Chapter 3 Chapter two

Qin Zhenyu sat down on the big swivel chair with great momentum.Yes, very comfortable, the springs of the seat cushion performed their functions well, supporting a body weighing more than 180 pounds tremblingly.The leather upholstery on the armrests and backrest of the chair is still brand new, exuding a faint smell unique to leather products.He twisted his fat body, and the chair turned ninety degrees, smoothly, naturally, without sound.Very well, the swivel chair of the general manager of Zhenya Company seems to be specially designed for him. Leaning his shiny head back on the chair, a slight smile hung on the corner of his broad mouth, smoking a thick cigar, and said relaxedly and lazily: "Let's talk, Zi Feijian, you can start!"

The mine manager, Prince Fei, was sitting at the opposite desk smoking a cigarette, his face with high cheekbones was covered with deep tiredness, his pair of deep eyes lost some luster, and his heavy eyelids always wanted to close together.Even if it is a sedan chair, it is still hard enough.The potholed road barely knocked his bones apart.He rubbed his temples, pulled himself together and said: "General manager, the land subsidence problem must be solved! In the past three days, my brother has inspected the land subsidence near the mining area. He has heard and seen many things, and he feels the crisis is serious."

Wang Zifei casually opened the green silk curtain on the front wall, and a general map of the mining area appeared in front of Qin Zhenzi.At the top of the general map, the words Zhenya Company are still marked. "Before Zhenya closed down, some of the unexpropriated land showed signs of subsidence, and the large areas of old ruins that were left over the years were about to fall. However, our company did not notice this serious fact when it took over. Zhenya’s losses have been suffered by others. At that time, Zhenya was eager to sell the mines, which was one of the important reasons. After taking over, Zhenya left only three coal mines, one of which was located at the wrong place. The coalfield is far away. It took our company three months to open up Shimen, and mining the small lake coal seam caused a new large-scale collapse. At present, the total collapse area has reached more than 3,000 mu. However, the local declaration is far from our actual measurement. "

"How much is the local declaration?" "Five thousand eight hundred acres!" "Absurd! Absurd! Absurd to the extreme!" Qin Zhenyu stood up, turned the swivel chair casually, threw half of the cigarette butt on the ground, and stomped it out viciously.Shaking his inflexible fat body, he paced up and down between the desk and the filing cabinet. "This gang of stubborn gentry deliberately hit us! They treat us like a piece of fat without an owner, and they want to pounce on us and bite us hard!" "Yes! General manager! This is exactly what my brother wants to discuss with you. Our company will take over Zhenya for one year and three months, with an initial investment of 600,000 yuan, and an additional 300,000 yuan from the board of directors a year ago, which has been maintained until now. , it basically reached the balance of income and expenditure. Right now, the three coal wells are officially producing coal, with a daily output of 1,300 tons. This is the time when the market is bullish. We must not stir up civil uprisings over the subsidence of the land and ruin our plan to run the mine. .”

Qin Zhenzi stopped in front of the desk, and stared at Wang Zifei with his chin in his hand, his eyes full of expectation: "what do you mean--" "Make up your mind to solve the problem of land subsidence immediately!" Wang Zifei said confidently, "If you want to run the mine safely, there is no other way than doing this." "I know this! The problem is to be solved according to whose plan. According to our measured land and compensation plan, they will definitely not agree. But according to their declared land figures and requirements, we are tantamount to being blackmailed , Robbed! In addition, you also know that even if we pay compensation according to our plan, the company's financial resources are almost unbearable!"

Wang Zifei smiled lightly: "Of course we will solve it according to our plan. If the financial resources are unbearable, we must bear it. , in order to pass them and quell the anger of the people everywhere. In the countryside, their words are more useful than yours and mine, and Yin Wenshan, Qingquan County, also needs to be dealt with!" Qin Zhenyu thought for a while, then frowned: "That's the only way!" "As far as I know, the most powerful person in Qingquan County is Mr. Liu Shujie and Liu San. This person had hung the double thousand hectare card in the late Qing Dynasty. He is now the head of Dongda Township. Although he is not a big official, he has a high prestige The general manager probably knows that in Qingquan County, the Liu family is a big family, known as Liu Ban County, and the Liu surname accounts for almost half of the villagers in the county. When Zhenya opened the mine, he paid a lot of money to hire Mr. Liu San as a local consultant, and we..."

