It's perfectly reasonable!
If mechanical applications could completely replace the role of Kunlun slaves, the Great Ming court, led by Zhu Jinsong, would absolutely not use them. After all, Kunlun slaves are still mortal flesh and blood, and their physical strength has its limits; they cannot work tirelessly like machines.
The problem is that the Great Ming's current mechanical applications are still in a very primitive stage. Replacing some of the roles of Kunlun slaves is certainly fine, but to completely replace them is pure nonsense.
Therefore, for jobs that mechanical means cannot replace but pose a life-threatening risk, Kunlun slaves must be used.
Darkness? Cruelty?
It's actually like how everyone criticizes the "Silly Eagle" for meddling in the camel's family affairs too domineeringly – who doesn't envy the "Silly Eagle" for possessing oil fields as their backyard?
For instance, cars.
Which country has the most car models with an engine displacement of 3.0 liters or more?
Undoubtedly, the "Silly Eagle's" country!
Because the "Silly Eagle's" country has never lacked oil. Those years of treating oil fields as their backyard were the basis for the "Silly Eagle" to develop large-displacement vehicles!
Why does the "Rabbit's" country keep pushing for new energy?
Is it truly because new energy is environmentally friendly?
That's utter hogwash. Burning cars only emits exhaust fumes, while electric cars, although not emitting exhaust, have batteries that are even more troublesome in terms of pollution.
To put it a thousand ways, it all comes down to a lack of oil, and the technology for a large number of fuel vehicles is firmly controlled. Thus, they have no choice but to find ways to overtake others through a different path.
As for talk of environmental protection, that's pure nonsense. Europe and the "Silly Eagle" have a head start of over a century, nearly two centuries. In reality, they began polluting the planet over a century, nearly two centuries earlier. Now that they have developed, they naturally use the banner of ecology to criticize the developing "Rabbit."
It's like Confucius traveling among the states in his time – it's true that the Analects speak of reason, but Confucius's martial prowess was the most powerful guarantee for others to sit down and listen to his reasoning!
The Great Ming's fist is now stronger than the fists of all other countries. Therefore, the Great Ming's use of Kunlun slaves naturally becomes a very reasonable matter. No country on this planet today would dare to step forward and criticize the Great Ming.
However, the crux of the problem lies in the number of Kunlun slaves – Kunlun slaves are not infinitely expendable. Although France, England, the "Silly Eagle," Russia, and various other miscellaneous countries are supplying Kunlun slaves to the Great Ming, the places where the Great Ming needs to use Kunlun slaves are simply too numerous!
As a decadent literati once said, good steel must be used on the blade's edge.
Since the number of Kunlun slaves the Great Ming can acquire is limited, they can only think of ways from two aspects.
One is to find ways to import more laborers, for example, by buying "piglets."
The second is to prioritize the use of laborers in more important projects, such as railway and road projects, and telegraph projects. These projects will be allocated more laborers, while projects like water conservancy and power projects will be postponed accordingly, with fewer laborers allocated.
This is also unavoidable. After all, the importance of railways, roads, and telegraphs is evident; it's not an exaggeration to call them the arterial blood vessels of the Great Ming. Whether for the Great Ming's own development needs or for expansion needs, it is destined that the Great Ming must prioritize the development of these three.
One step behind means being step by step behind.
The current situation is that over a hundred countries on this planet are fiercely competing. If the Great Ming takes one slow step or one wrong step, it could be caught up or even surpassed by other countries. If European countries gain an advantage over the Great Ming, they will absolutely not let the Great Ming off easy!
Therefore, although water conservancy and power projects are related to the quality of life and stability of the Great Ming's people, under the premise of competition among over a hundred countries on this planet, these projects have to be slowed down.
When Zhu Jinsong suddenly inquired about which projects still required a large number of laborers, Zeng Cheng and other prominent figures naturally became excited.
Song Yucheng, the head of the Ministry of Works, was the first to bow and say, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works still requires a large number of laborers. The labor deficit in water conservancy projects is about one million, and the labor deficit in power projects is similar. Besides these, the labor deficit in road projects is still about five hundred thousand, and the number of laborers needed by the Bridge Department is also similar..."
After speaking, Song Yucheng looked hopefully at Zhu Jinsong and asked, "Does Your Majesty have a way to obtain a large number of laborers?"
Before Zhu Jinsong could answer, Zeng Cheng slightly bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the three million laborers mentioned by Minister Song are only what their Ministry of Works lacks. Our Great Ming's current labor deficit is at least around five million... perhaps even more than five million?"
Zhu Jinsong's heart felt like it had been trampled by ten thousand alpacas, chaotic. Although he knew the Great Ming was in urgent need of labor, Zhu Jinsong never imagined that the Great Ming was short of over five million laborers!
After a moment of silence, Zhu Jinsong finally spoke, saying, "My intention is that the Ottoman Empire will most likely accept the model of concessions. Later, have Louis XVI and George III and the others go to the Ottoman Empire to buy 'piglets.' After all, the lives of ordinary Ottoman citizens are not much better..."
Speaking of this, Zhu Jinsong tapped the table again and said, "In the future, matters like buying and selling 'piglets' should mostly be left to those Europeans to handle. They can arrange for laborers to come under the guise of labor dispatch, and let the Japanese serve as supervisors. Our Great Ming should not have the blood of laborers on our hands; it's too inhumane."
Zeng Cheng and the other prominent figures were suddenly at a loss for words.
Inhumane?
Using laborers might be considered a bit inhumane, but the premise of being inhumane is having a conscience.
Since everyone is using laborers for the development of the Great Ming, who cares about their own conscience?
