From Chief to Ball

"Let these delicate little citizens help realize the demands of those bankrupt farmers, help them distribute land in the countryside, and fight those big landowners. Do you think those delicate little citizens will go?"

"That's the crux of the matter, since those people behind the scenes have put us together today, can't we go back and divide these people? Unite those who have nothing with us instead of trying to unite everyone."

"We can force those people to take a stand! Force them to take a stand on land issues, bankrupt refugees, and resettlement of the bottomless unemployed with nothing. Let these delicate small producers agree with public ownership, let these delicate small producers go Helping people who have nothing to do with them fight for their interests...do you think they will agree?"

"Don't forget what those small producers with some assets and private tools did when the poppers rebelled decades ago."

"First, we worked together with the poppers to obtain the conditions they demanded. When the poppers wanted to go further, they sold the lowest-level poppers. During the suppression, the poppers asked for help from these people. But after these people got the promise from the owner of the big workshop guild to keep the conditions unchanged, they directly dismantled the barricades to expose the backside. After so many years, they are still the same, and they will never change. They are as delicate as porcelain vases, and they will never dare To touch the whole old world with myself, let alone fight for the future of all people."

"So, we have to publicize our ideas and win over those who have nothing at the bottom of the county-owned factories who can accept it. Then, let those people continue to make noise, and force those people to take a stand after the noise is over-if they form a new council, If we can participate, then we can be radical, and we can even fundamentally change the land system. Anyway, we have been radical, and everyone knows it. Those at the bottom will definitely support it. When the time comes, we will force those small producers and ordinary citizens to support it? If not Support, then the lowest level will understand who to follow is the right one.”

"We are responsible for the radicalization, and those small producers and ordinary citizens are responsible for the opposition. They are radical? We are more radical than they shout, and when the time comes, they themselves will be scared to reveal their essence, and we can seize the initiative in this matter. In order to win the county-owned factories and the micro-progressive tax with advance as a retreat, and save them by the way.”

"If you don't take advance as retreat, there is no way to solve this matter. Although they put us together today and stabbed us in the back, after all, everyone used to be in the same breath, and sooner or later they will become people with nothing but labor , it’s a good thing to do.”

Chapter 31 Dominance ([-])

After that somewhat irritable discussion, Mincheng officially entered a kind of tranquility before the storm, and there was a wave of fanaticism in the tranquility.

There are not many soldiers stationed in Min County, and two thousand soldiers cannot complete the suppression at all.

Moreover, officials who have the right to request soldiers to suppress it, such as the sheriff, define this matter as a "civil uprising" rather than a "rebellion". They can suppress it or reach a petition to solve it, and it is not necessary to use it to counter the rebellion. These two words.

Several figures leading this uprising are like mirrors in their hearts.It is not a faction itself, but a combination of several factions, or a combination of different classes who are in a miserable position and worried about the future, and their internal opinions have not yet been unified.

They all know that there are only two ways to go.

Either adopt the most radical policy, change the land system, and incite the bottom of Min County to make a Northern Expedition to completely change the Republic.

Or we can only adopt a policy of compromise, relying on the absolute power of a third party to check and balance these big machines and big workshops, so as to achieve the demands of the small citizens themselves, and resolve this matter peacefully.As for the land, the ordinary citizens have no demand, and those activists based on most of the ordinary citizens in Mincheng don't have much idea about the land system.

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see at a glance that the first road is not feasible at all, and the result of following the first road is that there is another row of gallows in Mincheng.

And if the nature of this matter is changed from a civil uprising to a rebellion, not to mention the suppression of those forces in the north, even the desperate counterattack of other forces in Mincheng will make all this meaningless.

The original group of idealists and radicals, the group of people who rushed to the forefront in the uprising, have now been reduced to the fringes, and they cannot occupy the majority of these people who led the uprising.

There is no need for people from the Mexican Party to question anything. These people have already begun to split internally, or there are irreconcilable rifts and contradictions in the first place, but they were united by common pain before, but they are not all the same after all.

The power of tradition is enormous, and the habits of centuries of tradition cannot be ignored.

