Seven years after the liberation.
The waves caused by the imperial examination are still shaking the Ming Empire.
As for the large-scale industrial production that spread from Guangdong to Liangjiang, the huge productivity burst out by the Industrial Revolution was like a monster, turning the southeastern territory of the Ming Empire into the largest industrial production base in the world.
The Industrial Revolution impacted upon the crumbling old order.
A new era was quickly dragged out by the roar of steam engines.
Fire splattered.
This new era is like a newborn baby.
His death will bring new hope and vitality to the Ming Empire and to the entire human history.
But at the same time.
The farewell to the old era is also accompanied by labor pains.
Any change cannot be without costs.
And those who bear the cost of change are often the lowest and most vulnerable groups.
Landowners cannot take the civil service examination after they turn thirty, but they can still become agricultural capitalists and rely on their own knowledge to learn new things. After all, they are still the group with a relatively good life.
And in fact.
In the midst of this change.
The most painful.
They are the lowest farmers.
While some gentry transformed into industrial capitalists.
This means that a large number of tenants began to lose their land.
They were forced to join the ranks of immigrants to the Northeast, Southeast Asia, and the New World.
Of course, there are also some landless peasants who are unwilling to travel far away. The future waiting for them is to enter the city, become industrial workers, and become the gravediggers of the bourgeoisie of the Ming Empire - members of the proletariat.
These landless farmers flocked to the cities.
Gather in the ghetto.
It became a cheap labor force and further promoted the industrialization process in the southeastern territory of the Ming Dynasty.
in this case.
The population of Shanghai and Guangzhou began to gather.
The prototypes of two super cities respectively located at the mouth of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River have begun to emerge.
Take Shanghai as an example.
Shanghai County of Songjiang Prefecture was upgraded to become a municipality directly under the direct jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, with an administrative status comparable to that of a province.
Starting from the third year after the liberation, counties were abolished and cities were promoted.
The population has skyrocketed from a mere 70,000 to 80,000 people.
Until now.
There are more than 600,000 people.
The population is expanding at an alarming rate.
Moreover, a large number of new labor forces are pouring into Shanghai every day.
It is foreseeable that in the next ten years, Shanghai, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, will inevitably become an unprecedented super city with a population of millions, becoming the most populous city in human history!
And now Shanghai is different from other cities.
There are no city walls.
The city expanded along both sides of the Yangtze River.
The originally low-rise county town of Shanghai has completely disappeared.
Instead.
It is a large number of reinforced concrete buildings.
At the same time, this is also one of the cities with the most developed public transportation in the world - perhaps the one that can be compared with the current Shanghai is Guangzhou, which developed earlier.
But obviously.
Guangzhou's development potential is not as good as Shanghai's.
The contiguous industrial zones here and a large number of factory owners originally based in Guangzhou have chosen to settle in Shanghai.
From the Yangtze River Estuary to Chongqing.
A golden waterway runs through it.
The Wanshi ship can sail all the way from the Yangtze River estuary to the river port in Chongqing without changing ships.
On both sides of this waterway are the areas with the most dense population and the most concentrated wealth in the Ming Empire.
It is backed by technological progress, population agglomeration, and the three major agricultural provinces of Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan.
Shanghai, Zhongdu, Wuhan, Chongqing.
Several big cities are connected in series on this waterway.
Turning this place into a large connected market has also become one of the driving forces for industrialization.
These days, the time, place, and people are favorable, and everything is concentrated at the mouth of the Yangtze River, in Shanghai.
The whole of Shanghai is no longer the hundred-mile foreign market in history, and it is a pity that Shanghai culture and comprador culture have not been nurtured.
Because now the merchant ships and warships of the great powers in Shanghai are no longer coming from afar, loaded with industrial products, entering the inland from the Shanghai entrance, and dumping all over China.
Instead there were rows of towering chimneys emitting black smoke.
The industrial products of the Ming Empire would start from here and be sold all over the world.
A large number of chimneys are emitting thick smoke, polluting the Huangpu River into a black and smelly ditch.
It also demonstrates the magic of the industrial age.
The mass production of machines driven by steam engines increased labor productivity to an unimaginable level.
