Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2273 Life ([-])

"Dunzi, go and get daddy's setback." In a courtyard outside Yantai County, a middle-aged man with gray hair straightened his waist, and after beating his overworked psoas muscles with his right hand, he said a little tiredly. Said.

Soon, a young man of seventeen or eighteen jumped out of the house. He was eating a cake in his left hand and a toolbox in his right hand, which contained many metal tools including pliers, files, and wrenches.Maybe these tools were too heavy, and the young man couldn't bear to hold them with one hand, so the toolbox slammed heavily on the ground.

The middle-aged man immediately glared at him with stern eyes, and said, "Dunzi, these tools are not cheap. They are your father's business. If they break, who will support you?"

After all, the middle-aged man brought the toolbox over steadily, then opened the lid, and checked it carefully.Fortunately, these tools are of high quality. They are alloy tools produced locally on the east coast, which are completely different from black parallel imports.Back then, he spent a lot of energy before he bought a set in Yantai hardware store through an acquaintance. He has used it for several years and has been a treasure.

"Dunzi, bring me a bench and sit down, and polish those parts." The middle-aged man took out a file from the toolbox, and skillfully began to polish the pile of parts in front of him. At the same time, he did not forget to tell his child Work: "You are different from your elder brother. He can read and count. Now he is a member of the government and can eat royal food. You are a naughty kid and can't read, so you can only do this handicraft with your father. The hardship is It’s a bit bitter, but there’s something to eat, so don’t stand still, let’s work!”

Dunzi sat down helplessly, picked up a black aquatic product file, and absently fumbled the parts.These parts are the products of a nearby small factory specializing in the production of steam pump parts. They supply water conservancy departments, canals, and port authorities in various townships all year round so that they can repair the large number of various types of water pumps.

This factory has several steam-powered old-fashioned machine tools that were eliminated from the East Coast.When the boss built the factory, he not only bought the machine tool, but also asked someone to find a 100-horsepower second-hand steam engine in the local area, and hired relevant technicians with a high salary to help him carry out technical transformation, so that the steam engine can be used for Several machine tools provide power.

To be honest, the money spent on hiring someone for technical services is actually not much cheaper than buying a second-hand machine tool.Fortunately, there are several other bosses who also opened the factory to help him share the cost. They also need local technicians to help them solve some technical problems in steam power and use and maintenance, so the expenses (travel expenses, labor expenses etc.) to a minimum.From here, we can also see that because of the technical backwardness in the Far East, there is a huge technical service market, and the total amount is definitely not small.Therefore, regardless of the fact that the Far East region has exported a large number of various specialty products to the mainland in recent years, there is a huge trade surplus, but in terms of technical services, it is a huge deficit, which is determined by the technical level of the two places. , It is a bit similar to the high salary of the later Manchu Qing Dynasty hiring foreigners to provide technical services.

However, the use of second-hand equipment eliminated locally does not mean that you can reach the level of local craft production.This is determined by the quality of workers, nothing else.It is a pity that in a place like Yantai that does not have much industrial production tradition, there are too few such qualified industrial workers, and it is simply not enough.Coupled with a series of problems in management, quality control, quality inspection, etc., it finally led to the instability of product processing level.The parts that the father and son are polishing by hand are substandard products returned by the Jiaolai Xinhe Port Authority. The factory owner has no choice but to spend an extra sum of money to ask someone to reprocess them, otherwise it will all be wasted.

The father and son were doing the boring grinding work in silence, taking a tool to measure from time to time.To be honest, measuring tools are not cheap, because the Heishui area can't produce it by itself, so it can only be imported from the east coast.If this old man hadn't joined the army and fought in wars when he was young, and he had a generous bonus, God knows how long he would have saved to buy these practical tools.

Time flies and it's time for lunch.The father and son tidied up a bit, and then sat at the dining table, waiting for the hostess to bring the lunch one by one.The content of the lunch well reflected the living standard of the middle class in Yantai. A large piece of pancake was baked, a little meat and vegetables, and there was fish soup stewed in the pot, which was very good.

Flour is basically produced in Denglai. Laiyang and Pingdu prefectures are now important grain production areas. They have adopted the fine varieties cultivated in the Dabo Botanical Garden and rented a large number of agricultural machinery from the east coast farmers. Their production efficiency is comparable to that of the past. It's not the same.And you have to admit that during the 50 years when the people on the east coast ruled Denglai, they spent a lot of money to build perfect farmland and water conservancy facilities, which made the grain production reach a very high level.In addition, a large amount of farmland has been opened up in the Jiaodong area (this is also due to the improvement of infrastructure), and the impact of imported grain from North Korea has stabilized the grain price level in the entire Denglai Pioneering Team area at a very suitable level. to the point where ordinary working people can have enough to eat no matter what.

