Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 26 Busy Here and There

The sense of accomplishment, challenge, and anticipation are the best adrenaline for men.

Although he was afraid of the controversy surrounding the assassination, he became more and more motivated. He felt like he had taken stimulants every day and had endless energy. He only slept five hours a day and could not sleep any more, but he looked very energetic and not sleepy at all.

Although he was not in the factory during his recovery period, he did not delay the factory's affairs at all. He just called the main person in charge to Li's house.

"Liu Wei, you are an old man who followed the old chairman to Nanyang. I heard from my eldest brother that he has absolute and unreserved trust in you."

Liu Wei nodded and said, "I was originally sold as a piglet to Southeast Asia. I was almost thrown into the sea by the snakehead. It was the master who bought me and saved me. I have been with the master for more than 30 years."

"Ha, then we are really destined to be together."

Liu Wei is the confidant of the Li family. He is in charge of administrative work in the factory on weekdays. Even the finance department is his daughter-in-law. Although he doesn't understand technology, he is the second most important person in the factory besides Zheng Yi.

His abilities are pretty good. Although he didn't learn any specific skills, he has been working hard day and night in the factory for the past six months. He has worked overtime despite being branded a traitor, and he has managed to keep the morale high. This is indeed due to his contribution.

Zheng Yi usually spends more time and energy on technology. In fact, he doesn't know much about management. Vice President Liu makes up for his shortcomings very well.

"I've discussed this with the old chairman and my eldest brother. They'll continue to inject capital into the factory, buy more equipment, and build a new plant. Don't delay this, do it now."

"Yes."

"Also, the most important point is recruiting people. Mechanization and industrialization will inevitably lead to unemployment. But please tell the brothers at Taiyou and Jinluntai that if anyone loses their job, it won't be the fault of our brothers in Xinyi."

"To open a factory and make machinery, you must use your own people. All the brothers who lost their jobs on the plantation should be recruited into the machinery factory, along with their wives and children.
Even if their wives and children are in China, they are welcome to join us. This will reassure us. We need to let them know that opening this factory is not a bad thing for them, but a good thing.”

"After joining the factory, those who have a high school education and are able to learn skills can go and learn the skills and crafts. After becoming an apprentice, their salary will double that of the plantation.
You can't learn it. Just look at the arrangements: handymen, laborers, movers, painters, and even construction workers. We are short of everything."

"Don't worry, Mr. Zheng, I understand and will make sure everything is handled properly."

Zheng Yi nodded, and then said to Ah Huang, "Ah Huang, you are the technical backbone of our factory. You are the only Chinese worker who can turn ball valves. I will promote you to production manager. Your salary will be tripled, and you will also receive a performance bonus."

"Thank you, Mr. Zheng. I will definitely continue to work hard."

Zheng Yi: "Don't thank me yet. I want to see if you have management skills. This is a production plan I've made. I plan to divide the production group into sections, each with a section leader. These are the preliminary candidates for section leaders. Take a look at them first. If you have any comments, please let me know immediately."

"The factory is about to recruit a large number of workers. As for you old people, your wages will all be doubled. However, each of you must bring in at least three apprentices to teach them how to use the machines. Be careful not to cut your hands."

"In my factory, there is no traditional custom of teaching apprentices and starving the master to death. You are all newly learned, so don't think of hiding your skills. We are not running a small workshop.

We are the first company in China to have a production line, marking China's first step towards industrialization. In short, we are doing business, don't you understand? Every part we turn out contributes to the nation's rise and dignity."

"With ingenious artistry, a vast landscape is created. The stars shine without questioning those who rush, and time rewards those who work hard. The journey is long and the wind is strong, and the heavy responsibility is heavy, so we must forge ahead. The wheel of history rolls forward, and the tide of the times is unstoppable. History is engraved in struggle; the future is opened up in progress!"

"Yes! I understand. What we do is not a livelihood, it's a career!"

Zheng Yi is also capable of pumping up enthusiasm, flattering others, and singing praises. After all, he is from a state-owned enterprise, so he can pump up enthusiasm at will.

As a man, it is definitely not possible to live without making money, but if you want to achieve great things, just making money is not enough. This is the spirit of struggle.

Just a few words made Ah Huang's blood boil.

If nothing unexpected happens, Ah Huang will probably live and eat in the factory in the next few months and sleep less than him.

Zheng Yi then found Ikeda from Japan.

"Mr. Ikeda, it's been over half a year now. Are you getting used to living in Kuala Lumpur?"

