"Scrooge, do you think we're going to build more factories and continue to expand production?" Carol asked.

"Of course." Scrooge, of course, knew what Carroll was worried about, and he feared that the current frenzy would not be sustainable, and that if more steel plants were built now, the demand for steel would drop dramatically once such an economic bubble burst, and at that point, these new steel plants might become a liability.

"Don't worry, Carol." "It should take some time for the bubble to burst," Scrooge said. And even if the economy collapses, it will be the other steel companies that will die first. And then it was our turn. Besides, in the current period of time, we have probably already made money for the new factory. It's really not okay, like those French, it's not impossible to tear down the factory and move to France. ”

"Scrooge, there are already factories in France being rebuilt." "But not long ago, some Asians came to the door and wanted to buy the steel mill, so that we could sell the surplus to them when the time came." ”

"Well, that's a way to do that, too." "How's the situation going on the French side?" Scrooge said. Also, how well is the technical secrecy done? ”

……

Pierre got up just after dawn, and her mother-in-law, Mathilde, got up a little earlier and had already prepared breakfast for him—just a few slices of bread. Mathilde used to have a job in a textile factory, but now that the factory is closed, Mathilde can only earn a small amount of money by working as a laundry worker. The laundry worker's income is very meagre, not even enough to support himself, let alone his children. The burden of the whole family rests on Pierre. Not long ago, however, the terrible news came that Pierre's ironworks were about to close due to bad business. This made Pierre particularly worried. Many steel mills in France have closed their doors, and it is not known how long the job will last.

It was only six o'clock after breakfast, and it was already early autumn, and the morning was still a little cold. Mathilde added another piece of clothing to Pierre before letting him out. Now, if the husband is sick, it will be a real problem. There was no such thing as a labor protection law in this era. To be precise, before the emergence of the evil empire, the Soviet Union, there was no need to think about these things. If he was sick at this time, the boss would definitely fire him without hesitation.

When Pierre arrived at the factory, the doors had not yet opened, and Pierre and some other workers had to wait outside.

"Hey, Lucien! Why hasn't the door opened? After waiting for a long time, it was already past the time to start work, but the door still did not open, and Pierre, feeling a little worried, shouted to another worker named Lucien.

Lucien was a worker in the ore crushing workshop, and because the working environment was so noisy that all the workers who worked there had problems with their ears, you had to shout loudly when talking to them so that they could hear them.

"How do I know! It's not supposed to be closed, you see there's still people in the porter, and there's no police. Lucien also replied with a loud roar. When a person's hearing fails, his voice will become louder, and he himself will sound like he is whispering to you, but in fact his voice is loud like thunder. So if there was a woman who had traveled back in time to this era, she would probably not fall in love with a man like Lucien who worked in the ore crushing plant, because even if they said a love word that was originally lingering, it would be like thunder. It's just ruining the atmosphere. Of course, this is only a superficial reason, and the more important reason is that most of the women who have crossed over want to find some Baylor, Brother, or even some emperor to play some shameful games, who will take a fancy to a worker who has no money and no status?

"No police?" Pierre looked around and saw that there were no police, which showed that, at least today, there would be no sudden announcement of the closure of the factory. Because before that, there was a factory that clashed with the workers when it announced the closure and dismissed all the workers, and the result was that more than 10 people were killed and nearly 100 were injured. Later, the government investigated the matter and shot seven or eight more trade unionists who were said to be "remnants of the commune" in one fell swoop, and declared that all recent trade union activities were considered illegal. Since then, every factory closure has been announced, and heavily armed police have appeared. It's almost routine, and there are no police today, so there shouldn't be any major changes.

At this time, the factory gate opened, and a short and fat man walked out. Pierre recognized this man as the manager of the factory, Mr. Charles.

"Fellow workers!" Mr. Charles shouted, "Calm down and listen to me." ”

Mr. Charles was short in stature, but he was full of energy, and even Lucien could hear the voice he shouted. The crowd fell silent, and everyone looked at him.

"I have good news for you that the factory has been sold to an American company." Mr. Charles said.

"What?"

"So what do we do?"

"Is that good news?"

"Do you want to fire workers?"

"Are they going to tear down the factory?"

There was almost a bang, and everyone was talking about it, and some of the workers were so disappointed that they were about to cry. The factory was not well paid, but at least it allowed them to support themselves, as well as their families. But in these difficult years, any job opportunity is very rare, and once you lose your job, it is not so easy to find another job that can support your family.

"Everyone, be quiet, be quiet!" Charles shouted, his loud voice drowning out the chatter.

"The new boss is not going to close the factory and disassemble the machine. Instead, they want to expand production, which means ......" Mr. Charles deliberately lengthened his voice, and he was satisfied to see that everyone was quiet, and everyone was staring at him, which made him feel very comfortable, so he raised his voice again and shouted: "Our factory will not lay off employees!" ”

"Oh my God!"

"Great!"

"Mr. Charles, this is great news!"

"Thank you for the news, Mr. Charles!"

