The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 200 All businesses prosper

"Stop! Let those people pass first!"

It was already ten o'clock at night after Qi Zexuan attended the welcome dinner hosted by local officials and businessmen in Nandu. Under the escort of the accompanying Imperial Guards and local gendarmes, the group rode in four carriages and drove through the slightly empty streets, preparing to return to the Guest House to rest.

Just as the motorcade passed an intersection, more than a hundred people poured out of a four-story building next to it. Maybe it was getting late, and these people wanted to return home as soon as possible, so they inevitably rushed to the highway and competed with Qi Zexuan and his convoy for the right of way.

The military police officer sitting next to the coachman jumped out of the carriage and was about to step forward to reprimand those pedestrians who did not understand the rules and collided with His Royal Highness's motorcade for no reason.

Qi Zexuan drank a few more glasses of wine at the banquet and was still a little dizzy, but he was still somewhat sober, so he stopped the military police officer's behavior and asked the convoy to stop moving and let passers-by pass first.

It was already mid-spring, and coupled with the temperature difference at night, the temperature was still relatively low. Wearing heavy coats, these passers-by hurried on the night road and did not hesitate to fight with the carriages. They clearly wanted to return to their warm homes as soon as possible and sleep. After a good sleep, when it gets dark the next day, I get up early and continue to work hard and make money to support my family.

Sitting in a luxurious and comfortable carriage, my group could not feel the cold wind at night, and there was no need to rush for life. If I relied on the power of the royal family to loudly scold these pedestrians and forcefully seize the road, it would inevitably cause damage. and royal reputation.

It's just a quick trip, and it's not an important official political trip. There's no need to make a big show of it.

"His Royal Highness is so humble, which is really a blessing to our country!" Prince Yin Zhixu of Nandu Prefecture, who was accompanying the car to see him off, praised in compliment.

"Oh?" Qi Zexuan was greatly surprised, "These workers have to attend night school training at night regardless of their hard work during the day after work?"

Such training schools generally teach students to master various skills, including driving carriages or rail cars, civil construction, general machine repair, tailoring, shoemaking, ship driving, clocks and watches, mechanics, gardening, medicine, bookkeeping, shaving and cooking, and even How to be a competent security guard can be said to be diverse.

"Your Highness probably didn't notice that they were holding books in both hands, right?... Haha, these people should be workers studying at night schools." Wang Zhixu said with a smile: "The place we were passing by just now, there is an adult training school funded by the government. It is used to teach workers some professional skills so that they can master a certain skill, which is of great benefit to the place and the individual."

"Your Highness... is wise!" Wang Zhixu couldn't help but look at the young grandson with admiration.

After receiving professional skills training, although these people cannot do things immediately, they can quickly get started with a little guidance from the master.

"It's so late at night, could it be workers who have just gotten off work?" Qi Zexuan watched through the car window as this group of people quickly crossed the road in small groups and then disappeared into the depths of the block in the night.

For example, after learning how to repair general-purpose steam machinery, his level will definitely not be as good as that of experienced senior craftsmen in the factory. After entering the factory, he still needs to practice with the master craftsmen for a period of time, but after all, he has some theoretical and practical foundation. It won't take long for them to be able to handle some minor machine faults with ease. For the factory, these trained workers are very cost-effective.

"Yes, these workers work tirelessly in order to get better wages and benefits. After work, they have a quick dinner and then rush to night schools to participate in various professional skills training." Wang Zhixu said with some show off: " May your Highness know that such training schools are financially supported by our Nandu government. The school's daily operating expenses are also funded by special funds allocated by the civil affairs department. The teachers trained are also temporarily recruited by the government from higher education institutions and professionals from various industries. Come, students participating in the training can learn one of these professional skills by paying only a small tuition fee.”

Well, His Royal Highness, the Emperor's eldest grandson, behaves so calmly and low-key, and he must be a gentle and restrained good emperor in the future.

Being able to see things from small things and seeing big things from small things, being the future heir to the royal family is indeed not for free!

"This is a very good move!" Qi Zexuan nodded in approval: "It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them how to fish. With the workers having a skill at hand, not only will they have an additional skill to survive, but it will also enable them to work better in the city. They can be well integrated into it. And these trained workers will surely be able to create more value for the city in the future and pay taxes for the government, which is a very good thing for both the public and private sectors!"

It is no exaggeration to say that even if you only master a little bit of steam engine maintenance from the training school, if you go to Daqin or Europe, you will definitely be able to get the status of a senior "engineer" and enjoy generous benefits.

In European countries, education has never been a right that civilians can enjoy. For example, in the United Kingdom, traditional education fees are very high. At the same time, belief in the state religion is an important assessment criterion for students to enter, graduate, and stay in school to teach. The threshold is too high, which prevents people with other faiths or poor economic conditions from enrolling in school. After enrolling, students will enjoy significantly different learning and living conditions according to the levels of noble students, senior self-financed students, self-financed students and reduced-fee students. Under this education model, schools are gradually monopolized by nobles and high-ranking clergy. It will be difficult for the lower class people to have the opportunity to receive education, let alone the future.

