The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 208 "The minimum wage has left us unemployed!"

From the end of the 42nd year of Xianning, the Yi Chu coup and workers' riots began, and the entire Yingtian Prefecture was in panic.

The main officials of the court were suddenly invited into the palace and never allowed to leave again.

At the same time, the workers lost control and after occupying the government office, they were unable to back down and were blocked inside the city wall by the garrison of Yingtian Prefecture.

Fortunately, the Chinese New Year was approaching, and the people and merchants had started buying New Year's goods, and their homes had stockpiled some food, which allowed them to withstand the workers occupying the walls of Yingtian Prefecture for more than ten days.

Fortunately, this was a workers' riot, and the original purpose was to ask the court to increase wages, and there was no large-scale robbery and murder.

The people and merchants of Yingtian Prefecture were relieved after living in fear for more than ten days.

All kinds of true and false news and rumors during this period naturally became the hottest topics during the Chinese New Year.

The workers who actually participated in the riots could not help but spread the news that King Wu had stepped in to mediate, appease the guild leaders, establish an official union, and increase the workers' wages.

Residents on both sides of Chaoyang Gate in Yingtian Prefecture also spread what they saw and heard on the night of the 30th, saying that the King of Wu demonstrated the power of several bombs under the city, and the rebellious workers surrendered.

A large number of elites, including shopkeepers, managers, and literati, continued to process and spread the news while chatting during the New Year, praising the King of Wu for his unparalleled filial piety and brotherly love.

Although most of the merchants in Yingtian Prefecture had not yet realized that Wu was about to become an enemy, they were already very worried.

The main thing is that the main officials of the court were never released, which shows that the person who controlled these officials was not the rioting workers, but the emperor.

Many of these officials have connections with private businessmen. They may have received funding and banquets from their employers, or they may have their own factories and businesses at home.

If all these officials are caught, the relationship networks and information networks that they have become accustomed to over the years will become ineffective.

Coupled with the news of Yichu that spread after the New Year, these businessmen realized that a big problem was coming.

On the streets, in restaurants and teahouses, and in the courtyards of rich families, people are talking everywhere, some are worrying, and some are discussing the future.

"Could it be that because His Majesty wanted to appoint the King of Wu as the crown prince, and the old gentlemen in the court disagreed, so they were controlled by His Majesty?"

"Now, based on information from all sides, this is indeed the case."

"It was also because the prefects, ministers, generals, and commanders were suddenly controlled by the emperor in the palace, and the Jinyiwei and the garrison lost their command, which gave those unruly people the opportunity."

"Why? Why do these old gentlemen oppose His Majesty's changing of the crown prince? Isn't the King of Wu the popular choice?"

“The King of Wu is the popular choice, but he is a vassal king. He can rely on the personnel and resources of Wu and even the United States to influence and manage the government of the Ming Dynasty.

"Crown Prince... Prince Liang is different. Prince Liang can only rely on the old gentlemen in the court and the merchants in Ming Dynasty.

"Correspondingly, the old gentlemen have weight, power, and status in front of King Liang, but they are nothing in front of King Wu. King Wu can directly dismiss all of them."

"The old gentlemen... haven't come out yet. Are they really all dismissed? What should we do?"

"How do we get news from the court? How do we get orders from the court?"

"King Wu... after becoming the crown prince, will he not give all the court orders to the factories in Wu?"

"Now do you understand why the old gentlemen disagree with His Majesty changing the crown prince?"

"For ordinary people, craftsmen and managers, the King of Wu is indeed the most popular Lu Ban in the world, but for us, he is a competitor."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible. Don't worry too much. Wu still needs to buy from us. The development and construction of the north also require materials."

"Even if the King of Wu becomes the crown prince, he will still have to continue purchasing from the local area. Given the size of Wu, it is impossible for it to take up all the orders."

"And the minimum wage of five silver dollars, the court is not serious, right? They won't really agree to that for those unruly people, right?"

"No, the imperial court is definitely not happy about this. This rule was made just to appease those unruly people."

"Now that His Majesty is safe and the troublemakers have retreated, we will definitely not enforce it."

Some people began to realize that Wu was a competitor, but they still could not accept this reality immediately.

It was not until after the Lantern Festival that the news that court officials were exiled on a large scale and the emperor, the crown prince, Prince Liang and major officials went to Shuntian Prefecture spread.

The merchants in Yingtian Prefecture were not completely desperate. Some even felt that if the court went to Shuntian Prefecture, they would have more freedom in their business.

However, this situation did not last long. After the new year, when the court should have been conducting centralized procurement, there was no movement at all this year.

Only then did more and more people feel that there might be real big trouble.

