North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 21 The Devil's Friend

"installment……?"

Is this still possible?
A-Zu continued, "A down payment of thirty dollars, plus ten dollars a month, that's a hundred and fifty dollars. And you've even earned thirty dollars in interest! For many families, buying a sewing machine and earning money as a tailor is a relatively affordable option, so they're naturally willing to make a living this way."

"But...what if they don't pay back the money every month?"

"If you don't want to pay me back, then take the sewing machine back and refurbish it a bit. You can even sell it as a new one!"

"But...what if they move away?"

A-Zu spread his hands and said, "I don't think anyone would abandon everything they have and move away just for a few dozen dollars, right?"

"Of course, there are some individuals with poor credit and bad morals. But the losses in these individual cases are negligible compared to the huge customer base brought by installment payments and the extra tens of dollars in interest earned, right?"

Thompson's hands were shaking slightly: "This...this...is a genius idea!"

A Zu smiled faintly and said, "Mr. Thompson, is this idea I gave you worth eight hundred dollars?"

"Gulp!" Thompson swallowed hard. "I finally understand why Jason and Vic are willing to let you be the boss!"

"But...!" Thompson changed the subject and stared at A-Zu. "Such a brilliant idea, and you told me so easily. Aren't you afraid that I still won't lower the price?"

A-Zu's smile remained unchanged. "Mr. Thompson, you can give it a try! I can definitely tell the other two licensed manufacturers the same idea!"

"If that's the case, Mr. Thompson, you've lost the initiative and the loss is far more than $800!"

"Business is like a battlefield. One step ahead, every step ahead! One step behind, every step behind! Isn't that right, Mr. Thompson?"

"I'm even confident that I can convince the other two companies to join forces to suppress you and destroy your sewing machine business!"

Thompson's forehead was covered in sweat: "Mr. Li...you are simply a devil!"

"Being friends with the devil is very dangerous, but being an enemy to the devil is death!"

A Zu was still smiling: "Mr. Thompson, do you think we are friends or enemies?"

"Friend, of course he is a friend! Mr. Li, believe me, Thompson will always be a friend you can trust!"
-
After chatting for twenty minutes, A Zu not only bought two new twenty-horsepower steam engines at cost price, but Thompson also very considerately gave him a lot of accessories as well.

Thompson is one of the few businessmen in the entire Bay Area who owns a machining shop.

A-Zu borrowed his processing plant, and over the next three days, he melted the scrap steel into molten iron and poured it into the prepared circular saw grinding tool.

Then, after hot forging, tooth profile processing, normalizing, quenching and tempering, the blank of the circular saw is obtained.

Finally, the surface is leveled, the tooth shape is refined and the surface is bluing treated to obtain a qualified circular saw blade.

Three days later, two brand new 20-horsepower steam engines had been installed and debugged in the shipyard.

Use belts, flywheels and gear sets to connect the steam engine and circular saw, and then debug and dock them onto the sawing machine.

The Bay Area’s first steam-powered saw was born!

Although this was not an easy task, it hardly required any thought for A-Zu, who had been engaged in mechanical research for many years.

With this steam-powered saw, the production speed of mobile homes was greatly accelerated.

What used to take hours to saw into large logs suitable for planking now takes only ten minutes!

As for another steam engine, Azu converted it into a steam woodworking milling machine. By replacing the cutter head, he could process the concave and convex mortise and tenon joints. Now, the limitation on production speed was actually the handling of those huge woods weighing several tons!
"Steam-powered cranes and forklifts?"

Looking at the scene inside the venue where the wood was being moved laboriously using a human-powered crane and several Shire horses, A-Zu's mind began to become active again.

"A steam crane isn't that difficult, and we'll have to build it sooner or later. But a forklift... forget it. We don't have the resources for it anytime soon."

Jason beside him was completely focused on the steam-powered saw that had just started running.

“Hmph, hmph, hmph…!”

The chimney of the steam engine emits blue smoke, converting thermal energy into kinetic energy.

“Sizzle…sizzle…!”

The circular saw spun and sawdust flew.

As he watched, a huge tree that two people could not hug together was reduced to a pile of standard-sized planks in a short while, like a hot knife cutting butter.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Jason took off the cherry wood pipe in his mouth and couldn't help but admire it. "Li, this thing you made is really useful! With these two machines, we can produce at least 300 sets of those prefabricated houses a month."

A-Zu looked back at A-Yan and other Chinese workers who were operating the steam-powered saw. He had taught them how to operate it step by step.

"They're learning pretty quickly and already know the basics!" A-Zu said to Jason, "I'll also pay these uncles and brothers of mine forty dollars a month, and I'll raise it when they become skilled workers."

"Ah...?" Jason wanted to say something, but he opened his mouth and nothing came out.

Chinese workers like Ayan were merely apprentices in the shipyard. For apprentices, providing food and lodging was considered good enough, so how could they be offered such high wages?

"We need to recruit more people, preferably Chinese workers!"

Jason was stunned again, feeling like his brain couldn't keep up. "Still hiring? Three hundred prefabricated houses a month, isn't that enough to sell?"

A Zu shook his head. "It's not about the wooden house! Our next step is to mine gold and build ships. We need people, lots of people!"

"I know my compatriots best. They are hardworking, honest, able to endure hardships, and quick to learn. Therefore, we must recruit as many Chinese workers as possible."

Jason's thoughts were still on the previous sentence: "What? We still want to build ships? But the shipyard can only build wooden sailboats...!"

A-Zu replied, "Right now, we can only build wooden sailboats! If we want to build steam iron ships, we need a fully equipped machine shop with smelting, steel rolling, forging, casting, machine tools, riveting, gantry cranes...!"

"Gulp!" Jason swallowed hard. "Lee, we can make a fortune just by making jeans and board houses! Oh, and sewing machines! Building a steamboat, isn't that too...!"

A Zu looked up at the vast sea not far away and said, "Jason, this is an era that belongs to the sea. Without our own boat, we will be drowned by this era sooner or later!"

"do you understand?"

Jason took two long drags on his pipe in confusion. "We're making money on land, how could we get drowned? Li, you're such an unpredictable guy."

"You'll understand later."

"As for recruiting Chinese people, let Vivian do it. She speaks Cantonese."

A Zu changed the subject: "As for now, we have already started trial production of jeans and prefabricated houses, and we will soon be able to reach a certain scale."

"It's time to think of a way to sell it as quickly as possible!"

Thanks: Chen Jia Xiao 6 for the monthly ticket support!
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(End of this chapter)