Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1149 Many Diverging Roads, Today Is Here ([-])
The next day he woke up, the hangover headache was still faint, and his mouth was dry. Meng Songlu forgot many things that happened last night, and didn't leave much memory.

He even remembered, or he thought, that after he got drunk, he sang Li Taibai's Difficult Journey, and he sang about hanging on the clouds and sailing to help the sea.

He rubbed his head, washed his face, and straightened his beard in front of the mirror in the hotel.

Waiting for the waiter from the shop to come over to check the expensive items in the room, such as glass mirrors and the like, before going out.

Today is the day I made an appointment with the company to meet those who went to Honolulu.

I called a carriage on the street, bought some food, and ate breakfast in the bumpy carriage.

After getting off the car, he threw the lotus leaf and oiled paper bag wrapped in breakfast buns into the trash can on the road next to him.Before it hit the ground, a skinny child rushed over, dug out the remaining buns from the trash can, and swallowed them.

There is still about half a month before the monsoon arrives for merchant ships bound for Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

During this period of time, according to the rules of Shanghai, beggars and vagrants were not often sent to the training center for evil children and the resettlement center for the idle and lazy.

Generally, it is only after the ships going to Europe and Southeast Asia in winter have basically left the port that large-scale arrests begin.

With the outbreak of the industrial revolution in Dashun, a large number of child laborers entered the factory, which Meng Songlu has become accustomed to over the years.

Because many factory owners have discovered two problems.

The first one: It is almost impossible to train an adult to be a skilled and useful worker.

We can't expect a farmer who is planing in the field to have fingers flexible enough to pick up the broken thread of spinning.

But children are different. After they practice, their fingers will become very flexible, and they can be competent for many jobs that the tenants who quit the fields and fled to work here cannot afford.

The second one: Some people who quit their tenants and fled to work, they prefer to work as coolies on the wharf, or go to the cotton fields to pick cotton, or do other things.

But working in the factory, they can't adapt to the non-stop work every day, they don't even know the concept of time, and they can't leave at will before the end of get off work time.

Children are different.

After whips, sticks, scolding, hunger, etc., they will soon be like a steam engine, accompanied by bell instructions, knowing when to leave and when to eat.

Besides, there are some other reasons, which are not the main reason for Dashun.

Meng Songlu didn't know how to evaluate this matter, and now he is numb, completely accustomed to it.

In any case, Liu Yu has been tossing around in Songsu for these years, and the number of abandoned and drowned babies has decreased significantly.

In particular, women who are engaged in the textile industry are actually profitable, so the number of abandoned babies and drowned babies has been decreasing in recent years.

There is a decree in Songjiang Prefecture, or in other words, a decree after compromise: half of women's working wages will be paid to parents, parents, and in-laws, not all to women.

Such a decree has not only increased the employment of women, but also reduced the number of female infanticides in Songsu area.

As for child labor, the same is true.

Not everyone can receive new learning education, and resources are limited. Relatively speaking, along with capital looms going to the countryside, the penetration rate of new learning is relatively higher in some surrounding rural areas where self-cultivating farmers are equipped with new looms.

In addition, girls' schools have even sprung up in some places, but the main reason is that the women's engineering schools for new-style jacquard machines require a certain amount of literacy, otherwise they will not be awarded to new-style jacquard machines.

Just like when Meng Songlu and Quan Zheshen met for the first time, Quan Zhe was facing the prosperity of Shanghai, and could chant a poem to mourn the dead corpses he saw, while Meng Songlu even stopped to give the The children who rummaged through the trash cans for food didn't pay much attention.

What has been taken for granted has quietly become a matter of course.

However, just when he thought all this was normal, a group of patrolmen from a distance rushed over and grabbed the child who was rummaging through the trash can, and warned: "In a few days, the Holy Son of Heaven will patrol the south, you go back and tell you the same, Hurry up to the Evil Boys Training Center in the next few days. After five days, if you are still wandering around and doing nothing, see you once and hit me once! Get out!"

