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In the eyes of outsiders, Chen Wenqiang has taken over another mess and has to pay for renovations and purchases out of his own pocket.

But from Chen Wenqiang's perspective, it was an extremely successful operation. He not only concentrated the Hubei gun factory on the production and manufacturing of guns and bullets, but also moved the gun factory, gun mounts, shells, casting shells, copper shells, steel and other factories affiliated to the gun factory to Yazhou in the name of opening a branch factory, and also mobilized many technical backbones. These combined completely exceeded his investment, and it could even be said to be a big profit.

He was not satisfied with this, and he used Zhang Zhidong's name to meet with the German consul in Hankou, and continued to fool ** and gain benefits from foreign devils.

"The British rely on the benefits of warships to almost control the Yangtze River, and the Governor is deeply worried about this."

"In recent years, Britain and France have been very dissatisfied with comprehensive cooperation with your country. Not only did they put pressure on the court through diplomatic means, but they also threatened to threaten with warships. If the British succeed, your country's industrial and commercial enterprises' investment in Hunan and Hubei provinces may be affected."

"The Governor is interested in strengthening military equipment, especially artillery, and is preparing to be secretly arranged along the river to ensure the safety of Hunan and Hubei."

"Build a gun and cannon branch in Yazhou and purchase your country's gun-making equipment. Please send engineers to assist you to build heavy artillery secretly, transport them secretly, and arrange them secretly."

"In addition, the imperial court is about to train a new army, and the weapons and equipment have not been determined yet. The British recommended the British Type 77 (Li Enfield Rifle), while the Japanese recommended the 31st-year Type. There are also the Manlisha cavalry of Austria, all of whom want to sell it to our country at a preferential price. However, your country's reaction is slow. Although the Governor favors your country's Mauser, it is very difficult for him to have insufficient funds!"

…………

So much information made Hansen, the consul in Hankou, stunned. He blinked his eyes and thought for a while, as if he had sorted out the context and asked tentatively: "The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau of your country had already imitated the Krupp Guandeng Mountain Cannon last year..."

Hansen stopped his mouth when he was staring at Chen Wenqiang with a strange look. The meaning of his eyes seemed to be "Are you stupid? How could you ask such a childish question?"

"It turns out that this is what the Governor General means, and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has nothing to do with the Governor General. This is the matter of Hunan and Hubei provinces." Hansen suddenly realized, and saw that Chen Wenqiang's expression changed, and he felt that he had grasped the key. "Building heavy artillery and using land to build ships is indeed a good way."

"The main reason is that there is insufficient funds, and it saves money to build than to buy." Chen Wenqiang changed his admirational look and said, "The same is true for guns. The court is paying attention to domestic products. If your country can lend a helping hand and provide help on production equipment, future cooperation will be in Hunan and Hubei provinces, or even the two rivers. It will have broad prospects. At the same time, this also witnesses the sincere friendship between China and Germany. With the training of the new army, equipped with your country's weapons and hiring your country's instructors, your country's influence will grow rapidly. Do you think this is the case?"

"Yes, that's true." Hansen felt that if he disagreed, he would definitely be despised by Chen Wenqiang with his eyes. Moreover, Chen Wenqiang's words seemed to make sense.

"There is no problem in building guns. Mr. Chen has a good relationship with Krupp. You can negotiate directly." Hansen paused for a moment and continued: "Of course, I can call my government to support this matter. I think there should be no difficulty in building guns. I will generate electricity immediately and ask for instructions. I believe there will be good news soon."

"There are mines, torpedo speedboats, and it's better to have submarines." Chen Wenqiang spoke loudly, as if he was about to break up with the UK and fight.

"Be cautious, don't be impulsive." Hansen in turn comforted the indignant Chen Wenqiang, "It's really unwise to fight now. Prepare first and prepare quietly. When the showdown comes, then give the British a sudden blow. Isn't there an old saying in China: a small impatience will cause trouble! Yes, that's it."

"Thank you, thank your government, thank your emperor," Chen Wenqiang stood up and shook hands with Hansen, and his sincere gratitude was beyond words. "I believe that the friendship between China and Germany is unbreakable and will last forever. There is an old saying in China: Friendship lasts forever. Yes, that's it."

Hansen nodded repeatedly, secretly remembering this ancient saying he didn't know.

After saying goodbye to Hansen, Chen Wenqiang went to find the representatives stationed by Krupp and fooled him.

