The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

Zhang Yinghao's biggest wish was for German goods. After all, Germany currently had significant overcapacity. German goods were renowned for their superior quality and durability. Most importantly, Germany was the first to undergo the Second Industrial Revolution, leading to rapid growth in productivity. Expanding large-scale trade with Germany would be ideal for Zhang Yinghao. However, such matters couldn't be rushed; one step wouldn't lead to success.

Of course, Zhang Yinghao's anxiety was pointless, but he knew that economic crises frequently occurred in the early 20th century, otherwise there would have been no motivation to fight World War I. Therefore, Zhang Yinghao knew that he had plenty of opportunities to make a profit. Now he just needed to accumulate strength and expand his territory. Soon, those foreign devils would come to him for business.

With the foundation of the first transaction, Zhang Yinghao also looked up to these two foreigners.

"George, Payne, you see I'm short of everything. I'll have a comrade accompany you to Shanghai. You can look for our Sichuan office there, and if you'd like, you can contact them. If you have connections doing business in the US, I invite you to help me buy machinery and equipment there. As long as the price is confirmed by Chen Yiwei, I can settle the bill with you. Of course, if you have connections to help me get a low-interest loan, I'd be happy to accept it. I wish us a pleasant cooperation. Mr. George, Mr. Payne."

“Oh, Zhang, you can definitely buy it from the British Empire.”

"George, the British Empire's machines are too expensive, and the American machines are cheaper. Of course, I will still buy from the British Empire. I need your help."

Given the prospect of a partnership, the two Brits readily agreed. Britain was now the empire on which the sun never sets, truly at its peak. They weren't worried about Zhang Yinghao not paying them. In their view, solving the problem might simply require a passing of the British lobster soldiers or a parade of giant ships and cannons.

The textile factory had already begun trial production, and it was this trial run that truly changed Zhang Yinghao's decision to immediately attack Chongqing. In his previous life, Zhang Yinghao had no experience working in a large factory and didn't know the specifics of industrialized production; he'd only read about it in books and had no clear concept. When Zhang Yinghao saw the cloth being churned out like water, he instinctively felt a slight fear of industrial nations. Before he had sufficient military power or sufficient territory, Zhang Yinghao truly didn't want to provoke the British.

Zhang Yinghao scoffed at the factory management methods of the late Qing Dynasty. The concept of scientific management didn't exist at the time, and factories generally relied on traditional foremen. These foremen were often uninvolved in production, lacked technical skills, were uneducated, or were simply gangs of hooligans, forcing workers to work with clubs. This, naturally, was frowned upon by Zhang Yinghao. Drawing on his previous experience reforming Yanjing, Zhang Yinghao completely abandoned this outdated management model, establishing a scientific and effective reward and punishment system and providing professional training and management services to workers.

In reality, things were the same everywhere in this era, even the foreigners were the same. Even their theories of worker management were the same: they treated workers like robots and worked them to death. While this improved labor efficiency to a certain extent, it completely eliminated human initiative. And people are just people. This management method is only suitable for areas with a severe shortage of employment opportunities, because in the past, this was the only way to achieve this. As for strikes, they were merely a means to improve wages. It wasn't until the advent of the Soviet Union, when utopia became reality, that workers' welfare and benefits truly improved. With more employment opportunities, this type of management is completely inappropriate; workers can leave at a moment's notice. Therefore, management will undergo a profound transformation in the near future.

Zhang Yinghao always believed in the diligence of the Chinese people. Although they were unskilled and their labor efficiency might not be as high as that of foreigners, their endurance and perseverance were unmatched by Europeans and Americans. Furthermore, the Chinese were not stupid at all; with someone willing to teach them, they would quickly master anything. Therefore, Zhang Yinghao implemented bold reforms. For foreigners who disobeyed him, once they had trained the workers, they had no role to play; they were eliminated, just like the foremen who sought to reap the benefits without working.