The workers shouted cheerfully to Manager Charles. In fact, it is very easy to make people happy, even grateful, by first creating a sense that a catastrophe is coming, making them panic, and then telling them that it is just a false alarm, so that although they have not received anything, they will be very happy, and even grateful to you.

"Everyone, be quiet!" Charles continued to shout.

Then the crowd fell silent again.

"The new owners weren't very happy with our equipment, so they decided to do a retrofit, for which the plant needed to shut down for about a week before it restarted. So the factory is going to give everyone a week off......"

This news suddenly filled the workers with doubts again, is it really to modify and repair the equipment? Could it be that the factory owner is using it to fool them? What if this month's salary hasn't been settled yet? Could it be that the owner of the factory sold the factory, but he was unwilling to pay the salary, and planned to run away directly? After a week, when everyone comes back again, will the new boss still recognize the salary? The family is waiting for this money to buy bread.

"Before the holiday, we will settle the previous salary with everyone, after all, the new boss may not necessarily admit this account." Charles said.

……

A week passed quickly, and these days, Pierre supported the family's expenses with half a month's salary, and at the same time worked part-time work outside, helping people move things, or helping others or something, more or less to get a little money. During this time, Pierre also went to the factory from time to time, and indeed he could see that there were people constantly coming and going in the factory, and sometimes there would be flatbed trains dragging something into the factory, and then unloading it again. There are also various noises in the factory from time to time, and it really looks like some improvement is being made. This also reassured Pierre a little, and it seemed that the new owner really intended to keep the factory in production. However, Pierre is still very worried about whether the new boss will lay off employees, because layoffs due to a change of boss are almost a common practice across industries.

Early in the morning, Pierre got up earlier and arrived at the factory gate before dawn. And at this time, there are already a lot of people waiting there.

At half-past six, the door opened, and Mr. Charles came out, with a tall strange man beside him. Mr. Charles explained to the workers: "This is our new director, Mr. John Lawrence. Today he came to get to know you, and in the future, everyone will work under the management of Director John. ”

Director John didn't seem to speak much French, and his speech consisted only of him speaking one sentence in English, and Charles translating one. That posture, well, if Scrooge had seen only one scene here, he would have remembered the devils and translators in some movies.

John didn't want to spend too much time with the workers, so he ended the conversation in a few words, and then the workers were given a new entrance gate and a pass to a specific workshop, and then the heads of the various workshops led them to their workshops. After a while, there was a roar of the machine in the factory......

……

"The wages of French workers are much lower than those of us in the United States, and the price of iron ore, coke, and other raw materials is lower than in China, but why is the cost of producing steel still higher than in China?" Looking at the first quarter's production report sent back from France by telegram, Carroll couldn't help but frown. The steel mills in France were the first stop for MacDonald Steel's overseas expansion, so it was only natural that it would be taken very seriously.

"Isn't that normal?" Catherine explained, "It didn't happen in the United States, if nothing else, and the supply of electricity was completely unpopular. So in our factories a lot of things that should be done with electric motors, in France, you still have to use a separate steam engine to do it, and the cost of this alone is too much worse. If you want to bring down the cost of production in France's steel mills to the point where they can be compared to those in the United States, unless your brother's power plant in France comes into operation immediately. "John Lawrence was Catherine's cousin, so Catherine felt like she was going to defend him.

"I see, the supporting facilities can't keep up. What did Napoleon III do all these years? Carroll complained, "The power plant that Scrooge built over there won't be counted on this year, and, even if it does, we can't count on it." The first phase of the factory is basically all used to supply electricity to Paris, well, it is said that the electrical side has been looking at the market in Paris, just waiting for the power plant to be completed, so that the Parisians will light their lights, use their telephones, record players, radios are their big mess anyway, where can we still take care of our needs? Carroll glanced down at the report again and said, "Actually, it's okay, compared to our domestic production, the cost is still a little cheaper after loading and shipping and paying a tariff." It can still make money, but the efficiency of making money now is not as high as in China. However, as you know about the domestic situation, such a frenzied economy cannot be sustained for a long time, and it is estimated that it will be the limit if it can last for a year or two. In contrast, French companies may be able to make more money with us in the future. Alas, it's just that the supporting facilities can't keep up......"

If Scrooge had heard Carroll's feelings, he would have agreed with it. One of the major characteristics of the industrial age is that the social division of labor is becoming more and more detailed, and the various production activities are becoming more and more closely related to each other, forming a dense whole. The reason why a strong industrial country produces products with low cost and strong competitiveness is that in many cases it is not completely dependent on lower wages than others, because in the cost of a commodity, the proportion of wages has become more and more limited, and the decline in other costs brought by supporting facilities has become a decisive factor. Otherwise, why didn't the capitalists of the British Empire simply move all their factories to India? At least they can move all the textile factories to India, and the wages of Indians are definitely lower. But if you really go out of your way to move the factory there, you'll find that when your steam engine needs to burn coal, you're waiting for coal from England or from Australia to save your life, because the road from the coal mines in India to your factory is washed out during the rainy season, and it is estimated that it will not be repaired well until next year. Well, this is also the reason why the wages in India are much lower than those in the rabbit country, but the industrial products produced are much more expensive than those in the rabbit country.