The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 381 "Tools for Eating People"

The Southern Railway, which spans the entire Hanzhou Continent, gradually brings the boring desert scenery to life after passing through Shatin (now Port Augusta).

Especially after crossing the Jinsha River (now the Darling River), vast expanses of lush green grassland and low bushes appear before the eyes of travelers.

Herds of cattle and sheep roamed in the meadow, lazily nibbling on the grass, while the shepherds riding on their horses raised their hands and shouted loudly in the direction of the train. The sheepdogs running around happily jumped and barked between the shepherds and the sheep, trying to show their presence.

The train passed through more and more cities and towns, with beautiful buildings, exquisite manors, endless horse-drawn carriages (many railway lines in Qi were often accompanied by a large number of first-class national highways and good-quality provincial highways), and chimneys one after another emitting thick smoke.

It is obvious that the southeastern part of Hanzhou is a densely populated and urban area of ​​Qi State. It should be the most core and prosperous place in their homeland.

Sure enough, after crossing the Datong Mountains (now the Great Dividing Range), the train arrived at a huge city with a population of nearly 700,000 - Linzi (now Sydney, Australia).

Linzi can be said to be the city with the fastest population growth in Hanzhou. In just twenty years, it attracted countless people to settle and work here with its suitable climate and superior geographical conditions, and quickly became the third largest city in Qi State, surpassing the old industrial city of Weihai in the northeast (now Cairns, Australia) and the sugar center Guangling (now Townsville, Australia).

It is actually not difficult to understand why this situation occurs.

Whether it is Jianye, an important industrial city in the north (now Darwin, Australia), or Weihai and Guangling in the northeastern coastal area, because of their geographical location close to tropical and subtropical regions, the climate is hot, humid and rainy, and it is indeed not a good place to live.

On the contrary, although Linzi has a subtropical humid climate and rainfall throughout the year, the weather in the region is regulated by the adjacent ocean, so the inland western urban area has a slightly stronger continental climate. In the hottest summer, the temperature is only around 20 degrees, and the number of days above 30 degrees does not exceed half a month. In the coldest winter of July, the average temperature is between 10 and 16 degrees, and rarely drops below 5 degrees. It is neither hot in summer nor cold in winter.

Moreover, the rainfall in Linzi is relatively balanced, unlike Jianye and Weihai, which have rainy and dry seasons. The rainfall in summer and winter is quite even, with an average annual rainfall of about 1200 mm. However, due to the regulation of the southeast monsoon, the rainfall in the first half of the year is slightly higher.

This led to many residents who could not tolerate the hot and humid environment in the north moving to Linzi in search of a better living environment after they had accumulated some assets, resulting in a rapid growth in the city's population.

It is very regrettable that the guests invited to attend the World Science Conference have no time to visit this prosperous and beautiful city. They must arrive in Chang'an before November 11 according to the itinerary of the Qi people.

I originally thought that the train would stay at this big station for no more than half an hour before continuing on its journey to complete the last leg of its journey.

However, it was unexpected that the train stopped for nearly an hour before it slowly started moving, heading north along the endless railway line.

"Do you know?" Alan Sears, a physics professor from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, appeared in front of Euler and Bug with a mysterious look and said in a low voice: "The reason why our train stayed at the platform for so long is because we have to add a special carriage. Guess who is in that carriage?"

"Who is it? Is he an important member of the royal family of Qi?" Ola asked with a smile.

“No, no, no…” Sears shook his head vigorously, with a strange look in his eyes. “Mr. Ola, you are wrong.”

"Oh, Mr. Sears, don't be so mysterious." Bug said with some dissatisfaction: "Just tell us directly who is on that temporary carriage!"

"Oh, look, Mr. Bug is always so boring." Sears shrugged, curled his lips, and rolled his eyes at the French scholar who always maintained a serious expression. "Well, then I'll tell you. The carriage that was temporarily added was full of soldiers. Uh, judging from the style of their uniforms, they should be the armed military police of Qi State who maintain public security within the country."

"Soldiers?" Buge felt inexplicably nervous when he heard this. "Where are these soldiers going? ... Are they going to Chang'an with us, or are they going to a certain port and then be shipped overseas?"

