The prefect Yu Kejing originally wanted to live in peace when His Royal Highness came to inspect this matter.
Unexpectedly, nothing happened at the Anshan Iron and Steel Factory, which he was most worried about. His Royal Highness visited the industrial area casually, but a major incident was exposed.
The empire adopts a vertical management method for many things.
In particular, tax collection, which was the most important issue for the empire, was no longer left to local officials.
The empire established a State Administration of Taxation under the direct control of the emperor, which was responsible for tax collection.
The formulation of taxes was previously the responsibility of the State Administration of Taxation.
But after the State Administration of Taxation came up with several typical tax cases, it caused a lot of confusion.
The power to set the amount and types of taxes is left to the Parliament. After His Majesty the Emperor approves, the State Administration of Taxation is responsible for implementation.
Yang Dafu, the commodity circulation tax that Boss Yang just mentioned is a clever name created by the local government, and corresponding taxes and fees are charged.
In the previous dynasty, this behavior was called levying exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.
This is an ability that every official must master.
The taxes collected in this way are not national taxes, they all go into the officials' personal pockets.
However, the imperial court issued repeated orders demanding that taxes in various places must not be allowed to increase in tax types and amounts.
Prefect Yu Kejing knows this and must not be kind.
What he expected was correct. After hearing the news, Prince Su Shu immediately asked Yang Dafu carefully about the taxes and miscellaneous fees paid.
Yang Dafu can open such a large factory, he is definitely a smart man.
He may not know Prince Su Shu, but he can definitely see that this man is extraordinary.
After all, what Yang Dafu said just now was intentional.
His factory went bankrupt and he had a lot of resentment in his heart.
He has decided to evacuate the industrial area, simply break the jar and reveal some shady things.
Prince Su Shu asked Yang Dafu carefully and found out that he had to pay an extra eight thousand taels of silver coins in taxes every month.
All these extra taxes were exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. They were not put into the national treasury, but were divided among the officials.
After the economic crisis, the imperial court lowered taxes three times a year.
The taxes here in Anshan Prefecture have not been reduced at all. This is a disguised tax increase.
When Prince Su Shu realized this, he sneered: "Okay, that's great."
The empire's economic downturn and the Great Depression were mainly caused by unbalanced industrial development.
Businessmen owned the factories and took away most of the profits, leaving only a small amount of profits to the workers.
The meager wages earned by workers cannot meet their needs to purchase factory products.
There is a large backlog of industrial products, which is the root cause of the economic crisis.
But the showy operations of local governments must also be a powerful catalyst.
Prince Su Shu said with a slightly angry tone: "Send the news here to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the State Administration of Taxation, and ask them to form a joint investigation team to strictly investigate the situation here.
I will continue to follow up on this issue."
The prefect Yu Kejing heard that Prince Su Shu had issued an order.
His legs were shaking slightly. If he could resign now, he would definitely choose to resign and return home.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate came down to investigate a case of national concern.
He will investigate everything clearly and turn the case into a solid case.
Few officials can withstand careful investigation.
Prince Su Shu also asked Yang Dafu about his bankruptcy experience.
After he understood it, he let Yang Dafu do his own thing.
Magistrate Yu Kejing saw that Prince Su Shu looked bad, and he suggested from the side: "Your Highness, should we go to the tax bureau?"
Prince Su Shu waved his hands and said, "Just leave this matter to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. I don't want to do anything for you."
Now he no longer personally deals with problematic officials, he only needs to supervise the relevant yamen.
Prince Su Shu did not forget that the purpose of his visit to the Northeast this time was to investigate the extent of the Great Depression.
He chose to stay in the industrial area. This industrial area where most of the factories have closed is a good target for investigation.
A maintenance worker with oily hands was called to Prince Su Shu.
He said with some embarrassment: "My lords, my name is Li Shanlin, and I am a worker at Fuxing Machinery Factory.
My lords, the factory director Wang Fuxing broke the law, and if you want to arrest Wang Fuxing, it has nothing to do with a little guy like me."
Prince Su Shu saw this anxious worker.
His rough skin, hands that had been soaked in oil for a long time, and his nails were all stained and discolored by the oil.
In addition, Li Shanlin looked awkward and uneasy because he had never seen the big world.
If he was a shill arranged by the local government, it would not be like this.
Magistrate Yu Kejing shouted loudly: "It's not your fault that I came to you. This gentleman has something he wants to talk to you about.
