The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 734: Advantages of Low Human Rights
At the Golden Lion Wharf in Xingang, the morning light is just breaking, and hundreds of dock workers have been busy for half a day.

They unloaded bags of rice from Nanji Island (Java Island), and then loaded local specialties such as sand gold, preserved fruits, dried abalone, dried shrimps produced in Lufan Pengzhou, and bird's nests produced in Songcheng (Songkhla).

Of course, only one third of the rice could be unloaded, and the rest had to be taken north even if it could not be sold for much money.

Because according to the laws of Dayu, large ships of more than 500 tons returning from Southeast Asia to China's Chixian County must be loaded with grain equivalent to 15% to 30% of the value of their cargo.

Without these grains, at best you will not be allowed to enter the port, and at worst the tax benefits that have been negotiated will be directly cancelled.

The reason for this was that the imperial court needed grain from Southeast Asia to be transported north to alleviate the food shortage in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and even Jiangnan.

In recent years, the industrial capacity of the Dayu Dynasty has been advancing at an unprecedented speed, so much so that even in places like the Beihe Plain (Red River Delta), the Pearl River Plain and even Jiangnan, grain production has begun to decline sharply.

The Beihe Plain has fully formed a full range of coal and iron industries, and the light and heavy industries in the Pearl River Plain are also developing rapidly.

A large number of laborers in these two places have been attracted to the coal and iron industries with higher income and more stability, and farming is no longer the first choice for young people.

As for the south of the Yangtze River, cash crops are very popular. In the Ming Dynasty in 1566, Emperor Jiajing always wanted to replace rice with mulberry trees but failed. But now it has become a common phenomenon in the south of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, due to the rapid development of industry, more and more people have gathered in these areas on a large scale, causing the demand for food to increase several times compared with before.

In the upstream areas of northern Jiangxi, Huguang and Sichuan, a large number of civilians went bankrupt due to the extremely small-scale equal distribution of land without restrictions on mergers and acquisitions.

Many farmers who were supposed to be growing crops at home but were eventually sold to capitalists at a fraction of the price were driven to the northwest, northeast, Southeast Asia and other places to colonize due to the court's policies.

After they left, many fields that could have produced some food to feed the local poor were basically abandoned.

These factors resulted in the Central China region, which used to have enough food in Huguang during the Ming Dynasty, to reduce its grain exports by half, making it difficult to make up for the food gap in other regions.

Finally, there is the population issue. With Mo Zibu's strong support for the development of the medical industry, Dayu began to significantly accelerate research on bacteria, viruses, etc., thus enabling China's already strong medical industry to begin to develop rapidly again.

The result was that the population began to expand at a very rapid rate.

After all, with the help of three magical tools: precise disinfection, clear standard birth procedures, and smallpox vaccination for both adults and children, the infant mortality rate has dropped significantly, and the population mortality rate is also a level lower than before.

Therefore, at this time, the population of Dayu had exceeded 600 million, and was still increasing at a rate of about 13 million per year, nearly twice the peak of the Qing Dynasty.

In this era when corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc. are not so productive and there is no chemical fertilizer, this rate of population growth will inevitably bring about very great food pressure.

Therefore, every year, Shenzhou Chixian needs at least one-third of its food shortage to be supplemented by Nanyang. This is a huge step forward compared to the use of Nanyang grain to maintain the food supply of Guangdong and Fujian provinces during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

This was also what Mo Zibu intended. Dayu needed to establish very strong and frequent economic ties with Nanyang so that Nanyang, which was so far away from the mainland, would never be out of control.

Today, Nanyang has become the largest source of production materials and dumping ground for industrial products in Dayu, except for Shenzhou Chixian.

There are not many industries here, only agriculture and low-end processing industries based on basic primary industries such as grain, spices, preserved fruits, aquatic products, sugar, and rubber.

At the dock, after unloading the grain from Nanji Island, a merchant ship from Koh Samui (Sumatra Island) arrived, loaded with top-quality Koh Samui bird's nest and Koh Samui clove oil.

Today, the bird's nests of Koh Samui are the largest bird's nest production area in Dayu after the decline of Songcheng bird's nest production. Most of the bird's nests are high-quality bird's nests produced by swiftlets, with white color, fine texture and very valuable.

Clove oil, which has a wide range of medicinal value, is Koh Samui's flagship product and is extremely popular in Shenzhou Chixian. A small bottle of the highest quality one often costs five silver dollars.

"A bag of rice weighs eighty kilograms, and I only get five (copper) dimes for two bags. Even a black slave wouldn't buy this price. I'll raise it to one copper dollar before I buy it!"

At the dock, the dock workers who had been busy all morning were yelling loudly and sitting on the dock steps, not moving any goods at all.

The ship owner was extremely anxious. Bird's nest and clove oil were too valuable and required a large amount of food to pass customs smoothly.

