110 – Saemaeul Movement in the Middle Ages (1)

After ordering Wycliffe to shake Maxburg, I immediately ordered my officers to investigate the conditions of the workers in the factories and guilds in Nantes, Bluport, and Hellsmann.

This is because, unlike serfs who work in an environment almost similar to ours under the customary law, low-level workers belonging to factories or guilds are likely to be working in really poor conditions as they are hardly protected by such laws.

Of course, it’s not that I didn’t make laws like the Labor Standards Act for them…

Even in modern times, it’s easy to work if you go to a convenience store, and there are many cases where the boss doesn’t pay until night on weekdays on the pretext of not having money.

There is no way that the Labor Standards Act works properly, and there are definitely things that cross the line while holding hostage the livelihood of the poor or the second and third sons in rural areas and making them work.

And because of those guys, the redite movement and Marx’s theory of capital, which destroyed the machines of producers in the early days of the industrial revolution, were written, so we have to stop it.

Let’s see what I have to do now…

As I was immersed in my thoughts and thinking about the welfare or treatment that workers need, I heard Chris’ voice outside the door.

“Your Excellency, this is Chris Belladora. May I come in?”

“Come in.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Chris opened the door gracefully and handed me the report.

“This is a report on the working conditions of factories and guilds based on the investigations conducted by my subordinates and Lieutenant Short’s subordinates.”

“It’s a lot of trouble. I have to read the report, so you can sit on the sofa in front of me and have some tea and snacks.”

Then, I rang the bell to call the maid to bring tea and cookies and started reading the report.

Let’s see, the second and third sons of serfs, as well as women who think that working in factories is better than being prostitutes, are being recruited as workers.

It doesn’t matter because this is what I induced, and the important thing is not the background of the incoming workers.

Then, I turned the page and read the part about the treatment of workers.

Sure enough, our guild leaders forced them to work conditions just as I had imagined.

80 hours or more of work per week is the standard, and in severe cases, more than 90 hours of work per week.

In the midst of this, the salary was only paid 1-2 silver coins every month, and all sorts of threats were made to those who were dissatisfied with the treatment.

“We could find countless better people besides foolish and disgruntled people like you, but wouldn’t you be able to eat a bowl of porridge if you got fired?”

“The factory next door makes them work 17 hours a week, 7 days a week, but we only ask them to work 15 hours a day, so what… Could it be that someone as noble as the Count would even care about the treatment of such lowly things?”

“All you have to do is work! die while working When you die, if you die at our karma, we have to give you a funeral, so even if you’re tired, you’ll search at home alone! Like lowly, lazy bastards.”

The threats against unmarried women were especially spectacle.

“You know what if you want to work in a better environment? Work until tonight and come to my dorm.”

“Oh, pretty things, if you’re tired, you can rest in my bed… Seeing as I’m working anyway, I don’t think I’ll be able to last here, but I’ll just work in my room… ?”

“Get out of here! I don’t need workers like you! Speaking of your strengths, if you have that face and that disgusting body, why don’t you use that body to serve me?”

This type of threat was common, and besides that, they threatened young single mothers with children or sexually harassed girls who hadn’t reached adulthood.

Even in the Victorian era, even if maids were sexually harassed like this, or even raped, gentlemen similarly shut their mouths for employment and livelihood under the pretext of making a living…

I’m sitting with that as it is, even if the world is different, it seems that a cancerous mass that does similar trash things comes out in a similar environment.

So I silently read the report, and after reading it, I threw the report in the form of a book to the wall on the side where my portrait was hanging.

“Have you seen these children who must be torn apart from limb to limb and then destroyed for three generations! These guys are traitors! Disobeying my orders and exploiting citizens!”

Looking back like that, Chris said in a very calm voice, probably expecting my anger.

“The contents of the report are ideal. Also, apart from this, I didn’t include it in the report because it was my personal investigation… ”

“Tell me.”

“Many of the women mentioned in that report were abandoned without even becoming their concubines, and are now sold to changguans. Also, the rest became disabled or committed suicide.”

This is not a place where free sex is possible, just like in the 21st century, so is that what crazy people do to enjoy everything they enjoy?

No, rather than being treated as a burden and being despised in the countryside, I’d rather live steadfastly in the city, even if it’s hard…

Would you do something like that without revolting like Marxist communists?

Then I calmed down and said.

“I sent a convocation order to the guild leaders of all the guilds in Nantes, and I will personally judge those who said they raped women.”

“Yes, Your Excellency. And the next schedule… ”

“The schedule to visit the orphanage with Ella will solve this problem. Please tell Father Peter, the orphanage director, that.”

At that, Chris bowed his head and quietly backed away.

**

The day after receiving the report from Chris, I continued to review data on sexual assaults committed in the Oval Office.

As I was thinking about the disposal, I heard someone knocking on the door.

“Your Excellency Count, all the guild leaders from Nantes have arrived at the conference room.”

“Let’s go right now.”

Then, I took out a saber engraved with my well-honed sentence that was hanging in the office, wore it around my waist, and headed for the throne room.

Outside the audience room door, I could hear the guild masters talking.

“No, didn’t I tell you to eat in moderation! Garment Guild Master! No, when I said let’s not go over 15 hours a day, hee hee, we’re even 16! Didn’t even a good person like me get dragged after saying this?”

“Didn’t you, who said that, make the workers work even on a weekday… I didn’t.”

“Well, isn’t it 14 hours a day!”

“No, please shut your mouth. Why are you arguing and fussing in the conference room?”

“If that’s the case, didn’t the Master of the Food Guild make you work 14 hours a day, feed you food that can’t be sold at the store, and cut your wages? And I heard that there is a girl in your house who recently came in as a worker… ”

“Uh huh, it’s a relationship that I formally confessed to. It is all a misunderstanding.”

