New Shun 1730

After tying up and gagged these people who were eager to save the world but had no direction and had gone astray, Liu Yu led them out of the house.

There was a large area of ​​miners squatting in the darkness outside. Even if some leaders were arrested, they worked in the mines all year round and had to cooperate with each other and obey orders. The remaining people can basically do some simple collective actions with a little command.

These miners made some of the mid-level and senior officers around Liu Yu drool. In terms of natural organization and discipline alone, they are indeed excellent soldiers, and these people have survived being eliminated in harsh environments. Those with weaker bodies would have died of tropical diseases in the mines long ago.

These mid-level and senior officers are eager to capture Nanyang. They are just soldiers and do not need to consider how to deal with the various political and economic problems after the victory. Therefore, in their eyes, Nanyang is really a military achievement that is easily obtained.

Across the vast ocean, no matter how strong the Western navy is, the land battle is not bad. Those who can come to Nanyang are threats, and those who cannot come are just numbers on paper. Even if, as Lord Whale said, the total tonnage of the British and Dutch warships is nearly 400,000 tons, so what? Look at the miserable voyage of the George Anson fleet docked in Guangdong. No matter how large the fleet is, only those who can survive to Nanyang are considered to exist.

The soldiers thought that as long as they could arm some of the existing lower-level Chinese in Southeast Asia, they would be enough to deal with the current situation and threats from the West. Why bother?

Liu Yu looked at the dark miners in front of him, thinking about the previous conversation in the room where he pretended to be arrogant and laughed at those people, and felt a little tired.

I want to coax the emperor to go to Nanyang, let the court see the money in vain, oppose those utopians who are good-natured and good men but have not found the right way out, beware of large-scale uprisings of bankrupt small farmers, and prevent the court from being hesitant to move forward. We should worry about investors being exposed too early The fangs showed the court that they had to guard against the struggle for survival of a generation destroyed by the times in the transition between the old and new eras, and they also had to be patient and arrogant with local snakes in Nanyang who could eat people without spitting out their bones... They mocked and laughed wildly in the room. His smiling face was a little stiff, and his heart was even more complicated.

Among the miners in the darkness, someone shouted something.

"Master Qingtian! We were wronged! Those people are all good people and they are really not guilty!"

This shout made the originally angry miners, after a brief hesitation, kneel on the ground and shout in unison.

"Master Qingtian, we are wronged! Those people are all good people and they are really not guilty!"

Many of the Marines who were guarding the formation in front of Liu Yu were refugees. The officers may not be refugees, but most of the soldiers were refugees. Seeing this scene, the gun that was originally tightly held in his hand couldn't help but loosen a little.

The mine owners who were following Liu Yu glanced at Liu Yu cautiously, feeling a little nervous.

The cry of injustice lasted for a long time. Liu Yu hesitated for a moment, but still stood firm.

When the crying slowly subsided, Liu Yucai said: "I already know what you are asking for. Whether you are wronged or not is not the important point. But whether you can accomplish what you do needs to be considered. "

"Today, as an imperial envoy, I will make an agreement with you. I will take these twenty or thirty leaders to see the outside world to see if what you want to do can be accomplished."

"After three years, I will release them. If you continue to insist on this idea, I will not care. As for injustice... I will not wrong a good person, nor will I let a bad person go. I will make my own judgment. ”

After that, he raised his finger and swore to the Heavenly Alliance: "I will keep my word. I will release them in three years. Then it will be up to you. Let's all be gone. Let's go... trust the imperial court again."

In the end, the majesty of the court, the goodwill of the simple people who were doing what God is watching and swearing to God, and the life safety of their usually convinced brothers, allowed these bewildered miners to work in some places that were closely related to the arrested people. With the persuasion of others, they gradually dispersed.

Liu Yu's hand was still raised, and the officer following him whispered: "My lord, the court's credibility can only be used this last time. If this time's words are not counted, the court will be a little bit worse in Nanyang in the future." The credibility is gone.”