The market in Yingtian City has regained its bustle of previous years, but there is also an inexplicable sense of depression everywhere.

In the high-end restaurants and meeting halls inside and outside the city, people argue and discuss every day.

"What is going on? What is the court going to do?"

"Even if the Northern Expedition is victorious, the North still needs to be developed and constructed, right? We had orders last year."

"Where are the disaster victims? The victims on Chongming Island should not have all been sent away yet, right?"

"Why is there no news at all? Not a single whisper?"

"What more news do you want? The entire court has been moved to Shuntian Prefecture by the King of Wu...now His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"The key is that the main officials of the various ministries were either exiled to the Falkland Islands or simply sidelined. They are all useless..."

"Now the entire Southern Zhili is under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office, and our connections with the various departments in the court are all gone."

"So all the information channels are cut off. I don't know what the court and the prince are going to do."

"I don't think we need to be too anxious. Changing the crown prince and returning the capital are both major events. We should be able to recover once things stabilize."

“When will things stabilize? How can I repay my loan without orders? How can I pay my workers?!”

"We can't just wait like this, we have to go to the government office to seek an explanation. Since the governor is in charge, let's go to the governor's office."

"Yes, the court cannot ignore our lives!"

After the 20th day of the first lunar month, factory owners began to go to the Governor's Yamen, formerly the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, to inquire about the status of official orders from the court this year.

Nanzhili Governor Fei Chun refused to meet with these people and ordered the Jinyiwei who were maintaining order in the government office to drive them out:

"The court has its own laws for purchasing affairs. Outsiders should not interfere—"

Some people left, some were unwilling to leave, and more and more people came to the yamen to see the situation and the direction of the wind.

Fei Chun arranged a large number of Jinyiwei to be stationed at the gate of the yamen for guard, and wrote a special notice and posted it on a sign outside the yamen.

The meaning is very simple. What the court wants to buy is the court's business. You common people should not ask too much, otherwise you may be suspected of colluding with foreign countries.

Ordinary merchants did not dare to confront the Jinyiwei directly and could only continue to wait anxiously and impatiently.

Someone bribed low-level officials and clerks in the government office to find out how the next purchase would be arranged, but the response he got was that there was no news at all.

The clerk in the yamen said that there had been no discussion of procurement at all between the imperial court and the Southern Zhili Governor's yamen.

After this news spread, more businessmen could no longer hold on.

"It can't be true, right? The court is no longer purchasing anything from Jiangnan?"

“If not in Jiangnan, where else can we buy?”

"Give it all to Wu? Wu can't supply it either, unless the court deliberately slows down the pace of development and construction."

"Isn't that possible? How much would that slow down the speed?"

"Maybe there are just no plans for the time being?" "How long is the time being? I only have materials and goods on hand now, and the remaining money can only pay two months' wages."

"Can you hold out for two months? I can't hold out for a month, and I still have a loan."

"We can't let this go on. We must petition and find more owners to join us. The court must give us a way out."

"Yes, the court cannot but consider our life and death!"

On January 25, the 43rd year of Xianning, a large number of factory and business owners gathered together, and also found many shopkeepers and senior managers, as well as a group of workers to strengthen their momentum.

At least a thousand people gathered on the street where the governor's office was located, demanding that the governor respond positively to the court order and that they negotiate with the governor.

After Fei Chun heard the alert Jinyiwei report on the situation outside, he sent someone directly to the governor's office opposite to ask Cao Zhendong to send troops to disperse the gathered idlers.

Cao Zhendong also cooperated very well. He directly ordered a regiment to come over and drive away the gathered people with rifles.

The merchants were all people who valued their lives, and when they saw that the soldiers were beating people without mercy, the entire team quickly scattered.

But this matter is not over yet. Now it is the end of the month and it is time to pay wages.

In early February, the report compiled by the managers of the Yingtian Prefecture Trade Union was submitted to the governor.

Most of the factories in Yingtian Prefecture did not comply with the court's orders and did not pay workers according to the minimum standard of five silver dollars.

Most of them would find excuses to owe the money first, or hold the money as shares in the factory and then pay it out when they make money.

Some of them simply claimed that they had no money and would go bankrupt if they were paid five silver dollars.

After reading the report, Fei Chun immediately contacted Governor Fei Chun and dispatched a large number of Jinyiwei to attack with the army to major businesses and factories to confirm the situation.

The on-site requirements required factories and businesses to pay workers in full and immediately.

A large number of factory and business owners were paid at gunpoint, and the workers on the scene cheered and thanked the court.

However, many owners and shopkeepers received the news and simply closed their businesses and stopped production before the army arrived.

The workers and assistants were driven away directly, and the shop did not reopen the next day.

