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In the eyes of outsiders, Chen Wenqiang has taken on another mess, and he has to pay out of his own pocket for renovation and purchase.

But from Chen Wenqiang's point of view, it was a very successful operation. He not only made the Hubei Gun Factory concentrate on the production and manufacture of guns and ammunition, but also relocated all or part of the gun factory, gun carriages, shells, cast bullets, copper shells, and steel medicine factories affiliated to the gun factory to Yazhou in the name of opening a branch factory, and also mobilized many technical backbones.

In this way, he was not satisfied, and under the pretense of Zhang Zhidong's name, he made an appointment with the German consul in Hankou, and continued to fool Dafa and reap benefits from foreign devils.

"The British took advantage of the warships and almost controlled the Yangtze River, and the Governor was deeply worried about this."

"Britain and France have been very dissatisfied with their recent comprehensive cooperation with your country, and have not only put pressure on the imperial court through diplomatic means, but have even threatened to threaten them with warships. If the British are allowed to succeed, I am afraid that the investment of your industrial and commercial enterprises in Hunan and Hubei provinces will be affected. ”

"Your Excellency the Governor intends to strengthen armaments, especially artillery, and prepare to secretly deploy them along the river to ensure the safety of Hunan and Hubei."

"Establish a gun branch in Yazhou. Buy your country's artillery equipment, ask your country to send engineers to assist, secretly build heavy artillery, secretly transport, and secretly arrange. ”

"In addition, the imperial court is about to train a new army. Armament has not yet been determined. The British pushed the British 77 (Lee Enfield rifle), the Japanese pushed the 31 model, and the Austrian Manlisha rifle carbines, all of which wanted to be sold in China at a preferential price. Only your country is slow to react, and although the Governor favors your country Mauser, he is very embarrassed by the lack of funds! ”

…………

With so much information, Han Sen, the consul in Hankou, was stunned, blinked and thought for a while, as if he had sorted out the context. Tentatively asked: "Your country's Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has already copied the Krupp 75mm tube retreat mountain gun ...... last year."

was stared at by Chen Wenqiang with strange eyes, Hansen closed his mouth, and the meaning conveyed by his eyes seemed to be "Are you stupid, how can you ask such a childish question".

"It turns out that this is what the Governor meant, and this Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has nothing to do with the Governor, this cannon is a matter of Hunan and Hubei provinces." Han Sen suddenly, seeing that Chen Wenqiang's expression had also changed, he felt that he had grasped the key in his heart. "Build heavy artillery and build ships on land. It's a good idea. ”

"The main thing is that there is a lack of funds, and it is better to build than to buy." Chen Wenqiang changed his appreciative eyes and said: "The same is true for guns, the imperial court pays attention to domestic production, if your country can lend a hand and help in production equipment." Future cooperation in Hunan and Hubei provinces, or even in the two rivers, will have broad prospects. At the same time, this also witnesses the sincere friendship between China and Germany, with the formation and training of the new army. Equipped with your weapons and employing your instructors, your country's influence can grow exponentially. Do you think so? ”

"Yes, it does." Han Sen felt that if he disagreed, he would definitely be despised by Chen Wenqiang with his eyes, and Chen Wenqiang seemed to be very reasonable.

"There is no problem in making artillery, and Mr. Chen has a very good relationship with Krupp and can negotiate directly." Hansen paused, then continued, "Of course, I can telegraph my government to support this matter. As for making guns, I don't think there will be any difficulty. I immediately sent a telegram asking for instructions, and I believe that there will be good news soon. ”

"And mines, torpedo boats, and preferably submarines." Chen Wenqiang spoke loudly, as if he was about to tear his face with Britain and fight a big fight.

"Be cautious and don't be impulsive." Hansen in turn comforted the indignant Chen Wenqiang, "It's really unwise to fight now, prepare first, prepare quietly." Wait until the showdown, and then give the British a surprise blow. Don't you have an old saying in China: If you can't bear it, you will make a big plan! Yes, exactly. ”

"Thank you, your envoy, your government, and Your Majesty the Emperor." Chen Wenqiang stood up and shook hands with Hansen tightly, expressing his sincere gratitude, "I believe that the friendship between China and Germany is unbreakable and will last forever." We have an old saying in China: friendship lasts forever. Yes, exactly. ”

Hansen nodded repeatedly, and secretly wrote down this old saying in his heart that he didn't know.

After saying goodbye to Hansen, Chen Wenqiang went to the representative sent by Krupp again, and flickered.

We have to talk about it, we have to talk about it. It's not known how much you can benefit from and how much you can save, but it's always a try. According to the ancient Chinese saying: open your mouth to make three points, and if you don't give it, it is enough.

