On the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year, the sun is swaying with a rare warmth in winter, there is no wind in Ma'anshan, which is located by the river, there is not a trace of wind, on both sides of the black asphalt street, there are several horse-drawn carriages parked, and even a few wild horse carriages, and the streets on the second day of the Lunar New Year seem a little deserted. Eighteen months ago, it was a hilly field along the river in Dangtu County, but now it is a "big city" with a population of more than 200,000.

However, the vast majority of the city's residents work for the Jianghuai Road Mining Company, and now more than 60,000 workers are employed in more than a dozen factories in Ma'anshan, including iron mines, steel mills, machinery factories and power plants, and they and their families have prospered the "city".

Most of these low-rise buildings are scattered in the center of the city, where the roads are smooth asphalt paved with asphalt frying, and the ancillary buildings of the road and mining company are scattered along the center of the city, although there are no high-rise buildings in Pudong here, even the metallurgical research institute, mineral laboratory, metallurgical school and so on of the headquarters of the Jianghuai Road Mining Company are only some two- or three-story low buildings.

It is not only home to the company's branches, but also banks, restaurants, hotels, and well-equipped and well-equipped apartments for middle and senior executives, apartment buildings, and even in the center of the city, there are two parks, although these parks are open to the outside, but often the families of the middle and senior executives of the company.

After walking out of the house, walking on the street with his wife, Chen Moran looked a little proud, walking on the road, from time to time to introduce the city to Ji Li, this city is different from Pudong, from the underground to the ground, everything belongs to him.

“…… There is a metallurgical school, and during the holidays a few years ago, there were more than a thousand students, and those students were all trained for the company, and at the end of the year, a batch of them will be sent to universities abroad! ”

Holding her husband's arm, Ji Li looked at the city curiously, this is the city of the "Chen family", listening to her husband's narration, her eyes became a little obsessed when she was looking at her father-in-law, and when she looked back at Ji Li's eyes when she looked at herself, Chen Moran couldn't help but feel a little proud, and suddenly remembered the description of her confused eyes, and felt that it was very Ji Li's eyes now......

"Let's go! Ji Li, let's go back! ”

Seeing that there were still dozens of meters left, the asphalt road came to an end, and Chen Moran, who was enjoying being so adored by his wife, hurriedly said.

"Why not move forward? There's still a long way to go down the street ahead! ”

Ji Lijiao, who was full of interest, said, took Chen Moran's arm, and walked forward regardless of his reluctance.

"Xianggong, you see there are children on the street!"

Looking in the direction of Ji Li's finger, isn't it, on the street paved with broken slag and cinder in the distance, the melting snow has suppressed the dust on the slag road, and the children who are chasing after me are giggling and laughing on the street.

The smooth asphalt road came to an end, and then there was the slag road, and this road and the houses on both sides made Ji Li stunned, she obviously didn't expect the "company road" to be so short, only a mile.

On both sides of the slag road are simple mud-walled thatched huts, about hundreds, neatly divided according to the company's plan, scattered on both sides of the road, most of the earthen houses have low earthen walls in front of them, perhaps because children often climb up and down, the thick gaps are always smooth, and occasionally you can see some storefronts.

This is the workers' area of Ma'anshan, these workers use soil and rice, according to the company's plan, built their own homes here, the company did not collect their rent, the only requirement is that the house must be built in the planned area, although the house here is simple, but it is rare to be uniform.

Although everything here is different from the environment that Ji Li is used to, she is still full of interest, but Chen Moran is a little embarrassed, the reason why she came to Ma'anshan from Shanghai before the Spring Festival is actually to avoid some trivial matters.

Originally, today was like offering a treasure, showing off his achievements to Ji Li, but this would be pulled by Ji Li to see how much this "dark side of society" Chen Moran always felt a little uncomfortable, after the Chinese New Year, most of these children were naturally wearing new clothes, which made Chen Moran breathe a sigh of relief, in the past, he also walked through here, and most of these children wore old clothes.

OK! OK!

Those children who were originally playing, when they saw the chairman and wife walking on the road, they stopped to look, and a few naughty and bold people shouted at Ji Li.

"Foreign Lady, Flower Clothes ......"

Listening to the children's shouts, Ji Li seemed very happy, she even left Chen Moran and walked over to play with those children, she hoped that she also had a child, and even on the way back from London, she had some expectations.

"What's your name, kid!"

Ji Li, who was bent over, looked at a six or seven-year-old boy with a smile.

"My name is Lu Ziyang!"

"No, he's called a dog!"

The child next to him immediately exposed the child's "lies".

"Madam, my scientific name is Lu Ziyang!"

"Scientific name?"

Ji Li glanced at Chen Moran with some confusion, and the inquiry in her eyes only made Chen Moran's chest straighten, showing a few points of pride.

