"Ru Lin. I'm going to leave this matter to you. ”

After the meeting, Han Gang returned to the hall. Holding the newly enameled teacup, he covered his hands and asked Zong Ze in front of him.

Zong Ze arched his hand, "Since the Xianggong has entrusted this matter to the lower officials, the lower officials will do their best to thoroughly investigate the case and not teach a thief to escape." ”

Zong Ze did not shirk the drudgery of returning to his hometown to investigate the case, Han Gang nodded approvingly, but heard Zong Ze ask: "I don't know what the husband thinks of this case?" ”

"Although it is indeed strange that several silk factories on Liangzhejiang Road have been burned one after another, it is also true that the factories mistreat workers. Without their greed, the thieves would not have been able to incite so many people, and the Longxi Cotton Factory has been running for nearly 20 years, and it has not been burned. Han Gang glanced at Zong Ze and said, "If an orange is born in Huainan, it is an orange, and if it is born in Huaibei, it is an orange. If the factory is located in the north, it will be fine, and if it is located in the south, it will be chaotic. Without him, the folk customs are different. The northerners are more important than righteousness, and the southerners are more important than profit. The northerners Gu Yi, the profits from running the factory, and the workers were equally divided, so when the Quartet heard about the recruitment, they were bustling. The southerners seek profits, and the profits from running factories are all hidden at home, and the baht is not with others. Looking at the safety of the cotton mills in the north and the chaos of the silk mills in the south, the distinction between the north and the south is clearly visible. ”

Zong Ze has been immersed in officialdom for a long time, but he only heard half of these words, and his face still turned red. Han Gang's roots are in the northwest, but he has never discriminated against the scholars in the south. Shen Kuo, Huang Shang, Zong Ze, which one is not a southerner? Zong Ze never expected that Han Gang would suddenly attack the southerners.

As soon as Han Gang finished speaking, Zong Ze immediately refuted loudly: "Xianggong's words are ridiculous! ”

"The second half of this paragraph is indeed wrong...... Han Gang nodded very bluntly, "Okay, let's take this regional discrimination first, this time the silk factory was burned, it is indeed due to the difference between the north and the south, but it is by no means all." But Ru Lin ......," he said in a low voice, stroking his teacup, "you have to admit that the difference between the north and the south is real. Those factory owners in the south are rich and powerful, have relatives, and have backers, but they don't know how terrible the word gathering is. Shall they still work in their factories like their tenant farmers? ”

"That northern ......" Zong Ze wanted to argue again, but as soon as the words came out, he suddenly woke up.

Han Gang raised his eyebrows and said: "There are many associations in the north, and there are many armor protections, so it is common to see hundreds of people gathering together to do the same thing, how to deal with it, everyone has experience." They will not be so confused as to force the workers in their factories to death. ”

"The situation of the silk weaving industry in Hebei is actually not good, in the past, there were many Liao people in Hebei silk, but now the shipping has been opened, the railway is also through, the price of silk in the north has fallen again and again, a silk factory of the same size, in Hebei can only earn half of the Jiangnan. If the factory owners in Hebei had learned from Jiangnan, the workers of the Hebei Silk Factory would have risen up long ago. However, the people in the north are fierce, the families are huge, few people dare to speak out about the fish and meat villages, and there are very few cases of arrears of wages in the north, although on the bright side, the wages of working in the silk factories in the north are less than those in the south, only about eighty or ninety, but there are few cases of complaining. ”

"Each place has its own characteristics. The factories in the north were not worried about turmoil because of the customs and customs of the people, while the factories of the imperial court were mostly in Gyeonggi, with tens of thousands of people. Whoever dares to withhold the workers' money and food is the sinner who troubles the Jingshi, and no one dares to take this responsibility. ”

The industries of the imperial court are as many as the stars in the sky. Iron and steel factories, glass factories, glasses factories, as well as railways and mines, in terms of income and scale, the members of the Yongqin Chamber of Commerce combined are not as good as one-tenth of the industries under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

In these state-owned enterprises, small workers all have military status, and large workers are expected to be officials, and everyone is taking the money from the imperial court. In addition, the ordnance superintendent and the general were very tightly supervised, and the two governments attached great importance to it, and the workers had no worries about food and clothing - except, of course, in the mines. However, most of the mines have been mined for many years, and the miners have long been accustomed to that kind of life, unlike the silk workers in Jiangnan, who are basically bankrupt farmers and cannot adapt to the management system in the factory.

Private factories, employing more than two hundred, were a novelty in most of the South. Both labor and management are novices. On the one hand, there is the inherent greed of the capitalists, but they do not notice the difference in the mobility of the workers and the peasants; On the other hand, they have not yet adapted to the discipline and intensity of work that must be observed when participating in industrial production. Therefore, in the process of contradictions, intensification and eruption have become the norm, and when most people adapt to it, the current chaos will be weakened, and then ...... Keep going.

In a labor-intensive factory like a silk mill, where the working conditions are extremely harsh, it is far less important to employ men than women and children. It's easy to manage, and you don't have to worry about them messing around. It's a pity that in the Great Song Dynasty, it is not easy to hire women and children to do hard labor, and there is a children's school enrollment rate as the official evaluation standard, and the government will not sit idly by.

Zong Ze nodded silently, the difference between the north and the south in this regard does exist, no need for Han Gang to say, he himself knows it.

