Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1380 Hejian (fourteen)

"Yes, yes, black marble, this material is precious." Master Zhu Heng stroked a piece of stone produced in his own workshop with his hands, and said with emotion.

In this marble yard jointly operated by Zhu Heng and Li Qun (Zhu Heng holds [-]% of the shares and Li Qun holds [-]% of the shares), there are about [-] to [-] Italian laborers who are silently polishing the stone.In this place, there are almost no large-scale machines, and the grinding and cutting of stone materials are all done manually, so the cost is very high and the production efficiency is very low, which directly leads to the soaring price of black marble, a building material in neighboring areas.

However, the high price of black marble cannot stop the consumption needs of some people, such as some old citizens who have immigrated to the Wujiang area.Many of them were soldiers who returned home after the East-Portuguese War. It is an exaggeration to say that they are rich, but it is not surprising that they are worth hundreds or thousands.Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu talked with a veteran who came to buy stone materials before. He served in the Second Mixed Battalion before. Counting all kinds of wages, subsidies, and disability pensions, I took a total of more than 800 yuan in four years, plus the savings from previous years, this guy brought a total of [-] yuan to the new village on the bank of the Wujiang River. He settled in Tanggang and served as the head of a newly established village.

This guy can think about it. After buying [-] mu of land (including the [-] mu allocated free by the state), he invested the rest of the money in the construction of the house—of course, the necessary agricultural tools and livestock in agricultural production activities , Seed money is also set aside, but it doesn’t cost much—he not only spends money to transport bricks, cement, and lime from Daxing County, but also transports relatively high-grade wood from the densely forested area opposite Wujiang River, and also transports them from Xintang County. The marble workshops in the township purchased a lot of black marble, which can be seen with boldness. Of course, no one scolded him for being stupid, because he actually invested the wealth that ordinary people can save for many years into consumption and pleasure. It's not production, which is unbelievable in the eyes of many Ming people. It really is Italian, and a barbarian is a barbarian!

Master Zhu Heng Zhu naturally would not call such a benefactor a barbarian, in fact he also appreciates this attitude towards life very much.Master Zhu, who has experienced the hellish life in the land of China in the late Ming Dynasty, understands that if you have money and don’t spend it, you can’t live with yourself, especially those who have been born and died on the battlefield. The outlook on life will be very different, so the consumption power and consumption desire of the veterans on the east coast are extremely amazing, and the role in stimulating the economy is also quite obvious.

At present, the marble yards of Zhu Heng, Liqun and others are mainly sold to Daxing County. In addition, the newly established Yichang and Zhangwu counties (established in early July this year, respectively the 7rd and 53th county-level administrative units in the country) also sell There are a small number of markets, but not too many. After all, it is a new and remote place. Except for some financially well-off companies, there are not many private purchases.

Except for the two counties of Yichang and Zhangwu, the determination of the executive committee to develop both sides of the Wujiang River is becoming more and more obvious, and the actions are also getting bigger and bigger.In the first nine months of this year, the State Development Bureau has set up a number of new settlements in this area, namely: Wuyang Township near the city of La Cruz, Anhua Township near the city of Alvear, and Houqiu Township near Itaqui, Quyang Township near Makambara Township, Zhuqi Township near San Bolya City, Huairen Township near Santo Tome City, Nhu -Licheng Township near Pora Township has a total of seven settlements, and it is expected that more than 1 newly arrived immigrants from Huai'an Prefecture will be resettled. Basically, this section of the middle reaches of the Wujiang River will be covered, and the development of the entire Wujiang River Basin will reach a new level. , the conquest of wild lands has also entered a new stage—at least, as the core territories of later generations Uruguay and Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul, the land of about 45 square kilometers has been developed to the extent that more than half of it has been completed. The land is still vast and sparsely populated, but at least there will be no dilemma of not even having a village for tens of kilometers in a row.

