At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 714: Changes in Rome and India

November 62, the 9th year of the Han calendar, Rome, Senate.

It was a rare occasion that all the Roman senators were present at this meeting, but the atmosphere was extremely serious and everyone looked unhappy.

Because starting from June, various daily newspapers in the Han Dynasty began to report intensively about the use of child labor, the implementation of the contracting system, forced labor, extremely poor living conditions for workers, and the violation of human rights in Roman factories.

This made the factory owners in Rome very angry, and they thought that the Han people were just looking for trouble because they had nothing better to do.

We are also exploiting the Romans. It has nothing to do with you Han people.

Moreover, you Han people do not exploit others. There are hundreds of thousands of people from Daqinzhou in Yanzhou, working like beasts of burden for you and reclaiming the land. Why haven't I seen you reporting on the affairs of the cattle and horses in Yanzhou?

Of course they were angry, but they didn't care too much. After all, the citizens of Rome could not see the maintenance of the Han Dynasty, and the news was only circulated among the upper class at most.

But soon the Western Qin Daily, which was controlled by the Han people, also began to report on the incident intensively. The citizens of Rome then knew that the Han people, thousands of miles away, were also supporting them in their fight against the cruelly exploitative factory owners.

This touched the Roman workers. Even the Han emperor, thousands of miles away, knew about their suffering, but the senators, who were close at hand, could not see it. What kind of country is this!
For a time, workers destroying machines, striking craftsmen, and craftsmen who fought back against contract laborers appeared in Rome. Rome's industrial areas fell into turmoil. The workers could no longer tolerate the increasingly long overtime hours, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to earn the wages to support their families.

What's more critical is that the contracts signed by the factory are becoming more and more harsh. They just want to work and earn a living, but the contract is signed for four or five years. If they can't stand the factory life and want to leave, they can do so, but they have to compensate the factory for its losses, 20,000 yuan a year, which is 100,000 yuan for five years.

At this time, the workers were dumbfounded. They earned less than 1 yuan a year, but they had to pay 2 yuan in compensation. Not to mention that if they wanted to leave, they would have to pay yuan. The workers felt they were cheated.

But if the workers dared to leave, the factory owners would lead their lackeys to capture the workers and then file a complaint with the Chief Justice. Their case would almost always be successful, and they would have to pay even more compensation.

The reason why Roman factory owners resorted to such means was that they had no other choice. There was a shortage of labor, and the citizens of Rome had no spirit of hardship at all. They would rather farm than work in factories. As for raising the wages of craftsmen to solve the problem, don't even think about it. It was impossible.

In order to recruit sufficient labor, factory owners had to resort to fraud and deception. The most common method was to drive a horse-drawn carriage to the Roman countryside and deceive those simple farmers who had little experience, saying that they would take them to Rome to see the prosperity of a big city. As a result, they became slaves once they arrived in Rome. I couldn't let the workers who had been deceived by me leave easily, so I signed long-term contracts and made them pay a huge amount of compensation that the Roman workers couldn't afford. This became their means of controlling the workers. These factory owners tried every means to block the way out for the Roman workers.

If these were the only means available to the workers, at most they would only cause the factory owners to feel a brief annoyance, like a few mosquitoes buzzing in your ears.

But Mohists also appeared in Rome. They began to organize Roman craftsmen and in turn killed the factory owners' lackeys and contract workers. If the factory owners dared to ask the city defense troops to detain the craftsmen, the craftsmen would dare to kidnap the factory owners' families.

If the factory owners dared to kill the craftsmen, the craftsmen would use the machines in their hands to make muskets and assassinate the factory owners. So far, three notorious factory owners have been assassinated, and the number of contract workers who have been beaten to death is countless.

When both sides pointed guns at each other's foreheads, the factory owners finally began to feel scared. They wanted to go to the Senate to drive out these devil-like Mozi.

The Roman defense army had searched the city of Rome three times, but they couldn't catch a single Mohist. You should know that the appearance of the Han people and the Romans is completely different. Even in this situation, they couldn't catch anyone. Even the Roman elders felt the crisis, because they didn't know when a bullet would hit their heads.

This was just a crisis for the survival of Roman factory owners. After July, Roman textile factory owners found that orders from the Han Dynasty gradually decreased and soon stopped. Then came orders from Yanzhou, and later even Asia Minor and the Seleucid Empire followed the Han Dynasty's footsteps, saying that the Romans forced labor and violated human rights, and they would not buy these sinful cloths.

