The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 675 The ghost is coming!

Summer of the ninth year of Tianli.

In the steam engine room of the Shanghai Jiangnan Silk Reeling Factory, Friedrich's fingertips retracted as soon as they touched the boiler shell - the cast iron surface was hot enough to fry an egg.

"How much coal is burned every day?" he asked the operator.

The worker, his face covered in coal dust, raised three fingers and said, "We change shifts every three hours, and each shift consumes 800 kilograms of coal." He lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face, revealing the inscription "Entered the factory in the third year of the Tianli calendar" on the bronze plate on his waist. "But the new condensing steam return pipe installed in the factory can save 20% of coal consumption!"

Moore bent over and stared at the faded seal on the gearbox. The words "Inspection on the seventh day of the third month of the ninth year of the Tianli calendar" made him frown. "You used the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's calendar recording equipment for maintenance?"

"Isn't the Celestial Calendar better than the Gregorian Calendar?" Hu Guangyong, who was accompanying him, tapped the pipe with his ivory-handled folding fan. "Last year, the boiler at Suzhou Lunhua Silk Factory exploded because the foreign manager miscalculated the leap month - how can there be a 30th in February in the Gregorian calendar?"

Bai Siwen twirled his goat beard and sneered: "The celestial calendar isn't very accurate, is it?"

"That was in the early years. The current calendar is very accurate." Luo Yaoguo did not get angry with this "leap year" but smiled and said, "The current calendar has been adjusted to 365 days a year, with a leap year every four years, but the leap year is at the end of the year, not in February. In addition, the calendar has fixed solar terms, which is most suitable for arranging various agricultural activities, including sericulture and silk reeling."

In the silk reeling workshop, 300 reeling machines were humming like a tide. The female workers wore white cloth gloves, and their fingertips deftly shuttled in the reeling basins filled with boiling water. Friedrich noticed that each reeling machine was equipped with two side-by-side porcelain troughs, and the silkworm cocoons were alternately drawn between the left and right troughs.

"This is the double-groove winding machine invented by Chen A'e." Hu Guangyong led everyone to the honor wall of the workshop, where a gold-plated model was displayed in a glass cover. "In the past, the single-groove reeling machine had to stop for seven minutes each time a groove was changed. Now the double-groove rotation can save 30% of the working hours."

Dozens of wooden boxes were stacked under the Wall of Honor, with red lacquer seals on the lids that read "Ordered by the Royal Family of Siam". Luo Yaoguo casually opened a box and twisted a strand of raw silk towards the sun: "Twenty-one strands of silk cocoon silk can be woven into a strand of silk with a warp and weft density of 400. Once this kind of silk is mass-produced, it can be exported to Europe in large quantities."

Friedrich took the raw silk and gently pulled it, and the silk thread became as straight as a bowstring: "This kind of toughness. Have you improved the cocoon boiling formula?"

"The time it takes for silk cocoons to boil water has been reduced from 35 minutes to 25 minutes." Luo Yaoguo smiled and pointed to the giant copper kettle in the corner of the workshop. "The laboratory of the Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory has discovered that adding some ingredients to the boiling water during reeling can soften the sericin without damaging the fibers. This is a secret recipe that was tested on thousands of kilograms of cocoons."

The exact formula is of course kept secret.
Passing through the staff canteen with the aroma of rice, everyone came to the red brick staff school. More than 30 female workers were learning arithmetic under the guidance of an old teacher, all of which were very simple elementary school mathematics.

"Most workers just learn to read and write," Luo Yaoguo said with a smile, "but sometimes some geniuses are discovered, such as Chen A'e, who invented the double-groove winder. She was very good at math, and she was admitted to Jiangnan University with the knowledge she learned in the workers' school. Almost all the researchers in the laboratory of Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory were workers who first attended the workers' school and then went to Jiangnan University."

Moore and Friedrich both nodded slightly - it was obvious that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's method of improving the knowledge level of workers through universal education and thus increasing their productivity was very correct!

In comparison, the UK places too little emphasis on education.
"However, improving the workers' knowledge level cannot improve their enthusiasm for work," Friedrich noticed that the workers in the Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory all had a high enthusiasm for work. "What methods do you have to make the workers have such a high enthusiasm for work?"

"Employee stock ownership." Hu Guangyong, general manager of Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory, said with a smile.

"Holding shares?" Friedrich asked. "How do you hold them?"

"Share dividends are divided into different levels according to length of service." Hu Guangyong flipped open the account book. "Apprentices get three cents of shares based on their years of service, experienced workers get five cents, and technicians get one cent. Senior technicians like Chen A'e received two hundred silver dollars in dividends last year."

Bai Siwen suddenly sneered: "Giving so much money to the weaving women, aren't you afraid that they will use the money to redeem themselves and become good women?"

"Mr. Bai, you must be joking. They are not slaves, so how can we redeem them?" Luo Yaoguo pushed open the back window of the classroom, revealing the new factory building that was under construction. "Last year, the Suzhou branch recruited workers, and 3,000 people came to take the exam for 300 vacancies. Next year, the Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory's employee children's primary school will be opened. All children of workers can attend for free, and in the future, when the employees retire, they can also receive pensions!"

Friedrich noticed the chalk words written on a blackboard: Stockholding formula = (basic shares × length of service coefficient) + (innovation shares × efficiency coefficient)

"Can these stocks be transferred?" Moore asked again.

"No, and they can't be inherited. Those stocks belong only to the workers in office. When they leave, the employee stock ownership association will buy back the shares, and new employees can get initial shares after three years." Hu Guangyong's folding fan swiped across the account book. "In addition, the funds for the pension come from three sources: dividends from the ungranted shares of the employee stock ownership association, compound interest from previous years' surplus, and subsidies allocated from the factory's pre-tax profits."

