Daming 1805

Chapter 46 You go to school
Liang Yunying lamented that the children were too smart, and wondered what the mothers whose children could not graduate at the age of 20 were directly eliminated.

Anyway, Zhu Jingyuan and Zhu Jianyan's father and son had nothing to say. They knew that Liang Yunying was really reluctant to let their children leave, so they could only comfort and comfort them.

Liang Yunying was sad for a while, and then reluctantly accepted the fact that her son was leaving soon, and slowly recovered her mental state, but she still talked about her child from time to time.

After dinner, Zhu Jingyuan handed his mother over to his father and slipped back to his room.

Sitting down in his study, looking at the two personal maids who were following him, Zhu Jingyuan suddenly thought of the previous arrangement:

"Did I ask you to ask about it yesterday? I asked a few other servants, what are their thoughts?"

Qiuyue looked at Chunxiang subconsciously, Chunxiang's expression was a little complicated, and she reported cautiously with some uncertainty:

"I want to report to Your Highness, Qiuyue and I have questioned a total of 36 servants, and most of them don't believe that there is a wage of 15 yuan in silver bills, and they are not small craftsmen.

"At the same time, most of the servants told us that even if someone paid such a high price, they would not go there. It must be a life-threatening job.

"There are only three servants in total who are willing to try, but they say that everyone is a servant and can't go out to work and get paid."

Zhu Jingyuan asked with some uncertainty:

"That is to say, even if you are paid 15 yuan in silver bills, only one tenth of the ordinary servants are willing to work as workers?"

Chunxiang nodded, then added:
"Yes, Your Highness, but it's not that they despise the reward, the main reason is that they are worried that the work is too hard or dangerous, so they dare not accept it.

"And the three slaves who are willing to try are all Kunlun slaves from Nanyang, and they are the most tiring coolies..."

Zhu Jingyuan suddenly felt even more helpless:

"Okay, as expected, only those who are about to die will be willing to go out to work as workers.

"The key is... these most difficult slaves may not become free people in a short time...

"Those who have the opportunity to become free men are simply unwilling to be workers."

Hearing Zhu Jingyuan's emotion, Qiuyue couldn't help but ask:
"His Royal Highness, that... when will our contract be changed?"

Zhu Jingyuan thought about the attitude of the old emperor, and it would be impossible to compromise on this matter, and said a little melancholy:
"For you, at least one or two years, normally three or five years, and at most seven or eight years, it will eventually be changed.

"But for Nanyang Kunlun slaves, it may take two to thirty years, or it may be that they have no chance in this life..."

The two maids had mixed feelings and didn't know what to say.

If they can, they want the status quo to stay the same, and if there is a choice, they want to choose the longest term.

The slaves of the Ming Dynasty were not slaves in the traditional so-called "slavery society", nor were they slaves before the abolition of slavery in modern America.

After the Song Dynasty, the slaves all had monthly money, and the masters would give them rewards. The actual income exceeded that of many workers, that is to say, they had partial property rights.

At the same time, if the master beats the slave to death for no reason, the law is also punished, but it is not easy to deal with in practice, that is to say, they have some personal rights in name.

Even, all the deeds of sale are not dead. In theory, slaves can save money and redeem themselves.

Relatively speaking, when Americans kill their slaves, they just destroy their own property, and no one cares.

The servants of the Ming Dynasty are actually a kind of low-ranking citizen, a rank under the right of abode.

They have incomplete personal rights and property rights, and also maintain an incomplete personal attachment relationship with the host family.

How much rights they can get depends on the status and preferences of the owner.

Zhu Jingyuan's two maidservants may actually enjoy higher treatment in society than the so-called young ladies of the ordinary elite.

The actual monthly money has 3 yuan silver notes, and the actual income is higher if you count the irregular reward.

The key is that food, clothing and housing are all the expenses of the palace, and medical treatment is also directly provided by the palace to find a doctor, and basic living needs do not need to be paid by themselves.

