Xie Xiuyuan is also quite opposed to the substantial increase in workers' wages, which is obviously the rights and interests of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions for workers, but he knows very well that behind the Federation of Trade Unions is Yi Zhi's contentment, without Yi Zhi's consent, this wage cannot rise, because although he is quite dissatisfied in his heart, he has never revealed it.

Now that he mentioned this, he couldn't help but interject: "The big treasurer also said that the enclosure movement in England, the liberation of black slaves in the United States, and the abolition of serfs in Russia are all in order to obtain more cheap labor. ”

As soon as the words fell, Kong Jian'an also followed: "Because the wages of the workers have increased, the employees of Yuanqi Bank have to follow the salary increase, and now even the wages of apprentices have risen to ....... two yuan, and many shareholders also have a lot of complaints about this." ”

"It seems that there are a lot of people who oppose it." Yi Zhizu glanced at the two of them and said: "It is precisely because we started late, so we can't follow the old path of the West, and the purpose of our industrial development is not to learn from the West, but to surpass the West."

Cheap labor is good, which is conducive to maximizing profits and forming competitiveness of products in the international market, but the disadvantages are also very obvious: wages are too low, workers can barely make ends meet, and it is easy to form antagonism and stimulate contradictions.

The workers are no better than the peasants, the workers are more organized and all of them are concentrated in the cities, relatively speaking, they are quite concentrated and their numbers will become larger and larger, and once the contradictions intensify, they will inevitably cause extremely serious consequences, and we must guard against this from the very beginning.

Raising the wages and welfare of workers is not only to attract peasants from the land to the factories, nor is it only to ease contradictions and eliminate antagonisms, but it is also of great benefit to the development of industry itself. ”

Speaking of this, he paused and said, "Adam. I have recommended Smith's The Wealth of Nations, but have you all read it carefully?

In places with high wages, we can always find workers who are more motivated, harder, and more diligent than where they are paid less. Rewarding labour generously is a necessary effect and a natural phenomenon of the growth of national wealth, while the subsistence of those poor labourers is ...... natural phenomenon of stagnation of all industries. ”

Listening to these words, not to mention Yan Shikuan, even Kong Jian'an and Xie Xiuyuan also looked at each other, "The Wealth of Nations" was recommended by Yi Zhicontent, and they naturally read it, but if they could recite it as casually as Yi Zhicontent, they asked themselves if they could do it.

"The purpose of high wages and high benefits and stock incentives is to enhance the enthusiasm and stability of workers, improve labor productivity and enterprise productivity, and train skilled workers and skilled workers, many types of technical work need to be accumulated ...... for a long time." Yi Zhixiang continued: "In the future, various welfare systems will be introduced, such as paid leave, medical reimbursement, retirement pension, etc., to the same level as new teachers, and a minimum salary will be set.

Only in this way can workers cherish their work, love their work, and even take the factory as their home, wholeheartedly put themselves in the factory's shoes, and do their best to improve their skills, and only in this way can we catch up with Western countries or even surpass Western countries!

What happened in England during the Industrial Revolution? Because it's very simple, the wages in England are the highest in the whole of Europe! High wages led to expensive manpower, which led to the popularization of machines.

I can tell you for sure that high wages and high benefits will inevitably bring about rapid economic growth, which is a model, and we must resolutely abandon the low-wage model when we have completed capital accumulation.

We are leading the industrial development of the entire Qing Dynasty, and we cannot bring the Qing Dynasty into a 'low-salary trap' and 'low-skill trap' for the sake of one-time benefits and temporary benefits.

What is low-pay trapping and low-skill trapping? Low wages are enough to maximize the exploitation of workers and maximize profits, which will make factory owners addicted to opiate like opioids, rely on the lowest level of labor to the greatest extent, and thus miss any opportunities for technological and management innovation, and remain in a low-skilled state for a long time.

As a rising star, we started decades late, and if we fall into the trap of low wages and low skills, we will never be able to surpass the Western countries, and we will always be in the point of falling behind. ”

Hearing this, Yan Shikuan and the three of them were silent, they didn't expect that there was such a deep-seated reason behind the increase in workers' wages, Yi Zhixin didn't say it, they were afraid that they would never think of it.