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said, "Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory is a pilot project. All Shengku Holdings will implement it in the future." At the end of the tour, Moore suddenly stopped at the factory gate. He saw several farmers carrying baskets of silk cocoons arguing with the guards. The white cocoons in the baskets had turned yellow.

"These are cocoon dealers from Jiading," Hu Guangyong explained. "Hand-reeled coarse silk cannot be sold at a high price. Last year, each dan could be exchanged for one or two taels of silver, but this year, the factory silk has suppressed the price to seven cents. So we can only sell cocoons. However, there are good and bad cocoons. In the past two years, some large mulberry gardens have adopted the new technology invented by Taiping University, and the cocoons they produce are much better."

Friedrich picked up a fallen cocoon and crushed it with a light squeeze: "How much cheaper is the cost of silk spun by a steam engine than by hand?"

"It takes 400 kilograms of coal and 30 hours of labor to produce each dan of factory silk," Hu Guangyong replied. "For the same output, manual reeling would take 200 working days - not to mention that factory silk can be sold at a higher price."

Bai Siwen suddenly sneered: "This is a case of silkworms eating people! The British cotton and wool textile mills have ruined countless small producers. Fortunately, the British population is small, and there are so many colonies that can absorb the excess labor. China has a population of more than 400 million."

On the return journey in the carriage, Moore stared at the gas street lamps passing by outside the window and suddenly said, "The distribution model of the Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory is indeed progressive. It may be the best way for state-owned factories in competition."

"But in the long run, it is hard to say whether the Shanghai Silk Reeling Mill can survive in the fierce competition," said Friedrich, pointing to the rows of silk reeling mills and spinning mills outside the car window. "The Shanghai Silk Reeling Mill cannot compare with the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and the Pharmaceutical Bureau. They can start a business with just a few thousand pounds of capital, and the fierce competition will make factory owners try every means to lower costs. In the end, the Shanghai Silk Reeling Mill will fall in the competition!"

The carriage fell silent. In the distance, amid the sound of the silk reeling factory's train whistle, the evening class bell of the workers' school could be heard faintly.

Workers who have worked all day are pouring out of the factory gate in groups, and the shops outside the factory gate are all doing a booming business, full of vitality.
West Coast, San Francisco Bay.

The once busy port now only has a few half-unloaded cargo ships lying at anchor like stranded whales - the strike has lasted for the seventh day, and the Port of San Francisco seems as silent as death.

Hong Renzheng stood on the second floor of the Zhenyue Bank and looked through a telescope: On the dock, a mixed picket team of Chinese and Irish workers was distributing corn cakes. Behind them, the wheat ear shovel flag and the Irish harp flag were inserted side by side on the abandoned capstan, fluttering in the sea breeze.

"Bishop," Huang Shiren held the account book close to him, "Sacramento flour has risen to twelve dollars a barrel, and cotton cloth is one dollar and twenty cents a yard."

"That's not enough!" Hong Renzheng turned his telescope towards the Kinmen Strait, where a merchant ship flying the Union Jack was turning around. "Tell Stanford that the supply of mining tools will be cut off tomorrow! Ask the gold diggers who don't want to join the strike to stop!"

Lei Lao Hu suddenly pushed the door open and bowed to Hong Renzheng: "Bishop, you are looking for me?"

Hong Renzheng raised his hand and pointed to the fluttering red flag outside the window, "Tiger, what's going on?" He took out a copy of the "Manifesto" and waved it.

"Bishop, don't worry. The Chinese Labor Union will never be able to escape from our control!" Lei Lao Hu said with a smile, "We not only have the labor union, but also the farmers' association. We have the supply of the entire West Coast in our hands! Without the rice and eggs distributed by the True Covenant Church, they will go hungry.

Hong Renzheng's telescope suddenly turned to the city. In the direction of Chinatown, a huge parade was approaching the city hall with torches and red flags.
"Tell Hong Renke," Hong Renzheng suddenly ordered, "All farms must strengthen their security, and the farm members must keep their guns at all times, and all valuables must be put into the fortress!"

Crocker Bank Building rooftop, Sacramento.

Xianfeng (Zhao Si) held up a silver-plated telescope, and the lens reflected the strange scene of the State Capitol Square: 3,000 white miners wielding iron pickaxes with red strips tied to the handles were confronting the state militia holding the Star-Spangled Banner. Their placards read "Chinese workers are stealing jobs, the governor is a bastard, all get out." And leaflets printed with the "Declaration" were flying in the wind.
"Great!" Sushun grabbed the leaflets and threw them into the air. "Spread revolutionary leaflets during the anti-Chinese parade - that idiot Weller will probably piss his pants with fear!"

Zeng Jia Linshu suddenly pointed to the corner of the street: "Look at that grocery store!"

Through the telescope, Xianfeng saw the mustachioed Jewish shop owner reinforcing the window with iron bars. A new price list was posted on the glass: ham was marked at five dollars per pound, which was crossed out in red pen and changed to seven dollars; below it was a blackboard with chalk writing scribbled on it: "Eggs will arrive tomorrow, purchase limit two, one dollar each."

"boom!"

Suddenly there was an explosion in Parliament Square. Three drunks pushed over a kerosene lamp and set fire to the California Workers newspaper piled in the middle of the street. In the flames, several Irish youths jumped onto the mailbox and shouted in Irish: "California workers want bread and gunpowder!"

Xianfeng suddenly put away the telescope: "It's time to go - the state militia cavalry is out."

As the three of them slid down the fire escape, a burning leaflet happened to float to their feet. Sushun stepped on the sparks and picked up the half-burnt paper - overthrow the state government and establish a workers' regime!
(End of this chapter)