Chapter 49: Tǒng Zǐ Lóu

  In the suburbs, living conditions are far from being as good as those in the inner city, and can't even compare to the prosperity of large and medium-sized cities inside the pass. The area outside the pass can be described as desolate, even though a batch of factory buildings have been built, including the Northwest General Machinery Company with thousands of employees.

  This slightly harsh environment outside the factory will pose a problem for Sima's factory. Local technicians can only be hired at high prices, and self-trained technicians are no different from local technicians, just treating this place as a place to make money, sooner or later they will leave because this is not their home.

  If you want to keep them, first of all, they must let the outside world become their home. However, it's not easy for those who are used to living a stable life inside to voluntarily stay outside. Unless you make them feel that the outside world is more suitable for living than their home. Maybe this way makes more sense.

  If people knew about Sima's plan, they would think that Sima was crazy, doing so much for these small workers. If everyone did this, they wouldn't even make a penny.

  "Simmer down! You're crazy, absolutely crazy. Do you know that with your current plan, we'll need to build dozens of these tube-like buildings?"

  Liu Jiyuan looked at Sima's plan and said, to be honest, if only considering the practicality of the building, Sima's tube-shaped building design is still very good, at least in Liu Jiyuan's opinion.

  This bucket house is actually a three-story tube building, with a long corridor connecting many single rooms. It looks a bit like a dormitory or military barracks, similar to the kind of bucket buildings that were common in cities in the 1960s and 1970s.

  However, in comparison, the bucket building that Sima is preparing to build is much more reasonable than the design of those military-style dormitories. The rooms on both sides have been extended by 7.5 meters from the traditional bucket building. Every three single rooms form a simple suite, although the area is only over 60 square meters, it is also a four-bedroom, one-living room, one-bathroom and one-kitchen suite.

  Although the bedrooms of such houses are only about ten square meters, and the living room is only twelve square meters, the four bedrooms are enough for these ordinary workers to settle their families in the future. The workers of this era are mostly large families. Four bedrooms should be sufficient for three generations.

  "Brother Ji Yuan, I know that the operating cost of the factory will increase a lot this way, but we have to understand that these workers are the foundation of our factory. Since we set up the factory in this remote area, we must think of ways to attract these workers to stay and settle down here. If we help them build their homes, would they still want to leave?"

  Doing these things is also a helpless move. If the anomaly point in this space-time was near a large or medium-sized city in the mainland, it would not be necessary to help workers build houses. But if I were to help these workers build houses, at least they would have a sense of belonging to the factory, just like those old workers in later generations, who regarded the factory as their home and took the factory as their family.

  "Sima, you're the boss, so what you say goes. But have you thought it through? According to your plan, a three-story residential building like this one can only accommodate 36 workers. With over 2,000 workers now, that's nearly a hundred buildings of this size. Not to mention how much money is needed, but the amount of steel, bricks, and cement required are all staggering numbers. All of these need to be transported from outside. This place is really in the middle of nowhere."

  At the celebration party many days ago, Sima had already promised to give houses to the workers. Now that it's hard to reverse Sima's decision, he can only cooperate with him as much as possible to make this thing work.

  "Don't worry about steel and cement, as for bricks, we can build a large-scale brick kiln factory. The soil quality here is not good, but don't forget that the soil near Yanghe River, about 10 miles away from here, is actually quite suitable for making bricks."

  In the past, if you knew that there were about ten miles away from the Yangtze River, it is estimated that Sima would have built a brick and tile factory long ago. As for the brick and tile factory, Sima can be said to be very familiar with it. In his early years, Sima had partnered with others to open a brick factory.

  In that brick factory, there was an 18-door kiln that produced nearly 20 million red bricks per year. The early returns were very good. Later, if it weren't for a flood and the failure to get through the land department, it would have been forced to shut down. Sima always felt sorry, although he had already recovered his investment at the time.

  "Do you want to build a brick factory by the riverbank? That land isn't yours, first see if the Kong family is willing to sell it to you. You should know that all the land in that area is good land, and the Kong family will definitely not sell their good land to you."

  Having stayed in this place for several months, no matter what, I know that the land by the Yangtze River is absolutely the best land in this area. According to Liu Jiyuan's understanding of these local landlords, they probably wouldn't sell those lands even if you killed them.

  "Don't worry! Brother Ji Yuan, as long as there's enough profit, he'll definitely agree to our building a brick factory there."

  Liu Jiyuan is right, these local tyrants would rather die than sell good land, but their greedy habits make them absolutely unwilling to let go of the benefits that have been delivered to their doorstep.

  "Master Kong, I've come to bother you again, please forgive me. I've prepared some small gifts, please accept them with a smile."

  In the guest hall of the Kong family, Sima Gong said with a smile that this was his second visit to the Kong family's gate. Sometimes, looking at Old Man Kong's demeanor, Sima had an illusion, thinking he was in the Kong Mansion of Qu Prefecture rather than this Kong family in Kong Family Village.

  "Ah! Young master, it's been a while since we last met and you look even more spirited than before. I wonder how your factory is doing lately."

  As soon as he mentioned that factory, Old Man Kong's heart turned sour. Such a large piece of land was sold for so little money, and he thought he had made a profit. But it turned out that this kid only wanted to build a factory, and the stone mountain on that land was excavated for its stones, which alone were worth more than what he sold it for. If they hadn't sold that stone mountain to him back then, just selling the stones would have been enough for the Kong family to live comfortably for several years. Now it's too late to say anything.

