Qianlong: Qing Dynasty?What about my Daqing?

Chapter 374
In the West in this era, all kinds of messy ideas are colliding fiercely.

An intellectual revolution is brewing throughout the West.

So Emperor Zhu actually didn't have much interest in sending overseas students to the West.

First of all, because, in Emperor Zhu's view, Western higher education in this era is just that, and it may not be much better than the Ming Dynasty's own.

Second
It is just a little worried that these overseas students will become the gravediggers of the Zhu Dynasty.

After all, in the West today, there are too many doctrines.

Who knew that there was some kind of doctrine that could pinpoint the pulse of class contradictions in Ming Dynasty society, and a single spark would start a prairie fire.

You have to guard against it.

But Emperor Zhu had calculated thousands of times, and he didn't expect that there was a private organization sending people to study abroad.

It seems that the social governance ability of the Ming Dynasty is still a bit urgent.

"Chen, Song Xiang, the prefect of Shanghai, pay homage to the emperor, long live my emperor, long live!"

When Emperor Zhu visited the streets of Shanghai and returned to his palace in Shanghai.

Song Xiang, the prefect of Shanghai, greeted him respectfully at the door.

The entire surrounding area of ​​the hotel is also completely controlled by the patrols of the Shanghai Patrol Division.

This Shanghai Patrol Division can be regarded as the originator of the national police department, and it can be regarded as the first of its kind.

And Song Xiang may be just a magistrate, but in fact he is the mayor of one side.

The management site is small.

But the level is not low.

Among the big officials of the Ming Dynasty who sealed borders.

The importance can be compared with the governor of Guangdong Province, the governor of the Northeast, the imperial envoy of the Central Plains, and the governor of Liangjiang.

It can be considered that before entering the cabinet as a reserve prime minister, it is possible to have served in these places.

Because Shanghai is now the commercial city that collects the most taxes in the country.

It has replaced Guangzhou and the municipality directly under the Central Government as the most important industrial city and port city in Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, if Song Xiang could stay in the position of Shanghai magistrate for a few years, at least he would be able to enter the central government as a deputy prime minister.

And even though he only appeared in the Emperor's Shanghai Palace now.

But it didn't mean that he knew that Emperor Zhu was coming.

Although Emperor Zhu did not notify the Shanghai Municipal Government, the Jinyiwei in Shanghai immediately sent out vigilance, and the battleship Daming appeared in Shanghai Port.

Song Xiang is such a smart person, how could he not know that the emperor is coming?
But the emperor came to Weifu for a private visit.

It's not good for him to jump out too early.

So after waiting for the emperor to wander around Shanghai for two days, and explaining that some ghosts and snake spirits in Shanghai should restrain themselves, Emperor Zhu jumped out to fight after he got tired of playing.

This timing is still very good.

Anyone who can become a frontier is not a human being.

"Retire without courtesy."

Emperor Zhu nodded cheerfully, pulled Mayor Song up, and walked into the imperial study room of the palace together.

"Song Qing, you are doing a good job as the leader."

Emperor Zhu laughed.

"Top leader?" Song Xiang was taken aback for a moment, but quickly realized that it was probably the emperor who said his Shanghai magistrate's position.

He hurriedly said with a smile: "As an official of the imperial court, I should do my best to benefit one side."

Emperor Zhu nodded and said, "Do well in Shanghai. Shanghai is very important these years. I don't feel at ease if I leave it to others."

Song Xiang froze for a moment.

What do you mean?
How many more years do you want to be the city prefect in Shanghai?
No promotion?
How else can you say that an official is a human being, he immediately said: "It is the duty of a minister to share the worries of the emperor."

Emperor Zhu waved his hand and said, "What are you talking about? I let you become the magistrate of Shanghai because this place is too important. An ordinary governor is not as important as your magistrate, so I can rest assured that Shanghai is in your hands." .”

"The minister will not fail the grace of God."

Song Xiang hurriedly saluted.

Although there is no hope of promotion for the time being.

But the oil and water in Shanghai are still very good.

The salary is higher than that of most provincial governors.

So it is actually very good to be able to sit safely in the position of Shanghai Zhishi.

And now Peng Jun and others are still young, and they don't know how long they will stay in the position of prime minister.

When they are transferred away, I will have the opportunity to enter the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister.

Those who are officials should not be too impatient.

More haste less speed.

Especially now that the emperor above his head is the founder of the country, it is easy to be seen through if he plays tricks.

Doing things honestly and being promoted safely and steadily is the right way.

"Well, you did a good job. You followed my loyalty in Guangzhou, and I will never forget your contribution."

