In November 1653, the climate in the southeast gradually became colder, and Jiangdong ushered in its first heavy snow this year.

Heavy snow covered the cities and fields, and Suzhou and even the entire Jiangdong became a snow-capped world. It was the earth that was filled with silver fruits and was particularly enchanting.

In the past, after winter began, both the residents in the city and the people of the suburbs had less activity. They roasted fire at home and survived the whole winter. Only when the spring plowed next year would they wake up like the earth.

However, in the ninth year of Longwu, the east sky was still popular in Jiangdong.

In the past, after winter, the weather was cold, and after autumn harvest, there was nothing to do, so the people had nothing to do and could only stay at home and had few economic activities. Now, Jiangdong has various livelihoods to do, and the economy has grown rapidly, so the winter is still prosperous.

Early that morning, a team of cavalry left Suzhou City and came to the streets outside the city, with the noise and hustle and bustle coming.

There is paradise above and Suzhou below. Suzhou is the capital of the Donghai vassal state. In addition, the East China Sea vigorously promotes industrial and commercial development, which has gradually restored Suzhou to its previous prosperity.

Outside Suzhou City, a large number of workshops and a large number of shops were built, gathering hundreds of thousands of people, and along the canal, a ten-mile-long street and workshop area was formed.

At this time, on the bustling streets, one carriage after another passed through the canal. The man wearing a jacket was carrying goods in white air, looking very busy, presenting a grand occasion of the Qingming Festival on the River Map.

This is a distribution place for goods in Jiangdong. Merchants from all over Jiangdong, even merchants from Huguang and Sichuan, also come here to buy goods and then transport them back for sale.

On the other handicraft workshop area, which concentrates nearly half of the textile workshops in Jiangdong, as well as supporting upstream and downstream industries. In addition, there are several huge military-funded workshops of Huaxing Company, each of which employs nearly 10,000 workers.

It was the time for the workshop to hand over in the morning. Wu Yangyang, who had been busy all night, came out of the workshop like a tide, rushed to the breakfast stall near the workshop, and the vegetable market where the people gathered around him, and then returned to a large low shanty town.

Soon, the daytime workers poured out of the shanty towns. After breakfast, they poured into the workshop like fish, and the scene was extremely spectacular.

At this time, Zhao Ming and his group rode through the market and came to the workshop area. Looking at the scene in front of them, Chen Zilong sighed: "If it weren't for the support of the Grand Marshal, the court would never allow such a workshop to appear."

What the imperial power wants most is to have a stable country. Such a large workshop employs tens of thousands of workers, which is not controlled by the government. If it is used by the powerful, it is a potential threat to the emperor and a social instability factor.

Therefore, compared to letting the people do their work in the workshop, the emperor was more willing to imprison the people on the land.

Zhao Ming looked at the scene in front of him and felt a sigh that Jiangdong had been brought to him by him and could no longer stop.

The development of industry and commerce has enabled Jiangdong to earn a large amount of silver from overseas and mainland China, which will inevitably lead to inflation and rising prices in Jiangdong. It turns out that people could barely live by planting rice for two seasons a year, but now that prices have risen and the price of rice has not risen much, it has caused the people to not have enough money to spend. If they want to spend enough, they must join commercialization and engage in more labor.

Therefore, from another perspective, the people lost their life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset, and had several months of slack farming time, and they had to work almost every day, and they couldn't do it, because prices would continue to rise, so the people were passively tied to Zhao Ming's chariot.

Of course, businessmen and some powerful people must have benefited from this commercialization process. They have earned huge wealth and lived a life that ordinary people can't imagine.

Zhao Ming looked at the scene full of life before him, but said in a deep voice: "Sir, don't be proud of it! In my opinion, the scene in front of him is actually a ball of fire. If you don't control it well, it will hurt people."

When Chen Youlong and others heard this, they were stunned and thought about what Zhao Ming said. Soon, Chen Youlong raised his eyebrows and said, "The general is really far-sighted. He imprisoned the people on the land. Although the harvest is small, the advantage is stability. Now that the gathering of employees is like this, although it can create more money and goods and improve efficiency, if you are not careful, it may lead to chaos."

The staff of the vassal state are all among the people, and many people quickly understood what Zhao Ming meant.

Zhao Ming nodded slightly: "Compared with the commercial society, the agricultural society is undoubtedly more stable. Although our Suzhou City is prosperous in front of us, once something goes wrong, the losses will be heavier when it collapses."

Although agricultural society also has problems such as land annexation, causing refugees and uprisings, the cycle of occurrence is very long, and the accumulation of social conflicts may take decades or hundreds of years before the problems will appear.

In the commercial society, as long as the workshop is not well managed, or too much exploitation, or excessive production, it may lead to huge crises and social collapse.

Chen Youlong asked: "Then how can I avoid this crisis?"

Zhao Ming pointed with a smile, and the hired workers who were entering the workshop one after another, "Let the merchants and gentry make money, and tens of thousands of hired workers get benefits. Only when they are happy can Jiangdong be stable."

Zhao Ming glanced at everyone, "So as an official, we cannot just care about the interests of merchants and gentry. The people and employees live and work in peace and contentment are the cornerstone of Donghai Town."

When everyone heard this, they nodded and thought about it. They understood that Donghai Town should not only support business development, but also restrict gentry and businessmen. They should not overly exploit the people and hire workers. Their rules may be moderate.

Of course, the doctrine of the mean is not just a slight dilemma, but a pursuit of a plan that is most suitable for handling things nowadays, avoiding the mistake of being the one that is too extreme and making the mistake of being left or right.

At this time, Zhao Ming said to everyone: "In recent years, we have produced a large number of goods and earned a lot of money, which has caused the price of Jiangdong to rise. The rich people have made money and gained huge benefits. However, the money obtained by the people working hard has been eaten by the rising prices. Life has not improved much, but it has become more tiring than before. After all, this money cannot be eaten as food. Therefore, when the vassal state encourages the sale of goods to the outside world, it also needs to build a large amount of warehouses to buy a large number of materials from the outside world, especially materials related to the lives of the people, to reduce prices, so that the people can benefit and live and work in peace. Only in this way can we have the value of existence."

Chen Youlong couldn't help but sigh, "The general's words, if we are the party members in charge and the people's lives are not as good as before, then what are our faces? We secretly take the position of meat."

Seeing that many subordinates had such awareness, Zhao Ming nodded with relief.
Chapter completed!