After the uprising, these people used the most traditional habits of the ethnic group to solve the problems they faced-recognizing the rights of the council, but not recognizing the composition of the members of the old council.

All actions are trying to be controlled within a scope that does not completely destroy the tradition and the old era. Although the slogans are very loud, in addition to controlling the price of food and distributing part of the food to the bottom, temporarily Not too drastic action.

They wanted the new Council to decide all matters, to share all the responsibilities, and to gain traditional legitimacy for all future actions.

After a few days of tossing, the leadership of the uprising determined the most important task of Mincheng at the moment: re-election of the council, and elect new council members on the basis of one person, one vote for men who are over 20 years old and have no criminal record , so as to make decisions about various institutions.

Within a few days, the streets, taverns, teahouses, tea shop sheds and other places were full of speakers and activists who promoted various ideas.

After the pickets of the Mexican Party were armed, they helped the insurgents maintain order in the city. Both sides maintained great restraint. The most important thing is to select a new council, and there is no irreconcilable conflict between the two parties before the election of a new council.

Although there was a lot of unhappiness before, the other party also understood that the people like the Mexican Party were their most reliable allies in the matter of the new council, and the loss outweighed the gain by falling out at this time.

They have enough confidence to defeat the propaganda of the Mexican Party in Fujian City, occupy the majority advantage, and thus occupy the commanding heights of traditional customs. If the Mexican Party opposes by force, the Mexican Party will become the target of public criticism in Fujian City. Traditional habits are a force that cannot be ignored. .

Of course, temporary peace and mutual non-aggression are only the wishes of the two sides, and some people who hope that both sides will kill each other will not be able to stop them from destroying and inciting. They can only thwart these provocations one by one, without breaking the old Propaganda and agitation under the premise of habit.

Every day, new activists become trusted politicians; every day, new ideas and visions of the future appear on the streets of Mincheng.

Eight years ago, I started preparing cram schools for various parties. Now I finally have the opportunity to try large-scale street politics.

In the teahouses and restaurants, at the corners of bridges and streets, there was chaos and an indescribably sharp smell like spring rain.

However, hidden behind all this short-term calm, people with different purposes are starting to operate.

The representatives of the petty bourgeoisie naturally gained a lot of support in Mincheng, where there are a lot of petty citizens. After all, this is the eve of reform.

A large number of small producers and citizens in the guild era have not been completely crushed by capital and machines. Instead, they are experiencing the pain of the caterpillar moulting, and after moulting, it is obvious that they do not become bright butterflies but become more Ugly, miserable moth.

In this case, a petition signing event titled "Let the king and the families of the same age in the capital see the situation in Mincheng and ask for their mercy" was held before the election of the new council, and It soon became one of the great events in the temporary calm of Mincheng.

"Your majesty, respected families who are the same age as the Republic and who have stood up countless times to save the Republic, the families of the pillars of the Republic, and the poor laborers from Mincheng send our blessings."

"You are far away in the capital city, and you don't fully know what happened in Mincheng these years. You may regard everything we have done before as a rebellion. After all, the elected figures of the National People's Council don't care about our life or death. All that has been said has blinded your eyes. But we believe that you are wise, and that you are merciful to those of us who belong to the same ancestor."

"Today's Mincheng, a terrible and slow cannibalism is happening. Hydraulic workshops are competing with the people for profit. These machines and the corresponding division of labor factories and large workshops are cannibalizing people, although it is not that kind of blood Lili didn't even break the law, but it did eat."

"A small spinning practitioner can support his family, and it is possible to become a master in the guild through hard work. Children can learn the history and glory of the ancestors of the Republic in the Kaimeng School, even the most ordinary apprentices Not to starve to death.”

"However, everything has changed now. How could the small spinning wheel compete with the hydraulic spinning machine that can drive dozens of spindles? The price of yarn is falling day by day, but the price of cotton is being driven by those speculators day by day." Not only can spinning cannot support itself, but it may even have to lose all the wealth accumulated by its ancestors."