Song Xiang was excited when he heard the words.

Emperor Zhu's reputation in this regard is very good, especially for the old brothers.

Three hundred old brothers back then.

The worst ones all have a viscount, who was given a field and is a member of the Restoration Meritorious Group.

Zhu Daohua raised his hand, just as he wanted Song Xiang to leave, when he suddenly thought of something.

"By the way. Song Qing, I have been in Shanghai for two days. I just wandered around the streets and didn't go to too many places. There are still some places in Shanghai worth visiting."

"Yes, yes." Song Xiang said with a smile all over his face.

He had expected that Emperor Zhu would ask this question.

So be prepared in advance.

"Thanks to the emperor's blessing, our Shanghai has really developed in the past two years. There are hundreds of various factories, the most of which are textile factories. Businessmen from all over the world invest in woolen mills, spinning mills, weaving factories There are dozens of cloth factories, silk reeling factories, printing and dyeing factories, and they are all big factories that employ hundreds of workers at every turn.”

"Is there a market?"

"Yes! Of course there is! Now our domestic market is not saturated, and there are also sales to Japan, North Korea, Siam, Myanmar and other countries, as well as India! The market is very large, and now many factories are seeking to expand their scale .”

Emperor Zhu nodded upon hearing this.

The textile industry is a very important industry in the industrial revolution.

Driven by large-scale machine production, the textile industry of Ming Dynasty was of course the first to develop on a large scale as an industry that could absorb a large number of laborers.

In fact it's not just the textile industry.

Other industries are also in full swing.

Under the promotion and guidance of Emperor Zhu, Daming has now started the first industrial revolution.

As in history, the focus of this industrial revolution is also the textile industry with less investment and faster returns.

In fact, the textile industry in Jiangnan has always been very developed.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, water-powered textile carts appeared, and there were also a large number of handicraft factories employing thousands of people in Liangjiang.
According to the history textbooks of later generations.

In China at that time, "the germination of capitalist production relations" had already appeared.

But sprouts are just sprouts after all.

After the Industrial Revolution broke out in Europe.

The increase in productivity and labor efficiency brought about by mechanized mass production has led to a significant reduction in production costs and opened up the market following the Opium War.

The hired factory system that existed in the Jiangnan area was quickly broken down.

Now, the entire industrial chain of the textile industry in Jiangnan, from cotton and raw silk to spinning and weaving, is still relatively complete, and only needs to be upgraded to the machine industry.

Of course, this process was not peaceful. With the disintegration of the rural hand textile industry and the bankruptcy of a large number of handicraft factories in the cities, a large number of machine owners were reduced to the proletariat.

But the entire industry has finally basically completed the upgrade.

"I intend to visit the textile factory."

Emperor Zhu nodded, "Apart from the textile factory, what else is there to see?"

"And the Shanghai Stock Exchange."

Song Xiang said proudly.

"This joint exchange was initiated by the Royal Bank of the Emperor. It is the largest trading center for commodities, securities and precious metals in the whole world. It not only has spot transactions, but also has opened futures transactions. The daily turnover exceeds 500 million yuan. The stamp duty is worth [-] yuan a day!"

is it a lot?
Emperor Zhu rolled his eyes at Song Xiang, and said to himself, it seems that the development of Ming's stock market is still very slow, with a daily trading volume of only 500 million, which means more than 200 trading days a year, but only a little over 10 billion.

In future generations, the turnover of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in one day will double it several times.

"Okay, let's go to the factory area this afternoon, and go to the Stock Exchange tomorrow... Song Qing, when I came last time, the factory area was very messy, is it better now?"

……

Of course, the environment in the factory area will not be good.

Ever since Emperor Zhu entered the factory area, his brows were wrinkled.

It seems that as an emperor, he really doesn't care much about the suffering of the people.

Emperor Zhu, who was doing self-criticism in his heart, lifted the curtain of the carriage.

On both sides of the Suzhou Creek, there are many chimneys, which discharge waste gas without any treatment into the atmosphere day and night.

In addition, the color of the Suzhou Creek is getting closer and closer to black!
As an important member of the textile industry, the printing and dyeing factory has an inescapable responsibility for the pollution of the water quality of Suzhou Creek.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of waste water are discharged directly into Suzhou Creek every day...

However, the stench of feces and garbage on the roads in Shanghai is hardly noticeable.

However, Emperor Zhu was not sure whether it was Song Xiang's face-saving project in advance, or there were other reasons.

Emperor Zhu didn't bother to ask.

Sometimes.

The higher-ups don't necessarily know everything.

