The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 382 Capital Power
At nine o'clock in the morning on November 1736, 11, when the opening ceremony of the World Science Conference was being held at the Chang'an Royal Academy of Sciences, at the dock of Yingzhou Port (now Newcastle, Australia), a team of hundreds of people, escorted by armed gendarmes, slowly boarded a large ship that was about to leave the port.

Everyone looked sad and staggered. They moved slowly forward and looked back reluctantly in the direction of the city.

Once you leave this sutra, you may never come back.

"God is so unfair!" A strong man with a full beard suddenly ran out of the team, threw the bag in his hand to the ground, and shouted to the sky: "Why does the government treat us like this? Why does the judge of the Dali Temple sentence us to exile?... I don't accept it! We want to see the emperor and let His Majesty redress our grievances! We want His Majesty to know how his people were treated by you..."

"Snapped!"

"thump!"

Before the man could finish his words, two armed gendarmes, at the signal of their commander, rushed over, swung the butts of their rifles, knocked him to the ground, stuffed a rag into his mouth, took out a tendon belt and tied his hands tightly, and then dragged him towards the boat.

"Before boarding, no loud noises are allowed!" A major of the military police said with a sullen face as he looked at the exiled prisoners being escorted aboard. "If anyone violates the rules, be careful of physical pain. I warn you, the ocean voyage is windy and rough, and the journey is very difficult. If you get hurt, be careful. If no one treats your injuries, you may not be able to survive to the Yinzhou exile site!"

When the exiled prisoner heard this, his excitement, which had just been stirred up by the man, suddenly sank again.

Yes, the journey from Hanzhou to Yinzhou is tens of thousands of miles. Not to mention being beaten all over by the military police and unable to reach the destination, even an ordinary person with a strong body would be out of shape and lose his mind after staying on the ship for more than a month, and at least lose half his life.

We were merely sentenced to exile by the Dali Temple Court. After enduring a few years of hardship in Yinzhou, we will be able to regain our freedom, become residents of Da Qi's overseas territories, and start a new life.

Even though I will never be able to return to my native Hanzhou in this lifetime and will never see my loved ones again, at least I can continue to live a good life.

As long as people are alive, there is hope.

"Sir, I think these prisoners sentenced to exile to Yinzhou are a bunch of pitiful people." A military police captain whispered, "They just acted a little too radically when expressing their demands, and thus suffered this fate. ... So, there is no need for us to be too harsh on them."

"What, Captain Zhang feels so sympathetic towards these people?" The Captain Xuanjie gave him a cold look.

"Sir, I just feel that the coal miners are pitiful and their actions are lamentable. The judgment made by the Dali Temple Court should be...should be a little more lenient." The Imperial Guard Captain said hesitantly, "After all, these people are holding a rally and striking only to increase their wages and improve their living conditions."

"But they injured people and destroyed property, which is unforgivable!" The Xuanjie lieutenant said, "You must know that the laws of our Great Qi have stipulated that those who injure people are guilty, and those who destroy public and private property must be punished! If these coal miners are dissatisfied with the low salary given by the mine owner, they can leave and find other jobs. Why do they have to hold a rally and strike, and also injure people and property?"

"..." Upon hearing this, Zhang Yongming looked at his superior in astonishment and did not respond for a long time.

"…If you think the salary is too low, you can leave and find another job."

Look how lightly this is said!
This official, who comes from a noble family, probably has no idea about the suffering of the people?
Do you know how hard the common people will work just to earn a little more money?
Coal miners work more than fourteen hours a day just to complete the mining tasks set by the mine owners.

In order to replenish energy in time during mining work, they would peel an egg, nibble on a few cold steamed buns, or stuff themselves with a few pieces of dry and hard beef jerky, and then drink a few sips of water with coal slag in the mine filled with dust and coal ash.

The harsh working environment and poor food hygiene cause many miners to suffer from asthma, pneumoconiosis or other respiratory diseases within less than half a year of work.

