What’s even worse is that it’s not just farmers. Even craftsmen and hired workers who are directly involved in production also do not meet the requirements.
The craftsmen of Seris have the same habits as the farmers. Compared to their English counterparts, their behavior is very distinctive.
For example, locals call the collective shutdown of work and business "calling a break." In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this was actually a very common behavior. Moreover, perhaps due to their unique high-organization tradition, they quickly developed a complete set of methods of action.
Unlike the English workers who like to smash machines and destroy factories, the city workers in Serris do not have much hatred for production equipment. They preferred to organize themselves and destroy merchants' houses and the bosses themselves.
Moreover, unlike the traditional methods in Europe, the government has always maintained an ambiguous attitude towards this behavior. Even the Qing Dynasty, which was recognized as cruel, ignored this as long as it could, preferring to pretend not to see it.
In the 39th year of Kangxi's reign (1700), a "crying break" occurred in Suzhou that affected the whole city. The craftsmen engaged in cloth dyeing were not satisfied with the low remuneration and announced that they would stop working. I don’t know if this behavior can be regarded as a simple "strike", because thousands of craftsmen quickly gathered and took the initiative to attack the dye shop owners and contractors. Many businessmen were brutally beaten, the entire industry came to a complete standstill, and no one dared to start work at all.
It stands to reason that Suzhou was one of the central cities in the textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, it was a city with great influence on the entire world. This behavior will undoubtedly hinder production and affect the entire industry chain. However, the government has always remained silent on this matter. No matter how much the merchants requested, they were unwilling to take action.
As a result, the plagiarism incident lasted for a whole year. When everyone had had enough fighting, the government came belatedly and expressed that they would intervene to mediate.
Regarding similar incidents, the government's attitude is also quite unified. Officials were not willing to deal with the craftsmen who called Xie Da Ren as harshly as the merchants expected. Instead, they always characterized it as a "traders-craftsman dispute", and the final verdict was often fifty-fifty for each.
There are many cases of this kind of ruling, leaving a very rich record. The final result is often that the government comes forward and requires the merchants to increase the income of the craftsmen, and at the same time requires the craftsmen to stop causing trouble.
For example, in the 21st year of Qianlong's reign (1756), there was a conflict between craftsmen and their employers in the papermaking industry. The government ruled that the workshop owners must improve the wages of the craftsmen and pay them truthfully, otherwise they would be punished with eighty sticks according to the law of due weight. Craftsmen are also not allowed to join forces to demand price increases, otherwise they will be punished with a 80-year penalty according to the law of monopolizing the market. In this way, the warning of "each hitting dozens of big boards" was realized in a literal sense.
After the mediation, the government, for some unknown reason, still liked to engrave records on tablets, called "work price tablets". The results of the mediation will be engraved on it and announced that all parties agree to abide by it and never change it.
Of course, the reality is that such results often don't last long. The two sides usually become dissatisfied with each other and start fighting again soon, and the government will mediate again and repeat the above steps. Because this kind of thing was repeated so many times, a large number of "never change" monuments were left in the Jiangnan area, providing very rich materials for future researchers.
In England at the same time, people who broke machines would be severely punished. Parliament even created laws allowing for the death penalty for those who broke machines. But in the Jiangnan region at the same time, the government was not keen on this.
Even in the case of large-scale beatings of workshop owners, the government insisted on characterizing it as a small number of "outlaws" who were causing trouble and specifically "stirring people here and there, taking advantage of the situation" to cause conflicts. The vast majority of participants will not be punished, and even the leader who "escapes" is usually deported to his place of origin, or paraded in public with the shackles.
In the final analysis, the government is not very interested in protecting the interests of workshop owners, but is very focused on maintaining the overall stability of society - even if it is only on the surface.
As long as they don't raise the banner of rebellion, the government won't bother to take the risk to suppress it. Once the craftsmen's actions become very popular, they will actively sacrifice the interests of the merchants and force them to meet the craftsmen's conditions to prevent the matter from getting bigger.
In Guo Kang's previous life, there was a popular saying, whoever wins the support of the people. But judging from historical performance, the government is more like who wins and supports whom.
In fact, it is not difficult to understand: which side is more capable of fighting, the greater the damage they may cause after the conflict is completely intensified, and the cost of suppression will be higher. Therefore, as long as the bottom line is not touched, the government will subconsciously favor this side.
In the conflict between merchants and artisans in the Jiangnan area, merchants performed very badly. The guild thugs and gangsters they support have almost no sense of presence in front of the groups of craftsmen. For hundreds of years, it has never been effective after a riot... so the government's attitude is not difficult to understand.
This phenomenon does not only occur in local governments, nor only when dealing with private workshops.
During the Qianlong period, in the capital area, craftsmen from the Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Revenue broke out, triggering the Tong Guangrong case. These craftsmen were responsible for casting coins for the Ministry of Household Affairs and were important government-operated workshops. Because the wages issued by the court were reduced, the craftsmen were dissatisfied and demanded to be repaid and make up for all the previous debts, otherwise they would stop working.