Whatever questions the adults ask, just tell them truthfully."
Prince Su Shu saw that Li Shanlin was more adaptable to the respectable prefect's attitude.
After the respectable magistrate loudly reprimanded him, he immediately became more stable.
Prince Su Shu began to ask Li Shanlin questions in a question-and-answer manner.
"Li Shanlin, how is the performance of your Fuxing factory during this period? Is your salary rising or falling?"
"Sir, the Fuxing Machinery Factory where I work mainly produces various machine tools, mainly boring machines and milling machines.
Our electric machine tools far outperform the mechanical machines next door.
The mechanical machine tool next door has no orders and closed down half a month ago.
Workers from the machine tool factory next door flocked to our machine tool factory, and Boss Wang directly cut our wages by one-third.
Even so, I am grateful.
All the apprentices in the factory have been fired, leaving only skilled workers like us still working in the factory.
If I were really fired by Boss Wang, my family's livelihood would be difficult.
It’s very difficult to find a job in the current situation.”
"Li Shanlin, unemployed workers, you know where they have gone.
What would you choose to do if you lost your job?"
Li Shanlin looked a little painful, recalling not very good memories.
"Sir, many of my unemployed workers have never found a job since they lost their jobs.
They could only receive relief food from the court.
The government's relief food could only ensure that the family would not die of hunger. Life was too painful.
I visited the workers’ homes and found that they couldn’t even afford pork and could only eat the salted fish distributed by the court.”
Prince Su Shu heard that Li Shanlin was not satisfied with the relief food.
This is a policy he specifically explained. Only if the relief food is not delicious will it not be coveted by all forces.
The original intention of food relief is to help people survive the crisis safely and not die of hunger.
It is a policy to ensure the bottom line. If people want to live a better life, they still have to find a serious job.
"Li Shanlin, you all know about food relief. Don't you know that the imperial court is building the Hamo Railway and needs a large number of workers."
When Li Shanlin heard this question, he was a little entangled and wanted to open his mouth, but he didn't dare to say it.
Magistrate Yu Kejing reprimanded loudly: "You are a grown man, why are you so coquettish?
Just say what you have to say, and you won’t be held responsible if you say something wrong.”
Li Shanlin felt relieved when he heard that he did not need to take responsibility.
"Sir, the working environment of the Hamo Railway is too difficult, it is completely in a bitter cold place.
This is not our biggest concern.
The area that the Hamo Railway passes through is a large no-man's land.
Unless all the fellow villagers work together and there are acquaintances around to take care of them.
Otherwise, it would be too dangerous to work in these uninhabited areas.
Another point is that we skilled workers do hard work.
The money I earn is much less, which is not the most uncomfortable thing.
We are afraid that we will not be able to do manual labor well and will not be able to go home when we go to the construction site, so we have to learn from scratch.
The most critical point is that the court did not explain how to pay wages, and everyone was afraid that this was recruiting free corvee labor.
It’s better to do corvee labor than to receive food relief at home.”
When Prince Su Shu heard Li Shanlin's concerns, he didn't expect that the workers would worry about this issue.
Those people at the center really don’t understand what the people at the bottom are worried about?
While Prince Su Shu answered Li Shanlin's workers' questions, he motioned to the people next to him to record this moment.
These issues should be displayed in newspapers to dispel most people's concerns.
"When the imperial court recruits workers, they are definitely not doing corvee service. The wages vary depending on the type of work and the place of work.
The specific wages of workers recruited by the imperial court will be published in newspapers later.
Skilled workers should join the imperial project.
For example, a mechanic like you can repair damaged machinery on the construction site, and the salary will not be lower than it is now.
When building a railway, tens of thousands of workers work together, forming worker towns at the construction site.
Not only are the government officials stationed here, but there are also merchants selling various goods.
Some large gathering points will also have telephones, so you can contact your family at any time.
Don’t treat the place where you work as a no-man’s land. How can a few people build a railway?”
After Li Shanlin heard the explanation, he said with some trepidation: "After listening to the explanation, I want to build the railway, not to mention those unemployed workers.
We people just don’t have authoritative channels to understand the court’s policies, so there are so many misunderstandings.”
After the prince Su Shu talked with Li Shanlin, he also knew that the imperial court did very poorly in publicity.
After he learned more about it, he realized that most of the workers had only attended elementary school and night school. They could understand most characters and could read and write conventional characters.
But most of them don't like to read newspapers. They would rather listen to the dancers singing than buy a newspaper and read it.