"After last year's typhoon, many women in Min County sold hairpins that had been handed down from ancient times when they got married, just to buy a few catties of rice. Before the advent of machines and division of labor workshops, these women could chat I run my own family workshop with more than a dozen small spinning wheels, and I can go out to play during my ten-day break, at least I don’t have to worry about whether there will be rice in the pot tomorrow.”

"Many people in Mincheng have already lost everything in this terrifying process of machines competing for profit with the people of the country. Only those who work hard can know etiquette. If things go on like this, many people in the country will become despicable, penniless poor who are most likely to commit crimes. "

"We believe that the families of the same age as the king and those republics will not ignore the pain and suffering of us people, but you are blinded by those people."

"Therefore, we ask the respected king and those educated and caring families to help us, save us, and don't let the hydraulic machine eat us all up."

"The suffering people in Mincheng have no resentment or opposition to the dictatorship or the ruling of the big family that some people criticize. As long as the king and these families regard themselves as the king of the people and the ancestors of the common people It's just a better family, so these suffering people in Mincheng tend to regard the king as a person who is completely different from the profit-seeking big businessman and workshop owner, and is beneficial to the interests of the vast majority of the people-including family governance and Recessive hereditary is also recognized by us."

"We suggest that the king can send a special prosecutor to prohibit the construction of hydraulic workshops. Because hydraulic workshops and large factories are terrible things that compete with the people and drive most people into desperation."

"We suggest that the king can send a special loser to control the price of cotton and other raw materials. Those profiteers who are only interested in profit don't care about our life or death."

"We suggest that the king can take back the ownership of the bank in Mincheng, and let the bank belong to those big families and every king. In this way, the money can be loaned to us at low interest, which will help us establish a cooperative, and can There is enough money to buy raw materials."

"We suggested that the king can take back the monopoly of the Nanyang Company in Mincheng. This company can be run by the king and those families who are the same age as the Republic. We have thought that the company's shares will be equally subscribed by the Chinese people instead of being monopolized in several places. In the hands of individuals, but unless the transaction is prohibited, it will eventually be transferred back to those people. Therefore, we trust the power of your families more than them. At least you don’t live on profit. Those lands and military lands are enough to live. Good life."

"The Republic should use the slave trade to obtain enough money and cheaper cotton. This money can help us self-reliant Chinese. The cheaper cotton can also make us profitable. External expansion can also lower the price of cotton cloth and yarn. Higher, that's what we're looking forward to..."

Chapter 32 Dominance ([-])

The petition was eloquent with thousands of words, and was recognized by many citizens, but it also caused a great uproar.

Nothing in the entire petition touches on the land issue, nor does it touch on what should be done to those at the bottom of the city who have nothing. All the starting points are from the perspective of small industries with small industries.

They dare not talk about the land issue. In their view, after the success of the petition rather than the "uprising", those radicals in small anarchic countries and few people who share the land equally are of no value. to repression.

Therefore, the radicals were refuted internally on the grounds of violating ownership, and they took the initiative to create a split, angrily denouncing those who rushed to the front as lunatics who tried to deprive them of their property.

And if you want to get the support of those big families in the north, the land issue is a forbidden area. If you talk about the land issue, it is impossible to get the opposition from the big families in the north, because those big families in the north are supported by land--for these cities. For small producers, land is not a problem, as long as there is no competition from big machines and big capital, they don’t live on land anyway, and they don’t want to turn this “petition for civil uprising” into a “rebellion revolution.”

On the one hand, they praised the production of small handicraftsmen as the pillar of the republic, the foundation of freedom and equality, the embodiment of dignity, and the best system in which hard work and laziness can be separated at a glance; And the division of labor factory's "contempt for human freedom makes people observe time like a machine", which makes people lack freedom and dignity.

As for the bottomless urban refugees who had nothing, and who had shared the same hatred with them more than ten days ago, the solution they gave in a veiled way was: all of them were recruited as soldiers, and they seized land and slaves from the outside world. The slave trade and slavery plantations and food raw material plantations of all Chinese people are to ensure the interests of "the vast majority of Chinese people".