With this relatively large factory, Zhang Yinghao felt a surge of urgency. He was eager to immediately produce airplanes and cannons, so he could sink the British warships into the Yangtze River and the sea. However, Zhang Yinghao knew this was unrealistic. It had taken foreigners a hundred years to achieve this level, so he couldn't possibly accomplish it in just a year or two.

Zhang Yinghao didn't quite understand what industrialization meant. It was a system, not something that could be understood by one person. But he knew one thing he had to do: research and replicate all the machines he bought. If he could produce just one part himself, he could reduce the maintenance costs of these machines.

"Comrade Haobin, please sit down. Are you used to your current job?"

"Chairman, I'm still used to it."

"Come, have some tea."

After that, Zhang Yinghao poured a cup of tea and handed it to Huang Haobin. Huang Haobin was a classmate that Chen Yiwei had contacted when he bought the machine in the United States, and he had sent it to the base along with the machine.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

After speaking, he picked up the tea cup and took a sip.

"Haobin, what do you think of this batch of textile machines?"

"Mr. Chairman, overall, the quality is good, but the British machinery and equipment are much more advanced than the Americans."

Quotations from Zhang Yinghao: Political parties are not as effective as religions in combat. Political parties can win because people live in reality and not in imagination.

Chapter 82

Zhang Yinghao felt the same way, so he replied, "Well, the British started out in the textile industry, and their machines are much more expensive, and the quality is indeed much better. I asked you here today because, as you're sure you know, machinery and equipment have a limited lifespan, and parts can break down. If we rely entirely on imports, the cost will skyrocket. Furthermore, the wages those foreigners demand are too high, so we have to find a way to save on that expense. So, I'd like to localize these machines. What do you think?"

"It's difficult. We don't have many skilled workers right now, so it's very difficult to localize it."

"I know it's not easy, but we still have to do it. If it weren't difficult, our country wouldn't be bullied like this. Although the Qing Dynasty's Westernization Movement failed, it did train a group of workers for our country. We actually have many skilled craftsmen in our country, but we haven't organized them and have no place to display their ingenuity. I want you to be responsible for this matter and study the machinery and equipment we bought. We can't make large machines now, but can we make small machines? If we can't make small machines, we can always make some parts, right? If we can reduce the import of one part, we can save costs. We just need to accumulate little by little like this, and we will always be able to manufacture machines in the future."

"Chairman, if this is the case, we'll need to purchase a lot of machine tools. Actually, I've thought about this a long time ago. We can't just rely on buying everything. We have to be able to manufacture it ourselves, otherwise our lifeblood will be controlled by others."

"Yes, that's what I mean. We'll buy the machine tools no matter how expensive they are. Please contact Comrade Yiwei and coordinate this matter. Machine tools are also our research subject. They are known as the mother machines of industry, so we must increase our investment in this area. Here's what I'm thinking: this research institute should be affiliated with the Science and Technology Commission and named the First Machinery Research Institute. You will be the director. We lack talent in this area, so you can recruit your classmates, but we still have to cultivate talent ourselves. Many skilled craftsmen simply don't understand this. If we can train them and explain the principles, many of them would be qualified to serve as technicians."

"Okay, Mr. Chairman, which machines should we start with?"

"Well, we should research those things that are in high demand, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation. For clothing, we're talking about textile machines and sewing machines, and for food, we're talking about rice mills, manual threshers, and flour mills. We're not talking about how many machines we should research, but rather a change in mindset among our comrades: using machines to produce machines. Without this change in mindset, success is impossible. Furthermore, almost all of our people don't know what machine tools, milling machines, or planers are. We certainly can't rely on the majority of them right now. Therefore, we must begin training ourselves. We can't just train everyone, we can focus on training, cultivating at least a few comrades who are familiar with these machines and have them use them proficiently. Only in this way can we accumulate the talent we need."