Ding Tingrang, the supervisor of the Baoquan Bureau, went to persuade them and proposed to pay back wages and resume work first, and then slowly calculate the previous debt, but the craftsmen were not willing to accept it. The negotiations were fruitless, and Miwa, the minister of household affairs, also tried to persuade him, but still failed.
At this time, there was a conflict among the craftsmen. Money grinder Zhang Wenchang wanted to collect money to work, but he had a conflict with the leader Tong Guangrong and others. During the fight between the two parties, Tong Guangrong accidentally stabbed Zhang Wenchang, and eventually died due to ineffective treatment.
A murder occurred in the capital, and the matter could no longer be concealed, and was brought to Qianlong's side. Qianlong was very angry and ordered the infantry commander's Yamen to send troops to suppress and deal with the case.
Shu Hede, the minister of war and commander of the infantry, led his troops there, fired shots into the sky, dispersed the craftsmen, and arrested Tong Guangrong. Regarding how to deal with it, Chen Dehua, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Sanhe, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Shu Hede, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and others jointly submitted a letter, saying that these craftsmen have been making troubles and beating people for wages since the Kangxi period. There is no way to control them. They can just send money to calm the situation .
But not long after Shu Hede left, another craftsman Liu San led others to cause trouble again, and Baoquan Bureau stopped work again. Sanhe could only make another trip to persuade him, but the craftsmen still threw bricks and tiles and drove Sanhe away again. In the end, the matter reached the military plane, and the troops had to be sent out again.
Qianlong was furious and dismissed the memorial. He also accused Shu Hede of being too weak in handling the situation and asked him to seriously suppress the situation. He should shoot at the unruly people and not shoot randomly, otherwise they would become more unscrupulous.
Others, however, were very negative about it. Qianlong's attitude only aroused more people's opposition. Prince Lu Yunchen, Prince He Hongzhou, academicians Ertai, Zhang Tingyu and others all came forward to write letters. Everyone believed that this was all caused by the foreman's corruption, so just deal with the foreman who embezzled wages. Don't check anything else, just give the money quickly.
Although Qianlong was still arrogant, the Ministry of Revenue had already reached an agreement with the craftsmen and agreed to reissue the arrears and other requirements, and also paid them directly in cash. The matter has since fallen into disuse.
The two calls for rest alarmed the emperor himself and attracted the royal family, a large number of civil servants and the capital's troops, but the result was that the matter ended in peace. The imperial court itself was weak in the face of craftsmen, so you can imagine how difficult it would be to ask them to strongly support the merchants.
The reason for this situation is actually not difficult to understand.
During the Qingshui Rebellion mentioned earlier, an "interesting" conflict occurred. After the Qing army dispatched most of its troops and surrounded the rebels, they once hoped to solve the problem at the minimum cost through beheading operations, so as to avoid greater losses caused by melee.
For this reason, the Qing army proposed to negotiate with Wang Lun, the leader of the rebel army, and Wang Lun agreed. The two sides met in a courtyard. The Qing army specially mobilized second-class guards Yinjitu, Biao Artu and others to organize an elite commando team. Wang Lun actually showed up alone, and the commando team immediately climbed over the wall and entered the hospital, trying to capture him.
Up to this point, it still looks like a traditional European story.
But then, more than a dozen volunteers rushed out of the wing and fought with the Ouchi guards. The guards were defeated and quickly abandoned Wang Lun and fled. Afterwards, the Qing army investigated and found that eight people including Yinjitu were injured, and several people were seriously injured. They only saved their lives by running fast. So even though he returned without success, he was still rewarded with a silver reward, and the leader Yinjitu was promoted to a first-class bodyguard.
From the looks of it, Ouchi's bodyguard seems to be a weakling, unable to defeat even armed peasants. But in fact, these people are not pampered trash. Most of them came from the Jianrui Battalion of the Capital. They were the elites trained by Qianlong himself. They performed outstandingly in the battles to pacify Jinchuan and Xiaohezhuo.
The person who directed this failed battle was Shu Hede, the Minister of War.
As a veteran who has fought on many battlefields, he obviously has a clear understanding of his army. A group of peasants are making such a fuss. If the craftsmen of the capital are forced to rebel, who knows what trouble will be caused. For the imperial court, it was clearly something that could be settled with some money. Is it worth taking such a big risk?
Looking at one case alone may not give a clear picture of the situation at that time. But these examples verify each other and can explain a lot of problems. As those who experienced it at the time, the officials obviously understood the pros and cons, so they naturally made this choice.
Compared to England at the same time, the Serris government's attitude towards craftsmen was conniving. As a result, merchants and workshop owners will naturally be unable to reduce costs, the speed of capital accumulation will be reduced, and the profit rate will naturally also decline.
Later generations generally like to blame the Ming and Qing governments for not protecting businessmen, which led to the failure of capitalism to develop. But whoever was put in charge of the government at that time had no choice, because the craftsmen were so capable. This is simply an unsolvable situation...
The double monthly pass event is coming at the end of the month, please give me a monthly pass
(End of chapter)