The grain-producing Nanji Island was not on his route, and Thai Binh was not convenient either, because the ship was a steamship and went directly to Gia Dinh City (Ho Chi Minh City) in a straight line.

Therefore, ships coming from Koh Samui often choose to buy some cheap food from various places at the water transportation hub of Xingang. Anyway, this place is very close to Nanji Island and the volume of food trade is very large.

"Damn it! You're not satisfied with five cents for two bags of rice! If the emperor were to ask for some black slaves, do you think I'd be willing to use you cunning laborers?"

The ship owner cursed under his breath. At this time, he had already opened his eyes to the world, so he knew that Europeans were using black slaves. The capitalists and landlords were also envious.

Well, actually, what they wanted most was not black slaves, but black Indians from India.

Although these people are dishonest and like to steal, they are also good at work, hardworking and quite obedient.

Unfortunately, the Nanyang Republican Parliament under the control of the emperor rejected the proposal of some members to introduce Indian workers four times.

Things always need to be solved. After a while, the shipowner failed to reach an agreement with the workers, so he had no choice but to find a way to invite Mr. Luo from the Haishan Company at the dock.

Haishan Company is called a company, but it is actually a gang.

The gray industries on this dock are all controlled by Haishan Company, and there are more than 2,000 dock workers who serve under the leadership of the boss of Haishan Company.

The Hongmen Pingshan Hall, the backer of Haishan Company, is controlled by the Wei and Luo families of Hui'an.

Back then, the people of Hui'an Mingxiang fought against the emperor, and Wei Rikun of the Wei family was the emperor's sworn brother when he started the rebellion.

Although the descendants were not very capable and the Wei family did not have many high-ranking officials in the court, after Zunyi Earl Wei Rikun passed away five years ago, he was posthumously named Duke Huiguo and his three daughters all married into the royal family.

Not to mention the Luo family. Grandpa Luo Xingmu made great contributions to the emperor's rise to power. His deity was enshrined in the Temple of Meritorious Officials and the Temple of Loyal Martyrs. There is one marquis and one earl in the family, which is by no means comparable to ordinary nobles.

Of course, most people don’t know that Pingshan Hall is actually a peripheral organization of the Jinyiwei Beizhenfu Division, and this Mr. Luo is actually a Jinyiwei captain.

"Second Master, two bags of rice for five copper coins is a lot of money. We worked so hard to transport this bag of rice to Hangzhou, and we don't even know if we made a profit of ten copper coins."

When the ship owner saw Mr. Luo Erye, he started spitting, and what he said was actually the truth.

At that time, because Nanyang produced a lot of rice, rice had to be matched in order to enter the port and obtain some tax exemptions, which also led to the low price of rice in Jiangnan. Eighty kilograms of rice was only worth about fifteen copper coins.

According to Dayu's monetary system, one silver dollar was equal to one hundred copper dollars, and one copper dollar was equal to ten copper dimes, which was basically the original one tael of silver, one cent of silver, and one penny. When converted, it was almost equal to a little more than three cents of silver for one stone of rice.

Three qian of silver is thirty copper yuan, so the ship owner can only make a profit of five copper yuan at most by delivering the rice to Hangzhou. If something else happens on the way, he may even lose money.

The price of rice in Nanyang was even cheaper. Eighty kilograms of rice were worth only eight copper coins. As a result, among the land taxes in various places, rubber, sugarcane, etc. were almost 50% tax, while rice fields were 30% tax or even lower. This was the only way to ensure that someone was willing to grow rice.

If the shipowner really agreed to a handling fee of one copper dollar for every two bags of rice, it would mean that for every sixteen bags of rice transported, the shipowner would have to give out a whole bag of rice. No wonder he was unwilling.

This is too exaggerated. The dock workers can keep themselves from going hungry for at least half a month by moving sixteen bags of rice. Even if they eat a little better and buy some soy sauce, vinegar, tea and vegetables, they can last for at least ten days.

Assuming that a worker can move 100 bags of rice a day, the purchasing power of his wages can buy 500 to 600 kilograms of rice. Converted to later times, that would be a salary of 1,400 to 1,000 yuan a day, or around 40,000 yuan a month.

This guy is not a worker at all, he is clearly a master who is doing the work!
Therefore, Mr. Luo Erye was also a little troubled and afraid. The dock workers below were so powerful, so there was no need to say much about him, the owner of the hall, as he had already become rich.

However, he knew in his heart that Haishan Company was only able to achieve its current status with the emperor's permission.

If he continued to lead the dock workers to do this and disrupted normal economic activities, the emperor would ask the Jinyiwei or the auditors from Fuxing Company to check his accounts, and he would probably lose his head.

But he had to stand on the side of the dock workers, because there were more than 20,000 dock workers in Xingang, and he controlled less than one-tenth of them.

