,.
Chapter 72: Sweet Harbor Storm - The solution to the problem
"Liao Dahua said that he has booked a courtyard in Xuwen County. If it is not possible, he can escape into the county." Wen Tong put forward Liao Dahua's suggestion.
"That's two." Chen Tianxiong said, "No matter how important the South China Sugar Factory is, we don't necessarily have to die in the factory. I think Bei Wei and Liao Dahua will discuss it together and prepare for it in case they escape. Plan. How to go and who to take with you."
There were hundreds of people in the factory, Bei Wei only brought two or three team members, and the escort agency could only come with a dozen people at most. It was obviously impossible to protect all the workers from escaping. Fortunately, the other party would probably only want to take their lives, and ordinary employees would not kill them all.
"Send away the Wen brothers and the women. There is no use keeping women here. I have spent a lot of effort training the Wen brothers. It would be a pity if they were killed." Wen Tong said. In fact, the key is that these people get along with the time travelers day and night and have a certain relationship. "There are also a few key members of the sugar factory and their families." He shook his head, "But now people's hearts have just been gathered together. If South China recovers in the future, people's hearts will disperse."
This is self-evident. Once things break out, there will inevitably be casualties among the sugar factory employees, but their leaders and cronies have long since hid in safe places - no one would like this. matter.
Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but feel frustrated. Xiao Gui said: "I think it would be too selfish and a bit despicable to do this." He said that since he thought of asking the employees to help defend the sugar factory now, he would just abandon them and resign themselves to their fate. From now on, South China's reputation will be extremely bad.
"I think," Chen Tianxiong said, "Wen brothers should not be sent away. They are an important channel for us to communicate with the locals. In addition, women should not be sent away either. Otherwise, morale will be affected."
This is the meaning of losing soldiers to protect commanders. Everyone knew that it was useless for a few female slaves to stay in the sugar factory. But at least it's an attitude - everyone in the sugar factory knows that several female slaves are the maids and concubines of the masters.
Xiao Gui originally admired Chen Tianxiong for his calmness and orderliness, but now he disagreed: "It's even worse," Xiao Gui said, "What we should be thinking about now is how to defend the South China Sugar Refinery, not how to protect it." Escape for your life, let alone prepare to resign and deceive employees after escaping for your life."
These words were so righteous that everyone was speechless. Wen Tong's face turned green and white: "Well, I have a gun after all. When the time comes, the most I can do is be the first to enter Cuigang if I risk my life."
In Cuigang Cemetery, no one has been buried yet. He said that he should be the first to be buried, which was obviously a negative comment.
Chen Tianxiong was still tepid: "The sugar factory must be preserved as much as possible. But when the workers come to knock on the door, even if they fight hard, they may not be able to save it."
Bei Wei asked: "What about the third one?"
"The third thing is to inquire about the information and find out the overall situation and read the full text. Although I don't agree with killing the third master, we still need to prepare in advance for this matter. It's really not possible. Instead of letting him blow our heads, it's better Let’s beat him up first.” Everyone smiled a little when he said this, “Besides Mr. Zhu, who are the other key people and their attitudes must be found out one by one, including the details. Understand it. This way, when the time comes, whether you are beating or pulling, you can have a plan. Otherwise, even if you want to kill people and set fires, there will be nowhere to find people."
"This makes sense." Bei Wei agreed. "Send out all the people who are making a fuss to investigate."
"The people who raised the flag are now outside asking for information. Now that we have a clear goal, I will take care of Liao Dahua again," Wen Tong said.
"With accurate information, the matter will be easier to handle. If it doesn't work out then, just ask Lao Bei to take action. This job is a bit dirty."
The so-called "dirty" means that this is different from the war between countries. The divisions are famous, but the real competition is for interests. Chen Tianxiong is afraid that he will feel uncomfortable if Bei Wei, who is a former soldier, is allowed to engage in underworld activities. .
"That's unnecessary." Bei Wei said, "Since we have come to this time and space, we must consider the overall situation of the Time Travel Group."
"Okay, that's enough." Chen Tianxiong said, "Actually, I also have an idea to drain the firepower. But I'm not sure."