Such a large-scale development operation will naturally generate a large demand for building materials.Since the construction of the branch line of the Northwest Railway (about 125 kilometers) from Fu'an Township to Xintang Port is slow, and it is still far away from opening to traffic, the construction materials in Daxing County can only be transported by horse-drawn carriage to the upper reaches of Daxing Waterfall, and then transported by boat to Wujiang River. The logistics costs in the upstream villages and towns are quite high, so Dongan Building Materials Company has planned to set up a county branch in Shancha County and Zhangwu County to specialize in the production of bricks, lime, cement, yellow sand and other building materials to support the construction of various places ——Of course, before the official operation of these branches, the building materials demand of these new settlements can only be met by Daxing County. Zhu Heng and others have taken advantage of such a shareholder wind, so the business is quite good .

"This year, we have sold more than 800 yuan, but the production cost is a bit high, and the number of workers fluctuates too much, which greatly affects the production." Seeing that Master Zhu is in a good mood, Zhu Chengzhong, who is in charge of the daily operation of the marble yard, said cautiously : "Father, let's recruit more manpower. The 77 Italian laborers in the field are really not enough. Quarrying and grinding will consume a huge amount of manpower. In fact, we can only produce a few months a year now. Nearby Most of the farmers come to do part-time jobs only when they have free time, and the production efficiency has never been improved. When there are many, hundreds of people can come to work, and when there are few, this is less than a hundred. No production plan can be arranged, only some I only sell batches of materials, and I dare not even take long-term orders, because I don’t know how many people will come to work next month. This matter must be resolved, father, otherwise I don’t think this marble yard will be big. It can only be a small fight."

Zhu Heng sighed heavily when he heard the words, how could he not know about this problem, but the problem is that despite the fact that there are now more than 150 million people in the whole country, and the population of two big prefectures in Daming, but who let them be distributed in a wide area? ?Even in the relatively densely populated Wujiang area, this manpower is not abundant. A large number of people are engaged in agriculture, have food and drink, and only come out to do odd jobs to earn some cash in their spare time. I want to turn them into quarries. Long-term workers, that is a fantasy.

Unless, I can think of a way to annex their land, so that they have no food, no food, no hunger and cold, so they can only obediently come to work in the quarry. By the way, I can take this opportunity to lower their wages, so that the profit will be large.You must know that a considerable part of the current quarry income is used to pay wages, and other expenditures such as business tax, logistics and transportation costs, and local government donations are also quite large. Considering the unstable operating rate, this marble quarry How many years will it take to recoup the investment?ten years?Or 20 years?

However, Master Zhu Heng Zhu also knows that relying on land annexation or land enclosure to artificially create a large amount of miserable low-cost labor is basically unfeasible in today's East China Republic, because it touches the country's land policy and The princes of the court will never agree to the relevant laws.For them, stability is the first priority. Whether they make money or not is actually not that important. As long as the country exists, their status, power and wealth will always exist with the country. They are so short-sighted for economic interests that they make the country turbulent , Shaking their own ruling foundation, they are not that stupid.

It is precisely because of this that after Zhu Heng participated in several Luocha County Political Consultative Conferences, and jointly proposed with other people from the business community to "abolish the red line of land policy" and "expand the supply of the labor market" were rejected, he died completely. This thought.What's more, merchants and capitalists such as Zhu Heng were later spat out by the army system representing the interests of the majority of owner farmers. They publicly wrote an article in the "Minsheng" magazine, accusing the capitalists of wanting to engage in the British enclosure movement Create "super landlords" and turn a large number of peasants into objects of their exploitation and enslavement.

As soon as this kind of argument came out, Zhu Heng and others immediately shouted like rats crossing the street, because many people pointed out that the government does not prevent anyone from building large farms at all. Anyway, there is a lot of wasteland, and the land lease contract is signed for 50 years. The rent is also meaningless, so people are still not satisfied, so do you want to build a large farm or do you want to engage in an enclosure movement to artificially create a large number of poor people?Zhu Heng and others did not dare to bear such accusations, and they were even more afraid of being smacked by the army, so they could only behave with their tails between their legs and kept a low profile for a long time before they got over the limelight.

