Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 308 Rectification II

In the western suburbs of Pingyang County, there stands a house with an area of ​​about 70 acres. The house belongs to Lin Yaxiang. The rockery, pavilions, lotus ponds, flower beds, fruit trees and some rare birds and animals in South America displayed in the house were all collected from various places by Lin Yaxiang.

Pavilions and towers are interspersed, and the scenery inside varies. In an ordinary small county town in the north of the La Plata Plain, there is a residential complex that is as prosperous as the royal palace.

Three days later, the owner of the manor was going to marry his fifth concubine. The servants in the house were busy and hurriedly decorating every furnishing in the courtyard, so as to avoid doing anything wrong and dampening the interest of the owner of the manor.

"Master, the invitations have been sent out. County Magistrate Chen, Master Li, Captain Zhou, and Governor Wu have all received the invitations."

In the backyard garden of the manor, the steward stood aside and said respectfully, "According to the master's instructions, a total of 278 invitations have been sent out from inside and outside Qingyang County, including more than a dozen foreign owners who have business dealings with Yixing Company. Except for the governor who is busy with immigration resettlement affairs and cannot attend the master's wedding on time, all other lords and masters have expressed that they will personally rush to Pingyang County to congratulate the master."

"Forget it. The governor was probably worried that attending Lin's wedding would be too conspicuous and cause gossip and criticism from others, so he found an excuse to refuse."

Lin Yaxiang thought for a moment and figured out the reason why the governor declined politely. He didn't take it seriously and continued, "Although Governor Wu was unable to attend Lin's wedding, we must show our courtesy to Yixing Company. Steward Lin, in three days, when the representative sent by Governor Wu arrives in Pingyang, you will personally present the prepared return gift to Governor Wu. You must keep this in mind and don't forget it."

"Everything must be done according to the master's instructions. I will remember what gifts each guest should give in return, and there will be no deviation."

"Okay, once you've arranged to marry the fifth concubine, I won't be short of your reward, sir."

"I am very happy to work for you, Master, and I dare not covet your reward."

"Okay, you'll get your benefits. You can go down first. I have other things to do."

Lin Yaxiang waved his hand and sent his steward away, then summoned several managers from the Yixing Company.

"I've been back in Pingyang County for a few days. How is the company doing? Have the workers been causing any trouble?"

"Everything is normal in the plantation. The workers are looking forward to completing their two-year work so that they can obtain official residence permits. They are all very honest and no one dares to cause trouble."

"Last year, 17 workers died in the plantation due to dysentery and mosquito bites. The county and state sent two groups of people to investigate. This year, you must be careful and don't cause another accident with more than ten casualties. Otherwise, if the news spreads to Yunzhou, more trouble will arise."

Lin Yaxiang sat on a chair with his fat body, the fat on his face trembling as he spoke. "Let me remind you again, there are many young and strong men who have fled from the mainland. A basket of steamed buns can be exchanged for a life. Their lives are worthless. It doesn't matter if a dozen or twenty workers died. But you must remember this. South America is different from Nanyang. I don't care how many immigrants died on the journey from the mainland to Nanyang or from Nanyang to South America. When we arrive in South America, the number of workers who die in accidents in our Yixing Company every year cannot exceed one hundred. No matter what method you use, you must control the number of worker deaths. If you can't do it, I don't mind rearranging other people to take your place."

The government investigated the casualties of the Yixing Company workers several times. Although it was eventually left unresolved, it also made Lin Yaxiang alert. A tall tree attracts the wind. In the process of Yixing Company's development and growth, it offended many competitors. Now it is safe and sound thanks to the relationship it has built with the government, but there is no guarantee that there will be no problems in the future. Therefore, Lin Yaxiang has a way to deal with it in his mind and is ready to make some adjustments to Yixing Company in advance. "Owner, you know the environment of the plantation. The plantations under the name of Yixing Company are all located in the north of Yunzhou and near the tributaries of the Parana River. The climate in those places is very hot, and there are forests one after another. There is no wind under the forest. Let alone ordinary workers who stay under the forest to open up wasteland and farm for one or two years, even if the strong soldiers of the court stay there for a month, there is no guarantee that they will not contract dysentery, fever and other diseases.
The plantation environment is too bad. It would be abnormal if several workers didn't die every year. The boss, you are kind-hearted and want to do good for those poor people. You want to reduce the number of workers who die in the plantation. However, with the current conditions of the plantation, we can't improve the working conditions for the workers even if we want to."

"Can't do it? How can a state-owned plantation do it? It's not like there are no state-owned plantations in Yunzhou. They are only about 300 meters away from our plantation. As for the hot climate and rampant mosquitoes, they have everything a state-owned plantation should have."

Lin Yaxiang did not listen to the explanation of the shopkeeper in charge of the plantation business, and directly said in a commanding tone, "The state-owned plantation has special doctors, hospitals and mechanical facilities for land reclamation. The workers under them only work eight hours a day, and the workers will undergo disease prevention examinations every month. If we follow the state-owned plantation model, Yixing Company will invest a lot of money in the plantation every year, but the profit is less than one-fiftieth. With only this little profit, nothing can be done.

I don’t require plantations to be like state-owned plantations and equip workers with complete security equipment and conditions, but the most basic medicines for preventing dysentery and mosquito bites must be prepared in sufficient quantities, and each plantation should have a doctor specially assigned to treat the workers’ illnesses and injuries.”

"Boss, is the money for purchasing medicine and equipping doctors paid by the Yixing Company headquarters?"

“The money issue is for each plantation to solve on its own.”

"Boss, this is not appropriate. All the profits from the plantation are handed over to the headquarters. There is no money left to buy medicine and hire doctors."

"No money? Not necessarily. Two months ago, all the steamships under the name of Yixing Shipping Company switched to charcoal instead of coal. The trees cut down in your plantation were sold to timber merchants for building materials and furniture, and the remaining trees were burned into charcoal and sold to the shipping company. The company headquarters did not ask you to hand over this money."

The price of charcoal was only half that of coal. Using charcoal instead of coal to power steamships could save a lot of costs for the Yixing Company. However, because charcoal did not burn as well as coal, and the space in the boiler room of a steamship was narrow, charcoal burning workers were more likely to suffer from carbon monoxide poisoning.

After Lin Yaxiang revealed the secret that they had embezzled the profits from the sale of charcoal, several plantation owners lowered their heads and stopped making excuses.

It was impossible for one person to monopolize the profits of Yixing Company. Lin Yaxiang took the lion's share for himself, and the shopkeepers and managers below him took the smaller share. After giving a few plantation shopkeepers a heads-up, Lin Yaxiang ignored them and turned to ask other people.

"There's news from the court that Lord Huayakihu is about to go to Brazil to discuss a ceasefire with the British and Brazilians. If the two sides reach an agreement, there will be a big boom in shipping business in South America, Southeast Asia, and the mainland. Your shipping company should be prepared in advance."

"The shipping company is applying for a loan from the bank to purchase ocean-going merchant ships. More than 20 owners and shopkeepers in Yunzhou City are also interested in raising funds to invest in the shipping company. The specific investment amount is being discussed. It is expected that in half a year, the bank's loans and the investments of the owners and shopkeepers will be received one after another."

"Half a year is a bit long. We need to urge the banks and other companies that are interested in investing to transfer the funds to the shipping company within four months."

"Okay, boss, I'll do it in the next few days."…………

(End of this chapter)