Lin Shiyi didn't care how Zhu Ying got grain, threw the gold and silver to the South Seas, bought spices and tobacco leaves, and went north to Hangzhou Port for trade.

This time, eight grass and mud horses lived, and as soon as they arrived in Hangzhou, they landed on the shore to let off steam, attracting countless onlookers at the wharf.

As soon as the spices were sold, the officials came to the door: "Lin Qianhu, there is a group of exiles sentenced to migrate to the extreme east, can they be loaded on the ship and taken away directly?" ”

"In such a hurry?" Lin Shiyi asked, "How many people?" What did you commit? ”

According to the judge's officer, "Sixty or seventy, mixed men and women, burned down the merchant loom." ”

Lin Shiyi said with a smile: "It's just to destroy some looms, and you are exiled to the extreme east, you have also sentenced too much." ”

"If the sentence is not severe, this trend may become more and more intense." According to the official of the judge.

Before the Physicists improved the machine, the textile industry had two modes of production: agglomeration and decentralization.

Gathering production, naturally, is the businessman to purchase machinery and invite workers to gather together for weaving, which is not the mainstream business model.

Decentralized production is the mainstream!

First of all, there were the capitalists, called "account houses", who purchased cotton and cotton yarn in large quantities.

Then there was the contract foreman, called the "owner", who signed contracts from the capitalists and received cotton and cotton yarn from the capitalists.

Then there are the common people, called "weavers", who receive cotton or cotton yarn from the foreman, and in their own homes, using their own machines, spin cotton into cotton yarn and cotton yarn into cotton cloth. The products are handed over to the contractor, who in turn hands them over to the capitalists.

Finally, there were the merchants, called "contract sellers", who bought cotton cloth from the capitalists and sold it, and some of the capitalists were also responsible for the sales themselves.

The advent of improved manual machines and steam engines gradually broke this conventional mode of production, and the contractors directly lost their subsistence soil, and scattered weavers were either cut off from making a living or hired to work directly in the factory.

In addition, the capitalists are greedy, and in order to pressure costs and seize the market, they frantically squeeze the workers at the bottom.

Thus, the workers' guild was born!

This kind of workers' guild is a secret society, and even needs to be united against the capitalists in a bloody alliance, and their demand is nothing more than a wage increase - the slave rebellion in the late Ming Dynasty also started with the community, and the slaves secretly formed a secret society to unite against the master. When the struggle was fierce but no violence was resorted to, the slaves of the entire city did not work, and the gentry and rich had to chop wood and cook their own food.

With the gradual popularization of the steam engine, only a few of the "proprietors" who were the foremen of the contract were converted into factory owners, and most of them did not know what to do. They began to infiltrate workers' guilds, stir up troubles among the workers, and even gradually became union leaders.

Not long ago, a factory owner in Huzhou bought more than 10 steam engines, planned to eliminate all the previous improved hand-spinning machines, and announced the elimination of some redundant workers.

The workers were already dissatisfied with their treatment, and now they were in danger of being laid off, and as soon as the ill-intentioned people provoked it, they immediately broke out to destroy the machinery, which gradually spread to most of the Huzhou capital.

In the end, a factory was burned down, and more than 20 workers were burned to death.

This is definitely not done by the workers, they just want to improve their own treatment, and if they really destroy the factory, they will lose their jobs.

After checking and checking, I can't find out who is the real culprit.

The capitalists in Huzhou were so frightened that in order to make an example of them, they simply banded together to frame the workers who complained the most, bribed the government to convict them of arsonists, and asked the Zhejiang Judge to exile them to the Americas.

This case is equivalent to the Ming version of the "Luddite Movement".

Lin Shiyi despised capitalists in his heart, but he didn't bother to speak after collecting freight, anyway, Wang Shangshu has immigration tasks every year, and these dozens of workers can still charge the amount of immigrants.

But just as Lin Shiyi was handling the handover, Ouyang Chong, the envoy of Zhejiang, suddenly came over and said with an angry face: "Lin Qianhu, let people immediately." This case is full of suspicions, and I will take these workers back for retrial! ”

Lin Shiyi smiled and said: "I don't care, you can figure it out according to the judge himself, don't involve us Jinyi Haiwei." ”

"Thank you for your cooperation." Ouyang hugged his fists.

Ouyang Chong, Zhengde's three-year jinshi, Yang Shen's good friend, Yang Tinghe's promoted junior. Historically, Yang Shen was exiled to Yunnan, Yang Tinghe returned to his hometown and died, but it was Ouyang Chongshang who pleaded for mercy, and Jiajing allowed Yang Shen to go home for funeral.

Regardless of faction, only in terms of talent and morality, Ouyang Chong can be called an iron-faced selfless and capable minister.

