Chapter 1397 [Updated on August 26] Why Have You Never Heard of It

Ruoyin opened the curtain.

Stretch your neck and look forward.

I can't understand what's going on.

All I saw was a crowd of people.

There was also a loud noise of voices.

So, she and fourth master got out of the carriage.

After getting out of the carriage, Ruoyin was stunned by the situation in front of him.

I saw a black mass of people in front of me, like densely packed ants, enclosing the road tightly.

Crowds lined up all the surrounding places where they could stay, and there was no end in sight.

There is no place to stay at all.

Not to mention that it is impossible for a carriage to pass through the middle.

After Su Peisheng parked the horse, he said: "Master, this servant is going to the front to inquire and find out what's going on."

Fourth master gave a faint "hmm", it was right.

After a while, Su Peisheng came back frowning.

He only heard him say: "Master, why are there so many people at the front? When I inquired, there were more than 20,000 people gathered there."

"Who are they?" Fourth master asked.

"Isn't Suzhou's textile industry relatively developed?" Su Peisheng pointed to the surrounding houses, and said, "This area is full of cloth mills and silk weaving workshops. There are all kinds of craftsmen, because of their low wages, they are not only exploited and oppressed by the workshop Baotou, but also..."

After saying this, he didn't dare to say any more.

Seeing that he hesitated to speak, Fourth Master ordered: "Say."

"They are still under the strict control of the court." When Su Peisheng spoke, he lowered his head, not daring to look into Fourth Master's eyes.

"The imperial court? Why have you never heard of it?"

Ruoyin's eyes turned slightly.

It seems that the local government concealed this bad situation in order to keep Wu Shamao.

"The slaves don't know. Anyway, according to those craftsmen, they have never stopped resisting in order to increase ICBC and improve their treatment. Similar to this kind of rest struggle, there have been several times. This time, it is the largest. A march together is called a rest struggle."

"And this time the cause was that a craftsman took a few days of leave to take care of the newly born woman at home, and then was fired. As the breadwinner of the family, he lost his job and source of income. The craftsman was out of breath for a while. Throwing himself into a lake caused a collective protest." Su Peisheng said.

Ruoyin didn't quite understand what it meant to be called Xie, so she asked, "Called Xie?"

Su Peisheng explained: "Calling Xie is a Suzhou dialect, which means shouting to stop work."

"Oh." Now Ruoyin understood, it turned out to be a collective strike.

What Su Peisheng said was too common in the Qing Dynasty.

The slavishness of the Qing Dynasty was deeply rooted, and many slaves, servants, and workers had no guarantee of interests at all.

In order to earn money to support their families, many people worked cattle and horses for noble families, day and night, but they only took a pitifully small amount of ICBC.

I was worried all day long, and I was fired if I was not careful.

This is still relatively light, and if it is serious, it will still suffer from flesh and blood.

What's more, if you are not careful, you will die.

After listening to Su Peisheng's words, Fourth Master's eyes fell on the densely packed crowd, and he walked towards the crowd.

Ruoyin and Su Peisheng followed together.

When I got closer, I heard craftsmen holding banners and saying words of protest.

"Against dismissal without reason!"

"Against the oppression of artisans!"

"Against the exploitation of artisans!"

Protest slogans like these are thunderous, and they are unstoppable, powerful, and magnificent.

The whole earth trembled.

Ruoyin's eardrums trembled.

You know, there were more than 20,000 people protesting at the scene.

With this posture, there are half as many people as she led women to protest last time.

But the order at the scene was no worse than that of hers.

It can be described as neat.

It can be seen that their purpose is only for profit and survival, and they have no intention of rioting or involving other things.

Then, this must be a collective strike that has been planned for a long time.

It is definitely not an ordinary person who can plan more than 20,000 people so neatly and make more than 20,000 people obey.

Ruoyin was suddenly curious as to who the person behind the scenes was.

Just when Ruoyin was curious, a man in a dark robe on the right high ground said loudly, "Those court officials have a monthly salary of tens or hundreds of taels, and nine-rank sesame officials have three taels of silver a month. No matter how low-ranking an official is, there are about two liang of silver a month."

"And most of us work nine hours a day, only a meager 20 Wen."

"In the market, a liter of rice costs ten renminbi, and a catty of noodles costs twenty renminbi. This is not counting oil and salt, and the money for making clothes with cotton cloth is not enough to support ourselves after a hard day. How can we support our family. "

"Whenever something happens, the family completely collapses."

"So, this time we must fight the government and the imperial court to the end."

"What we are protesting for is the fate of the working class in the Qing Dynasty!"

"Good! Well said!" The crowd echoed.

Ruoyin clicked his tongue when he heard that, nine hours, that's eighteen hours.

Calculated in this way, there are only six hours of rest a day.

Excluding meals and housework, I am afraid that there is only a pitiful three or four hours of sleep.

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

From nowhere came the sound of stones hitting.

Ruoyin looked up, and saw that the man was hammering a tall stone tablet with a hammer after he had finished speaking impassionedly.

And on that stone tablet it was written, "Forever banned mechanic is called Xiebei".

Out of curiosity, Ruoyin casually asked the woman next to her, "Sister, how did you get this stele?"

The woman looked Ruoyin up and down: "Girl, it looks like you are from out of town. This stele is from us workers who called for a break a few years ago. Those stingy workshop Baotou asked the local government for help and asked the government to intervene." , the government took money from the contractor and forced us to resume work. For this reason, this "Eternal Forbidden Mechanic Called Xie Bei" was specially erected."

"Oh." Ruoyin nodded, indicating that he understood, "Who is that man who hammered the stele?

"He is the master mechanic in our textile workshop. As long as there is a problem with the machinery in this area, he can't fix it. Moreover, his family used to open a martial arts gym, but it fell down later. By the way, the worker this time is called Xie, and he organized it."

Hearing this, Ruoyin's eyes turned slightly, and then said to the woman, "Thank you for letting me know."

Ruoyin heard that the man was the organizer, so he stretched his neck and looked carefully.

I saw the man holding a black iron long hammer weighing more than fifty kilograms, and was still hammering on the stone tablet.

The body of the hammer is carved with flower marks, which is very exquisite.

After a few hammers, the stele was already crumbling.