After sending Huang De and the others away, Chen Jian took out a pen and paper and roughly calculated the amount of work to be dug in the plan to connect the small canal with no iron ore to the Min River and the hard-faced rail road, and frowned. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

I flipped out the social survey I had written before, and counted the addition and subtraction with a pen, subtracting the number of those ginning workers.

Relying on these labor periods seems to be a bit long, and he may not be able to wait that long.

Although it will cause the ginners to lose their jobs in the short term, there will be a large-scale expansion of cotton planting in a year at most, and then the human resources will be in short supply, and the cost of hiring workers will increase, and if you want to save costs, you must repair it within a year and a half.

Moreover, the sooner it is, the easier it is to rely on the advantages of low freight and transportation monopoly to promote the birth of the Mincheng Coal and Iron Production and Transportation Federation centered on Nan'an.

Integrate production capacity, upgrade hydraulic pump blowers, blast mines with Namaite explosives, squeeze across small mine owners and mineral owners in other counties, pull a group of more powerful allies for themselves, and cultivate a group of miners who can skillfully bomb mines and smoothly transform into digging pits and blowing up city walls to follow them to sea.

At the same time, relying on the trend of reducing the price of ore raw materials brought by the canal, after the orchid bubble was broken, relying on the advantages of reducing the transportation cost of raw materials, it attracted more working capital to invest in more new workshops in Mincheng.

After the big news broke out in Fujian, it triggered a series of chain reactions, and it was good to set a model for the whole country: in the transition period, invest in infrastructure, build roads and rivers, reduce riots and unemployment, and promote the development of the cement industry.

In a dozen years, the unemployment of the individual handicraft industry in the whole country will be overwhelmed, and the riots will be everywhere, so that compromise and retreat, and the technology will be closed in order to maintain stability.

Just as he was pondering to himself, there was a knock on the door, and Hu Lin, who had come back more than half a month earlier than Chen Jian, pushed the door and came in.

"Now I have to call you Mr. Chen. Why, when Mr. Chen came back, he squatted in his office first to get busy? ”

After sitting down, Jian Chen asked with a smile, "Are you still used to living in this building?" ”

"It's okay, I don't live here anyway. It's not convenient to stay, but it's okay to do things here during the day. Push the window to look at the sea, the edge of Fujian City is in full view, at first everyone likes to climb to the top of the building to see the distance. The ladder behind is not easy to drive away when there are many naughty children climbing up. ”

"Make do with it. Mainly for the sake of being different, not for convenience. Brother Zhu, I was about to go to you and report to our people about my business in the capital. ”

Hu Lin smiled and waved his hand: "This is not in a hurry, I know that you have become Mr. Xuegong, and I am thinking about celebrating it in a few days." I'm just going to tell you what we've been doing in Mincheng these days. ”

"Didn't you hear anything big?"

"Hey, what's the big deal? helped several women in divorce lawsuits; got into a fight with a group of money lenders and almost killed him; A small group was set up at the wharf workers; Some people went to the capital to sell safety lights, and by the way, they had a good relationship with coal mine employees, and went to a few people who had studied medicine. It's not a big deal, but it works well. ”

"Isn't that good?"

Hu Lin sighed and said helplessly: "There are also bad places." Doesn't our trading company employ a lot of women? As a result, several divorced her husband. If it's just a divorce, it's just a divorce, and it's getting together with the people in our trading company. In addition, don't we support textile workshops to pay wages directly to women? Because of this, there was also a divorce. Especially when the money comes into his own hands and he finds that he can support himself, plus the husband may be an alcoholic, etc., once he is financially independent, he is clamoring for a divorce. Our reputation is ...... now Actually, it's not good, to say that we are conniving at moral corruption. Last time, because of a divorce, I had a dispute with the man, and I almost got into a fight. ”

Jian Chen smiled: "What is this? Let's not be ascetics, and I suggest that the party still leave that little thing in the crotch. How is love? Compared to abstinence, can we compare to the group of people who think that abstinence can make society peaceful? What's the point of comparing that to that? ”

"For this matter, some people still quit the party, saying that our ideas are good on the whole, but there are many places that violate morality. Coupled with some of the people who quit before we went to the capital, a Divine Moral Alliance was formed. Those who want to join must be of high morals and prohibit personal desires, and it is said that a handbook of ethics for the people of Japan is being prepared. ”

Chen Jian burst out laughing and said, "Okay, then let's play separately, didn't you play under the banner of our Mo Party?" ”

"No, people are afraid of getting on them."

