Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1519 Happiness is a Sweatshop (First update, please subscribe)
Accompanied by a long whistle, the train parked next to the small station, like an old ox, rumbled off with a heavy iron yoke on its back.

South Korea is poor, and it can be seen from this train - the train is an old steam locomotive manufactured by the Shahekou Railway Works of the Manchuria Railway in Dalian, a relic of the colonial period. This type of steam locomotive has been eliminated in many countries, and only a few countries still continue to use it.

However, on the peninsula, old steam locomotives are still in use. It’s not that Koreans don’t want to replace them, but mainly because the US aid is too little and they are too poor.

If you can't afford it, you can only patch it up for three years after three years.

When the train started, the crowded carriage became quiet. Most of the people in the carriage were young people who were going to the city to work. All the villages in South Korea were equally poor. Many young people left the village for the city when they were just 15 or 16 years old. Although they might not be able to find a job, at least they didn't have to eat the limited food at home.

As the train rumbled forward, one village after another passed by the train window.

The sky was still gloomy and there was not a ray of sunshine.

This kind of weather seems to be what Korea should be like - poor and backward.

The same is true for the countryside around Seoul.

Many villages are basically the same as they were a hundred years ago - low thatched houses everywhere.

Brick houses are extremely rare in Korea.

As for those small Western-style buildings that look quite modern, they are hard to find, let alone in the village, even in the town.

In addition to widespread poverty, South Korea also has very low forest coverage.

Many hillsides are bare, with only a few sparsely planted trees and not many plants to be seen.

There is a reason for this. In this era, many ordinary people cannot afford to burn honeycomb coal at home, and high-end burning appliances like liquefied gas are unheard of.

In this situation, many Korean people would go to the mountains to chop firewood, and then use the firewood to cook rice, vegetables and pig food.

Because the growth cycle of firewood is far less than the speed of indiscriminate logging by the people, and the people's consumption of firewood is also very large.

Therefore, the mountains are bare everywhere and overgrown with weeds. However, even the weeds cannot grow for long because in the past two years, the Korean textile industry has begun to develop, and the demand for sheep wool has increased accordingly. Many Koreans have started raising sheep in the countryside and living off the mountains.

People chop wood, sheep eat grass...

It can only be said that poverty is the number one enemy of the ecological environment.

Although the weather was very gloomy, it did not affect the mood of the working men and women on the train at all.

You know, in this era, it is very difficult to find a job. Being able to successfully find a job, even if it is just a job that provides three meals a day, is a very lucky thing.

So, on the train, people were looking forward to the good times when they would arrive in Seoul and be able to eat three meals a day.

However, people's beautiful vision will end with the arrival of the train. After the train stops steadily on the tracks, the platform will immediately be like a pot of boiling water.

Hundreds of people will rush to get on the train.

Those who couldn't squeeze in climbed up through the windows.

Those who couldn’t climb up would shout and scream below, or curse loudly.

Then the train pulled away again.

After the train left, the man sitting on the seat once again said to the girl in front of him:
"Jiamei, don't be afraid. With me here, you will definitely be able to find a job even if it's hard to find one. You just need to stay with me. When we get to Incheon and enter the factory, we can enjoy a comfortable life every day. We can live in the factory dormitory, go to work, and do some work. We have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, three meals a day. If we have to work overtime, we can have four meals a day!

When I get paid and have a holiday, I will go out to see a movie, a SEA movie, and then have a bowl of noodles with mixed sauce. Those days will be as happy as a god..."

The guy boasted, raising his eyebrows.

That expression seemed to describe how beautiful the factory was.

In fact, Koreans don’t care at all about sweatshops or not.

After all, being able to have enough food to eat is a blessing from God.

Li Jiamei was a girl who was traveling far away for the first time. She had never been out of the village before and didn’t know much about sweatshops.

When the man told me about life in the factory, I naturally believed it.

But Li Tienan, who left the village with her, was very cautious. Although he was young, he knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

If the factory was really as good as he said, all Koreans would probably go to the factory. How could they possibly get such a good place?

Therefore, he didn't believe a word of what this guy said. After hearing what he said, he immediately turned his head to the side.

I don't even want to look at this guy.

However, even though he didn't want to watch it, Li Tienan was still careful, fearing that this guy would cheat his cousin away. After all, his cousin was very beautiful.

However, he did not need to be on guard for long. After just over two hours, the train arrived in Seoul. There was no other way. The peninsula was not big, and it would only take a few hours by train.

Like everyone else, Li Tienan and his cousin Li Jiamei, who were visiting Seoul for the first time, were curious about everything around them. As soon as they got out of the station, they looked around curiously. In front of the train station, there were men and women carrying or carrying large and small bags everywhere.

The same is true for other people. Near the train station, there are always people watching these people. If they see a single or two or three young women, a few handsome, fashionable men will walk over, flirt with them a few times, and then seduce the women away. As for where the women will go? It could be a brothel or a dance hall. In short, there are all kinds of possibilities.