No matter how big or small it is, it will only make myself do my best and die.

He doesn't want to learn from Zhuge Wuhou.

As the helm of the country, you only need to control the general direction.

If you can't rub the sand in your eyes.

I'm afraid I can toss myself to death.

"Your Majesty, now Shanghai has some commercial firms that are responsible for handling garbage and excrement, and has also built sewers, so it looks much cleaner and tidier."

On the carriage, Song Xiang, the prefect of Shanghai, pointed out the window to the road that was actually not very clean, smiling authentically.

"How is the garbage disposed of?"

"The Shanghai prefect's yamen bought a piece of land and hired several commercial firms to take the garbage out of the city and pile it up."

"And what about poop?"

"It's easier to do this."

Song Xiangdao, "This is a treasure. Someone is responsible for collecting it. It will be taken to the countryside and sold to farmers to irrigate the land. There is no need for the government to pay for it, just give some tax incentives."

"That's it..."

Zhu Daohua nodded. Although he has never planted land, he also knows that manure is organic fertilizer, which is a treasure in an era without chemical fertilizers.

Emperor Zhu's Institute of Chemistry is engaged in research on nitrogen fertilizers, and has successfully synthesized nitrogen, but it is still far from large-scale industrial production-chemical fertilizers are the nuclear weapons to end food shortages.

"In the past two years, have the workers in Shanghai made trouble?"

Emperor Zhu looked at the heavily guarded streets and asked about the Shanghai labor movement.

"Troubleshooting? This..."

Song Xiang really wanted to say no, but the Jinyiwei Shanghai Guard is not blind and deaf, and presumably a report has already been sent up.

"There are some."

Song Xiangdao.

The labor movement has indeed risen!
Zhu Daohua frowned.Song Xiang said in a low voice: "The most are the dock workers! Most of them are disciples of the Cao Gang. They are united as one, and they strike and cause trouble at every turn. The owner of the dock can't do anything about them! The Shanghai government sent the police to suppress them, but it didn't work. .Your majesty, I really have nothing to do with this kind of troublemaker..."

"Why do you want to strike and cause trouble?"

Zhu Daohua asked with a calm face.

"Of course there is a wage increase!"

Song Xiang bitterly said, "The wages of these dock workers are already extremely high! Ordinary craftsmen are not as good as them. If you sell some strength, you can earn two yuan a day!"

"Oh, two yuan is not too low." Zhu Daohua said in his heart. Could it be that the Cao Gang has become a labor union?

This Song Xiang must be adding salt and vinegar.

Those dock workers definitely can't earn two yuan a day, so let's get a [-]% discount, and more than one yuan is not bad.

"So how much does an ordinary worker earn?"

"It's more than ten yuan a month, and it's different for different types of work."

"That much difference?"

Zhu Daohua was slightly surprised.

A general worker costs more than ten yuan a month, and a coolie on the dock costs two yuan a day. Wouldn’t it be 60 yuan for a month’s work, which is five times the difference!Although the dock workers work hard, the labor intensity of ordinary workers in the factory is not much different, but the wages are five times different. It seems that there must be no trade union organization in ordinary factories.

"Why Do Dock Workers Earn More Than Ordinary Workers?"

Emperor Zhu couldn't help frowning.

"this."

Song Xiang glanced at Emperor Zhu.

Hesitant to speak.

Emperor Zhu knew something was wrong when he saw this appearance.

"be honest!"

Emperor Zhu's face darkened.

Song Xiang hurriedly said: "This is because... those people from the Cao Gang in the past have joined the Small Sword Society!"

"Small Knife Society?"

Emperor Zhu was taken aback.

Then he reacted immediately.

It was so.
The Small Knife Society is a branch of the Tiandi Society.

And the heroes of the Tiandihui are all die-hard supporters of Emperor Zhu—in fact, the Xiangzhu masters at all levels of the Xiaodaohui think so too.

Gangsters all over the Ming Dynasty now.

In addition to worshiping Guan Gong, you have to worship Zhu Sheng.

Zhu Sheng's status is still higher than Guan Gong's!

After all, when Emperor Zhu rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, he received a lot of help from the Tiandihui Brothers in Nanyang.

The Tiandihui still recognizes Emperor Zhu as the head of the Tiandihui, the chief rudder of the Tiandihui, and the chief executive of all provinces.

Emperor Zhu had a wry smile on his face.

It's a mess.

A good emperor.

Now he is also the head of the underworld of the largest underworld organization in the country.

In the future, I don't know if the crime will be swept on my own head?

Emperor Zhu thought helplessly.

(End of this chapter)