Seeing that Zong Ze was convinced, Han Gang was even more serious: "The reason why you say this to Ru Lin is just that I hope you will go to Liangzhe, not just to arrest thieves." That's just a symptom, but not a cure. ”

"Xia Guan understands." Zong Ze said.

"In fact, with this chaos, the factory owners in Jiangnan will naturally restrain a little." Han Gang said with a smile, lifted the lid, and took a sip of tea.

The competition of interests is all about coming and going, and striking a balance in the struggle. However, the balance is not strong, and the next turmoil is brewing at any time. But Han Gang still hopes that Zong Ze will go to Jiangnan this time to maintain this balance for a little longer.

"But Rulin, you also said just now, the chaos is concentrated in Liangzhejiang, and there must be a reason for it. As for the reason for this......"

"It must be a demon cult, otherwise it is impossible to incite silk workers in many places." As early as a few days ago, the news of the attack on the first silk factory attracted Han Gang's attention, and in a few days, Zong Ze checked in many ways and had already thought clearly, "Just look at the silk factories hundreds of miles apart one after another, you can know that these demon forces must be not small." ”

"Well, that makes sense." Han Gang said, "After you get to Liangzhejiang, Ru Lin, you can borrow more manpower from the Prison Division, if there is a change, you can send a gold medal to Beijing in a hurry, and at least the two commanders of the Shenji Army can be transferred to you." ”

Zong Ze's heart sank, "It shouldn't be like this." There is a government ......"

"Rulin!" Han Gang interrupted Zong Ze's words, "Plan for the worst. I've heard a proverb in the Western Regions that always says that the side of the dough coated with meat sauce always lands first. ”

"Xiaguan understands." After a moment of confusion, Zong Ze regained his composure and said categorically, "But the lower officials will do their best to prevent the situation from deteriorating to such a field." ”

"I believe Ru Lin, you will be able to do it." Han Gang said with a smile. After taking a sip of water, he added, "Now the railway is like a thousand miles away, and it only takes a few days to travel a thousand miles. In the future, there will be more and more thieves passing through the state and county. Cases of incitement and arson like this one, relying only on one state and one county, are really not easy to solve the case, and it is even difficult to hand it over all the way. If someone commits a crime along the railway, traveling from Yangzhou to Dingzhou, how can such a thief be caught with the existing manpower? ”

……………………

Lying on the rickety bed, Zong Ze didn't sleep for a long time. Already on the way south, he was still thinking about what Han Gang said in the morning.

Especially in the end, Han Gang revealed his intention to set up a new yamen, and it is very likely that in addition to the army that maintains the security of the railway, a yamen dedicated to catching thieves will be added. At that time, the pursuit of Jiangyang thieves was carried out by this yamen, with the assistance of various states and counties and the Department of Criminal Prisons.

I don't know what people will say when the time comes.

Zong Ze sighed secretly.

Just like this time. Han Gang had just pushed the imperial court to issue an edict to encourage industry, and suddenly there was a leak, and someone would inevitably start attacking Han Gang's policy. Zong Ze hurriedly went south to solve this problem.

Zong Ze knew very well that these attacks could be solved as long as he did his errands well. What to send him to Gangnam for? It is to dig out the culprits behind the scenes, and then put all the blame on them. As for those cruel and greedy factory owners, Han Gang also gave him the power to dispose of them, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered to say so much.

This is also a problem brought about by the restructuring. Although Han Gang did not shout explicitly to change the law and restructure. But unconsciously, Han Gang has changed the system a lot.

Zong Ze was by Han Gang's side and saw this very clearly. I even heard Han Gang talk about his views on the city and the countryside - the vocabulary that Han Gang used at that time was very unfamiliar, but Zong Ze did understand it.

For a long time, the biggest economic difference between rural and urban areas is that one is a producer and the other is a consumer.

Although the city is rich, the wealth comes from all directions. Especially in Kaifeng, Fulijia is in the world, but millions of soldiers and civilians are all dependent on the south of the Yangtze River, civil and military officials, and all of them are from all over the world.

However, with the beginning of the development of Kaifeng Province's industry, steel, glass, and other industries occupy most of their respective markets, and the financial revenue from industry has actually exceeded the summer and autumn taxes within the boundaries of Kaifeng Prefecture, and together with the commercial taxes including railway stamp duty, they occupy nearly eighty percent of the total tax.

On the one hand, most of the land within the boundaries of Kaifeng Prefecture belongs to the big families, and the tax is small. On the other hand, it is indeed Kaifeng industry and commerce, far more than the old years. In the past ten years, Kaifeng's tax revenue has more than tripled, and it is impossible to have such a rapid growth by relying only on the two taxes per acre.

However, in Han Gang's eyes, the old financial system can no longer adapt to the increasingly prosperous business system, and even the political system is far from keeping up with the changes of the times.

"In Kaifeng Mansion, the people are governed by six Cao, the people are governed by two halls, and the people are pacified by three courts. But the Tiechang account is not in Kaifeng Mansion. ”

This is what Han Gang said to Zong Ze in private some time ago.

Taxes from the ironworks...... The imperial court confiscated the commercial taxes of the iron works at all. The profits of the iron works are directly sent to the state treasury. To research and development, to rebuild, to increase production, the decision is in the hands of the imperial court. Tax? How much does the imperial court have to lose?!

Zong Ze knew that Han Gang had always had thoughts about this. But how Han Gang wants to change, Zong Ze doesn't know.

He only knew that this world, just like the train he was riding now, had been running faster and faster on the track set by Han Gang, so fast that he couldn't stop anymore.