In the West of this era, all kinds of messy ideas are colliding fiercely.
An intellectual revolution was brewing throughout the West.
Therefore, Emperor Zhu actually had little interest in sending overseas students to the West.
First of all, it was because, in Emperor Zhu’s opinion, Western higher education in this era was just that, and it was not necessarily much better than the Ming Dynasty’s own.
Secondly
I am just a little worried that these foreign students will become the gravediggers of the Zhu Dynasty.
After all, there are too many various isms in the West today.
Who knows what doctrine has grasped the pulse of class contradictions in Ming Dynasty society, and a single spark could start a prairie fire.
You must be on guard against it.
However, despite all his calculations, Emperor Zhu did not expect that there would be private organizations sending people to study abroad.
It seems that the social governance ability of the Ming Dynasty is still a bit weak.
"My lord, Song Xiang, the magistrate of Shanghai, pays homage to the emperor. Long live the emperor! Long live the emperor!"
Emperor Zhu inspected the streets of Shanghai and returned to his palace in Shanghai.
Song Xiang, the magistrate of Shanghai, had already greeted him respectfully at the door.
The entire hotel was also under complete control by patrolmen from the Shanghai Patrol Division.
The Shanghai Patrol Division is considered the originator of police departments across the country and is the first of its kind.
Although Song Xiang is just a city magistrate, in fact, as the mayor, he is a territorial leader.
There is little territory to manage.
But the level is not low.
Among the officials from various places in the Ming Dynasty.
The importance can be compared with that of the governor of Guangdong Province, the governor of Northeast China, the imperial minister of the Central Plains, and the governor of Liangjiang.
Before joining the cabinet as a preliminary prime minister, you must have served as a feudal lord in these places.
Because Shanghai is now the commercial city that collects the most taxes in the country.
It has replaced Guangzhou and Strait Municipalities and became the most important industrial city and port city in Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, if Song Xiang could stay in the position of Shanghai city magistrate for a few years, he would at least be able to join the central government as deputy prime minister.
And although he has only appeared in the emperor's Shanghai palace now.
But it doesn't mean that he just knew about Emperor Zhu's visit.
Although Emperor Zhu did not notify the Shanghai Municipal Government, Shanghai's Jinyi Guards immediately dispatched warnings, and the battleship Daming appeared in Shanghai Port.
How could someone as smart as Song Xiang not know that the emperor was 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 have a good two days of shopping in Shanghai and tell some demons and monsters in Shanghai to restrain themselves, Emperor Zhu got tired of playing and jumped out to take over.
This timing is still very good.
Whoever can be the leader of a border is not a human spirit.
"No need to pay tribute."
Emperor Zhu nodded happily, pulled Mayor Song up, and then walked into the imperial study room of the palace together.
"Song Qing, you are doing a pretty good job as the leader."
Emperor Zhu smiled.
"Top leader?" Song Xiang was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized that it was probably the emperor who was talking about his position as Shanghai's magistrate.
He hurriedly smiled and said: "As an official of the imperial court, I should do my best to benefit the country."
Emperor Zhu nodded and said: "Work hard in Shanghai. Shanghai is very important these years. I don't trust it if it is left to others."
Song Xiang was stunned for a moment.
What does it mean?
How many more years will it take to maintain the position of Shanghai's leading city?
No promotion?
Otherwise, it would be said that officials are human beings. He immediately said: "It is the duty of a minister to share your worries with you."
Emperor Zhu waved his hand and said: "Why do you say this? I made you the city magistrate of Shanghai because this place is too important. Ordinary governors are not as important as you, the city magistrate, so I can rest assured that I will leave Shanghai in your hands." ."
"I will live up to the divine grace."
Song Xiang saluted hurriedly.
Although there is no hope of promotion for the time being.
But the oil and water in Shanghai is still very good.
The salary is higher than that of most provincial governors.
Therefore, it is actually very good to be able to sit down safely in the position of Shanghai's famous city.
Moreover, Peng Jun and others are still young, and they don't know how long they will stay in the position of prime minister.
After they were transferred, he would have the opportunity to enter the cabinet and pay homage to the prime minister.
Officials should not be too impatient.
More haste less speed.
Especially now that the emperor above his head is a founding emperor, he can be easily seen through his subtle tricks.
Doing things honestly and getting promoted safely is the right path.
"Well, you did a good job. You have followed my loyalty since you were in Guangzhou. I will never forget your contribution."
