Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Life of a Little Man

He Xi hugged his chest and frowned.

Yao Guangxiao hesitated for a moment and said, "My lord, let's let the county government directly recruit people." Let's send it to Beijing. This is the most convenient way. ”

He Xi said: "But it is also the method with the most hidden dangers. ”

How is conscription done? He Xi also understands something, and the twists and turns in it will not be mentioned. The hidden dangers He Xi said are not these. It's a free labor market.

Yes. He Xi actually felt it. Daming seems to be very free, but many places are not free. If you set up a factory, you need more manpower, and there will be such and such things, although the new Ming law has liberalized the migration of people.

Only if you go out and open the way, the whole Ming Dynasty, you can go wherever you want?

The problem is, number one, that the people don't know.

Second, opening the way to lead this thing seems very simple. But it's not that simple.

With the speed of information dissemination in this era, it is normal for people not to know. It is not normal for the people to know. Today's newspapers are more in the hands of the government gentry, and the people they can influence are actually limited.

As for the open path. The entrance of the yamen is open to the south, so don't come in if you have no money. This is not just about the case.

There are other things.

For many people, it is a matter of one sentence, but for many people, it is difficult not to climb to the sky.

He Xi needs so many workers this time, if he orders the local government to recruit them. In Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong, each county allocates a thousand places, and there are immediately them. But in the future, what will happen to others opening factories?

Even He Xi had an unspeakable idea, that is, the manpower he needed to build Beijing City this time, and He Xi didn't want to put it back. After all, Beijing, which He Xi wants to build, is an industrial city that needs a lot of workers.

A well-developed method for recruiting workers. There is going to be.

But how to recruit?

It's a bit hard.

Does the government need to intervene or not?

To what extent is it involved?

Wang Qianli, who had been serving as a background board behind He Xi, suddenly said, "My lord." I think you're overthinking. ”

He Xi said: "What are you worried about? ”

Wang Qianli said: "You only have to give money." Somebody always comes. There are people who do the business of killing heads, and no one does the business of losing money. ”

Yao Guangxiao listened to Wang Qianli's words and said, "Not bad. My lord, I'm confused by you. Or let's take a look. Don't worry about it out of thin air here. If that doesn't work, think of something else. ”

He Xi said: "Release the news? ”

Yao Guangxiao said: "I remember that the brick factory has already been built. Have you recruited the required manpower? Instead, let's recruit directly and see if there are anybody. ”

He Xi said: "Not bad. Let's see what the problem is. ”

He Xi said to do it.

Immediately took people to Zunhua.

At this moment, Zunhua already has a bit of an industrial zone.

With iron ore and coal mine as the source, the first is Zunhua Iron Factory, then all kinds of machinery production, and the latest brick factory is even more spectacular.

In the midst of the brick factory, there is a three-story building. It's the water tower. The huge steam engine on the first floor of the water tower, the top water lifting arm of the steam engine, lifts the water below to the top one by one, and a little back, is the boiler workshop. Several people burned boilers here. Heatwaves.

On the other side of the water tower, there is a water outlet, and the water outlet has water flowing out at a uniform speed, pushing several machines. From mixing live mud to shaping and bricking, he came all the way out, and was finally sent into the kiln by more than a dozen workers with small carts.

When He Xi saw all this, it was as if he had seen a huge chemical factory in later generations. Because in chemical plants, such large machines with a height of two or three meters can be found everywhere. It's just a place where you don't want to make bricks. He Xi actually has an impression of the brick factory.

I remember seeing it when I was a child, a brick machine didn't cost much money at all. The footprint is also very small. It seems that a diesel engine will do.

Where is the need for such a big battle.

Ge Tiangong also seemed to be a little embarrassed, and said, "Teacher, this thing is actually not practical. Because of the flow of water, a maximum of 100,000 bricks are laid every day, and it is impossible to have more. And the cost here is probably more than 1,000 taels. A thousand bricks is only a penny. At most, you can earn a few pennies, and that's not even counting coal money. ”

"If you want me to say, it's really better to find more people to fight by yourself."

"Now in terms of quality, there is no difference. Even people fight better. ”

The shock in He Xi's heart was pulled back to reality by Ge Tiangong's words.

I have to admit that Ge Tiangong is right.

The cost is a bit high. Bricks are not valuable, and many people build houses by burning bricks themselves. And these bricks are difficult to transport over long distances. Because the price of long-distance transportation is more expensive than the bricks themselves.

This is even a big reason why China did not have an industrial revolution.

That's cost-effective.

Manpower is too cheap.

will lead to one result, that is, many technological reforms, it is better to add a few more people. And the same is true of the steam engine. The steam engine was not a complete body from the beginning. Right from the start, it can be used as a power unit in a variety of production areas.

Not. His productivity has increased a little bit. There were before Watt, and after Watt, there are still people who improve.

Never one step to the sky. If we look at it from the perspective of big history, the Industrial Revolution is naturally a revolution. But if we look at it from the point of view of the history of technology, it is not so much a revolution as a gradual change. There were a lot of problems from the beginning. It didn't work at all, and it was almost a product of another era.

It's been improved step by step.

What is the force that drives so many people to invest in this?

Because of interests, because of the lack of manpower.

Machines replace human power, even a little, for the capitalists, it is also earned.

But in Daming it's different.

The things He Xi made out are not much different from the effect after adding a few more people, so why not add a few more people?

Of course, He Xi also knows.

Ge Tiangong's statement is also problematic.

The first problem is the price of the steam engine. The cost of more than a thousand taels is not the price of a steam engine. It is the price at which the steam engine was produced at the Zunhua Iron Works. After all, it's a new factory, and a lot of things have to be started from scratch. This naturally comes at a significant cost. That is, the more steam engines are produced, the lower the price will be. If you only produce this one and report more than 1,000 taels, it is already less.

He Xi said: "First of all, this is for the construction of Beijing City, and the Beijing City project is very urgent. I want to build it in a year or two, but there are too many bricks needed for the city of Beijing, and how many traditional methods are needed. In addition, the Beijing city wall should be big, and you also have a spectrum in your heart. ”

Ge Tiangong said: "Beijing city wall to use bricks? Isn't it a strip stone? ”

He Xi said: "You go to dig? You dock with Kuai Dagong to see how many bricks are needed in total, and what style they are. Preparations for production began. He Xi was silent for a moment and said, "For such a factory, let's start with twenty." ”

"However, I will only give you 10,000 taels. Is it enough? ”

Ge Tiangong had a lot of thoughts in his heart. "That's enough." ”

He Xi said: "How to solve the problem? ”

He Xi took a look, this small factory. It's also dozens of people. Look at the machines, the porters, the boilermakers, and so on. In total, there were one or twenty people. Not to mention, these people are not fixed, and they have to change positions as needed.

Twenty workshops, about five or six hundred people.

Ge Tiangong said: "As long as you greet the people here, they can bring them back when they go home themselves." ”

He Xi said: "Bring it back? ”

Ge Tiangong said: "In our place, no matter what, we eat court meals, and we pay wages every month. It's good to do it for a day or a year. This kind of thing is usually asked for by everyone below. What are four or five hundred? When Zunhua was rebuilt, there were few people. Now there are more than 1,000 of them. ”

He Xi said, "Where do all the people here come from?"

Ge Tiangong said: "It's all local. ”

He Xi said: "How many of these counties near Zunhua will come to work?" ”

Ge Tiangong originally wanted to say as much as he wanted, but his heart moved, and he didn't dare to say this sentence.