Wang Kaiyun didn't understand the Western King's approach. After Ali Kingdom and Clifford left, he stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "His Royal Highness, why did he suddenly agree to Ali Kingdom's proposal to redeem people with money?"

Xiao Yungui said coldly with a gloomy face: "A Li Chong lost all the elite soldiers in the township. He was already a dead dog. After the trial, he killed him. Apart from earning a few shouts, it doesn't make much sense. () Don't you think that Ali Guo sent 100,000 silver dollars just to redeem a person. This is an intriguing thing in itself?"

Wang Kaiyun nodded for a moment and said, "It's really puzzling. Even like Wu Jianzhang from Shanghai Road and had a lot of friendship with foreigners, but in the end, the foreigners did not use money to redeem others. There must be something else in this matter."

Xiao Yungui smiled and said, "That's right. If I don't agree, how can I continue to perform the show? I want to see what tricks they can do when they want Li Chong to go out! Things in the world are hidden underground and are not easy to be noticed. It is better to let things be revealed openly, so that they can better solve them."

Wang Kaiyun also smiled and said, "What's more, can you get 100,000 more silver dollars?" After that, both of them looked at each other and smiled.

After laughing, Xiao Yungui looked at the copywriting on the table and said, "The Fifth Army was transferred to the front line of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the Sixth Army was stationed in Shanghai. The food, ammunition, quilts, and other supplies needed on both sides have been allocated."

Wang Kaiyun bowed slightly and said, "The Sixth Army is nearby to replenish supplies, but the Fifth Army is still supplying supplies by sea. It is just that due to various reasons, it is slightly blocked and the supplies have not yet gone south."

Xiao Yungui said slightly unhappy: "What I started planning half a month ago, why haven't I collected all ships yet? The Fifth Army is about to set off south. The materials must arrive in Guangzhou on schedule. Which shipping companies carry the shipping materials?"

Wang Kaiyun said: "This trip was carried by Yujia Boat Train and Jardine Mailing Shipping Company. However, recently, both boat trips had dock workers causing trouble because they were dissatisfied with their treatment. Several docks were stagnant because of workers' strikes, so..."

Xiao Yungui said oh, frowned and said, "Since there is a problem, why not report it?"

Wang Kaiyun said with a little surprise: "It is common for workers to make trouble. There are many factories, shipping, docks, and large and small businesses in Shanghai. This kind of thing happens every month. The Minister of Commerce of the Military and Political Department has always mediated the two sides to resolve these disputes. Although the strike of the dock workers is a bit powerful this time, I believe it will be resolved soon, and the deadline for materials to arrive in the south is still long. Therefore, it has not been reported."

Xiao Yungui nodded softly. Although he was calm on the surface, he began to feel a little ups and downs in his heart. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was under his leadership and began to embark on the road to transformation of a capitalist industrial country. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places were the first places to start the new policy. A large number of people who lost their land entered factories, docks, and unemployed canal transport soldiers became workers and employees of shipping companies. Although land conflicts were all alleviated, things always operated and changed in contradictions, one contradiction decreased, and another contradiction would arise again.

Land conflicts in some industrially developed areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have eased, but conflicts between workers and capitalists unique to capitalist countries inevitably emerged.

The Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions have priority conditions to move towards capitalism. First, the population is densely populated and there are also a large number of people who have lost their land. At the same time, due to the war, a large number of refugees flock to prosperous places to make a living, so there are a large number of laborers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions that can enter factories and become workers.

The second is capital. The capital of Western countries was accumulated through barbaric plunder in the early stages, while the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions were originally a wealthy place, with wealthy people worth tens of millions alike. The new policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom raised the threshold for land purchase and sale, thus limiting the transformation between land and capital, forcing these private capital to find another way out. In addition to the large amount of capital obtained by the Taiping Army from war plunder in the early stage, the capital in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions was enough to develop capitalism.

The third is the timing. Jiangsu and Zhejiang have always been the most developed region in the country with industry and commerce. None of them. Moreover, there were originally many private handicraft workshops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which were the beginning of capitalism. However, due to the Qing Dynasty's emphasis on agriculture and commerce, these private workshops were loose and uncompetitive. So when the cheap goods from foreigners arrived, a large number of handicraft workshops went bankrupt, destroying the local small-scale agricultural commodity economy and providing an opportunity for the transformation of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang region.

The fourth is the market. The rise of capitalism requires a raw material market and a consumer market. Needless to say, the raw material market is abundant in the mainland, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are places where raw materials are exported in a concentrated manner. The source of raw materials is extremely convenient. In addition, the Taiping Army abolished the local restricted taxes such as the Lijin checkpoint tax in the Qing Dynasty, which made the source of raw materials smoother and more convenient. The consumer market is mainly in China, and war is a direct consumer market. The Taiping Army seized a large amount of bureaucratic capital from the enemy through war to support the war, and at the same time relied on the developed commercial tax to support the war. Therefore, the war provided the most direct consumer market for the rise of capitalism in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In addition, the development of local markets such as Japan, the United States and Southeast Asia after conquering Guangzhou, the goods in Jiangsu and Zhejiang also had a relatively stable market.

