Chapter 384 The development dilemma of small factories
After all, Shandong and Hebei have only been under the rule of China for a few months. The fact that no one has starved to death is the maximum that the local government can achieve.
Dong Shuheng did not mean to blame the local government. In fact, they have done a good job. After taking office as the governor of Shandong Province, Guizhong Bank has also worked hard. It is hard to imagine that Guizhong Bank, which was a traditional Manchu official in the past, can now become a practical man with two clear shoulders.
officials.
Sometimes, the environment has a really great impact on people.
Just like after the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass, those surrendered generals of the Ming army who were originally greedy for life and feared death immediately became the pawns of the Qing army who were not afraid of death.
Even some people who were captured by the later Nanming would rather die than surrender, which is extremely ironic when you think about it.
Dong Shuheng sometimes thinks that maybe the current atmosphere in the Chinese government is not only due to the new management system and supervision system.
Perhaps this atmosphere has a lot to do with the Xinjing team he leads.
If the top beam is not straight and the bottom beam is crooked, as long as Dong Shuheng, who is at the top of the tower, can maintain his current working status, then the entire Chinese government can maintain its clean, positive, and courageous status.
It seems that next year's immigration activities should mainly focus on the newly unified regions in the north and west. We must find ways to alleviate local population and land conflicts.
Before the promotion of chemical fertilizers, grain production would not increase significantly. Guano fertilizer can only solve part of the problem, and it cannot be used in all places. After all, the output is limited.
Moreover, guano fertilizer is a non-renewable resource and will be gone once it is mined.
Now that there is a large amount of arable land, Dong Shuheng does not want to use chemical fertilizers for the time being. That stuff does great harm to the land, and using it too much is equivalent to overdrawing China's future.
At this stage, the key to solving the problem of food and clothing is to make the population more evenly distributed in China and to have a large number of overseas immigrants.
After passing Shandong, Dong Shuheng arrived in Xuzhou, which has developed into an important heavy industry city.
Mines are being mined everywhere, and the huge chimneys of steel plants can be seen in the distance.
Especially on both sides of the canal, various factories were built along the river to facilitate transportation.
They all have their own factory docks, making transportation more convenient.
During the operation of heavy industry, both raw materials and products are very dependent on transportation. Dong Shuheng saw many privately established factories.
The state-owned factories in Xuzhou are limited to steel plants, heavy machinery factories and some mines. Relying on these large enterprises, businessmen from all over the country seized business opportunities and established many small processing plants in Xuzhou.
Some of them help large factories to manufacture spare parts. For example, the locomotives produced by heavy machinery factories require a large number of parts, and it is impossible to produce them all by themselves.
They will outsource some to outside factories. These small factories use raw materials produced by the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant, use lathes and other processing equipment purchased from the machinery factory, recruit their own workers, and in turn help the machinery factory produce spare parts.
After their technology has accumulated to a certain level, they can develop and produce some small tools and small machinery on their own.
Dong Shuheng knows that not all machinery requires external power. Some mechanical tools that rely solely on human power can also greatly improve production efficiency. Dong Shuheng has seen many such tools before.
For example, a seeder for planting corn and soybeans has a funnel and a spring as its main components.
Below it is a duckbill-shaped seed outlet. Pour the seeds into the funnel. Farmers only need to grasp the handle on the funnel, insert the duckbill at the front end into the soil, and then quickly pull it out.
When the duckbill is inserted into the soil, the resistance of the soil will open the outlet under the funnel, and the seeds will fall. The number of seeds sown each time can be controlled by adjusting the size of the outlet.
In this way, only one farmer can sow dozens of acres of land in one day. Moreover, there is no need to bend down when sowing with this small tool, which greatly saves physical strength.
There are many tools like this, such as the foot-operated rice thresher, which installs the rollers in a large wooden box. The key component is a gear transmission system, plus pedals that use the lever principle. As long as a woman can
The wheel turned quickly.
Then, put the bundled rice ears on the roller, and the rice will fall off into the big wooden box.
These endless gadgets all flow out from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the patents belong to the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Except for a few people, most people don't know who invented them.
Factories only need to pay a small patent fee to the Academy of Agricultural Sciences to produce them. Because the technical threshold is very low, there are many factories producing these tools.
Once the Academy of Agricultural Sciences receives this money and adds it to its budget, it can conduct more experiments on breeding improved seeds.
The more produced, the lower the price, and more and more people can afford these tools.
