In the western suburbs of Pingyang County, a house with an area of about 70 acres stands. The house belongs to Lin Yaxiang. The rockeries, pavilions, lotus ponds, flower beds, fruit trees and some rare birds and animals in South America are all displayed in the house.
Lin Yaxiang ordered people to collect them from all over the country.
Pavilions and pavilions are intertwined with each other, and the scenery inside is different. In an ordinary small county town in the northern part of the La Plata Plain, there is a residential building complex that is as prosperous as the royal palace.
Three days later, the owner of the manor was about to marry his fifth concubine. The servants in the house were busy and busy, decorating every furnishing in the courtyard in a hurry to avoid anything that was not done well and would upset the owner of the manor.
"Master, the invitations have been sent out. County Magistrate Chen, Master Li, Captain Zhou and Governor Wu of the county town have all received the invitations."
In the backyard garden of the manor, the steward stood aside and said respectfully, "According to the master's instructions, a total of 278 invitations were sent out from inside and outside Qingyang County, including more than a dozen foreign owners who had business dealings with Yixing Company.
Because the governor is busy with immigration and resettlement affairs, he cannot attend the master's happy event on time. All other gentlemen and masters have said that they will rush to Pingyang County in person to congratulate the master."
"That's all. The governor was worried that attending Lin's wedding would be too conspicuous and cause gossip and criticism, so he found an excuse to shirk his refusal."
Lin Yaxiang thought a little and tried to understand the reason for the governor's tactful refusal. He didn't take it seriously at the moment and continued, "Although Governor Wu could not come to attend Mr. Lin's wedding, the etiquette of our Yixing company cannot
No more, Steward Lin. In three days, when the representatives sent by Governor Wu arrive in Pingyang, you will personally deliver the prepared return gift to Governor Wu. You must keep this matter in mind and not forget it."
"Everything will be done according to the master's instructions. I will keep it in mind as to what gift each guest should give in return. There will be no deviation."
"Okay, now that we've settled the matter of marrying the fifth concubine, I will definitely receive your reward, sir."
"Working for the master, I am so happy that I dare not covet the reward from the master."
"Okay, for your benefit, you can go down first. Master, I have other things to be busy with."
Lin Yaxiang waved his hand and sent his butler away, then summoned several shopkeepers from Yixing Company.
"How has the company been doing in the past few days since I returned to Pingyang County? Have the workers caused any trouble?"
"Everything is normal in the plantation. The workers are all looking forward to finishing their two-year work so that they can obtain a formal residence permit. Everyone is doing their job honestly and no one dares to cause trouble."
"Last year, seventeen workers died in the plantation due to dysentery and mosquito bites. The county and state sent two groups of people to investigate. You all should be careful this year and don't cause another accident that kills more than ten people. Otherwise,
If the news spreads out of Yunzhou, more troubles will arise."
Lin Yaxiang's fat body sat on the chair, and the fat on his face trembled as he spoke, "I would like to remind you that there are many young and strong men who have escaped from the mainland. A basket of steamed buns can change a life, and their
Life is not valuable. It doesn’t matter if a dozen or twenty workers die, but please remember, South America is different from Nanyang. I don’t care about the immigrants on their voyage from the mainland to Nanyang and from Nanyang to South America.
How many people have died? In South America, our Yixing Company can’t have more than a hundred workers die every year due to accidents. No matter what method you use, you must control the number of worker deaths. If you can’t do it, I don’t mind restarting it.
Arrange for others to take your place."
The government has repeatedly investigated the casualties of workers at Yixing Company. Although nothing was done in the end, it also made Lin Yaxiang a little vigilant. A big tree attracts trouble. In the process of development and growth of Yixing Company, it has offended many competitors. Now it is run by the government on its own.
The relationship is safe and sound, but there is no guarantee that problems will not arise in the future. Therefore, Lin Yaxiang also has a coping method in mind and is ready to make some adjustments to Yixing Company in advance.
"Proprietor, you know the environment of the plantations. The plantations under the name of Yixing Company are all located in the north of Yunzhou, near the tributaries of the Paraná River. The climate in those places is extremely hot, and there are forests one after another, and there is no trace under the forest.
Feng, let alone the ordinary workers who stay under the forest to open up wasteland and farm for a year or two, even if the strong soldiers of the imperial court stay down there for a month, there is no guarantee that they will not contract dysentery, fever and other diseases.
The environment in the plantation is too bad. It would be abnormal if a few workers in a plantation do not die every year. My boss, you are compassionate and considerate of those who are suffering. I would like to think that a few workers in the plantation will die less. However, the plantation is now
Even if we want to improve the working conditions for the workers, we can’t do it.”
"Can't do it? How can the state-owned plantations do it? It's not like there are no state-owned plantations in Yunzhou. They are only three hundred miles away from our plantations. The climate is hot and mosquitoes are rampant. The state-owned plantations
There is nothing missing that should be there.”
Lin Yaxiang did not listen to the explanation of the shopkeeper in charge of the plantation business, and directly said in a commanding tone, "The state-owned plantation farms have specialized doctors, hospitals and mechanical facilities dedicated to land reclamation. Their workers only work eight hours a day.
We also conduct disease prevention inspections every month. If we completely follow the state-owned plantation farm model, Yixing Company invests a lot of money in the plantation farm every year, and the income is less than one-fiftieth. What can we do if we only rely on this income?
Can't do it.
I don’t require plantations to be like state-owned plantations and provide workers with complete protection equipment and conditions. However, the most basic prevention of dysentery and mosquito bites must be adequately prepared, and each plantation must have a dedicated doctor.
, specifically responsible for treating workers’ illnesses and injuries.”
"Boss, does the money for purchasing medicines and equipping doctors come from the headquarters of Yixing Company?"
"The money issue is left to each plantation to solve."
"Boss, this is not appropriate. All the proceeds from the plantation have been handed over to the headquarters. How can there be any money left to buy medicines and hire doctors?"
"No money? Not necessarily. Starting two months ago, all steamships under the name of Yixing Shipping Company were replaced by charcoal. Some of the trees cut down in your plantations were sold to timber merchants for building materials and
Furniture and remaining trees can all be burned into charcoal and sold to the shipping company, and the company headquarters did not ask you to hand over the money."
The price of charcoal is only half that of coal. Using charcoal instead of coal to power steamships can save a lot of costs for Yixing Company. However, because charcoal does not burn as fully as coal, and the space in the boiler room of steamships is narrow, it is easier for workers to burn charcoal.
gas poisoning.
When Lin Yaxiang told them the secret of pocketing the profits from selling charcoal, several plantation owners bowed their heads and stopped defending.
It is impossible for one person to monopolize the interests of Yixing Company. Lin Yaxiang took the big part himself, and the shopkeepers and managers below divided the small parts. They knocked on a few plantation shopkeepers. Lin Yaxiang ignored them and turned to ask.
other people.
"There is news from the imperial court that Mr. Hu Yakihu is about to go to Brazil to discuss the armistice with the British and Brazilians. If the two parties reach an agreement, there will be a big explosion in the shipping business in South America, Southeast Asia, mainland China and other places. Your shipping business
The company must prepare in advance.”
"The shipping company is applying for a loan from the bank to purchase an ocean-going merchant ship. More than 20 bosses from Yunzhou Fucheng are also interested in raising funds to invest in the shipping company. The specific investment share quota is being discussed. It is expected that in half a year, the bank's loan and the bosses'
Investments will arrive gradually."
"Half a year is a long time. We should urge banks and other companies that are interested in investing and ask them to try their best to transfer the funds to the name of the shipping company within four months."
"Okay, boss, I'll do it in the next few days."......