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Volume 4 Leviathan Chapter 69 Workers

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    Shen Hongmao didn't speak anymore and retreated into the ranks. Wang Qinian's eyes swept over the faces of the ministers. The whispers in the court gradually subsided. The ministers realized who really controlled the empire.  "Your Majesty the Queen Mother, I dare to ban the import of Burmese rice to protect farmers!" "Okay, then issue an edict that the import of Burmese rice will be prohibited at the ports of Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo in ten days!" A moment later, Queen Mother Deng's gentle voice came from  came from behind the curtain.  The court's ban spread like an invisible ripple across the sea. Bags of rice unloaded from the big ship were reloaded on the ship. The price of rice in Shanghai and even the entire Jiangnan region began to rise. The ordinary citizens cursed angrily. They were not allowed to  Don't spend more money to fill your stomach.  As for the farmers, they have not received much benefit. Most of the rice in their hands has been sold to rice banks at low prices not long ago. Even if a few people still have rice on hand that has not been sold, the imperial edict has not given it to them.  They brought benefits - the edict only ordered a ban on the import of Burmese rice, but did not order the rice bank to increase the price of rice purchase. In this regard, the Dashun court was a firm liberal market economy, and it benefited the most from this battle.  It was the rice merchants and the big landowners who opened the rice merchants, while the factory owners were cursing the imperial edict while thinking of ways to pass the losses on to others.  "Be careful!" Following the powerful chant, the worker next to the cart squatted down slightly, and the heavy cotton bale fell on his shoulders. The cotton bale was so big that from the perspective of a bystander, the worker  His figure was completely covered.  "Get up!" Following the chant, the cotton bag swayed towards the warehouse dozens of steps away. The heavy cotton bag pressed the man's waist almost parallel to the ground, but he still dragged his steps, one step at a time.  He moved forward one step, and when he lifted the heavy burden off his shoulders, his face was already livid and sweat was streaming down his face.  Every time a worker moves like this, he can get a bamboo stick from the warehouse manager as a bargaining chip to get money after completing the work.  About half an hour later, the goods were unloaded. The tired workers took bamboo slips to the accounting man to collect their wages for the day. The steward standing aside crossed his legs and looked at the workers in line coldly, both of them with shy stomachs.  The thugs yelled loudly: "Those who have been paid, please step aside and don't stand there blocking the road!" "Boss Xu, the amount of wages is wrong!" A paid worker shouted: "I will move today.  "Fifteen times, it should be thirty coppers. Why are there only twenty-five coppers?" "You can't steal our wages!" The workers gathered around.  The whip was swung above his head, making a sharp whistle, and he yelled in a stern voice: "What are you doing? Get out of the way, get out of the way!" The manager jumped up, opened the front of his coat, and exposed the pistol at his waist.  He clapped his hands twice and shouted: "What? Are you acting arrogant because of the large number of people? You guys are not afraid!" Seeing the fierce look in the steward's eyes, the workers backed away in fear. They had heard of this man with a fierce look.  It is a story about a middle-aged man. It is said that at least four workers who dared to organize their companions to demand higher wages from the factory owners died under his black gun.  "Tou Xu, we don't want to cause trouble!" A middle-aged man walked out of the crowd. He looked at the steward calmly, stretched out his right hand, with more than twenty coppers on his palm, and said in a deep voice: "But  The wages are indeed low. I moved fourteen times this time. It should be twenty-eight coppers, but there are only twenty-four!" The steward came over and scratched the man's hand with the whip handle.  After two clicks, he sneered: "I'm not paying less. The boss said that from today on, there will be no rice subsidy in the wages in the factory. It's just this much, every penny is a lot!" "What?" "How could this happen!  " There was a burst of exclamation from the crowd, and the workers' faces showed looks of surprise and anger. These porters are originally the lowest class among the workers in Shanghai, because they have no skills and can be used at any time.  They have been replaced by landless farmers who continue to flow into the city, so their wages are extremely meager, barely enough to make ends meet. If this part of their wages is deducted again, it will be almost impossible to survive.  "Shut up, the Shanghai Textile Industry Association has already discussed it, and all workers have stopped issuing rice stickers. It is not just our Yuxing Cotton Factory. Originally, after the import of Burmese rice, the price of rice has fallen, so there is no need to issue rice stickers.  If you want to blame it, just blame the imperial court. If the imperial court had not banned the import of Burmese rice, why would the price of rice in Shanghai be so high now? " "The imperial court? " " Banned the import of Burmese rice?" The workers couldn't help but discuss.  Porters at the bottom of society don¡¯t understand Myanmar, import bans, etc.But they understand a simple truth: if the price of rice is high, they will go hungry, and if they go hungry, people will die.  "Manager, please give me more! With this little salary, I can only cook porridge and drink it every day. Look at our physical work, we can't just eat porridge!" "Yes, pity us poor people, please give us more!" Facing all the workers  After pleading, the manager yelled: "This is a joint discussion among the textile industry in Shanghai, and it is not a rule set by our Yuxing Cotton Factory. If you want money for processing in the factory, it is a bad rule. Do you understand? It is a bad rule."  