The world outside the door is not only cold, but also white.
In the past two days, the heavy snow seems to have never stopped. Only the coal piles near the railway are black, and the other places are covered with a layer of white snow.
In the white snow, there are still some black miners working there. Their faces and bodies are black, black coal, black skin, black... only the snow is white.
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Standing under the corridor, Zhao Qihang smoked silently.
He shook his head and regained his confusion.
"You must concentrate on your work."
While talking to himself like this, he thought about how lucky he was to get this job. Although he only had a high school diploma, he still found a decent job here. The income was even higher than that of similar people in the local area.
Work.
Of course, what is even more fortunate is that she is also here, and...
Why are you thinking about things you shouldn't be thinking about again!
She is your sister, how can you think so wildly?
Cursing himself secretly in his heart, Zhao Qihang cast his gaze into the distance.
Looking at the workers in the mine who were as busy as ants, an idea came to Zhao Qihang's mind.
"Although these indentured laborers seem to be very cheap, there should be room for further reduction of costs..."
After this thought came to his mind, Zhao Qihang was out of control, and a series of thoughts began to appear in his mind.
Everyone has something he is good at.
Perhaps Zhao Qihang did not go to college or junior college, but in some aspects, such as the full utilization of manpower and the full play of labor efficiency, he has extraordinary talents.
In the following days, Zhao Qihang has been conducting his management experiments at the Moyuhe Coal Mine, splitting the workers according to their physical fitness. Strong workers can receive additional supplies, while the old, weak, sick and disabled can only receive basic rations.
, Correspondingly, he also established a reward and punishment system. Workers who can complete the labor quota can get better quality food and clothing. As for those who fail to complete the labor quota, the food supply will naturally be reduced. In order to obtain more food and clothing
, workers can only work hard in exchange for more food.
The positive reminder greatly improved the production efficiency of the coal mine, so that in the next few years, the Moyuhe Coal Mine became the star of the Northern Mining Company, and Zhao Qihang's "scientific management" was also used in many northern mining areas and African colonies.
The place has been fully utilized.
Of course, his "scientific management" will definitely not be implemented locally. After all... this is scientific management aimed at cheap labor such as indentured labor.
For the Ming Dynasty, the cheap labor force from the colonies was extremely important for the development of minerals in the Northern Territory. Under scientific management, they mined hundreds of millions of tons of minerals in the mines in the Northern Territory that were isolated from the outside world.
Coal and other various ores.
To a certain extent, it was they who laid the foundation for the rise of the northern territories of the Ming Dynasty.
Although these laborers began to be sent back to Africa a few years later due to the large influx of immigrants, they still participated in the construction of Africa. In the following ten years, Ming Dynasty built many cities in Africa.
Railways, mines, and hydropower stations have all left their shadows.
However, these are just afterthoughts.
But right now, it is coal from the North Sea that has injected sufficient impetus into Daming's industrial development.
After all, this is an age of coal and iron.
Only countries with coal and iron will have a future.
However, for the Ming Dynasty, both coal and iron came from overseas. There was neither enough coal nor enough iron in the country. This was almost the biggest flaw of the Ming Dynasty.
It was not only Ming himself who noticed this flaw. Americans, who regarded Ming as their biggest potential enemy, also noticed this.
At least some people have noticed that as a naval officer, Alfred Thayer Mahan should be grateful to the Ming Dynasty to some extent, because in the past few years, under the pressure of the Ming Dynasty, the United States began to
Their navy expanded, and in just five years they built two battleships, three armored cruisers, and six iron-hulled cruisers.
It was the threat of the Ming Dynasty that made the U.S. Navy start their arms expansion more than ten years in advance. In the history of another world, it was not until 1883 that the U.S. Navy built three steel armored cruisers. That was after the Civil War.
The U.S. Navy builds warships for the first time.
During that process, countless naval officers lost their jobs. Many officers faced unemployment after graduating from military academies. The only good thing is that the United States has a huge merchant fleet, which can accommodate a large number of naval officers. At this time, the Navy
The expansion allowed many naval officers to continue their military careers. Of course, this did not include Mahan. After all, he graduated from the Annapolis Naval Academy with second place honors.
As a cruiser captain, Mahan had been serving in the Pacific Fleet for the past two years. It was during those two years that he came into contact with the Ming Dynasty's navy and Ming Dynasty's merchant fleet while sailing at sea.
When he returned to Washington this time, he came to the office of General Grant, the Secretary of War, because after two years of observation, he discovered a new opportunity.
"Lieutenant Colonel, you have 10 minutes!"
Grant sat behind his desk, the former Army Chief of Staff who almost defeated the South in the Civil War. The change in the outcome of the Civil War also profoundly changed his destiny. Originally, in the history of another world, he should have
He was elected President of the United States for two consecutive terms because of his outstanding military achievements, but what about now?
He was just the Secretary of War. But for him personally, this was not a bad thing. After all, he was not a successful president when he was president. Even later generations generally believed that "large-scale corruption was the hallmark of Grant's presidency."
”.
But now, he is just a Secretary of War, doing what he is best at. Now faced with this recklessness, he can come to the Navy Lieutenant Colonel in the morning. As Secretary of War, he did not drive him out of his office.
, but gave him a chance.
"Your Excellency Minister, I only need a minute!"
Facing the time given by General Grant, Mahan said directly.
"I only need to ask three questions. First, will we go to war with the Ming Empire? Second, do we want to win the war after the war begins? Third, how will we win this war!"