The promotion of the steam engine in Jiangnan led to the impact of ordinary weavers, countless weavers could no longer subsidize their families, and the lives of ordinary people were even more difficult. There is also a large number of fertile fields to be planted with cotton, and a "cotton eats people" incident was staged, which made Ouyang seriously saddened, believing that the steam engine was destroying the perfect society of "male ploughing and female weaving".

With this factory arson case, Ouyang Zhong plans to severely punish the capitalists!

Lin Shiyi sold all the goods shipped from Nanyang, and purchased goods to Liaodong to sell. Just as they were about to set sail, the workers were brought in again and sent to the Americas.

Ouyang was so angry that he vomited blood, he resisted the pressure of the capitalists, and the case had just been tried with some eyebrows, when suddenly an order from the imperial court came: promote the imperial history of Zuo Yudu, immediately patrol Yunnan, and suppress the rebellion of Tusi Anquan and Feng Chaowen!

Yes, the rebellion in Guangxi has not been completely quelled, and the Yunnan Tusi have begun to rebel again.

Ouyang Chong had served as a deputy envoy in Yunnan, and he was relatively familiar with the situation in Yunnan, and with Yang Tinghe's support, he immediately got the errand of this governor of Yunnan.

The case could not be tried again, the rebellion in Yunnan was serious, and Ouyang Chong had to go to Yunnan immediately to take up his post. He quickly completed the handover, and on the way to his post, on the official ship of the Yangtze River, he wrote a letter of thousands of words: "Suppressing Cotton and Sparse".

In this letter, Ouyang Zhong elaborated on the local situation and analyzed the rise of the steam engine, which brought about the prosperity of the cotton textile industry. Traditional small handicrafts have been destroyed, cotton fields have excluded grain fields, and food prices have continued to rise, and the small people have long been miserable. The cotton cloth produced by the steam engine has long been in excess of demand in China, and can only be shipped overseas for sale.

"The profits of cotton cloth are all vested in the merchants, and the small people have nothing to gain. The higher the price of cotton, the more cotton fields; The lower the price of cloth, the higher the price of food. The prolific cloth in the south of the Yangtze River is sold overseas, and it makes a huge profit, so how can the people of Kyushu do it? ”

"The disaster has plummeted, the grain merchants have lived in strange places, the price of grain has skyrocketed, and the small people have nothing to eat all day long. so that hunger pervades the earth, and men eat one another, as in the last days. Cotton eats people? Machines eat people? All profiteering cannibalism! When the cotton is suppressed and the business is suppressed, please ask Your Majesty to levy more cotton classes and business classes......"

Ouyang Chong was quite sensible, knowing that it was impossible to ban the steam engine, but he must restrain the development of the capitalists. He suggested that the imperial court should raise taxes on cotton fields, and then increase the commercial taxes on cotton yarn and cotton cloth, so that the capitalists could not earn such high profits, which would naturally effectively curb the large number of grain fields from being converted into cotton fields, and also increase the tax revenue of the imperial court.

Yang Tinghe received this letter and took it to the cabinet for discussion: "Why do you think you are like this? ”

Yang Yiqing said ambiguously: "The matter of tax increase should be done cautiously. ”

Mao Ji directly objected: "I don't think so. ”

"Why not?" Jiang Mian was supportive.

"Let's put it aside for now." Wang Qiong said.

Factions don't work on this matter, and there are two different views within the Yang party.

Mao Ji opposed the increase in cotton tax because he was from Shandong, and Shandong was a major cotton-producing province. Mao Ji has cotton fields at home, his clan also has a large number of cotton fields, and his relatives and friends also have a variety of cotton, how can he support the increase in cotton tax?

Jiang Mian is a native of Guangxi, where the commercial atmosphere is not strong, purely from the national economy and people's livelihood, hoping to increase the tax on cotton fields and cotton cloth-related commercial taxes.

Although Yang Yiqing's ancestral home is Yunnan, his family has long settled in Zhenjiang. Zhenjiang is located in the Yangtze River, the Grand Canal traffic artery, is a typical commercial shipping city, whether to increase the cotton tax or not, in fact, it doesn't matter, he just hopes not to make a mess because of the tax increase.

Wang Qiong's opposition to the cotton tax hike is a simpler starting point, because Wang Yuan is the largest cotton cloth manufacturer in the country, and he is afraid that supporting the tax hike will offend Wang Yuan, a royal celebrity.

As for Yang Ting and himself, he actually supports tax increases, and he has no interest in it.

However, Mao Ji is Yang Tinghe's confidant, will the forced tax increase arouse Mao Ji's disgust? Yang Tinghe had to think about this, and the first thing he thought of was to unite the party.

The cabinet had different opinions on this, and I don't know who leaked it, but the contents of this letter were actually spread, causing a strong response from the courtiers.

A large number of civil servants have asked for an increase in cotton tax, and they have long been unaccustomed to the phenomenon of "cotton eating people"!

There are also ill-intentioned people who point the finger at Wang Yuan and the growing school of physics.