New Shun 1730

As a senior official of the court, he dared not speak out easily on the question of who the court would side with in the future.

Objectively, from an absolutely rational perspective, if there were really rioters smashing machines, they would definitely be severely punished.

Even directly dispatching the garrison was under consideration.

Since the contradictions of initial industrialization can be foreseen, it should be known that these contradictions are best to be dismantled, crushed, divided, and disintegrated, and solved bit by bit.

Once the contradictions pile up, it will be difficult to solve them.

However, on the one hand, due to the political correctness of the Dashun small peasant economy, Liu Yu could not say some things; on the other hand, some words would inevitably change once they were spoken.

For example, he originally only wanted to suppress the Luddite movement, but in the end the local officials directly banned it forever and severely punished it. Obviously, this is very possible.

Knowing what these factory owners wanted, Liu Yu thought for a long time and gave an answer that seemed reasonable but was actually ambiguous.

"The court has always followed a trail when doing things."

"Since there is the Dashun Code, we should follow it."

"If there is something not in the Dashun Code, we still have the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Analects to use for judgment. The teachings are higher than the law."

"If there is something not even recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Analects... For example, the use of this new machine, the employees objected, etc., there are also traces to follow."

"Employees and employers were rare before. But there have always been many cases of landlords and tenants."

"Then let me ask you, how did the holy dynasty gain the world? , if tenants rebel and ask for rent reduction, what will the Holy Dynasty do? "

"Instead of hiring workers and employers, the hired workers ask for piecework wages, or give more wine money in the Spring and Autumn Period, or have rice allowance for work. What is the difference between this and the landlord-tenant thing just mentioned?"

"Is it possible that the Holy Dynasty wants to learn from the Eastern Tartars? In the last years of the previous dynasty, there were gentry in Jiangnan who praised the Eastern Tartars for their "righteousness", and now there are even more people who admire the Eastern Tartars; when the slave soldiers revolted, it was the gentry who asked the Eastern Tartars to send troops to suppress them and welcome the barbarians with food and drink?"

This is exactly the source of the factory owners' worries.

Although they don't understand that the small peasant economy is the foundation of the empire, they don't understand that the late feudal dynasty such as Dashun should at least theoretically suppress annexation.

However, they know the style of some local officials in Dashun.

Corrupt officials are okay, but honest officials are definitely slightly biased towards the bottom.

Just when the woman thought Liu Yu was expressing the attitude on behalf of the court, she was about to say that if that was the case, they really didn't dare to use the new machine.

Liu Yu said again: "But another situation must also be considered."

"For example, the landlord's family uses cattle and horses, and ploughs with plows. Originally, the land was divided into more than a hundred rents, but now only 20 to 30 hired workers are employed. So the people who were forced to quit the land swarmed up, smashed the plows, and killed cattle, horses, donkeys, and mules... This is different again."

"Do you understand the difference?"

He said so much, but in fact, if it were in the future, it could be made clear in just one sentence: whether productivity has improved or not is the criterion.

But at this time, except for those around him and the student officers he brought out, how could the people here understand this criterion?

After all, this was still the era of the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was no sentence that "whether the per capita productivity has developed is an important criterion for measuring right and wrong", which is difficult to explain clearly.

With this example, whether it was the prefect of Songjiang or the woman of the machine household, they probably understood the difference.

It cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach, but the grassroots love to do it, so it can only be said to this degree of ambiguity, without saying too much detail.

But it cannot be left out.

The policy will eventually be implemented by local officials, at least the local officials must be clear, even if they do not understand the core, they should know the appearance: facing the new contradictions that may arise in the future, what kind of attitude should be upheld to make judgments.

After saying this, he glanced at the prefect of Songjiang, as if asking him if he understood.

"What the Whale Marquis said really opened my eyes, like the sun after the clouds have been cleared."

"As the saying goes, Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, and even to all things. The new situation that has emerged in the development of industry and commerce in Songjiang Prefecture has never been seen before. If we judge it based on past experience, it is really difficult. However, the saints can derive Tao from all things, and return all things to three, three to two, two to one, and one to Tao. If one law is understood, all laws are understood. But ordinary people can only see all things, and they have to know how to solve all things before they know how to solve them. It's like knowing how to cook mutton, but giving him a piece of pork, he can't cook it, and he has to tell him how to cook pork."

"I am an ordinary person, an average person. If I say that I should understand Tao first and then do things, I really don't have such ability. But I can also get a glimpse of the Tao that the Whale Marquis said."

Songjiang Prefecture Yin said so, but he only half understood it in his heart. I vaguely felt that I seemed to have grasped the key points of what Liu Yu said, but it was difficult to summarize all the truths, and I couldn't explain it clearly for a while.

I just think that it is nothing more than saying that if machines replace people and compete with people for profits, this should be on the side of machines; but if the machine owners are too oppressive and the machine workers call for a strike, it seems to be adhering to the attitude of Dashun to suppress mergers and acquisitions and emphasize small farmers.

It is really difficult to grasp the balance between the two.

In addition, Songjiang Prefecture does have many Dashun laws or things that have never appeared in history. It is difficult to come up with a completely correct way to deal with it based on past experience.

Just like the Suzhou Prefecture’s call for a strike.

