In the Jiangnan wilderness, a steam train braved a faint white mist and made a clanging sound as it continued to move towards the east.
The morning winter sunshine splashes onto the dark train, exuding a primitive industrial color.
On this passenger train with more than a dozen large and long carriages, many passengers from different places rushed to their respective destinations with different thoughts.
Sun Xu is also one of the many passengers!
At this time, he was sitting in a carriage at the front of the train. The carriage was filled with a faint smell of soot, and the gaps in the windows were stained with black soot.
This is the passenger car closest to the locomotive in the entire train. It is noisy and smokey, but it is also the car with the cheapest fares!
For coal-fired steam trains, the closer you are to the locomotive, the worse the riding experience. Therefore, the cars in the front of the train usually have the cheapest third-class tickets.
After that, there are second-class tickets, first-class tickets, and only the last few carriages of the train are first-class sleepers or second-class sleepers.
It's just that long-distance sleepers on trains are expensive, and people like Sun Xu who don't have much money in their pockets can't afford them.
Sitting on the train that made a clanging noise and trembled slightly from time to time, Sun Xu looked through the window at the wilderness outside the railway.
The wilderness in the south of the Yangtze River made him somewhat unbelievable. It was already the middle of winter.
The winter in his hometown in northern Shaanxi is extremely cold and there is not much green. Sometimes the ground is white after a heavy snowfall.
But in Jiangnan, there are still large areas of green plants in the wilderness outside.
Just from the color of the field outside the window, you can see the huge difference between the two.
And where the railway line passes, you can still see cities and towns from time to time. There are many people here, and there are many houses and buildings, and there are more tall and elegant buildings.
This also made Sun Xu more hopeful and confident about his trip to Jiangnan!
Sun Xu hopes that when he arrives in Songjiang, he can find a good job and earn more money to send home, so that his parents don't have to work so hard, and his brother, who has been smart and studious since childhood, doesn't have to think about dropping out of school all day long. Got to work.
My younger brother is so smart and has such good academic performance. He shouldn't have dropped out of high school before finishing high school. He should have graduated from high school no matter what.
As for college, Sun Xu didn't expect his younger brother to go to college. It wasn't that he couldn't pass the exam, but that college tuition was too expensive. Although his younger brother was smart and studious, he wasn't good enough to get a full scholarship from college...
Even though his younger brother is studying science, there are more scholarships for science.
But... many students from poor families and even middle-class families also choose to study science... because the tuition is cheaper and there are more scholarships.
The more people read here, the more competition there will naturally be.
As for liberal arts... don't even expect it.
There are very few liberal arts scholarships. The huge Imperial College only recruits four or five liberal arts students with full scholarships each year, and only a dozen half-scholarships. The rest are self-funded students, who cost 380 yuan a year. , this is not counted as room and board expenses!
The tuition fee is at least three to four hundred yuan per year... Not to mention a poor family like Sun Xu, even an ordinary middle-class family would have to go bankrupt if it supported a self-funded liberal arts college student...
As for science, although the competition is huge, there is at least some hope.
Sun Xu thought that with his brother's grades, there was no hope of getting a scholarship at a four-year university, but there was still hope for those three-year normal schools.
Well, it’s not a full scholarship, but a half scholarship with more places.
There are three-year normal colleges in every province in the Great Chu Empire. The tuition fees are relatively cheap. Self-financed students only have about a hundred yuan per year, which is about the same as Chu Yuan. If they can still get a half scholarship, Sun Xu and his father will work hard to make money. Using previous savings and borrowing some money, we can afford it even if we grit our teeth.
If he could study in a junior college, his younger brother's life would be completely different!
Not to mention junior college, even if he finishes high school and successfully obtains his diploma, his younger brother's life will be much smoother than his own.
Because a high school degree is enough to enter most companies, and you can even take the imperial examination.
In the empire, you need to apply for the imperial examination, the general examination and the provincial examination. You need a college degree to apply for it, but for the local college examination, you only need to graduate from high school.
