The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 630 Moore: The price of freedom is hunger and cold! (Please subscribe, please vote)

April 1858, 4, Osaka, Japan.

The morning mist in Osaka Harbor had not yet dissipated, and the cool and salty sea breeze blew in. The "huge" hull of the Jili steam paddle wheel was moored next to the pier. On the deck, two Japanese samurai were leaning on the railing and looking at the dock - Iwasaki Yataro was wrapped in a half-worn dark blue haori, and his thin face was a bit bookish; next to him, Sakamoto Ryoma had his collar open, a katana slung diagonally at his waist, and his messy hair was blown by the sea breeze.

Both of them were from Tosa Domain. Since the Tosa Yamauchi family had converted to the Shinyoku sect, they became so-called Shinyoku samurai and were sent by the domain to serve the Shinyoku Shrine in Osaka.

A few days ago, Natalia took Luo Yaoguo's handwritten letter to Hong Daquan and asked him to arrange some followers for her. So Iwasaki and Sakamoto, who can speak fluent Chinese and some English, got lucky and were assigned as the palace guards of the Grand Duchy of Alaska. They boarded the Jili with fifty True Covenant warriors and Natalia. In addition, fifty priestesses will follow Natalia, but they have not arrived yet.

"This is the power of Western machinery." Iwasaki looked at the white steam gushing out of the hatch, and subconsciously rubbed his knuckles on the abacus in his sleeve. Sakamoto on the side sneered: "Yatarou is doing the accounting again? I heard that the True Contract faction on the West Coast needs a lot of accountants. When the time comes, you can find a way to transfer to a bank in San Francisco to do the accounting. It's comfortable and rich, how great!"

Iwasaki laughed and said, "No way! I'm going to Alaska to pan for gold and find the wealth needed for Japan's rise!"

Ten steps behind the two of them, on the cabin platform, Moore twisted his beard and looked down at the crowds of people on the dock. Friedrich suddenly nudged him with his elbow: "Look at that red priest." Before he finished speaking, Chiba Sana's scarlet feather ornament had already burned through the crowd like a flame, and twenty female warriors with swords lined up like a wild goose formation, surrounded by fifty kimono girls and rushed towards the gangway.

"What are they singing?" Natalia clutched her mink scarf. The Chinese scriptures that the girls were chanting floated onto the deck intermittently, which sounded like the Orthodox hymns she had heard in St. Petersburg when she was a child. Wen Xian leaned against the carved column and sneered: "The Seventh Chapter of The True Covenant, 'Women should be obedient like lambs'"

"Where are they from? Are they going to the New World too?" Natalia asked again.

This question was not for Wenxian, but for Iwasaki and Sakamoto who were standing by.

When Iwasaki heard his mistress' question, he quickly stepped forward and bowed deeply: "Your Highness, these women are all devout believers presented by various fiefdoms, and are also court maids arranged for you by the Archbishop."

He spoke fluent Chinese. "Choshu sent thirty shrine maidens, and Satsuma sent twenty shrine maidens who are proficient in Kagura. The one in the front row" he pointed at the girl walking proudly in the queue, "is the shrine maiden of Izumo Taisha Shrine. It is said that her bloodline can be traced back to Amaterasu. She will be your chief maid."

Natalia nodded slightly, thinking: "Although these fifty warriors and fifty witches were arranged by Hong Daquan, there must be spies from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's secret hall among them, right?"

At this time, another group of Japanese girls came to the dock. Unlike the brightly dressed shrine maidens escorted by Chiba Sana himself, these girls were brought by several black-robed True Prophet priests. There was also a red-robed True Prophet priest and two black-robed priests on the dock. When they saw them coming, one of them rang the bell in his hand and asked loudly in Japanese: "Are you willing to dedicate yourself?"

"It's an honor!" the girls answered in unison, and then bowed to the red-robed priest.

"Who are they?" Natalia asked again.

"They were sold to the West Coast." Sakamoto said with some anger in his tone.

"Sell it?" Natalia was stunned. "But California doesn't allow slavery!"

Iwasaki gritted his teeth and said, "They don't feel like they were sold into slavery. They just feel like they are dedicating themselves to the cause of Heavenly Father and Heavenly King, and their families can get a lot of money, and they have the opportunity to marry rich gold diggers and businessmen!"

The young samurai lowered his head and stared at the gap between the decks: "Last month, more than a thousand people left Osaka, including my cousin, who was only fifteen years old."

"Your cousin? But you are a samurai, so she should be one too."

Before he finished speaking, Friedrich suddenly interrupted in German: "Natalia, this shows that the crisis in Japanese society has long since spread from the bottom to the middle class."

Moore took off his glasses and wiped the lenses. The salty sea breeze blew his temples into a mess. "Even girls from samurai families can't escape the fate of being trafficked. The feudal system in this country has come to an end."

At this time, Guaerjia Yuanbao's Chinese voice suddenly rang out: "Master Karl, the revolution you mentioned will also come to Japan?" "Of course," Moore nodded gently, "Japan's feudal system has reached its end, and the road to capitalism has been blocked by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Korean Heavenly Kingdom, and it has become a blood bag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Korean Heavenly Kingdom."

At this moment, the whistle suddenly roared, drowning out the answer. When the whistle died down, Natalia suddenly heard Moore saying: "Revolution will not only come to Japan, but also to Tsarist Russia and other capitalist countries!"

