The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 597 Moore: I finally smell the scent of capitalism!

Jing'an Fort, Luanzhou, Yongping Prefecture, August of the seventh year in the Tianli period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

That afternoon, the carriage carrying Moore, Friedrich and Bai Siwen stopped outside a small castle called Jing'an Fort in Luanzhou.

They entered Shanhaiguan the day before and entered Yongping Prefecture in northern Zhili. As soon as they entered Shanhaiguan, they could clearly feel the dense population. The villages and towns on both sides of the official road increased immediately. From time to time, groups of refugees and "porridge sheds" built by the Zhili Governor's Office could be seen on the official road. These porridge sheds were specially set up for refugees who fled to Guandong. All refugees who came with their families and in groups always had a bowl of thin porridge to eat in these porridge sheds.

Outside the east gate of Jing'an Fort, there is such a porridge stall. Brown rice is being cooked in more than a dozen large iron pots. The porridge is not ready yet, but the aroma of rice has attracted many refugees with their families.

Friedrich put on his round-framed glasses and looked at the refugees huddled under the thatched huts on both sides of the official road. These people were wrapped in patched sackcloth, with babies in their arms sucking on their dry breasts. Their eyes were all fixed on the huts where rice porridge was being cooked.

Bai Siwen had already opened the car door and walked down, and asked Moore and Friedrich to get out of the car and walk a few steps. He pointed to a sign on the side of the road and said, "There is a sign over there. Let's go and see what it says!"

Moore looked along his folding fan and immediately saw the dozen or so characters "The Imperial Order to Supervise Zhili Military Affairs, Zuo Xiaoyu, Decree to Reduce Rent and Interest and Reassure the People". Bai Siwen walked over quickly, and Moore and Friedrich followed him.

"First, rent reduction. For all the land in Zhili, whether it is government-owned or private land, the rent shall never exceed 40%." Bai Siwen glanced at the notice written in classical Chinese and quickly found the most important content. He paused and said, "40% is not low! And... Second, interest reduction. For all silver and money loans, the annual interest shall not exceed 2.5%. 25% annual interest is better than 90% return, but it is not low!"

"Hasn't the land been distributed? Why are there still people willing to pay such high rent for the land?" Friedrich took out his notebook and wrote down the contents of the notice while asking questions in stiff Beijing dialect Chinese.

"Dividing the land, huh, you are joking." A sigh with a strong Beijing accent came from the broken straw shed on the side. An old man in a patched shiny satin jacket crossed his legs, and the jade ring on his thumb was half broken. "You must have just come to the Kaiping Mining Bureau, right? You must have stayed in Nanzhili before, right? Do you think the land distribution in Nanzhili and Beizhili is the same thing?"

How many versions of the division of land are there?
Moore's gray-blue eyes narrowed. He noticed that although the old man was unkempt, his clothes looked like he had once been wealthy.

"Are you from Beijing, father-in-law?" Bai Siwen threw away his folding fan and came over, speaking fluent Beijing dialect.

The old man's green eyes rolled around, and he stood up and saluted with the posture of some bannermen who were bowing to the emperor: "My name is Zhao Wu, and I used to make a living in the Liulichang in Sijiu City. Nowadays, the world is difficult." He caught a glimpse of the reflection of the silver dollar leaking out from Bai Siwen's fingers, and his voice immediately became clear, "What do you want to know?"

Inside a dilapidated temple in Jing'an Fort City.

"Marshal Zuo's Equal Land Distribution Order is a joke!" Zhao Wu chewed the beef jerky given by Bai Siwen, chewing it so deliciously that his saliva sprayed on the dust on the incense table. "The imperial farms, official farms, and private farms of the Eight Banners were all confiscated, but the land of the Han landlords remained untouched!" He suddenly lowered his voice, "Take the Wang family in this town. Their ancestors were bondservants who followed Prince Rui into the country! Now they have cut their braids and changed the inscriptions on their ancestral tombs. Hey, they have become proper Han gentry!"

Friedrich's pen tip rustled on the paper. "So the landless peasants can only go to Guandong?"

"Those who can leave are lucky!" He spat a mouthful of thick phlegm outside the temple. "Zuo Zongtang opened a commercial port in Tianjin, and many foreigners and profiteers from the south set up factories in the commercial port. The Shengku in the south also set up a coal mining bureau in Luanzhou, and they are all short of manpower. On the official road leading to the outside of the Great Wall, every porridge stall has a recruitment officer to coax people to do hard labor and go down to the mines!"

After hearing what he said, Moore and Friedrich's eyes lit up - yes, this is the stench of capitalism!
The farmers were bankrupted, and then they were coaxed into working in factories and mines as cheap labor.
At this time, there was a commotion at the temple gate. A few men in shorts pushed aside the refugees and escorted a middle-aged man wearing a Western-style hat and Chinese robe in. The sticks made a clanging sound on the bluestone slabs, and the official language with a Cantonese accent carried the sweet taste of congratulations on getting rich: "Kaiping Mining Bureau is recruiting! The monthly salary is four Taiping silver dollars, and food and accommodation are provided!"

A short man stood up from the crowd of refugees and said, "It's dangerous to go down into the mines. What if we get hurt or die?"

