In the western suburbs of Pingyang County, an area of about 70 acres of dwellings stands in the meantime, the dwellings belong to Lin Yaxiang, the rockeries, pavilions, lotus ponds, flower beds, fruit trees and some rare rare birds and beasts in South America and other animals are collected by Lin Yaxiang from all over the place.

Pavilions and pavilions are intertwined, and the scenery is different, but in an ordinary small county town in the north of the plain de la Plata, there is a complex of residential buildings that is not inferior to the royal palace.

Three days later, the master of the manor was about to marry the fifth concubine, and the servants in the house were busy and hurriedly decorating every furnishing in the courtyard, so as not to do anything wrong and discourage the owner of the manor.

"Master, the invitations have been distributed, and the county magistrate Chen, Master Li, Zhou Shipowner, and Governor Wu of the state city have all received the invitations."

In the garden in the backyard of the manor, the steward stood aside and said respectfully, "According to the master's orders, inside and outside Qingyang County, including more than a dozen foreign owners who have business dealings with Yixing Company, a total of 278 invitations have been sent. ”

"That's it, the governor is afraid that attending Lin's wedding will be too conspicuous and provoke other people's gossip, so he found an excuse to refuse."

Lin Yaxiang used his brain a little, and he figured out the reason for the governor's euphemistic refusal, and he didn't care about it at the moment, and continued, "Although Governor Wu couldn't come to participate in Lin's happy event, but the etiquette of our Yixing Company can't be missing, Steward Lin, three days later, when the representative sent by Governor Wu comes to Pingyang, you will personally present the prepared return gift to Governor Wu." You have to take this matter to heart and not forget it. ”

"Everything is done according to the master's instructions, what gift each guest should give in return, the small one is kept in mind, and there will be no deviation."

"Okay, I've done the matter of marrying the fifth aunt, my lord, I can't miss your reward."

"Doing things for the master, the little ones are happy and tight, and they don't dare to covet the master's reward."

"Okay, your benefits are indispensable, you go down first, master, I have other things to do."

Lin Yaxiang waved his hand, sent his housekeepers away, and then summoned several shopkeepers under the name of Yixing Company.

"In the past few days since I returned to Pingyang County, how is the situation of the company? Did the workers make trouble? ”

"Everything is normal on the plantation, the workers are looking forward to completing two years of work so that they can get an official residence permit, and they are honest and tight, and no one dares to make trouble."

"Last year, 17 workers died in the plantation because of dysentery and mosquito bites, and the county and the state sent two groups of people to investigate.

Lin Yaxiang's fat body sat on the chair, and the fat on his face trembled with his words, "I remind you again, there are many young and strong men who have fled from the mainland, and a basket of steamed buns can be exchanged for a human life, their lives are not valuable, and it doesn't matter if a dozen or twenty workers died, but you remember it for me, South America is different from Nanyang, I don't care how many immigrants died on the voyage from the mainland to the South Seas, from the South Seas to South America, to South America, We can't kill more than 100 workers in Yixing every year due to accidents, no matter what method you use, you must control the number of worker deaths for me, if you can't do it, I don't mind reassigning someone else to take your place. ”

The government has investigated the casualties of Yixing Company several times, although it was not solved in the end, but also made Lin Yaxiang have a trace of vigilance, and offended many competitors in the process of Yixing Company's development and growth.

"Proprietor, you know the environment of the plantation, the location of the plantation under the name of Yixing Company is located in the north of Yunzhou, near the tributaries of the Paraná River, the climate in those places is very hot, the forests are one after another, there is no wind under the forest, not to mention that the ordinary workers stay under the forest to open up the wasteland and farm for a year or two, even if the elite soldiers of the imperial court stay below for a month, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not be infected with dysentery and fever.

The environment of the plantation is too poor, if a few workers do not die in a plantation every year, it is not normal, the owner, you are compassionate, for those bitter ha, thinking that there will be fewer workers in the plantation, but with the current conditions of the plantation, we just want to improve the working conditions for the workers, and we can't do it. ”

"Can't do it? How do state-owned plantations do it, Yunzhou is not without state-owned plantations, they are only three hundred away from our plantations, to say that the climate is hot, mosquitoes are rampant, and state-owned plantations are indispensable. ”

Lin Yaxiang did not listen to the explanation of the shopkeeper in charge of the plantation business, and said directly in an ordered tone: "The state-owned plantation has special machinery and facilities for Langzhong, hospitals and land reclamation, and the workers under them only work eight hours a day, and the workers will also carry out disease prevention examinations every month.

I also do not require the plantations to be like state-run plantations, equipped with complete support equipment and conditions for workers, but the most basic medicines to prevent dysentery and mosquito bites must be prepared, and each plantation has a special Langzhong, who is responsible for seeing and treating the workers. ”

"Owner, is the money for the purchase of drugs and the allocation of Langzhong from the headquarters of Yixing Company?"

"The problem of money is solved by each plantation itself."

"Owner, this is not appropriate, the income of the plantation has been handed over to the headquarters, where is the spare money to buy medicines and extend the invitation to Langzhong."

"No money? Not necessarily. Since two months ago, all the steamships owned by Yixing Shipping Company have been replaced by charcoal, and some of the trees cut down from your plantation have been sold to timber merchants for building materials and furniture, and the remaining trees can be burned into charcoal and sold to shipping companies, and the company headquarters has not asked you to hand over the money. ”

The price of charcoal is only half that of coal, and the use of charcoal instead of coal to power steam ships can save Yixing a lot of costs, but because charcoal does not burn as much as coal, and the space in the boiler room of the steam ship is narrow, charcoal burners are more likely to be poisoned by gas.

was told by Lin Yaxiang that they had embezzled the secret of the profits from the sale of charcoal, and several plantation shopkeepers bowed their heads and no longer defended.

The interests of Yixing Company cannot be monopolized by one person, Lin Yaxiang takes the big head himself, and the shopkeepers and stewards below divide the small heads, knock on a few plantation shopkeepers, Lin Yaxiang no longer pays attention to them, and asks others.

"There is news from the imperial court that Lord Huyakihu is about to send an envoy to Brazil to discuss the armistice with the British and Brazilians, if the two sides reach an agreement, there will be a big outbreak of shipping business in South America, the South Seas, the mainland and other places, and your shipping company must prepare in advance."

"The shipping company is applying for a loan from the bank to purchase ocean-going merchant ships, and more than 20 owners in Yunzhou Fucheng also intend to raise funds to invest in the shipping company, and the specific amount of investment shares is being discussed, and it is expected that after half a year, the bank's loans and the investment of the owners will arrive one after another."

"Half a year is a bit long, urging banks and other companies that are interested in investing, so that they can try to transfer funds to the shipping company within four months."

"Okay, owner, I'll do it in a few days." …………