"Yes! Yes!" Qin Zhenyu interrupted Wang Zifei, "We should spend some money on these guys." He changed the subject, "But we are just starting out, and every dollar is hard-earned , we can’t afford it, and we can’t! Our directors have a voracious appetite for coal; when they pick up money, their hands tremble in their pockets, alas! . . . " In recent months, Qin Zhenyu has been very irritable.The arrogance, arrogance, and self-confidence when I first came to the mining area were mostly taken away by the violent impact of harsh reality.His heart sank and became cold step by step, and he even felt a little cheated - he himself invested 200,000 yuan in this unfortunate company!This is almost all of his savings in the first half of his life.

As soon as he set foot on this land, his heart was as lofty and open as the blue sky after the rain, as if the whole world was set up for his existence.The first time he set foot on the manager's building built by Zhenya, he secretly said to himself that he would conquer this land and use it as the initial cornerstone to build a business building.He chose Wang Zifei to be the mine manager.Wang Zifei had been the chief mine engineer when he was in Zhenya, and had rich management experience. He made an exception to retain him, and drove the mine manager sent by the board of directors back to Shanghai.The prince was unnaturally grateful, and acted more seriously and responsibly.It was under his suggestion that the company rectified immediately after taking over, reducing the complicated organization and a lot of unnecessary expenses, and implementing the contract system in management.In the past, the mine side directly managed the production labor, and changed it to the management of each contract cabinet.A powerful and prestigious person contracts the excavation of a roadway or the mining of a coal seam. The mine only recognizes one person to speak, which not only slows down the direct conflict between the employer and the laborer, but also saves energy and time, and the production efficiency is greatly improved. increased.All these made Qin Zhenyu satisfied.

However, Qin Zhenyu was very disgusted with using a sum of money to pay the local tyrants and evil gentry.Wang Zifei mentioned it several times, but Qin Zhenyu politely declined.Based on his years of experience as a comprador, such expenditures are pure waste.In German, Japanese, and British companies, he rarely encountered local troubles.Unexpectedly, when he came to run the mine, things were not so simple. It now appears that the prince was right. Qin Zhenyu sank down on the swivel chair, let out a long sigh, and lit another cigar. "Brother Zifei, let's do the math now! To buy or compensate for the collapsed land, based on our actual measurement of 3,000 mu, eight yuan per mu will cost more than 25,000 yuan. Thousands. In addition, the purchase and renewal of mine equipment will cost even more. But we only have more than 20,000 yuan on hand, and the profit from coal sales is 19,000 yuan. The total is about 40,000 yuan. If this continues, The company just shuts down."

Wang Zifei said: "This is only one side of the story. On the other hand, the coal price is bullish, and the southern coal is hard to reach Shanghai. As long as our underground coal can be mined and transported, the economic situation will turn around by the end of the year. That's it. The general manager can rest assured." Qin Zhenyu nodded, approved of Wang Zifei's analysis, and then said anxiously: "But we can't use up the 40,000 at once. Based on my brother's experience, running a mine is definitely not trading stocks. You can buy short and sell short. Without money, it is difficult to cope with unexpected changes."

