"Uh...... Qin, you put me in charge of United Textile Technology because I have always been sympathetic to the plight of the workers...... You mean you want me to be nice to your fellow citizens? ”

Duncan wasn't stupid, on the contrary, he was just as smart, but a little short-sighted. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 So after thinking about it for a while, he found the reason why Qin Lang put him in charge of the factory in China.

But only partially.

Qin Lang is a capitalist, and a capitalist in the stage of capital accumulation, but he has some ambitious enough plans, so he does not mind using any means to achieve his ends - he will not treat the factory workers well just because they are Chinese; If he did, it had other purposes.

"Do you remember, when Yi Shui accused me of not wanting to help China, I told him that I would rather support some agents in China than sit in a position that is burning to death." He recalled, with a faint smile on his face, as if happy about what had happened.

But that had been a long time ago, and it didn't have much to do with Duncan itself, so it took him minutes to remember.

"Yes, I remember. So"—he thought more seriously—"are you going to have me look for agents among the workers?" ”

"Of course not."

Looking for an agent among the workers? While not impossible, it is far from realistic at this stage: China's lower classes are too poorly educated to take on the responsibility of leading the country, and neither their image nor their background will be recognized by the Western world.

Qin Lang would not do something that was very likely to fail; He doesn't pick unsuitable agents. And in fact, he already had several options, and when the time came, he would find them out, and Yi Shui followed his instructions to find more potential targets.

So the selection of agents among the workers is not only pointless, but also redundant.

"In this plan, you only need to take on auxiliary tasks." Qin Lang said to Duncan, "To put it simply, you are responsible for an image project. ”

"Image engineering?" Duncan didn't understand.

"Yes, image engineering." Qin Lang stood up and walked to the window, looking at the company's new headquarters not far away, his "Pentagon": "You see, our new headquarters is a kind of image project. Its unique shape and size are easy to attract a lot of public interest and attention, and our company is mentioned repeatedly when they inquire and talk about news related to it. ”

"It's like, uh...... Ad? ”

"A more advanced form of advertising. Ordinary advertising can only tell the public that there is such a person, a place, an event, or a product in our world, and the image project will go one step further and create a famous, widely accepted, and memorable image in front of the public. Whenever people mention this image, they are reminded of what it represents. ”

Duncan stared at the Pentagon in the distance for a while, and asked suspiciously, "Can our Pentagon play this role?" ”

"Of course, Duncan. It was able to do just that when it became an important symbol of the city of San Diego and a famous building in California. Qin Lang turned around, "So, to create a good image in our favor, this is the task you have to accomplish in China." ”

"By treating workers well? To be honest, I'd love to do it, but do you really think you'll get the results you want by doing so, Qin? Duncan wanted to know.

He wasn't sure. Many Westerners who have been to China have mentioned that Chinese have an extreme hatred of Westerners, and in fact Qin Lang has mentioned this issue many times. If the situation is as serious as the legend suggests, giving workers just a little preferential treatment will do little to change the way Chinese think about Westerners.

As for image building, "famous" and "memorable" are easy goals to achieve, after all, a bad reputation is also a reputation, but when it comes to "being widely accepted", I am afraid you don't even think about it.

"You're looking at things too complicated, Duncan." Qin Lang laughed, laughing self-deprecatingly, "Of course, maybe I was overly complicated by my explanation. In fact, your task is very simple, and many problems do not need to be considered. ”

For example, the opinion of ordinary Chinese, there is no need to care about it at all. After more than two centuries of completely closed ignorance and half a century of continuous harm by Westerners, coupled with the malicious propaganda and exploitation of conservative bureaucrats, ordinary Chinese are left with blind and unjustified hatred of the Western world, and no matter what Westerners do, good or bad, or nothing, as long as someone deliberately guides them, they will be regarded as bad.

And it's hard to change; As long as ordinary Chinese remain in a state of ignorance, the image of Westerners will not change much – and certainly they have not made similar attempts, but the situation has only gotten worse with the combined efforts of colonialists, unscrupulous missionaries, unscrupulous traders and opium dealers, and arrogant travelers who are prejudiced against everything Chinese.