"Tsarist Russia." Natalia thought of the "Moore statue in the Red Square military parade video" again. This "Master Karl" seemed to be the idol of the "mustache tsar." So she took a few steps, approached Moore and Friedrich, and began to ask them questions: "Master Karl, are you so pessimistic about Tsarist Russia? Is Tsarist Russia really hopeless? As far as I know, Tsarist Russia is now preparing to reform serfdom. Do you think this reform will fail?"

Moore tapped his pipe on the railing and said, "Natasha, the serfdom reform will definitely succeed! There is no possibility of failure. But what will happen to the lower classes of Russia after they get rid of their serfdom?"

"Become a free man!" Natalia shouted.

Moore pointed at the girls who were boarding the ship, "These Japanese girls are free. They boarded the Jili on their own!" He then pointed at Chiba and the female warriors under Chiba on the dock, "Not only are they free, they are even armed, but they are still Hong Daquan's slaves! Do you know why?"

“Is it because of faith?” Natalia asked.

"Because of poverty!" Moore replied, "A free Japanese girl would starve to death if she stayed in Japan. Only by boarding the Lucky Ship and heading to the New World can she have enough food and clothing. Although Chiba is a martial arts master, her martial arts are not of much value in an era when guns and cannons dominate the battlefield. Only by becoming Hong Daquan's slave can she live a decent life. Before you Russian serfs are freed, you can always get the means of survival from the land belonging to the nobles. As we all know, Russia is vast and sparsely populated, so it is not difficult to get food to survive from the land."

"Yes, no one starves to death in Russia!" Natalia said proudly.

Moore smiled and said, "It will happen in the future! It will happen after the abolition of serfdom. Didn't many people die of starvation during the Irish famine?"

"How is this possible?" Natalia was shocked.

Friedrich took over the conversation: "How is it impossible? People are starving to death in London every day! The sick, the elderly, the disabled, or those who cannot support themselves will disappear in the cold streets of London. Once an economic crisis occurs, even more people will starve to death."

Moore said, "Your Highness, do you understand? Workers are free, and capitalists have no obligations to workers. They can fire them at any time. And the unemployed who can't find a new job after being fired may starve to death. But serfs cannot be fired. If I'm not mistaken, you have serfs too, right? Will you fire them?"

"Of course not!" Natalia shook her head. "I've never heard of anyone firing serfs."

Moore shrugged: "How much money can your estate make in a year?"

"How much does the estate earn?" Natalia thought for a moment and shook her head, "I don't know."

"You don't know, because your manor doesn't make any money at all." Moore laughed, "This is also the reason why the serfdom reform will inevitably succeed. Because the manor owners who own serfs can't make much money. When the Russian population was too small, it might be profitable to use serfdom to hold the labor force tightly in hand. But now Russia has a population of more than 6000 million, and it will definitely exceed million in the future! So owning serfs has become unprofitable. After all, you can only make profits from the surplus value of the serfs. And the more serfs there are, the more consumption there is, and the same land can provide you with less surplus value. I think it's not okay to let the serfs starve to death, right?"

"No, absolutely not!" Natalia shook her head immediately - in fact, the reason for "no" was not because she was kind-hearted, but because she had never been to the estate under her name. Large estate owners like her enjoyed themselves in big cities in Russia and did not care about their estates at all. She probably did not even know that the Jewish or German housekeepers gave her less.

In this case, the actual manager of the manor certainly had no interest in forcing the serfs to death. Those were not ordinary serfs, but strong Slavic men!
Moore said calmly: "After those serfs are freed, they may become bankrupt, unemployed, or starve to death! Just like the witches and girls who voluntarily boarded the Jili, they will not be free in the free new world, but they will get rich food, beautiful clothes, and sparkling gold jewelry. So Hong Daquan doesn't have to worry about his slave Qianye cutting his throat with a knife!"

Natalia was a little confused by what Moore said: "According to you, the serfdom reform is wrong?"

Moore took a puff of cigarette: "Of course not. The reason why those witches and girls can exchange their freedom for a relatively superior life is that they are not productive slaves, but domestic slaves, or slaves of power. In most cases, their masters do not consider getting any economic value from them, and are willing to spend money to support them. But your Russian serfs are used for production! But the efficiency of serfdom is far lower than that of the tenant system and the hired farm. Therefore, only by abolishing serfdom can the owners of the land gain more benefits, and the lower class of Russia who have become free citizens will have the freedom to taste hunger and cold. Considering that Russia's industrialization started late and the climate and environment are relatively harsh, the conditions for industrialization are not as good as those of Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria, and certainly not as good as those of China. Therefore, in the future, free Russian workers will definitely have many opportunities to taste hunger and cold!"

"Weigh anchor!" The sailor's call penetrated the thick fog. The huge body of the Jili slowly turned to the Pacific Ocean, carrying a Japanese girl who was full of longing for the future, the Grand Duchess of the Duchy of Alaska who was dumbfounded, and the wise Master Karl who seemed to be able to see through the fog of history, heading towards the new world full of hope. Iwasaki Yataro suddenly took out an abacus and moved it in the roaring sound of steam, as if calculating the price of the Japanese peasants' freedom.
(End of this chapter)