"Mr. Buge, Mr. Sears just said that those soldiers are armed gendarmes who are responsible for maintaining public order in Qi." Ola was somewhat amused by Buge's sensitivity. "Since they are transporting armed gendarmes, there must be an uncontrollable riot somewhere in Qi, and these troops must be used to suppress it. ... Is that right, Mr. Sears?"

"Mr. Euler, I have to admit that your reasoning is very logical and completely close to the facts." Sears smiled and praised, "Yes, these armed gendarmes went to Yingzhou (now Newcastle, Australia) to quell a riot caused by a coal workers' strike."

"Yingzhou?" "Yes, Yingzhou. It is a city about 120 kilometers north of Linzi. Uh, it is a city with coal production and processing as its main industry. It is said that tens of thousands of coal workers there were dissatisfied with the wages and poor production conditions of the mine owners, so they held a large-scale joint strike. However, for some unknown reason, the originally peaceful strike eventually turned into a riot. Several coal mines were severely damaged, and many coal mining equipment were also destroyed. At least more than 30 people were injured in the riot."

"As far as I know, the average salary income of Qi workers is almost four to five times higher than that of people in our European countries. How could they strike because of dissatisfaction with their wages?" Euler was immediately surprised when he heard this.

It was learned from different channels that an ordinary Qi worker had a monthly income of more than eight yuan, which is equivalent to more than eighty Dutch guilders, comparable to the salary level of a professor at a senior university.

However, because coal miners work in high intensity, poor environment, and certain life risks, their salary level should be slightly higher than that of ordinary workers.

Let me ask, with such a high income, why are the coal workers in Qi State not satisfied? Why do they actually go on strike and demand that the mine owners continue to increase their wages?

You have to know that during this period, in England, as Europe's number one coal producer, the weekly salary of coal workers in their country was only about 8 shillings, and only 2 pounds and 10 shillings a month, which was only a pitiful 3 yuan when converted into Qi gold yuan.

Even so, coal mining in the UK is a relatively high-income job, attracting countless people, even a large number of child laborers.

Comparing the two, wouldn't the coal workers in England be even more angry and demand a substantial increase in their wages from the greedy mine owners?

Let’s take a look at the situation of the serfs in Russia.
Like cattle and horses, oh, no, even worse than the cattle and horses raised by serf owners. Not to mention any compensation, they can't even provide the most basic food to keep hungry and warm.

These workers from Qi State are really insatiable, their demands are a bit too much!

"You two don't know." Sears patiently explained, "Several years ago, the main source of labor in the mines in Qi was the natives of the East Indies. Qi forced them to enter the mines at extremely low prices and undertake extremely heavy mining work. Later, as Qi began to vigorously develop the East Indies and build large-scale railways and roads, the number of native laborers was no longer sufficient. Therefore, in order to cope with the huge demand for ore raw materials in industrial production, the people of Qi had to introduce a large number of local residents to undertake the heavy mining work while constantly inventing and manufacturing many advanced mining equipment and tools."

"You two can imagine that the local residents of Qi are much more valuable than those indigenous laborers who have no rights protection. It is impossible to send them away with low wages. Therefore, the salary level of these miners has always been above the average standard in Qi. As a result, the cost of the mine is much higher than that of the mines developed in overseas territories that use a large number of indigenous laborers. Especially in the past ten years, as Qi's cargo ships have become larger and larger, the cost of shipping has become thinner and thinner, resulting in a huge price advantage for coal from the East Indies and Qianzhou, which has had a severe impact on Hanzhou's local coal."

"Under such circumstances, many coal mines in Hanzhou have been purchasing large quantities of new coal mining equipment and striving to improve production efficiency in order to improve their competitiveness and obtain the maximum benefits. At the same time, they have been trying their best to reduce labor costs. In the process of production and operation, they will inevitably ignore the investment in mine safety and environment. This time, the coal workers in Yingzhou held a joint strike to target the various repressive measures of the mine owners. It is said that the wages of those coal workers have not increased for ten years, while the prices of various daily necessities, housing, education, and medical care have increased to varying degrees. What's more, the price of coal, which these coal workers rely on to maintain their daily lives, has increased by 30%, so that they feel huge pressure in life."