The three people who saw it were silent, and Yi Zhizhi lit a cigarette on the butt of his cigarette, and said: "With the rapid development of industry, there are more and more factories, and the number of workers will become more and more huge.

What does this mean? This means that the workers will become a class, and raising the wages and benefits of the workers will help us cultivate a wealthy class, which will not only be conducive to the economic development of the Qing Dynasty, but also conducive to consolidating the status of Yuanqi, and this new and affluent working class will inevitably support Yuanqi wholeheartedly.

On the contrary, if you take low wages and low benefits, once this class grows up, Yuan Qi will not be able to control the small things, and more serious things may become Yuan Qi's enemies, you don't want to raise tigers for trouble. ”

Hearing this, Yan Shikuan and the three of them shook their heads like rattles, which is definitely not alarmist, but in more than 20 years, the number of workers in Guangzhou and Shanghai alone has increased exponentially, and in another ten or twenty years, what will be the situation? Who wants to keep a tiger for trouble?

"It's still the long-term thinking of the big shopkeeper." Kong Jian'an sighed sincerely.

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said nothing, the high salary, high welfare and high growth model, this is not his whim, nor is it to imitate Britain and the United States, this model is the model of rapid industrial development and economic growth that has been proven to be effective in his time, and this model was adopted by the Japanese after World War II.

After pondering for a while, Yan Shikuan said with concern: "Big shopkeeper, once people get rich, they will become lazy, high salaries, high benefits, and body incentives, will workers become lazy once they get rich?" ”

"There's nothing to worry about." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "Even if there are lazy people, it can only be a very small minority, and the absolute majority of workers will worry about losing such a well-paid job and work harder, especially for workers who have just escaped poverty!" ”

At that time, the Japanese state adopted this model of high wages and high welfare, and the working class of the Japanese country not only did not appear lazy, but became a 'death squad', and the workers of large companies mostly boasted of being samurai, and their loyalty to the company was to the extent that 'spring was crippled to the end of the silk', so that 'death from overwork' became a serious social problem.

The Chinese have always been known for their hardships and hard work, and most of the workers are displaced and disaster victims, and they are tired and hard-working, and under the stimulation of high wages and benefits, their performance will definitely not be inferior to that of the workers of the United States at that time.

In the blink of an eye, it is the New Year, because it is still in the period of national mourning, the New Year is not lively, however, as soon as the first three towns of the South Wangfu begin to be lively, the traffic outside the gate is busy, the officials, gentry and businessmen who come to pay their respects to the New Year are general, and the local officials of the southeastern provinces will basically take this opportunity to visit to report on government affairs and listen to the teachings.

The gentry and celebrities of the southeastern provinces, the giant businessmen have also come one after another, Yuanqi can now be said to be in full swing, making good friends with Zhennan Wang Yi Zhizhi not only means the opportunity to enter the office also means rolling wealth, it is not easy to see Yi Zhizhi on weekdays, who wants to miss the opportunity of the New Year?

Yuanqi and other shopkeepers, senior executives of major factories and enterprises, and businessmen who cooperated with Yuanqi to set up factories also came to visit the New Year, for them, this is not only etiquette, but also an opportunity, at least to be familiar in front of Yi Zhicontent.

Yi Zhi's contentment only a few days later, An's birthday began to talk about people day and night, although he was lazy and didn't like to socialize, although he didn't want to, but he had to force his spirits, and when he saw it, the muscles on his face were sour.

Prince Gong Yixun and Prince Yi Zaiyuan arrived in Shanghai on the sixth day of the first month, and when they arrived at the gate of the Zhennan Palace, they saw the orderly and orderly cars parked on both sides of the street but seemed to be out of sight, and their faces were a little unsightly, Zaiyuan frowned and said: "The king of Zhennan is really hot now....... ”

Although the two came together, they had their own agendas, Yi Xun glanced at him and reminded: "Yi Guocheng is not hot, but it is located in the southeast, and the power is tilted towards the government and the opposition, let's go in later, but don't take the prince's shel........f." ”

Zaiyuan smiled when he heard this, "King Gong reminded me." This time he came to Shanghai, nominally to accompany Yixin to discuss the most favored nation treatment of Britain and France, but in fact he was at the behest of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, and came to envelop Yi Zhi, Ci'an wants to cultivate his own power, and the first thing he needs to stabilize is Yuanqi.

