Chapter 170 Chaos

While the strike and strike parade in Nanjing is becoming more and more intense, the atmosphere in Nanjing also becomes tense. For Nanjing, the capital of China, the city is not strange for students to march and demonstrate. Every few years, those students who "blame the world" will always make a scene, but if There have been no student demonstrations in two or three years, which will make the public a little uncomfortable.

However, workers' marches are extremely rare for this city. Although it is difficult to avoid workers' strikes in Nanjing, as the capital, for the needs of public security, workers' strikes are often limited to factories and will not spread to urban areas, especially in the city center. There is no possibility.

But this time, Nanjing citizens and police were surprised to see that a team of workers holding banners to demand the maintenance of work rights appeared in the city, on the Restoration Avenue and walking towards the Congress Square.

"Workers have the right to form a trade union!"

"The right to work..."

With the slogans of the workers, the police who maintain order on the roadside seem to be a little confused about how to deal with it. For the student parade, they are handy, but for the workers' movement, this is the first time they have faced it... In fact, not only them, but also for this country, this is not It's not the first time!

The next day, when more than 100,000 students, workers and citizens gathered in the Congress Square to petition the Congress, tens of thousands of people also gathered outside the Prime Minister's official residence behind the Congress. Unlike in the past, this time, students and workers "cleverly" chose to put pressure on the cabinet and the parliament.

The organizers of the demonstration, especially the radical party members of the Constitutional Cook Party, believe that now is the best opportunity. His Majesty is far away in the Northeast. If they can take advantage of this opportunity to force the cabinet or the parliament to make concessions, even after His Majesty returns to Beijing, then His Majesty can only acquiesce to reality.

When people put pressure on the cabinet with marches, protests and petitions, Guan Mingtang, as the prime minister, is holding an emergency meeting in the official residence of the prime minister. Unlike in the past, there are more commanders of the capital gircon area among the participants this time.

"...bad and extremely dangerous incitement is brewing, and workers must be banned from marching!"

As a commander, he looked at the Prime Minister and put forward his suggestion directly. In his opinion, now, it has reached the most critical moment.

"If we can't stop all this in time, how can the country slide into turmoil, now..."

Staring at the Prime Minister, the commander of the giratory area from Devil's Island, suppressed his voice slightly.

"Now it's the last moment!"

As the commander of the giratory area, his only duty is to ensure the security of the capital. What he must ensure is that His Majesty can return to a calm capital, not a capital that has launched a violent rebellion.

Guan Mingtang did not respond to the request, but turned his eyes to the Minister of Labor.

"In other places, have workers' strikes also broken out?"

Unlike the thoughts of soldiers, Guan Mingtang is considering how to maintain the stability of the country to the maximum extent, send troops to maintain order, and implement temporary control in the capital, which may be able to temporarily restore order in the capital. However, this does not solve the problem, especially when strikes and demonstrations spread across the country. We need to be more cautious.

"Your Excellency, workers' strike parades of different scales have also broke out in Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Guangdong and other provinces. according to the figures received now, about two million workers across the country are involved, and there is a possibility of further proliferation..."

As the Minister of Labor, in the past few years, he has been warning the Cabinet that large-scale workers' strikes and protests are inevitable if labor relations and the relationship between workers and trade unions are not properly resolved.

If it had been three years ago, he would not have made this warning, but in the past three years, with the development of private enterprises, the low-wage system implemented by those private enterprises in order to maximize profits has affected China's employment market. Of course, among them, even those state-owned enterprises It is also difficult to escape the blame. State-owned enterprises have not implemented an eight-hour working day for many years, which may also lead to work chaos.

Now this strike protest, which is spreading across the country, is just a big outbreak of national problems over the years. At an "appropriate" time, it was triggered by a bad surname incident, which finally detonated all the problems that had been suppressed.

"...In a word, unless the cabinet or Congress makes concessions and makes special legislation to protect the rights and interests of workers, workers from state-owned enterprises may soon participate in it. At that time, it is estimated that more than 20 million workers across the country will participate in demonstrations..."

The words were slightly heavy and bitterly sighed.

"At that time, I'm afraid the workers will be inevitable!"

"Sir, sign the temporary martial law!"

Once again, he put forward his request, perhaps to strengthen Guan Mingtang's confidence, and he specially emphasized.

"Now, the 50,000 troops of the gircon are ready. With an order, they can enter the city. It only takes a few hours, and I promise that this will end!"

"If there is resistance, how will the army deal with itself?"

In the face of the pressure of the soldiers, Guan Mingtang asked coldly, and then raised a series of questions like a cannon.

"What if the army refuses to end the march? Is it to kill with a saber or shoot!"

Silence!

