Messy, too messy!
After a whole morning, when Sun Yuan Hua returned to the inn, he felt like his head was about to explode. In these four to six hours, he heard and saw things that challenged his previous knowledge. His thoughts were muddled and he needed to calm down. In the capital, the officials had all sorts of strange comments about the Revolutionary Army. He felt that he should be able to understand more by visiting, but when he came to Tianjin, it was like looking at flowers in a fog.
Sun Yuan Hua coming to Tianjin with more than a hundred taels of silver was completely intentional. If these taels of silver were taken by the rebels, he would be happy. He felt that the rebels were only so-so, and in the long run, they would also be corrupted. But the rebels' ordinary soldiers were unexpectedly unmoved. He thought it was the backbone of the rebels with unquestionable integrity.
Until the secret agent revealed the truth, saying that the rebels guarding the city were divided into two groups to supervise each other. The rebels had internal supervisors who would often disguise themselves as pedestrians and peddlers to investigate. It was said that this was set up by the Revolutionary Army to prevent corruption. The newspaper also advertised every day that if people found corruption, they could report it to the police. Once confirmed, they would be heavily rewarded.
Sun Yuanhua felt a chill down his spine as he listened. He found the newspaper of the Revolutionary Army to read and found that there were reports on the supervision of the citizens every day. Every once in a while, a group of public servants would be punished for various crimes.
Zhou Qingfeng even personally wrote an apology — the foundation was just being built, the Revolutionary Army was a mix of good and bad people, ideological education was inevitably overlooked. I hope the people will supervise, improve every day, and never slack off.
Thinking of the poor scholar he met in the teahouse, Sun Yuan Hua asked the secret agent about the official schools in the city. The secret agent was both mocking and serious. "The rebels spent a lot of money to build a school. They really spent tens of thousands of taels of silver without blinking an eye. But the students they recruited were really all kinds of people, from five or six years old children to fifty or sixty years old people.
It was said that children were educated for free and three meals a day were subsidized. Young people also went to school for free and provided lunch and dinner. Old people listened in and didn't provide care. Those who learned well would be rewarded with silver, and they would be able to earn shiny silver.
It was said that some people could support their whole family just by studying. Even if they couldn't get a scholarship, they could continue to eat. For the sake of food, a large number of people around Tianjin wanted to go to school. After all, there were too many poor people who didn't have overnight food these days. Among them, children can continue to study and freeload meals, but young people will be driven away if they fail three times. "
The Embroidered Clothes spy spoke of education with hatred and fear, "Tianjin has only been established for a short period of time, I can't see any impact. But the Liaodong Fourth Guards had been running the school for a year, and it was said that the results were outstanding. As long as you went to the school of being a rebel, you would basically be a hardcore rebel. If we, the Brocade Guards, send people to secretly instigate a rebellion, we will definitely be reported.
The rebel's newspaper proudly boasted that in just one year, the school had nurtured more than twenty thousand students with elementary and middle school degrees. These people would be able to apply what they had learned faster and better when they entered the factory, went to the fields, or enlisted in the army, and provided strong support for the great cause of the revolution. He also said that this year's investment in education will be increased to five hundred thousand taels of silver and nurture fifty thousand people with elementary and middle school experience. "
"Five hundred thousand taels?" When Sun Yuan Hua heard this number, he was stunned. He thought to himself, "The imperial court has been plundering money from all over the place to strengthen the army, but they didn't even raise this much."
The brocade-clothed spy nodded heavily. "That's true. Recently Tianjin's brush, ink, paper, and inkstone business has been particularly good. Many princes and dukes in the capital are trying their best to transport large amounts of goods by water. The number of ships coming from Jiangnan is also slowly increasing. Among the goods sold is a large amount of paper. In addition, Shandong's culture and education are flourishing, the merchants who do this kind of business are also making a lot of money. "
Sun Yuan Hua was still puzzled, "The 'Revolutionary Army' has money, but they don't expand their army and prepare for war. Instead, they use it to teach and educate people. They were originally from the barren land of Liaodong, and haven't been in Tianjin for long, do they really have that much money? "
Speaking of money, the secret agent was hateful and cursing, he wanted to beat his chest and stamp his feet. "Sun Daren, this rebel's money-gathering technique is really crushing the bones and sucking the marrow. When they first arrived at Dagu Kou, the Governor of Jiliao advised the rich families in the city to donate grain and money to defend the city together. But those ignorant people are all misers, they won't spare even a single feather. When the rebel thieves come, they behead them and confiscate all the money.
For this reason, the rebel thieves proudly boasted in the newspaper, saying that just clearing the property of the local tyrants and evil gentry around Tianjin would cost five million taels of silver and more than ten million dans of grain. It's enough to satisfy the 'Revolutionary Army's' financial needs for the reconstruction of Tianjin's surroundings. The rebel thieves are so extravagant, spending all the blood and sweat of our Daming officials! "
Sun Yuan Hua was even more shocked, "Five million taels, ten million dans, plundering Tianjin and you've seized so much silver and grain? Not long ago, the new emperor ascended the throne, he wanted the rich families in the capital to donate, to get the silver … " He was too embarrassed to say that number, compared to the 'Revolutionary Army's' confiscation of property, the difference was two orders of magnitude.
