It was when Du Zhongxiao and Han Jiang were chatting lively, and suddenly, there was a noise from the restaurant.

Looking from the window, I saw more than a dozen strong men gathered at the door of the restaurant, angry and pointing at the upstairs.

The director of the restaurant hurriedly ran out and bowed his hand to the group of people: "Brothers, it is really not easy for the small ones to do business here, make some money, and feed the family. How can you bear it when you gather at my door and make a noise and shout, and you spoil my food and clothing? ”

The leading man said: "It has nothing to do with you, an old man, just call Han Tuiguan, who is drinking upstairs, to come down and talk to us!" I have a brother who saw him go upstairs with a young official, don't you say you don't know! ”

The supervisor said: "Brother, if you enter my restaurant, you will be my guest." It doesn't matter what his identity is, as long as he doesn't violate the law of the country and is not from the government to take people, he should be protected. You want to find Han Tuiguan, but wait outside the door, how about waiting for him to finish eating? ”

As he was talking, a little guy came out with two bottles of wine, and the supervisor took it in his hand and handed it to the big men: "A few bottles of wine, my brothers took them and ate them." Han Tuiguan's matter, you go to the yamen to petition is the right way. ”

The leading man let the brothers take the wine, and said loudly: "The officials protect each other, what kind of fragrant farts can the yamen release!" We have been to Kaifeng Mansion a long time ago, everyone shirks, and no one is in charge! We will stay here today, Han Tuiguan will not give an explanation, don't want to go home! ”

The supervisor said: "Brothers, as long as you don't block my door, you are up to you." Just don't blame me for talking too much, there are patrol divisions on the streets, be careful that troops are sent there to get you. When the streets are noisy, why do you have to stay in prison for a few days. ”

A group of big men laughed together: "Anyway, we have nothing to do, we have food and drink in prison, who will be afraid!" ”

After speaking, more than a dozen people went to the opposite side of the street, squatted under the wall, took a sip of each person, drank the wine sent by the restaurant, and stared at the door.

Du Zhongxiao looked at it and asked Han Jiang on the other side: "Zihua, why are these people outside looking for you?" Look at the comer is not good. ”

Han Jiang's face remained unchanged, and he said calmly: "These are all slender men on the Bianhe River, because the Yellow River is about to freeze, and they will rest in Kaifeng City for the winter." In the past year, I have recruited a lot of craftsmen and spent a lot of effort to make the car and ship work better. The most important thing is that most of these craftsmen are trained to repair cars and ships. A few months ago, I made a few cars and boats, and tried them on the Bianhe River, which was very useful. A car ship can tow more than a dozen cargo ships forward, and it can move steadily and quickly, which is much stronger than the previous slender man. Seeing that this matter was profitable, Zhongshu intended to build a large number of cars and boats in the coming year, which would be used in the Bianhe River and used to tow the Jianghuai boats. Somehow, this news was known by the slender men, who thought that they had ruined their food and clothing, and made trouble with me from time to time. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, understanding what was going on. After nearly a decade of improvement, the steam engine is now barely usable, but there are still many bad points. One is that the price is too expensive, and it is enough to use more iron, and a lot of copper is used in places such as pipes above. The other one is too cumbersome, even if it is used on a ship, one will occupy a large ship, and there is no place to transport goods, so it can only be used as a tugboat. There are often all kinds of small problems, and there must be maintenance craftsmen who are always on hand and repair from time to time.

However, no matter how many problems there are, no matter how high the cost is, everything is nothing in the face of the main freight road of the Bianhe River. Every year, the grain transported from Jianghuai to the capital has 6 million stones. Together with other goods, plus private cargo ships, the annual freight volume of the Bianhe River is tens of millions of stones. In order to serve the official ships on the Bianhe River, there were more than 100,000 people on both sides of the river. Coupled with the folk slender men, there are two or three hundred thousand slender men in Bianhe.

