The Nanyang Navy immediately became lively with Liu Hai's appointment, and the newly appointed six cruiser commanders were naturally happy to be able to sail new cruisers.
The chief officers of the other five old ships were also promoted one level. This time, the Nanyang Navy was generally promoted, and everyone was happy in the end.
With the arrival of the new cruiser, Liu Hai gathered manpower to start sea trials of the new warship.
This cruiser is not ready for combat as soon as it arrives. It needs to go through a long period of running-in.
As for the naval personnel Liu Hai prepared for the six cruisers this time, except for some important positions that were replaced by biochemicals, the other personnel were all raw people. They had just graduated from the Nanyang Naval Academy and were then replaced by biochemicals.
Assigned to a new cruiser.
These people all have some theoretical knowledge, but the practical situation is too poor, so it will take a period of training before the new cruiser can achieve combat effectiveness.
Then the management of the next six new cruisers will suffer, because Liu Hai's requirements are relatively strict, requiring them to form combat effectiveness by the end of 1990.
Therefore, the officers of these cruisers did not dare to lead slowly, and led warships at sea almost every day.
Not to mention, after this hard training, the six cruisers have made very rapid progress, and they will be able to form a formation at sea.
Although the accuracy of bombardment still does not meet Liu Hai's requirements, even at the current level, warships can be sent to the open sea to bluff people.
Liu Hai's Hunan Army and Nanyang Navy can be said to have made comprehensive progress, but there was a big loophole in the Beiyang Navy.
It turns out that the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, the most important shipyard and machinery manufacturing plant in Beiyang, actually went on strike. This was unheard of and unseen in the Qing Dynasty.
After Liu Hai heard about this incident, he quickly sent his spy Xiao Kun to find out what was going on.
This Xiao Kun is indeed the leader of Shanghai Bund. He sent his men to sneak into the homes of workers in Jiangnan Manufacturing Factory. Within a few days, Liu Hai found out the cause and effect.
It turned out that the new general manager Liu Qixiang extended the daily working hours by one hour, which aroused strong opposition from all workers in Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.
Historically, the strike ended with Liu Qixiang being forced to agree to increase his meal allowance, and the workers agreed to resume work.
But now the situation is different. With Liu Hai setting up a factory in Shanghai, although the factory has not yet opened, there are still many workers at Liu Hai's Shanghai Shipyard and Shanghai Gun Bureau construction site, because Liu Hai is not short of money.
Lord, so these workers are treated very well. Not only can they have lunch, but their monthly salary also reaches three oceans.
Don't underestimate these three oceans. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, these three oceans could buy 250 kilograms of rice every month, which was enough for a family to be comfortable and have no worries about food and clothing.
Comparing the salary of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, although some important types of work can reach this level, they are in the minority after all. Most people cannot reach this salary level. In addition, the working hours are long and the labor intensity is high. This makes
The workers at Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau were already dissatisfied, and this time the working hours were increased, they completely exploded.
Liu Qixiang actually had to increase his working hours because he had no choice but to say that the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was rotten to the core.
First, almost all production raw materials were imported, but it is no wonder that they were at that time. Most of the ordnance factories in China adopted this method, because the Qing Dynasty did not have such a large industrial base to supply them with various raw materials.
Second, staff salaries are on the high side. The high wages mentioned here do not mean that the wages of workers at the bottom are high, but that the wages of foreigners and officials employed are high.
Third, the application funds are excessive. Because it is a national enterprise, they do not regard the money as money at all, and they do not care whether they should buy it or not. As long as it is a gift from someone outside, they will accept it.
Fourth, the number of personnel is too large: in addition to the increasing number of foreign consultants, many Chinese officials and employees use their connections to enter and receive salary.
The combination of these circumstances resulted in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Factory. The rifles were of low quality and poor performance (it is said that even the Huai Army led by Li Hongzhang refused to use them), and the production cost was higher than direct purchase.
The situation in shipbuilding is similar. After the first production in 1868, several steamships were built one after another. However, the shipbuilding speed was not fast, and the overall production cost and fuel consumption were high. In the end, it was not as good as buying it directly from foreign countries (the cost of building a ship yourself).
About two ships can be bought from Britain).
However, in the end, in order to develop Westernization and improve the country's industrial manufacturing level, Li Hongzhang gritted his teeth and ordered all firearms and training ships from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau every year to maintain the existence of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.
In addition, there are some or no party members behind this strike, so the last strike lasted longer and was larger in scale, even reaching the point where supervisor Liu Qixiang was unable to clean up the mess.
Finally, I had to report it to Li Hongzhang and told him the reason for the incident.
After Li Hongzhang received the report, he was furious. He had invested a lot of hope in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Factory, but he did not expect that it would end like this.