The secret agent in embroidered clothes nodded sadly: "When the dynasty was established, Tianjin was the only place where the transportation of goods must pass. After more than two hundred years of accumulation, who knows how many rich families there are here. Five million taels of silver is not the upper limit, recently, the newspaper from time to time said that the rebel police found some family's hidden silver, often tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels.
The rebel thief Grand Marshal is also generous. Every time the traitor Mark II shows some performance, he will give a part of the hidden silver to the police to expand. Nowadays, there are more and more police officers in the city, it is said that they want to open a police school. It is said that the bonus they received this month is more than twenty thousand taels, the first dozen lackeys to rely on are already overflowing with wealth.
Because they have so much silver and grain, the rebel thieves like to do things especially big. In one breath, they built more than twenty official schools around Tianjin, recruiting tens of thousands of people to go to school. With just a few meals, they attracted the ignorant people in the countryside to learn. I have seen what they learn, it is just some crude literacy and arithmetic, if they learn it, they will not be blind. "
The secret agent in embroidered clothes said it lightly, full of disdain. Sun Yuan Hua did not think so. When the Daming Imperial Court opened the imperial examinations to select scholars, each time, the number of people who passed the imperial examinations and the number of people who passed the imperial examinations were not many. If the 'Revolutionary Army' can make tens of thousands of people not blind, as long as the number of literate people in the future will be incredible.
Thinking of the soldier who spoke clearly when he entered the city, and then thinking of this kind of people who are crude literate everywhere, that is a scene of cultural and educational prosperity. Moreover, the 'Revolutionary Army' can train tens of thousands of people to become blind, who can say that they can't continue to train higher level talents? This is almost inevitable.
But …
Sun Yuan Hua asked again, "The rebel thieves have invested so much in education, I am afraid they will also invest a lot in other areas. Five million taels seems a lot, but with this kind of spending, I am afraid it will not last long. What if one day there is no money? The silver obtained from torturing places will eventually be used up. "
"Earn!" The secret agent laughed bitterly and said, "The rebel thieves are not only good at exploiting officials, they also collect a lot of taxes. In the past, this inn used to pay one tax every thirty taels, if there is someone in the yamen to take care of it, they do not have to pay taxes. But the rebel thieves not only collect a lot of taxes, they are also very enthusiastic. Not long ago, the innkeeper tried to falsify the accounts and did not pay taxes, but was caught on the spot and fined three times the amount.
Moreover, the rebel thieves are good at doing business. Recently, they have shipped a large amount of cotton cloth from Liaodong, thick, fine, tough, good, and colorful. The price of the rebel thieves' cotton cloth is very cheap, and when it is on the market, it is sold in a rush. They ship the cloth to Jiangnan, and then buy cotton from Jiangnan, making a lot of money. Other than cloth, the rebel thieves also deal in salt and iron, which makes them even more profitable.
The rebel thieves have a large salt field in Liaodong. I heard they do not use ovens to boil seawater to fry salt, but use the method of drying salt, so they produce a lot of salt. They ship and sell salt, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangnan, the common people everywhere are very happy. But the salt merchants are very powerful, and it is said that there are people in Jiangnan who are not happy, and some dirty things happen. But the rebel thieves sell salt at a very low price, and they sell it very well.
Another big money-making business is iron. Daren should know that the rebel thieves' armor is very good. But they sell ordinary knives, and iron weapons are also very good. Our inn's kitchen bought a dozen or so kitchen knives in one go, all of them are very good, light and sharp, and can be called treasured knives. But these kinds of good things can be bought for only twenty cents.
Also, the farmers use iron plows, hoes, and other farming tools. The rebel thieves sell them cheaply and save effort. They also make hand-operated planters and transplanters. Aiyo … that thing is really a good treasure, it can help a lot in farming.
This subordinate has seen it with my own eyes, that planter is a strange thing, but when it comes to the field, it is really fast and good. In the past, farm work that can't be finished in a day can be finished in an hour now. "
Talking about the various strange things about the 'Revolutionary Army', the embroidered clothed secret agent spoke eloquently, spittle flying everywhere. Sun Yuan Hua listened with even more fascination, as if he was listening to a myth. Especially that seedling transplanter, that was something Sun Yuan Hua could not imagine. But when he heard that one mu of land could be planted in an hour, he expressed that he absolutely did not believe it.
"Everyone in the world knows that farming is hard, it has not changed for thousands of years. If there is an object that can be planted in an hour, it will be a divine artifact. " Sun Yuan Hua shook his head, shook his head again, "If this is true, from now on farming is easy, the common people will not have to work hard, it is really a blessing to the world, a blessing to the common people."
Seeing Sun Yuan Hua shake his head, the embroidered clothed secret agent also lost his temper, "Daren, when others told me this, I also did not believe it. If there is such a good thing in the world, it will save a lot of trouble. My family used to be farmers, every spring plowing was extremely hard. Several generations of the family went to the fields to plant, it really can make people's waist break. But now, that machine just pushed in the fields and finished the work.
I heard that the machine is still some kind of experimental product, there is a plowing and seeding machine in the future, it is even more convenient. If Daren does not believe, you can go to the collective farms outside the city to take a look. Not only did the rebel thieves not cover up this matter, but they also vigorously publicized it. They said to encourage 'invention and creation', to let the craftsmen in the past go from being poor to rich people. "
"I can see it on the spot? If this is true, I must personally go take a look. If I can secretly learn the trick, I will respectfully offer this treasure to the emperor. One mu of land can be easily planted in an hour, how can there be such a good thing in the world? "
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