The construction of the Tangshan Coal and Steel Union would be an unshakable event for the Revolutionary Army for at least the next 50 years. This place was like the Anshan Iron and Steel Company in the Northeast of China. It was the foundation that determined the fate of the country. It was even more advantageous than the Northeast because it was near the sea, so transportation would be very convenient. It could easily radiate to the entire Southeast coast of China.
As the first batch of builders, Sang Quan's life was undoubtedly very hard. Compared to his father and brother in the machinery factory and the army, he was only a foreman in the road construction team, and a foreman who couldn't convince the masses. Students who majored in management at Jinzhou University all had this pain. Those who went to the administrative department had it better, but those who went to the wilderness would suffer.
Although the Revolutionary Army already had the steam engine, there was still a long way to go before they could manufacture locomotives and trains. But in order to build the Tangshan Coal and Steel Union more efficiently, a light wooden track was necessary. Only horses could provide power for this simple track, so the road had to be flat, otherwise the horses would not be able to pull it, or they would be killed by the cars.
To the inexperienced Revolutionary Army's road construction team, this was an extremely difficult project. For Sang Quan, managing 50 illiterate workers was also an extremely difficult task. After a busy day of work, he would review his textbooks in front of the campfire, trying to master more management methods to solve the current problems.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with any good ideas. The textbooks said that organization needed discipline to maintain, but where did the discipline come from? However, the textbook was vague about it.
The warehouse had just started to be repaired, and the workers were sleeping in the tents and snoring. Sang Quan felt his eyes were sore after reading for a while, so he grabbed a spear and decided to patrol. The construction site was in the wilderness. Not only there were wild animals, but there were also some scattered bandits. Even the nearby villagers would come to steal things. In short, the current society was still chaotic.
The cold wind blew in the dark night, and the weeds in the wilderness fell back and forth. The worker on the sentry post was indeed sleeping. Sang Wenlai turned the spear and poked him, and scolded in a low voice, "Lazy man, get up! How dare you sleep when you are on sentry duty. Do you want to die? "
The lazy laborer cursed and unwillingly stood up from the tree stump he was leaning against. When he saw Sang Quan holding the spear, he scolded him even more vigorously. It was obvious that he was not afraid of this half-grown child. Sang Quanlai was furious. He thought to himself that when the supply team arrived at dawn, he would send this disobedient fellow back and make him suffer a few whips.
After a round of patrolling, there were only a few who were on guard duty. Not a single one of them knew how to shout a password. Sang Wenlai could clearly feel that these migrant workers were ganging up to bully him. They were ignoring him because he did not look intimidating enough. The few squad leaders he appointed did not care about anything at all. They had no authority to speak of — people nowadays were unreasonable and believed that their fists were stronger.
Sang Quanlai was even more worried when he thought about the workers' progress during the day. He had heard some news from his brother. It was said that the road being built was a key project personally supervised by the Grand Marshal. Whoever dared to slack off would be in serious trouble. These migrant workers were used to being lazy in the past, so they were not afraid at all. If the higher-ups were to look into the construction period, it would be hard on him.
He patrolled a few times at night, but every time, he was scolded by the migrant workers. Sang Quanlai did not sleep well either. The next morning, he was not in good spirits and had dark circles under his eyes. When he woke up in a daze, he realized that the entire construction site was lazy and lifeless.
The person who made breakfast was a woman hired from a nearby village. Every time she appeared, she would be teased by the migrant workers. Originally, there were six or seven people who were hired to cook, but the next day, there were only two old women left. The young ones did not dare to come, saying that they were afraid.
However, after a few days, Sang Quanlai realized that the old women who stayed to cook were not easy to deal with either. They looked honest and taciturn, but in fact, they had been stealing rice from the construction site. If it were not for the fact that the dry rice on the construction site had suddenly turned into porridge, he would not have known about this.
The old woman who was cooking still argued, "How can we let the workers eat their fill every meal? When they don't have much to live, we have to let them eat porridge."
"What does this have to do with you stealing?" Sang Wenlai shouted angrily and chased away the two old women who were left to cook. In the end, when no one was cooking, the migrant workers came to make a fuss, saying that they had no food to eat and wanted to pay their wages and go home. Not long after, a group of men came to the old woman's village. They came with a manure fork and said that they wanted to settle the matter of the village's young wife being bullied.
The construction site was a complete mess. Sang Quanlai felt a headache coming on. It was so messy that he almost lost his life. When the supply team arrived, he sent away the few lazy migrant workers. In the end, the remaining migrant workers hated him even more.
Later, he found out that the 50 migrant workers were from the same village and had the same surname. From then on, Sang Quanlai shouted at night, but no one paid attention to him. His voice was so loud that he almost got beaten up.
After six or seven days of torment, Sang Quanlai almost went crazy. Until one day, the supply team arrived again. Not only did they send back the few rookies who had run away, but they also sent back five militiamen. The rookies who had re-learned their lesson happily greeted Sang Quanlai. "How are you? Have you had a hard time these past few days? "
Seeing these people from Jinzhou University, Sang Quanlai almost cried. The past few days had been like a year for him. The old woman who had stolen the grain was called back again, and her wages were doubled. The migrant workers couldn't beat her, but he couldn't scold her either. Their work became more and more sluggish, completely ignoring him. The construction of the warehouses was delayed, as expected.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Grand Marshal knows everything about the project. " The rookies who came back brought back a newspaper. On it was a report written by Zhou Qingfeng, titled "An Investigation into the Problem of Counter-Revolution and Slow Work." "The project this time is huge. Many of the migrant workers were hired from the capital region. They lack training and are poorly organized. Grand Marshal said that these migrant workers will be under military management in the future. "
What was military management?
