Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 47: Hereditary Bitch

"I thought this printing house was pretty good. It has a large enough area, complete equipment, sufficient manpower, and sufficient stock of paper, ink, and charcoal, so we can start printing right away.

“The key is that it’s cheap.”

Li Ming opened his arms and wandered around the printing house attached to the former Zhang's Bookstore. His smug expression seemed to say:

Look, this is the kingdom I built for you.

Wei Daijia's face turned red with embarrassment.

He finally realized the real reason why His Highness insisted on bringing Lai Junchen with him——

Under the "patient persuasion" of this little gangster, Lao Zhang finally realized his mistake.

How can a bookshop and a printing house be mixed together? This is unfair competition!

Therefore, he "voluntarily" transferred the printing house to His Highness Li Ming at a fair price of four hundred strings of cash, and it was enough for him to be a bookseller.

Wei Daijia, who witnessed the whole incident, could only swallow his tears of shame:
I am a descendant of the Xiaoyaogong branch of the Jingzhao Wei family, but I actually became an accomplice to the evildoer and participated in such a dirty thing...

On the other hand, Lai Junchen was also very unhappy.

As long as you are willing to spend more time polishing it and invite a few more brothers to come and "sit down".

He was fully confident that he could buy this crappy place at a more fair price, zero dollars.

"Okay, both of you stop being angry.

"Awei, four hundred strings of cash is a fair price, and you see Old Zhang didn't say anything.

"Xiao Lai, we have already taken a huge advantage by forcefully buying their property. You want to take advantage of them for free? What if they report us to the authorities?"

Li Ming comforted two subordinates who were a little too extreme.

Although it might seem a bit overbearing to directly purchase a printing house without saying anything, he didn't take it for granted.

Improving printing was only the first step.

When he has a printing machine that can produce daily output, and a manual distribution and push system that citizens have accepted...

Then the significance is not just limited to printing small flyers and writing short essays.

He is essentially in control of a public opinion machine!
In this incident, the power of public opinion even exceeded Li Ming's expectations.

They are just a few young kids who like to stir up trouble, hiding in a corner of West Market, but they can actually turn the country upside down from the government to the people!

This kind of powerful weapon must be in your own hands!
Moreover, in the Tang Dynasty, the war of public opinion is a real blue ocean market, an advantageous track——

After all, no matter how evil the ministers of Zhenguan were, it was impossible for them to be keyboard warriors on the Internet!
Although Li Ming skipped countless classes of Fang Xuanling, he really learned the conspiracy techniques of the old Fang——

Under the name of rescuing Hou Junji, establish your own public opinion hegemony!

The development of new printing technology is the accumulation of new hegemony technology...

Thinking of this, Li Ming couldn't help but feel his blood boiling.

He stood shakily on a wicker basket and gave a passionate speech to the dozens of craftsmen who suddenly appeared under his command:

"I am your new boss. I am not here to make money, but to promote the technological progress of Datang!

"As long as you follow my footsteps, we can open up a new future for mankind together..."

However, it was like a drop in the ocean, and the people below ignored him completely.

The workers worked with blank expressions on their faces, not even raising their heads, not caring at all who their boss was.

Because of the heat, they only wore a single layer of clothing. They were all skinny and worked slowly.

The masters who carved the woodblocks could only sit on the ground, squinting their eyes, and tremblingly carved the words on the clay in the flickering light.

This numb and embarrassing scene immediately put out the fire in Li Ming's heart.

There is something very wrong with these workers...

Each one of them has more resentment than the unpaid 996 work schedule.

With this physical and working condition, how can you create something new and establish hegemony?
Li Ming tugged at Wei Daijia's sleeve:

"What happened to them?"

"What's going on?" Wei Daijia was full of questions.

Oh, I forgot that you are a gentleman who has never been involved in any business... Li Ming turned to another counselor:
"Junchen, what do you think?"

Lai Junchen's reaction was also surprisingly consistent:
"Aren't all craftsmen like this?"

Li Ming's eyes twitched.

Woodblock printing is a technical job. These skilled workers are now the treasures of the factory and can be regarded as the factory director in person.

They are so skinny that they are just skin and bones. Is this normal?
Lai Junchen snorted coldly:
"Fortunately, Lao Zhang is a bookseller, half a scholar, so he treated them decently.

"In other workshops, if you don't work well, you will be whipped."

Wei Daijia nodded and continued with disdain:
“There are too many nouveau riche in Chang’an who don’t understand etiquette.

"Even when dealing with untouchables, they should be protected from hunger and cold, and corporal punishment should not be allowed..."

