Volume 5: If you are poor, you should be alone Chapter 152: Capable Subordinates
Maggie supported her mother Shelda, and her little sister Winnie helped her carry the luggage. They got off the wobbly raft and stepped onto the flat river bank made of something unknown. The three of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come this way, your accommodation is over here!" Snow Wolf Man Nanfeng ran over with a heavy flatbed cart in one hand, and waved to the female workers who came ashore with the other hand, "You can put the luggage you can't carry on the cart, and those who can't walk can also come up!"
Maggie quickly called her sister Winnie for help and helped her mother Shelda into the car. Shelda was actually only in her thirties, but she had suffered too much when she was young, so the woman looked like she was in her forties or fifties, and her health was also relatively poor.
They were the first group of female workers who arrived deep in the grassland on the Snow Wolf tribe's canal boat, with a total of about 200 people. Although there were only a few Snow Wolf people to greet them, the female workers were not in chaos. Human women have always been tough and obedient, and they quickly formed a not-too-tidily-organized team and followed Nanfeng, who was at the front pulling a flatbed cart, to their tribe.
The ground was very flat and not scratchy. On both sides of the road were endless farmlands. The newly-formed wheat ears were gently caressed by the breeze, forming waves of wheat that were refreshing to the eye. The female workers, who were still a little uneasy, gradually calmed down as they walked on the road between the wheat fields.
"What a beautiful field! Even the manors of the masters are not as neat and beautiful as this one." An older female worker whispered enviously, "When I worked for Master Koloti in the countryside, the manors I saw looked like weeds compared to this. The Snow Wolf people are really good at farming."
"I heard from those adventurers that the Snow Wolf people can teach others how to farm from books. They are certainly very capable in this area." Maggie responded. The human girl, who was only fourteen years old, was at her most lively. Under the protection of the Snow Wolf Tribe, she spent a month of peace and tranquility without having to worry about safety and hunger. The scars carved between Maggie's eyebrows by the hardships of life were soothed, and the girl's face once again showed a cheerful smile that was unique to her age.
Xiaoyu, the snow wolf who was walking outside the crowd, noticed that Maggie was small and wore tattered shoes. He jumped up and called out to her, "You little human, you climbed onto the car too!"
"No, I can walk!" Maggie waved her hand with a smile.
"Oh." Xiaoyu didn't force it and ran to the front of the team. "Nanfeng, Nanfeng, give me some dried fish. I saw you secretly put it in your clothes before getting on the boat. Give me some."
"I dried it myself." Nanfeng reluctantly took out a handful of dried fish made from a small sea fish with a silvery belly and gave it to him.
"Don't be stingy. I helped you dig the pit where you catch this kind of fish." The little fish smiled happily and said while eating.
"Go away. You don't help when the sun is shining." Nanfeng kicked him.
"Stop!" Ah Yue, who was walking on the other side of the crowd, saw that the two of them were about to fight again and shouted, "Don't fight on the street, or I'll tell Ah Yun later!"
The two cubs immediately became obedient...
"A Yue is the real murderer. Ashu never uses telling A Yun to scare us." Xiaoyu whispered.
"That's right." Nanfeng turned around quietly and glared at A Yue with deep hatred.
Ah Yue glared back at him fiercely.
Nan Feng quickly looked forward: "A Shu is still the best!"
Maggie's mother, Sheldha, was sitting on the flatbed cart that Nanfeng was pulling with one hand. When she heard the two of them whispering, she had a hard time trying not to laugh...
These Snow Wolves are simple-minded, which is the main reason why the human female workers quickly felt at ease after boarding the ship with trepidation; the Snow Wolves will not look at people the same way as you look at the opposite sex, which will undoubtedly make the female workers who have been forced to sell their bodies or have been bullied to some extent feel more at ease - compared with the attitude of their fellow men towards them, the Snow Wolves are really much friendlier.
A few minutes later, a group of neatly arranged buildings, equal to or even larger than the size of a small town, appeared before their eyes. The female workers were surprised and suddenly realized: this is the tribe of the Snow Wolf.
The older women were able to remain calm, but the younger girls, such as Maggie and Winnie, looked around without concealing their surprise and astonishment; the Snow Wolf tribe was very different from what they had imagined, and it looked even neater and cleaner than the Elf Port that had shocked them before. The flat and exaggerated square was even more surprising.
"Nanfeng, Xiaoyu, over here!" Yangmao was standing at the entrance of the square and waved vigorously when he saw them.