"Those workers went on strike, perhaps not only for the purpose of demanding a wage increase, but I think they were also worried that more and more coal mining equipment and tools would replace their jobs, which caused panic in their hearts." Bug listened and said thoughtfully, "A few years ago, textile workers in Lyon held several rallies to protest against those textile factories that imported a large number of advanced machinery and equipment from Qi, which led to the dismissal of a large number of textile workers. I heard that there were also many cases of workers destroying machines in England because they resented that the machines had taken away their livelihoods."

"Well, Mr. Bug's guess makes sense." Sears nodded and said, "After all, those machines don't need to eat or rest. As long as they have endless steam power, the machines will be able to work endlessly."

"But I have a question." At this time, Euler interrupted, "Don't more and more machines and equipment represent the symbol of scientific and technological progress and social development? Why, in real life, the emergence of machines causes serious harm to workers, so that they are willing to destroy those advanced machines and equipment? In addition, the invention of machines has effectively liberated human labor and has also greatly promoted the improvement of the productivity of the entire society. Why can't the treatment of workers be improved accordingly?"

"Mr. Euler, the questions you asked may involve deep-seated social and economic issues." Bug said, "Two years ago, our famous French thinker Mr. Voltaire - oh, please forgive me, the reason I use the title of thinker to refer to him is because I think the thoughts and views he showed are worthy of this title - after he finished his two-year inspection visit to Qi, he wrote a book called "The Miracle of Hanzhou" and published it in Paris."

"In the book, a considerable portion of the book describes the many impacts that new technologies and new machines have on social development and the economy and people's livelihood. It is true that with the introduction of new technologies and new machines, the overall social production efficiency will be greatly improved, and the production of goods will expand rapidly at an unimaginable speed and scale. Under such circumstances, people should be able to enjoy more material and spiritual enjoyment, and the number of goods they can enjoy should be far greater than before."

"But what is the reality? We can find that whether it is Qi, the richest country in the world, or England, the fastest-growing industrial country in Europe, what happened in their countries does not seem to be as good as imagined. Although the workers have earned more than before, their work intensity and working environment have become worse. However, I think that bad is not enough to reflect the miserable situation of those workers. They use extremely hard labor, but everything they get in return is so insignificant that they can only barely survive. Oh, of course, the living standards of Qi's workers may be slightly better. But we must see that after the emergence of new technologies and new machines, those factory owners and mine owners who get the most benefits are those who get them for nothing."

"In France, England, and Prussia, many factory owners have introduced a large number of advanced technologies and machinery and equipment, and have gained huge wealth in just a few years of operation. Even the nobles and manor owners who own countless fields and houses can hardly compare with them. I heard that among the richest class in Qi, more than 70% of people have one or several large-scale factories. ... Do you think that their wealth is really obtained from new technologies and new machines?"

"After the publication of Mr. Voltaire's book The Miracle of Hanzhou, it caused a sensation throughout Europe. I have read it three times." Sears had a look of admiration on his face. "He systematically described the various social conditions of Qi State and the country's decades of development in the form of travel notes. In my opinion, as long as any country follows Qi's development path and development concept, it will surely create a miracle of its own. However, he attributed the inequality of social wealth to the inequality of rights, which may be a little biased. After all, there are still countless people in this world who rely on their own efforts and struggles, without relying on new technologies and new machines, to exchange for their own wealth."

"Mr. Sears, do you think an ordinary person can easily succeed in the society?" Bug shook his head and said, "No matter how hard a worker works, how much wealth can he accumulate by the time he is old? However, those factory owners who have power and strong original capital can easily create more wealth than before with new technologies and new machines. Mr. Voltaire clearly pointed out in his book "The Miracle of Hanzhou" that factory owners rely on new technologies and new machines to increase the exploitation of workers in order to obtain more production profits. Those technologies and tools that were originally invented to help improve workers' production efficiency have gradually become "cannibalistic tools" that help factory owners exploit and enslave workers' labor. Therefore, it is not surprising that coal workers went on strike in Yingzhou!"

(End of this chapter)