From Chief to Ball

With the continuous news from Europe and the continuous publication of newspapers controlled by the Progressive Alliance, which spreads the situation in Europe, the stock and futures exchanges in Min County are performing scenes of crazy actions every day.

The stocks of shipping insurance companies are rising, the stocks of Chen Jian’s steel ingots, parts and guns are rising, the prices of raw silk futures are rising, the stocks of Standard Oil Mills are rising, the prices of cotton futures and yarn futures are rising, The stock of the Minjun Ceramics United Sub-Workshop is rising...

In this way, a carnival of small citizens and small industrialists was staged. They were excited that the little money they held became more valuable, and they were excited about an open market.

It's just that the excitement of these small citizens is not worth mentioning in the eyes of some big businessmen, because the most profitable things will never come to these small citizens.

Chen Jian wrote some opinions called "analysis" in The Hague, which were actually "magic sticks". They were continuously published in the newspapers of the Progressive Alliance, and while expanding their influence, they became the best-selling newspapers in Fujian County or the six coastal counties. .

The big businessmen looked for business opportunities from above, and their trust in Chen Jian made them a fortune.

As the world is no longer limited to the homeland, with the development of foreign trade, and with the establishment and popularization of stock and futures exchanges, a "joint-stock bank" with capital from six coastal counties was inevitably established.

Those who injected capital are aware of the huge benefits involved. Compared with the small things of the bourgeoisie, this is where the real money is made.

The composition of joint-stock banks is very complicated, including wealthy merchants, workshop owners, party property and entrusted private property, as well as a small part of external stock offerings, as well as capital injections from some big families in the north.

The business at the beginning was very simple, exchanging different currencies of different countries, because the silver content of silver coins in different countries is different, the weight is different, the degree of wear and sawtooth edges are worn off, etc. will lead to the depreciation of the currency itself.

With the progress of the exchange business, large-amount precious metal currency transactions became somewhat complicated, so some credit-worthy large-value banknotes began to be issued as designated banknotes for large transactions.

The people who bought the shares are inextricably linked with trading companies, big workshop owners, and big speculators. Even though the council is still discussing this matter, a credit system dominated by capital is quickly established in the coastal areas and in foreign trade. the bank's reputation.

Under the inextricable entanglement of interests, profit became the first goal, and the Nanyang Trading Company also inevitably started the slave trade, because it was very profitable.

Some people questioned it, thinking that this is wrong, and people cannot be regarded as slaves.But the huge capital controlled by trading companies quickly launched public opinion propaganda.

This is not just the capital of trading companies, but also the interests of capital related to banks, marine insurance, shipbuilding, weapon manufacturing workshops, etc.

They hired a large number of members of the original Progressive Alliance, and began to create momentum with their pens.Fortunately, at this time, Lin Xi's article on the variation and survival of the fittest in domesticated animals and plants has not yet spread to China, and the basis for the promotion is not extreme racism, at least not for the time being.

The starting point of the campaign is to analyze the interests. First, it is recognized that the slave trade is wrong, and that slaves are not allowed in the country.But at the same time, the writers say that today is like many years ago when the nations were fighting, and everyone else is profiting but we stick to the bottom line, then we will only weaken.

Therefore, a strong republic can stop the slave trade, because it is useless to rely on lip service.And if you want to be strong, you must earn enough benefits to make your own values ​​become the mainstream values ​​of the world and so on.

Many big businessmen and spokesmen of capital jointly wrote a promise: they will not transport slaves to the country.If the world order is established, and these known major powers all promise to ban the slave trade, then they will stop the slave trade as soon as possible and will never raise any objections.But they will not abandon this behavior until a world order is established.We traded slaves precisely so that the Republic could influence the world order, and anyone who opposed the slave trade was a traitor.

They gave a weird explanation in a logical deduction way: they traded slaves so that there would be no more slave trades in the world.As long as the purpose is correct, the means can be ignored.

It sounds like there is a little truth, but the opposition continues, and a protracted debate began in Min County.

Capital and people's conscience are competing for the dominance of public opinion, and the content of scolding is also escalating day by day.There are traitors on one side and anti-humanity on the other. Newspapers accusing each other of crimes and leaflets attacking people by name are everywhere.

The council has not yet made a decision, and this trade is a gray area.

A gun can be exchanged for slaves in Africa, and the profits are astoundingly high.After the trading company bribed the council and bought the legal certificate of trade with the Viceroyalty of Spain at a high price, the first ship to go to Peru for "legal" trade was a ship of slaves brought back from Africa.

The mass extinction of the Indians left the plantations along the coast of Peru in short supply of labor.Those smugglers promised three times the profit, but in fact the profit was as high as five times.

Capital can break through the bottom line of human beings for profit, or maybe the bottom line of human beings does not exist at this time. A joint-stock company called "Slave Breeding Factory" was publicly established.

They bought a piece of land on Ziyou Port, built houses and fences, and began to raise a large number of female slaves according to the method of raising pigs and cattle, and began to breed male slaves.

Doctors, water treated with disinfectant powder, midwife, vaccinia vaccination and other measures are all available, and futures for several years are beginning to be booked.Using scientific methods to oppose humanity is the highest level of anti-humanity.

