Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 587: Workers' system? Or corvée? (Subscribe please!!)
Just when Li Shanchang was expecting the retired emperor Zhu Yuanzhang to stand up and deny Ouyang Lun, Zhu Yuanzhang was also thinking about his own plans in his mind.

Ho!
Ouyang Lun is such a smart guy!

Whether Ouyang Lun thought of this idea in advance or was forced by Li Shanchang to come up with it, it is enough to show how powerful Ouyang Lun is.

Humph! It seems that when I was the emperor, I didn't push Ouyang Lun to his limits!

But it is also a good choice to continue squeezing now.

Zhu Yuanzhang grew up from a beggar to the founding emperor and was the emperor for almost thirty years. Naturally, he was very clear about the advancement and importance of the workers' hierarchy system and workers' rights protection system proposed by Ouyang Lun.

Zhu Yuanzhang was one of the first people to realize the existence of the working class in the Ming Dynasty.

When he went to northern Zhili for investigation, he found that northern Zhili had a large number of workers. Some worked in workshops, some worked in shops, and there were also a large number of employees of trading companies. These people were neither officials nor farmers. At that time, he was thinking about how these people survived, and what should these people do if the workshops and trading companies went bankrupt?

As long as the common people have land to farm, they can survive even the most severe natural disasters, but what do the workers have? They only have skills. Once they lose their employers, they will lose their jobs.

A worker has to support almost an entire family. Once a worker loses his job, the whole family will starve!
What if there are tens, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands? ?
Aren’t they just refugees?
This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty strictly implemented household registration management after its founding. Without a travel permit, one could not leave a county.

However, with the development of the Ming Dynasty, workshops and trading companies emerged, and the roads that extended in all directions not only promoted the development of commercial trade, but also promoted the mobility of population. The household registration system of the court had basically become ineffective. Instead, the identity disc first issued by Northern Zhili became increasingly important. With an identity disc, one could travel around unimpeded. In addition, the information on the identity disc was relatively comprehensive, so it was not so difficult for local governments to manage the floating population.

But what Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about was that the workers' protection was becoming increasingly serious.

In the past, household registration management was implemented, and the number of people in various industries was relatively fixed. However, with the development of industry and commerce, more and more people joined in, especially workshop workers, and the number can be said to have shown explosive growth!
The more workers there are, the more serious the problem will be if it arises.

It is hard to imagine that if hundreds of thousands of workers collectively lose their jobs, these workers will instantly become the source of riots!
Zhu Yuanzhang had always been worried about this problem, but he had never thought of a good way to solve it. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty developed relatively steadily, and what Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about never happened.

But just some time ago, Zhu Yuanzhang learned about the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway. At first, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think it was a serious matter, but when Zhu Yuanzhang heard that more and more workers were joining in, they constantly expressed doubts about the court.

Suddenly, a sense of crisis rushed straight to Zhu Yuanzhang's head! !

This is also the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang looked extremely ugly when he came to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, because the thing that Zhu Yuanzhang had been worried about for so long was about to happen.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang had made plans to send troops to suppress a large-scale mutiny among workers.

However, when Zhu Yuanzhang heard Ouyang Lun's method, the worries in his heart gradually disappeared, and were replaced by expectations.

Workers are divided into levels, and each level corresponds to different treatment and even status. This is telling the workers that the more they work, the more they will earn, and they should be proactive and motivated!

By immersing them in technical improvement and work, it will not become a source of instability.

At the same time, a workers' rights protection system will be established to guarantee the rights and interests of workers, so that workers can have no worries!

If we do these two things well, is there any need to think about where the people's hearts are? !
There is no doubt that the method proposed by Ouyang Lun is a good thing to improve the workers' treatment. As for the interests of the emperor and himself, the emperor emeritus,
Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that his fundamental purpose in calling all the ministers here today was to get some more benefits from Ouyang Lun!

Just as Li Shanchang analyzed, before the construction of the Beijing-Ping Railway officially started and all aspects were ready, Ouyang Lun's personal role would decline sharply, and Zhu Yuanzhang also regretted giving full authority of the Beijing-Ping Railway to Ouyang Lun.

A project worth 9.9 billion yuan would be hard for even Zhu Yuanzhang himself to resist.

So Zhu Yuanzhang's initial idea was to use this incident to redistribute interests.

