Xinshun 1730

Chapter 606 Missing the past
Of course, the tax package system is the most hated tax method by the people. Lavoisier, who was called "Newton in the chemical world" during the French revolution, died of tax packages.Although there is a reason for Mara to instigate retaliation behind the scenes, the root cause is that Lavoisier himself contracted the salt tax.

But it was obvious that Kang Bushao and others didn't want to hear this, and gradually diverted the topic to other places.

The shipbuilder, who finally got off work, came to a nearby low-grade tavern for this free evening drink.

After a few glasses of wine, under Kang Bushao's tempting questions, he naturally talked about the good past and the bad present.

Asked why it is not as good as before, the shipwright and carpenter drank two glasses of potato shochu imported from the small country of Shinra, and muttered a long series of words.

The interpreter listened carefully, and the other party spoke for about two to three minutes. Finally, the interpreter frowned, scratched his head, and summarized the conversation into a few simple words.

"People's hearts are not old, and the world is declining."

Kang Buxi couldn't help laughing out of the short eight words, and asked, "What did your ancestors do before?"

"My father was a shipwright and a master carpenter."

"Oh, the son inherited his father's business."

"Yes, those of us who do handicraft work are inherited from our father. I heard my father talk about the old days, and I also experienced it when I was a child. In short, it was good before, but it is not good now. My father Used to be a member of the Shipwright's Guild. Back then... hey, back then joining the Shipwright's Guild was a respectable person. People respected you and called you Master Carpenter, and the guild could defend against outsiders and us competition."

Speaking of the guild that was gradually disintegrating, Kang Bushao immediately regained his energy.

Because Liu Yu talked about some things with them, such as the progress of the times, the development of industry and commerce, and the disintegration of guilds. These things are not transferred by human will.

From a macro perspective, it can be summed up in a simple sentence: "The inevitability of the progress of the times is the evidence of the development of industry and commerce, and the performance of industry and commerce breaking away from the shackles."

But from the perspective of the microcosm to the individual, it is full of pain at the turn of the old and new eras.

The past was good, the present is not good, this is exactly the direction of the topic that Kang Busiu is looking for!

The shipwright and carpenter, who had had a few glasses of wine, lamented the glory of the past with a sense of loss after drinking.

"At that time, apprentices didn't need a penny. They followed the master to learn crafts honestly, and treated the master like a father. Not only did they not need a penny, but they also bought some tobacco or wine for the master from time to time. How was that? A kind of warmth? The master also treats the apprentice like a son, although strict, but also for their own good."

"At that time, the relationship between people was full of warmth. Master and apprentice, father and son."

"At that time, if you wanted to become an apprentice and join the Shipwright's Carpenter's Guild, you couldn't do it without more than ten years of apprenticeship."

"When my father became a teacher and applied to join the guild, what did he take the test for?"

"To take the deck off an old ship and be able to put a new one on."

"To build a winch installed on the bow or stern of the ship alone, and to be able to use it."

"To build a mainmast, a bow-sprit, and a rudder."

"At that time, joining the Shipwrights and Carpentry Association meant that people respected and envied him as a craftsman and capable."

"But now?"

"Now, in the hydraulic sawmill, let a group of young boys to saw the boards. They don't have any carpentry skills at all. In the past, none of them could pass the assessment of the guild, let alone the main mast and rudder. Even the simplest demolition of the deck, they can't do well."

"The masts began to be mass-produced, and each ship looked exactly the same. In the past, building a ship was like the children of us carpenters. Each one was different, and it was full of the hard work of the craftsmen."

"Nowadays, shipbuilding is like an old sow giving birth to piglets in piles."

"The rudder, the mast, the winch... are all made by different people. Where can these people be called carpenters? Where do they still have their original craftsmanship? At most they are rudder, mast, or deck workers."

"In the past, our Shipwright's Guild dared to point at those shipowners' noses and scold them, and they would even smile."

"Now? What are we? With a little salary, people no longer respect us, and those apprentices start to ask for wages, and they don't treat us like fathers."

"We have changed from craftsmen and master carpenters who are respected to a group of hired workers who have nothing but work for others."

"People don't respect craftsmanship anymore, they just look at whether you have money."

"I see, people's hearts are not old, and the world is getting worse. If this continues, sooner or later, they will go to hell, and people will no longer have the morality of the past."

He is a shipbuilder and carpenter, but what he said aroused the exclamation of those drinking alcohol and people from different industries.

The voice was not low, and the appearance of a few Chinese in this tavern attracted the attention of many people. Many people heard the sighs of the shipbuilder and carpenter, and sighed in their hearts.

Those people are not shipwrights and carpenters, but they can really empathize and empathize with each other.

There are many handicraft guilds in the Netherlands, covering almost all aspects of Dutch industry and commerce.Many people who drink in these taverns are members of a certain guild, or used to be.

Dashun has the so-called three teachings and nine streams, the upper nine streams, and the lower nine streams.The guilds in the Netherlands are also divided into upper-level guilds and lower-level guilds.

The seven upper-level guilds, such as the Lawyers' Guild, Bankers' Guild, Cloth Dyeing Guild, Doctors' and Pharmacists' Guild, etc., basically have nothing to do with the people in this tavern.It is impossible for someone who can be a member of the seventh-class guild to come to this kind of tavern to drink.

There are 16 industrial guilds in the lower level, which are subdivided into many industries, which are closely related to the Dutch handicraft industry.