The decision to replace the guns has been decided, but Chen Wenqiang has not stopped the improvement and production of Hanyang-made. Improvement is naturally a small aspect, the kind with a small investment and quick results. Although Hanyang-made has some flaws and is not the most advanced, it is still a solid and reliable weapon.

Machinery and equipment are idle, it is a waste, the revolutionary army can not be made in Hanyang, and it can be sold to others to make money! For example, the Vietnamese armed forces of Huang Huatan may also have resistance forces from various Asian colonies in the future. It can even equip second-line troops to maintain law and order, suppress bandits, and catch thieves in the territory they have laid.

Time is spent in a busy and busy manner, and in his spare time, Chen Wenqiang also deliberately gets acquainted with and intersects with people in the Hubei government, especially some talents who he thinks will be useful in the future. With his ability to detect psychology and Chen Wenqiang's sleek methods, he is comfortable in Wuhan officialdom and has made many friends.

In mid-July, after two months of long-distance transportation at sea, the equipment for the manufacture of the Mauser 1898 rifle arrived in Hanyang from Germany. The conditions on the German side were quite favorable, and the manufacturing equipment was almost half sold and half sent, but considering the imitations of other countries, the Hubei Gun Factory had to pay patent fees for every rifle produced. The amount of royalties is very small. It's almost symbolic, but these are written in a non-disclosure agreement and are not known to outsiders.

Chen Wenqiang also gave a corresponding return, promising that after the formation of the new army, Hunan and Hubei provinces would definitely hire German military instructors, and Guangdong and Jiangsu would do their best to win them. Meantime. He finally relented, absorbed German capital to invest in the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway Transportation Company, and contracted several light rail projects to German-funded enterprises.

The exchange of benefits is difficult to measure. Germany believes that the penetration and expansion of its own capital in central China, and even the country's influence, have been greatly developed. Chen Wenqiang felt that he had achieved his goal, and the rights and interests he transferred were also within the affordable range.

Equipment installation, trial production, manufacture of guns, ammunition samples, inspection, debugging, and reproduction manufacturing. The intense and continuous work continued for another ten days. The manufactured Mauser rifle passed the tests. Such a fast speed is due to the continuous improvement of the steel quality of Hanyang Iron Works, as well as the comprehensive transformation of Hubei Gun Factory from personnel, management, to machinery.

As long as scientific production, proper employment of personnel, strict management, and clear rules and regulations, Chinese-run factories can still have a new look. Quite productive. and government-run or government-supervised business-run, or even completely commercial-run factories and enterprises. Most of them are not scientific and rigorous enough in management, resulting in low efficiency.

Therefore, the system is the key, as big as a country, as small as a factory. Nothing less. Just like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it also reformed in the later period and introduced new policies, but the system remained unchanged, and revitalization was the moon in the water. It's hard to succeed.

From the point of view of industrial development, the backwardness of the system and management has made the factories and enterprises of the Chinese people lack competitiveness, and if the factory owners want to reduce the cost of products, they can only extend the working hours of the workers, increase the labor intensity, and reduce the wages of the workers. How can workers compete with foreign companies whose working hours are also 9 or 10 hours, with their low level of education and technical proficiency, coupled with backward management and lack of systems, and the heavy and inefficient work of workers?

The only advantage is probably the low price of labor, but this is obviously not enough to offset the disadvantages.

Still, the development of labor-intensive industries in China was an imperative option, and Chen Wenqiang was the first to adopt assembly line work and piece-rate wage systems in his own factories and enterprises, trying to use this increasingly mechanized work and clear division of labor to gain an advantage in output and cost. On the premise that the number of workers and the technical level can ensure the quality, he also tries to use the shift system as much as possible to maximize the operation and utilization of the machine.

At the same time, he also hired the management of Siemens to learn the management methods of Siemens. For example, some incentives and measures have been introduced, simple medical services have been provided, relief funds have been introduced to provide some assistance to workers in need, and a large number of female workers with half the salary of male workers have been recruited......

Speaking of which, these simple and meager measures that made Chen Wenqiang blush, and even contained some bad motives, were welcomed and embraced by the majority of workers. This allows Chen Wenqiang to know what kind of working environment China's working class is generally in, how harsh treatment it receives, and what kind of poverty more Chinese are in.

