Kant nodded.
He made a detailed inspection of China's rural areas.
The extreme poverty and hunger are shocking.
If Wu Dunyuan didn't lie to him.
It is indeed much better to come to Shanghai to work than to stay in the countryside.
In rural China, it is not easy for a family of five to rent 10 acres of land. Just calculate it as 10 acres.
I couldn't earn more than a few shi meters that year.
That's all, under good weather conditions.
If you encounter some drought or flood disaster.
Then I'm afraid I'll have to owe a loan shark that I can never repay. With the loan shark on my back, my life will be even harder.
And work in a factory.
If the couple joins the factory, they will have an income of about eight yuan a month, which is 96 a year. Counting the red envelope given by the Guangdong boss, I don't know if it will be a hundred yuan.
One hundred dollars.
That can buy 20 shi of rice.
If the three children are over 10 years old, they will also come to work.
I can transfer about 150 yuan a year, and I can save 100 yuan if I live frugally.
Moreover, the harvest is guaranteed despite droughts and floods.
It's much better than farming.
This.
This is also the fundamental reason why capitalists like Wu Dunyuan can hire a large amount of cheap labor with a salary of five yuan - the Ming Empire has too many people, and it is impossible for the surplus labor left in the countryside to make any money.
Now there is a way out, and everyone is trying to squeeze their way in.
"Demographic Dividend.."
This word suddenly flashed in Kant's mind.
Just when Kant was inspecting the factory in Shanghai.
Several carriages also entered the slums of Shanghai.
As the cradle of the proletariat of the Ming Empire.
The city of Shanghai has finally begun to resemble those cities that emerged during the first industrial revolution.
Black smoke from the chimneys drifted overhead.
The sewage is discharged directly into the river.
The entire city emits a pungent and choking smell - a smell that represents progress, civilization, and industrialization.
The city is now flooded with industrial wastewater and garbage. The air smells of coal smoke, feces, and sewage, and is also mixed with tuberculosis bacteria, cholera bacteria, diphtheria bacteria, typhoid bacteria, and a variety of other diseases that can cause human diseases. Deadly bacteria.
Such a terrifying scene in the mid-19th century definitely meant a strong country, a rising nation, a powerful military, and the kind of industrialization that countless poor and weak countries dreamed of!
In this era, it meant that the Ming Empire owned the only two industrialized cities in the world-Shanghai and Guangzhou.
"Guangzhou should be similar to this, right?"
Luo Fangmei frowned, covered her mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief, and sighed sincerely: "I'm afraid we won't be able to live in our house in Guangzhou anymore."
Still want to go back to Guangzhou?
That old house should have been demolished long ago.
But Luo Fangbo, Gu Song and others all believed that it was the "Longxing Place", which was related to the Feng Shui of the Ming Dynasty and could not be demolished.
According to Emperor Zhu’s idea.
Even if you go back to Guangdong, it would be best to build a house and live in places with beautiful scenery such as Qingyuan and Zhaoqing.
Who wants to live in Guangzhou, a city full of industrial pollution?
When Emperor Zhu thought of Guangzhou, he remembered how he had fled from Guangzhou in embarrassment.
Until now.
It’s been thirteen years.
It has been thirteen years since I came to this world.
these thirteen years.
It seemed like a dream to him.
He went from a time traveler to a wanted criminal, and then to the restored emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
And these thirteen years.
The Eastern world has undergone earth-shaking changes.
The Qing Dynasty no longer exists.
Instead.
It was the Ming Empire that started the industrial revolution.
For Zhu Daohua.
Shanghai is a city that he has special feelings for.
Well.
Because Boss Zhu’s first love is a Shanghai girl. If nothing else happens, he will go to Shanghai to work in a hospital after graduating with a master’s degree in medicine, and then find a way to trick the Shanghai father-in-law and mother-in-law who don’t think highly of him into marrying their daughter. give him.
Unfortunately.
The surprise came anyway.
"Shanghai's sewer project needs to be tightened up. This place does stink."
Emperor Zhu said with a frown.
"Industrial zones must be planned well and water sources must be protected. Otherwise, if the entire Yangtze River is polluted, how will the people of Shanghai drink water? The upstream water sources must be planned first. It is best to let Shanghai pay to build reservoirs. In the future, The water in these reservoirs is for Shanghainese to eat."