Rules!" When the manager said this, he waved his arm violently, and the whip made a sharp sound, and the workers moved away in fear.  "However, Mr. Huang is kind-hearted. The factory still has some Burmese rice imported when the price was cheap. The workers in the factory can also buy half a bucket at the price last month as a subsidy for the factory. But next month  The rice is gone when it¡¯s sold out!¡± ¡°Thank you, Mr. Huang, for your kindness!¡± When the workers heard that there was still cheap rice to buy, they kowtowed to the manager and hurried to Yuxing Cotton Factory.  He ran towards the gate, fearing that he would not be able to buy it if it was too late. The crowd quickly dispersed, leaving only one person behind, the middle-aged man who spoke just now.  "Brother Zhiheng, why don't you hurry up? If you're late, you're afraid there will be no rice!" A young man turned around and urged.  "We can deal with it this month, but what about next month?" The young man was stunned and replied: "Let's deal with it first and then talk about it next month!" "Let's talk about it next month!" Yu Zhiheng sighed:  "You go over first, I'm a little tired, I'll come over later!" "Brother Zhiheng, you have to hurry up!" The young man looked back at Yu Zhiheng and ran quickly towards the factory gate.  Yu Zhiheng sighed and sat down on the roadside. He felt some pain in his waist and stretched out his hand to punch his waist twice.  At this time, he couldn't help but recall his experiences in the past three years: after the Battle of Ulantoro Sea, in order to escape the pursuit of the rebels, he had to choose between fleeing to Russia or the mainland. Because Mikhail was lost to him,  With the relics, Yu Zhiheng decided to flee to the mainland. After some twists and turns, he finally stayed in Shanghai.  The reason is simple. In this city, no one will ask about your past.  But he soon discovered that, like the Mongolian grassland, Shanghai was also a place where the strong oppressed the weak, and the rich oppressed the poor. While the rich people spent a lot of money on a prostitute, hundreds of poor people were fighting for a little food.  Fighting to the death for the residue.  If there is any difference between here and the Mongolian grasslands, it is that the rich here are richer than the princes and living Buddhas on the grasslands, and the poor are also poorer, and the distance between the rich and the poor is so close, but the real  The gap was so far, just like the moon in the sky, as if it was within reach but out of reach, which made Yu Zhiheng confused and painful.  "Why are we poor people always the unlucky ones in the end?" Yu Zhiheng said to himself, his wrinkled face full of confusion.  The building outside the building.  "It's all nonsense!" "Master Ma, tonight the God of Wealth is really yours!" Under the light, Jiang Zhiqing shook his head and sighed, his face full of frustration, and handed a stack of silver from his waist.  Opposite him, a slightly bald middle-aged fat man smiled so hard that he couldn't even see his eyes. He took the chips and said with a vague smile with a jade cigarette holder between his teeth: "Bless me today, Bodhisattva.  You all are not allowed to leave, this place belongs to me, Ma Tiannan, later on!¡± ¡°That¡¯s natural, you, Master Ma, won tonight, and the three of us are all losers! We must give the three of us a chance to make gains!  Come on!" The person who interrupted next to him was the fat man Huang from Yuxing Cotton Factory. He winked at Jiang Zhiqing and said with a smile: "I, Mr. Huang, have already said ugly things, Mr. Ma, you can't win.  The money will slip away first!" "Huang Dongjia, what are you talking about?" That Ma Tiannan was getting excited and said with a smile while picking up the cards: "You know my nickname, Ma Tiannan, when did I do this?  "What kind of thing is that?" Jiang Zhiqing asked in amusement: "May I ask what kind of nickname Mr. Ma has?" "I can't tell you my nickname. I, Ma Tiannan, have a gangster nickname called Ma Sanguang. All my friends in Shanghai know it."  "As for whether you are here? Mr. Huang, please explain to this friend named Jiang!" This fat man Huang seemed to be quite familiar with this Ma Tiannan. He laughed loudly: "Brother Jiang, you don't know. Mr. Ma usually  He gambles very generously, and every time he goes out to play, he will not leave without "people's light, money's light, and sky's light," so he has the nickname "Ma Sanguang"! " "It turns out that Mr. Ma is indeed a hero in gambling!  "Ah!" Jiang Zhiqing laughed when he heard the sound, but he was secretly happy in his heart.I had accepted Chen Zaixing's order and came to have Ma Tiannan's relationship. If I wanted to accomplish something, I thought it would take a lot of effort, but looking at him like this, I just had to lose more money with him.  Thinking of this, Jiang Zhiqing looked at his own side, winked at his opponent, took out a nine-barrel card and punched it out, shouting loudly: "It's time for me to get back my money in this game!" "Haha!  , Just eat it!" "Oh! Brother Jiang, what kind of cards did you play, why did you let off the fire again!" In a blink of an eye, it was already the third watch.  The four people in the room ordered chicken porridge and crab roe buns for supper. Jiang Zhiqing did some calculations and found that he had lost almost four thousand taels of silver to Mr. Ma in the middle of the night. He was almost able to talk and was thinking about what to do.  I didn't know what to say, but I heard Ma Tiannan ask from the other side.  "Brother Jiang, you deliberately lost so much money from me tonight, but do you have anything to ask of me?" Jiang Zhiqing was stunned when he heard this, then raised his head to see Ma Tiannan's gaze, his heart moved, and he said with a smile: "Since Mr. Ma understands  Well, I won¡¯t beat around the bush, actually, it¡¯s not me who wants to ask Master Ma, but I have something I want to ask Master Ma to help me with!¡±
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