At one time, Roman cloth piled up like a mountain, and the textile industry fell into crisis and almost went bankrupt. It was only then that they realized that the Han people not only criticized them verbally, but also stabbed them hard with the sword of economy.

This forced the Roman senators to focus on discussing how to deal with this crisis.

Fabius asked wearily, "What do the Han people want us to do in order to lift the sanctions?"

This economic sanction came too quickly and was too severe, and the whole of Rome was plunged into crisis. The Han Dynasty controlled global shipping, and as soon as he announced the sanctions, Rome's overseas markets were almost cut off. Only a small amount of smuggled goods would risk crossing the Mediterranean, but this was not only a drop in the bucket, but also did not make any money at all.

On land, they are connected to the Asian countries, but these countries have long wanted to drive out the Romans, but they dare not take action due to the tariff agreement. But now the Han Dynasty has found a good excuse for them, and now they are even more vulnerable.

There was also a connection with the Northern Huns, but the two sides were competing for the land of Western Qin. Although large-scale battles did not occur, small-scale conflicts never stopped.

Either your cavalry comes to harass my village, or my cavalry kills everyone in your village. It's a bit of an exaggeration to say that the hatred between the two sides is as deep as the sea, but it's not an exaggeration to say that we are enemies.

Originally, there was another fellow sufferer, the Carthaginians, but they turned against the Han people very quickly. When they saw the Han people taking this action, their consul immediately made a high-profile announcement that the Carthaginian Senate had already drafted a decree that any Carthaginian factory that did not implement the eight-hour work system would be punished.

For the Carthaginians, the first important pillar is the shipping industry, and the second important pillar is the labor business. Both of these pillars rely on the Han people for their livelihood. Naturally, they dare not offend the Han people. Moreover, even if it is implemented for 8 hours, their factory owners will not lose much, and the internal market will be increased. There is basically no loss for Carthage. What is lost is only the interests of a small number of factory owners. The Carthaginians are still very aware of being lackeys.

Faced with the situation of being surrounded on all four sides, the best solution they could think of was to send cloth to the countryside, where the Roman countryside had strong purchasing power and market.

After the Datong Society came to power in Rome, military settlement and reclamation became Rome's national policy. When their industrial products were inferior to those of the Han Dynasty, the only goods they could exchange for foreign exchange were grains such as wheat and soybeans, and cash crops such as barley, oats, buckwheat, and alfalfa.

As their per-acre yield was lower than that of the Han Dynasty, exchanging more land for production capacity became their only option. So for more than a decade, the Romans had been expanding northwards. They cut down forests when they encountered them, drained swamps when they encountered them, beat up barbarians when they encountered them, recruited them as their subordinates, and led them to open up wasteland, cultivate land, and graze. Now Rome's territory is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Northern Huns to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Its population and land area are not worse than those of Rome in its peak period, and are even 3 points stronger.

It's just that Rome, which was a maritime civilization, was forced by the Han Dynasty to become a continental civilization. But this also has an advantage, that is, Rome's territory is very large, and the Roman Empire grows at a rate of adding 100,000 farmers almost every year. The hinterland of Daqinzhou, forests and swamps have become cities, and the wilderness has become a civilized place. This Rome brought an extremely broad economic depth.

But selling cloth to the countryside was only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution. The more fundamental solution was to lift the ban and allow Roman goods to be sold to the global market.

Claudius said: "The Han people want factories to ban child labor. Children should go to school, not to factories."

A senator said: "If these children are not allowed to fend for themselves, they will starve to death on the streets. The Han are killing our Roman children."

Claudius said angrily: "Then increase the income of the craftsmen so that they can have money to raise their children, instead of letting their children die at the hands of machines before they reach adulthood."

"If we don't do this, our factory in Rome will not be competitive. Dahan uses advanced motors to weave cloth. The cloth it weaves is not only wear-resistant and durable, but also bright in color and comfortable to wear. The key is that its production capacity is several times that of ours. We used the second-hand steam engine we bought from Dahan. The cloth is of poor quality and ugly in color. How can we compete with Han cloth if we don't reduce costs?"

"Why did countries like Greece beg for mercy from the Han? It's because they don't drive their children to factories. That's why their textile industry can't beat ours. If we don't have child labor and reduce the working hours of craftsmen, how can our cloth compete with other countries? Don't forget that the Greeks are better at handicrafts, and their cloth is more refined than ours."

Claudius sneered and said, "Then don't blame the Han people for banning your cloth and the craftsmen for rebelling against you." "The Han people are too nosy!" The Roman senators felt humiliated that the Han people were also involved in the factories they opened in their own country.