"Wool!" Xiaoyu's eyes lit up and he immediately pounced over like a wild dog that had broken free from its leash.
You will be impressed by how naughty the Snow Wolf cubs are if you deal with them for more than half a day. When the female workers walking in front thought they were going to watch another intimate fight between the Snow Wolf tribe, the little guy standing next to them suddenly moved, took half a step forward, opened his arms, and hugged the little fish around the waist, then he grabbed the overly active cub with both hands and turned half a circle in the air, and as soon as he loosened his hands, he threw the little fish out.
With a bang, Xiaoyu fell face first to the ground...
"Ahahaha!" Yangmao laughed heartily.
The little fish that had fallen badly got up quickly and smiled foolishly as if nothing had happened: "Hey, Qiuqiu is here too, I didn't see you."
Manul Warrior Qiu: "Hehe."
The work place of these human female workers is the wool spinning factory of the caracal. Qiu must arrange the workers himself... There are so many warehouses of raw wool piled up there! And the amount is increasing all the time, and there is no sign of reduction. Qiu is looking forward to the human female workers coming soon more than anyone else!
"From now on, all dormitories will be here. There will be 20 people in one room. Toilets and bathrooms are shared. Breakfast and dinner are provided in the cafeteria, and lunch is eaten in the factory... Line up and enter. Every 20 people will move to the next room. Okay, we'll start from here."
"Don't bring clothes into the house. Pile them outside first, then scald them all with boiling water and dry them in the sun before you continue to use them."
"Those of you who have been assigned to rooms, come and get your work clothes. Hot water is ready. Take a shower and change into them—"
Qiu had been in charge of the woolen mill for a long time. Although his organizational ability was not as good as Qingyan's, it was not bad either. He arranged the nearly 200 female workers in less than half an hour without causing any trouble...
Of course, it is also possible that the small cats are relatively petite and cute, and can give the human female workers a sense of security compared to the snow wolves...
The one-meter-tall caracal cub staggered into the specially built female bathroom with scissors in hand and raised his little hand: "After washing, please come over to have your hair cut! To avoid infecting each other with lice!"
Maggie didn't expect someone to break in, and she subconsciously covered her chest. When she saw clearly that it was a cat kid who was even cuter than her, but had a serious and frowning face, she lost all thoughts and took the initiative to be the first to approach.
"Please sit here." The caracal cub set up a small stool and a basin for hair. After Maggie sat down, he quickly... cut Maggie's hair to just cover her ears, mumbling, "It's easier to wash at this length. You have to pay attention to hygiene. You have to wash your hair at least once every five days, otherwise your scalp will be uncomfortable and you will get lice. Humans are more afraid of cold, so you have to wipe off the water with a towel after washing your hair, otherwise you will get sick..."
Maggie touched her short hair curiously. At this time, the caracal cub stretched out its short, chubby little hand, grabbed her palm and spread it out: "Your nails need to be cut too... Well, your human nails are easier to cut, they are not very hard..."
With a few quick clicks, Maggie's hands and head felt refreshed.
The manul cub raised his hand to the others: "Next one, please come over!"
After several hours of cleaning, the human female workers who changed into tribal work clothes looked refreshed. Qiu was very satisfied with the obedience of these human female workers. It was much easier than helping the Snow Wolf tribe take care of cubs, so he readily... took the female workers to work.
That’s right, cute men are so particular. It’s still a long time before dark, so of course it’s better to let the female workers get to work as early as possible.
A group of small cats led a team of female workers to the factory. When they passed the canal that brought water to the tribe, a few naked snow wolf cubs who were playing in the water looked at them with curiosity.
"Just play here, don't go to the river!" Qiu saw these cubs who were less than ten years old and only had to do light work during the non-busy farming season, and warned them, "Especially Moss, you must not go to the river to play, understand?"
Moss is the second youngest of the Snow Wolf Cub, who is seven years old this year. Although he is already close to an adult small cat in height, his mind is completely that of a child... Upon hearing this, he laughed and said, "I know, Qiuqiu!"
This is where there is "racial inequality" between the Snow Wolf Clan and the Cat Clan - cat cubs who are less than ten years old can already take on formal work, but snow wolf cubs cannot. It's not that Xiao Yun is soft-hearted, but he is too stubborn and cannot sit still at all.
