The Lord of the World Begins from the Siheyuan

Facing Lou Xiao'e's question, Li Ming slowly explained:

"Raising wages is a good idea, but now that prices are frozen, various enterprises and institutions cannot afford this burden, and they must rely on finance to cover the bottom line."

"The government has no money to begin with. If it had money, it would invest heavily in infrastructure to boost economic growth and create new jobs, and the number of people moving to the countryside could be significantly reduced."

"If you rely on borrowing money to survive, the lessons learned from Ying, Fa, and Mei are right in front of everyone."

"We definitely don't want to follow into this big pit. In order to reduce the fiscal deficit, we have significantly reduced investment this year."

“We don’t even have money for basic investment, let alone raising wages.”

It’s easy to understand, and Lou Xiao’e also understands the difficulties in the mainland, “Hong Kong cities have significantly increased wages in the past six months.”

Li Ming pointed out the difference, "The main purpose of Hong Kong City is to offset the decrease in actual purchasing power caused by currency depreciation, mainly through compensatory wage increases."

Lou Xiao'e lamented: "The economy is too complicated."

Li Ming commented: "Economic activities will interact and react. Otherwise, we can do as you say and directly print money and distribute it for residents to consume."

"This is what Magnesium is doing now. The deficit has been high year after year. If Ouzhou hadn't been in a worse situation, Magnesium would have been doomed long ago."

"Increasing fiscal expenditure through deficit is something we have always opposed."

The group of people who fled to the east coast of the Taiwan Strait were still very strong in fighting the war. They could not hold on for four years. The key reason was that inflation was too high and prices could not be suppressed, so the mainland was very wary of inflation.

Lou Xiao'e asked: "Is export exchange the only way to increase income?"

Li Ming touched his soft little hands and said, "There is an easier way to make money, robbery."

"A man is not rich without windfall, a horse is not fat without night grass, and Ou Mei all made his fortune by robbing."

"Look at the more than 20 billion I have raised for the Overseas Chinese Daily Bursary Fund this time. They can't get this much money by raising donations on their own and begging grandpa to sue grandma."

Lou Xiao'e's eyes were watery about the great deeds her man had done, "Well! The people in Hong Kong City have already figured it out for you."

“Even if there are 100 million primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong, each student’s monthly tuition is NT$20 and the monthly subsidy is NT$2000 million, which would only amount to HK$9 million for nine months a year.”

"The money you raised for the foundation this time is enough to subsidize all primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong for more than 10 to 20 years."

Li Ming also made a calculation in his mind, "Not to mention the appreciation of real estate properties, the annual rent plus the bank's interest income is enough to cover the annual subsidy expenses."

Lou Xiao'e introduced: "The Bursary Project Office has approached our real estate company and hopes to entrust us to operate the donated properties. I have agreed."

Li Ming suggested: "We can set up a separate team to record the details of income and expenditure clearly and publish them once or twice a year for everyone to supervise."

"I think so."

Lou Xiao'e added: "The news came back from Yingguo. They have arrested all the people who have served as officials in Hong Kong City. They will check the assets in those people's names and compare them with their legal income."

“If there are any problems, the property will be confiscated, and if there are no problems, the people will be released.”

As Li Ming expected, the ultimatum he gave was two things, "What about the search for the 'mysterious man' in Hong Kong City?"

Lou Xiao'e said with a smile: "It has also stopped, but they did not announce it to the outside world, maybe because they are afraid that others will follow suit in the future."

"Haha, I didn't announce it mainly for the sake of face. If we had arrested and removed the people earlier, I wouldn't have had to deal with so many troubles."

"In the morning, the company's subordinates persuaded us to live in the villa in Repulse Bay."

"Because there are too many Yingguo people near Canru Pavilion?"

The stinky man was so admirable that Lou Xiaoe blinked her big eyes like autumn water, "Yes, they all advised us to move in advance so as not to be affected."

"The mainland of Yingguo has made an appropriate response. There should be no problem in the port city. They are not trying to persuade you anymore, right?"

"Ah."

An old couple, Li Ming noticed, "You haven't been feeling well these past two days."

Lou Xiao'e's eyes were as charming as silk, "I still have a mouth."

. . .

Quick mouth and long tongue
. . .

at the same time.

Ham sausage branch in Haidian.

From time to time, noises can be heard not far away.

Because a large number of construction workers were stationed, the security patrol work at the ham sausage branch was greatly reduced.