Fabius shook his head and said, "If we want to do business with the Han, we must abide by the Han's rules and formulate a law to protect craftsmen. If everyone raises the cost, it is equivalent to not raising the cost. As long as we can sell to the Han, my Roman goods will still be competitive. In March next year, I will personally go to the Han to attend the meeting of the allied countries and ask the Han to lift the ban. You should renovate the factory according to the new law and don't let the Han people catch you."

The elders could only reluctantly agree. If this matter was limited to Rome, they would have nine ways to ruin the decree with their connections in Rome. But the problem was that this matter happened in the Han Dynasty, and their connections had no way of affecting the Han Dynasty.

After the Senate meeting, Claudius hailed a taxi and said, "Go to the Rome Automobile Factory."

This taxi is not luxurious, it only has three wheels, and the car body is made of iron bars and canvas. The horizontal bars made of two wooden boards serve as seats. What stands out is its simplicity and practicality.

This taxi is far inferior to the big man in terms of comfort and luxury, but it has one big advantage, the price is cheap, the whole car only costs 29000. At the same time, there is another advantage in Claudius's eyes, that is, this car is made in Rome.

But when Claudius arrived at the Roman car factory, he found it in a very messy state, with many craftsmen beaten and bleeding.

"what happened?"

When the workers saw the consul coming, they felt like they had found a backbone and came to complain.

"It was the Wild Wolf Gang who came to cause trouble. They said our workers cheated in their casino and defrauded them of their money. They wanted our factory to compensate them 100 million. We refused to take the money, so these thugs beat us up."

Factory Manager Anthony also came over with one red eye and said, "It should be the people from the Mechanical Guild who are looking for trouble. Their president warned us a month ago. He told us not to pay the craftsmen such high wages and not to bring the bad habits of the Han people to Rome. I disdained such an old stubborn person and did not listen to him. As a result, they took revenge."

Since the Roman Automobile Factory had the consul as its backer, no one should have dared to offend them. At first, the Mechanical Association even enthusiastically introduced them to the association, hoping to make Anthony and his friends a part of it.

Anthony and his people naturally had no interest in such a corrupt association that exploited craftsmen, which had already caused dissatisfaction in the Machinery Association. Later, they recruited craftsmen with a monthly salary of thousands, and poached many excellent craftsmen from other steam plants. The most important thing was that they also gave dividends to the workers. This was a serious violation of the rules, and Anthony and his people learned the way the Han Dynasty built the industrial chain. They selected a group of excellent machinery factories before the automobile factory and placed orders for some parts at high prices, but there was a strict requirement, which was to require them to strictly learn the standards of the Han Dynasty, and the welfare benefits of the craftsmen had to be learned, which almost drove away all the machinery factories. But there were still dozens of small machinery factories that were willing to meet Anthony's standards in order to make money, and Anthony also helped them buy machinery to improve productivity.

This behavior immediately labeled Anthony and his group as mortal enemies. If Anthony and his group applied the standards of the Han people, people would just ignore these young people. Sooner or later, society would educate these people. But Anthony wanted to expand his own standards throughout the Han people, and the two sides became mortal enemies.

When the workers of the Roman car factory received more than 2000 salaries in the first month, the car factory became a thorn in the eyes of all the factory owners in Rome.

After hearing the whole story, Claudius said angrily: "Don't worry, I will give you an explanation."

September 62, 9nd year of the Han calendar, Tianzhu, New Seoul.

This city, built by Liu Qi and his men based on the Han Dynasty template, has become increasingly larger and more populous. The city now has a permanent population of over 50, plus a floating population of . It has magically transformed from a small fishing village into an international metropolis.

Normally, there are tens of thousands of factories, mainly producing light industrial products such as goods, clothes, shoes, hats, luggage, etc. These industries earn tens of billions of foreign exchange for India every year. It is the first time that Indians have discovered that the world can be so good. Ordinary Indian people come to this city, and two people work together. They can earn one thousand four hundred to one thousand five hundred a month. They eat and live in the factory, and spend a maximum of two hundred a month. They can save 1000 coins a month, and tens of thousands of coins a year, which is ten times higher than their original income in the countryside.

Merchants in Tianzhu also found that business was easy to do. This emerging city consumed countless materials every day. Whether they sold food, cotton, spices, or even processed and matched products, they could make money by learning from the Han people to open textile factories and garment factories. The only thing that made them dissatisfied was that Liu Qi was too strict. He controlled the quality of the goods and even their trading transactions. The good thing was that they could get back their debts. The bad thing was that they could not hold back the payment for goods. This was an advanced experience from the Han Dynasty. It was very popular in Tianzhu. Liu Qi, a Han Chinese, actually destroyed the tradition of the Han Dynasty. It was simply unreasonable.