However, few people would be interested in Li Tienan's cousins, after all, there were men watching them.

In addition, near the train station, there were some people holding signs and shouting "factory recruiting workers". Often, as soon as the voice fell, a group of people gathered there and asked about the factory, such as income, food, and so on.

Soon, someone was persuaded to join the others on a truck heading to the factory in Incheon.

Incheon has the largest number of factories in South Korea, with hundreds of them. Most of them are investments attracted from overseas in recent years, and they are all toy factories, clothing factories or shoe and hat factories. Among them, the number of factories invested by SEA bosses is the largest.

The factory that Li Tienan and his sister went to was such a factory - and it was introduced by the guy on the train.

Because Li Tienan was going out for the first time, he didn’t know who to trust at all. Fortunately, although the guy named Jin Renchang said that the factory was like heaven, the factory he mentioned did exist, and it was even one of the earliest factories in Incheon.

However, like all factories in Incheon, this garment factory is also a sweatshop - the workers have to work 15 or 6 hours a day, with more than a dozen people crowded in one dormitory.

When the truck was about to enter the factory, Jin Renchang pointed at the factory gate and said:

"Tienan, Jiamei, look, we've arrived at the factory. I didn't lie to you, did I?"

“Is this the factory?”

People stood up and looked at the factory. They had been fooled for a long time and were eager to get into this paradise-like factory to work as soon as possible.

For these people from the countryside, what is heaven? They don't know. Maybe the missionaries have described heaven in various ways, but for these country people, there is only one heaven in the world, that is, a place where they can have enough food to eat. As long as they can have enough food to eat, that place is heaven.

What people were discussing along the way was that in the factory, the factory provides three meals a day, and everyone can eat their fill.

"When we get into the factory, it will be time for lunch, and everyone will be able to eat white rice. If one bowl is not enough, we can have another bowl."

As an old worker in the factory, Jin Renchang showed off there.

"What if I can eat three bowls?"

Li Tienan had some nervousness issues. He had always had a big appetite since he was a child, so he had never been full. When he was 18 years old and serving in the military, he thought he would be able to eat well in the army, but when he arrived in the army, he found that he was not as full as at home.

"Even if you can only eat four bowls, as long as you can eat it, no one will stop you from eating."

Jin Renchang boasted proudly.

“Do you know why everyone wants to go to these foreign-funded factories?

It’s not just because the salary is high, the most important thing is that they really let us have enough food. If one bowl is not enough, we can eat two bowls. If two bowls are not enough, we can eat three bowls. "

Is there such a good thing in the world?

At this moment, Li Tienan was a little uneasy. He didn't believe that such a good thing would happen in the world.

People can actually eat whatever they want.

"Oppa, can we really eat here casually?"

Li Jiamei also found it a little hard to believe it.

"Don't worry. Although working in a factory is hard, you can eat as much as you want."

While speaking, Jin Renchang said with some emotion.

“In fact, I didn’t really believe it in the past, but after coming here, I finally understood what it felt like to be full!”

Eat enough!

Not to mention Jin Renchang, basically, the other people in the car had never had enough to eat in their memory.

When Li Tienan and his sister and more than 20 other workers entered the factory in a recruitment truck with great anticipation, Ma Zhiwei, who was standing by the office window, holding a Mindanao cigar in his mouth, said proudly.

“This is also an opportunity…”

As one of the earliest investors in South Korea, Ma Zhiwei's garment factory has grown from small to large in the past few years, relying on cheap labor. It took only five or six years to develop into a large factory with thousands of workers.

Logically speaking, he should be satisfied.

But just like Ma Zhiwei, who was a middle-level manager in the company back then, was unwilling to live a mediocre life, he is also unwilling to accept the status quo now.

"It will only take three or four years. If you seize the opportunity, the rewards will definitely be very generous..."

Having said this, Ma Zhiwei walked to the desk and flipped through the newspaper on the table again.

The newspaper is from today, and although it is a Korean newspaper, it is not difficult for Ma Zhiwei to read it because the newspaper is full of Chinese characters. In Korea, Chinese characters have long replaced Hangul, both at the official and grassroots levels. The reason is simple: too many Koreans want to work overseas, so they are all working hard to learn Mandarin.

However, Ma Zhiwei didn't care about these things at all. What he cared about was a piece of news in the newspaper. This seemingly insignificant piece of news was published between several large pieces of news. It was not long, only the size of a piece of tofu.

He picked up the newspaper and read it several times. As he watched the news, the idea in his mind became firm.

Ordinary people would just glance at the news and then forget about it, but Ma Zhiwei is not that kind of person.

He is a businessman, and a businessman who is not content with the status quo, and he is very good at seizing opportunities. The news in the evening paper was not very clear. The title was printed in nine-point lead type, and the content said that South Korea planned to build a high-speed highway.

This piece of news may not seem very interesting, but only businessmen know the business opportunities hidden in it. The title of the news is very simple:
President Park meets with SEA highway experts.

(End of this chapter)