When Yang Daniu shouldered his hoe and walked towards the road construction site, and when He Xiuniang stepped into the workshop to greet the rising sun, the working class, in the true sense of the "scholars, peasants, artisans, and merchants," officially began to appear in the Central Plains Hall.
Before this, the artisans referred to as "artisans" in the so-called scholars, peasants, artisans, and merchants by those emperors, including the laborers in the workshops and craft houses, which were touted as the sprouts of capitalism in the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, could not be considered true members of the working class.
The former could only be considered craftsmen raised by the imperial family, the court, or the great scholarly families. As for the latter... even though they were cloaked in the guise of the sprouts of capitalism, their core essence was still the exploitation of slave labor by the great aristocratic families. These laborers, most of whom were registered as slaves, were not even considered human in the eyes of officials and workshop owners.
In other words, these slaves in labor-intensive industries were no different from the eunuchs in the Forbidden City. The only difference was that they still possessed the ability to procreate, had the opportunity to obtain mating rights, and had a certain degree of so-called personal freedom. That was all.
Stripping away the so-called sprouts of capitalism and the fig leaf of prosperity reveals the cruel historical truth.
Even in the original history, the emergence of the working class occurred after the fall of my Great Qing.
Those who accuse Zhu Jinsong of not uniting the working class can also stop. When the working class itself does not exist, how can you unite them with your keyboards?
Therefore, the truly correct approach is to cultivate a working class yourself.
Of course, the essence of capital is exploitation, so it is not enough to have only the working class; there must also be a trade union that can restrain capital.
Otherwise, they would dare to turn the five-day, eight-hour work system into "996," and when you grudgingly accept "996," they will aim for "007."
Fortunately, from the very beginning of his rebellion, Zhu Jinsong never relied on local gentry or pedantic scholars. The entire territory of Shandong was won through bloodshed. After smashing the existing local tyrants, wicked gentry, and bureaucratic system, Shandong was like a blank canvas, and naturally, Zhu Jinsong dictated the rules.
If the trade unions are to develop with money from the workshops, and you can't bite the hand that feeds you, then sorry, the trade unions are directly under the government, with a semi-official, semi-civilian nature. The money from the workshops goes to the government, and the government then gives it to the trade unions. Therefore, if the trade unions do not take money from your workshop, and you still insist on "996," would you ask if the trade unions are willing?
According to Zhu Jinsong's approach, the trade unions in various counties do not need to pay attention to local government officials. They only need to be responsible to the trade unions at the prefectural and provincial levels, and the prefectural and provincial trade unions are also only responsible to the Shandong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions, which then reports to the Menglianggu General Federation of Trade Unions.
The Menglianggu General Federation of Trade Unions is affiliated with the Menglianggu Rebel Group and is managed by Zeng Cheng, the leader of the civilian official system.
In other words, it is equivalent to the Menglianggu General Federation of Trade Unions being attached to the cabinet, and the local governments have no way to interfere.
Even if workshop owners want to win over the people sent by the trade unions to the workshops, the trade union members are rotated every two years. How much extra cost would workshop owners have to bear?
If you add the Censorate, which is also rotated every two years, but the rotation time happens to be staggered with the trade unions, can the workshop owners still manage it?
Yes, Zhu Jinsong has also played new tricks with the Censorate. From the Chief Censor of the Menglianggu Rebel Group down to the county-level Censorate, it is equivalent to the highest court down to the county court.
Local county officials are responsible for investigating cases, but the final sentencing is attributed to the Censorate, and death sentences must be reported to the Menglianggu Chief Censorate for review.
When the cost for workshop owners to manage the government, trade unions, and the Censorate far exceeds the cost of implementing "996," these workshop owners will naturally be too lazy to implement "996."
This is why it is said that there are people who undertake jobs with the risk of execution, but no one does business at a loss.
Not to mention the ever-present Embroidered Uniform Guard.
The way the Embroidered Uniform Guard operates is basically very similar to a certain agency in later generations, with direct public strongholds in various places. However, unlike that agency, the publicly visible strongholds of the Embroidered Uniform Guard are just that – public strongholds, used to receive reports from the common people and to escort them to "lodge complaints with the emperor." The actual membership structure has no connection to these strongholds.
In general, Zhu Jinsong, who has always liked to cross the river by touching the rabbit, has touched it so much that it feels like he is about to make the rabbit bald. However, he has also made some modifications in certain areas, making it more suitable for the Menglianggu Rebel Group.
Of course, Zhu Jinsong, the grand leader of Menglianggu, is not without his troubles.
In the final analysis, the foundation of Menglianggu is still insufficient.
To receive and resettle millions, or even tens of millions, of refugees fleeing from Zhili is an enormous pressure for the Menglianggu Rebel Group, which currently only occupies Shandong.
The first issue is food.
Of course, for Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, whether there is enough food is not a major problem. After all, a certain Mr. Sima once said, if there isn't enough grain, use meat to make up for it.
While chicken, duck, goose, pork, horse, cattle, and sheep meat might be difficult to handle, for Zhu Jinsong, who occupies Dengzhou and Laizhou, fish and other seafood are very easy to come by.
In those days, mantis shrimp were not even qualified to feed pigs.