"That's good. Hey, I said Brother Zhu, how is it about our trading company to absorb craftsmen? ”

Before going to the capital, Chen Jian drafted an article on recruiting craftsmen and posted it everywhere. The main thing is to absorb a part of the technical craftsmen to join, the salary is good, and it is announced that various patents will be acquired at a high price, and even interest-free loans can be given to patent applicants, but they need to be reviewed.

Skilled craftsmen are not the same as those small craftsmen, in the sense that skilled craftsmen sit very resolutely on the left and in the center, while small craftsmen sit firmly on the right.

The high cost of patent applications and unreasonable time problems made it difficult for many craftsmen to make a fortune, and they were the group of people who were most eager to break the guild system.

This is not only a matter within the party, but also a private matter of the trading company or Chen Jian, and the two are highly overlapping.

"It's still caused quite a stir. But the technical review is whether it is an interest-free loan, or whether the machine inventions are useful...... No one can be the master. On the public, you are a financial committee member and a supervisor of technical personnel. In terms of selfishness, if you are not there, no one can touch your money. Besides, we don't necessarily know what works, what doesn't, and what is purely out of the way to cheat money. ”

"That's a lot of people, right?"

"Not a lot. But there's one person I know must be useful. ”

"How do you know?"

"I've heard about this man."

"How?"

Hu Lin picked up a chair and approached Jian Chen and said, "This person is not from our Min County, originally from the north." Later, a handmade machine related to woolen wool was found, and it turned out to be an accident. The employees of the last process of worsted wool are not ordinary people, and it takes seven or eight years to learn the craft. I also earn a lot on weekdays, and there are guilds to support it, and I have a good life. ”

"As soon as this man's machine comes out, he's in trouble. This machine is definitely not as good as manual work, but if you can't stand the things made by this machine, it looks like it will ruin many people's jobs. Some of the woollen mill owners used the machine to cut down the wages of the worsted cashiers - if they did not agree, they would use the machine to blackmail the cashiers. ”

"When the velveters heard this, and were instigated by those who had a good heart, they went and smashed the craftsman's house, smashed it along with the machines, and wounded people."

Speaking of this, Hu Lin frowned and said: "This is what you told me in the capital, when the wall falls, I don't know how to smash the people who dig the wall, but they go to smash the shovels and chisels." You're right, but ah, there's something you don't understand. ”

Chen Jianqi said: "What don't you understand about this? ”

"You only think about money and profits, but there are other problems. You didn't work as an apprentice, you don't know. I also asked some people to understand what was going on. ”

Upon hearing this, Jian Chen was also very curious, and hurriedly said, "I have to ask for advice." ”

Hu Lin pouted and said, "It's like, you have worked hard as an apprentice for seven or eight years, and finally learned the craft." After leaving the school, he became a velvet worker, and this craft is not only used for eating, but also for identity, reputation, and a lifetime of hard work, and the value of human existence. ”

"The result? Pull out a machine, an apprentice who has never done it before, and operate it according to the rules, and you can make it to a similar effect. Turning craftsmanship into money is the most basic thing. ”

"But in the traditional value, the guild will tell these apprentices that the money for these crafts is still your value and your glory, including the apprentice's seven or eight years of life is for the future. A piece of fine woolen wool is not only woolen wool, but also the painstaking work of many hired workers, just like painting poetry, this is art, not just the labor of eating. ”

"But what did the machine turn into wool? It became cargo. There is no other meaning except for the goods. Who can accept that a person who has been an apprentice for seven or eight years and has worked hard is no different from a new apprentice? ”

"In addition to money, in addition to benefits, there is also the value of the craft itself. I studied for seven or eight years, and I could have received some respect, but all of a sudden, my salary was less, and even that respect was gone, just like those at the bottom. ”

