Zhu Jingyuan finished washing his face with something in mind and looked back at the two maids beside him, Chunxiang and Qiuyue.
The two Korean maids who have taken care of him for five years have just turned eighteen this year. Their bodies are not yet fully mature, but their image has been roughly determined.
Chunxiang is of medium height, with a relatively well-proportioned figure, fair and clean cheeks, dark and bright eyes, and a soft image but not seductive, which is very in line with the aesthetics of serious people in the Ming Dynasty.
Cautious and attentive, dexterous and gentle, and well-behaved, she is considered the best among maids. No wife in an ordinary family can achieve this level.
Qiuyue is slightly shorter, but her body curves are more undulating, and she also has a cute baby face.
In the traditional Ming Dynasty people's concept, Qiuyue is a slightly disabled person, but in Zhu Jingyuan's opinion, it has a unique flavor.
Thinking about what happened in the court yesterday, Zhu Jingyuan asked tentatively:
"Chunxiang, Qiuyue, you are not young anymore. You are almost ready to get married. I will ask my father to let you go out of the house..."
The two maids were startled. Chunxiang knelt down without hesitation:
"This slave knows that I was wrong, please punish me, Your Highness."
Qiuyue was stunned for two seconds, and then knelt down. She didn't know what to say, so she followed Chunxiang's words:
"Please punish me, Your Highness."
In the new Ming Dynasty, the ritual of kneeling among "people" was abolished, but it was still naturally retained among slaves.
Zhu Jingyuan had anticipated the two people's reactions, so he continued to ask helplessly:
"Since you know that you are wrong, then tell me what exactly is wrong?"
Chunxiang's expression was a little panicked, but more confused:
"My servant has made His Highness dislike me. It must be my fault. Please make it clear to Your Highness, and I will definitely correct myself."
Qiuyue also followed suit:
"Yes, yes, I will definitely correct myself. Your Highness, please give me instructions..."
Zhu Jingyuan sighed in his heart and tried to explain in another way:
"Actually, I don't dislike you. I'm really thinking about you. You two have taken care of me for so many years, and your hard work has paid off.
"I want my father to release you from slavery and arrange a job for you in a factory under the royal consortium. Are you willing to go?"
This time the two slaves were almost instinctive and said loudly and decisively at the same time:
"I don't want to leave. I just want to serve His Highness."
In Chunxiang's opinion, His Highness must be testing her, while Qiuyue felt that His Highness was trying to scare her.
They didn't know that Zhu Jingyuan was already a prince, but even though she was the prince's personal maid when she was young, the possibility of becoming a concubine was small, mainly because of the age difference.
However, it is a very normal and traditional typical operation to propose marriage to the prince and the prince's close subordinates.
The worst is to be the wife of the steward of the prince's family when he grows up, or even directly become the steward of the courtyard.
As for going out to work as a factory worker, that is the punishment for a maid who has been rejected.
But in Zhu Jingyuan's view, if all Korean maids, women, and Burmese servants were released together, they would be lucky to work as workers in the consortium's factories...
Just releasing all the slaves as a whole will definitely cause social unrest, and the slaves' masters are unlikely to accept it. After all, the slaves are bought with money.
Zhu Jingyuan then considered the identities of Chunxiang and Qiuyue. In the current environment, they were the most trustworthy people around him besides his immediate family members.
They have not received professional education and may not be able to analyze ordinary social problems, but when it comes to their personal experiences, they are definitely more professional than professionals.
So Zhu Jingyuan asked in a consulting tone:
"Then Chunxiang, Qiuyue, you two imagine that if you replace the maid's deed with a twenty-year employment agreement, and at the same time give her the status of a free person, allowing her to marry and live on her own, do you think everyone will accept it?"
Chunxiang was stunned for three seconds, then seemed to realize something, and tried to answer seriously:
"My slave thinks it is difficult for everyone to accept it, because then everyone will have to worry about how to live in old age. In fact, no one wants to change their current life.
"Especially for someone like me, who has no intention of leaving here and going anywhere. I just want to serve His Highness like this forever..."
