Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 264 The Taoists Have Arrived
After all, this fertilizer factory is the largest-scale production facility in history. Even with Wang Xi's support, it's impossible to avoid problems.

Dou Xiguan chose the easier approach, since he couldn't and wouldn't manage it himself, so he directly sought cooperation with Madam Zixia.

On Li Lingwen's side, a major problem was that there wasn't enough manpower.

To be more precise, it's not a lack of people, but a lack of money.

The lack of money is a cost issue.

Cui Shendao gave him an idea, which was to go find Wang Shouyi.

Because the On Yip Department is only temporarily helping unregistered individuals find work.

The reason it's only temporary is that the imperial court must first give people land so they can pay taxes; otherwise, they'd be risking their lives to pay!

But land will take time; it's not something that will be available immediately. So what do we do in the meantime? We have to help them find work.

Cui Shendao thought to himself that the labor costs here must be relatively low.

That was true at first, but things are changing!

Nowadays, the On Yip Department's manpower is not only not cheap, but is even more expensive than outside.

The most, most, most, most important reason is caused by businessmen.

In the beginning, Wang Shouyi went to the merchants and asked them to recruit these hidden households to deliver goods. He paid them some money so that the hidden households could return to their hometowns with the money, and even have some left over.

It is no exaggeration to say that many recluses are unwilling to return because they cannot afford the travel expenses.

The benefit that merchants received was the protection provided by the An Ye Bureau, which would prevent them from being harassed by officials on their journey, and if they were lucky, they might even be protected by soldiers.

Because of the Fubing system, officers and soldiers were often deployed.

Of course, businessmen would be willing.

Wang Shouyi originally assigned the task to his merchants, who then performed it exceptionally well.

Some local unemployed people, or those who don't have merchants delivering goods to their hometowns for the time being, have to find work to settle down. Nowadays, people have almost no food reserves, and if they don't work for a few days, they will really starve to death.

The An Ye Bureau made its living from this, doing this all day long, so they did it a little better. When a hidden person came to turn himself in, he had to declare what he was good at. This was the procedure that Wang Xi and his team had initially set.

Based on this, the On Yip Department then went to find the merchants.

At first, this was actually very difficult because current production scales are mostly family-based, and they generally don't hire outsiders.

The end result is that these unregistered households still go to work on farms. There is a shortage of people in agriculture, but they are very different from tenant farmers because the remuneration, job content, working hours and other things are all negotiated by the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department.

The On Yip Department is now a powerful department, so people still give it some face. Some even actively recruit people from the On Yip Department as a way of showing goodwill. Especially after Li Linfu joined, even more people showed goodwill to him, since Li Linfu is very quick-witted and has all sorts of open and covert operations.

People are also more afraid of the On Yip Department.

The people of today are just poor, not stupid.

I'll go to the Safety and Health Department. I'll have everything protected. Even my employer won't dare to hit me easily.

This is insane!

This has led to people who aren't actually hiding their accounts pretending to be hiding their accounts and coming here to turn themselves in.

Even craftsmen and all sorts of people came.

Although the current scale of commerce is not large, it still needs to employ people. Not everyone has many servants, especially in Luoyang, which is a well-connected place, a transit point of the Grand Canal, and where commerce is far more free than in Chang'an.

Originally, the businessmen were just trying to curry favor with the On Yip Department and recruit some people. However, after only a few months, they were forced to recruit people from the On Yip Department. They couldn't recruit people themselves, so they had to go to the On Yip Department.

You won't know until you try it—and once you do, wow, it's surprisingly good.

In short, it's full of talented people.

No matter what kind of talent you want to recruit, you can find it all at the On Yip Department.

For a time, contract workers and temporary workers were all the rage.

Because of the presence of servants or retainers, long-term employment was rare; most contracts were temporary.

This immediately activated the flow of talent, meaning that businessmen could quickly acquire the talent they wanted, greatly stimulating business development.

Nowadays, many people who want to do business have to do it themselves. It's actually very difficult to recruit the talent they want. Nowadays, let alone the internet, there isn't even a newspaper. It all depends on fate.

The key point is that everyone distrusts each other.

I'm not familiar with them, so I don't dare to ask.

Therefore, they usually do it themselves, with at most two servants, so the scale is naturally small.

Now that the Anye Bureau is there to protect them, neither side is afraid anymore. After all, who would dare to offend the Anye Bureau? Even the nobles in Luoyang have to bow and scrape when they see the Anye Bureau.

The expansion of scale further stimulated recruitment.

Wang Shouyi was completely numb.

I was just here to get some credit, and I was supposed to be on the sidelines watching the water fountains, but you made me a starter? This salary doesn't match my performance at all!
But there's no way around it; we're already on this sinking ship, so all we can do is try harder and be more diligent.

The result is that the harder you work, the more work you have to do, and it never ends.

What Li Lingwen and Cui Shendao didn't know was that this Anye Bureau was already the fourth one to open in three months.

There's no way to help everyone; one family simply can't manage it all.

In summary, hiring people here is not only expensive, but also incredibly demanding, and you can't punish them arbitrarily.

When Li Ling heard about this, he didn't want to continue. "I came here to find cheap cattle and horses that work well and don't need to eat grass, but you've given me a bunch of rich old men. Am I worthless?"
However, Choi Shin-do insisted on taking a look first, since he was already here anyway, so it might be worth it.

In his view, the establishment of the On Yip Department cleverly broke down the distinction between the noble and the lowly, as its existence led to a certain degree of equality between employers and employees.