The worst thing is that they also give them credit scores, and those who fail to meet the standards are not allowed to become suppliers of New Seoul. No wonder the Han people said that Liu Qi was a cruel official like Shang Yang, who wanted to control everything and would be flogged for any violation of the law. He was extremely cold-blooded.

Although Liu Qi had a bad reputation among the people of India, and although he did not reach the point where people would call for war and killing, he still had both good and bad reputations.

However, to the Indian King Xu Aijun and other Indian princes and nobles, Liu Qi was a close friend who could bring them wealth.

In the past, when they sold cash crops such as cotton, spices, and sugar, they were always forced to lower their prices by sea merchants. But now with the light industrial economic center of New Seoul, not only has it become easier for them to sell their goods, but their prices are also 1% to 2% higher. The profits in the textile industry have made them jealous, and many people have even started to open textile and garment factories in New Seoul.

Due to the success of the pilot reform, Liu Qi accumulated considerable prestige in the Kingdom of India. The King of India promoted Liu Qi to the position of Prime Minister of India, in charge of the industrial system of India.

Liu Qi was also very blunt. The first thing he did when he took office was to target the incompetent and corrupt Indian officials. He sensibly allowed these Indian officials to retire in the name of giving way to young people and gave them a decent retirement package.

He was so tactless that he directly removed these officials in the name of anti-corruption and replaced them with a group of capable young officials, gradually establishing his prestige in India.

He then carried out land reforms and suppressed the landlords in India through progressive taxation.

Small landlords who cultivate the land for themselves for 100 acres will be taxed at a rate of one-tenth; those with 500 to 500 acres will be taxed at two-tenths; those with to acres will be taxed at three-tenths; those with to acres will be taxed at four-tenths; those with to acres will be taxed at half the rate; and those with more than acres will be taxed at six-tenths.

This forced the landlords of India to invest their money into the industrial system. Of course, in order not to offend the Han nobles and reduce resistance to reform, they used economic plantations in the form of farms, which did not require agricultural taxes but only required industrial and commercial taxes.

This was a decree intended to break the landlord economy. The income of agricultural craftsmen might be the same as that of tenants, barely enough to support their families, but in terms of the economic system, this was a huge improvement. It broke the self-sufficient model of the small peasant economy and forced the landlords of India to invest money, technology, and labor in the land, rather than collecting rent without any effort as before.

Liu Qi had taken a political economy class from the retired emperor, and he clearly remembered what the retired emperor said about the economic model of collecting rent. Landlords would only take wealth away from the country's economy, but would not increase their wealth, nor would they invest in land to increase production efficiency, manage the land, and increase crop income.

Under this model, the game between the landlords and the state is zero-sum. The more wealth the landlords take away, the less wealth the state can control, and the state will become weak. As this model continues to expand, the landlords will control more and more social wealth, and the state will control less and less wealth, which is not enough to maintain normal operations. That is when the entire country will collapse.

While cracking down on the landlord economy, he was also supporting the industrial and commercial economy. When there was no way to completely eradicate corruption in India, he established four special industrial zones along the coast of India, concentrating India's wealth and talents to develop these five industrial zones, in order to change India's economic situation in a point-to-surface manner.

At the same time, money was spent on eliminating backward production capacity and mechanical equipment in Dahan and expanding a number of state-owned factories in Tianzhu. Tianzhu also established a number of steel mills, machinery plants, cement plants, brick kiln plants and other infrastructure industries.

This reform made India's economy grow again. In the 61st year of the Han Dynasty, India's fiscal revenue increased by %. In the first half of this year, India's fiscal revenue increased by % year-on-year. This growth rate has exceeded that of the Han Dynasty.

At the same time as Tianzhu's light industry was developing rapidly, its heavy industry also made great progress. Liu Qi used the Tianzhu Customs as collateral and developed money houses around the world to borrow 30 billion yuan. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Han Dynasty's equipment renewal, he purchased second-hand steelmaking equipment in Kuaiji County and built Tianzhu's largest steel plant in New Seoul, with an annual output of 20 tons of iron and tons of steel.

At the same time, Tianzhu’s first steel shipyard is also under construction. Although the equipment purchased is second-hand from the Han Dynasty, this shipyard can manufacture 10,000-ton ocean-going transport ships, filling the gap in Tianzhu’s ocean-going ships.

(End of this chapter)