The child ran away, Meng Songlu frowned, didn't care much, and pushed the door into the magnificent [Dashun Shengtianzi Chartered Trade Monopoly Franchise Chamber of Commerce north of 46 degrees north latitude], which is commonly known as the headquarters of Jinghai Company .

Probably because the sailing is about to start, the interior is very busy, and the buzzing voices are all questions such as "put more wine this year", "it is best to stagger the time with the big ships of the Spaniards on the ocean current".

Walking to the front desk, he said his purpose and name, and then a staff led Meng Songlu up to the third floor and went to a room.

There were already quite a few people inside, and the room was filled with smoke, and the transparent glass windows projected the rare sunshine in Shanghai this season.

On the windowsill, there are several tulips blooming in flower pots.

Most of the company headquarters in Dashun have all kinds of tulips on display. Because I told the story of the Dutch tulips back then, it may be to remind them not to make hype, or Liu Yu’s evil intentions. Interesting, various companies send out bunches of tulip tubers.

Hope they see the materialistic bubble.

On the long table is an ashtray made of glass and fake crystal, which was very expensive before and is now outdated.

The chairs are all high-quality leather goods, and a piece of leather on the chair is enough to buy several hundred catties of grain.

There is a painting hanging on the main wall in front of the long table. The painting is very good, but the price is average.

Because Yangzhou was destroyed and Huai'an was abolished, many literati who depended on salt merchants for a living could no longer survive there, so they all came here.

The scroll is powerful, but the painting is worthless.

Meng Songlu felt that the painting was very good, and the brushwork was very stylish.But the rest of the people in the room seemed to have no interest in it, and no one stood in front of the painting to appreciate it.

After looking around, Meng Songlu suddenly remembered that he was not attending a literati poetry meeting, these people in front of him were all pure and practical students.Even if there are people who study architecture, they must understand the proportion of shadows, but basically that is a relatively low-end level of artistic conception in paintings, and it is estimated that they will not be able to appreciate the paintings hanging here.

In the crowd, Meng Songlu unexpectedly saw an acquaintance, it was Meng Tiezhu who had argued with him in Haizhou back then.

At this time Meng Tiezhu also saw him, hesitated for a while as if to confirm, walked up to Meng Songlu and asked, "Brother, have you and I met somewhere?"

Meng Songlu said with a smile: "It's been a few years since we left Haizhou. I heard about Brother Zhu's name in the newspaper before. I know you were in Funing at the beginning and then worked in the plantation. I don't want to see you here now. You are too. To Honolulu?"

Meng Tiezhu slapped his head and said with a smile: "Oh, I remembered, I remembered. You are the one who equals the land, right?"

Meng Songlu was a little embarrassed. It seemed that he didn't have a deep impression on Meng Tiezhu, but he had a deep impression on him.

As the saying goes, the speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention.

Meng Songlu once thought that the idea of ​​"restoring the patriarchal legal system, letting the legitimate sons inherit, and paying taxes to let the younger brothers emigrate overseas" seemed to be feasible in depression and despair.

In my impression, this Meng Tiezhu was quite sarcastic, but this time he didn't sarcasm much, but mentioned the matter of going to Honolulu.

"Xing Guogong said it well. We are officials, and you are officials. We have to listen to you. Farming, reclamation, management, shipbuilding, construction, doctors...we are all practical officials."

"Duke Xingguo said he wanted to find a scholar to take us, but it turned out to be you."

Meng Songlu was stunned for a moment when he heard the words "you are an official, we are officials".

According to their school's vision, after graduating from the Fenzhai school in Sungkyunkwan in the capital, they will be assigned to serve as county officials in various counties according to their respective majors.

Right now, these three No. 40 people seem inconspicuous, but I am afraid that they are all the outstanding third-rate talents in the new school education in these years, and they are not young boys in terms of age, so they are probably all emerging figures in these years .