However, we need talent now, but we need geniuses even more. For us today, one genius is worth a hundred. Let me offer you a suggestion: We have many inventors among the people, and their inventions may not be of much use. However, they are naturally gifted with strong hands-on skills, naturally much smarter than the average person, and love to think things through. We can recruit these individuals and train them to understand the principles and functions of these machine tools. I believe we can cultivate a few geniuses. They previously didn't understand these machines, so naturally, they couldn't use them to invent new things. But once these geniuses begin to understand these machines, they will draw inferences from their own experience, and this quantitative change will lead to qualitative change, strengthening our machine research institute. We should start by replicating the machines, and ultimately research and manufacture the machines we need."

"Okay, then I'll start preparing when I get back. Recruiting people requires the cooperation of multiple departments."

"Well, aside from the comrades in the Arsenal, you can transfer any comrades from other locations to the research institute if you like, as long as it doesn't affect production. I'll also recruit talented people from all over the country to work in our base, looking for geniuses to train for you. Moreover, we'll soon establish a second research institute specializing in motors and generators. When that happens, the second institute will also draw talent from your first institute, so you should be prepared and train more talents."

Zhang Yinghao established the First Machinery Research Institute under the Science and Technology Commission, specializing in researching the purchased machines and attempting to manufacture them himself. Having something yourself is worse than having it from your parents. Currently, Zhang Yinghao couldn't care less about patents, and he didn't even understand patents. He'd wait until he had the necessary talent. Being able to produce a replacement part in-house could save him a lot of money.

Moreover, every late-developing industrial nation begins by imitating others. This was the case with the United States, Japan today, and China in the past. Without following the path of imitation and accumulation, it's impossible to jump directly to innovation.

In the future, once the First Mechanical Research Institute has produced any research results, Zhang Yinghao will immediately open the First Mechanical Manufacturing Plant, which will be affiliated with the First Research Institute. He will produce the machines that have been researched, take them to the factory for practical testing, and sell them after they are qualified and finalized.

On the day the textile factory officially opened, the entire factory gate was filled with people. When women and men in neat white work clothes lined up at the factory gate, Zhang Yinghao lit firecrackers and unveiled the plaque at the same time. The First Textile Factory was officially established. This was the first large-scale textile factory in Sichuan. As for the name of the factory, Zhang Yinghao never spent any effort to choose a nice name. His first textile factory was called the First Textile Factory. Is there a problem? No problem at all. From now on, it will be like this. Book group number: 775111838

Later on, they were called the second and third factories, which was very convenient.

The workers on both sides also walked into the factory with their chests held high. Among these female workers, eight

Cheng is a woman who came out to work after the land was distributed. After all, Zhang Yinghao is now mobilizing a large number of

Women are working, so we should provide them with job opportunities.

Most of them were children from weaving families, and their needlework and embroidery were first-rate, very

However, after Chongqing was opened as a port, foreign cloth flooded the market, and local cloth

The market was gradually squeezed, and the livelihood of weavers became increasingly difficult, so they were forced to work.

Working in the factory.

Soon the sound of machines roared in the factory. Zhang Yinghao went in to see

After a while, the snow-white cloth was produced again like flowing water.

Hao looked at the cloth in silence.

The excitement was mixed with sadness. Even the strongest hands could not compare to the coldness.

machine.

This was the second time Zhang Yinghao saw cloth being produced in this way.

The wheel was spinning, and Zhang Yinghao was more and more impressed by a truth.

The production capacity of industrial countries is simply not comparable to that of agricultural countries, which further strengthened Zhang

The hero's goal is to develop industry at all costs.

Since the machine has no problems and can operate normally, Zhang Yinghao will send it away.

George and Penn. They came in a long procession of carriages, and when they left,

The supplies were many times more than what they had before, and there was a long procession of carriages.

Seeing so many supplies being taken away, my eyes are a little red. This is my base.

The supplies that we saved by eating frugally were taken away just like that. I really want to take these two foreign

The devils chopped it off and stole the supplies. Zhang Yinghao could now understand the hundreds of millions of people in the future.

