Xinshun 1730

Chapter 792 New Contradiction
"Rice stickers?"

Of course Liu Yu knew what this thing was, but after so many years, it was rare to see such a capitalist face, who was so indescribably "friendly", so he pretended to be suspicious.

The woman also got excited, and nodded again and again: "The weavers are called rest together, and they only say that the price of rice is one tael. If it is lower than one tael, don't mention it. But if it is higher than one tael, the price of rice For every penny higher than the price, a certain amount of money must be subsidized for them to support their families."

"But when the rice price was cheap, they didn't say, oh, my master, the rice price is cheap, and our wages are less."

"Tell me, Junhou, where is the reasoning here?"

"In the past few years, Nanyang rice and Dongyang wheat have been increasing day by day, and the price of grain in Songjiang Prefecture is also low, which saves the rice sticker money."

"If food is really expensive, we will not be able to live on. We will have to pay them higher wages. If we don't give rice subsidies, we will cause trouble."

"It's time for the imperial court to take care of it. I heard that the weavers in Suzhou Mansion made trouble in the past, and the imperial court erected an inscription banning them from walking together forever. If you want me to say, the imperial court should also come to Songjiang Mansion to take care of them. Go up a few, and tell them to be honest."

Liu Yu thought in his heart that the imperial court's handling of the Suzhou government's strike incident was a major crime of "controlling the market". According to the total wage increase of all strikers, they were convicted according to the level of theft, and several leaders were severely punished.

But this Songjiang mansion, judging by the posture, didn't seem to say that the government came forward, which made these sprouts quite unhappy.

But to be honest, the country wants to engage in export trade, and reducing costs is also in the policy.

But to say that the Suzhou government’s permanent ban on walking together is called Xiebei—translation, it means the permanent ban on collective strikes in the same industry—it’s because the imperial court realized that factors such as import and export trade, mercantilism, and handicraft costs are in it, which is absolutely nonsense .

If the people in the imperial court could think so much, then this Dashun would not have made Liu Yu feel powerless.

As far as the present is concerned, whether it is labor costs, wages, or handicraft efficiency, there is no need for Dashun to over-squeeze weavers in order to ensure competitiveness.

The silk and cotton cloth industries in India did put a lot of pressure on Dashun, but Liu Yu wanted to destroy the industries there.Generally speaking, the problem is not big, the pressure is not too great, and there is no need to squeeze the weavers to reduce costs.

He also didn't answer the topic of the imperial court's policy of banning strikes forever, but asked, "In your opinion, what does this weaver think about the price of grain? Do you support or oppose the liberalization of imported rice and wheat?"

The woman was dismissed by Liu Yu, so she didn't dare to bring it up again, and hurriedly said: "If you go back to the king, the weavers hope that the price of grain will be lower. If the price of grain is expensive, other things will also be expensive." .Even some rice stickers are not enough.”

"As for us, we hope that the price of food will be cheaper. Firstly, rice stickers are saved, and secondly, some chores can be done with less money."

"When the cotton is picked, the son's house, which is full of bells and whistles, thinks that the cotton is wrapped in cotton bales. But they don't know that they have to go through the process of removing seeds, selecting, rubbing strips, etc. before they can be spun into yarn. , and then we can weave.”

"If the price of grain is low, the hired labor for rubbing cotton can be hired for less money, and it will be cheaper for us to get the finished cotton."

"In the past few years, the price of grain in Songjiang Prefecture has been low, so we can do better and better in this business. In the past, we relied on whales and soldiers, and we will rely on them in the future. I'm afraid that the price of grain will become expensive in the future. It’s not easy to do.”

When the woman talked about the truth, she really thanked Liu Yu from the bottom of her heart.It's okay elsewhere, the industrial and commercial practitioners in Songjiang Mansion have indeed benefited from Dashun's external expansion in the past few years.

Fighting in the northwest really has little to do with Songjiang Mansion.Not only did they not get profits, but they used their taxes.

But when it comes to fighting Japan and Southeast Asia, they really saw the benefits and got the benefits.

Cotton cannot be grown in that little land in Japan.In the past, the woolen fabrics from the Netherlands were sold well in Japan, but how about the cotton cloth from Matsue Prefecture?
After the cooperation between Sweden and Dashun, smuggling became more and more popular, and a large amount of cotton cloth was smuggled to Europe and the United States, and the sales volume increased a lot.

Now that Nanyang has been conquered again, the Songjiang Mansion knows that Nanyang has a lot of spices and rice.After eating Nanyang rice for so many years and conquering Nanyang, for them, at least one thing is certain.In the future, the price of rice in Songjiang Mansion will no longer be four or five taels of silver per stone.