After working continuously for several years, even more than ten years, the person will suffer from various difficult-to-cure diseases and eventually die in extreme pain.

"Find another job"?
Apart from coal mines, would work be easier in other industries?

It’s still the same, you have to exchange your life and health for that little bit of meager income!
Zhang Yongming's father was a coal miner. He was only in his forties, but he had all kinds of respiratory diseases. He couldn't do any heavy physical work. He even had to wheeze and feel chest tightness after walking a few steps. He would take out a considerable amount of money from his salary every month to buy medicine and see a doctor for his father, which made him, a lieutenant of the military police, live a tight life.

Therefore, more than half a month ago, when he received the order from his superiors to lead the armed gendarmes to cooperate with the local police to suppress and arrest the "troublesome" coal miners, his heart was full of sympathy and pity for those poor workers. He believed that their behavior was all excusable and they just wanted to get an explanation and increase their income a little. They should not be treated like a group of vicious thugs and suppressed violently.

However, military orders were difficult to disobey, and under the strict orders of their superiors, they had to follow teams of police and spies to drag the "troublemaking" miners away from the streets or homes, and then lock them up in heavily guarded prisons.

In the process of suppressing the coal miners' strike and "disturbance", the Yingzhou Dali Temple Court also demonstrated extremely high efficiency. In less than ten days, it tried hundreds of "criminals" suspected of injuring people and destroying public and private property. Then, according to the law, all of them were sentenced to exile in Yinzhou and fined different amounts.

As for the thousands of followers whose "crimes" were less serious, they were all sentenced to several to dozens of days of unpaid hard labor and were supervised and controlled by local military and police until they completed their service.

A workers' strike with the largest number of participants, the widest scope (workers' strikes also occurred in several counties under the jurisdiction of Yingzhou), and the greatest destructive power since the founding of the People's Republic of China was quickly "quelled" under the strong suppression of the government, military and police.

Surprisingly, none of those greedy and mean coal mine owners were punished by the government or the law. Instead, they obtained corresponding compensation from insurance companies as victims, and also applied to local governments for exemption from certain amounts of taxes and public affairs fees on the grounds that mine production was severely damaged.

The government also seems to be seriously considering and evaluating the mine owners' demands.

As for the many conditions proposed by the coal miners during the strike rally, such as raising wages and improving working conditions, they were flatly rejected by the Yingzhou Coal Mine Union. "The compensation we give you is what you deserve. If we don't give it to you, you can't come and rob!"

Although the coal mine owners in Yingzhou were angry about the collective strike of the coal miners and expressed their toughness in many aspects such as wages and working environment, they were still deeply shocked by the huge scale of the strike in their hearts and felt a little daunted and... afraid of it.

Therefore, while they refused to increase wages, they also unanimously lowered the daily coal mining quota in order to ease the dissatisfaction of the coal miners.

Although these disobedient workers might have a hard time if they don't come to work, the production of the coal mine he runs cannot be delayed for too long. Such a large number of machines and equipment were purchased at a high price and cannot be left idle in the mine.

Moreover, the annual mining license fees, resource taxes, business taxes, and operating income tax (exempt if there is an operating loss) must all be paid in full.

Every day of suspension of work and waiting for delivery means a huge loss of real money.

What is more worrying is that if these "lawless" coal miners are really pushed into a corner, they might just buy a ship ticket and run off to some overseas colonial territory to look for opportunities to make a fortune.

By then, if no one comes to mine for you, you will be in trouble!
It should be noted that Yingzhou Coal Mine is famous for producing high-quality lignite. Basically, all large coal mines have large orders from the navy and port coaling stations. If they cannot deliver the goods in full and on time, they will have to pay huge liquidated damages.

They also heard bad news from Chang'an. The cabinet government seemed to be shocked by the Yingzhou coal mine workers' strike and was prepared to consider issuing a decree on industry minimum wages at the request of many representatives of the Imperial Court to change the phenomenon of low wages and declining actual wages.