Qiuyue's reaction was not too slow. After Chunxiang finished speaking, she also tasted something, so she said with a bit of tears:
"I don't want to leave, Your Highness. Do you have to change this way in the future? Can you please not change it..."
Zhu Jingyuan shook his head after hearing what the two girls said. Zhu Jingyuan knew that the two girls were telling the truth, but this kind of truth made people helpless.
The master is willing to give them freedom, but they are unwilling to accept it. This seems difficult to understand, but it is indeed a reality.
Chunxiang, a maid who took care of the prince's daily life, was originally the highest grade among slaves, but she was one grade lower than the emperor's personal maid.
The key is that Zhu Jingyuan is a good master and will never torment her for no reason.
Occasionally, she would be rewarded with some jewelry and money, and she would also have the opportunity to become the prince's concubine.
She will not accept the freedom that Zhu Jingyuan gives her now, unless he guarantees that she will be arranged for grassroots management of the consortium, or for her to be the head wife of a low-level bureaucrat.
As for those ordinary domestic servants and slave workers in factories, as long as they come through normal channels and have normal uses, most of them do not want to become free people.
As long as their masters are in their right mind, they will not kill their slaves for no reason.
Because the slave itself is the property of the master, and it is property of not low value.
The master will provide the slaves with the most basic living security, and even has to worry about their illness and injury, because illness, injury, and death are losses.
But the hired workers of this world are different.
What the employer purchases is the amount of labor performed by the employee over a period of time, not the employee himself.
Employers only care about how much work the employees can do during the period of employment, and will ask them to do as much work as possible.
Even if the employee dies after completing the work, the employer will not lose any property, so he does not care about the employee's life or death.
So in this world, the living conditions of employees in the lowest-level factories are actually lower than those of the lowest-level slaves, at least in terms of living security.
Therefore, even the lowest-level normal servant would not be willing to become the lowest-level hired worker.
Unless you can continue to receive the same treatment as a normal slave while becoming a hired worker, that is, you can get the most basic living security.
But in actual movements for the emancipation of slaves, and in actual movements for the abolition of slavery, the emancipators did not usually give such assurances.
Therefore, when the slaves were liberated, the fate before them was actually this:
From the basic living security, there is a high probability that you can barely survive without any freedom.
It becomes a state of freedom where there is no guarantee and may die at any time.
Slaves actually had to exchange their livelihood security for so-called freedom.
For those at the bottom struggling to survive, it is obvious which state they wish to retain.
Therefore, slaves can get freedom without wanting it, not because the slaves themselves are ignorant or stupid, but because most of the liberators are also selfish.
When the workers change from slaves to hired workers, the master no longer needs to care about the life and death of the workers. The overall operating costs will decrease. This is the internal driving force of the abolition movement.
Now, if a vassal state such as Korea is removed from the vassal state, the corresponding vassal people will be treated as imperial citizens and prohibited from buying and selling them as slaves.
However, if the imperial court does not directly carry out targeted attacks on the slave industry and does not provide guidance and ideological reform to the traders, the actual trading will definitely continue.
And it will soon be automatically converted into a transaction executed in the form of "hire".
The result of this is that the object of the transaction has changed from a slave to a hired worker. The buyer is not completely sold out, and the purchase price will definitely be lowered.
So even slave traders might support abolition.
But from the perspective of the parents who sold their children, the children are still sold. Even if the children are theoretically free, they will never see them again.
But the actual money received after the sale was indeed less than the theoretical amount.
The price difference between the two is roughly the value of freedom.
Zhu Jingyuan shook his head to get rid of these thoughts, and said to the two maids in front of him:
"Chunxiang and Qiuyue, please think carefully about what kind of commitment you and other ordinary servants need to get before they can safely change from slaves to hired workers.
"The relevant news hasn't been confirmed yet. You two can discuss it among yourselves. Don't tell anyone else for the time being. You can think about it yourself and let me know when I get back from my morning exercise.
"This may be related to the future arrangements of all slaves, including you, so think about it carefully and don't hide it."
After Zhu Jingyuan finished speaking, he put down his towel and turned around to go out. The two confused and anxious maids quickly stood up and followed him.
