Wang Minyun didn't understand what King Xi was doing, and after Ah Li Guo and Clifford left, he stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Your Royal Highness the King of the West, why did you suddenly agree to Ah Li Guo to ransom people with money?" ”

Xiao Yungui said with a gloomy and cold face: "A Li Chong has lost all the elite soldiers of the town, and he is already a dead dog, and he is killed after the trial, except for earning a few shouts, it doesn't make much sense." Don't you think that Ali Guo sent 100,000 silver dollars just to ransom a person, which in itself is an intriguing thing? ”

Wang Minyun thought for a while and nodded: "It's really incomprehensible, even if it's like Wu Jianzhang of Shanghai Dao back then, his friendship with foreigners is also very good, but in the end, the foreigners didn't use money to ransom people, there must be something else in this matter." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled and said: "That's right, if I don't agree, how can I let the play continue?" I'm going to see what tricks they can do when they get Li Chong out! The things in the world are not easy for people to detect when they are hidden underground, so it is better to let the things be revealed generously, so that they can be better solved. ”

Wang Minyun also smiled: "What's more, you can get an extra 100,000 silver dollars?" The two of them looked at each other and smiled.

After laughing, Xiao Yungui looked at the copywriting on the table and said: "The Fifth Army has been transferred to the Liangguang front, and the Sixth Army is stationed in Shanghai, and all the necessary materials such as food, ammunition, clothing, etc. on both sides have been properly deployed." ”

Wang Minyun bowed slightly and said: "The Sixth Army is supplied nearby, and the supplies are abundant, but the Fifth Army is still supplying by sea when it goes south, but for various reasons, it is slightly blocked, and the materials have not yet gone south." ”

Xiao Yungui said with a slight displeasure: "What I started planning half a month ago, why haven't we collected all the ships yet?" The Fifth Army was about to move south. The materials must arrive in Guangzhou on time, which shipping companies carry the shipping materials? ”

Wang Minyun said: "This trip is carried by Yujia Shipping Company and Jardine Matheson Shipping Company, but recently there have been dock workers in both shipping companies who have made trouble because of their dissatisfaction with the treatment. Several docks have come to a standstill due to workers' strikes, so ......"

Xiao Yungui sighed and frowned: "Since there is a problem, why don't you report it?" ”

Wang Minyun was slightly stunned and said: "Workers' troubles are common things, there are many factories, shipping, wharves, large and small businesses here in Shanghai, and this kind of thing happens every month, and it is usually the Minister of Military Affairs and Commerce who comes forward to mediate between the two sides to resolve these disputes." Although the dock workers' strike is somewhat aggressive, it is believed that it will be resolved soon, and the deadline for the arrival of supplies in the south is still long. It was not reported. ”

Xiao Yungui hummed softly, although he was calm on the surface, he began to feel a little uneasy in his heart. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was under his leadership and began to embark on the road of transformation into a capitalist industrial country. Jiangsu and Zhejiang were the first places to start the New Deal. A large number of people who had lost their land entered the factories and wharves, and the unemployed Cao Yun soldiers became workers and employees of shipping companies.

The land contradictions in some industrially developed areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been eased, but the contradictions between workers and capitalists peculiar to capitalist countries have inevitably emerged.

The Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions have priority conditions for moving towards capitalism, one of them. It is densely populated, and there is also a large number of people who have lost their land. At the same time, due to the war, a large number of displaced people flocked to the rich places to seek a living, so there were a large number of laborers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who could enter the factory and become workers.

The second is capital, the capital of Western countries is accumulated through the barbaric plundering in the early guò period, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions were originally rich places, and billionaires abound, the new policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom raised the threshold of land sales, thereby limiting the transformation between land and capital, forcing these private capital to find another way, coupled with a large amount of capital obtained by the Taiping army from the war and plunder in the early stage, the capital in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is enough to develop capitalism.

The third is the timing, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have always been the most developed areas of industry and commerce in the country, there is no one, and there are many folk handicraft workshops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, these are the germ of capitalism, but due to the Manchu Qing Dynasty's heavy agriculture and business director zhì These folk workshops are loosely organized and uncompetitive, so when the cheap goods of foreigners arrive, a large number of handicraft workshops went bankrupt, destroying the local small peasant commodity economy, and also providing an opportunity for the transformation of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Fourth, the market, the rise of capitalism needs the raw material market and the consumer market, the raw material market needless to say, the domestic land is vast, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are the places where the raw materials are exported intensively, and the source of raw materials is extremely convenient, and the Taiping Army canceled the local restrictive taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the Manchu Dynasty such as the Lijin checkpoint tax, so that the source of raw materials is more smooth, and it also provides convenience. The consumer market is mainly in the country, and the war is the direct consumer market, and the Taiping army seized a large amount of bureaucratic capital from the enemy to support the war, and at the same time relied on the developed commercial taxes to support the war, so the war provided the most direct consumer market for the rise of capitalism in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Coupled with the development of local markets such as Japan, the United States and Southeast Asia after conquering Guangzhou, the goods in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have also had a relatively stable market.

