1850 American Gold Tycoon.

The last time Liang Yao came to Nanzhou was in June 1851.

And at that time, Liang Yao went to Texas, a new southern state that had just been incorporated into the United States. At that time, Texas was not a very typical southern state.

This is the first time Liang Yao has come to Virginia, the home base of the Dixies: the most developed state in the South.

Although Virginia is the most populous state in the South, Virginia does not have any large cities with a population of more than [-].

The largest city in Virginia is Richmond, the state capital. Richmond is not only the political center of Virginia, but also the economic and cultural center of Virginia.

It is a relatively rare phenomenon in the American states to integrate the three centers into one.

Richmond is very close to Washington, just over 150 kilometers away, and it only takes five or six hours by train.

By the mid-19th century, Richmond was already a large city with a population of nearly 4.

It’s just that the southern slave-holding states during this period did not include black slaves as population statistics, and blacks in slave-holding states were included in statistics in the form of property.

If blacks are counted, Richmond's population may be [-] to [-].

Of course, the "big city" here is a relative term, and it is limited to Virginia, and Richmond is a big city.

Not to mention looking at the whole country, even in the south, Richmond is not an absolutely populous city in the south, not even a fraction of the population of New Orleans.

New Orleans' strategic location at the mouth of the Mississippi River made it an important meeting point for goods and people.This made New Orleans rapidly develop into the largest port city in the South.

During this period, the population of New Orleans reached about 17, making it the largest city in the South.Including black slaves, the actual population of New Orleans was probably over 20.

At the invitation of Robert Lee, Liang Yao took his own train to Virginia after leaving Washington, and his destination this time was Richmond, the capital of Virginia.

The train rolled into the quiet countryside of Virginia with a piercing roar of steam and thick smoke.

"I like the south more than the north. The south looks more idyllic."

Shen Baozhen admired the endless plantation next to the railway, and the rural scenery along the way made him feel happy.

Compared with the smoky and dirty rivers in the north.The scenery here is much more pleasing to the eye: the sky is clear and the air is clear, the river is clean, and what comes into view is either fields or forests.

"It seems that Brother Shen still prefers an idyllic life." Liang Yao closed the "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" in his hand.

The original classics of classical economics are obscure and difficult to understand, and it takes many studies to understand the general idea.

Liang Yao usually chooses to read these boring and obscure works to pass the time while taking the train. Of course, most of the time it has the effect of helping sleep.

"Who doesn't yearn for such a fairy life." Shen Baozhen said pointing out the window.

"In my opinion, the South is not as bad as what the wise brother said in "The Universal Mirror of All Nations"."

In the book "Tongjian of All Nations", Shen Baozhen has studied the country several times. Although the United States is not the first Western country introduced in this book, it is the Western country that is introduced in the most detail.

Shen Baozhen clearly remembered that when Liang Yao introduced America in the book, he specifically divided it into North and South.

In the book, Liang Yao described the south in a very bad way.

It was February, and the tobacco, corn, and cotton plantations in Virginia had not yet entered the planting season.

Therefore, the plantation that Shen Baozhen saw was not very populated. Along the way, he only saw a few scattered black slaves leveling the land, and a few white men checking the status of the drainage system and irrigation facilities.

"Looking horizontally, it looks like mountains and peaks, and the heights are different." Liang Yao said, "Li Taibai still can't see the real face of Lushan Mountain clearly. We are in a closed train compartment separated by a layer of glass. How dare you assert that you can see the true face of Virginia?"

While talking, the train passed a field of winter wheat and wheat. A few strong black housekeepers and supervisors waved their whips and yelled loudly to drive a group of shackled black slaves into the wheat field to eliminate insects and pick up the wheat fields.

Liang Yao vaguely remembered that the last time he was in Texas, he saw not so many black slaves in shackles.

The black slaves in this wheat field seem to be working in shackles, regardless of men, women, or children, except for the black stewards and overseers who are in charge of the management.

If you look closely, you can see white men on horseback and patrolling with guns almost every few hundred meters.

