Chapter 47: Mass Production

  Liu Zhang raised his head in satisfaction and asked the other tribal leaders: "What about you?"

  "We all support the governor's orders and will never disobey."

  "En." Liu Zhang nodded, smiling and said: "It seems that the big families in this place are indeed insightful. However, I know some of you are dissatisfied with me. I don't mind. The four categories of officials have taken up your opportunities for advancement, the land decree has hindered your expansion of property, and the price limit has made you lose your dream of getting rich overnight. This is like seeing money that's about to be yours being snatched away by someone else. If it were me, I wouldn't be happy either. Is this not the reason?"

  "I dare not." "I dare not."

  The tribesmen nodded and agreed, but in their hearts they cursed Liu Zhang for his shamelessness. They knew it was a robbery, yet they still had to do this, and now they even had to say such hypocritical words.

  "However." Liu Zhang continued: "I am not a person who likes to take advantage of others, I will return the money you were robbed of with double the amount, it's up to you whether or not to cooperate."

  "Return it to us?" The tribal leaders whispered to each other, unsure what Liu Zhang was getting at. Yan Lao Yezi said: "Please enlighten us, sir."

  Liu Zhang said, "Don't be in a hurry, before we talk, I'd like to ask you a question first. I think you already know that the thing under your body is called a chair, and the thing above your head is called a sun umbrella. What do you think of these two things? Do you want to add a set to your home when you go back?"

  Those clan heads nodded, sitting on the chair was much more comfortable than sitting on the mat, and with the sun umbrella, they could set up a stage in the courtyard to taste tea at any time, no need to shrink in the house. These things wouldn't cost much money, of course, they wanted to add a set, but these people were still confused, not knowing what Liu Zhang wanted to say.

  Liu Zhang smiled and said, "Since you all have this idea, what about other wealthy families and ordinary citizens? Wouldn't they spend a hundred coins to buy a set? You are all clever people, shouldn't you understand the implication?"

  Which of these tribes did not engage in business, after being enlightened by Liu Zhang, they suddenly realized that things like chairs are both practical and cheap, and can be used for a long time, every household needs them, selling chairs has a broad prospect, many people have already thought about it, and when they return, they will find a carpenter to make chairs.

  Liu Zhang smiled and said, "I'm afraid everyone has already started thinking about selling chairs, right? But don't blame me for pouring cold water on you, you will definitely not make any money by selling chairs."

  "What?!" "Impossible?!" The clan leaders were bewildered.

  Liu Zhang raised his head and shouted at the young men from the aristocratic families behind him: "Which one of you usually takes care of the store, come out for a moment."

  The young men of the clan looked at me, I looked at them, and in the end it was still the bold and daring great Han of the Yin family who came out.

  Yin surnamed the Great Han had a robust build, Liu Zhang patted Yin surnamed the Great Han's chest muscles and said: "Young man is very strong, what's your name?"

  "Sir, I am Yin Bo, a humble subject. My family has over twenty shops, most of which sell fabric, and now they are all under my management."

  "En, very good." Liu Zhang nodded: "Then I'll ask you, based on your estimate, how much should a chair sell for?"

  Yin Bai thought for a moment and said, "Although I've never sold this thing before, looking at the labor and wood materials, it's similar to the two tea tables, so it should sell for 200 yuan. Just now, County Magistrate Wang said 100 yuan, which should be a discounted price for us."

  Liu Zhang smiled and patted Yin Bai's shoulder, saying: "Young man, this is being sold by someone and still helping them count the money. The selling price of this chair is 70 cents, Wang Fu sells it to you for 100 cents because he sees that you have money and wants to extort you."

  "Eighty wen?" Yin Bai was shocked: "This is impossible, the wood for this chair alone would cost forty wen, labor costs should be over one hundred wen, and adding the storefront, taxes and other expenses, it's absolutely impossible to sell it for only eighty wen."

  Others who knew how to do business also nodded in agreement.

  Liu Zhang smiled and said, "You're right, but you're talking about traditional craftsmanship. Now, in our state, there's a new method that can greatly reduce labor costs and shorten production time, called the assembly line production method. That is to say, making a chair is no longer done by one person, but rather by many people working together, with each person specializing in a specific task, such as cutting down trees, transporting wood, processing wood, assembling, and nailing.

  "In a workshop of ten people, with the help of cheap labor, at least twenty chairs can be produced in one day. The labor cost per chair averages less than twenty cents, and because of unified logging and transportation, the wood cost will also decrease by one quarter. Yin Bai, don't you think that Ben Zhou Mu's chairs can sell for eighty cents?"

  "This..." Yun Bai suddenly became somewhat bewildered.

  Liu Zhang burst out laughing: "Empty talk is useless, once you've seen a real assembly line workshop, you'll know the power of a workshop. Elders who are unwilling to move can have their younger relatives take their place. Let's go to Yu Shu Street and take a look at the top ten workshops directly under the Mu government, shall we?"

  The elderly clan leaders saw that the young people were eager to try, and they didn't object in their hearts. Some of the clan leaders even wanted to see with their own eyes the magical assembly line workshop that Liu Zhang had mentioned. Unfortunately, a group of old bones was almost fainting from being sunburned, so they could only instruct the younger generation before getting into the sedan chair and returning home.

  Liu Zhang gave the young men from the aristocratic families war horses, and they rode them to the western city's Elm Tree Street.

  Chengdu was a prosperous city in the Han Dynasty, but unfortunately, its development was uneven. The east city, because it borders Mianzhu, Guanghan, and Fucheng, is the first place that merchants from other places see when they arrive in Chengdu, so it is more developed than the other three cities. The west city is the poorest area of Chengdu, where a large number of urban poor people gather, and Yu Shu Street is such a street for the poor.

  Wang Fu, under the command of Liu Zhang, turned the drawings made by Liu Zhang into real objects, and added porcelain, cloth, soap, etc. He opened a total of ten official workshops, all of which were located on Yu Shu Street, and named them Tian Zi, Di Zi, San Zi to Shi Zi.

  Employed seventeen shopkeepers, more than two hundred craftsmen and embroidery women, and all the other helpers were hired from the poor people near Yu Shu Street. When these poor people received a considerable salary for the first time, they were all delighted and rushed to the workshop to work.

  In a place like Elm Street, these young masters would not even think of setting foot in it normally. This time, following Liu Zhang to come, some people also frowned, but really entering Elm Street, these people stared wide-eyed.

  The houses are still those houses, a pile of earthen houses that seem to be about to collapse, only with a few large simple wooden structure houses standing in the middle. The people are still those people, wearing tattered clothes, but everyone seems to be very busy.

  What really amazed the villagers was that there were simple sheds everywhere, piled with various raw materials. The strong men carried wood, women selected cotton around the winnowing fan, and then transported them to the wooden houses one by one. It was almost like when Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall in ancient times, except that the people on Yu Shu Street all had a calm smile on their faces.

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