The empire has gone through many years of imperial examination reform. Today's imperial examinations are completely different from those in the previous dynasty. The current imperial examinations in the Great Chu Empire are divided into three categories.
Students from all over the country who have graduated from a four-year undergraduate program under the age of 35 can participate in the joint examination. After passing the examination, they are usually directly assigned to serve in various ministries in Gyeonggi Province. For example, the famous Hanlin Academy selects several people from the joint examination every year.
The joint examination is aimed at cultivating senior officials. Successful candidates have a high starting point, are promoted quickly, and have a high ceiling.
Students from the province who have graduated from three-year colleges and four-year bachelor's degrees can apply for the provincial examination under the age of 35. They are generally assigned to serve in provincial yamen at all levels and some are assigned to local yamen. The probability of promotion to middle- and high-level officials It is also relatively large.
For the college examination, students who have graduated from high school or three-year vocational college and under the age of 35 can apply. After passing the examination, they are usually assigned to work in grassroots yamen in counties and towns. The starting point is low, promotion is slow, and the ceiling is very low. Except for a few Except for those with strong abilities and outstanding achievements, others will never reach the threshold of the seventh level in their lifetime.
The college examination was originally used to recruit general staff in the Chu Empire...
But even if he is a ninth-grade or eighth-grade ordinary clerk, such a person belongs to the serious middle class in the society of the Da Chu Empire.
The income is not very high, but it is definitely much better than ordinary workers' wages. There are also various benefits, the work is easy and decent, the social status is high, and there are various legal holidays and so on.
And even if the rank is low, he is still an official, and he is a serious official who eats royal food. As long as he does not make a big mistake, or violates the law or discipline, he can't lose his job...
Of course, if you go too far or offend others, you may be transferred to the unpopular Qingshui Yamen, or to an extremely hard-working Yamen, forcing you to take the initiative to become an official.
After all, officials have not signed a labor contract with the state... and they have no right to choose their own jobs. You have to do whatever the superiors assign you to do. If you don't want to do it, you can resign and leave...
Just like the many officials sent overseas by the empire every year, these officials are not happy to go overseas, but the superiors are asking you to go. What can you do unless you resign?
In the contemporary Chu Empire, it is still the dream of most young people to join the imperial examination and become an official, even if they are just a small clerk.
Reading can change destiny, which is completely feasible and exists on a large scale in the contemporary Chu Empire.
After all, the empire has only existed for more than thirty years, and the classes are far from solidified. At the same time, it is still in the period of the Industrial Revolution, a period of great changes in social development... For ordinary people, even poor children, as long as you work hard and study hard, you will have certain achievements. There are still opportunities to get ahead if you have talent.
For example, in the two major military academies in the Chu Empire, most of the students in them actually came from ordinary families, and some of them were even from poor families.
Quite a few of them are ordinary children who have received full scholarships all the way to study.
The empire's military academies do not require tuition fees, and you can even become an active soldier after enrolling and receive salary directly.
This is why in the Great Chu Empire, countless outstanding ordinary students dream of applying to the two major military academies...
As for the non-outstanding students... don't have this dream. The two major military academies are comparable to other universities, and even the Imperial College is more difficult to take the exam.
Sun Xu himself is in trouble. He worked as an apprentice before even graduating from junior high school, but there is hope for his younger brother.
Whether his old Sun family can turn around and become a decent family depends on his younger brother.
However, even if you want to study in a three-year college, even if the science tuition is lower, even if you can get a half scholarship, the tuition expenses will cost tens of thousands of yuan a year at least, plus food expenses, this is It is still a huge expenditure for the Sun family.
Sun Xu's father is a shoemaker. He makes very good leather shoes and is relatively well-known in the local area. His income is actually not too small. It is much more than an ordinary part-time job. However, in the past few years, in order to support the two brothers in their studies, Still cash-strapped.
Later, Sun Xu did not go to school to work, and became an apprentice in a small local machinery factory, learning to repair various textile machinery. However, apprentices did not receive much salary, only pocket money.
