Chapter 1243 My father is Cai De!
Smith's answer made Ye Mingsheng laugh. Seeing that Ye Mingsheng had no intention of buying black slaves, Smith's expression gradually changed from a smiling face to a little impatient. Seeing this, Ye Kui on the side directly scolded:
"Just answer whatever our masters ask you!"

Smith seemed to be an expert in Da Zhou. When he heard Ye Kui address Ye Mingsheng as "Sir", he immediately realized that Ye Mingsheng's identity was not ordinary. He immediately restrained his impatient look and respectfully told Ye Mingsheng about his journey to Da Zhou.

Although Smith could speak the official language of the Great Zhou, when he mentioned those place names he would always unconsciously speak his mother tongue, as well as some other unknown languages. So even though he mumbled a lot, Ye Mingsheng could hear clearly that he came to Jiangnan from Sulu Island in Southeast Asia.

"Smith, where did you learn the Da Zhou language?"

"Your Excellency, I learned the language of the Great Zhou in my hometown of Tudor. There are many merchants in your Great Zhou, selling porcelain, silk, and tea. In order to get the agency of these businesses, I learned the language of your Great Zhou!"

"I didn't say it well, please forgive me, sir!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this, looked around at the black slaves sold by Smith, and then asked with interest:
"Why did you think of coming to Da Zhou to sell black slaves?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Smith's expression immediately turned bitter. He continued to speak in his somewhat clumsy Da Zhou official language:

"The Da Zhou merchants I met in my hometown told me that Da Zhou was an agricultural country and many people made their living from planting."

"So I thought the Great Zhou needed labor, so I captured some black slaves from Abyssinia..."

Smith paused for a moment, but under Ye Mingsheng's gaze he couldn't help but complain:
"I thought I would make a lot of money, but there are too many people in your Great Zhou. You don't need foreign labor at all!"

"I originally wanted fifteen taels of silver for a black slave, but now no one is willing to buy it even if I sell it at 50% of the price. I lost five thousand silver coins in this business. If this continues, I will definitely go bankrupt. Why didn't the damn shopkeeper Hu tell me that there were so many people in the Great Zhou!"

Looking at Smith's depressed face, Ye Mingsheng smiled, shook his head and turned to leave. After walking around for a while, Ye Mingsheng suddenly thought of a question and asked Song Haibo beside him:

"Does Lin'an allow the slave trade?"

Although Song Haibo was well-informed and had a good memory, he looked a little confused when faced with Ye Mingsheng's question. He hesitated for a moment and said:
"Sir, I don't know much about Lin'an's regulations in this regard, but seeing that Smith was able to sell openly here, and the people from the City Patrol didn't arrest him, so Lin'an should allow this!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this and then ordered:
"After you go back, learn about the RK trading and give me a report!"

"Yes! My Lord, I understand!"

After walking on the street for an hour and a half, Ye Mingsheng also got an understanding of some basic prices and people's income in Jiangnan.

The price of grain in Jiangnan is basically five cents of silver per stone for old rice, and seven to eight cents of silver per stone for new rice. A piece of cloth is about three cents of silver, and a pound of pork is about two and a half cents of silver...

As for people's income, including dividends and bonuses at the end of the year, a shop clerk can get about six or seven taels of silver a year, and a shop manager can start with twenty taels of silver a year. The specific income is linked to the performance of the business. Those with good performance can get hundreds of taels of silver a year including dividends, while those with poor performance can only get twenty or thirty taels a year.

An ordinary chef in a restaurant can earn about 7 or 8 taels of silver a year, while a head chef can generally earn more than 15 taels. If he is a head chef in a large restaurant, he can earn up to 100 taels of silver a year.

The workers in charge of handling goods at the dock earn about five or six taels of silver a year. Due to their lack of skills, they can only do manual labor, so their income is among the lowest in Lin'an!

When Ye Mingsheng got this information, he also made a comparison with Yijing. Basic daily necessities such as rice, cloth and pork are generally 30% to 40% more expensive than Yijing, while the income is about 20% to 30% higher than Yijing. In general, although Yijing has developed rapidly in recent years, there is still some gap between its economic indicators and Lin'an.
Lin'an in the south of the Yangtze River is truly worthy of its reputation as the city with the best economy in the Great Zhou Dynasty!
In Ye Mingsheng's communication with these ordinary people, they generally complained that the prices of goods and housing in Lin'an were too high. Although they worked hard every day and struggled for their livelihoods, their income was still only enough to make ends meet, and it was difficult for them to save much money.

A considerable number of these workers were not locals in Lin’an. Some of them were from other cities in the south of the Yangtze River who came to Lin’an to make a living. Some were from Qi and Lu, Jing and Chu, Huainan, and even from Guanzhong and Youyan...
The reason they came to Lin'an was that they had great expectations for this big city of Lin'an. They believed that they could make a fortune in this most prosperous city of the Great Zhou Dynasty through their unremitting efforts, realize their own value, complete the class transition and realize a life of luxury and luxury!
However, dreams are beautiful but the reality is cold and cruel. Except for a very small number of lucky people, most people can only struggle at the bottom.

There are basically two kinds of ideas among these migrant workers. The first kind thinks that although Lin'an has many disadvantages, at least here you can always have a bowl of rice to eat if you work hard and you will not starve to death, so this is better than their hometown. Therefore, they hope to take root in Lin'an, get married and have children through their own hard work, and save money to buy houses and land.

The second idea is a bit pessimistic. They think that even if they don't eat or drink for decades, it is difficult to buy a house of their own in Lin'an, where every inch of land is worth a lot of money. So they don't seek to take root in Lin'an. Their idea is that the wages in Lin'an are high, so they can earn money in Lin'an for a few years and then return to their hometown to live.