If your Haishan Company does not protect the dock workers, they will vote with their feet and bring down the Haishan Company.

In the distance, several strong men dressed in silk clothes had gloating expressions on their faces. They were talking in Minnan dialect with some differences in their accents.

"Luo Yaer has money but doesn't want to make it. He's like standing in the toilet without taking a shit. We've tried to raise the price several times, but this bastard has stopped us. Let's see what he'll do this time!"

"That's right. There are tens of thousands of dock workers in Xingang. If we can control them, the transportation up and down the river will be just a matter of a word. I wouldn't trade the benefits for a prefect!" "I heard that Luo Yaer is from the family of Xiangjiang Hou, and Haishan Company is actually Xiangjiang Hou's property. If we squeeze Haishan Company out, will Xiangjiang Hou be furious?"

A few people were still not so arrogant. After all, the Luo family and the Wei family were not easy to mess with. But someone soon retorted:

"The Wei and Luo families have been living off their titles, and their descendants haven't been anything special. After so many years of prosperity, they should be content.

If they really want to go against us, huh, which family of us doesn’t have people behind us?
Besides, the officials of Fujian and Guangdong have always been united. The anger between the Wei and Luo families is also a matter of discussion between the masters above. We are the ones who do the work, and we just do what the masters tell us to do, that's all."

Everyone thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. It was no wonder that they were greedy now. They even dared to plot against the Emperor's sworn brother, the Wei family, and the Luo family of Master Luo, who had sacrificed himself to kill the Guangnan royal family and paved the way for Mo Zibu. It was because the benefits were too great.

This new port is now the transshipment center of Southeast Asia, with a daily cargo throughput of nearly 100,000 tons. As long as the 20,000 workers at the dock are controlled and the industry is monopolized to prevent young people from other places from coming here to make a living, the new port dock will be a golden goose that lays eggs continuously, and the profits will be higher than any other shops.

While the fierce fighting was going on at the dock, two Huichang-class 36-gun steam sailing frigates, the Zhang Zhongwu and the Li Sizhong, led seven merchant ships of various sizes into this half-commercial, half-military dock.

The classification of the Dayu Navy is based on Chinese historical dynasties. Specifically, the old-style sailing warships are named after the Ming Emperor.

For example, most of the first and second class battleships are of the Hongwu and Yongle classes, with the lead ships being the Hongwu Emperor and the Yongle Emperor.

The specific names of the warships were later named after the civil and military officials of the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, such as Xu Da, Zhang Fu, etc.

Most of the third-level battleships are Jiashen class, also known as Nanming class. The battleships are named after the national heroes who remained loyal and unyielding after Jiashen.

The steam sailing warships were named after the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. The first-class battleships were all Zhenguan class, and the second-class battleships were the Yonghui class of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and the Kaiyuan class of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

As for Emperor Wuzong of Tang, who was responsible for the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism and the Huichang Restoration, it was worthy of his position in history that he could have a level 4 or 5 frigate.

As for future steam ironclad ships, the mainstream models will be named after the Han Dynasty, which includes the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties.

"This is truly a magnificent seaside city. It's so magnificent! Only the Seris Empire has the power to build such a city!"

On the large merchant ship following Zhang Zhongwu, Lavoisier, who was so thin that he was almost unrecognizable, looked at the tall walls and busy docks of Newport in the distance and couldn't help but praise loudly.

It turned out that the people escorted by these two warships were the big names in science and philosophy who had set out from France.

Hearing Lavoisier's praise, great scientists including Lagrange nodded in agreement.

This is not to say that Newport has surpassed big cities like Paris, but since leaving Paris, Newport is one of the few cities they have seen that can truly be called a big city in the civilized world.

And this feeling has been gradually increasing, from the initial Shark Port (Kyaukpyu Port) to the later Dhaka City (Yangon), and then to the current New Port, each one is more magnificent and prosperous than the other.

What is more important is the sense of security that this wealth and grandeur brings to people. This is very valuable for these French people who have lost their country and have not had a peaceful day for four or five years.

While a group of French people were expressing their feelings, several English people on the same ship noticed a strange phenomenon on the dock.

After briefly inquiring about the situation, Baron William Greenville, who was on his second diplomatic mission to China, smiled faintly and said to John Shore, the Governor-General of India who came with him:

"I think the time has come for us to solve the first major problem for the Great Emperor, and I also see the reason why the Kingdom of England will continue to exist as a world power in the future."

William Shore was relatively weak in military affairs, but he was good at internal affairs and making money. He thought about it and understood what Baron William Greenwell meant.

"The people of the Chinese Empire live so well. A dock worker here is paid as much as thirty dock workers in Portsmouth, not to mention other places.

I think if the Chinese Empire had not been ahead of us in every aspect, these huge costs would have made China lack a competitive advantage in every industrial product."

