Chapter Nineteenth: The Year's End Dinner

  January 30, 1915

  January 30th is the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, and in half a month it will be Chinese New Year, today the whole Qinghe Village has become lively.

  This past month has been extremely busy for Chen Shao. In addition to the gradual expansion of large projects such as iron mines and machinery factories, cement plants, seed bases, and small chemical plants have also slowly expanded. Fortunately, over a month ago, a large number of excellent workers came from all over the country, and many elites with management experience joined, many of whom were working in foreign-owned factories and jumped ship after hearing about job openings, which alleviated the talent shortage situation under Chen Shao's leadership. This past month, Chen Shao's biochemical personnel have been leaning towards engineers and technical workers, and fortunately, many civilian factories have had some professional talents to replace technical workers, freeing up technical workers while more technical workers were invested in the development and production of military industry and heavy industry.

  In fact, what has a far-reaching impact is the completion of Chen Shao's Longteng Group and the formal establishment of the First Division and Reserve Division within the framework of the Air Force and Navy.

  Nowadays, Qinghe Village is no longer the shabby and remote mountain village it was at the beginning of the year. Only a small part of the village is still inhabited by the original villagers of Qinghe Village, while more than half of it has been occupied by Chen Shao's Longteng Group.

  The spacious village road, with busy trucks and horse-drawn carriages coming and going, and merchants shouting and selling all over the road, these are things that never existed before.

  In order to manage the factories of all sizes under its umbrella in an orderly and efficient manner, Chen Shao integrated the various plants and mines into one company - Qinghe Company, which includes all civilian enterprises under the Longteng Group.

  The entire Longtop Group is owned by Chen Shao alone, with 100% control.

  Chen Shao did not give out any shares of his company, and he was not just looking to make money by building a company. Regardless of how close or distant someone was, no one could touch Chen Shao's Longteng Group. His employees were only treated with high salaries and benefits. Even Kong Hong's entire family worked under Chen Shao, and Kong Hong himself was considered an old-timer at the Longteng Group. However, Chen Shao did not give him any shares either, because he knew that once he gave out even a tiny fraction of the company's shares, it would lead to endless requests in the future, and eventually, who knows what the Longteng Group would become? It was unimaginable how massive the Longteng Group would be in the future.

  It's better to have control over your own things at all times, and as for others, just treat them with kindness.

  To achieve group unification and centralized management, Longteng Group took the already built Longteng Building as its headquarters.

  The headquarters of the Longteng Group has separate departments for sales promotion, administration and human resources, public relations, which are located on the second and third floors of the office area. The first floor is the reception area, the fourth floor is the Zhongshang Department (China Business Investigation Department), where the department head is Jian San, who is in charge of business intelligence. The fifth floor is the office location of the military department, and the sixth floor is the office of Chen Shao and his secretary Wang Jie. However, Chen Shao usually works in the base. The entire base is also divided into two parts: one part is the office location of the Military Intelligence Bureau, with Jian Si as the temporary head. Another is Chen Shao's biggest secret: the base control room and Chen Shao's rest room. These two places are inaccessible to anyone without Chen Shao's permission, including biochemical personnel.

  As for Longteng Group's Zhongshang Department and the Military Intelligence Bureau of the troops, they will be Chen Shao's two major supervisory powers.

  The Ministry of Commerce will gradually establish supervision and investigation over all business activities under the Longteng Group. Although the current scale of the Longteng Group is not particularly large, in the next two to three years, the Longteng Group will develop at a rapid pace. In the future, there will be many cases involving corruption, bribery, dereliction of duty and unfairness, making strong departmental supervision very necessary. Externally, it will supervise and investigate other business rivals targeting the Longteng Group, including foreign companies.

  It can be seen from later generations that without a particularly strict and comprehensive supervisory department, it is difficult for even a regime with ideological power to prevent the psychology of "taking advantage" in the bones of a small number of Chinese people. If we don't guard against the anthill, the dam of a thousand miles will eventually collapse.

  The Military Intelligence Department, a special task department, is more inclined towards military and political security. Now that the framework has been established, it is for future military and political needs!

  These actions seem grand but the cost is actually very low, on the contrary it's very little. The real problem lies in that each department lacks manpower severely, except for Jian Si and Chen Shao, there isn't a single person!

