1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 978 Urbanization Process

On January 1681, 4, Jianye.

Yang Annong opened the door sleepily, and walked towards the toilet with the chamber pot in his hand.This temporary shanty town built of planks, canvas, and rammed earth is mainly populated by young people like him who come to Jianye City from other places to work, in order to earn more money for their wives, or to round out the city. Dreaming, he did not hesitate to leave his hometown and work hard in factories to make a living.

When he was about to reach the latrine, Yang Annong was already fully awake. As he walked, he peeked at the local women in floral nightgowns, carrying chamber pots or sewage buckets like him, and went to the latrine to dump their waste.

During this period, most women's work day began by emptying and cleaning the previous night's chamber pot or excrement bucket, and most men in the family were lucky enough to escape from this dirty work.

Most of the chamber pots are made of pottery, glazed on the inside and outside. Their appearance can be simple and practical, or they can be painted with beautiful patterns.Some chamber pots also have a comic effect on the inside - facing the place of excrement, there are even paintings of animals or people.

The chamber pot is one of the most basic household utensils, and even the most constrained households will find ways to obtain it.Maybe someone has no bed and has to sleep on rags, but he'll also have a chamber pot of some sort by his side.Before there was no electric light, it was not easy to walk out of the room in the dark, walk a long distance by starlight, and then find the toilet.If you don't pay attention, it is not impossible to fall into the toilet.This is especially dangerous for the elderly, children and those in poor health.

For families with a large population, it is very necessary to prepare a large sewage bucket, because pouring the excrement from several chamber pots into the sewage bucket can save a lot of trouble.

After a simple wash, it is already 06:30 in the morning, and it is less than half an hour before the factory starts working.After Yang Annong locked the door of the house, he hurried to the factory not far away, bought two thick fried dough sticks at a roadside stall, drank a bowl of soybean juice, and refilled his stomach that had been empty all night. full.

Vegetable and fruit farmers in the suburbs have been carrying the burden one after another. They began to sell on the street. The customers who patronize are usually women in the family. Intense haggling.

A few policemen on night shift, with dejected expressions, walked slowly towards the police station with batons in their hands and heavy steps. More than 20 days ago, the native coolie riots in Kaiyuan had completely subsided.However, officials from all over the Jianye Mansion are worried that some fish that slipped through the net will sneak into the city and wreak havoc.Therefore, the police and military police in the city still dare not slack off, especially at night, they are on duty all night and patrolling around to protect the safety of the city.

As for the outside of the city, it was the defensive duty of the army officers and soldiers. They rode horses and galloped across the countryside, pastures, and wilderness, sweeping up any place where the natives might hide.

Of course, these complicated "trivial matters" have no effect on Yang Annong, an ordinary person.Compared with the various misfortunes encountered by the native coolies, he is more concerned about when the boss in the factory can give him a few cents more salary. During the production process, the management should not be too strict, scold them less, and rest at noon and afternoon It is best to extend the time a little longer, but at worst, the lunch and dinner provided can have more meat and oily water.

It has been almost two years since I came to Jianye City. Yang Annong is more and more fond of everything in the city, the noisy crowd, neat and beautiful buildings, abundant supplies, and beautiful girls who are rarely seen in the countryside.

Although the work in the factory is very hard, sometimes even working 14-15 hours, so that when he returns to the rented hut, he has nothing to do except sleep.But he will receive a salary of eight yuan and fifty cents a month from the factory, which is a full three yuan increase from when he first came.

Now, excluding all kinds of daily expenses, he can save at least 3-5 yuan every month. After a year, he can save nearly 50 yuan.He calculated in private that if he worked like this for five or six years, and with the increase in salary, he might be able to save two or three hundred yuan. At that time, he could sell a small house in Jianye and become an out-and-out city ​​people.

Of course, it would be best to marry another beautiful daughter-in-law in the city, have five or six children with her, and enjoy a peaceful and happy life.

"Annon, you are distracted!" Suddenly, a hand patted Yang Annong's shoulder lightly, with a reminding tone in his words, "Did you forget? A few months ago, there was also a young man who was distracted. He Three of his fingers were cut off very cleanly by the machine."

"...Thank you very much." Yang Annong glanced at the factory supervisor who was patrolling around, and then whispered to Zhang Xiaoshan next to him.

Yang Annong's factory mainly produces hardware tools and iron nails, and the factory building is full of large steam-driven machines.Similarly, at the beginning of the design of these machines, there is almost no safety protection, and accidents will easily occur if you are not careful.