  "Old master, I think Master Ming has already reported to you, but I don't know what your thoughts are."

  Recently, Sima and Kongming often had meals together, during which he expressed his intention to buy the land by the Yanghe River. Although Sima and Kongming's relationship has been quite good these days, whenever it comes to buying that piece of good land, Kongming himself is indecisive.

  Although the old master had handed over all the big and small matters of the Kong family to Kong Mingchang, others didn't know that Kong Mingchang himself wasn't even clear about it. For small things, he could make his own decisions, but for major events like selling land, no one dared to act without the old master's instructions.

  "Master Sima, you're the first one to make a fortune by setting up factories outside this city. Just looking at your flour mill and cigarette factory, with goods being transported out in large carts every day, it's really enviable."

  Although he had already heard that Ming Chang had reported to Sima about buying land, Mr. Kong was obviously unwilling to discuss this matter with Sima at this time and changed the subject to talk about Sima's factory.

  It's no wonder that now the whole town is talking about the big factory ten miles away, just watching the two teams of horses and carts coming to the train station to deliver goods all day long can make people in the town talk for half a day, calculating how much money the factory can make in a day, the eyes of the townspeople have been red for a long time.

  "How dare I call you that in front of the old master? This factory is just a means to make a living, and the old master has overpraised it. On the surface, running a factory seems glorious, but in reality, it's not as stable as collecting rent from land ownership. The old master is indeed an enviable person."

  Because when having dinner and drinks with Mr. Kong, he mentioned that the old master of the Kong family sold such a large piece of land for just over 1,000 yuan, feeling somewhat regretful, plus his own factory on top made people in the town quite envious, this attitude of Old Master Kong can be understood.

  However, Sima felt that this old man Kong was a bit too petty. To think that the land was sold willingly by both parties at the time, and he made money from it himself, what's there to be anxious about? Fortunately, he had some understanding of the nature of such rustic rich people and knew that this was just their inherent nature.

  "Old lady, to be honest with you, this time I want to buy those hundreds of acres of dry land by the Yangtze River, actually I plan to build a brick factory there."

  Simma, who had already made up his mind before coming, found that meeting with Old Man Kong was roughly as he had expected, so he directly expressed his intentions.

  "Oh! I don't know, young master, where are these bricks and tiles from the brick factory going to be sold?"

  As soon as he heard that it was going to be a factory, Old Man Kong became enthusiastic. There aren't any brick and tile factories around here, but those small ones are mostly just breaking even. How did this young Master Sima come up with the idea of building a brick and tile factory and transporting them all the way to Zhangjiakou? It doesn't add up! The cost of transporting those bricks along the dry route to Zhangjiakou would be exorbitant, not to mention that there are already ten or eight brick factories around Zhangjiakou.

  "Old master, the truth is that our factory is expanding day by day. We need to build new workshops and dormitories, so using only stone materials won't do. That's why we plan to build a brick and tile factory here. It's just for our own convenience."

  At this time, speaking the truth is much easier than beating around the bush. Sima didn't think twice and directly expressed his own meaning.

  "Oh! So it's actually more convenient this way."

  As soon as he heard that buying land to build a brick factory was just for self-use, Old Man Kong couldn't help but hesitate for a moment. This was completely different from what he had imagined earlier, and this way it would be a bit difficult to handle.

  "Old master, I was thinking that it would be better for our two families to merge this brick and tile business. I guarantee that the Kong family will receive no less than 2,000 silver dollars in dividends every year. What do you think, old master?"

  Actually, Sima had already made up his mind when he came. This brick kiln was jointly established by the two families and there was no need to calculate any small profits. Moreover, he would have to rely on the Kong family's place many times in the future. Such cooperation is equivalent to linking the two families together.

  "Oh! Is what Young Master Sima said just now true? I don't know how this partnership is legal."

  Old Master Kong heard that the annual dividend of the brick factory was no less than two thousand silver dollars, and his interest came. There were not a few familiar lands in his family, but if it was said that the hundred mu of land on the foreign river bank could get an annual dividend of two thousand silver dollars, it would be good to set up this brick and tile factory together.

  "I'll provide the funds needed to build this brick factory, while the Kong family provides the land. As for the profit sharing, it's 50-50 between our two families. Of course, we can hire some workers from the Kong family village, but their pay will definitely not be as high as those in the big factories. Please forgive me, old master."

  Landlords like Kong Lao Tai Ye usually prioritize stability, they envy others' profits but are unwilling to take risks and invest their silver in business, instead constantly buying land for a sense of security. What Sima suggested, letting him buy into the land, exactly catered to Kong Lao Tai Ye's desire for stability.

  "Hmm! How did this come about? Young Master Sima has treated the Kong family with great kindness. Ming Chang, hurry up and thank Young Master Sima."

  Old Master Kong heard that the two families were going to divide the profits equally, and on top of that, some workers from the brick factory would come from his village. At this point, he couldn't help but be unwilling, because first, they could get dividends every year, and second, it would also provide a way for idle people in Kong Village to make a living. This win-win situation was naturally not something Old Master Kong would refuse, and he immediately agreed.