"Hi! That's great. I'm very satisfied with my life in Kuala Lumpur. I'm also very honored to work with you, Mr. Zheng. I've learned a lot from you. Ali Aduo, I hope your mother dies."

This is the benefit of hiring Japanese engineers. These Japanese, at least in this era, are not as arrogant as Western white people.

Simply put, although the Japanese look down on you, they at least treat you as one of their own kind. Even when Sino-Japanese relations have plummeted to a freezing point, they still treat you as an enemy. White people in Europe and America are more powerful. They don't treat you as a human being at all.

In their world, only white people are human beings, and yellow people are no different from animals. They even look down on the Japanese. Deep down, they think that industrialization is their white people's business and has nothing to do with you yellow people.

If his factory hired European and American engineers, he was sure that they would never cooperate so happily.

"Mr. Ikeda, you are from the Mitsui Group. You should know that my boss, Mr. Li, plans to purchase more machinery and equipment from your group to expand the scale of production."

"Hi!"

"The production line is a success. I've asked my boss to give you and your team of Japanese engineers a big bonus of 200,000 Malaysian ringgit."

Ikeda's eyes lit up when he heard that.

"Thank you so much."

"In the coming period, I plan to have you and your engineers step back from the front lines and form a roving expert team responsible for inspecting the quality of parts in the factory, teaching and guiding our Chinese workers. At the same time, you will serve as teachers and arrange classes for the students in the evenings."

"I have already agreed with my boss that if one day our Chinese workers can independently complete the manufacturing of high-precision parts, that is, the day they officially complete their apprenticeship, we will give you no less than 50,000 Malaysian ringgit each when you return to Japan.
You will receive a huge red envelope of no less than 200,000 Malaysian ringgits. The sooner you teach us, the sooner you will become rich, return home in glory, and give your wife and children a good life."

Ikeda: "I understand. I can promise Zheng Jun that I will teach you everything I know and will not hold anything back."

Finally, there's Hunter.

When Zheng Yi is not around, Hunter becomes the technical leader of the factory.

In fact, Hunter is actually better than him in many technical aspects. Zheng Yi's skills are still a bit vague and he lacks front-line work experience.

Simply put, his strength lies in mechanical design.

But it’s only in design.

In actual practice, he is really no better than Hunter.

"While I'm away, all the company's affairs are up to you. Immediately, start the second production line for me. From now on, you will be responsible for the production line and its improvement."

Every plantation has its own unique special circumstances, especially the issue of power connection. Basically, every production line needs to be specially redesigned. Although they are similar, there are some minor differences.

At present, apart from Zheng Yi, Hunter is the only one in the factory who can do this. Zheng Yi also needs to focus on more important designs, so this matter can only be delegated to him.

After all, I have followed Li Xiaoshi for so many years, so I feel more at ease with him than with the Japanese.

"Hunter, you're a veteran of the company. Brother Li trusts you very much, and I trust you too. I'm sure you'll get a lot of bonuses and commissions. Also, I have a difficult task for you."

"What mission? Tell me."

"We can imitate Japanese machine tools. If necessary, we can bribe Japanese engineers or dismantle Japanese machine tools as appropriate."

Hunter couldn't help but think about it when he heard it, but he said: "Is it necessary? The machine tools sold to us by the Japanese are not expensive. If we produce machine tools ourselves, the core cutter heads, saw teeth and other steel materials will still need to be imported.
If I'm not mistaken, even if we could make it, the cost would likely be higher, perhaps much higher, than buying it directly from the Japanese, and it would likely not be as good as these Japanese machine tools."

Zheng Yi nodded: "I know that our current problem is not necessarily that we can't manufacture it, but that it's better to buy it than to manufacture it. But I still say that an industrial system without the support of heavy industry is a mess.
If we can’t produce our own machine tools, we won’t be able to expand our production, and our lifeblood will be in the hands of others, the damn Japanese.”

"You know, my brother and I have been called traitors among the Chinese for a long time. Just look at the current relationship between China and Japan...sigh~, sooner or later, we will have to rely on ourselves."

"How about this, Hunter? I'm in charge of this. For every type of machine tool or furnace, regardless of its efficiency or cost-effectiveness, I'll give you a bonus of 50,000 Malaysian ringgit."

"Besides, Hunter, you're going back to England sooner or later, aren't you? Don't you want to learn more? There aren't many engineers in England who can independently manufacture, copy, or even design machine tools, right?"

"Using the factory's money to improve your own skills, where else can you find such a good thing? I believe that you are not the kind of person who has no ambition, right?"

(End of this chapter)