There are also many tools that can be used in engineering construction, such as manual pulley cranes. These things have long existed, but now that smelting technology has improved, factories can equip them with better pulleys.
From a distance, this kind of crane looks like four wheels supporting two triangular frames, two beams below, and a thick beam above. The pulleys are assembled on the upper beams and can be moved left and right.
Now there are many factories in Xuzhou that produce these small machines. Dong Shuheng knows that many large companies in later generations were originally small electronics factories. Many large factories in Europe, such as Krupp, used to be just small workshops.
These small factories are like eggs, there will always be a few that hatch into big companies.
After landing at the dock in Xuzhou, Dong Shuheng did not go to a large factory like China's No. 1 Heavy Machinery Factory. Instead, he first chose a small machinery factory.
The name of this factory is very common, it is called Changlong Machinery Factory. There are fifty or sixty workers in the factory.
The boss's name is Zheng Huigong, a businessman from Haizhou. He looks very ordinary, looks very honest, and doesn't seem to be very talkative. Even when he met Dong Shuheng, he didn't expect to flatter him more.
During the visit, he only answered all questions without adding too much content of his own.
A long time ago, when Zheng Huigong was working as a businessman, he often visited Huaihai Company's industrial zone in Taipei.
Some iron tools were trafficked from there and resold to Haizhou and Xuzhou in the north.
Later, Huaihai Navy developed Xuzhou, and he gradually settled in Xuzhou. Seeing that Xuzhou had established so many factories, he also hired a group of blacksmiths from various places and opened a factory of his own.
In the beginning, his factory still relied on masters to use sledgehammers to produce shovels, shovels and other tools.
The main reason is that there are steel plants here in Xuzhou and raw materials are easily available.
The steel produced by the steel factory is of better quality than the steel made by local methods elsewhere, and the price is not expensive. Therefore, the tools produced can always be sold at a good price when sold in the clearance control area at that time.
Tools such as shovels, shovels, and picks are all consumables, and the quality of the steel is directly related to the service life of these tools.
An expert will know the quality of a tool once he uses it.
In this way, Zheng Huigong completed his first pot of gold accumulation.
After he got money, he did not buy land to build a house.
He had visited the Huaihai Company's factory and had seen the steam hammer used in the Huaihai Naval Factory. That huge hammer would give him a huge shock every time it was hammered.
This big guy kept lingering in his mind.
So, when he had money, the first thing he did was to buy a steam hammer.
This thing is not cheap.
After getting the steam hammer, although the number of people in his factory did not increase, the output increased several times.
This is the benefit brought by tools. The increase in production efficiency will soon make up for the investment in purchasing tools.
The tools produced by Zheng Huigong and others are not worried about sales at all. The high quality and low price brought by industrial production will definitely allow the factory to replace those primitive small workshops in the competition.
"Shopkeeper Zheng, what are your thoughts in the future?" Dong Shuheng asked.
"Back to the president, naturally I want to buy more machines and make my factory bigger." Zheng Huigong replied.
In the final analysis, making money is what drives them to continue. Many factory owners are like this. After making money, they always first think of expanding production scale.
This will also have side effects. Dong Shuheng has studied horse politics and economics, so he naturally knows it, but this is still far away, and there is no need for Dong Shuheng to say it on such occasions.
Dong Shuheng didn't ask much about Zheng Huigong's income. But he knew that the profits brought by this factory to Zheng Huigong must be considerable.
Otherwise, Zheng Huigong would not have resisted the temptation to buy land and property, but would have invested all the money in the factory.
"Shopkeeper Zheng, are there any difficulties in running the business?" Dong Shuheng asked suddenly.
Zheng Huigong did not expect that Dong Shuheng would take the initiative to ask this question.
I was a little hesitant for a moment, not knowing whether I should talk about my difficulties.
What if the president is just being polite to me? If I really mention my difficulties, I wonder if it will arouse others' resentment.
There are definitely difficulties. How can there be no difficulties in running a factory?
But when he thought about it, could a big man like the President say such nonsense to a little man like himself?
"President, I'm not very good at talking. I apologize for my inappropriateness."
"It's okay, Shopkeeper Zheng. You're a lot older than me. You can just say whatever you want."
"It's like this. We do have this difficulty. The first one is that we have to wait for a long time to buy the big equipment here. For example, I had to wait in line for a long time to buy this steam hammer. If I buy it with foreigners,
Go ahead and buy it, it’s much more expensive.”
"Secondly, it is very difficult for small factories like us to get loans from banks. If we can get loans, I can expand the scale in advance."