As the Ming Empire came to dominate the world, especially the southern railway network began to be planned and constructed, railways connecting several major cities were already in operation. At the same time, a large number of people poured in and concentrated. In addition, the vassal states of the Ming Empire had no influence on the Ming Dynasty. What is the concept of tariff protection?
Japan, North Korea, and the south and north of Annan are all countries with a population of more than 10 million.
There are also countries such as Myanmar and Siam.
and India.
The population of the surrounding markets alone is at least over 300 million.
In addition, the Ming Empire has a population of 400 million.
Sixty percent of the world's population is completely open to the industrial products of the Ming Empire.
There are no tariffs, and even the threat of pirates has been reduced to a negligible level due to the continuous raids by the Ming Empire's navy.
Driven by the two big markets at home and abroad, a large number of factories were built on the ground, and at the same time, these businessmen and landlords who dared to invest funds in industrial production quickly became rich.
A large number of beautiful villas have been built in the north of Shanghai.
They are the mansions of factory owners, traders, and senior managers.
Railway tracks were laid on the main roads in Shanghai, and horse-drawn trains shuttled through the city, pulled by horses.
at the same time.
In the south of Shanghai.
The first generation of industrial workers in the Ming Empire.
But he lives in dire straits.
The closed and narrow slums are located south of the factory area. Local landlords have converted farmland into buildings, and the buildings are divided into cubicles. The rent is quite cheap, attracting workers from the factory area to live there.
At this time, to the north of the slums is the industrial area.
Jardine Hexing came to Shanghai to invest and build a factory three years ago.
At this time, Wu Dunyuan, the owner of Yihe Bank, who was obviously more prosperous, was wearing a very fashionable Dao Hua suit, and his hair was no longer worn - in fact, all the workers in the factory requested not to wear hair.
Because long hair is too dangerous in large machine production.
The workers don't have a dedicated person to comb their hair and crown like the dignitaries do. They have to put their hair randomly on their heads, just in case it gets entangled by the machine.
Many similar incidents have occurred in Guangzhou.
so.
Now every factory has made it clear that all workers must shave their hair short before they can work in the factory. This has of course become a point of attack on the new learning by Confucian scholars in newspapers such as "The Esquire".
People in the Qing Dynasty still had braids.
It will be better for you in the Ming Dynasty.
Even the braids are gone, and the hair is shaved short, what does it look like?
However, the voice of these Confucian scholars is getting lower and lower.
Wu Dunyuan was very political and he took the initiative to shave his hair.
With a tiger-head crutch in hand, he took a distinguished Western guest to visit his factory.
"Mr. Kant." Wu Dunyuan pointed at the workers who were being searched at the factory gate and said to the tanned Kant.
"These are early morning shift workers and they've already finished work."
Kant has been inspecting various Eastern countries in the past few years, going to Korea, Japan, Annan, Siam and other places.
Then arrived in Guangzhou.
Back to Shanghai.
He had planned to write a record of his experiences in the East called "Journey to the East".
Detailed records of the birth and rise of the Ming Empire over the years.
It had an impact on various parts of the Ming Empire and the countries in the East.
Yes.
Kant already planned to return to Europe.
Since he went to the East with Zhu Daohua in 1789, it is now 1797 AD.
A full eight years.
It can be said that it was an eye-opener in the East.
But now after traveling around for several years and returning to the south where the wealth of the Ming Empire gathered, Kant found that what he had seen and heard in the previous few years was about to be overturned again.
this country.
It's developing too fast.
'Are they being searched? '
Kant frowned slightly.
Such a scene is really not elegant enough.
Workers who had worked a night shift were still searched in this undignified manner when they got off work.
This large-scale industrial production has brought huge wealth, but... it may also bring serious suffering to many people.
These workers are obviously suffering from oppression.
"Yes, it won't work without a body search. You don't know, the factory produces yarn. This cotton yarn is so expensive. It is inevitable that some workers with unclean hands and feet will steal the factory's goods and sell them. It won't work without a body search!"
The queue stretched into two lines.
There is a row of male workers and a row of female workers.
For the working people of this era.
Being searched by your employer is not a personal insult.
But if the male foreman touches the female worker's body.
It's guaranteed to cost someone a life.
The workers were wearing short-sleeved and tattered clothes, and most of them were barefoot.
He doesn't look good either.
Sallow and thin.