"The work injury subsidy is 50 to 50 yuan, depending on the severity of the injury!" The Cantonese man took off his hat and fanned himself with air, saying with a big smile, "If someone dies from a work injury, they will receive a 100 yuan subsidy!"

The crowd burst into a buzz. The treatment seemed good.
Zhao Wu, however, picked up the broken bowl on the altar and smashed it over: "Last year, the mine collapsed in Lijiazhuang, and the mine owner just walked away, and more than 30 lives were lost in vain! You miners are all bad people!" He shouted to the refugees gathered outside: "Fellow villagers, we have all arrived in Yongping, and we can just grit our teeth and go outside. Two mu of black land per person is better than working in the mines!"

The Cantonese man's face suddenly changed. Just as the bodyguard was about to step forward, Bai Siwen's folding fan was already across the middle: "Sir, the distinguished guest of His Royal Highness the Prince of Gan is here, will you give me some face?"

This Cantonese man's surname was Tang. Tang Tingshu, the general manager of the Kaiping Mining Bureau, was his distant nephew. Everyone in the mine called him Fourth Master Tang, and he was the head of the mine's recruitment department.

During this period, the English miners hired by the Kaiping Mining Bureau found several shallow mineral veins and were about to start large-scale development. They were in great need of manpower, so he, the head of the company, personally went out to recruit people.
He held Hong Rengan's token and studied it over and over again, then suddenly grinned, "Marshal Zuo also heard that Prince Gan was going to Tianjing with several foreign officials and had already entered Zhili, so he did not dare to neglect it and came to Yongping in person. I didn't expect you to have already arrived at Jing'an Fort. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He cupped his hands, "But Kaiping Mine is an industry of Shengku, one of the 36 key factories and mines introduced from England. It plans to invest millions of silver dollars. Not only do we need to open a coal mine, but we also need to build a railway. We are really short of manpower!"

Moore suddenly asked in stiff official language: "How many hours do miners work every day?"

"What hours?" Mr. Tang was stunned for a moment, and counted on his fingers, "I start work at Mao time and finish work at Hai time, including the time for two meals. It's a total of eight hours."

Friedrich took out a pen and wrote down the data: 16 hours of work per day, the salary is equivalent to 0.7 shillings
"What about child labor?" Moore then asked.

"Half price!" Mr. Tang knocked on the table proudly, "Half price for children under ten! Last month, there was a flood in Luanzhou, and the victims rushed to send their children to the mine."

Bai Siwen suddenly started coughing violently. Fourth Master Tang stood up and bowed tactfully, "Everyone, please rest early. Marshal Zuo should be able to arrive at the Kaiping Mining Bureau tomorrow." Before leaving, he added, "Now in Zhili, weaving factories, flour mills, match factories, and shipping companies are flourishing everywhere. They are no less prosperous than those in Jiangnan, and much more prosperous than the situation of the Eastern King on the other side of the sea. You will know when you arrive in Tianjin."

Friedrich was intrigued by his words and asked again, "Are these factories invested by the Holy Treasury of the Kingdom of Heaven?"

Fourth Master Tang shook his head: "The Holy Treasury only invested in 36 key areas, and the rest were invested by wealthy people in the private sector. The land distribution in Zhili was not a big deal, and the private wealthy people did not suffer much damage. There are also more poor people without land than in the south."

In the Jing'anbao Post Station, Moore paced back and forth: "Zuo Zongtang deliberately retained the landlord class in order to keep the peasants poor and force them to leave the land and work as cheap labor in factories and mines!"

"Although there was no sheep-eating-people situation," Friedrich wrote in his notebook, "he used the wasteland in the Northeast as bait to lure farmers off the land. As long as some obstacles were set up along the way, the capitalists could use the minimum wage to trick them into working in factories and mines. This is a typical tactic commonly used in the primary stage of capitalism!"

Moore nodded. "China has richer resources, a larger domestic market, and more capital than North Korea and Japan. In addition, there is enough cheap labor, appropriate tariff protection, industrial policies, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's investment in certain key projects. China's industrialization process is likely to be faster than North Korea and Japan."

Friedrich frowned. "If the Kingdom of Korea wants to complete its industrialization, it must first conquer Japan, then close the markets of Japan and Korea, monopolize the profits of the Japan-West Coast trade line, and use the West Coast of the United States as a dumping ground for its products. This will inevitably lead to a complete breakdown in the relationship between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Kingdom of Korea!"

Moore said: "Yes. Even if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Korean Heavenly Kingdom believed in the same Heavenly Father, conflict between them was inevitable! Because as long as they embarked on the capitalist road, they would inevitably be governed by the laws of capitalist economy."

Friedrich closed his notebook and thought: "If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wins in the future struggle, then 500 million people in East Asia will break out of the cage and the world pattern will be reshaped!"

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Bai Siwen flashed in wrapped in a cloak with a sly smile on his face: "You two, Zuo Zongtang's convoy has arrived at Kaiping Town. Do you know who else he brought with him?"

He paused deliberately, "Wei Changhui, the elder brother of Wei Jun, the archbishop of the Java Heavenly Kingdom, His Royal Highness the Northern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the 'Judas brother' of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, has already taken a steamship to Northern Zhili, and also went north to Kaiping with Zuo Zongtang."

(End of this chapter)