African Nationhood

Chapter 222 The Prince’s Worry

For more than two months, Shi Jintang stayed in Europe and hung out.

First, in Belgium, he sometimes went to Stuttgart and then to Lyon. Anyway, he traveled back and forth between the three places.

At the Mercedes-Benz car factory in Stuttgart, he would discuss clutches and gearboxes with engineers. All he could do was provide physical inspection of the principles, and he was helpless with specific technical issues.

As for Lyon, he mainly helps Hertz provide theoretical guidance, and he cannot help with real calculations.

Tesla has returned to the laboratory in Birmingham. He has entered into the rhythm of developing high-voltage alternating current generators, and Shi Jintang cannot disturb him.

They just sent secondary education graduates from Nanhua Company to serve as assistants to Tesla.

In this way, these students can not only learn knowledge about electricity, but also witness the great development of electricity with their own eyes.

By June, major changes occurred in London's political circles, and liberal Prime Minister Gladstone finally stepped down.

After getting the news, Shi Jintang immediately returned to London with Alice and his daughter Shi Xi.

Continue to stationed at Prince Leopold's manor outside London. Prince Leopold learned that Shi Jintang and his daughter had arrived, and came to the manor specially.

Prince Leopold's princess, the Duchess of Albany, chatted enthusiastically with Alice. They shared some insights and experiences on current women's clothing. At the same time, the two women also had a common topic on parenting.

Prince Leopold, who was supposed to die two years ago, has been able to live longer because of Shi Jintang, a knight of the Order. He himself is very grateful to Shi Jintang.

So after the dinner, the two of them sat in the study together and chatted quietly.

“Sir Henry, what have you been up to lately?
  I only know that you are in Europe, but I have never been able to see you in London. "

Shi Jintang took out a Lucky cigarette and gestured to His Highness, "Your Highness, you don't mind."

His Highness the Prince waved his hand, "Please do as you like."

Shi Jintang lit up his cigarette and took a puff, "I'm not busy with anything, I'm mainly focusing on the production of Mercedes-Benz cars.

You know today's cars still have a lot of flaws that still need improvement. "

Prince Leopold nodded and said: "Indeed, I asked my subordinates to buy one of that car.

The driving process is very smooth, but the disadvantage is that it is too slow, and the space in the car is too narrow. "

Hearing such comments from customers, Shi Jintang sneered.

"This kind of car is only the first generation product. We have also made efforts in the space of the car, but so far it is still unsuccessful. The shortcoming is that the power of the car engine is still too small.

To this end, we use new materials to reduce the weight of the car, but there is still a way to go in terms of space.

The focus of our improvement now is on the speed you mentioned. My goal is to increase the speed of the car.

At least it can surpass the speed of trains and carriages, otherwise it will be difficult for people to be willing to pay for this kind of machinery. "

Hearing what Shi Jintang said, the prince became interested: "Can you tell me specifically how you improved? I'm a little interested."

Shi Jintang informed His Highness the Prince about the principles of the gearbox and clutch. After hearing Shi Jintang's description, His Highness the Prince couldn't help but praise Boss Shi.

"Sir Henry, you are really powerful. You can think of such exquisite things. I can see that your talents are far better than mine."

Shi Jintang waved his hand, "It's easy to imagine, but it still takes a long way to make it real and make it work.

I just hope those guys can be smarter and complete my vision sooner. Then the car will be fully functional and suitable for large-scale promotion.

By then our oil companies will enter a period of massive profitability. "

Hearing Shi Jintang mention the oil company, Prince Leopold couldn't help but complain.

"One of your managers named Ye is too powerful in the company.

The oil company insists on using black indentured laborers. These indentured laborers are too stupid to complete the job requirements well.

Deputy General Manager Edward suggested that he switch to Chinese workers, but he arbitrarily refused. This makes Edward very dissatisfied. I don’t know if you mean it or if he does it on purpose? "

Hearing this, Shi Jintang chuckled, "This matter should not be like what Deputy General Manager Edward said. The cause of the matter was that the oil company planned to build a gravel road to transport oil. Ye Shilong and Edward had a dispute over which kind of workers to use. dispute.

There was no problem for black workers to build dirt roads, but the Malay supervisors were too strict, leading to the death of many black workers, and Edward couldn't stand it anymore.

He believed that Manager Ye Shilong deliberately consumed black workers and wanted to obtain more compensation for Nanhua Company.

So he suggested replacing them with Chinese workers so that Ye Shilong's conspiracy would not succeed.

Ye Shilong believed that the black labor provided by the Nanhua Company was cheap and available in large quantities, while the Chinese labor needed to be transported over long distances and the supply was unstable.

He felt that his decision was not wrong, so he wrote me a letter of appeal. "

Hearing what Shi Jintang said, Prince Leopold nodded, "How much is the cost difference between black labor and Chinese labor?"

Shi Jintang smiled, "A black laborer costs 6-10 pounds, while a Chinese laborer costs 15 pounds to ship to Sumatra. The price difference is obvious.

Therefore, Ye is right, even if the black laborer died, the total cost would be only 10 pounds.

After the Chinese laborers arrived, the 15 pounds was only the price of the land. If they died, they would have to pay additional pensions. This account still needs to be settled. "

Shi Jintang was telling the truth. The price of the "piglets" purchased by British merchants in Zhanjiang and other places in the Qing Dynasty increased when they were shipped. If they died on the way, forget it. Those who survived on the ground were paid on a per-head basis.

When a worker dies, no compensation is usually paid. Even if the compensation is paid, the family of the deceased cannot get it, and most of it is taken away by the foreman.

But the oil company headed by Ye Shilong will naturally not be so black-hearted. He will directly sign a labor contract with Lanfang Company.

If a Chinese worker died in an oil company, the pension would be paid directly to the Lanfang Company, which would then be responsible for contacting their family members in the Qing Dynasty to transfer the pension.

His Royal Highness did not know the specific situation here, so Shi Jintang deceived him directly, saying that the special case of the oil company was the general case.

Prince Leopold nodded immediately, "So it's Edward's mistake. I will send a message to inform him and let him have a good relationship with Ye."

Shi Jintang chuckled and nodded, "Speaking of oil companies, I think we should build a refinery on Sumatra Island.

In this way, the oil we produce does not need to waste time and freight to transport crude oil. "

Prince Leopold nodded in agreement, but he still expressed his worries.

"What are the specific conditions of the oil mines over there? I heard from Edward that the oil produced by our oil wells is not good.

The quality of the refined kerosene is not high, and although the quality of gasoline is high, it will take time for the automobile industry to develop.

The exploration of new oil deposits is far away, and the profitability of oil companies is worrying. "

During this period, the world's oil industry was controlled by Americans. The biggest function of oil was to refine kerosene for lighting lamps.

Because the automobile industry is too small, gasoline has only a small range of application scenarios, and there is no profit prospect at all.

It is natural for Prince Leopold to be worried.

Capital is impatient and will worry about the return on capital once it cannot make profits quickly.

For Shi Jintang at this stage, this is not a problem.

He only wanted to use the tiger skin of his royal family members when he pulled Prince Leopold into a stake. If His Royal Highness the Prince was impatient, he would just take it all.

“Your Highness, please rest assured that cars will develop and gasoline will usher in spring, but we have to wait for a while in the cold winter.

If you feel that I am too optimistic and that the oil company is not cost-effective, you can withdraw your shares and I can take over your shares in full. "

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  (End of this chapter)