As a result, the industrial and commercial capitalism of Jiangsu and Zhejiang began to develop explosively, just like the capital forces of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortiums that sprung up after the Westernization Movement, and it was these consortium forces that supported Chiang Kai-shek's ascension and ruling in history. However, Xiao Yungui knows what contradictions will arise when capitalism develops at a certain time, and the rise of the working class will be a force to be reckoned with, and it seems that at this time, Marx also began to write his famous "Capital".

Although he knows the disadvantages of capitalism, Xiao Yungui still has to take this path, the reason is simple, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. At the same time, Xiao Yungui also took some preventive measures, such as proposing a minimum wage guarantee system for workers, etc., but these systems are nothing compared to the tricks of the capitalists. For example, the most direct reason for the dock workers' strike is that the capitalists demand that the workers work overtime, and the overtime wages are only paid according to the usual wages, so the workers have begun to seek to protect their legitimate rights and interests.

After Xiao Yungui patiently listened to Wang Minyun's report on the workers' strike, he said slowly: "How does the Military and Political Department plan to intervene to solve this matter?" ”

Wang Minyun said: "The Department of Commerce has sent several coordination officials to the scene to coordinate, and the workers are electing a few representatives, but they are too many people to talk about and have not elected anyone so far." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled slightly, sure enough, at this stage, the workers' organizations are still in a state of ignorance, although they know that they have been treated unfairly, but now they are just countrymen who have just washed their feet from the fields and come ashore, and they don't know how to protect their rights and interests, nor do they know how to organize, let alone trade unions or anything, and they are still in the initial stage. But Xiao Yungui knew that it was after the experience gained from this futile struggle that the working class would eventually become an indescribable force on the stage of history, but before that, they would have to pay enough tuition.

After a sigh, Xiao Yungui said: "Then it's good for you to pay attention to it, but no matter what, you can't delay the transfer of materials for the Fifth Army, and at the same time, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Households, and the local military and political departments must also learn the lessons of this incident. ”

Wang Minyun naturally nodded in agreement, and he also gave several officials of the Department of Commerce a final deadline, if the workers had not elected people before joining the afternoon unitary hour, and there was no unanimous and unified demand, the Military and Political Department would dispatch the local police to forcibly disperse the dock workers and restore order at the docks. And Yujia Shipping and Jardine Matheson have also prepared a group of thugs, ready to go up and use force at any time.

Xiao Yungui didn't bother with these things again, the development of things always has its process, although the capitalist industry and commerce in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have a certain scale, but it has its own way to go, forcibly distorting and changing some things will add to the snake, and now the capitalist germ of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is still very fragile, if blindly suppressing the bloodthirstiness of the capitalists will hit and hinder its development and protect the interests of the workers, then after the capitalists go bankrupt, who will guarantee the interests of the capitalists? If the capitalists do not start by exploitation, what do they rely on?

Xiao Yungui felt that he had imprisoned a man-eating beast and released another beast to hurt people, but it seemed that it was always the poor people who were hurt, and the development of human society to the present, it seems that from the beginning of the social division of labor in ancient times, human society will always be full of exploitation and unfairness.

"You still have to pay more attention to the details of the Fifth Army's southward journey, and the rest is nothing serious. In addition, the Sixth Army was stationed in Shanghai, mainly to prepare for the upcoming British and French expeditionary forces. The foreigners' army numbered 20,000 or 30,000 men, and they would stay in Shanghai for a short time, waiting for the beginning of spring next year and then heading north, and this time the foreigners would definitely use force to force the Manchus to submit. Although the purpose of the foreigners is not ours, it is not impossible for Xiang Zhuang to dance the sword to Peigong, so during the period when the Sixth Army is stationed in Shanghai, it is necessary to cooperate more with the coastal defense township corps and local police under your military and political department, and pay close attention to the movements of the foreigners. It is best that the Sixth Army and the local units of your military and political department can conduct several joint exercises, and after they are proficient in coordination, they will not be in a hurry once something happens. ”

In a few days, the first batch of naval officers and men who went to Britain for training will return to China and return to Shanghai together with the five warships we ordered in France. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Your idea is very good, how to operate it, you go to Luo Outline and they to discuss, after the discussion, report the detailed regulations to the Ministry of War, and implement it without any problems." The Sixth Army also has to prepare a batch of supplies, and after the expeditionary force of the Spring Oceans goes north next year, the Sixth Army will also immediately go north to join the battlefield in northern Jiangsu, so you still have a lot to do......" (To be continued......