprised by the comparison between workers' income and food prices listed in the textbook. (Yun did not know that this comparison was between the Labor Party and the Communist Party of China.
It was written in the history textbook at the strong request of the Datong Party and the People’s Party)
Yun continued to read the rest of the content while talking to Tang Ying. "Externally, capitalists use various means to force other countries to open their doors or become colonies, and implement low or zero tariffs so that goods produced in the Central Plains can be
Sold to other countries. Among them, some countries have already established factories, and the capitalists will use dumping to destroy the factories in this country. Once a country wants to protect its own industry by means including raising tariffs, the capitalists will move in
The imperial army forced them to continue to implement a 'free' market system. But at the same time, they never implemented a free market in the Central Plains."
"The dumping behavior of capitalists does not distinguish between vassal countries or other countries. They are all treated equally, either as the origin of raw materials or as the sales market for products. The people in the vassal country are treated the same as Indians. Except for a very small number of dealers, other people in the vassal country
Everyone's interests were harmed, and countless people who were originally prosperous went bankrupt and fell into abject poverty; people who were not originally wealthy were even more difficult. Like the workers and farmers in the Central Plains, they were very dissatisfied with the central government and capitalists. The practices of the capitalists were detrimental to the empire.
The Confederacy caused great damage, and to this day, it has not been able to fully repair the rifts it created."
"By this time, according to the words of the famous historian Tang Jingzhi: The entire Ming Empire had become a piece of dry firewood, just waiting for a spark to ignite it."
After reading this paragraph, the chapter was over. Yun turned back and turned to Chapter 4, Chapter 3 "The Second Social Revolution", and wanted to continue reading.
But at this time Tang Ying suddenly said: "Master, didn't you preview the history class during the vacation? Why do you still read the history textbook if you want to understand the second social revolution?"
"It's been a long time and I've forgotten a bit." Yun could only say, "Let's get a rough understanding of it from the history textbook first, and then go to the library to borrow professional books to read."
Tang Ying glanced at Yun with some suspicion. The Second Social Revolution was the most important event in the history of the Ming Dynasty. It was very strange that Zhu Shihe, who came from a noble family, didn't know much about it.
However, she had not talked about this matter with Zhu Shihuan before. Although she felt strange, she did not say anything. She just returned to her bookcase, took out a book and handed it to Yun, saying: "If you want to understand the second social revolution, cultural
For this organization, this book edited by Tang Jingzhi is the most suitable."
Yun took the book and saw the title "The Second Social Revolution" written on the cover. It was edited by Tang Jingzhi and published by Yingtian University Press. He raised his head and said with a smile: "You really like to buy historical research books by Tang Jingzhi!"
"
"Tang Jingzhi is the most famous contemporary historical scholar. He is very in-depth in his research on modern history and has a relatively neutral attitude. Buying his books is the best. Of course, the reason why our family has bought a lot of his books is because I
"Dad shows that besides being knowledgeable, there is one more thing," Tang Ying looked at Yun with a smile.
"I know, Tang Jingzhi is your cousin." Yun continued with a smile. He had seen in Zhu Shijie's diary that Tang Ying's ancestors were not ordinary, they were Tang Sai'er and Yu Qian. Tang Sai'er's father Tang Jingyu
He had no son, so he changed his surname to Tang Sai'er's second son, Yu Shouming, and raised him as his grandson. He also received a hereditary title. However, Tang Ying's father was not a direct descendant, and the family was separated earlier, so he had nothing to gain.
Light, you can only work hard on your own.
"The third point is that every ten years when our Tang family goes to pay homage to the tombs of our ancestors, my uncle will give some books to family members, which can be obtained for free. In order to make them look better on the bookshelf,
I can only buy the rest of the books from my uncle." Tang Ying said with a smile. But she felt relieved because she found that Yun was a little different from the previous Zhu Shihe, although she would not doubt the person in front of her because of this.
She was not the same person as Zhu Shihe, but she unconsciously tested her. The result of the test showed that the person in front of her was the same person as the person she liked.
Yun smiled. Although he was a man, he could never guess what a woman was thinking, but with fifty years of experience as an emperor, and through some of the small movements when Tang Ying was speaking just now, he guessed what she seemed to want to do with her words.
What kind of trap? Each question was answered after carefully recalling Zhu Shihe's diary. Now it seems that he guessed well.
Yun said a few more words to her, lowered her head and opened the book "The Second Social Revolution". Tang Ying also sat on the chair next to him and looked with him.