At first, I was worried that the Nanyang heat was so hot that the locals would not wear clothes.Who would have thought that a large number of Nanyang people came to Songjiang Mansion in the past few days. They not only wore clothes, but also seemed to wear a lot.

Because of this, the woman took out all the capital accumulated by the family and asked her husband to buy [-] looms.

These external expansions are of course led by Liu Yu, and they all know about it.It is not false to say that it is a New Year's festival worship, such as the Lisheng Temple.

Of course, the handicraft industry in Songjiang Prefecture alone cannot satisfy the external market.The industry and commerce in the surrounding state capitals have also benefited a lot.It's just that this Songjiang Mansion is near the water, it is located in the most downstream of the Yangtze River, it is also the estuary, and it is the location of Dashun's "pigsty" financial capital. The feeling is much more profound than other places.

Seeing the woman's cheerfulness, Liu Yu said with a smile: "Actually, it's not necessarily a bad thing for weavers to pay piecework wages. If they pay piecework, they do more and earn more. Don't you do the same? You will sell them out in the future." There are more things, your good days are still to come, they do more, don't you also earn more?"

This woman is also clever. Hearing what Liu Yu said, she said: "What Lord Junhou said is that when I actually send them money, I am also happy in my heart. If I send them a lot, I earn a lot of money myself." many."

"But, there is one more thing, we also want to ask the whale. The flying shuttle came from the west, and the weaving is more than twice as fast, so the yarn can't be supplied. But I don't know if there is anything like this flying shuttle in the west. The shuttle thing can make the spinning speed double or two times faster?"

Liu Yu shook his head, thinking that this thing has ideas and ideas, but the prototype Jenny machine is not suitable for Songjiang Mansion at all.

That is the cotton thread used for blending cotton, linen, and wool. It is too thin to make pure cotton cloth and is too easy to break. The cotton cloth here in Dashun cannot use that stuff.

Moreover, Dashun's current cotton seeds are too short in fiber to be suitable for preliminary mechanization, and a large-scale cotton seed replacement is needed, at least to the point where Zhu Yuanzhang promotes cotton planting.

However, there is also an advantage in this, that is, it can greatly promote Dashun's overseas expansion.

Cotton is produced in India. Once the textile industry in Dashun Jiangnan continues to develop, there will be a new class of support for the expansion of India.

Now the emperor listened to Liu Yu's bewitchment, and the reason why he tried to attack India had nothing to do with trade or raw materials.

Instead, I have taken a fancy to India's land tax and poll tax. In addition, I feel that India is now in a time of chaotic wars. Three to 5000 people can take a lot of land. Sending people to collect taxes does not mean that a year is equal to Taxes for multiple Henan provinces?
If there is the support of this new class, and the strength of these emerging classes is gradually growing, it will be easier for people to die in the direction of India.

If it can be guaranteed that the cotton from India will be transported back to the country, and then distributed to women in various households for spinning into threads under the system of outsourcing and subcontracting, this will slowly disintegrate the small peasant economy in the Jiangnan area without causing huge losses. Impact.

The difference is that originally spinning and weaving were all done by ourselves.In addition to being self-sufficient, I sell the rest to supplement my family.

Now, spinning is not mechanized, leaving it to small farmers to do their jobs; while weaving is mechanized earlier, so that the handicraft factories here are upgraded to real factories.

A loom powered by water or steam is definitely easier to make than a worsted spinning machine.

Of the two processes of weaving, weaving is easier to mechanize.

After a little calculation, as long as you get the cotton-producing areas in India, or use the method of disintegrating India's original economic system to create a cotton-producing area, transport Indian cotton back to the country, maintain the handicraft industry in spinning, maintain small farmers and temporarily refrain from rebellion. The mechanization of weaving is export-oriented. According to the current posture, it seems to have a head start.

Who is suffering here?

The bitter one is still the current weaver who works for machine households.Once machinery appears, the value of handicraft technology will drop sharply, lower wages will be given, and people will be replaced if they like to do it.

A metaphor for future generations.

Now the weavers who work for locomotive households are programmers, and they can’t be done by just grabbing someone on the street; once weaving is mechanized, weavers will become brick movers on the construction site, and they can do it as long as they have hands.

Just as it is the scientific research community that can best understand the medieval guild system in later generations.The foundation determines the superstructure.

The last time the weavers in Suzhou government went on strike, all of them called for a break, although the government also came forward to deal with it.