At worst, Zhu Jinsong can exchange money for grain. After all, as the Menglianggu Rebel Group grows larger and occupies more territory, many things that were once only in imagination can gradually become reality.
For example, flintlock guns are greatly needed by rebels of all sizes, but those rebels composed of local gentry and scholars cannot handle such things that require intricate craftsmanship and technological accumulation. Even if they can master the manufacturing technology of flintlock guns, they cannot guarantee the quality and output of steel.
And Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, wishes that all rebels in the world would use the flintlock guns manufactured by Menglianggu – those flintlock guns that are not of very good quality and have a short lifespan. Once the ammunition supply is cut off, their power is not even comparable to a large saber.
Therefore, after over a hundred rebel factions emerged in the world, Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, sent people to contact those rebel leaders and earnestly explained the principle of "it is better to buy than to make."
Following this, Zhu Jinsong also stated that he would accept money or grain. After all, everyone is rebelling against the Qing Dynasty, and only when everyone is well can everyone truly be well.
Therefore, for Zhu Jinsong, the difficulty of obtaining money is not particularly great, nor is the difficulty of obtaining grain.
The only problem is that there are simply too many trivial matters within the entire Menglianggu Rebel Group, and Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, is stretched too thin. Many matters can only be advanced step by step. The transmigration experience is far less enjoyable than those cheaters with systems.
Apart from the food, which is not a very troublesome issue, the second truly troublesome problem for Zhu Jinsong is the lack of sufficient personnel.
Yes, personnel, again personnel. The personnel of the entire Menglianggu Rebel Group seem to be perpetually insufficient.
Many transmigration players talk about cultivating their own personnel, but are personnel like batches of scallions that can be cultivated in a few months?
Setting aside other things, what about textbooks? Without textbooks, how can you cultivate talent just by talking?
Even if we don't consider the textbook issue, what about teaching? Who will teach?
Taking the Menglianggu Rebel Group as an example.
Cultivating a qualified agricultural cooperative employee might only take a few months, but cultivating a qualified county magistrate-level employee would take at least half a year or even longer.
In comparison, the simplest to cultivate are the employees of the newly established Censorate – those who are wholeheartedly committed to making the ruler like Emperors Yao and Shun and have not yet entered officialdom are the best candidates. As long as they are given a copy of the Menglianggu Laws and Regulations Compilation, the rest will not be too much of a concern.
Beyond that, the progress of cultivating other employees is very frustrating.
Zhu Jinsong doesn't know why these miscellaneous matters seem so simple in the hands of other transmigration players, but in his hands, he's so busy that he hardly has any time to spend with his little wife. Every day he's either writing textbooks, teaching classes, or overseeing research and development.
Zhu Jinsong believes that to truly liberate himself, it will take at least until the formal establishment of the social education system.
However, compared to these two troublesome but relatively legitimate issues, the subsequent problems are somewhat less legitimate—
As mentioned before, ever since the old dog Qianlong started playing the shrinking turtle tactic, over a hundred rebel factions have emerged in the world. Moreover, these rebels are all waving the banner of anti-Qing and restoring the Ming dynasty. They also have business dealings with Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, in terms of flintlock guns. The situation looks extremely promising.
However, what is the deal with all these over a hundred rebel leaders claiming to be fifth-generation descendants of Emperor Chongzhen?
In later generations, I've heard that there are many people in those orphanages vying to be Zhu Yuanzhang's grandson. Zhu Jinsong even suspects that some studios are mass-producing grandsons for Old Zhu.
But how did so many people claiming to be fifth-generation descendants of Chongzhen appear in my Great Qing?
Fine, Shandong has its legitimate Zhu Zhongrou, and Henan has a Zhu Zhongtao, Shanxi has a Zhu Zhongzhi, and Jiangsu has a Zhu Zhongji. In short, there are over a hundred rebels surnamed Zhu, and these rebels are all of the Zhong generation, with "wood" radical in their names.
Damn it, they've all figured out the naming rules of the Zhu family!
The key point is that they are all scrambling to be the grandson of that unlucky Chongzhen?
Then, Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, became very unhappy.
If Zhu Jinsong is unhappy, he cannot let others be happy.
For Zhu Jinsong, the best primary target to vent his displeasure would naturally be the old dog Qianlong. However, now that the old dog Qianlong is obediently playing the shrinking turtle tactic, Zhu Jinsong is hesitant to act against him for the moment.
According to the normal playbook, when the old dog Qianlong first started playing the shrinking turtle tactic, Zhu Jinsong should not have allowed the old dog Qianlong to drive the people of Zhili to Shandong. The simplest solution would have been to directly attack Zhili and push the war back towards the old dog Qianlong.
Unfortunately, Zhu Jinsong did not have the capital to directly attack Zhili at that time, and even if he occupied Zhili, he did not have enough personnel to utilize. Coupled with his covetousness for the nearly ten million people in Zhili, this situation has led to the current peculiar balance.
After all, the nearly ten million people of Zhili are too tempting.
Yes, tempting.
If one-third of these nearly ten million people in Zhili, between the ages of eighteen and forty, are men and women, then this number would be approximately three million.
Three million able-bodied laborers, whether used for road construction, school building, or working in workshops to foster the emergence of the working class, are all indispensable.