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  "Boom boom... crackle crackle... boom!" Although Chinese New Year is still half a month away, Chen Shao decided to gather all his employees together to celebrate early, taking advantage of the last day of the twelfth lunar month. That's why firecrackers were going off everywhere. From yesterday, the entire square in the middle of Qinghe Village was filled with tables borrowed from households, and baskets of bowls, chopsticks, and plates rented from various restaurants in Guangzhou. Chen Shao specially asked Kong Hong to go to the county town to invite famous chefs from all over to come and cook. Since yesterday, pig farms and cattle farms have been slaughtering pigs and cows non-stop. In the slaughterhouse, eight large stoves were burning fiercely, boiling water was poured into a large vat, and one by one, the big fat pigs were scalded and then hung on meat hooks. The butchers seemed to be showing off their knife skills, quickly cutting the big fat pigs into pieces. There were also truckloads of fresh fish and vegetables bought from Guangzhou, and some women came to help kill the fish and wash the vegetables voluntarily. A huge outdoor kitchen was set up on the street next to the square.

  According to Chen Shao's idea, the dishes don't have to be exquisite, but they must make people full, whether it's rice or dumplings, are unlimited supply, and the wine is produced by a brewery built three months ago, also unlimited supply.

  "Aunt Zhu, you're here to help too!"

  "Hey, Li Dama, you're here too?"

  "Yes, I heard that Mr. Chen is going to treat the employees, and since it's always busy here, I came to help out."

  "Li Danni, have you heard? Today they will distribute canned goods and flour for the New Year's celebration, and we'll even get a three-day holiday."

  "I've never heard of it, where did you hear it from?"

  Mrs. Zhu's face was filled with astonishment, she didn't expect such big news and Mrs. Li didn't even know about it. She hurriedly said: "Oh my, look at me, yesterday my husband came back from a meeting and told me this. I heard that every household with an employee working under Old Man Chen can receive a can of food and some flour. Even people over 60 years old can go get some. Old Man Chen is really a kind person."

  "What? Is this really happening?! The big boss is indeed a good person, they say he's the god of wealth from heaven! For a moment, Li Dama was overjoyed and couldn't believe it. What a coincidence that her own son was working as a laborer on the construction team, usually bringing back a salary that made people envious. This time, wouldn't she also be able to get a share?"

  "Old lady, you'd better go back and get your work permit. I heard that after the banquet starts, someone will come to hand them out."

  The same scene was also staged in other places of Qinghe Village, and the area of Huashi Town with a population of over 10,000 people was like a firework that had been thrown into a haystack, and the lively atmosphere was instantly ignited.

  "Going to Shangqing River Village for dinner and getting gifts!" With a beaming smile, this is the joy of those who meet the conditions.

  "Alas, this year I can only smell the fragrance. The new year has begun, and no matter what, I have to try my luck. It would be great if I could find something to do." This is what others are thinking with a mix of envy and expectation.

  For more than half a year, more and more people in Huashi Town have come to work under Chen Shao. The expanded factory, road construction team, garment factory, machinery factory, reserve regiment, infantry first regiment...

  Mr. Chen Shaochen from Qinghe Village is like a god descending from the sky, displaying his divine powers and attracting people from all around Huashi Town. In the square of Qinghe Village, men and women are seated in chairs around tables arranged by their respective factory leaders.

  In the crowd, many people from surrounding villages knew each other, some even worked in the same factory. They all sighed that this year's New Year's Eve was exciting, and everyone's topic of discussion was Chen Laoban, who had a wide network of connections.

  Men are all talking about how to start the year well. Those who have already found a way to make a living always think about doing better and trying to get more wages and bonuses.

  However, women who have always loved to join in the excitement are by no means lagging behind.

  "Wang's wife, how many cans can your family get this time?" a young woman asked with a smile to the acquaintance sitting next to her.

  "I and our family entered the factory late, just 10 cans of food and a little over a kilogram of flour." Although Wang said this with her mouth, she was still delighted in her heart. Not to mention the free distribution of canned goods and flour, but also thinking that she had never eaten canned food in her life, and it had been a long time since she last ate dumplings. Now that they have flour, during the New Year's festival, they can buy some pork back and make dumplings. Such things were unthinkable in the past, following Old Master Chen was indeed not wrong."