The Dashun Law inherits the Ming Dynasty Law. When the Ming Dynasty Law was formulated, how could it consider things like a strike for the entire industry?

As the times evolve, many new problems will arise. The person who made the law was not a prophet or a saint. How could he have formulated corresponding laws hundreds of years ago on how to deal with industry-wide strikes?

In this era of small changes in five years and major changes in ten years, Songjiang Prefecture, this kind of "unprecedented event" really tests the level of local officials.

Songjiang Prefecture Yin did not have any doctrines, nor did he have the same three views on developing productivity as Liu Yu. He just felt that Liu Yu was now in great favor with the emperor, and Songjiang Prefecture was the emperor's treasury. Once something unprecedented happened, it would be up to him to deal with it. means, it also depends on whether the disposal method complies with the above meaning.

Liu Yu saw that what he said seemed to make some sense, and thought that it would be simple if you could really understand the "Tao" in it.

I'm afraid that's what you said. You still have to listen to people's instructions on how to kill pigs before you know how to kill them. Next time you meet a sheep, you will be confused.

The Jihu couple on the side were half confused when they heard it. They seemed to understand a little bit, but they didn't seem to understand anything at all.

Liu Yu then smiled and said: "That's all, let's talk about this matter for now. When I return to the capital, I will go to the Academy of Sciences to arrange this matter, and we will discuss it later."

"By the way, what are your couple's plans for the future? Do you plan to invest in some commercial business? Or do you have any considerations for your children's future? Do you plan to let your children inherit the business of their parents and continue to do this textile industry? Or are you planning to buy some land to cultivate your family and prepare for the imperial examination?"

The boss woman thought for a while and said with a smile: "The investment matters that Junhou mentioned are all done by big businessmen. Although interest is earned every year, there are also risks. I have made some profits in the past few years, but I have also lost some. I I just feel that buying stocks and investing is far less reliable than making money from textiles, but if I lose money, my children’s family fortune will be gone.”

"As for buying land, farming and studying... we have never thought about this. First of all, the children are learning new things. They learned things from the new schools funded by the monarch. They cannot be literary stars, and they are not very good at books and classics. . Besides, it’s extremely difficult to become a scholar. If you can’t pass the exam, I think it’s better to run a textile business. But if you do, it will be Wen Quxing’s fate. How can we have such a fate?”

Saying this is just what I originally thought. After Liu Yuyi said a lot, the woman had other reasons in mind.

I thought that since the Jinghou said that there was a machine that could weave faster, it would be fine if others said it, but since the Jinghou said it, it would probably happen.

As the saying goes, being an official for thousands of miles is just for wealth. If there is such a machine in the future, wouldn't making money be the same as making money as an official? Besides, how can it be so easy to be promoted to an official position? Might as well run these family businesses properly.

Now that the imperial court has gone to Nanyang again, the sales of cloth and silk will be better in the future. What land should I buy at this time? The price of food in Songjiang Prefecture has already reached this level. If you have money to buy land, why not buy more looms?

Kuang Yu said that now the imperial court has banned the poll tax and spread it into the land. The rest of the corvee service was also taxed with land. If I buy land and give gifts, I can get acquainted with the squire and avoid future apportionments.

This is different when it comes to textiles. At first, everyone was familiar, and they had been dealing with the channels for buying yarn and selling goods for several years.

Secondly, the price of rice seems to have become less expensive in recent years. I used to eat more Nanyang rice and Taiwanese rice. Now that the imperial court has taken over Nanyang, can the price of rice still go up?

The poll tax has been abolished, and no matter how low the price of rice is, I don’t need to spend much money to hire workers here.

As for paying taxes, the current industrial and commercial tax in Songjiang Prefecture is worth three out of 100, and the stamp is recorded. On weekdays, we don’t collect much, and we only make occasional donations to charity schools, Salesian churches, etc. However, if you donate a certain amount, you will be able to live with it, and it is still better than farming.

I can’t say I’m not afraid of anything.

Nowadays, the imperial court is responsible for the industry and commerce of Baosongjiang Prefecture. For matters such as apportionment and additional distribution, local officials do not add to industry and commerce but to land. The woman thought that what she was afraid of was that the imperial court would send tax inspectors like the previous dynasty and would assign taxes to industry and commerce. But after all, they haven't yet, so there is no need to worry.

I also thought, if the kind of machine that Jinghou said would appear soon, then it would not be worthwhile to buy a loom at this time?

Thinking of this, the woman asked: "But I don't know when the machine that the king mentioned can be sold?"

Liu Yu said with a smile: "It's hard to say. I know what you are thinking. You are just thinking that new machines will be released in the future. If you buy the loom now, you will lose money. But this thing can take one and a half years at the fastest, and three to five years at the slowest time. It’s hard to say for sure, but once it’s made, it will be sold in Songjiang Mansion first.”

"In the past few years, I think there is no need to worry about selling the cloth. You don't have to worry about it now. Just do whatever you want to do at this time. If you need to add more looms, add more looms; if you need to hire more people, you can add more. Hire people. If new machines are introduced in the future, it’s not like this old loom can’t be used. Besides, do you think I don’t know that I can make my money back in a few years?”