Remind him not to get distracted. Zhang Xiaoshan is a descendant of a naturalized barbarian. Apart from having a completely different face from the Han people, his language, thinking, and daily behavior are almost the same as ordinary citizens.His father was a Saxon from the German region. He was recruited by the Dutch East India Company more than 20 years ago and traveled all the way to the East to make a living.

After the service period ended, Zhang Xiaoshan's father did not hesitate at all, and immediately transferred to Qi State and became a merchant sailor.However, when Zhang Xiaoshan was four years old, he unfortunately encountered a shipwreck and died in the sea.

Zhang Xiaoshan's An Nan's mother, relying on a sum of compensation from the shipowner, struggled to bring up their brothers and sisters.However, bad luck seems to be accompanying the family all the time.In order to earn more salary, his elder brother continued his father's career as a sailor, but before the one-year sailor training period, he encountered a shipwreck and was buried in the rough South Indian Ocean.

When his mother was in grief, she became ill and finally passed away.For this reason, Zhang Xiaoshan had to enter the factory when he was 14 years old to support a younger brother and a younger sister.After years of accumulated experience, he has become a junior craftsman in this hardware factory, and he can get a high salary of 11 yuan a month.In addition, in Jianye City, there is a three-bedroom house left by his parents, and his small life is much more comfortable and comfortable than that of Yang Annong.

With the rapid expansion of industry and commerce in Qi State, the number and scale of cities began to expand continuously, becoming the center of industrial and commercial activities.Industrial and commercial activities require a large amount of non-agricultural labor, so the number of non-agricultural labor in cities also increases.

The development of Qi's agricultural technology revolution and the invention and creation of various advanced agricultural machinery and tools have also promoted the development of agricultural production, and at the same time released the labor force in agriculture.These laborers gradually migrated to cities and participated in non-agricultural labor, which further promoted the development of urbanization and non-agriculturalization.

Of course, the development of non-agricultural sectors in Qi during this period was also one of the reasons for urbanization and non-agriculturalization.With the prosperity of industry and commerce and the improvement of agricultural technology, Qi's industry and service industry have also developed rapidly.These industries and service industries are mainly concentrated in cities, so the urbanization process began to accelerate and the non-agricultural labor force increased rapidly.

Qi's rapid economic development is an important driving force for urbanization.Commercial and industrial activities have grown rapidly, providing more employment opportunities due to urbanization and de-agriculturalization.

In addition, due to the gradual improvement of the transportation network in Qi State, the connection between cities has become increasingly close, and the commercial activities of various cities have also begun to depend on each other.Under such circumstances, the increase in the size and number of cities has become an inevitable trend.

The entire Jianye Mansion is the most developed industrial and commercial area in Qi State, and naturally more urban population has gathered.According to the census statistics just completed, the registered population of the entire Jianye Prefecture has reached more than 53, while the registered population of Jianye City is more than 16. If you add a large number of migrant workers and other non-registered Population, the urban population is likely to exceed 20.

Several cities near Jianye City, such as Heishan, Xinhuai'an, and Kaiyuan, have a population of more than 3 people, forming an industrial city group in northern Qi with Jianye as the core, and the overall urbanization rate has reached more than 50%. Far surpassing other prefectures and counties in Qi State.

The development and expansion of cities has brought huge agglomeration benefits and provided favorable external conditions for economic development.In response to this, some scholars who study economic issues once commented on Jianye: "Such a city is a very special and important thing. This large-scale concentration - 20 people gathered in one place will make the 20 people gather in one place. The power of ten thousand people has increased by tens or hundreds of times on the original basis, forming a powerful aggregate economic benefit."

With the continuous deepening and development of Qi's industrial revolution, complex craftsmanship has replaced the original simple operation, and it has higher and higher requirements for workers' education level and professional skills. People without education are at an absolute disadvantage in the employment competition. , which forces people to learn cultural knowledge and master work skills to improve their own quality, and the concentration of urban population also provides favorable conditions for opening schools or other cultural and educational undertakings.

Most of the workers learn cultural knowledge in various professional technical schools. According to statistics, the number of students studying in Jianye's technical schools was only 20 500 years ago, but by the tenth year of Hanxing (1680), it had risen to 3 people.These professional technical schools impart simple knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry, and train workers to meet the needs of mass production of machines in the industrial revolution.