For these problems, he unexpectedly chose to be silent. As a soldier, he only knew the order. If the order asked him to end all this in three hours, he would complete the order at all costs.

"Answer me!"

Guan Mingtang's cold drink is a irrepable answer.

"Sir, the duty of a soldier is to obey orders!"

Facing Guan Mingtang's eyes, he said in even a cold voice.

"If necessary, the army can take all means. At any time, the army must not tolerate the betrayal of your majesty by the imperial subjects!"

Betrayal!

His words only made the temperature in this office drop a few degrees. Guan Mingtang looked at it in surprise. Looking at the scars left by the wolf's claws on his face, his heart was cold. These professional officers from the Devil' Island never knew what kindness was. For them, only one order was enough. .

"Royal Guards should not shoot at the people!"

"But the guards have the duty to stop the rebellion in the country!"

In the question and answer, it seemed that the differences between the army and the cabinet were expressed. At this time, the minister's office fell into a terrible silence.

"Wait..."

Just as Guan Mingtang wanted to say that he was waiting for His Majesty to make a decision, the door was suddenly opened.

"Sir, I just received a piece of information that the striking workers set up a workers picket in the Xiaguan construction area! The picket team closed all the factories..."

What!

With a sudden opening of his eyes, Guan Mingtang only felt dizzy. It's over, it's all over! At this moment, he understood that after the outbreak of this incident, the most worrying thing still happened.

"Quick..."

With his hands on the desk, Guan Mingtang, with a pale face, said to the secretary who had just entered the room.

"Sent someone to contact Liang Qichao immediately and tell them that the workers' picket team must be disbanded, otherwise, otherwise..."

Xiaguan construction area, to a certain extent, Xiaguan construction area has served as a "Chinese model factory" in a short period of time. Because it is close to Ma'anshan, most of its first batch of factories are private investment as supplementary factories or downstream factories of the industrial complex of Ma'anshan Industrial Company.

Before the uprising, industrial companies relied on the support of downstream private capital to win the support of the local gentry in Jiangsu, and the Xiaguan Industrial Zone also developed into one of the largest industrial zones in China. In the following ten years, this leading industry drove the development model of downstream industries. During the period of "special economic policy", it was promoted. The political axe invested in the establishment of large enterprises, private capital entered the downstream subsidiary industries with less investment, and finally formed a complete industrial chain. Although this model has been challenged, its achievements are also obvious to all. That's why, even in the country During the period when economic entities are most supported, downstream affiliated industries are also subcontracted to private enterprises in large numbers to achieve the situation of "national progress".

In the past ten years, the Xiaguan area has been echoing with the roar of machines all day long. However, today, although the streets here are very lively and workers can be seen everywhere, the roar of machines cannot be heard, and there are also quite a few workers on the street with an extremely confused look on their faces.

"All factories must be shut down!"

In the street, workers in overalls stood outside a factory door and shouted at the workers who were trying to enter the factory.

"The committee has passed the shutdown order, please cooperate with the work of the committee..."

This committee in the mouth of workers refers to the "National Strike Committee", which is an organization of some radical legislators and party members who are dissatisfied with the Constitutional Party and has not yet made a public statement. Since yesterday, they have gone to the streets. While mobilizing workers to strike, they also organize workers to hold elections and establish a national strike. Working committee.

"Strike, why should we strike..."

When several workers were dissatisfied and wanted to push away the people who blocked them from entering the factory, a group of workers with steel pipes appeared outside the factory. They were wearing a sleeve label, which was a "strike worker picket".

The emergence of these tall and fierce workers' pickets immediately weakened the momentum of those workers who tried to work. It was not worth being beaten once in order to work.

"Workers, this strike is for the benefit of all of us. The committee will propose a four-hour work system to Congress and double the salary..."

While the momentum of the workers was weak, some people immediately publicized to them the benefits of participating in the strike in the future. Although most of these benefits were "empty checks", they really attracted people's attention. The same scene was constantly staged in the Xiaguan District. Those workers who had no intention of participating in the parade, At the insti of Gao Fuli, he began to walk to the street in an organized way, along Guangfu Avenue to the inner city.

"Is this a repeat of the Russian riots?"

"It's not impossible!"

With the shouts of the workers, a burst of English dialogue echoed on the roadside. Two foreigners, one tall and one low, looked at the parade in front of them and expressed their views there. Russian riots!

Whether for foreigners or Chinese, they all know the fact that the riots in Russia were caused by a demonstration, and the workers were the main body of the riots. Now, in China, the workers have also gone to the streets, despite their requirements of their Russian counterparts. It is completely different, but it does not prevent others from guessing and doubting.

"It's a nice day today. Let's go for an outing by the river!"

When he heard that there was a workers' picket in Xiaguan, Yang Du was stunned first, and then said to Xia Shoutian.