So the industrial and commercial capitalism in Jiangsu and Zhejiang began to develop explosively, just like the capital forces of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortiums that sprung up after the Westernization Movement. In history, it was these consortium forces that supported Chiang Kai-shek's coming to power and rule. However, Xiao Yungui knew that there would be any contradictions when capitalism developed to a certain extent. The rise of the working class would be a force that should not be underestimated. It seems that during this period, Marx also began to write his famous "Das Kapital". Don't let the revolution on your own side fail, and then start a proletarian revolution first.

Although I know the disadvantages of capitalism, Xiao Yungui still has to take this path. The reason is very simple, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. At the same time, Xiao Yungui also took some preventive measures, such as proposing a minimum wage guarantee system for workers, etc., but these systems are nothing compared to the tricks of capitalists. If you have a system, capitalists also have countermeasures. For example, the most direct reason for this dock workers strike is that the capitalists require workers to work overtime, and overtime wages are only paid according to their normal wages, so the workers began to seek the path of protecting their legitimate rights and interests.

After listening patiently to Wang Kaiyun's report on the workers' strike, Xiao Yungui slowly said: "How does the Military and Political Department plan to intervene in solving this matter?"

Wang Kaiyun said: "The Business Department has sent several coordination officials to the scene to coordinate, and the workers are electing several representatives, but they are too talkative and have not selected anyone yet."

Xiao Yungui smiled slightly. Sure enough, the workers' organization is still in a state of ignorance at this stage. Although they know that they have been treated unfairly, they are just the country people who have just washed their feet from the fields and come ashore. They don’t know how to protect their rights, don’t know how to organize, and don’t know about trade unions, and everything is still in the primary stage. But Xiao Yungui knows that it is precisely this kind of futile struggle that has accumulated experience after accumulating experience that the working class will eventually become an invincible force to enter the stage of history, but before that, they must pay enough tuition.

After a huh, Xiao Yungui said: "Then just pay attention, but no matter how you can't delay the transfer of the Fifth Army's materials. At the same time, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Revenue and the local military and political department must learn from the lessons of this incident. This time, there has not been a bad incident that delays the opportunity to fight. However, I do not want the small accident to prevent military supplies from reaching the front line on schedule. When necessary, government intervention must be used to resolve the incident strictly, seriously and quickly!"

Wang Kaiyun naturally nodded and agreed. He also gave several business department officials a last deadline. Before joining the afternoon, the workers had not yet elected people, nor did they agree. If there was a unified request, the Military and Political Department would dispatch local police to force the dock workers to restore order in the dock. The Yu Family Shipping and Jardine Massachusetts had also prepared a group of thugs and were ready to go up and use force at any time.

Xiao Yungui did not ask about these things anymore. The development of things always has its own process. Although capitalist industry and commerce in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have already reached a certain scale, it has its own only way to go. Forcibly distorted changes in some things will add up. Moreover, the capitalism of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is still very fragile. If the bloodthirst of the capitalists is suppressed, it will hit and hinder its development and protect the interests of workers, then after the capitalists go bankrupt, who will guarantee the interests of the capitalists? What should capitalists start without exploitation?

Xiao Yungui felt that he had imprisoned a kind of man-eating beast and released another beast to hurt people, but it seemed that the people were always hurt. As human society developed to the present, it seemed that since the social division of labor in ancient times, human society was destined to be full of exploitation and unfairness.

"You should pay more attention to the details of the Fifth Army going south, and the rest are nothing big. In addition, the Sixth Army is stationed in Shanghai mainly to guard against the upcoming British and French expeditionary forces. There are 2,30,000 foreign troops, and they will stay in Shanghai for a short time, waiting for the beginning of next spring to continue north. This time, foreigners will definitely use force to force the Qing Dynasty to surrender. Although the purpose of the foreigners is not us, it is not impossible for Xiang Zhuang to dance the sword in Pei Gong. Therefore, during the Sixth Army stationed in Shanghai, we should cooperate more with the coastal defense township corps under your Military and Political Department, and closely monitor the movements of the foreigners. It is best that the Sixth Army and your Military and Political Department local troops can hold several joint exercises. After cooperation is proficient, we will not be in a hurry if something happens."

Wang Kaiyun said: "I think it is best for joint exercises to carry out the navy together. In a few days, the first batch of naval officers and soldiers who went to Britain to train will return to China. Together with us ordering five warships in France, we will return to Shanghai. I think we can carry out joint exercises."

Xiao Yungui nodded and said, "Your idea is very good. You can go to Luo Dagang and the others for details. After the discussion, report the detailed charter to the Ministry of War. If there is no problem, it will be implemented. The Sixth Army must prepare a batch of supplies. After the foreign expeditionary force heading north in the spring of next year, the Sixth Army will immediately set sail north to join the northern battlefield of Suzhou, so you still have a lot of things to do..." (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!