For example, the workers who built the railroad were engaged in heavy manual labor, and in order to catch up with the schedule, they did not stop work as much as possible, even in bad weather. But Chen Wenqiang let them have enough to eat, have a tent to rest and sleep, and receive a full salary on time, they were very satisfied, and even thanked Dade for being able to drink hot vegetable soup with oil stars every day. When they find minced meat in the soup bowl that can't be caught by chopsticks, they will sincerely sigh that they have met a kind and kind boss.

Chen Wenqiang often feels ashamed and feels that he is very black-hearted. Exploitation and oppression, there is no doubt about it, but he is more lenient than others, but it is by no means that he has done his best.

If you don't make money, you will use what to expand your business, what to feed more workers, what to break the old system, and what to destroy the harsh government that is heavier and more ruthless than yourself......

Just like "searching for water to save people", Chen Wenqiang must harden his heart and hypocritically take out a little bit of small profits, so that the workers can work harder, and accumulate the energy and capital needed for him to break the dark sky that hangs over everyone's heads.

The reality is so practical and cruel, but God has given Chen Wenqiang a chance to act as a great benevolent.

At the beginning of 1906, heavy rains and floods in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River caused serious disasters in Changsha and Liuliping, and people fled everywhere. However, the bureaucrats and gentry took the opportunity to raise the price of rice, so that the hungry people carried the road.

Chen Wenqiang did not know that this disaster had created good conditions for the Pingliuli uprising, he only knew that the road construction project was in danger of being hindered, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was not necessarily a good opportunity to speed up the construction of the railway with a small investment.

"Cash-for-work"! China's economic ideology has existed since the Han Dynasty, and the ancient people also knew to take advantage of the lowest wages to carry out construction, and many polders and water conservancy facilities were built through cash-for-work.

Moreover, the crux of the problem is not the real shortage of rice, but the hoarding of corrupt officials and inferior gentry to raise the price of rice. Therefore, the fundamental reason for the starving people is that the government has not taken effective measures and has not established a smooth mechanism for disaster relief and relief to the people.

You must know that since the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there has been a saying that "the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full", and it has not changed since. Obviously, the plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, centered on present-day Hubei and Hunan, has replaced Suchang and become the base of the country's commercial grain. How can a flood exhaust all the official stocks?

The data obtained from Zhang Zhidong also confirmed Chen Wenqiang's judgment that rice and grain were still sufficient, and even neighboring provinces were still following the past, going to Hunan and Hubei to purchase grain to make up for the shortage of their own provinces. Zhang Zhidong's analysis is that some people instigated the victims, and the hoarding of the inferior gentry was also one of the reasons. Hunan Governor Cen Chunbei submitted a letter, saying that Ye Dehui, a gentry from Changsha, had "accumulated more than 10,000 stones and refused to sell them at a reduced price, which was really unkind to the rich", and that some stubborn gentlemen Kong Xianjiao and Yang Gong proposed to stop building railways, run schools, set up police, and other new policies, and they were willing to cooperate.

"Ye Dehui is Wang Xianqian's protégé?" Chen Wenqiang originally wanted to borrow or buy grain from the granary of the official treasury and use it in the form of work-for-relief, that is, the method of only taking care of food and giving less money, to recruit an army to build roads and speed up the construction of railways. But now, he realizes that there may be a conspiracy against him, against the construction of the railway.

"yes!" Gu Hongming nodded and reminded: "When it comes to the conditions of the tenacious gentry, I think this is very likely to be a counterattack." Just imagine, there are no less than 20,000 victims who have poured into Changsha, and if they are really instigated to rise up, it is really worrying. ”

Chen Wenqiang thought for a while, looked at Zhang Zhidong and said: "I want to borrow grain from the official treasury and escort it to Changsha, not only to quell the possible turmoil, but also to speed up the construction of the railway by means of work-for-relief." What do adults think? ”

"There's no problem borrowing food." Zhang Zhidong pondered for a moment, and said worriedly: "The headquarters is worried that it may not be only these bad gentry who are secretly playing ghosts, if there is a Jianghu Association instigated by the party, it will be very troublesome. Of course, it's good if you go, bring more patrol police, and you can also save money. By the way, you are going south to Guangdong to take over the railway company, and pass through Changsha by the way, right? ”

"That's how it was planned." Chen Wenqiang said: "But the personnel I sent to the Guangdong Railway Company just called to report, and the takeover was very smooth. Since the matter is no longer very urgent, it is possible for the lower officials to go south by land or to Guangzhou by water. In this way, the lower officials can stay in Changsha for a longer time. ”

"Looking at the current situation, it should be safer to take the waterway." Zhang Zhidong first made a suggestion with concern, and then agreed to Chen Wenqiang's request to borrow grain to Changsha.

………… (To be continued.) )