The development of industrial production and the continuous progress of society provide a very suitable soil and space for the existence and further development of the university.In addition to the earliest establishment of Tiangong College, Jianye University, Jianye University of Political Science and Economics, and Jianye Normal University, a number of new universities and secondary schools have been added successively, such as North China University of Technology, Jianye Royal Institute of Technology, etc. School.These emerging polytechnic universities prioritize the use of technology in education in a style very different from traditional colleges.The emergence of a new type of university has played a major positive role in promoting the progress of science and technology.

The rapid development of urbanization has caused some younger generations of citizens to leave rural life and agricultural labor and concentrate in urban areas, subject to the discipline of factory work and office hours.The rural life in the past was replaced by the tense urban life, and people's interests, customs, and entertainment methods also changed accordingly. Everything that life needs depends on the commodity market.People's values ​​have also undergone great changes. Real values ​​have replaced traditional ancient customs, and the entertainment methods in the lives of all walks of life are also very different from before.

In the process of urbanization, rural residents can also increasingly enjoy the material wealth brought by the city, urban lifestyles are gradually popularized in rural areas, and various new ideas and concepts formed in cities are subtly influenced in rural areas.Well, in the words of a certain local official, it is "to free a large part of the peasants from the ignorance of rural life."

Of course, the result of the turbulent urbanization process in Qi State is not only positive. It is like a double-edged sword, and it also has a negative side.

The first is the gradual emergence of environmental pollution.

The city has concentrated many industrial and mining enterprises and has a dense population, which makes it difficult to guarantee the living environment conditions.Because many cities are often caught off guard in the face of urbanization and fail to upgrade various supporting living facilities accordingly.For example, the existing sewage system is overwhelmed, garbage, feces, and sewage cannot be treated in time, and stinky ponds and garbage dumps have also begun to appear in the corners of the city, becoming places where bacteria breed and mosquitoes breed, which will lead to cholera and typhoid fever , dysentery, malaria and other infectious diseases are easy to spread.

Yet another problem is overcrowded housing.Due to the rapid development of the city, the rapid increase of the population, and the relatively lagging residential construction, the housing problem in the city is very serious.

In Jianye, tens of thousands of workers live in cramped, dark, damp, and poorly aired shanty towns.The urban residents there are actively renovating their houses, not only partitioning them into several independent huts, but also occupying a large amount of public space, using wooden boards, canvas, and rammed earth to build various temporary buildings, and renting them out to migrant workers.The workers' housing is small and crowded, dirty and dark, and there is an unspeakable sour smell indoors.

Especially during the rainy season from December to March when the precipitation is the most, the bedding and clothes in the house seem to have never dried through, and it is impossible for people to fall asleep unless they are extremely exhausted.

The process of urbanization has also brought about serious social security problems.Jianye City, which once claimed to be "the road does not pick up lost things" and has an extremely stable society, has increased population mobility due to the successive concentration of population in the city, and various criminal activities have also increased significantly.

According to statistics, in Jianye, from the first year of Hanxing (1671) to the tenth year of Hanxing, the number of theft and robbery criminals tried by Dali Temple Court rose from less than 700 to more than [-].Some shady behaviors prohibited by law, such as the phenomenon of "women's trade" have also begun to increase. Although most of the practitioners are women abducted from the mainland, North Korea, Japan, Annan, and Siam by greedy people, they still trigger bad social influence. .

For this reason, several "big" cities in the Qi State, including Jianye, had to increase the number of police officers, and at the same time amend police laws and regulations, and repeatedly expand the police's law enforcement authority and scope of activities, in order to curb the spread of various social security problems in the cities and expand.

"Oh look, that block is on fire!"

After work in the factory, it was already past nine o'clock at night. Workers dragged their tired bodies in twos and threes, eagerly rushing to their rest places, hoping to take a cold shower and sleep comfortably after returning to their residences. Take a nap to relieve the sleepiness after work.Zhang Xiaoshan suddenly pointed to the front and exclaimed loudly.

Yang Annong looked up, and saw that the night sky was reflected red in the neighborhood, there were countless shouts, and the dancing flames sprayed extremely high, and under the breeze, they were constantly spreading to the surrounding area, engulfing a room after another. a house.

"It's too unfortunate. The people living in that block must have suffered heavy losses. I don't know if there are any casualties....Annon, what's wrong with you, you look so ugly?"

"The hut I rented seems to be located in that burning block..." Yang Annong said with a pale face.

(End of this chapter)