A hundred years grand plan

  It was impossible to set off immediately, and everyone had been walking for half a day, so they hadn't even eaten lunch yet. Le Jialin arranged for the soldiers guarding outside to buy some dishes from the small restaurant in the town, and the host and guest ate a simple meal in Zhang Tianyou's hall.

  After dinner, a soldier went to hire two small sedan chairs. The rest of the people helped Mrs. Zhang pack up the luggage at the door. Luo Yi accompanied Zhang Tianyou in the main room, chatting and listening to Zhang's experiences from start to finish.

  Zhang Tianyou was born into a wealthy mining family in Northeast China, and received good education from an early age. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan invaded Northeast China, crazily plundering China's resources. Zhang Tianyou's father was assassinated by Japanese agents for refusing to cooperate with them, and his mine also fell into Japanese hands. Zhang Tianyou drifted to Beijing, later passed the examination for the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship, and went to study mining in the United States. After graduation, he gave up the opportunity to work in the US and returned to his motherland, hoping to use his expertise to enrich the country and strengthen its military, revitalize the nation.

  However, at that time China was in the midst of warlord infighting, and Zhang Tianyou was successively employed by several warlords to mine and collect wealth for them, raise troops and fight battles. He did not want to be a puppet for the tiger, so he moved to Hunan and became the manager of a gold mine in Pingjiang. One day, the gold mine was looted by Wu Peifu's troops, and in order to protect the mining equipment, he was shot and injured by the soldiers, losing one leg, while the gold mine was also burned down by the warlord's troops. After that, he became disheartened and brought his wife to Tongzhou Mountain area, where they bought a house with their savings and vowed not to engage in mining again, planning to spend the rest of their lives in the green mountains and clear waters.

  "It seems I've made you break your promise, sir." Luo Yi said with a smile to Zhang Tianyou.

  "If you can fulfill your promise, I will gladly break mine. It's just that I don't know if I'll be disappointed once again."

  "Rest assured, I will use my actual actions to make you believe."

  "Luózi, Mrs. Zhang has finished packing up, we can leave now." Lè Jiālín came over to report.

  Luo Yi got up to help Zhang Tianyou, but Zhang Tianyou had already stood up by himself. He leaned on his crutches and said to Luo Yi: "Although I have lost a leg, my spirit is still here. I only wish that in this life, I can truly contribute to the anti-Japanese war of national salvation."

  Zhang Tianyou and his wife got into the sedan chairs, which were carried by four villagers hired by Lin's family. The soldiers helped Zhang Tianyou carry their luggage with poles, including clothes, books, and measuring tools. When they returned to Zhu Shan Town, it was already dark, so Luo Yi arranged for Zhang Tianyou and his wife to spend the night in town before setting off into the mountains the next day. Several dozen miners newly recruited in town also entered the mountains at the same time.

  "Is this your gold mine?" Zhang Tianyou looked at the mining scene and asked in doubt.

  Luo Yi nodded.

  "It's simply a waste of resources!" Zhang Tianyou said angrily, "With this mining method, if we can extract three tenths of the ore from ten tenths, we should consider ourselves lucky."

  Luo Yi said: "I know we are not professionals, isn't this why you were invited here?"

  "Stop work at once, stop work at once. If you dig for a few more days, the mine will collapse."

  Luo Yi hastily ordered everyone to stop work and line up for a meeting. The original miners and the new ones stood together in several rows. Then, Luo Yi supported Zhang Tianyou to come to the front of everyone and introduced: "Everyone, I announce that our Ma Tieling Special Metal Mine is now established. Next, please let Mine Master Zhang Tianyou give you a speech."

  After introducing Zhang Tianyou, Luo Yi led the applause, and the soldiers and miners looked at each other in confusion, finally understanding that applause was a ritual, so they also scattered and clapped a few times.

  Zhang Tianyou stood in front of everyone, leaning on his crutches and said: "Thanks to the favor of Captain Monroe, I was appointed as the mine manager of Ma Tieling Special Metal Mine. As a disabled person with limited strength, the rise and fall of this mine depends entirely on all of you."

  As he said that, he bowed his hands to everyone, and Luo Yi led the applause again. This time, everyone learned from it, and the applause was thunderous.

  Zhang Tianyou waved his hand to stop the applause and said, "Next, I'll tell you all about what mining is all about..."

  As soon as mining was mentioned, Zhang Tianyou fully entered his role. He talked eloquently about how to establish a mining production process, how to improve the extraction rate of minerals, and how to pay attention to safe production, etc. Luo Yi brought him a stool to sit on, but he refused, and he stood there with his cane, talking for two hours straight. Some miners didn't quite understand, while others looked enlightened. Luo Yi listened intently, secretly congratulating himself on inviting such an expert, otherwise, according to Zhang Tianyou's words, the mine would not be able to continue mining in a few months if it continued like this.

  Zhang Tianyou finished explaining some basic requirements for mining and began to exercise the rights of the mine owner. He arranged for a group of miners to cut trees to reinforce the mine, another group to flatten the ground, and set up a place to store minerals and other materials. According to his arrangement, the miner's dormitory area also needs to be rebuilt, and various building materials need to be transported from outside the mountain to build safe and regular houses.

  "Building a mine is a hundred-year plan, and the way you're doing it now is just short-sighted." Zhang Tianyou bluntly told Luo Yi and others.

  Luo Yi carefully explained: "Zhang Kuangchang, to be honest, before opening this mine, I only had 80 taels of silver left in my hands. It was impossible for me to take the time to make careful arrangements. If it weren't for selling the first batch of ore, I wouldn't even have been able to scrape together the money to invite you out."