Coupled with Zhu Jingyuan's care, their actual living standard is higher than that of many middle-income families.

After all, the price they bought was thousands of yuan in silver notes, and the hidden cost of education and training in the palace was counted, and the actual cost was several thousand yuan.

According to purchasing power, this cost can be worth the high-end cars of later generations, and dying of illness is definitely "the loss of important fixed assets".

Their actual daily work is just Zhu Jingyuan's life maid.

The Nanyang Kunlun slaves mentioned by Chunxiang are the lowest-level slaves who do not need to be castrated.

The purchase price is basically around three hundred silver notes. As for the cultivation, it is better to say that it is domestication. It is enough to be able to do hard work.

But if both of them were liberated at the same time, the Nanyang Kunlun slaves should be able to continue to live as low-level workers.

Chunxiang and these two girls are not necessarily the case, the standard of living is definitely not guaranteed, and it is impossible to predict what industry they will fall into.

Zhu Jingyuan thought about these things in his heart, shook his head slightly melancholy and said:
"You two, if you want to help me in the company in the future, you have to continue to read some books, at least you can keep accounts, otherwise there will be no future in the future.

"I'm going to pay you 25 yuan in silver notes, which is the level of junior craftsmen, and you can't get it elsewhere.

"Wait—you two might as well just go to a craftsman school, learn accounting and housekeeping, and become my official secretary in the future.

"Anyway, I'm not at home during the day. How do you say it in the words of a capitalist? The workload of the two of you is not saturated at all."

The two girls were immediately stunned, and did not understand how their Highness's thinking came to this place:
"Your Highness... what did you say?"

"You want us to go to school?"

Zhu Jingyuan quickly made up his mind. To say that the people who are truly reassuring and reliable, and who can use them with ease, are still these two girls.

They have no family, the palace is their home, and they are their master and family.

At a little cost, they can be trained into modern private secretaries and assistants, which is more assured than recruiting from outside, and they can continue to be hired after the slaves are really liberated.

They can still learn things just now, the key is some characters they already know, they are not completely illiterate, and they will learn craftsmen faster:
"Yes! Tomorrow morning I will tell my mother to arrange for the two of you to go to the artisan school during the day."

In the stunned and blank eyes of the two maids, Zhu Jingyuan seemed to have solved some major problem, and his heart was obviously relaxed:
"Okay, let's go here today, you guys go get ready, I'll take a shower later..."

The two maids immediately gave up the questioning and arguing, and immediately went to prepare bath water for Zhu Jingyuan.

Now there are boilers and tap water in the palace. To prepare bath water is to release water and adjust the water temperature, which is much simpler than boiling water, drawing water, and adding water.

With the advancement of industrialization, the number of slaves actually needed by noble families also decreased.

High-level servants are basically transformed into life assistants, middle-level servants are becoming skilled domestic workers such as gardeners and cooks, and low-level servants are being transformed into coolies.

A few minutes later, Chunxiang came out of the bathroom and told Zhu Jingyuan that the bath water was ready.

Take Zhu Jingyuan into the bathroom, undress him with Qiuyue, help him lie down in the bathtub, and carefully help scrub his body.

After taking a bath, dry him, put on a nightgown and send him back to the bedroom to rest.

For the maidservants of male masters, especially the personal maids of unmarried young sons, not being seductive and prudent are very important indicators.

They should be able to change the little son's clothes calmly and as usual, so as to avoid stimulating the little son when he should not be moving.

Of course Chunxiang and Qiuyue did well, otherwise they would have been kicked out by Mrs. Liang long ago.

Aristocratic parents in the classical era did not allow their sons to use handmaids to solve their physical needs, but worried that they would hollow out their bodies when they were young.

After the Renwu Dynasty, it was a practice that princes and grandsons like Zhu Jingyuan could wait until they were at least 16 years old before they could break free.

At the same time, before they are 20 years old, they will ask their maids to help them to strictly limit the number of times, and the standard is once every half a month.

　Ask for collection, pursue reading, ask for monthly pass, ask for reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)