That's right. In England, half of the factory workers are child laborers, and these child laborers live worse than pigs and dogs. It would be abnormal if several eight or nine-year-old child laborers did not die every day in London from cleaning chimneys.

It can even be said that if England and China were not so far apart, no matter how rubbish the cloth they produced was, they could still use their extremely low prices to defeat China's low-end textile industry.

"Yes, the Chinese are treated too humanly, and they themselves think too highly of themselves," said Baron William Greenwell with a strange look on his face. "And the people of England are used to not thinking of themselves as human, and we have never thought of them as human either."

This is truly a world of worse than worse. Among the Chinese people, at least more than half of them don’t live that well. They can only eat three meals of coarse grains and a little meat during festivals.

But in England, this is a luxury. At least more than half of the people in England do not receive such treatment, or they cannot enjoy such treatment for a long time.

The competitive advantage created by this difference also prevented China from completely defeating England.

They are too far away. No matter how powerful China is, it cannot extend its tentacles to every corner of the world. Then, a great power that can throw everyone into the ultimate purgatory of capitalism cannot be completely defeated by China.

England's cost is too low. England can treat everyone except the 550,000 nobles and capitalists as non-human beings. It is also thousands of miles away. How can you play with it?
"As for the strong labor force that the Chinese Empire desperately needs, India has plenty of them. If we can send them to the Chinese Empire to work, we can earn a lot of money while also avoiding the cruelty of starving them to death for population control."

Baron William Greenwell mentioned his second method to solve the problem for His Majesty the Great Emperor Mozibu of the Chinese Empire, which was Indian laborers, no, it should be called slave laborers.

However, Governor John Shore shook his head and said, "Many people wanted to do this business a long time ago, but His Majesty the Emperor did not allow it.

It seems that he cannot tolerate the fact that the territory he has worked so hard to build is occupied by Indians with their placentas."

Baron William Greenwell blinked. "That's because those people are too foolish. They know the Emperor's concerns, but they don't change their ways. They want to continue the cruel slave trade. Of course, the Emperor won't agree to that. And this is what I mean."

The baron said, approaching Governor John Shore, "We can set up a labor company in India and create strict files for every laborer sent to the Chinese Empire, so that no Indian can escape the company's control.

Even if they were dead, their bodies would be shown to Chinese officials and then thrown into the sea.

Furthermore, the period can be five years, and a new batch of people can be replaced at the end of the period to prevent these people from becoming familiar with the living environment of the Chinese Empire."

John Shore's eyes lit up, and he looked at Baron William Greenwell with admiration, saying with some respect, "This is a genius idea!

Your Excellency, this will not only bring us enormous wealth, but it will also help the Emperor solve some problems and become a bargaining chip in our negotiations with the Chinese Empire."

Just when the two Englishmen found a way to make a fortune, the dock became lively with the sound of gongs and drums, and a team of guards and runners wearing robes of various colors and holding flags and banners appeared at the dock.

"Everyone, His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Chinese Empire, the fourth son of the Vientiane Prince, Mo Zhouzhe, has come to the dock to greet you personally.

In order to help you get used to the land more quickly, I have specially prepared sedan chairs for you, which are only for people over 50 years old in the Chinese Empire. Please follow me to disembark in an orderly manner."

The two Englishmen exchanged glances, and Baron William Greenwell gave a wry smile, "It seems the Emperor knows how valuable these Frenchmen are.

What a shame! If I could, I would rather send them all into the sea than have them serve the Chinese Empire."

Governor John Shore also laughed bitterly, "If that happens, the Chinese Empire will take India away from us, making it impossible for us to have any influence in the East.

It is ironic that the Kingdom of England must maintain good relations with the Chinese Empire while facing the rebellious government of France.

And below, the fourth prince, Prince of Wanxiang, Mo Zhouzhe, had already appeared in person. He held the arms of Lagrange and Lavoisier, and smiled like a little fox who had successfully stolen a chicken.

His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince refused all the French people's kowtows, delivered a brief speech, and then let these French bigwigs get on the sedan chair.

He personally rode the latest steam car with Lagrange and Lavoisier. Although the steam car was not designed properly, it was definitely a good thing for showing off.

As the rear of the steam train spewed out coal smoke and water vapor, and rushed forward, the two French giants felt an unprecedented sense of novelty and a yearning for future technology.

“Two elders, you can rest in Xingang for half a month. The temperature is not high now, which is very suitable for sightseeing.

I will carry out some tasks assigned to me by my father, and when things settle down, we will travel north together to the capital to meet His Majesty the Emperor."

Mo Zhouzhe said lightly, but even Lavoisier could feel the murderous intent in his tone. Haha, some people thought that things were kept secret, but they didn't know that everything was under the control of the emperor.

(End of this chapter)