The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 195 "Labor Movement"

"... It is not the case for those who become kings in the future. I think that all the rights of interests and harms in the world belong to me. It is okay for me to attribute all the interests of the world to myself, and to attribute all the harms of the world to others; so that people in the world do not dare to be selfish. I dare not benefit myself and regard my selfishness as the great public of the world. ... Although this article was written by Mr. Nan Lei (Huang Zongxi) decades ago, when I read it again today, it is still shocking!"

In a two-entry house in Muchuan County, Daxing Prefecture (now Asprey District, Brisbane City), a thin man in his forties was holding a volume of books, reading softly, and turning his head to comment with the owner from time to time. Two sentences.

"When Emperor Taizu met with Mr. Nan Lei, he spoke highly of him and said that as a citizen of the world, you should think about the affairs of the world. And the affairs of the world are nothing more than the sorrows and joys of all people. When acting, you must think about the sorrows and joys of all peoples and stand upright. You should worry about the world's worries first, and rejoice after the world's happiness. When future generations of us hear this, we will admire you greatly!"

"Brother Zhuo is so complimentary." Huang Qianren (the grandson of Huang Zongxi) was humble on his lips, but deep down he was extremely helpful.

Having a grandfather who is famous all over the world is naturally a blessing. And he himself often published articles in newspapers, books and periodicals, speaking for the people and striving for the well-being they deserve for all people in the world, and he was well-known in the country.

"At that time, Mr. Nan Lei said in "Liu Shu" that the laws of three generations below were the laws of the emperor and the family, which was illegal. He advocated replacing the laws of the family with the laws of the world, and put forward the idea that "there are laws to govern and then there are laws to govern." The ideological proposition of "people". Looking at the ninety years of development of Qi State, we have established tens of thousands of laws, trying our best to put "all the people in the world" as the basis, and take openness, justice and fairness as the general principles to ensure that the people of the world, It can be protected by public law and not forced by repressive government. If Mr. Nan Lei knows better, he should be able to rest in peace!"

"That may not be the case!" Lu Wendong, editor of "Eastern Weekly" put down the tea cup in his hand, shook his head and said: "Although our country of Qi seems to have sound laws, and its spiritual purpose is also the idea of ​​'all peoples under heaven', in the practice of laws and regulations , is often too partial to the rich and powerful, and too harsh on 'all the people'."

"Brother Lu, your words are a little too biased." Zhuo Shiping said with a wry smile.

"No, no!" Lu Wendong said as he picked up a copy of "Daily Political Affairs" from several cases, with a sarcastic look on his lips, "The case of the workers' demonstration and petition triggered by the tax inspection in Shaoliang Mansion, The Dali Temple trial was concluded two days ago, and more than 20 leading workers were sentenced to exile in Yinzhou (now North America) and Qianzhou (now South Africa). I would like to ask you, are those workers really guilty? They violated the local government? Disturbed local order? ...How ridiculous! It is reported that those workers only gathered outside the gate of Xunyang County Government and did not break into the official hall at all, nor did they commit any vandalism or violence. How could they attack the local government? After local officials came forward to comfort them, They dispersed quickly and never disturbed the local order."

"Let's look at how the businessmen involved in the case were sentenced..." Lu Wendong opened the newspaper and found the news section about Shaoliang Mansion. He reached out and clicked hard, "The dozen businessmen who instigated the workers to cause trouble... Only five people were sentenced to exile, and three were sentenced to short-term hard labor. The rest were found to be guilty of minor crimes, fined and admonished and let off lightly. Why? Anyone with a discerning eye can see from this case that the culprit is The culprits are those businessmen!"

"Brother Zhuo thinks that the agricultural tax collection amount is only 4%, which is a benefit for the people?" Lu Wendong asked with a smile: "But did you know that during the Wenjing period of the Han Dynasty a thousand years ago, the agricultural tax was once reduced to The tax was one, and even Emperor Wen even adopted Chao Cuo's suggestion, "If you pay enough for one year old or more, you can forgive it from time to time, and do not collect rent from farmers." During the period of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, there was also a saying that "in the territory of Guchen, give ten years to Yuzhou." This is an example of exempting them from annual rent and taxes. Our Qi country is rich all over the world, and the government has an annual income of hundreds of millions, but it still has to exempt farmers from taxes. Where does this benefit come from?"

"Although the agricultural tax is as low as 4%, and there are no various donations and miscellaneous fees in the past dynasties, farmers may not benefit more from it." Lu Wendong said: "Looking at the prices of various domestic agricultural products, they are higher than they were a few decades ago. Have there been too many changes? Not only have prices not increased, but major food products such as rice, wheat, and corn have declined to varying degrees compared to forty or fifty years ago. What does this mean? ...It is the income of farmers. Generally reduced! If coupled with the increase in prices of many daily necessities, farmers’ lives may not be so easy.”