  Zhang Tianyou accepted Luo Yi's explanation, and his temper subsided a bit: "Look at this scene, if a heavy rain comes, all the houses will leak water, and the miners won't even have a place to live. Moreover, the mine doesn't have a drainage system, once the floodwater rushes in, the consequences will be very severe."

  "The student was wrong." Luo Yi pretended to be his grandson, after all, this was a 1933 old man, and Luo Yi had made a lot of money by being his grandson. This old man, once involved in his own profession, really had a bit of a stubborn temper.

  After training Luo Yi, Zhang Tianyou took out a list and handed it to Luo Yi for handling. Luo Yi looked at the list and was frightened, as there were over a hundred types of equipment and materials listed, including generators, diesel oil, water pumps, electrical wires, light bulbs, crushed stones, winches, electric sieves, etc.

  "Boss Zhang, how much do these things cost?"

  "I estimate it's around 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. I haven't been in touch with these things for many years, and the prices of many devices are not very clear to me."

  "I don't have that much money." Luo Yi said with a sad face.

  "This mine, in my opinion, if fully exploited, is worth no less than 10 million. You can't bear to part with this equipment that's only worth a few hundred thousand dollars?" Zhang Tianyou said strangely, "Without this equipment, you wouldn't be able to extract the minerals underground at all, and could only extract these surface ones, how much would they be worth? And these mineral processing devices, can make the gold in the ore separate out without wasting a single bit, just this one item alone can save tens of millions."

  "But I don't have that much money now. How about we buy in batches? We can leave out the ones we don't need for now."

  Zhang Tianyou shook his head: "It's impossible, these devices are all necessary. What I've listed now is just the starting phase of equipment. The devices you said that are not needed at present, I didn't even write them down."

  Luo Yi also shook his head: "I don't have the money. Even if we count the ore that has been mined so far, at most we can only sell it for 2000 taels of silver, which is still a long way from 20,000. Unless...can we do installment loans?"

  "Installment loan?"

  "That's right." Luo Yi thought to himself with a hint of pride, "You have many connections outside, can you introduce me to an equipment supplier? I'll use the mine as collateral, get the equipment first, and pay back monthly with interest. Wouldn't that be easier?"

  Zhang Tianyou thought for a moment and said, "The method you mentioned is not bad. I've heard of this approach when I was in the US. Alright, I'll write a note, and you arrange for several reliable men to escort my wife on a trip to Wuhan. I have some friends there who will still give me some face and lend me these devices in my name. Once we've mined the ore, I'll return the money to them. However, I must make it clear beforehand that I need to pay them 2% interest. I don't want my friends to lose out."

  "No problem, a few points of profit is fine." Luo Yi felt relieved. "Zhang Kuangchang, I'll let you take care of this mine from now on. As long as you don't think it will lose money, that's all that matters. For the equipment listed in this order, are there any specific requirements for specifications or models? I'm worried that my people might not understand and make a mistake."

  Zhang Tianyou said: "Didn't I ask them to escort my wife together? Don't think that Su Fen is a rural woman, she also graduated from Penn State University and is an engineer."

  Luo Yi hastily nodded repeatedly: "It's obvious, it's obvious, Master Mother is a person with great wisdom at first glance. ... Zhang Kuangchang, since you can buy on credit, can't you add some things to your bill?"

  "What's added?"

  "Add 2 water pumps, 1 generator, 30 sewing machines, 2 electric woodworking saws, 1 general-purpose lathe, and 1 milling machine."

  "What do you want these things for?" Zhang Tianyou asked in puzzlement.

  "I've said it before, part of the profits from the mine will be used to improve local people's livelihoods. I plan to build a garment factory in Zhushan Town and recruit local women to work there. At least first guarantee the clothing supply for the troops and miners, then think of ways to sell them to big cities. Then build a furniture factory, a small-scale machinery repair factory, so that when the equipment on the mine is damaged, it can be repaired directly in the town. As for the water pump, it's mainly prepared for farmers. With the water pump, high-lying wasteland can also be opened up."

  Zhang Tianyou thought for a moment and added what Luo Yi said to the list.

  "There are also enough teaching materials and stationery for about 100 children to go to school... For this part, I can pay in cash." Luo Yi saw that Zhang Tianyou's face didn't look good, so he hastily added a sentence.

  "Do you want to run a school?"

  "Yes, it is free for all local children," Luo Yi said.

  "Alright, I'll let them provide this one for free. Actually, textbooks and stationery aren't expensive either," Zhang Tianyou said.

  "Also..."

  "What else? Just say it straight out. As long as it's a good thing, I'll support you."

  "Two heavy machine guns of Mauser, four Czech-style light machine guns, 40 rifles, 30,000 bullets, and ten boxes of hand grenades..."

  "What do you want these things for?" Zhang Tianyou was somewhat annoyed, "Do you think my friends are arms dealers? Even if they could get them, it's impossible to give them to you."

  "Protect the mine? Without any equipment, how can we protect it? What if some warlord or bandit covets our gold mine and brings soldiers to rob us, do you want my soldiers to fight them with only 20 rounds of ammunition per person from the Hanyang Arsenal?" Luo Yi said persuasively.

  Zhang Tianyou sighed and wrote a long paragraph at the bottom of the list, probably explaining to his friend the use of the weapon. Luo Yi secretly smiled in her heart: with a blink of an eye, brother is really going to trade bird guns for cannons.