Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 276 Craftsmen are too good at playing, leading to the failure of capitalist development (seeking a monthly ticket)
What's more, it's not just farmers.Even craftsmen and hired workers directly involved in production also do not meet the requirements.

Artisans in Seris have the same habits as farmers.Their behavior is very distinctive compared to their English counterparts.

For example, the local people call the collective suspension of work and business as "calling off".In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this was actually a very common move.Moreover, probably thanks to their unique tradition of high organization, they quickly developed a complete set of actions.

Unlike the English workers who like to smash machines and destroy factories, the city employees in Serris don't have much hatred for production equipment.They prefer to get organized and tear down merchant houses and the bosses themselves.

Moreover, unlike the traditional way in Europe, the government has always held an ambiguous attitude towards this kind of behavior.Even the Qing Dynasty, which is recognized as brutal, ignored it if it could, and would rather pretend not to see it.

In the 39th year of Kangxi (1700), there was a "Calling Rest" in Suzhou that spread to the whole city.The artisans engaged in cloth dyeing, because they were not satisfied with the low wages, announced the suspension of work.I don't know if this kind of behavior is a simple "strike", because thousands of craftsmen quickly assembled and took the initiative to attack the bosses and contractors of the dyeing workshop everywhere.Many businessmen were brutally beaten, the entire industry came to a complete standstill, and no one dared to start work.

It stands to reason that Suzhou is one of the central cities of the textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, it was a city with great influence in the whole world.This kind of behavior will undoubtedly hinder production and affect the entire industrial chain.But the government has always remained silent about this. No matter how the businessmen ask, they are just not willing to make a move.

As a result, this copying incident lasted for a whole year.After everyone had had enough fights, the government came belatedly, expressing their intention to intervene.

For similar incidents, the government's attitude is quite unified.The officials were not willing to deal with the craftsmen called Xie Daren severely, as the businessmen expected, but always characterized it as a "dispute between the merchants and craftsmen", and the final ruling was often [-] boards each.

The number of such decisions is numerous and the record is very rich.The final result is often that the government comes forward and asks the merchants to increase the income of the craftsmen, and at the same time asks the craftsmen not to make trouble.

For example, in the 21st year of Qianlong (1756), when a conflict occurred between craftsmen and employers in the paper industry, the government ruled that the owner of the workshop must increase the salary of the craftsmen and pay them truthfully.Artisans are also not allowed to join forces to ask for price increases, otherwise, according to the law of monopolizing the market, it will be eighty.In this way, the literal warning of "playing dozens of big boards each" was realized.

After the mediation, the government didn't know why, but also liked to engrave a stele to record it, which was called the "work price stele".The result of the mediation will be engraved on it, and it will be announced that all parties agree to abide by it and will never change it.

The reality, of course, is that these kinds of results often don't last long.Generally, the two parties will soon become dissatisfied with each other and fight again, and the government will mediate again and repeat the above steps.Because this kind of thing was repeated too many times, a large number of "never changed" steles were left in the Jiangnan area, which provided very rich materials for future generations of researchers.

In England at the same time, smashing machines would be severely punished.Parliament even enacted laws specifically allowing the death penalty for destroying machines.But in the Jiangnan area at the same time, the government was not enthusiastic about it.

Even for this kind of large-scale beating of workshop owners, the government still insists on characterizing it as a very small number of "outlaws" who played a role in it, and only "provoking east and west, taking advantage of the situation" caused conflicts.The vast majority of participants will not be punished, and even the "death" of the leader is generally repatriated to their original place, or displayed to the public.

After all, the government is not very interested in protecting the interests of workshop owners, but is very concerned about maintaining the overall stability of society—even if it is only on the surface.

As long as they don't use the banner to rebel, the government doesn't bother to take the risk to suppress it.Once the craftsmen's actions are huge, they will take the initiative to sacrifice the interests of the merchants, forcing them to meet the conditions of the craftsmen, so as to prevent things from getting bigger.

In the era of Guo Kang's previous life, there was a popular saying that whoever wins the common people will support him.But judging from historical performance, the government is more like who wins and supports whom.

This is actually not difficult to understand: whichever side is more capable of fighting, the greater the damage they may cause after the contradictions are 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 craftsmen in the Jiangnan area, the performance of the merchants was very unbearable.The guild thugs and gangster forces they raised had almost no sense of existence in front of groups of craftsmen.For hundreds of years, nothing can be effective after a disturbance... So the attitude of the government is not difficult to understand.

This phenomenon does not only appear in local governments, nor does it only occur when dealing with private workshops.

During the Qianlong period, in the capital area, the craftsmen of the Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Households broke out, which triggered the case of Tong Guangrong.These craftsmen are responsible for minting coins for the Ministry of Households and belong to important government-operated workshops.Due to the decrease in the wages issued by the court, the craftsmen were dissatisfied and demanded to pay back the wages and make up all the previous debts, otherwise they would not work.