When Sun Xu's younger brother enters high school this year, the pressure on the family will become even greater.
His younger brother is also a sensible person. He has mentioned it several times this year that he will not go to school and that he can work as soon as possible. It is also possible to find an ordinary clerical job with a junior high school diploma.
But every time he mentioned it, he was rejected by Sun's father. A month ago, he even got angry about it, saying that he had suffered all his life and did not dare to eat or wear clothes. Why?
It’s not just for our old Sun family to have a college student who can live a decent life in the future.
He said that if his younger brother dared to drop out of school, he would break his legs and sever the relationship between father and son.
Finally, his brother packed his things and went back to school with tears in his eyes!
Sun Xu thought about it for a long time, and finally went to his younger brother's school to talk to him and let him study with peace of mind. As for the tuition issue, he and his father would solve it, so he didn't have to worry.
After chatting with his brother, Sun Xu resigned from his original job in a small factory, packed his luggage and got on the train!
He is going to Songjiang to find a job with a higher salary.
He worked as an apprentice in the small machinery factory in his hometown for several years, and he worked hard and studied hard. He was already a graduate. However, even if he was a graduate, the small machinery factory where he worked could not give him a job with a high salary.
After all, a small factory in a small place is not very large in scale and does not make much money. Even if it makes money, the boss will not be so generous to give you a new mechanical repairman who has just graduated. The salary is basically based on the local average. The level of payment is only three yuan and eighty cents per month.
Although this money is much higher than that of ordinary workers, it is still not enough for Sun Xu!
The daily expenses of this family are not small to live on. In addition, the younger brother is studying. Even though the younger brother is currently receiving a partial scholarship, the high school tuition and room and board expenses are also quite high.
Not to mention having to save money for my brother’s college tuition!
I usually don't even want to eat meat, and I only want to buy meat during the holidays.
Looking at his father, who was only in his forties but had gray hair and a weathered face, Sun Xu finally decided to go out and find a job in Songjiang.
He had a boy who went to work in Songjiang the year before last year and kept exchanging letters with him. In his letters, his boy said that the wages in Songjiang were very high. Even an ordinary unskilled worker could earn a salary in a month. Three or four Chu Yuan.
Skilled workers like Sun Xu have higher wages!
There are also many various machinery factories, and these factories also have a large demand for technical personnel. You can often see machinery factories posting recruitment notices for machinists, and some salaries can reach more than ten yuan.
Fa Xiao had persuaded him to come to Songjiang more than once, telling him what future he could have if he stayed in his hometown. What you studied was to repair machinery. There was only a small machinery factory in your hometown. You couldn't even find a place to change jobs if your job wasn't going well. nothing……
Sun Xu also knew that Fa Xiao might have exaggerated his words in order to persuade him to go to Songjiang. He couldn't believe Chu Yuan's words that there were more than ten mechanics... He knew without even thinking that these must be those mechanical repairmen with good skills and rich experience. The only price you can have,
It is basically impossible for a repairman who has been studying for several years and has only been working independently for one year to get this salary.
It’s impossible even in Songjiang!
But... Fa Xiao's saying is true. There are many opportunities and great prospects in Songjiang, and the salary is definitely higher than that in his hometown.
Therefore, he still wrote back to Fa Xiao, saying that he would go to Songjiang to look for a job in the near future.
Fa Xiao wrote a letter soon, telling him to come as soon as possible and come with peace of mind. After he came, he would live with him first and then move out after he found a job.
Under such circumstances, Sun Xu said goodbye to his family and boarded the train to Songjiang alone.
In order to save money, he bought the cheapest third-class ticket... The taste of this third-class ticket was not pleasant.
I couldn't even lie down and sleep.
At any rate, the train finally entered Jiangnan Province.
After another day, the train Sun Xu took finally arrived at Songjiang North Station.
Carrying his own package, Sun Xu followed the crowd and got out of the car. He looked at the gray sky in front of him. Although his body looked extremely tired from sitting in the car for a long time, his spirit was extremely exciting!
Songjiang, here I come!
