I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 251 Boomerang

The big people have the wisdom of the big people, and the little people have the survival wisdom of the little people.

George doesn't look down on anyone, even a switchman, who has the ability to derail the Tsar's special train.

Some people are like this. Even if they have a little bit of power, they will use it to the extreme. They don't mean to hurt anyone intentionally. They are not that bad, but they just disgust you anytime and anywhere.

George was a grassroots man in his last life, and he knew how to survive. The more limited the resources, the more focused on the small profits. To use a common saying, the situation is too small.

But for ordinary people, what is the pattern?

You should have a big mind for the world.

But I don’t even have the ability to choose my lifestyle. I am surrounded by firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea all day long. When buying a pack of cigarettes, I have to choose the cheapest one. No matter how big the layout is, what’s the use.

The security personnel in Vladivostok are serious and responsible because the security personnel in Vladivostok, even the temporarily hired Cossack militia, only have a minimum monthly salary of 10 rubles. For the sake of salary, they are not willing to lose their jobs.

Siberian security personnel——

Regular soldiers in remote areas of the Russian Empire received a salary of only 2 rubles and 10 kopecks. In order to maintain their livelihood, the soldiers had to sell the underwear and leather shoes issued by the army in exchange for some daily necessities.

If you talk to them about the situation at this time, they will spit in your face.

So to solve this problem, we still have to start with the salary of security personnel.

However, raising the salary of security personnel will cause new problems.

The salary of security personnel has been increased. Should the salary of workers be increased?

What about the support staff?

What about engineers?

Where are the officials?

In the end, I am afraid that the cost of the Trans-Siberian Railway will soar more than ten times.

So even Vastlov didn't have high hopes for George.

George took his time and returned to the committee office to find Witte.

“Security personnel’s salary—”

Witt also didn't know how much security guards were paid.

It is impossible for Witte, the dignified transport minister, to focus on such trivial matters.

"Don't tell me no one knows."

George was serious about his words and grabbed the vine. George couldn't believe that he would gain nothing.

Soon the financial staff brought the account books.

George smiled as soon as he looked at the ledger.

The security personnel who provide security for the engineers receive the same monthly salary of 10 rubles as the security personnel in Vladivostok.

That's right, in St. Petersburg, without 10 rubles a month, whether you can support yourself or not, let alone support your family, is a problem.

"Although it is written here as 10 rubles, the actual monthly expenditure is about 9.5 rubles."

Chief Accountant Stray was sweating profusely.

"Where's the extra 0.5 rubles?"

George didn't let go of any clues.

Stray looked at Werther.

Werther looked embarrassed, coughed while covering his mouth, and winked wildly at George.

"Speak directly!"

George could not tolerate sand in his eyes.

"The extra 0.5 rubles are used for the daily maintenance of the committee, such as the champagne and cigars you have here. That's how it comes from."

Werther broke the jar and threw it.

"Did I ask you to buy champagne and cigars?"

George was furious, what's going on, he was checking over and over again, he was the one to blame, right?

That’s not how boomerang works!

"You didn't let me buy it, but we have to prepare."

Werther was also helpless. For this kind of thing, a bowl of water had to be balanced. Although George didn't come to the committee often, George would definitely have what other committee members had, and he couldn't lack any.

"You have stored 90 boxes of champagne and 25 boxes of cigars at the committee. Should you continue to store them here, or send them to Camp Oak?"

Werther hesitated for a moment and didn't say anything else.

"What else don't I know?"

"Ahem -" Werther lowered his head, not daring to look into George's eyes: "-these champagnes were purchased from the company under your name!"

George was finally shocked to death.

It took a long time for George to recover.

"Did Julian force the men to buy it?"

Old Julian is in Paris. This Julian is George's cousin and is responsible for champagne sales in Russia.

"No, your company has the best quality champagne in the empire, so——"

Werther was terrified.

"So - buying champagne from my company, benefiting my company and thus making me part of a vested interest, is this your plan?"

George's eyes were cold.

"Duke, although I took this matter on my own initiative, I can swear that I did not violate any rules, nor did I obtain any benefits that I should not have obtained."

Werther's assurance that George could be trusted.

When Ya San recruited Werther, Werther made it clear that the salary given by the empire was not enough to maintain Werther's life.

Yasan had to give Witte an annual private subsidy of 8000 rubles before Witte accepted the appointment as Yasan.

Therefore, Werther will not take any money that should not be taken, otherwise others may just distribute it to Siberia, and Werther will definitely be hanged.

If he dared to negotiate a price with the Tsar, Werther had better prove that he was worth the price.

