Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1154 Postscript 10. What are those officials fighting for?

Nowadays, newspapers with a slightly larger scale are basically weekly, bi-weekly and monthly newspapers.

They set up headquarters in one city and branches in other cities. First, a fixed layout structure is designed, and the content of the manuscript is edited by the newspaper headquarters, and then the manuscript is transmitted to the branch by telegram, and a time is agreed to print and sell together.

Although the cost of transmitting manuscripts by telegram is high, it is not a problem as long as the sales volume increases, and there are benefits for long-term cooperation with the telegraph office.

The real disadvantage is that telegrams cannot transmit illustrations.

Therefore, any news with illustrations is either printed by the newspaper headquarters or sent to the branch by hand!

The news report on child coal workers in Shanxi in "Yi Bao" was obviously prepared for a long time. Even before the relevant inspection team went to Shanxi, those cartoon illustrations had been sent to the provincial branches, otherwise it would be too late.

In the second decade after the article was published, the public opinion war finally broke out, and many newspapers fought back.

But the counterattack was not strong enough, and even had a taste of seeking peace.

Because the article in Yibao occupied the Confucian righteousness, occupied the moral high ground, and had the support of the court behind it.

How to fight back?

One angle is to gain sympathy through the child laborers themselves. It claims that if the mines and factories do not employ child laborers, the income of this family will drop sharply, and the whole family will eventually fall into hunger and poverty.

One angle is to complain from the technical aspect. For example, taking the mine as an example, the underground tunnels for deep mining are very narrow, and only child laborers can enter and exit quickly, which has a natural advantage over adult miners.

Even the counterattack article, while seeking peace, also has a bit of threat.

They proposed that if child laborers are not used, the costs of major coal mines across the country will inevitably soar, and it will also lead to a large reduction in production.

At that time, the price of coal will also rise. Even if the coal mines suddenly reduce production, it is not necessarily possible to buy coal at a high price. People in big cities will lack coal, and countless factories will also lack coal. Not only will it be more expensive for ordinary people to buy coal, but it will also be more expensive to buy cloth and iron, and so on.

There were many articles of this kind, and there were also many articles of support.

The articles of support, like the one in Yibao, were basically based on Confucian righteousness and morality. Only a few newspapers said that child labor took away the jobs of adult workers and caused a large number of children to die, become disabled, and become sick.

"Isn't it a wonderful argument?" The second brother Xie Kan was a fun-loving person who often watched the fun.

Xie Yan asked, "Why are they arguing?"

Xie Kan said, "They are arguing about whether to abolish child labor."

"I mean the deeper reasons," Xie Yan said.

Xie Kan replied, "The deeper reason is naturally the public opinion war for the reform."

Xie Yan asked again, "Why do we need to reform? I mean, why do so many officials want to reform? What is the fundamental conflict of interest between those officials who support the reform and those who prevent the reform?"

Xie Kan was speechless and began to think.

In Europe, the contradictions and conflicts between the feudal landlord class and the emerging bourgeoisie are very obvious.

First, the bourgeoisie needs to hire workers for production, but the lack of population in the early stage requires the peasants to be driven into the city, which deprives the feudal landlord class of population resources.

Second, when the bourgeoisie is no longer short of population resources, they need to obtain greater political and economic power. And these powers are often in the hands of feudal landlords (nobles).

But these two contradictions do not seem to be prominent in the current Ming Dynasty.

The population of the Ming Dynasty has exploded, and the landlords have no shortage of tenants, and the capitalists have no shortage of workers.

The capitalists of the Ming Dynasty have long been combined with some bureaucrats, and they do not seem to lack political and economic power.

So, what is the contradiction now?

Why do the two factions want to fight?

The struggle is so fierce that the first three rows of the court are killed?

Xie Yan really can't understand it.

Another day has passed, and his father did not come home for dinner. He was so busy that he could only fool his stomach in the yamen.

Xie Yan took advantage of the temperature drop after nightfall and read by lamplight in the study shared by the three brothers and sisters.

He has already familiarized himself with all the mathematical symbols that will be tested in the provincial examination, and has listed a comparison table of mathematical symbols in the two time and space.

At present, the physical symbols have been sorted out.

Xie Yan found that the chemistry of this time and space is seriously backward compared with mathematics and physics.

In his later years, Emperor Taizu had already proposed that everything is composed of particles, and these particles can be combined and subdivided.

But Taizu's theory was a conjecture at the time. Many people believed it, but more people did not believe it.

After more than a hundred years of development, Taizu's particle theory has gradually been widely accepted. There are even clan members who took out a periodic table of elements, claiming that it is a relic passed down by Taizu - this periodic table of elements is considered to be a forgery by many chemists.

In addition, chemists who accepted the particle theory have formed more than a dozen factions of varying sizes.

One of the mainstream factions believes that the yin and yang qi evolve into various homogeneous particles, and the combination of homogeneous particles is a certain element and substance.

They firmly believe that compounds are also certain elements composed of simple particles. For example, purified salt is a salt element composed of salt particles. Except for salt elements and salt particles, the original particles and elements no longer exist.

Moreover, whether the yin and yang energies are transformed into homogeneous particles, or homogeneous particles are combined to form elements, they all rely on the power of static electricity.