"Ji Li, I have set up several schools here, and all the children of workers can also come to school for the children of nearby villagers as soon as they enter school, and they are all free! Even the textbooks are provided by the company! ”

Chen Moran even deliberately added the word "free", the children's school was half a year ago to see more and more children on the construction site, he proposed to set up a few children's schools, but the enrollment is not voluntary, but to force all the children of workers, regardless of male and female, must go to school, the textbook is a new type of textbook compiled and printed by the Commercial Press.

Only Chen Moran, as the chairman of the company, knows that the company's technical personnel have as many as 3,652 people, but only Chinese account for only 10%, almost all technical personnel are recruited from the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and even Italy, Austria-Hungary and other countries, and the salaries of these people are as little as 300 yuan a month, and as much as 5600 yuan. But they don't do their best!

Even if these experts were invited, the communication became a problem because of the translation, and the company even had to spend money to retrain those translators, and the teachers who trained them were precisely those Chinese technicians that the company urgently needed.

The fundamental solution to the problem is to cultivate talents by oneself, and the industrial college in Pudong, the metallurgical school in Ma'anshan, and the mining school are all to solve the company's future talent problem. Even in Chen Moran's plan, at the end of the year, the three schools will pass the examination screening and select 1,000 students to the United States, Britain, Germany to study industry, business, law and other majors required by companies, and even if there is a chance, students can be selected from the Whampoa Sports School to study military affairs.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, after rolling out such an unprecedented big stall, Chen Moran can be regarded as understanding why people often say that "one poor and two white" is the most difficult to build a platform, and in this era, there are even less than 10,000 students in China.

Educate! Education is not thriving! It's all empty talk!

While Ji Li was playing with the children, Chen Moran saw a group of workers on the side of the road who had left work wearing thin clothes and dragging heavy steps with difficulty, and they stopped as they approached, their tired faces looking a little surprised when they saw the boss.

When Chen Moran nodded to these workers, they were about to step forward to talk about further study. He was surprised to see the look of one of the workers when he stared at Ji Li's exquisite clothes, which was not the look of a man when he saw a beautiful woman, but the look of envy.

Suddenly, in an instant, Chen Moran saw from the face of this worker in his 40s that there was a flash of envy, and a look of jealousy and hatred appeared.

"What's going on in his mind?"

Just asked in his heart, Chen Moran got the answer he didn't want to know.

Look! How rich our boss's wife is! And I, my wife and children, still have nothing! I'm tired and tired every day, and I still have nothing!

The jealousy and hatred on the workers' faces made Chen Moran even feel some fear in his heart, and when his eyes looked at the other workers, looking at those workers, the tired faces turned into angry faces in front of his eyes.

In a trance, the angry faces seemed to explode one day, and then they took over their factories and their wealth, and even everything they owned in the future.

Revolution!

Two words, one word, let cold sweat come out of Chen Moran's back, cold sweat soaked through his underwear in an instant, looking at the tired but barely smiling faces, he seemed to see that one day when everyone was unwilling to endure anymore, maybe at that time, just a simple agitation, a revolution that has never been seen before, may break out in his factory at any time, and even the final storm may sweep the whole land.

In ten years, I can gain more power and wealth, but what about twenty years later?

What will happen in twenty years? Perhaps, before that cannon sounded, he did not change his current blind emphasis on profit and squeezed the surplus value of the workers as much as possible, and I am afraid that twenty years from now, with the sound of the cannon, there may also be a cannon sound here.

No way! Absolutely not!

This is my factory, mine, everything is mine, and I must not let anyone destroy him!

Thinking that the numb, tired face turned into an angry face, for the first time, an unprecedented fear welled up in Chen Moran's heart, and he who had been educated for many years clearly knew that all this was by no means unfounded, but a scene that was very likely or even inevitable to be staged in the future, if he did not seek change!

"Xianggong, Xianggong......"

Looking at Xiang Gong, who was pale and even his lips trembled slightly, Ji Li shouted softly twice, what's wrong with him? She could clearly feel that he was afraid, and that it was from the fear in his heart.

"No...... No way! Gotta stop this, gotta stop him! ”

Chen Moran, who was muttering on his lips and was frightened enough by the illusion in his mind, would dare to stay in this "volcano" there, at least until it changed, he must not stay in this place again.

Since yesterday at noon, after seeing the jealousy and hatred on the worker's face, after returning home, it was only night after morning that Chen Moran had smoked twelve cigars, two packs of cigarettes, two pots of coffee, and more than a dozen cups of tea.

The world I've worked so hard to create, and everything I have in the future, can collapse at any time and anywhere. One day, those angry workers will start a revolution at any moment, and what can I do then? I'm afraid that in the end, he can only flee from this land, and the scene seems to be a disgusting feeling that keeps coming to him in the stormy waves.

