Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1091 Factory Inspection
The worker was trembling with fear, but did not dare to answer. He just glanced at the manager who brought him over.

The steward himself was also feeling panicked, and hadn't reacted yet. Only when he saw the unhappy look of his boss, the Prince of Qin, Zhu Chong, did he suddenly come to his senses.

"You...what are you looking at me for?"

"This is the Emperor... Mr. Huang, he is the kindest man, you, you should answer honestly..."

He was worried that the worker might say something he shouldn't, and he seemed even more nervous than the worker.

The worker nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, yes, I will definitely do my duty, I will definitely do my duty..."

Old Zhu then asked, "What's your name and where are you from?"

The worker replied, "Sir, my name is Zhang Erniu, and I am from Gaoxiang, Hanzhong."

"Not from Xi'an?"

Old Zhu said curiously.

Zhang Erniu said, "No, my eldest brother-in-law's registered residence is in Xi'an. He fled to Xi'an a few years ago and happened to encounter the court collecting refugees, so he settled down in Xi'an."

"Last year, my eldest brother-in-law wrote to me, saying that working here pays very high wages, and there is no need to worry about floods and droughts. It is much better than being a tenant farmer."

"The younger one came and worked for a year, and then he brought all the young and old people from his family here as well."

Hearing this, Old Zhu was somewhat moved and said, "Hanzhong is quite far from Xi'an. Have you brought your family here?"

Zhang Erniu smiled with a simple and honest smile, but also a little proud, and said: "I work very hard in the factory. Others work one shift, and I work two shifts.

I worked hard, so..."

"Cough cough!"

Before Zhang Erniu could finish his words, he heard the manager beside him cough twice and glared at him.

Zhang Erniu was startled, and quickly came to his senses. He bent down in fear and said humbly: "Little one, little one..."

"What are you coughing for?"

When Old Zhu saw what had just happened, his face suddenly darkened, and he looked at the steward with a sharp gaze. Zhu Chong saw that his father was unhappy, and he stepped forward with a displeased look and scolded him, "If you have any problem, ask the doctor to see you sooner. Can't you see that you are talking?"

"You're short of money, did you pay for your medical treatment?"

The steward felt that Zhang Erniu had forgotten the etiquette while speaking, so he coughed to remind him. After hearing what Zhu Chong said, he was immediately frightened.

Just as he was about to kneel down, Lao Zhu waved his sleeves and said, "Get lost, get lost, stay aside, let Zhang Erniu talk to us alone!"

The steward had to stand up again when he was kneeling halfway. He stood a little further away tremblingly and looked in this direction anxiously.

"Humph!"

Old Zhu snorted coldly, retracted his gaze, and his eyes became gentle again. He looked at Zhang Erniu and said, "Don't be afraid, just say I. Come to think of it, I also think the word I sounds intimate. What's so small about it? It's insulting to let people say that."

Zhang Erniu heard this and secretly glanced at Zhu Chong, Zhu Su and others who looked constipated. He felt that Mr. Huang was very approachable, so he plucked up the courage to continue, "Sir, please don't blame Manager Liao. Manager Liao was afraid that a rough man like me might accidentally offend you."

Seeing his simplicity, Old Zhu smiled and said in a gentle voice: "Okay, okay, I won't blame him... You continue talking, I just want these stupid sons of ours to listen to your stories and broaden their horizons and see the world..."

"Then I'll continue." Zhang Erniu scratched his head and continued:

"Because I did a good job, I was promoted to a small leader, called the captain."

"The factory gave me a raise and allocated me a house outside the city. It's not big, but it's enough for me to live in. Although it's not mine yet, as long as I work in the factory for ten years, the house will be mine."

"My monthly salary is now 3 taels, 8 qian and 6 fen, which is just enough to buy three dan of rice, enough for my family to eat for half a year."

"So, I brought my whole family to this city so that we can live a better life!"

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu, Song Lian and Tang He looked at each other in surprise.

Then he asked, "How much did you get paid when you first started?"

Zhang Erniu said, "At the beginning, I also got one hundred yuan. When I got used to it and became a regular employee, I got one or two taels of silver."

"If you work hard and honestly, you can earn 1 tael and 8 cents the next year."

"I heard that the number is increasing year by year. There is hope..."

"I plan to let my eldest son come to work in the factory, starting as a laborer, so that he can learn some skills. If he doesn't do his job well, I will beat him to death..."