I was helpless to exchange a shirt for a plane. But in the end, reason prevailed and I shook

The leader said self-deprecatingly: "I've been a bandit too many times, and I want to rob everything I see.

"Chairman, what did you say?"

The guard thought Zhang Yinghao was giving him instructions. "Nothing."

Zhang Yinghao shook his head again and returned to his work.

Not far from the textile mill are our garment factories, dye factories, and so on. Zhang Yinghao won't be opening these factories to the public right now. There are too many hostile elements right now: remnants of landlords, spies, people bribed by imperialism, and religious missionaries. The Anti-Counterrevolutionary Committee and the police have been incredibly busy lately. If someone with malicious intent sneaks in and sets fire to the factory, tens, hundreds, or even millions of dollars of investment will be lost. It would be too late to cry.

At the garment manufacturing factory, Zhang Yinghao has also redesigned and adapted the assembly line. Previously, fabric had to be purchased out of pocket, which was quite expensive, making assembly line production impossible. Furthermore, production was extremely slow, with one person completing each piece of clothing or pair of pants – a limitation of the small-scale peasant economy. With the assembly line, once the design is finalized and production is complete, clothing and pants can be produced piece by piece, just like flowing water.

Now, textile factories weave cloth, send it to dye factories for coloring, and then send it directly to garment manufacturers, greatly saving costs and time. Perhaps in a few days, clothes and pants will no longer be something Zhang Yinghao needs to worry about. The base will no longer be short of clothes and pants.

However, with the establishment of these factories, Party members and cadres now have another training and learning opportunity: visiting factories, or even working and learning in them for a period of time. This is especially important for rural Party members and cadres, as they can understand the power of industry and accelerate their ideological transformation.

At first, these Party members and cadres didn't understand what was so interesting about these factories. According to some comrades, weren't they just a few women sitting together, chatting and sewing? They'd seen many comrades wearing clothes made by these women before. Zhang Yinghao had already come up with a way to quickly raise funds: transporting industrial products from the base area and selling them outside the base area, thus solving the problem of lacking funds to purchase machinery and equipment.

When Zhang Yinghao arrived at the training site with the Party members and cadres, the scene they encountered amazed all the participants. The environment here was arguably even better than any of the comrades' homes. Many comrades, gazing out the windows, were deeply disappointed. Cement floors, lime-washed walls, glass windows, and neat rows of machines were neatly arranged inside. Each female worker, with her hair in a bun and wearing a hat and smart attire, was busy at her machine. Many comrades could recognize these machines as foreign sewing machines.

"Wow, this working environment is so great!" "Oh! I bought so many machines again!"

"They even installed glass windows? What a waste!"

"Son of a bitch, our offices aren't as comfortable as this one, are they?"

“Seeing this makes me want to work here.”

These words were filled with envy and jealousy. It wasn't surprising; even Zhang Yinghao felt a moment of disorientation when he first entered, as if he'd been transported back to the factory of his old world. Since there was no electricity back then, the glass windows were large and plentiful to ensure ample light, making the space appear truly spacious and bright. Anyone who could afford a house like this in this day and age was definitely not just any wealthy person.

"Chairman, you're here?"

"Comrade Li Guihong, could you please tell me about the situation behind you?"

Zhang Yinghao had taken over the iron smelting furnace at the home of landlord Liu Youcai and wiped out a gang of bandits. Li Guihong was the woman who had been inside the bandit leader's house. She had been nearly bayoneted to death by Wang Daqiang. Fortunately, she had cried out, "I am a good person." Otherwise, we would never have seen her again.

"Yes, Chairman."

At this time, Li Guihong straightened her chest and answered crisply.

Zhang Yinghao's Quotation: When you enjoy the harvest of money, you must pay time and labor!