Song Xiang looked excited when he heard this.
Emperor Zhu's reputation in this regard is very good, and he is especially good to his old brothers.
Three hundred old brothers back then.
The worst ones all had viscounts, were given lands, and were members of a group of people who had achieved great success during the Restoration.
Zhu Daohua raised his hand and was about to tell Song Xiang to leave, when he suddenly thought of something else.
"By the way. Song Qing, I've been in Shanghai for two days. I just walked around the streets and didn't go to too many places. There are some places in Shanghai worth seeing."
"Yes, yes." Song Xiang said with a smile on his face.
He had long expected that Emperor Zhu would ask this question.
So be prepared in advance.
"Thanks to the Emperor, our Shanghai has really developed in the past two years. There are hundreds of various factories opened, the most of which are textile factories. Woolen mills, spinning mills, weaving mills, etc. invested by businessmen from all over the world. There are dozens of cloth factories, silk reeling factories, printing and dyeing factories, all of which are large factories that often employ hundreds of workers."
"Is it marketable?"
"Yes! Of course there is! Our domestic market is not yet saturated. We also sell to Japan, North Korea, Siam, Myanmar and other countries, as well as India! The market is very big, and many factories are now looking to expand their scale. ."
Emperor Zhu nodded upon hearing this.
The textile industry was a very important industry in the industrial revolution.
Driven by the production of large machines, the textile industry of the Ming Dynasty was of course the first to be developed on a large scale as an industry that could absorb a large working population.
It’s actually not just the textile industry.
Other industries are also in full swing.
Under the promotion and guidance of Emperor Zhu, Ming Dynasty has now begun its first industrial revolution.
As in history, the focus of this industrial revolution is also the textile industry with low investment and quick returns.
In fact, the textile industry in Jiangnan has always been very developed.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, water-powered textile carts had already appeared, and there were also a large number of handicraft factories employing thousands of people in Liangjiang.
According to what is said in later history textbooks.
In China at that time, "the germination of capitalist relations of production" had already appeared.
But a sprout is just a sprout 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 the market was opened up with the Opium War.
The wage factory system that existed in the Jiangnan region was quickly defeated.
Now, the entire industrial chain of Jiangnan's textile industry, from cotton and raw silk to spinning and weaving, is still relatively complete and only needs to be upgraded to the machine industry.
This process was certainly not peaceful. With the collapse of the rural handmade textile industry and the bankruptcy of a large number of handicraft workshops in the cities, a large number of machine-based households became proletarian.
But the entire industry has finally basically completed its upgrade.
"I plan to visit the textile factory."
Emperor Zhu nodded, "Besides the textile factory, what else is there to see?"
"And the Shanghai Stock Exchange."
Song Xiang said proudly.
"This joint exchange was led by the Emperor's Royal Bank and is the largest trading center for commodities, securities and precious metals in the world. Not only does it have spot trading, but it also offers futures trading. The daily transaction amount exceeds 5 million yuan. The stamp duty is already over 10,000 yuan per day!”
is it a lot?
Emperor Zhu glanced at Song Xiang and said to himself, it seems that the development of Ming's securities market is still very slow. The daily trading volume is only 5 million, which is more than 200 trading days a year, but it is just over 1 billion.
In later generations, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's daily turnover would have increased several times.
"Okay, I'll go to the factory area this afternoon and go to the United Exchange tomorrow...Song Qing, when I came here last time, the factory area was very dirty. Is it better now?"
…
The environment in the factory area is certainly not good.
Emperor Zhu frowned a little since he entered the factory area.
It seems that as an emperor, he really doesn't care much about the suffering of the people.
Emperor Zhu, who was reflecting in his heart, opened the curtain of the carriage.
There are many chimneys on both sides of the Suzhou River, emitting waste gas without any treatment into the atmosphere day and night.
In addition, the color of the water in Suzhou River is getting closer and closer to black!
As an important member of the textile industry, printing and dyeing factories certainly have an unshirkable responsibility for the water pollution of Suzhou River.
Hundreds and thousands of tons of wastewater are discharged directly into the Suzhou River every day...
However, the stench of feces and garbage on the streets of Shanghai is not that noticeable.
However, Emperor Zhu was not sure whether it was a face-saving project done by Song Xiang in advance, or there were other reasons.
Emperor Zhu didn't even ask.
Some times.