Butchers, bakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, locksmiths, etc. all have their own guilds.

As time goes on, especially in the Netherlands, where the development of industry and commerce started very early, the ancient system of guilds is slowly dying out.This feeling made these small craftsmen feel panic, despair, and the most important devaluation of self-worth.

The people next to him also sighed a few times, and they all said the same thing.

In Kang Bushao's heart, he used four more refined words to sum up their sighs.

"The ceremony is broken and the music is broken!"

This was too familiar, so he asked the translator to call out, he invited the wine here tonight.

There are all kinds of people in the tavern, and they are all low-level people. Even the third-level people will not come to this kind of place, and the fifth-level people can’t come here. Basically, the people who gather here are the fourth-level people in the Netherlands people.

There are cheap whores, artisans, shipwrights, sailors, small merchants, petty merchants, handicraftsmen.

Accompanied by the big words of asking for wine, there were bursts of cheers, and a few glasses of cheap potato shochu were poured down. These people who were originally complaining after drinking gathered together and continued to talk about the boatman and carpenter.

At this moment, these people of different occupations found a kind of class resonance—the handicraftsmen of the old era, the beneficiaries of the old feudal guilds, the pain under the impact of the new era.

These people have a common feature, that is, they are easily excited about vague things, and feel bored about the concrete truth.

It's like talking about history in later generations, vague and slogan-like, such as those who offend the strong Han will be punished even if they are far away, one person under the giant Tang will destroy the country, the victory rate of the Song Dynasty is 80%, and the emperor guards the gate of the country. The king died in the Ming Dynasty... People get excited.

Talking about the reform of the military service system, the change of the tax system, the development of productive forces, the abolition of the peak of the feudal monarchy and so on, there are very few people who should respond.

The same is true for these people in the Netherlands at this time.

Be general rather than specific; be emotional rather than rational.

Talking about the defeat of commercial capital to industrial capital, talking about the progress of productivity and population, talking about the market and raw materials, the majority of the Dutch people do not like and have no interest.

But if you talk about the infinite glory of the past, or talk about the beauty of the past and the ugliness of the present in vain, the people in the tavern suddenly fall into a kind of psychedelic reminiscence.

On the side, a member of the brewing guild was holding up a glass of inferior and cheap potato shochu, and his voice had already begun to choke.

"In the past, our wine brewing guild was united locally, and the wine from outside could not be sold at all. At that time, if anyone didn't join the guild, if anyone wanted to lower the price without permission, the guild people would definitely smash his wine making workshop to pieces. .”

"But now? The regent oligarchs control the business and bring in the wine from outside. What can we do?"

"In the past, as long as it was related to alcohol, nothing could be done without the nod of our guild. But now, the guild will talk, which is no different from farting."

"Try these wines, where does it still taste like before? These inferior potato shochu are not considered wine at all. When our guild existed, we used grains and grapes to make wine, and that was the traditional taste. But now , these people make wine out of the cheapest potatoes and completely ruin everything that is good."

After a few sighs, a person in the distance threw the quilt in his hand to the ground.

"I used to be a potter, and my hometown is Delft. When my father was alive, your Chinese pottery came to Rotterdam, and our guild disintegrated directly."

"We couldn't make such good pottery, so the guild organized us to go to the city government to sue. However, the regent of the city is a shareholder of the East India Company and told us that this is business! Free business."

"In the past, the guild was united and organized to protest. But what about that time? Someone violated the guild's decision and chose to quit the guild and imitate Chinese pottery."

"We can't make mid-to-high-end pottery, and we can't compete with Chinese pottery. But what about low-end pottery?"

"Low-end pottery, those big businessmen who eat people and drink blood, don't give us a chance. Someone imitated low-end purple sand pottery, and immediately someone invested and opened a factory."

"The people there use hydraulic machinery and treadmills. Each person is responsible for a process. There are embryos, appliques, and firing... What can we craftsmen in the guild do?"

"Even if we can still produce, those cannibalistic merchants will lower the price and suppress us. We sell a clay pot, which is even lower than the cost of making it."

"In the past, the guilds in the pottery industry could control many things. But now, in Delft, even the potters' guilds have disintegrated, and no one pays to join, because nothing can be protected."

"My father often said that when he was young, he could make a lot of money every month. The pottery guild neither allowed outside goods to enter nor allowed more people to enter the trade. All potters advance and retreat together. But when I grew up, we sons of potters either went to work as hired labor in pottery factories, or went far away.”

"The past days were so beautiful. Look at the present! Everything is for profit, and everything is for money. The warmth of the past is gone, craftsmen are no longer respected, and guilds are disintegrating one by one."

"The morality and conscience of the past have all become the current silver and copper coins. In the past, if anyone dared to offend the interests of the guild to open a pottery factory and lower the price, the guild would definitely close down the pottery factory. From apprenticeship to sales, The guilds run everything. Now?"

"Businessmen only know about profit, they don't have the conscience of nobles, and they don't know how to respect traditions. Nobles have to think about the local guild, and businessmen only think about money! Businessmen have no morals, disintegrate all traditions, and trample their conscience under their feet... …If things go on like this, the Netherlands will be doomed sooner or later.”

"Only by restoring the original tradition can the original conscience be restored."

"Only by restoring the original tradition can the glory of the past be restored."

"Businessmen don't know what tradition is at all, and nobles at least know how to respect tradition. If the Prince of Orange ruled, it would definitely not be like this."

(End of this chapter)