However, the personnel of the security department of the main factory did not withdraw because many workers were employees of other construction companies, and Section Chief Li was not very confident about those people.

The congratulatory letter from the second captain of the factory asked: "How was it? How was their fight today?"

Luo Xingyou, deputy section chief of the branch, responded: "Look at that location. It may be that tonight, it's hard to see clearly through the telescope."

"See for yourself."

He Xin took the telescope and said, "Adjust it slowly."

To refresh himself, Luo Xun took out his pocket for a cigarette, "That's easy to say. It's at least two kilometers away. If you can see clearly, you'll be damned."

"This telescope is more useful for catching people urinating and urinating in the factory."

He Xin stared at the telescope and adjusted the accuracy in his hand, "Why hasn't the section chief come tonight?"

Luo Xun said casually: "Maybe there are important things to deal with at the main factory!"

"A lot of hidden spies have been caught recently. If important clues are revealed, the section chief will definitely take charge of the investigation work personally."

Nothing could be seen, and the congratulatory letter also put down the telescope, "Li Fangsheng has made a great contribution this time."

Luo Xun politely handed over the cigarette and said, "Thank you for keeping vigil with us at the branch factory. It saved you many opportunities to make meritorious deeds."

He Xin took the cigarette and said, "The work is the same."

"I'm thinking that if the ham sausage branch continues to develop, it will probably have more people than our main factory. It will be unclear who will be the main factory and who will be the branch factory in the future."

Luo Xun was somewhat pleased with himself. "It will soon be a factory with 3500 employees, which is not small in our capital."

The congratulatory letter said casually: "Most people joined the factory at the same time, and everyone has similar qualifications."

"If you want to manage these people well in the future, you need to put more thought into it."

Luo Xun said cheerfully: "Section Chief, he has already thought of it, and the method is very simple."

He Xin smiled and asked: "What can we do?"

"If we hold more labor competitions, those who win more prizes will naturally have higher qualifications."

"That's right. But bonuses are no longer allowed in labor competitions. Maybe many people have no motivation."

Luo Xun attended the branch management meeting, "Certificates of honor can still be issued."

"The section chief has arranged for people to study several sets of limited edition badges and prepare to award them to the winners and teams of the labor competition."

"These carefully crafted badges are certainly better than what you get at the front door."

The front gate is just south of the Chengmen Tower Square. People from all over the world come to the square. It is rare to see so many like-minded people, and they must exchange some souvenirs.

The most meaningful, useful and affordable thing is the badge.

As the demand for badge exchanges increased, a relatively centralized exchange place naturally formed at the front door.

He Xin, who was still working in the first branch factory at that time, also experienced it, "Is this the same method as in 65?"

Luo Xun asked instead, "Just tell me whether this method is useful or not!" The congratulatory letter affirmatively said, "It should be useful."

"Although there are many kinds of badges on the market now, there are still relatively few complete sets."

"It's a pity that it's inconvenient to work if you wear it too much, so you only have one badge on your chest."

Luo Xun chuckled and said, "The section chief knows that everyone needs to show off."

"The number of red stars will be used to represent the number of wins in the labor competition."

"Factory uniforms are embroidered with three or five little stars, and others will understand them at a glance."

This is what the congratulatory letter did not expect, "If time passes, it will take a long time to count the 10 or 20 little stars on the clothes."

Luo Xun has full confidence in his old boss, "The section chief must have new ideas."

Li Ming was deeply impressed by the QQ upgrade model. He would not disappoint the employees in the factory, and there were many tricks behind it.

There are no bonuses and no punishments. We can only do more to make all employees in the factory more motivated.

You can also clearly distinguish those who are cheating and those who are hardworking.

Without these clear rewards, many honest people will be clumsy and say that they will not win over the slick ones, and they will be more likely to suffer when they are promoted and raise their salary levels later.

Li Ming never liked letting honest people suffer.

And companies that keep letting honest people suffer must be inefficient.

More than 20 days later.

Early in the morning of June 7.

Li Ming went to the ham sausage branch again.

He Xin, the second captain of the factory, looked at the fire in the distance and complained: "It has become more and more noisy in the past few days. Sometimes there is movement in several directions at night."

Li Ming said calmly: "It's like burning firewood, it will slowly burn out after it burns to a certain level."

"Things develop according to objective laws. It should be fine if everyone just sticks to it for a few more days."

Li Fangsheng, the third team leader who accompanied him, asked, "Section Chief, has the vacation you asked for been invalidated?"

