When Li Yanliang woke up from his sleep, the house was empty, and his mother took a carriage to school early, but she was heating a rich breakfast for him on the stove, several kinds of meat buns with thin skin and many fillings, rich sauced beef, and tender eggs were served in the steamer drawer, and half a pot of fragrant and glutinous rice porridge was placed on the other side.

Outside the house, there was a row of washed clothes hanging on the clothesline, straight military uniforms, comforting underwear, and even military hats and leather boots that had been brushed clean by my mother.

Putting on the regular clothes that his mother had prepared for him, he walked into the small courtyard and stretched out comfortably.

This is the life of a normal person!

"Brother Yanliang."

When he got out of the small courtyard, he didn't walk a few steps when he met the half-grown son of the neighbor next door who greeted him warmly.

"Big roots?" Li Yanliang hesitated for a moment and called out tentatively.

"Brother Yanliang,...... I'm Sangen. The corners of Chen Genmin's mouth twitched.

"You're three!" Li Yanliang did not show any embarrassment because he called the wrong name, but instead stretched out his hand and rubbed it on his head quite affectionately, "You have grown so tall!" I remember when I first left Hanzhou to serve overseas, you were just a little pudding. ”

"Brother Yanliang, I'm sixteen." Chen Genmin said with a smile: "When I went to serve overseas, I was still in school. ”

"Why, you didn't go to school today? Won't you skip class again? Watch out for your dad coming back and beating you half to death! ”

"I didn't go to school anymore. Hehe...... I didn't get into the senior high school. …… I've been working for two years! ”

"Oh." Li Yanliang nodded and said with a smile: "Then why didn't you go to the factory today?" ”

"Alas, more than ten days ago, I was fired by the owner." Chen Genmin sighed.

"What's going on? Did your owner's factory collapse, or did you get kicked out of the mess there? ”

"Neither." Chen Genmin said depressedly: "A month ago, our owner bought a batch of new textile machines, and there were not so many people in the factory. So ......"

"So your job has been replaced by a new machine?"

"Is that not it?" Chen Genmin had a bitter look on his face, with a hint of indignation on his face, "Those new machines are not only more efficient, can produce more cotton yarn, but also require less labor. These black-hearted factory owners have a good abacus. They continue to introduce newer and more advanced machines, and we workers will be swept out of the house one by one, which can save a lot of costs! ”

During this period, there were almost more than one million people in Qi who were directly and indirectly engaged in related work in the cotton textile industry, involving a wide range of areas. The cotton spinning industry of Qi country, in order to obtain more favorable competitive conditions in foreign markets, constantly improve and enhance the production efficiency of the industry. In the nearly 70 years from the first year of Qianwu (1642) to the sixth year of Taiping (1710), the mechanization of the spinning industry in Qi has increased individual productivity by 200 to 300 times.

The development of the spinning industry has also promoted the corresponding improvement and promotion of weaving technology; Decottoning machines, cotton purification machines, carding machines, bleaching machines, and finishing and dyeing machines have also come out one after another, forming a complete set of complex machine series. It can be said that the cotton textile industry has become the first industry to realize mechanization in Qi industry, and the scale of textile output has also seen a blowout growth.

Jianye, Weihai and Daxing are the three most important cotton textile centers in Qi State, accounting for eighty percent of the total output value of the entire industry. In addition to a large number of cotton raw materials from India, Bangladesh and other regions, a large part of the cotton raw materials mainly come from the cotton-producing areas in the eastern and central regions of Handong Province, as well as scattered cotton plantations in the South Seas.

With the perfection and widespread application of the steam engine, the relationship between production efficiency and labor was gradually changed. In the past, a worker could only manage one spindle machine, but now, a worker can manage a hundred or even more spindle machines. In this case, the products of manual labor not only cannot be compared with the quantity of large-scale machine products, but also completely inferior to machines in quality.

Now, a piece of locally produced tulle on the market costs one-tenth of what it was fifty years ago. In the past, a worker could lock five meshes a minute, but now more than 10,000 meshes can be locked at the same time with a mesh machine.

