Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1325 Crisis erupted
Since Chang'an City became the capital of the Kingdom of Jin, the entire city has continued to develop, and the commodity society has attracted more people to Chang'an, making Chang'an far more prosperous than ever.

A few years ago, when the Kingdom of Jin established the national policy of opening up the land silk road, businesses and handicraft workshops in Chang'an have gradually sprung up.

They started by smuggling goods from the Ming Dynasty, working as second-hand dealers, and accumulating their first wealth, then producing and processing themselves, opening handicraft workshops, and gradually accumulating capital to expand their scale. Today, Chang'an has become the most prosperous city in the north of the Huaihe River and Qinling Mountains. The city of Beijing whose status has declined is incomparable.

Outside Chang'an City, various workshops have sprung up like mushrooms over the years. When the space in the city is full, the population and workshops that cannot accommodate have all moved outside the city.

These workshops, shops and houses form the same scene as Nanjing Waiguo and Suzhou Outer City. It has the spirit of a great country in a prosperous age and a central capital.

In the words of the alchemists of the Kingdom of Jin, the city of Chang'an gathers the aura of emperors, and it is possible to compete for hegemony and win the tripod.

At this time, in the west of Chang'an City, near the south bank of the Weihe River, there was a large area of ​​workshops, mainly weaving and dyeing workshops.

On weekdays, you can always hear the sound of "creaking" looms day and night, and you can see the dyeing line by the river, and the green smoke of boiling dye rises into the sky.

But today there is no sound of looms, no smoke, only the panic and dismay of the crowd at the gates of the various workshops.

At this time, at the gate of a weaving workshop, many men and women gathered around the gate of the workshop, and they were all employees of the workshop.

The ethos in the north is different from that in the south, and due to the influence of the Manchurian and Mongolian, the etiquette is not as strict as that in the south. Many women can show their faces and work in the fields, so there are many female workers in the workshops in Chang'an.

"Boss, suddenly there is no work to do, what should we do?"

Hundreds of men and women, with panic and confusion written all over their faces, stood outside the workshop door, surrounding a middle-aged man with a frustrated face.

Commodity society has brought about the disintegration of traditional society. These hired workers have worked in workshops for many years and have already left the original agricultural production and become a new class.

They have been working for many years, and many people have settled down outside Chang'an City. The land and houses in their old homes are gone, and they rely on working in workshops to support their families. It is restlessness and fear.

"Everyone, everybody, there is nothing Hu can do!" The frustrated middle-aged man stood on a high place and cupped his hands to hundreds of faces, crying: "This time we were cheated by Ming people, and all the goods were rejected. Accept it, and the agreed payment will not be paid. Now the cotton cloth in the warehouse is piled up like a mountain, and the money in the workshop is used to sell raw materials, and there is no way to get out a copper coin. Besides, even if there is silver, the goods cannot be sold, and there is no way to start work.”

"Then what about our wages?" Suddenly a man in the crowd waved his arms and said.

The owner of the workshop was surnamed Hu. With a helpless expression on his face, he bowed his hands again and again to make amends, "Everyone, even Hu, I am sorry for everyone. The cloth in the warehouse, each of you thirty bolts of cloth, should be regarded as wages."

"Master, Bu Ke dare not ask for it!"

"Yeah, the family is waiting for the wages to be put into the pot, and the cloth can't be sold now. Where can we get the money to buy food!"

Hu Dongzhu looked at the hundreds of hired workers in front of him, and then looked back at the plaque hanging on the workshop door, which read "Hu Runchang" in three big gilt characters, and his heart was extremely sad.

From one loom and three employees in Yongzhang's three years, to 280 looms and more than 600 employees now, he has accumulated step by step to achieve the current scale, but in a blink of an eye, it collapsed.

In seven years, he has made the workshop a little bit bigger. He has feelings for the workshop, which is his hard work, and he also has feelings for hundreds of hired workers.

People in this era are loyal, and many people have been working with him for seven years. Looking at the unemployed and confused hired workers, he feels uncomfortable. He feels that he has not fulfilled the responsibility of an employer and failed to give them a stable job. The 30-year-old man has not cried for more than 20 years, but now the tears are pouring out all at once.

An old guy next to him felt sore when he saw it, and couldn't help but whispered, "Boss."

But Mr. Hu waved his hand, and said with tears streaming down his face: "Everyone, if I had money, why wouldn't I not give it to you? You are all people who have been with me for many years. Go get it now, everyone. If you wait for the bank Come here to collect debts, give me a letter from the workshop, and you will have nothing!"