The factories and businesses that were forced to pay money on that day also closed down on a large scale the next day, claiming that they would no longer operate.

On the evening of January 29, the labor manager of the Yingtian Prefecture Labor Union once again entered the governor's office.

Some strong workers discovered that some thugs who were guarding the houses of wealthy families inside and outside the city were recruiting idle people from the streets.

That is, those street urchins and hooligans who often join the workers when they take a break.

Sometimes workers would even pool their money to hire them and let them go to the front to fight against their employers.

Sometimes they are hired by employers to fight against workers who call for a break.

No matter who they are, when they actively recruit these people, they basically focus on destruction and confrontation.

So please ask the Governor's Office to be prepared to respond.

Fei Chun was very happy after hearing this, and gave the other party another reward of ten silver dollars, asking him to keep a part for himself and give the rest to the person who collected the information.

After sending away the labor manager, Fei Chun went directly to find Cao Zhendong and asked him to step up his vigilance.

Cao Zhendong thought this was a simple matter:
"Now the emperor is not here, the king is not here either, and there are 100,000 troops inside and outside Yingtian City. Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be killed."

Since he didn't know what these people were going to do specifically, Cao Zhendong could only dispatch personnel to strengthen vigilance.

The core goal is to prevent the various government offices from being attacked again.

Send more garrisons to guard each government office, and set up defensive machine guns in suitable places inside and around the government office yards.

The area around the Governor's Office and the Governor-General's Office was where the various offices of the Ming Dynasty's central court were located, and it is also the south gate of the Forbidden City.

This is the most important place in Yingtianfu City. Originally, a brigade of main forces was stationed around it, and now the number has continued to increase to a division.

Even if there were tens of thousands of old troops rebelling, they could be quickly defeated or even annihilated.

On the morning of February 2, a large number of people gathered outside the governor's office, which was the street where the Yingtian Prefecture Central Government Office was once located.

They claimed that they were all factory workers who had lost their jobs because of the minimum wage order set by the court.

According to reports from union officials, these people were not actually workers at all.

Most of them were thugs hired by the manufacturers, and there were also bodyguards from the manufacturers' homes who were directing the group.

Fei Chun did not take action directly. He first arranged for the prepared Jinyiwei to go out with a microphone and make a speech.

The governor's office needed a group of workers to repair the embankments of the Yellow River, Huai River and Hongze Lake, and then build a canal extending from Hongze Lake.

If these unemployed workers are willing to join, they can be paid five silver dollars per month.

Someone among the rioters immediately shouted:

"We don't want to leave Yingtianfu, Yingtianfu is our home.

“We were doing well in the factory, but we lost our jobs because of the imperial court’s order. The imperial court should be held responsible.

"The government should abolish the minimum wage limit—"

The crowd seemed to be very excited. Some people crowded to the gate of the yamen, and some deliberately pushed the Jinyiwei at the gate. The Jinyiwei instinctively drove them away with their guns drawn.

In the chaos, someone deliberately attacked, and at the same time, gunshots were inexplicably heard in the crowd. No one was shot, but the scene was in chaos.

When the Jinyiwei heard the gunshots, they immediately retreated to both sides of the yamen.

Someone in the chaotic crowd on the street shouted loudly: "Brothers, charge, let's break into the government office together! Find the governor and talk to him!"

This was not to incite the people at the scene to storm the governor's office, but to deliberately make up an excuse out of necessity.

The Jinyiwei at the door had already run away, so they could easily rush to the yamen.

However, the gate of the yamen that they were about to push open now opened by itself.

Then, an unusually dense stream of bullets flew out of the gate.

Heart-wrenching screams and shapeless flesh and blood flew everywhere.

Behind the gate of the governor's office, the defenders had already set up three 8mm caliber water-cooled machine guns.

A large number of European and Dutch soldiers armed with live ammunition quickly emerged from around the governor's office and the governor's office across the street.

They aimed at the rioters who were attacking the government office from both sides and in front, and shot at them quickly and mercilessly.

The regular army of Wu State used heavy machine guns against the bodyguards and thugs who were guarding the house, and they had the advantage in numbers, so there was no suspense in this battle.

The streets were filled with blood and screams, and the rioters fell to the ground one after another like wheat being cut.

Under the tremendous power of smokeless gunpowder and bolt-action rifles, many people's bodies were directly smashed to pieces.

Some people who were lucky enough not to be killed found themselves being shot at mercilessly by the surrounding troops, and they were so scared that they pissed their pants.

They fled in all directions with heart-wrenching screams, and no one dared to rush into the yamen anymore.

But it was too late to run away now. All the rioters, totaling more than 2,000 people, were wiped out by the governor and the garrison of the governor's office.

(End of this chapter)