New Shun 1730

When he woke up the next day, his hangover headache was still faint and his mouth was dry. Meng Songlu had forgotten many things that happened last night and did not leave much memory.

He even remembered, or thought, that when he was too drunk, he sang about Li Taibai's Difficulties in Traveling, and sang about Hanging the Clouds and Sailing to Navigate the Sea.

He rubbed his head, washed his face, and straightened his beard in front of the mirror in the hotel.

After waiting for the waiter to come over and check that the expensive items in the room, such as glass mirrors, were not damaged, he went out.

Today is the day I made an appointment with the company to meet with those who are going to Honolulu.

We called a carriage on the street, bought some food, and had breakfast while the carriage was jolting.

After getting off the bus, he threw the lotus leaves and oil paper wrapping the breakfast buns into the trash can on the road next to him. Before it even landed, a skinny kid rushed over, dug out the remaining buns from the trash can, and swallowed them in big gulps.

There is still about half a month until the monsoon arrives for merchant ships bound for Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

During this period, according to Shanghai's rules, beggars and street children were not arrested in training centers for evil children or relocation centers for idlers who did not work.

Generally, we wait until the ships heading to Europe and Southeast Asia in winter have basically left the port before starting to catch them on a large scale.

With the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution in Dashun, a large number of child laborers entered the factory, which Meng Songlu has become accustomed to over the years.

Because many factory owners have discovered two problems.

The first one: It is almost impossible to train an adult into a skilled and useful worker.

We cannot expect a farmer digging in the fields to have his fingers flexible enough to connect the broken threads of spinning.

But children are different. After training, their fingers will become very flexible and they can do many tasks that the tenants who have retired from the fields and fled to work here cannot undertake.

Second: Some people who quit their tenancy and fled to work would rather go to the docks to work as coolies, or to pick cotton in the cotton fields, or to do other things.

However, when working in factories, they are completely unable to adapt to the non-stop work every day. They do not even know the concept of time and cannot leave at will until the end of the day.

Children are different.

Through whips, sticks, scolding, starvation, etc., they will soon be like a steam engine, following the instructions of the bell, knowing when to leave and when to eat.

In addition, there are some other reasons, but they are not the main reason for Dashun.

Meng Songlu didn't know how to evaluate this matter, and now he was numb and completely accustomed to it.

In any case, after Liu Yu's years of hard work in Songsu, the number of abandoned and drowned babies has been significantly reduced.

In particular, women working in the textile industry are actually very profitable, so the number of abandoned babies and drownings has been decreasing in recent years.

There is a law in Songjiang Prefecture, or it is a compromise law: half of a woman's wages will be paid to her parents, parents, and parents-in-law, instead of all being paid to the woman.

Such a decree not only increased the number of women's jobs, but also reduced the number of female infanticides in Songsu area.

As for child labor, it’s not much worse.

Not everyone can receive the new education, and resources are limited. Relatively speaking, as capital looms are sent to the countryside, in some surrounding rural areas where homesteaders are equipped with new looms, the penetration rate of the new education is relatively higher.

In addition, girls' schools have even sprung up in some places, but the main reason is that the new jacquard machine's female worker's school requires a certain amount of literacy, otherwise the new jacquard machine will not be awarded.

Just like when Meng Songlu and Quan Zheshen first met, Quan Zheshen faced the prosperity of Shanghai and could recite a poem to express his sorrow for the dead body he saw. At this time, Meng Songlu even stopped to give a poem to the dead body. The children rummaging through the trash cans for food didn't even look twice.

What was taken for granted has quietly become a matter of course.

However, just when he thought that everything was normal, a group of people from the patrol team in the distance rushed over and caught the child who was digging through the trash can, and warned: "In a few days, the Holy Emperor will patrol the south, and you will go back and tell you the same thing. Go to the evil boy training center in the next few days. If you are still wandering around and doing nothing, you will be beaten once!"

The child ran away. Meng Songlu frowned and didn't pay much attention. He opened the door and entered the magnificent [Dashun Holy Emperor Chartered Trade Monopoly Chamber of Commerce North of 46 Degrees North Latitude], which is commonly known as the headquarters of Whale Sea Company. .

Probably because it was about to set sail, the interior was very busy, and the buzzing voices were all about questions such as "Pack more wine this year" and "It's best to stagger the time with the Spanish big ships traveling on the ocean currents."

After walking to the front desk and telling him his purpose and name, a waiter led Meng Songlu up to the third floor and to a room.

There were already many people inside, and the room was filled with smoke. The transparent glass windows cast the rare sunshine in Shanghai this season.

On the windowsill, several tulips bloomed in flower pots.

Most of the companies in Dashun have various kinds of tulips displayed at their headquarters. Because they told the story of the Dutch tulips back then, it may be to remind them not to make blind hype, or it may be because of Liu Yu’s evil deeds. Interesting, various companies distributed a bunch of tulip tubers.

I hope they see things and think about bubbles.

On the long table is a glass and fake crystal ashtray that was very expensive before but is now outdated.

The chairs are made of high-quality leather, and a piece of leather on the chair is enough to buy several hundred kilograms of grain.

There is a painting hanging on the main wall in front of the long table. The painting is very good, but the price is average.

Because Yangzhou was destroyed and Huai'an was abolished, many literati who depended on salt merchants for their livelihood could not survive there, so they all came here.

The scroll is very big, and the painting is not worth much.

Meng Songlu thought the painting was very good and the brushwork was very stylish. But the rest of the people in the room seemed to have no interest in it, and no one stood in front of the painting to appreciate it closely.

After a glance, Meng Songlu suddenly remembered that he was not attending a literary poetry gathering. These people in front of him were all studying pure practical studies. Even if there were people studying architecture, they would definitely understand shadow proportions and the like, but basically that was a relatively low-end level of the artistic conception of the painting, and they probably couldn't appreciate the paintings hanging here.

