America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 224 How Glorious It Is to Be an Oil Worker
After Meyer returned to the oil field, he arranged for the engineers who followed him to install the refining equipment.

They overhauled those oil wells and found that the original oil well equipment was good and advanced. Engineer Jackson even designed a pump for him to extract crude oil.

Meyer has no plans to drill a second well until the refinery is on track.

So, now as long as there are enough workers, you can start work.

"Hanny! Hany!" Meyer called the deputy's name from the office.

Hanny was studying the drawings with the engineers in the outer room, when he heard Meyer calling him, he trotted in.

"How are the workers recruited?" Meyer asked while flipping through the "Standard Oil Company's Oil Well Operation Manual" on the table. "We still need two days of training."

"Uh, no one signed up," Hanny replied.

Meyer raised his head abruptly, and stared at his deputy with wide eyes: "No one?"

"Well, not a single one."

"Impossible." Meyer twisted his stiff neck, "This is based on the wages of ordinary Chinese."

"What if the cost of living is high." Hanni whispered.

Meyer didn't seem to hear what Hanni said, he thought for a while, and then said to Hanni: "Go and find out about the situation."

Hanny changed his clothes and went to town.

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when Hanny rode back.

He took off his coat and walked into Meyer's office.

Seeing Meyer's expectant expression, Hanni's expression was a little strange: "It's because the wages are low, and those Chinese are unwilling to do it!"

"Impossible!" Meyer patted the table, "I have dealt with them before."

"They position themselves as cheap labor. I have never heard of a Chinese employee refusing to work because of low wages. Some of them will stand up and be willing to accept this price!"

As an employee of Standard Oil, he had seen all kinds of workers.

"Could it be that these Chinese people can't understand English?" Meyer frowned, pointing out a possibility.

He had come into contact with some Chinese laborers before, not to speak English, and he didn't even know a few Chinese characters.

"When I went there, I happened to meet the owner of the grain store, Mr. Chen, who was explaining the meaning of our recruitment notice to the people around him."

"These people don't seem to be the same." Hanny scratched his head, "They seem to be talking about 'equal rights'. They pay what white people pay."

Meyer jumped up from his chair, and he, who is always refined, swears: "Fart! What nonsense are you talking about? What do these people know about 'equal rights'!"

"They also specifically explained to me the meaning of the word, saying that they are no different from white workers. If there is, they are more ingenious." Hanny said.

Of course, these words were also taught by Chen Jianqiu to these Chinese.

The last time he had returned from Santa Fe with Holmes, something had occurred to him as he looked at the stack of books in his bucket.

He pestered Holmes to compile a simple English booklet; he sneaked in a Chinese booklet.

As long as he has time, he will take those people who are busy on the construction site to the square in the center of the town and give them a crash course.

Hanif Restaurant’s food is provided directly in class, and the price of meals is doubled if you don’t attend class.

Holmes taught English, he taught Chinese, and he taught whatever he could.

Chen Jianqiu also gave Li Sifu a special lesson. If he had something to do, he would let Li Sifu take a class or two.

Meyer was a little dazed and stood there in a daze.

"Or, let's recruit outside." Hanni suggested.

Meyer shook his head.

Transferring people from other factories, recruiting people from nearby places, and even recruiting Mexicans, it's not that he hasn't thought about it, but it's not realistic.

Except for those refinery engineers and workers brought by themselves, no one else is willing to come.

And relying on these people alone is obviously not enough to meet the production of oil wells and refineries.

"Add more money! Add more money!" Meyer gritted his teeth, "I'll go there directly, and I have to clarify some things, don't get cheap and act like a good boy."

He told Hanni, "Go find Captain Lynch and ask him to send some people to follow me with guns."

Roswell Newtown, PM, 05:30.

Next to the bulletin board in the square in the center of the town, there was an extra table and a chair, surrounded by a group of workers who had just finished their work on the construction site.

Meyer sat upright in a chair, while Hanni took a pen and walked over to the job advertisement that had been posted on the bulletin board, and changed the salary on it.