Due to the inability to solve the power problem, the wool spinning mill's auxiliary processing equipment is still mainly operated by human power. The combing machines, wool washing machines and other bulky robot female workers cannot operate them (experiments were conducted with Thrall before the recruitment), so these human female workers have to undertake spinning, weaving, tailoring, garment making and other work.
These divisions of labor are really the most suitable for these female workers. After all, if the residents of the lower city cannot spin, weave, sew and mend by themselves, they simply cannot make a living... Finished textiles are not affordable for the bottom of human society. Otherwise, how could Carlisle gain such a great reputation in St. Brigid's by promoting wool?
As soon as Maggie developed her secondary sexual characteristics, she was forced to "go into the sea". She didn't have time to learn textiles under the guidance of her mother Shelda. However, sewing was not difficult for her. She was able to flexibly operate the sewing machine after just a short time...
The lockstitch sewing machine first appeared on Earth in the mid-nineteenth century, after the Industrial Revolution. Its principle is not difficult to understand, but the difficulty lies in the fact that the coil sewing system requires a certain degree of parts finishing technology, and the development of lubricants suitable for parts maintenance. The former was solved after the gray dwarves made suitable alloy drills and hand-knocked out lathes, but the latter is a problem that cannot be solved with the current industrial level of the tribe... Currently, it can only be obtained by trading with the Ananas elves.
Not only the machine lubricant, the tribe couldn't make the machine-specific sewing threads by themselves and had to buy them... The foundation was too weak. There was no way. Sally lost at least a quarter of her hair to upgrade the first generation hand-cranked sewing machine to a faster and more convenient foot-operated one... The machine was also very fragile and not durable. Sally, a cat with rough hands and feet, didn't want them to touch it.
When Maggie was pedaling the sewing machine, the short and stocky Sally stood beside her and stared at her nervously. It was not until Maggie successfully sewed a woolen garment and carefully removed the panel to lubricate the presser foot and needle bar parts that Sally admitted that she was qualified to operate a pedal sewing machine...
Sally, the strict gray dwarf technical supervisor, walked away to instruct the next worker. The tense Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat flowing down her neck, and continued to work seriously - being able to gain recognition with her own hands, such a life is much better than the previous zombie-like days. No matter what effort she makes, she must seize the present life.
Maggie's mother, the older Shelda, is not as nimble as Maggie. After Qiu let her try to operate the machinery in the factory, he simply let Shelda cooperate with the disabled cats to operate the combing machine... That thing is heavy and sturdy, and it is easy to repair even if it breaks.
Female workers of similar age to Shelda did the "rough work", while young and flexible female workers did the "fine work". Soon, the continuous sound of mechanical parts colliding could be heard in the workshop.
More than 600 female workers were transferred to the tribe in three batches, received sanitation training and went on-the-job training in batches. Ten days later, the raw wool that had been piled up in the warehouse for more than three years with excessive backlogs began to be digested and processed little by little by the well-staffed wool spinning factory, turning it into finished wool yarn and woolen textiles and even ready-made clothes. Qiu, who had been frowning all the time, gradually smiled.
Before Qiu could be happy for long, the original fur that the cat tribe in the western grassland sent to the Fire Tribe to exchange for spices gave him a heavy punch again...
In the past two years, Xiao Yun has transferred all the warriors in the tribe to work with the Snow Wolf tribe in the central part of the country, and has not sent out any more trading teams. The spices sent out for trading in the past two years were consumed by these tribes, and since they couldn't wait for the Snow Wolf tribe's trading team to arrive, they would naturally find a way out on their own - if you don't come, then we will come! It's hard to drive cattle and sheep, so sending raw wool is not a big deal!
There are more than 20 to 30 cat tribes in the western part of the grassland that the trading team has visited. These tribes are not willing to accept the integration with the Snow Wolf Tribe, but it is still safe to send some people to exchange raw wool that is of no use and can only be consumed in making felt tents for spices!
So he just went to the raw wool warehouse which had a small amount of "inventory", and stuffed a large amount of smelly, dirty raw wool mixed with a lot of grease and garbage into it... Qiu, who has a mild obsessive-compulsive disorder, looked even more bitter and resentful with his cute and serious face.
Qiu really wants to speed up the processing of the woolen mill, but the average physical fitness of human female workers is worse than that of the Thralls. They cannot work as long as the Snow Wolves and Cats. Ten hours a day is the limit. Even so, some female workers will suffer from mental fatigue and listlessness after get off work, which may even affect their normal work the next day. Qiu has no choice but to run to Xiao Yun for advice.