Although this was not Wang Shouyi's original intention at all.

But this is exactly what Choi Shin-do is happy to see. In fact, many times, those who oppose the system are often the beneficiaries within the system, because only they can feel the crisis.

Outsiders look at the nobility with envy that makes their mouths water.

However, Choi Shin-do, observing the aristocracy, believed that if things continued this way, they would perish sooner or later. This wasn't because he was particularly virtuous, but because he saw the impending crisis and believed change was necessary. At Choi Shin-do's insistence, Lee Ling-wen decided to take a look, and upon seeing it, the two immediately felt the allure of the An-ye-shu (安业所).

Once you pull up that list, you'll find all sorts of talents, all age groups, and all kinds of salary levels. It's so comprehensive that it can be pinpointed to each specific job position, which is an absolutely remarkable achievement these days.

These days, when hiring, people are expected to do all sorts of jobs, so there's no such thing as precise targeting.

This aligns perfectly with the working model of a fertilizer factory, and if the right talent can be found, it's definitely not a loss.

The two didn't rush to choose people, but planned to go back first to see what kind of talent they needed before coming here to recruit.

Just a year ago, who could have imagined that a small agency like On Yip would be able to change the entire environment?

This is the Taoist concept of governing by non-action.

A precise and effective policy can actually change the overall environment.

Confucianism cannot do this.

Because Confucianism emphasizes that everything, from the state to the individual, from the court to the family, has a whole set of behavioral norms, or rather, an internal logic, so there is not much change.

This is why, from the Han Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, only some systems changed, while almost everything else remained the same.

The so-called budding of capital is really just a bud; it can never grow into a towering tree, so there's no need to regret it.

Because if you want capital to develop, you must give it a lot of space and time, as well as simple and precise policy support.

It can be said that if only one ideology is respected, then Confucianism has the highest lower limit, but also the lowest upper limit.

Because Confucianism has everything set in order, even the worst things won't go too far wrong, and that's exactly what the small-scale peasant economy needs.

It was also a favorite of rulers.

Taoism is the exact opposite, with the lowest lower limit and the highest upper limit.

Because Taoism values ​​nature and discourages excessive intervention, it is highly likely that the seeds of problems will be sown.

As for Legalism, its highest performance was during wartime, while its performance was negative for the rest of the time.

In times of war, the Legalist school of thought is far more effective in combat than Confucianism and Taoism. However, in times of peace, if Legalism is the sole dominant school of thought, it is impossible for it to surpass the Second Emperor.

If the Qin Dynasty had not changed its system, it would have perished even if Fusu had ascended to the throne. However, people believed that Fusu's ascension to the throne might have been due to his leaning towards Confucianism, which could have allowed it to continue.

Because of the Legalist approach, no one can endure it for long unless there is an extremely strong external enemy threatening everyone's survival.

The resulting ideological system was a combination of Confucianism and Legalism, and a mixture of benevolent and hegemonic elements.

But now, Taoism has arrived!

Oh, and Wang Maozhong is here too.

"Mao Zhong?"

"What are you two doing here?"

"Didn't you two agree on this?"

"I don't know."

Wang Maozhong shook his head.

When the group met, they looked at each other in bewilderment.

Wang Shouyi asked, "What brings you here?"

Wang Maozhong said, "I recently received news that someone was causing trouble in the riverbed and preventing us from removing the silt, so I rushed over and stopped by to check on you."

Cui Shendao frowned and asked, "Who is causing trouble?"

Wang Maozhong sighed, "Who else could it be but you nobles?"

Cui Shendao asked, "Why are they causing trouble?"

Wang Maozhong said: "Because of that silt, in the past, when the imperial court dredged the waterways, the silt was used to irrigate the fields on both sides. As you know, the fields along the waterways are the most fertile and have always been controlled by the powerful and wealthy."

Now that they know we need to remove the silt, they are naturally unwilling, so they block the river and cause trouble.

Wang Shouyi immediately said, "We can't handle this."

Wang Maozhong said, "I didn't expect you to help me. I just came to visit you."

Wang Shouyi said, "Alright, I'll prepare a banquet later to welcome you back."

Wang Maozhong chuckled and said, "That's why I came here."

Seeing that Wang Maozhong was confident, Cui Shendao asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Wang Maozhong snorted, "The only way to deal with them is to fight them head-on. There's no other way. I've brought men with me. I'm the Minister of Works now. I'll see who dares to cause trouble."

Cui Shendao pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, there's no need for that. Besides, this is Luoyang, not Chang'an. Your approach here might not work either. After all, they have the numbers and the power. If they persist, it will affect the entry of grain into the pass, which will be very disadvantageous for you."

Wang Maozhong asked, "What brilliant plan do you have?"

Cui Shen said, "A clever stop to the work will make them retreat."

Wang Maozhong asked curiously, "A clever halt to work?"

Cui Shendao said, "Isn't the Yellow River right next to us? You just need to ask those river officials where stopping work could easily cause flooding, and they won't dare to cause trouble. The summer torrential rains are coming soon."

Wang Shouyi exclaimed in shock, "Old Cui, I didn't realize you were such a ruthless person. That move was truly vicious."

Cui Shen said, "It's just to scare them, nothing will happen."

Wang Shouyi said, "That won't work either. Doing it that way is too dangerous."

"What's wrong with it? I think it's great. Besides," Wang Maozhong scoffed, "What's it to you?"

“How can it not concern me? I have land there too!” Wang Shouyi exclaimed excitedly.

(End of this chapter)