The prince smiled and didn't answer, got up and pushed open the window beside him, took a deep breath, seemed to be talking to himself, and also seemed to say to Qin Zhenyu: "Long drought and no rain, this year's summer harvest may be hopeless! General Manager , what do you say?" Qin Zhenyu looked at Wang Zifei suspiciously: "What do you mean by that?" Wang Zifei avoided it with a smile, and did not answer, but instead said: "In the fifth year of the Republic of China, Zhenya's coal road transportation was blocked, and money was tight. There was no resistance." "What's the reason?" "It's very simple. That year, the locust plague and floods caused the countryside to have no crops. The people in the four villages were unwilling to die of hunger, and they would rather tolerate the harshness of the mine!" "Okay!" Qin Zhenyu jumped up, "I understand what you mean. During this famine, temporarily lower the wages of the kiln workers and extend the working hours appropriately in order to survive the crisis! Profit, good!" After pondering for a while, Wang Zifei said again: "This matter can be carried out by the cabinets. We only need to reduce the labor costs of the contract cabinets. In addition, we have to think about the commotion that may be caused." "Don't care so much!" Qin Zhenyu waved his hand and came to a conclusion, "This matter is settled! In the afternoon, you will come up with a draft with all parties. In addition, prepare for me. I will visit Liu in person in the near future. Mr. Three." "Also!" Wang Zifei responded and was about to leave, but Qin Zhenyu pulled him back affectionately: "Brother Zifei, the production of the mine must be stepped up, and the coal output must increase. Kaiping has cut off most of the coal supply to all shareholders. , the shareholders can’t wait to turn me into coal and fill it into the furnace. I receive two or three telegrams to urge the coal every day, there is no way! You work hard, and after the immediate crisis is over, I will suggest that the board of directors increase your salary! " After Wang Zifei left, he stopped in front of the bright window.This manager's office is located on the third and highest floor of the manager's building.This building is the tallest building in Qingquan County so far, and it once carried another entrepreneur's dream of making a fortune.Now, on the ruins of the old dream, Qin Zhenyu is brewing his own new dream.Looking at the clear sky outside the window, he fell into a wild reverie. ... Under the vast sky are several gray derricks, and the cast-iron sky wheel on the ceiling of the derricks is rotating rapidly, accompanied by the rhythmic roar of the winch.The gangue transported from the ground has piled up as majestic as a mountain.The crooked car squirmed up and down, looking from a distance like a crawling beetle.It is this ancient and poor land that the derricks and gangue hills take root.Qin Zhenyu thought of the Bible, Christ and God for no reason.He doesn't believe in religion, but he knows Christ and God from foreigners.He felt that the land in front of him was like a piece of mud left over from God's creation of the human world. Yet this slime encases black treasure, and here is coal everywhere!To dig out all these coals at the same time in one morning is enough to rearrange the industrial order of half of China. It's well worth the effort. He wants to fight this land, he wants to be the real master of this land, he wants to forge a brand new sun for the stagnant Chinese national industry... However, after a moment of self-expansion, Qin Zhenyu returned to the reality in front of him. He sat down on the swivel chair again, and casually flipped through the newspaper that had just arrived.This place is far away from the city, the news is blocked, and the only way to understand the situation of the outside world is to read the newspaper.The "Times", "Shenbao" and "Minguo Daily" published in Beijing and Shanghai are often more than ten days late, and the news is always old news, and these old news always make people very depressed.The government is incompetent, the foreign powers are domineering, and the turmoil caused by the Paris Peace Conference will continue for a long time.Every newspaper I read has reports of strikes, school strikes, market strikes, petitions, and demonstrations.The government of Xu Shichang in Beijing made repeated orders and repeated orders to develop the economy and advocated that Chinese people run mines; secretly intrigued and fought for power and profit, so that there was not much actual success in starting a business.The military government in Guangzhou also encouraged the warlords to go east and west. Sun Yat-sen was so angry that he telegraphed the Senate and House of Representatives twice, vowing to resign as the president of the military government.It is really difficult to predict the future of the country, and it is really difficult to run a mine in this atmosphere. The situation across the country is getting worse.Opening the "Declaration", a striking headline burst into Qin Zhenzi's eyes like a bomb: "The Tianjin Student Union called the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Beijing government and said: 'Shandong is negotiating with the cabinet. It is hoped that it will be carried out to the end. It must not be passed. This association will support it.' The Ministry of Internal Affairs criticized it with the word 'arrogant'." The front pages of several other newspapers were almost all reports of strikes and school strikes: more than 4,000 workers at Sanxin Spinning Mill in Shanghai went on strike; rope workers in Nanbei City in Shanghai went on strike; students in Tianjin collectively went on strike; , Called the Beijing government, accused Zhang Jingyao of ten crimes, "forced the President (Jun Yuan) to quickly remove Zhang Jingyao, the Governor of Hunan, and investigate and deal with it, with the lives of all people",... Qin Zhenyu shook his head, put down the newspaper disheartened, and accidentally saw a message in the upper left corner of the second page of "Times": "Qufu quick telegram from our newspaper: Kong Decheng, the seventy-seventh generation grandson of Confucius, was born, and President Xu personally sent a congratulatory message." So boring!Qin Zhenyu suddenly felt a bit of resentment towards the President Xu who was sitting in Beijing: the country's affairs are difficult, the government orders are inconsistent, the people are angry, and this big president actually cares about such nosy things! He swept the newspaper off the table with a wave of his hand, took out a brush from the pen holder, and began to draft a reply to the Shanghai board of directors.He wants to tell the directors that Qin is not just for nothing, Xinghua Coal Mine Co., Ltd. will take off on this land, but he needs money, more money! The company digs meat to mend sores, and cuts labor costs for major cabinets.The major cabinets immediately changed their costs and increased their profits to pass on the crisis to the kiln workers.Wages were reduced from 3.6 cents per worker to 20.8 cents; working hours per worker were raised from ten hours to twelve hours.Complaints arose among the kiln workers.However, this is a slack season for farming, and the spring famine has already begun to emerge. The countryside is green and yellow, and the number of people going to the kiln continues to increase.The company thought it had a plan, but unexpectedly, the danger was already lurking in the silence...