Dong Shuheng knows this. Because the Chinese government has spent too much money this year, the Development Bank of China has tightened its monetary policy.
Loans have naturally become stricter. Naturally, it has become difficult for small businesses like these that lack credit to get loans.
Naturally, you can't tell Zheng Huigong about this matter.
"One more thing, President, those big companies are now producing the gadgets we produce, and we can't compete with them at all. If you ask me, just let our small companies produce the small things, and let the big factories in those countries produce them.
Guys, now that their big equipment can’t produce, why are they still competing with us for business?”
"Hahaha, Director Liu, you heard me, did your No. 1 Machinery Factory do this?" Dong Shuheng smiled and looked at a middle-aged man behind him who was wearing official uniform (similar to the Chinese tunic suit in later generations).
"Ah, you are Director Liu. Don't pay attention to what I just said!" Zheng Huigong was dumbfounded when he heard this, and his face turned red. He complained in front of the real owner. How can he not be embarrassed?
.
It turns out that the middle-aged man standing behind the president is Director Liu of the famous No. 1 Machinery Factory in Xuzhou.
This is a big shot that I would never be able to reach if I wanted to. The third point I just mentioned probably offended him.
"President, our machinery factory will produce some scraps, and it would be a pity to treat them as scraps, so we will open some small production lines and use these scraps to make small tools, mainly to allow new people to practice their skills, and at the same time, they can
Turning waste into treasure has unexpectedly affected these small businesses. It was our negligence." Director Liu patiently explained.
Director Liu usually doesn't pay much attention to such small things. If Director Zheng hadn't brought it up now, he really wouldn't have known about it.
"It doesn't matter. Director Liu, you are doing the right thing. You just need to pay attention when setting prices. Our current market in China is very big, enough to feed all of you, no matter you are a big fish or a small fish.
"Dong Shuheng said with a smile.
"Yes, yes, what the president said is reasonable. Our sales have not been affected much, but some out-of-town sellers always use the prices of large manufacturers to make excuses." Zheng Huigong quickly added, although he was straightforward.
Some, but if I had known that Factory Director Liu was here, I would never have mentioned the third item.
"Director Zheng, don't worry. Director Liu won't give you small shoes. He is a technician and won't care about these things. The first thing you mentioned just now falls on Factory Liu.
However, our second machinery factory in Luanzhou is about to start construction, and with the addition of the Jiangning manufacturing plant under the Huai·Ke Group established in Jiangning, domestic production capacity will soon catch up."
"And you guys, you can't always focus on the production of those gadgets. You can also make those small machines produced by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The market is also huge. You have to know how many farmers there are in China."
"What you have to do is to innovate on the original basis and reduce costs. When people buy things, they should be practical and cheap."
"Second question, after I return to Beijing, I will talk to officials from the Ministry of Finance. We can set up a special support loan for small businesses like yours. This loan can only be used to expand the production capacity of the company, and the interest rate will not be very high.
high."
"What do you think of this?" After Dong Shuheng finished speaking, he looked at Zheng Huigong and asked.
"This... this is great." Zheng Huigong didn't know what to say and was stuttering with excitement. Unexpectedly, he made a few suggestions casually, and the president not only listened to them, but also gave an answer on the spot.
Of course Dong Shuheng didn't just tell him, he told small businesses across the country.
When he came out this time, Dong Shuheng was followed by a large group of newspaper reporters. Now almost every province in China has its own official newspaper.
There are also many academies that have their own newspapers and magazines, and in some big cities there are privately owned newspapers and magazines.
Private establishment of newspapers and magazines is not prohibited in China, but they must obey government supervision.
What he said here today will soon spread throughout China.
Xuzhou is now a municipality directly under the Central Government, and its development must be integrated with Haizhou in the east.
The two are connected by railway. Taking a train here in Xuzhou can directly reach the port of Haizhou. So Xuzhou is no longer an inland city. It has its own port and can also connect the north and south through canals. You can even reach Anhui by railway.
within the territory.
It has absolute convenience in transportation.
Dong Shuheng ended his trip to small businesses and decided to visit the First Machinery Factory. The development of state-owned enterprises is the foundation of China.
The predecessor of this No. 1 Machinery Factory was an old machinery factory in Taipei area. Now it can only be regarded as a branch factory in Dafeng area.
Xuzhou has become the main factory area due to its unique conditions, and most of the production activities have been moved there. The factory in Dafeng area has now become a major R&D test center.