The officer kindly reminded Liu Yu, looking at the miners who were gradually dispersing, he slowly retracted his hand and said helplessly: "It's difficult. It's difficult. If you were a miner here, if the Dutch came and forcibly abolished the tin coins, And use copper coins and silver coins issued by the Netherlands, or require mine owners to exchange tin coins for silver coins, otherwise you will be punished. "

The officer thought for a moment and smiled helplessly.

"Yes... if it really happens, I will think that the Dutch are the masters of Qingtian."

"But...why do the Dutch do this?"

Liu Yu smiled slightly and took out two pennies from his arms.

One is a copper coin from the Dutch East India Company. It is beautifully made and has the word "VOC" clearly printed on the north side.

The other was a tin coin given to the miner leader when he complained about his grievances. Brother Kong Fang from Tianyuandi Di, it had the word "Company" roughly engraved on it.

"You are a miner, what kind of money do you like?"

The officer touched the back of his head and said with a naive smile: "It's Dutch money. At least it's made of copper."

Liu Yu tossed the East India Company copper coin and nodded: "If everyone likes to use it, then this coin will be more expensive than the copper in it."

"In Dashun, this copper coin costs half a tael of copper; but here, everyone recognizes and likes it, and it is indeed better than those deceptive tin and lead coins, which may cost only one tael of copper."

"Coining is also a business. The Dutch are notoriously stingy. How could they let others get the profits from the coining? You ask me why the Dutch do that. I tell you, because they can make money and make more money. Make good money, make more money. The Dutch East India Company was a company, nothing more."

"But even if it's just to make money, you only need to issue some money that everyone accepts, and you don't even need to make other changes to win the hearts and minds of the people. Catholicism came from outside. As long as you build a nursery to adopt baby girls and provide medicine, The righteous love for widowers can make tens of thousands of people prefer martyrdom to apostasy.”

"It's really simple for the imperial court to win the hearts of the people in Nanyang... but it's also really difficult."

"The people's hearts and minds, who is the people? Whose hearts can they win? You all know that the court's reputation in Southeast Asia can only be used once, but I don't know?"

After that, he handed both coins to the officer's hands, and left here with his hands behind his back a little tiredly.

The officer played with the two coins and carefully understood the contradiction in Liu Yu's words "It's very simple but also really difficult". He tasted it for a long time and sighed.

Back at the port, all the mine owners knelt down in front of Liu Yu and thanked him: "So, thank you so much, Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy! We will never forget the kindness of the imperial court."

Seeing that Liu Yu had arrested all the leaders and used the majesty of the court to disperse the miners, I felt that Liu Yu was helping them.

If you want to achieve great things, you can't do it without a head. As long as the leaders are arrested, some of the things these miners originally planned will not be accomplished.

At this time, the organization was still relatively scattered, and most of them were organized by the primitive party model of sworn brothers and missionary work. Once the leader was arrested, the rest would not be able to do big things.

Being released after three to five years is just an excuse. Besides, in three to five years, almost all the people will have died. If there are new people, who will still recognize whom?

After the mine owners knelt down and thanked them, they sent two more baskets of silver coins. The leader said: "Your Majesty, the imperial envoy has worked hard. There are thousands of Spanish silver dollars here. Please accept them."

Liu Yu glanced at the Spanish silver dollars wrapped in red paper in the basket, and said to himself that these Peranakans here were really too far away from home, and they really didn't know what the imperial envoys and marquises of the Chinese dynasty were. Are you treating me like a beggar? One thousand Spanish silver dollars, can I support you just for this little money?

He waved his hand to call his attendants, pointed at the two baskets of money and said, "Purchase some food and drinks, and the crew will have extra meals. Go ahead."

After the entourage left, Liu Yu called the mine owners over and said, "Can't you have a little conscience? They are giving out tin coins and deducting wages. How can the miners not get into trouble?"

When the mine owner heard this, he cried: "Sir, we are also wronged. Isn't there nothing we can do about it? It's not easy for us either. No one's money comes from the strong wind in the sky. Thousands of people, as soon as they open their eyes, If you want to eat and drink from us, you have to buy it with cash from outsiders.”

