The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 586: A Cage of Five Hundred Million People! (Please subscribe and vote)
Before the morning mist cleared, Charles Watson, secretary of the British Consulate, had led Moore and his party onto the muddy ridges. The Cambridge graduate, who was an expert on the East, pointed to the terraced fields on the hillside opposite and said, "There is very little flat land outside Nagasaki City, which is not enough to feed the large population. People have tried their best to survive. All the hillsides with gentle slopes in this area have been developed into terraced fields - people have made unimaginable efforts to get a little more food! But even so, the farmers here are still extremely poor, and the annual tribute paid to the lord usually accounts for 50 to 70% of the harvest!"

"Five to seventy percent." Moore exclaimed. Friedrich was observing three hunchbacked old farmers weeding in the fields. They pulled out the weeds in the fields one by one with their bare hands. They pulled them very carefully, fearing to miss a single one. It looked like they were panning for gold on the West Coast.

“Japanese farmers are so serious about planting that they could be qualified as gardeners at the Royal Botanic Gardens,” Friedrich wrote in his notebook.

Bai Siwen lit a cigar, took a puff, and said leisurely: "Chinese farmers are the same as them, but now they don't have to pay so much rent."

"Is this a good thing?" Moore knew Bai Siwen's identity. He looked at this former Qing official who "came to Britain" and thought to himself: "He must have been a big landlord, and all his family's land was divided up by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although he and I are friends, I still think it is a good thing that makes people happy!"

Bai Siwen smiled sarcastically: "Land rent, usury and feudal dependency are shackles on the peasants of China, Japan and Korea. But when these three shackles are cut off, it is hard to say whether the liberated peasants will pick up hoes or muskets!"

Wenxian suddenly asked: "How many people are there in Japan?"

"About thirty million, I estimate," Charles Watson replied.

"What about North Korea and China?" Wenxian asked again.

"King Yangdong's people just released North Korea's population statistics, which are over 17 million, while China's estimate is 450 million!"

"About 500 million," said Wen Xiandao. "Europe is about 270 million, about half of East Asia."

The field suddenly became silent.

At noon, Charles Watson led Moore and his party to the Pozzo kiln factory. The scene there was impressive. Dozens of potters were topless in the high temperature of over 40 degrees, pounding the clay. Although everyone was very busy, the production scale was not actually large, and the production process was all manual, with low efficiency, so the output should not be too high.

When the kiln owner proudly displayed the celadon incense burner presented to the Lord of Satsuma, the British guests could not help but sigh - although the craftsmen of this kiln factory were skilled and extremely responsible, the porcelain they fired with their best efforts was not as good as the industrially produced Royal Doulton bone china.
"These craftsmen live in leaky wooden houses." Charles pointed to the slums behind the kiln. "Although they can produce the best porcelain in Japan, they can only eat with chipped pottery bowls. And they are not full!"

Moore wrote in his notebook: "The lack of resources and the dark feudal rule meant that although Japan had the most diligent and dedicated craftsmen, their production scale and market were always limited. When feudal rule was replaced by more efficient bourgeois rule, the lack of resources would become a bottleneck for the liberation of productivity. At that time..."

In a lacquerware workshop, a group of Japanese women workers are polishing a batch of exquisite dressing boxes. The English word for Japan can also be used to represent "lacquerware", which shows how popular exquisite Japanese lacquerware is in Europe. Even Moore couldn't help but want to choose a beautiful lacquerware as a gift for his "Yanni". He picked up a jewelry box and sighed: "The craftsman who can produce this kind of goods can earn at least three pounds a week in the UK.

Bai Siwen was also holding a tobacco box and examining it: "A craftsman who can produce this kind of thing must be able to create the most sophisticated mechanical gears." As he spoke, he cast his eyes on Aju, the most beautiful female worker in the workshop, and at the same time took out a "Suruga Pan" (a kind of gold coin) weighing one or two taels from his pocket.

In the consulate's study that evening, Charles spread out a "Nagasaki Consulate Report" and showed it to Moore and others: "Japan produces 6 million catties of copper, 1.2 million pounds of raw silk, and more than 100,000 pieces of lacquerware each year, while the average farmer consumes only a little over one stone of rice per year. In addition, more than 30,000 Japanese girls were trafficked to the west coast of North America, and the Shin-Yo sect was the largest trafficker."

"And then?" Bai Siwen interrupted him while blowing smoke rings. "Being sold to the West Coast shouldn't be a bad thing for those Japanese girls, right?"