Another mainstream faction always believes that Taizu is correct and that particles can be freely combined or separated. Elements composed of the same kind of particles can also react with other elements, but what is reacted is not a new element. For example, purified salt cannot be called salt element, but a complex substance composed of different elements.

Over the past two decades, the latter has gradually gained the upper hand.

They conducted repeated experiments and carefully verified and sorted out the suspected forged periodic table of elements.

Of course, there is much consensus between the two groups.

For example, they all believe that particles combine and change through static electricity. They all believe that ionic compounds (there is no such concept yet) are substances that are combined by static electricity (the former thinks it is an unstable new element that only exists in solution, and the latter thinks it is some kind of composite particle). After being electrified, the static electricity is dispersed. Electricity separates them into yin and yang particle states.

Due to the endless debates in the chemistry community, the textbooks did not know how to compile them. They could only list the consensus of the two groups as required content, and some appendices with disagreements were included in the textbooks for reference.

Xie Yan tonight compiled the physical symbols of the two time and space into a comparison table.

He briefly browsed the chemistry textbook, unfolded the manuscript paper and wrote the title of the paper: "Molecular Theory".

I only wrote the title, not the main text for now.

Because he has only read the chemistry textbooks for the imperial examination and does not know what the most cutting-edge academic achievements are at the moment, he must carefully check the chemistry journals in recent years.

He heard footsteps coming from outside, and the door of his father's study next door was quickly opened.

Xie Yan went over and knocked on the door.

Xie Yiqin was writing a letter to a friend. He was studying ink and said, "Come in."

"Father." Xie Yan pushed open the door and entered.

Xie Yiqin warned: "It's very late. Reading at night will hurt your eyes. From now on, you should try your best to study during the day."

"Yes." Xie Yan responded.

Xie Yiqin asked: "Is there anything else?"

Xie Yan asked the same question during the day, why did the people in the court fight.

Xie Yiqin did not answer immediately.

After being silent for a while, Xie Yiqin said: "In the first ten years after he ascended the throne, the late emperor's administration was actually very gentle, and he was praised as having the style of Taizu. It was not until a major case in Guangdong that the late emperor became tough. "

"What case?" Xie Yan asked curiously.

Xie Yiqin said:

"Several private banks in Guangdong have illegally obtained a large number of loans from Guangdong Baoquan Bureau. This kind of behavior existed before the late emperor ascended the throne. I don't know much about the banking industry and I don't know how they were deceived for nearly twenty years. of."

"Later there was a big storm at sea, and nearly a hundred merchant ships were sunk, missing, or damaged. I don't know who started the rumor, and one of the banks suffered a run. As one of the top private banks in Guangdong, it couldn't withdraw money in less than two days. The money is coming.”

"There was a big commotion at the time, and the late emperor asked the Guangdong Baoquan Bureau to step in to calm the trouble. As a result, as soon as the Guangdong Baoquan Bureau took action, it caused a larger-scale run, and even many merchants were eager to withdraw money. Even other banks in Guangdong , also suffered a run.”

"The first batch of imperial envoys sent by the late emperor to investigate the case reported that the incident was caused by rumors spread by profiteers and traitors. Officials and banks in Guangdong did not commit crimes, but only had some violations."

"At that time, there was a young official from the Guangzhou Shipping Department, perhaps out of selflessness or for other reasons, secretly sending a secret message to the late emperor. This person's rank was too low and he was not qualified to send a secret message. But he A scholar from the Royal Society was invited to send a secret message to the late emperor through the scholar’s ​​privileges.”

"This sealed message has been withheld!"

Xie Yan was extremely surprised: "Can the secret messages sent to the emperor be withheld?"

Xie Yiqin nodded and said: "The emperor has his own telegraph room, half of which are magicians and half of which are eunuchs. The magicians and eunuchs are supposed to supervise each other, but they actually teamed up to deceive the emperor."

"Has he been discovered by the emperor?" Xie Yan asked.

Xie Yiqin said: "One of the tricksters among them, because the case was too big and he became more and more frightened, he exposed the matter of secretly withholding the emperor's secret telegrams. The emperor was furious. Except for the one who stood up to expose, everyone else in the telegraph room was arrested. He was severely tortured and immediately sent people to arrest the first batch of imperial envoys to investigate the case, and at the same time sent the second batch of imperial envoys to Guangdong. "

Xie Yan asked: "What then?"

Xie Yiqin sighed: "Well, the case is too big and the implications are too wide. We must fight to the end. The official of the Shipping Department who sent a secret telegram to the emperor through a scholar suddenly contracted a cold and died. The weather in Guangdong was hot, and the body was quickly burned. Chapter 1 The second batch of imperial envoys came over and found only some minor problems. It took a full half year to report to the late emperor that there was no major case, but all the telegraph office officials who were tortured to extract confessions were not found."

"The late Emperor is not a fool." Xie Yan said cheerfully.

Xie Yiqin said: "The late emperor must have been frightened and angry at that time, and he was so frightened that he pretended not to continue the investigation. Then, through the emperor's secret telegram, he transferred two thousand troops from the Yanran Protector's Palace and the Anton Protector's Palace back to Beijing. The people who led the army were all young acquaintances of the late emperor. All these four thousand soldiers and horses became palace guards. The late emperor did not even trust the palace guards!"