Chapter 83

Li Guihong's face, rosy and radiant from her busy schedule, was now covered in a few beads of sweat. She looked like a tempting red apple, ready to be bitten. She wore a light blue uniform, her breasts slightly puffed out from the physical effect. The tight pants, originally designed for ease of movement, now clearly outlined her uniquely feminine curves. Li Guihong had been in a bandit den, and to be the wife of a bandit leader, her appearance was naturally not bad. At this moment, she looked like the girl next door.

"Damn, why didn't I realize Li Guihong was so charming before?"

Zhang Yinghao naturally kept his inner thoughts to himself, but even this person from the future was feeling the urge to act. The other comrades were even more visibly upset, their Adam's apples bobbing up and down, their saliva drooling, some even drooling from the corners of their mouths. How could Zhang Yinghao not know what these comrades were thinking? But these were all normal human reactions; without them, one would be considered unhealthy. Zhang Yinghao saw Liao Xiaomin, who was in the group, looking depressed and disdainful.

"Chairman, fellow comrades, this new factory of ours is truly extraordinary. You may have seen us making clothes and trousers in our yard before. Back then, one person completed all the steps in making a single garment, so we needed skilled female workers, and the speed was far from fast. But, comrades, please look."

He pointed to the sewing machine inside. Zhang Yinghao looked at the comrades. Many of them only had Li Guihong in their eyes, and had no time to look at the people inside.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Zhang Yinghao could only cough twice to remind his comrades. Hearing Zhang Yinghao's cough, these comrades finally came to their senses. Their faces flushed red, and they looked like monkeys, wishing they could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

"Comrade Guihong continued."

Li Guihong blushed, but still said openly: "According to your suggestion, after research, each person only needs to be responsible for one process. Take the short-sleeved shirts we are making now, for example. In the past, they were all sewn by hand, and it took half a day to complete a piece of clothing. This was for very skilled people. If it was not skilled, it would take a day or even longer. With the help of sewing machines, sewing a piece of clothing is now possible.

"It only takes about an hour to make a garment. This includes the production of the Zhongke series F. If we follow our current large-scale assembly line production, a small team can produce one garment in two minutes. A team working ten hours a day can produce at least 200 pieces. And this is not the limit. Once the production line is fully operational and all the sequences are coordinated, even producing one piece in two minutes will not be a problem."

"Well, we're currently producing clothing for the base, and in the future our clothes and pants will be primarily for export. The combined population of countries like the UK, the US, Germany, and France is about 200 million. Assuming he changes clothes twice a year, how many people are in our team?"

"That's uncertain. If the clothing is simple, there are fewer members in the group. If the clothing is complex, there are more members in the group. Even if we count four to ten people, it's possible."

"So even if there are only ten people, that means we only need 70,000 people to work in the clothing industry each year.

As long as we have sufficient raw materials, we can meet the needs of these countries. Although we don't know the labor costs of foreign countries, we are sure that no country can match us in the near future. We can also make clothes, hats, etc. for foreign countries. As long as we organize our population and have sufficient raw materials, we can meet the needs of these countries.

With the garment manufacturing industry, we can solve the food and clothing problems of the people of Sichuan."

"Chairman, do you mean we should vigorously develop the garment manufacturing industry?"

"Of course we need to vigorously develop, but supporting facilities must also keep up! We need a lot of cotton, but cotton can't compete with our cultivated land for grain, otherwise we'll starve. So we have no choice but to reclaim land and plant cotton. Also, our current sewing machines are pedal-operated, and their efficiency is already so high. What if they were electric? No matter how much human labor efficiency increases, there's a limit, but there's almost no limit to the efficiency of machines. In the future, producing a piece of clothing will only take 30 to 40 seconds, and an entire assembly line will only require one worker. Can you imagine what that would be like?"

"Chairman, if it's that advanced, won't many people be out of work?"

"Comrade Guihong's worries are unnecessary. The more material wealth we have, the more jobs we will have in the future. We don't need to worry about the future; we should just focus on our own work now. Furthermore, if we don't improve productivity, other countries will too. If others can produce a piece of clothing in 30 seconds, and we still need only a few minutes, we will be eliminated. Therefore, we need to maintain our technological lead and eliminate foreign garment manufacturing. Then we won't have to worry about unemployment."