But weavers can be regarded as half of the win, at least wages have risen, there are still wine money every spring and autumn, and benefits during the New Year's Day.Because they have skills, this job is not something that anyone can do.

After the initial mechanization, I'm afraid it will be that easy. Either a picket team will be created and whoever will kill the scabs first will guarantee unity;

So the key to this matter is to divide and disintegrate.

First engage in weavers, those who spin yarn for a living will not stand up to speak out, because they spin but do not weave; then engage in spinners, cotton rubbing will not stand up to speak out, because they rub but do not spin, and the weavers have already been engaged. Lost……

Relying on division and disintegration, the method of breaking down each one, before the handicraftsmen are fully impacted by the machine, they will be eliminated one by one.

Divide uprisings and rebellions into individual waves and destroy them in batches.This should be easier than a full on impact.

Thinking of this, Liu Yu said: "Although there is no way to spin yarn several times faster for the time being, there is indeed a way to weave cloth faster, even faster than the shuttle. And it seems to be You don't need skillful hands, ordinary people can do it."

"It's just the imperial court's concern. In this way, it may take away the property of the common people, so it has not been released. But in your opinion, if there is a machine that can speed up the weaving several times, how many machine households in Songjiang Mansion are willing to buy it?" of?"

The woman thought about it, hesitated for a while, not knowing what to say.

For a long time, Liu Yu saw that she hesitated to speak, so he said, "Just talk."

"Back to Junhou, this machine can make weaving several times faster and does not require skillful hands. If there is a machine, of course we want to use it. But in the end it still depends on the court's attitude towards 'Let's go together and call for a break'. If the court No matter, I really dare not use it. I just said that this new shuttle loom has caused some troubles. If it is several times faster and does not require skilled hands, I am afraid that the matter will be more serious. If the imperial court wants to take care of it, I will Why don't you dare to use it?"

Liu Yu nodded, and understood the concerns of these new classes.

This is the administrative style of Dashun all the time.Although the problems of landlords and peasants were dealt with before, this style still makes these new classes a little scared.

When Dashun was founded, it was indeed a compromise.But a compromise is not a total surrender, and some things have been done.

At the very least, the slave soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River and the field soldiers in Ruijin all joined Dashun's group later.

Even if they chanted the slogan of protecting the world and reached a compromise with the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, it would not be possible to come up with the slogan of equalizing the land and exempting the grain, which caused the emperor Taizu to die in Jiugong Mountain, but in the end it was only a compromise rather than a surrender.

Although it was not done thoroughly, Dashun's policies in the early stage were indeed biased towards small farmers.

However, because of the wars in the late Ming Dynasty, a large number of people died and a large number of lands were unowned, which eased the contradictions, and there would be no big troubles if it was properly biased.

If the traditional "Master Qingtian" were replaced, the landowners and peasants would naturally favor the peasants; but in the same way, the matters of the hired workers and the employers would also favor the hired workers.

The incident of Qixing in Suzhou Prefecture and the incident that may be caused by the loom of power machinery are by no means the same thing.

Moreover, the former dealt with both the machine households and the weavers. In fact, they all felt that the court did not do well.

Because the machine owners hope that the machine owners will not say anything, and they should not agree to the conditions of the weavers; while the weavers hope that the court will not only support them, let the machine owners agree to their conditions, but also support them.

However, Dashun was a product of irreconcilable conflicts between landlords and peasants, and the conflict between the emerging classes could only be dealt with in a peaceful way—the ruling class in Dashun was neither machine owners nor mechanics.

This makes machine users on the grass-roots side of emerging businesses worry that if machines are really invented in the future, and troubles such as smashing machines happen, the court will remain in peace, so they really dare not use them.

Merchants are not gentlemen.

In the Celestial Dynasty, one could justifiably say "rule the world with the scholar-bureaucrats", which is also politically correct and cannot be criticized.

But if it is said that "the merchants and machine households rule the world, not the small people weavers rule the world", this is absolutely politically wrong and will be criticized to death.

On this point, Liu Yu can't express his position clearly, saying that you just do it. If someone really destroys the machine in the future, I will be responsible for armed suppression.

But if you don't give a clear attitude, these people may have more concerns.

With the development of industry and commerce in Songjiang Prefecture, many contradictions have arisen.

Just like the issue of food prices, this is a contradiction between the landlords and peasants, and capitalists and workers.

The question of the attitude of Qi Xingxie to the imperial court is also an "internal" contradiction between the two emerging classes of capitalists and hired workers.

The machine households in Songjiang Prefecture would like to know, in the face of these new conflicts in the future, who will the court turn towards?
(End of this chapter)