It is still unknown how much benefits you can get and how much money you can save, but you always have to try it. According to the old Chinese saying, "Open your mouth and make a profit, and if you don't give it, you can be worth it."

The resolution to replace the gun has been decided, but Chen Wenqiang did not stop the improvement and production of Hanyang Made. The improvement is naturally a small aspect, with little investment and quick results. Although Hanyang Made has some defects and is not the most advanced, it is still a solid and reliable weapon.

It is a waste to be idle with machinery and equipment. The revolutionary army can be made without Hanyang, and it can be sold to others to make money! For example, the Yue people who were armed by Huang Huatan may have the resistance from various Asian colonies in the future. They can even equip second-line troops to maintain public order in the territory they captured, suppress bandits and stealing, etc.

Time is busy, and after work, Chen Wenqiang also intentionally met and interacted with people from Hubei government officials, especially some talents he thought would be useful in the future. With his ability to explore psychology and Chen Wenqiang's sleek means, he was at ease in the officialdom of Wuhan and made many friends.

In mid-July, after two months of long-distance transportation at sea, the manufacturing equipment of the Mauser 1898 rifle was transported from Germany to Hanyang. Germany had a very favorable condition, and the manufacturing equipment was almost half sold and half given away. However, considering the imitation of other countries, Hubei Guns and Cannon Factory had to pay a patent fee for every rifle produced. The amount of the patent fee was very small, almost symbolic, but these were written in the confidentiality agreement and were not known to outsiders.

Chen Wenqiang also gave corresponding returns, promising that after the establishment of the new army, Hunan and Hubei provinces would hire German instructors, and Guangdong and Jiangsu would do their best to strive for it. At the same time, he finally let go and absorbed German capital to invest in the Guangdong-Hankou Railway Transportation Company. He also included several light rail projects to German-owned enterprises.

The exchange of interests is difficult to measure. Germany believes that the penetration and expansion of its own capital in central China and even its national influence have been greatly developed. Chen Wenqiang feels that he has achieved his goal and the transfer of rights is within an affordable range.

Equipment installation, trial production, guns, bullet samples were manufactured, inspection, commissioning, and reproduction. The intense and continuous work lasted for more than ten days, and the Mauser rifle manufactured passed all inspections. Such a fast speed is due to the continuous improvement of the steel quality of Hanyang Iron Factory and the comprehensive transformation of Hubei Guns and Cannon Factory from personnel, management, to machines.

As long as the scientific production, proper employment, strict management, and clear rules and regulations, factories run by Chinese people can still have a new look and are quite productive. However, most of the factory enterprises that are not scientific and rigorous in management, resulting in inefficiency.

Therefore, the system is the key, from a country to a factory, it is like this. Just like the Qing Dynasty, it was reformed in the later period and new policies were introduced, but the system remained unchanged, and revitalization was a way to look at the moon in the water, which was difficult to succeed.

From the perspective of industrial development, the backward system and management make Chinese factory enterprises lack competitiveness. If the factory owner wants to reduce product costs, he can only use methods such as extending the working hours of workers, increasing the labor intensity, and reducing the wages of workers. The workers have low level of education and technical proficiency. In addition, the management is backward, the system is lacking, and the workers have heavy and inefficient labor. How can they compete with foreign companies whose working hours are also nine or ten hours?

The only advantage is probably the low labor price, but this is obviously not enough to offset various disadvantages.

Despite this, developing labor-intensive industries in China is still an imperative choice. Chen Wenqiang took the lead in adopting assembly line operations and piece-based wages in his factory and enterprises, trying to use this increasingly mechanized work and clear division of labor to gain the advantages of output and cost. On the premise that the number and technical level of workers can ensure quality, he also tried to adopt a shift system to maximize the operation and utilization of the machine.

At the same time, he also hired Siemens' managers to learn Siemens' management methods. For example, introducing some incentive policies and measures, providing some simple medical services, launching a relief fund to provide some help to workers in need, and recruiting a large number of female workers with a salary of only half of male workers...

Speaking of which, these simple and meager measures that made Chen Wenqiang blush and even contained some bad motivations were welcomed and supported by the vast number of workers. This made Chen Wenqiang know what kind of working environment the Chinese working class is generally in, how harshly they are treated, and what kind of poverty more Chinese people are in.