The channels through which they usually obtain news are mainly through public discussions.
Only then did Prince Su Shu realize the problem. Most of the policies announced by the imperial court were communicated through newspapers.
The influence of newspapers among the people at the bottom is not very high.
They were trapped by the speed and accuracy of information transmission, so they did not understand the news that the court wanted to convey.
Prince Su Shu finished his questioning and walked in the industrial area.
Most of the factories are quiet, with no machines working.
This is not the age of steam engines, and you can't see black smoke emitting from various factories.
But precise and stable electric motors have replaced steam engines.
It is no longer possible to judge the size of a factory by the degree of black smoke emitting from it.
In a prosperous factory, the roar of machines will definitely be heard.
Prince Su Shu can now only hear the chirping of birds on the telegraph poles.
The impact of the Great Depression in the empire was really great.
Hundreds of companies go bankrupt every day due to various reasons.
Prince Su Shu grew up in an era of industrial prosperity. He thought that the empire's prosperity could last forever.
The emergence of the economic crisis made Prince Su Shu know that even in the prosperous times, conflicts were constantly accumulating.
If the country cannot resolve the conflict, the conflict will inevitably break out.
Now he can only think of ways to get the empire through the crisis as soon as possible.
The Great Depression has occurred, and escaping it is not an option.
The imperial court must rise to the challenge and get out of this unprecedented predicament.
Prince Su Shu inspected the Wang Industrial Zone, but did not stay in Anshan Prefecture for long and took a train back to the capital.
The heavy industries in Liaodong Province are all built around the large steel plant of Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd.
Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. is now barely surviving, and companies in surrounding industrial zones have closed down in large numbers.
Prince Su Shu has already seen the situation here in Anshan Prefecture, so he does not need to go to various prefectures in Liaodong to inspect.
The train was running on old railway tracks and could not get any faster.
He passed through the important town of Jinzhou, which is the gateway to the northeast of the capital.
The Yanshan Mountains form a natural defense line in the north of the capital, and there are only a few mountain roads that can be passed by the army.
This road in Jinzhou is the only road that can bear the supply of hundreds of thousands of troops.
The train did not stop at Jinzhou Prefecture, and Prince Su Shu could also see the situation in Jinzhou Prefecture through the train window.
In the imperial plan, Jinzhou Prefecture was not planned as an industrial center, but as an ordinary prefectural city.
As the train passed through the industrial zone outside the city, Prince Su Shu discovered that there was only a small amount of light industry in Jinzhou Prefecture.
These light industries mainly satisfy the surrounding markets.
He saw the sharp contrast between Anshan Prefecture and Jinzhou Prefecture, and his heart was immediately touched.
Prince Su Shu felt that he had an inspiration in his mind, but he could not catch it.
He felt that as long as he grasped this inspiration, he could at least solve the problem to a limited extent. The Great Depression that the empire encountered could make the empire's business prosper again.
He decided to change his itinerary temporarily and go to Tianjin Prefecture.
Prince Su Shu and his entourage discussed what they saw in Anshan Mansion.
Which areas can be promoted as experience, and which areas need to be improved in time.
Prince Su Shu saw Tianjin Mansion getting closer and closer.
He hoped that the situation in Tianjin Prefecture would be better than that in Anshan Prefecture.
Anshan Iron and Steel is not doing well right now, but at least it is surviving.
Anshan Iron and Steel has left enough sparks, and as long as the empire's economy recovers, it will inevitably usher in a period of rapid development.
As a rare port in the northern part of the empire, Tianjin's situation is typical.
Prince Su Shu hopes that his investigation will go more smoothly in Tianjin.
The train arrived at the railway station, but no official came to greet it.
He went to Tianjin Prefecture, which was a temporary decision.
His original plan was to return to the capital.
After Prince Su Shu got inspiration, he temporarily decided to go to Tianjin Mansion.
It is this kind of surprise inspection that he believes can reveal a more realistic situation.
Zhao Shiheng, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, asked: "Your Highness, where will we go for the first battle?"
Prince Su Shu thought for a while and then ordered: "Go to Tianxing Shipyard, which is one of the largest civilian shipyards in the empire.
The manufacturing status of transportation vehicles can reflect the vitality of the economy.
Thousand-ton cargo ships are the most important means of transportation for maritime trade.
Its sales volume and manufacturing situation are absolutely representative."
Prince Su Shu and his party transferred to a car and headed to Tianxing Shipyard.