If this trend continues, workers, especially the textile workers of Qi State, will gradually become redundant. The sluggish growth of the consumption tax in recent years, the constant change in wages, and the increase in the number of people in need of assistance also seem to indicate that there will be a large number of industrial workers unemployed, which may lead to some unpredictable social change.

However, after so many years, the society of Qi is still stable, the economy is still soaring, and the market is expanding more and more. The reason for this is probably that compared with Qin, Korea, Japan, and even India, Persia and Europe, the living standards of workers in Qi are in an absolute leading position. In addition, the increasing number of labor legislation and workers' protection rights and interests in China, as well as the impartial mediation of disputes between workers and employers by the courts of Dali Monastery in various places, have greatly alleviated social conflicts.

What's more, Qi is still in an extremely prosperous economy, which is enough for these hard-working and intelligent workers to get a reasonable result, and even if they lose their jobs, they will quickly get new jobs in the labor market.

In the city of Daxing, there are more than 200,000 textile machines and more than 1.7 million spindles, which are operated by tens of thousands of male and female workers from morning to night. The chimneys over the city were constantly smoking, the hammers in the workshops were pounding, the gears were creaking, the spindles were spinning, and the yarn and cotton cloth were piled up high in the warehouses. Numerous merchant ships in the port carried bales of cotton thread, undyed cotton fabrics, or a variety of colored plain and striped muslin to the country and the world.

Daxing, as the second industrial town of Qi country, in addition to the cotton textile industry, machinery and equipment manufacturing, metal processing, hardware, sugar, precision instruments, shipbuilding, coal, chemical and other related industries are also extremely developed.

Daxing has one of the largest factories in the world - Hanzhou Machinery and Equipment General Factory, with more than 6,000 workers, the whole factory covers an area of more than 3,200 acres, plant area of more than 250,000 square meters, mainly producing warships and merchant ships ancillary related drive equipment, industrial steam engines, as well as railway parts, steam locomotive equipment, steel cannons, steam hammers and other large machinery.

Along the Daxing River, there are more than 1,000 factories of all sizes, involving industries such as cables, iron pipes, needles, springs, agricultural machinery, optical and medical instruments, glass lamps and carriages.

Today, the Ottoman court used a gilded spoon for eating mutton and rice, the Pasha in Egypt used a jug and glass for drinking, and the crystal chandelier used for lighting in the palaces of the princely states of India. The South American kingdom of Qingguo used Daxing's muskets for hunting or warfare, and the indulgent European aristocracy placed gilded tableware and beautiful lamps from Daxing on their tables. The wranglers of Persia, Afghanistan and other places ran in the endless wilderness, and the spurs on their leather boots and the buttons on their shirts also came from Daxing. Sewing needles, buttons and buckles, locks and various knick-knacks widely used in markets such as Qin, Korea, and Japan also came from Daxing. All kinds of gold, silver, copper and other metal products, glass and cardboard products, pins and swords, musical instruments and industrial machines, vehicle equipment, etc., Daxing can occupy an important position in world trade.

In this city of 600,000 people, there are countless businessmen from all over the world who sit in commercial buildings or wander the bustling streets in search of possible business opportunities.

Those young people from the countryside, immigrants from abroad, and many students who have just entered the society, all looked at this city full of countless wealth with ignorant and excited expressions, and fantasized about how to show their strength here and make an earth-shattering feat.

Li Yanliang walked on the bustling and lively streets, looking east and west, as if he was coming to Daxing City for the first time, he felt curious about everything, stopped at a certain street or a market from time to time, and even walked into the store or stall with great interest, bought some small bits and pieces, and ate some snacks.

"That tall building was only built last year." Chen Genmin saw that Li Yanliang was eating and looking up at the building in front of him, so he enthusiastically introduced, "This building is the tallest building in the entire Daxing City except for the Wenchang Pagoda in the north of the city. If you count, there are eighteen floors! …… Brother Yanliang, guess how the people in the building got to the top? ”

"You can't climb all the stairs in such a tall building, right?" Li Yanliang said with a smile: "I guess, there must be a lifting machine in the building that can send people on higher floors up." ”

"Hey, Brother Yanliang is really well-informed!" Chen Genmin finished eating the meat skewers in his hand in two bites, wiped his mouth, nodded and said: "That's right, there are two steam elevators in the building, and those who need to go up to the higher floors stand in a box, and as soon as the machine starts, it swoops up quickly." Tut-......, it's amazing to think about! ”

"Did you go in and sit down?"