The source of meat and fish depends on overseas, of course, there is not no local, but without industrialized large-scale breeding, it is certainly impossible to meet the growing needs of the people of Denglai.Therefore, the fish from the black water, the cattle and sheep from Manchuria are very important, plus some fruits and vegetables imported from North Korea, Japan and even the Qing Dynasty, it is almost enough to live, and the living standard of the middle class is even higher than that of the Qing Dynasty and North Korea. Small landlords are even stronger. After all, those people have to work in the fields, and they don't often eat meat if they save a little.

A briquette stove is used for cooking.Because the vegetation cover in the Denglai area is not dense, and a lot of land was destroyed when the land was reclaimed in the Jiaodong area, the government is still very strict on the protection of the remaining forests, and people are prohibited from cutting them down.In order to provide fuel for cooking, they have established a briquette factory in almost every county, specializing in the sale of briquettes.Therefore, residents of Denglei city now mainly use briquettes to cook and boil water, and the cost is not much more expensive than buying firewood.In the vast rural areas, there are still very few people who use briquettes. They mainly use harvested crop straw as fuel, and do not spend extra money to buy briquettes.Of course, there are also a small number of wealthy farmers who like to use briquettes to flaunt their status, but this is another matter.

After lunch with his father, Dunzi almost didn't take a break, and immediately went back to work.Their house is on the side of a street, and people and vehicles pass by outside from time to time, but it doesn't affect the two who are working in the yard at all.During the period, the two took out a bag of shredded tobacco and took a few puffs to relieve fatigue. This is also a sign of enjoyment unique to the middle class: tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks.

At around five o'clock in the afternoon, a group of children around ten years old left school in groups.There is only one elementary school in the county, and school ends at [-]:[-] p.m., so the group of children probably walked for half an hour to get here.There are government-run streetcar companies in Yantai County and its suburbs, but few students take them because it is an unnecessary expense for parents.However, this does not mean that streetcar companies are in poor business. In fact, many adults still ride because of the convenience.

The duo of Dunzi and his son kept busy in this way until night fell before taking a break.After a fairly good dinner, they did not rush to rest, but moved their things to the door, and continued to process parts with the help of a gas lamp that had just been lit on the street.

The gas lamps were installed by the East Coast Gas Company, which is a municipal project and paid for by the Yantai County Government.Ordinary residents can also apply to install gas lamps in their homes, but that requires an additional fee, and not many people are willing.People from the East Coast Gas Company tried hard to sell it, but most people did not approve of it except some government officials and businessmen who were willing to install gas lamps in their homes to improve the quality of life.Just like the skilled middle class like Dunzi's family, they did not choose to install it. This is not only a question of money, but also a question of consumption concepts.On this point, there is still a certain difference between the Far East and the mainland.

But the good news is that as time goes by, more and more households will install gas lamps. This can be seen from the statistics of Yantai Branch of East Coast Gas Company. Although the speed is still a bit slow, this A good trend, isn't it?

"Father, you said that if the imperial court starts a war with the Tartars in the west again, can our business continue?" Tunzi, who was smoking a cigarette, suddenly asked at the end of a day's work.

My father was taken aback by the question, and randomly said in a slightly hesitant tone: "Maybe. But who likes to fight? It costs money and kills people."

He has already passed that passionate age, and his lofty ambitions have been wiped away by the day-to-day daily necessities.The only thing I care about now is probably how much money I can earn tomorrow and whether my family can spend enough.Two sons, two daughters, grandchildren and so on, the expenses of a large family are quite a lot.

Don't look at the hospitals and schools built in the county, but these all cost money, and it's not cheap, especially the cost of going to middle school.So now he is particularly concerned about economic development. In Yantai and neighboring Fushan, Ninghai and other places, there are quite a few enterprises that export parts to the Qing Dynasty, and he often takes orders from there.If once the war with the Qing Dynasty broke out and the export was blocked, his small business would also plummet, which was unacceptable to him.Therefore, unlike those soldiers who are eager to make money from war, he really doesn't want to go to war, not at all.

Now the family can often eat meat, drink wine, and smoke. There are also many products on the market. Clothes sewn with sewing machines are very cheap. Even fashionable items with zippers are not unaffordable for their family.If you go out, you can take a streetcar, train, or boat. If you are sick, you can go to the hospital, and your children can go to school.Accustomed to such a good life, he really didn't want to go back to that poor life with nothing.However, many of his current businesses are related to the Qing Dynasty. Once a war breaks out and the business is cut off, he will have to compete with others for limited opportunities, and his income will definitely not be as good as before.

It's just that there are some things that he can't control. He can only hope that the court will not be too impulsive, and peace is the most important thing in everything, although it seems difficult.

(End of this chapter)