The two of them were chatting casually, and Li Ming suddenly interrupted:
"What do you call them? 'Untouchables'?"

"Yeah, the untouchables. They are all lowly..."

Wei Daijia was about to explain, but when he saw Li Ming's eyes, he immediately dared not speak.

Lai Junchen was still talking to himself:

"That's right, untouchables. If you don't have land and can't be a member of the good class, you are an untouchable.

"They are lowly people, and I am also a lowly person."

"Good class? Poor class?" Li Ming heard the unfamiliar words and looked at Wei Daijia.

Wei Daijia didn't dare to face those soul-penetrating eyes, so he lowered his head and explained carefully:

"The Zhenzhen Zhenguan Law has a decree that those who are registered as good are considered to be good people, and those who are not registered as bad people..."

He thought that His Highness was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to hear this.

"Craftsmen belong to the Gongyi household, which is a lowly class..."

Lowly...

Li Ming was a little dazed, listening to the two people's popular science lectures in a daze.

The nobles and the lowly are hereditary and cannot intermarry... The lowly are like livestock, which can be bought and sold at will... They cannot own land or hold official positions... They can only work in fixed industries that are despised by others...

It was the first time he heard such strict and absurd legal provisions, and his heart was slowly growing cold.

As a modern man who was born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze, he neither understands nor wants to understand this rotten feudal dregs.

"Why have I not known for so many years..."

Li Ming asked himself, the distinction between good and bad has filled every corner of the society like the air.

If no one is reminded deliberately, who would pay special attention to the existence of air?

He suddenly felt that there was a thick barrier between him and the people around him.

They are obviously all human beings.

But some people are more human than others.

The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was actually built on such a foundation...

He closed his eyes and asked in a muffled voice:
"Then, does the Zhenguan Law allow people to be freed from slavery?"

Wei Daijia swallowed hard and answered truthfully:
"Yes, there are ways. One is to wait until you are 70 years old or disabled. The second is to wait for His Majesty to grant amnesty. The third is to buy yourself off with money.

"The Gonghu belonged to the higher-ranking 'miscellaneous households', and their household registration was managed by the Shaofujian. They could directly become a good official by paying money."

In other words, the untouchables are divided into different classes, and some people cannot even be redeemed with money, right?

Li Ming's face was as gloomy as water. He calmly instructed Wei Daijia:
"Then please go to the Shaofuguan and redeem them all."

Each person's redemption would cost at least 20 strings of cash. There were dozens of people here, enough to buy several bookstores...

Wei Daijia quickly calculated the cost in his mind but did not dare to express any opinion.

"I will follow your highness' orders!"

Lai Junchen felt that he couldn't let the workers get away with it so easily, he had to at least use this as bait to lure them -

Only those who work hard are eligible to be redeemed.

But he opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't dare to say it.

His instinct told him that Master Ming was very, very dangerous now.

Don't be a jerk and talk too much.

Li Ming didn't say anything, just sat quietly on the ground.

He suppressed his emotions and forced himself to think calmly.

It turns out that the real root cause that restricts the production capacity of handicrafts is here——

Low status system.

It is really too much to expect the untouchables to exercise any "subjective initiative".

It would be a blessing if you don't make trouble behind others' backs.

Moreover, the status of a slave is in some sense "hereditary", leaving no hope for a comeback.

Under such backward production relations, craftsmen naturally have no motivation to work, let alone innovation.

But all of Li Ming's subsequent plans cannot be separated from the help of skilled craftsmen.

Whether emotionally or rationally, he could not allow the existence of slavery.

At least not under his command.

He calmed himself down with difficulty, slowly stood up, and stood on the wicker basket again.

The craftsmen still didn't even raise their heads, as if they were facing the air.

This young man is quite interesting, and he likes to talk nonsense even more than Lao Zhang... They complain in their hearts to relieve their boredom.

This is one of the few joys in their lives.

To be honest, they are not completely indifferent to the change of boss.

They would rather have Lao Zhang.

Although Lao Zhang has a foul mouth, he is knowledgeable after all.

I won't be like this little bastard who wants to change a batch of printing plates every few days.

However, what’s the use even if you are unwilling in your heart?
The gap between the lower classes and the gentry was unbridgeable.

I can only respond with silence.

"Ahem." Facing the zombie-like craftsmen, Li Ming cleared his throat and said briefly:
"I will redeem you, and from now on you will be beloved ones."

what?
The workers all stopped their work and carefully tried to understand this ignorant young boss for the first time.

(End of this chapter)