But now, after weighing the pros and cons, Zhu Yuanzhang has different ideas in his mind.

If we consider the interests purely, the benefits of the Beijing-Ping Railway must be redistributed and Ouyang Lun cannot be monopolized. However, Zhu Yuanzhang knows Ouyang Lun well. Once he does this, Ouyang Lun will probably give up completely and will no longer care about the affairs of the Beijing-Ping Railway.

I am afraid that no one is promoting the worker classification and worker protection system. It would be such a pity if such a good method cannot be implemented! !
Anyway, the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway was built for us, and the 9.9 billion yuan was also raised by Ouyang Lun. Even if Ouyang Lun was a little greedy, so what? If someone else were really allowed to control the construction of the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway, it would be able to be completed relying on the previous design and a large number of technical engineers. Zhu Yuanzhang had no doubt about this.

But, if he encounters any difficulties along the way and no one can solve them, wouldn’t he have to ask Ouyang Lun for help in the end? !
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered that he had asked Li Shanchang to manage the Ministry of Revenue and the four southern provinces earlier, and Zhu Yuanzhang immediately made a decision in his mind.

Damn, I almost got confused again.

You can use Li Shanchang to threaten Ouyang Lun, but you must never really let Li Shanchang replace Ouyang Lun!
Ouyang Lun helped him solve problems, but Li Shanchang only created problems for him.

pop-

Under everyone's gaze, Zhu Yuanzhang applauded and said with a smile: "Good! Very good! What Ouyang Lun said is very good, and I think it's good too!"

"Based on what Ouyang Lun just said, I want to tell you that from now on, our Ming Dynasty will not only have farmers and merchants, but also workers. They are no longer a minority group, but the most important group in our Ming Dynasty. Why has our Ming Dynasty been able to develop rapidly in recent years?"

"In addition to farmers and businessmen, the contribution of workers cannot be ignored!"

"The roads and bridges that extend in all directions, the new Great Wall in the northern border, the new cities, and the workers in workshops all over the country! As time goes by, their technical level is constantly improving, and they can produce more and better things!"

"Everything you wear, use, and travel with are made by them!"

"Give them reasonable wages and guarantee their rights and interests. This is what the court must do now."

"Ouyang Lun, you did a great job!"

"We also believe that after the relevant measures are implemented, some problems can be easily solved!"

After praising Ouyang Lun, Zhu Yuanzhang also took a special look at Li Shanchang. At this moment, Li Shanchang felt very uncomfortable, and his last hope was completely shattered at this moment.

He thought he would win today, but in the end he found out that he had become the clown!
But Li Shanchang was unwilling to admit defeat like this. Huang Zicheng was equally unwilling. In order to defeat Ouyang Lun today, he had made a lot of preparations, but now the situation was like this.

"Your Majesty, Supreme Emperor, although I also think that Prince Consort Ouyang's method is innovative, but... but this is a brand new method after all. Every dynasty has its own rules and regulations for the management of craftsmen. My Ming Dynasty also has its own set of management methods!"

"There is no need to rush into using a completely new law, because no one can guarantee that there will be no unexpected accidents in the process of implementing the new law. If we use the old law, the people will know it, and it will be easier to implement it!!"

Although Huang Zicheng said these words in a desperate situation, after saying them, Huang Zicheng felt that this was indeed better than Ouyang Lun's method, and he became more and more confident.

"Therefore, for the sake of the stability of the Ming Dynasty, I would like to ask Your Majesty and the Emperor to use the old law!"

When Li Shanchang heard Huang Zicheng's words, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Huang Zicheng’s counterattack is pretty good!
But Huang Zicheng had not told him about this method before coming to the hall today. It seems that he has come up with an idea in a hurry. He is worthy of being the rising star that I am optimistic about. With Huang Zicheng around, our Huaixi Party will surely not decline!
Li Shanchang immediately stood up to support him and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I think what Mr. Huang said makes sense!"

"Dividing workers into different levels will only encourage them to seek personal gain! Once people have the desire to compare and seek personal gain, how can they honestly study technology? Once people with no moral integrity and incompetence become high-level workers by flattering others, this will inevitably lead to greater conflicts!"

"The workers will certainly be dissatisfied by then, and trouble will still arise. However, our previous craftsmen were very good at management. I have never heard of a precedent of craftsmen having breakfast!"