"You two are so mocking the current affairs, are you a little cynical?" Zhuo Shiping frowned and said softly: "At present, although domestic politics and laws are biased, they are also very tolerant of the rich and powerful. But when it comes to the benefits that ordinary people receive, not only far exceeding those of previous dynasties, but also being second to none in the world! Taking agricultural taxes as an example, let me ask, which dynasty and which country has a higher tax collection ratio than our country of Qi? Low?"

By the way, weren't we just discussing the estrangement and confrontation between the powerful and ordinary people? Why did the topic shift to farmers’ income?

"If we want to change the plight of farmers and the misfortune of workers, we in Qi must have someone to stand up and speak out for them and speak out for their interests." Huang Qianren said in a deep voice: "Looking at the cabinet and the hall, everyone is The imperial court, the home of politicians and dignitaries, as the country's legislative body, is filled with members of the royal family, princes, nobles, high-ranking officials, and a large number of gentry and merchants. However, there is no representative of the large number of workers and peasants. Let me ask, in Under this situation, how can the government promote measures to benefit workers and peasants, and how can the imperial court promulgate laws to protect workers and peasants?”

"Brother Lu, your remarks are just nonsense." Zhuo Shiping shook his head and said: "Whether it was the Wenjing period of the Han Dynasty or the Kaihuang period of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, when the government issued tax reductions and exemptions, the people might get some points. Practical profit? And our Qi country, in addition to normal agricultural taxes, can we have other donations, rents, and transfers? "

"..."

"Okay, okay, you two don't have to argue about the farmers' plight anymore." Huang Qianren was speechless.

"Thousands of workers gathered to petition. Such a momentum makes the royal family and the government afraid!" Huang Qianren said: "In order to kill one person to serve as a warning to others and prevent workers from gathering and demonstrating like this again, the government should impose severe punishments. Police the latter. Huh, as for those businessmen who smell like copper, what can they do?"

"Actually, our country of Qi is no different from previous dynasties. It is still the home of the powerful and powerful, and the humble people are trampled under their feet. In the past, Emperor Taizu once said that he would build a new world of great harmony and equality for everyone. The kingdom is just a false idea!" Huang Qianren said angrily.

"Furthermore, tax audits have been carried out across the country for several months, and countless businessmen have been found to have evaded taxes. Have we ever heard of any businessmen being sentenced? All of them were just recovering taxes and imposing fines. . The amount of tax involved by businessmen of that generation ranges from tens of thousands to a thousand dollars. The amount is not small, but the punishment is so light. However, if ordinary people damage public or private property, the amount is often only tens or hundreds of dollars. , they are often sentenced to hard labor or exile, which is really sad!" Lu Wendong said.

"Well said!" Lu Wendong praised: "Emperor Taizu once said several times that scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, and all four people are equal. They are all the pillars of the country and cannot be neglected. Since scholars and businessmen can govern and legislate, workers and peasants can also do the same! Workers in Xunyang County gathered to petition. Thousands of people suddenly gathered and shocked the country. This power is actually a source of strength for the workers, which should be used to build momentum for the workers."

As Qi's industrialization develops in depth, various social problems have also arisen, triggering a series of new social contradictions.

First of all, due to the rapid pace of urbanization, many cities lack a certain degree of overall planning, and urban layout has become increasingly chaotic. The city's transportation, water supply, housing and sanitation conditions are very poor, even far worse than when the People's Republic of China was just founded. Some cities do not have complete sewers, and there are piles of garbage and feces, seriously polluting the living environment. Especially in shanty towns and rental areas where workers live together, not only the living environment is poor, but the security situation is also very severe. At the same time, the proliferation of factories has led to unprecedented damage to the environment. The large-scale mining and use of coal produces and releases large amounts of smoke, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and other harmful pollutants, causing serious haze in many cities across the country.

With the increase in factories and urban population, river pollution has become very serious. Two months ago, the Jianye City water source pollution incident eventually caused the death of 126 people and more than 500 people suffered from diarrhea, vomiting, Digestive system and other diseases.

In the past forty years, cholera has occurred three times in Qi, killing more than 20,000 people. The cause of cholera outbreaks is water pollution. Air pollution has also brought about the prevalence of various infectious diseases. In Qi, tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis, etc. have become common diseases and caused a large number of deaths.

When Qi established itself as a country, through continuous immigration and the rise in domestic fertility rates, the domestic population continued to grow for decades. However, after 1710, the mortality rate began to rise - excluding normal birth, aging, illness and death, very few A large part of the reason is the increase in various post-industrial diseases.

Environmental pollution and epidemics are becoming more and more serious, which naturally attracts the attention of the government and society. In order to solve these problems, in the 1720th year of Taiping (1724), the imperial court passed the "Imperial River Protection Law", which stipulated that it was prohibited to pollute any water source used as a public water supply. In the th year of Taiping (), the "Urban Public Health Law" was promulgated to improve the environment of industrial towns, requiring centralized treatment of sewage and waste, and stipulating that local governments were responsible for the supply of clean drinking water.

