Kowloon wins

Chapter 1001 Labor Crisis ([-])

On the sixth day of September in the fourth year of Chengde, Prince Ren Hongqing and Minister of Military Aircraft Zhang Tingyu jointly wrote this chapter, claiming that the two cases of Wuyi Lane and Jiumen Admiral's Yamen Prison have been concluded. The chief culprit, Geng Rong, and many other suspects are still at large, and the Ministry of Criminal Justice has been ordered to issue arrest warrants for arrest across the country. In addition, Wang Hongxi of Shun County and Geng Sanbiao, Admiral of Nine Gates, who were involved in the case, both proposed punishment. Jue, demoted to Dorobelle, who plans to transfer to Yunnan and Guizhou.The emperor read it and thought it was possible, so the matter was finalized, and Heda, the former admiral of Fengtai Daying, was appointed as the admiral of the nine gates. Soon after, Meng Guangzu, the governor of Shaanxi, was transferred back to Beijing to serve as Minister of the Ministry of punishment, and he was assigned to the Military Aircraft Department. Liang Xuwen, the governor of Shaanxi, was transferred As the Yin of Shuntian Prefecture, the original Yin Rongzhu of Shuntian Prefecture was the Minister of Rites, and the rest of the officials did not move.

On September [-]th of the fourth year of Chengde, Shen He, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Dai Zi, President of the Qing Academy of Sciences, jointly wrote a letter requesting the full launch of the construction of two experimental railways and supporting projects. An edict ordered the Ministry of Industry to prepare a demonstration of steam locomotives; on the first day of October, the emperor led all his ministers and workers to inspect the branch of Yanqing Academy of Sciences and witnessed the trial operation of steam locomotives. Articles of Association, and asked the Ministry of Industry to preside over related matters.

On the ninth day of October in the fourth year of Chengde, the foundation stone laying ceremony for the railway layout plan was grandly held in Baoding, Hebei. Prince Ren Hongqing, Prince Yu Yunxi, Prince Zhuang Yunlu and many other dignitaries attended to congratulate him. The next day, the steam locomotive factory broke ground in Baoding. On October [-]th, the foundation stone laying ceremony of two large iron and steel factories was held in Baoding and Jiangyin, Jiangsu respectively, and the two medium-sized iron and steel factories in the former Jingshi and Tangshan also started expansion projects, and cement factories in several surrounding provinces also started construction. The expansion, coupled with the construction of the road network originally planned by the Ministry of Industry, has reached the peak of the country's infrastructure construction since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. The ensuing economic stimulus effect is naturally great, but at the same time it also brings There are two most prominent problems of young and old. One is that the huge amount of money invested is difficult to bear fruit in a short time. As for the other, there is a shortage of labor force.

After years of recuperation and the large-scale promotion of overseas improved breeds, the population of the Qing Dynasty has exceeded [-] million. It is said that there should be no shortage of labor force, let alone more than [-] captured prisoners of war participating in infrastructure construction, but it is really troublesome. It comes out here, nothing else. Over the years, although the economy of the Qing Dynasty has developed extremely fast, the true face of the small-scale peasant economy has always remained the same. A large number of peasants would rather face the loess with their backs to the sky. I don't want to work in factories or construction sites. In the past, I relied on the surplus population in the city to support the construction and operation of various factories. However, with the large-scale infrastructure construction, the dilemma of labor shortage broke out. out.

This time the labor crisis broke out a little suddenly. Although there were some signs as early as the official start of various infrastructure constructions, it did not attract the attention of the officials of the Ministry of Industry. The farmers who came out to do odd jobs during the winter slack returned to the land, and the dilemma of labor shortage was instantly exposed. Except for the two railways that were not greatly affected because of the transfer of those prisoners of war, a large number of other construction projects had to be As a result, it fell into a half-stop dilemma. Emergency documents from all over the country came one after another. The officials from the top and bottom of the Ministry of Industry were caught off guard, and they couldn't help but have a headache. They held several consecutive office meetings, but failed to find a proper countermeasure. Shen He, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, who was in charge of the Ministry of Industry, couldn't help feeling a little anxious and angry, but the household department refused to allocate more funds. In desperation, he had to ask Hong Qing for help.

"The king knows about this matter, does the Ministry of Industry have any solutions to this?"

Although she holds the power of the imperial court and has sharp weapons such as "sharp knives" in her hands, Hongqing can't guarantee that she can cover everything. I really didn't expect that the labor crisis would come so quickly—with the experience of her previous life, Hongqing herself Is it clear that after capitalism develops from an embryonic state to a certain scale, it will inevitably lead to a labor crisis. The root cause is naturally the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy. There is already a corresponding solution to this. The problem is what Hong Qing considers The solution to this problem must have two fundamental foundations, one is that he can have absolute control over the court situation, and the other is that the market economy has formed a certain scale. Now, these two prerequisites have obviously not been met, which means Seeing that the solution that was originally contemplated will not come in handy for the time being, if you want to deal with the sudden crisis now, you have to find another solution. Obviously, this is not an easy task, and Hong Qing will not be able to solve it in a while. Can be thoughtful.

"Returning to the prince, I have called various officials to discuss it several times. There are several suggestions on this matter, but they are all lacking. It is hard to say that it is safe."