“Once it’s done, there will be two workers in the house, and they can get two wages.

"That day..."

Seeing Zhang Erniu's honest face full of brilliance and yearning for life, Lao Zhu smiled and nodded.

……

After coming out of the pancreas factory, Zhu Chong lectured the manager in front of Old Zhu: "What's wrong with you? Do you think you are superior to others just because you are a manager? Do you have to make others call you younger and speak in a humble manner while bowing your back?"

"He is an honest and upright citizen, not a pariah."

"They earn their living through their own labor, and they don't owe us anything, so why should we let them kowtow to us?"

The steward nodded in agreement, not daring to refute. Song Lian waved his hand and said, "Second Prince, that's it."

"I can see that this man has no bad intentions. He is just afraid that Zhang Erniu will offend Your Majesty, so he wants him to respect Your Majesty..."

Zhu Chong then stopped and sent away the manager, who was already soaked in cold sweat.

Looking at the manager's leaving back, Old Zhu was silent for a while, and then called Zhu Su.

"Old Five, we have seen the beauty of this factory."

"Working in this factory can indeed feed more people, so that they don't have to suffer from hunger and cold."

"But, in this case, the livelihoods of these workers are entirely in the hands of Dongzhang's managers. Dongzhang's managers can frighten them to such a degree with just a cough..."

"This is not a good thing. Do you have any solution in advance?"

Zhu Su heard this and said with a smile: "You are right. In a large factory, there are at least several hundred strong and young workers."

"If you meet an employer who doesn't care about people's work, it will really ruin everything."

"This requires our court to improve the legal system and prevent employers from infringing on the interests of workers. The court must stand with the workers."

"The boss is not worthy of respect, and neither is the manager. We need to let the workers know that if they want to be respected, they can't just rely on their status to gain respect."

"You are respected because you drove out the Tartars and re-opened the sky of China. You worked hard for many years and cared about the people of the world. You led the Ming Dynasty to prosperity. That's why the officials and the people of the world respect you."

"Master Song, father-in-law, and Uncle Tang are the same. Over the years, you have assisted the Ming Dynasty, fought in all directions, and governed the world. Today, the people live and work in peace and contentment, which is inseparable from your efforts. That is why you deserve respect."

"It's the same in the court and in the factory."

"Don't be concerned about bureaucratic positions or seniority. Only those who are capable and beneficial to the factory are worthy of respect."

"This also shows the importance of popularizing government policies and enlightening the people. In factories, we must never allow the phenomenon of driving workers like slaves again."

"We must prevent this kind of thing from happening from the beginning. Otherwise, what is the difference between those bosses who control the capital and those corrupt officials who abuse their power?"

"The court is not going to pamper them or indulge them. If they make mistakes and disobey orders, the employer can of course punish them according to factory rules and punish them severely."

"But don't think about breaking their spines once and for all."

"A worker without ambition is still a worker? He is a slave."

"What great things can you accomplish with a bunch of slaves?"

Song Lian seemed to be thinking about something, but Old Zhu smiled and said, "You are going off topic."

"Why doesn't it sound like they're only talking about the factory?"

Zhu Su smiled and said, "Father, I know it is very difficult to enlighten the people. The Confucian saying 'People can be led but not made to know' has been repeated for thousands of years. I am afraid that even the Song Dynasty Master believes that the hierarchy is natural."

"But, Father, think about it, what is our goal?"

"Does he only abuse his power in the Ming Dynasty?"

When Old Zhu heard this, his expression suddenly changed.

Zhu Su continued, "The journey ahead for our great Ming dynasty is overseas, in the sea of ​​stars. It will not be an easy journey."

“Only when the people of Ming Dynasty are sincere and united can we gain a foothold and take root overseas.”

"Otherwise, even if you are as powerful as you are now, you will end up like the Mongols."

"If we allow our workers to become spineless, we may be able to survive in the Ming Dynasty for a while, but overseas, the winds and waves are high and it will be difficult for us to survive for long."

“Only those with backbone can have the pioneering and enterprising spirit.”

Hearing this, Old Zhu laughed and said, "I have already abdicated. If you want to enlighten the people, just do it yourself. Why do you have to persuade me in a roundabout way?"

"Look, what you told us was a lie, but you really wanted to use it to persuade Mr. Song!"

"Mr. Song, you have also seen that our fifth son's mind has never been limited to the world of Daming."