Both local and migrant workers believe that they lack the proper guarantees. If the boss says they don't need you anymore, then they don't need you. If you are a good worker, they will pay you back. If you are a bad worker, they will just fire you without paying you a penny. If you make trouble, they would rather find thugs to beat you up than pay you.

Furthermore, once you get injured on the job, for example, a chef hurts his hand while cooking or a worker at the dock falls down, a conscientious boss will give you some compensation, while an unscrupulous boss will simply fire you without giving you a penny in compensation...
Secondly, these shop assistants, restaurant chefs, dock workers and other lower-class people hope to increase their income and shorten their working hours so that they can have some time of their own and spend time with their families for leisure and entertainment!
Over the past decade or so, the situation in the Great Zhou Dynasty was turbulent and only a few provinces, such as Jiangnan, were able to maintain order and economic development. Therefore, many people from other provinces flocked to Jiangnan, including a large number of laborers, which caused the labor market in Jiangnan to be very inward-looking.

Are you unwilling to do this job because the salary is too low?
There are plenty of people willing to do it! The last thing Jiangnan lacks is people!

In this context, the Jiangnan labor market is a one-sided Z-party market where people give you whatever money they say they will give you. Although many workers are helpless and dissatisfied, they are powerless to change it.

Finally, some people believe that although both the poor and the rich live in the same city, they do not live in the same world at all. The rich businessman GS lives a life of luxury and debauchery, but most people can only struggle to make ends meet every day, so these people are very cynical and think that this world is very unfair.

The general idea of ​​these grassroots people is that they hope to have guaranteed jobs in the future, have more private time and earn more money...
Feeling the thoughts of the grassroots people and the huge gap between the rich and the poor in Jiangnan, Ye Mingsheng became more and more aware of the importance of legislation. This is something that must be done, and the sooner it is done, the better!
Compared with the tiered tax rate which is a bit ahead of its time and will shake the foundation of the rule once implemented, it is a more realistic measure to implement the labor F at this stage to protect the legitimate rights and interests of grassroots workers.

However, the Labor F can only play a bottom-line role. If we really want to improve the situation in the labor market, we need to develop the economies of Qilu, Huainan, Jingchu and other places. In this way, local people will not have to leave their homes and come to the south of the Yangtze River.

The labor supply in the Jiangnan labor market has decreased, the degree of internal competition has decreased, and everyone's wages and benefits will naturally increase.

Before this, Ye Mingsheng also had to rectify the administration of officials in Jiangnan and the collusion between officials and businessmen. While dealing with this issue, Ye Mingsheng got on the carriage back to Meihua Cottage. He had been strolling outside for the whole afternoon and he was a little tired. Now it was time to go back and rest.

After a cup of tea, Ye Mingsheng was in the carriage perfecting his plan to rectify the administration of officials when the carriage suddenly stopped and the surrounding noises gradually became noisy. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng asked with some confusion:
"What happened?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, the guard Zhang Chong beside him immediately explained:
"Your Excellency, there is a traffic problem ahead. It seems that someone on horseback crashed into a wonton stall. Someone was injured and fell to the ground. Now the two parties are quarreling and have blocked the road. The carriage cannot pass..."

Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly when he heard that, then he got off the carriage and took two steps forward. He saw broken pots and pans all over the ground in front of him, a pot of wonton soup was also scattered all over the ground, and a horse not far away had been controlled.

A middle-aged man in coarse linen clothes was lying on the ground, covering his arm and making painful noises from time to time. Not far away, a middle-aged woman was sitting on the ground, hugging the thigh of a young man in gorgeous clothes to prevent him from leaving. A lot of onlookers gathered around.

The young man burped and said impatiently:
"I've already given you money, what else do you want, auntie?"

"What can you do with the five taels of silver you gave us? My family relies on this wonton stand to make a living. Now you have smashed our wonton stand and injured my husband's arm. How can we live?"

"Your five taels of silver are not enough to pay for my man's medical treatment!"

"I think you just want to scam me! Five taels of silver can buy the lives of your whole family. Do you believe I will beat you to death if you don't get out of here?"

Ye Mingsheng in the crowd listened to the argument between the two and glanced at the middle-aged man who was still lying on the ground groaning in pain, then gave a look to Zhang Chong beside him.

Zhang Chong immediately understood what he meant, walked to the man's side and checked his injuries, then came to Ye Mingsheng's side and whispered:

"Sir, he is not pretending, his left arm is really broken..."

After hearing this answer, Ye Mingsheng, who was anxious to return to Plum Blossom Cottage to rest, immediately stood up and said to the young man:

"You were drunk and galloping on the street, causing injuries and financial losses. According to the laws of the Great Zhou, you must perform hard labor. You are fully responsible for this accident. You should bear all the medical expenses of this man and the work stoppage fees for his family. Try to get their forgiveness so that the government can reduce your guilt and punishment!"

Ye Mingsheng originally wanted to maintain peace, so he tried to persuade him kindly. Unfortunately, the young man not only did not appreciate it, but even seemed to be angered by Ye Mingsheng's words. He pointed at Ye Mingsheng's nose and cursed:
"Which bastard are you?"

As soon as he finished saying this, the young man was about to continue cursing, but was slapped to the ground. Before he could react, Zhang Chong kicked him again and again, beating him so hard that he started crying for his parents, and while calling him out he also mentioned his own name.

“I’m Cai Song, my father is Cai De, if you dare to hit me I will kill you…”

Seeing that the other party dared to speak harshly, Zhang Chong kicked even harder, each kick was aimed at killing Cai Song. At the same time, Ye Mingsheng also felt that the name Cai De was somewhat familiar. He didn't know where he had heard or seen it. Just as Ye Mingsheng was thinking secretly, suddenly a voice came from the crowd.

"The City Patrol is here!"

(End of this chapter)