  "Zhou Mei, your family member has been working in the factory for a long time, I heard from our family that he is some kind of backbone of the factory."

  "What a backbone, it's learned how to use the washing machine... pressure cooker, don't even know what it is. Canned goods aren't many, just one box, flour over 3 catties."

  Everyone around is now envious, a box of canned goods and over 3 catties of flour. People are dying from envy, go back and tell that person at home about it.

  "Little Cui, I heard that your brother Wen Hong is the deputy team leader. Why are you sitting with us instead of sitting in front with him? How many boxes of canned goods will your family get this time?"

  Xiao Cui was like everyone else, sitting in her designated area at the factory. She had originally remembered her husband's instructions to keep a low profile and not show off, but unexpectedly, the people around her still mentioned her.

  "No, not many... Wen Hong said that when working under Old Master Chen, it doesn't matter who you are, everyone has to follow the rules." Xiaocui said with some shyness, seeing the envious eyes of the crowd made her flustered, but in her heart she was proud of her husband. Although Wen Hong is now in a high position, he has always been good to her, and even after becoming deputy captain, he has never neglected her.

  "There must be three or four boxes, Wang's wife has so many at home."

  "Yes, come on, say it, Little Cui..."

  Xiao Cui was squeezed by people and couldn't get through. The rural people were honest, so they stammered: "Ten... ten boxes..."

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  Looking at the sea of people in front of him, Kong Hong's mouth was stretched wide with a smile as he said to Chen Shao who was standing beside him, lost in thought: "Chen Shao, it's your turn to say something now."

  "Hmm!" Chen Shao nodded, although he had prepared a lot of things, but it seemed that it was still not enough. The entire Qinghe Village Industrial Zone had hundreds of large and small factories, the entire square was packed, at most it could only hold two or three thousand people. To invite everyone would require four more rounds, they could only finish one batch before starting another. Meanwhile, the reserve team and the infantry battalion were eating in their respective barracks, he had just come out from the barracks too.

  As for the canned flour, only those who work under their own hands have it. If you are not a good person, it is impossible for everyone to have it. Only by comparing the pros and cons, letting the villagers feel the tangible benefits and losses, can they think from the bottom of their hearts that they want to follow you, change their lives, and live a good life. Only then can you pull together an iron-clad team and bring out a solid foundation.

  "Everyone quiet down! Let's invite Mr. Chen Shao to give a speech." Kong Hong stood on the stage, shouting loudly, in front of him was a set of audio equipment that Chen Shao had bought from Germany, which finally came in handy today.

  A huge voice rang out, and the scene miraculously quieted down. Several thousand people all turned their heads to look at the stage in the middle of the square, waiting to see what that strange and useless Chen boss would do next.

  Chen Shao walked up onto the stage, took over the microphone and began to speak:

  "Fellow villagers and seniors, I am Chen Shao. Today, I come to wish you all a happy new year in advance. Wishing everyone good luck and prosperity in the Year of the Dragon, with dragon-like vitality and peace throughout the four seasons!"

  Today, everyone who can come to the party, except for a small number of elderly people, are all brothers and sisters who work under me, Chen Shao, and have shed blood and sweat for me. Everyone has worked hard for more than half a year, here, I solemnly thank you all!

  Everyone's life is not easy, I Chen Shao understand clearly. Although I Chen Shao am a businessman, but today here, I dare to swear to heaven that my heart is with everyone!

  Although, for various reasons, what has been done is still far from enough. However, today, here, I, Chen Shao, promise everyone that as long as you follow me, next year's New Year will definitely be a happier and more prosperous one.

  Now I announce what we will do at the beginning of the year is to establish Qinghe Village Middle School, High School, University and Advanced Technical College.

  Now let's start serving dishes! Today everyone can eat to their heart's content, don't worry about eating me out of house and home.

  "Now please ask the brothers of the preparatory team to bring over the canned goods and flour that need to be distributed. Under the leadership of the factory directors, distribute the items."

  Several hundred militia fighters brought in box after box of canned goods and bag after bag of flour, distributing them according to the records on the distribution list.

  While Fangchenggang also had such a scene, but the scene was not so big and lacked Chen Shao.