"He wants to lead the people of a strong country and expand the territory!"

"This is a very difficult and dangerous thing to do. There will definitely be many people who will jump out to stop it. Old man, he wants you to join us and support him here."

"This matter concerns the fate of our Ming Dynasty and the great changes that have not happened in the country for thousands of years. We don't want anyone to hold him back."

"None of them!"

……

The trip to the pancreas factory opened the eyes of Lao Zhu, Song Lian and others, and they felt that they had benefited a lot. However, Xu Da and Tang He, whose families already had many factories, knew a little about the affairs and did not think it was anything special.

As for Zhu Su's advice to "enlighten the people", Zhu did not take it seriously. This was something he had thought about in his early years.

In his early years, he was also a staunch supporter of the idea that "the people can be made to follow the will of the state, but not to understand it." He believed that as long as the people did not act rebelliously and cultivated the land peacefully, the Ming Dynasty would naturally last forever.

But the fact is, he learned of the demise of the Ming Dynasty. The people who rose up in rebellion caused the Ming Dynasty to meet its own end on a crooked tree, and then the Jurchen Tartars took advantage of the situation, causing the Chinese land to fall into the hands of foreign races again.

Everything seemed like a ridiculous cycle. Zhu Yuanzhang had tried his best to save the world from the hands of the barbarians, but in the end it still fell into their hands.

After learning from his mistakes, he overturned his earlier ideas and tried to find a real way out of the dilemma.

The final conclusion is that "the country is prosperous" and "the people are enlightened". If the people are prosperous, have food to eat and clothes to wear, they will not rise up in rebellion.

If the people understand the greater good, they will be able to unite as one and fight against the invasion of foreign races.

These are of course only the most basic things. If you want to truly have an impact hundreds of years later, there are still countless small aspects to be done one by one. However, enlightening people's wisdom is the most important thing that can have an impact hundreds of years later. Wealth may not exist hundreds of years later, but wisdom will be passed down along with civilization.

Zhu Yuanzhang's imaginary enemy was never the Northern Yuan Dynasty or Japan, but the crisis faced by the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years later. Even Zhu Yuanzhang, who never admits defeat, sometimes feels powerless in this crisis.

In the face of the long river of time, all preparations may be lost in hundreds of years.

And inheritance is the most effective weapon when facing the long river of time.

His preparations have been basically completed. The Ming Dynasty has accumulated strong national strength and a large amount of territory, and there will be no threat from any foreign enemies for at least a hundred years.

He hoped that the Ming Dynasty could truly achieve the goal of enlightening the people within the two generations of Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongyingzhe so as to cope with the crisis of national extinction that might occur in the future.

On the second day, they continued to visit Xi'an. Leaving the East City where workshops are lined up, the rest of Xi'an is no different from other ordinary cities. As a northern city, it is not as lively as the south of the Yangtze River, but thanks to Xi'an's extensive connections, it has already had some of the atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Old Zhu was more interested in the suburbs, because compared to the inner city, the suburbs not only had many fertile fields, but also more large workshops, and even state-run heavy industries such as cement plants and steel plants that are extremely important to the Ming Dynasty today.

As usual, Lao Zhu took people to inspect these factories and asked some workers. The answers he got were basically the same as Li Erniu's. Every worker was full of enthusiasm and full of longing and expectation for a new life.

This also made Lao Zhu particularly pleased.

Because he was inspecting the government-run factories, Lao Zhu did not continue to hide his identity. The things in these factories were related to the secrets of the court. If he did not have an identity, he would even be driven away by the local garrison.

After inspecting the steel plant, the group set off back to the Xi'an Palace.

The road from Xi'an city to the steel plant is also paved with cement, sand and gravel.

As the road became smoother, the speed of the imperial carriage increased a lot.

Along the way, the group of people in the car talked about what they had just seen, and the atmosphere was quite lively.

At this speed, the emperor will arrive in Xi'an around noon...

However, an accident did happen on the road.

"what happened?"

The team in front suddenly stopped and the imperial carriage paused. Old Zhu's face darkened. Seeing the two tigers riding their horses back quickly in front of him, he shouted in a deep voice.

Soon he got a reply. Erhu rode his horse to Lao Zhu and reported to him:

"Your Majesty, many people have appeared in front of us, at least a hundred of them, kneeling on the side of the road, wanting to present gifts to Your Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)