In the crowd, Meng Songlu actually saw an acquaintance, who was Meng Tiezhu, who had argued with him in Haizhou.

At this time, Meng Tiezhu also saw him. He hesitated for a moment as if to confirm, and walked to Meng Songlu and asked, "Brother, have you and I met somewhere?"

Meng Songlu smiled and said, "It has been several years since we parted in Haizhou. I heard Brother Zhu's name in the newspaper before. I knew that you were in Funing at first, and then went to work in the plantation. I didn't expect to see you here now. Are you also going to Honolulu?"

Meng Tiezhu patted his head and smiled, "Oh, oh, I remember, I remember. You are the one who shared the land, right?"

Meng Songlu was a little embarrassed. It seemed that he did not leave a deep impression on Meng Tiezhu, but he had a deep impression of this person.

As the saying goes, the speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional.

The idea of ​​"restoring the clan system, letting the legitimate son inherit, paying taxes to let the younger brothers immigrate overseas to open up" that was obviously ridiculed at the beginning, Meng Songlu once felt that it seemed feasible in his depression and despair.

In his impression, this Meng Tiezhu loves to ridicule people. This time, he did not ridicule much, but mentioned the matter of going to Honolulu.

"Duke Xingguo said it well, we are clerks, you are officials. We have to listen to you. Farming, reclamation, management, shipbuilding, construction, doctors... we are all practical clerks."

"Duke Xingguo said he would find a scholar to lead us, it turned out to be you."

Meng Songlu was stunned when he heard the words "you are an official, we are clerks".

According to their school's idea, after graduating from Sungkyunkwan in the capital, they would be assigned to various counties to serve as county clerks according to their respective majors.

These thirty or forty people now may look inconspicuous, but they are probably the best of the third-rate talents in the new education in recent years. Moreover, judging from their age, they are not young boys, and they are probably the figures who have emerged in recent years.

New students, the first-rate go to the Academy of Sciences; the second-rate join the army and navy; the third-rate are scattered everywhere as clerks.

The imperial examination system of Dashun has promoted Dashun's overseas expansion.

Because practical talents are marginal people and cannot be officials, they can only leave the scope of "the world" and go outside the world to look for opportunities.

It is said that life troubles begin with literacy.

If a group of people cannot read at all, they will live in ignorance for the rest of their lives.

But if they can read, they must find some hope and a goal. Many people go overseas, and many people gradually emerge.

To be honest, Meng Songlu feels that with these people, there is no problem in forming a team of governors.

Although they have never been officials, some of them manage hundreds or thousands of people in plantations, some manage warehouses in companies and are responsible for accounting, and most of them have been retired officers.

In contrast, I am inferior. Although I have inherited the knowledge of my master, in practice, I have only participated in the management of the 240,000 mu of land in the village.

Fortunately, I have some understanding of classics, systems, etiquette, and music.

This is both a company-sponsored and semi-official nature, so my words are still effective. Although many people from Dashun die overseas every year, for people like me who are listed and participate in semi-official activities, the laws of Dashun are still valid.

Meng Songlu thought for a moment and suddenly asked: "Brother Zhu, why did you go to Honolulu? For justice? For profit? What did you feel when the Duke of Xingguo recruited you?"

Meng Tiezhu didn't even think about it and replied: "I'm so happy! You know, we can't be officials. If we have the opportunity to participate in this kind of thing, it would be a great honor for our ancestors. You know I used to manage a plantation. Think about it, Honolulu, Honolulu, can it be called Honolulu without sandalwood?"

"I can only earn a little salary by looking after the plantation for others, and there is not much money left."

"If I help the prince in Honolulu make a fortune, why don't you reward me with two or three thousand acres of land and hundreds of people?"

"With my ability, I can look after the plantation for others. I have the ability, but I lack the capital. This is not something that falls from the sky. Good thing?"

"Hey, have you read the book "Captain Singleton" that has been selling very well in recent years? What it says is right. Work hard and be willing to work hard for a lifetime, and you will only be a helmsman and earn little money. If you go overseas and spend a few years, won't you be rich?"

"Do you think I lack skills? Do I lack the means to run a plantation? We have everything, but we just lack the original capital."

In high spirits, he couldn't help but say, "Brother, I have heard about what you did. You said that you spent money to enclose 240,000 acres of land, and you set up a charity out of compassion, but you didn't get anything out of it after several years. If you had the money to enclose 200,000 acres of land, what should you invest in? Even if you also enclosed land to grow cotton at that time, you could have set up a charity after making money, wouldn't you have helped more people than you do now?"

"Duke Xingguo said that we should work hard to make money. The more money we make, the more merit we will have. If we really want to be compassionate, we should wait until we are fifty to do good deeds. The more money we have, the more good deeds we can do. Without money, compassion is useless..."

This was a headache for Meng Songlu. Meng Songlu smiled helplessly and corrected: "Brother Zhu, let me say it again, we are not setting up a charity cemetery because of compassion, and what we are setting up is not a charity cemetery at all. We are exploring the equal distribution of land. The way to solve the problem of the world's most benevolent government. Is it simply to run a charity house out of compassion? "

"Mr. Shugu once said: Running a charity house and a charity school are all wrong ways. The charity school relies on the school land; the income from the school land is the grain rent; the grain rent is the biggest problem for the people; the people are in great trouble, so they need charity schools. If the people are not in trouble, why do they need charity schools? Therefore, it is the right way to equalize the land in the world, collect taxes from the world, and promote elementary schools. "

"Therefore, our school does not run charity houses or charity schools. This matter is of great importance and must not be nonsense. "