Chen Jian laughed and said, "Like the art of painting and poetry? The value and honor of tradition and craftsmanship? It's so nice to say, but isn't the most fundamental thing actually a money bag? The old guilds didn't need to be innovated to reap huge profits, and they would crowd out all newcomers who tried to cut into their trade, so they concocted beautiful words of one kind or another, shrouding the money bags with a divine glow, and masking the jingle of the money bags. What we want to do is to erase all this layer of sacredness, and clearly tell everyone that for the sake of money, where does the sacredness come from? Under the sacred, it is still the benefit. ”

Hu Lin sighed and said helplessly: "That's what I said, but the traditional morality or value is still very stable. People have come to believe in the value of life in craft, and although money is an important reason as you said, this brilliance makes the problem more serious than money. This is the same as the guild master-apprentice lineage, where the guild master must teach the apprentice respect, etiquette, and the sacralization of the craft of making a living. Everyone believes that it is not so easy to change. ”

"Isn't there a method of apprenticeship?"

"The law is the law, the cold law. Moral tradition is moral tradition, hot. You have to have both. Relying only on the apprenticeship method, the apprentice is willing to work as a coolie for a few years for free? It's not like you need something to fill this cold Fa yet. At least make everyone comfortable. I became an apprentice out of courtesy, respect, and filial piety to my master like a father, so all this hard work is a matter of course. In this way, the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the apprentices can be offset, otherwise what is the use of relying only on the Fa? ”

Jian Chen nodded and asked, "What about this craftsman...... And then? ”

"Later? After being smashed, report to the police. It is said that at that time, the magistrate had a good reputation and high prestige, and he could be regarded as a good official for the people. It's just that the more people you are, the more difficult it is to do this kind of thing. On the one hand, there is the pressure of the entire woolen guild, and there is also the possibility of hundreds of people losing their jobs. On the other side is a man. ”

"Isn't it easy to choose? You can't say that this official is bad, at that point, hundreds of people are living in hardship or even unemployed, on the contrary, this is still a good official who thinks about the majority of people. ”

"According to the law, he lost the money he smashed, but his reputation stinks in the city, and it is difficult to stay in the city, and every day people scold him for ruining the jobs of hundreds of people. After the council voted, it was proposed that he should not be allowed to improve his machine, and he ended up in Mincheng. The machine was destroyed, the drawings were burned, and this person was also disheartened and never dared to do such a thing again. ”

Speaking of this, Hu Lin thought of something and said with a smile: "Just like the conflict between you and the Glass Guild at the beginning, the infamy is similar to what you have endured. The problem is that you are rich and powerful, but the master craftsman doesn't have it, with so much money and power from you, who will be a craftsman? ”

"Every day he was scolded and threatened with lead bullets a few times. He harmed too many people. Tooth shops, middlemen, woolen guilds, velvet masters...... Connected to the wool producing areas, that is the biggest force, who can provoke? ”

"The guild leader will not buy machines, or he will be resented by the guild people, who must uphold the old traditions; Whoever dares to buy it will be smashed the next day; It's useless for new entrants to buy it, and thick tweed, velvet and the like can't reach their hands at all; The places where wool is produced are the basic plates of some relatives surnamed Ji, and the interests are intertwined, and ordinary people can't afford to provoke them. ”

"The people who funded him at the beginning knew that they couldn't fight the Wool Guild, and they didn't dare to set foot in it. Moreover, more is better than less, and officials are also opposed to such changes, and large-scale unemployment will inevitably create turmoil, and no one dares to take this responsibility. ”

"On one side is the interests of one person, and on the other side are the interests of hundreds or even thousands of people. It's hard to say this kind of thing. ”

Speaking of this, Jian Chen smiled and said, "Brother Zhu, do you have something to say?" ”

Hu Lin shook his head and said, "It's not that I have something to say, it's that we all have something to say internally." Most people are divided on this matter, and the differences are huge. What happened to this craftsman has caused a wide range of discussions within us. Let's put it this way, it's the same thing. ”