Otherwise the Tsar will let Werther know what Tsar Daddy is.

"You didn't violate the rules, but you didn't stop those behaviors that violated the rules-" George knew that he couldn't blame Werther, but he had to have an attitude.

In a dirty environment, if you want to do something, you have to dirty yourself, otherwise you won't get the chance.

If Werther had been upright, he would have been relegated to the sidelines before George returned to St. Petersburg.

"Duke, please understand, at least I won't get killed by doing this."

Werther lowered his head like a schoolboy admitting his mistake.

George didn't know whether to praise Werther for being smart or scold Werther for being too smart.

But Werther was right, because no matter whether he was praising or scolding, George did not have any murderous intention towards Werther.

"Do security guards get 9.5 rubles a month?"

George felt that this was not the truth.

There is not much difference between 9.5 rubles and 10 rubles, which is not enough to make the security personnel take risks.

"Security work is solely responsible for Akunis. We pay Akunis 9.5 rubles per person per month. We don't know exactly how much the security personnel can get."

The corners of Werther's mouth were twitching, looking quite depressed.

But George felt that Werther was smiling.

"What's going on with Akunis Company?"

George rooting problem.

George, the deputy, was also incompetent and had never asked about these matters before.

In order to save money, the Siberian Railway Commission held a tender for the project, and the security work was awarded to Akunis.

George told Werther and Street not to spread the news, and later asked people to investigate how much the security personnel of the Trans-Siberian Railway received every month.

The total number of security personnel employed by the Trans-Siberian Railway exceeds 2000, and their salaries are not a secret. Soon George learned that the lowest-level security personnel only received a monthly salary of 3.5 rubles.

The expenditure of the Siberian Railway Commission is known to be 9.5 rubles.

Front-line security personnel only receive 3.5 rubles.

Where did the remaining 6 rubles go?

George didn't waste any time and directly called Nila Akunis, the owner of Akunis Company.

Neera Akunis was a Hebrew.

"Nila, within three months of this year, among the engineers of the Siberian Railway alone, one person died of illness, one fell to death, one disappeared, and one became disabled. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

Haji, the director of the Military Police Division of the Oak Division, was nicknamed "The Devil". During the Tenth Russo-Turkish War, he was injured on the face and half of his head was cut off, but miraculously he survived.

"That was all an accident. We have punished those responsible. I can guarantee that similar incidents will never happen again."

Akunis did not yet realize the seriousness of the matter.

"Has your company compensated those engineers who were killed or disabled?"

Haji was not a police officer or an investigator, and he was in no mood to play tricks on Akunis.

"Compensation is not our company's obligation. You should know that the money the committee paid me is limited, and my people cannot cover everything."

Akunis is confident.

"So you're saying that none of this has anything to do with you?"

Haji's eyes were like poisonous snakes, causing Akunis to dodge unconsciously.

"That's not true, for humanitarian reasons——"

"Don't tell me about humanitarianism. Ten thousand rubles each for the dead and the disabled. Is there any problem?"

The question was so big that Akunis jumped out of his chair.

"This is impossible!"

"I will only give you one week. If the pension is not received after one week, I will come back to you."

Haji doesn't talk nonsense, he doesn't discuss, he just informs.

George left the matter to Haji, and he was not idle. He continued to visit the workers building the Trans-Siberian Railway and asked whether the workers' salaries and benefits were in place.

The time has come to the end of September and winter is approaching. Work on the Trans-Siberian Railway must be suspended for the winter and will resume in the spring next year.

The situation of workers is similar to that of security personnel, who are basically outsourced.

Therefore, the workers' salaries are also inconsistent with the expenditure of the committee.

As for benefits, they are unheard of.

“The food we eat is not even as good as the ingredients of animals. The bread is mixed with sawdust, and the beef stew with potatoes only contains potatoes. We have never seen beef. Even so, we are not full, but we work more than 12 hours a day. "

"You can't be cured when you get sick——"

"We need to buy the tools ourselves——"

"The foreman deducts wages at will——"

George got more and more information, and his expression became more and more solemn.

George knew there was a problem.

But I didn't expect it to be so serious.

In order to get the most useful information, George took the initiative to go among the workers and communicate with them cordially.

Yuri was on full alert, as if facing a powerful enemy.

The class contradictions in the empire were so acute that the tsar was assassinated from time to time, and the dangers faced by the princes were difficult to guard against.

Most of these workers are retired Cossacks. They have the ability and the grievances to pose a threat to George.

Finally, a nobleman of George's level came to the workers to understand the situation, and the workers were indeed excited.

They were all talking around George, and the scene was a bit chaotic.

(End of this chapter)