Under normal circumstances, the salary of the Chinese is half that of the whites in the same position. With such a change, it is basically the same level.

Meyer looked left and right, but he didn't see Chen Jianqiu in the crowd.

If there is no one to translate, no one will translate. Anyway, I can understand what I will say next.

"Everyone has also seen that the salary has been added. Those who are willing to work come to me to register, and those who understand English are preferred." There was a notebook in front of Meyer, and he turned the pen in his hand and tapped it on the table. Up, make a "da, da" sound.

For those white people in the crowd, you look at me, and I look at you.

This amount is slightly lower than Chen Jianqiu's previous opening, and it does not make much money on the construction site.

A few of them walked out, and a few young Chinese boys also stood up.

Among them was He Jiasheng who went to the cave with Chen Jianqiu.

Because of his quick response and flexible mind, like Li Sifu, he is now Chen Jianqiu's key training target.

"Manager, it seems that there was trouble when Pete came." Hanni looked at the white men and whispered in Meyer's ear.

Meyer nodded and winked at a man next to him with a gun.

Captain Lynch didn't come because he had something to deal with, so he took pictures of the deputy captain of the factory guard team and followed him with four or five guards.

The vice-captain is a red-nosed Dixie guy.

He adjusted his hat, lifted the shoulder strap of the repeating rifle on his back, cleared his throat, and said:

"Before, some unpleasant things happened here, one of our managers and several experts were beaten."

"It was a barbaric, crude affair of a very serious nature."

He looked around arrogantly, as if to show majesty, but also as a kind of provocation.

"I am very reasonable in doing things, and I only believe in the gun in my hand. I hope that similar things will not happen again here in the future."

"The company has company rules!"

The deputy captain took off the gun from his shoulder and showed it to the onlookers.

"If it happens, I will exercise my constitutional power to punch a hole in the head of each of those people; if it doesn't happen, then I am good friends with everyone."

"It doesn't matter if you don't have a gun, I can provide protection for everyone!"

His words were not only a warning to those white people who had committed crimes, but also to the Chinese people present.

The deputy captain was very satisfied with his speech. He looked at the people around him again and found that these Chinese were also looking at him.

He triumphantly played with the repeating rifle in his hand, and at the same time looked at Meyer beside him.

You see, force is better.

However, at this moment, a "Puff" laugh suddenly came from the crowd.

The deputy captain's face turned red, and he just wanted to open his mouth.

The crowd parted, and Chen Jianqiu came up from behind.

He changed into a gray cloth robe and stood in front of the crowd with his hands behind his back.

The eyes of many Chinese behind him were focused on him.

"There is no need to provide protection. We appreciate your kindness." Chen Jianqiu looked at the deputy captain and said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" The deputy captain looked at Chen Jianqiu angrily.

Chen Jianqiu didn't answer, but raised his hand, and said to the Chinese behind him, "Let this gentleman, take a look at your guns."

The crowd dispersed at once and ran to their own house.

Half a minute later, they returned to the square almost at the same time, neatly arranged in a square formation.

On their shoulders, they all carried a brand-new Winchester repeating rifle; on their waists, they all had a Colt revolver.

"Everyone work hard, Standard Oil Company will not treat you badly." Chen Jianqiu said to them, as if he was the spokesperson of Standard Oil Company.

"Jiasheng, take everyone to sing the song I taught you." Chen Jianqiu gestured to He Jiasheng.

A loud singing voice came from the phalanx:
"Wherever there is oil is my home

The red flag flutters in the colorful clouds

The hero whips the horse

How proud I am to be an oil worker
Walking around the world wearing an aluminum helmet

......"

The vice-captain was stupid, and so were Meyer and Hanny.

Although they couldn't understand Chinese, their momentum and mental outlook were really shocking.

One of them silently put away their guns, while the other two opened their notebooks and obediently began to register the names of the Chinese workers in front of them.

　two more

　　
　
(End of this chapter)