The pitiful writers, that food guild master originally wanted to release his position and confiscate his property, but…

At least that nobleman has a conscience, so he takes it as a concubine, treats the members of his family well, and also serves as a city council member, so it’s ambiguous to punish him…

Normally, they are subject to punishment, but there are many people who are lesser than that man and have committed more serious crimes.

However, I have to teach those guys a painful lesson so that they don’t do this in the future.

“His Excellency Count Kreuttel is eating it. Guildmasters, show your respect!”

At that, the guild leaders stopped chatting, looked at me, and knelt down to show their respect.

I waved them to their feet and opened my mouth.

“First of all, thank you for coming. And before I talk to you guys, I brought something to show you. bring it in.”

And after a while, an exhausted man in his 50s, chained to the conference room, entered.

Seeing the man, the costume guild master saw him and stood up from his seat, pointing with his finger and saying in fright.

“Your Excellency, why is our guild’s senior artisan being tortured and chained like that? Please release me!”

When I heard that, I clicked my tongue and said.

“Tsk tsk, that bastard ran the 3rd workshop of the costume guild in violation of the law I decreed. There was a girl who woke the workers up at 4 am and made them work until 7 pm, so it wasn’t enough. And now, according to Chris’ investigation, the girl has entered the Changgwan.”

“But they are only serfs and we are free citizens, aren’t we entitled to rule them?”

“Yes, I paid for it, so of course I deserve it. However, that doesn’t mean you can violate the decree I promulgated. Isn’t it?”

After hearing that, the costume guild master didn’t give me a single word of objection.

“Even though it’s been almost a year since my law was promulgated, those who disobey my orders will be punished with death, Master Varys. And all your possessions will be confiscated, and all your wives and children will be demoted to serfs and put into redevelopment of unexplored villages.”

If this was direct treason, all the wife and children should be killed, but this is not treason, it’s just an act of refusal to order, so this is the maximum punishment.

And when I sentenced the punishment, the faces of the guild masters around me turned pale, and Varys knelt down on both knees and began to pray while holding my ankles.

“Please save me… Please help me, I will never do this again. each… ”

I swung the knife at Varys, who was crying like that, and he died like that.

A fountain of blood gushed out of the severed neck, causing blood to splatter and turn red all over my clothes as well as my sword.

In addition, the gushing blood rendered the expensive carpet unusable.

“It has become quiet.”

At those words, the guild masters sent me fear-filled gazes and trembled.

Among them, the clothing guild master and the food guild master seem to have finally realized that they have committed serious sins, and they seem to be a bit tired from being frightened.

I sat down with an evil smile on the guild masters who were so frightened and said in a nonchalant voice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t blow their throats, because if you guys die, there’ll be no one to manage the factories and everyone will be unemployed.”

“thank you… ”

“Thank you for your kindness, Your Excellency… ”

When the guild masters told me that I wouldn’t kill, my face returned to life, albeit a little.

“However, breaking the order is a serious crime… I will take action on this. First, all guilds are fined 1000 gold coins. I also order the guild master to pay 50 gold coins, and those with the rank of a guild craftsman or higher to pay 10 gold coins.”

If it was a guild in another city, it would not have been able to avoid bankruptcy at the point of being hit by 1000 gold coins.

However, the guild masters of Nantes, who are currently raking in all of Europe’s money with a pitchfork, are not at a level where they can’t bear such fines.

At best, it’s money that can be repaid by moderately reducing luxuries for a year or two…

No matter how much my order is, it’s a bit unreasonable to purify them all, so that’s the best.

Then I went to the chair where the food guild master was sitting and put my hand on his shoulder.

Then, I squeezed his shoulder with one hand.

Then the boy screamed as if he was in pain.

“It hurts, Your Excellency! ah… ”

After holding him by the shoulder for a while, he let go and said.

“If I hear that you abandoned the girl you took as a concubine… You’d better not even think about dying in peace. No, the third generation of your family can be sentenced to separate professors. Seriously.”

“Each, Your Excellency… ?”

“I can still vividly see her crying when Ella, whom I really care about, tried to attend to me because she was threatened by Baeliff. But do you do that again in my estate? I mean, kill me.”

“So please, if there is a child you took as a concubine, please don’t throw it away, because I don’t know what to do. And don’t do anything like that in the future, because if you do, you’ll be sentenced to at least beheading.”

At those words, all the guild masters bowed their heads.

“Finally, it is forbidden from now on to work more than six days a week, even from peasants. At the same time, it is also forbidden to work more than 10 hours a day, and all factory managers are obliged to provide them with lunch.”

At that, the blacksmith guild master, who was the least negligent here, raised his hand and said.

It’s not that this guy is kind just because he has little negligence, but it’s because women are never allowed to enter the blacksmith’s guild’s workshop, and it’s a place where artisans come out who can only use it after working for several years, so it’s because the treatment was originally good.

“Tell me.”

“What if work is urgent and you have to make your hired workers work overtime?”

It’s not a very wrong thing to say, but since it’s a factory, there may be times when you have to order all employees to work overtime.

“In that case, pay for the amount of overtime worked every day, but pay 1.5 times the usual amount and not exceed 3 hours a day. And all workers are paid at least 3 silver during the probationary period and 4 silver when they become regular workers. Everyone can go back.”

I said that, but now that the factory has settled down…

For those who do what I said, it would be better to reduce taxes or give them various honorable titles or symbols.

Those who don’t keep it can be caught and punished appropriately, and for him, the gangsters in the back alleys under Short’s command should do something undercover.

It’s a good deal if you get accurate information in exchange for getting a job for poor people who live their entire lives fighting, cancer.