paranoianovel Chapter 2338 Slow Progress
Chapter 2338 Slow Progress
"Your Majesty, this may be difficult."
After Li Shen finished explaining his plan, Ma Wenchang raised objections.
"Hmm? What's the difficulty?" Li Shen asked in confusion.
"Your Majesty, there are no other problems. We still have a few warehouses available, and the main issue is accommodation for the personnel.
Your Highness, we don’t have that many places to live. If it’s summer, it’s fine. We can build a house, set up a shed, or even sleep outdoors.
But it is winter now, and the recruits will freeze to death if they have no place to live.
And we don’t have that many textile machines.”
Ma Wenchang explained. There were more than 10,000 people who came with Li Shen, but only a few were assigned to the various workshops.
Due to limited conditions in the textile industry, only two thousand people were allocated.
There aren't that many places to stay.
"Well..." Li Shen was a little embarrassed after hearing this. He had overlooked the issue of accommodation. If there was no warm place to stay in the middle of winter, people would really freeze to death.
"Your Highness, why don't we wait until next year? Once the manor is built, the people will have a place to live." Wang Xuance suggested.
"Well, that's the only way." Li Shen agreed helplessly.
At this time, Xu Jinyuan from the threshing workshop came with someone.
"I see His Highness Prince Ji."
After coming in, Xu Jinyuan began to salute.
"No need to be so polite." Li Shen waved his hand.
"Thank you, Your Highness Prince Ji. Your Highness, this is my younger brother, Xu Jinbao. I have been transferred from Chang'an City to assist me."
Xu Jinyuan pointed at the person next to him and introduced him to Li Shen.
"Jin Yuan, Jin Bao, Jin Yuan Bao, you will be unworthy of your name if you don't get rich."
Originally, the villain Li Shen would not pay any attention to it, but this name actually aroused Li Shen's interest.
This guy must want to get rich so much that he gave the name a gold ingot.
"Thank you, Your Highness Prince Ji, for your praise." Xu Jinyuan hurriedly thanked him. He didn't care what Prince Ji meant by what he said.
"Okay, tell me about the progress on your side. How is the workshop going?" Li Shen asked himself.
"Your Highness, the craftsmen have been working hard to process the cotton, but the weather is so cold now that it might freeze soon.
So progress started to slow down." Xu Jinyuan reported.
Cotton needs to be cleaned when it is processed, but the water in winter is almost frozen, which delays the progress.
Li Shen actually knew this.
“This king is also aware of this, but you are the source. If your work is slow, the workshops behind you will also be delayed.
So we need to think of a solution.
In this way, I will have people prepare some large pots and set them up next to each cleaning pool to boil water.
If it is frozen, cut it open with boiling water."
Li Shen is considered a talent, as he actually came up with such an inhumane method.
His idea was to use coal to boil water. Coal was free anyway, and there was no need to worry about poisoning if boiling water in the open air.
"Your Majesty, if this is the case, I'm afraid it will cost a lot more.
And didn’t the prince say that unprocessed coal would produce poisonous gases? Now that the weather is cold, cotton processing has been moved into the workshop, not outside, which is very dangerous. "
Wang Xuance, who was standing by, reminded him. As the temporary head of Xizhou, he was quite familiar with the situation here.
"Really? Moved into the factory?" Li Shen was stunned. He thought it was outside.
"Your Highness, we moved into the workshop a few days ago." Wang Jinyuan nodded in reply.
"This..." Li Shen was a little confused. He couldn't think of any solution at all. Winter is a time when people don't work.
But in order to increase output, he still wanted to continue production. In the winter in the north, even in the workshop, it would freeze, but the wind could not blow it away.
"Then let's skim the fat first. Just process as much as we can." Li Shen finally nodded helplessly.
There is no way, the conditions simply do not allow it. It seems that the workshop area will have to undergo a major renovation next year.
"Let's go, take me on a tour." Li Shen stood up.
Ma Wenchang immediately took Li Shen to several factories.
"Why is it so cold here?"
As soon as Li Shen entered the factory, he found something wrong. It was too cold.
"Well...it just snowed." Ma Wenchang was a little speechless. It was winter, of course it was cold.
"Bullshit, I don't even know the snow has stopped?" Li Shen cursed and walked inside.
When the craftsmen inside saw Li Shen, they all stood up and saluted. Li Shen looked around and found that the factory was leaking everywhere, no wonder it was so cold.
"Ma Wenchang, have someone immediately patch up the leaks and plug any small areas with cotton.
We are a cotton workshop. Are we still short of cotton?
Providing craftsmen with a good and comfortable working environment will enable them to be more efficient and work faster.
This damn Wang Wencheng, he actually cut corners when building a workshop, damn it."
After giving Ma Wenchang the order, Li Shen couldn't help but curse.
This is obviously a shoddy confession. The factory that Wang Wencheng built was not such a simple one.
How much money did I have to cheat myself out of? I didn't expect that I could still encounter shoddy work in the Tang Dynasty.
"Yes, yes. I'll get someone to do it right away." Ma Wenchang nodded repeatedly.
"To the dining hall."
After seeing this Li Shen, you will know what the rest will be like. There is no need to look at it again, as they all need repairs.
He wanted to check on the craftsmen's meals.
Soon a group of people came to the dining hall, which was also converted from a super large workshop. There were two dining halls in total, allowing the craftsmen to take turns eating.
Li Shen went in to check and found that the dishes were relatively simple, with only some dried vegetables and staple foods such as steamed buns.
"The meat is too little. I give you so much money every day, it shouldn't be just this little bit of meat.
It needs to be increased to ensure that the craftsmen have meat to eat, even if it is only once every two days.
And don't give the craftsmen porridge. How can they have the energy to work if they don't have enough to eat?
Xu Jinyuan, the same goes for your workshop. If I find out you're withholding food from the artisans, I'll tie you up and leave you outside to feed the wolves."
Li Shen gave instructions while also criticizing the two of them.
"Yes, this is an urgent order from the prince." The two men were frightened and quickly bowed and accepted the order.
In fact, there is quite a lot of meat here. The people outside Xizhou City are all herdsmen, and there are many livestock here.
As long as you have money you can eat meat every day.
These two people actually did not intend to embezzle money, they just wanted to save some money for Prince Ji's Mansion and show their loyalty.
Li Shen took a look around, pointed out some mistakes, and asked them to correct them immediately.
Afterwards, Li Shen went to several nearby workshops to inspect the conditions of the factories and canteens, and also asked them to make immediate rectifications.
After walking around for a long time, Li Shen finally arrived at the guards' residence.
(It took me quite a while to look up just these few names; my memory is so bad.)