With the use of cars and boats, these people's jobs are gone. It's okay for the folk slender man, if you don't eat this bowl of rice, find something else to do, the official box army can't do it. The army of the Great Song Dynasty, as long as you join the army, you will eat the imperial food for a lifetime. When he retires at the age of 60, he can still get half a salary, which is an unbreakable iron rice bowl. The status of the van army is low, the work is heavy, and there are all kinds of bad things, but no matter what, it is a stable errand.

No matter how little money the army has, it will take more than the hired workers of the people, and the money and grain will be received when the time comes.

Winter was when the slender man was resting in the capital, and the matter of Han Jiang making cars and ships somehow spread. These slender men are idle, and they don't have much trouble with Han Jiang. However, when they looked for Han Jiang, it was more like passing the time of boredom, every time they blocked someone, both sides commented, and there was no excessive action. In the end, it is an organized box army, and there is no errand to pull fiber, and the court did not say that it would not give food.

After making trouble a few times, Han Jiang is also used to it, and when he meets them, he doesn't take it seriously. Of course, this kind of trouble can be avoided or avoided as much as possible.

After listening to Han Jiang's story, Du Zhongxiao didn't know what to say for a while. In the history I have studied, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the most impressive thing is the peasants smashing the machines in the textile factory. I was engaged in the woolen industry in the Volcano Army, and I used to worry about this kind of thing. However, if you think about it carefully, the wool textile industry is a blank in the Central Plains, and it does not compete with the small farmers' industries. It's just a matter of worry. Unexpectedly, when I returned to the capital, I encountered another contradiction between man and machine, and it was still the soldiers who came out to make trouble.

If you think about it, that's actually reasonable. Even if the textile industry is developed in China and the steam engine is used, nine times out of ten there will be no smashing of the machine, because China and Britain have completely different national conditions. It is the manual workers who smash the machines in the UK, and the textile industry is their main business, and they have to rely on this industry to survive. China's textile industry, in the countryside, is just a side business, and it is the work of women and children. The impact of industrial textiles is actually the imperial court tax system, and an important part of the two tax laws can not be put away, and the entire national economy is facing important changes.

On the contrary, historically industries that were not important to Europeans, such as transportation, were a big problem in China. For China, a big country, Caoyun is the lifeblood of the country, so at this time, hundreds of thousands of people along the Bianhe River rely on fiber pulling for a living. Once the machine car and ship were used as tugboats, the livelihood of these people was in trouble, and the imperial court had to solve it. Not only is there a fiber army, but there are also a larger number of civilian fibermen.

Relatively speaking, it was relatively easy for the Song Dynasty to solve this problem, because the main force was within the system and controlled by the imperial court. Like the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations, Cao Yun was controlled by the Cao Gang, and Cao used steam tugboats, which had to make a big mess.

Seeing that Han Jiang didn't care, Du Zhongxiao said: "Zihua, in fact, the slender man outside has a point. As long as the cars and boats are used in the Bianhe River, these fiber-pulling troops have no jobs, and the imperial court will always dispose of them. Food and clothing for hundreds of thousands of people is not a trivial matter. ”

Han Jiang said: "This is a matter of the Privy Council, why worry about them?" These do not pull fibers, but also guard the river berm, and arrange things to do. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled bitterly: "More than 100,000 people, plus family members, is 100,000 households, hundreds of thousands of people, I am afraid it is not easy to arrange." ”

Han Jiang said: "For these hundreds of thousands of people, the imperial court spends millions of dollars and grain every year, what can I say?" With such a large amount of money, if the Privy Council can't settle these people, how can it account for the past? In fact, don't look at the people outside shouting fiercely, they all know in their hearts that the court will not cut off their food and clothing no matter what. It's just a matter of showing the people in the Privy Council and finding a way to settle it as soon as possible. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Of course what Zihua said makes sense, these people have a place to go." Not to mention the border land reclamation, even around the capital, especially Jingxi Road, there are also idle fields, and they can be arranged to cultivate. As long as the capital is paid, plus their annual salary, the court is not embarrassed. However, the Privy Council is not so easy to do. ”

Han Jiang smiled and said: "The truth is such a truth, we understand it, the people outside also understand it, and the people in the Privy Council certainly understand it." It's easy to say this, everyone can think of it, but it has to be able to do it. ”

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