With a cigarette between his fingers, he gritted his teeth and clutched his chair. That kind of apocalyptic scene of complete destruction always lingered in Chen Moran's mind.

"Hmmm......"

The cigarette burned out between his fingers and burned his fingers, which made Chen Moran feel pain, came back to his senses, and took a cursory look at the report, which Hu Nianzu sent last night, a report on the cost of the company's products.

"9.5 yuan per ton of raw materials, 12.31 yuan for limestone and coke, and 1.32 yuan for labor costs......"

Looking at the figures on the report, the cost of each ton of steel produced by the company is only equivalent to 45% of that of the United States, 55% of Germany, 50% of the United Kingdom, and even 25% lower than that of the company, and the net profit of Maanshan Iron and Steel Plant per ton of steel is more than 200%, what kind of profit is this?

It's totally profiteering! The kind of profiteering that is enough to put people on the gallows!

“…… The labor cost per ton of steel in the United States is 34 yuan, the United Kingdom is 28.85 yuan, and Germany is 26.62 yuan, in contrast, we produce a ton of steel labor cost, but only 1.82 yuan, our labor cost, including mining, iron-making links, if strictly detailed, in this labor cost may even be less than one yuan! ”

Guan Mingtang, who was sitting at the desk, looked at Chen Moran, he didn't know why Chen Moran would let him rush from Shanghai to Ma'anshan on the third day of the Lunar New Year. But when it comes to this labor cost, he has a bold idea.

"The same is true in every factory and construction site of an industrial company, and I think we have to increase the wages of workers."

If we talk about what is the deepest impression of the industrial company, I am afraid that it is the strong "sweatshop" style of the industrial company from top to bottom, the factory and construction site of the industrial company, on the construction site, the workers work two 8-hour shifts a day, 16 hours a day, in the factory, the workers have to work an 8-hour shift, a 4-hour shift, 12 hours a day, but even so, the industrial company still continues to increase the intensity of labor exploitation of workers.

In his heart, Guan Mingtang has always been very sympathetic to these workers, because when he worked in the United States, he also worked in the "sweatshop" in the United States, but in contrast, he was even a little glad that the treatment of workers in the American sweatshops, American workers can earn 2.5 US dollars a day, while industrial workers, some of them earn a month equivalent to what American workers earn in a day.

Even those craftsmen who are envied by the outside world with "high wages" only range from 30 to 50 yuan a month, and in Guan Mingtang's view, according to their labor intensity, even construction workers get 30 yuan in wages.

"How much do you think it should be increased?"

Thinking about the incident that he encountered yesterday, Chen Moran, who had been silent, opened his mouth and asked.

"Is it okay to increase a worker's salary to 7 cents a day?"

Chen Moran's words stunned Guan Mingtang, according to his understanding, Chen Moran is a typical "Willy is picture", those extremely oppressive work methods are all out of his own brain, how could he increase his salary by fifty percent so generously today.

Seeing that Guan Mingtang was a little surprised, Chen Moran opened his mouth and told him what happened to him yesterday, and then expressed his worries.

"You get the idea! Strikes are not terrible, but what is terrible is if they are taken advantage of! ”

Chen Moran smiled bitterly, all he saw was profit, but what about now? The jealous and hateful look made him frightened, and he doubted the creed he had always believed in, and he was confident that even in the future, it would be impossible to do that kind of control that pierced the cracks of the needle, and even if he couldn't do that kind of control, then change some things.

Relying on the memory beyond ordinary people, Guan Mingtang began to calculate the work intensity and efficiency of the industrial company in his heart, as well as the labor cost, at this time, his memory played a full role, and after a few minutes, he shook his head.

"It should be one yuan."

"A dollar?"

Chen Moran's eyes widened, all with an incredible look, he wasn't joking! A dollar a day! The craftsmen in the factory are only getting paid this salary.

"Our factory is divided into workers and craftsmen, and workers are divided into large, medium and small, even craftsmen are divided into three types, I am talking about two yuan, which is the average wage, and the average salary of the company is only 4.5 dimes, so the increase is not large! It is still within an acceptable range, even if this wage is increased, our labor costs are still far lower than those in Europe and the United States, and the silk will not affect the company's product sales. ”

Guan Mingtang took a deep breath, then looked at Chen Moran, trying to persuade him to accept this one-dollar salary.

"Okay, a dollar is a dollar!"

Chen Moran pondered for a while, and finally made a compromise, but when he made this compromise, he began to think in his heart that he should get back the money he had spent from there.

"I think that in order to appease these workers, we should not only raise their wages, but also improve their living conditions!"

(To be continued)