Li Ming's words were a little depressed, "Well, I originally asked for 4 days of leave, but there is nothing I can do in such a special situation."

He promised Lou Xiaoe in the middle of last month that he would take her to Australia in July, but he may have to break the promise again.

Li Fangsheng complained on behalf of his section chief: "I really convinced them..."

The congratulatory letter answered: "..."

"As long as they don't offend us, don't worry about the rest. If they dare to offend us, they will never come back."

Li Ming looked around. Several other units not far away had also set up lookout posts. The dusk lights were particularly conspicuous in the dark night.

Li Fangsheng said with a smile: "With you here, section chief, no one dares to be arrogant."

"As soon as you come here, even the mosquitoes nearby will run away."

The congratulatory letter joked: "We can't get rid of the mosquitoes even if we light a 'match rope' or spray pesticides. Once you come, there will be no mosquitoes."

"I have never seen such a bullying mosquito since I was a child."

Li Ming laughed and said: "It's all your credit. First we attracted the mosquitoes nearby and killed them. Of course there will be no mosquitoes when I get here."

Li Fangsheng was fooled again, "So that's it!"

Li Ming warned: "Put on your long-sleeved shirts so you don't get caught in the cold wind."

"At this critical juncture, I will not give you sick leave."

Li Fangsheng put on his shirt obediently, "I don't even have time to do laundry now."

He Xin smiled and said: "You can use the night shift fee to ask someone from the laundry team to wash it for you."

Some family members who were unable to work full-time were organized to do piecework work such as sewing and washing, which they could quit at any time.

Although the amount of money earned is not much, it can more or less subsidize some household expenses.

When the sky is bright.

Li Ming first went back to the Security Department office to catch up on his sleep.

He has a meeting in the morning, so it's not appropriate to doze off in the conference room.

Director Wei, whose legs are still not fully healed, sits in a wheelchair and presides over the study meetings in person.

It is obviously a relatively important document.

. . .

The issuance date is July 7, and it happened to be issued to their steel rolling mill today.

Repeatedly emphasized the content of the notice issued on July 7.

The content has little to do with the stable and peaceful steel rolling mill.

By the way, a meeting was held to emphasize workshop production safety.

After the meeting, it was lunch time, and Li Ming had no energy to invite Chen Guodong to eat with him.

Section Chief Chen Guodong smiled and praised: "You kid quietly held in another loud fart."

Li Ming smiled and asked, "What's going on?"

Section Chief Chen said as he walked: "This year's cotton ration notice."

Li Ming smiled and said, "That's what you said."

"What I suggested at the time was to export less cotton, and the decision from above was to export less cotton cloth. There is a big difference between the two."

Due to insufficient coal production from last year to April this year, there have been difficulties in coal and electricity supply. Textile production has also been affected, and cotton cloth production has dropped significantly.

The annual export value of cotton cloth accounts for about 7% of all exports, and the total proportion of cotton, cotton yarn, silk, woolen fabrics, clothing, etc. exceeds 30%.

Reducing the export of such low-tech products requires decisiveness, because it is not easy to regain the market after it has been given away.

A quilt requires 26 feet of cotton, and a cotton coat requires 34 feet of cotton. In this way, a student going to the countryside needs 60 feet of cotton.

In 68-69, approximately 300 million people would be sent to the countryside, which would equal 1.8 million square feet of cotton cloth. This would be additional new demand.

It seems like a lot, but we have a large population. In 1967, there were 13.6 feet of cotton cloth per capita, and 7.85 million people used 106.76 billion feet of cotton cloth.

1.8 million compared to 106.76 billion, accounting for 1.69%, which is actually not much.

Unfortunately, the reduction in production is too large. More than 30 billion feet of cotton cloth are missing. The country has to tighten its belt and can only reduce the amount of exports.

According to the international market conditions in 1968, 1.8 million feet of cotton cloth was worth US$3550 million.

Frozen pork costs about US$500 per ton, and approximately 7 tons of frozen pork are needed to replace it. In 1967, only more than 9 tons of frozen pork were exported.

Chief Chen is well-informed, "The policy of exporting more pork was your proposal."

"I didn't expect that such a small place in Hong Kong City could eat so much pork. Their life is very good!"

Li Ming explained: "I heard from people at the Livestock Import and Export Company that companies in the port city purchase goods and process them before exporting them."

Section Chief Chen is flexible, "Then we can also process it before exporting it, right?" (End of Chapter)