The superior person may not know everything.
No matter how small things are, you will only end up exhausting yourself to death.
He did not want to imitate Zhuge Wuhou.
As the helm of the country, you only need to control the general direction.
If you can't rub the sand out of your eyes.
I'm afraid I'll torture myself to death.
"Your Majesty, now Shanghai has some businesses that are responsible for handling garbage and feces, and sewers have also been built, so it looks much cleaner and tidier."
On the carriage, Song Xiang, the prefect of Shanghai, pointed to the road outside the window, which was actually not very clean, and said with a genuine smile.
“How is the garbage disposed of?”
"The Shanghai prefect's government bought a piece of land and hired several merchants to take the garbage out of the city and pile it up."
"What about poop?"
"This is easier to handle."
Song Xiang said, "This is a treasure. Someone is responsible for collecting it and taking it to the countryside to sell it to farmers for irrigating their fields. The government does not need to pay for it. It only needs to be given some tax concessions."
"That's right..."
Zhu Daohua nodded. Although he had never farmed before, he also knew that manure was organic fertilizer, which was a treasure in an era without chemical fertilizers.
Emperor Zhu's Chemical Research Institute 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 that end food shortages.
"Have workers in Shanghai caused any trouble in the past two years?"
Emperor Zhu looked at the heavily guarded streets and asked about the Shanghai workers' movement.
"Trouble? This..."
Song Xiang wanted to say no, but the Jinyiwei Shanghai Health Office was not blind or deaf, so a report had already been sent to him.
"There are some."
Song Xiang said.
The labor movement has indeed risen!
Zhu Daohua frowned. Song Xiang whispered: "The most common ones are dock workers! Most of them are Cao Gang disciples. They are united and go on strike to cause trouble. The owners of the dock can't do anything about them! The Shanghai government sent out police to suppress them, but it had no effect. . Your Majesty, I really have no way to deal with such unruly people..."
"Why are you going on strike to cause trouble?"
Zhu Daohua looked calm and asked.
"Of course the wages are going to be raised!"
Song Xiang said bitterly, "The wages of these dock workers are already extremely high! Ordinary technicians are not as good as them. If you work hard, you can earn two yuan a day!"
"Oh, two yuan is not low." Zhu Daohua said to himself, has the Caogang become a labor union?
This Song Xiang must be adding salt and vinegar.
Those dock workers definitely can't earn two yuan a day. Let's get a 20% discount. More than one yuan is not bad.
"So how much does an ordinary worker earn?"
"It's about ten yuan a month. It varies for different types of work."
"That much difference?"
Zhu Daohua was slightly surprised.
A general worker earns more than ten yuan a month, while a coolie on the dock earns two yuan a day. If he works for a full month, he earns sixty yuan, which is a five-fold difference! Although the work of dock workers is hard, the labor intensity of ordinary workers in the factory is not much different, but the salary difference is five times. It seems that there must be no trade union organization in ordinary factories.
“Why do longshoremen earn more than ordinary workers?”
Emperor Zhu couldn't help but frowned.
"this."
Song Xiang glanced at Emperor Zhu.
He hesitated to speak.
Emperor Zhu knew something was going on inside when he saw this look.
"be honest!"
Emperor Zhu's face darkened.
Song Xiang said hurriedly: "This is because those people from the Cao Gang have defected to the Xiaodao Guild!"
"Little Knife Club?"
Emperor Zhu was stunned.
Then he reacted immediately.
So that’s it.
The Xiaodao Society is a branch of the Tiandi Society.
The heroes of the Tiandihui are all die-hard supporters of Emperor Zhu - in fact, the Xiangzhu, the heads of the Xiaodaohui at all levels, think so too.
Now there are gangs all over the Ming Dynasty.
In addition to worshiping Guan Gong, one must also worship Zhu Sheng.
Zhu Sheng's status is still higher than Guan Gong!
After all, when Emperor Zhu rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, he received great help from the brothers of the Tiandihui in Nanyang.
The Tiandihui still recognizes Emperor Zhu as the leader of the Tiandihui, the chief rudder of the Tiandihui, and the chief executive of all provincial halls.
Emperor Zhu showed a wry smile on his face.
This is a big deal.
A good emperor.
He is now also the leader of the largest underworld organization in the country.
In the future, I don’t know if the gang crackdown will be blamed on me?
Emperor Zhu thought helplessly.
(End of chapter)