Charles nodded: "It's better than starving to death. So the human trafficking of the Shinyo sect does not disgust the lower-class people in Japan. On the contrary, many people are grateful to them. After all, the price they offer is very high, and many Japanese women who arrive on the West Coast can send money home!"

"The only way out for Japan is industrialization!" Moore commented as he flipped through his notes, "The only way out for China, North Korea, and Japan is industrialization!"

"What will happen after industrialization?" Bai Siwen looked at Moore.

Moore said: "Whatever happens after industrialization will not affect the industrialization of China, North Korea, and Japan! There are 500 million hard-working people here, and they are already standing on the threshold of industrialization. The feudal chains of China and North Korea have been broken. Although Japan is still a feudal country, when the real contract faction attracts enough lower-class civilians and lower-level samurai, Japan's feudal rule will surely collapse. At that time, Japan will also embark on the road of industrialization. This is inevitable and cannot be reversed by anyone's will. When this race that accounts for 40% of the world's total population awakens, who can force them into a coma?" "But as long as the three East Asian countries cannot unite, we have the opportunity to lock them in East Asia!" Wen Xian suddenly interrupted, "North Korea and Japan may become a cage that traps China to death!"

Bai Siwen sneered: "How is this possible? China has been the ruler of East Asia since ancient times!"

Charles, the "Eastern Expert", shook his head: "Not necessarily. Moreover, during China's most powerful period, it was unable to conquer Japan. In addition, there is an obvious contradiction between Yang Xiuqing, who now rules Korea, and the core of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

"Little North Korea." Bai Siwen said with disdain.

"What if we add Japan?" Wen Xian counted on his fingers and said, "North Korea and Japan together have a population of about 50 million. Although it is only one eighth to one ninth of China's, as long as they get the support of Britain and France, they may be able to fight against China!"

"How is that possible?" Bai Siwen still didn't believe it. "Moore, Friedrich, what do you think?"

Moore shook his head: "It is inevitable that Europeans will support Japan and North Korea in confronting China! Whether it will succeed or not is another matter, but dividing the 500 million people in East Asia and making 50 million of them a prison for the other 450 million is something that any ruler of a European world empire can think of!"

Friedrich wrote and drew in his notebook, and said, "I think Prince Albert sponsored this Eastern expedition in order to get a plan to support Japan and North Korea and contain China." He looked up at Wen Xian, "Otherwise, we wouldn't have run directly from Java to Japan, right?"

Wen Xian smiled but did not answer.

Friedrich asked again: "Where are we going next? North Korea?"

Wen Xian glanced at Charles, the "Oriental expert" and said with a smile: "Go to Osaka and Kyoto. There are some very interesting things happening there, which are worth witnessing."

"What's going on there?" Moore asked with interest.

Charles laughed and said, "The fusion of Shintoism and Shintoism. These two completely unrelated religions were actually combined by Shinto scholars and Shinto priests. The method they adopted was simply ridiculous."

The door of the study was suddenly knocked open, and the Dutch Consul Van Limburg Styron suddenly appeared in front of everyone. The knuckles of this descendant of Amsterdam nobles were white as he held the express letter, and the veins were throbbing under his skin as old as parchment: "Batavia. Karitama Strait"

The British Consul Sir Sutton followed silently behind the old Dutch man. He was supposed to take Moore, Bonham and others on a tour around Nagasaki Castle today, but the report on the battle of Java brought by the "Albatross" made the Dutch Consul take him to the Dutch Consulate early in the morning to discuss countermeasures.

Unexpectedly, a "Surabaya" class ship from the Dutch East Indies just now brought an express letter from the Governor's Office of the Dutch East Indies.
"It seems that we can't go to Osaka and Kyoto to watch the True Covenant Archbishop and the Japanese Emperor perform magic together!" Sir Sutton suddenly said, "We must go to Korea! Mr. Pahud, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, hopes that we, Britain, and the King of Korea, will mediate together to prevent the situation in the Dutch East Indies from further deteriorating!"

Bonham seemed a little surprised: "Is the situation in the Dutch East Indies very bad?"

"It's terrible!" said the Dutch consul with a gloomy face. "Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya were all captured by the True Jockeys! Thousands of white people became hostages, and the Dutch East India Fleet was also severely damaged by the Taiping Navy in the Karitama Strait."

Moore quietly wrote in his notebook: "How much resources and land should the East Asian race, which accounts for 40% of the world's total population, occupy before the country disappears?"

(End of this chapter)