"Chairman, this is not easy."

"Haha, Comrade Xiaomin is right. It's not easy..."

Zhang Yinghao answered Liao Xiaomin's question and suddenly felt like he had caught the brunt of industrialization. After a moment's thought, he continued, "This large-scale production method can significantly reduce costs. But this comes with prerequisites. Where do you get your raw materials? Where do you get your machinery? Where do you get your labor? Where do you get your ships? Where do you get your port facilities? Where do you get your convenient transportation and dense rail network? All of these things combined together constitute industrialization, and we can provide all of them ourselves. We purchase raw materials from others, and provide them with industrial products, profiting from the difference."

"Chairman, what if other countries also learn this production method?"

"So we have to keep it secret. Others will undoubtedly learn it in the future, but as long as we can keep it secret, we'll have an advantage over them. Furthermore, our industry must constantly upgrade. As you can see, this machine cost us so much money. We'll manufacture these machines ourselves and then sell them to other countries to make money. Only in this way can our country become richer and richer."

Seeing everyone nodding, Zhang Yinghao continued, "Have you noticed? In the past, our tailors were all based on families. Training a tailor took several years, sometimes starting from childhood. But what about our workers? They can master a process in just a few months. As long as we standardize and regularize the production process, we can quickly train farmers into qualified ordinary workers, greatly increasing the wealth created by the labor force."

After taking his comrades to visit the garment factory, Zhang Yinghao returned to the office and planned to take a nap on the small bed next to him.

Standing in the brightly lit garment factory, Zhang Yinghao was bewildered. How did he end up here? Xiaoxue approached, and Zhang Yinghao couldn't quite place her whereabouts. She was wearing a miniskirt that reached her hips, and Zhang Yinghao felt something was amiss, but he couldn't place it.

Xue'er came over and, without a word, began to grope Zhang Yinghao. Zhang Yinghao felt his entire body soften, but one spot hardened. But Zhang Yinghao still had his wits about him. He looked around, but saw no one. Zhang Yinghao's own courage grew stronger. He kissed Xue'er's lips, caressed her back with one hand, and reached for his pants with the other.

As if he couldn't wait any longer, Zhang Yinghao touched himself and found that he was not wearing any pants.

Oh my god, how could this happen? Zhang Yinghao didn't think about it and quickly stopped kissing to take off Xue'er's pants. He had just taken off her pants, huh? Why can't I see clearly? Looking up, Xue'er had actually turned into Xiaomin. At this moment, Zhang Yinghao felt that he was not a saint, and didn't think about why Xue'er had turned into Xiaomin. He stood up and kissed her again.

Zhang Yinghao could smell Xiaomin's unique body fragrance and hear her soft moans, feeling a burning heat all over his body. He didn't know why the scene suddenly changed, and he found himself lying on the bed. He didn't care why the scene kept changing, or why he was there.

Because the person lying on the bed at this time was Li Guihong, whom he had just met today. Her red face appeared in front of Zhang Yinghao again, with a look of desire on her face, and she kept touching Zhang Yinghao's sensitive parts, which made Zhang Yinghao very excited. Zhang Yinghao hurriedly lowered his head and slowly kissed that red face.

Only then did Zhang Yinghao realize that Li Guihong was completely naked. The ultimate allure, the silky smoothness of his dreams. The scene was surprisingly inside the bandit's room, and Zhang Yinghao didn't give it much thought. Li Guihong took Zhang Yinghao's hand and guided it to her chest. The soft touch made Zhang Yinghao's heart melt. His palm felt like a grape, pressing against it, rubbing it rapidly, a supreme pleasure.

Zhang Yinghao felt uncomfortable all over, as if something was about to come out of his body. Zhang Yinghao lowered his head and kissed her, desperately sucking the grape on Li Guihong's chest, and felt like he was about to explode.