Chapter 2278

Li Nai smiled bitterly and said: "Dean Zhang, the low cost you mentioned is the standard of a government-run workshop, but I am a private workshop here. These steam engines are not built by myself. They are all rented from the government at high prices. Except for the original

In addition to fixed costs such as labor, machine depreciation, and coal burning, we also have to bear high rents. Do you think this cost can be the same as that of a government-run workshop? And in order to ensure sales, our shipping price cannot be higher than the official price. Relatively speaking,

Naturally, there will be less profit from it.”

After listening to Li Nai's explanation, Zhang Jinbao suddenly realized that the raw materials and production equipment of this workshop were provided by the government. Rather than being Furifeng's private property, it was more like doing OEM work for the government. As Li Nai said

As said, the production cost here is definitely higher than that of the official workshop.

Li Nai continued: "To be honest with Dean Zhang, even half of the money Furifeng invested in this place has not been recovered so far. If we need to build a port and build roads in the future, it may be difficult to do so in two or three years."

There is real profit.”

Zhang Jinbao said: "If this is the case, then there must be some special conditions that make the third young master willing to invest money to maintain this unprofitable business."

Li Nai raised his finger and pointed at the clanking steam engine next to him and said: "Of course it's for this thing! The executive committee hopes that steam engines can be quickly popularized in more production environments, but relying solely on official promotion is

If it is not enough, it will gradually transition from government to civilian use in the future. Our place is almost a testing ground for training specialized operators... The executive committee calls it industrial workers. I believe Dean Zhang should

I’ve heard such a title before.”

Zhang Jinbao is indeed no stranger to the term "industrial workers." Although he has only rarely come to Sanya to meet with senior officials of the Executive Committee, the news is not blocked. In addition to various official and unofficial newspapers, he

I often get some special information from Zhang Xin that is unknown to the outside world.

Zhang Jinbao had heard Zhang Xin talk about Haihan’s senior leaders’ prospects for the country’s future more than once. One of the most important items was “cultivating a large number of industrial workers.” What are industrial workers? According to Zhang Xin’s explanation, they are those who are separated from agricultural farming.

Traditional livelihood refers to people who engage in collective labor in mines, smelting workshops, shipyards and other production institutions, and use the remuneration as their source of livelihood.

In fact, such practitioners are quite common in Haihan today. For example, the port workers in Danzhou Port and the salt industry workers in the salt field can also be classified into this category. In the large-scale government-run smelting workshops in Changhua

, there are thousands of craftsmen and laborers, and of course these are all officially defined as industrial workers.

However, Zhang Jinbao keenly captured some details in Li Nai's words and believed that the industrial workers he referred to did not generally refer to employees within the scope of the official definition, but specifically referred to these senior craftsmen who knew how to operate steam engines for production.

"These people...are all from Furifeng?" Zhang Jinbao asked tentatively.

"Not entirely." Li Nai shook his head and said: "The technical foremen here are basically sent by the government, and my people are basically still in the training stage. But in one or two years, two or three years,

Furifeng will probably have dozens of foremen who know how to operate and maintain steam engines, and then there will be no need to pay high prices to hire so many official craftsmen to guard here."

Zhang Jinbao realized something: "The government has helped Furifeng train so many craftsmen. Is this what the third young master just said about the transition of steam engines from government to civilian use?"

"That's right!" Li Nai explained: "The executive committee wants to promote the use of steam engines among the people, so first more people must be able to use this thing."

"But the property of the third young master's family belongs to the Ming Dynasty after all... It seems that the executive committee really trusts the third young master!" Zhang Jinbao felt a little jealous when he heard this. After all, Qiongxi Academy originally wanted to go in this direction.

When he left, he was stopped by the government. But now the government is silently supporting Furifeng, a Ming Dynasty trading company, to engage in steam engine-related production. How could this not make him feel a little sour in his heart.

Of course, Zhang Jinbao can roughly think of why Haihan would choose Fulifeng instead of Qiongxi College. In addition to Li Nai's good personal relationship with the senior officials of the executive committee, Fulifeng's financial resources are probably also one of the important factors.