The five militiamen who came with the rookies with spears strode forward. It was obvious that they had undergone preliminary training. These people loudly announced Sang Quanlai's authority and responsibilities. Hearing these powerful voices, Sang Quanlai couldn't hold back the tears he originally wanted to hold back. They flowed out of his eyes — it turned out that the discipline mentioned in the textbooks was guaranteed by force.
No wonder the textbook was vague about this. It only talked about benevolence, righteousness, and morality, and didn't mention the bloody side.
With these five militiamen talking loudly and looking serious, the workers at the construction site finally knew what fear was. When they looked at Sang Quanlai again, there was fear in their eyes. Sang Quanlai hated these lazy migrant workers. He gathered all the migrant workers and assigned the five militiamen to be squad leaders. First, they would be trained in discipline.
Sang Quanlai finally vented his pent-up anger after breaking two of his rods. "You fools just don't listen to my kind words. You fools deserve to be beaten and killed. You only know fear when you see blood. From tomorrow onwards, all of you have to work faster and catch up with the progress you've missed. If you can't catch up and delay my future, I'll kill you. "
In the face of the militiamen's knives and guns, the migrant workers didn't dare to say anything. Sang Quanlai even reported to the higher-ups, asking them to split up this batch of migrant workers from the same village and mix them with the migrant workers from other places. The higher-ups quickly approved. The latter's clan-based group immediately collapsed, and they obediently worked. Even the women who cooked became more obedient.
There were so many things to do to repair a warehouse. The entire Tianjin to Tangshan wooden track project was innumerable troubles. Shi Dong's mine and steel factory required the existence of strong troops to maintain discipline. Such a huge project was a huge challenge to the Revolutionary Army's management and scheduling ability. Defeating it was more difficult than defeating the Ming Army.
With this experience, Sang Quanlai finally understood why management needed to use both carrot and stick. The migrant workers were given good food and drinks, but they also needed strong discipline to form a cohesive force. Only after establishing authority could they use carrot and stick. Only then could they use labor competitions to create a difference in treatment. This would reflect the difference between doing well and not doing well. This would create an incentive effect.
"No wonder the Grand Marshal said that management is an art." Sang Quanlai's current level of knowledge was barely enough for him to graduate from primary school. However, this management example had stimulated his desire to learn. It was said that as long as one was knowledgeable, they would be able to awaken their vital energy and gain the ability to cast spells. By then, they would not need to rely on five militiamen to control the situation. He could rely on himself.
Half a month later, the warehouse was repaired. Sang Quanlai had become tanned and skinny, but he was energetic. His adaptability and confidence had been cultivated as well.
After repeated training and practice, the rookies in road construction finally managed to grasp the ability to plan the road. The entire Tiantang wooden track project, which spanned about a hundred kilometers, was divided into two hundred sections. Each section was only five hundred meters long. Sang Quanlai led a team of fifty people to excavate the road and build the roadbed.
They blew up mountains and built bridges when they met water.
They were not familiar with the project in the beginning, but after a month of work, they realized that it was not a big deal. Two hundred sections, two hundred teams, meant that there were two hundred young people like Sang Quanlai who grew rapidly through practice.
Through constant elimination and encouragement, the entire construction team accumulated experience quickly. Even the initially lazy workers were becoming more obedient and easier to command.
This was how the team was trained.
A month after the Tiantang wooden track was put into operation, a few small open coal mines in the direction of Tangshan were already producing coal. Dozens of four-wheeled carriages with a load of one and a half tons began to run day and night on the unfinished roadbed. Sang Quanlai knew that the coal would be transported to Tianjin to meet the increasing demand for fuel there.
"Chief Sang, how can the Grand Marshal use up so much coal?" During breaks, the workers at the construction site would look for Sang Quanlai for a chat. After a month of carrot and stick education, these illiterate workers had finally acknowledged Sang Quanlai's authority. They had also established the concept that cultured people were valued and had a backer.
"How much? That's not a lot. " Sang Wenlai had learned some knowledge. With a simple calculation, he knew how much fuel was needed to feed the millions of people in Tianjin. He also knew how much the Revolutionary Army had racked their brains to obtain fuel to ensure the safety of the people through the winter last spring and winter. "When the weather turns cold, all of you will know the huge difference between having coal and not having coal."
The terrain between Tianjin and Tangshan was flat. The amount of soil needed for the road between the two places was relatively small, so there was rarely a need for explosives to be used. On the other hand, the construction of a sturdy roadbed required a bit of skill. The engineers had to learn and verify it repeatedly.
However, considering that it was a light wooden track, the pressure on the road was not great. In a month's time, the two hundred civilian teams had basically completed the construction of their five-hundred-meter road surface. The next step was the highlight – the laying of the wooden track.
Zhou Qingfeng had set up a rail depot in Tianjin for this light wooden track. The depot had laid a four-hundred-meter circular roadbed and track outside the city. In the past month, a few temporarily built rail trucks had run hundreds of laps on this test track, overturning more than a dozen times.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
