Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 270 Advanced Slavery Capitalist Economy
"I understand what you mean. Even with those machines, we still need a large population and a huge territory as support, so we must not only control trade nodes to make money, but also increase citizens and land as much as possible." Theodora clicked nod.

"However, even in the north, this process probably won't be too fast." She still reminded: "Can the temporary solutions you propose last through this period of time?"

"It should be possible." Guo Kang nodded: "Steam can provide us with great help, and there are good coal mines and iron mines in the northern part of the Black Sea. Our development and industrial development can be carried out simultaneously."

"That's good." Theodora nodded: "We will definitely get a lot of slaves during the pioneering process. In this way, the problem of insufficient manpower you mentioned should also be alleviated."

"But speaking of it this way, it seems like an extra good thing." She realized something: "Before we were always worried, thinking that Slavic slaves often couldn't be sold. It would be a good thing if we could digest it ourselves."

"However, if we expand to the Ross region, we must pay attention to it." Guo Kang reminded: "We can't make people serve as soldiers while arresting their folks as slaves. In the future, we must strictly restrict and control the scope." .”

"It doesn't matter, we have not had a war with the Rus countries for a generation." Theodora didn't care too much: "Now a large number of Slavic slaves are basically captured by Poland and Lithuania. .”

"Before, Mrs. Cao also organized an association to fight against the merchants who secretly captured and sold her folks. After so many years, the slave trade there has almost disappeared. Novgorod and Moscow also have special funds. Competing to redeem the slaves of one's own country, promoting one's generosity and benevolence, in order to enhance one's prestige."

"Hey? I heard that many of them are from the Ross area?" Guo Kang asked curiously.

"Strictly speaking, those people don't belong to any country." Theodora told him: "The Ross area is different from ours. It is too vast and sparsely populated. Outside the principalities, there is a vast unclaimed land. A lot of people who are both citizens and bandits live in it, and the princes can't control them."

"These people will plunder everywhere from time to time and clash with our garrison. In response, various border military regions often take the initiative to attack and arrest them. Such people are not recognized by the principalities, so we don't have to consider them. feeling."

"Okay." Guo Kang nodded, thinking again.

"Is there anything else to consider?" Theodora asked curiously.

"It's nothing important, it's just that I can't figure out the theoretical issues myself." Guo Kang hesitated, and said, "Look, the machines I made, like Steam Brother, are used in places with few people. Is the place good, or a place with a lot of people?"

Theodora gave him a strange look: "Of course it needs to be placed where it needs to be. What does it have to do with the population? And didn't you say that you need more population?"

"That refers to the stage after the industry matures. Now we have to consider the issue of early development." Guo Kang told her.

"I have heard two somewhat contradictory theories. One side believes that places with many people can support more spare manpower to operate machines and enable the development of the machine industry. But there is also the other side that believes that places with few people, Common labor is well paid, so it is more helpful to popularize machine power in place of expensive human power."

"Both sides seem to make sense, and I don't know which one is right." He said, and added: "Oh, by the way, the background of these two opinions is the environment in Western Europe."

"Where did you know these messy theories. You also asked for Western Europe..." Theodora muttered.

However, she didn't resist, and she seemed to have gotten used to Guo Kang's behavior for a long time.

"Let me think about it." It was also the first time Theodora was exposed to this kind of problem.She thought for a while, and then asked: "How high a technical level do people need to operate the machine? Do they need experienced craftsmen, or just trained apprentices?"

"Maybe you don't even need apprentices." Guo Kang recalled the history and replied: "Temporarily recruited homeless people, or even children a few years old, can do simple training for two days."

"The threshold is too low..." Theodora frowned.

Guo Kang honestly waited for her opinion: Theodora was more sensitive than him to many social situations, so her opinion was of great value.

Especially now, facing an important question, he really didn't know the answer.

He did understand this history, and in his last life, this history was the focus of education and the object of people's keen discussion.But some conclusions are actually contradictory.

For example, the first one is the argument for the rationality of the enclosure movement. It is believed that this upsurge that began in the 15th century provided cities with a large amount of cheap labor.The second item was also a characteristic of more developed areas in Britain at that time. High labor costs were also the reason for the rise of industry that many people believed.

But the problem is, these two are contradictory.I don't know which one is right.

Of course, there have been many other arguments. For example, some people believe that the root cause is the limitation of the monarch's power.This can be directly ruled out, because according to this argument, the most developed industrial country in Europe must be Poland, and how can the British compare with others... This kind of theory that is too counterintuitive can only prove that the proposer does not even understand Europe—— Theory and reality are different, so it cannot be said that the world is wrong.

Only those issues that have a great impact and are really tangled are worth discussing and thinking about.These outrageous theories can also be thrown away directly, and there is no need to waste energy.

But he didn't think long before Theodora gave her point of view.

"If other conditions are similar, then it should be placed in a place with a lot of people." She said.

"Why?" Guo Kang asked curiously.

"Because fewer people have nothing to do with high labor remuneration." Theodora replied bluntly: "Among the territories we control, the most sparsely populated place is the Ross area. But the labor remuneration there is obviously not high. Boyars They even often force the citizens to work without giving money at all.”

"Whether in an area with a large population or a small population, the lord can easily obtain a batch of cheap or even free labor. Therefore, this theory does not make much sense in practice."

"What if it's not a lord, but a businessman who recruits labor through free employment?" Guo Kang asked.

"Don't you know how expensive the things you make yourself?" Theodora doubted: "The businessmen who can run this kind of workshop must be rich and powerful. They have a lot of ways to get free labor .So the idea doesn’t make much sense either.”

(End of this chapter)