"Your Majesty, please think twice!"

Although Li Shanchang was old, he had a very flexible mind. He not only quickly absorbed Huang Zicheng's ideas, but also expressed his own views based on the original ones. Such ability would never have been possible without decades of experience in the court.

What Li Shanchang said was not nonsense. Especially after hearing it, Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang immediately fell into deep thought.

In the view of Zhu Yuanzhang and his son Zhu Biao, what Li Shanchang and Huang Zicheng said was not unreasonable.

The method Ouyang Lun proposed is certainly good, but even if it is good, it is ultimately a new method, and no one can tell what the specific effect will be when it is implemented.

However, if we use the old method, everyone in the Ming Dynasty knows how to operate it from top to bottom, and there will be no problems 99% of the time, and it is safer.

Zhu Yuanzhang and his son Zhu Biao looked at each other.

Zhu Biao immediately understood what Zhu Yuanzhang meant, so he turned to look at Ouyang Lun and said, "Brother-in-law, what do you think of what Huang Zicheng and Li Shanchang said?"

"absurd!"

“Not only is it ridiculous, it’s complete nonsense!”

Ouyang Lun said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the Supreme Emperor, it's fine to just listen to what Li Shanchang and Huang Zicheng said. The road to success is right before their eyes, but they are afraid of failure and are running back to the old ways!"

"Isn't the old Ming Dynasty labor system nothing more than corvée labor?"

"The people have long been tortured by corvée labor. The Qin Dynasty was destroyed because of corvée labor, and so was the Sui Dynasty!"

At this point, Ouyang Lun cast a disdainful look at Li Shanchang and Huang Zicheng, "Master Li, Master Huang, you two saw that the tax issue could not harm the Ming Dynasty, but now you want to use the corvée issue to destroy the Ming Dynasty!?"

"You guys are so brave!!"

Forehead.
Hearing Ouyang Lun's words, Li Shanchang and Huang Zicheng were so angry that their faces turned red and their veins bulged! !
"Ouyang Lun you.!"

Huang Zicheng pointed at Ouyang Lun and wanted to refute, but before Huang Zicheng could open his mouth, Ouyang Lun spoke again.

"What do you mean by you? What do I mean by me? Isn't what I said correct enough?!"

"The people have finally had a chance to live a slightly happier life, and now you're forcing them to do corvee labor again. Just wait and see if they'll fight you to the death!!"

"Haven't you two heard that it's easy to go from simple to luxurious, but hard to go from luxurious to simple?"

"You are giving blind advice without even understanding the situation. Your advice is rubbish. Please don't give any advice next time!"

Li Shanchang:
Huang Zicheng:
After finishing his retort, Ouyang Lun did not give Li Shanchang and Huang Zicheng a chance to refute. Instead, he bowed to Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Your Majesty, the emperor, I will not say that there are absolutely no such things as strategizing and conflicts due to the grading of workers. After all, where there are people, there are gangs, but this is definitely a very small minority. If you use this as an excuse to reject such a good suggestion, you are simply committing a crime!"

"And according to this logic, the Ming Dynasty should be a clean, diligent, and selfless court. Now the court often catches corrupt officials. Does that mean that the Ming Dynasty system is also not good? Or should we go back to the ancient system of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors abdicating?"

Originally, Li Shanchang and Huang Zicheng wanted to continue arguing with Ouyang Lun, but after hearing Ouyang Lun's last sentence, they both opened their mouths and swallowed back the words that were in their hearts.

Ouyang Lun, you are so cruel! !
Zhu Yuanzhang looked a little strange when he heard this, and said in a deep voice: "Ouyang Lun, we asked you to stick to the facts in the court, not to go so far!!"

Zhu Biao also quickly spoke up: "Brother-in-law, please continue to talk about the new worker system you mentioned."

"Yes!" Ouyang Lun nodded, and then continued, "For the workers' rank, the court will set up a special assessment agency, such as how many years of service, what technological inventions they have made, and awards they have won in technical competitions. Normally, as long as they are down-to-earth and motivated workers, they will reach a certain rank when they retire. These are all based on their own abilities, and are not based on scheming, corruption or anything like that."

"The person who used this word to describe himself probably doesn't have a clean heart either."

(End of this chapter)