In his early days, Su Changhen rarely wrote about factory or business-related topics, and in fact, he didn’t write much in his later years either. But it may be Yin Lian's intervention that brought changes to things. This edition of "Jin Jade Lock" added a lot of factory information. Su Changhen showed readers a magnificent industrial era from the perspective of the male protagonist. .
Su Changhen actually didn't know much about industry. Most of what he knew so far was the information Yin Lian showed him. In fact, he was not unaware of the increasing industrialization and capitalization of the world in the past, but it was only on paper that he truly realized the changes that these wonderful industrial machines had brought to this era.
Although she has never told anyone of this era, because Yin Lian is actually a playwright herself, she knows very well what kind of stimulation and inspiration Su Changhen, Yue Ke and others need in the writing process, so when Su Changhen When Changhen made a request, she also consciously led him to learn the information she thought the other party might need.
However, Yin Lian's own industrial development was not enough to serve as a source of materials, so she still asked for the opinions of other partners. The first person to bear the brunt must be Shen Lu. Among the factory owners Yin Lian interacts with, he has the largest business and the most extensive connections.
However, with the development of another project, Yin Lian's current network of contacts has actually expanded greatly, and is no longer limited to the relationships introduced by Shen Lu. Water cooling systems are widely used in factory production and soon attracted the attention of many people, most of whom were factory owners.
Not all factory owners are willing to introduce an author to visit and collect materials, but there are always some who are willing. There is also a very big difference between factories and factories. Some people will care about some secrets in the industry being revealed, while others will regard the whole thing as a way of publicity.
There are also big differences from factory to factory. Today's Xiaguo factory industry has actually just emerged a few years ago, so many places have not yet been standardized. Having said that, because the entire social environment is relatively affluent, factories do not dare to exploit workers so harshly, but there are always some people with poor family circumstances or homeless who have to accept oppression in order to survive.
The Xia Kingdom, like the Song Dynasty, did not allow human trafficking or slave-keeping. Although some people would try to save the country, they were only limited to a small area. Large-scale factories like this generally follow the employment system honestly.
While inspecting the strength of the partners, if he has free time, Yin Lian will also take the time to explain the current situation of the domestic industry to Su Changhen: "...As far as I know, the current domestic steel production is about 13 million tons. , more than 80% of which are produced by 44 large-scale steel plants, which are the main source of domestic weapons and steel equipment. The steel produced by the factories is also cheap due to its good equipment, large output, and low cost..."
"...At present, only seven provinces, including Nannan, Yue, Qin and Guangxi, use artificial fertilizers, and their grain yields per acre are much higher than those in areas that do not use chemical fertilizers. I heard that at the end of last year, someone specifically complained about the low price of grains. The issue has been discussed, but failed to attract attention... Now the problem of domestic granary storage is basically in name only..."
"With more food, many people cannot afford to eat... This is also a mockery..."
Su Changhen said: "The problem of cheap grain can be solved by the free warehouse system. This matter can only be blamed on political corruption and the court's inaction."
Yin Lian said: "It is the court's responsibility to stabilize food prices, but many people blame the fertilizer factory for this. Increasing food production is a good thing, but manpower surplus is also a reality, so many farmers began to move to cities in order to make a living. work."
Su Changhen fell into thinking.
He was not the kind of person who cared about the country and the people, so he was just a popular author throughout his life, not a great writer or sociologist.
But Yin Lian's words did trigger some thoughts in him. During the visit, he carefully understood various information about the factory and learned that workers are a very hard profession. However, compared with farmers, the advantage is that they are relatively stable, but the disadvantage is that their work intensity is too intense. It's very difficult.
In order to show off themselves, some factory owners also revealed some industry insider information to Su Changhen, such as some unscrupulous behaviors of their colleagues. In addition to using this to set off themselves, they also hinted that they wanted to use the influence of periodicals and serials to condemn them. What the other person means.
Su Changhen originally didn't know much about the shady operations of some capitalists. He just heard what they said was sensational, so he took a chance to find out more about it. He himself has been a social reporter for several years, and still has some experience in private interviews. However, because he is not familiar enough with the capital, the content he can interview is still relatively limited.
But even this limited knowledge is alarming enough. Based on what he learned from Yin Lian, opening a factory itself is already very profitable. However, even so, some factory owners are still very dissatisfied. They must squeeze the workers' labor to the maximum, deduct their remuneration, and punish them. Workers engage in personal insults.
When Su Changhen saw it, he couldn't suppress the anger in his heart.