The so-called "throwing money under the hood" is to lobby the sugar mill workers who are preparing to revolt, so that they can "understand the righteousness" or bribe them with large sums of money. As long as they don't revolt, the matter will be more than half successful. But the current situation is unclear, making Chen Tianxiong feel a little unable to take action.
"Aren't they out of work? At worst, we just recruit them all." Merlin said, he became excited, as if he had discovered a new world. "After the wages are paid, I don't believe they will still cause trouble."
"Originally it was possible, but we were late." Wen Tong was a little frustrated. "There is no shortage of people in the sugar factory now. If you recruit people, you can't live in vain."
"Even if the white-collar wages are high, do they at least play a role in maintaining stability?" Merlin said. "Besides, there are about two hundred workers, and each person earns twelve taels of silver a year, which is only more than two thousand taels."
This is a good idea. Although it is suspected of spending money to buy peace of mind, it is always a more feasible method.
Chen Tianxiong nodded: "What you said has given me some ideas. Leave this matter to me. I must appease all the workers."
Everyone was stunned, not knowing what clever plan he had up his sleeve, but judging from the way he pretended to be mysterious, he must be very confident.
"But this matter requires everyone's cooperation, especially Wen Tong." Chen Tianxiong said, "But I am sure of success - at least it can make them internally chaotic for a while and postpone the trouble for a few days."
The calculation was settled, Wen Tong asked: "What should we do about transporting sugar? Transporting sugar to Guangzhou is important, but how can we solve the safety issue?"
"Yes, we either need to ask the Executive Committee to help send ships to escort, or we have to equip the ships of Guanggao Shipbuilding with weapons and soldiers, but this will be troublesome."
"It doesn't matter, I have an idea, but I need the help of the executive committee. That's it-"
The calculation is settled and everyone goes about their business. Chen Tianxiong had a secret meeting with Wen Tong for a while, and then called Liao Daxing, asked many questions, and asked him to make a list of all the sugar factory workers who were former sugar laborers, and wrote on it with a pen Note one by one what their original occupation was: making sugar, setting fires, or just general handymen. He also asked Wenxiu to bring in all the "defenses" written by the workers in the "anti-corruption" movement and compare them one by one. He was busy for a long time.
Wen Tong was surprised and asked: "What does this mean?"
Chen Tianxiong said: "To put it bluntly, it's not a surprise. It's just a trick to provoke the masses to fight against the masses."
The method Merlin mentioned to hire all the unemployed workers, if used a few months earlier, would indeed be a good strategy to "draw out the salary from under the cauldron". But it's too late now. The unemployed workers are clearly organized and have leaders. This leader is probably still under the control of Haiyi Tang. If he offers to offer jobs now, he may not win the trust of the unemployed workers. Even if the other party is willing to negotiate, the asking price may be too high.
"You think: The unemployed workers are already ready to go. If we now say that we are willing to give them jobs, what would you think if you were an unemployed worker?"
"Of course I think the other person is scared."
"That's right," Chen Tianxiong nodded, "This will make them realize their own power - these people haven't thought about it so much now."
"This will actually help them unite."
"Haha, that's right." Chen Tianxiong said with a smile, "So the first thing to do is to divide them. The sugar factory workers may be said to be one, but they are actually divided into several types of people."
Wen Tong knows that the sugar cook has the highest technical requirements, so he is the leader in every sugar house, followed by the fire burner, who controls the size of the fire at all times according to the sugar cook's instructions. Both of these people have technical expertise. , the income is also the highest. Especially during the harvest season, the income of skilled craftsmen is considerable. Others are just laborers selling their strength.
"Who are you pulling and beating?" Wen Tong asked.
"As you said." Chen Tianxiong suddenly said something.
Wen Tong said: "Generally speaking, it is always better to recruit skilled talents. On the one hand, skilled people are useful, and on the other hand, they have a greater say in the group. But we don't need their skills - "
Chen Tianxiong nodded repeatedly: "That's right, Lao Wen, you can think faster than me. At first, I wanted to start with the sugar cook, but then I realized something was wrong -" He first offered Wen the same hand, "Buy them." The price to pay is much higher than the price to bribe ordinary workers.”
In terms of income, these people are "too difficult to change", and South China cannot buy them off without spending a lot of money. The price is too high, not only will it cost money, but it will also make people in the sugar factory dissatisfied. The gains outweigh the losses.