For example, the workers who built railways are engaged in heavy physical labor, and even keep working as much as possible in bad weather. But Chen Wenqiang allows them to eat a full meal, have a tent to rest and sleep, and receive a full salary on time, they are very satisfied, and they are even grateful for drinking hot vegetable soup with oil stars every day. When they find chopped diced meat in the soup bowl that cannot be picked up by chopsticks, they will sincerely sigh that they have met a kind-hearted boss.

Chen Wenqiang often feels ashamed and feels that he is very unscrupulous. Exploitation and exploitation are undoubtedly true, but he is more relaxed than others, but he is definitely not doing his best.

If you don’t make money, you can expand your business, support more workers, break the old system, and destroy more harsh policies than yourself...

Just like "sweeping water to save people", Chen Wenqiang must be hard-working and hypocritical to make a little profit, so that the workers can work harder and accumulate the energy and capital needed to break the heavy sky that enveloped everyone's heads.

The reality is so realistic and cruel, but God gave Chen Wenqiang another opportunity to act as a great charity.

In early 1906, heavy rains fell in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and flooded. The disasters in Changsha and Liuliping were severe, and the people fled everywhere. However, bureaucrats and gentry took the opportunity to raise the price of rice, causing hungry people to carry the road.

Chen Wenqiang did not know that this disaster created good conditions for the Pingliuli Uprising. He only knew that the road construction project was at risk of being hindered, but after careful consideration, he felt that it might not be a good opportunity to accelerate railway construction with a small investment.

"Work-for-relief"! The economic idea that has existed in China since the Han Dynasty. Ancient people also knew that when the wages were at the lowest, many polder fields and water conservancy facilities were built through work-for-relief.

Moreover, the key to the problem is not the real lack of rice, but the hoarding of corrupt officials and bad gentry and raising the price of rice. Therefore, the hungry people are divided into natural disasters and seven out of the past. The fundamental reason is that the government measures are ineffective and has not established a proper mechanism for disaster relief and people to be relieved.

You should know that since the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the saying "Huguang is ripe, the world is full" has appeared, and it has not changed since then. Obviously, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with Hubei and Hunan as the center has replaced Su Chang and become a base for commercial grain in the country. How can a flood be used up all the official stocks of grain?

The data obtained from Zhang Zhidong also confirmed Chen Wenqiang's judgment that the rice and grain are still sufficient, and even the neighboring provinces still follow the past, going to Hunan and Hubei to purchase grain to make up for the shortcomings of the province. Zhang Zhidong's analysis was that someone incited the victims of disasters, and the hoarding of evil gentry was also one of the reasons. Hunan Governor Cen Chunli submitted a report saying that Changsha gentry Ye Dehui and others "accumulated more than 10,000 stones and refused to sell them at a reduced price, which was really unkind." There were also stubborn gentlemen Kong Xianjiao, Yang Gong and others proposed to stop building railways, running schools, and setting up police new policies, and that they were willing to cooperate.

"Ye Dehui is Wang Xianqian's disciple?" Chen Wenqiang originally wanted to borrow or buy grain from the official warehouse granary, using the method of using labor-for-relief, that is, just paying for food and giving less money, collecting road construction troops, and speeding up the construction of railways. But now, he realized that there might be a conspiracy against him and railway construction.

"Yes!" Gu Hongming nodded and reminded: "With the conditions of the tenacious gentry, I think this is likely to be a counterattack. Just imagine, there are no less than 20,000 victims who have poured into Changsha. If they are really incited, they are really worried."

Chen Wenqiang thought for a while, looked at Zhang Zhidong and said, "I want to borrow grain from the official treasury and transport it to Changsha, so that I can not only calm down possible unrest, but also use the method of labor-for-relief to speed up railway construction. What do you think?"

"There is no problem with borrowing grain." Zhang Zhidong pondered for a moment and said with concern: "The people who are worried about secretly making trouble may not be these evil gentry. If there is a slander and accomplice, it will be very troublesome. Of course, you can go there, bring more patrol police to ensure that the provincial capital is fine. By the way, are you going south to Guangdong to take over the railway company and inspect the railway company along the way and pass by Changsha?"

"It was originally planned like this." Chen Wenqiang said: "But the personnel I sent to Guangdong Railway Company just came to report and took over very smoothly. Things are not very urgent anymore. It is okay for Xiaguan to go south by land or by water to Guangzhou. In this way, Xiaguan can stay in Changsha for more time."

"Depending on the current situation, it should be safer to go on the water." Zhang Zhidong first made a suggestion with concern, and then agreed to Chen Wenqiang's request to borrow grain to Changsha.
Chapter completed!