As an author, his best way to vent his emotions is undoubtedly to write them into stories. But when he was thinking about the storyline and adjusting the outline halfway, he suddenly got cold feet.
It is said that a literati's pen is as sharp as a knife, but not everyone has the courage to kill with a knife. Su Changhen usually wrote about romantic affairs, and he was not a person with great ambitions. Although he was indeed a little angry after seeing this social phenomenon, when it came time to take action, he was a little timid.
Logically speaking, you should be free to write whatever you want. However, no matter what era, speech must be controlled to a certain extent, and even writers cannot have complete freedom. Sometimes it is indeed to prevent content that is harmful to society, and sometimes it is the people in power who want to ban different voices.
In an era when the legal system was sound, this matter would have been banned at most, but in this era of strong warlords and chaotic systems, it could lead to death. Even so, there are still many people in the current newspaper industry who go against the trend and commit crimes, openly competing with warlords at the risk of being hunted down - of course, this does not include Su Changhen.
Offending a capitalist may not be as terrible as offending a warlord, but based on what Su Changhen saw about the capitalists' sinister ways, he felt that human life was probably not valuable to them. And if he offended these people, he would never be able to prevent them from taking revenge... Thinking of this, his anger was extinguished and replaced by strong fear...
…and guilt.
If his mentality becomes unstable, he will become confused.
If I write, I am afraid of offending criminals. If he doesn't write about it, his conscience will inevitably be harshly criticized when he thinks about the harsh and oppressed workers, some of whom are even just children.
Yin Lian only found out the cause and effect from the editor during the meeting later.
After she found out about this, she asked the other person out for tea and then chatted with him about it.
She said: "...When we visited the factory, Mr. Li provoked you with his words. Although part of the reason was that he really couldn't stand what Xingsheng was doing, there was also an intention to take advantage of you. He doesn’t want to offend anyone, so you don’t have to worry about what he says.”
After hearing this, Su Changhen was silent for a while and said, "What if I want to write?"
Yin Lian took a sip of tea and said nonchalantly: "Then write."
Su Changhen said: "Although I want to write, I am afraid. I don't know if writing such content will cause trouble to the publisher and myself, and I don't know if what I write will spoil the interest of readers. And can it attract their attention?”
Yin Lian glanced at him in surprise, seeming a little surprised that he was so worried.
But when I think about it carefully, I don’t think it’s surprising.
As a man, Su Changhen's writing style is delicate but not extensive, so he is very popular among female readers. From this point of view, his way of thinking itself is relatively delicate. Although the content and ideas when writing are still more masculine, they are also within the range that ordinary women can understand and accept.
Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that he was delicate, sensitive and foresighted in this matter.
Yin Lian felt deeply at this moment... this great writer of later generations was just a young man at this time.
This kind of feeling cannot be felt when communicating with Yue Ke, because although Yue Ke's writing style is not mature in the later period, she definitely does not look like a jerky young woman. She is the kind of person who is born with a clear mind, but because she is too clear, she appears to be self-centered and lazy.
To borrow a Buddhist verse, everything is futile, so why bother working hard?
In fact, Yin Lian has a clear mind, but she has been unable to erase her emotions since she was a child, so she is completely incompatible with Yue Ke's style.
Facing Su Changhen's hesitation, she thought for a moment and replied: "If Mr. Su wants to write about some black-hearted factories, I have no objection. But if he wants to shout at the top of his lungs until everyone is alarmed, I think It’s not necessary.”
Su Changhen: "!"
He said: "I feel that if this matter is not written deeply, the ladies and ladies may not really pay attention to it."
Yin Lian smiled and said, "Mr. Su, if that's the case, why don't you write an article and submit it to the Beijing News?"
Su Changhen was stunned.
Yin Lian continued: "In other words, is there no gentleman who pays attention to similar issues and then writes about related issues in major newspapers? Have these articles attracted social attention?"
Su Changhen thought about it again and again, and replied with some hesitation: "I am better at writing than political commentary. But articles in major newspapers... I think they are still somewhat effective, at least they can trigger discussions among people from all walks of life."
Yin Lian nodded and said: "But the discussion caused is actually limited in many cases. Mr. Su, the role of articles and articles is also very different. You are good at writing. Many people think that the script is actually romantic, but it is actually That’s wrong. Because it has its own customs and customs, and it is a microcosm of the world. It is different from political commentary and admonishment. Many times it does not require too much warning, but more often it plays an informing role."