Under such circumstances, a member of the former Progressive League wrote a pamphlet titled "The Real Ideal Society" and began to advocate another idea: the state invades the outside world and forces the rest of the ethnic groups to work. All the alien races are treated as slaves, and the whole people share dividends, so as to realize the prosperity of everyone in the real ethnic group.And in the book, he promised a beautiful society: as long as he is a member of a pure-bred ethnic group, he must perform military service, and only those who serve in the military have the right to vote.The land and slaves are distributed according to the size of the credit, so that the members of the bottom purebred group can get a piece of land of one hundred acres and two slaves, so as to achieve a beautiful society where every family is full of smiles.

As soon as the booklet came out, it caused a sensation.In the absence of Chen Jian, the Progressive League, which had already fallen apart, made a decision: the Progressive League was officially disbanded and no longer organized any activities.

On the day the dissolution was announced, the leaders of the former alliance parties shook hands for the last time.

"We all think that we are right. Who will judge whether we are right or wrong?"

"Leave it to time."

"I miss the old days. Back then we were the world, so the progress we pursued had similar enemies."

"At that time we had no choice. Now we have a choice. We are no longer the world. But what I am surprised is that when the concept of the world changes, the similar and common enemy is no longer the enemy?"

Everyone was silent for a while in embarrassment, and finally smiled kindly, and left without saying anything.

When going out, someone from a certain party shouted: "Hey! We will bury you together in the future."

The person who was called out did not turn around, raised his hand and waved it, and replied without any hesitation for sure: "Each, each other."

Chapter 1 The Protagonist and the Supporting Role

Before the Progressive Alliance was officially disbanded, a pair of brothers in Min County had turned against each other, and the reason for the turn against each other might be explained by the five words that the times are progressing.

One year after Chen Jian went to sea, many spinning mills were built in some tributaries and valleys of the upper reaches of the Min River.

Finally, the word factory instead of workshop can be used, and it is not just a change of two words.

Hydraulic spinning machines, carding machines, twisting machines, drum machines, cotton gins, etc., the cotton spinning industry has ushered in the technological innovation of the handicraft industry and the great development with the development of overseas markets.

The price of cotton yarn caused by hand-pulled wide-width plain weave brassuo looms skyrocketed, and the remaining factions of the Progressive Alliance organized cooperatives and relied on Chen Jian's sympathetic low-interest loans, which ushered in a short spring for spinning handicraftsmen .

However, with the establishment of the new hydraulic spinning mill, the small spinning handicraftsmen who had lived a good life for a few years fell into panic and poverty, and their meager capital was quietly wiped out by the big factories every day and every moment with.

Speculators cooperated with these big mill owners, and a simple leverage manipulation on the futures exchange caused those small producers who had been smiling for two or three years to go bankrupt on a large scale overnight, unable to survive.

The cotton spinning industry is only one aspect. Perhaps this is just the process of history ruthlessly eliminating petty bourgeois and individuality.

The new horse-drawn seeders and horse-drawn threshers used in the planting industry made the original proletarians more destitute and more difficult to survive.

These agricultural employees are the lowest existence. They rely on their labor on the farm in exchange for their income to maintain their own survival.However, with the sudden appearance of a large number of horse-drawn hand-made machines in batches, they no longer even have the value of their last existence.

The entire Min County fell into an extremely weird situation.On the one hand, the increase in the number of immigrants due to the development of the Great Deserted City, maritime trade and the development of tropical islands led to an increase in the price of light and strong labor in Mincheng.On the other hand, in the vast farms and manors with large land ownership, thousands of hired workers lost their jobs. Originally, 20 people were needed for harvesting and threshing, but now only two horses and three people are needed.

Farm laborers laugh at themselves that they are no better than a plow horse, and this self-deprecation is based on reality.

Two years after going to sea, there were three petitions and resistances of agricultural hired workers in Min County. They rushed to the farm to smash machines, slaughter horses, and beat salesmen and salesmen.

These things took their jobs and turned them from being able to support themselves to relying on relief to survive, not only starving, but also losing the last bit of human dignity: before that, they were still qualified to mock those who needed money. People who could only survive by relief, and now their situation is reduced to those people.

It's not that they don't want to go to the city to find a job, but that the city simply can't accommodate so many laborers.It is a pathological, meddling development in which those who should have died or starved to death did not die while new technologies began to spread.

Those newly established spinning mills ushered in a myth in the industry. A person who happened to be able to afford a whole set of machines built a second spinning mill in two years.

The secret of his success is the use of cheaper labor.Such as women, such as children.The labor price of women is cheaper than that of men. For hydraulic factories, the use of machinery makes the difference between men and women become smaller and smaller.

And children, which have more dexterous fingers and faster learning ability than adults, and a cheaper price.A spinner who has been trained since childhood is obviously more efficient than those who used to work on the farm with rough fingers. Under the premise of paying the same wages, the lower the cost, the cheaper it will be.

Capital devours and competes with each other. This is the cruelest era, and it is impossible to survive by relying on conscience and humanity.

But at this time, the two brothers who were drinking in Mincheng did not talk about those tragic child laborers, but talked about everything related to their own vital interests.

The two brothers are Qiao Tiexin and Qiao Shichang, one is a core member of the New Mexico Party, and the other is a petty bourgeois who has experienced the impact of the wave of changes in production relations forced by Chen Jian in a short period of time.