Ding Tingrang, the supervisor of the Baoquan Bureau, went to persuade him and proposed to repay the wages, resume work first, and then slowly calculate the previous debts, but the craftsmen were not willing to accept it.The negotiation was fruitless, and Sanhe, the minister of household department, also tried to persuade him, but he still failed.

At this time, a conflict broke out among the craftsmen.The money miller Zhang Wencang wanted to collect money to go to work, but had a conflict with the leader Tong Guangrong and others.During the fight between the two parties, Tong Guangrong accidentally stabbed Zhang Wencang, and finally died after medical treatment failed.

A murder case happened in the capital, and the matter could no longer be covered up, and was stabbed to Qianlong.Qianlong was very angry and ordered the infantry commander Yamen to send troops to suppress and deal with the case.

Shuhede, the Minister of the Ministry of War and the commander of the infantry, led the crowd, fired shots at the sky, dispersed the craftsmen, and arrested Tong Guangrong.Regarding how to deal with it, Chen Dehua, Minister of the Household Department, Sanhe, Minister of the Ministry of Finance, and Shu Hede, Minister of the Ministry of War, jointly signed a letter, stating that these craftsmen have been making troubles and beating people for wages since the Kangxi period, and there is no way to manage them. Just send money to calm the situation up.

But not long after Shuhede left, another craftsman Liu San led the crowd to make trouble again, and Baoquan Bureau shut down 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 incident even got to the military plane, so they had to send troops again.

Qianlong was furious, dismissed the memorial, and accused Shu Hede of being too weak in dealing with it, and asked him to seriously suppress it, so he should shoot at the troublesome people and not release them randomly, otherwise these things will be more unscrupulous.

Others, however, were quite negative about it.Qianlong's attitude, on the contrary, aroused more opposition.Prince Lu Yunchen, Prince He Hongzhou, University Scholars Ertai, Zhang Tingyu and others all wrote letters.Everyone believed that this was all due to the corruption of the foreman, so it was enough to deal with the foreman who embezzled wages.Don't check the others, just give the money quickly.

Although Qianlong was still stubborn, the Ministry of Household Affairs had already reached an agreement with the craftsmen, agreeing to repay the arrears and other requirements, and even directly paid them in cash.The matter has since ceased to exist.

The two incidents of calling for rest alarmed the emperor himself, leading to the royal family, a large number of civil servants, and the capital army, but it ended in peace.The court itself is weak in the face of craftsmen, so it is difficult to let them support the merchants strongly.

And the reason for this situation is actually not difficult to understand.

During the Kiyomizu Rebellion mentioned earlier, an "interesting" conflict occurred.After most of the Qing army dispatched to encircle the rebels, they hoped to solve the problem with the smallest cost through beheading, 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, and the Qing army specially mobilized the second-class guards Yin Jitu, Beng Aertu and others to organize an elite commando.Wang Lun actually showed up alone, and the commando immediately climbed over the wall and entered the hospital, trying to arrest him.

So far, it still looks like a traditional European story.

But then, more than a dozen volunteers rushed out of the wing room and fought with the Ouchi guards.The guards were defeated, so they gave up Wang Lun and fled.Afterwards, the Qing army investigated and found that Yinjitu and other eight people were injured, and several of them were seriously injured. They only saved their lives by running fast.So even though he returned in vain, he was still rewarded with silver rewards, and the leader, Yinjitu, was promoted to a first-class bodyguard.

From this point of view, Ouchi's guards seem to be fish belly, even armed peasants can't beat them.But in fact, these people are not pampered waste.Most of them came from the Jingshi Jianrui Camp, Qianlong personally paid attention to the training of elites, and performed outstandingly in the battles to quell Jinchuan and the size and Zhuo.

And the one who commanded this failed battle was Shu Hede, the servant of the Ministry of War.

As a veteran who has fought many times on the battlefield, he obviously has a clear understanding of his army.A group of peasants made a fuss like this. If the artisans of the capital were forced to turn against them, who knows what big things would happen.For the imperial court, it is obviously a matter that can be settled with some money, so is it worth taking such a big risk?

Looking at one case alone, it may not be possible to clearly understand the situation at that time.But these examples verify each other and can explain a lot of problems.As witnesses at the time, the officials clearly understood the benefits and risks, so they naturally made this choice.

Compared with contemporary England, the Seris government's attitude towards craftsmen can be called connivance.In this way, merchants and workshop owners will naturally be unable to reduce costs, the speed of accumulating capital will be reduced, and the rate of profit will also decrease.

Later generations generally like to criticize the Ming and Qing governments for not protecting businessmen, which led to the failure of capitalism to develop.But there was no way to put anyone in charge of the government at that time, because the craftsmen were so capable.This is simply an unresolved situation...

　The double monthly ticket event at the end of the month is here, ask for the next monthly ticket
　　
　
(End of this chapter)