As for vocational skills training for ordinary citizens, it is impossible to talk about it. Workers, as long as they work like animals, that's enough!

Training, what the hell?

There is no doubt that the rise of night schools is inseparable from the invention and application of gas lighting. In the era before gaslight, it was almost impossible to hold large-scale lectures at night. Even if you light every corner of the classroom with candles, the light will not be enough for everyone to see the teacher's movements clearly. What's more, the cost is very high and it is impossible to spread it nationwide.

And bright gaslight changed all that.

It fills every corner of the classroom with light, making night classes possible. With this alone, the efficiency of knowledge dissemination in the whole society has increased countless times.

Of course, gas lighting also brought about a sharp increase in production efficiency, mainly because night work in factories also became possible. Take the mechanical hardware factories in Qi as an example. Due to sufficient orders and busy business, they have long had workers working in two shifts, working all night, and working overtime to produce various mechanical products and hardware products.

The efficiency involved is naturally not comparable to those of our European counterparts who have to call it a day after dark.

Can you imagine? The metal tools processed at night will be transported by heavy freight carriages early the next morning, and then smoothly delivered to customers. The goods produced at night are actually extra wealth. It may not be obvious to one factory, but what if there are dozens, hundreds, or thousands of factories? The additional social wealth created is amazing!
Relying on the prosperous overseas trade, all walks of life in the country are booming. The machinery manufacturing industry, cotton textile industry, chemical industry, watch and other fine industries, shipbuilding industry, metal smelting and processing industry, and the military industry are unprecedentedly prosperous (based on the current There were several wars of moderate size going on), vast quantities of goods were produced and shipped at home and abroad, and unemployment - well, the inevitable structural unemployment in society - was reduced to rock bottom. Workers, farmers, and business service personnel all have stable incomes. Prices are slowly but resolutely declining. All types of enterprises are operating at full capacity. The number of bankruptcies has even dropped to an extremely low level. Well, there are always businesses in society. The entire national economy is like a raging fire cooking oil, and its growth momentum is extremely strong.

The prosperity of the real economy has given rise to the progress of Qi's service industry. In today's Hanzhou mainland, various dramas, concerts, circuses, and competitive sports are held continuously. The audience is always full, and the income of actors (athletes) has skyrocketed, so that countless artists from Qin, Korea, and Annan have come to Enter the Qi State and earn a considerable income, and the culture of the entire society is in a state of blooming.

Of course, the growth of the service industry does not only come from these industries such as art and competitive sports. In fact, in some relatively "traditional and ancient" industries, their growth and development speed may be even more rapid.

There are subtle and classical beauties from the East, passionate Persian singers, exotic Westerners, and, oh, there are also cheap and humble Nanyang natives and Indian dancers.

The government actually has no big prejudice against the development of this abnormal industry. It is always the demand of society and cannot be suppressed by pressure. After all, the domestic bachelors have some spare money and need to put some pressure on their lower bodies.

At present, prostitution is not a legal act in Qi State, because the damage to the "social spiritual level" is very huge and far-reaching, and it can easily lead to the degradation of social morality. However, local governments have not overly enforced the law and completely banned it. They basically turn a blind eye and are in a gray area.

The state occasionally cracks down, investigates and punishes some, and rectifies some, giving the people the impression that the government does not approve of these underground economies, and then even if everything continues as usual, it doesn't matter. The people of Qi are not noble enough to have no desires and desires.

Of course, there are still some deceptive underground economies in many overseas territories in Nanyang. For example, many small-scale, low-cost gyms run by Japanese people have always been the targets of severe crackdowns by local governments because they have caused many social problems, including health, and the government cannot help but ignore them.

The governments of the various Viceroyalties in Nanyang tried to guide those Japanese women to make money with their own hands and intelligence, or to marry newly arrived immigrants, which would help improve their overall image. However, it seems to have little effect. After learning that there is a treasure mine of wealth between their legs, Japanese women who do not want to work too hard (including the evil forces that control them) find it difficult to settle down and work, because Such wealth accumulation is too slow to quickly support family members in Japan.

As the carriage passed through a neighborhood, Wang Zhixu couldn't help but feel embarrassed when he saw His Royal Highness tilting his head and looking at some slightly scantily clad women on the street through the carriage window.

How could these customary women in Nandu City be so bold, running to the streets to solicit customers, and letting the emperor and grandson bump into him?

When he talked about the current development status of the domestic customs industry, and then belittled Nanyang's customs, Qi Zexuan just smiled slightly, with a noncommittal expression.

Damn it, why am I telling His Highness this?

Isn’t this trying to cover up the truth?
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(End of this chapter)