Chapter 1211: Chapter 1139: Harbin, You Little Bastard!
The small blackboards on the walls of these factories are actually part of the literacy program mandated by the Holy Council.
Every day, part-time scribes come to the factory to write these things.
After work, there are literacy groups where people teach and learn from each other.
If a literacy group performs well and learns quickly, they even receive a bonus from the Holy Council.
Besides the evening literacy classes, factories display work-related vocabulary, definitions, and daily example sentences.
"This is also one aspect of the Holy Alliance’s factory management law." At some point, the two Dwarf brothers appeared in front of a few people.
The current cannery was jointly funded by the Dwarf brothers, the Holy Production Bureau, and Hot Spring Castle.
"You two are a bit late." Grosien teased, "Is it because your legs are too short and you can’t walk fast?"
"Screw you." Dwarf brother Gulga gave a straight punch to Grosien’s knee, "We were attending training."
"Training? What training?"
"Of course it’s the ’Pilgrimage Management Law’ training. This morning, observers from the Holy Production Bureau and adjudicators from the court came; we had to go even if just to put on a show." Dwarf brother Jialgu couldn’t help but complain.
"It’s all the fault of those rookies in the Capital Construction Bureau causing everyone to have to reform." Dwarf brother Gulga couldn’t help but curse.
Regarding the capital construction bureau incident Gulga mentioned, even Kuvasz had heard about it.
It was when the Capital Construction Bureau was building apartments, forcing down prices for bids and efficiency.
This eventually led to incidents of low worker wages, poor safety, abusive treatment of construction workers, and shoddy construction.
Unluckily, it was discovered by the Holy Father upon his return from an inspection.
This event made His Holiness the Pope furious, and he immediately mobilized the Cheka, personally launching an investigation, leading to a bloody purge.
It was during this movement that the court discovered problems in factories.
Which is, although factories were established, they essentially operated according to the workshop and even house workshop systems.
In simple terms, factories or workshops back then were just enlarged versions of house workshops.
A factory was managed by investors themselves or appointed factory managers, who then appointed overseers that directly controlled and supervised workers.
This is the three-tier management system of factory manager—overseer—worker.
Overseers typically earned a daily wage of 6-8 Dinars, while workers earned a base wage of 3 Dinars plus piecework bonuses. Skilled workers could earn a daily wage of 5 Dinars.
However, skilled workers were not numerous, with most workers earning at most 3.5 Dinars.
The overseer’s responsibility is to check workers’ progress, quality of work, and adherence to discipline, and to reward or punish workers based on their judgment.
This overseer system, while ensuring production order to some extent, has the biggest problem of subjectivity and unfairness.
Those with good relations with the overseer could easily pass their products, while those not in favor often faced difficulties and missed bonuses.
In some regions, overseers even exerted personal control over workers and enforced labor.
As for factory managers, they ensured smooth factory operation and fast product output through severe punishments.
Some factory managers, due to personal grudges, freely imposed wage cuts, fines, and dismissals.
For example, randomly firing one employee a month because "our factory doesn’t welcome unlucky people."
Some factories even fined 2 Dinars for doing anything other than work, even singing.
Late arrivals, early departures, being distracted, or chatting with coworkers resulted in a day of missed wages if caught.
Not to mention pre-job training — self-learn, and if understood, stay; if not, leave.
If you’re not capable, someone else is.
Horn himself had to admit that these severe rules ensured factories could quickly and massively produce goods, and the return on investment and expansion rates were rapid.
But the problem was that this also led to serious labor disputes, with workers’ health severely impacted.
More seriously, to resist oppression, workers pursued quantity blindly, causing poor product quality, or engaged in covert resistance, loafing, and feigned compliance.
At the four-year summary meeting in 1457, Horn ranted about this for almost an hour.
However, His Majesty Saint Sun also conducted a self-examination, stating:
"Although I told you why and what to do, I forgot to tell you how to do it."
"There is an ancient proverb in Air, claiming that punishing without teaching is cruelty, so I will give you another chance."
After the summary meeting, Horn immediately issued a comprehensive management program plan, namely the ’Pilgrimage Efficiency Law.’
In simple terms, Saint Sun hoped the factory would act as a monastery of the New Era for the Holy Alliance, not only pursuing profit but also faith in the Holy Father.
Therefore, besides profit, factories must consider workers’ welfare and production efficiency.
"Do you find this ’Pilgrimage Efficiency Law’ useful?"
The few Holy Alliance entrepreneurs exchanged glances and responded with bitter smiles, remaining silent.
If others asked, they would undoubtedly boast about its usefulness.
But in reality, from their personal experience, it truly wasn’t effective.
Transforming an overseer into five or six foremen duties, increasing the wage expenses by five times, still doing the work of just one overseer, wasn’t useful.
They created an observer position, drawing people to conduct so-called efficiency experiments, disrupting production plans for no gain.
Not to mention worker training and standardized tools, they taught workers how to walk and carry things.
Is it really necessary to teach walking and carrying?
Moreover, there was a dedicated foreman, supervising workers to work in the manner and actions taught during training.
This made workers highly uncomfortable, even reducing their daily work completion.
Not to mention, they also had to elect worker representatives from among the workers to negotiate with the factory.
From these factory managers or entrepreneurs’ perspectives, it seemed like some kind of religious ceremony or political performance.
However, they couldn’t do anything about it since the purge had just ended, no one dared to openly contradict the movement.
They could only maintain for a while, and secretly change things once they couldn’t hold on anymore.
The four Holy Alliance industrialists, along with the Holy Production Bureau and representatives from Hot Spring Castle, toured the factory and returned to the office for a meeting.
Next, they went to inspect raw material mining areas and introduced trade channels.
The same routine continued for the next three days; following along, Kuvasz roughly understood industrialists’ business operations and decision-making points.
As for Moroka, he filled a notebook with the Holy Alliance’s business model.
Curiously, they waited in Hot Spring Castle from late July to early August for a week, without sight of the Crab Yellow Castle Monarch.
Could it be due to a sudden issue? Or intentions to breach the agreement? Was it an act of deception from the start?
This Crab Yellow Castle Monarch had a good relationship with the Holy Alliance. His daughter Theodora and several family heirs ran workshops and chambers of commerce within the Holy Alliance.
Evangelist Busak had a very close relationship with the Crab Yellow Castle Monarch, often accompanying him to other Lor Norn lords.
This monarch was one of the few enlightened rulers among the Norns; as a millennium family head, his legitimacy was strong.
This meant that Crab Yellow Castle Monarch’s entire territory was filled with relatives.
It had a resemblance to the Mountain Knights back in the day.
With his daughter and friend Busak’s recommendations, he actively promoted an agricultural revolution in his territory.
Machinery like threshers, new farming tools, and hydraulic projects were all smoothly implemented.
This time, as a breakthrough point for the southern Norn, he came to negotiate cooperation personally.
All seemed to be sincerely intended.
So, what happened?
Grosien and Palak anxiously waited while snooping around for information, yet they still couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Until an explosive piece of news came.
The moment they saw the news in the newspaper, the Dwarf brothers nearly fainted, and Grosien and Palak were wide-eyed in disbelief.
At that time, Kuvasz and Moroka were in the room studying the Holy Alliance Yearbook, when they heard four simultaneous angry shouts from downstairs:
"By the Holy Father, Harbin, you damned bastard heading for the Fire Prison, how did you get involved with Theodora?!"
Comments