Emperor Zhu said.
He came to Shanghai this time.
I came here just for the "sanitary inspection".
Because as slums expand.
The agglomeration of population and the increase of environmental pollution.
Last summer, small-scale plagues broke out in Guangzhou and Shanghai almost simultaneously.
Shanghai is plagued by plague.
Guangzhou is cholera.
after the plague.
The governments of Shanghai and Guangzhou accepted the advice of His Majesty the Miracle Doctor Emperor.
1. Establish an epidemic prevention center and an environmental sanitation office to focus on improving urban environmental sanitation.
2. Improve the urban drainage system.
In fact, cities in ancient China had drainage systems.
However, this drainage system cannot cope with the drainage needs of industrialized cities.
Therefore, perfect design is required.
Emperor Zhu's visit to Shanghai this time was a private visit incognito.
The Shanghai Municipal Government was not notified.
He did not bring a large number of imperial guards, but only dozens of plainclothes guards and Queen Luo Fangmei, who came to Shanghai without anyone noticing.
Today he and the Queen walked around the industrial areas and slums on both sides of the Wusong River, the dirtiest area in Shanghai.
It can be regarded as a full appreciation of the dire life of the working class under the booming industrial civilization.
And from what he saw and heard in Shanghai, he fully realized what capitalism is.
Now Shanghai Municipal Magistrate Xing Yusheng.
As one of the three hundred old brothers.
Of course, he implemented Emperor Zhu's suggestions without compromise.
He really put a lot of effort into disease prevention and environmental sanitation.
But Xing Yusheng, Dazhi City, seems to only think that the rich, financial, and business districts are Shanghai. As for the slums,
He didn't care at all.
In affluent areas, there are people cleaning up garbage on the streets.
There are also rodent control teams that deliver rodent-killing drugs everywhere.
But these benefits are not available in slums.
In particular, the slums, which are composed of clusters of low-rise shantytowns, are as dirty as a garbage dump.
There is a stench everywhere, the narrow streets are full of beggars, and you can even see corpses that don't know whether they died of freezing or starvation.
Children with bare feet and tattered clothes are chasing and playing in this environment, and they certainly have no chance to receive education. I really don’t know whether they will become the objects of exploitation of the bourgeoisie or the gravediggers in the future.
Emperor Zhu shook his head after seeing it.
This country under its own rule.
It really looks like a golden jade on the outside but a mess on the inside.
But in fact, the ancestors of later developed countries also suffered from this.
in this era.
Whether it is a powerful industrialized colonial empire or a traditional feudal country, the people at the bottom have a hard time.
Among the post houses in Shanghai.
An old friend of His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire.
The famous philosopher Mr. Kant was writing furiously in the room.
"Dear Heinrich, I am writing to you now from Shanghai, the most promising industrial city in the Ming Empire. How are you lately? Say hello to Davari and little Vivian for me, love from China. "
".I spent five years from 1791 to 1796, basically completing the basic investigation of the Ming Empire and the Eastern world. Maybe after writing this letter, I will return to Europe. Before that , I have some inspirations and thoughts. Under the leadership of Emperor Zhu Daohua, the Ming Empire is undergoing earth-shaking changes. Perhaps this change will completely change the process of the entire human society. The industrial revolution brought by the steam engine makes people feel frightened. I may have witnessed an incredible turning point in China. The productivity brought about by industrialized production increased exponentially, and the entire Ming Empire entered a period of rapid expansion. They were getting rid of feudalism, getting rid of the shackles of the land, and moving towards an unpredictable new era. The times, and in this process, were also quite cruel and dirty.”
"The Ming Empire launched wars aimed at acquiring land to the north, south, and west, and the purpose of these wars was to absorb the excess population of the Ming Empire. At the same time, during this process, the agricultural production of the Ming Empire also occurred. Changed.”
"With the decrease in food prices, the industrialization process of the Ming Empire seems to have become faster. My emperor friend seems to have expected this."
In fact, Zhu Daohua's expansion policy was not aimed at increasing agricultural output.
But thinking about gaining more living space for future generations.