Two of the white men were punching and kicking a black slave who was trying to escape.

Presumably, under the propaganda offensive in the north, the phenomenon of escaped slaves in the south has become more and more serious.

Black slaves are also divided into three, six, and nine classes.

The first class is the personal servants who directly provide services to the southern manor owners, such as black housekeepers and cooks. Scarlett's black fat nurse in "Gone with the Wind" belongs to this kind of high-level black slave.

These black slaves did not need to bear heavy physical labor, and the work content was relatively easy.Life was much more prosperous than that of the white Irish people who traveled across the ocean to the United States and the white workers in the factories.

Some loyal old housekeepers who were efficient and trusted by slave owners could even enjoy delicacies that even ordinary white people could not enjoy.

In order to decorate the appearance and show their wealth and kindness, the slave owners will also reward these servants with starched shirts, various dress skirts, ties and belts.

After all, some slave owners often took their black servants out or even traveled to Europe. If the accompanying black servants were malnourished and inappropriately dressed, the slave owners would also lose face.

If these black stewards had children, they would also serve as attendants to the young master, and would become new stewards when the master grew up.

In Liang Yao's memory, when Colonel Mason was captured during the California State War, he also captured Mason's black servants, and these black servants acted as Mason's orderlies and guards.Moreover, the black servants are also stronger than ordinary white soldiers, which shows that their usual living standards are no worse than ordinary white soldiers.

These black butlers are the easiest blacks to obtain free status. The first group in the United States to produce free blacks and even black slave owners is the black butlers.

The first-class black servants are blacks who have mastered at least one skill such as gardeners, carpenters, and blacksmiths.

Such black people were regarded as valuable property by slave owners, and slave owners generally did not treat them too badly.Except for some restrictions on personal freedom, their lives are not much different from ordinary white people.

The status is the lowest, the life is the most miserable, and the black slaves with the largest number are the black slaves who do heavy physical labor in the plantation.This kind of black slave is the black slave in the impression of most people in later generations, and it is also the main force of escaped slaves.

White slave owners will not carelessly kill black slaves like in the movies.After all, black slaves are valuable property that they spent a lot of money to buy.

However, if the white slave owner or overseer saw that he was slacking off, a severe beating would definitely be unavoidable.

Of course, just because slave owners did not kill black slaves indiscriminately does not mean that they would not kill black slaves. If a group of black slaves disobeyed discipline, in order to tame the group of black slaves, the slave owners would tearfully kill the thorns among them to scare the monkeys and scare the monkeys. Those disobedient niggers.

As the special train got closer and closer to Richmond, the houses and people on both sides of the railway line gradually became denser. Of course, more and more black slaves could be seen.

"Liang Xiandi, is this the southern black slave you wrote about in your book?" Shen Baozhen asked incredulously, pointing at the black slave outside the window.

He was surprised that in Liang Yao's description of an advanced Western power, there were two completely different systems in the north and the south.

"Brother Shen seems surprised?" Liang Yao said casually.

"It's shocking, it's unimaginable, and I hope Brother Liang can clear up Brother Yu's doubts."

Shen Baozhen had countless questions in his mind, he bowed deeply to Liang Yao, hoping that Liang Yao could clear up his doubts.

"From the perspective of the main participants in economic activities, there are no more than two ends, namely, the production end of the producer and the consumption end of the consumer.

In classical economics, land, capital, and labor are called the three factors of production.

Among them, land and capital are real objects with clear market prices and transaction mechanisms.

As the only living creature among the three elements, humans have the greatest uncertainties and risks. "Liang Yao explained.

After some careful thinking, Shen Baozhen seemed to understand the truth.

“Deprive them of their freedom, turn living people into slaves trapped in plantations, turn them into tools that can only work, and trade them at a price. In this way, the uncertainties and risks can be minimized? "

"Exactly. Although slavery is evil, from the perspective of economics and capitalists, it is a very perfect system on the production side.