.Although it is not yet clear how much Furifeng spent on renting machines and hiring craftsmen, even if it is the cost of building a workshop and supporting facilities here, Qiongxi Academy will definitely not be able to pay for it.

Zhang Jinbao wanted his academy to offer courses related to steam engines, but he couldn't spare much budget to show his sincerity and determination to the government. Naturally, it would be difficult for him to spend as much money as Furifeng did. Even if there were some problems along the way, as long as the money could be used

If it is solved, it cannot stop Li Nai's determination to realize it.

Li Nai, a shrewd person, also got some flavor from Zhang Jinbao's words, and immediately said with a smile: "In fact, some private institutions in Haihan Kingdom are already using steam engines for production, just to avoid competing with the country for profits.

The finished products are basically not sold to the outside world and are delivered directly to the government. At best, Furifeng is the first one outside of Haihan!"

Zhang Jinbao had also heard of the "private institutions" Li Nai mentioned. These institutions were not run by ordinary citizens, but by the group of Han people who crossed the sea to Sanya. Some of them did not want to be officials.

They have created some business organizations by themselves and are the bosses. The resources controlled by these organizations are naturally far superior to those of ordinary trading houses. Machines such as steam engines that are regarded as magical things by the outside world are of course not very useful to them.

There are so many technical secrets to speak of.

However, the items produced by these institutions are basically not civilian products, the output is not large, and they are not sold to the outside world, so they are often not well-known, and many people are not even aware of the existence of these institutions.

Furifeng's workshop produces tools that can be used daily. There is no secret in manufacturing technology. The key is to rely on the participation of steam engines to shorten working hours and improve production efficiency. It takes a blacksmith time and effort to complete.

The steam engine only needs one reciprocating action of the piston connecting rod to complete the work. This was an unimaginable scene in the past.

The steward here saw the opportunity and quickly took advantage of the opportunity to introduce to Li Nai the status of some recent orders that were being produced.

"Look, Black Earth Port ordered a thousand hoes, a thousand shovels, axes, saws, chains and other tools from us. An ordinary blacksmith shop would not be able to make so many in a year, but here we have

, it can all be delivered in less than a month, and the price may be slightly lower than the market price, what does this mean?”

Li Nai paused and then spoke eloquently: "Although the profit for each item is very thin, the production capacity has been increased countless times compared with the traditional method. If we always have purchase orders, then it may not be necessary to achieve profitability.

I have been saying this for so long. With the speed of Haihan’s external expansion, I think the prospects are still worth looking forward to.”

Zhang Jinbao thought to himself that the previous complaints were just pretentious. How could a shrewd person like Li Nai be so interested in a business that is not very profitable? Besides, there is no way to make money in a place that uses steam engines.

Money, then why should the government spend so much effort promoting this thing?

Zhang Jinbao felt that he should show his knowledge at this time, and cleared his throat and said: "I think that the use of this steam engine can only help this workshop to improve production efficiency, and it will also drive the production efficiency of other places to improve.

Creating more value is probably the purpose that the government really values."

"At least some of the production tools ordered by Black Earth Port will be put into use soon after delivery. The coal dug out with them may be sent to this place in a month or two to be used to produce the next batch.

Raw materials for tools. After the production speed of these tools increases, the subsequent value that can be created will also greatly increase, even far exceeding the value of the tools themselves. I think this is the significance of introducing steam engines to improve production efficiency."

"Dean Zhang's words make sense, I'll teach you!" Li Nai probably didn't expect that Zhang Jinbao could actually express such a theory, so he quickly bowed his hands to express his admiration.

In fact, Li Nai is not unfamiliar with this theory. However, the last time he heard someone talk about this knowledge, the other person was Bai Kesi, a senior official of the Executive Committee. His theoretical level was beyond the reach of others. After listening to it, he also felt

A feeling of enlightenment.

