Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1094 Industrial Revolution ([-])

In the industry and commerce developed by various capital needs, there is another very special thing, that is the sorghum wine in the Northeast.

The hitchhikers who were about to return home did not like this kind of highly distilled alcohol.But during the months he waited for the boat to sail in Yingkou, he didn't have the chance to drink rice wine from his hometown.

No, it's more expensive.And this kind of highly distilled alcohol is relatively cheap.

Although he had a large piece of gold in his hand, he came from a poor background and wanted to buy land to become an owner, so he was reluctant to spend the money.

When he was panning for gold, he was used to drinking this kind of highly distilled liquor.Now thinking of the taste of my hometown, I feel that I can only taste the wine of my hometown after I go back to my hometown and find my brother, wife and children.

This is his personal microscopic feeling.On a more macro level, this highly distilled liquor is also a sign of Dashun's initial industrialization in Jiangsu.

As a by-product of the capital planting soybean industry - this is derived from the agricultural technology inherited by Dashun two years ago, it is impossible to implement the three-field system and the fallow system, but to adopt the ridge system to replace the stubble - and the Huanghuai area The popularization of sorghum and the brewing of sorghum wine developed from the mid-Ming Dynasty to control water and embankments are significantly different from soybean products.

The capital investment in soybean planting is purely derived from the needs of northern Jiangsu.

The sorghum wine industry is not only derived from the demand of the initial industrial revolution area; but also because of the reverse effect after production has crowded out the market of other competing products.

The reason is also very simple.

The initial industrialization of Jiangsu Province in recent years has created a large number of low-level people.

This is not the same as before.

It turned out that ten years ago, seven or eight years ago, it was really the golden age of small handicraftsmen in southern Jiangsu.

If you work hard for a few years, or have skills in your hands, such as weaving well, it is really possible to achieve a class leap.

However, take the textile industry as an example.

When the capital monopoly group headed by Liu Yu controlled the long-staple cotton and cotton yarn, and when the iron wheel looms became popular, it was impossible to jump from a weaver to a machine owner.

The initial industrialization and the southward migration of Yangzhou capital have gradually solidified the identity of the bottom.

At the bottom, such as weavers, spinners, dock workers, carders, skimmers, dyers, etc., there is basically no possibility of rising in class.

But at the same time, due to Dashun's external expansion, capital enrichment, and food control, the problem of food and clothing in the initial industrialized areas has basically been solved, especially in the cities.

But it is basically solved by eating and dressing, and it is not possible to climb up.

Coupled with the influx of a large number of retired navy sailors into the city, [-] to [-] percent of mentally ill sailors basically have the habit of drinking.Dashun developed Nanyang, and a large number of sugarcane plantations were equipped with bagasse to make wine, which also made this habit of spirits popular in cities that were initially industrialized.

The bottom layer basically relies on cheap alcohol to anesthetize themselves and relieve daily fatigue.

Conversely, sorghum, which is a by-product of soybean planting, cannot be used as a commodity grain. People who can't afford to eat sweet potatoes, pumpkins and wild vegetables can't afford sorghum; Stuff, eat rice and flour.

The sugarcane wine industry brought by Dashun’s sugarcane plantations in Nanyang has spread the market habit of spirits consumption, and sorghum wine quickly squeezed out the sugarcane wine that is not very suitable for Dashun’s taste.

Desperation and self-anesthesia for life at the bottom, opium and other things are severely cracked down, and naturally a large amount of spirits are flooding the bottom population of the initially industrialized city.

And alcohol, here also assumes the role of a "scapegoat".

As the initial industrialization unfolded, the cities also had large and small problems.More reforms such as Liu Yu's reforms in Jiangsu that made tenant farmers miserable, led to a large influx of people into the city, deterioration of public security, theft and robbery, gang fights, etc., and the standard common problems in the early stage of industrialization appeared one after another.

Dashun is not a serious religious country, and there is no scripture that prohibits drinking alcohol.

However, alcohol is not a good thing after all.

After all, the downfall of the Shang Dynasty stemmed from the drinking problem of "hearing the Yin's decree, only the Yin's side Houtian, the Yue Yin was upright, and he was willing to drink wine, so he lost his teacher".

Therefore, for new contradictions, new problems, the despair of the bottom urban population, the surge of urban population under drastic changes, etc., alcohol has become a good scapegoat.

The scholar-bureaucrats couldn’t find the essence of the problem, nor could they understand how the society works, let alone understand the urban problems in which the productivity is increasing but the morality is corrupt, and the income of the people is increasing, but hope and despair appear. How to solve it.

So some people put the problem, or in other words, in order to insinuate that Liu Yu was carrying out the Yin and Shang government, and that Dashun was in danger of returning to the Yin and Shang to destroy the country, and fixed many problems on the excessive alcohol consumption.

But from a more macro perspective, the proliferation of urban spirits is precisely a symbolic event of early industrialization.