Therefore, after his son raised the issue of insufficient manpower, he could only sigh repeatedly and had no other choice.Yes, apart from continuously introducing foreign laborers, what else can we do?Probably this is what the government wants them to do, that is, let them find their own way to introduce labor, instead of always trying to compete with the government for human resources. Now the private financial resources are relatively abundant, and ocean transportation has gradually started. Compared with the state-run ones, they are not worth mentioning), and they already have a certain ability to introduce immigrants independently, not to mention that they have three major labor brokers to help.

However, the initial investment is always very high when you spend your own money to introduce migrant workers. Many people are not willing to pay this money, because migrant workers can obtain legal status as long as they have worked in the East Coast for five years. This is the "Homestead Law" "The natural rights endowed to them, so the cost performance is really not high.But there is no other way, and it can only be like this!At least, during the five years of employment, they can be severely squeezed. Even if they are only paid two or three yuan a month, as long as they cover food and housing, the laborers are basically satisfied. Five years is enough time for them to extract a profit of one or two hundred yuan from each person, which is not considered a loss.

"Next month you go to Puerto Iguazu and find Goshkin, this guy is very well connected in Russia, he provides laborers with the lowest wages, the hardest work, and less complaints. Just give them enough bad wine , they can work for you until dawn, which is much better than the Italian guys in the quarry today." After thinking for a while, Zhu Heng made up his mind and said: "The business scale of the marble quarry must be expanded. This business is in the local area, it can be seen and felt, and it is safer and safer than the sisal plantation in the plague-stricken place of Xinhua Island, and it can be passed on to you in the future, so you should pay more attention to it."

"Moreover, after the branch line of the Northwest Railway is directly connected to Xintang Port, this water and land transfer terminal will become more and more prosperous. This popular one will make it easy to do any business." Master Zhu continued: "The other thing is righteousness. Changxian County and Zhangwu County are two markets that are close at hand. You have to keep an eye on them. There are so many business opportunities here. Moreover, it seems that the courts are very determined to reclaim the Hejian area. This Wujiang River The new settlements on both sides of the strait are proof. When the population is abundant, it will be a matter of time to establish a county system. We must manage this market well in advance, so we can’t be careless. As far as I know, there are already a few old men We also want to come here to invest and set up a quarry to grab business, we can’t be defeated by them, so what’s the face of continuing to go on here.”

"By the way, I heard that the Political Consultative Conference of Daxing County is scheduled to be held once a year. Representatives are recommended by all walks of life. In addition, the counties and townships also have a certain number of designated places. Who are the building materials industry associations? Have you figured it out?" Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu seemed to have thought of something, and explained with a serious face: "Although our marble yard has only been in operation for more than a year, the scale is not small. The local building materials guild in Daxing County bullied you as a foreigner. It is normal not to give you a representative quota, but can’t you fight for it by yourself? Don’t stay in the quarry all the time, go to the county guild more often. Bye bye to the wharf, so that people will think of you when something good happens next time, such as the number of representatives of the Political Consultative Conference, you should think about it yourself. Being a representative of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference can make a contribution to the government's decision-making It is suggested that its influence should not be underestimated, even if you want subsidies, loans, and policies, you will have an advantage over others, so fools don’t fight for it, understand?”

"Father, I understand." Zhu Chengzhong replied with some shame.Speaking of which, he had just returned from Xinhua Island not long ago, and subconsciously he really didn’t think much of the Political Consultative Conference, especially after seeing representatives of “lowly occupations” such as clay legs, craftsmen, coolies, etc., joined him. I look down upon it, and feel that such a meeting is really a farce, and it is better to stay in the quarry and catch more production.It's just that now hearing his father solemnly requesting himself to go to the event to get a seat as a representative of the Daxing County Political Consultative Conference, he suddenly felt that this was a bit unusual, so he nodded and agreed, and decided that if there is a chance, it will be held this year. He will also attend the meeting at the end of the year or early next year to see what it looks like.

(End of this chapter)