"I, a poor and hard-working man, am not qualified to enter such a place! Hehe...... I don't know what exactly is inside, I heard from others. Many of the wealthy trading companies and institutions in our Daxing City have moved here. Look at the people who come in and out, all of them are either rich or expensive, and they all have status! ”

"Are you envious?"

"Who doesn't envy! …… If I want to get rich, I must wear my best clothes and walk in in a grand manner. Then, ask for a luxurious room on the top floor of the high-end hotel in the building, and stay comfortably for the night. Think about it, standing on such a high place, holding a glass of wine, overlooking the entire Daxing City, it is estimated that you can't sleep with excitement! ”

"If you want to get rich, why do you have to go in and stay for one night?" Li Yanliang couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, "You should build a taller building by yourself, and then sleep on it every day, that's what you call enjoying life!" ”

"Huh?" Chen Genmin blinked his eyes and said in amazement: "How much does it cost to build a building by yourself?" ”

"You've made a fortune, so you must have as much money as you want!"

"Ten thousand? …… Twenty thousand? ”

"Sangen, I think your imagination of wealth can be a little bolder!"

"One hundred thousand? A million ......, my God, what a fortune! …… Brother Yanliang, are you kidding me? ”

"Haha......" Li Yanliang couldn't help laughing when he looked at Chen Genmin's cute and confused look.

During this period, although the people of Qi ranked first in the world in terms of per capita income, they also spent a lot, not to mention the daily firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, that is, they had to spend a lot of money on weekdays for dressing, travel, leisure and entertainment, housing and medical care. If there are more children in the family, life is actually tight.

Chen Genmin's family has five brothers and sisters, and he and an older brother and sister also come out to do things, but it is also quite difficult to maintain the life of a family of seven. There are so many people in the family, and they still live in an old two-bedroom apartment that they bought more than ten years ago, and there is no place to turn around in the cramped space.

The staple food I eat on weekdays is also to choose the kind of aged rice that sells cheapest in the market. Occasionally improve your life, the fish, shrimp and seafood you buy are also wilted and half-dead, and most of the meat such as pork, beef, and poultry eggs are bad parts. As for the oil used for stir-frying, it is basically palm oil from the South Seas – which is much cheaper than other vegetable oils.

In this way, the family can't save a lot of money in a year. If the younger siblings below are admitted to senior high school or a vocational school, it means that the family's expenses will jump a lot.

Therefore, in Chen Genmin's eyes, being able to have 10,000 yuan is already a very large amount of money that he thinks is a very large amount, not to mention a huge amount of money like 1 million that he can't even imagine.

"Is there anything to do nearby?"

"Yes!" When Chen Genmin heard Li Yanliang's question, his eyes immediately lit up, and he was eager to try, "The racecourse and dog fighting arena in Qushuiwan gather a lot of people every day, and it is very lively. …… There is a football field on Maoping Street, and there are many team games on weekdays, so you can go and see it. Oh, and also, after a few streets ahead, there is also a fighting gym, which is called exciting, fists to the flesh, one down, either bleeding all over the face, or the leg is broken tendons, which is very exciting! ”

"Anything else?"

"Oh, Brother Yanliang doesn't like these intense scenes? …… If you don't go to a teahouse, you can have something to eat while listening to a book, which is also a good choice. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "Water Margin", "The Legend of the Emperor's Heroes", "Romance of the Gods" ......, it is wonderful! On a day off, or during a festival, the teahouse is even more crowded. ”

"Okay, let's go to the teahouse!" Li Yanliang was also moved when he heard it, "I haven't heard a story for many years, and I don't know if there is anything new coming out." ”

"Yes, yes! A few years ago, someone compiled several wars that have occurred since the establishment of our Qi country. Many of the storytellers in the teahouses brought these contents to the table. Hey, don't say it, it sounds, that's really exciting! ”

(End of chapter)