In the early days of the first industrial revolution, alcohol prohibition movements triggered by the resurgence of traditional morality were carried out in almost all the advanced countries.

And the alcoholism movement triggered by this industrial revolution, broadly speaking, from the British gin ban at this time, to the subsequent tea party alcohol prohibition movement, to the death of fake alcohol in China in the 80s and the counterfeit alcohol in India in the 21st century The problem of dead people can also be regarded as a continuation of the problem of alcoholism during the transition period of this generalized industrialized society.

In the short term, there is basically no solution.

The workers also hope to have a slightly more elegant life style and spiritual life, but the wages do not allow it.Even if you are addicted to reading novels, you have to learn to read characters first, right?
Reflected in Dashun, this problem may become more serious.After all, both sugar cane wine and sorghum wine are capital-oriented.

To some extent, in Dashun, a country where the religious tradition is not very strong, if there is a prohibition and anti-prohibition movement.

In fact, that is part of the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the feudal class; part of the struggle between traditional society and spontaneous modernization.

Liu Yu definitely does not support the Prohibition Movement. At this time, he is on the side of capital, and believes that the solution to this issue can only be solved by the continued development of productivity, the growth of the working class, and armed struggle for their own rights, and finally balanced distribution and popularization of compulsory education. , Increase urban public expenditure, give birth to culture and entertainment, etc., can be solved.

Otherwise, it will only cause a bunch of problems, completely treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

As a result, this deformed industry is developing more rapidly.

On the one hand, the traffic is underdeveloped and the logistics are weak. People in some areas are really still eating grass, while some areas have started to make wine on a large scale and use bean cakes to fertilize the fields.

On the other hand, more capital flocked to barren land with relatively convenient transportation and sea transportation, and planted more profit-oriented crops, which greatly promoted the number of immigrants in the Northeast.

There was even a problem that early immigrants were forced by financial capital to cross the Songliao watershed and spontaneously entered the Songhua River basin.

This is a "good thing". Capital is unwilling to cross the Songliao watershed, so it will occupy the south of the Songliao watershed, and let those small farmers who have been defeated by capital migrate to more northerly and remote places. Migration cannot be done before the emergence of those railways. The place where the commodity grain base goes.

The spontaneous emergence of the Industrial Revolution has also changed some historical sayings.

For example, the original Northeast Three Treasures are ginseng, mink fur, and deer antler.

At this time, the three treasures of the Northeast in Dashun are soybeans, spirits, and tussah silk.

The former corresponds to the needs of the scholar-official class in feudal society.

The latter corresponds to the needs of capitalist development in the new era.

The only small problem is that the original Three Treasures of the Northeast, at this time, Dashun has gradually become the "Three Treasures of Korea", and it even seems to be a part of the historical tradition, and may even be considered as since ancient times.

Of course, judging from Dashun’s import and export customs records at this time, the Northeast Three Treasures in history and the Goryeo Three Treasures in the Dashun colloquialism can also be called the “French Three Treasures” based on the import and export data alone.

Even in the history at this time, the Second American Colonial War between Britain and France within the scope of the War of Austrian Succession was called the "Ginseng War".

Until a few months later, the ice melted and the hitchhikers who wanted to go back to their hometowns took a boat and stayed in Incheon. To some extent, it was also a problem caused by the "Three Treasures of Korea".

Or, at least, this "Three Treasures of Korea" can be regarded as a fuse event for the opening of Incheon.

After the ice broke in April, the large sailing passenger ship set sail, and after a short stay in Weihai, it turned east to Incheon.

The passenger ticket bought by the hitchhiker returning to his hometown was equipped with a hammock. Compared with when he was transported to the Northeast to dig for gold like a slave, the conditions were much better.

In the hammock next to him, there is a small merchant who ships from Weihai.

Because when the hitchhiker was digging for gold in the black gold mine, there were many people with a Jiaoliao accent, so the communication between the two was absolutely no problem.

Because of the simple problem of the hammock shaking and colliding, the two accidentally caught up with each other and started chatting.

A small peddler who claimed to be doing a small business accidentally ran into the hitchhiker. After apologizing, he offered a piece of chewing tobacco, because matches and cigarettes were not allowed on board.

The hitchhiker took the chewing tobacco from someone else, started chatting, and asked the other party what kind of business they went to North Korea.

Small traders say that they do small businesses, and that they can't do ginseng business because they are done by big businessmen; they can't get involved in paper trade or rice business.

So the main thing is to go there, do some isinglass business, fringe industries, and make a little money.

I have a small shop over there, and this time I went there to solve some small business problems.

The hitchhiker was not very unfamiliar with North Korea. When he was working in the black gold mine, there were a few North Koreans in it. The impression was not bad.

For this reason, the two of them talked about the opening of Incheon as a port, and the small merchants lamented the business done by the current big businessmen, and they talked about the "Three Treasures of Korea".

(End of this chapter)