All Qi State industrial and mining enterprises and trading companies, including Yingzhou Coal Mine, generally oppose the mandatory implementation of the industry's minimum wage regulations.

According to the viewpoint in the book "New Management Theory" which was very popular four years ago, in the entire social system, people's behavior is mainly driven by personal interests, and personal interests will naturally be regulated or controlled by the "invisible hand" of the market.

Since workers can always find other jobs in the market and consumers can buy similar goods elsewhere, this "invisible hand" ensures that no one will be overly strict in paying wages or overcharging for goods. The market and the entire society are in a benign self-regulation.

If the government intervenes in the market and society, it will destroy the natural order of the entire system, thereby hindering society's progress towards common prosperity.

Why, in order to stabilize social "order", the government now has to forcibly intervene in social salary issues?

This goes against economic laws and is an act of destruction to the entire economic order!
Although, in "New Management Theory", the author Qi Yuanhan also pointed out that the government is only allowed to exert influence in a few aspects of economic and social life. But the specific influence mainly refers to preventing the formation and monopoly of large conglomerates - targeting both production business owners who attempt to artificially raise prices and "workers' organizations" who demand higher wages and welfare benefits.

Therefore, when the government discusses and introduces such a regulation regarding the minimum wage in the industry, it will inevitably encounter strong opposition from many "knowledgeable people", and the huge resistance it will face is unimaginable.

To put it bluntly, these savvy business owners and businessmen will deliberately ignore some of the restrictions or views and theories in the "New Management Theory" that hinder their development, and only hold on to the idea of ​​"non-intervention policy".

They have only one goal, which is to gain absolute freedom. They can use any means to pursue excess profits and get rich without considering the overall interests of society.

As for morality and humanity, it seems that this thing has nothing to do with economics and business!

In fact, with the rapid development of domestic industry and commerce over the past few decades, a powerful "capital force" has been formed in Qi State. They are composed of the gradually growing industrial and commercial class. After seizing huge wealth, they hope to obtain a share of the power that "belongs" to them in politics.

In recent years, many slogans such as "liberation of women", "freedom and equality", and "taxation is power" have continued to emerge in the social thoughts of Qi State. These "capital forces" may want to use this to seize some of the "natural rights" from state capital and royal capital.

While they indirectly or directly controlled the local economy and people's livelihood through various means, they were also constantly eroding and seeking local power, and constantly infiltrating the Chang'an central government - there were many Imperial Court and cabinet officials who were supported and funded by the emerging industrial and commercial capital forces in exchange for their power protection and policy support.

During the period when the former Crown Prince Mingde was regency, he conducted nationwide tax audits and introduced inheritance tax. In addition to wanting to increase fiscal revenue, he may have also intended to suppress and weaken these emerging industrial and commercial capital forces.

When Emperor Yonglong ascended the throne, while suppressing the growing political power of the aristocratic families, he continued to strengthen the punishment of corrupt officials, which was also an effort to suppress the "capital forces" that were eager to emerge.

Qi Yuanhan has a rather idealistic and radical new idea in "New Management Theory", and this idea is completely based on the perspective of "democracy (people's livelihood)", believing that everyone has made great contributions to the creation and increase of social wealth. Therefore, to a certain extent, regardless of social class, everyone has the right to enjoy the benefits brought by increased wealth.

The young Emperor deeply agreed with this.

In Xunzi's Wangzhi, it is said, "The ruler is like a boat, and the people are like water. Water can carry the boat, but it can also overturn it."

So, as a booming world empire, should we make the "water" a little richer and gentler to avoid the risk of "capsulating the boat"?

"In that case, isn't the punishment imposed by our Da Qi government on these striking coal miners a bit too harsh?" Zhang Yongming murmured as he looked at the exiled prisoners with sad expressions on their faces.

(End of this chapter)