Apparently he didn't eat well either.
And among male and female workers, there are also child workers!
Just like Britain in history.
Child labor also exists.
The Ming Empire under the rule of Emperor Zhu was not a beacon country with enviable social welfare.
It is a country full of exploitation and injustice, where the gap between the rich and the poor and the inequality of personality status can be seen everywhere.
Of course, there was no compulsory education in the Ming Dynasty.
Although the Ming Royal Education Group and the Ministry of Education of the Ming Dynasty are formulating plans to build universities, middle schools and primary schools covering the country.
Prepare for the next five years.
Establish five university clusters in the five major cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhongdu, Beidu and Wuhan.
As the five major educational centers of east, west, south and north.
One can imagine.
In the future, students around these five cities and the provinces where they shrink will definitely be blessed.
And that's for sure.
Provinces with large populations such as Henan and Shandong have not reaped any policy benefits.
Going to college in the future will definitely be very difficult.
Damn this historical inertia.
In addition, 3,000 primary schools and 800 secondary schools will be established across the country.
Although the plans are ambitious.
But obviously.
Compared with the current "baby boom" caused by medical advances in the Ming Dynasty, there will be more than 100 million school-age children in the next ten years.
Three thousand primary schools and 800 secondary schools.
It's just a drop in the bucket.
The quantity is simply too small.
Things are rare and valuable.
In addition, private schools for studying the Four Books and Five Classics are no longer popular.
Society generally begins to accept new education.
More and more wealthy people choose to send their children to new schools.
Even the princes and princesses went to Zhongdu Royal Primary School, so of course the nobles in Zhongdu had to follow Emperor Zhu's footsteps and send their children to be classmates with the prince, princes, and princesses.
Now that new education is becoming popular.
Then the era of free is over.
So now all primary and secondary schools have to charge fees.
Tuition is not expensive.
But it is not something that the children of the ordinary working class and ordinary farmers can afford.
"Is the salary low?"
Kant asked, frowning as he looked at the obviously malnourished workers.
He found that these factories were quite clean.
This was the only advantage he saw when he came to the factory area.
But what Kant didn’t know was this.
When Wu Dunyuan heard that the emperor's friend was coming to visit the factory, he specially had it cleaned inside and out to make it look very clean.
"Low? How can it be low? Mr. Kant, an ordinary male worker in my factory here can earn this amount in the most ordinary monthly salary!"
Wu Dunyuan stretched out five fingers.
"five yuan?"
Kant was stunned for a moment.
"Yes! Five yuan can be exchanged for fifty cents, and five hundred cents can buy more than a hundred kilograms of rice! Those who work the night shift are compensated for the night shift, and they get red envelopes during holidays. How can it be so low!"
Wu Dunyuan shook his head and said, with a painful expression on his face.
Red envelope?
Kant glanced at Wu Dunyuan sideways.
How much money can you Cantonese give in red envelopes?
This small amount of money is also included.
What a vampire.
In the sixth year after the liberation, the great capitalist Wu Dunyuan, who had made a total of one million yuan in net profit through trade, shipping, textile and other industries, felt heartbroken at the monthly salary of five yuan per worker.
This capital.
Sure enough, she was pregnant from head to toe.
It's really not an exaggeration to say that he is a vampire.
An ordinary male worker earns five yuan a month.
Working 12 hours a day, the daily salary is about 0.16 yuan.
If converted into pounds, it would be about £0.50.
This wage level is actually higher than that of workers in London.
"What about child labor and female labor? How much do they earn?"
"Female workers are paid two-thirds of male workers' wages, and child labor is two-thirds of female workers' wages. This is the calculation regardless of whether it is in Shanghai or Guangzhou."
Wu Dunyuan introduced happily.
He actually liked using child labor and female workers.
In his own words: "Where child labor can be used, female workers will never be used, and where female workers can be used, male workers will never be used."
"Is it easy to recruit people? Will no one go on strike?" Kant asked.
"Good job! It's so easy to recruit people now. Too many people have come to the city this year. Are you on strike? Go ahead. We'll probably hire another group."
Wu Dunyuan is not afraid of strikes at all.
As long as the skilled workers in the factory can be stable, workers on the assembly line can be recruited at any time.
(End of chapter)