In the hall of Chunhui Garden, Yi Zhishu was meeting with a group of factory owners, looking up and glimpsing Lin Meilian coming in and winking at him, he understood that it must be an important guest, and immediately encouraged everyone when he heard the words, and hastily sent them away, got up and sent everyone to the door, he stopped, Lin Meilian came up and said softly: "Prince Gong and Prince Yi are here." ”

Here we go again? Still with a Prince Yi Zaiyuan? Yi Zhixiang shook his head with a smile, and without thinking about it, he knew that it must be Britain, France and other countries asking for the same treatment as the United States and Russia, "Take them to the study." After a pause, he continued: "Bring a basin of water, and I'll wash up a little." ”

Yi Zhicontent, who was waiting, walked into the study, Yi Xun and Zai Yuan hurriedly got up and took two steps to greet him, Yi Xun smiled and said, "Brother Guocheng is so lively here........ ”

After returning the salute, Yi Zhizhi smiled and said: "The world is bustling for profit, and most of the people who come to me are profit-seeking." Saying that, he saluted Zaiyuan again, and then stretched out his hand to give up his seat and said: "The two of you came to Shanghai at this time, but it was for the sake of Britain and France. ”

Knowing that a large group of people outside were waiting for the other party to meet him, Yixun didn't talk nonsense, and said straightforwardly: "In this matter, the court is in a dilemma, what is the plan of Brother Guocheng?" ”

"At present, there is actually no difference between my country and the United States of America, both are big exporters of agricultural products, and England is the largest trading country in China, which means that my country's agricultural products are mainly exported to England." Yi Zhixin said without hurry: "We have suffered a lot by giving Britain and France the most-favored-nation treatment, and the annual loss is at least millions of silver dollars. ”

Hearing him say this, Zaiyuan said: "The foreign trading country of the Qing Dynasty, the United States ranks second, second only to England, and the trade volume has grown steadily in recent years, catching up with the ....... England. ”

Yi Zhifen glanced at him and said slowly: "The United States is different from England, the United States also exports a large amount of grain and furs to our country every year, once the war is over, the development of the western region will be accelerated, and the bulk grain and fur trade will soon resume."

In order to protect our factories and enterprises, we must increase the tariffs on British industrial products. ”

After a slight sigh, Yi Xun said: "Brother Guocheng should know very well about the situation of the imperial court, and the treaty ports in the north will definitely give Britain and France the most favored nation treatment, and British and French industrial products can still enter the Qing Dynasty through the north." ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhizhi was a little speechless, lit a cigarette, and then said slowly: "If the imperial court does this, the industry in the north will inevitably not develop, and Yuanqi will not allow England to dump in the northern market, and will adopt subsidies to reduce the price of industrial products to compete with England." ”

Yuan Qi is iron-hearted and stubborn with Britain and France! Yixun and Zaiyuan's hearts sank, things were far more tricky than they imagined, looking at the other party's attitude, there was no room for turning around, and after a long silence, Yixun said: "Yuanqi's watches and bicycles seem to be exported to Europe in a ........ quantity." ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled, "The main market for watches and bicycles is in China, and there are not many people who export to Europe, after all, the domestic supply has always exceeded demand, and the most exported is not Europe but the United States, Britain and France have bought the patent of the bicycle and produced it themselves." ”

Yixun smiled bitterly and said, "Brother Guocheng must also understand the difficulties of the imperial court." ”

"If I can understand, I will naturally give in, but this is a matter of principle and cannot be backed down." Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "Once the industrial products of Britain and France are wantonly dumped on our country, the development of China's national industry is bound to be difficult. ”

Yi Xun said: "Didn't Brother Guocheng say that Yuan Qi can compete in the form of subsidies? ”

"It takes a huge amount of silver to compete on a subsidized basis." Yi Zhixiang glanced at the two of them, and said in a playful tone: "If Yuan Qi cuts off the annual subsidy to the imperial court, he can let go and compete with Britain and France." ”

This is tantamount to a threat, if the imperial court dares to lower tariffs, Yuan Qi will cut off the subsidy of tens of millions of taels of silver to the imperial court every year, Zaiyuan couldn't help but gasp, this thing is absolutely impossible, he hurriedly said: "There is no other way to get the best of both worlds?" ”