I haven't been to the river for several years! Presumably, there is a strong spring there, and the spring is full of spring. You should go and have a look. Thinking of this, Xia Shoutian immediately became interested and said to Yang Du:

"Syzi, today's wind is peaceful and beautiful. It's appropriate to go there for a walk!"

As Yang Du's old friend, he naturally knew that perhaps his old friend began to make decisions in his heart.

Half an hour later, a car drove them to the river.

After all, it is a suburb, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and more importantly, far away from the fanaticism that is beginning to appear in Nanjing. Compared with a little spring in the city, the spring here is indeed much stronger. A large area of unnamed trees have been replaced by new green, and all kinds of weeds and flowers are full of vitality; in the reed swamp, flocks of birds are flying up and down. The Creator sent the spring back to the world on time, but the situation on earth was terrible.

At this time, although the sun is shining, there are few tourists in the Shogunate Mountain Park, let alone kite whistles. Looking around, there is a wilderness and loneliness around, which is obviously related to what is happening in Nanjing now. Now that this kind of thing has happened, who will be idle in this outing?

Originally, I came here to relax, but I didn't expect to be here, and my mood was even more depressed. Walking to a small pavilion by the river, Yang Du stopped and stood in the pavilion. Looking at the rolling river, Yang Du, who had been depressed for a long time, said.

"I'm going to write an article!"

Huh?

Xia Shoutian was slightly stunned and wrote an article?

"I don't know what article did you write?"

But Yang Du didn't say anything. He just looked at Jiangbei and said it after a while.

"Calculate the time. Now your majesty should be in Tianjin. Your majesty... What will your majesty do with this matter?"

Instead of mentioning the article, Yang Du mentioned His Majesty. Compared with the chaos in Nanjing, now he is more concerned about Your Majesty. Perhaps the most important thing is how His Majesty will deal with this matter.

"But Your Majesty didn't reply to the telegram yesterday!"

With a frown, Xia Shoutian's heart surged with doubts. Why didn't your majesty call back yesterday? He is... "Your Majesty is waiting!"

"...Now, after the establishment of a strike committee, the workers in Xiaguan District are discussing the establishment of a workers' strike picket team. Now pickets are patrolling around the market and factories with iron bars and other instruments. On the surface, they maintain order, but in fact, it is to stop workers who are unwilling to participate in the strike. People work. And the walls of the factory area are full of strike notices, most of which are slogans such as "waiting the committee's notice to start work"..."

The workers' strike picket team... When he heard these words, Chen Moran's eyebrows jumped slightly. On the surface, he seemed to be expressionless, but his heart had already set off a storm.

In order to protect the rights and interests of workers, he has made a lot of concessions, but now, the workers just got into trouble as soon as they were incited. This is really... Perhaps, after the Wuxi incident, Chen Moran was also very angry, but in addition to anger, he wanted to watch the development of the situation. Sometimes, Appropriate chaos is not a bad thing. At least it can expose many problems that cannot be exposed at ordinary times. Just like now, strikes and demonstrations in various parts of the country have clearly told him a fact - workers can't stand incitement!

This is to strengthen the decision he made before. For the sake of the country, sometimes people always need to make some forced choices against their own will.

If... thinking about that decision, Chen Moran is thinking about the neighbor in the north. If Nicholas could make a decision earlier, would the Russian Empire be destroyed?

No one knows the answer, but now, Chen Moran knows his answer. The reason why he agrees with Guan Mingtang's plan is to appease the workers and avoid problems, and the reason why he needs some means is to expose the problem. The former is to avoid, and the latter is to intensify.

A blind appeasement can't solve all the problems. The dissatisfied people will still be dissatisfied. Especially for some politicians, they are like poisonous snakes lurking in the case, ready to take a fatal bite at any time. Instead of preventing thieves, it is better to expose all the problems through appropriate means and expose the problems. After that, the problem can be solved fundamentally.

After the problem is exposed, it may be sacrificed to calm the domestic situation with an iron fist, but it can avoid the possibility of future turmoil to the greatest extent, and completely destroy the enemy when it is not mature.

Thunder and rain roads are all God's grace!

Whether it is the upcoming thunder or the rain and dew after the thunder, the appropriate concessions after toughness can not only satisfy the enterprises, but also satisfy the workers. All of this can at least bring valuable 30 years of stability for China!

Thirty years of stability!

All this is worth it... Standing by the window of the train, Chen Moran once again persuaded himself in his heart that life is always faced with such a choice. Is this choice right or wrong? Perhaps, it can only be left to history to evaluate... "This is my country..."

With a murmur, Chen Moran's eyes were slightly restrained, but the flashing look in his eyes was a trace of coldness!

(to be continued)