In view of the outbreak of water source pollution in Jianye City, the Imperial Court is preparing and discussing the issuance of a new "Drinking Water Source Pollution Prevention and Control Order" to avoid similar water source pollution cases from happening again.

In order to solve the problem of air pollution, the Qi government and the Imperial Court also passed a series of laws. As early as the twelfth year of Shaoning (1697), the government passed laws to control smoke emissions from steam engines and stoves, and required industrial and mining enterprises with serious pollution to be relocated as far as possible to the downwind of the city. In the 1724th year of Taiping (60), the imperial court passed the "Alkali Production Law", requiring the domestic alkali production industry to suppress % of emissions through effective means.

The Industrial Revolution not only improved social productivity, but also changed the economic structure of Qi. As the Industrial Revolution reached its climax, a large number of rural people poured into cities. By the 1720th year of Taiping (50), the proportion of urban population in Hanzhou had reached more than 10%, and there were more than 20 cities with a population of more than .

The Industrial Revolution accelerated the rise of emerging industries such as machine manufacturing, metallurgical industry, and coal mining. Before the industrial revolution, the economic center of Qi was located in the Jianyefu area in the north. With the development and expansion of new territories and the emergence of machine production, the southeast and southwest regions rich in coal and iron developed rapidly, with the emergence of Guangling (today's Townsville City), Yunyang (today's Mackay City), Daxing, Ying Zhou (now Newcastle, Australia), Linzi (now Sydney), Nandu (now Melbourne), Guizhou (now Perth) and other emerging industrial cities.

The rise of Qi's industry also led to the rapid rise of the domestic industrial and commercial class. They began to seek to improve their political status, which led to the desire to participate in state management.

Whether it is to protect their own property or to better facilitate the development of their own industrial and commercial industries, the bourgeoisie of Qi State has not only stepped up efforts to train the next generation of children, making them strive to pass the government's selection examination and enter the officialdom to serve as potential protectors of the family. In addition, they also actively seek marriages with powerful families and even the royal family, thereby indirectly influencing the country's power class, speaking out for them, and acting as spokespersons for their interests.

Some business "big crocodiles" even donated large sums of money to welfare institutions such as Freemasonry and Almshouses, and were awarded honorary titles by the royal family, thus gaining high social prestige. As a result, they became members of the Imperial Order and personally participated in various The revision and promulgation of laws and regulations.

The greatest impact in Qi's industrial development process was undoubtedly the creation of a huge working class, numbering in the millions. However, against the background of the rapid growth of the overall wealth of society, workers' wages have not increased simultaneously. Instead, they have seriously lagged behind, and the gap between the rich and the poor has become wider and wider. It can be said that the capitalist class has received the greatest dividends from national development, while many workers and peasants have not benefited much.

The emergence of factories has rapidly increased the demand for labor. In addition to a large number of young and middle-aged men, many women and teenagers have been introduced into factories to serve as cheap labor. If it weren't for the country's compulsory education law and the government's decree banning child labor, profit-seeking industrial and mining owners might have put countless children into factories like those in European countries, thus reducing their manufacturing costs.

Even so, in order to maximize profits, industrial and mining owners not only racked their brains to squeeze workers to the limit, but also continued to introduce various advanced production machinery to improve production efficiency and expand production scale.

Large-scale machine production often leads to local unemployment problems and further widens the gap between rich and poor in society. Taking the textile industry as an example, in the nearly eighty years from the first year of Emperor Qianwu's reign (1642) to the sixteenth year of Taiping (1720), the mechanization of Qi's spinning industry has increased individual productivity by two to three hundred times. many. In the past, each worker could only manage one spindle machine, but now, one worker can manage a hundred or more spindle machines.

In the woolen industry, "a worker using a raising machine to work for 8 hours is equivalent to a worker working by hand for 88 hours in the past." This means that the raising machine can completely replace the work of the shearer. If this trend continues, more workers will face the risk of losing their livelihoods.

Over the past thirty years, there have been more than a dozen "special operations" by workers in many cities in Qi. Masked workers broke into factories, destroyed machines, and scrawled "for livelihood" on the walls of the workshops. , "For survival" and other slogans. There have even been sporadic strikes in some cities, demanding that industrial and mining owners improve workers' treatment and avoid innocent dismissals of workers.

It is in this social atmosphere that workers feel increasingly inexplicably pessimistic about their future lives, and the government has not issued good policies to help workers in a timely manner. As a result, "revolutionary" sentiments are about to brew. If not, the workers in Xunyang County would not have launched a large-scale demonstration and petition under the instigation of the industrial and mining owners.

When Qi's industry reached its peak, the workers' resistance movement may have cast a shadow over the so-called "empire on which the sun never sets."

(End of this chapter)