But Li Hongzhang thought about it again, and now he really has no good way to solve this matter. In the end, he can only telegraph Liu Qixiang and ask him to appropriately increase the wages of workers and reduce other expenses in order to maintain the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.
Operation.
At the same time, through this incident, Li Hongzhang disliked Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau even more. Therefore, from then on, many weapons of the Huai Army were ordered directly from abroad, and the proportion of weapons manufactured by Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau dropped rapidly.
After Xiao Kun reported the cause and effect to Liu Hai, Liu Hai was immediately overjoyed.
What bangs is lacking now is experienced workers.
Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has been established for more than 20 years, and there are many experienced workers in it. If they are recruited under his command, then the Shanghai Shipyard and Shanghai Gun Bureau will be able to operate normally after their establishment.
So Liu Hai immediately ordered Xiao Kun to send his gangsters to visit the workers' homes one by one and promised them that as long as they left the Jiangnan Weaving Factory to work in Liu Hai's Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau and Shanghai Shipyard, their monthly salary would start at 5 oceans.
, and take care of a lunch.
At the beginning, these workers were still a little taboo. After all, the South and the North seemed to be harmonious on the surface, but in fact they were fighting fiercely underneath.
If they abandon Beiyang now and go to work in factories controlled by Nanyang, will they be looked down upon by others? They will be called traitors.
However, despite these worries, workers still have to live and have a large family to support.
After comparing the treatment of the two manufacturing bureaus, they gradually preferred Liu Hai's Shanghai manufacturing plant.
In addition, these little gangsters keep beating the drum, saying that both factories are enterprises of the imperial court, so there is no difference between you and me.
So one or two people came to Liu Hai with the intention of giving it a try. As a result, they paid wages that month, and Liu Hai did not break his promise. Although the Shanghai Gun Factory had not yet started construction, he still paid the full amount of 5 yuan.
This caused a sensation among the workers in Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, so more than 100 workers voted for Liu Hai that month.
In this way, Liu Hai hired more than 1,000 workers from Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau in three or four months.
At the beginning, Liu Qixiang, the supervisor of the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau, did not take the exodus of workers seriously. However, as time went by, more and more workers left, and it eventually reached the point where many factories could not operate.
Only then did Liu Qixiang realize the seriousness of the matter. If it continued like this, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau would stop doing anything and just disband.
So after Liu Qixiang sent someone to find out the whereabouts of the fleeing workers, he immediately took his men and went straight to Liu Hai's admiral's office, hoping to get an explanation from him.
Liu Hai had already been psychologically prepared for Liu Qixiang to come, so when he heard that Liu Qixiang was outside asking for a meeting, he didn't panic at all and directly ordered someone to bring Liu Qixiang to the living room.
Finally, Liu Hai changed into an official uniform, and then naturally came into the living room.
Liu Qixiang originally approached Liu Haixingshi aggressively to question him, but when he saw Liu Hai walking in wearing the topband of a second-grade official, he immediately withered.
Since Liu Hai was wearing official uniform, Liu Qixiang could only stand up and salute Liu Hai according to the rules of the officialdom.
Liu Hai smiled and then said: "There is no need to be polite, Supervisor Liu. Please take a seat quickly."
How could Liu Qixiang dare to sit down? It wasn't until Liu Hai sat on the middle seat that he dared to sit next to him.
Next, Liu Hai asked: "Supervisor Liu, why do you want to come to Nanyang this time?"
Liu Qixiang glanced at Liu Hai carefully, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "I'm afraid your Excellency doesn't know yet, but many workers from our Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau have left for your Nanyang side, so I came to discuss with you, Your Excellency, please transfer these workers
Send it back so that our Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau can start work smoothly."
After hearing this, Liu Hai seemed to be very surprised and said: "I have never heard of this matter. My subordinates only said that they recruited some people, but they didn't expect that they were from Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau."
Liu Qixiang looked at Liu Hai's pretentious look and felt angry in his heart. Without you, the admiral, to speak out, would those people under you dare to come to our Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to rob people?
But he couldn't say such words, so he could only stand aside and kept asking Liu Hai to show his respect.
Liu Hai thought for a moment, and then said helplessly: "Brother Liu, I want to help you with this matter, but these are all workers who came to Nanyang voluntarily. I can't kidnap them back to your Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. I think this
Let’s end the matter here. From now on, when we enter Nanyang, I will carefully check his origin, and I won’t want you people from Beiyang anymore.”
After hearing this, Liu Qixiang had veins popping on his head. In the end, he reluctantly left Liu Hai's Nanyang Navy Yamen, thinking of going back and reporting the matter to Li Hongzhang, so that Li Hongzhang could get up and negotiate with Liu Hai.