As the flow of people getting off the train continued from the platform, after entering the train station, he found that the train station was really big and there were a lot of people!
When he got on the train in his hometown, the train station in his hometown was quite small and there were not many passengers.
I also passed many large train stations on the way, but I have never seen such a big train station. Even the Jingshi Jiangpu Station I passed before was not this big!
The flow of people is not as big as that of Songjiang Shanghai North Railway Station!
In the contemporary Dachu Empire, Songjiang North Railway Station is the largest and most densely populated railway station in the country.
The support behind this is that it is the city with the most developed economy, the most industry and commerce, and the most densely populated city in the Chu Empire: Songjiang!
Today, Songjiang's permanent population has reached more than three million, which is a quite terrifying number!
Moreover, among the population of more than three million, the primary industry population in rural areas accounts for very little, and most of them are urban residents, relying on the secondary and tertiary industry populations for their livelihoods.
It has the densest population in the Chu Empire, as well as the densest and most complete types of factories.
Basically, you can basically find anything on the market in Songjiang, whether it is various industrial products or various novelty gadgets from overseas.
For comparison, the current population of Jinling City, the capital of the Great Chu Empire, is only over 800,000... not even one million.
This is because Jinling City is not an industrial city in the high-rise urban layout of the Great Chu Empire. Apart from the Jinling Arsenal, there are no large factories.
Jinling City was positioned as a political and cultural center in the Chu Empire, not an economic center, let alone an industrial center.
Because there are few factories and the overall population is relatively scattered, this city has the best environment and the most livable environment among major cities in China.
Other big cities, such as Songjiang...the city center is really not suitable for human survival. Because of the air pollution caused by the large amount of industrial coal and the huge amount of residential coal burning emissions, the sky in the center of Songjiang changes from year to year. The tail is all gray, and not even a few stars can be seen at night.
In addition, in order to maintain the living needs of millions of people and the operation of a large number of enterprises, Songjiang City has a large number of horses, pulling countless carriages around the corners of the city every day.
Horses have a lot of excrement. Horse manure is fine and can be collected and processed, but horse urine is difficult to deal with because horse urine can evaporate and dry naturally... This is okay at all, but hundreds of thousands of horses do this every day Peeing, and then the stinky smell of horse urine is emitted into the air...that would be very scary.
So much so that in addition to the smell of coal in the air of big cities these days, there is also a strong smell of horse urine that cannot be dissipated!
How many horses are there in Songjiang Prefecture?
It's hard to say the exact number, but hundreds of thousands of horses are definitely indispensable...and these horses often don't live long due to heavy labor, which means that Songjiang Prefecture has to clean up a large number of horse carcasses every year!
Songjiang City in the 35th year of Chengshun was a city surrounded by the smell of coal, coal dust, horse dung, horse urine, and horse corpses... This was not only the case in Songjiang City, in fact, other densely populated industrial cities were basically the same.
This is the inevitable result of the rapid development of modern industry and the highly dense population, but the lack of progress in heating and cooking methods, production methods and short-distance transportation methods.
When you use a large amount of coal as power for production, transportation, and dye for cooking and heating, you have to endure the smell of coal and coal dust in the air...
When you use a large number of horses as the main driving force for short-distance transportation, you have to endure horse manure, urine and horse corpses.
Why is Luo Zhixue unwilling to build industry in Jinling City and spread out the population density... It's because he doesn't want to live in the smell of coal and horse urine.
The only way to change all this is technological progress, such as using cars as transportation power and using gas and natural gas as dyes for cooking and heating.
As for the current Dachu Empire, it is natural that it cannot meet these technical requirements. Therefore, the environment of the big cities in the Dachu Empire these days is basically not good, especially Songjiang City!
Some people even pessimistically believe that if Songjiang City continues like this, it may be completely covered by horse dung in fifty years... and the thickness of horse dung must be at least two meters thick...
It's just that Sun Xu didn't have deep feelings for a while. Now he was only shocked by the size and prosperity of Songjiang City!
(End of chapter)