Of course, Zhang Jinbao's expression is too simple compared to Bai Kesi, and it cannot be extended from there like Bai Kesi. Talking about the evolution and development of the entire social system and productivity is at best just scratching the surface. But even so.

, and Li Nai still admired him very much. After all, ordinary people with such vision and insight were rare in his impression.

Is Zhang Jinbao really that powerful? That's not necessarily true. Many of the theories he mentioned came from some remarks he heard from Zhang Xin before. After digesting and pondering, he incorporated some of his own ideas. They are indeed better than ordinary people.

People's vision is higher, but they have not yet formed truly organized thoughts.

But for Li Nai and Zhang Jinbao, their understanding of this can only reach this level for the time being. After all, they did not know what an industrialized society was before, and they could only obtain some vague information based on the current information.

know.

What kind of impact will the changes in productivity have on the social system and production relations? Even people like Li Nai still don't quite understand the road ahead. But he knows that Haihan's senior management is full of confidence in this, because all this is originally

This is the development direction they have planned and arranged.

Li Nai remembered that when he asked Bai Kesi for relevant questions before, Bai Kesi once said to himself: "We know how the times will change, and we will lead you and others to the right path. If we are efficient enough,

Then we can observe the changes in this world before we die."

Li Nai didn't really understand what kind of changes the Haihan people wanted to observe and where they wanted the world to go, but he could feel that the arrangements made by the Haihan people were carefully considered, and the Haihan country's

Development is also advancing by leaps and bounds. Perhaps in a few decades, the world will really become something that I cannot imagine at this stage.

The way Haihan achieves this goal seems to be by improving productivity. In the past, Haihan will infinitely improve the efficiency of work that took many years to complete, whether it is the production of iron tools or the transmission of information. Except

Crops that depend on the weather seem to be sowing and harvesting according to the original natural laws, and various other production activities are constantly accelerating.

After spending an hour visiting the production conditions here, Li Nai had to take some time to have a meeting with the supervisors and foremen here to solve some production and operation problems. Such meetings were not suitable for outsiders like Zhang Jinbao to observe.

Li Nai arranged a carriage to take him back to Changhua Town to stay.

The group spent the night in Changhua that night, and boarded the ship again the next morning to set off for Danzhou.

When Li Nai's ship entered the port, Zhang Jinbao noticed that there was another familiar-looking box carriage waiting at the dock. It was obvious that Li Nai had made arrangements after setting off from Victory Port and notified Dan in advance.

The state sent people to greet him.

"Dean Zhang may think that it's a bit arrogant for me to arrange for the carriage to come to the port in advance and wait there in advance, right?" Seeing Zhang Jinbao staring at the carriage on the pier without saying a word, Li Nai took the initiative to ask him.

Zhang Jinbao came back to his senses and smiled and said: "Why did the third young master say this? I'm just a little envious of the third young master's style!"

Li Nai waved his hand and said: "The reason for making such an arrangement is not for the sake of style, but because I have a busy schedule and a little time is precious. Even if I can't do much on the way from the port to Danzhou City, I can still have something to do.

It’s also good to take a rest in a relatively comfortable environment. After all, compared to riding a horse or riding a sedan, this is probably the most comfortable land transportation method currently available.”

Zhang Jinbao said: "The third young master's statement is very similar to that of the adults on the executive committee!"

"I learned this from them." Li Nai said without hesitation: "Since I have enough financial resources, I must provide myself with the most comfortable environment as much as possible when I go out. In this way, no matter where I go

I try my best to be in the best condition when doing things.”

Zhang Jinbao claimed to have been taught, but in his heart he was thinking that this was probably the way of thinking of upper-class people. There was no need to consider the cost, as long as it made him feel comfortable.

Think about it, I am taking a few students to Sanya to see the world this time, and I have to calculate the transportation, accommodation, food and drink expenses, etc., for fear of overspending, it is really not fun. If I can really become prosperous in the future, I should follow Li Nai's example and go out.

You have to be more chic.
Chapter completed!