In this way, the dynasty he founded can be passed down for a longer time.
However, in this process, some "side effects" also occurred.
The twin policies of seizing and cultivating fertile land and attacking and containing the bureaucratic landowning class led to the emergence of more efficient capitalist agriculture.
This high efficiency refers to labor productivity and economic benefits, rather than simply pursuing an increase in unit grain output.
"After writing this letter, I am going to bid farewell to the emperor. The Ming Empire will have a liaison ship with the European embassy every month. At that time, I can take this ship to return to Europe. My experience in the East, It is enough to become the focus of my work in the next ten years - a book about the East and the Ming Empire. Just thinking about it makes me very excited. Looking forward to our meeting again in Europe - your friend: Kant."
After writing this letter.
Kant put it into the envelope, then opened the door and handed it to an attendant.
The Ming Empire's ship to Europe will leave from the port in two days.
Kant's letter sailed to Europe on the ship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Empire.
And at the same time.
U.K.
London.
A room next to Downing Street.
The decoration is not luxurious, it looks very old, at least it does not match the strength of the British Empire.
This is the famous No. 10 Downing Street.
A house with 60 rooms and a history of more than 100 years looks old and dilapidated due to poor maintenance.
The Prime Minister of the British Empire, William Pitt Jr., has planned to raise funds to repair No. 10 Downing Street.
But as soon as the news came out.
His political opponents began to launch newspapers to attack William Pitt Jr. for "wasting taxpayers' money".
Therefore, not many people have dared to repair this prime minister's official residence.
It has the shabby charm of the Qing Dynasty yamen.
In fact, Prime Minister William Pitt Jr. has his own manor and villa, and he rarely lives here.
This is only used as an office and meeting place.
After an entanglement with the members of parliament.
Little William Bert hurried back to No. 10 Downing Street, where King George III had been waiting for a long time.
During this time, the British Empire was experiencing a lot of misfortune.
But there are two most important things.
"Has the matter in Tsarist Russia been confirmed?"
George III was sitting at the large conference table and asked after seeing little William Bert come in.
"Confirmed, the Russian Czar Petrovich ordered the Russian army to divide into two groups and enter the Balkan Peninsula and the Caucasus. It seems that the war between the Russians and the Turks will continue again!" Little William Burt said: "Russia has taken over from the Chinese. We have obtained a lot of weapons, and it seems that the Ming Empire and the Russian Empire have reconciled, Russia’s eyes have turned to the south, and the Chinese have begun to look to the other side of the Pacific!”
Hearing the words of Prime Minister William Burt Jr., George III looked solemn: "This is not reconciliation, this is surrender!"
Little William Burt nodded.
Surrender indeed.
Russia lost the vast territory of Eastern Siberia.
Moreover, they couldn't wait to launch a war against the Ottoman Turkey, also to reassure Ming Dynasty.
Tsarist Russia is afraid of being beaten by the Ming Dynasty!
But this way.
The British Empire is in trouble.
"The Russians were making good progress in the Balkans and Caucasus, and the Ottoman Empire looked simply unable to withstand the Russian army armed with Ming-style weapons."
Little William Burt said with a frown.
King George III took a deep breath.
“How are the French doing now?”
Mention the French.
Little William Bert's frown deepened.
The anti-French alliance was defeated.
Just when London was worried that the French would take advantage of the situation to occupy the German region, conquer Spain, and establish a power on the European continent - based on the performance of the French army in this war and their equipment advantages, this is not unreasonable. Possible things.
Once this happens, it will mean the failure of the British Empire's balancing policy towards the European continent.
But thankfully.
At the crucial moment.
The commander-in-chief of the French army, Duke Napoleon of the Ming Empire, was suddenly transferred from the front line.
This made the Anti-French Alliance breathe a huge sigh of relief.
At the same time, I also got a chance to breathe.
The two sides are now in a confrontation.
but.
Little William Bert knew that before the British Empire or other European countries obtained the same weapons as the French army.
War will not start.
"Those French guys missed their chance to take over half of Europe."
There was a trace of ridicule on the corner of George III's mouth.
"They don't have a king, so the power struggle continues and they have no intention of expanding."
"But there is no doubt that their army is very strong now." George III said.
(End of chapter)