"The female workers are in a bad condition? Did you let those humans work the night shift?" Xiao Yun was quite surprised. He looked Qiu up and down with ill intentions. "Qiuqiu, I can't believe that a cute little man like you has the potential to be a black-hearted capitalist?"
"I'm not as bad as you!" Qiu's face darkened. "I didn't have to work overtime. I asked those humans who were not in good condition to go back and rest early. But I don't know why they can't recover their energy after a good sleep like us. They still look very tired the next day. Why is this so?"
Xiao Yun stopped teasing him. He stroked his chin and thought for a while before saying, "Well - the labor intensity we require should not exceed the limit of the human race. In terms of material security, our tribe is definitely more reliable than their original environment... so it should be because their spiritual needs are not met. Speaking of which, I haven't seen those female workers go out for a walk. Qiuqiu, do the human female workers stay in the dormitory after work?"
"Of course we can't let them run around. Previously, a female worker was scared to tears by a snake, another one got a fever from a mosquito bite, and another one accidentally fell into a ditch and bruised her leg..." Qiu was troubled. "Humans are too fragile and get hurt easily. We can't guarantee that there won't be anything that scares them in the tribe."
"——Young man! Overprotection is not good!" Xiao Yun raised his head and patted Qiu's shoulder, saying in a deep voice, "In addition to arranging work, food and accommodation, you have to let the workers have time to relax. How about this, isn't there an hour break at noon every day? You can organize them to tell some stories. Don't worry too much about locking them up in the dormitory between get off work and bedtime. Let them move freely, or organize some entertainment activities, or take them to visit friends in the tribe, chat, etc. Anyway, you cats have to play after work, so just take them to play together. You can also turn into a cat and let them pet you, which is also very stress-relieving."
"Those humans will get hurt!" Qiu pretended not to hear the last sentence.
"What's the use of the doctor we hired with five gold coins? Just to check him out?" Xiao Yun poked Qiu's forehead with his finger. "It won't cause any serious problems if he gets hurt. Besides, he's not stupid. He knows to be careful even if he gets hurt. What are you afraid of!"
Qiu left with a tangled heart...
The grassroots chieftain, who had just come back to discuss something with Xiao Yun, looked at Qiu walking away and said in a helpless tone, "Ayun, that's not what you told me just now..."
"That's different." Xiao Yunding said without blushing, "The management methods for human women and men are different. Women are much less threatening and destructive than men, so we can relax the rules appropriately. Why do human countries have to fight each other to consume the male population after the population surges? It's because too many men are prone to trouble. On the contrary, if there are too many women, there won't be any big problems."
The grassroots leader was puzzled: "We are the same race, why is there such a big difference?"
"Because the evolutionary direction of humans is different from that of other races." Xiao Yun said, "Female elves also have obvious sexual characteristics like humans, but the gender issue of the elves is not a problem, because female elves will not sacrifice their personal martial arts evolution for the sake of reproduction. If you anger a female elf, she will kill the whole family... cough. In short, grassroots chief, don't worry too much. You just need to strictly control the workers there and try to smooth out the burrs on those guys as soon as possible. That way, you will have less worries in the future and can focus on production."
...Don't talk about others. In his previous life, Xiao Yun was disciplined by his elder sister in various ways since he was old enough to understand. The rough edges on his body were not completely smoothed out until he entered society. He realized that he was not some crappy genius who was never recognized for his talent. He learned to lower his head and learn how to handle things tactfully... Who doesn't know who!
After taking a sip of water, Xiao Yun asked again: "Are the people of the Sea Clan easy to get along with? Can we still get along?"
The grassroots chief had a hard-to-describe expression on his face: "The men of the sea tribe and the human race... are really two extremes. They don't like to show their dissatisfaction, and always make us guess which plans and arrangements are in line with their wishes. To be honest, Ayun, the sea tribe gives me more headaches."
"That's how arrogant the long-lived species are." Xiao Yun didn't find it strange. "The sea tribe can live for hundreds of years. Of course, we beastmen who only live longer than humans are not worth their attention. As for me, you don't have to mind their thoughts, grassroots tribe leader. According to your considerations, as long as you can save face and make no mistakes in the general direction, it doesn't matter whether the sea tribe is very satisfied or not..."