For new students, the first-rate ones go to the Academy of Sciences; the second-rate ones enter the army and navy;

Dashun's imperial examination system has favorably promoted Dashun's overseas development.

Because practical talents are marginal people, they can't be officials, so they can only leave the scope of "the world" and go outside the world to find opportunities.

It is said that troubles in life begin with literacy.

If a group of people can't read at all, they will live a lifetime ignorant.

But if you can read and write, you have to find some hope and some hope. Many people go overseas, and many people gradually emerge.

Speaking of which, Meng Songlu felt that it would be no problem for these people to form a team of state shepherds.

Although they have never been officials, some manage hundreds of thousands of people in plantations, some work as warehouse managers in companies and are responsible for collecting accounts, and some have mostly retired as military officers.

But I am dwarfed by comparison. Although I have inherited the knowledge of my teacher, in practice, I have only participated in the management of the 24 mu of land in the village community.

Fortunately, I have some understanding of such things as classics, systems, etiquette, and music.

This is not only the nature of the company's funding, but also the semi-official nature. It is still easy to speak for yourself.Although many people in Dashun die overseas every year, Dashun's laws are still valid for those who are famous and participate in semi-official activities.

Meng Songlu thought for a while, then suddenly asked: "Brother Zhu, why did you go to Honolulu? Out of righteousness? Out of profit? How did you feel when Duke Xingguo recruited you?"

Meng Tiezhu didn't even think about it, and replied: "I'm overjoyed! You know, we can't be officials. If we have the opportunity to participate in this kind of thing, it's really smoke on the ancestral grave. You know that I have been in charge of planting before. Garden, do you think, Honolulu, Honolulu, can it be called Honolulu without sandalwood?"

"If you show others the fucking plantation, you only earn some wages, and there is not much money left."

"If I help the prince in Honolulu get rich, why don't you reward me with two or three thousand acres of land and a few hundred people?"

"With a certain ability, since he can take care of the plantation for others, he has the ability, but he lacks capital. Isn't this a good thing that fell from the sky?"

"Hey, have you read the "Captain Singleton" that has sold very well in the past few years? What is said in it is right. Work hard, work hard, and work hard for a lifetime. In the end, you will be a helmsman and won't earn much. Money. If you go overseas for a few years, won’t you be rich?”

"Are you saying that I lack skills? Do I lack the means to run a plantation? We don't lack anything, so the original capital is missing."

In high spirits, he couldn't help but said: "Brother, I have heard about what you are doing. You said that you spent 24 acres of money to set up Yizhuang out of compassion. After years of tossing, you didn't bother What did you come out of. With the money to enclose the 20 mu of land, what did you invest in at the beginning, even if you also enclose the land to grow cotton at that time, and after you make money, you will start a charity farm or something, isn't it more people than you are helping now?"

"Mr. Xingguo said that we should work hard to get rich. The more money we make, the more meritorious deeds we will have. If we really want to be compassionate, we should wait until we are 50 years old to do good deeds. The more money we have, the greater the good deeds will be. , Compassion is useless..."

These words, which sounded like a headache to Meng Songlu, made Meng Songlu helplessly smile, and corrected him: "Brother Zhu, let me say it again, we didn't run the Yizhuang out of compassion, and it wasn't a Yizhuang at all. I am looking for the way to equalize the land and solve the problem of the most benevolent government in the world. Is it simply to run Yizhuang out of compassion?"

"Mr. Shu Gu once said: It is a fallacy to run Yizhuang and Yixue. What Yixue relies on is the school field; what the school land earns is the grain rent; the grain rent is the people's great poverty; the people's great poverty If the people are not in trouble, why do you need righteous learning? To equalize the fields of the world and conquer the gifts of the world, Guangxing Primary School is the right way."

"That's why our school doesn't run Yizhuang or Yixue. This matter is too big to talk nonsense."

(End of this chapter)