Like other workshops, in order to expand the scale and catch up with the orders of the Ming Dynasty, Hu Dongzhu also borrowed money from the bank and friends, and many upstream raw materials are owed.He waited for the delivery of the cloth to get the money, but as soon as the order was withdrawn by the Ming Dynasty, the entire industry immediately collapsed, and he was in huge debts in an instant, leaving only a few warehouses of cotton cloth piled up there.

The old guy next to him, seeing that everyone was still standing still, couldn't help but said anxiously: "Hurry up, everyone. When the people from the bank come, you won't get anything. Accountant Zhao is waiting in the warehouse. Hurry up and go." Bar!"

After hearing this, hundreds of people rushed to the warehouse.Seeing that everyone was gone, Hu Dong’s family waved to the old man beside him, “Old Deng, you can go too, I told accountant Zhao, he will give you a few more horses, and a few taels of silver, and live a good life in the future.” , go back home."

The old man was reluctant at first, but Mr. Hu waved his hand again, and then he followed the crowd and left after taking three steps and turning his head.

After everyone left, Mr. Hu seemed to be more than ten years old. He squatted down with his back leaning against the wall, his face covered with tears and snot, and he squatted in the corner crying in pain.

The entire workshop area was gloomy, and the hired workers looted the goods in the workshop, worrying about their future livelihood.The owner of the workshop who owed debts either lost his soul, or wept bitterly like Hu Dong's family, or hung the rope on the beam, kicked the stool with his foot, and committed suicide directly.

The people who came to urge the payment for raw materials pushed open the door of the workshop and saw the hanging corpses, and their hearts immediately became cold. What's more, they found a place beside them and hanged themselves together.

This time the Ming Dynasty’s blow to the Kingdom of Jin was not just the weaving workshops, but the entire industrial chain was severely damaged, and even some money houses went bankrupt because of this.

To the east of Chang'an City, more than ten miles away from the city, is the most prosperous area in Chang'an. There are various shops and it is the distribution center for goods and raw materials in Chang'an City.

Accompanied by the prefect of Chang'an, Han Chaoxuan came to Dongshi. The streets were crowded with carts loaded with either cotton or dyes and other raw materials for the weaving industry.

A group of people separated from the crowd and finally walked into the market from the side of the vehicle. They saw a lot of people in front of several shops, and the doors were full of vehicles loaded with goods.

The prefect of Chang'an is Han Dongzhou, a student of Han Chaoxuan, and Yongzhang's six-year protégé. He accompanied Han Chaoxuan and said, "Cotton is normally priced at five taels per load, but this year it has skyrocketed to 15 taels per load. It plummeted suddenly, and now it has dropped to the point where shops do not accept one tael per load. The price of raw silk has also dropped from 360 taels per load to 40 taels per load, a sharp drop of almost nine times.”

Han Chaoxuan looked at the carts lined up in a long line, and felt chilled.The shops along the street that originally specialized in helping the workshop purchase raw materials have all closed, and there are wooden signs saying that they are closed in front of the shops.

Knowing that the price of cotton has fallen, they hurried to drive their vehicles, and the merchants who wanted to sell their goods were blocked outside the shops.

The shopkeeper of the shop kept apologizing, "Everyone, I really can't accept it. The workshops in Xicheng are all closed down. Who am I to sell it to? My payment has not been recovered yet. Everyone give me a way. I have to go to Xicheng to ask for it." payment..."

The merchants who lined up outside the shop were all pale when they heard that the shop would not accept the goods, and all the goods were thrown into their hands. The wealth accumulated for several years has shrunk to a few years ago.

Han Chaoxuan's heart sank to the extreme, and at this moment, a large group of people rushed into the market with cloth bags, ran to several food stores, and began to rush to buy food.

The merchants next to the vehicle saw the people who came to grab the grain, and immediately realized that their money was used to collect cotton and other raw materials. This cart of goods cannot be eaten as grain. If the price of rice rises, they will be finished. .Suddenly coaxed, these people also ran to the food store and joined the ranks of panic buying.

Cotton prices fell, food prices rose, how many people would not be able to afford food, Han Chaoxuan couldn't help shaking, Han Dongzhou hurriedly supported him, and exclaimed: "Men."

(Thanks to Gu Yue for the 388 reward, asking for a monthly ticket, recommending, and subscribing. I hope everyone can participate in the comments mentioned in the chapter, interact more, and praise me more.)
(End of this chapter)