In the MSG industry, there are two types of cooperation projects between the Snow Wolf Tribe and the Sea Tribe. One is that the Sea Tribe people catch kelp and the Snow Wolf Tribe organizes workers to process it. The other is that the Sea Tribe people catch sea intestines (Spinibarbus monocynaroides) and the Snow Wolf Tribe organizes workers to process them. The profits minus the costs (including factory operation and maintenance, processing consumption, worker wages, etc.) are split in half.
There is great potential for the processing and utilization of aquatic products in the ocean, but due to the shallow relationship between the two sides, they can only proceed step by step... Even so, the sea clan always gives face to the cooperation on sea cucumbers, and the reason is simply that sea cucumbers are ugly in appearance, making the sea clan members feel like they have suffered a huge loss when catching sea cucumbers - it would be strange if Xiao Yun could indulge in this bad habit!
The fishing industry in this world is not as developed as that on Earth because of the existence of the Sea Clan, the overlord of the sea. If the terrestrial races want to take whatever they want from the sea, the Sea Clan will wipe them out... If you want to make money from seafood, the Sea Clan is a hurdle that you cannot avoid.
Xiao Yun, who drools at the thought of squid strips, grilled oysters and other seafood, has this idea about the sea people: no matter what their attitude is or how they look, I’m determined to be your friend…
He answered questions and resolved doubts for the grassroots tribe leader for more than two hours, and then picked out a new tribe leader who Xiao Yun thought had great potential and took him to "inspect and study"; after sending the two tribe leaders away, Xiao Yun finally had time to have a good talk with Yu Gu.
Delegating responsibilities to others does not mean that a spiritual leader can be a hands-off boss. The protagonist described in the book can have free time and love affairs with a harem after receiving a group of reliable subordinates. This kind of thing is absolutely impossible in reality. The reason is very simple: the more capable the subordinates are, the more likely they are to find and raise problems at work; the more capable subordinates there are, the more problems the leader has to deal with.
If a capable subordinate does not come to the boss at all, then there are only two possibilities: one is that the capable side of this capable subordinate is just a false appearance, and all the problems are covered up by him; the other is that the subordinates are uniting to undermine the boss...
So everyone understands why some particularly capable officials, who can obviously solve problems perfectly, still go to their leaders to report the situation and ask for instructions no matter what... ahem!
Because officials who don't ask for instructions at any time and just focus on their work can never be promoted~ cough cough!!
Uh... Having said that, it is still very necessary to "ask the leader for instructions", whether in the officialdom or the workplace. If you don't even have the courage to discover problems and dare to raise them, how can the leader believe that you can accomplish things and take responsibility?
With the frank and honest working style that Xiao Yun personally promoted as the foundation, the tribe has not yet developed into an officialdom ecology. What Yu Gu wants to talk to Xiao Yun about is serious business: separating the pig farm and the cattle pen.
Leopard Fishbone is undoubtedly a capable subordinate. His intelligence may not be particularly high, but he is responsible and willing to do his best for the responsibilities on his shoulders. This makes him much better than Rosemary and Dahe, who are only concerned about their own comfort. What is even more commendable is that Fishbone is not greedy for power, knows the limits of his abilities, and will not take on too much for boring reasons such as face or vanity.
"Brother Jinmao will be in charge of raising pigs, while Ah Shui will be in charge of the cattle pen..." Xiao Yun thought about it and hesitated, "Ah Shui is fine, but are you sure you want Brother Jinmao to raise pigs? Aren't you worried that they might lose control and steal the piglets to roast and eat?"
"..." Yu Gu's mouth twitched, "Ayun, the Golden Cat brothers didn't grow so fat because they stole food. They were originally warriors. They didn't patrol or hunt, and they ate and drank well, so they gradually became fat."
"You and Rosemary were also warriors. Why haven't I seen you two gain weight?" Xiao Yun still had doubts.
"I don't want to say how hard I work...Rosemary has expanded the rabbit shed to a scale of 500,000 rabbits. How is he going to get fat?" Fishbone complained with dead eyes.
"That's right. Rosemary is so resentful that she wants everyone in the tribe to eat rabbit meat until they vomit. After she took charge of the rabbit shed, she became particularly ruthless and had no time to gain weight." Xiao Yun accepted this explanation and nodded in agreement. "Okay then, let the Golden Cat brothers raise pigs. If they can't control their appetite anymore, we will punish them to follow Rosemary and raise rabbits."
Yugu couldn't help but give a thumbs up, saying, you are more ruthless!