"Our funds are also tight. We have to wait until the Dutch come to buy tin every year before we can get cash. If we send them real money on weekdays, we won't be able to make enough money."

"Besides, these people are all lazy people. If they are paid monthly, they may stop working after receiving the money or run away. That's why we calculate the calculation every year and pay the money once a year. This is also for their own good, so as not to prevent lazy people from working. Not working.”

"We all have accounts, and we remember each item clearly. They spent their money on eating, drinking, drinking, smoking opium, and women in brothels. And in the mining area, tin coins are also used. ”

Liu Yu snorted: "It seems that it's not easy for you either."

The mine owner did not realize that this was sarcasm, and said repeatedly: "Yes. Please understand our difficulties and don't listen to the nonsense of those unruly people. If you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, if we can't continue, won't they? Are they all going to starve to death?”

"I have never done business, so I don't know the importance of this capital flow. We seem to have made a few profits, but if we find silver every day when we pay wages, the capital will not be able to be turned over. If according to what they said, this mine The field is bound to fail. If we can’t continue, won’t these miners starve to death? They are stupid and don’t understand at all, but if you don’t understand, you are just as stupid.”

"In fact, although we are far away from home, we have always been grateful to the imperial court. In recent years, the miners sold in Macau have become cheaper and cheaper. After the Ding tax was abolished, more people went to sea to make a living. This is all due to the imperial court's kindness. I’ll keep it in mind.”

"Your Majesty, we are all grateful for your condolence to Nanyang. If you are driven in the future, it will be effective."

After Liu Yu heard this, he thought that these people had been born and raised in Old Port for too long. As for the sentence "They are stupid and don't understand at all, but if adults don't understand, they are just as stupid." Anywhere along the way, if a businessman dared to speak like this to a court minister, he would have been pushed to the ground and slapped.

Ignoring official authority, is this a proof of budding? Liu Yu secretly wanted to laugh, thinking that it should be considered. Whether it was wage theft, oppression of miners, or internal vouchers, this could all be regarded as the sprout of capitalism that could be written off in a big way.

After all, this is not feudal corvee nor serf obligation, but free and voluntary work.

Moreover, the production of tin mines is to accumulate gold and silver profits, and even participate in global trade. It is also true that some new technologies are used to improve efficiency, which is very cute.

There are two sides to a coin, how can we only have the good and not the bad? This includes smuggling scarce materials to enemy countries, striving for the court to collect only land taxes but not industrial and commercial taxes, squeezing weavers to the point of calling for a rest, monopolizing the market to manipulate prices, and smuggling goods around customs to participate in global trade.

Although disgusting and unrighteous, this is the other side of the sprout.

It's just that these sprouts in the Celestial Empire are too martial and can't press the emperor's head to establish a constitution, nor can they organize a large army to destroy the barbarians who are grabbing land. They neither dare nor have the ability to bear the heavy responsibility of oppressing and suppressing a large uprising of tens of millions of people.

Including the group of capitalists who contracted the mines on Bangka Island, they are still useless if they are not in the Celestial Empire.

The Sultan of Old Port sold tin for 11 silver dollars per load, and these contractors could only get 7 or 8 silver dollars. If they had some bourgeois martial virtues, they should have thought about directly killing the Sultan of Old Port. Why should the feudal lords take the lion's share?

Liu Yu thought to himself that you are really nothing. Look at the martial virtues of the bourgeois. They press the king's head to sign the treaty, and chop off the king's head directly if he doesn't obey. Look at you, you are using all your strength. If I were here, I would have colluded with the Dutch to destroy the feudal lords of the old port. 7 yuan became 11 yuan, which is much better than the few yuan that the miners are extorting.

In such a place with mixed forces, weak feudal lords, and a large population of the same ethnic group, you can get by like this, and let others make 5 yuan for a load of tin for nothing. It's really a shame for the bourgeois.

I really can't rely on you for the world's affairs. With a sound of "Puh", he stretched out his hand and hooked it, indicating that the leader of the mine owner should come forward.

"I'm leaving now. Your business ends here. But I have to leave a few people here. Do you have any objections?"