It was because Shen He couldn't come up with a safe charter that he came to Hong Qing for an idea. Hearing Hong Qing's question at this moment, he couldn't help but blushed a little, and explained helplessly.

"Oh? Let's talk about it."

Infrastructure construction is the root of the Qing Dynasty's economic take-off, and it must not be lost. It is just the beginning. If the labor problem cannot be solved in time, the railway layout and heavy industry infrastructure construction will become worthless. The source is definitely unsustainable, and Hongqing dare not take it lightly. In the situation where she has not thought about it thoroughly, she really wants to hear the opinions of all the people in the Ministry of Industry on this matter.

"My lord Mingjian, the results of the discussion between the officials and others are three-fold: First, the edict issued by the sage to recruit people from all over the country. This method should be able to meet the needs of various construction projects without additional investment. Only in this way, The agricultural work in various places may be greatly affected, and it is absolutely impossible to do so; secondly, please allocate more money and recruit people to meet the needs of construction. This method should ensure that the agricultural work will not be greatly affected. , but the investment may have to be doubled. The lower official once went to the Ministry of Culture and Accounting, but was strictly rejected by the third elder brother. If the prince did not come forward to coordinate, this policy would not be possible. As for the third, the lower official thinks that it may be slightly reduced For the scale of construction, the construction of key projects should be ensured first, and the construction of roads and bridges in other provinces will be temporarily postponed, and then start construction when the agriculture is slack. In this way, there is no need to worry about the shortage of manpower, but the progress of various constructions may be delayed Indefinitely, the above-mentioned three strategies have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the lower officials dare not make a decision, so I ask the prince to make a clear decision."

Hearing Hong Qing's question, Shen He didn't dare to neglect, bowed quickly, and carefully explained the solution discussed by the Ministry of Industry.

"Hmm.... You guys have been able to come up with these three strategies, which shows that you have put your heart into it, but in my king's opinion, these three strategies are not good solutions. Even if they can solve the temporary crisis, it is difficult to guarantee the future. Yu, if you have a headache, treat your head, and your feet treat your feet, and the consequences are unimaginable. After all, you need to find a long-term solution to this matter. Although this king has some thoughts about this, it is just difficult to be comprehensive at the moment, and let me think about it for a while. , let’s make a plan in a few days.”

Hong Qing quietly listened to Shen He's statement, but she didn't rush to make a comment. Instead, she thought about it silently for a long time before carefully commenting a few words.

"Yes, then the officer will take his leave first."

Shen He also knew that this matter was of great importance, so he didn't dare to force Hong Qing to quickly come up with a solution. Hearing Hong Qing's words already hinted at the intention of chasing customers, he also didn't dare to say more. Then he stood up and bowed to Hongqing.

"Well, Mr. Shen still needs to strictly control the construction of the railway after he goes back, and there must be no serious problems. As for the shortage of labor force, don't worry about it. This king will take care of it."

Seeing that Shen He was about to leave, Hong Qing didn't try to keep him back, but only gave an order in a peaceful voice.

"Yes, the subordinate retire."

The construction of the two experimental railways was built by Russian prisoners of war and prisoners of war from various ministries in Qinghai. There was no serious problem in terms of labor, but there were many troubles in management. Shen He dared not take it lightly. Hastily said goodbye and left.

It's really troublesome enough!

Hong Qing did not go to see Shen He off, but was thinking silently in the study alone. There were many solutions that emerged in her mind, but when it came to practicality, she was quite worried. Endless headache——As a time-traveler, Hong Qing knew the history of capitalist development in that time and space in her previous life. Whether it was Britain, France, Germany and other old powers, in the middle of the first industrial revolution, they all encountered labor shortages and The obstacles to the small-scale peasant economy, the solution of these empires is almost exactly the same, that is, to solve it by force, using the so-called "enclosure movement" to seize the peasants' land, and finally through war, defeat the royal family as the representative of the small-scale peasant economy, thereby achieving the bourgeois revolution To solve the problems of the small peasant economy once and for all, these methods are undoubtedly simple and crude. Of course, the effect is also very immediate, but Hongqing will never consider it, not to mention the cost of such solutions. Huge, Hong Qing himself represents the Tian Family, so how could she change her own life?

In Hongqing's original plan, there are two steps to solve the obstacles to the small-scale peasant economy. The first is to accelerate the construction of industrialization, and use the state's investment to achieve the development of heavy industry, so as to realize the modernization of agriculture. The foundation of this is the land. Mergers to form scale and mechanization, so as to fully liberate the labor force, and this will not only take time, but also requires Hongqing to be able to control the overall situation, so as to control the consequences of farmers' loss of land within an acceptable range. The second step is to encourage private investment, thereby creating huge employment opportunities, absorbing the surplus rural population, and finally forming a benign economic foundation, and then steadily transitioning to the imperialist stage. If these two steps can be realized, the Qing Dynasty Becoming the most powerful country in the world is a matter of course, but the plan belongs to the plan, the plan is always unable to keep up with the rapid changes, and the foundation has not yet been laid, but the conflict has already erupted first, how to solve it is up to Hong Qing A thorny problem lies ahead...

(End of this chapter)