Moreover, isn't conscience meant to be shown to the people of the Great Ming? When did it ever need to be shown to those Kunlun slaves?
This is truly a typical case of wanting to have one's cake and eat it too!
While Zeng Cheng was secretly complaining in his heart, he bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will go and find people from the 'Silly Eagle' to handle this matter."
After Zeng Cheng finished speaking, the prominent figures present all smiled knowingly.
Frankly speaking, if one were to ask which European country had the best relationship with the Great Ming and was most trustworthy, the answer would undoubtedly be France. This is beyond question.
Especially Pierre, the plenipotentiary envoy of France to the Great Ming. Apart from looking different from the people of the Great Ming, there was no other way to tell him apart from the people of the Great Ming. Not only in his demeanor but also in his speech, he spoke fluent official Ming dialect.
Moreover, Pierre has always had a good relationship with Zeng Cheng. If Pierre were to be responsible for labor dispatch, he would certainly handle it perfectly.
However, it was precisely for these reasons that Zeng Cheng did not choose Pierre, but instead chose someone from the "Silly Eagle's" country.
Of course, a more important reason is that Zhu Erdan will soon go out to sea to take up his fiefdom in Louisiana, and it is likely that he will clash with the "Silly Eagle" in the future. Zeng Cheng's choice to have people from the "Silly Eagle's" country handle labor dispatch is to facilitate the Great Ming to later cast blame on the "Silly Eagle."
Setting aside the facts, recruiting Kunlun slaves, exploiting Kunlun slaves, and disregarding the lives of Kunlun slaves as if they were not lives, are all things the "Silly Eagle" did!
All the shrewd individuals present understood this, and Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, cared even less.
Dumping blame on the "Silly Eagle," it seems rather interesting?
Zhu Jinsong smiled and tapped the table, saying, "After the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg family both accept the concession model, our Great Ming should also arrange some personnel in those concessions. Minister Zeng, please discuss with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Commerce to see who would be appropriate to arrange there."
Zeng Cheng was taken aback and asked, "What does Your Majesty mean?"
Zhu Jinsong smiled as pleasantly as the spring breeze in February, but his words were as sharp as the winter wind in December: "The business of Fushougao, the business of cottonseed oil, and these miscellaneous businesses should have people arranged to go there. However, our Great Ming merchants look different from Europeans and Ottomans, so we should carefully research who to choose to go."
Hearing this, Zeng Cheng roughly understood Zhu Jinsong's meaning.
People need to be arranged to go, money needs to be made, but these tasks should be handled by Europeans or Ottomans, keeping the Great Ming out of it.
It's probably similar to having people from the "Silly Eagle's" country handle labor dispatch; it's all preparation for later to cast blame on others.
However, when it came to the Fushougao business, Zeng Cheng's expression couldn't help but become a bit strange: "I spoke with Pierre these past two days and found that the consumption of Fushougao is very common in their Europe. Whether it's commoners or nobles, they all regard this substance as a divine medicine from heaven, believing it can cure all diseases. Louis XVI, by imitating the Great Ming's methods to ban Fushougao, has instead incurred the dissatisfaction of the French nobles."
After Zeng Cheng finished speaking, the prominent figures in the imperial court were all stunned.
Every single person present was among the top tier in the Great Ming court. These individuals naturally knew the harm Fushougao posed.
Let's put it this way: those who consumed Fushougao could barely be considered human when Fushougao was available, but if they couldn't get Fushougao for a moment, these people wouldn't even be considered human!
Selling their children and daughters?
As long as they could get Fushougao, they would do it without hesitation, even if it meant killing their own parents!
It was precisely because they had personally witnessed the state of addicts during withdrawal that Zeng Cheng and other prominent figures supported the severe prohibition methods that involved collective punishment of the clan.
In the opinion of these prominent figures, since they themselves knew the dangers of Fushougao, and the Great Ming had established the rule of collective punishment of the clan to eradicate Fushougao, then as long as the European countries weren't too foolish, they too would surely recognize the dangers of Fushougao?
But who would have thought that not only did the European countries not imitate Zhu Jinsong by banning Fushougao like Louis XVI, but they actually regarded this thing as a panacea that could cure all diseases?
This... this is truly remarkable!
However, just as the prominent figures in the Great Ming court were bewildered, Zhu Jinsong said with a smile, "As for Europe, anything strange happening there is not unusual, so there's no need to be so surprised."
This was not Zhu Jinsong unjustly accusing them. It was that the people in Europe were indeed different from the people of the Great Ming. It seemed like their brains were damaged by Nuwa when she was molding humans from soil? Or perhaps they had some other serious illness, which made their brains somewhat abnormal?
Taking the relatively normal France as an example.
Regardless of whether Louis XVI was an ultimate sycophant or for some other reason, his brain was somewhat normal. At least he thought of banning Fushougao.
But the French nobles were very opposed to Louis XVI's ban on Fushougao. Although they didn't openly oppose it, they secretly consumed it behind the scenes.
Even the more normal France was like this, let alone other European countries, whose performance was even worse. There were even many nobles and even clergy who wanted to promote the legalization of Fushougao.
Zhu Jinsong smiled and tapped the table, saying, "What Europe does is their own business. But in our Great Ming, this thing must be strictly prohibited. Each case found will be dealt with, with no leniency!"
Seeing Zhu Jinsong's ferocious face, Zeng Cheng and the other prominent figures couldn't help but shiver, and then they all had looks of shared understanding, bowing in unison to agree.
Zhu Jinsong's expression then eased slightly, and he began to tap the table rhythmically with his fingers.