In contrast, ordinary workers only need to have food to eat, clothing to wear, and their families not to starve to death. Although there are a large number of people, the cost is not large, and the psychological expectations are small. Proper placement can satisfy them, and even be grateful.
As long as they have a stable livelihood, no one will easily become a mob no matter how much they complain. Chen Tianxiong and Wen Tong both understand this truth.
Some people want to be a mob, and some don't. This temporarily organized workers' group will inevitably fall into internal strife, and with the help of other means, it will be easy to disintegrate. Although Zhu Sanye is the mastermind behind the scenes, he is not, and engaging in labor movements is not his specialty.
As for Chen Tianxiong's list of sugar factory workers, Wen Tong also understood. They had no connections among the sugar factory workers, so they had to use people already in the factory to make connections.
"When you find out the plea, you probably want to let those who are caught by us with a sore hand go. We are not afraid that they will betray the truth or that they will not try their best."
"That's right," Chen Tianxiong said, "but those who write the defense are basically those who cook sugar and make fires, and there are very few ordinary laborers. They have no skills, and it is not their turn to divide the spoils."
"It's okay if you don't have one. At least you have a good character."
"That's right. I have selected a few and will meet them later to see how their adaptability is and let them go out for activities early tomorrow morning."
Chen Tianxiong also planned to go out for activities by himself, but he didn't say anything about it yet. Firstly, he didn't want to make everyone worry, and secondly, he also wanted to show off his skills in front of everyone and show off his status. Regardless of others, although Bei Wei was just the captain of the special reconnaissance team, he was a core member of the executive committee, which left a deep impression on him, which would be of great benefit to his future development.
Early the next morning, Chen Tianxiong and Zhou Shizhai set out together. He had already learned Leizhou dialect in Lingao, which was not very standard, and he had no problem communicating with the locals. In addition, his skin was darker, and he looked very "Ming Dynasty" after putting on local clothes.
Originally, Liao Dahua was going to send the best martial artist in Wei Lei Prefecture to follow him, but Chen Tianxiong still chose Zhou Shizhai. He was obviously more reliable than the others, and he had been in Lingao for a long time, and he was very good to the time travellers. I also understand his behavior and don’t need any further explanation.
The purpose of this trip is to visit Linzhuang. The person who raised the alarm easily found out that he was the leader of the unemployed workers in the sugar house. I also know that he has been to Haiyi Hall several times.
"Lin Zhuang's craftsmanship is average," Zhou Shizhai said. "Mainly because he is relatively out-field, good at talking, and has a little connection with Xu Wen's three religions and nine streams, so he is considered a leader among the sugar laborers. The last time he fought a lawsuit, he was a public recommendation. He showed up."
"How are you doing?" Chen Tianxiong asked
"He is quite a decent person," the bodyguard said. He was certainly not a bad person. Because he was easy to socialize with, he inevitably had some bad habits. He was involved in food, drink, prostitution and gambling, and could not save much money. So I am in my late thirties and have no wife, so I am a bachelor.
Lin Zhuang is a single man, so naturally he doesn't have any family. At the moment, he lives in Monk Zou's temple, where he is surrounded by unemployed Tanggliao workers with their families who are planning to go to South China to ask for an explanation. It would be a bit risky to go find him.
"It doesn't matter, if you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't get the tiger's cubs." Chen Tianxiong was very confident. Since Lin Zhuang had a hobby, he would not be a firm-minded person, and the bribery was very likely to succeed. Even if it doesn't work out, just what happened today will be spread out vividly and vividly, and it will destroy his little prestige.
A snake cannot do without a head. If this backbone is removed, and coupled with the strategic action of "mass versus mass", this temporarily assembled mob will disperse immediately, and it will be much easier to clean up the mess by then.
The two came to the Monk Zou Temple and saw that the temple was quite large - because Monk Zou was the founder of the sugar industry, the sugar industry in Leizhou was developed, and the Monk Zou Temple was also very well built. Originally, this was also the place where Hai Yi Tang performed operas to honor the gods once a year.
But at this time, the temple was full of people with their families in front and back. The porch is full of people. The adults made the children cry, and it was as lively as a market. Some were fully clothed, while others were simply in rags, almost like refugees. ,.