The only good thing is that as a rising star among the great powers, the image of the United States and Americans in the minds of Chinese is not very bad - but this advantage is also extremely limited, because ordinary Chinese have no idea what countries exist in the white world.

And not even just ordinary people. In Washington, Qin Lang once heard Bush tell a joke that a high-ranking official of the Qing government was convinced that there were only Britain and France in the world, and that the rest of the Western countries, Germany, Russia, Spain, and Portugal...... And so on, and of course the United States, all fabricated by Britain and France, because they are demanding so many reparations from China that both countries are embarrassed......

It's a super big joke like never before. But what else can Qin Lang say? All he can do is take this absurd argument as air and turn a blind eye to it – so he is also indifferent to the attitude of ordinary Chinese.

"We only need to care about the attitudes of a small group of people, young intellectuals who have received a modern education or want to receive a modern education, and our agents will be produced in their midst." He stamped back and forth in his office, constantly changing his gestures, "not the rotten bureaucrats and conservative intellectuals, nor the ordinary people who lack knowledge and insight, only these people are the ones we care about." ”

"And this kind of person is also the easiest to persuade, and as long as we do well enough, they will accept us and be willing to engage with us." Duncan began to understand.

But it's still not clear enough.

"It's not that it's good enough, Duncan, it's that it's better than everyone else, that's it." Qin Lang shook his head and sighed, "After all, we are still businessmen and capitalists, and our goal is always to maximize our interests, so you must not take too big a step." ”

"Isn't that too simple? As long as Chinese workers are treated the same as American workers, the task is done. Duncan spread out his hands, "Qin, even if you don't say anything, I will do it." ”

"Then representatives of the Chicago consortium and the Cleveland consortium will ask you to fuck off."

"That's something I didn't expect." And he had no way to solve it - there was no other way than to exploit the workers to the maximum, as demanded by the representatives of the consortium.

But this is just his problem, and Qin Lang always has a way.

"So I ask you not to take too big a step." "Additional benefits for workers don't need to be considered, and given the consumption levels of the two countries and the exchange rate of the currencies, wages should be reduced to a quarter of what American workers do, listen," he said. Qin Lang stopped Duncan's attempt to interject, "It's all about silencing the consortium representatives." Then there's the part you can do, reduce the labor intensity, reduce the working hours to eight hours, and then increase the overtime pay to three times the normal wage - so that the consortium representative will allow you to hire twice as many workers in three shifts instead of forcing them to work overtime. ”

"But it's nothing." When Qin Lang stopped to breathe, Duncan finally found a chance to speak.

"But better than our competitors, if not much better."

"You mean, two people encounter a lion, and even though they can't outrun the lion, they can get out of danger if one of them runs faster than the other, right?"

"That's right, friend." Qin Lang laughed, "Of course, you can also do some other work next, arrange regular physical examinations for workers, and solve some family difficulties for them, but the best way is to get a school and ask a few teachers to teach them to read." ”

"Just literacy?" Duncan felt that he had a better idea, and when the workers were able to read and write, he could teach them more advanced things, such as the writings of the Enlightenment thinkers......

"Don't take too many steps, Duncan." Qin Lang warned again, "Teaching workers the basic culture can be explained as making them a better job, but if you teach them something else, first of all, they won't accept it, and secondly, I swear that Rachel and I will let you go back before the consortium representative speaks." ”

"Well, I'm not going to do that." Duncan shrugged helplessly, "What else?" ”

"Don't be afraid of trouble, all workers sign contracts directly with the company, and wages are paid directly to them, not through foremen or intermediaries; If someone tries to play this role, solve him. At last. Qin Lang emphasized its peculiarity with a long pause, "I will find someone to teach you Chinese, including northern official dialect and Cantonese dialect." ”

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Note: The person who made this fallacy was Xu Tong, a scholar -- of course, as an ultra-conservative born in 1819, it was perfectly normal for him to make such remarks. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )