Xinshun 1730

Chapter 791 New Contradiction
After leaving the countryside and returning to the city, the overall feeling is completely different.

This era is not good, but Songjiang Mansion is a rich place, so it is quite different.

Liu Yu and others are going to visit some textile workshops.And on the streets of Songjiang Mansion, there are also tribute envoys from Southeast Asian countries who followed Liu Yu to Beijing this time, as well as some Western Europeans.

The former is for paying tribute and confirming the new owner of Southeast Asia; the latter is smelling business opportunities, hoping to fill the vacancy left by the Dutch and obtain the right to trade spices.

The emperor and the court are still very confident about the prosperity of Jiangnan.

Therefore, whenever it is necessary to show the prosperity of the country, the tribute envoys or envoys will first stop and visit in the south of the Yangtze River, and then go north along the canal economic belt.This is a bit similar to the story of the Sui Dynasty who used silk to wrap the tree to decorate the facade, all for the sake of external face, but what doesn't make sense is that Dashun is really confident in Jiangnan cities at this time, not conceited, so there is no need to deliberately decorate.

Historically, Macartney, and later Amherst, came to China under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Before refusing to open the northern port and ceding Zhoushan, they still had some virtues towards the Chinese.

At least before refusing to cede Zhoushan as a British warehouse, the evaluation of the appearance of the Chinese, except for the subjective aesthetic evaluation of "in terms of beauty and ugliness, no Chinese woman can surpass European women", the evaluation is not bad .Of course, at this time, the Chinese upper class looked at European women as ghost women, and the difference in aesthetics was too great.

It said: "Many men are majestic and powerful, with protruding limbs and muscles, and there is no sign of sluggishness.I paid attention to it, and couldn't help reciting the poems of Shakespeare's "The Tempest": Looking at the multitude of beings, I marvel at the magic of creation; the beauty of human beings is so great, I am happy to live in the new world. 】

Of course, in history, there were some rather unpleasant exchanges between the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Britain more than ten years before Macartney's visit to China.

The British merchant ship Mrs. Hughes misloaded an iron bomb while firing salutes, so that two spectators were killed. According to the British, it was the local officials who arbitrarily boarded the ship and captured innocent people. The gunners were hanged; the British believed that this was a mistake, and there was no legal responsibility, and they didn't even have to pay for it.

Including the unhappiness caused by the earlier berthing of the Centurion, the Europeans have a negative evaluation of the Chinese law: Chinese law is the law of the barbarian era, which is arbitrary, brutal, and life-defying; and European ideas of equality, justice or humanity are incompatible.

With these conflicts and entanglements of interests, some words must be believed or not fully believed.

After all, this era is the 40s rather than the 90s. At this time, Dashun's urban scenery in the south of the Yangtze River is still enough to shock these outsiders.

Europeans are now enjoying the enlightenment movement of "borrowing China to satirize Europe", which makes Liu Yu, a Dashun man, blush. Even so, these Europeans who are licensed to visit Songjiang Mansion and are going north to meet the emperor and seize the spice trade There is no feeling of high expectations and disappointment.

As for the people from the small countries in Southeast Asia, they were completely shocked.Songjiang Mansion has always been a prosperous place, and it has encouraged industry and commerce in recent years. It is not an exaggeration to call it a model.

The people in Songjiang Prefecture did not show much surprise to these foreigners wandering in the streets.

After Dashun has a navy and can ensure the protection of the coast, the trade center of Dashun began to move northward.Songjiang Mansion, or the premise of the opening of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, in the eyes of a unified feudal monarchy, is to have a navy to ensure maritime safety.

Otherwise, the fleet of Westerners would be terrified if they dangled around the key points of water transportation all day long.Water transport was the artery of the feudal empire.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty engaged in thirteen lines of trade with one port, which must be a manifestation of closedness, backwardness and conservatism.

Under the premise that one mouth is closed and backward, it is all one mouth. Why this mouth is chosen in Guangzhou instead of Shanghai, which is more suitable, is more about the consideration of governance.

Dashun is not Manchu, Dashun has an ocean-going navy, and at least at this time, it can be sure that the east of India is invincible.

Then, it may be said that it is only a necessary but not sufficient condition for the transformation of waste water into the sea; the northward movement of the trade center and the proximity to the handicraft industry center and financial center are an inevitable result.

If you see a lot, you won't be surprised.

Even people in Songjiang Prefecture are far less curious about Westerners than those in Southeast Asia.

Because even before the trade center moved to the north, a large number of Catholic missionaries of the Jesuits were in Songjiang Prefecture. The granddaughter of Guang Xu Guangqi donated and built 130 churches around Songjiang Prefecture. They saw them almost every day, so how could they feel curious? ?
On the contrary, those Southeast Asians were rare in Songjiang Mansion before.

And this scene of barbarians wandering in Songjiang Mansion also made those in the handicraft industry and textile industry in Songjiang Mansion ecstatic.

What they like is not the coming of all nations to the DPRK.That's none of their business?
What they like is that the last time the Japanese were arranged by the imperial court to visit Songjiang Mansion, and then the trade with Japan opened a new chapter, and their cloth sales also reached a new level; the last time the Swedes visited Songjiang Mansion to show the prosperity of the Chinese Empire , Their cotton sales have reached a new level.

Now not only Westerners are here, but people from Nanyang are also here. With the experience of the previous few times, how can you not like it?
With the arrival of the barbarians, will the trade volume definitely increase?Is the business bound to be better than before?
There is no necessary connection here.

Just like the classic Ryukyu tribute incident in history, the merchants took the experience of the anti-human policy of moving borders and banning the sea in the Qing Dynasty, and believed that no matter how much goods they brought to Ryukyu tribute, they would be snatched up. , As a result, the goods could not be sold in Ryukyu, and armed riots demanded that the Ryukyu king must eat all of them.

It is easy to draw erroneous and empirical conclusions without considering the deep-seated reasons and only looking at the superficial superficial connections.This can be regarded as the most difficult part of "taking history as a mirror" to understand and understand thoroughly.

So when Liu Yu and others stepped into the home of a loom household with 120 looms, this "capitalist" was busy preparing to expand another [-] looms, preparing for a wave of trade dividends and grasping the tide of the times.

After seeing Liu Yu and others, he quickly put down what he was doing, welcomed Liu Yu and others into the back hall, served tea as a ceremony, and after kowtowing, the owner of the house even kowtowed to Liu Yu repeatedly.

"To tell you the truth, I wait for these weaving opportunities, and I will worship the Whale Marquis during the New Year's Festival, just in case. My family originally only had seven or eight looms, but thanks to my wife's ingenuity and good weaving skills, everyone snapped up the weaving materials. , and accumulated some family money.”

"In the beginning, it was time to catch up with the construction of the navy. The woolens worn by the officers were all from France. Except for the woolens, the sailors don't mention it. The other military uniforms of the officers are also made of cotton cloth from Songjiang Prefecture. It's just in time for the purchase, my wife. I felt that it was impossible to buy this clothes just once, so I strongly advocated borrowing some and doubled the number of looms.”

"In the next year, war will be waged against the Japanese. The Japanese country does not produce cotton cloth, and there is no cotton. After the trade, the sales of cotton cloth are increasing. Especially the cloth of Songjiang Prefecture is very popular in the Japanese country. Every year, the cargo ship to Nagasaki purchases a lot of cotton. The loom purchased with this loan not only paid off the principal and interest in two years, but also incurred a lot of interest.”

"So I bought a few more looms. It just so happened that the Westerner's 'Flying Shuttle' method was introduced. This thing is very wonderful. After it was transmitted, my wife and the villain made some changes, and the weaving became more and more. The basic life, the basic life, is now well-off, and there are more than a hundred and twenty looms, all thanks to the strength of the whale."

"I'm waiting to worship from time to time, it's really sincere."

After this praise, Liu Yu swept away the feeling of powerlessness in the countryside, and he was in a good mood. He laughed and said, "In this way, the head of your family is actually your wife. I think the textile industry in Songjiang Prefecture is getting more and more developed. In the future, women will speak more and more seriously."

"If the rich are rich, most of them are skillful wives and daughters who are good at spinning and weaving. If they sell well, they can buy looms and become machine owners and hire machine workers."

"If you are poor, if a woman can spin yarn and weave to make money, won't she speak hard at home? If she really can't make it, she will leave. With the ability to weave with one hand, what is there to be afraid of?"

"I think in this Songjiang mansion, women will hold up half the sky in the future, and men will have to leave a promise first compared to other places."

"Since you have such knowledge, you are also a heroine if you think about it. You are not bad for such an ordinary man. Why don't you come out and see me? I have some things I want to ask, so don't be surprised. It's nothing more than business, business, and textiles. thing."

The machine owner hurriedly said: "Jing Hou is joking, what's so surprising about it? Songjiang Mansion is no different than other places. There are quite a lot of machine workers, and there are not many rules when they gather together to do things. It's just that according to the rules, women should avoid it." , I’m afraid I’ll offend all the adults. Since the king of the whale will not give up, I’ll go look for it.”

Not long after, a middle-aged woman in her 40s and [-]s came slowly.

She is not pretty, she is wearing a silk dress, with some powder applied, but not too thick.

At first glance, he was also a person who dealt with business in the business world on weekdays, and he was not afraid. After seeing Wanfu, he said a lot of flattering words.

Liu Yu has the experience of conducting surveys in rural areas, and now she understands Sir Humphrey's words quite well: If the government does not know the results in advance, it should not conduct public opinion surveys.

In rural areas, asking about food prices must be a shame.

But when I asked about food prices here, I immediately got support and approval.

The woman was even more eloquent. Seeing that Liu Yu was approachable, after a few words, she started talking about the food price issue.

"Marquis Whale doesn't know something. This mechanic is not a fuel-efficient lamp. Although the imperial court has issued an order of 'forever prohibiting all parties to stop', how can it be so easy to control?"

"Among the machinists, there are a lot of savage people who frequently incite the weavers to make trouble. Before the 'Shuttle', there were either piece-rate wages or daily wages. As soon as the shuttle came out, they started making trouble first. A group of people insist on piecework wages, and they don’t want to work on a daily basis.”

"The same is true for the price of grain. Now, Jing Hou knows that the weavers in Songjiang Mansion have 'rice stickers'? It's all because of them calling for a rest."

(End of this chapter)