"Today's madams really don't care about the workers' livelihood. Even if you write it into the story and scream at the top of your lungs, they will probably be bored. But I don't object to you bringing out factory-related stories in the story, because at least this is It will let people know that such a thing exists, and when they have the same position and resonate with the characters in the story, they will naturally choose a side in reality in the future.”
"You don't have to worry about whether these contents will lead to revenge. You don't need to think too much about external factors when writing. Capitalists value interests. They are the property class and are not as courageous as you think. And most people in the world bully the weak and fear the strong. If The more you act cowardly and easily intimidated, the easier it will be for them to attack you."
After hearing this, Su Changhen felt quite enlightened and said after a while: "Miss Zeng, thank you. Although you are young, you are much wiser than me. Listening to your words has solved a lot of my knots and doubts."
Yin Lian smiled and said, "You're welcome."
In the days that followed, Su Changhen quickly figured out the plot and inserted factory-related stories into the story just right - the emerging capitalists' strong financial power and their impact on the economy, the benevolent factory owners and the The struggle between black-hearted factory owners, the attack and resistance the heroine encounters when facing the black-hearted capitalists.
He not only wrote about the wealth and luxury of the emerging bourgeoisie's life, but also about the acumen, intelligence and ability of young capitalists. He also wrote about the embarrassing situation faced by farmers in both disaster years and good harvests, as well as the difficulties faced by farmers after they were transformed into workers. Right hard work and changes in thinking.
Unexpectedly, many plots about factories have aroused many people's attention and curiosity about emerging industries. Money and capital are naturally compelling content in every sense of the word. In fact, many of the stories in it are very close to the reality at this time - real scenes that may happen around nobles and commoners every year and every month.
Some of the nouveau riche who were not popular with young aristocratic youths have recently received a lot of attention. They are even actively surrounded and questioned by ladies and ladies: "Can you really make so much money by running a factory?" "The employees in your factory How is the salary?" "Can the machine really speed up the work?"
Although it was different from Su Changhen's expectation, due to the attention of wealthy women to their factories, many factory owners really restrained themselves a lot, at least temporarily restraining themselves from further squeezing the workers. For these "upstarts", profits are important, but reputation will obviously have a great impact on business.
Su Changhen didn't know if Yin Lian had expected this, but he did attribute most of the credit to this eldest lady.
Because the theme of factories is very popular, Su Changhen is also more enthusiastic about following Yin Lian to collect further materials.
His admiration for Yin Lian is obvious. If he hadn't seen Yin Lian's true face after being disfigured, Shen Lu would even think that the great writer had a crush on Yin Lian.
In this era, the profession of writer is very popular among young girls. In the long history of the Xia Kingdom, writers have always been extremely respected, and this phenomenon has been extremely obvious in the past hundred years-because of the significant increase in women's education, various literati have had numerous affairs.
Although there are not many such stories at this time, it is already very common for young girls to worship literary authors.
After the delivery of the goods that day, Su Changhen had been asking Yin Lian some business questions. His questions were relatively simple, even amateurish, but Yin Lian answered them very patiently.
Because he received a payment from Shen Lu this time, Yin Lian also ordered a banquet for Shen Lu to meet him as usual. During the meal, Su Changhen clearly sensed some hidden hostility from Merchant Shen, and at first he thought it was his illusion.
Shen Lu seemed casual, but he kept asking about Su Changhen's career, family situation, and assets. What he did was not obvious. Whenever Su Changhen had doubts, he would talk about his own affairs without leaving any trace, saying: "...The situation is actually quite chaotic now. I don't know when a war will break out. . So I paid a lot of attention to this aspect and carried out scattered property purchases. I bought several manors in the south, the north and several relatively comfortable countries overseas."
Seemingly casually showing off his assets.
"Ms. Zeng, do you prefer a hotter place or a cooler place?"
Ask Yin Lian about her preferences and even her plans for the future.
In addition, he also commented on the settings and views on marriage in "The Golden Jade Lock", belittling Su Changhen and simultaneously raising his own character: "...the heroine in "The Golden Jade Lock" would be gone if there were no more A birthmark can be regarded as a peerless beauty. Let me tell you, how much beauty can a birthmark affect? The world is narrow-minded, and even the male protagonist values beauty more than talent..."
Su Changhen couldn't help but retort: "The male protagonist has a good impression of Miss Ke. And he will grow in the future. After all, he is just an ordinary person, and he will always be limited by existing concepts at the beginning."
In the end, Yin Lian said, "What's wrong with loving beauty? Mr. Shen also has many beautiful concubines in his family. Are they all talented and noble?"