In a capitalist society, the most perfect object of labor is a tireless machine that can run around the clock, followed by a slave who does not need to be paid, and finally free labor who needs to be paid. "

Liang Yao nodded. Shen Baozhen was a smart person after all. He had a very high level of understanding and could make sense with just a few clicks.

"There are many ways to deprive people of their freedom. The black slaves you see are just deprived of their freedom in the simplest and most brutal way and become slaves. Therefore, human beings will feel uncomfortable seeing them."

"So there is still a way to be complicated and gentle, so that people will not feel uncomfortable when they see it?" Liang Shaoqiong who was on the side couldn't help but interjected after hearing the conversation between the two.

"Of course there are workers in factories in northern states, absenteeism in Cantonese coal mines, and technicians in Los Angeles oil refineries are essentially people who have been deprived of their freedom." Liang Yao laughed.

"All beings are slaves to capital. There is no essential difference between us and these slave owners, but we are more hypocritical and better at disguising ourselves. We replaced the eye-catching shackles of these black slaves with gold and silver. Those laborers wear them for themselves. You have to thank us for being in shackles."

Be it slavery, feudalism or capitalism, there are only two classes: the exploiting class and the exploited class.

"You read a lot of foreign books, drink a lot of foreign ink, and talk a lot of fallacies. I can't tell you."

As soon as Liang Shaoqiong was white, Liang Yao turned around and leaned on the fur chair and took a nap, pretending to be asleep.

Liang Yao compared him to slave owners, and Liang Shaoqiong felt a little unhappy. He was a person who had read sage books, so how could he be the same as these slave owners?But he couldn't argue with Liang Yao.

Is the coal mine of the Liang family in Guangfu the same thing as these plantations?Those workers were hired by themselves with real money.

Thinking of the real money spent, Liang Shaoqiong couldn't help but feel a little pained, and felt stupid.

Why hire people to mine?

Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to go to the south of the Yangtze River to capture some long-haired rebels, or go to Nanyang to capture some natives, and spend a little money to buy some Japanese from Deng Yan?

Thinking of this, Liang Shaoqiong couldn't help but feel his heart tremble.

Shen Baozhen on the side suddenly became enlightened, but he had more doubts in his mind: "My brother just said that economic activities have two ends, besides the production end, there is also the consumption end.

Unpaid slaves certainly couldn't consume the products produced, and without enough people consuming the products, the factory owners, or capitalists as my brother said, couldn't make a profit.

Therefore, looking at both ends of economic activities, this system is not perfect and seems difficult to operate in the long term. "

“Indeed, a healthy economy must take into account both the production and consumption ends, otherwise the internal cycle cannot be completed.

The problem you mentioned is not something that slave owners in the south should worry about. They are only responsible for the production of raw materials.Most of the raw materials produced in the south of the United States are sold to the European continent, but only a few are sold to the north, so this system can be maintained to this day. "Liang Yao said.

The United States today is not a normal and healthy economy. Looking at the economic phenomenon of the United States with ordinary eyes is like looking at a blackboard with short-sighted eyes. It will only become blurrier and blurrier.

"The production end and the consumer end are almost separated, and the consumer end is far away in Europe and not in the mainland." Shen Baozhen said, "In this way, I seem to understand why there is discord between the north and the south of the United States.

Dear brother, I want to understand the economy of Western countries. Is there any book on this subject? "

After this trip, Shen Baozhen became more interested in the situation of Western countries.

Not only are Western countries far superior to the Qing Dynasty in terms of warship guns, but their systems are also completely different from the Qing Dynasty.This aroused Shen Baozhen's curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

"Brother Shen thinks so highly of me. I'm just a businessman, not an economics professor. How can I have such works?" Liang Yao picked up "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" on the table and took out the pen on his chest. Write a list of books on the title page.

"If Brother Shen is interested in the economies of Western countries, when you return to China, you can go to my library to pick up these books according to this list and go back to study carefully."

Shen Baozhen took Liang Yao's book as if he had found a treasure, looked at the book list on the title page, flipped through it, and said with a smile: "It seems that I should also bring an English teacher to teach me English."